Work Text:
Mat nervously looked up at the man above him, who was sitting on the counter's edge, safety pin gripped tight in his slightly shaky (and very sweaty) hand. "You sure you want me to do this?" He asked his friend, who's pants were now long gone, leaving him sitting there in just boxers and a T-shirt.
"Dude, it'll be fine," Brian promised, getting impatient with Mat's unwillingness to repeatedly poke him in the thigh with a needle.
"But what if I fuck it up?"
"C'mon man you've done this before," Brian tried to reason.
But never on you, Mat thought, and luckily he was quick enough to stop the words from actually coming out of his mouth. Who knows how Brian would've reacted if he had said something as stupid as that. Why would it make Mat more nervous, surely, seeing as Brian was his Best Friend, it should make him less nervous, right? It's not like Brian would ever be mad at him, and it's not like he thought Brian couldn't take the pain. But there was just something holding him back from pushing the needle into his friend's skin.
"Listen I already drew it on there, all you gotta do is trace it," said Brian.
"I know!" Mat snapped, immediately regretting his tone as he saw the light-hearted look on Bri's face change to one more hurt.
Brian looked down at his knees, a bit shocked at Mat's outburst, but mostly feeling guilty for forcing his friend to do this. "Sorry."
"No, no I'm sorry I shouldn't have..." Mat started to panic as he realized that he had made Brian feel really bad. He couldn't stand to see Brian feeling like this, and he couldn't stand that he was the one that caused it.
Brian looked back up at Mat. "You don't have to do it if you don't-"
"No it's fine I can do it," Mat cut him off. He gave Brian smile to assure him that everything was fine.
"Alright," Brian said, smirking. God, Mat could be so weird sometimes.
Mat's heartbeat began to slow to normal when he saw Brian's smile, but only for a moment. He took a deep breath, looking down at Brian's thigh. "Alright," he repeated softly, to himself, dipping the pin in the ink and trying to figure out how exactly he was going to approach this. Resting his wrist on his friend's thigh, he hoped Brian couldn't feel his racing pulse through his skin. What Mat would give to be able to be this close to Brian more often.
No. Don't think like that. You can't think like that.
Mat pushed the needle into Brian's skin, who only winced a little at the sting. "You good?" Mat asked.
"Mhm," Brian hummed as he nodded.
A grin grew on Mat's face as he witnessed Brian's stubbornness, the way he was gripping the counter so tight, screwing his face all up, not letting even the slightest bit of pain get to him.
"I'm probably gonna regret this one day, aren't I?" Brian remarked.
"Yup," Mat replied. And I'm probably gonna regret all of this, too.