Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The bar is loud as Mateo slumps back in his chair, picking at the paper coaster under his beer. He’s at a crowded table with Donnie, Jesse, and Princess after what was a hellish shift. None of them had felt like being near the sirens at the park so they settled for a nearby bar.

To say it was a rough shift was an understatement. The last four hours had been horrible, a family of three kids and their parents came in from a MVA. The parents had passed in the ambulance while all three kids that were under the age of eight had life threatening injuries. They worked endlessly on them, but in the end it wasn’t enough. Their injuries were too severe.

They’re quiet as they drink, only murmuring about any topic they can latch onto in attempt to forget about their shift. Jesse doesn’t even bother, staring into his drink. Mateo sighs as he eyes him, the kids were always hard on him. It’s hard on them all, but it’s another level for him.

It’s hard on Mateo too. He takes another deep pull from his beer. Drinking this late isn’t his style, but tonight he needed to take the edge off to try to forget the image of the little girl dead on the gurney. He won’t.

Mateo loves his job, he really does. But some days he just wants to crawl into his bed and never come out. And this is one of those days. Princess had begged him to stay for two drinks, it was obvious in her eyes that she was worried about him.

He’s about to drain the last of his beer and call it a night, a warm shower and his comfy bed is calling his name. Just as he lifts the beer to his mouth, the door chimes and screaming laughter fills the room. Mateo glances up just in time to catch sight of a side profile of someone he hasn’t seen in four years, before it disappears into the crowd.

The beer clunks onto the table as he abandons it, his back immediately straightening and neck straining to find her again. Then, like it’s a goddamn movie, the crowd parts and there she is. Her smile lights up the room as she giggles with her friends.

Victoria Javadi.

Mateo slowly takes in her appearance, gulping hard. She’s wearing a small sparkly purple slip for a top and tight black jeans, with black boots and a small purse to tie it together. She’s got a gold chain around her neck, matching bracelets, and half of her hair is pulled out of her face into a mini ponytail. She turns to the bar to order, baring her back to him and Mateo damn near loses his breath. Her top is almost entirely backless, only swooping down at the base of her spine with tiny straps holding it up on her shoulder. He eyes every inch of skin she’s showing.

It’s been so long since he’s seen her. He still remembers her shy smile, soft giggles, the braids in her hair, and that pink jacket she wore every shift. He’d liked her back then, he would’ve been stupid not to, she was so freaking cute. But now she’s grown more, seems more confident, and Mateo loves that for her. He suddenly realizes that he’d never seen her smile this much before, she always seemed so burnt out back then, only offering small smiles to him or McKay. And even then, those smiles were lined with stress and complemented with tired eyes.

Now though, she looks happy, genuinely happy. Mateo cracks a small smile at the sight. He and Victoria hadn’t kept in touch when she left to finish medical school. He remembers the day she gave him her phone number.

It was her last day at the Pitt and she smiles shyly up at him. They’re in the park, everyone had gathered around to say a small farewell to the two medical students that had weaseled their way into everyone’s hearts.

Victoria had stayed by his side or Cassie’s side, when Santos wasn’t pulling her away. But now she’s back by his side again, looking up at him with wide eyes as he twists a beer cap off a new bottle and hands it to her.

She blinks down at it then brushes her fingers against his as she takes it. He tries not to grin at her still obvious crush on him, but he can’t help it. She’s so fucking cute when she’s trying to impress him. Not that she needs to impress him, though.

“Uh,” She starts, chewing her lip and looking up at him so earnestly. “Could I give you my number?”

He blinks at her, not expecting that to be what she was going to say.

She rushes to continue. “You know, just to stay in contact!” She fiddles with the beer bottle and bites her lips again. “I just- uh, McKay has it too, and you know… just to keep in contact.” She rambles.

Mateo gives her a soft smile, trying to soothe her nerves. “Sure, Victoria.” He hands her his phone, a new contact card open.

Mateo had never called or texted her. He shifts guiltily in his chair as he feels his phone burning a hole in his back pocket, her number’s still saved as “rockstar”. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to her per se, but he had overheard her referring to him as human Utah to Dana her first day. And he didn’t want to be a first experience for her, she deserves better than him for that.

But there were days where he stared at her contact and debated calling her. Anytime there was a crazy case, he’d always itch to tell her about it, or maybe he had a tough shift and needed to talk to someone. But he would always end up shutting off his phone and going off to do anything else to get his mind off of her.

Victoria turns around from the bar and it’s like she still has a sixth sense for him, her eyes colliding with his across the room. Mateo feels like he can’t breathe. Those eyes always had a fucking hold on him. They were just so expressive, always taking his breath away. He slowly lifts a hand to wave at her.

Her face pulls into a grimace, and it looks like she’s debating on turning and leaving until Princess catches sight of her. Princess squeals and rushes towards her, practically attacking her in a hug and dragging her back to the table.

“Javadi! Oh my goodness, what are the chances you’re here?” Princess gushes. Mateo chuckles under his breath, watching a stiff, wide eyed Victoria staring at her as they walk over. Princess had a soft spot for Victoria when they worked together, was always in her corner encouraging her to be bold and whatnot.

Jesse finally tears his gaze away from his drink as he smiles at their new company. Donnie’s smile also brightens as he pulls another chair to the table for her, setting it right next to Mateo.

Victoria smiles as she hugs everyone, then she slides into the chair, only giving a small wave to Mateo. Their thighs brush together and Mateo resists the urge to press his thigh closer to hers.

He tries not to let the single wave sting but he supposes that’s fair, considering he had kinda ghosted her. He nods at her.

“Hey, Javadi,” He lowers his voice, giving her that smile where his dimples show. “Good to see you.”

“Good to see you guys too,” She averts her eyes to her lap, smiling and he wants to fist pump the air. He can still make her flustered from his smile after all these years. It makes him smile wider. “Uh- I’m just here celebrating a friend’s birthday.” She gestures back at her friends across the room, while miming to them she’d be back soon.

“So, what have you been up to, Javadi?” Donnie asks her as he sits back down.

“Uh well, I’m in my third year of residency,” She reaches up to play with the ends of her hair. “I’m actually working at the Pitt now, but I’m off tonight.”

Mateo chokes on his beer. “W-what?” He coughs. Victoria hovers her hand on his arm, her eyebrows scrunched in concern.

Jesse cuts in, frowning. “You are? Have we been so blind that we didn’t notice you around?”

“What? Oh no!” She giggles, taking her hand back after Mateo waved her off. “I’m working the night shift,” She glances at her hands. “Which I kind of prefer anyways, so I don’t have the same schedule as my parents.” She shrugs.

Donnie laughs. “Honestly, Javadi, I expected you to croak and drop out of school that year. Surprised you’re still going strong,”

“Oh uh,” She blinks back at him, her face falling slightly. She leans back, looking uncomfortable and Mateo glares at Donnie. Man, if he weren’t across the table, he’d slap him on the head. “It was a rough year, I wasn’t really in medicine for the right reasons at the time, but now I am. And I’m actually enjoying it, for the most part.”

She glances back at her friends and Mateo has a feeling she’ll bolt if he doesn’t say something. So he blurts out the first thing he can think of. “How are you now?”

She scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. Right, she’d already answered that question.

“Uh- like with the whole job thing now.” He stammers. “Like why do you think you’re enjoying it better now?”

“Oh! Well I think I got better at time management and balancing my life out.” She smiles and Mateo has to focus hard to keep his eyes from falling to her mouth. “Focusing twenty four/seven on medicine wasn’t good for me, so I found some hobbies and moved out of my parent’s place.” She glances down at her hands on the table. “Then it started to feel like it was my life instead of my parent’s.” She added quietly.

“So what hobbies are you into now?” Princess asks.

“I dance.” She says brightly and for the second time that night Mateo chokes on his beer. “And I… also hike too,” She finishes slowly, looking at him in concern. “Do you want some water?”

“No, no,” He coughs out, willing himself to calm down. “You, uh, you dance?” Mateo tries really hard not to think about her dancing on a stage, her body moving slowly in some skimpy outfit. He catches Donnie’s gaze, who’s eyeing him suspiciously. Mateo immediately looks down at his bottle.

“Yeahhh,” She draws out. “I teach youth classes at a studio on the weekends not too far from here. Sometimes we’ll host shows to raise money for the community.” Mateo lets out a breath. That was not the type of dancing he was imagining and he’s thankful he was wrong.

Donnie starts chuckling under his breath at him, catching onto Mateo’s train of thought. Mateo subtly flips him off in response.

Jesse smiles. “That sounds really nice. I have some nieces who’d love that. Are you taking sign ups?”

Victoria immediately brightens. “Yes, of course! I have a card actually,” She starts digging in her purse. “Here.” She says, pulling out a colorful card and hands it to him. “We’re having a show next week if they want to check it out and see if it’s something they’d like?”

Jesse nods and says he’ll check it out.

“Actually maybe we should all go,” Donnie suggests, smirking at Mateo. “Are you dancing as well, Javadi? Or just coordinating?”

“Oh, that’d be cool if you guys could come! I’m doing both. There’s a youth show and an all-age show. I’m coordinating the youth one and dancing in the other show.” She smiles brightly at them.

“That’d be cool,” Mateo says, a small grin on his face as he knocks his knee into hers. “I’d love to see it.”

She smiles shyly again and Mateo starts thinking of ways he can make her flustered again. Donnie sniggers again from across the table, which Mateo just ignores. But Victoria doesn’t.

“I should get back to my friends. But before I go, I haven’t asked how you guys are?” She inches away in her chair.

Choruses of “fines” and “goods” ring out. And suddenly Mateo realizes that it’s true. His chest no longer feels as heavy as it did at the beginning of the night.

“We’re good, Javadi,” He grins. “Better now that we saw you.” He winks at her, watching as she blinks at him. Yes, he’s flirting. No, he does not care that he’s got an audience. It’s been too long for him to not try his chances with her. “We’ll catch up later.” He nods at her as she gets up and he mourns the loss of her heat against his legs.

She recovers quicker than he would like to his flirting and smiles softly before sauntering over to her friends, who cheer when she arrives. Mateo groans underneath his breath at the sight of her hips moving back and forth.

Donnie full on cackles at Mateo when she’s out of earshot.

“Shut up man,” Mateo grumbles, his cheeks turning pink. “I’m leaving now.” They jeer and catcall him as he walks away.

Mateo looks back at Victoria before he shoves the door to leave and he knows he’ll remember the image of her smiling and chatting with her friends, looking carefree as ever, for a long time.

He pushes out into the night air, a small smile playing on his face.

Chapter Text

If Mateo shows up thirty minutes early for his shift, that’s no one’s business but his own. If anyone asks, he’ll just say that he wanted to beat the morning traffic. It’s not to see Victoria again, absolutely not. Despite the fact that he’s scanning the ER for her face.

He finally spots her walking out of a patient’s room, looking at the chart in her hand. His feet stutter a bit as he takes her in. She’s got her hair tied back into a low ponytail, no longer high and decorated with the braids he was used to seeing in her. She’s ditched the colorful jackets she would wear and is instead wearing a pale purple long sleeve underneath her black scrubs.

Sound becomes muffled as he blinks at her, she’s changed. A lot, apparently. And now he feels off, he’s been so used to how she was before- stumbling around her words and had a youthful energy. But now she seems mature and confident in herself.

Mateo’s nervous all of a sudden, and he doesn’t know why. He doesn’t get nervous when talking to girls, especially Victoria. He was never nervous around her. But he breathes through it and walks up to her. The skin of his cheeks stretch widely as he grins at her.

“Hey Javadi,” He stops just short of her. “How’s it going?”

Her wide eyes dart up for less than a second before she’s looking back at her chart. The she does a double take, head reading back at bit as she stares at him for a few seconds before shaking her head slightly. And his grin widens a bit more to see that he can still catch her off guard.

“Hey, it’s going good, not much happened last night,” She twists as she gives him an update on each room. Once she’s finished, she turns back to him, accidentally swaying closer to him. “Uh, you’re here early.” She says, smiling up at him.

“Yeah, uh” He jabs his thumb behind him towards the exit. “Wanted to beat it,” He pauses then stammers out with wide eyes. “The traffic, I mean. Wanted to beat the traffic.” He can feel his cheeks going pink. What is happening?? Is this how Victoria felt when she spoke to him years ago, so out of place and unable to think straight?

She giggles and the sound has his chest loosening a bit. “Right. Got it.” She’s still smiling at him and Mateo can’t look away, drawn in by her big brown eyes. “It was nice catching up with you a few nights ago,” She pauses. “I heard from McKay what happened that day, that must’ve been awful.”

He rears back a bit. Cassie knew Victoria was back? And didn’t tell him? Oh he was going to have words with her later, he makes a mental note.

“Yeah, it was rough,” He shrugs then leans towards her. “But seeing you that night helped.” He brushes his finger against her wrist, letting it linger. What he didn’t expect was to feel a jolt of energy through his finger as their skin touched. He swallows hard.

She stares at his hand, then his eyes, then her eyes volley back and forth between his hand and his face. Mateo gulps again quietly, it’s officially getting awkward and he silently wonders if he’s losing his touch. Usually, his flirting skills are much, much, much better than this.

“That’s- that’s good,” She murmurs softly before pulling away and Mateo tries ignore how his chest tightened at the movement. “I’ve got to check on some patients before I go, but it was nice chatting.” She smiles at him hesitantly before turning to walk into a nearby room.

And Mateo is left feeling off kilter.

•••

Two hours later Mateo finally has time to frag Cassie into an interrogation- conversation, he corrects in his head.

“Cassie.” He hisses as he pulls her into an empty room.

“Woah! What’s with the manhandling?” Her eyes are wide when she looks at him, bangs all over the place.

He takes a deep breath, reminding himself that it really isn’t all that big of a deal, but Mateo’s never really felt so out of it over a girl before, not even when he was a teenager. And it’s Javadi for Christ’s sake! He just needs to figure it out.

“Uh, Javadi said that you talked with her? About the shift a few days ago?” Mateo focuses really hard on coming off as casual, but judging by the way Mckay’s eyeing him, he’s failing. Hard.

“Uhhh, yeah,” She drawls out and raises her eyebrows. “We chat when we have bad days.”

“Ah, gotcha…” He bounces on his toes, “And how long has that… been going on?” He cringes, aware of how it sounds like he’s accusing her of friend-cheating on him and he’s coming off as clingy.

“A few weeks. Mateo, what’s going on?” Cassie narrows her eyes at him.

His eyes bulge out as his voice cracks as it goes high pitched. “You’ve known she was back weeks ago and you didn’t tell me?”

“What?” McKay rears back before leaning in to whisper-shout. “I didn’t know you wanted to be updated about her. You made it clear that you weren’t all that interested in her.”

“Yeah, but that was four years ago.” He pouts at her.

McKay laughs. “Mateo, oh my gosh, do you have a crush on Javadi?”

“She’s pretty.” He mutters, looking at his shoes as he scuffs them on the floor. He’s feeling like a child whose mom just found a new friend to set up a play date with.

Cassie’s eyebrow raise. “She’s always been pretty and you know it.”

“She’s just- she’s different now.” He sighs, unsure how to explain it. There’s a pull towards her and he just can’t resist it.

Cassie hums, watching him carefully. “Yeah she is, she worked hard to get to where she is today. And I don’t mean academically,” She holds a hand up as Mateo does to open his mouth. “I mean, socially as well. Her parents made her go to college at thirteen then med school at seventeen. Her life was pretty much just school, that’s why she struggled so much when she was with us a few years ago. She was thrust into a very adult environment as a kid and she wasn’t able to grow like normal kids do.”

She sighs before continuing. “I didn’t tell you this because it was her business, but I kept in contact with her after she finished her rotation. One day she asked me how she could grow as a person, not as a doctor. So I helped her when she moved out of her parents house- which was a shit show by the way, they’re crazy controlling of her. From there she figured out which hobbies to pursue. It was rough for a while. She had to learn how to be her own person. I can’t even count the number of times she’d call me crying because she’d been so overwhelmed or her parents made her feel guilty for having hobbies, but she’s come a long way and I’m proud of her.”

Mateo stares at McKay, processing this new information. He knew that Victoria had been awkward during her med school years, but he didn’t think that it was as deep as her never really having a choice. He had just thought she was a cute nerd who enjoyed spending all her time with her nose in a textbook.

“Oh,” He mutters. Well, now he feels even more like an asshole for ghosting her when she was probably just trying to branch out and be her own person.

Cassie pats him on the shoulder, “Just…” She pauses. “Be careful with her.” Then she’s ducking out of the room, leaving him with his thoughts.

Mateo sighs before following her out. A dry swallow works his throat as he decides that he’ll text her when he gets off shift.

———

He does not text her.

But he does stare at his phone for an ungodly amount of time before sighing and tossing his phone on his bed. What would he even say to her?

Hey long time, no see. Sorry I ghosted you

Yeah no. He’s just going to have to settle for catching her in person and hopefully not make an ass of himself.

He tried to catch her when they changed shifts earlier that night, but then a mva came rolling in as soon as she walked through the door. So, she got caught up in that and Mateo went home, without even getting a glance from her.

He hadn’t realized how much he’d been wanting to see those eyes and it made his chest tighten at the realization. His chest is still tight two hours later.

He drags himself into the shower, unabashedly thinking of her soft eyes and pretty smile as he runs the soap over his body. He thinks back to the last time he felt like he had to work hard to see that smile.

It was a month into her rotation and they had gotten a domestic violence situation where the husband had attacked his wife with a knife. Mateo, Victoria, Langdon, Jesse, and Robby had tried their best but ultimately there was too much damage to her body and she had lost too much blood. Victoria had disappeared right as Langdon called time of death, and Mateo had spent 5 minutes looking for her with a juice box.

He’d finally found her in one of the stairwells, crying. His heart had squeezed at the sight. The stairs were slightly cold as he wordlessly sat next to her and handed her one of the juices while drinking his own.

“She shouldn’t have died.” Victoria gasped out in between sobs and Mateo slid over so their shoulders were touching. He hoped that the small contact helped her feel calm like it did for him. “How could someone be so… violent?”

Mateo reached a hand out and brushed it against the side of her knee. “I don’t have an answer for that. Some people are just really fucked up in this world. We won’t be able to save everyone who comes in here,” He paused and leaned in further into her side. “But Victoria, you did good.”

She let out a scoff. “She died, Mateo.”

“And you did everything right,” Mateo moved his hand over the top of her knee to squeeze the muscle there. “You didn’t make a mistake. You did your best, Victoria,” He squeezed again. “But sometimes, our best isn’t always enough. We’re not God. We’re just people trying our best.”

She looked up at him at that. Eyes welled up with tears and lips quivering. Mateo lifted a hand to wipe her tears away with his thumb. “You can mourn her, that’s okay,” He whispered. “But don’t blame yourself, that’s not a road you want to go down.”

He waited until she nodded and gave him a small, wobbly smile before he left, because he knew that she needed a second alone to get her bearings. And he needed a second to try to forget the image of her crying.

Mateo decides to text her when he hops out of the shower, that day helped remind him that they could support each other and get past this new awkwardness. The clothes stick to his damp skin as he dresses, but he doesn’t care as he reaches for his phone.

Mateo: Hey, Vic Victoria Javadi! Was wondering what day & time your show was at so I we could come and support you!
This is Mateo btw

He stared at that message for a while after sending it, hoping it didn’t come off as weird. He shook his head, Jesus when was the last time he obsessed over a text like this? He must’ve been fifteen or something like that.

His phone buzzed a minute later and he pretends that there’s no nerves in his stomach as he reads her response.

rockstar: Oh hey Mateo! It’s this Saturday at noon, I’ll send the flyer in a sec. Its great if you guys want to come but seriously, you don’t have to if you don’t want to

Mateo frowns at the text.

Mateo: Why wouldn’t we want to come?

rockstar: Well, before no one seemed to want me around. Which is fair lol, I was very awkward. No hard feelings about it

Mateo feels sick reading that. He wracks his brain for any outings outside of work that she must’ve been on, other than beer in the park. But he comes up short. Shit, had they never invited her to anything? God, he really was the worst friend to her back then. A swallow works his throat as he texts back.

Mateo: I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize that. But I promise we want to come and support you

Mateo hesitates before adding:

Mateo: And we can start hanging out more? It’s been so long, I want to catch up

A minute later, she texts back.

rockstar: That’d be nice, I’d love to have more work friends

Oh. Friend-zoned. Ouch.

A second text comes through.

rockstar: Gotta go, work calls. See you sat

Mateo: See you Saturday, rockstar Javadi

Chapter Text

It’s a cool Saturday afternoon and Mateo is currently sitting with Jesse and his nieces in a makeshift auditorium for an outdoor stage in a park. The weather’s really nice, sunny with some clouds and Mateo’s ditched his denim jacket in his car.

Technically, he’s supposed to be at work right now, but he managed to switch shifts with a night shift nurse so he could come here today, and it’s Jesse’s day off. The youth show is just finishing up, the tiny kids running around stage following Victoria’s gestures and silent commands from where she stands off to the side.

If you asked Mateo what the kids did or even what song had played, he wouldn’t be able to tell you. His eyes stayed locked on Victoria’s form. Her face beaming made his heart clench and long to see that smile stay there forever. He might be a little in love with her smile.

The kids ran up to her one by one and she gave each of them individual attention and reassurance that they did an amazing job. Suddenly, Mateo’s hit with the image of her pregnant and holding a toddler in one arm, doting and loving on the child as a hand wraps around her swollen stomach. His hand. She’d be a good mom, he just knows it in his bones. And he wants to make her one.

Mateo blinks rapidly, clearing the thoughts away. Where the fuck did that come from? He shifts slightly to try to lessen the sudden tightness of his pants. Black swirls his vision as he shuts his eyes, trying to forget the train of thought. Before any of that happens, he needs to at least manage a date with her.

He blinks his vision back and looks up in time to see Victoria walking to the middle of the stage while the crowd applauds. Mateo lets out a loud whistle and cheers, welcoming the noise to distract himself.

Victoria grins at the audience, clasping her hands to her chest.

“Let’s give another round of applause to these amazing kids and their mind blowing talent!” She claps her hands. Once the applause dies down, she continues. “It’s going to be hard to follow that, but we have another show coming up in about five minutes. So stick around!”

She gives them another sweet smile before ducking back behind the curtains. Mateo chats with Jesse and his nieces during the break. The girls can’t stop gushing about how they’d love the show and want to join the group. Mateo smiles, he knows that Victoria would love to have them a part of it.

The music starts up again as the curtains draw back. There’s about ten people on stage, Victoria being one of those right at the front. Mateo’s mouth goes dry as he sees her outfit. She’s wearing loose blue cargo pants and a flowy mesh pink crop top with a black sports bra underneath. His pants tighten up again and he shifts uncomfortably, so much for trying to get that down. But he smirks at the stage, excited to see what Victoria has in store.

As the music gets louder, they start some sort of hip hop routine and Mateo can’t keep his eyes off of her as she moves around the stage. Her body moves fluidly with the music and her loose clothes slide over her skin with each movement.

Mateo’s gone dumb. His mouth drops open as he watches her move like she’s the only one on the stage. And honestly, he wasn’t expecting her to be so freaking good. She had been a bit clumsy when she worked at the Pitt, he was constantly catching her or making sure she didn’t bump into things.

And now… she’s smooth. And flexible. And Mateo needs to will his boner down because there’s children around and this is the worst time for it.

But it turns out he doesn’t have to do much for it to disappear. Nope, that happens thanks to Victoria pairing off with another guy halfway through the dance, and they’re awfully close. Mateo glowers at the nonexistent space in between them and silently screams in his head for them to leave some room for Jesus!

He blinks again and groans under his breath. When the fuck did he turn into his Abuela? He tries to focus on the dance and tamper down the jealousy when the song finally ends and Victoria wraps one of her legs around the guy with her forehead resting on his as her final pose.

Mateo clenches his jaw as he claps with everyone else. She was amazing, he can’t deny that. But fuck, who the fuck is this guy? If she needs someone to dance that close with, he’ll do it. …not that he knows how to. But he’ll learn.

Jesse nudges him from his thoughts. “Hey man, we’re gonna go. I gotta get them back to their mom.” He’s holding the girl’s hands, trying to hold them back from rushing to the stage in excitement. Mateo chuckles, Jesse’s going to have his hands full with them. “You staying?”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to catch Javadi and congratulate her.” He nods.

Jesse gives him a knowing look. “Sure. Let her know that the girls loved the show and they’ll be joining if that’s ok with her.”

Mateo ignores his look, shooing him away and telling him to drive safe. Then he turns back to the stage, eyes scanning for Victoria. He finally finds her fighting through the crowd towards him.

A grin blooms on his face and his mood lifts as he starts towards her, but he stops short a few feet away. Victoria’s hugging another man, a different man, with a large smile on her face. And Mateo realizes that she hadn’t been going towards him, but to this other guy.

Anxiety rises in him, should he go? Or should he interrupt? Is this guy someone important to her and he’s missed his chance? They’re talking animatedly now, like she can’t contain her excitement with him. He runs his hands through his hair as his feet shuffle. Maybe he’ll just text her or something.

But just as he turns to go, she catches his eye over the man’s shoulder. Then, his heart stutters as her smile widens even farther. She squeezes the man’s arm, pressing a kiss to his cheek, then brushing past him to walk to Mateo.

“Mateo! You made it!” She grins up at him. “How’d you like the show?”

Mateo smiles at her, his anxiety melting away as she smiles sweetly at him. He’s quick to pull her into a hug, needing to just feel connected to her. Victoria hesitates for a split second before returning the hug with a full force, her fingers pressing against the small of his back.

“I loved it! Both shows.” Mateo keeps a hand on her shoulder when they pull apart, his thumb rubbing on her exposed collarbone. “You were a rockstar, Victoria.”

And that giggle he loves to hear graces his ears. Victoria tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as she shyly looks up at him from underneath her lashes.

And Mateo has this sudden urge to take his phone out and capture the moment. Maybe even make it his lock screen.

“Thanks Mateo. I’m glad you liked it.” She looks around, “Did Jesse and his nieces get to see the youth show?”

“Yeah, Jesse had to leave right after your show but he said they loved it and you have two more kids on your group if you’re up for it?” He squeezes her shoulder playfully.

Her smile widens in excitement. “Yes! That would be so fun, there’s always more room for new kids.”

“You’re going to have to tell me how you got into all of this.” Mateo pulls his hand off her to gesture around them. “I would’ve never thought you’d be into this, but you’re amazing.”

“Thank you, all credit goes to Mikey for that, though.” She turns to gesture her dance partner who’s sitting on the stage, talking with the other dancers. “He took me under his wing and taught me everything, literally.” She chuckles. “We met at a bar one day after I graduated and he recruited me for dance and I recruited him to teach me social skills. We’ve been close ever since.”

Mateo nods along, his brain working to figure out just who this guy is. “Social skills? Like what?”

“Oh well…” She trails off, biting her lips. “Like how to make friends without being awkward, how to sustain said friendships, and… dating stuff.” She mumbles.

Mateo feels his heart drop. “Dating stuff?” He clears his throat, trying to not seem affected but his voice comes out strained anyway. “Like you dated him?”

She shrugs. “More like a friends with benefits with dating lessons type thing.” She glances up at him and must see his panicked look, which he had been trying hard to hide, but apparently not hard enough. “Uh- too much info,” She awkwardly chuckles. “It’s not, We haven’t-“ She sighs and Mateo’s eyes widen further as he hears her curse under her breath. “Not anymore, it was a while ago.”

Mateo’s trying hard to get the image of Victoria getting dating and sex lessons from this dude, his hands on her body and her mouth on his. There’s a sudden urge to walk over and punch the man but it’s not rational. Mateo hasn’t even seen Victoria in four years, of course she’ll of been with other people.

His fist clench anyway and he desperately needs to change the topic before he does something crazy, like get arrested for assault or offer to teach Victoria whatever this dude didn’t.

He takes a calming breath. “Right, got it, uh what are you doing now?”

Victoria blows out a sigh of relief at the change in conversation and her shoulders relax, like she also hadn’t wanted to talk about it.

“Well, I have night shift in a few hours, so I was gonna grab something to eat and then nap back at my apartment.”

He nods. “Can I walk you to your car?”

“Oh I’m taking the bus, my car’s in the shop right now.”

“I’ll drive you then.” He jumps at the chance to spend more time with her.

Her eyes widen. “Y-you don’t have to.”

Mateo shakes his head as he grabs her hand. “No arguing, I’m not letting you take the bus,” He takes her bag off her shoulder and starts gently pulling towards his car.

“Mateo, I’m a grown woman, you know. I can take the bus and take care of myself.” She protests.

He stops, pulling her in so close their feet touch and their faces are inches apart . “I know you can Vic.” His voice gets lower, more husky. “But let me take care of you, yeah?”

She stares at him with those cute, wide eyes and her mouth slightly agape. She slowly nods her head as she whispers. “Okay.”

He smirks at her, pleased with her agreement and nods his head once then pulls her towards his car. “Want to get Chinese? I remember that’s what you used to eat on breaks.”

He opens the passenger door for her, glancing up at her when she doesn’t move. She’s still staring at him and he tilts his head. “You… remember?”

“Yeah Victoria,” He gives her a small smile and a wink. “I remember most things when it comes to you.”

He expects her to get flustered at that but instead she frowns as she gets into the car.

———

Once they got their food, Mateo drives them to her apartment, both of them eating on the way. As they parked outside, he eyes the brick building as they finish their food.

“So, how are you getting to work?”

There’s a silence for a few seconds. “The bus, Mateo.”

“Orrrrr,” He draws out, testing his luck. “I could drive you there?” Mateo turns to see her eyeing him, eyebrows furrowed. He continues. “We could eat then I’ll wait here while you nap.”

“Why are you offering to be my chauffeur? You want to take me to work even though you have a day off?” Victoria huffs, narrowing her eyes at him. “Mateo, I’m sure there’s better things you want to be doing tonight.”

“Well, one, I want to be here with you. And two,” He counts on his fingers. “I’m not off, I’m on night shift tonight.”

She freezes and Mateo didn’t think her eyebrows could get further scrunched but indeed, they could. “You hate night shift, though.”

Which was absolutely true, but Mateo thinks he would take all the night shifts if he could work them with her… which kinda goes against his policy of not dating coworkers, but he’ll deal with that when the time comes.

He shrugs. “Yeah but I wanted to see your show today. Also we get to catch up on the past four years tonight too. So ya know, bonus.”

Victoria slowly nods, her frown easing. “Sooo,” She trails off. “You’re just gonna… sit here… in your car. While I nap? Then drive us to work?”

He nods, eager that she’s not shooting him down. “Yup!” He pops the p and gives her an easy going grin.

“Mateo, have you napped yet?” Victoria eyes him suspiciously.

“Nooo,” He draws out and waves her off. “I’ll be fine.”

She scoffs. “You will not be fine if you don’t nap. Mateo,” She sighs on his name and he thinks of other ways he could get her to sigh his name. “It’s night shift, things will get crazy and you need all your energy.”

He shrugs, knowing that she has a point. He can try to sleep in the car but he knows that he won’t be getting much shut eye. His car isn’t exactly comfortable. “I’ll nap here then.”

She eyes the seats, likely thinking what he was thinking. “Or… you come up to my apartment and we nap before we go.”

Mateo freezes, eyes widening slightly. He wasn’t expecting an invitation, much less an invitation to her bed. His thoughts must show on his face because she rushes out to explain in one single breath.

“No! I have a couch, a very comfortable couch for you.” She takes a breath. “In a separate room, that’s not my room or with my bed. So uh- you’d sleep on the couch, not with me in my bed.” Her eyes widen and she winces. “Please stop me.”

Mateo lets out a laugh, tilting his head back. “Nah, you’re cute when you ramble.” He’s enjoying this, he really has missed her awkward rambles. “Alright, Javadi. What I’m hearing is that there’s a couch calling my name and a bed calling yours.”

She smiles all shyly and prettily again and Mateo bites his lip at the sight. Good thing there’s a couch for him, otherwise he’d stick to the car because there’s no way he’d be able to keep his hands to himself if they shared a bed. Nah, he’d be doing everything in his power to get her to look at him like that.

“Let’s go.” She mumbles, flinging open her door as Mateo chuckles under his breath. She’s just so freaking cute.