Sorry I've been so inactive! Life is keeping me pretty busy, but here's a little drabble I wrote for a request via Lala-Kate on Tumblr and posted for this year's MM AU Fest. Apollo888 convinced me to post it on here, and who am I to deny you all even a tiny bit of MM love? Hopefully I can post some more fic soon. xoxo
Enjoy!
Not A Date
It's not a date. It's not a date.
Mary could keep chanting the words in her head, but that seemed to not be the case.
First, Anna and Sybil had to cancel as Mary and Matthew were waiting for them to arrive, meaning Tom couldn't come either because Sybil's car had gotten a flat en route to meet at the cinema. That meant they either had to forfeit their plans (which Mary wasn't keen on since she'd spent almost an hour in traffic just to be on time), or go in together.
Matthew easily convinced her of the latter.
Second, Mary had forgotten her wallet at home, leaving her only with a set of keys, a tube of lipstick, and mints.
Matthew offered to pay for her ticket, in spite of Mary's protests that it wasn't necessary, although she could hardly sneak in to a film at the age of twenty-five.
"Popcorn?"
His voice was chipper as they entered the lobby, wallet still in-hand as he pointed to the concessions.
"Oh, no, that's alright. I'm fine," Mary insisted, hating that her cheeks turned pink at his suggestion. "You've already spent enough on me today. Sorry about that, again."
"There's no need to apologize," Matthew told her, the warmth in his voice spreading through her like butter over popcorn. "Besides, I wanted the popcorn for myself and it would be rude not to share with someone who's forgotten her money."
She laughed at this.
"Popcorn it is," she agreed, causing Matthew to grin. He took her hand happily, tugging her to the line for the concession stand.
"Do you like extra butter? I think it tastes better," he said, still holding her hand as they stood in the queue.
It's not a date, she maintained despite the fact that Matthew's fingers were wrapped around hers. That she was enjoying that fact much more than she expected.
"Whatever you like," Mary agreed, sounding breathier than she intended. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden?
It's not a date. And it's only Matthew.
"Should we share a drink? They have Coke products," he said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "One drink would be cheaper."
"Are you trying to swap spit with me, Crawley?" she teased, surprised she could do so considering her rapidly increasing heartbeat.
"Only if you're not opposed to it," was his reply, but Mary noticed his face turned red as he spoke. Without thinking about it, she gave his hand a squeeze, as though to reassure him.
Is it a date?
Matthew smiled at her and Mary tried to look at ease as they moved to the front of the line.
"A large popcorn and–what to drink?" Matthew prompted Mary as the cashier waited for her response.
"Oh, um, anything is fine," she replied, but his eyes widened with worry as he turned to look at the drink list. "Cherry Coke?" she asked.
"A large," Matthew agreed, releasing Mary's hand to open his wallet.
She tried not to be disappointed that he didn't reach for her fingers again as they were given their drink and bucket of popcorn. She carried their drink instead, although she didn't need two hands for it. She grabbed some napkins to make up for it as Matthew put extra butter on the popcorn.
"Theater seven, I think," he said, pulling out his ticket to look at it. "Yeah."
Mary nodded, walking beside him as they found the room and took seats in the middle of a fairly empty row as the lights began to dim.
"Just in time," Matthew said, balancing the bucket of popcorn on his knee, tipping it slightly in her direction as the previews played.
"Shh," Mary said, playfully.
Matthew bumped his foot against hers in retaliation, taking a handful of popcorn as he turned his attention to the screen.
Looking forward herself, Mary released a breath, reaching her hand toward the popcorn. Her fingers brushed against Matthew's and they both retracted their arms like a pair of schoolchildren, Mary's cheeks burning as their eyes met.
"Sorry," they whispered in unison and both released a laugh.
"Ladies first," Matthew said.
"You've already had some," Mary teased him with a grin.
"I stand corrected," he replied, shaking the popcorn at her again.
Instead of scooping out some of the kernels, Mary leaned toward Matthew and kissed him. Her fingers trailed down his neck, the pounding of his pulse against her skin causing her own heart to race.
She had no idea what had made her do it.
As she righted herself, Matthew's eyes remained clothes for a few seconds until he finally looked at her out of one open eye. He watched her for a moment without changing his expression, which Mary interpreted as a bad sign.
It's not a date.
God, she felt stupid.
She turned away, fixing her eyes on the screen without seeing a thing.
"Mary?"
She blinked a few times, trying to pretend she hadn't heard him, he was probably embarrassed. And so was she.
Matthew shuffled forward, placing the bucket of popcorn at his feet before sitting up.
"Mary," he repeated and Mary slowly turned to look at him.
"Sorry?" she asked, as nonchalant as she could.
Matthew smirked.
"You kissed me," he said, smugly.
"I–I was just–" she began without any idea of how to respond. His smirk turned into a grin as he interrupted.
"Kissing me."
She felt another pang of embarrassment and she gritted her teeth.
"It won't happen again," she muttered, turning away once more.
Mary heard Matthew sigh, but was surprised when his fingers covered her hand. This sudden touch prompted her to look at him again, her pulse quickening as she met his eyes.
"Can't it?" he asked.
She could hardly remember what she'd just told him, although it didn't seem to matter as Matthew smiled again. He looked nervous, causing Mary to smile.
"God, you're cute," she said, lacing her fingers through his.
"Is this a date?" he questioned.
"You tell me," Mary replied.
In response, he kissed her.
Thoughts?