Work Text:
"You know, you're really cute."
Techie jumped in his seat at the sudden words nearby, not having expected anybody to be near him, not now. Hux and Kylo were in class for another twenty minutes, he should have been alone in their dark corner of the cafeteria, there shouldn’t be--
He looked up into the dark brown eyes of the speaker and any response he thought he might have been able to scrounge up immediately flew out the window. He would later swear he could feel his own blue eyes widen at the sight of Matt standing before him, his blonde hair a mess, large glasses slightly askew.
Staring, apparently, was the only thing he could do in the face of his two-year crush. God he hoped his brother would have somehow managed to get out of class early, managed to get here soon, managed to save him, managed to--
“Can I sit here?”
Oh no. He wasn’t--he couldn’t…
Techie nodded, not knowing what else he could do, what else he could say. But looking down at the table, he immediately regretted it. Copper wire was everywhere, a result of him working on his next piece. Half finished sculptures, small models, and other odds and ends sprawled across the surface, leaving very little room for his own tray of lunch, much less for someone else.
His dislike of inconveniencing someone overpowered his anxiety in the face of strangers--especially cute ones-- and he managed to force words out. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t planning on company. This is such a mess, I’m sorry.” He couldn’t help that he started to babble. It was almost always like this--going from complete silence to babbling.
Techie looked up when instead of sounds of annoyance or disgust at his pigsty of a table, Matt chuckled. He tried to ignore the swoop of his stomach, or how he felt his cheeks starting to burn at the grin alight on the blond’s lips. “It’s fine, really.”
Blushing harder, he started to clean up as best he could, pulling spools and sculptures of wire towards him, sweeping off small clippings, hoping the cafeteria staff wouldn’t hate him for it. But it wasn’t like he could really help it; he didn’t have anything to put those tiny bits he didn’t need in, so where else was he--
He needed to stop thinking about that. There was someone with him at the table, after all, someone other than his brother and his boyfriend, the both of them too used to him getting caught up in his own thoughts, in his sculptures or his anxieties (though his brother was good at reading the signs of that and easing him from it...something Matt had no experience in). “I’m sorry,” he repeated, softer.
Matt set his tray down, backpack following before sitting in the chair opposite of Techie, that smile still on those perfect, perfect lips. The ones he’d been distracted by too many times as he watched him across the cafeteria, wishing he had the courage to talk to him. And now...and now…
“Hey.”
Techie jerked his head back up, not realizing it had dropped as he sat there, thoughts running wild.
“Oh God, I’m sorry, I just. Spaced out, I’m sorry.”
“You know, you apologize an awful lot.”
“I know, I’m so--” he stopped himself before completing his sentence, wincing, even as Matt smiled at him.
“It’s not really a bad thing, you know. It’s kind of cute.”
Dropping the sculpture he was holding, still trying to clean up a little more, Techie was staring again. He knew he was, but he couldn’t stop. Cute? He... Matt called him cute? The fact that Matt had even noticed him, off on his lone table away from the rest of the cafeteria tables, had enough to leave him reeling, much less this, much less apparently his multitude of apologies being cute to him.
“What?” he finally choked out, dropping his eyes again, not sure if he could handle whatever response Matt gave, sure it was some sort of joke. It had to be...right?
“Did…,” Matt paused, causing Techie to actually look up at him, surprised that the blond had started to turn a little red. What in the…? “Did you not hear me when I walked up…?”
He ducked his head again, sure his face was bright red from embarrassment. The surprise of someone, especially Matt, talking to him had caused whatever words he’d spoken to go unregistered; he couldn’t remember them at all.
“Uhm...no?”
“Well...that certainly makes this more awkward…”
Techie lifted his head, seeing Matt bite his lip, almost wishing he could do that as well and--no. Not where his mind should be right now. “Oh?”
Matt grew redder, and he managed a small smile at that, that apparently something about him, in what he said, caused that.
“Yeah, uhm, I kind of...said that you’re cute. And thought that was okay because you didn’t immediately reject me and now I see that was mistaken and am currently regretting that. Uh, have a nice day, bye.”
His mind was a whirlwind, going through a dance of ups and downs. Matt thoughts he was cute? Matt thought...he thought…
Matt was leaving.
The larger man had already gotten up, had gathered his food tray and backpack and was just walking away. He couldn’t, Techie couldn’t just let him walk away, right? Not when he’d liked the guy for two years and he had actually been talking to him. He just couldn’t.
“Matt, wait!”
The blond froze. Turned around. Stared at Techie.
“How do you know my name?”
Shit.