Matt and Topaz || Prom in a Box (Backdated)

[x-topaz.livejournal.com]

Topaz can't go to the dance, so Matt brings the dance to Topaz. Backdated to June 28.



It wasn't so much that Topaz cared about the dance. But if it was choice between being stuck in the Box and being a wallflower...yeah, she would have gone to the dance in a heartbeat.

But sitting on the bed staring at a wall was just as nice.

The dance was all well and good, but Topaz wasn't there and that meant it wasn't as good as it could have been. Dragging her out to the dance floor had been one of Matt's primary reasons for going. Well, that and she was fun to hang with. Leaving early, he headed to the box to take the party to her. He was loaded up with a couple bottles of soda and a napkin full of tasty treats. Entering the Box, he briefly considered that he should have brought music. Oh well.

Topaz jerked as the door slid open, and she sat up quickly, pulling her headphones off. Bewilderment quickly turned to embarrassment as she remembered the last time she'd seen Matt - the memories were vague, but she definitely recalled him thinking she was on drugs. "Hey."

"Feeling any better?" Matt asked, staying inside the door unsure what Topaz might do or think. He closed it behind him though so she wouldn't be bothered by the outside. He knew his mind came off like static so it shouldn't bother her now.

It didn't. Actually, the static was kind of nice. Soothing. "Well I'm not losing my mind anymore, so it's a start," she replied wryly. "What've you got there? And do I owe you an apology?"

"Treats," Matt replied, "And...if you want. Shit happens," shit really happened a lot at the school, so it was what it was. He doubted it was intentional.

Topaz couldn't actually confirm or deny that. She still couldn't quite figure out what she'd been thinking when she'd done that. "I'm sorry." She was going to have to start apologizing eventually. Matt was a good place to start. "You can sit, if you want."

Taking a seat, Matt handed her a bottle and then arranged the goodies he'd brought with him. Little cheese cubes, brownie bites and pigs in blankets. Yum! "It's okay. I kinda doubt you meant it. And anyways, it's not like shit doesn't happen. I think we've all been on edge recently," it had been a year since Genosha. Hard to believe.

She took the bottle, leaning over to examine the treats. She really hoped she hadn't meant it. "Yeah. Hasn't been a great week." After a moment of consideration she hesitantly picked up a brownie bite, taking a small nibble.

"Know the feeling," Matt replied crossing his legs Indian style, "You uh...wanna talk about it? Or you all talked out?" He knew how that could go.

Topaz wasn't entirely sure about talking. But there were a few people on the list of people she owed explanations too, and considering the way she had acted with Matt, he was definitely on it. "I...screwed up," she said after a moment, rubbing the back of her head. "Bad. Almost got myself into a lot of trouble."

Matt knew trouble, especially trouble like that. "It happens," he replied levelly, popping a piece of cheese in his mouth, "What'd you do?" was this handcuffs-and-trial bad or just fell-off-the-wagon bad or something else entirely?

"Um...ran away and almost got myself sold into slavery. Or something worse." The comment Taboo had made about her being a good sacrifice was still haunting her.

Yeah, that was pretty bad. "I...see," okay, he didn't see at all and that wasn't even a blind joke. "Slavery. Like...this isn't 2013, over 150 years after the Civil War slavery?"

"I...don't know. I don't know exactly what they planned on doing with me." And she didn't really want to think about it. "Cleaning a house for some rich bloke probably would have been the best-case scenario though."

"Are these people arrested?" Matt asked. Or dead. He didn't mind dead at all, "They're gone, right? Not coming back?"

"Arrested, no." Which was probably for the best, really. She couldn't have handled dealing with a trial. "But yeah, they're gone."

Bad answer. "They better stay gone, too," he stated firmly. "Or I'll make sure they don't come back. Are you okay? Like...they didn't hurt you, right?"

"I'm sure they will." The fact that two men had almost bought her really wasn't her biggest concern. "Thing is...um...it was my father who was trying to...sell me." And that was the real problem. Topaz could have dealt with almost being sold (well, sort of), but it was the fact that it had been Luca - Taboo - who had been behind all of it that had really gotten to her.

Scooting closer, Matt hugged Topaz close. "Anything happens again, you tell me. I'll beat the shit out of them," he stated firmly. They had baseball bats here and he had more training, "Because that's some scary shit and you don't fuck with my friends like that." He didn't want to let her go.

Topaz stiffened for a moment - she hadn't exactly been expecting the hug or his words - but she managed to relax enough to return the hug. "He won't come back," she said quietly. Amanda had made it very clear what would happen if he did. He wouldn't risk that. "Thank you."

Smiling a little, Matt let her go just a little. Enough not to squeeze her to death anyways. "Better not," he agreed then nudged the snacks closer, "I'm not down with my friends getting sold into who-knows-what. And I'm not down with them losing their minds and ending up in here. So that's settled. You're missing the dance."

"Yeah..." She swallowed, feeling guilty. "Sorry about that." She'd felt bad when she'd realized she was blowing Matt off. Even if she wasn't big on dancing, she'd said she'd go with him.

He shrugged, "No big deal. I decided to bring it to you," he indicated the snacks. "I forgot the music though."

She smiled a very small smile before pressing her lips together, thinking. "I...might be able to help with that." She reached behind her, grabbing the iPad and unhooking the headphones. "I don't really know what's on this, Amanda put all the music on..." She murmured as she flicked through the music list. "Also I don't really dance."

"Well, you are tonight," Matt informed her. He could hear the music from the headphones no problem, even if they weren't in his ears. "Because I invited you to the dance and you said you would. So you're gonna dance with me tonight." Climbing to his feet, Matt offered Topaz a hand up.

She...really couldn't say no to that. Especially not after breaking her word. "Right, then." She turned the music up and took his hand, standing. "Don't blame me if I break your toes."

"I'll take the risk," Matt replied amused, taking her in his arms. He was significantly taller than her and it took a moment to adjust himself so she was comfortable before he began to move to the music. "I'm still holding you to the acrobatics classes this summer."

'Significantly taller' being almost a full foot. They managed to make it work though. "Sure you want me there?" She asked wryly. "Building might explode." She hadn't been having the best luck with leaving the mansion lately.

"Yes," Matt wasn't going to let her hermit just because things went bad once or twice, "I'll take the risk and protect you if needed," he grinned, twirling Topaz, "You're not gonna hermit if it means you end up glued to my side until school starts."

"Heh." She laughed a bit as he twirled her, just keeping her feet from getting tangled up. "I'm pretty sure you'd get sick of me if we spent that much time together." He didn't have to worry much about her becoming a hermit. She'd already been informed it was no longer an option for her.

"I dunno..." Matt grinned, "Do you snore? Don't think I could handle it if you snored."

Topaz snorted at that. "You're in luck, I don't sleep. Insomnia."

"Perfect," he dipped her just for fun as they waltzed around the room slowly, "Me too. Though it's been better recently."

The dip left her a bit disoriented - her head hadn't been in the best shape the last few days - and it took her a moment to get her thoughts together and respond. "I haven't had such a bad time the last couple of nights...course, that might be because I didn't sleep for four nights." It was so hard to sleep when you had the emotions of an entire mansion in your head.

Eventually, biology kicked in and forced a body to sleep, though it was rarely good sleep when the mind was doing stuff, "I've had nightmares recently," Matt confessed, "Bad shit went down this time last year. It's worked out with needing to study for finals and stuff, but....you know. We could always ward the crap away together," was he hitting on Topaz in the Box? Apparently.

"Yeah?" She tilted her head up, pressing her lips together. "I'm always around if you need to talk. Even at the weird times of night. Especially at the weird times of night." She might have missed the fact that she was being hit on. Completely.

The weird times of night were good times for eating, "Thanks," Matt replied, "I'm still static right? Would that help you sleep?"

"I...don't know," Topaz said after a moment. "I mean, yeah, you're still static, but...I don't know." She'd never given much thought to the reasons behind her insomnia.

Well, the way he saw it, if he was static, then it was like white noise on her powers, a null. So it would help her sleep. He actually had a white-noise generator set very low to help block the noises outside of his room. The song ended and he let Topaz go. "So...yeah..."

She stepped back, running a hand through her hair. "Thank you," she said quietly. Never a very social person, Topaz hadn't realized until she was trapped in the Box how lonely she could actually be. Even if she didn't talk to anyone, she'd grown used to having other people around. "For all of this."

"Of course," he knew she'd do it for him if it was reversed. "We're friends. We bother each other when we don't want to be bothered until we like being bothered. That's how this whole thing works. And I'm gonna get my date with you eventually. I'll let the dancing part slide since we just did," Matt was mostly teasing, but he meant it.

She would. And that was probably the part that surprised her most. "Take that dance and run with it, it's the only one you'll ever get," she teased back, smirking just a bit. "And you're gonna have to get me out of the Box first."

"Me?" Matt faked surprise, "I can't get you out of the box. Only you can do that. Now jail, jail I can get you out of. I got experience with that."

"Well I'm sure getting arrested is next on the agenda for me," Topaz returned dryly. "I'll make sure you're my one phone call when it happens."

"Call your lawyer," Matt replied, "And don't fight the cuffs. They'll chafe. Also, don't try to be friendly. No one likes that. Just glare a lot and keep quiet. Then people will think you're tough. Or, better yet. Don't get caught," he'd already been there and done that.

"I'll go with not getting caught," she decided, nodding. "Seems like a better option." Though it was comforting to know her lack of friendliness would benefit her somewhere in the world.

"Always best," Matt agreed. "Hey, you listen to me. I know what I'm talking about. I'm hardcore, yo. Did time for assault before I was here," it was kinda hard to tell from his voice if he was teasing or not. "Not like these other movie watchers."

"I bow to those who are more knowledgeable than me." Because really, there was no reason someone would joke about that. But she wasn't the type to pry.

"Good then," Matt stretched sitting back down. "So you got any cards or whatever down here? Something else to do?"

"Not really," Topaz said regretfully. "Usually when people come down here they just want to talk."

"Right then," Matt stood up, "I'll be back with stuff to do. Any requests?" He thought maybe a deck of cards and whatever else he could find would be a good start.

Topaz was a bit surprised by that. "I dunno - I guess not? You don't have to come back if you don't want to - I mean, I know this isn't exactly the best place to spend any time..." Oh did she know that quite well.

"I'll be back," Matt promised, thinking he'd change into something less dressy and get stuff. Being stuck in there was no fun.