Chapter Text
Mateo leaned back in his chair, looking out the window. The window had stickers of flowers and snowflakes lined up like fairy lights. A total clash of styles in Mateo’s artistic opinion, but it did match the room’s vibe.
Walking in, it was total chaos. It’s like the place was split in half. Right down the middle. One side was warm, the other cold. One had cupboards and the other had drawers. One had inspirational quote posters, the other boxes of fidget toys. Only exception was the round table in the middle, a boring neutral grey, separating him from the lady he didn’t remember the name of. And he wasn’t going to ask.
What was he? An extrovert?
He was sitting on the warm side, meaning that he could mostly see the cold side. Blue was a much better colour to look at for an hour than orange.
Just getting here was a pain, he wasn’t going to make it harder on himself.
-Flash back to 30 min prior, lunch time-
Mateo looked at the clock on the wall. Staring at it like he wished it would stop ticking forward.
Even if, ultimately, it was his cell phone ping that announced his doom. He looked at the screen and there it was, predictably, the text from his dad.
His seat felt much more uncomfortable now.
“Dad’s here. Gotta go.” He painstakingly grabbed his lunch box and placed it in his backpack, right beside Z-blob. “That means you get to switch backpacks, little guy.”
The blob jiggled.
Izzie put her backpack next to his, helping Z-blob jump in quickly. “Stop being so dramatic, bro. It’s just once! Maybe you’ll even like it!” She put her hand on his shoulder.
Clearly she just didn’t get it.
“Shhhhhh! Don’t talk so loud!” He put his blob-less backpack on his shoulder, looking around for listening ears- specifically a certain jock's ears. Relaxing when there was no one. “I don’t want people to talk.”
“We already talk about dream stuff all the time. And no one ever notices! What's so different about ther-” Mateo put a hand over her mouth, shushing her.
“This is different.” He sighed “Whatever, just don’t forget to get my homework from Mr. Oz, alright? And if he asks, I'm at an appointment.” He looked at her, “Just an appointment, nothing specific.” He walked towards the exit, waving her goodbye.
Mateo felt embarrassed before Izzie even said anything.
“OKAY! HAVE FUN! I WON’T FORGET TO BRING YOUR HOMEWORK I PROMISE!” His sister yelled at his back, as loud and cheerful as she could. Mateo put his shoulders up, grinding his teeth and looking at the ground. Walking as fast as he could out of the cafeteria. Face red, no doubt.
He just had to get to his dad’s car. Simple!
Or maybe not.
“What’s Izzie yelling about? Are you going somewhere?” A familiar voice asked him. Cooper, who was just outside the cafeteria.
He could deal with Cooper. He was a friend.
Trying his best to look relaxed, the boy looked up. And immediately lost his smile. Of course, these days where there was Cooper there was-
“You skipping?” Logan smirked. “Nah, a nerd like you doesn’t have the guts.” The black haired boy chuckled. “You know, cuz you're a nerd.”
Any polite way out of this conversation left Mateo’s mind.
“That’s none of your business, actually.” He snapped. “Bye” And walked past them.
Logan started walking beside him.
“Why the cold shoulder? You getting too cool for school now?” He chuckled again, “You’ve been hanging around Zoey too much, my guy.”
Mateo breathed. This guy-
“Come on, Mat. We’re curious now!” Cooper chimed in, putting an arm around the artist’s shoulder that felt way too casual.
Mateo didn’t have time for this. The school entrance was right in front of him.
“Well, I guess you’re going to have to stay curious.” He removed the arm from his shoulder, not even bothering to look at either of them as he rushed for the door. He was in a mood.
He only heard a faint “Wait, is he actually skipping?” from Logan, before the heavy door closed behind him.
Mateo almost swore when he saw Zoey walk towards him, well towards the door.
He JUST needed to get to the car, dammit! Why did suddenly everyone he ever knew was in his way????
Thankfully, the boy knew that the older girl preferred to ignore him during school hours, so it shouldn't be a problem. Mateo looked forward, spotted his dad’s car, and walked.
Zoey noticed him, just as he was beside her, raising an eyebrow, “Mateo..?”
“NOPE” He cut her off, and took off. Running like his life depended on it.
-Back to the office-
The boy looked down at the table, the lady had put some pens and papers near him at the start of the session. Maybe she heard he liked to draw or something. Neither of them had said anything apart from a simple greeting. And that was five minutes ago. His fingers were getting restless and craved to just hold something. But he didn’t dare touch anything. Feeling like it was a trap.
Why did he remove his backpack earlier? He could have taken the pencil on the strap. He’d left it near the door, despite it being just a few meters away, Mateo couldn’t just get up and get it. He was stuck in that chair until the end.
He didn’t look up at the lady when he spoke.
“Aren’t you supposed to ask me questions? Or show me ink stains, or something?” Hands in pocket, fingers playing with the side of his nails. Therapy sucked. He missed science class for this?
The lady clicked her pen twice. Mateo looked up at her.
“Well, do you want me to ask you questions?” She smirked. “And I don’t have any ink stains, sorry. Those are mostly for Hollywood.” She clicked her pen again.
Mateo squints at the lady. She had a notebook in front of her but hadn’t written anything yet. Well that’s not true. Mateo could see the date and his name at the top of the page, but that didn’t count.
“Sure, I don’t care.” He did care, very much did care. He didn’t need someone to dissect his brain for no reason.
Because he didn’t need to be here. Only reason why he’s here is because of his dad. He starts to play with the edge of his thumbs, rolling his nail around the edges.
She leaned in her own chair, mirroring Mateo. “Alright then. Why did you want to go to therapy?”
Oh, well that’s easy to answer.
“I didn’t want to. I’m here cause’ my dad asked me.” He started to tap his foot on the ground lightly. Really wished he had a pen right now.
The lady hummed.
“So, why did you agree?” She looked up to the ceiling. “He didn’t force you to get an appointment, right?” She asked like she already knew the anwser.
Mateo huffed “Nah, he was very insistent that it was my choice to be here. Just driving me here he kept telling me I could cancel at any moment.” Sensing the next question, Mateo kept going. “He worries a lot. About everything. So if coming here once helps him calm down, I'm willing.”
His thumb felt wet. Shoot. He was definitely bleeding. Why did the skin around his nail had to be so easy to rip off? He hid his bleeding thumb inside his fist under the table.
“That’s kind of you, Mateo.” The lady changed position, putting her pen on the table and resting her arms. One on the table and the other on the armrest “Do you still want to talk about anything?”
Mateo raised his shoulders “I don’t have anything to talk about. Nothing much going on in my life.” His mind flashed to the dream world, the nightmare king, Logan, Mr. Oz, Z-Blob. The latter of which thankfully was with Izzie right now. “Y-yeap! Nothing going on, at all. Just, boring, normal, teenager life. Nothing special about it. Mhm. Nothing. Nada.” His voice cracked as he smiled.
A master of deception. Truly.
The lady smiled. Breathing slowly. “That’s fine, Mateo. You don’t need to have problems to be in therapy.”
Mateo frowned “You don’t? Isn't that what therapy is for?”
The lady nodded. “That’s true. But it’s not what it's only just for… Look at it like that, you can tell me anything you want. Literally anything and it cannot leave this room. You can complain, cry, laugh, even just ramble about something. And I'll be there as a neutral figure to help you navigate whatever you feel you need to feel.”
He thought of Logan.
“Anything?” He raised an eyebrow.
The lady nodded.
“And you won’t tell anyone?”
He couldn’t believe he was considering this. But talking about it could be… cool. At least to someone that wouldn’t just brush him off. Someone that wouldn't tell other people at school.
“Legally, I cannot.” The lady nodded again.
Legally? That’s reassuring. Mateo’s feet tapped a little bit faster. He put his arms on the table, hiding his bloody thumb in his sleeve now. His hands were closer to the pencils, he looked at them. That was as close to a problem he could talk about.
“So there’s this guy.”