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Matthias is humming the song they’ve just written and smiling to himself as he finishes loading the dishwasher. He’s happy, he wonders whether it’s the fact that he finally has a guest in his usually-empty apartment or the fact that it’s Nina in particular. He decides it’s the latter and grins wider. He loves having her here, learning more about her, writing song after song after song with her. And, if he’s completely honest with himself, there’s a part of him that preens at the fact that she had needed someone, needed somewhere to go and she had called him .
When she had first asked, he had immediately gone out to get himself an air mattress, for the first time regretting turning his spare room into a recording space. He’d never anticipated having guests before now. He’d even tried shopping for some “woman things” so she could be as comfortable as possible in his home. But the abundance of choice had overwhelmed him and he had ended up just driving her to the store after the airport so she could pick out whatever she might need. He didn’t know all the details of what had gone down back in Ravka but all he cared about was being a good host and making her feel safe and back to her old self again.
Earlier tonight, Matthias had insisted on cleaning up when Nina had insisted on cooking dinner. They’d eaten and talked and laughed, he imagined they looked like the perfect picture of domestic bliss. That particular thought he shoved aside. They are friends, at least he thinks they are. He really has no idea what to call it. They had met once, had a blast together at the after-party, texted and called each other for weeks, and now here she was. He recalls having no hesitation whatsoever about letting her come and stay with him, and marvels at how easily she now fits into his home, his routine, his life, after just a few weeks.
Anyways , he forces his mind to change the subject as he finishes up in the kitchen. He dries his hands and ventures out to the living area to see what Nina has gotten up to.
“Nina?” he calls out when he doesn’t see her at her usual spot on the floor; her drink, notebook and guitar abandoned. “Out here!” she calls over her shoulder from the balcony. He slides the door open to join her. It’s cold, Nina is standing, burritoed in a thick blanket and looking out at the city, deep in thought.
“Thanks for making dinner.”
“Hmm? Yeah, of course,” Nina answers distractedly and goes back to watching the city slowly start to fall asleep. Matthias stands watching her for a moment and pushes aside more images of domestic bliss from his mind.
“What are you thinking?” Matthias asks.
Nina’s face goes white, then red and Matthias is immediately concerned, “Hey, hey, what’s wrong? Are you alright? Is it the band?” He steps closer to her, tugging her blanket closer around her and rubbing her arms, ducking his head to meet her eyes, “Nina?”
“I’m okay, it’s just,” she avoids his eyes but he can see half a dozen emotions fighting to govern her face and she can see the concern multiplying on his.
Nina sighs, “You’ve been so great letting me stay here, dropping everything to help me. And the songs we’re writing,” she releases her hand from the blanket to make a mind-blown gesture, “I can’t say I’ve ever had it be this good, this easy.”
“But those are all good things, Nina.”
“I know, I know. It’s all been so good. Which is exactly why I scared I’ll fuck it all up!” she admits, Matthias is beyond confused.
“Why? How would you-?”
“By wanting to kiss you!” Nina blurts and then looks away. She doesn’t know why she didn’t just casually wave away his worry with an “I’m fine” or an “I had too much wine,” but she’s broken the seal and can’t stop now.
“By starting to want more out of this. By wanting to not just be industry buddies, or more like pretend industry rivals who are secretly industry buddies!” Worried she isn’t making any actual sense she runs a frustrated hand through her hair, “I think I’m getting far too comfortable playing house with you.”
There’s a beat of silence as realisation hits Matthias, “Oh.”
Nina buries her face in her hands but he steps closer and lowers them, willing her to look at him, “Nina. Look at me,” she does.
“I guess we would both be fucking it up, because I want all that too,” he shrugs.
“You do?”
“Yeah. I definitely want this to be more too– if you’ll have me, and when you’re ready. I love playing house with you, as you put it. This little bubble we’ve built, it just needs a pet and I could happily never go outside again.” Nina smiles at that and makes a mental note to put some version of that into a song.
“And I’ve wanted to kiss you every moment since I picked you up at the airport and you looked like you were wearing every jacket and scarf you could find in all of Ravka,” he laughs.
She’s the one who steps closer this time, Matthias’ body now flush with her blanket barrier. Matthias moves to take her face in his hands but stops himself to rub them together and warm them up first. Nina knows in that moment she wants to do more than kiss this man tonight. With all her agitation suddenly melted away, she tiptoes and kisses him before he can do whatever ceremonious, gentlemanly thing she’s sure he was planning.
“See, the world didn’t end,” he whispers against her lips when they eventually come up for air. She laughs, “Can we take this inside?” she shivers.
“Yes,” he takes her hand. “Your bed or mine?”
She resists the urge to say Ours .
“Definitely mine!”