Father Knows Best
Matt/Coach, Season's One and Two, PG13, 762 words, Title from Dexter

Sometimes Matt thinks it's a little creepy that he thinks this way, that if he ever said it out loud he would get made fun of or punched in the mouth. But if he was allowed to honestly tell you, straight up, without getting heckled for it, he'd tell you that he wished Coach Taylor was his real father. Instead of that guy in the Army who only comes home for a week or two every five or six months.

Unlike most people, Coach Taylor believed in him. That no matter the obstacle, no matter how many people looked down on him, he could do whatever he set his mind to. It was the most truthful, positive thing an adult ever told Matt in his entire life. He keeps what Coach told him deep down inside him. He keeps everything Coach does deep down inside him. The encouragements, the pats on the back for playing well, and for all the times he was just there. That's what a father is supposed to do for his son. And Coach Taylor has done that more in four months than Henry has in his whole life.

--

Coach knows Matt is a good kid. That he has it tough but doesn't let it bring him down. He's never seen anyone with more determination to succeed than him. Coach actually sees a little bit of himself in Matt. Always doing his best so that people are proud of him, and trying his damn hardest not to screw it all up.

He's like a stink bug he always says. But not only in the sense that Matt can't be crushed by any of the shit he has been dealt with, but because he's dating his daughter. Coach would love nothing more than to squash what these two have together, without feeling badly about it in the end. But he knows it'll never happen. He tried to get in the way and they easily got around it. And he'd never hear the end of it from his daughter or his wife if he ever went too far. So he lets it go and tries not to let it get to him (you wouldn't look good with grey hair, Tami tells him). His daughter is growing up, and Matt's one of the good ones. They make each other happy, and Coach wants nothing more than for both of them to be happy in life. And if that means they are together as much as they can be, then so be it.

--

Matt, although shocked and upset, isn't surprised to learn that Coach took a college job in Austin. It was going to happen sooner or later. But he wishes it wouldn't happen at all. Why must someone else he cares for leave him? And not only that, but he's taking Julie with him. Did he do something wrong? Is he just not good enough anymore?

What did he do to deserve this?

Matt wants to tell Coach that night at the hotel exactly what he feels. How pissed he is at him, how upset he is at him, how Coach was more of a father to him than his own father, but he doesn't say anything. Giving Coach the chance to throw around some crap about how Matt would understand what he did if he was ever lucky enough to have a family like he does. Matt wants to choke him. What gives him the right to say something like that, knowing full well he doesn't have a family? That his "family" is leaving him behind and starting a new life without him. Just like everyone else has. What an asshole.

--

Coach may of had good intentions to do what he did, and even to come home again (Matt may not be with Julie anymore but he knows how screwed up her family life has been). But Matt isn't sure what to believe from Coach anymore. And when Coach tries to straighten things up between Matt and Smash (and even between himself and Matt), Matt calls him on it, because he's only doing it to make himself look good and to feel better about everything. Correct all the mistakes he has made. Matt doesn't give Coach the chance to respond before he's out the door. It's going to take a long while for that trust to come back. And whether he likes it or not, Matt isn't going to give Coach the time of day until he's ready to hear him out.

Sometimes, father never knows best.