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“You’ve been looking a lot happier these days, son,” his dad pointed out. “Did something good happen with Luz and Willow?” He asked between bites of dinner.
Gus smiled down at his griffin meatloaf. “Actually, it’s more like I have been having a really good time with Matty- I mean Mattholomule lately.”
“Oh, that’s great! Why don’t you bring him over to dinner sometime? I can make some of my world famous human food for you guys!” At the time, his dad’s enthusiasm didn’t feel off. As Gus only had a few friends after all so it only made sense since his dad was proud of him for befriending a boy his age who also had similar interests.
“I bet I can convince him with the offer of human food.” Gus responded excitedly. Matt was always trying to steal parts of his lunch, and now he would have a whole dinner to eat with them. He should have known it would be too good to be true.
“I am looking forward to meeting the boy that makes you so happy.”
Gus groaned. “Don’t say it like that. It makes it sound all embarrassing!”
“This just in, thirteen-year-old boy gets embarrassed by dad.” his dad said in his newscaster voice.
“Aghh!! I have been killed by the most powerful magic known to witch- embarrassing parental figures!” Gus flopped over his chair dramatically as they both started laughing.
When dinner was over, Gus pulled out his scroll to begin messaging Matt on Penstagram.
illusi0n_master: hey matty you want to come to my house to eat dinner soon? my dad is making some of his world famous human food 😎
blademage4lyfe: idk i might b busy
illusi0n_master: drawing blademage fanart doesn’t count as being busy
illusi0n_master: just think of the free food 🥺
blademage4lyfe: fine ill be there
Mattholomule kept running his hands through his bangs as he approached Gus’s door. It wasn’t too late to turn around and run back home. Unfortunately, before he could turn around, the door burst open.
“Welcome to my humble abode.” Gus exclaimed while setting off a bunch of illusion sparkles that said, ‘WELCOME MATTY.’ He found himself grinning at his friend’s obnoxiousness.
“Dinner will be ready in thirty!” Mr. Porter called out.
“Got it! We will be in my room!” Gus yelled back.
“No funny business before dinner!” Mr. Porter called back. Mattholomule raised an eyebrow at that strange comment, but Gus struggled, looking equally confused. They ran up to Gus’s room without any more delays.
Matt had been to Gus’s house a few times briefly, like when Gus forgot something when they went to the graveyard together, but never when his dad was home. Matt’s armpits felt a thousand times sweatier than normal. Number one, because this was his first time hanging out in the younger witch’s room for an extended amount of time. Secondly, just the thought of talking to Augustus’s dad made pixies dance erratically in his stomach. His dad was practically a Boiling Isles celebrity!
“You okay over there?” Gus questioned, breaking him out of his downward spiral.
“Haha, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Matt tried to play off his nervousness, but his voice crack gave him away.
“Awww. You don’t have to worry! My dad already likes you.” Gus comforted him. “How about I show you this cool human puzzle game Luz showed me out to play!”
He pulled a strange little box that read Tetris at the top.
“How are we supposed to play a puzzle game? That's literally just a box with some buttons.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong, dear Matty. Watch and learn!” He hit a button on the side of the box and it powered to life similar to the way a scroll would.
Matt was completely enthralled by Gus’s cool human gadget. “Wow! But what do we do now?” Matt questioned as he stared at the screen, waiting for it to reveal its secrets.
“I am glad you asked! These little blocks are going to fall from the sky and you have to try to line them up.” Matt shot him a confused look.
“Here. I will play a round first so you see what I mean and then you can have a turn.” Matt nodded in agreement. He found it was usually easier to go along with the illusionist’s shenanigans.
“Now watch how the master does it,” Gus dramatically declared.
Matt found out quickly Gus was not a master at the game at all. He did such a poor job of lining up the pieces. They reached the top of the screen and made him lose in only a few minutes. Since Gus was the source of his food tonight, he decided he would be nice(ish) about it.
“Ha! I bet I could do way better than that!” Matt taunted.
“You’re on!” Gus agreed, handing over the human relic.
It wasn’t long before Matt got a hang of the game and advanced past the level Gus lost on.
“Try not to be too jealous, but I think I just crushed your score on my first try.”
“Whatever, jerk.” Gus gave him a light shove.
“Whatever, loser.” Matt shoved him back, and suddenly they were having an all out shoving war.
They were both grabbing each other’s shoulders when Mr. Porter peered into Gus’s room to announce dinner was ready. Instantly Mattholomule felt his whole body light up red. It probably looked like they were about to do something else- like kiss. That made the shorter witch burn even brighter. Not that he thought about kissing Gus. No, he definitely didn’t have a giant crush on his best friend. Ugh, he was hopeless, pining over his friend who wasn’t even interested in boys.
“Hello?? Mattholomule?? You coming? My dad said dinner is ready.”
“Right, let's go.”
Gus studied his friend as they walked to the dinner table. He was adjusting his sleeves and running his hands through his bangs way more times than necessary. He could tell Mattholomule was getting nervous again. Hopefully, the sight of food would cure that.
They took seats next to each other while his dad served the food. They were having tacos with a side of french fries. Some of Gus’s favorite human food he couldn’t wait to share with his best friend. As soon as the plate was placed in front of him, Matt started shoving food into his mouth. Oh well, for explaining what each of the foods were, Gus thought.
“So Mattholomule, Gus tells me you switched to the illusions and construction class recently.” his dad started up. Gus resisted the temptation to roll his eyes at this lame attempt at small talk.
Matt froze, his cheeks full of food. He swallowed the lump of food almost comically. “Oh, umm yeah. Gus showed me how cool illusions could be so...” He proceeded to shove some french fries in his mouth so he wouldn’t have to say anymore words.
“Well, thank you for looking after my son. I know he’s a handful.”
“Dad!” Gus whined. His dad was normally cool. Why was he dead set on embarrassing him in front of his friend today?
“You’re… welcome?” Matt stuttered out awkwardly. At least the illusionist wasn’t the only one being tormented here, and Matt’s awkward reactions were almost making the whole situation worth it.
“So you guys go to the graveyard every weekend and you share the majority of your classes together?” Perry continued on.
“Yeah…”
“Wow, you guys spend a lot of time together. It’s a wonder you two never get sick of each other!”
“I mean, we do share a lot of the same interests. I don’t mind being around Gus all the time.” Matt responded. All Gus heard was that Matt enjoyed spending time with him and he couldn’t stop the smile from breaking out on his face.
“Augustus, your boyfriend is so sweet!”
“Boyfriend?!” Gus yelped as Matt began choking on the food he had been inhaling. Gus slapped Matt back as he continued to choke, and Perry left to get Matt some water.
“You told your dad we are dating?!” Mattholomule whisper-yelled when his dad was out of hearing range.
“No?!” He was just as confused as Matt in this situation, though it made everything that had happened up until this moment make sense.
When his dad returned with water, Mattholomule chugged it down before shoving the remaining food in his mouth. Gus followed suit, inhaling the rest of his food as quickly as possible.
“Well, thanks for the dinner dad, it was great! We’ll be in my room!” Gus declared. He fled to his room with Mattholomule on his tail. Hopefully, he could solve this without losing his crush and best friend.
Lots of thoughts swirled through Mattholomule’s mind as he chased after Gus. Mr. Porter thought I was dating his son and he wasn’t mad? Not only that, but Gus liked boys and could potentially have a boyfriend.
Did Gus really like boys? Was his dad just mistaken?
“That was so embarrassing!” Gus shouted, probably mainly to himself.
“Soooo… why does your dad think we’re dating exactly?”
Gus just stared at him, a blush rising on his face. “If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine, but I will keep touching all your human treasures until you tell me.” Matt smirked, immediately diving for the colorful cube Gus held so dearly.
“DON’T MESS THAT UP!! It took so long to solve!” Gus shouted, also making a dive for it.
Matt reigned victorious, holding the cube behind him. “Say the word or you can kiss your color coded cube goodbye!”
“Fine, I told my dad you made me really happy.” His voice cracked on the last word and Matt decided to hold in his laughter out of kindness. It was significantly less embarrassing than he was expecting.
“But why would he assume you like me from that? I thought you only liked girls?”
“What? No! My likes are not limited by gender. What about you? Don't you just like girls? You went to Grom with Boscha’s friend.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me. She ditched like ten minutes into the dance and I didn’t like her. I just didn’t want to be at the dance by myself and look like a loser. Also, I only like guys if you were wondering.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah…”
They stared at each other, an uncomfortable silence growing between them. “Soo umm… should we tell your dad we’re not actually dating?” Mattholomule questioned. He was beginning to intensely sweat again.
“Oh… ummm, actually, I can't clear it up with my dad.”
"Why not?!" Matt demanded.
“Because I want you to be my boyfriend for real…”
“WHAT?” Matt yelled, his voice cracking at the end.
Was this another prank or way to bully him? How would benefit from his dad thinking they were dating though? Just because Gus said his likes weren't limited to gender wasn't going to make Gus magically crush on him. His type were people like Bria- pretty, strong, confident, and cool. All the things he wasn't, so there was no way he was being for real.
“I like you Mattholomule. Be my boyfriend?”
“NO.” Matt accidentally yelled, causing Gus to look completely crushed. “I mean, there’s no way you actually like me. I have been such a jerk and I am not even a good friend.”
“Seriously, you spend every weekend together with me at the graveyard. We now study the same magic and plus we have the same interests. It would be hard not to like you.”
“Oh…” Matt said, suddenly finding the sleeve of his shirt really interesting. “I like you too by the way… As more than a friend.”
“Really!?!” Gus shouted. His eyes sparkled as if he just won a bet with Eda.
“Yeah.”
Just like that, he was in Gus’s arms. He quickly grasped the younger boy back as he got lifted in the air and twirled around multiple times. When he was set back down on the ground, Gus continued to hold on to him. He wrapped his arms Gus more properly as he tried to not catch on fire from how intensely he was blushing. His brain still hadn’t caught up with the fact his hopeless crush was not a hopeless crush anymore.
“So boyfriends for real, right?” Gus confirmed.
“Yep. You’re stuck with me, squirt.” Matt stayed locked into the hug with Gus so the illusionist wouldn’t see how hard he was blushing.