It had been two weeks since Mattias last saw Everette. In that time Mattias had completed his onboarding and was finally fully involved with his laboratory work.
Yet for some reason his mind kept drifting back to that handsome man with intense green eyes. He almost wondered if he should try contacting him.
Except he didn't have his contact details and being the first to send a text message is an impossible task for an introvert such as himself. It's not like they knew each other that well anyway.
Still maybe he could try sending a message. What would be a good excuse? Maybe needing some help moving in? He was already completely moved in though.
Perhaps he should say that his parents asked him to contact Everette? But involving his parents will only bring trouble.
Ooh what about offering to take him out to dinner to repay him for two weeks ago? That's a good one. An excuse only a true extrovert has the power to wield, but Mattias could be strong. Especially if it was for Everette.
It still didn't fix the problem of not knowing his contact details though. Matthias sighed and turned back to his computer to finish up his work for the day.
Everette Vale had just been through two weeks from hell. He spent hours cooperating with the police and lawyers, worked well past midnight every night, dealt with an inhumane amount of stress and had to talk to all manner of pretentious and unreasonable alphas.
Now that the mess finally reached a manageable stage, he decided to take a couple of hours off to go and see Mattias. It had been more than two weeks since the last time he saw him.
Everette had slightly abused his powers as the CEO to obtain the working hours of the researchers in the Stargazer laboratories. He was now walking towards the building about 10 minutes before their work shift ended.
Everette stopped just outside the building doors. The doors were made of glass, so he could see his faint reflection. His skin was sallow and his eyebags were huge, not to mention the state of his hair. Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea.
Everette sighed and decided to take a breather before going to see Mattias. He sat on a little park bench just outside the building. The days were still quite short, so it was already dark.
Everette looked up to the sky. He could feel the stress and exhaustion that he hadn't let his body process sinking in. He closed his eyes and furrowed his brows, massaging the bridge of his nose.
He was so caught up in his stress that he didn't notice someone approaching. He only looked up when he heard a soft, shy voice calling, "Everette?"
Mattias was standing there, a coat in one of his arms. Mattias opened his mouth, hestiated, then opened it again. Eventually he gathered the courage to ask, "are you okay?"
Everett quickly forced a relaxed look onto his face. "Yes I'm fine. I've just been a bit busy from work."
Mattias looked at Everette dubiously. He then moved so that he was sitting next to Everette on the park bench. "Well… if you're not fine, then you could talk to me about it? I don't mind listening."
Everette chuckled. It was a nice feeling, to know that someone was concerned about you. "I'm really fine. Just a bit tired."
The wind tugged gently on the ends of Mattias' long hair, framing his face. Everette found his eyes following those strands as they swayed. What would it be like to touch those strands?
Everette was brought back to his senses by a soft warmth covering his shoulders. Turns out Mattias had draped his coat across Everette's shoulders.
"It's still cold at night," Mattias said softly. "You should be wearing a coat."
"Thank you," Everette said, sinking deeper into the coat. The coat smelled like summer fruits and sunshine. It filled him with an inexplicable sense of warmth, and Everette felt his body slowly relax for the first time in two weeks.
Mattias sat there, watching Everette relax with a satisfied expression. He didn't know how to best help him, so he was glad that he could at least do this much.
"Have you eaten yet?" Mattias asked.
Everette nodded slowly, still a little absorbed in the scent of the coat. Eventually he sighed. "I have to go back to back to work soon."
"Should you be doing that if you're so tired?" Mattias asked worriedly.
Everette grinned fondly at him. "Of course. No matter how tired I am, work is work."
Mattias blushed a little in the face of Everette's grin. "Okay then. Make sure you get some rest too though. Do you want me to walk you back to your car?"
"Sure." Everette slowly stood up, still clad in Mattias' warm jacket.
The two walked back towards Everette's car. Along the way Mattias made some soft chatter, simple comments about the weather, or some of the cute ducklings that he had seen wandering about the campus.
Everette listened absentmindedly, feeling more and more soothed by Mattias' voice and the warm coat. When they arrived at his car he was very reluctant to part. Especially since he didn't know when they would meet again.
"Have you ever been to the waterfront pier?" Everette asked.
Mattias shook his head. "Not since I was a little kid," he said.
"It's changed quite a bit over the years. If you wouldn't mind, perhaps I could show you around?" Everette turned away in an effort to appear nonchalant.
Mattias was delighted. Now he had an excuse to meet with Everette again. "Sure! What time should we go?"
"I'll probably be busy for the next few days, so perhaps we should go next Saturday? Let me get your phone number so we can contact each other."
"Okay," Mattias said as he dug his phone out of his bag. "Here. My phone number is…"
They exchanged contact details, before they both waved goodbye. Everette reluctantly handed the coat back to Mattias, before driving back to work.
Once back in the office, Everette was sorting the documents on his desk when he smelt a faint fragrance of summer fruits and sunshine. The smell on Mattias' jacket must have rubbed off on him.
It truly was a warm smell.