Tattletale is Dating

[Axle]

My attempt of writing a slice of life romance that revolves around an already established relationship, as opposed to a story where the characters gradually get together. Sequel to "Tattletale Gets Laid", a previous story completed in Space Battles and Sufficient Velocity forums.

XXX

"How is it that you ignore me when I don't want you to, but listen to me when I'm saying something mundane?"

"I am a bit mundane," Matthew scratched his chin, contemplating on the word 'mundane.' "I think it encapsulates me pretty well. Not a hero, not a villain, not a badass criminal with a dark secret past, just…. Mundane."

"You're still not listening to me." Lisa pushed the purse on the coffee table closer to Matthew. The bag was a decorated, it was a simple purse with striped designs on the edge. Inside were various gifts that Matthew had filled it up with, but Lisa refused to accept it.

The waiter walked up to the both of them. She smiled. She was a young adult, and somewhat eager to be their server. "Is there anything more I can get you both?"

"Not now," Lisa said in a hard voice.

In an attempt to lighten Lisa up, the young waitress said, "can I just say you both make such a cute couple."

The girl was clearly new at her job, typically her compliments could defuse any situation she was in, and she was hoping to be doing Matthew a favor.

Lisa couldn't help herself, "question, are you saying that because we're actually cute together, or because we're an interracial couple and you think it's somehow progressive?"

The woman's face turned hot red, like she'd just been caught in a lie. "Um…"

"Wow, we're an interracial couple?" Matthew said it like he didn't realize he was tan skinned. Matthew was only slightly older than Lisa by three years. He was the same height as Brian but had more swurvy hair compared to him.

"Lisa," Matthew said in surprise, "I didn't know you were so liberal."

Lisa squinted at him, "of course you wouldn't notice that!"

The waitress asked, "um… I'll, give you two more time."

Shortly after the waitress left, Lisa whispered, "you do realize she recommended spicy foods to you because she thinks you're more tolerant towards them. It's prejudiced, and I like spicy food way more than you!"

Matthew replied, "I thought she was just being polite, and it's a good thing she said it so you could hear her. I figured just avoiding chicken everywhere I go helps prevent me from pushing out a stereotype. "

"God you're self conscious."

"Indeed I am…. Wait, did you order the papaya last time just to share them with me?"

Lisa crossed her arms. Matthew said, "wow, that's sweet."

"You're a tool… On so many levels."

Matthew pushed the purse gift towards her, "not on this level."

Lisa wrinkled her nose. "First off, I told you specifically not to get me an anniversary gift. One month anniversaries are annoying, and it comes off as obligatory traditions for couples that aren't creative in any way. Why celebrate one month? What about two months, then three? It's signing up for something meaningless, and the value of these pointless anniversaries always dwindles over time."

Matthew rested his hand on his cheek. He liked listening to Lisa talk, even if it was her scolding him. She continued, "so I told you, don't give me an anniversary gift. Don't even give me an anniversary dinner, we should forget we've been together for a full month, and do something else together any other time. So, on the day after our one month anniversary, you took me to this restaurant, and decide to give me this." Lisa thrusted the purse in Matthew's face. "The purse I said I liked five months ago when the mall first opened. Full of nit nacks of inside jokes between the both us. A glass grasshopper, preserved tulips, a plushie sloth I said that looked like you. You gave me a purse full of every mundane moments we've had together since we first met, and you give it to me, on our anniversary."

Lisa scowled at him, "I told you, don't give me a gift. And yet, vuala, here it is!" She pointed to the purse in disgust.

Matthew smiled at her, "you used your powers to figure out what's inside."

"It's not that hard to figure out."

Matthew said, "can you guess when I got the purse?"

Lisa, unfairly relying on her powers again, frowned, "this morning."

"The day after our one month anniversary. So technically, it's not a one month anniversary gift." Matthew raised a finger up, "I wanted to take you out on a date, so I did. On my way here, I saw a bunch of nit nacks that reminded me of you. So I picked out each of them, and bought that purse I knew you wanted from a few months ago. I didn't technically do it for an anniversary, I just did it because I thought you'd like it."

Lisa frowned as her powers filled her in with the truth.

Acted on a whim. Unplanned gift - Unrelated to Anniversary

Lisa's mouth shrunk.

Matthew grinned as he saw that she saw the truth.

"Stop smiling," Lisa growled.

Matthew walked up from the table and kissed her on the forehead. He said to her, "happy normal day. I'm glad we're still together, and I hope I can give you more gifts like this when I have more normal days with you."

Lisa stayed quiet. Matthew's aloof attitude and impulsive behaviour made him a little trickier to read, but it was his genuinity she liked the most about him. Lisa murmured, "thank you… You're normalcy is very refreshing..."

 

[Axle]

Lisa looked down at the two cans of dog food. One can had its expiration date on it, the other one didn't. Even though Matthew had picked up the can that had the date written, the written date was actually false. The store owner must've decided that he didn't want to throw away food that was a few days too old. So he rewrote the date, and put it back on the store shelf for some sapless customer to buy it instead.

Matthew was the sapless customer. They would've gotten away with it too, if Lisa weren't so meddling. It wasn't that she didn't trust Matthew to take care of her own dog, it was just that she trusted herself more. Because while Matthew certainly was mature enough to take care of a pet he truly cared about, Lisa made it her mission to take care of that dog on a level only Rachel could be proud of.

Lisa put the can that Matthew picked out into the trash can. She picked out a different can of food, as well as two dog toys, into the grocery cart. She walked down the aisle and found Matthew speaking to the cashier in a calm, kind gesture.

The cashier was twenty, only slightly older than Matthew. She was smiling, brunette and pretty, and clearly attracted to Matthew's attitude. Matthew, of course, was oblivious to any of her gestures.

Matthew wants to be friendly; Cashier wants Matthew to ask her out.​

Lisa pouted, but put on a fake smile once she reached the register. "Hello," she said with an irritated smile.

"Did you find it?" Matthew asked.

"Yup," she pointed at the cart, which also had the added dog accessories that she picked out herself. "We're making Rachel proud here."

The cashier smiled at Lisa, putting on that casual employee smile she was obligated to put on. Lisa raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything as the girl finished checking out their hand picked items. Apparently she had known Matthew well since he was a regular customer there, and he was oblivious to any attraction she had towards him.

Upon reaching outside, it was raining. Matthew and Lisa stared forward at the street underneath the store's outside roof. Neither of them had any attire that was prepared to take on the pouring rain.

Without thinking, Matthew extended his hands outwards and let his arms get wet from the water. He smiled. It was such an thoughtless decision, it often times seemed like Matthew's body would move on its own, rewarding Matthew with subtle pleasures of the world around them.

Matthew felt the rain. Matthew felt the rain.

For most people, walking through the rain just meant getting wet. For Matthew, it felt more like being a part of the rain. To him the rain had a knack for washing away all the dissonance of noises around. The water noise would splash together one sparse unison, and would connected together the unrelated noises into a single melody.

It was a calmness, hearing the rain while being a part of it. Like stepping into a far off world which was completely natural and non-violent to the reality around him.

Lisa stared at Matthew for a full minute. For awhile, Lisa had criticized Matthew for getting lost in thoughts whenever they were together. But as time went on, Matthew's distance felt more like a trip to her. Matthew could get lost into the color or change of the environment around him, and Lisa could just stare right into him, and get an ounce of his relaxation just by letting her powers describe his thought.

It was intoxicating. In a world where Lisa was so addicted by reality, so hard set to address the harsh realities of the world around her, being next to Matthew offered an escape. A controlled vacation from the responsibilities. The ability to feel more attuned to the world in front of her instead of constantly paranoid of the world outside of her peripheral image.

Matthew said, "I'll get an umbrella."

Lisa blinked at him. This time she forgot where she was. "You do?"

"Yeah, I'll be right back."

Matthew headed inside. Lisa relaxed her shoulders. It was late outside, and Matthew made sure to visit Matthew at nights whenever she'd get off from work. She often times brought her work to his apartment, prepared to get an important call whenever they were together.

Matthew was amazingly tolerant to Lisa's busy lifestyle. To him, her life wasn't an inconvenience, just a part of the full package. Not a lot of non-capes realize how hectic cape lives are. There's this idea that being in costume is the only work capes had, Matthew knew better. Or maybe he didn't care?

Either way, giving each other the minimal amount of time worked for the both of them.

Matthew came back with an umbrella to hand over to Lisa. "Here you go."

Lisa stared at the umbrella. She noticed a red ribbon was tied around it. "Where'd you get this?"

"Cashier gave it to me." Matthew answered. "Said it was a gift."

Lisa blinked at him. She opened the umbrella, and underneath the umbrella's fabric, three words were written in bright red marker.

I LOVE YOU

Lisa glanced over at Matthew.

Matthew didn't write that; the Cashier wrote that with the intent of confessing to Matthew​

Matthew was frozen at the sight of the words. All the subtle hints that girl had given him was suddenly becoming clear. Lisa stayed quiet. Matthew said, "we can't come back here."

"I know," Lisa said. "I'm keeping this."

 

[Axle]

Matthew stared off at the balcony of his apartment complex. His home was modest compared to what he could afford. While he had the option to be more extravagant, he lacked the desire or will to decorate his home in any sort of impressive way.

His dog had somewhat changed that. He was setting up accommodations for it. Making sure it was nurtured and well provided despite having a minimalistic attitude.

It seemed, in Lisa's eyes, Matthew had no problem in taking care of others, but lacked any reason to take care of himself. She pulled up a picnic chair next to him, and sat on the balcony as they looks down at the city.

"Did you really watch the transit get built since day one?" Lisa asked.

"History in the making," Matthew said smiling. "First trans-dimensional railway in human history, took them three months and a lot of setbacks to make. I can honestly say I watched every day of it."

It was a dull experience to most, but it was things like that which made it serene. If he could watch something so easily for hours a day at a time, listening to people was second nature to him.

Lisa asked, "have you ever tried people watching?"

"People what?"

"It's where you stare into crowds of people, and make up ideas on what their personal lives are like."

"Like… Your job?"

"Er, I don't have to use my powers on it. It's just guessing people's lives based off their looks."

Matthew rubbed his chin, "that sounds kind of creepy."

"It surprisingly isn't."

Matthew looked down at the people on the ground level from the apartment. He never, technically, thought about what their personal lives were like. Matthew asked, "how do you play?"

"Pick a person walking, and guess something about them." Lisa pointed to a teenager on the boardwalk, "five bucks says she's skipping school."

"If I betted money on this, I'd have to work overtime for you to pay it off."

"I'd be alright with that," Lisa said casually. "Come on Mat, take a guess. I'd love to know if you're right or not."

Matthew stared at one of the construction workers. "That Guy looks like a Kevin."

"Kevin?"

"Kevins are trouble…"

"That's judgemental."

"Isn't this literally just people judging?"

Lis raised an eyebrow, "no, I mean, it's like we're doing anything beyond just guessing about people."

"Yeah, but it's literally assuming what people's lives are based on their looks."

Lisa bit her lip, "it's not."

"Think about it though, we're playing a game trying to read people off of looks. If we play too much, we get used to the idea of judging people based off looks alone. It becomes easier and second nature, and we might end up judging people outside the game purely out of habit."

"Its not people judging," Lisa emphasized.

"It feels like judging people." Matthew argued. "I wouldn't do this to a friend, doing it to a stranger feels worse because I'm not even talking to the person I'm spying to."

"It's not spying," Lisa grumbled.

"Staring from a rooftop is kind of spying."

"It's not a crime to look."

"It is wrong to make assumptions."

Lisa glared at him, "fine, I'll do people watching and you do bird watching or something."

"I'm fine with that," Matthew said backing off the topic. He stared down at a nearby lamppost and noticed a grey bird making a landing. For the sake of getting a point across, Matthew pointed to the bird and said, "do you think that pigeon knows it's gay?"

XXX

"So you slapped him?"

Lily and Sabah were drinking their milkshakes with Lisa at a downtown dairy shop. Lisa opted to drink some coffee while the other two girls treated it more like a date.

Lisa said, "I don't know," she rubbed at her temples, "it just annoyed the hell out of me that he was calling me judgemental."

"You kind of are," Lily argued.

Sabah pinched Lily on the rib. She shuddered at the contact. Sabah said, "hold on, Lisa. Did he actually call you judgemental, or was he talking about the game?"

"He was talking about the game," Lisa said honestly. "But he does think I'm judgemental, and I guess it's just weird to hear his thoughts finally come out of his mouth."

Lily said, "wait, has he said you're judgemental?"

"No, but he is the type to admit it I brought up."

Sabah said, "so you both know you're judgemental, but you finally hearing it from him made you slap him?"

"Pretty much," Lisa said stirring her coffee. "Thing is, I like Matthew because of how steep his honesty goes. Sometimes I just don't like hearing it aloud." Especially when it was directed to herself. Lisa never liked confronting the inner cracks of her personality, having an honest person like Matthew bring that up for her, it was nerve wracking.

"He's kind of like you, though," Lily commented. Lisa raised an eyebrow at her, but Lily quickly explained herself. "I mean, you always use what you know about others to break them down, so when honesty hits you like how you do it with others, you just don't know how to take it."

"Yeah," Sabah said, "and it's not that he was trying to break you down. It sounds to me like he hit a subject you took personally, and took it out on him."

Lisa fell quieter, "Yeah… I know I can come off as a liar sometimes, but I don't like… Being treated like one. At least not from people I like."

XXX

Matthew drank coffee at the store he and Lisa typically met at. He was drinking tea alone. Reading a book the store provided without really concerning himself about the topics within the words.

Matthew knew better than to call Lisa over something so mundane. She had a city to run. He could respect her being upset at him, and he wasn't going to pester her into more pressure than she needed.

Lisa walked to the coffee store and glanced at Matthew. It had been two days since they talked. They both knew it was moreso because of Lisa's work then the argument they had, yet Matthew still waited for her there each day, hoping she'd talk to him.

Lisa took a seat across Matthew at the table. "Hey," Lisa said.

"Hey," Matthew said looking up. "Are we okay?"

"Yeah, we are." Lisa said. There was a bit of silence between them. Lisa was itching to use her powers, but she made a personal promise to not use her powers to fix any problems that might come up. The last thing she wanted was a one sided relationship where it was just her manipulating Matthew for her own satisfaction.

Matthew said, "Did I… offend you last time?"

"No, or, at least not directly. I mean… I think I was overthinking what you said, and I took it out on you when I shouldn't have."

Matthew wasn't sure what to say to that. "Hmmm…"

Lisa tapped her finger against the table. Again, there was that urge to use her powers. Lisa said, "you know, I'm actually pretty surprised. Normally when a girl gets mad, the guy is supposed to apologize even if it's not his fault."

Matthew looked up for a moment, "that's the thing, I don't know why you got mad. If I had offended you, yeah I would say I'm sorry. But otherwise, I'm not going to give you an apology I don't actually mean. That would be a fake apology that doesn't mean anything, and you don't deserve that."

Lisa smiled a bit at that. Matthew really did care about her, and he didn't want to add layers of pressure to her already hectic life. "I'm sorry, Matthew. I thought you were making fun of me, that's why I took it so personally. I don't like being thought less of, and I thought you were… Calling me judgemental..."

Maybe I said too much, Lisa instantly regretted her own words.

"Judgemental?" Matthew asked with an eyebrow raised.

Lisa stayed quiet. She didn't want him to think of her that way. She'd used her powers on him occasionally, and she knew he'd thought she assumed a lot. But for some reason, hearing him call her judgemental aloud genuinely scared her. Probably because he's honest, and him saying it would mean it was true, Lisa thought to herself.

"Lisa, judgemental-"

Matthew paused. He was quick to realize that this was a subject she was sensitive about, but he also didn't want her to think less of herself. Matthew said, "Lisa, I know you might think you're judgemental, but I know by now that you know everyone is judgemental to a certain degree. Whether it's big or small, how you read people doesn't make you any worst as a person."

Lisa didn't say anything. Matthew added, "and your powers don't make you any less judgemental than anyone else. Your powers are a tool, and how you use it doesn't reflect onto you as a bad person."

"I'm a villain, Matthew."

"You're a good person, you know this. We both know this. How you view people doesn't change that."

Lisa was quieter than usual, "you really believe that, don't you?"

Matthew nodded, "you might not, but I do."

Lisa let his words sink in. He'd just admitted she was judgemental, but framed it in a way where it wasn't a bad trait. It was like Matthew was so accepting of people, that what the rest of the world saw as manipulative, Matthew saw it as the casual reality of things.

Matthew said, "you can use your powers to check if I believe that."

Lisa smiled, "I'll take your word on that."