Matt

From Candypedia
Matt
GenderMale
Age18
BirthdayJune 11, 1990 (Gemini)
GradeSenior as of Table for One
SpeciesCat
BreedTuxedo
OccupationStudent
AffiliationSenior friend group
DebutHappy Hour, page 9
October 24, 2013 (2013-10-24)

Matt is a tall tuxedo cat in the senior friend group at Roseville High School, best known as Rachel’s inseparable best friend and as the guy who will hug you before he has learned your name. He is the one who cheers when the drinks arrive, prods sulking sophomores into dancing and volunteers for campfire duty. He is also gay, out to a few close friends and to parents who did not take the news well. He is usually the one comforting somebody else, even when he could use some reassurance himself.

Personality

Matt thinks a table full of moping sophomores just needs to dance. He teases people constantly and gently, hands out nicknames, and lets his best friend hang off his arm like they’re posing for a perfume ad. He has also worked out, rather carefully, how much of himself it is safe to show and to whom, and he is more comfortable looking after somebody else than asking for help himself.

Matt greets a total stranger with a tackle-hug when the drinks arrive in Happy Hour.

Rachel’s birthday party sets the tone. Matt leads the cake presentation and then prods the gloomy core cast into dancing, telling Paulo to “get yer groove on, sulkyface”.[1][2] Asked who he even is, he describes himself as just a guy having fun at his friend’s party.[2] He whoops from the back of the junior-prom limo,[3] and tries to end prom night on a high note mere seconds before the car crash.[4] At the beach house he volunteers to start the campfire,[5] and in Love Again he piles onto Madison and Jessica’s group hug as soon as he hears somebody talking about how great Rachel is.[6] Veronica has said she always likes writing him because he is such a pleasant person.[7]

He is also quick to forgive, and quick to take blame that isn’t his. In the hospital after the prom crash, bruised but in good spirits, he jokes to Paulo that it “pays to not be a twig” like him and Jordan and apologizes for his car’s lack of airbags, as though the crash had been his idea.[8] When Jordan thanks him for walking him around school afterwards, Matt waves it off, since the other two came out of it far worse than he did.[9] Paulo’s rudeness gets absorbed the same way, and when it finally boils over at the beach, Matt’s first response is to ask, quite calmly, whether that is what all of this has been about.[10] He mentors people whether or not anyone asked him to. He tells a sobbing sixteen-year-old that he has plenty of time to figure himself out.[11] He brings Paulo along to Madison’s party so that he can work things out in a healthy way, and coaches Jordan for the SATs with the cheerful promise that he’ll ace them or die trying.[12] Veronica has described him as seeing Paulo as a confused kid to mentor rather than anything else.[13]

Matt himself will tell you he is not an open person. When Paulo marvels at how open he is about everything, Matt answers that he isn’t very open, and admits that violent reactions like Paulo’s are exactly why he still hides it sometimes.[14][15] He has learned the hard way that people you assume are fine with it can surprise you.[16] Paulo calls him a really positive guy shortly before Matt slumps onto his steering wheel and admits he is scared.[17][18] Matt is counting on life after graduation. He researches colleges on his beach vacation because he’s “on a roll”,[19] can’t wait to be done with school,[20] and reassures himself after learning Jordan is straight that college is soon and he has lots of time.[21] As a freshman he told himself that dating Rachel would make him normal, and that the rest of it was only a phase.[22][15]

Standing up for himself is another matter. Matt opens his complaint about Jessica’s play by conceding that he can be “a bit of a pushover sometimes”,[23] works himself up into a genuine outburst about being made into a loser,[24] and then starts backing down.[25] A little later he is suggesting everyone simply believe Jessica, catches himself in the middle of doing it again, and asks the room since when being nice became a bad thing.[26] The whole grievance folds in Participation Trophy, once he remembers Morris gets a million-dollar settlement and learns about the romance he missed.[27]

Appearance

Freshman-year Matt in his beanie, in a promotional excerpt from Blind Date.[28]

Matt is a tall black-and-white tuxedo cat, drawn noticeably larger than many of his classmates.[29] He is well aware of it, joking after the prom crash that being built like he is beats being a twig like Paulo and Jordan,[8] and Rachel’s freshman-year gushing in Blind Date has her calling him so big he’s the perfect gentle giant.[30] Veronica has said his body type is based on Oliver Bareham (her chunky boy), who poses for her when she needs to draw Matt.[31]

His clothes change from scene to scene, with nothing you would call a uniform. He turns up to Rachel’s party in a green shirt,[29] and wears a dark suit and tie to junior prom.[3] The freshman-year Matt of Blind Date also wears a beanie.[28] Veronica has since confirmed on Tumblr that he stopped wearing it, jokingly asking whether people were demanding he go back into the closet.[32]

Significant events

Freshman year

The BCI story Blind Date follows Matt in his freshman year.[33] Rachel steps in when Tess and Roger bully him, and the two grow close over the following months.[34][35] Encouraged by Jordan, and remembering demands that he be normal, Matt accepts a movie date with Rachel and tells himself his feelings for boys are only a phase.[36][22]

Junior year

Matt first appears in the main comic at Rachel’s birthday party in Happy Hour, hugging Paulo when the drinks arrive and carrying off his bottles.[29][37] Take Heart reveals his sexuality to Paulo and his crush on Jordan to the reader.[38]

In Total Recall, he joins Rachel, Jessica, Jordan, Tiff and Paulo in the limo to junior prom.[3][39] For the return trip, Rachel asks Paulo to drive; Matt offers his car and reassures him, “We trust you, man!”[40] A collision on the way home leaves Matt with bruises and a wrecked car, while Paulo and Jordan are more badly hurt.[4][8] In the Volume Five chapter There’s a Chance, he walks the sling-armed Jordan through school afterwards.[9]

Paulo has questions about the road trip, and none of them are polite.

In Boy Toy, Matt invites Paulo to his aunt’s beach house for July. Paulo initially objects but reluctantly accepts.[7][41] The trip in Golden Hour ends with a campfire conversation about Matt’s coming out, Paulo’s hostility and the help Matt is still willing to offer him.[15][42]

Senior year

The senior group shares the main cast’s lunch period in Table for One.[43] At Madison’s birthday party at the Bowling alley in Fair Game, Matt confides his feelings for Jordan to Paulo, who offers to find out whether Jordan might be interested.[44][16] Matt asks him not to mention his name.[45] Learning that Jordan is straight brings Matt’s fears about his future to the surface, and this time Paulo comforts him.[21][46]

Matt discovers Paulo’s investigation involved considerably more than investigation.

In Sugar Substitute, Matt is tutoring Jordan for the SATs when he learns how Paulo conducted his investigation.[47][12] In Double Down, he agrees to give Augustus a ride and joins Rachel’s mock lament over the boy’s lack of fun.[48][49] At the New Year’s Resolution celebrations, Rachel leads him away from a tearful Paulo.[50]

Jessica’s play in Method Acting prompts Matt to object to Morris, a pushover he recognizes as a caricature of himself. He makes his peace with the play in Participation Trophy.[24][27] He welcomes Augustus to the senior table in Line in the Sand.[51] In Made Fresh, Paulo reveals Matt’s crush to Jordan during a restaurant outing Matt is not attending.[52]

Major relationships

Paulo

Paulo tests something out, and Matt gives him time to figure it out.

At first, Paulo treats Matt’s offers of friendship as a puzzle to solve. Their first meeting is a hug Paulo didn’t ask for,[29] and by the next chapter Paulo has decided Matt has a punchable face and wonders whether he is Rachel’s boyfriend.[53][54] Once Paulo learns Matt is gay, he gets skittish instead of jealous. He lets a “fuckin’ gay” slip in front of him in Matt’s car after prom,[55] snaps at his beach-trip invitation,[56] and yanks his hand away when Matt reaches for him during volleyball.[57] Matt keeps inviting him anyway. He teases Paulo about being Rachel’s boy toy, but the beach trip offer comes with the plain explanation that he would just like to get to know him better.[7][41] Even Paulo admits afterwards that Matt made him think about things he hadn’t before.[58]

Paulo finally explodes at the Golden Hour campfire, accusing Matt of wanting to make out with him.[10] Matt asks whether that is really what this has been about, and then adds, “For the record, I absolutely do not like you that way.”[10][59] Rather than walk off, he tells Paulo about coming out to his parents, about Jessica and Rachel being nothing but supportive, and about still hiding it sometimes because he is scared of what people might do to him.[14][15] Paulo ends up sobbing, and Matt does the comforting, reminding him that he is sixteen and a good kid with plenty of time, and that he has Rachel and Matt too.[11] Paulo hugs him from the side as Matt holds the hot dogs over the fire, explaining that he is testing something out, and Matt tells him to take his time.[60][42] Veronica has explained that she wrote these scenes with Matt wanting to look out for Paulo, not having romantic feelings for him.[13]

In Fair Game it is Paulo’s turn to do the catching. He appoints himself Matt’s scout at Madison’s party,[16] and comes back with bad news about Jordan.[21] Matt tries to take it gracefully. At a traffic light, though, he slumps onto the wheel and says “I’m scared.”[18] He admits that sometimes he doesn’t want to be this way, and wonders whether he would even be worth it to anybody.[61][62] Paulo, in tears himself, holds him and promises an amazing husband who is leagues better than Jordan, then confesses that if there is no hope for Matt he doesn’t know what chance he has.[46][63] Matt puts an arm around him in return, and they eventually break into laughter.[63][64] When Paulo later lets Matt’s secret slip to Jordan, he still takes care to add that Matt knows Jordan isn’t an option.[65]

Rachel

Their future plans reach the inevitable question of interior decorating in Golden Hour.

Rachel picked Matt out as a new freshman and never let go. In Blind Date she pulls him out from under Tess and Roger,[34] spends months crushing on him,[30][35] and eventually asks him out, which Matt accepts in the hope that it will make him normal.[22] As he tells Paulo years later, she knew better.[15] They came out of it looking like a couple in every respect but one. They walk arm in arm and part with “sweetheart” and “lover” as a running bit.[53][66] When Paulo mistakes them for an item, the two of them laugh until they can barely stand.[66]

Rachel is also the safety net Matt is counting on after graduation. At the beach house in Golden Hour she calls him “Mattie” as they plan a shared apartment, interior decorating included. Rachel promises him that he doesn’t have to worry about a place to stay.[19][20] In the BCI story Open Fire, Matt is also counting on living with Rachel after graduation.[67] She defends him without being asked, too. When Paulo is rude to him in Boy Toy, she tells Paulo that Matt “deals with way more than you know.”[41]

His niceness gets on her nerves when they’re supposed to be standing up for themselves. In Method Acting Rachel barks his name when he starts backing down, and he manages a stiff declaration that they were deeply hurt by Jessica’s play.[25] When he starts sympathizing with Jessica again, she tells him to clam it with the sympathetic parent act and grow a spine.[68] He shrinks and protests that there’s no need to yell.[68] By Participation Trophy they are gushing over the play together and Matt is promising to upload the first fanfic.[69]

Jordan

Matt’s tutoring service works rather differently for Jordan.

Jordan is one of the people Matt leans on most, but Matt is afraid to tell him about his crush. Rachel introduced them in freshman year,[35] and by the end of Blind Date Matt is already daydreaming about him at his locker and picturing the disgust on Jordan’s face if he ever knew.[70] The crush is still going in Take Heart, when Matt blushes over a pile of dropped books,[38] and he finally explains it to Paulo at Madison’s party. Jordan has “pulled me out of some really dark places”, he says, and is so full of life that none of it ever looks like it costs him anything.[44] At this point he has not asked and does not intend to, because he is afraid of losing Jordan as a friend.[16]

Matt looks after Jordan even when it means listening to him pine for somebody else. He consoles him outside prom after Tiff ditches him.[71] Later he walks the sling-armed Jordan around school and lets him believe Tiff’s get-well message means she really cares.[72][73] By Burnt Bridges, Friday movie night has even become Jordan’s English tutoring night.[74] He coaches him for the SATs, too, and notices when a family emergency has him on edge without prying into it.[12][75] Jordan remains oblivious to the crush. In Sugar Substitute he tells Matt he had considered setting him up with Paulo. Matt is aghast at the idea of dating a sixteen-year-old.[76]

Matt gets his answer in Fair Game, and it is the one he expected. He learns from Paulo that Jordan is straight and puts the best face on it he can, calling Jordan “that little high school crush”, the one that doesn’t go anywhere, and saying he will always be grateful for what Jordan helped him feel out.[21] He can’t keep that up for long. Much later, in Made Fresh, Paulo lets the secret slip, and Jordan is left repeating in disbelief that Matt likes him. He even tries to will himself into liking Matt back, before accepting that he cannot force it.[77][78]

In the BCI story Open Fire, Jordan spends a camping trip advocating for Matt to Harvey while Matt’s attention drifts toward the extremely cute Sam.[79][80]

Minor relationships

His parents

Matt’s parents remain mostly out of sight. He came out to them once, and, as he tells Paulo, they “weren’t particularly happy” to hear it.[14] The remembered voices in Blind Date ask him why he can’t just be normal.[36] The BCI story Open Fire goes further. His father calls Jordan a “sissy” as Matt leaves for a camping trip, and wants Matt taught family values.[81][82] Jordan describes Matt’s mother as almost as bad.[80] Matt admits he has been given until graduation before he is out of the house, at which point Harvey offers him a bedroom.[67][83]

Jessica

Matt grabs Jessica’s hands to apologize for being “such a baby” about her play in Participation Trophy.

Jessica seems to have worked out that Matt is gay by the end of Blind Date,[84] and Matt counts her alongside Rachel as the friends who were nothing but supportive.[15] She is his dance partner at junior prom,[40] but her play in Method Acting gives him something to complain about. He recognizes himself in Morris, a pushover who apologizes for being poor.[85][24] In Participation Trophy, remembering the settlement and learning that Jessica hinted at a romance with the detective Damian brings him around. Matt is the one apologizing.[27]

Quotes

C’mon, get yer groove on, sulkyface! Matt, urging Paulo to dance in Happy Hour

For the record, I absolutely do not like you that way. Matt, to Paulo, after a great deal of shouting, in Golden Hour

You’re SIXTEEN, Paulo. You have SO much time to figure yourself out. Matt, to a sobbing Paulo at the campfire in Golden Hour

Would I even be worth it to anybody? Matt, to Paulo, stopped at a red light in Fair Game

Look, I’m sorry, but since when has being nice been considered a BAD THING? Matt, defending himself, briefly, in Method Acting

I’m gonna be the one to upload the first fanfic! Matt, coming around on Jessica’s play in Participation Trophy

Gallery

For a complete gallery, see Gallery:Matt.

Trivia

  • Matt was introduced in Happy Hour as a one-off party guest. Veronica later decided to flesh him out and retroactively made him Jordan’s friend, and she jokingly blames the continuity slip this created in Dinner Time on Matt himself.[33]
  • David’s nickname for him in Golden Hour, “milk’s favorite cookie”, became the tagline of his keyring charm in the Volume Six Kickstarter.[86][87]
  • Veronica’s page commentary during Golden Hour calls him an “oreo-flavoured cinnamon roll”.[14]
  • Blind Date, his freshman-year prequel, became BCI’s free public sample comic.[28]
  • Asked on Tumblr about the Jordan and Matt pairing, Veronica’s entire tongue-in-cheek answer was “They’re in love!”[88]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chapter 80: Happy Hour, page 36
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 80: Happy Hour, page 38
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Chapter 85: Total Recall, page 11
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 85: Total Recall, page 25
  5. ↑ Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 10
  6. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 26
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Chapter 87: Boy Toy, page 5
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Chapter 85: Total Recall, page 36
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Five, “There’s a Chance”, page 1
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 38
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 42
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Sugar Substitute, page 3
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 “Ask response on whether Matt and Paulo ever had feelings for each other”. 2026-04-13.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 40
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 41
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 10
  17. ↑ Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 27
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 28
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 1
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 2
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 26
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Blind Date, page 10 🔒 (members only)
  23. ↑ Chapter 121: Method Acting, page 16
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Chapter 121: Method Acting, page 17
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Chapter 121: Method Acting, page 18
  26. ↑ Chapter 121: Method Acting, page 22
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Chapter 126: Participation Trophy, page 4
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 “Ask response on the Blind Date short comic”. 2018-06-29.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Chapter 80: Happy Hour, page 9
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Blind Date, page 5 🔒 (members only)
  31. ↑ “Ask response on whether Matt is based on Oliver”. 2017-07-05.
  32. ↑ “Ask response on Matt’s missing beanie”. 2026-07-21.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 “Ask response on when Jordan became friends with Jessica and Rachel”. 2026-04-13.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Blind Date, page 2 🔒 (members only)
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Blind Date, page 6 🔒 (members only)
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Blind Date, page 9 🔒 (members only)
  37. ↑ Chapter 80: Happy Hour, page 10
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Chapter 81: Take Heart, page 33
  39. ↑ Chapter 85: Total Recall, page 12
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Chapter 85: Total Recall, page 21
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 Chapter 87: Boy Toy, page 6
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 44
  43. ↑ Chapter 92: Table for One, page 11
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 7
  45. ↑ Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 11
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 31
  47. ↑ Sugar Substitute, page 2
  48. ↑ Chapter 114: Double Down, page 2
  49. ↑ Chapter 114: Double Down, page 4
  50. ↑ Chapter 119: New Year’s Resolution, page 14
  51. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 38
  52. ↑ Chapter 128: Made Fresh, page 26
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Chapter 81: Take Heart, page 4
  54. ↑ Chapter 81: Take Heart, page 5
  55. ↑ Chapter 85: Total Recall, page 23
  56. ↑ Chapter 87: Boy Toy, page 4
  57. ↑ Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 7
  58. ↑ Chapter 87: Boy Toy, page 31
  59. ↑ Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 39
  60. ↑ Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 43
  61. ↑ Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 29
  62. ↑ Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 30
  63. ↑ 63.0 63.1 Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 32
  64. ↑ Chapter 104: Fair Game, page 33
  65. ↑ Chapter 128: Made Fresh, page 29
  66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 Chapter 81: Take Heart, page 31
  67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 Open Fire, page 15 🔒 (members only)
  68. ↑ 68.0 68.1 Chapter 121: Method Acting, page 24
  69. ↑ Chapter 126: Participation Trophy, page 5
  70. ↑ Blind Date, page 7 🔒 (members only)
  71. ↑ Chapter 85: Total Recall, page 14
  72. ↑ Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Five, “There’s a Chance”, page 3
  73. ↑ Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Five, “There’s a Chance”, page 4
  74. ↑ Chapter 111: Burnt Bridges, page 1
  75. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 27
  76. ↑ Sugar Substitute, page 4
  77. ↑ Chapter 128: Made Fresh, page 27
  78. ↑ Chapter 128: Made Fresh, page 30
  79. ↑ Open Fire, page 9 🔒 (members only)
  80. ↑ 80.0 80.1 Open Fire, page 14 🔒 (members only)
  81. ↑ Open Fire, page 3 🔒 (members only)
  82. ↑ Open Fire, page 4 🔒 (members only)
  83. ↑ Open Fire, page 16 🔒 (members only)
  84. ↑ Blind Date, page 11 🔒 (members only)
  85. ↑ Chapter 121: Method Acting, page 7
  86. ↑ Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 3
  87. ↑ “Bittersweet Candy Bowl Volume Six Kickstarter”. 2018-10-26.
  88. ↑ “Ask response on the Jordan and Matt pairing”. 2026-01-30.
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