Eli watched—unimpressed—as a crappy, grainy picture of what was supposed to be the local crime fighter was displayed on the screen at a corner of the coffee shop. He liked to think it was crazy enough that they even had a local crime fighter, but sadly, that wasn't the strangest part of his life.

"The Vigilante was spotted just south of downtown . . ." the newscaster was saying. She looked almost gleeful, which wasn't unexpected.

In general, the media seemed to think of Vigilante as some sort of divine gift. He was their go to story whenever they had a slow newsday. From the criminal dealings he uncovered to the latest gossip about who he was dating—last Eli heard, it was the weather girl from channel five—the news covered it all. As long as Vigilante was even vaguely involved, the news would cover it.

Eli was really starting to get tired of it.

"You'd think they would be over it. The guy's been around for long enough."

"He's popular," Michael said with a shrug. "He even has a fanclub."

He had several, but Eli wasn't going to be the one to tell Michael that. It was already enough of a miracle that Michael wasn't the leader of any of those fanclubs. Half the time he spent in the shop was just wasted exchanging gossip with customers and watching the news. The rest of the time he spent annoying the hell out of Eli.

"You'd think you'd have stopped hating the guy after all the times he's saved your scrawny butt."

"I don't hate him. I just think he's a stupid show off and shouldn't be encouraged." Eli thought that was reasonable. Michael just snorted.

Before they could keep on arguing about Eli's supposed hatred for Vigilante, the door opened, and in walked their best customer. Coincidentally, he was also their most annoying customer, and the guy Eli was currently dating.

"Oh look, your boyfriend's here," Michael couldn't help but point out. Eli shot his boss a glare that went completely ignored.

"Hey honey," Matthew greeted Eli with a smile as he sat at his usual table. As he always did, Matthew looked tired, dark circles under his eyes and dark hair a mess. His face still lit up as soon as he saw Eli.

"What are you doing here?" Eli asked, exasperated. He'd been expecting Matthew to stay home and get some rest, considering he looked like he was about to drop dead from exhaustion. That would have been the most reasonable thing to do. Eli should have expected Matthew to do anything but that. "I thought you were going to stay home to rest."

"Well, I was, but then I got bored and I figured I'd drop by." The way he said it made it clear he thought it was a brilliant idea. Eli strongly disagreed.

"What do you want?" Eli asked, resigned to Matthew annoying him for a while longer. He figured the best he could do was try to get him out of the shop and back home as quickly as possible.

"Coffee would be nice," Matthew said. "And one of those chocolate muffins."

"We're out of muffins," Eli told Matthew.

"Eli ate the last one," Michael added with a grin.

"I did not." He had, but Matthew didn't need to know that.

"Oh, well, I guess just the coffee then." Eli thought Matthew sounded more disappointed over that than a grown man had any right to. With a roll of his eyes, Eli headed off to get Matthew's drink, missing the fond smile that was pointed his way.

"So, how's life with an angry ginger?" Eli heard Michael ask and didn't even bother to look back. He might have glared at the coffee maker a bit too much.

"Well, he's cute, so not too bad," Matthew said with a shrug.

Michael looked like he didn't believe that in the least. He turned to look at Eli, who was done with Matthew's drink, and swept his gaze over the redhead.

"I don't see it," Michael finally said with a straight face. Eli wondered if he could get away with throwing the coffee he was holding at his boss.

"Thank God for that," he settled for saying as he walked past Michael and towards Matthew. "And you, finish your coffee and go home." He set the cup down in front of Matthew, who just looked back at Eli with his usual cheery expression.

"Aw, but I just got here." Eli rolled his eyes and decided that it would be best to ignore Matthew while he was there. Thankfully, before Michael and Matthew could manage to be annoying enough to force Eli to pay attention to them, they had a rush of customers.

Once or twice, Eli looked up from fixing drinks and cleaning tables to be met with Matthew looking at him before grinning like an idiot and waving. Eli had to wonder how long it would take him to finish his coffee and go home. He also had to wonder if maybe sleep deprivation was making Matthew act even more like an idiot than usual.

Still, Eli couldn't pay much attention to him when there was so much to do. It wasn't until Matthew leaned on the counter, close to where Eli was that he finally looked up from his work.

"So, are we still having date night?" Eli almost wanted to smack Matthew just for the way he grinned at him, eyebrows waggling.

"As long as you don't look half dead anymore," Eli said instead. "Seriously, if you end up dying from sleep deprivation, of all things, I will sit at your funeral and laugh."

"Well, at least my funeral won't be all depressing," Matthew said with a grin. Eli just rolled his eyes. It helped him keep from facepalming.

"Just go home." Eli wished he didn't sound so defeated. Fortunately, Matthew complied, though not before reminding Eli of their date. As if Eli would forget when Matthew hadn't shut up about it for a whole week.

Before the door fully closed behind matthew, Eli could already feel Michael staring at him. He wasn't surprised to see his boss wearing a sly grin that did not bode well for Eli.

"Say anything and I swear I'll quit."

"You just have to take the fun out of things," Michael settled for saying before going back to work. Eli couldn't help but roll his eyes before also getting back to fixing more drinks.

The rest of the day dragged on, as it often did when Eli had to work with Michael. By the time he was able to leave, Eli was close to tossing his boss out the window. Unfortunately, he needed the job, and Michael was a decent enough boss when he wasn't annoying the hell out of Eli. Which was rare, but still better than most.

Eli all but trudged home, his heavy backpack feeling heavier than usual. Maybe it was because he was all too aware of just how much school work he still had to do, without taking into consideration all the tests he still had to study for. He was just glad he had an excuse to avoid all of that work if only for one night.

He wasn't sure what Matthew was planning, or why he'd suddenly insisted that they go on a date. A part of Eli was still trying to think of anything Matthew might have done or was thinking of doing that could possibly enrage Eli. It seemed like a very Matthew thing to do, to ask Eli out as an early apology for something Eli hadn't found out about.

Can't be anything that bad, Eli told himself. He ignored the part of his brain that laughed at that.

Still, nothing could be worse than the time Matthew had let him think he was dead. For a year. Eli still reminded Matthew of that little debacle whenever he was particularly enraged.

Now though, he tried not to think about it too much. The day was over, it was the weekend, and he had a date to go to. As far as he was concerned, his day was looking up. Eli thought that up until he walked into the apartment he shared with Matthew and found him standing by the balcony, dressed in his third-rate ninja suit.

He let his book bag drop to the ground and stared with a look that was half resignation and half enough repressed rage that even Matthew took a step back. Then again, he was always wary of a furious Eli.

"I take it date night is canceled," Eli said in a tone that made Matthew look downright nervous.

"Well, yes. But I promise—"

"Don't bother making any more promises you're not going to keep," Eli cut him off. He could almost see the guilt washing over Matthew, but couldn't find it in himself to care. At that moment, all Eli cared about was going to bed in the hopes that he'd be less pissed off when he woke up.

Of course, Matthew wasn't just going to let things end so easily. He never did like leaving when Eli was mad at him and, to be honest, neither did Eli. After all, they couldn't be sure Matthew would come back at all, as depressing as that was.

"I'm sorry," Matthew said, tired but sincere enough that Eli almost felt sorry for him.

"You say that lot, but you still do stupid shit to piss me off."

"You know I wouldn't go if it wasn't important." The look Eli gave Matthew at that told him just how little the redhead cared. "It's Fisk," Matthew said after a moment, the small sigh that escaped him making it clear that he hadn't wanted for Eli to know.

Eli felt his jaw clench, a rush of something he refused to think of as panic rising inside him for a moment. Against his will, his mind went to the last time he'd heard that name—after Matthew had returned from playing dead for a year.

"I thought he was in jail," he said, doing his best to sound calm.

"He was. I guess it's hard to keep him there when he keeps buying his way out." Matthew shrugged, obviously having expected as much. "Look, if it was anything else, anyone else, I wouldn't go."

He stepped closer to Eli, clearly sensing that the redhead had calmed at least a bit. When Eli just gave him a half-hearted glare, Matthew responded with a small smile.

"I'll make it up to you," he said, sounding far more cheerful now that he knew Eli wasn't going to kill him or make him sleep on the couch. "We'll go out on your day off."

"Sure we will," Eli's voice was absolutely dripping with sarcasm, but he didn't feel as upset any more. Maybe it was because he knew Matthew was trying, or maybe it was just that he'd known what he was getting himself into when he agreed to be with the irritating vigilante. Either way, all the anger he'd felt moments earlier had drained away, leaving him feeling particularly exhausted. "Just go if you're gonna go."

"And you'll still be here when I get back?" Eli almost wanted to smack Matthew upside the head for even asking.

"Well I haven't left so far, have I?" He tried not to sound too insulted, but of course Matthew had to go and actually snort.

"No, you haven't." His voice was soft when he spoke. Enough so that Eli felt his face heat up very much against his will. He still tried his best to look mad. Even when he felt Matthew grasp his left hand, gloved fingers brushing over Eli's fingers. For a moment, it looked like he wanted to say something, a thoughtful look on his face. Then, he seemed to snap out of it, Eli's hand slipping from his grasp as he smiled cheerfully at the redhead.

"I'll be back early." Eli almost rolled his eyes.

"And I'll be asleep so don't wake me up." Matthew laughed, probably because he was a terrible person, and then leaned closer to give Eli a quick kiss. A moment later, he was gone, and Eli was alone.

Well, nearly alone.

Matt—the cat Eli had adopted back when Matthew decided letting Eli think he'd died was a great idea—wandered out from the bedroom, tail swaying as if he just knew Eli would give him food.

"Guess it's just you and me tonight," Eli said as Matt stared up at him, clearly wanting him to hurry with the food. Eli rolled his eyes, wondering how his day had gone downhill so quickly.

It wasn't long before Eli was sitting on the couch in his pajamas, Matt curled up next to him and a pile of schoolwork on the coffee table in front of him. Not that he was truly putting much work into it. Eli found it hard to focus when Matthew was out there, especially as of late.

A lot of things had changed since Matthew returned. Eli wasn't the only one that Matthew spent most of his time irritating. Honestly, Eli would have felt bad for all the city's criminals if they weren't constantly trying to violently murder his boyfriend. As it was, they'd really stepped up their game.

Matthew did his best to hide it, most likely thinking that Eli would be upset by just how much more often he was injured. Of course, he was right, but he was also incredibly bad at keeping things from Eli. Honestly, sometimes Eli wondered how the rest of the world didn't already know Vigilante's badly kept secret identity.

The way he would hide a wince of pain every now and then. Bruises that increased in number and frequency with every passing night. Cuts that faded into scars, still visible despite Matthew's attempts to cover them. These were all hard to miss, and Eli had become watchful when it came to Matthew.

Clearly, something had changed in the way the city's criminals viewed Vigilante. Not too long ago, he'd been someone to avoid, a constant threat to be wary of. Now, it felt like there was a target on Vigilante's back. The criminals weren't simply running anymore, and that worried Eli.

He let out a frustrated sigh at the thought of it all and focused back on the news he'd only been half watching. The anchor was smiling as she moved on to some fluff piece about a painting elephant and Eli figured there'd be nothing important after that. Whatever it was that Matthew was doing that night, it wasn't making the news.

Eli wasn't sure whether he should be relieved or not.

He still stuck around, watching the news and pretending to study, until well past midnight. It was only when he fell asleep for a couple of minutes and nearly fell off the couch that he decided to go to bed.

"So much for an early night," he muttered while peering out the balcony doors before locking them. He fell asleep nearly as soon as he closed his eyes, exhausted from the long day he'd had.

As soon as he woke up, Eli knew something was wrong. It took him a second to wake up enough to realize the distinct lack of Matthew attempting to crush him to death while he slept. He turned his head, eyes still adjusting to the morning light, and was puzzled to find himself alone in bed.

After a moment of looking around, ears trying to pick up any sounds that might point to Matthew being home, he got up. Eli wandered out of the bedroom, finding the rest of the apartment just as quiet and empty. The balcony door was still locked, the kitchen was untouched since the previous night, and it was clear to Eli that something really was very wrong.

Matthew hadn't made it back home. 

- - - - - - - - - 

Hey everyone!

So here we go again with the fluff and suffering. I'm looking forward to your suffering! :D

I've written a fair amount of chapters for this, but I still have to pace myself because I am a very slow writer and I need to give myself time to write the rest. Updates will come every other week, most likely on Friday afternoon, so you can count on them unless I catch up to what I've written or I take a break.

In the meantime, check out the awesome art  up top by  @__.alis.art.___  and if you want to check out more of their awesome art head on over to Instagram!

Other than that, thank you all so much for reading, and check out my other books I guess? I have a bunch of free ones and like one paid one, lol. So yeah, love you all and I'm glad to be back to posting things that'll make you all cry and curse at me! 

Stay safe!