ally!! i saw the prompt list you reposted and whilst there were MULTIPLE that had me a little squealy thinking about fictional matty and george I think my FAVE would have to be the ‘have you eaten today’!!!
would love to see your take on this, as in my mind fictional matty is not very good at taking care of himself ESPECIALLY when stressed and sometimes fictional george has to step in to make sure he doesn’t like die of starvation and/or sleep deprivation lol.
(also i am anon #4 who would love a nashville fic lol and since I have recently become enamoured with everything you are writing in the george/matty tag i was wondering if I could start signing my asks with a ‘💌’ so you are aware of how much i fully appreciate your glorious fics lol))
Hi! Newly christened Letter 💌 Anon,
(Side note - it blows my mind people care about this little blog and my writing enough to want to claim emojis so thank you so much to anyone that has - I may not have done the best job of keeping track of what has been claimed because I was so shocked anything had been claimed lol but if anyone else wants one let me know I have a list now! It’s fun!)
It’s so nice to hear from the Nashville Fic Anon #4 (and to have an official emoji to refer to you with!) The Nashville Fic group is up to FIVE now which means if we went to a restaurant we would need a RESERVATION wild stuff!
Thank you so much for sending in this prompt! It made me smile super hard so I went out of order and decided to jump it to the top of the list - sorry not sorry!
I hope this is what you were looking for - if not let me know and I can write something else! Regardless, let me know what you think!
If anyone else wants to send in a ways of subtley showing love prompt the list can be found here!
Thank you so much for reading and for sending in this prompt! I’m so happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying my work, I know it’s not for everyone and is very heavy on the angst but the fact that it’s bringing (hopefully) joy to even one or two people makes me so incredibly happy! 🥰
❤️Ally
"Have you eaten today?"
“Hey,” said George softly, causing Matty to look up sharply. His hood slipped off his curls as he tilted his head back, his blurry eyes wide and surprised, glancing around frantically, worried that he had missed the call to board and that the plane was going to leave without him.
“Have you eaten today?” He asked, frowning at the dark circles under Matty’s sunken eyes illuminated by the glow of his laptop screen.
“Wha?” Matty asked, tugging his headphones off, letting them hang around his neck. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to refocus his vision on George, swallowing a yawn as he did so. He shut his laptop and shoved it into his backpack that was sitting half open at his side, they had to be boarding soon and he didn’t want to forget it (again).
“I got you a sandwich,” George said, holding up the take away bag, “and a coke, and it made me realize, have you eaten today?”
Matty froze, trying to remember. They had flown in late the night before, and Matty’s head had barely hit the pillow before he was bombarded with calls from his lawyer, and their newly hired PR agency to discuss The Incident as they were referring to it.
He had spent nearly all night on the bathroom floor, hunched over his laptop, whispering on the phone as to not wake George, as he tried to navigate the storm pulling him in multiple directions. As if George could sleep without the warm weight of Matty pressed against his side, drawn to him like a magnet or a moth to the flame, his own personal weighted blanket. He wasn’t taking care of himself, letting himself be tossed each and every way, his body battered as it beat against the shore line while he gave a bloody smile and assurances that it was fine, everything was fine. But it wasn’t fine, Matty wasn’t fine. He was spreading himself too thin, his edges frayed and damaged, a salt stained rope threatening to snap. Offering himself up as a punching bag, taking the hits without complaint as if he could spare the rest of them the anguish.
He had already been up when George awoke, fluttering around the hotel room in a tornado of limbs now that he didn’t have to try and be quiet, fielding calls from lawyers, from PR, from the media and from Jamie. He did it without complaint, giving a sad smile when he said he was okay, that he was figuring it out. That he was sorry to have caused such a commotion, to have made such a mess as if he had been alone in his actions, alone in his views.
Matty had missed breakfast, pacing the length of the hotel parking lot while he spoke on the phone, a cigarette dangling between two fingers as he chainsmoked through the tense exchanging of words. Then they had taken the van to the venue, completed sound check, and Matty had found a quiet corner to take a zoom call with Brad about set design for the upcoming tour. They performed, the crowd lively even if Matty himself was more subdued. He had showered at the venue before being bundled back into the van, and was now sitting on the floor of the airport lounge, their late night flight out delayed due to a mechanical issue and the complimentary buffet already closed for the evening.
His stomach grumbled and he reached up, accepting the take away bag and the bottle of coke. He couldn’t imagine that he had gone all day without eating, but he also couldn’t remember a moment where he had. He had started to unwrap a crushed Poptart he had found at the bottom of his backpack, but he couldn’t remember eating it, having been pulled into a debrief about venue security and how it was imperative that he did not make his way into the crowd that night. He had obliged without complaint, he couldn’t imagine all of the hands on him, touching him, pulling at him when he already felt like he was a breath away from breaking. He’s pretty sure he had sat the Poptart down on a table, and when he returned it was gone.
“Thanks,” he said, pulling the sandwich out of the bag and unwrapping it from the paper, smiling when he saw ham and swiss, his go to comfort food when he was feeling overwhelmed. There was a bag of salt and vinegar crisps in there as well and he tore into the plastic eagerly, surprising even himself with how hungry he was as he scarfed them down as if someone was waiting to take them away from him. He hadn’t realized how truly hungry he was until he had started eating.
“Don’t choke,” said George fondly, dropping his large body onto the ground next to Matty on the floor, wincing at the way his knee cracked on the way down. Turning thirty had been the worst thing he ever did.
“I won’t,” said Matty after he swallowed a bite of his sandwich, before taking a swig of coke, the carbonation stinging in his chest from drinking it too quickly causing him to hiccup painfully.
“I love you,” said George fervently, wrapping his arm around Matty’s shoulders and tugging him into his side, Matty went easily, scooting across the rough fabric carpet to lean into George’s comforting warmth, still clinging to his sandwich, stomach jumping as he hiccuped again. Guilt stirring in George’s belly, he wished he could take the haunted look out of Matty’s eyes, he wished he could give him twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep. Matty squeezed George’s knee and took another bite of his sandwich. George wished he had realized that Matty hadn’t eaten sooner.
“I love you too,” said Matty, resting his head on George’s shoulder, closing his eyes. “Thank you for taking care of me,” he said, opening his eyes again to look at the sandwich, overcome with exhaustion and emotion.
“Always,” said George, it was the least he could do.
