#didn’t know i needed party goer matt but oh my

[r4diostar]

yeah i’m jerking off to this tonight

[nyisles]

Magic in the Hamptons

~my first fic be kind~ 

Player: Mathew Barzal 

Words: almost 3.5K 

Warnings: language

Notes: heavily inspired by the dooley-lee wedding, thank you anders and grace. s/o to the song magic in the hamptons being v fitting as well. there could be a playlist for this, but that’s excessive for part one of a fic that might FLOP :-)

         When you had agreed to be your best friend Reese’s plus one to some wedding, you had certain expectations. A night of average (at best) food, middle aged couples bopping along to some outdated party songs (including and not limited to ‘I gotta feeling’ by the once popular black eyed peas) and finally an evening ending around maybe midnight where you’d be knocked out from pure boredom. You’d always found it interesting how being bored could really make a person so tired. With extreme hesitation, you accepted your friends request as a plus one strictly as repayment for the time you had taken him to a miserable holiday party in college. Although when his car pulled up to the most elegant vineyard on all of Long Island, you felt a completely different aura. “And uh… how do you know the couple again?” You questioned suddenly looking down at your dress playing with the hem hoping that you were appropriately dressed. Glancing out of the car window seeing all these tall blondes dressed perfectly walk into the event space that the party would take place in, you gulped feeling a bit intimidated. Reese couldn’t even tell you what black tie optional was, or whether or not this wedding had a dress code and you should’ve never just assumed. “My Dad’s friend’s daughter… Sydney. She’s marrying some hockey guy…Martin… I think.” He said so casually with a chuckle, “I’m bad with names. I’m just looking to slip in, eat a nice meal, drink some free booze and slip out. Mainly doing it for my parents, since they’re away on business someone had to show face for Boomer.” Your eyes scrunched up in confusion, there was just too much to unpack in those simple statements... Martin, Sydney, Boomer... but then as you thought about it maybe for a millisecond more, you slowly found yourself hating how stupid you could’ve been. As a Long Island native, you had just come to terms with the fact you were now facing the IT wedding of the year. The upper crust of your small island would all join in one place, and so would an entire hockey team that your family had found itself rooting for season after season. Leaning back into the leather seats of Reese’s car, you refused to take off your seatbelt, clutching onto the middle console and the handle above the door. “Reese, I can’t go in. I’m…sick. I’m underdressed. I am a no one in comparison to these people. I have…zits, within an hour of being outdoors in a fucking vineyard in July my hair will frizz, and I will smell.” You said going over the top with the dramatics. Something you weren’t typically known for, but this was an emergency. You couldn’t really face these people without feeling well, not confident in yourself. With a roll of your best friends’ eyes, you heard him unclip your seatbelt, after unclipping his own. “(Y/N), slip in… slip out. Do it for me, for the Booms.” Reese said as he popped open the car door for himself. How the fuck had he managed to forget he was family friends with all of these socially important people?

         You absolutely clung next to Reese as you looked around at the beautifully decorated reception area trying to keep a poker face. The venue was just like a pinterest wedding in a barn, but much, much classier. There were gorgeous flowers in almost every shade of pink imaginable, and tables as far as the eye could see. Just beyond that was a large dance floor and a band set up. Of course, there was a band. This was a classy event that no DJ would be able to touch. “Oh look, here we are.” Reese said leading you over to a table filled with little place cards. You tried to quickly eyeball over the names to see what guests would be in attendance, but Reese was quick to find your card along with his. “Table 28.” You muttered quietly picking up your card. “Hush, I promise this will be fun. I won’t leave your side. We’ll be inseparable… now let’s get a drink and try to find this table.” 

         Now that was over an hour ago when Reese had promised to be what you considered a good friend. Now you were maybe two Stella Artois deep. You felt classy when asking the bartender for this beer. This event probably didn’t have your go-to bud light and almost if on cue you heard, “Hey, can I get another two buds?” It only took a second to feel the body whose voice it came from stumble into you a bit as they managed to get to the crowded bar that you’d been at for at least twenty minutes waiting for Reese to return from the bathroom. “Sorry.” The voice said, not managing to look over at you, but oh boy had you looked over at him. You gulped a little after recognizing that face. God, you could recognize that side profile anywhere. You weren’t a crazed hockey fan, but you’d been to enough games to know who he was. Maybe he felt your eyes piercing the side of his face, but he looked over at you with an awkward smile and a nod as he patiently waited for the bartender to find him his drinks. “I didn’t even know they had bud light here, this place just screams classy to which... your drink of choice does not.” You muttered taking another swig of your drink, totally unsure of who you had become after these few beers. A boom of laughter escaped from his mouth, “You clearly don’t know Matt or Syd.” He quipped, reaching over the bar grabbing the two beers from the bartender. “Can you muster up another for my friend over here?” Your new hockey playing bar friend nodded towards you. “I’m Anders… and I don’t think I’ve seen you before, so you’re either family of the bride or…a wedding crasher?” You suddenly felt a little stupid, maybe taking the party too seriously, and unfortunately for you Anders Lee had just pointed that out to you. Settling down your Stella Artois you stuck your hand out keeping your gaze low towards the table top of the bar while your cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “(Y/N), and neither… just a plus one who got ditched by her best friend.” Anders gave your hand a gentle shake. “Ah, well stop by table 29, we’ll show you some fun and we all drink bud light.” 

- - -   

         Dinner service was incredible, you sat at your assigned table, one table over from your new friend Anders, but he didn’t seem to notice too much. He was caught up in conversation with who you presumed was his wife. They were sitting close and comfy, so instead of watching them you let your eyes gaze across their table. It appeared that every boy around the table had been more attractive than the one next to him and of course with an even prettier date. The one with the beard – Nick, then the one with the cute gap tooth – Jordan, the blonde – Casey , the one with the sleeve of tattoos - Cal, and then your eyes landed on a much younger one – Mathew. His hair slicked back, a crisp white linen button down covered with a blue blazer and not the boring navy-blue kind. It was a bright enough blue to grab the attention of others, which was exactly the vibe you were getting from him. Someone who liked being noticed. His own eyes were scanning the room and had stopped when they landed on you. A soft smile appeared on his face, lifting up his drink as if to toast yours. Cocky. Anders had looked over at his teammate and caught at his gaze found your eyes “(Y/N)!” He shouted giving you a wave over. They had an empty seat at their table and Reese had been schmoozing Boomer. Apparently his father and Sydney’s dad were very good friends. “Come here kid, you look like you need some fun.” 

        It took you a moment to pull up from your chair, and try to navigate your way around the other wedding goers to an empty chair at the table. “Guys, this is (Y/N). Be nice. No biting.” Anders said jokingly, while narrowing his eyes at Mat. You tried not to blush or think of it too deeply. Plopping yourself down in the most graceful way you could after 4 beers. “Hi everyone, thanks for letting me crash your table.” You said softly trying to give them all a small wave. Everyone then went on to introduce themselves, as if you hadn’t really known them. “We weren’t planning on sitting very long. The dance floor is calling, (Y/N).” Mat said, with your name rolling off his tongue in a way that sent shivers down your spine. God, you’d been single for too long to have this attractive boy speak words to you. It seemed like everyone was already halfway to the dance floor before Mat was standing in front of you putting out his hand to help you stand up. “Well… what are you waiting for. The night is young.” 

        Mats hands pulling your arms around swirling you around, grazing your hips, and all of the above while the band played song after song. For the first time all evening, you felt like you belonged with the crowd and you were having fun. You didn’t have to look at your phone pretending to text anyone for the next hour like you once imagined you’d be doing. At first you thought it’d be weird, dancing with some boy you barely knew, but the way he was casually working in conversation and getting to know you while moving his hips in all sorts of silly ways was soothing for you. Everyone else was in a happy state of drunk to notice Mat’s poor dancing, or yours for that matter. “So, you’re here with some guy, but you’re dancing with me?” Mat leaned over and spoke in your ear making sure you could hear him over the music. Feeling your face flush from both the comment and the fact he was so close to you. “You’re going to kill my ego if you tell me that’s your boyfriend.” Mat said once more in your ear, pointing over at Reese who was at the bar drinking and talking to some older men. “He’s not my boyfriend. Just a friend from college that needed a plus one. I’m pathetically single!” You said leaning back in to him, your lips practically on his ear. As soon as you spoke your last sentence you cringed, at least internally. You had to keep a poker face. You managed to make yourself feel like you were back in high school with that silly comment. Mat was so cool and you couldn’t even formulate more than one coherent, non-embarrassing sentence at a time. “I’m glad to hear that.” was all he said placing his hands on your hips helping you sway along to the classics. ‘Come on Eileen’ was playing and right as the breakdown hit, Mat moved his hands from your waist to grab your wrists, holding your arms up as he sang right in your face. “At this moment, you mean everything! You in that dress...” You couldn’t help but laugh and sing along with him and the rest of the wedding guests. “Mat, let’s get a drink.” you shouted over the music as the song came to a close.

        He ordered two more beers, and you thought tonight you might potentially die of alcohol poisoning, or worse, make a fool of yourself in front of the most beautiful boy you have ever met. “I’m having a lot of fun with you, so thank you.” Maybe when you get drunk you get sappy, but you genuinely meant it. Staring at Mat’s features you tried not to get lost in the way his eyes followed your lips with every word, or the way his jawline seemed to be so defined, or even the way his hair was tucked behind his ears because it was becoming far too long and unmanageable. “It’s nice to hang out with a pretty girl.. And come on, you’re fun. Don’t act like you haven’t been destroying it on the dance floor. ” He spoke finishing his sentence with this laugh. This seemingly annoying laugh that was maybe a little too loud and obnoxious though none of the wedding goers seemed to notice as they all were enjoying themselves. Right now they were doing the electric slide on the dance floor, and couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to whoever you were and Mathew Barzal. “It’s very attractive, to see someone being themselves in a crowd of people they don’t know.” He leaned his big body against the bar, still facing you waiting to see what you had to say. It took a few seconds for you to muster up your thoughts, trying to come up with something not totally pathetic. 

        “You’re such a flirt.” was all you managed to come up with, “Don’t use those lines on anyone else, Barzal. I need to feel like I’m the only girl you’ve picked up at a friend’s wedding.” He licked his lips after taking another swig of his drink. God you really just wanted to kiss his stupid face when he did that. “You are! I pinky promise.” He responded sticking out his pinky finger, attaching it to your own momentarily. “Give me your phone, I want you to have my number.” He grinned pulling out his iphone from his back pocket handing it over to you. “(Y/N), unofficial wedding date… Love the contact name” Mat said reading from his phone as he got it back with a dorky grin. Right as you were about to open up your mouth and try to lay it thick, the rest of the Islander crew made their way to the bar. Nick slapping Mat’s back, and the rest of the boys immediately grabbing more drinks. “We’re about to head to the after party. I heard Marty got McDonalds to cater, and Trotzy doesn’t even have to know about it.” Nick called out. “Anders said he’d keep it quiet too.” Jordan said to Mat, as he looked over to you giving you cheeky grin. “You can probably bring your new plus one.. If she wants.”

 - - -

        Shuffling onto the party bus with the rest of the Islanders and their wives or girlfriends or friends was just… different. You didn’t necessarily belong, but Mat was doing everything in his power to make you feel like you did, much like he had at the wedding. He’d continued to introduce you to teammate after teammate, especially as you all piled on the bus. Matt and Sydney probably didn’t account for an extra person, as there was only one seat left by the time Mat was done introducing you to everyone. “Are you sure it’s alright I’m here? I don’t think Reese left yet and he can drive me home.” You gently whispered, not wanting to be a bother. Instead of responding, Mat slumped himself down in the seat, grabbing your waist and having you sit on his lap. For someone whom you’d met hours ago, it all felt very comfortable. “Safety first, gotta keep the prettiest girl on the bus safe.” He kept his arms tightly around the waist as if to mimic a seat belt. Leaning his head on the top of your shoulder, resting his eyes shut. The compliment made your face flush, but he wouldn’t see that. “Can’t take you home if we don’t make it there first.” Mat said speaking against the back of your neck. 

        “Barzal, eyes open! The night has just started.” You heard one of his teammates scream at him, leaving you no time to respond to his much steamier comment of the night. Turning back and looking at his face, you saw him slowly open up his eyes, looking at you rolling his eyes. “Their right you know, can’t take me home if you fall asleep.” you quipped back. One of his arms moved from your waist to the back of your neck dipping your face in close to his for a kiss. In that moment you forgot you were on a party bus surrounded by other people. You sunk into his lips perfectly only letting it last a moment before deciding you didn’t want to make a show. “(Y/N), shut up.” Looking around the bus quickly it seemed that no one noticed, and if they did, no one seemed to care. 

        Music blared across the small bar, solely filled with those of you who had come right from the wedding. Sydney had changed from her beautiful ball gown of a wedding dress to a much shorter, tighter party dress. The hockey men had all managed to unbutton their shirts, whipping them off dancing around. The party was quickly becoming everything you’d seen on instagram. Your eyes widened at what was going on, and you felt a hand on your shoulder. “Welcome.” the voice said as you turned, fully expecting it to be Mat trying to pull you off to some corner for more dancing or drinks, but it wasn’t. “I’m Grace, that one…” she said pointing at Anders, “he’s my responsibility for the night.” to which you both chuckled knowing it was her own special way of introducing herself as the wife to The Captain. “It’s nice to see a fresh face around here. Mat’s always so mopey when we go out and are all coupled up.” 

        “Well we just met today…” You said looking at Grace, and then past her to see Mat dancing wildly with his teammates with a schoolboy grin on his face. There was something about him that was just so intriguing, something that made you want to be around him because he had this infectious personality. “He’s a great guy, (Y/N). But can I give you a piece of advice? Don’t go home with him. Mat’s attention span is so small. I can see he likes you, and maybe you can be someone special...but if you leave with him, he won’t call tomorrow. He won’t text.” Soon another couple of girls appeared, more of the wags you assumed. They wouldn’t have made it into the bar if they weren’t friends of Sydney or Matt’s. “Same thing happened to me, with Casey. It took a lot of work to become something serious… not to be nosy.” A different blonde said with a shrug. You assumed she had to be Kristy, married to Casey Cizikas. “Hockey boys are the same. You give in easy, and you’re just another sucker.” 

        “Amen, sister! I’ll make Josh order you an uber home. And then, we’ll add you to our group chat, if Mat misses out on you, at least we have a cute new friend.” Megan Bailey added in giving your shoulder a squeeze. All these pretty put together blonde women wanted to be your friend, and it didn’t make sense but you went with it. Grace quickly nudged the side of Megan seeing Mat coming up from behind, not wanting to spoil your quick gossip session “You ladies done stealing my date?” 

        “Let’s dance.” You said immediately grabbing his forearm dragging him onto the dance floor trying not to let what the girls said get to you. They did seem to have an idea of how Mat would be. Even if it wasn’t in your intentions to go out and have a serious relationship with this boy, you at least wanted to see where things could progress. It hasn’t taken much for you to find your crush growing infinitely. Dancing was exactly what you both did for the rest of the night, intermixed with casual make out sessions in a side hall of the bar leading to a bathroom, and downing a few more drinks. This boy had you hooked, and now you really couldn’t leave with him if the girls knew what they were talking about. You needed him to want to text you tomorrow, to take some sort of an initiative. 

      So it was 6:30 am before you got home, in fact, Josh Bailey ordered you an uber from the after party (as promised by Megan, your new favorite human, no one else pounded back margaritas, made you feel at home, and offered to take you shopping quite like she did). Mat managed to sneak a kiss goodbye before you wobbled into your uber. At exactly 7:03 am he sent you a text, ‘had a great time’. That was it. It felt like it was missing more substance, Mat was acting like you were his date and that you’d known each other forever. Though you promptly answered, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. And you’d wait three more weeks until you were to receive another text from Mathew Barzal. That’s exactly when your life was totally and royally fucked. The girls were right, he was a challenge and  right as you had almost forgotten this special evening, he made his presence known. 

Mat Barzal: hey. 

[imamotherfuckingstar-lord]

Imagine going to a party with Deadpool

 It’s finally here! A sequel to Imagine having to sit on Deadpool’s lap

a/n: commission for @bjg-pwns

Foggy put the radio on loud, ten minutes into the drive; his eyes were practically in the back of his skull with all the eye rolling he was doing. He needed the sound of the radio to drown out the ludicrous things Wade and you were saying to one another in the backseat. Matt as he listened to every bit of what the two of you were saying.

“So, how much for a dance tonight? I bet you can feel the roll of quarters in my pants.”

Your bottom was nestled deep against Wade’s lap, one leg squished against the car door and the side of Wade’s thigh and the other leg sat between Peter and Wade’s other thigh – to say you were in a bit of physical discomfort would be an understatement, but flirting back and forth with Wade was well worth a hernia.

“I thought you brought a gun to a knife party.”

The merc groaned, and rested his head back into the seat, swearing about knives, bullets, and something about being so turned on, which made you laugh. It was fun flirting with the man, because you had your eye on him for a while, ever since Matt introduced the two of you. Wade was a lot of things: foul-mouthed, inappropriate, hilariously wrong at times, and he killed for a living (he was a bad guy that killed bad guys), so it was a bit noble in a Wade way. You knew what he looked like under the mask, and it had not matter – you could see what was beneath the humor, he was just a regular guy trying to get by, mostly.

The car drove on until Wade’s head looked out the window and he screamed for Foggy to make a sharp right, holding on tight to your waist as the car swirled and Weasel cursed about his life flashing before his eyes. Peter promptly asked him what life and the barkeep asked if Aunt May knew he was out so late on a school night.

“Leave Spidey-Boy alone,” Wade said, squeezing your sides gently “He’s a big boy, ain’t ya, Spidey?”

“I’m 21,” he grumbled, and you smiled at him, giving his shoulder a little pat as the car slowly came to a stop. Peter gave you a thankful smile before pushing Weasel out the door, giving you a chance to finally stretch your legs as you climbed off Wade and collapsed on the backseat.

Foggy turned the car off and whistled, asking who owned the mansion. “Please don’t tell me this is a drug house.”

“Have you ever been to an actual drug house, Fog?”

He answered no to your question and Matt laughed, explaining that you all were at the X-Men mansion. Foggy started to panic, but Wade promptly scooted up to the driver’s seat and reached an arm around his neck, resting his hand on Foggy’s chest. You watched from the backseat as Wade told the lawyer to relax and kissed him on the cheek before he turned to you, pointing a gloved finger at you.

“See, Froggy-boy, be like this little minx – she’s relaxed and ready.”

“What is she ready for, Wade?” Matt asked, fully knowing that the answer was going to be disgustingly hot and inappropriate.

“A little of that, a whole lot of this,” Wade sang, touching his chest. You laughed and shook your head, declaring it was time to go in.

“Let’s not leave Weasel with Peter too long, you know the kid will web his mouth.”

Everyone agreed and got out of the car, you stretched and watched as Foggy and Matt joined Peter and Weasel – the four started walking to the front door and you turned around to call to Wade, but he was already behind you, mask off. He smiled at you and asked if you were ready to get your mind blown.

“I heard Logan was going to be here, so yeah, I’m ready,” you teased, winking at the man before leaving his side to follow the others.

“MOTHERFUCKER.”

…..

Three shots, that’s all you needed to fully relax – one with Parker, who you immediately cut off after just that one and two with Matt, who urged you to seek out Wade’s company. You ignored Matt’s teasing and sat with him, the two of you flowing through conversation like nothing. The two of you had been childhood friends, knew each other like the back of your hands. So when Matt, again, urged you to go find Wade, you sighed.

“So, what I’m hearing from you, Matthew,” you mused, tossing an arm around his shoulders. He smirked when you took off his red specs and placed them on. “Is that I should go find Wade and take him to one of the many rooms in this fine establishment and let him screw my brains out?”

Matt laughed, head bobbing as he took back his glasses. He placed them on and grinned. “You know you want to.”

“I also want to eat my weight in ice cream, but you don’t see me doing that, do you?”

“Come on,” he nudged his elbow into your side. “Live a little.”

Your listened to his words as your eyes searched the room, there were plenty of people here – it turned out to be a huge birthday party for Charles. Every mutant you knew was present, even Logan, who stood at the bar, face twisted in agony as Wade chatted him up. You smiled then sighed, moving closer to Matt. Your forehead leaned into his and you cursed him.

“You are a pain in my ass, Matthew Murdock.”

“That’s what best friends are for,” he assured you, pushing you away gently.

“Don’t tell Foggy I’m your best friend, he gets jealous,” you advised him, giving his hand a squeeze before getting up. “Wish me luck, asshole.”

“Good luck, jerk.”

Leaving Matt’s side, you walked through the crowd and to the bar, giving Logan a wink when he saw you. The two of you embraced hello and Wade’s eyes narrowed at the man, asking him to take his hands off his future baby mama.

“She doesn’t belong to anyone, jackass,” Logan groaned, nodding to you as he grabbed a beer off the counter.  “I’ll see you around, sweetheart.”

Your eyes followed Logan’s as he disappeared around the corner, then turned their attention to Wade, who was gawking. “I leave you alone for a few minutes and you flirt up a storm with Logan. I thought you promised me a good night. Can I watch at least? Maybe a peep hole through the closet?”

Wade grinned as you clap your hands together in a false prayer. “If Wolvie and I are bangin’, you’re getting front row seats. Beware – you will get wet! Ponchos are $4.99.”

Bursting into laughter, you pushed the man up against the bar and grabbed his mask off the counter. His eyes widen in delight when your body brushed into his when you reach for a drink with the other hand. Dipping your head back, you downed the drink and threw the glass to the ground. It shattered with a loud crash; the room went silent for a moment until everyone realized the commotion was coming from Deadpool. The noise of the music and talking resumed as you pulled the mask over your face and poked a finger into Wade’s chest.

“Catch me if you can.”

Pushing Wade again, he stumbled as you took off through the crowd of party goers; laughing and cursing as you ran down a long hall and up the grand staircase. It was a little hard to see through the mask eye holes, but you opened the door to the nearest room and quietly closed it, moving across the room into the closet. Hiding in a dark closet, you held your breath waiting for the sound of Wade. The alcohol you had consumed went straight to your head, making your body warm up – the mask didn’t help, and you wondered how Wade did it. You were about to give up and take the mask off, when you heard Wade barging into the room.

“Oh, kitty, kitty, where are you?” His footsteps paced the room, the sound of the bedroom door closing made you jump. “I have some milk, little kitty. Don’t worry, it’s kosher.”

You snorted and tried to cover it up with your hand, but the closet door flew open. Wade grinned and welcomed himself in, taking a wide step in. He left the closet door opened but stepped right in front of you.

“I found you, little kitten,” he purred, his hand resting palm down on the base of your neck. Instantly, you were turned on by that simple gesture, and Wade fucking knew it. His fingers slid up your throat and touched the edge of the mask. “Damn, I look good with boobs.”

You snorted again and Wade grinned. “I’ve never been turned on by a snort before, but I likely.”

“Oh, I can do more than snort,” you advised, placing your arms around his neck. “I can fart, burp, do that thing where my arm pit makes noise.”

“JESUS CHRIST,” Wade exclaimed, hands on my waist. “Keep talkin’ dirty, my cock is harder than the process to become a U.S citizen.”

“Those bastards,” I whispered.

Wade nodded. “Fucking govermental dicks. Daddy Wade should take them all out.”

You hummed yes and slowly started to guide him backwards out of the closet, his feet kept moving until the back of his knees touched the edge of the bed. It was then that you shoved him down and climbed onto his lap.

“Remember when we did this a few hours ago?”

“I will never forget my first time,” he answered, reaching a hand up to your face. “Now, I do enjoy giving myself love – I do it EVERY NIGHT. But tonight, I want you.”

Pulling the mask off your head, Wade tossed it aside and grabbed your face. “Now there’s the face I wanna fuck.”

Smiling, you leaned down to kiss him and moaned when he took you roughly, hands on your ass. You started to grind your hips against his groin and the two of you began to dry hump like a couple of inexperienced teenagers. He started to jerk his hips wildly, until he jerked one to many and you fell off, landing on the other side of him on the bed. You laughed out loud, unable to control yourself as Wade asked if you liked the ride.

“That will be six tickets, kitten.”

“I think my hips are bruised.”

“Okay, that will be four tickets.”

Grinning, you sat up on an elbow and glanced down at the man, his face scarred and warm looking. Touching the side of his cheek, your chest tightened, finding yourself leaning down for a real kiss. Not something porn-tastic, but a sweet, gentle kiss that took both Wade and you by surprise. The two of you froze, eyes locked on one another and then slowly, Wade lifted a finger to your nose and poked it.

“I like you like Hawkeye likes arrows,” he mused, eyes squinting. “Why the fuck is he an Avenger? He can’t heal himself, he doesn’t have super strength, I’ve seen his cock before and let me tell –“

Sitting up quickly, you threw a hand over his mouth. He licked it and you laughed, cleaning your palm on his suit. “Listen, while I would love to hear that story and I do, why don’t we put a pin on this?”

“THAT’S WHAT WE WERE PLAYING.”

“What?”

Wade shook his head and waved a hand in the air. “Never mind.”

You smiled as he sat up and leaned into your side, lips grazing the tip of your earlobe. “Come on, let’s drink everything they got and get kicked out.”

His whispers sent chills down your spine, so you pressed your forehead against his and licked his nose. “After you, Tiger.”

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[titriwrites]

Polaroid Picture -- Chapter Five

Here we are, finally! Sorry for the wait! You can read under the cut or here on AO3! Tell me what you think, please.

Chapter Five

And after all

You’re my wonderwall

This has been such a bad idea from the beginning, now -- in hindsight -- Beth can see that. It’s not like she cares much whether Tom has fun or not. Really, she doesn’t. But if he’s not having fun, why can’t he just walk away instead of ruining her mood?

Hers and their – well, mostly also just her – friends’ moods as well. Because he’s been rather annoying these past two hours. Not because he does anything. He’s doing nothing. That’s the bigger problem.

When Matt and her greeted Steph, Liesa, Daniel, and Will they were stunned. Beth saw that but simply shrugged, and rolled her eyes. So, they just shot her curious looks, greeted Tom like the old friend he probably was for them, and got ready to get the first round of drinks.

Now, Tom’s been staring into his beer for two hours – well, several beers – looking like he’s contemplating drowning in it.

Well, Beth can help with that. She’d gladly drown him. Water, beer, something stronger – doesn’t matter.

She's been trying to ignore his mood for the entire night now. He looks like he’s hiding something. Or actually hiding from someone?

She gets it. It’s not his usual Hollywood go-to place but just a pub he frequented together with her years ago. But damn. They aren’t bad people here. And actually, she thinks she knows what he’s doing.

“You know,” she starts, loud enough for Tom to hear her from the other side of the table, but low enough for the others not to. She takes a sip of her Guinness just when she sees Tom looking at her with raised eyebrows. “You don't have to hide from anyone here. Nobody will tell they’ve seen you.”

“I’m not hiding,” he grumbles. “I’m simply...bored.”

“Go, then,” Beth hisses. “Honestly. Just go. Nobody forced you to come here. You proved your point. We’re all below you, and you’re very brave for even spending some of your time with us. You can go now. I’ll be having more fun without you anyway.”

Really, she should have suspected what’s coming next. She’s egged him on now, hasn’t she?

“Oh?” Now, it’s Tom taking a sip of his drink, staring back at her. “What kind of fun will you be having later? Thinking you’re still in your 20s? Dancing on tables, singing along, dancing with every boy in the pub?”

She actually snorts. They’d been doing that together once. Just that she didn’t dance with every boy in the pub. At least, she just went home with one.

“It’s called having fun. Letting loose. You used to be fun, Tom.”

Just as Beth sees Tom open his mouth for what he probably thinks is a clever retort, the atmosphere in the pub changes. Before she knows it – and the look on Tom’s face says it all as well – the crowd starts to sing a very familiar tune.

Slip inside the eye of your mind

Don't you know you might find

A better place to play

You said that you'd never been

But all the things that you've seen

Will slowly fade away

Of course, this would start now. Of course, that's what they’re playing. The song they’ve heard in their youth. The song they’ve listened to a thousand times – and sang along to it.

But not today. They’re staring at each other, both of them swallowing their drinks.

So I start a revolution from my bed

'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head.

Step outside, summertime's in bloom

Stand up beside the fireplace

Take that look from off your face

You ain't ever gonna burn my heart out

Beth tunes out the other pub goers. She ignores Liesa and Daniel screaming in her ears and how they raise their beers when the chorus starts.

It’s stupid letting an Oasis song get into her head now, isn’t it? Beth swallows a last mouthful of her beer, puts her glass down, and stares at it.

It’s been years.

Beth glances up. She shouldn’t be surprised to see Tom staring back at her. He swallows heavily, but they both can’t seem to look away.

Is it hot in here?

“Sing along!” Liesa screams in Beth's ear, breaking the bond between Tom and her. Wait. Bond? What bond? There's no bond.

The song's almost finished. Beth nods along. She needs to get up. She's had not nearly enough alcohol to deal with this.

So Sally can wait

She knows it's too late as she's walking on by

My soul slides away

But don't look back in anger

Don't look back in anger

I heard you say

At least not today

Tom and Beth share a look. Don’t look back in anger, huh? Beth snorts before she stands up and leaves for the bar. Yeah. Sure.

***

Libby's not been back for at least 30 minutes. Tom estimates this by him drinking about two pint of Guinness in that time.

Instead, he sees her at the bar, he sees her at the jukebox, and he sees her having a mighty good time with Steph and Liesa, dancing on the makeshift dance floor somewhere by the far end of the pub.

Tom admits – only to himself though – that if he was a little less grumpy, he would actually enjoy himself.

Maybe he’s even missed their friends. Well, his former friends. He’s not sure how well they’ve taken to him just leaving. Worst of all, him leaving Libby. Or Beth, as they call her. Something he still refuses to do, maybe because of the good old times.

“Try and look a little less grumpy, hm?”

Tom almost chokes on his sip of beer, turning his head to the right to check where the voice came from.

Daniel grins at him, one brow raised as he takes a sip of his own drink.

Tom refrains from rolling his eyes. “I’m not—”

But Daniel's chuckle interrupts him. “Oh, come on. You look like you don't want to be here at all. And if you want to be here, you’re somehow trying to hide. From whatever.”

“I’m just not good with crowds.” It’s a half-truth. He’s usually good with them. With his fans and reporters and big Hollywood parties. He’s not good when he’s trying to be inconspicuous.

“The pics I’ve seen of you over the years seem to suggest something else,” Daniel shrugs. “But then again, images rarely paint the whole picture, do they?”

Tom shrugs. “Lots of people in Hollywood seem to think differently. Image is everything.” Huh. Maybe the drinks are making him bitter.

“You don't say.” It’s mumbled, but Tom hears it anyway. Before he can ask what Daniel means by it, his old friend talks on. “So, what brings you here?”

“Libby and Matt dragged me here. Actually, my father kind of insisted I should go as well.”

“Ah. That’s surprising.”

Now it’s Tom responding with, “You don't say.”

“But it’s not really what I mean,” Daniel continues. “What I do mean is, what brings you to Oxford again? I mean, haven’t you hurt Beth enough when you left her that first time? What now? Rubbing it in her face? That you found someone else? That you’re getting married again? Or have you actually brought that model of yours – Julia, is it? – with you? Making it a bit more painful?”

Tom looks at him, stunned. Daniel's always been like another big brother to Libby. Daniel and William, actually. Together with Sophie and Liesa the six of them have been a group of three couples, spending every free moments together, whenever they could.

He knows they’re all protective of her. Hell, Tom would be offended on Libby’s behalf if they weren't. But, Daniel must know why Tom is here? That he doesn’t want to be, but that there are things that need to be settled? That there’s got to be a divorce first in order for him to marry Julia?

He’s still blinking at Daniel, before licking his lips and taking another sip of the Guinness. “Well, she needs to sign those papers finally,” Tom states carefully, actually wincing a bit, having to spell it out for Daniel. Tom’s almost ashamed really. These people are different from his agents and publicists, even different from his family. They’d used to share everything back in the days. Daniel probably knew Tom had a crush on Libby, before Tom himself did. “I have to admit, I should have been a bit faster in delivering them, but there wasn’t the right time.”

This time, it’s Daniel, who chokes on his drink. “What?”

“Uhm. What?”

“What do you mean by finally signing those papers? That you should have delivered them sooner? You’re already divorced. Beth said that... Beth said everything was settled. She said so years ago. That you talked. That everything was fine. That you left her, but that you settled for a divorce.”

What the heck?

Tom searches for Libby in the pub. She's still on the dance floor with her two friends.

“Why would she do that?” It's a question meant for himself mostly, but he hears Daniel answer anyway.

“I’d like to know that as well.”

Tom doesn’t take his eyes off Libby as he stands up, admittedly a little unsteady on his feet. He ignores Daniel's protest, and doesn’t even remember that he doesn’t actually dance. Anymore, that is.

***

“Dance with me.”

Beth jumps and clutches her heart as she hears familiar words whispered in a familiar voice, right next to her ear. Liesa and Steph stop dancing along with her, giving her a look that probably means they’ll have their eyes on the ex-couple, but both take their leave and make their way to the table.

Beth turns around. The world swirls around her for a moment, but it’s not an unwanted feeling. Least of all when she stares into those blue eyes in front of her.

“You don't dance,” she answers but rests her hands on Tom's shoulders anyway.

“Not with just anyone, no.” Tom’s hands land on Beth’s waist, pulling her closer to him.

It’s clear that he’s had something to drink. But she has as well. This won’t hurt. Hopefully.

Beth scoffs. “You didn’t want to dance with me just an hour ago.” She's looking over his shoulder while they turn in a slow circle, seeing their friends discuss something at the table.

“Why did you do it?” It’s a low rumble that she more feels than hears.

She frowns and turns her head a bit to look at Tom’s face. So. Close. “Why did I do what?”

“Why did you tell them that we're divorced?”

Oh. Shit. Her head snaps from Tom to the table where her friends are sitting and watching them and back to Tom, making her head swirl with more than just Guinness. She simultaneously wants to stop dancing and just stand there, planting her feet in the ground, wants the floor to swallow her, and also she wants to flee. Goodness, how much she wants to flee right now.

But Tom’s hands keep holding on to her. “Hm?” he murmurs.

“I... I didn’t... I said we would settle for a divorce. I figured that was what we were going to do.”

“No,” Tom shakes his head. “No, you said that we’ve settled things. That we’ve talked things through. We never did, Libby.”

“Well, I know that,” she huffs. “I know. But they didn’t have to. Were they supposed to pity me even more? To hate you even more?”

They’re still moving slowly, but now it’s Tom who almost stops.

“What?”

Truth is, Beth doesn’t know why she's done it. Still doesn’t after all these years. But it’s probably really a combination of what she just said to Tom. It’s hard to be left like that. She hated the looks back then. The ‘So, your husband became a big star and forgot about you'-looks. It would have been even worse, if she admitted that she's been waiting – begging – for him to reach out to her.

And it’s also true that she didn’t want their friends to hate him. He’d need them eventually when he’d come back – She thought at the time – and it was enough, if she hated him.

“But I'd have deserved it.”

Now, the ‘what’ comes from Beth.

“I mean, I didn’t want to come back, I didn’t even want to stay. We didn’t fit the way we thought we would. But I was an arse about it. I was young, well, younger than now. But I was an arse nevertheless.”

“Wow,” she whispers, “that somehow made it better and worse at the same time.”

Tom cringes. “I tend to do that.”

She can’t help it, Beth lets out a chuckle. “God, we're a mess.”

Tom chuckles along, and soon they’re both laughing, still swaying, and holding on to each other. It’s probably inappropriate and the entirely wrong response to all of this. But laughing right now – being almost drunk, singing, and dancing in a pub they’ve spent their youths in – kind of feels fitting. And long overdue. What else is she supposed to do? Crying herself to sleep as she's done six years ago?

“I admit, it’s not that bad you're still doing this,” Tom starts when they stop laughing. “It’s fun.”

“Is it the beer talking?” Beth smirks.

“Maybe a little bit.”

They’re slowly getting comfortable. Their hands relaxing while they sway, Beth actually wrapping her arms around Tom’s neck, while he circles her waist now. His hands wander lower and Beth doesn’t stop him. Instead she rests her head on Tom’s shoulder, breathing in his scent among all of this smell of beer, sweat, and a little bit of cigarettes. Tom smells a bit like beer as well. But mostly like the body wash he’s already used ten years ago.

Then, the music changes, and Beth feels Tom’s intake of breath at the same time she inhales sharply as well.

“Really?” she mutters, but Tom just chuckles.

“Close your eyes, and enjoy, Libby. It’s like the old times.”

She groans, but does as she's told, while memories of the past days having fun with their friends and singing along invade her mind. It doesn’t help that the entire pub sings along again.

Today is gonna be the day

That they're gonna throw it back to you

By now you should've somehow

Realized what you gotta do

I don't believe that anybody

Feels the way I do, about you now

***

I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me

And after all, you're my wonderwall

I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me

you're gonna be the one that saves me

you're gonna be the one that saves me

Tom takes a deep breath as the song comes to a close. By now, his right hand rests on Libby’s arse, while his left one has come to her hip, brushing the soft skin that’s exposed from her top riding up.

Libby’s breathing against his throat, her nose brushing his jaw every now and then, while her fingers play with his hair on his neck.

If one of them moved their heads an inch to the side, their lips could brush. But they wouldn’t do that now, would they?

“Libby?” he whispers against her ear, and her shiver makes him shiver as well. “Do you want me to take you home?”

***

They’re in the back of the cab – Beth ignored the glances from her friends – when Tom’s phone starts ringing.

They haven’t kissed, but their hands have wandered, so, Tom pulls his finger away from her thigh in order to pick his mobile from his pocket.

“Shit,” he curses when he looks at the screen.

Beth leans closer to look at the display. ‘Julia' is the name lighting up the screen. Shit, indeed.

Beth looks out of the window, they’re almost at James’ house now. She leans forward to the cab driver, seeing from the corner of her eyes how Tom pockets his phone again, looking mighty pale and running a hand through his hair. He didn’t answer though.

She gives the Hiddleston address. “Can you make another stop there?”

Tom sighs. “Libby.”

“It's more than fine, Tom,” she says to him. “I think we both know this wouldn’t be a good idea.”

***

Tom's lying in his spinning bed watching the spinning ceiling when he decides to call Julia back. He’s already had a cold shower and doesn’t quite feel like throwing up anymore.

“Tom? I tried to call you. You said that you would call me,” his fiancée’s voice comes through the phone.

“’m sorry. I... lost track of time.”

“Are you drunk?”

“Maybe a little. Went out with friends.”

“Oh, I can meet them at the wedding maybe?”

He chuckles despite himself. She's so enthusiastic about the wedding. He loves it. “Maybe, yes.”

“Are you up for something? Or are you too drunk and fall asleep on me?”

An image of Libby dancing with him, breathing against him, dancing against him flashes in Tom’s mind.

“’m horny, alright. No fallin' ‘sleep going on.”

"Don't look back in anger" and "Wonderwall" by Oasis.

Tagging: @devikafernando @itsliterallythis @justthelosersblog @avenger-nerd-mom @archy3001 @nuggsmum @majk78 @hakimo2015 @noplacelikehome77

[steebrogurz]

The Snow in Winter Chapter 10

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader, Matt Murdock x Reader (a small part)

Summary: When you wake up in a dark room with no memory of who you are the Avengers come to your aid as you try to adjust to your new life with them.

Word count: 2920

warnings: elements of cheating, smut, angst, violence, blood, minor character death,

Masterlist | series masterlist

a/n: this is a long one :) also please don't judge my choice of name for a certain character (you'll know who it is) and I want to thank everyone who has stuck with my story so far and I hope you're enjoying it 😊 and I always welcome your feedback so let me know if there's anything else I you'd like me to write!

The party was in full swing when Matt arrived and I rushed to greet him at the door. We kissed in greeting and I guided him into the main area. “Foggy says hi,” Matt said as I led him through the groups of people talking and laughing. I smiled and caught sight of Nat and Clint talking by the bar.

“Come on, there are some people I want you to meet.” I pulled him towards the bar and introduced him to my friends.

“Matt this is Clint, and you already know Nat.”

They shook hands and started talking as I broke away to order drinks for us. When I rejoined them Clint was telling a story about how I nearly froze the pipes in the bathroom the first week I was here. Matt laughed and wrapped his arm around my waist as he kissed my temple.

“Thankfully that hasn’t happened at my place yet.” He kept his arm around me as we chatted and I introduced him to more of the team.

Steve was polite and shook hands, his lip had stopped bleeding and looked like it was healing but it was still swollen. I apologized again. Tony offered to build Matt a pair of glasses that would help him to see like Geordi in Star Trek, to which Matt politely refused saying he got around just fine. Wanda hugged him telling him how happy she was for us. After a few more drinks and introductions the last person I needed to find was, of course, Bucky, but my hopes weren’t that high since he had been avoiding me for the past month.

“So what do you think?” I asked once we found a semi-private place to sit and talk.

“You fit in really well here,” Matt stated before taking a sip of his wine. “Wanda is your friend from childhood, right?”

“We grew up together, yeah,” I said nodding,

“And what about this Bucky I’ve heard so much about?” He gave me a coy smile.

I sighed, “I don’t know anymore he’s been acting weird and avoiding me.” But at that moment I saw Bucky walk into the room and join Steve at the bar. “Actually never mind, he just walked in, let me get him.”

I patted Matt’s arm as I walked past him and found Steve and Bucky talking to Thor about his thousand-year-old Asgardian ale. Bucky was laughing and I took that as a good sign but as soon as he saw me approach his smile vanished. “Hey guys, how’s the party?” I asked as I joined the group. Thor looked down at me and smiled.

“Y/N you look very beautiful tonight. Barnes, does she not look beautiful?” Thor nudged Bucky who gave a tight smile and looked at me.

“She always looks beautiful.”

My heart skipped a beat at his remark and I had to look away to hide my blush. “Um...Matt and I found a place to sit and I’d love for you to meet him.”

Bucky looked towards the area I had pointed to then looking back at me with a hard look in his eyes. “Haven’t I already met him?”

I fixed him with a playful glare. “You met Daredevil, I want you to meet Matthew.” When he hesitated I grabbed hold of his hand. “Come on, everyone else has met him and he’s been asking about you.”.

“Ok fine.” He downed his drink and allowed me to lead him to where Matt was sitting.

“Bucky this is Matt. Matt, Bucky.”

Matt stood up from his seat and extended a hand but Bucky didn’t take it. “It’s nice to meet you Bucky. Y/N speaks very highly of you.”

Bucky arched an eyebrow at me. “And that doesn’t bother you? Your girlfriend speaking so highly of another man?”

I stared at Bucky in surprise and Matt’s smile faltered slightly. “Uh...should it?”

“I guess that depends on how confident you are in your relationship.”

“Bucky!” I warned but he shook his head took a step towards Matt.

“Let me tell you something: there are a lot of people here who cared very deeply for Y/N. If you do anything to hurt her, I can personally guarantee that life will be very hard for you.” Bucky clapped his metal hand on Matt’s shoulder. “It was great meeting you I hope you enjoy your evening.” He gave me one last look before he turned and walked away through a door leading away from the crowds.

“Well, he seems nice.” Matt stated in surprise after a few seconds.

“Oh my god.” I exclaimed as my eyes followed Bucky out the door. “I’m so sorry, he’s not normally like that. Are you ok to mingle with everyone for a bit I just want to talk to him.”

Matt smiled and kissed my cheek, “Go. I’ll be ok.”

I gave him another kiss before running after Bucky. I found him sitting on the bottom steps of the staircase away from the party goers. He looked at the sound of my footsteps and stood up to walk away but I moved to stand in front of him, blocking his way and forcing him to look at me. “What the hell Bucky! Why are you acting like this?”

Bucky crossed his arms. “Does it matter?” He looked me right in the eye and that softness I saw earlier in the week was gone. He tried to move past me but I put my hands up to his chest and pushed back.

“No! You do not get to walk away from me right now!” I was almost yelling and I could see a few people at the edges of the party look in our direction so I pulled him further down the hall and into an empty room. “Tell me what’s going on, Bucky. I miss you. You’ve been avoiding me for weeks and I don’t know what I’ve done to upset you.” I had to blink back tears. His face never gave away his emotions but his eyes showed a war that raged inside him.

“It’s nothing you’ve done Y/N,”

“Then what is it? Let me help.” I reached out for his hand in an attempt to show him I was serious but he pulled away again and looked at me.

“Y/N stop. You’re with Matt.”

“What does he have to do with this?”

“He has everything to do with this!”

“Bucky please, I don’t know-”

Suddenly he closed the space between us in one step and pulled me against his body. His lips were on mine so fast that it almost knocked the wind out of me. It took a second for my brain to recover from the shock but then I sank into the kiss. Thoughts of the party outside vanished, it was only me and Bucky. My hand gripped his bicep while the other rested on his chest as one of his hands held my waist and the other ran up my back into my hair. He kissed me with an urgency I had never felt before as if he was afraid I’d disappear at any moment but he was also very gentle. His hand moved from my waist up my body to cup my breast and I gasped against his mouth at the feeling of his hand move against the fabric. This was never how it felt when I was with Matt.

My eyes flew open and gasped again. “Shit!” I pushed against Bucky and took a step back. “Oh god, Matt!” I looked around the room and finally realized it was a bedroom like the one they put me in the first night I was here. I ran to the attached bathroom and groaned at the sight of my hair. The up-do I had for the party was ruined so I pulled all the pins and let my hair fall around my shoulders. As I tried to fix my makeup, Bucky came up to stand behind me. I glared at him in the mirror and he frowned, recoiling from the chill that filled the room.

Tears threatened to spill down my cheeks as I emerged from the bathroom, Bucky was gone and I took a deep breath to steady myself before rejoining the party. I scanned the large room looking for Matt and found him talking with a small group of people I didn’t know across the room. I weaved through the crowd towards him and slipped my hand into his when I reached him.

“Hey, there you are I was starting to think you and Bucky ran off together.” He smiled and leaned in to kiss my cheek but I stood there frozen to the spot. “What’s wrong?” He asked sensing my hesitation.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said pulling him towards the door and into the crisp autumn air. The fresh air was like a shock to the system and helped to clear my head as I breathed in the cold air, but nothing could clear my head of that kiss. I took a deep shuddering breath and turned to face Matt. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

“That's fine we can go somewhere else if the party is too much for you right now.” He reached forward to rub my arm.

“No, I mean this." I gestured between the two of us, then remembered he couldn't see me. "Us.” Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.

Matt nodded as he understood. “It’s Bucky. Isn’t it.”

My breath hitched at the sound of his name. He touched my hand and gave me a sad smile.

“It’s ok, I had a feeling. He likes you too.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? Why put yourself through this?” My voice quivered.

“You needed to figure it out for yourself. I hope you find your happiness.” Matt gave me one last kiss on the cheek before walking away. “Take care of yourself Y/N.” As soon as the door closed behind him I broke down. The tears ran freely down my cheeks now, I sank down onto the grass as the sobs wracked my body.

“Y/N?” I jumped at the sound of my name. I turned around to see Bucky standing at the door. I furiously turned back around and stared out over the large expanse of the lawn.

“Are you happy now?” The sun had set some time ago but orange light still streaked across the horizon. “Matt just left.”

“I’m sorry Y/N I never meant for this to happen. I thought I could handle seeing you with him but turns out I couldn’t.” I heard his footsteps rustle in the grass as he stepped forward. “You must be freezing.”

I shook my head refusing to look at him, “I don’t get cold.”

Bucky sat down next to me and I bowed my head so my hair would fall forward blocking him from view. “I really am sorry.” He began, “I’m sorry, I made a mistake.”

My heart stopped and the air grew colder around us. “So kissing me was a mistake then?!” I stood up and walked away from him leaving frozen footsteps in the grass. By now my tears were frozen to my cheeks and frost spread through the grass.

“No Y/N. That’s not what I meant.” I heard Bucky call after me. I could hear his footsteps crunch the frost on the grass but I kept walking until I reached the edge of a small forest and the trees obscured the light from the compound.

“He said you like me too, is that true?” I whipped around to face him and crossed my arms. It had started snowing and a blanket of snow now covered the ground where we stood. Snowflakes swirled in the light breeze around us and caught in my hair and on his eye lashes.

Bucky came to a stop in front of me, he sighed and put his hands on his hips. “Yes.” He said after a few seconds.

I looked up into his blue eyes and found that softness I had only been once before. “Why didn't you say anything before?” I whispered.

Bucky took another step forward and placed his metal hand on my cheek. “It took me too long to figure it out.” I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. “I never meant to cause you any pain, Y/N.”

I looked up at him and dabbed at my eyes, careful not to smear what was left of my makeup. The snow had stopped falling but still clung to our hair and skin, I took a step closer to him and leaned up onto my toes to brush my lips against his. He responded instantly by pulling me closer. He kissed me with the same urgency as before. I hardly noticed the rough bark of a tree scraping against my skin as his fingers ran across the neckline of my dress. My skin felt warm wherever he touched me and I moaned against his lips.

He moved his way down to press kisses against my jaw then my neck leaving me breathless. I looked out through the trees as he continued to kiss my neck and chest and froze when I saw a figure move in the distance. Bucky stopped when he felt my body stiffen and straightened up looking around. I grasped his arm and pulled him to the ground just as the bark from a nearby tree exploded.

I looked up to where the bullet came from and found nothing. We quickly sprang into action and slowly moved further into the cover of the trees. Bucky pulled a knife from his boot and ice slithered up my arms ready to strike. Another explosion from a tree near my head pushed us further back. Bucky's eyes darted around trying to get a sense of where our attackers were coming from.

Suddenly I felt the barrel of a gun press against my back and the edge of a knife against my throat. I glanced at Bucky and found he had the same. Our eyes met and l nodded, then at the same time Bucky threw the man over his shoulder and into a tree. Just as I grabbed hold of the knife to my neck and twisted until he let go while at the same time stepping out of the way of the gun to reach for his other hand but was too slow and a bullet grazed my side. I yelped in pain as a knife flew past me and into the man's chest.

Bucky rushed to my side ripping off his jacket to hold it to my side. He pulled the knife from the man's chest just as more figures stepped out from the shadows pointing guns at us.

“You left us too soon, Y/N.” A chill ran down my spine and my head whipped around to see a man step out from the shadows. “You were not ready to join civilization yet. Come home with us we will complete you.” He motioned for his men to separate us.

They pulled at our arms and Bucky immediately punched one of them holding him but was quickly tackled to the ground by three more men. They wrestled the knife out of his hand and pressed a gun to his temple. The pain in my side was all but forgotten.

“Bucky.” My voice quivered as I watched it all happen, afraid he would be shot. His eyes met mine and I shook my head pleading him to stop. I could see the rage in his eyes, he was ready for a fight.

“Now, now. There's no need for secret plans I'd hate to have to put you down.” The man gripped my chin and pulled my gaze away from Bucky. “Besides, I'm sure Mr. Barnes would rather rejoin the party?”

“Don't touch her!” I could hear Bucky struggle against the men holding him down.

“What do you want, Ketch?” I demanded through gritted teeth.

“You, my dear.” He let go of my face and I fixed him with a had glare.

“If I go with you will you leave them alone?” His smile made my stomach twist. “I will go with you if you and your lackeys leave everyone else alone.”

“Y/N…” Bucky was cut off when the butt of a gun connected with his nose with a sickening crunch.

“Tell Wanda I'm sorry,” I whispered as someone placed some kind of collar around my neck and as soon as the ends snapped shut I could suddenly feel the chill in the air. My powers were gone. They put me in handcuffs too, for good measure I guess.

I was pushed forward and forced to fall into step with the team of men that now surrounded me. Blinking back tears I could hear Bucky struggle to follow us, and we didn't get far before I heard the pop of a silenced gun. I stopped in my tracks and my blood ran cold, I looked back to see a figure slump to the ground with no more fighting. I knew in my heart that figure was Bucky lying motionless on the ground and I screamed. Rage, pain, and fear erupted in my chest as I threw myself against the wall of bodies behind me. Arms wrapped around me holding me in place but that didn't stop me from kicking and struggling against my restraints. I managed to kick a few heads and break some noses before a needle stuck into my arm and my vision faded to darkness.

Chapter 11

[whumperstorm]

The post got five likes so here we go, (fair warning it just stops abruptly but yeah)

Another completed mission, another planet freed from Galran influence. It had been one of the longer, more demanding battles Voltron was forced to fight, and was one that lead to the paladins calling for reinforcements. Commander Matthew Holt happened to be the reinforcements and with the help of his rebels the Galra fleet was quickly overpowered and forced to retreat. Then after a few hours of recovery and formalities between the leaders of the planet Riko’v and the Paladins, a celebration was in order.

It turned out that Riko’v was one of the most beautiful planets Matt had ever seen. The Riko’vians, a dragonfly-like people, were expert landscapers and their cities were covered in beautiful flora. It lined their rivers (which were their form of transportation), grew out from their buildings, and in some cases were their buildings, as dozens of trees were artistically woven to create walls and archways. The governess of one such city owned a garden Martt imagined as the size of an earth football stadium and this is where she invited the leaders of the coalition to celebrate Riko’vs independence.

Matt was in awe at the incredible amount of flowers and lights and fountains covering the garden from corner to corner. In the center there was a great open area of violet grass where people danced to enchanting music played by Riko’vian musicians on a mossy stone stage behind them. The dance floor was bordered by a small stream littered with water lilies and what reminded Matt of fireflies except with closer inspection they were plant spores instead of insects. There were two bridges woven together from streamside trees that allowed the party-goers to cross the stream and leave the dance floor. Across from one bridge was an area filled with tables and chairs, where Matt found himself sitting.

The tables seem to be the only thing there made from wood that had been purposely cut and reshaped for furniture. The chairs however, were huge pink flowers woven and deliberately shaped. As delicate as they looked they held Matt’s weight as he sat, as they were not simply flowers but were covered and preserved in glass. The whole place truly was incredible.

Matt was pulled from his thoughts by the voice of Lance, walking up to him with an arm linked with Keith’s. “There you are!” He called cheerfully. “Shiro was looking for you.”

“Really? Where is he?”

“He’s over by the bar.” Keith pointed behind him.

“Thanks,” Matt said, standing to leave.

The “bar” they mentioned, happened to be a large gazebo with stools set up around it and a green-skinned Riko’vian in the center making custom drinks with an enthusiasm Matt didn’t know a bartender was capable of. Shiro was sat on the far right side, talking with another Riko’vian. This one with pink shades and deep blue antenna. Matt plopped himself down beside him.

“You had better not be flirting with the natives, starshine.”

Shiro jumped slightly, then turned to him with a look of irritation “Matt you know better than anyone that I’m about as straight as a cooked noodle.”

Before Matt could snip back, the Riko’vian, who was indeed a girl, chuckled. “Oh we were not flirting, I was simply thanking the Black Paladin. He saved my family from the battle’s crossfire. However I understand you and your rebels are to thank for our victory today, so…” She stood up and took Matt’s hand in her own. “Thank you, commander. If not for you, my family may have…” She shook her head. “No, they are safe thanks to you. That’s all that matters. I am in your debt.”

Matt felt warmth spreading over his face at the girl’s sincerity and soft touch and he sputtered out a simple, “O-of course.”

The girl didn't seem to notice or care, however, and released his hand with a smile. “I’ll take my leave now, thank you both again.”

Matt watched her go, before a nudge to the shoulder had him turning back to Shiro.

“Very smooth.”

“Shut up. She was cute and I’m weak.”

Shiro just laughed softly and waved over the bartender. “So I was thinking we could have a drink together, I haven’t seen much of you recently.”

“I’d love that.” Matt responded, as the older man ordered. He looked back towards the party and caught sight of the other paladins enjoying themselves. Pidge and Hunk were talking with a gardener in one corner, no doubt about the mechanics of growing the incredible Riko’vian plant structures. Lance and Keith were hip to hip on the dance floor, the party lights splashing them with the softest colors. It made Matt smile.

“They grow up so fast…” He sighed.

Shiro blinked at him. “What?”

“Our children!” Matt pointed. “Look at them. All muscly and stuff.” Shiro followed Matt’s gaze to the dance floor where the blue paladin spun Keith around like a doll, but they both were grinning like children.

Shiro chuckled. “You’re so weird.”

“Yeah? like you’ve never thought of yourself as “Space Dad”. I know Lance calls you that.”

“Lance no. I’m only 26...” He muttered.

“So? It’s figurative. We’re the space dads, Alurra is space mom, Coran is space Uncle, and they’re all our space kids!”

Shiro just sighed, a fond smile on his lips. “Whatever you say.”

The bartender then handed them both colorful drinks. Matt held his up to his nose. It smelled vaguely like pineapple but with a hint of spice and mint. It’s peach color shimmered in the party lights as Matt stirred it with his wrist.

Shiro raised his drink. “Well, to our little space family, then.”

“To our space family.”

The boys sat at the bar for a while, sipping their drinks and chatting. Matt thought his drink was quite pleasant, almost like a margarita with an extra minty tang. However, there was a bitter after taste that he could have done without. A side effect of drinking alien booze he supposed.

After a while Matt was itching to move. He glanced at the dance floor, which had cleared a bit as a few party goers were heading home for the night. Matt grabbed Shiro’s hand and tugged softly. “Takashi, let’s go dance!!”

Shiro looked at him in surprise but moved to stand up. “Really? Alright.”

“Yeah! When’s the last time we’ve danced together?” He responded, pulling Shiro along.

***

The two of them reached a spot in the field where they had room to move and began to jump and twist to the beat. Shiro, for being such a beautiful, perfect man, did not know how to dance for the life of him. Matt loved it anyway. He wanted nothing more than to dance the night away with his lover by his side. They danced separately, simply enjoying each others’ presence and the thrill of the music. Matt felt warm all over and the lights around him seemed to be spinning and twisting around them. It was thrilling. After a few songs went by, Matt glanced up at Shiro’s face and saw such pure joy on his face that his heart skipped a beat and the next thing he knew he was grabbing his boyfriend’s arms and spinning him around like Lance had done with Keith.

Unfortunately they didn’t even make it three turns before Matt had to let go and grab onto Shiro’s shoulder for support while his head stopped spinning.

“Oh jeez,” Matt huffed, closing his eyes for a moment. “Lance made it look so easy.”

Shiro reach down to support under his arm. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m just dizzy. I’ll be fine.” After a few deep breaths, Matt dared to open his eyes revealing Shiro’s worried face. He realized the lights from before weren't the only things spinning now. Everything from a foot or so in front of him was tipping dangerously and he swallowed around a wave of nausea. “Oh fuck..”

“Let’s go sit down.” Shiro began to help him out of the crowd.

“No, Shiro I’m fine, really…” Matt protested softly as he was led away from the party. His shaky limbs gave him away however, and he was struggling to walk in a straight line. “I wanna dance…” He whined.

“Matt, you’re drunk sweetheart.” Shiro responded softly, as he helped the boy sit on one of the benches on the outskirts of the garden.

“No I…” Matt trailed off. That couldn’t be right. The only drink he’d had that night was the one with Shiro. Hardly enough to get him more than tipsy. Also, he didn’t feel drunk. He’d been drunk before. This felt distinctly wrong but he couldn’t place why. He opened his mouth to say as much to Shiro, but was interrupted by another wave of nausea, this time he doubled over and let out a wet burp into the grass below him.

“Oh no, ok…” Shiro sighed. “Let’s get you back to the castle actually. I don’t think Riko’vian drinks agree with you.”

Matt shot him a You think?? glare, but didn’t respond. He just allowed the black paladin to lead him out the gate and towards the castle, which was parked a little ways behind the governess's estate.

The pair only made it to the edge of the garden’s outer wall before shiro slowed his steps to a halt. The castle was still about a hundred yards away and Matt glanced up at his partner in confusion.

Shiro had one hand around Matt’s waist to support him, while his other was braced against the brick wall on his left. His face had gone pale and a few drops of sweat were beginning to drip down his forehead.

“Shiro…?” Matt said softly.

“I’m ah, not feeling so great now either, actually.”

There was a moment of silence between them, the two of them processing exactly what that meant. They could both have ended up sick from the drink, but Matt swore he saw Lance sipping his own earlier and last Matt saw he was still living it up on the dance floor. No, these symptoms were too precise, to well timed, and as Matt’s legs gave out and Shiro tipped sideways to catched his weight, the two exchanged a knowing, fearful look.

They’d been drugged.

Shiro Immediately reached for his com, but with a cold dread he remembered that they were not in their armor. There wasn’t anyone else outside the garden to call to either. They were alone.

“Matt.” He started, looking over at his partner. “We need to get back to the others. Now.”

Matt’s only response was a flutter of his eyelids and a small groan. The drugs, or poison Shiro thought with a panic, was already deep in his system and he was losing consciousness fast. Shiro felt his own thoughts becoming foggy as well, the longer they stood there.

Shit shit shit.

Shiro pushed off from the wall, determined to get them to castle before it was too late, however he was quickly overcome by vertigo and he lost his balance, sending them both toppling to the ground. Matt groaned beside him and Shiro fought to get his bearings before they both passed out.

He tried to push back off the ground, but darkness was starting to creep into the edges of his vision. His limbs felt like lead and wouldn’t respond to his commands. With a rising panic Shiro realized they weren't going anywhere soon. With his last few moments of wakefulness he called out desperately to the Black Lion, but received no answer but the muffled sound of the party and the crunch of approaching footsteps on the gravel.

***

His arms ached. So did his head. In fact it felt to Shiro like he’d been hit by a bus. With a groan he peeled his eyelids apart, expecting to see the ceiling of his castle bedroom through the dark of his eyelashes, but instead was met with a deep violet, mostly empty room. Purple... Why did that color cause his heart to spike in fear? He was too groggy to remember. As his vision focused he noticed a blurry figure standing against the opposite wall. No, hanging from the wall, their arms locked above their head and bare toes just brushing the floor. It was Matt.

Shiro’s eyes snapped open. His first instinct was to get to his partner, but he quickly discovered the cause of his cramped arms. His wrists were locked above him, same as Matt’s, and all his weight was being held by the manacles. The two of them were dressed in Galran prisoner uniforms and Shiro let out a shaky laugh. They had been drugged and captured. Of course they had. The black paladin twisted his head up to look at his prosthetic and his heart sank when he saw a power canceling clamp attached just above the elbow. No help there. They were stuck.

A small moan drifted from the other side of the cell and Shiro saw Matt’s figure shift.

“Matt! Thank goodness, you’re ok.” He sighed.

Matt’s head turned side to side, taking in his surroundings. He wore what looked like a light purple visor, stretching across his eyes and over his ears. The boy pulled weakly at his wrists and when they didn't budge, Shiro saw the boy’s breath start to quicken in panic. “Oh god…” He groaned.

“Matt,” Shiro called again, “It’s ok, I’m here. We’re ok.”

“S-shiro?”

“Yeah sunshine, it’s me.”

“Shiro? Pidge?” Matt continued, still straining against his bonds. “Hello?”

“Matt? I’m right here, look at me.”

The burnet continued calling out, giving no indication he had heard his boyfriend speak. That’s when Shiro realized what was going on.

“He can’t hear you.” A voice cut through Shiro’s thoughts and he snapped his head around to the cell door which was now opening to reveal a high ranking galra general, flanked by two sentries. “But by all means, continue to call to him.”

“Fuck…” Matt whimpered. Making Shiro turn again. “Is anyone there? I can’t.. Dammit, I can’t see!”

“What the hell is this.” Shiro growled. He swallowed his growing panic, whatever was about to happen to them he needed to stay strong for Matt.

“Isn't it obvious?” The Galra gestured around. “It’s a prison cell.”

“Don’t patronize me.” Shiro snapped. “What are you planning to do with us?”

“Do with you? Oh I’m going to torture you of course. You see I have some questions that need answered, and it’s not every day we get our hands on a Paladin of Voltron.”

Shiro swallowed his panic and forced out a response. His voice came out a lot tougher than he felt. “I’ve been through this before.” Shiro growled. “You won’t get anything out of me.”

“No, I suppose not. You’re far too stubborn I’ve heard.” The Galra sighed. “Physical torture is overrated anyway.” He paused, before shooting Shiro the most sickening grin. “But what about emotional?” He turned away, walking to the other side of the cell. Walking towards…

Shiro’s blood ran cold. No. Not Matt…

“You know, we originally only planned on capturing you,” The galra all but purred. “However, when you ordered a second drink for your… sunshine, it only made sense to drug you both. So really it’s your fault that he’s here.”

One of the sentries handed the Galra a long, serrated dagger as he examined the terrified burnet. “He can’t hear or see a single thing. He has no idea what’s about to happen.” He smiled, trailing the knife over Matt’s body, not quite touching, not yet. “You may not be inclined to talk when the pain is yours, but I wonder how long you’ll last if we make him bleed…”

No no no no N O

without warning, he plunged the knife deep into Matt’s shoulder.

Matt screamed.

[sp4c3-0ddity]

Hey, girl how's it been? Anyway if you can and if you have time can you write a one-shot for Plance based off this sentence: "Can I kiss you?" Thanks :P

hey look another college AU. ~1100 words. enjoy

Pidge didn’t drag her feet when she agreed to go with Matt to the party, but she didn’t promise to have a good time. You’ll have fun! he said. Well, Pidge didn’t believe him, and as she scowled into her drink - suspiciously, because she didn’t even trust the Sprite to be safe - and thought longingly of brand new video game waiting to be freed of its packaging at home, a frat boy sauntered up to her.

At first she didn’t hear his query, either because the room was too loud with music and too crowded with dancing bodies...or because her brain filtered his words out, for when they finally registered, they made no sense.

“This is going to sound really weird, but can I kiss you?”

Pidge slowly glanced up from her drink and gaped at him. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I don’t think I heard you right.”

The boy - who looked a couple years older than her at most, and more than a head taller - smiled sheepishly and asked, “Can I kiss you?”

“What?” Pidge said, eyes wide and stunned. Absurdly her heart pounded, almost louder than her raucous surroundings. “No!”

“Oh, well, that sucks.” He shot a glance over his shoulder, towards the room at large, though from the way he scanned the crowd it seemed that he searched for someone.

Then he leaned against the wall just beside Pidge, close enough that his shoulder brushed hers. She pinched her lips together and glared at her drink.

“Look,” she said, “I’m really not interested--”

“Oh, me neither!” he said, his tone cheerful now. When Pidge swiveled her head around to raise an eyebrow at him, he raised his hands defensively and grinned. “I just saw my ex-girlfriend, so I needed to find someone to pretend to be interested, you know?”

Unimpressed - and with a face warm with embarrassment - Pidge narrowed her eyes at him. “No,” she deadpanned, “I do not.” She stood upright and pushed herself away from the wall...and away from him.

“Wait, hey!” he called from behind her. “That came out wrong!”

“No kidding,” Pidge grumbled under her breath as she stalked towards the back of the house, away from the densest rooms, through the kitchen, and out the door into the garden.

The backyard was small, as close to the city as the house was, but well-furnished with lawn chairs and a few tables on grass already turning brown for the autumn. Music with a pounding bass drifted from inside, but at least this far it didn’t rattle Pidge’s bones.

Unfortunately, solitude did not prove so simple to find, for in addition to other party goers seeking some peace, the guy from inside caught up to her.

“I’m not kissing you,” Pidge told him as he approached. She held her cup out towards him threateningly.

“Worry not,” he said with a conciliatory smile. “I’m not here to come onto you.”

“Then why did you follow me?” she demanded.

He glanced at the cup in her hand. “Are you going to pour that over my head if I tell you something you don’t like?”

Pidge cleared her throat and lowered her makeshift weapon. “You have experience with that?”

“Actually, no,” he said with a smirk. “I just watch a lot of movies.”

“Fine.” Pidge rolled her eyes. “What did you want?”

“Just to...apologize.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. “I saw my ex, panicked, and propositioned the first girl I saw...and it just happened to be you.”

“A wallflower?” Pidge raised a skeptical eyebrow. “How does a wallflower grab your attention?”

He hummed thoughtfully and shrugged. “Don’t know,” he said. “You were just the only in there not even trying to have a good time.”

“Ha, you caught me.” Pidge couldn’t help a slight smile, despite her sarcasm. “Are you going to kick me out now, since I’m not enjoying your frat party?”

“Maybe I should see that you enjoy it instead?”

Pidge snorted and shuffled her feet. Idly, she sipped at her drink, pretending that it hadn’t gone flat since she poured it. “Fat chance of that happening,” she said.

He leaned a little towards her. “Then what can I do to see that you do?”

“And why do you care?” Pidge wondered suspiciously. She wiped a sweaty palm on her pants, careful to keep an eye on the boy who had some kind of interest in her, accident or not.

“Because if I’m a host - and really, I am sorry for making you uncomfortable earlier - then shouldn’t I want all my guests to have fun?”

“Well, unless you have a brand spanking new copy of Killbot Phantasm II upstairs in your room, you won’t succeed.”

Pidge said it half-jokingly, unable to resist flashing him a smirk as she issued him an impossible challenge - of course he wouldn’t have the very game she was dying to play while she suffered at a crowded and noisy frat party! Except...

Pidge frowned at him, taking note of his slow smirk. “Why...why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because, my dear lady,” he said cheerfully, “I happen to have a ‘brand spanking new copy’ of Killbot Phantasm II upstairs...though, admittedly, in a frat brother’s room rather than in mine.” He shrugged and said, “He’s more into gaming than I am.”

Pidge’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope, not about this.” He smiled at her hopefully. “You want to go upstairs?”

Pidge brandished her half-full cup of flat soda at him. “Oh, I’ve seen enough movies to know where this goes, so no, I don’t think so.”

He scowled at her. “Really? I swear, I’m not interested in that; I just want you to have fun.”

Pidge considered him for a beat. He did seem genuine - and indignant that she’d imply that he wanted to seduce her - and regretful of the incident inside, but tempting as it was... “Whose name should I use when we engage in trash talk?”

He grinned and pressed a thumb to his chest. “The name’s Lance,” he said, “and if you think I’ll let you beat me--”

“You said yourself you’re not into gaming,” Pidge interrupted, shaking her head at him disparagingly.

Lance scoffed. “I’m a quick study, especially when I’ve got someone to beat.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, almost suggestively, and Pidge couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her lips.

“Fine,” she said. “I’m Pidge. Also”--she dramatically held her arm out to him--”you may escort me upstairs.”

Pidge smiled as Lance accepted her arm, for once not regretting allowing Matt to drag her along.

[viennanikolas]

wolves

Jace & Vienna - Benefit Ball

Jace entered the room with Laurel on his arm, wrinkling his nose subtly at how fake all of the people in this room were. He just stared at them. Laughing, drinking, eating, he hardly believed any of them cared about the “disadvantaged children” the evening was claiming to be a benefit for. Sure, there were tables set up where the wealthy guests could make donations to make themselves feel better about partying it up while some kid, much like Jace used to be, suffered in the foster system or even on the streets. But Laurel had wanted him there and he hadn’t had any other plans for the evening, so why the hell not? He watched as a few of the other guests approached them and when it was clear they wanted to chat with just Laurel, Jace let go of her arm and murmured in her ear before heading towards the bar, “I’ll go get us some drinks.” Vienna had been at the event a bit too early for her liking. Her date clearly did understand her love of arriving late and making a scene of it. Instead he promptly picked her up at 7:00 pm to arrive shortly after it began. Vienna knew she was supposed to just be arm candy tonight. Matthew was in his last year as a law student and clearly had his hand in the charity world already. She was incredibly bored of listening to the conversations already. The girl didn’t even hide her yawn before letting go of him. “I need a drink to deal with this. Thank god for open bars.” She shrugged at him and bee lined to the bar. The brunette made her way directly in front of everyone else, only to be surprised with who was next to her. She shook her head a little at Jace before laughing, “Fancy to see you here, Mr. Laurel.” Vienna grinned at him and raised her eyebrows, “I didn’t know you would be here tonight.” Jace heard her laugh first. He recognized the sound and raised his eyebrows before looking at Vienna with an amused smile, “Well if it isn’t Laurel Junior.” He chuckled and shrugged, “What you mean? I’m all for these help the poor kids shit by spending a fuckload of money on throwing a party instead of using that money to oh I don’t know, actually help.” He shook his head with a smirk then glanced back in Laurel’s direction, “Does your mom know you’re here?” Vienna immediately narrows her eyes at his words. A small huff left her mouth as she run her fingers through her hair. Vienna turned to the bartender and ordered herself a glass of champagne. “Oh, your sarcasm is rich. Just like everyone else is in this room.” She put her hand on her hip and turned back to look at him. With a soft hum, her shoulders moved up and down, ��Probably. She tends to know too much about me.” Vienna laughed and glanced him up and down, “You clean up well.” Her index finger ran along the lapel of his jacket before tugging on it gently with a smirk. Jace laughs at her words as he orders himself a rum and coke and gets a drink for Laurel before grinning a little as he feels Vienna’s finger against his clothes, “Oh, come on, V. Don’t act so surprised. You know I can rock a suit.” Vienna drops her hand as her drink comes and shrugs a little bit. She glances over her shoulder as she hears her date call her name. Vienna takes a long sip of her drink and smiles back at him before turning her attention back to Jace, leaning closer to him, “Too bad you’ve got the perfume of my mother on it.” Vienna shrugs with a smile, “I’ll see you later, J.” She turns to walk towards Matthew but not before giving Jace one last look with a smirk. Jace furrows his brows as he hears someone call her name and rolls his eyes at her words before glaring at her back, watching her go towards some douchebag. He narrows his eyes as she looks back at him and then grabs his and Laurel’s drinks before going back to Laurel, feeling incredibly grumpy. Vienna takes Matthew’s arm and follows him around again as they mingle with the party goers. She puts on her fakest smile and plays along for a while until she notices her mother and Jace not too far away. The brunette grabs her date’s arm and excuses them from their conversation to go over to them. “Mother.” She smirks as she turns around. Vienna moves her arm around Matt’s waist and leans into him, “This is Matt. Matt, this is my mom, Laurel and her boy toy.” Jace offers Laurel a tight smile as he hands her her drink and he doesn’t waste any time in downing his own drink. With his eyes on Vienna and her date, Jace belatedly registers Laurels hand on his arm and her lips near his ear as she quietly tries to tell him who everyone in the room is but he isn’t listening as his eyes are still on Vienna until she comes up to them to introduce everyone. He subtly shrugs Laurel off before reaching a hand out to Vienna’s date, shaking Matthew’s hand incredibly firmly as he gives him a charming smile, “Jace, nice to meet you.” Vienna runs her free hand through her hair as she watches them all shake hands. She glances up at Matt as he starts to talk about himself excessively to them. The girl rolls her eyes subtly before connecting her eyes with Jace. Vienna smirks a little and raises her eyebrows challengingly. She started to mouth something to him before someone approached the microphone at the stage to give a speech. Jace has no interest in listening to Matt speak and instead keeps his eyes trained on Vienna, narrowing them as he watches her eyebrows raise. When the organizer of the event starts to give a speech, the four of them all turn to face the front of the room and Jace stands still with Vienna and Laurel on either side of him. Tilting his head to the side, he speaks lowly under his breath so only Vienna can hear him, “Didn’t think self centered future lawyer was your type.” Vienna sighs softly in relief as Matt finally stops talking and she crosses her arms as she turns towards the speaker. She glances at Jace out of the corner of her eye as she hears him speak up. The brunette stifles a soft laugh as she speaks back to him quietly, “They aren’t. But who would’ve been my date wasn’t an option.” Jace rolls his eyes with a smirk, “And who would that be?” Vienna narrows her eyes at him and smirks back at him, “Hmph. You don’t know him.” Jace raises his eyebrows and glances at her for a moment, “I know a lot of people, V. Try me.” Vienna hums softly as she nudges the back of her hand against his before shaking her head, “Just some boxer.” Jace rolls his eyes with a smirk and gently nudges her hand back, “Bet I could beat the shit out of him.” Vienna laughs under her breath and shrugs subtly before looking ahead, “You’ll never know.” Jace continues to smirk as he keeps his gaze forward, “You sure about that?” Vienna nods her head as she glances at him with a moment, “Mhm..you’re too busy with your girlfriend.” She rolls her eyes a bit, “Guess we should refer to her as your womanfriend she’s definitely no girl anymore.” Vienna smirks as she slides her arm around Matt. Jace rolls his eyes and mumbles, “She’s not my girlfriend or womanfriend.” He notices her put her arm around Matt and he grits his teeth as the speech ends. “I need a smoke, be back in five.” He speaks at a normal volume, mostly to Laurel but glares at Vienna as he brushes past her on his way out of the ballroom and starts heading towards the nearest exit. Vienna raises her eyebrows as she hears him then watches as he heads out of the room. The brunette raises her eyebrows curiously before shrugging, “That’s a great idea. I’m going to see if I can get some fresh air too. I’ll be back.” Vienna gives Matt a fake smile before walking the same direction as Jace. Jace lets out a sharp breath once he gets outside and walks off to the side of the main entrance to start lighting up a smoke but he groans when he notices Vienna coming after him, “Go back to your date, V. What are you doing?” Vienna smirks and moves closer to him, “Don’t pout.” She plays with the collar of his jacket with a grin, “Do you really want me to go back inside right now? Especially when you have the chance to kiss me?” The brunette raises her eyebrows with a hum. Jace sighs a little and turns his head away from her with a small shake, “I’m not in the mood for your games tonight.” He closes his eyes for a moment and clenches his jaw before turning his gaze back on her, “But you know damn well that I don’t want you to go back inside.” Vienna rolls her eyes a little at him as she slides her hand onto the back of his neck. The girl tries to stifle a laugh as she runs her nails against his skin. “Kiss me.” She says in a low voice as she leans closer to him with a smile.

[beautifully-vain]

One-Sided

Ao3

Chapter 1

Lucy Heartfilia has always gotten everything she's always wanted. Everything but her father's attention. In the wake of her mother's death, her father became consumed with his work not once considering the effect it would have of his young daughter. She's grown up now, been accepted into the college of her dreams, and things are no different. She's still the invisible daughter to the business tycoon. She's tired of it. So, she does something about it. She meets Natsu Dragneel. He's running from a dark and violent past that follows him no matter where he is. He's exactly what Lucy needs. So, Lucy wants him. And what Lucy Heartfilia wants, Lucy Heartfilia gets.

So, I’m trying this thing where release my pent up anger from work and life in general. I actually have @mr-hawkmoth to thank because of their Self-Love Writing post. Before I originally posted this, I couldn’t put my thoughts to words because every sentence I wrote was wrong and I disliked my writing so much. And that was the worst for me because writing has always been my escape and I couldn’t get past the negative thoughts I had about my writing. Then I came across that post and tried it out. That’s how I managed to write so much of my story and sit back and appreciate the work. Hope you guys enjoy!

She somehow made it. Lucy Heartfilia had finally made it to college. She wasn’t the smartest in high school, but she surely wasn’t the dumbest. She could’ve gotten into any school she wanted, but she wanted to go here. Fairy Tail University. One of the most esteemed schools in all of Fiore. All the extra exams and essays finally paid off and she still couldn’t believe it.

As Lucy stood in the center of the quad, she sighed and smiled to herself and thought, I’m at the school of my dreams.

“Hey Blondie, move it,” someone shouted as they pushed her out of the way. All her bags were scattered about and just her luck the bag with her underwear in it popped open, spewing all her bras and panties everywhere. Lucy’s face became red and her ear became hot,

“Great just great,” she murmured to herself as she hurried to grab her unmentionables. She hid behind her thick blonde locks and damn near ran to the dorms. She was off to a great start.

When she finally got to the dorms, she was overwhelmed by the number of people rushing in and out with their things. It was way pasted move in day and Lucy should’ve been one of a few students just moving in. She got accepted on time, but as a gift from her father he sent her on a tour of the entire country from the beginning of the summer to the week before classes started. But that still didn’t explain why so many people were bringing things in and taking stuff out.

“It’s a thing the upperclassmen do to the freshmen before school starts.” Lucy turned around to find the voice. Her eyes landed on a girl.

“Hi and welcome. I’m Mirajane and I’m your dorm advisor. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.” Mirajane was average height with white hair having her bangs held out of her face by a ponytail. Her sapphire blue eyes sparkled with kindness. Lucy smiled.

“Thank you Mirajane, I really appreciate that. Do you mind helping me find my room?”

“That’s what I’m here for.” Mirajane helped Lucy with her bags and happily chatted with her as they walked. Lucy found out that Mirajane graduated from the same high school she did. They went on reminiscing about teachers and events until they made it to Lucy’s new room for the next year.

“Here we are Lucy and if you ever need want to talk I’m just a phone call away,” Mirajane smiled.

“Thanks, so much Mira, you’re the best.” She waved as Mira walked to off to help another freshman that had her stuff taken.

She opened her door and was greeted with the smell of ink and the sound of pages turning. She looked around until her eyes settled on a blunette. She was small with mousy features and hazel eyes. Her shoulder length hair was pushed back by a bandana. She peered up at Lucy through her glasses then looked at her curiously.

“Can I help you?”

“Um, my name is Lucy Heartfilia and it looks like I’m your new roommate.” Lucy said shyly.

“Oh, hi. I’m Levy. Levy McGarden. Hope we can be friends.” Levy smiled warmly ay her new roommate.

Lucy started unpacking her things and made small talk with Levy. She learned that Levy was an archeology major because of her love her ancient writing. Also, Levy had a boyfriend named Gajeel and he would be there later to pick Levy up for a big party.

“Wanna come? It’ll be a great time. Plus, there will be lots of hot guys there.” Levy winked. Lucy shrugged. She wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to go to a party with someone she just met. Levy seemed nice but she wasn’t comfortable going.

“I’ll think about it,” she smiled

“So, you won’t be coming then,” Levy raised an eyebrow, Lucy’s grew wide. Levy laughed.

“I know that ‘I’ll think about it means no and ‘maybe another time’ means please ask me next time you go out. College teaches you to read between the lines.

It’s okay though, I don’t want you to feel bad I was that way when Gajeel first invited me to my first college party.”

“I didn’t know you were an upperclassman.” Lucy said curiously.

Levy tilted her head confused. “I’m not. I’m a first-time freshman like you. Gajeel is the upperclassman. We’ve been together since I was a senior in high school. So, I’m a first-time college student not so first-time college party goer.” Lucy nodded in understanding.

“I’ll unpack my things and find something to wear.” Levy’s face lit up.

“Then I’ll help you unpack.”

It took the two of then about an hour and a half to get Lucy completely settled into the room.

I’m officially a college student. Lucy sighed contently. Her mind was still reeling from when she first set foot on campus. She knew when she left home none of her classmates were going to FTU. She was a bit relieved to know that. Her high school years weren’t the best and she didn’t want those memories to follow her to college. She applied to colleges she knew none of her classmates were going to. And money wasn’t the problem as far as going to any college goes.

Her father was a well-known business tycoon and after the death of her mother he became obsessed with his work. So much so, the most contact she had with him by the time she was ten was notes written to her from his assistants filled with generic words of kindness and care. For her birthdays, her gifts would be more lavish and expensive the older she got, but that only meant that she would see her father less and less. By the time Lucy was 17, she never saw Jude Hearrfilia and she prayed that he would make an appearance at her graduation.

All the arrangements were in his name, – the facials the salons, the makeover, shoes, dress, cap, and gown – fully paid for shiny and new. But the one thing she wanted more than all the shoes, cars, and clothes ever given to her, was for her father cheer for his only little girl as she accepted her high school diploma. Much to her dismay as well as fulfillment of her doubt, her father never showed up. The only remanence of his presence was a bouquet of flowers and the keys to a brand-new Porsche. While her classmates smiled for pictures with their families, Lucy smiled alone the biggest smile she alone with her diploma in one hand and the flowers and keys in the other. She heard the whispers and snickers of her classmates and their loved ones, but she smiled and congratulated everyone, embarrassing some of them completely.

She was heartbroken and cried for days after. She was furious so she destroyed the Porsche. That got a rise out of her father, but still not what she wanted so she gave up and no longer craved her father’s attention. He called her from his office at work and gave her the lecture of a lifetime. He went on and on about how she needs to be careful and how she’s lucky that they can afford such extravagant things. He droned on and on for an hour. When he finally allowed her to speak, her voice was monotone. She apologized and said she hadn’t realized how truly blessed she was to have all that she has. Jude approved of her response and offered to buy her any new car of her choice that would be waiting for her when she returned form touring the country. She kindly accepted and as usual he told her that he had a meeting and that the business wasn’t going to run itself so he would talk to her next time he was free. Without the slightest goodbye, Jude hung up on his daughter. After that day, she gave up and no longer craved her father’s attention.

“Lucy, Gajeel will be here in 45 minutes. Are you gonna come to the party of not?” Levy asked a half-asleep Lucy. She had fallen asleep. Wait, 45 minutes?!

“I’m up, I’m up!” Lucy shot up from her bed, her long blonde hair was in a disarray and she has imprints on her cheek from sleeping so hard.

“Then get up,” Levy exclaimed excitedly.

The blunette was no longer sporting sweats, a hoodie, and her bandana. Instead, she was wearing a black long-sleeved cold shoulder dress that touched just above her knees with some strappy black heels to match the color of her dress. Her glasses were absent from her face, instead her hazel eyes were accented by a smoky eye look along with her long eyelashes. Her eyebrows were filled in perfectly with her highlight and contour bringing out the angles of her face. She tied the look together with matte red lipstick, just enough color to make someone stop and stare.

Lucy hurriedly grabbed a name brand dress out of her only unpacked suitcase. It was a teal Michael Kors dress. The garment was three quarter sleeve and had a golden chain strung through the front over the chest. It was the same length as Levy’s dress and it also had a small sash if the same color to tie around her waist. Then she pulled out some nude Louboutin heels.

“40 minutes Lucy,” Levy sang.

Lucy hopped into the bathroom and quickly dressed herself. Levy left the straightener on so Lucy used to loosely curl her hair. She went for a more natural look with her eyeshadow. She lightly filled in her eyebrows and she bushed over her face with powder contour to give her face a matte look. She lathered her lips with a light pink lipstick and put a small amount of shimmering highlight on her cheekbones.

When she stepped out, Levy was sitting on her own bed reading a book. She looked up at Lucy and smiled.

“You look hot!”

Lucy blushed. “Thanks.”

They put their earrings, bracelets, and watches as they waited for Levy’s boyfriend.

“Is there something I need to know to not piss off your boyfriend?” Lucy asked to kill time.

Levy hummed. “No, he looks really intimidating, but he’s a big teddy bear. He lives in an apartment off campus and he has a pet cat named Pantherlily that he rescued.”

Lucy cooed in response, making Levy giggle.

“Don’t tell him I told you that though. That might piss him off. But he’s gonna suggest that you stick close to us when we get to the party. He doesn’t want anyone messing with me or my friends.” Levy looked at her silver watch. “He should be here any time now.”

Not even seconds after Levy spoke, there was a knock at the door. She skipped over to door and opened it. Behind it, was a very large, very scary looking man. He had piercing all over his face and tattoos scored his arms. He was easily a foot taller than her and she was in five inch heels. He was dressed in some khaki pants and a white button down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His long black hair rivaled Lucy’s in length and was worn in a low ponytail. She observed the muscular male gently place a large hand on the petite blunette’s back and kiss her. Lucy looked away to give them their moment and she was a bit embarrassed.

“Gajeel, this is my new roommate Lucy. She’s coming with us tonight. That okay?” Levy beamed.

“Sure kid. Name’s Gajeel. Gajeel Redfox. Nice to meet you,” his voice was deep and gravelly.

“Likewise,” Lucy said cordially.

“But before we go anywhere, I’m gonna give you the same rundown I gave the pipsqueak. Don’t leave my side and if you do, just tell me so I don’t have to punch someone’s teeth in looking for you. And my biggest rule for Levy, – and now you – if a drink didn’t come out of my hand, do not drink it. Guys at parties for classes start make bets to see how many freshmen they can drug and fuck. Once again, I don’t feel like sending some poor sap to the hospital before classes start. Other than that, have fun. Some of my friends are gonna be there and they’ll take care of you if you didn’t wanna feel like a third wheel,” he chuckled and it was the strangest sound Lucy had ever heard. To keep from laughing, she nodded.

“Then let’s go! I’m ready to party!” Levy shouted only to have her mouth covered by Gajeel’s big hand.

“Alright we’re leaving Shrimp. Keep your panties on,” Gajeel said as they all walked out of the room. “Because I want to be the one to take them off tonight.” He whispered but not quietly enough because Lucy heard making her face grow hot. She swallowed bile when she heard her roommate moan.

“I like that idea very much,” the small female giggled.

The three got into Gajeel’s black Camaro and headed to the part. The ride was filled with jokes and hilarious stories. Lucy felt much closer and more comfortable with these strangers. She felt acceptance, something that she hadn’t felt for a while. She was ready to party.

[artificialqueens]

Straightjacket Feeling - Chp.4 (Pearlet) by Scarlet

Tw - mostly just angst in this chapter and a small dose of Viadore. After the next chapter it stops being set in college (finally!)

Chapter 4

Daytona Beach was already abuzz with Spring Breakers when they arrived some seven hours later. It was already dark when Matt pulled the SUV up in front of the hotel. When Jason opened the door he was bombarded by noise from every angle and he groaned a little. He’d half hoped he would get some studying done while he was here but that was looking unlikely. Their hotel had an outdoor pool with a bar next to it and there was loud music blaring from large speakers that people were dancing to. They all exited the car and grabbed their bags before checking in, thankfully Jason, Kurtis and Matt all had separate rooms this time.

‘So we gonna go party or what?’ Matt asked as they headed to their rooms.

‘No, need sleep.’ Jake grumbled, clearly not over his hangover yet.

'He piqued too soon. In fact I think I’m going to call it a night too, how about you Bri?’ Brian squeezed his boyfriend’s hand.

'Yeah I’m pretty beat.’ Bri nodded.

'Me too.’ Kurtis agreed.

'Fucking light weights!’ Matt groaned. 'You’ll come party with me won’t you Jay?’ He beamed at the younger boy, the smile he had so much trouble saying no to.

'I’m really tired Matt.’ Jason pulled a face. Matt widened his eyes and quivered his bottom lip; his fucking puppy dog face, the one he knew Jason couldn’t resist.

'Just one drink?’ He batted his eyes. Jason groaned.

'One drink.’ He repeated. 'Let me get changed first though.’

Suddenly Matt was engulfing him in a huge hug.

'You’re the best.’ Matt spoke into his ear and Jason practically melted. That made it worth it.

—————————————–

No sooner had Jason changed into a more weather appropriate outfit, because despite being night time it was still hotter in Daytona than it was in New York in the day time, Matt was knocking on his door. He put on a pair of his tightest shorts, the ones that made his ass look incredible, a Pearl Liaison vest top (because he knew Matt loved her) and his old boots. He opened the door and Matt was smiling at him. He too had opted for shorts and a baggy vest top but his was a plain dark green one. He spotted Jason’s shirt straight away.

'Oh god can you get me one of them for graduation?’ He pointed to the queen on Jason’s top, swooning a little. 'I don’t even care that she’s a dude, she is so fucking hot.’

Jason laughed, rolling his eyes.

'Maybe, if you’re good.’

'I’m always good.’ He winked at Jason and started leading him towards the bar by the pool. Matt whispered something in the bartender’s ear whilst Jason was distracted taking in the chaos. It was loud, really loud, and he would bet he and Matt were the only sober ones here. He felt Matt nudge him in the arm and he tore his attention away from the other party goers to see Matt handing him a plastic cup.

'What’s this?’ Jason sniffed it, that familiar smell of battery acid.

'That’s the Violet Kiss.’ He smiled brightly. Jason hadn’t had one of Matt’s secret concoctions since that first night he took him to that party. He took a small sip, he couldn’t deny it was really nice.

'Are you ever going to tell me what’s in it?’ Jason said as he followed Matt over to a free sun lounger where he sat down and Jason sat next to him.

'Maybe one day. But not tonight.’

'What about where you came up with the name?’

'Again, maybe one day, but not tonight.’ Matt had a twinkle in his eyes as he looked at Jason. 'You should take your hair down, you look so much prettier with your hair down.’

Jason’s heart skipped a beat. Did Matt just call him pretty?

'I uhm…’

'Oh don’t start with the uhming again.’ Matt laughed. 'Take your hair down.’

Jason bit his lip and nodded using his free hand to pull his hair and from its bun and let it cascade down his back. He ruffled it a little, Matt was smiling at him.

'Much better.’ He whispered. Jason didn’t know what to make of this. Was Matt hitting on him? He wasn’t even drunk either, which made it all the more confusing.

'Yeah.’ Just stuttered.

'You know, I always meant to talk to you about that night I came to your dorm. You know when Bri came home and outside in the corridor…’

When you kissed me Jason said in his head when Matt trailed off.

'What about it?’ He croaked, were they finally going to talk about it? Had Matt just called him pretty and now he wanted to talk about their kiss?

'Well,’ Matt placed his hand gently on Jason’s leg and Jason felt like a thunderbolt had just shot through his body. 'I’ve never done anything like that before you know? But I just…I can’t explain it. I just had this urge you know? And I knew I should have talked to you about it but it never seemed like the right time. You know sometimes…sometimes I think…’ Matt trailed off and it felt to Jason as though he was leaning closer. Was he going to kiss him again? Had Jason brushed his teeth? His head was spinning but Matt was definitely moving closer. 'Sometimes I think that maybe I’d like to-’

'Oh my god you are like super fucking hot!’ A female voice interrupted them and suddenly a girl was falling down to the sun lounger between Matt and Jason. No, no, no fuck off! Jason screamed internally.

'Why thank you.’ Matt smiled at her, seemingly ignoring Jason was there anymore. Jason wanted to scream at her, he and Matt were just getting somewhere, and finally, she couldn’t have chosen a worse moment.

'I’m Chloe.’ She was clearly drunk and she ran her hand through Matt’s hair. 'And you are fucking gorgeous.’

'I’m Matt and I’m flattered.’ He chuckled a little. 'This is my friend Jason.’ He pointed passed her to Jason but she didn’t look.

'Are you coming to the club? Everyone’s going to the club.’

'Uhm I’m not sure. Are we going to the club Jay?’ He looked at Jason over Chloe’s shoulder. Jason pulled a face and shook his head frantically. Matt half-smiled. 'Sorry, we’ve been driving for two days, maybe tomorrow?’

'Ohhhh come on, we’ll have a really good time.’ She kissed Matt’s neck now, her other hand working its way up Matt’s thigh. He gasped and closed his eyes. Jason clenched his jaw. Fuck this, he wasn’t going to be the third wheel. He especially wasn’t going to sit and watch while the boy he loved hooked up with some drunk bimbo. He got up and stormed away. He briefly looked over his shoulder to see if Matt had noticed but he hadn’t. His eyes were still closed as Chloe continued to work her lips on his neck. He didn’t blame Chloe, Matt was fucking gorgeous, and Jason was surprised there weren’t women lining up down the block for him. But Jason didn’t want to be part of it. He also didn’t want to go back to his room because he would no doubt curl up in bed and cry pathetically. So he went for a walk, and tried to burn the image of Chloe kissing Matt’s neck from his mind.

—————————————–

The sand was soft under his bare feet. He loved the way he sank into it as he walked, he loved the way it felt between his toes. He loved the feel of the soft sea breeze on his skin. He loved New York but sometimes, Matt missed the beach, a lot.

He could see him sitting down by the shore, his long hair blowing in the wind. He lifted a bottle to his lips and downed it and then made a disgusted noise that made Matt laugh. Jason turned, hearing the noise and he rolled his eyes as he saw Matt closing in on him.

'That was quick, even for you.’ Jason sighed as Matt fell to the sand next to him.

'What was quick?’ Matt took the bottle from Jason, it was whiskey.

'The sex.’

'Where did you get this?’ Matt chuckled taking a sip from it. He saw Jason shrug.

'The bartender was preoccupied with his own bimbo so I swiped it. Seems like a recurring thing down here.’

Matt laughed again.

'So Chloe was a bimbo?’

'Wasn’t she?’ Jason turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

'I don’t know I wasn’t with her long enough to find out. I left after I realised you did a disappearing act.’

Jason’s facial expression turned into more of a frown.

'You didn’t sleep with her?’ He snatched he bottle back from Matt.

'No!’ Matt scoffed. 'I’m not Jake.’

'Oh come on Matt, you might not be Jake but you aren’t exactly a virgin either.’ Jason rolled his eyes and swigged from the bottle, making the disgusted noise again.

'What are you implying?’ Matt frowned now, and if Jason wasn’t mistaken he thought Matt looked a little annoyed.

'Well I mean…we both know you get around.’

'Fuck you!’ Matt spat, taking Jason back. He’d never seen Matt get angry before. 'I don’t know what you think you know about me, but you’re wrong.’

'Oh really?’ Jason knew he should just drop it but he didn’t drink a lot so the alcohol he had consumed had gone straight to his head.

'You know what, I don’t have to explain myself to you. I don’t even know why I bothered to come and find you.’ He stood back up picking up his shoes. 'Just try not to drown yeah?’ He spun around and headed back up the beach. Jason bit his lip feeling bad. He jumped up as quick as he could, grabbing the whiskey and his boots before attempting to run after Matt.

'Matt stop! I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.’

'Yes you did.’ Matt turned back to him. He looked hurt. 'You as good as called me a fucking man whore Jason! Get your facts straight before you go making accusations ok? I thought you were my friend, I thought you got me.’ He turned to leave again but Jason grabbed his shoulder.

'I am your friend! I’m sorry Matt it’s just that from what I’ve seen…you do seem to have a lot of…female company.’

'And that immediately makes me some kind of whore?’ Matt stopped again and folded his arms over his chest. 'Don’t jump to conclusions when you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about it.’

Jason thought he was going to march off again but stayed put, glaring at Jason.

'Well you’ve got to admit it looks a certain kind of way.’

'Yeah well looks can be deceiving.’ Matt sighed unfolding his arms and running his fingers through his hair. 'You wanna know the truth? I’ve only ever slept with two women. I was a chubby kid remember? Girls never looked at me. The first girl I slept with was in freshman year of college and I couldn’t believe my luck that a hot girl wanted me. And the only other girl there has ever been was a long term girlfriend. We met towards the end of freshman year and dated right up until just before I met you. I’m not some kind of whore that just jumps into bed with anyone Jason. In fact I still don’t get why girls are always hanging off of me, because to me, I’m still that fat dorky kid from high school. I don’t see myself the way they see me! So yeah I like the attention, I like when a hot girl throws herself at me because it makes me feel good but I do not sleep with them all. I thought you knew me well enough to know I wasn’t like that but I guess I was wrong.’ A small tear rolled down Matt’s cheek as he turned away from Jason again and started walking away. Jason dropped his shoes and drink to the floor and took off after Matt. He grabbed him by the shoulders when he reached him and turned him to face him and then he didn’t think anymore. He took hold of Matt’s face and he kissed him. It was much more than the small kiss they’d had once before. Jason kissed him hard and bit Matt’s bottom lip to let him know he wanted access and Matt allowed it. Soon after Jason’s tongue was in Matt’s mouth, massaging the older boys tongue, Jason holding his face firmly all the while. Matt was so taken aback by Jason’s surge of confidence his arms just hung limply at his sides as he let Jason take the lead. The kiss lasted several minutes and when it broke they were both panting.

'You are beautiful Matthew. Inside and out. Never, ever let me hear you doubt that.’ Jason told him. Then he picked his stuff up from the sand and walked passed Matt towards the hotel. Matt just stood there frozen to the spot. His heart was hammering in his chest. He’d always had his suspicions that Jason had a crush on him, but of course he never would have said anything because he didn’t want to ruin their friendship. But more worryingly, Matt had always had a suspicion that he too had a crush on Jason. He’d tried to write it off as a phase, he couldn’t be gay could he? But that kiss had actually sent chills down his spine. For the first time in his life Matt had felt truly alive. And he wouldn’t be happy until he had more.

—————————————–

Jason was avoiding Matt. When he’d woken up the next morning his head had hurt from the whiskey and his one coherent memory of the previous night was grabbing Matt and kissing him. Matt was acting completely normal as if nothing had happened but Jason was a bundle of nerves. Had he ruined their friendship? Was Matt just acting cool because he had to? Maybe when they got back to college Matt was never going to speak to him again.

Jason hadn’t been out drinking with them since that night. He’d spent his nights in his room studying and Matt didn’t even care enough to check on him like he normally would have done. Jason didn’t blame him, it was his own fault. He was starting to wish he’d stayed on campus, then maybe he and Matt would still be friends. On their last day before they started the long drive back tomorrow, Jason and Kurtis headed down to the beach.

'I still can’t believe you just ran off after without seeing what he would say! He probably thinks you regretted it the moment you did, that’s probably why he’s not talking to you.’ Kurtis sighed.

'I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’m starting to wish I hadn’t told you.’ Jason groaned. They were looking for a spot on the beach that wasn’t over run with obnoxious college students, somewhere away from the crowds so they could relax for a bit. But they were spotted.

'Jason! Kurtis! Over here!’ It was Bri waving them over. Jason rolled his eyes under his sun glasses. He knew he couldn’t very well pretend he hadn’t seen him. Kurtis shrugged.

'You have to see him at some point. We’ve got to get a ride back with them tomorrow.’

Jason rolled his eyes again and they headed over to the rest of their gang.

'Where the hell have you been hiding?’ Jake playfully punched Jason in the arm. It hurt but Jason hoped Jake didn’t notice.

'Studying.’

'Urgh dork.’ Jake groaned. Jason ignored him. He also tried to ignore Matt who was sat on a towel smoking a cigarette. He was shirtless and his skin was sun kissed and Jason felt a little weak at the sight of his toned abs and tattooed arms. He set his towel out in front of Matt so he didn’t have to look at him and Kurtis set his down next to Jason. Kurtis immediately whipped his own shirt off and laid back on his towel folding his arms under his head and slipping on his headphones. Jake and Roxy were now making out, her straddling him in the middle of a public beach. It made Jason cringe. The Brian’s were playing some kind of game with a ball closer to the water. That left Jason and Matt. Jason wasn’t the kind of guy that revelled in taking his clothes off in public but it was sweltering hot and he’d made the stupid decision to wear a black t-shirt. All the other guys on the beach were shirtless so he tried to not put too much thought into when he stripped it off and folded it neatly before putting it in his bag. He could practically feel Matt’s eyes on the back of his head as he tied his hair back into a bun. He knew he’d have to speak to him eventually, but every time Jason looked at him he went bright red. So he decided to keep looking straight ahead when he spoke.

'Sorry about the other night.’ He spoke so quietly he wasn’t even sure Matt would hear him. There was a long pause and he thought maybe he hadn’t heard him but then Matt spoke.

’S'ok.’

Jason bit his lip. Was that all? Was that really all he got?

'Are we…you know…are we ok?’ He said now still not looking at Matt.

'Yeah why wouldn’t we be? You’re the one that’s making a big deal out of it.’

Jason turned to look at Matt now, pulling his sunglasses onto his head.

'What’s that supposed to mean?’ He frowned.

'I mean, you’re the one that’s been avoiding me. I forgot about it as soon as you walked away.’ Matt still had his sunglasses on so Jason couldn’t tell what he was thinking. But his comment hurt, and if he didn’t know any better he would think that’s why Matt had said it.

'Good, glad that’s settled then.’ Jason spat and turned back around so he didn’t have to look at his asshole friend anymore. Matt bit his lip. He hadn’t meant that, not at all. The truth was he’d thought of nothing but that kiss since. And that scared him but it also annoyed him that Jason was acting this way.

'Whatever.’ Matt scoffed lighting a new cigarette.

'You know what? I’m glad you’re graduating soon. It’ll make avoiding you so much easier.’ Jason shook his head, trying to keep his eyes focused on the Brian’s.

'You don’t mean that.’ Matt’s voice was suddenly so sad and it actually made Jason feel a little bad. For a second. But then he remembered what Matt had just said to him and he thought, good, I’m glad I’ve upset you.

'Oh don’t I?’ Jason turned back round to look at Matt. 'I don’t even know why we’re friends Matt. We have literally nothing in common, and to be quite honest you annoy the fuck out of me sometimes. Most of the time actually.’ Jason wanted Matt to hurt like Matt had hurt him. He couldn’t tell what Matt was thinking.

'You’re the one that kissed me.’ Matt spoke quietly making sure no one else heard.

'Yeah because I felt sorry for you.’ Jason told him. 'And it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. If I could take it back I would. Let’s just get on with our last day here and then when we get back to campus we can go our separate ways.’

'Fine by me.’

'Fine.’ Jason spat and turned back around. Matt felt tears stinging his eyes. That’s not what he wanted, not at all. He was about to speak again, to tell Jason he was sorry for being an ass and that he wanted things to be ok, more than anything else in the world but there was suddenly a slim, messy haired man approaching them.

'Hi there. I’m so sorry to just come over like this but I saw you across the beach and, I’m sorry to be so forward but I thought you were gorgeous so I just had to come over here.’ He spoke to Jason. Matt wanted to tell this guy to fuck off but Jason spoke.

'Hi, well that’s very nice of you.’ Jason smiled at the stranger. 'I’m Jason.’

'Danny.’ The man held his hand out to shake Jason’s. 'I don’t supposed you’d like to go grab a drink?’

'Bit early isn’t it?’ Matt scoffed. Jason looked at him over his shoulder. He was going to say no to Danny’s offer but Matt had made him have a change of heart.

'Sure, a drink would be great.’ Jason turned his attention back to Danny and heard Matt scoff. Jason stood up and brushed the sand off of him before grabbing his bag. 'Tell Kurtis I’ll see him later.’ He told Matt without looking at him.

'I’m not your fucking secretary.’ Matt replied but Jason wasn’t listening, he’d already started following Danny away. Matt groaned and laid back in the sand. This was his own fault. If he was just honest with Jason about how he felt then maybe that could be the two of them strolling down the beach together. Matt was an idiot. And now he’d probably lost his chance.

—————————————–

'What was that guys deal?’ Danny asked Jason now they were sat back up by the pool with a drink. Jason sighed, shaking his head.

'I wish I knew. He’s supposed to be my best friend, or so he says.’

'He sounded a little…jealous to me.’ Danny sipped his drink with a small smile. He had a really nice smile Jason thought, just not as nice as Matt’s.

'I don’t think so.’ Jason laughed. 'He’s an idiot, I don’t want to talk about him.’

'Ok.’ Danny smiled. 'Where are you from?’

'Atlanta originally but I’m at college in New York. How about you?’

'I’m from California, Azusa, but I’m at college in Tampa, not too far from here actually.’

Jason wanted to like Danny. He wanted to like Danny because Danny wasn’t Matt. He needed a distraction from Matt, he really didn’t care what it was at this point. So for the second time in as many days, Jason put on his confident hat and leaned in close to Danny and kissed him. It was nothing like kissing Matt. That was probably a good thing. It didn’t feel like a good thing though.

[powertobehandsome]

Blind Date || Matt and Seth

In which Shiv and I decided to do a random little thing so I can try to better grasp the voice of Seth. And it goes from ridiculous to hilarious to heartbreaking in a matter of seconds. -- @violent-nobility

"Fuck," Carol groaned as she slowly sat up, holding a hand against her head. "Fuck, fuck, fuck... shit. You guys okay?"

"Other than being in the closet," Matt responded, his voice dry as ever. "I am, but Oliver's still out." He was sitting against the wall, the Arrow's head and shoulders in his lap, and he held onto him protectively.

"Closet?" Carol blinked, but as her vision cleared, she saw that he meant it literally. They were in some kind of cleaning supply closet -- explained the smell. She pushed herself up and brushed bits of grit and soot off of her supersuit, then slowly got to her feet. "What the hell happened?"

"Deadpool." Matt's voice was tight, angry, and quiet. "He saw the opportunity to steal something from Thanos, I don't know what it was, but he took it and.. when he did, something -- we just fell. Gravity felt like it -- turned off." He licked his lips and gave a small shake of his head. "But I'm guessing he's here, somewhere. We just have to find him."

"Okay." Carol nodded and reached down to lift Oliver up. As she did, he woke, although groggily. Blood streamed down the side of his head, dripping from the side of his mask. "Ollie?"

"Fine," he murmured, then nodded. "I'm fine."

"Okay... so... we just need to find Deadpool, steal back the gem, it'll be fine. How hard can it be to find a guy in a conspicuous red suit?" Carol helped Matt up, then went and opened the door -- into one of the loudest, most crowded places she'd seen in a long time...

Where at least ten Deadpools were cavorting together.

"Sweet costumes!" a Stormtrooper said as they passed by. Carol looked own at her own costume -- blue, red, gold. Blood. Soot. Oliver's dark green leather was badly scuffed, and he was covered in all sorts of wounds. Matt just looked like an insane ninja in his black blindfold and skintight black shirt -- god she loved that shirt on him though -- and cargo pants. He wasn't bleeding, but from the way he had his arm held against his chest, she was guessing he'd hurt it.

Right. Okay.

"This... is an actual nightmare I've had," Ollie muttered as the Deadpools started cartwheeling together, to shrieks and applause from the huge audience of con-goers.

"It'll be fine. We just need to find the right one."

Seth had a booth set up in the center of the great hall, directly catty-corner to both the marvel and the DC sets. He had the prime location, and it had cost a pretty penny. But his mother believed in him, believed in his new comic, and this gave Seth every opportunity to geek out as cosplayer after cosplayer stopped by, picked up a copy of ATOMIC COUNTY and let him take a picture along with their payment.

He'd used his phone to get a few pictures of the cartwheeling Deadpools, and just happened to look over to his right as a collection of the most obscure collection of cosplayers all but limped out of a janitorial closet between two of the concession stands. "Ryan... Ryan look at this. Do you think this is an orgy gone wrong? You see, I always knew Comic Con would be different if I stayed stationary, if I was in the mix of it and able to just watch people come and go. Speak of which, I think these... You know, this is something I haven't really seen since that first week you were in Newport. Do you remember that? The party that we went to after the fashion show. There was the fight on the beach. And I accidentally walked in on an orgy in the bathroom."

"Seth... Your point?"

"My point is, Ryan, that those three... there's something twisted going on there. They all walk out of a closet, dressed in costume, the guys are the ones who look more roughed up. Do you think..."

"Do I think they maybe just had a make out session? And she kicked their asses because they were leaving her out?"

Seth stood and gawked at his best friend, brows raised. "I was going to say do you think that is some of that corn syrup fake blood? Or the stuff that tastes like throw up. Because if I'm going to spread my wings, that means introducing myself to new people."

"You're not going to try to make out with one of them."

"One of them? No, Ryan, all three. This is Comic Con. Go big or go home. What happens in San Diego, stays in San Diego."

"That's Vegas."

"Or Tijuana."

"Seth..."

"Right. Shhh. They're coming this way. Who's winning right now, me or my hair."

"It's your hair, Seth. It's always your hair."

"Do you think they'll-- Hi. Hi guys. Can I interest you in one of my comics. Atomic County. Based off of real life experiences, I've discovered it makes the characters more real, makes them feel less far fetched when it comes to their powers, and the likes. What are you... the Arrow. Are you a Captain Marvel? Very nice. I like the whole layout you've got going with the colors. And who... I mean. I've seen weirder ninjas, I guess. Or are you one of the like... Image comic characters? But welcome. Is the Arrow alright? Is he drunk, or is he just a method actor with that head injury?"

By the time the kid was done talking at them, Oliver was staring at him like he was going to put an arrow through one of his eyes. The three of them had all stopped, surprised at being accosted, but when the kid was done yapping, Oliver just clenched his jaw a little and turned away. Everything hurt and he was lightheaded, but he'd had worse, and there really wasn't time to go get patched up, let alone time to listen to this kid.

"No," was all he said, his voice sharp, and he turned back to Carol. "Ca-- ptain Marvel, we have to go. I don't think any of those are him." Ollie nodded towards the Deadpools, who were now hugging people and signing autographs. "Daredevil?"

Matt, who was thoroughly miserable in the shrieking crowd, lifted his chin and told himself to focus, listening to the group of Deadpools. After a moment, he shook his head. "No. None of them. He's not here. We have to keep moving." He rotated his shoulders as much as he could while still holding his arm against himself.

Carol nodded and turned back to the kid. "Did you see another Deadpool leave this area recently? It's important that we find him now. So please. If you saw him, help us."

Seth watched them, nodding, looking back to Ryan and then lifting his brow as if this was his in, as if this was what he'd planned to happen all along. Because in San Diego? At Comic Con? This was his place, his people.

"Deadpools? Yes. I saw two. Though in this place it might be..."

"Seth..." This time, Ryan was actually helping. "Why don't you show them the way. They don't... seem to exactly know the best places to look. And you are the one who saw them. I'll watch the booth."

"Right. This was fellas... and lady..." Seth walked around the booth, gesturing for Ryan to not forget pictures, and then gestured for them to start heading down toward Hall C. He looked at the man in mostly black.

"So, you're Daredevil. Is it the tie around the eyes that's supposed to be the giveaway. I'm not at all trying to judge costume, that event happens tomorrow night, and I'm not a part of the panel, but are you just going for his early days? Not many people do that these days. I've gotta give you some mad props."

He started to lead them down a left hallway and at this point, he wasn't entirely sure where he was leading them, but he knew he had seen a Deadpool walk in this general direction. Though, it had been a few minutes, and by this point, he could be anywhere.

"So, I have to ask. Everybody else went marvel. Why did you go DC? Is it that you like the darker undertones of the universe? Or is there some other factor?"

"Me?" Oliver asked. This wasn't the first parallel world he had experienced, but even still, he hated this shit, and it came across in his voice. "I don't care about -- DC or Marvel." Whatever that is. "We're here to do a job." Instinctively, he reached out and pulled Matt closer, keeping Matt's injured side next to him.

"Marvel -- named after Captain Marvel?" Matt asked. This was all new for him, all very new, and he didn't like it at all. He didn't get entangled in the bigger stuff, he didn't jump from world to world, he didn't play around with people who had powers. Jesus. This was insane. This was completely, completely insane. "And who are you?"

"I'm Seth Cohen. I was running that booth because I created this comic called Atomic County based on the life I lead with my friend Ryan while we were in high school in Southern California. But I'm sorry. That's irrelevant. What do you mean you don't care about Marvel or DC? They're the two major food groups, they're the super powers of the comic world. They are who every writer and artist want to be involved with..."

Seth pointed to a man dressed in a full Deadpool costume -- a better one than Seth could remember seeing. "There are three there. That one... Hey, guys. That one doesn't have his blades tagged." Looking around, all others in cosplay had orange or green or bright blue bands around their blades, their guns, even their bows. "... Neither do any of you... Are you... Are you going to create some kind of mass killing? Oh god, i've gotten mixed up in the worse kind of crowd. I'm worse than Marissa with Volchuck. And that got her killed. Look. If any of you are going to go rogue, please let it be the Green Arrow. Marvel doesn't need any of the bad rap right now."

The group stopped. Oliver looked at Matt, who was focused entirely on the sound of that Deadpool's heartbeat. Matt looked like shit, Ollie thought, pale and sweating more than he usually did, but he still trusted the man's senses -- and when he saw the slight tightening of Matt's lips, he knew.

"Done," Ollie said to Seth. In an instant, he had nocked and aimed an arrow. "Sebastian Moran!" he snapped -- and only one Deadpool turned, the one with the untagged weapons. In the same instant, Oliver fired. The arrow slammed into Wade's thigh, the force of it enough to take him down -- and he was pinned to the floor. It wouldn't last long, though, and they all knew it. Ignoring the screams, Oliver fit another arrow, but Carol had already moved. She straddled Wade, pinning his arms to his sides.

"Heeeyyy, Carol! Is that you? Gosh, I didn't recognize you in this, um, marvelous place!"

"Give us the stone," she growled.

"How about I give you my fist in your face?" he asked, and jerked an arm free, but Oliver stepped on his wrist and held it down before he could do anything. "I don't have it anymore! Ow, Jesus, what the hell, man?"

In the background, someone whispered, "Oh my god, it's a live performance!" and the shrieks mostly began quieting.

Matt leaned against the wall, out of the picture.

"Where is it." Oliver pressed down harder, absolutely furious. "You stole it. You brought us here. What did you do with it?"

"I gave it to some shiny gold guy." Wade shrugged as best he could. "Adam something. Real crazy eyes. Actually, he looked a lot like Captain Space Lesbian's boy-toy slash mentor. Sort of like maybe Jim Starlin couldn't get over his Mar-Vell crush and just haaaaad to keep drawing him. Except spraypainted gold. I mean, wow, talk about jaundice."

"Who the hell is he talking about?" Oliver looked at Carol.

"I don't--" but she didn't get the chance to finish. Somehow, Wade managed to throw both of them off. He kicked her square in the chest, punched Oliver, flipped away, and was gone.

The room applauded.

The room applauded, but Seth had been pushed back against a wall when the Arrow had pulled his weapon, his untagged weapon. And "Sebastian Moran? Like the Sherlock Holmes character? What in the hell does he have to do with Comic Con? I mean, there's a Sherlock panel tomorrow, but there is no canon adaptation of Moran on that show..." But talking, now, seemed ill advised. He watched the performance slipping behind a few of the spectators.

Looking at the Daredevil who was hiding along the edge of the wall, Seth carefully moved to the doorway through which they'd entered. "Warlock?" If there's a Warlock that's involved in this... cosplay or whatever, Seth knew they needed to get out of here. He had to get Ryan.

Warlock? The concern in the word was enough to attack Matt's attention. He turned towards the young man who'd been helping them -- Seth -- but the kid was already too far away. Pressing his arm a little more firmly against his body, Matt touched the fingertips of his left hand to the wall and started moving along it, trying to follow the kid. Oliver and Carol had already taken off after Wade, and he had to believe they'd catch him -- but if this kid knew who Deadpool had given the infinity stone to, they couldn't afford to waste that information.. or so he'd been led to believe. He still wasn't entirely sure just what the hell it was.

"Wait... wait... Seth! Please." Matt froze when someone whipped around and almost whacked him in the face with their foam sword, but it missed him by a quarter of an inch. He swore silently, ducked under it, then left the wall and moved after the kid as quickly as he could. "Seth?"

"Listen, Daredevil? Or whoever you are," Seth turned on a heel, hand lifted to his mouth, held just in front of it as he tried to come up with the right way to tell him that he couldn't get involved. "I don't know why you wanted me to get involved with this? I don't... I just want to get my friend out of here. Because while everybody else thinks that was a show, your friend in green actually smelled like blood, and you haven't stopped clutching your side until... well, until now. And I don't believe that was an act. I'm not saying I believe the characters of my favorite graphic novels are real, though how cool would that be. But if you are real? And if you're really getting Warlock involved. I just want to go home before all hell breaks loose."

Matt felt like the world was twisting out from under him for the second time that day, listening to this madness. The kid seemed to not only know who they were -- that had been disturbing from the first time he started speaking to the others -- but he thought they were fictional. Maybe Oliver and Carol knew how to handle that, but Matt didn't. This was never what he had signed up for, but it was too late now.

He pulled off his hood and shoved it in his pocket. Although he hated to do this, hated to let people see the way his eyes wandered and sometimes seemed to shiver, he knew that eye contact meant something to the sighted, even when they knew he couldn't see back.

"My name's Matt. Not Daredevil. Seth, look, please. I don't know -- what's going on. I'm not a superhero. I'm a vigilante in Hell's Kitchen. And this -- this is way above my pay grade. But what I do know is that we need help -- information. And maybe it was fate or chance or God, but something put you in our path, and maybe there was a reason for that. Thanos has all of these -- these infinity stone things, I don't -- I don't know what they are. But he wants to destroy the universe, and Carol seems to think he can, if he gets the last one.

"Which Deadpool took. This Warlock guy.. if you know something, please help us. Please. You don't have to get involved, you can turn and run and never look back, but please just -- tell me what you know."

"What I know? What I know is your name is Matt Murdock. Your father's name was Jonathan "Battling Jack" Murdock. He raised you alone, claiming that your mother had died. He wanted you to be more successful than you, like any parent would. He urged you to constantly study instead of playing sports or actively making friends. He hoped that you would become a doctor or a lawyer, which, for the record, is what you did with your best friend, Foggy Nelson. He always referred to himself as an 'uneducated pug' and didn't want you to be like him. But because he wouldn't let you make friends, you got bullied, trained in his gym... Do I need to go on?"

Matt's jaw dropped and he went paler than he had been. He took a step back and held his hand up as if he needed to ward Seth away. The words had come flying out of nowhere, powerful jabs, and he felt sicker than he had a minute ago.

"No," he said, voice suddenly a little hoarse. "No. You..." He wanted to leave. Christ, he wanted to leave, to get the hell out of here and away from this kid -- but Oliver and Carol might not catch Deadpool, and if they were right, bigger shit rested on this. His personal comfort couldn't matter. "Seth. Please. Who is Adam Warlock.. and how do I find him?"

"Oh god... where to start. For the longest time he was just referred to as Him. He...is known for enlisting the aid of the Avengers, and your Captain Marvel in order to stop Thanos. During this battle, his younger self shows up and takes the soul of the older one... He ended up in this Soul World gem? Anyway. After Thanos was resurrected, he collected all the gems and formed the gauntlet. When certain beings tried to resist him, he captured them and threw them into the soul gem with Warlock. Naturally, they all met, and they tried to convince Warlock that Thanos needed to be defeated again.

"But here's the catch. Warlock gets the gauntlet, and then becomes this new near supreme being of the universe. And Adam Warlock? He doesn't care about life. He wants a perfect existence. He wants the gauntlet for himself. So if he has the gems? If Deadpool gave him the last one? Well, in the comics, the Living Tribunal told him that he couldn't be trusted with it and made him divvy up the gems. When Warlock had the gauntlet, he ridded himself of good and evil. He just became this.... being of pure logic. Man, I don't know how to not overwhelm you with his history. I can already see that what I knew about you was too much. But from what I've read of Warlock? Him having the gauntlet is as bad or worse than Thanos..."

Seth shrugged, looking around, trying to let some of his anxiety wither away. "He's too logical. He's always right. But you can never trust him to do the right thing."

Matt shook his head. This was too much. This was too damn much. Still, too much or not, there was no choice but to deal with it. So, after a moment, he nodded. It was a small gesture, but for Matt, it was more than just the acknowledgement of the information; it was an agreement. He'd asked, he'd heard, and now he had to act. It felt,  to Matt, like he had just agreed to die -- but he reminded himself that was what he'd chosen. Time and again, he'd chosen death for himself if it meant life for someone else, and this was no different, terrifying a prospect as it was.

"Okay," he said, soft and calm now. "Thank you, Seth. You should... probably go. Get your friend. Hide. Wait it out. I'll try and -- if we can, we'll keep the fight out of the city. Away from -- people."

He should listen, of course he should. Seth wasn't the Ironist. Ryan wasn't the Fists of Fury. Regardless of what his own comics claimed.

"But you're in no condition to face Warlock. Hell, you're in no condition to face Deadpool. Just... Be safe, yeah? I'm a fan of what you do. And Elektra was never right for you."

Matt visibly flinched at the name and he took a step back, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah. Right. Okay. Um. Thank you. Be safe. As safe as you can. Just, uh -- be safe." He hesitated, feeling like this wasn't over somehow, but it had to be. The longer he talked to the kid, the longer it would be before the kid could run off and find somewhere safe.

"Good luck with your comic. I hope that your -- your characters never have to really suffer. Go hide." Matt turned and slipped away, back the way he had come -- exactly the way he had come, following the memory out rather than try to find his way anew, too lost in thought, too distracted by the foundations of his world being nothing more than ash and dust.

Seth watched him leave, pursing his lips, feeling like he should get involved.

He shouldn't get involved.

Ryan would get involved.

He'll understand.

Without calling out to the other man, Seth silently followed him through the crowd.

How much trouble could he get into, anyway?

Matt stopped when he got to the place that he had first touched the wall. Oliver and Carol were still gone -- probably for the best, he knew, but how the hell was he supposed to get any kind of message to them? They needed to know about Warlock, they needed to know how bad this really was --

But he might need to go to a hospital. Arm throbbing, his abdomen aching in a deeper, worse way than the broken bone, Matt leaned against the wall for a moment. The room was absolute din, but there was one softer place in the wall of sound -- a muted place. An open door. Not a door to the outside -- no fresh air -- but it went in the right direction, he thought. He would have to cross the room to get to it, which he wasn't looking forward to doing, not in the shape he was in. Just finding Deadpool had felt like it took whatever remaining strength he had, and now, all he wanted was to find somewhere cool and quiet to curl up and stay.

But that wasn't an option. The kid had given him valuable information, and since they couldn't go back to him to get more -- they couldn't risk putting a target on his back -- he had to stay alive to use that information.

Matt put his mask back on, awkwardly with just one hand. He couldn't go into the crowd with his eyes exposed. People would see. They could get in, but he couldn't stop them, not if his eyes were uncovered. The weight of the hood was subtle but familiar, and he gave a small sigh of relief. He'd get out there, find a way out of the building, find Oliver and Carol and...

It would be fine.

Matt headed into the crowd. It took longer to cross than he had hoped - unless it just felt like it took an age - and then finally he was in an almost quiet hallway. He followed the hints of fresh air until he found an exterior door, pushed it open, and then stepped out into the wonderful warmth of a beautiful day.

Queasy, he tried not to stumble or limp, tried to look as normal as possible as he headed towards the sidewalk but he didn't make it far. Finding a planter, he stopped and leaned against it, hunching over. "No," Matt growled to himself. "Don't do this."

People were starting to stare, and some of the security guards had heard about the show, the one that had not been on the itinerary. Seth had slipped through the people, almost reaching out more than once as Matt had moved along.

Outside, when Matt leaned against the planter, Seth reached to take him by the elbow and take him into a corner created by an inward jut of the wall. "I was never a lifeguard, or anything. But I did take a first aid class once. Where are you hurting?" His fingers moved carefully over ribs, counting, feeling for cracks. "I can drive you to a hospital. I'll call Ryan and have him look for your friends, if you want."

Matt had tensed at the unfamiliar touch, but he relaxed just as quickly. He wasn't too proud to accept help when he needed it -- at least once he admitted to himself that he needed it. Still, he couldn't monopolize this kid's time.. and the kid was supposed to be hiding.

"Aren't you supposed to be.. not here?" he asked, reaching out to put his good hand on Seth's shoulder, steadying himself. "It's in my side," Matt answered and cleared his throat. "Lower, lo-- mm. There." He took as deep a breath as he could and when he let it out, he could hear it shaking. The place he'd stopped Seth's hand wasn't on the last rib, but a few inches below it, where Matt's muscles had bunched up hard as rocks. "I fell on it during the fight. That and my arm -- but that's just a broken bone. This is... Not." He swallowed against the pain. "You shouldn't be getting involved," he said, forcing the words out as calmly as he could, hand clenching just a little too tightly around the kid's shoulder.

Shit.

Matt let go. "Sorry."

That would bruise, likely, but Seth had grit his teeth as his shoulder was clutched.

He held the spot, where Matt was hurting, and Seth tried not to get overly excited that he was essentially in the middle of a comic. He thought about all the people who would walk away from this, and that he, too, should likely be one of those people. But Ryan would be ashamed of him. Sure he'd never directly say it. But Seth needed to get involved. Always. That's what made life exciting, wasn't it? That's what made the difference between being the nerd everybody ignored, and the hero of your own comics.

"That's likely true; there are many times where I look back on my history and I think that I shouldn't have gotten involved, or that Ryan shouldn't get involved but those never make the good stories." Who knew, maybe Seth could sell a pitch for a cross over some day. Or maybe, if nothing else, he could draw it up for himself.

"Now, will you let me take you to the hospital? Or are you going to be one of the stubborn super hero types and insist that you're completely fine. Because, and this is just a personal opinion, but I think your rib is maybe not supposed to be doing that."

"It's not my rib," Matt said quietly. "It's..." Internal bleeding. It's bad. "...soft tissue damage. It's deep. I should be okay, but.. The ribs hurt, but this is... I.." He couldn't get the kid involved -- but he needed help. Matt hesitated a moment longer, then nodded. "Please. Take me to the hospital."

And please forgive me. I'm so sorry.

"It would be convenient, now, if I were Ryan. Because I'd just pick you up and carry you to the car." He laughed awkwardly, took Matt by the hand, and then offered as much strength as he could.

"You said you should be okay, but considering you can barely walk and..." he stopped to give Matt time to breathe, lifting the edge of his shirt just enough to the black bruise that was already spreading across his abdomen. "Yeah. That's kinda what I figured. Let's go."

Seth didn't know San Diego. He plugged in his phone and typed in the hospital, looking for the closest one. Then went around to open the back door. "Lay across the seat. I think that's what's going to be better for you, rather than sitting up the whole way."

With Matt situated, Seth sent a quick text to Ryan and then took off. "Hey... So, I know this is maybe asking a bit too much of the universe, but I kind of need you to not die."

"Okay," Matt agreed, with a soft laugh. It was a strange sound -- cynical and happy at once, an honest promise and a bitter admission of what reality really was. "I won't die in the back of your car. That'd be a pretty crappy way to repay someone for trying to save me, after all.."

Still, now that he was laying down, it was hard to want to stay awake. There was no way that any of this could be real. The entire day was insane -- the premise of the day was insane. It was a bad dream. All of this. There was no Californian supernerd convention where people spoke like prophets. There was no Adam Warlock, no Thanos, no infinity gauntlet. There was no kind, strange young person named Seth who seemed torn between the hyperactivity of youth and the blossoming calm and kindness of an adult. None of this was happening. Matt wasn't dying in the backseat of a car because he couldn't be dying in the backseat of a car -- it was just all too nuts.

-

Several hours passed before anyone came back out to the waiting room. The person who did was a young, suntanned doctor with dyed red hair and green contacts. She looked around and when a nurse pointed Seth out to her, she walked over him to.

"You're the one who bought the John Doe in? Guy with the broken arm, the injury on his side?"

Seth stood, thinking about how much this woman reminded him of Julie Cooper, but that was no reason to not trust her, certainly.

Or so he told himself.

"I am. Is he... I mean, will he be okay?"

"Would you like to come back and see him? He asked to se-- to talk to you. If you're still here. I can tell him you left, you know -- you don't need to get involved in... whatever this is."

"Do I look that innocent? You know, when I was in high school..." But he couldn't even finish the thought. Seth stood and nodded. "Yes, of course I want to go back to see him. Thanks for your concern, or whatever. But yeah. Please. Take me back there."

The doctor gestured for him to walk in front of her, her unnaturally colored eyes gleaming under the fluorescent lights.

"He should live," she said as they walked back through a maze of corridors. "There was some internal bleeding, but you got him here quick enough. Everything's closed up and cleaned up; your friend just needs to mend. But tell me." Her voice sounded just a shade too innocent, too casual, as she asked, "How did you two meet?"

His brow pinched together and he glanced at the woman, rolling his shoulders. He didn't understand the impulse to lie, but at least he wasn't Ryan. That kid sucked at lying.

"He's been working in the booth next to me through all of Comic Con. Some idiot kids came in and started... I don't know. It was like a riot? Man. Comic nerds can get carried away. But he's a nice guy. His name is Matt. But that's all I know about him."

"He must be a stunt guy or something." She smiled and took him into an elevator. When the doors shut, she stared at Seth before reaching over and hitting the button for the next floor up. "Lots of scars. What's your name?"

"Seth Cohen," he replied, suddenly feeling quite untalkative. "Wait. Wasn't he blind?" It was better to treat him like a normal guy. "I mean. Not that he can't be a stunt guy and blind. California is the place of dreams, right?"

"You ever hear of a blind stunt guy? I guess weirder things have happened. How old are you, Seth?"

"I'm 26. Im sorry, but why is this important?"

"Oh, I'm just curious." She smiled at him again, like he needed to be reassured, then led him down one more hall and into Matt's room.

Matt looked terrible. He looked worse. Significantly worse. There were fresh bruises all over his face and his knuckles. His broken arm hadn't been set and looked like it was swelling badly, and as if the bones weren't quite straight. He was hooked to a few IVs, his eyebrow and lip were split, and he was restrained -- both wrists, ankles, and a strap around his waist, his chest, and his neck.

The doctor put her hand on Seth's shoulder. "You really should tell me the truth," she purred. "He's a very, very dangerous person. Security had a tough time with him... And you don't want to get involved in something like this. Trust me. Now tell me the truth."

Seth squirmed from under the touched and moved closer to Matt, a hand over his mouth, trying to understand what had happened.

"What? I told you the truth. His name is Matt. He worked in the booth next to me. What did you do to him? I'm calling the police."

"Don't worry... We've already called the appropriate authorities." She shut the door and it locked automatically. Smiling, the doctor leaned against it and took a syringe out of her pocket. "Have a seat, Seth.”

"No. What? No. What are you?" He pulled his phone out to call Ryan. Because somehow he would help. "No. I'm reporting you all. What have you done to him?" Seth moved to the far side of the bed, reaching to touch him gently. "I'm sorry, man. I thought I was helping you."

Matt's lips twitched, and then the fingers of his good hand twitched, but he didn't wake.

"You're not going to get a signal in here. All you need to do is sit down and relax. It'll all be over soon.." Her smile widened. "Hail Hydra."

"Hail... What?" Seth's eyes went wide. There's no way this was real. The group, sure. But this...

"What do you want from me?"

"I told you, darling. All I want is the truth about this man. But if you won't give it to me..." She smiled, the very picture of beauty and malicious insincerity. "You won't be any use to me, will you?"

Seth's chin lifted, and the frown on his face showed how close he was to being sick. "Well, since you have trouble believing this face, which I must say is really strange, because I've always been honest, and I'm not sure what you're expecting to get from me? I was born in Newport. I went to high school at harbor. My parents adopted my brother when we were both 16. He dated the girl next door on and off for a few years. Then she died in a car accident. He was there with her when she did. He and I thought about becoming a thing. But with us spending so much time as brothers. We just couldn't get past it. So I don't know why you think I'm lying about this guy I don't know..."

"Oh, you poor, poor dear." There wasn't an ounce of sympathy in her, and she took the cap off the needle, then rested her thumb on the plunger. "Is a stranger really worth your life? He's a bad man, Seth Cohen... with the adopted brother, the tragic backstory, and a family that will surely miss you when you're gone... A vulnerable family, no doubt." She was enjoying this, and her voice went a bit sultry. "Such a darling young man you are.."

"I don't think he's the danger, lady. I think you are." He reached for whatever he could get his hands on -- a rod to hold up bags of medication -- and held it over Matt's body. "I also don't think you're pretty, so you can knock it off with the fake charm."

"Okay." She smiled and lunged at Seth, seeking to grab the rod with one hand so she could inject the obstinate little shit with the other. Stupid brat!

Seth swung as much as he could. He wasn't a fighter. Never had been. But he could swing the rod, and with the strength of a nerd, struck her over the head with it. He jabbed and ended up entirely wound in tubes and the likes, but by the time he was done, she'd nicked his arm with the needle, but he'd managed to make her unconscious. Running to unlock the door, and then take the brakes off the bed, Seth did his best to get them out of that damn hospital.

By the time he was pushing the bed out of the door, Matt started to come to. Sort of. He tried to sit up and winced when he couldn't. For a moment, he looked both truly frightened and truly angry, but then he recognized the smell that was with him, recognized the heartbeat he'd had so much time to listen to in the car.

"Seth. What's.. happening?"

"Apparently hydra knew you were here. Though why they were interested in you, I don't know. Doesn't much matter. We're getting out of here."

"What's hydra?" Matt tried to move again, but bit back a cry of pain when he tugged on his broken arm. "F... can you let me out? I'll move.. faster.. with you... Walking." A plus communication skills there, Murdock.

"The avengers? Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes? Never mind. They're evil." He pulled more tubes free and then stopped the bed, offering a hand, stopping to seemingly catch his balance, eyes closing for a moment. "Weird. Okay. Man. Let's get you out of here. I thought I was helping, but I've only hurnmk..." Seth cleared his throat. "Hurt you more."

Hydra. Right. Hydra. Matt's head felt like he was still halfway asleep, barely able to function, but he did his best to focus. When the restraints around his body were unclipped and the heavy, padded straps taken away, Matt carefully sat up -- but he froze when the kid's throat seemed to tighten.  He tried to focus on listening to his heart and his blood, but he couldn't, he couldn't.

Fuck.

"You.. didn't hurt me. What's wrong? Who... hurt you? We've got to, um.." Matt got to his feet, nearly fell, but caught himself with his good arm against the wall. "Go. Are you okay?"

Over exaggerating his nod, Seth tried to wave off the concern, tried to catch Matt when he almost fell, but had to grip the bed rail as that almost pulled him to the ground.

"I'm. 'M fine. I should have helped you. I came to help you. I dnnn rememner the walls being red..."

Fuck. Something was really wrong with the kid. (Kid. When Matt finds out he's only two years older than Seth, he'll feel like an idiot).

He forced his body to obey him as he moved to support Seth. "Time to go." If Hydra owned this hospital, they couldn't stay, but where the hell could they go?

Whatever. They'd figure it out on the go. Matt wrapped his broken arm around Seth and started moving down the hall. "You don't. Dont sound so good."

Seth shook his head, trying to clear it. "Right. We gotta get you out."

He wrapped an arm around Matt in return, trying to help him walk, trying to figure out why this color red made him want to puke. Why red, tho. It was such a stressful color. Reminded him of combat and...

"Matt? It's been hourssss. Where are your frnnns?"

Matt shook his head. He didn't know where they were. He was in agony, but Seth needed help and that meant -- what, another hospital? The kid could die on the way, and Matt would exhaust himself even more than he already was. He'd never be able to fight off... hospitals never had red walls, did they?

Strange. Matt took him back down to the ER. "Help. My friend's sick. Something... is wrong. Help him."

The nurse gave Matt a confused look. She remembered his black clothes, but hadnt he been admitted? So why was he still in them? Still, she focused on the other man.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" She asked, and it sounded like she actually gave a damn.

"My frnnn has a broken arm. Bleeding. Lady upseerrrmsss. In room. Tried to kill him. N me. Caught me with drrttyyy needeemlll." Seth looked at the woman, his stomach rolled.

"Why red walls? Help him."

From there, things happened quickly. Seth was admitted. Matt was admitted. The police were called and security was stepped up.

Hours passed. When Matt woke, he sensed at once that he was safe. He wasn't in a hospital, which surprised him, but he was safe. His body ached all over and moving at all sounded like the worst idea he'd ever had, so he just lay still and listened.

Seth was next to him in the hotel bed, asleep, clean, stable enough.

Oliver and Carol were in the other room, talking grimly about Hydra having followed them here. Oliver sounded tired but better, and Carol sounded just like she had since Matt met her: intimidating, calm, and strong.

They hadn't caught Deadpool.

Oliver's blood pressure was low.

Matt blinked a few times, his useless eyes feeling dry and tired, and then he closed them. Thank God, he thought. Thank God they'd all gotten out alive. Although it hurt to do, he carefully slid his unbroken arm over and slid his hand around the kid's

You saved me, kid, Matt thought. I promise to do whatever it takes to protect you.

He stayed quiet and still after that. He wanted to get up and get something to drink, he wanted to pee, he wanted to go put his hand on Oliver's shoulder and tell him to get rest, but he couldn't quite convince himself to move yet. He'd wait until Seth woke, he told himself; then, Matt wouldn't have to feel guilty for waking the kid up.

Seth didn't remember a lot of what happened after they'd had to sedate him, ironic as that seemed. He'd fought, when they'd taken Matt away. Argued, yelled, threatened to throw punches he really didn't know how to throw. He'd slurred his way through trying to explain that Matt hadn't looked like that when he'd brought him here, but how much of his ravings they could actually understand through his dosage of cobra venom was undetermined.

Next there was sleep, peace, and no more red walls.

Seth woke with a tiny jerk, but his hand rested under Matt's. Knowing what he did of the Daredevil comics, he knew there would be no sense in pretending to sleep. His breathing and heart rate were bound to change.

Looking around the room, he smiled lightly, then pulled his hand free, moving to sit up at the edge of the bed. "You look better. I'm glad. I would hate to have to tell people that I caused Matt Murdock to fall into the hands of Hydra, just because I insisted on a hospital in San Diego." He laughed awkwardly, shrugging. "Ryan would be jealous -- all the adventure I had today. And the fight with the woman. I'll have to ham that story up a bit, I suppose. Just so it's especially difficult for him to believe..."

"I'd be dead if you hadn't insisted. You saved my life twice today. Thank you." Matt put his good hand on his side, feeling the site of what seemed to have been a surgery of some sort. Thick bandages covered the area that had hurt the worst, and he could feel new wound edges in it.

"You.." Matt had to clear his overly dry throat. "You deserve much more than to have almost died yourself. I'm sorry. You... I'm sorry."

There was a soft sound at the door and then Oliver opened it. He looked like an almost normal human being now, in jeans and a t-shirt, barefoot and bruised and bandaged.

"You were injected with cobra venom," Oliver explained, not sure how much the kid remembered. "How are you doing? Do you need anything?"

Though he'd been on the verge of making some kind of sarcastic comment in reply to Matt's gratitude, because Seth truly didn't know how to accept it without putting on a faux show of arrogance, his thoughts were cut off when the Arrow made his appearance as Oliver Queen.

"Yeah, man. My own cape and eye mask. Is that something that like, comes with the first super deed, or am I going to have to learn to sew? I could probably manage it, I can certainly design it, but what fabric have you found that works best with the sweating and the stretching and all that."

He smirked. "Also, can we talk super chicks? Because I can't lie, a girl that could kick my ass for the good of man kind is worth getting to know, at least over breakfast."

Looking back at Matt, Seth's expression sobered a little. "Any more whispers about Warlock?"

"Warlock?" Oliver asked. He came in, shut the door, and sat down on the edge of the bed by Matt, needing to know that he was alright.

Matt took a moment to explain everything Seth had told him. Although his voice shook a little from sheer exhaustion, he spoke with a quiet conviction, as if he truly believed that everything Seth had told him had relevance. Oliver watched Seth as Matt spoke. When Matt was done, Ollie nodded and started petting his hair, but his eyes were still on Seth. He was willing to accept the man was a necessary addition, but he wasn't as trusting or accepting as Matt was, as a general rule.

Still, the fabric thing was an easy enough topic. "Most of my gear is leather," Oliver answered, "some wool."

"I wear... I think the brand is called UnderArmour?" Matt said. "For the shirt. Then just.. regular cargo pants. Cotton." This was the weirdest conversation.

Oliver pulled the blanket down to look at Matt's bandages and make sure they were still in place, then he tucked him back in and looked at Seth again. "Going to take up a life of suffering and scars?"

Fighting crime would be awesome. But Seth was in no way qualified. This was what he did when around figures who intimidated. He talked about himself, without letting the conversation actually delve too deep into him.

"That was the whole point to me making the graphic. Story of a boy, living in Newport, looking to fight the white collar criminals with Cosmo Girl and Little Miss Vixen. So clearly I have a 10 year head start. Started those stories when I was 16... and I've read enough of your stories to know all the tactical information any kid could need."

Growing quiet, Seth again shrugged off concern. "I'm gonna use the bathroom."

"He's twenty-six?" Matt asked in surprise once Seth left the room.

"...how old did you think he was?"

"Maybe... nineteen?"

Oliver smiled and shook his head, then leaned down and kissed Matt softly on the lips, his heart aching with all of the love they'd agreed not to feel anymore -- an agreement both were failing at, more often than not. "Are you okay?"

"I won't be fighting anytime soon, will I?" Matt licked his lips. He could still taste Ollie's kiss, but he could also taste Oliver's blood on the air, even tucked away under bandages as it was. "I should have been protecting him, Ollie. He fought someone for me. He didn't have to... I wish..."

They both knew what he wished, and both knew how futile the words were to say aloud. After a moment of quiet, Oliver carefully helped Matt get up. Mostly supporting him, he helped him out to use the bathroom once Seth was done.

As for Carol, she was on the bed out there, also in jeans and a t-shirt, drinking a glass of water and watching the news with the sound off and captions on. When Seth came out from the bathroom, she nodded to him.

"Thank you for saving Matt."

Seth stepped back into the room just as, it appeared, a moment seemed to dissolve between Oliver and Matt.

"Interesting crossover," he muttered to himself. "The fan fiction writers would lose their minds if they happened upon this."

His ramblings were cut off by Carol's voice. Seth would never say it out loud, but he didn't know much about her story. The original Captain Marvel, sure, but other fandoms had originated Seth had lost track of that particular story line.

"Honestly, it's not in my nature to be modest. Quite the opposite, actually, I'm known to be self-absorbed and fairly insufferable. So believe me when I say I did nothing but deliver him into the hands of Hydra. He more saved himself in trying to save me. I, admittedly, don't have the hair to be a damsel in distress, it's true, but I think we worked well together."

"Matt doesn't have hero hair, so you're a good match," Oliver pointed out, giving a tired grin as he helped Matt lay down on the bed Carol was on. "Okay. So. Breakdown. Carol, have you ever seen those things we were fighting, before the breach opened?"

Carol glared at Oliver and shook her head. She was too tired for this team recap shit, but decided to suck it up and be grateful that Oliver was willing to take the leadership role here. She might be the group dad, but Ollie was definitely mom (much as Matt might have wanted the role).

"Okay. Matt?"

"Have I seen them?" Matt asked.

Oliver flipped him off and sat down on one of the room's few chairs. He looked over at Seth, so the kid would know he was invited to stay, then looked at Matt, who was wearily giving him the bird right back. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah. But no. I haven't. They smelled similar to some of the Chitauri forces that attacked New York, but obviously these were much smaller. Well. Mostly smaller."

"You seemed pretty confident about fighting them."

Matt shook his head. "Holding back was never really my style. Besides. We had to try..."

Silence fell, then Oliver sighed and rubbed at his forehead. A few minutes later, the conversation resumed, Ollie keeping the other two focused on recalling what had worked and what hadn't -- and all of them avoided talking about Deadpool for now. Eventually, he looked back at Seth again. "Hydra isn't *usually* a real life problem here, is it?"

"Hydra? Considering it's just a facet of Nazi Germany, my quick answer would be no, they dissipated after they lost the war. There aren't really beings like any of you in this world. No super charged runners or billionaires who fight crime at night. Nor are there, technically, super villains. Though. To counter myself, if you consider the current president elect of the United States, something can be said for a resurgence of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi elites."

He shrugged, having been looking down at his hands while they had all regrouped, listening, making mental notes for when he woke from this bizarro dream.

"So what are your plans? Technically, in this city, this week, you won't look so out of place while dressed for fighting crime. But the police are also on high alert because people tend to let their imaginations get the better of them. And, as you realized with your friend, you can't trust the costumes people wear."

"Wade is never exactly... subtle," Carol said, trying to at least be somewhat kind with the word choice. "We're going to split up. Ollie will look for him, I'll handle this Warlock guy if I can find him."

"And I'll--"

"Rest," Oliver interrupted Matt. "You were picked up and smashed down against a car by a giant tentacle monster -- thing. Just stay put."

Matt muttered something unflattering but accepted it. He knew he was in over his head here, especially with the injuries.

"Which brings us to you, Seth." Oliver met the kid's eyes again. "You found out the hard way that life is safer when you're not with us. I suggest, strongly suggest, you get away from us and never look back -- but if you want to stay involved, we won't stop you. We just can't promise your safety."

"You think life is easy? Dealing with privileged and over funded people like... well, everyone in Newport," including himself, but who really needed to know that? "Anyway. Life is full of these little decisions, Oliver. Can I call you Oliver? Or do you prefer Arrow? Anyway. I learned in high school when I met Ryan that safety is overrated and sometimes life is worth risking.

"Besides, when I wake up from this awesome dream, and go to jot down ideas for my next issue, how bummed am I going to be if I just said 'you're right, I'll sit this one out.'"

Oliver couldn't stop himself from smiling, although even his smile had a hard edge to it, something dangerous in the eyes.

"Okay. You're sticking with us. You'll either come with me or guard Matt. Carol's hard to keep up with. And if you're going to stick around, call me Ollie."

"Look, I'm adventurous, but I'm not delusional. Well, not about this, anyway. But I don't have any abilities to offer you out there. If it's cool, I'll stick around and help make sure your friend has to move from his healing place as little as necessary."

Seth looked back and offered a crooked smile to Matt, then shrugged. "At least until you find a way to drug me or knock me out to make your escape."

"I'm not going to drug you or escape," Matt answered, a little indignant.

Oliver scratched Matt behind the ear.

Matt growled. "Seth, please tell him I'm not a cat."

"Yeah. You are." Ollie started scratching under Matt's chin, then pet his insane hair for a minute before straightening up. "Okay. I'm going after Wade." He tossed a wallet to Carol, who set it down on the table next to Matt.

"You two... aren't sleeping?" Matt asked, feeling guilty and useless. He started to get up, but when his face went white he swore and relaxed again.

"We did. A little. Earlier." Oliver started for the door, then looked at Seth. "You sure you can handle him? He gets grouchy."

With a short spurt of laughter, Seth waved Ollie's concern away. "Believe me. There's nothing quite as grouchy as the kid from Chino who's denied his bagel and coffee on a morning when his girlfriend is claiming she's boycotting the next fundraiser..."

Seth looked at all three, noticing the vacancy in regards to his reference, and then again waved Ollie toward the door. "What I'm saying is we'll be fine. I've dealt with worse."

Oliver considered this, smirked a little, and nodded. Considering how fussy he and Tommy had been when they were younger, he believed that Seth could handle it.

"Be nice to him, Matt. He's only nineteen."

"Bite me," Matt muttered.

Oliver and Carol left.

"Nine..." Seth's brows furrowed and he looked back at Matt. "I know I've got the ever handsome face of a young man, but I'm closer to 30 than 20..."

Shrugging, Seth moved to turn on the coffee pot. Because this was exactly what he needed while cooped up in a hotel with the daredevil: Caffeine.

"I know you've somehow spun a story where people think I'm a hero, but I want to apologize for handing you over to Hydra."

"I realized that later. About your age I mean. When you said... Ollie was just making fun of me, since I assumed you were a kid. I.. really don't know what you look like, but I.. sometimes underestimate ages.. uh.. by a lot. And.." he pushed himself somewhat more upright, although it wasn't as if he could watch Seth. Matt just hoped that his eyes were behaving; he kept his lids about half closed to be sure.

"You got me to the hospital to begin with. I needed it. Hydra aside, you got me where I needed to be. Surgery, setting and splinting my arm... I might not have made it if you hadn't gotten me there to begin with. I might've just... found some alley to curl up in and hide." And by might, Matt meant probably. "You didn't know they were there. Your intentions were good. That's what really matters."

The coffee smelled sharp and unpleasant, too old and too strong to ever be drinkable, but Matt suspected that to Seth, it probably smelled just fine. Enticing, even. He waited til the kid -- til the not kid was settled, then started talking again.

"So... you think you should call Ryan maybe? Let him know you're okay?"

"Ryan? I called him when I took you to the hospital. I think he figures that was probably somehow code for me hooking up with one of you, and so he doesn't really expect me to come home any time soon."

The coffee did, in fact, smell a little off, a little too old, too stale, to Seth too. But what he drank at home was ground fresh almost daily. It never lasted long enough to go stale. Still, it was something to do with his hands, something to drink.

With a styrofoam cup, he moved back to the bed where Matt was, considering finding somewhere else to sit but decided it didn't matter. "Do you want to sleep? Or I can see if there's some kind of movie on to listen to as background noise? Not that the entire hotel isn't likely background noise for you. I just don't know what to do with absolute silence?"

Matt shook his head. "Do whatever makes you comfortable. I'll probably drift in and out... but.. I'd really like to know more about you, if you don't mind talking for a while...?"

"I feel like this is a trick question. Talking about myself for hours on end is what I do best."

He laughed once, then winced. No more laughing.

"Well... maybe at least tell me how 'going to the hospital' could be code for a hookup?"

There was something oddly comforting about not having to guard his expressions or the looks of concern or disapproval.

"Well, when you're a teen, there are few stories you won't make up in order to get away from your parents for an hour or two. And Ryan? Well, he knows claiming to have to take someone to the hospital isn't out of my wheelhouse. Besides, I didn't tell him the truth about who you all are. He wouldn't believe me anyway. I just gave him a warning to be on the lookout for a Warlock looking guy -- then had to explain to him what that meant -- and told him I'd meet up with him later."

Matt had to bite his lip to keep from laughing again, not wanting the pain, but his smile made it abundantly clear that he was amused.

"You sound like you were trouble as a kid. Maybe still are."

"Actually, I was a loser as a kid. I didn't have friends to get me into trouble until Ryan came along."

His tone was pretty matter of fact, and lacked any real self pity.

"I get by without too much trouble, I think."

"No kid's a loser," Matt objected, quietly and a little sadly. "Friends or not... at least, that's one old man's opinion." Because at twenty-eight, he was clearly much, much older than Seth.

"No, it's alright, being self-absorbed has allotted me plenty of time to become self-aware as well." Seth didn't comment on the age thing, figuring if Murdock was in his early to mid thirties, and if he had, for some reason, thought Seth sounded like a 19-year-old, then there was likely a reasoning behind it.

"He is the only real friend I've ever had. Which, to be fair, we almost ruined more than once by dating, and he's technically my brother? By adoption. I apparently have no separation of church and state..."

This time Matt laughed, then groaned and swore and forced himself to lay flat again. "Fuck. Fucking. Fuck." Moving was intensely painful, but once he was completely flat again he started trying to relax once more.

"Sorry." Stop swearing, Matthew, he told himself.

"For what? I grew up in Orange County with a bunch of water polo playing morons who had no sense of a higher vocabulary." He shrugged. "Besides, there is a scientific study that claims that the use of expletives like 'fuck' is actually helpful when dealing with large amounts of pain."

Matt's eyebrows went up and he opened his mouth, about to say something, but realized that if he did, he'd just start laughing again, which would require more swearing, which would probably make him laugh more, which would probably kill him.

He cleared his throat and made himself focus instead. "Were your parents comfortable with the relationship? It sounds like something that might have been... difficult for many to swallow?"

"My dad was fine with it. My mom... we hid it from her for a while. But there are a limited number of reasons why she might have walked in on us naked in bed together, and on that day, I could think of none of them."

"That.... definitely seems like a difficult one to explain." Matt moved his broken arm around, trying to find a more comfortable position for it, then finally just rested it up alongside his head.

"How are you feeling, by the way? Are you really okay..?"

"I don't remember anything after hitting the woman with the IV rod. Not at all sure how we made it out of that room or what happened next. I just assume you're the hero. Makes for a more believable story anyway."

Seth settled down onto his side, one hand tucked under the pillow. "But I wasn't injured. So you've nothing to worry about."

"You don't consider cobra venom an injury?" Matt asked, speaking a little more quietly now. "And I didn't wake up until you had me in the hall. You wheeled me out in the bed.. I was strapped down.. you were already feeling the venom I think, and you got me free of the restraints and helped me up before you started to go down.. you were in and out of consciousness, we got back down to the ER... you were.. really out of it -- hallucinating red walls.. but you still tried to make them help me first. You fought to keep us from being separated, you didn't even seem afraid of what was happening to you.

"You were pretty brave, Seth. No matter how much you want to downplay it."

A crooked smile slanted across Seth's lips at the last comment. The rest of it? Felt like Matt was talking about someone else. "What nerdy -kid- doesn't want to find a way to save a super hero's life?"

"Well since I'm not a superhero, you'll have to wait til Ollie or Carol gets in trouble," he said, half in earnest and half teasing.

Seth pulled out his phone from his pocket, typing away for a breath of a moment, and then smirking.

"Daredevil is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Daredevil was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Daredevil #1 in April 1964."

He looked over up at Matt, his own brows raised. "The Marvel universe agrees with me, Matt. Deal with it."

"1964 though? I'm only twenty-eight. So I've got a few more years of being a confused, aggressive vigilante before anyone starts making action figures. I hope."

The last two words sounded lighthearted, like all he hoped for was more time before star status, but the truth was that he hoped he had a few more years at all.

"What got you so into comics?"

"Told you. I was a bit of a lo-- loner as a kid. So people like you and Ollie and Barry Allen. You were my friends. Besides, I was pretty sheltered. There is little that is ever dark in Newport. So living vicariously through you all. That's how I spent my nights. That's how I got adventure."

The words made Matt feel strange. He knew that it wasn't real, that the comics really had nothing to do with him, no matter closely aligned the details seemed to be. None of it was real. He wasn't the one who kept a lonely kid company and helped inspire his creativity. *He* didn't inspire people. All he did was frighten them. Still. The notion of ever being able to really help someone's happiness, not just to protect their body, it gave him a sad yearning.

"Maybe I can live up to your Daredevil some day," he murmured.

"Honestly, you've surpassed it. But then, I never expected to receive friendly words from, or to be saved by you. But this fourth wall breaking is more Wade Wilson's style and we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Seth let his eyes drift close, but he wasn't close to sleeping. "What about you? I'd like to hear things I don't know. Like the whole crossover that I happened upon."

"The... what?" Matt was lost.

"You and Oliver Queen? Or even, you and Carol and Oliver. He's..." Seth let out a sigh, trying to make this simple. "You and Carol are from one of the major comic distributors. One of the major universes. Oliver is from another. Are you telling me there's a world where you all just run around Willy nilly?"

Matt had to process this for a few minutes before he could really understand what he was being asked.

"We... live in the same world, yes. We met when he was arrested in New York. He saved a group of children from a shooting situation, but one of the other gunmen claimed Oliver had been working with them from the beginning. Well. The... only surviving gunman. Oliver killed the rest of them that day. He was struggling to come back... and was assaulted in the prison. I got him released, with a tracker, and... he just needed so badly to have someone understand him and let him set boundaries, let him... be broken. Without treating him like he was. I don't know if that's... what you were looking to hear..?"

It was more than he'd asked for, or so he thought. But Seth didn't mind the over share. It a strange way, it made sense that they... well, maybe they weren't together? Maybe they were. It didn't really matter. All that Seth really wanted to know was that one of them hadn't gone looking for Earth Two or something, and therefore found the other. But together, whatever universe they were from, it was the same one.

"Okay, but locker room talk? Because I've never gotten to do it before. Which of your... kind? I don't know what to call you. Advanced humans, heroes, vigilantes, whatever. Which of you is the biggest tool. Because I always figured it would be Stark."

Matt's expression probably said it all: at Stark's name, his smiles vanished entirely.

"Probably," he agreed. "I've never met him, though. Just met his teammates after he tears them up. I'm sure he... is a hero. It's just hard to admire someone who doesn't respect the people that risk their lives along with him."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to hit a nerve. Did you... want to know anything else? Would you like me to let you sleep?"

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry. I've just... Steve and Carol are good people. And Tony.. l. He's the toxic friend that just.. robs them of happiness every time. We can talk about other things though, if you want. I get... protective. Of them."

"It's good. I mean, it's good to be protective of friends. Sometimes that's all that keeps them alive." Seth rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling, blinking slowly.

"It's not 1992 where you are, is it? Like. Cell phones and watches you can send text messages from aren't foreign concepts to you, are they?"

Matt turned his face towards Seth. "Did someone..." but he stopped the question before it could finish leaving his lips.

"No, it's 2017. Smart phones are great. Clinton won the presidency."

"Oh, fuck you."

"What did I do???"

"Trump is the president here. What are the odds that I can talk you all into taking me back with you?

"Though, my father will want to come, because he's convinced the world is ending."

"He... but... how.... I mean.. yeah. Come with us and you run the risk of getting murdered by aliens with... apparently more frequency than you do here, but... how the hell did Trump win?"

"The Russians, man. They own this planet." Maybe that wasn't an appropriate joke for someone who doesn't actually know how this planet worked, but they'd work it out. "Anyway. What's a little alien danger compared to a man like that."

"True," he said, maybe a little too emphatically. "Or maybe this is Adam's plan -- give your world something other than itself to fear, to teach it tolerance."

"You call him Adam like he's nothing special." Seth laughed, stretching his arms above his head.

"Okay, serious question. Do you have spare time that you like... practice chess or whittle or whatever? Do super heroes have hobbies?"  

"Others, maybe.. I uh.. I work about sixty hours a week, a lot of it unpaid.. when we can pay our bills, and if I don't feel like I.. have to go out that night.. I work out. Train... or sleep. I don't really, uh, have much of a life.." a wry smile touched his lips. "So who's the loser here now?

"What about you though? When you're not doing art, what do you enjoy?"

"Um... skateboarding, I guess. Hanging out at the pier. Reading. Playing the play station. That kinda thing. I don't do much by way of physical activity, I guess. Mostly I write and draw."

He shrugged. "I asked you about hobbies. You said work and exercise. But are there things you enjoy? Infinity pools? Autumn? The sound of the city?"

Matt was quiet for a long time. If he was going to answer this, he was going to do it honestly, but he knew most people didn't really want honesty. They wanted easy answers. Still, Seth seemed to know more about Matt's own history than anyone else in his life did, other than maybe Elektra, and he was still here, willing to talk... maybe he wouldn't mind the truth.

"I like... the quiet. It's hard to find quiet places, but when I do... it's nice. I like touching smooth things, like glass or metal or a cat. Things that don't snag at all. I like the smell of rain on a hot summer afternoon. And I have this... fantasy, that one day I'll go to Arizona and hike out into the desert and just.. be there. Away from all the city noises, the roads, and it'll be... quiet. Hot. Clean -- cleaner than the city."

In an instant, realizing how much he really had said, Matt looked embarrassed. "I mean I like getting a drink with Foggy and Karen too, of course." Lame. Lame recovery, Murdock.

"Would it be weird if I asked to take you back to my place? It's late now, sure. But I think... I'm not hitting on you. I just want to show you something."

It would be just under a two hour drive back to Newport. And he couldn't offer the rain. But hopefully there would be something he could give.

The thought that Seth would have hit on him at all hadn't occurred to Matt, who assumed he was taken, and the assurance surprised him. Still, he nodded.

"Sure.. can you leave a note though? In case one of them comes back? My uh, handwriting is... pretty atrocious."

He wanted to ask what was there, and part of him just really wanted to stay here, but Seth had gone through so much for them already. The least he could do was humor this one request.

There was a notebook and pen in the nightstand, and Seth left a note. He then made a quick run to the restroom and then moved to the side of the bed to offer Matt his arm.

With quiet instructions about obstacles, Seth led Matt out of the hotel and back to the car that... who the hell had driven it here? One hit of the button told him it was, in fact, his car. "Would you like the backseat again? So you don't have to sit up the whole way?"

"No, if it's okay," Matt said, although there was pain in his voice, "I'd like to sit with you." He appreciated that Seth just understood how his senses worked, and that when Matt was like this -- hurting, worn thin -- his body all but shut down, taking him back to a more 'normal' human state. He needed the guidance. Hell, he needed his cane, and hated not having it.

In the car, Seth kept the music low, and flipped to a classical station. It was either that or some Spanish station. His Death Cab CD had finally bit the dust.

"Are you comfortable? The ride is going to take a while." He looked over at the man in the passenger seat.

"I'm Catholic," Matt said, smiling. "A little suffering is good for the soul."

"So a catholic and a Jew are in a car down a deserted highway." Seth smirked. "Man, that's not even the beginning of a good joke."

Before they were able to make it out of town, however, Seth reached over to touch Matt's arm. "Are you hungry?"

"....well I wasn't before, but now that you had to go and mention it, yes. Dick." He raised his hand and brushed his fingers against Seth's wrist for just a moment, worried that calling him a dick was too much.

But Seth laughed, pulling his hand free a beat after he felt the finger tips on his wrist. "And here I thought I was being nice." He pulled down a side road on the northern outskirts of San Diego, weighing their options.

"Preferences? You're not a vegetarian, are you?"

"No." Matt shook his head. "I'm not. I'm a vegan. Nothing but plants that willingly sacrifice themselves and are farmed without pain."

"Oh, now who's being a dick. Sucks for you that this In and Out clearly sacrifices their first born cows to you like the Jews to god. And that's your only option." He chuckled and pulled up to the drive thru. "What would you like?"

"Something spicy and chickeny if they have it.. and water. If they have it. This is still California, I know it's scarce here.."

Ordering accordingly was fairly easy, including the water, which came in the same, rectangular Fiji bottle that his house was always stocked with.

Then it was time to hit the 405 and head north toward home. The car turned quiet while they ate, and after that, Seth didn't much feel his typical need to fill the silence.

The drive felt easier than he'd expected it to, and as they pulled into his driveway, he could see the sun just beginning to rise at the horizon.

Matt had eaten very slowly, more to continue distracting himself from the pain than to satisfy the hunger. When they had both finished and things went quiet, he closed his eyes and focused on keeping his breathing even, controlled. He let his mind go quiet next, and eventually even managed to drift off, not to wake until the car stopped.

When it did, he lifted his head. "Are we there...?" Matt sounded half awake at best.

"We are," Seth replied, climbing out of the car and going around to help Matt out. He guided him up the steps, through the front door and then to the left through the kitchen and out the back doors. His gaze lingered on the pool house where Ryan once stayed, back when they lived here with his parents. But that was years ago now. His parents lived in Berkeley. And they'd left this place to Seth, should he want it.

It was too much house. But it was also home.

"How opposed are you to getting these clothes wet?"

Matt had to stop and lean against a wall. He was puzzled by the question, and he reached down again to check his surgery dressing. Water resistant, he thought, running his fingers over it before putting his shirt back down.

"Alright." He felt a little lightheaded and sick, but he'd had far worse. Matt straightened up, ignoring the shaking limbs. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry. We're almost there." This time, Seth took Matt by the hands. It was hot and damn near suffocating, even this early in the morning. Southern California was unforgiving, though, but that was why damn near every house had a pool.

There were floating chairs he would offer in a bit, but for now he led Matt into the water, and then gently nudged for him to relax back.

"You won't get lucky enough for rainfall, I think. But if you float, and you let the water... it's the heat of the desert, and the silence that being submersed in water can offer. It's clean. And there is no threat to your safety. Just relax back. I've got you."

He'd tensed at first upon being walked to the edge of the pool, but he hadn't pulled his hands away. Having come this far, it seemed ridiculous to back out now. He nodded and followed his host in, moving very quietly into the water, reluctant to make splashes.

"I thought it.. was going to be something for you," Matt said, still upright. He never spent much time in water, and while he could swim, it always felt foreign. The public pools in New York always smelled like sewage to him, combined with overpowering chlorine. The latter was here, but not so strongly, not with the open air and the heat of the sun.

Eventually, he accepted the urging and lay back in the water. He was tense at first, struggling to convince himself to just relax and *be* here, but once he did, he was grateful.

The heat of the sun warmed his black-clad body through and through. The water amplified every sound in it, from the little ripples to the beating of Seth's heart. It pulsated and, because of the feeling of the sunlight, Matt instantly associated it with gold. He remembered gold... or at least he thought he did.

Matt swallowed hard against the angry despair that always came from those tiny little doubts, and he made himself relax again. Focus on floating, on his friend's heartbeat, on the ever-shifting surface of the water, the temperatures within...

It was nice. Very, very nice. He didn't quite know how to completely relax here, instinct constantly trying to tell him that he would fall, but what he could manage was good enough.

"Thank you..."

"It's not rain. And I know there is a comfort in familiar places -- which this certainly is not, but I hope you'll relax here for a while. And... I'm shutting up now."

Seth reached for one of the floating chairs and propped himself up in it, his own soaked clothes and all, and then just kept an eye on Matt, making sure his expression wasn't one of complete anguish at having to oblige the too nice 'kid' by doing something he hated.

After some time, he finally spoke again. "I also thought... well, a hotel in the center of a city in the middle of Comic Con? Getting out of there might help you clear your head. I'll take you back whenever you want, though."

"You don't have to... do all of this you know. I mean I appreciate it, I do, I just.."

Matt went and climbed out when he felt some of the water finally trickle under the bandage.  He pulled his shirt off, wrung it out, then lay it flat on the concrete next to himself. Every movement seemed to take far more energy than it should have, so he just sat still, arms wrapped around his legs, quietly folding in against the pain.

"I just don't want you going to any trouble for me..." but he knew that was always the kind of thing that led to uncomfortable protestations, so he was quick to ask: "what.. what does it look like? Everything here?"

Seth hadn't meant for it to be trouble. Or for it to seem like trouble. All this was for him was coming home. But, he was tired, and had no interest in trying to tell Matt that this should feel like home to him to. Because things didn't work that way. So he let the protestation go without comment.

"Keep in mind that..." what, that he was given the house? That would make him seem worse than if he'd worked for it. "This was my parents house. It's... over 6,000 square feet. Vaulted ceilings. That kind of thing. But the back yard. That's the best part. The pool is an infinity pool. So the far edge drops off straight into the horizon. The rising sun is orange and red. Pinks and purples fade further out toward the water."

He closed his eyes, starting to feel the fatigue of the past couple days. Not just with the super crew. But just being at Comic Con. He was exhausted. "Would you like to sleep? There are plenty of rooms to sleep by yourself. Or, since this place is foreign to you, I can stay nearby. I know I told you I'd take you back. But I have to sleep before we drive again."

Matt sighed with relief at hearing that Seth needed to sleep first; it was a reassurance that Seth wasn't giving too much up. He had never really learned how to emotionally accept kindness, however much he might need it, and it made it much, much easier when it served someone else's needs.

"Sleep would be great. If you don't mind just.. letting me close enough to hear your heartbeat? If that... isn't too invasive or. You know. Weird."

"Not weird. It makes sense." Seth felt like he'd known Matt his whole life. Which he knew was an unfair advantage for him. He felt comfortable with this man and his abilities.

"But, I don't know how close that is. In the room? We can just use the pool house. It's the fewest stairs. Which I think you need."

"In the room, unless the walls are thin... usually, just being in the same house is enough but I'm not.. not up to normal..  standards. Sorry. And -- thank you. For this. For the -- moment of peace."

"Yeah, man. I hope it was enough." Seth climbed from the pool and reached to offer Matt his hand. He helped him up, and then supported his weight the whole way to the pool house.

Inside, there was a bathroom in the back left corner. A set of wicker drawers on shelves. A small sort of kitchenette that wasn't stocked, and then a California king (of course) sized mattress on a boxed frame on the floor.

"Take the bed. I'm going to get out of these clothes. And then I'll crash on the floor."

"You don't have to sleep on the floor," Matt said, the guilt returning. "The bed's..." he put his fingertips on it and took a few steps. "Definitely big enough. And if you're worried that I'll... make a move on you, I won't." Matt found somewhere to hang his wet things up and did so, moving carefully. The last thing he wanted to do right now was trip and fall in the unfamiliar place, reopen his injuries, and be more of a burden on Seth.

Clothes drip-drying, Matt carefully put the splint back on his broken arm, chest tightening a little at the deep, throbbing pain. Once the splint was firmly velcroed back in place, he cautiously climbed into the bed. It felt amazing, too amazing, and he sighed quietly, happily, and took a moment to just enjoy it. He really shouldn't have gone swimming, not in the state he was in, but it was all so different, so nice, so distracting. The pool, the company that knew him so well and yet still bothered to be kind, the comfortable bed. He didn't feel like he deserved any of this, but Matt admitted to himself that he was too selfish to want to give any of this comfort up.

Seth only nodded, went to the bathroom to hang his clothes over the shower rod, and then returned with a towel wrapped around his waist. This was why he'd been offering to sleep on the floor. Not because of any notion he had that Matt would end up wanting him, but because he'd be in nothing but a towel. But if he stayed on his side of the bed, Matt didn't have to even know, he supposed.

He smiled as he saw Matt already comfortable in the bed, and he climbed into the other side. He scooted just a little closer, now basically laying in the middle of the bed. so he was sure Matt would hear his heartbeat.

The blinds were drawn on the doors, so at least some light was kept at bay, but Seth longed for the darkness nonetheless. "Anything else before we pass out?"

"Hope you aren't offended by me being naked," Matt said, lifting his face from the pillow he'd had it half pressed into. "Otherwise... this bed is amazing... and I'm never leaving." He rubbed his cheek on the pillow.

His eyes were already closed, and he'd wiggled out of the towel, tossing back onto the floor. "Naked is fine," he replied, rolling onto his side, and falling asleep within moments.

It took Matt longer to sleep. Once he found Seth's heartbeat, he settled into it and relaxed again, as best he could in a strange place, then finally slipped away

The longer he slept, the louder Seth's heart seemed to get. When Matt woke in the late afternoon, it was a drum, accompanied by the whooshing of air into his lungs and the rushing of blood moving through his veins. Matt lay still for a long time, just enjoying it, but finally had to get up.

He felt stronger than before. Not recovered completely, which would take weeks, just not like he was in danger of falling from just one step. Still, he moved carefully and quietly.

After using the bathroom, Matt got dressed, then went back outside. He found the edge of the pool and walked it, barefoot, until he came to where it dropped away. Then, Matt walked out on the submerged part of the wall. He stopped in the middle and just listened.

Sounds bounced off the smooth surface of the water behind him. Behind him, there was the massive house. A friend. The sun beat down on the stone, creating an oven. It was nice.

But in front of him? A sense of great space. Emptiness -- but not just the same as when he was on a rooftop. The ocean was out there. The ocean. Vastness itself. Daunting. Intimidating. Beautiful to look at, so many people said, but Matt didn't know. He'd never seen the Pacific. He never would. He would associate it with a friend's heart and with a hot morning of silence. He would think of the Pacific as a place where sadness and gratitude blended together. For him, the ocean would look like this moment, at least until he made a new memory of it -- but his companion's heartbeat would always be part of it.

Eventually, hurting too much and starting to shake, Matt carefully made his way back into the pool-house.

When Matt had gotten up, Seth had started to stir, but the quiet closing of the door as Matt left the pool house that he finally managed to open his eyes. He didn’t immediately stir from bed, figuring if Matt needed help, he would have said so. Or, if he at least needed a guide around the place. But when he took a while to come back, Seth finally grumbled, sat up — his curls in complete disarray — and went to the door. He watched as Matt stood at the edge and remembered doing that a time or to as a young kid. He never stood on the wall, but in the edge of the pool, looking out at forever.

“Did you sleep well?” Seth asked when Matt returned, pulling his phone out to see if he had any missed called from Ryan, Carol or Ollie. “Are you hungry? We have bagels.”

"No, thanks," Matt answered, his voice sounding worn again as he came and carefully stretched out on the bed once more. He was sweating lightly and just hoped that Seth would think it was from the sun, not from pain.

"And I slept okay. This is... it's a lot nicer than the hotel. Thank you. It's... tranquil here." Yeah, Murdock, get all poetic why don't you? Matt rested the broken arm on his chest. "What uh, what about you? Did you sleep okay?"

“Yeah, well enough.” Seth settled back onto the bed, suddenly wondering why he hadn’t thought to put clothes on while he had been up, checking on Matt through the door. Oh well. Again, it wasn’t as if Matt would _see_ him naked. What did it currently matter?

“I haven’t slept in the pool house in some time. Years, actually. It was never my room, but even though I still live here… it’s strange for this place to be inhabited again. Even if it’s for a night.”

"Is it weird to be in here? Are you okay?" Matt turned his face towards Seth. "And if you need to go eat, don't feel like you.. have to stay here, or wait with me or anything... I mean I'd honestly really like to hear more about you, but just... take care of yourself first.." saying it felt lame and awkward, and Matt already wished he hadn't. He was goddamn terrified of ending up as someone's charity case -- something he hoped wasn't in the comics. All too often, people made too many concessions for him because he was blind, gave up too much to make his life easier, and while he appreciated it, he just didn't know how to take it without guilt, without fear that he'd truly become a burden, the sort they'd never cut free because they'd be too ashamed to abandon him.

“Nah, I’m good. I’ll have coffee and bagel after bit. I’m jewish, I don’t go without the bagel and schmear.” He chuckled and looked down at his hands. Seth knew well enough that he wasn’t the most interesting person. He’d spent his life reading comics and sailing and… Well, all the things nobody else wanted to participate in. Which was why, in much of high school, before Ryan got there, he had been president and sole member of many of the schools extra-curricular activities. He tried to shrug the uncertainty off. But he’d never -truly- learned how to bite his tongue.

“I know… you would likely rather be helping the other two. And this place is kinda lame. Nothing exciting here. But I’m glad you let me bring you back here. No wonder you think I’m a kid. I can’t stop talking to you like a hero — like I’m star struck. But I am. Because I know what you do. I know who you are. And that’s… Well, you’re giving me the time of day, and that’s pretty great, if you ask me.”

Matt didn't understand how Seth could be so grateful for attention that he'd praise anything at all, but the thought hurt him. Seth was kind, and anyone kind deserved attention. He shook his head once, then flexed his hand carefully, moving his arm a little inside the splint.

"It feels... this is weird. Knowing that you know more about me than anyone, but you're still -- here. You even know about Ele... about her. Even Foggy doesn't know that. You.. I wish I could be the hero you know. Teach you some combat or... be able to walk next to you, rather than needing to lean on you.. but, and this is.. just pure selfishness... I'm also kind of glad. To know you, I mean. To have been hurt so that we ended up.. here. A stone's throw from the ocean. A world away from the city.

"It.." Matt was quiet for a moment, but found his resolve and went on. "It seems like you got overlooked a lot. Too much. But the people who chose not to see you, or choose not to... they're the losers. They... I know you're not a kid, now. That... wasn't because I thought you were immature. It's because I'm... jaded. And subconsciously equate the relative innocence of others with youth. If it.. if you're hurt, at all hurt, that I.. thought that... I never meant for it to hurt you."

"No. I'm not offended. Or hurt. I talk a lot, and often about very few relevant things other than myself." He smirked, but of course the expression went unnoticed.

"And yeah, I know about her. Knew a girl kinda like that once. Well, in her own way, I suppose. She's Little Miss Vixen now, in my comics. And, as if it's not enough that I appreciate the kind of man you are, and as if I'm not self absorbed enough, I'm going to relate with you and say I, too, had my run with my Elektra. But after she moved to Rhode Island to attend Brown, she never seemed to miss the sun enough to come back."

Seth couldn't blame her. She'd found herself in college. She'd grown. And he was genuinely happy for her.

"My past is not something to be sympathetic toward. Sure, I was lonely, and a bit of an outcast. But my parents loved me. And I eventually found the best friend who became my literal brother," and lover, for a stint of time, "but I managed."

It took effort to take a breath between thoughts, so it didn't feel like such a non-sequitur.

"You know, you can trust Foggy with your truth."

"About Elektra?" Matt shook his head. "He only just found out about.. everything else. I'll tell him... eventually I'll tell him, I'm just -- scared. Honestly. He was so angry and hurt last time, I'm scared of telling him... that while he and I were first becoming friends, someone almost stole my soul. I almost let her have it. He could.. probably use more time before i hurt him again... and... i'm just making excuses."

Thinking about her always left Matt feeling sick, made his skin crawl, and it showed. "I'm sorry you had an Elektra in your life. Love is nice while it lasts, but when it's... with someone who wants to destroy you, remake you in their image.. it's hard to get over... a lot of.. darker feelings."

After a long moment of silence, Matt asked, "So what's the deal with your parents now? Are they... not in the picture anymore?"

"They're in Berkeley. It was a home they lived in together before my mom started working for my grandpa's housing development business. But when he passed, and Ryan and I graduated, they didn't really feel the need to stay here."

Seth shrugged and relaxed back on the bed, his eyes closing, pulse slowing as he relaxed. He wouldn't sleep again, but he could find a nice meditative state, even while talking.

"I go see them at least once a month. They're good people, my parents. I always believed they were better than this town deserved."

"They must be good, to have raised such a good man. Or, two good men, I guess... tell me more about Ryan? The things you love most about him, what you think he loves about you, that kind of thing?"

As Seth relaxed, Matt felt himself relaxing in turn, his body setting itself into sync with the other.

"Ryan? He's from Chino. Which, is the rough neighborhood. He was one of my dad's clients when we first met. He had been arrested for stealing a car with his brother. And my dad was his public defender. But for some reason? Dad decided to bring him home. He couldn't be released without a guardian, and his mom was a flake and nowhere to be found.

"Anyway, he ran into Marissa, when she lived next door, and she invited him to some fashion show. That started their whirlwind romance. On again, off again teen drama. We all got so swept up in it. But she was a good person, a good soul. She just... her mother was a bit intolerable. And her dad was an investment broker, I think? I don't remember. It was a long time ago and it was before we were really friends, anyway, her dad stole millions of dollars from his clients, which happened to be the parents of her friends, and all hell broke lose.

"Back to Ryan. Right. On our first night, we went to the fashion show that -he- was invited to, not me, and then went to an after party, again, he was invited, and then we got into a fight with the water polo team. Mom walked into me passed out in the pool house hung over and with a black eye. And that was the start of our friendship."

Matt laughed softly at the picture Seth painted and he shook his head. "I'm glad you have each other. It sounds like something made to last."

Seth smiled. "He taught me how to stand up for myself. I... think I taught him how to let people in. He's my best friend. And always will be."

"I can see how you would have taught him that," Matt said sincerely, then fell quiet. He wasn't sure what else to ask anymore, and it was so easy to just enjoy Seth's heart.

Seth, too, was surprisingly quiet for a beat. "What about you. I mean, I know about Foggy. I know how you became friends. And I know about Karen, even. But think of the graphic novels as an episode of television. There are always holes. Behind the scenes, things. So tell me more about him?"

"He's... the kindest person I know. He tries to pretend not to be.. he acts tough, sometimes, but his heart is.. it's pure. Good. Foggy.. makes people feel loved and appreciated just by talking to them. It's like he can touch your hear without even trying. When he's happy, he makes the people around him happy, too. He's sweet. He's so...damn sweet.."

"He sounds better than he's written. Which, I suppose is the case with most humans. A written biography hardly ever does a person justice. Or it only highlights the good parts."

Rolling onto his side, Seth tucked a hand under his pillow and looked sleepily at Matt. "What do you hope the graphic novels got wrong about you?"

"I guess I hope.. that I'm less afraid in them. Braver, maybe."

"Being afraid dies not make you less brave. The opposite is true, in my opinion. It takes pushing through fear to qualify as an action being brace. Otherwise... there is no fear of my toothbrush, or my toothpaste. So the act of brushing my teeth does not require bravery." Seth shrugged, still watching Matt. "So you can only have one or the other. More bravery, or less fear.”

Matt was quiet, thinking of all the times Stick had told him to stop being afraid, all the times Elektra had mocked his fear of becoming evil. Fear wasn't okay, not for people like them, but some part of him still clung to the words Seth said, although he still felt like the kid -- no, like the other man was giving him too much credit.

"It's not... getting hurt that I'm afraid of.. my body's just -- a means to an end. It's... the fear of waking up one morning having gone deaf.. or the fear that.. I'm a burden to the people in my personal life... that... they'd really be better off without me, but I'm too -- cowardly to go. That's... what I hope the comics don't write about. I hope they let kids have a hero... not.. a jaded coward." There was too much bitterness behind his words and he knew he'd gone too far, offered too much truth. Nobody ever wanted that. So, with a small grimace, Matt quickly added, "Sorry."

"I have a question, Matt, and you don't have to answer, if it's too much, or however you want to think of it. But... are the civilians of Hell's Kitchen a burden?" He already thought he knew how Matt would answer it, but he wanted to give him the opportunity to respond however he wanted. Free of judgement.

Matt frowned. "No, of course not, they're just people."

"Why do you deserve less compassion?"

Matt understood, but he didn't know what to say. He was quiet for a long, long time, thinking about this -- about how Seth's sentiments echoed what was taught in the church, about how Matt would have said the same for anyone else. He thought about how irrational fears were and how necessary strength was -- strength like this, like Seth had.

Eventually, he curled up on his left side since it was relatively uninjured, facing Seth, and touched his forehead to the other's chest. That seemed to be all he wanted, for Matt simply went still and quiet after that -- seeking peace, seeking something quiet outside of him, some calmer than the storm always within. He wondered if Seth knew just how valuable his wisdom was -- and if he understood how profoundly fucked up most vigilantes were.

Seth hadn’t really expected the contact, but he didn’t shy away from it either. The silence, however, was something he -had- expected. Once Ryan’s residence within the Cohen home had become more of a permanent thing, Ryan had had to learn what it was like to live with loving parents who -wanted- to spoil their children. And he’d had to learn what it felt like to have people care that he succeeded, and wanted to give him every means to do so. Essentially, Seth had had to teach Ryan how to allow himself to be spoiled.

But with Matt… allowing yourself to believe that people who were offering kindness were not burdening themselves, was not the same thing as being spoiled. It was giving other people credit to be just a generous and warm hearted as Matt was himself. Seth knew that no matter the situation, Matt would give anything to Foggy or Karen, Ollie or Carol — anything in his power for the ones he cared for. So why was it so difficult to believe they would return the sentiment? Practicality, it seemed, was a difficult thing to come by.

Gently, his hand lifted so that he could run fingers through Matt’s hair, and he closed his eyes against the lowering California sun. If Matt allowed nobody else to show him a little compassion, Seth wanted to make sure he wasn’t left wandering what it truly felt like.

Matt fell asleep again as Seth stroked his hair. The compassion was overwhelming, especially as exhausted as he was, and all his body knew to do with it was sleep.

When he woke, the sun was long-since set and the night was cooler. Matt rolled onto his back with a soft sigh of pain, but he reveled in how relaxed he felt. Seth was a miracle worker, it seemed.

For a few minutes, he just laid still and thought about everything that had happened. He worried about the others, he tried to make himself accept that Seth wasn't angry about having to care for a stranger. His mind wandered. He could smell Seth's breakfast, which brought a small smile to his face.

Matt had just gotten up to go and find the not-kid when things changed. He wasn't sure exactly what it was but in an instant, he felt threatened. Matt moved swiftly to a wall and went still -- he didn't even know if there were lights on in here. He didn't hear any buzzing from overhead, but that didn't mean light wasn't streaming in from the windows...

What the hell was happening?

When he heard another heartbeat and a soft step, Matt quickly tied his blindfold on. He was dressed from earlier, but still barefoot. No matter. He pulled his sticks from their sheath on his thigh and focused intently on what was happening.

Seth. Kitchen. Another building. Safe so far.

A stealthy step, a steady heartbeat, the faint scent of rot, of oil, steel, gunpowder.

Deadpool.

Fuck.

Matt's lip curled but he held his position a moment longer, listening. Deadpool was creeping towards the main house, probably drawn by lights...

This was going to hurt, but fuck it.

Matt stepped out of the pool-house and into the open, sticks in both hands. He prayed Seth would have no idea what was happening out here, and that if he did? He'd have the sense to hide.

"What do you want?" He asked, his voice taking on its harder edge.

"Oh, you know. A really cute bikini body. A massage from Natey-poo -- and by massage I mean with his dick.

That kid's head on a pike.." the playfulness was there in Wade's voice, but something in it sounded empty. Different than the man they'd fought earlier.

Matt's skin crawled. "Leave."

"Can't."

"Something's wrong with you. What has he done to you, Wade?" Matt moved as he spoke, picking a place that, if Wade fired, hopefully no bullets would ricochet and hurt Seth. /Please hide, Seth. God, please keep him safe./ Matt's mouth felt dry.

"He who? He haw? Did you just make a donkey pun? No. You made me make a donkey pun! Ooooh, Daredevil, you little minx!" He reached for his pistols, but something in him pushed the thought away. Guns would kill the devil, and he didn't want him dead. Not really. /Then why do I feel like I've been brainwashed into a murder machine by Thanos and Adam? Huh. Weird/. Without another word, Wade drew both katanas and somersaulted over to the Devil. "Nothing personal! Just gotta kill you!"

After that, even if Seth hadn't heard them talking, there'd be no way he missed the sounds of the fight.

Seth had left the doors open to the main house, hoping it would be enough that he would at least be able to hear when Matt stirred once more. But he had grown hungry, and something about sleeping all day had given him a craving for a decent breakfast meal.

He had been in the middle of pulling bacon off the skillet when he heard voices.

Wait. Voices?

With a piece of bacon hanging out of his mouth, he moved toward the door, stopping short when he saw Deadpool. How in the -fuck?-

The most recent film adaptation had emphasized the heart behind the man. But Seth knew the level of crazy Wade Wilson possessed. And, it seemed, he was squaring up against Matt. Fuck.

Fuck fuck.

He moved back inside, ducking down and trying to essentially crawl toward the stairs leading up to his room. When he'd made it halfway up them, he pulled his phone out, did a quick internet search, and then dialed the number for the hotel, asking for Carol and Oliver's room, if they were even still there. They couldn't get here quickly, he figured. But maybe Matt could hold them off.

The phone in their room rang and rang and rang, but no one answered.

Outside, Matt knew he was going to lose, but it didn't matter. If Wade had instructions to kill whoever helped them, whoever was a threat to this master plan, so be it. He'd buy Seth as much time to escape as he could. Seth had a car and a brain, he'd be okay. He had to be. Protecting him was the only way Matt could ever repay him -- even though, he thought cynically, it was his fault Seth was in danger.

Accepting his death was liberating. Matt let go of his own pain and fear and embraced the fight. Wade might be virtually indestructible, but he'd never come up against Daredevil before. Not alone. Last time, he'd had an alien force to help fight the three, and now? Matt was determined to make him see that he'd bitten off more than he could chew.

As for Wade? He was used to being the baddest guy in a  fight. He wasn't used to the silent rage that filled this sexy little nutbag. If he didn't have a job to do, he might just get on his knees and offer to suck him off -- but he had a job to do. Roight. Crikeyfuck.

Wade didn't see the next blow coming. He should have, since he could /see/, but it came too quickly. The hard little goddamn sticks smashed into his hands, breaking both.

"Mother fuckstick!!!" His swords dropped with a clatter and he yowled, then knocked Matt into the pool and dragged him down, down, down to the bottom.

I'll be fine. But you. Cocksucker. Fuck. You.

Soon enough, everything went quiet.

Long minutes later, longer than it should have been, Matt drifted to the surface. He made it to the ladder, made it out of the pool, then collapsed to his knees, unable to take another step yet, listening for Seth.

Please be gone... please be gone...

When the phone had proved useless, and Seth had left a singular message with the receptionist -- Wade -- he thought about what to do next. Wade Wilson was, save for a nuclear blast (and even that might not kill him) indestructible. But he was also not a bad guy. Not a bad person. He had his enemies, but when had they become a part of the Marvel heroes instead of Francis and his fuckwads?

It didn't matter. As dumb as he knew this reasoning was, he couldn't leave Matt alone. Besides, where would he go. He had listened to them fight, watched as they'd gone underwater, and his stomach twisted when Matt didn't soon resurface. Seth sat in his kitchen floor, the door still open, the stove and waffle maker still hot.

How did he tell Carol and Ollie that he'd gotten their friend killed by taking Matt so far away from any hope of help?

It took a few minutes for the pounding in Matt's head to calm. When it did, when he heard Seth's heartbeat back in the kitchen, he whispered a very quiet swear. This little shit. Little fucking brave shit.

There really was no time to be angry, though. Wade would wake again soon enough, and this whole thing would start over.

"Seth.." Fuck. His voice was too hoarse. He cleared his throat and tried again, managing to be a little louder this time. "Seth.. do you have rope? Or.. a lot of... tape?" Matt somehow managed to push himself to his feet, although he wasn't convinced he'd stay there long.

Crawling toward the double doors on his hands and knees, he peeked around the corner and let out a breath of relief when he saw Matt standing there.

"I mean, yeah. The rope I usually use on my boat is in a drawer in the pool house. There are also a set of handcuffs in here somewhere. Though I imagine those won't do much."

"Let's... use both," Matt said, hesitating when he thought to wonder just why Seth had handcuffs. "Can you... get them? And a sheet. And... bricks or rocks or free weights... I'll..." pass out. No. No, I won't pass out. "Be here... for when he gets out.."

The first thing Seth grabbed was a chair from the patio. They'd probably need it anyway, right? In the meantime, he was certain Matt needed it now. Then he ran around his house, stumbling over and ottoman all but falling to his face when he ran back out to the pool house. But finally he had everything. Rocks, large, from the edge of the driveway. The handcuffs, the rope, and a sheet AND a tarp.

"Tell me what to do?"

Matt would have collapsed on the ground if Seth hadn't brought the chair out. It seemed like such a strange thing to do, but Matt was grateful.

"Lay the sheet out flat? Then.. We just.. wait for him to come back up.. then... I'll try to subdue him.  Cuffs first, we'll put him in the sheet, put the rocks in, tie and tape him, and.. hope it's enough. That it gets us... enough time. I'm -- I'm sorry. I know this is.. going to feel like murder. If it's too much, you don't need to -- you've done enough, you know?"

"Whoa. I can't out maneuver him, and I can't fight him off. But I've read tons of Deadpool graphic novels. I know he's impossible to kill. And this... I mean I'm not sure I'll be much more than something new and pretty for him to look at, but I'm willing to help you find a way to hold him off until we figure out a way to fix him."

"If we can keep him in the pool long enough... hopefully Carol will get here... it'll... we'll figure something out. He's better than this... thank you for.. recognizing that." He curled over his arm then, just quietly waiting -- and then it happened.

Deadpool floated to the surface, took a few breaths, and looked around.

"Deadpool.." Matt stood up, then gestured him over. "Come here."

Still dazed, Wade obeyed. He grabbed the hand that was offered and let Matt pull him out of the water -- and then things went more smoothly than expected. In another minute, Wade was unconscious and stripped of all his weapons and tools. They got him bound, then rolled him into the deep end.

Matt sank to his knees and let his head hang low. "You okay?" He asked, voice rough and hollow.

Seth watched with a hand gently placed over his mouth. It wasn’t horror, really, so much as an intense… excitement at being able to watch all this life. When Wade was at the bottom of his pool, Seth looked again at Matt and nodded. Gathering his thoughts, he moved to go stand next to Daredevil, sitting at the edge of the pool, his feet (and pajama pants) resting just beyond the surface, and he placed a gentle hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Tell me how I can help you. You were getting better. And then this happened. But if all we can do is wait for the others… there has to be something I can do.”

Matt shook his head, then turned and rested his forehead against Seth's shoulder for a few minutes, trying to lose himself in his heartbeat.

Finally, he straightened up. "I should probably shower... and wash the blood off everywhere he reopened... if you that's okay?"

Seth stood at the suggestion, the bent to offer more than just his hands, but his arms and what little strength he actually had, into helping Matt up. “Come on. You can use the shower in my room. Then, if you need to, you can crash on the bed. I have some of Ryan’s clothes in the guest room that… Or I can wash the ones your wearing, if you think there’s that much time.”

Matt shook his head. He didn't know how much time they had, having never fought Wade like this before. "If he wouldn't mind, I'd love to borrow something for now..." He had to lean on Seth again as they went inside and to his room, but this time, Matt managed to be a little less ashamed of it and to relax more, which made the process much easier for both of them.

"Thank you. You.. really kept your head there.. thank you for everything."

Standing in his own doorway, as if hesitant to cross the threshold, Seth nodded in a way that would hint his own nervousness about the situation. He’d thought about nothing but for what the comics had prepared him. He’d given up on the whole ‘this can’t be real’ schtick a while back. And now he was just rolling with it. Finally, deciding there were too many levers in that damn shower for one man to be able to maneuver them on his own first try, particularly if he couldn’t see anything, Seth finally moved into his room, and then to the bathroom, and started the shower with hot water that was just shy of biting. “Take all the time you need,” he offered, though they both knew time was a luxury that even Seth couldn’t afford at the moment. “I’ll go get his clothes. And I’ll throw yours in the wash if you’ll leave them somewhere for me. There’s no sense in not doing that.”

Matt listened intently to what Seth did in the shower, then nodded. Before the other could slip out past him, though, he put his hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"It'll be okay. We're not going to let him hurt you. Why don't you just... stay here, or -- near, sorry, I didn't mean to sound inappropriate. While I shower. And we'll do the laundry and clothes together after, so you're never -- vulnerable."

“You’re not being inappropriate,” Seth replied too quickly, talking over Matt as he finished his sentence. He cleared his throat and shifted. Ultimately, however, he nodded. He didn’t know what else to do until Matt moved for the shower. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to just sit on the edge of the bed and pick up a book. He would end pacing the floor between the desk in front of the window and the door. This room, unlike the room he’d grown up in, was large enough that maybe he could count this as like… a mock workout. Or at least something to distract himself while Matt showered.

Seth seemed to tense up more than before and Matt couldn't help but feel guilty. This had to be terrifying for him.

Matt showered as quickly as he could. Afterwards, he came out without any bandages on -- even the water resistant one had been a lost cause after the fight with Deadpool -- and a towel around his waist. If his body had looked at all battered before, it was far worse now. There were significantly more bruises now, much deeper and darker, all of them looking swollen and awful against the muscle.

With the shower off, everything seemed almost too quiet now, save for their hearts and the hum of electronics. It almost felt wrong to break the silence, but Matt had to.

"You okay?"

Seth stopped mid stride when Matt appeared, and his eyes shamelessly wandered over bruises and other injuries. “I have…” He cleared his throat again, wishing it would stop giving out on him as if he were a teenager all over again. “I have bandages. They may not be as… durable as the last ones. But Ryan was known for getting in fights… Anyway. He’s grown up a lot, obviously, over the last ten years, but I learned to be prepared with him living in the house. Bandages. Ice. Handcuffs. Whatever.” He shrugged and he could feel some sort of secondary pain just from looking at what Matt was walking around with.

Suddenly remembering himself, and not wanting to burn a whole through Matt by staring, he picked up the clothes he’d gathered of Ryan’s and carried them over to Matt. “I hope these work.”

"Thanks.. and just something to, to cover this would be.. probably all I really need." He gestured to the incision on his side. Although the surgeon had sutured it well, the sutures themselves were inclined to snag on everything, he was learning.

"I'll just uh..." he cleared his throat, took the clothes, and slipped back into the bathroom. He hoped that Seth wouldn't mind him using his deodorant, and as he got dressed, it occurred to him that as strange as it was to smell like someone else, it wasn't awful.

When he came out, he was moving very quietly and carefully, wary of upsetting Seth again. His host already seemed so tense, and Matt didn't want to show gratitude by making him miserable.

"What colors are these?" He asked softly, even though it didn't really matter. It shouldn't matter. Matt ran a hand a little self-consciously over his chest, smoothing the shirt.

While Matt changed, Seth had slipped into the guest bathroom to grab a first aid kit and came out with dressing for the wound. “Would you like for me to.” Seth moved to the bed, patting the comforter, not even thinking about how Matt couldn’t -see- him make the gesture to join him. But all the same, he figured he would hear it. “Ironically? The shirt has the flash symbol on it. It was the only hero I could really get Ryan into. And considering the clothes I have here of his, your options are that shirt,” which was the softest kind of jersey knit t-shirt, “a wife beater, or a button down dress shirt. But if you’ll come and sit, I’ll bandage you up.”

He’d managed to get his own mind to quiet enough, now that Matt was fully dressed, that he figured he could tend to the man’s wounds without it being a big deal. The catch, that Seth was still yet to remember, was precisely how well Matt could hear. In the comics, it was difficult to forget the man’s talents. But in real life, it was too easy to mistake him for a normal man and figure yourself to be safe of any exposure.

When he lifted the shirt, Seth grit his teeth and rolled his eyes at himself. The man was injured, maybe he could be a little more adult about helping him. And for a brief moment, the mental criticism worked. But while he placed the strip of gauze over the stitches, holding them still while he tore tape with his teeth, Seth had to concentrate to keep from letting his fingers lightly brush over the other man’s skin. When he was finished, he closed his eyes and couldn’t help but let his touch linger for a beat too long before pulling away and standing up. “Right. Okay. So… What now? He’s still… drowning. It seems. How do we get ahold of your friends?”

If not for the lingering touch at the end, Matt wouldn't have thought anything of this. Seth had every reason to be scared, and he'd assumed that was the reason for the accelerated heartbeat until now.

Matt hesitated a moment, licked his lips, then put his shirt back properly in place. "They'll find us... or call you. You left that... note, right? Unless he... even if he destroyed it, Carol will find us. She's got, kind of a sixth sense... I guess it's like the Force? You. You probably know more about it than I do."

The really stupid thing about human attraction was how it could just not be an issue at all until someone else was into it. Now that Matt suspected Seth found him appealing in some way, although God only knew why, he realized he felt the same. With him, the attraction was due entirely to the personality, though. Seth was good. Brave. Kind. Affectionate. Matt was probably being an idiot for even thinking about this at all, especially when he wasn't sure if he himself was even really attracted to men, and.... and he should stop thinking it.

"I guess we... just need to find a way to pass the time.." Matt's jaw dropped at what he just said, he felt himself blush, and he said, "I didn't mean -- if that sounded dirty, I wasn't trying to imply that -- I mean not that you aren't -- your hand is nice -- but I wasn't -- um. We. Just. Need to... kill the time."

Jesus, Murdock.

Matt facepalmed with his good hand.

Seth watched, confused, as Matt talked circles around himself. The comment about his hand had Seth lifting it up to look at it. “My… hand?” In all their time together, Seth hadn’t witnessed Matt this unsure about anything he said, and Seth couldn’t help but wonder if he’d done something to make Matt uncomfortable.

Of course you did, idiot, remember what he can hear and how he senses other people?

Shit.

“No, yeah. I… I understand. Passing the time. There are plenty of ways to do that.” None of which, Seth could think of at this moment.

"Right. Yeah. Of course. Plenty of ways that aren't... um... that aren't... okay there's.. really no way of asking this without sounding even.. even more awkward at this point, but.. is it okay if I get in your bed..? I mean to rest. I'm aching and... it... would probably be a relief, but if it's -- wow, I'm sorry, everything I say just sounds like a bad romance scene doesn't it? I'll. Uh. Stop. Stop talking."

Romance scene?

Had Seth missed signs? Or had he... fuck, he didn't even know. "Yeah. No, yeah, please feel free to lie down. I can turn on some music if it'll help..." Help what, Seth? set the mood??

"I mean if it'll help you relax any."

Should he slip into something more comfortable while he's at it?

"Fuck." Fuck. He hadn't meant to whisper that.

"Where do you want me?"

Sweet Moses.

"I mean. Would you prefer if I left you alone to rest?"

"No! I mean. Stay. You should stay. If you want to. Uh. If you -- if it's not uncomfortable to be in bed with... with me in your bed. If that's -- are you okay? I'm not trying to -- I don't  want to do anything you're not okay with."

Like what, use the wrong pillow? Matt had been able to converse with people once upon a time, he remembered.

He lay back carefully.

Seth hesitated, looking around, moving in choppy, robotic angles, constantly awkward, unsure what to do.

He was over thinking this, Seth decided, and finally went to crawl into his own bed. It was as large as the last one had been, but this one was actively slept in, it smelled of him -- his shampoo and soaps. This was no different, he told himself.

"This is fine," he said, crawling under the covers, tho why he did that he wasn't sure. He wasn't cold. And it wasn't like Matt had asked to be able to sleep. Just to rest. Because he was injured.

Seth slunk down and covered his head with a pillow. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, just... tired. Sore. And look, I'm sorry for -- getting so weird just now. I... think I might be... I guess bisexual, and... that's... I'm really attracted to kindness. And I'm sorry for... if I made... things weird. You've been great, the last thing you need is for some.. weird vigilante to fail at hitting on you. I mean because it's inappropriate for me to do that at all... right?"

Seth's head popped up from under the pillow and he looked at Matt with a narrowed gaze.

"But I thought you were getting weird because I was making you uncomfortable -- with the way I touched you or... god, I know technically you couldn't see me staring. But that doesn't mean I wasn't a complete creep and did it anyway."

Seth took a deep breath and rolled to his side. "I think you and I will hit painfully awkward way before we ever hit inappropriate." What kind of response is that, Seth?

"I mean. You're not weird."

Not better.

"I mean I don't think it would be weird. Or inappropriate."

"Oh," Matt said, and fell quiet for several long minutes. Finally, blushing again, his voice sounding a little darker as well now, he said: "It was nice. When you didn't take your hand away right away. I wasn't... you didn't... that wasn't weird. Nice. Not bad."

"Oh," Seth mimicked. He smiled, though, and again buried his face in the pillow, though just for a couple breaths. Just long enough to control the tone in his voice.

"Do you... I mean, if the touches felt nice?" This was ridiculous. Matt had laid with his head against Seth's chest earlier while Seth ran fingers through his hair. "I mean, they lingered because I liked... touch...ing...you."

"You... yes," Matt answered. "Yes. If you want..." but something made him tense again and although it hurt, he sat up. After a moment, Matt relaxed again.

"Carol just landed by the pool."

Though he had been slowly stretching his arm across the expanse of his bed in search of Matt, Seth pulled his arm back and tucked it in against his chest.

"I suppose she needs help? Or you want to talk to her?"

"Or you two could just stay in bed," Carol said, walking in. "Jesus, Matt, what happened to you?"

"Wade." Matt closed his eyes, not comfortable with letting her see them. "He's in the pool."

"He's... is that what that is? I got the gem back from Adam and Oliver's on his way here with him. Warlock's going to open a portal, send us home. Get up. Get ready."

Matt hadn't expected the news to feel like this, to feel so sudden, so wrong. He sat up slowly. "Oh.. I... oh."

"I'll go get Wade." Carol walked out.

Seth had sat up when she'd entered, and he smiled a thin, forced smile when she'd delivered the news that everything was going back to normal.

He felt the sharp contrast from when she'd suggested they just stay in bed, to when she was telling Matt to get moving.

He nodded once, but for once could think of nothing to say. Tomorrow he'd go back to Comic Con, work the rest of the weekend, and pretend like... what? That these past two days had never happened?

"Right. Well, I don't really know how to say thank you enough, for being my friend these couple days. And that I'm... I'm glad I met you. I'm glad to have known you. I..." he looked away as his chest tightened. "Be safe."

"We didn't have enough time," Matt said quietly.

"No," replied Seth. But it wasn't as if they could conjure more. He couldn't just, go with them. He wasn't a hero. Not really. Even in his own comics he was a poor excuse for a hero. And Matt couldn't stay here.

"Can I... would it be weird, or too much, to ask for a hug? I mean, if you're not a hugger, it's fine. Honestly. I just feel like a half-hearted wave and a reminder that it's okay to let people show you compassion just... isn't enough."

Matt couldn't say anything. He got up and went around to Seth's side, and once Seth was standing as well, he wrapped both arms around him and pressed his face against Seth's shoulder.

What could he say? His throat felt too tight to speak now and his chest had decided to ache. Seth was too good, he had given Matt too much kindness and faith, and he didn't want to leave now. Not yet. So he held tight and tried to pretend this wasn't the most final sort of goodbye there could be.

Seth hated how familiar this felt. Summer leaving off for college. He and Ryan deciding that they were better off as “brothers” instead of lovers. But even them, he’d see again. He had seen again. But Matt? Seth would only read about him and his adventures. Hopefully he’d watch as Matt decided to trust Foggy. As he conquered the threats to Hell’s Kitchen. He would get to see him again. But he wouldn’t… Nothing like this would ever be an option. Nothing real. And he had known that going into it.

He couldn’t even offer for Matt to take Seth’s graphic novels with him. So they could at least share that kind of closeness.

Instead he tightened his grip, but tried not to be too tight, knowing how much Matt was hurting. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Matt nodded once, but stayed where he was. This was stupid. He shouldn't have gotten so attached to Seth so quickly. This wasn't the time or the place to form a friendship -- but then Adam and Oliver had arrived as well, and Matt knew it was time. He knew, but he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to ask what all he and Seth had missed. He didn't want to know any of it, he just didn't want to go.

When he finally stepped back, he opened his mouth to say something, but no words would come. After an awkward silence, Matt stepped close again and kissed Seth on the lips, gentle and sad at once.

Dark brows cinched together as he felt Matt's lips on his. A first kiss should never have to be a last kiss -- learning someone new only to have to watch them walk away for good seemed like a fate too cruel to be real.

But this was real, Seth had decided. All of it. Every crazy bit of it. And he wanted more. More adventure. More friendship. More of this.

One hand slid gently to Matt's side, while the other cupped his face, and he deepened the kiss just enough to tell Matt that he'd be missed.

And that was the only way Seth knew how to say goodbye.

For once, Matt wasn't embarrassed to cry. The tears had escaped while they kissed, and when he stepped back, they glistened on his cheeks and darkened his lashes.

He shook his head, wishing it wasn't like this, and then he turned and walked out.

-

The Daredevil comics changed after that. Matt seemed to be both softer and sadder; he slowly started to let people in, but never close enough. There was an unexplained scar on his side that drove fans crazy -- and several years later, when he died, Foggy went to clean his apartment out and found a mysterious letter unfinished on his computer.

Dear Seth --

I think about you often. You changed my life. You changed me. I know you've always been with me. You care. Even when I'm broken in some dark alley, I know you care. Your memory makes it easier to fight and to live.

"We didn't have enough time. I wish I could have heard your voice again. But I have to go do this one last thing and I don't expect to survive it. I'll be stronger though because of you.

Foggy's calling.

And that was it. Some fans were intrigued by the panel. Some hated it. None understood.

Seth had spent years following the Daredevil comics after whole event happened, but he’d never told anybody the details of his time with Matt and the rest of the super crew.

When he read the final panel, read the letter meant for him, he nearly cancelled his appointment to be on the Marvel discussion panel at Comic Con. He was just a guest speaker anyway. More of a host than actually a presenter. Nobody would ask him questions. Nobody would see him -- even if his comics had started to grow in popularity.

This was Marvel. This was the big time.

And so bailing on it seemed like something he couldn’t follow through with. He introduced all the artists, the writers, and of course Stan Lee. He listened as they discussed the decision to finally kill Matt Murdock. And suddenly, a young man, one who reminded Seth of himself at that age, approached the microphone with a note in his hand.

“We have time for one more question,” Seth announced, nodding to the boy.

“Um. This one is actually for you, Mr. Cohen. As a creator of your own comics, are you ever affected, or are you characters ever affected by the deaths of heroes from other universes?”

Seth smiled, though his brows pinched together. His eyes brimmed with tears and he had to look down at his podium for a moment. “Uh...” He hesitated. “I... felt the death of Matt Murdock. I think the loss of someone so vital, someone so good and important -- there’s not a way for it to not be felt in all universes. Maybe it’s fourth wall breaking -- Deadpool would be proud -- but as much as any one of the Marvel characters, the DC characters, or even my characters, I will mourn the death of the Daredevil. Matt was my long time friend. I felt like I knew him. And I have struggled to write anything new for my characters, because we are all grieving. But you can bet, in the next issue, there will be a nod to Matt Murdock’s life.”

[fleurdelissaswords-blog]

Appetite for Deception, The Best Guns N’ Roses Tribute Band: Concert Review and More…

Ok, truth be told, I had not planned on making it to this show. My parents suggested it but we’re going to be gone that weekend, but somehow, quite by chance, I ended up there anyway. And WOW, WHAT A SHOW!!!

Some of you have heard my story of seeing the real GNR back in 1992, and how it has always remained one of my favorite shows to this day… right up there with Nine Inch Nails on my list. I grew up in a musical family. One parent was an ex-rockstar. Now before you start thinking this made for a killer childhood of popularity and invites to every party, it wasn’t like that! They were strict, and we weren’t really allowed to tell peers about this… their rockstar days were over, settled into a quiet life and new careers.

Probably owing to their experience in the Rock N Roll world, they were strict in their parenting style. They were protective of me, naturally. Of course I grew up hearing stories of backstage parties with the members of Heart, private dinner parties with Stevie Nicks, etc. But for a musical family, MTV was woefully under perpetual parental control! “The state of music these days is awful anyway” I’d hear when there was a live concert airing on MTV, us kids wanted to see. And I was a young naive teenage girl learning to play guitar and with stars in my eyes. And my biggest starry eyes were for Axl Rose! My parents were appalled. “Oh God, she’s gonna go into the rock scene!” Lol.

But because my folks were protective, I had to beg for months to be allowed to see GNR live back then. I had to get good grades for 2 months. I had to all my chores. I even did some extra chores just to be safe. And finally they relented with some strict curfew rules. My entire high school class was basically going. I would be no exception.

But when we got tons of prank calls with some school mate blaring my parent’s song that was AGAIN on the stupid oldies rock station for “has beens,” and laughing then hanging up, only to repeat it again the next day, it did not make for a glorious childhood. My folks would get pissed. I was embarrassed that classmates did this whenever they heard the song. But when my folks played it at home for us kids at campfires, it was like our own private show! Beat that jerk bullies!

Looking back I realized my peers were jealous. But back then it felt like I was the biggest geek for having a “has been” for parents. But I loved them and admired their musical abilities until all of us kids were learning different instruments, and singing renditions of Puff the Magic Dragon around the bonfire on family camping trips.

I was never the stellar musician like my folks were. My skills were in singing, but I hadn’t discovered that at the time. I wanted to learn drums but my parents, fearing a LOT of endless loud banging noise, told my band teacher no, when he approached them at a school talent show asking if they would enroll a promising student in the music program. They needed a drummer and I wanted to learn. So I ended up on guitar and keyboard. But I had the best teacher at home! I just wasn’t disciplined enough, because I wanted to learn drums. Years later, I am now learning the drums finally. So the love of music, especially rock, was instilled in me.

I also grew up hearing lots of amazing stories of my parents opening for bands like Heart, dating members of The Turtles, and a lot of crazy rock n'roll stories. Let’s just say, my folks were the most popular on my school’s Career Day when parents came to discuss their professions. Lol. But after that I got bullied relentlessly for having the parents I had.

My siblings were too young to go to that awesome show back in 1992, just after the GNR riots had been all over the media. My folks feared the crowd would get violent… it was a possibility! I had 6th row seats and couldn’t have been more excited for one of my first concerts when sophomore year came around. But my siblings finally got to see them live just this past year on their reunion tour, which I missed. So this Tribute band show made up for that in a big way. Oh now my folks will inform me about good shows to see… I think they’ve given up on trying to keep me away from the music scene, and we’re all older now. My folks are honestly much cooler and fun to go to live shows with. In fact it was my parents who told me about this GNR Tribute show, and said I should go and they would too except they had prior obligations, but that the band was a notable good one they liked. So with their vote of confidence, I entered.

At the show, the venue was packed! It was like 1992 all over again! The fans looked like the same fans aged 20 years still in their GNR t-shirts and sexy black dresses.

The venue was packed! And I mean packed. Nursing a leg injury, I needed a spot to sit… so, having been to over 200 live shows during my lifetime, a few tricks came in handy. “Weave and duck, weave and duck, find a nook on the side of the stage and park it there! Find a sitty-spot! THEN, GET ALL THE FOOTAGE!!!” The roady saw me struggling at my first live show in a while, and allowed me to sit on the side of the stage for the show due to my injury. They actually gave up tbeir seat ON the stage where they were watching the show, which was truly kind, as I was in pain, and I ended up getting what is probably this band’s best footage ever! You’re welcome you awesome guys. And I remember it feeling so much like the real band, not nearly as cheesy and cliche as I thought, more people should know about this awesome band. So I decided to turn what would have just been some random live footage posted, into an entire review article and interview with the band, which they were gracious enough to (I’ve only ever seen 2 tribute band shows… both disappointing, so didn’t pursue it.)

During the show, Axl Rose, played meticulously by the handsome Mark Thomas, made a comment about looking for more live footage from fans from previous shows. Welp… I had TWO devices on me, DONE! He showed off the same impressive vocal range that Axl himself has, which isn’t easy to pull off. What women know as a beautiful haunting combination of loud screaming and low register soulful notes, Mark knocked it out of the ballpark. He even INSISTED on paying for his post-show drink, even when it was offered on the house. Now, that I had never seen in all my years of attending shows, and probably impressed me just as much as his singing and swaying… yes he does the whole Axl sway and leg kicks, and yes it’s HOT!

I was a bit late to the show, but arrived just in time to hear literally all of my favorite GNR songs. Btw, since coming from a grocery store, I had to bring a bag of food in with me, and have the guys behind the bar keep an eye on it for me… I hope whoev at the venue who stole my Halloween cookies, enjoyed them!!! 😡 I will now call you the Bob Guccione of the night bruh! Bad form dude. But now the world knows. I love your venue, your pool tables need some work, your drinks are great, your food is bomb, so eat yer own food, not mine! I lost My cookies at this show, and not for the typical reason a concert-goer does. I WANT MY COOKIES BACK!!! Thank God my other snacks made it home.

This was definitely a Use Your Illusion Era show set, which Mark later told me they don’t always play so much material from these albums, but are admittedly his favorites… the audience agreed. He wasn’t out to just play every notable number one single from GNR, they played songs you could tell, they loved themselves and sounded good together on. And Mark, as Axl, told the story of each song in between. I haven’t seen that done since seeing Stevie Nicks (another Bucket List band I waited my whole life to see, after hearing stories of her in the music scene growing up). Mr. Thomas even made the classic “Rocket Queen” joke about how he “effed another band member’s girlfriend” for the song tracks. This was one song I was excited to hear, as the original GNR never played it back in 1992 that night.

But my favorite GNR era has got to be the Use Your Illusion era. The musical composition was at its very best, mixing classical piano into rock ballads that went for almost ten minutes and left you scratching your head as to its meaning. I mean why did GNR need dolphins (which were actually porpoises) for their Estranged video? Dolphins don’t swim around downtown LA… unless someone knows something I don’t about the area? 🤔

Their rendition of Estranged had me transfixed and I really believed I was back in ‘92 watching GNR play on that stage again. Mark did the classic side-to-side jaunt Axl is known for. He wore the headband. He reluctantly gave “Slash” all of his due solos. Slash, played by Brandon Cook, has a music degree, and agreed to talk to me after the show for this article, and pose for some killer still shots. He also can play bass, I learned later. He had the same guitar Slash uses, that beautiful Les Paul I’ve been wanting my whole life, so much ogling of instruments did occur. Lol. And the top hat must get hot during shows.

Since I’m learning how to play drums, I payed particular attention to “Matt Sorum,” played by Andrew Greene… I am nowhere near that good yet but I can appreciate a good drum solo by a trained player! He just inspired me to practice harder… got those paradiddles down now yo! I was also envying his drum set. When Paradise City hit its chorus, he showed his skills and made the song, even though it was originally played by Steven Adler not Mat Sorum. People always say that Steven Adler was the powerhouse player and Mat Sorum more technical, so of course whoev played this set had to be both, and he was. And it was amazing to watch.

During our interview, Mark said it was their Izzy Stradlin, played by Michael Killian who was the one who posted for auditions for a GNR tribute band on Craigslist that made this band of amazing musicians a reality. He apparently had some sunset strip under his belt from the same era, which is always nice to hear in a tribute band. That they know the genre and area it comes from, and the culture of the times, to portray live on stage.

Throughout the show, I got the chance to speak with several fans in the audience. Some of them had seen this band before and said they were in rare form this night. Others traveled from other places to see the show, as seasoned fans. They sounded great! For a smaller venue, where the sound can be a bit iffy for live performers, this band, being professional, had it worked out so every note came through beautifully.

I didn’t know much about this band, except for my parents saying they were good. And I trust their judgement obviously. So at home after the show I did some digging to learn more about them for this article. They also played with Jeremy Walker as Duff. The day they all arrived at the audition for this band, Mark commented it was their preparedness of the material, and how good they all sounded together at the initial audition despite having never even met, that gave this band that extra spark of something special that translates well to fans. It’s called Chemistry, and not every band has it so naturally as these guys do! So if you ever get the chance to see Appetite for Deception, do so. You’ll love it.

When it came time for audience participation during Paradise City, the venue lit up and everyone chipped in. Mark Thoma, as Axl, held the exact same mic out over the audience, and I’m betting the voices filled the entire city block! People were clapping and singing along and cheering… a few of you especially rowdy fans managed to sneak cameos into my footage with devil horns in the air. Lol. It got wild. And we were all old school rockers now. Needless to say it was a fun night of nostalgia and I’m glad I went.. it was actually better than the real GNR show the month before sound-wise, and I did not expect to say that after comparing footage. And I still envy Slash’s guitar to this day… hey if you ever wanna sell bruh, look me up.

Songs played ran the course of GNR’s musical career, from their Appetite days, with Paradise City, to Don’t Cry, and one of my favorites Knockin on Heaven’s Door, as the audience participated in the chorus. I loved their Estranged, where yes, I did imagine porpoises swimming around downtown LA for some strange reason. And of course Rocket Queen is always a crowd favorite. I never got to hear it back in 1992 when the real band played. At the time I remember being a bit upset one of their more controversial songs hadn’t made the set list, so bucket list item: check!… I must have missed Sweet Child O Mine during this tribute show somehow, but I arrived a bit after the show started, cuz the checkout line for my cookies ran longer than expected.

And thanks Uber driver for waiting and getting me to the show, and not being a creep. That always helps!

Look for the other projects by these band members: Steelhorse – Bon Jovi Tribute, SOS – Motley Crue Tribute, Jukebox Heroes – Foreigner Tribute, Bad Ellie – Original project, The Penalty – Original project, Sovereign – Original project, BAM – Acoustic Trio.

The band would also like to thank Jason Fellman of J-Fell Productions. He has a full lineup of other good tribute acts I hear!

Mark Thomas "Axl," also has a petition you might be interested in signing, if you are an animal lover like the rest of us: https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-stop-this-evilness-and-save-the-elephant-species/fbog/810582541?recruiter=810582541&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial.combo_new_control_progress_bar&utm_term=autopublish&pt=AVBldGl0aW9uAPH8vQAAAAAAWdb7SR%2BCrnVmMWIyODI1Ng%3D%3D%3Frecruiter%3D807962854

You can find out more at http://j-fell.com/ For booking shows in other states, Mark Thomas does the bulk of communicating and planning for those gigs. They are all availble on Facebook at: https://m.facebook.com/AppetiteForDeception/ And: http://www.j-fell.com/a4d/