Friday Night

Lisa took a long stare into the mirror. She had just finished lying to Brian. For a half hour she'd comforted him, telling him bullshit like an artist stroking a brush for the sake of making money.

She wondered if Taylor would've done the same thing her shoes. The probable answer was yes, considering that Taylor always valued results over methods.

Which made Lisa bring up another question: What did I value? What values do I have compared to Taylor?

Taking a deep breathe, she said "here we go":

Trust Issues

"What the fuck?" Lisa yelled, to no one in particular. Furious at her own powers, she remembered that it was impossible to argue with something that couldn't talk back. Scowling, she checked for its reasoning.

Metabolized by Familial Betrayal

That much was obvious to her, but the answer still offended her. It was like she preferred lying to herself than seeing the reality of her own situation. Unfortunately for her, her powers were more blunt than anyone else could possibly put it.

She sneered at herself, and gave off a low laugh in disappointment. "Of course."

Turning on her powers one last time, she saw two words:

Pathological Liar.

Pathological was the key word there. She knew she was a liar, but pathological implied that she had trouble with being honest. That wasn't even funny, she knew that something deep inside of her needed to change.

XXX

Present

Essentially, they were strangers treating each other like strangers. Where as Lisa wouldn't easily tell anyone her truths, Matthew could easily tell anyone his truths.

He leaned closer to her. Wait, what is he doing? He placed his hand over her forehead. Wait, what the fuck is he doing?:

Attraction towards you

Fuck. I swear he was platonic a few hours ago. Since when?

Puppy pen

Fucking puppies. WHAT IS HE DOING NOW!?

Looking for a signal for reciprocated attraction

Fuuuuuuck... What do I do, WHAT DO I DO?

Time slowed, a part of her didn't want to make a decision but his gesture was literally meant to leave the decision to her. Unwilling to determine approval of him... She flinched her head back.

Mathew smoothly pulled his hand away. He smiled at her, "I'll see you Monday."

Unfazed.

Her mouth glued tight. She shook her head firmly and murmured, "mmmhhmmm." She was glad the darkness could hide her flushed face. Matthew casually turned away and headed home. Lisa swung her body around and marched her legs stiffly in the opposite direction.

She held her breathe as she walked, wondering if she should've slapped him before he left. Reaching her bedside, she tried suffocating herself into her pillow. What the fuck? One moment he saw me as a friend, and the next he's...

She lifted her head up, "what the hell!?"

Her stomach churned, the confusion he'd put onto her made her eerily uncomfortable. She was certain she had understood him before, but people are just too damn random. Unable to come up with a simple conclusion for him, she muttered to herself, "boys are so stupid..."

XXX

Sunday

Matthew's new dog bit into his bagel as he laid on his sofa and rubbed at its ear. "Can I call you bagel? Mostly because that's the only thing you've eaten all day." The dog ignored him, intent on gnawing at the bagel like it was a chew toy. "Well, I sure as hell won't call you blindy. That's cliché as hell."

Matthew picked him up and snugged him underneath his t-shit. The beagle didn't mind the tight spot, it felt like more like an extended hug than a robbery of its walking privileges.

"So I met this girl," Matthew spoke down to his dog. He patted him on the head as he looked down from the balcony beneath them. Neither of them bothered to look at any particular direction. Both of them chose to pay closer attention to the noises instead of the actions of the people around them.

"I like her a lot. She's smart, funny, witty. Hell, whenever she says something clever, she has this cute smile to her face. I gotta say, dat smirk," he snapped his fingers. "Adorable."

He'd known her for a week now, her work came with occasional sparks of enthusiasm that were always intoxicating. Her world was a complex game of chess which only she understood, and to see her understand everything was like seeing a mathematician constantly saying 'eureka' whenever a new solution was found. "But what I like the most about her, is that she's always willing to bring light into darkness. I know she's in a hard place right now, but that smile, its always the most honest thing I ever see."

Sometimes he also noticed a sadness to her. She'd stop typing away at the computer and take a moment to frown over something. It didn't involve work, it was like a bad memory had passed her by and she had to physically shake her head to push those thoughts away. "I wanted to offer her an escape. Nothing serious, just a friend to be there for her. I don't think that she knows that people aren't supposed be robots all day."

He just wanted to be there for her, allow her to use him as an escape from whatever stresses she had. But thinking back at the day before, he now wondered if he was causing her stress instead alleviating it. Between living as a villain, losing Skitter, and whatever other issues that came with triggering, Matthew realized it might've been better to put some distance between himself and her, lest she think he's another broken person she's obligated to protect.

He sighed, remembering how adept he was with cutting away relationships. "It's better off like this." Because letting go of people was easier than liking people, "relationships are overrated."

XXX

A/N: I started this fanfic as a one-shot, but after some encouragement I was glad to expand on it a bit further. Thinking back, I wish I'd made the chapters longer (I'll probably do this in the sequel). Matthew was meant to be oblivious because I figured Lisa could detect attraction from a mile away, and thus might want to repel people like that. I also wanted to flip over the "love at first sight" trope, because Lisa never actually showed attraction to anyone in canon.

This is my last chapter for this fic. I will write a sequel, I just feel the title has been exhausted of its humor, so the sequel will be titled something else.