mattheo riddle was the type of guy who didn’t mind a bit of kiss and tell. he figured it was his business to share if he wanted, and honestly, half the fun was letting it feed his reputation. he was already infamous around hogwarts for sleeping around and playing the part of the class' player (he preferred the term casanova) and the fact that rumors spread like wildfire only made it easier to keep himself firmly in the center of attention.

but when it came to you, things weren’t quite so simple.

you were his best friend. the person who’d been there through late-night study sessions, half-hearted detentions, but now somehow, the person he couldn’t keep his hands off.

what you two had started off almost accidentally. a few stolen kisses one night when you’d both lingered a little too long after a party. it escalated quickly: broom closets, empty classrooms, locker rooms. any place you could steal a moment.

still, you both kept it quiet. neither of you wanted the whole castle in your business, and mattheo liked it.

of course, people talked. the friend group definitely had suspicions — more than once, theo had raised an eyebrow when mattheo came back from a “study session” looking suspiciously disheveled. but whenever someone asked outright, mattheo would shrug and dismiss it with a casual, “we’re just friends.”

soon, it became a reflex and a habit. friends. always friends.

what mattheo didn’t realize was how much that word was starting to grate on you.

you’d tried to bring it up once, half-whispering frustrations into his ear, but he’d been too busy pressing his mouth to your neck to properly listen. he’d just mumbled a distracted “mhm” and gone right back to kissing you until you gave up trying to talk.

the truth was, mattheo was conflicted as hell. on one hand, he liked the freedom, the adrenaline of never being tied down. he’d spent years building this persona of the untouchable heartbreaker and wasn’t eager to give it up. but on the other hand… he couldn’t deny the way his chest tightened whenever he saw couples holding hands, completely sure of each other. sometimes he wanted it.

but rather than admit any of that, mattheo preferred not to think about it. he’d rather distract himself with your lips than with uncomfortable conversations about labels and feelings.

so when he yanked you into his dorm on a random tuesday, skipping out on a study period purely because he’d been thinking about you all morning, he was caught entirely off guard to find you glaring at him instead of smirking back.

your arms were crossed, eyes sharp enough to slice right through him.

“what?” mattheo asked, frowning, feeling strangely exposed under your stare.