Eli nearly spat out his soda as he listened to the breaking news of the night. Vigilante had been sighted and Fisk was in custody. Briefly, Eli thought of how fortunate he was to have both Collin and Tucker ignoring him in favor of staring at the television mounted on one corner of the diner.

"Witnesses report hearing several gunshots, and some claim to have seen the city's Vigilante leaving the scene. We've not received any confirmation that he was involved, but we've heard from some people living nearby who tell us they saw the masked man, who appears to be injured. . ."

Eli felt his stomach drop at that bit of information. His friends chose that moment to turn back to him and were quickly puzzled by the panic they saw on the redhead's face.

"You okay?" Collin asked, brow furrowed and a hint of concern in his voice.

"Me? Oh, er, yeah. I'm fine, just, you know, tired." Eli was fully aware he sounded far from casual, but he honestly couldn't care less at the moment. "I should probably head home. Get some sleep and all."

He stood, grabbing his bag and his coat as he talked and choosing to ignore the strange looks he was getting from his friends. It wasn't the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Besides, he had more important things on his mind. Like whether their medkit was still fully stocked and how long the bus would take.

"But you still have food left." Tucker pointed to the fries still on Eli's plate along with a couple bites of burger. Apparently, that was the oddest part to him, which, fair enough.

"You can have the fries," Eli said, tossing some money on the table before he rushed out.

A bell sounded as he opened the diner door, the cold air hitting Eli as soon as he stepped out. He didn't pay it any mind as he rushed home, doing his best to secure his bag and keep a hold on the coat he didn't even bother to stop and put on. He knew the diner wasn't too far from the apartment he shared with Matthew. At least, it was close enough that Eli soon found himself running all the way there.

By the time he got home he was sure his face was about as red as his hair. He was panting heavily, throat dry, and his lungs feeling like they were about to shrivel up. Not to mention the sharp pain in his leg that felt like he was getting stabbed every time he took a step. He still managed to hobble over to the elevator—the short wait seeming to take forever.

The short rest as he went up to his apartment seemed both too short and too long, and he was relieved to finally stand in front of his door, key in hand.

At first, Eli thought he'd beaten Matthew home. The place was silent, save for the ever present sounds of the city drifting in through the balcony. And then, Eli heard a shuffling sound from said balcony. He was across the room in an instant.

And there lay Matthew.

He was slumped against the balcony railing, looking absolutely exhausted. A hand rested on his side and Eli could see what could only be bloodstains on his face. Slowly, Matthew turned to look at Eli. The pained smile he gave the redhead was enough to let Eli know he was at least well enough to be an idiot.

Eli still hurried to his side.

"Sorry honey, couldn't dodge quick enough," Matthew said with a stupid grin as Eli grabbed his blood stained hand to pull it away.

"Come on, we gotta get you inside," Eli said, glancing around and finding no sign of anyone who could see them. He struggled to pull Matthew up and drag him in, but managed it. It was also fortunate that Matthew had such a high pain tolerance by then, because it made it a lot easier for him to move for long enough to get to the bathroom.

Eli did his best to stay calm as he got out the medkit and helped Matthew out of his clothes so he could look at the wound. It wasn't the worst Eli had seen, and Matthew had done a good job at slowing the bleeding. At the very least, the damage seemed to be about as minimal as a stab wound could get. Of course, it would have been much better to have Matthew not get stabbed, but Eli supposed it was too late for that.

"What happened?" Eli asked as he cleaned the wound.

"Well, I figured things might calm down with Fisk gone." Matthew winced, but didn't say anything as Eli kept working. "And I heard there was a deal going down tonight. Figured it was as good a chance as any. Would have been nice to know he'd have a small army with him," he muttered the last part and Eli would have smacked him if he weren't so busy keeping the idiot from bleeding out.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Matthew asked after a moment.

"I saw the news," Eli answered, contemplating whether stitches were necessary. Unfortunately, they were, so he got to prepping. "Figured you might need me to keep you from going up to the big comic-con in the sky."

"Oh. Did they talk about how awesome I am?"

Eli glared and was very tempted to leave Matthew to stitch up his own damn stab wound. Instead, he glared.

"They said you stumbled away after getting your ass kicked." Predictably, Matthew looked offended.

"They did not."

"Well, they sure as shit should have," Eli muttered, ignoring Matthew's look of utter indignation. "They actually caught Fisk this time?"

"Yeah, and they should have enough evidence that even he'll have trouble buying his way out." There was some very notable relief in Matthew's voice. Eli shared the sentiment. "Sorry if I made you worry," Matthew added after a moment. Eli just shrugged, not looking up because he just knew Matthew would give him one of his looks. The type that made him forgive the asshole for just about anything.

"I mean, at least things are gonna be easier now."

"Yeah, well, I'm still taking a couple days off," Matthew said with a wince. Eli snorted, because of course he was. Whether he wanted to or not.

As they'd both hoped, things did calm down once Fisk was in prison—something Eli gleefully reminded himself of every day when he watched the news. Whatever crooks were around were most likely too worried about the possibility of Vigilante swooping down from somewhere and tossing them in prison to do much harm.

Then, there was the fact that with no one to pay them, fewer were attempting to get rid of Vigilante. Granted, Matthew was actually staying home as he said he would, but still, it was nice to know he would have an easier time when he finally went back out to beat up some unlucky crooks. It all made Eli feel a lot better about the slightly less complicated mess his life currently was. At the very least it made it easier to focus on work and school.

Or it would have been easier if he weren't surrounded by idiots.

"Why are you here?" Eli asked as both Collin and Tucker walked into the coffee shop with looks of glee. Tucker held a box that—at least to Eli—looked extremely ominous. Eli took a moment to lament that he was just about five minutes away from ending his shift and having a decent day at the coffee shop.

"Because it's a free country and we want coffee," Tucker said, as if it were obvious.

"You don't like coffee," Eli pointed out with a glare.

"Because it's a free country and we want hot cocoa." Tucker didn't even hesitate. Collin did his best to pretend he hadn't just snorted at how stupid Tucker sounded. Eli was disappointed in him, if only because he really should have been used to Tucker's general idiocy by then. "We also have a business proposition, so take us to your leader."

"My leader is busy, go away." He didn't actually know what Michael was doing, but it wasn't like he cared.

"But we want to buy stuff," Collin attempted. Eli just pointed to his favorite sign. The one that informed people they could be refused service.

"I will call your boyfriend and tell him you're being mean," Tucker threatened.

"How the hell did you get his number?" Eli regretted asking that immediately. Just like he regretted letting his stupid friends find out he was dating Matthew. "You know what, I don't want to know." At that point, Eli was just glad the only other person in the shop was the man sitting in the corner, sipping on his third cup of coffee, looking disinterested in anything but his coffee and his phone.

"You're no fun," Tucker said, while Collin pulled out his own phone because apparently everyone had Matthew's number. Eli wasn't sure how to feel about his friends and boyfriend all conspiring against him. He was saved from having to respond by Michael. Which, when Eli thought about it, was probably not for the best.

Michael took a second to look at the scene—granted, Eli glaring from behind the counter at prospective customers wasn't really unusual. He paused when he saw Collin holding his phone, apparently about to make a call, then turned back to Eli.

"If you get the cops called on you I'm siding with your victims," he said. Eli honestly didn't expect anything different.

"Before any of you say anything else to ruin my day, let me just remind you that my shift is over, so please let me get out before you piss me off." Eli figured it was worth a shot.

"But you'll miss our product presentation," Collin said with a grin that told Eli he really should leave. He rushed off to the back to get his things while he had the chance and was out the shop's door as Tucker started to open the box he'd been carrying with a worrying amount of enthusiasm. Eli would openly admit he nearly ran out of that shop. Their lone customer apparently had the same idea, because he was gone by the time Eli left the shop.

He was almost glad to step out into the cold. At least there was no one to bother him there and there was always something about the city during sundown that made it seem like less of a dump than usual. All in all, Eli was feeling pretty good. Enough so that he figured he might as well walk over to the nearby donut shop and treat himself—and not tell Matthew about it, of course.

Eli could just about hear him complaining about how Eli would have a heart attack, or something about malnutrition. With that in mind, Eli set off down the street.

And had to stop a second later as his phone rang. He held back a groan as he saw it was Matthew and hoped he wasn't calling because he'd done something.

"Hey honey," Matthew greeted, cheerful as always.

"You haven't done anything, have you?" Eli wished he didn't sound so resigned.

"No, and I'm very hurt that you would even think so badly of me." He sounded more like he was amused, but Eli figured there was no point in arguing.

"Yeah, I bet you are," he said with a roll of his eyes. "How's Matt?" he asked, mostly because there was always the chance Matthew had lost his cat.

"Sometimes I think you love that cat more than me."

"I mean . . ." Eli trailed off, not knowing how to tell Matthew that at least his cat didn't show up half dead in the middle of the night on a regular basis.

"I'm just going to pretend you tried to deny that," Matthew said. It was probably for the best. "So, are you on our way back home?"

"Yeah, I'm heading to the bus stop," Eli lied, because his plan of getting a donut was very much still in place.

"Alright, be careful on your way back."

"Because I don't have my trusty stalker tonight?"

"Rude," Matthew said, pretending to be offended. "But yes." Eli snorted.

"If it makes you feel better, Tucker says I've gotten better at kicking people." He'd had an impressive bruise on his shin the last time he'd called Eli a midget. Eli was probably more proud than he should be about that. He heard Matthew laugh and figured he didn't think it was so impressive. "Anyway, I'll see you at home."

"See you later." After hanging up, Eli resumed his top secret trip to the donut shop.

The walk was short, the donut shop being close enough that Michael had declared it his sworn enemy for daring to sell coffee too. Eli found it hilarious and felt particularly gleeful when he got the time to buy a donut and walk into work with it. Just the thought of Michael's face on those occasions was enough to make Eli smile.

It wasn't long before Eli was happily munching away on a freshly baked donut as he headed back to the bus stop. He wondered if it would be too petty to walk by the coffee shop and wave his donut at Michael. Eli was just debating whether it would be worth it to have his boss be even more annoying the next day—and of course, that was when he was pulled into a sidestreet.

Eli stared at the mugger in front of him and wasn't even surprised.

Honestly, he was mostly pissed and also kind of glad he hadn't dropped his donut. Apparently, his distinct lack of fear—and probably the mix of irritation and impatience—threw the guy off. Enough so that he paused before demanding Eli's money.

"Haven't got any," Eli said in response to the crook's demand. He debated whether it would be too much to take a bite of his donut.

"Give me your fucking money right now," the slightly more crazed looking mugger said. And then he pulled out a switchblade, which made Eli take things a bit more seriously.

It also made him wonder why he hadn't thought to put one of his tasers in his pocket, because he didn't think he'd be able to get to the one he had in his backpack. He could almost hear Matthew's voice telling him something along the lines of I told you so.

Focus, Eli, he thought to himself. You're about to get stabbed if you don't pay attention, and then how are you gonna complain when Matthew gets stabbed? Eli would have to revisit how petty his thoughts of survival could be later, when there wasn't a knife pointed at his face.

"Fine," he said, and began sliding off his backpack. Eli moved slowly as to not alarm the mugger, whose eyes kept shifting from Eli's face to the backpack sliding down his arm.

With a quick movement—and sadly, at the cost of the last bit of donut—Eli grabbed the strap of his backpack before it could fall and swung it towards the mugger. The man was taken by surprise, the bag hitting his arm. The knife went flying, clattering as it hit the ground. Eli paid it little mind as he made to run. Of course, that didn't happen, because Eli couldn't have that much luck.

Before he could make it out into the street, Eli felt a hand grab onto his arm with a painful grip, pulling him back. He stumbled, one of his feet landing on a plastic bag, his heel slipping. All of a sudden. Eli was falling back onto his attacker. Both landed on the dirty ground, scrambling to get up before the other. Unfortunately Eli was pushed back by the mugger. A moment later, there was a flash of pain as he was punched in the face, his head snapping back and hitting the ground, making the blow all the more painful. His vision swam, the dimly lit side street turning into a blur of shadows, the largest of all still bearing down over him.

If Eli had been in a better state of mind, he might have panicked more. As it was, he could only think of how maybe Matthew had a point about his stalking being a good thing.

Eli still did the best he could to try to push the man on top of him off. Meanwhile, the mugger was doing his best to try to get Eli's wallet, something he did manage somehow. Eli wasn't sure, mostly because his vision was a mess at the moment, but he probably would have gotten punched again if it weren't for the mugger suddenly being pulled off of him.

For a moment during which Eli felt deeply relieved, he thought maybe Matthew was there. The thought lasted only a moment, because the voice that came from whoever had saved him was definitely not Matthew's.

"Leave," the stranger said in a menacing tone Eli had never heard from Matthew. The kind that made him worry for his own safety.

Eli heard someone moving around and then a series of hurried steps that faded. Then, through the darkness, he could make out a large shape walking off to the side and kneeling for a second.

"Who are you?" Eli asked, voice slurred and his face stinging. A headache was already building up and threatening to split his skull. Still, he did his best to focus on whoever was there with him. He received no response and only watched as the blurred shape walked away.

With a groan, Eli let his head fall back to rest on the ground. As he lay in the dark side street, hoping his phone was still there, Eli almost felt like laughing at how quickly his day had gone to shit. 

###

Hey everyone! So here you all go, a nice new chapter that actually turned out pretty long. I actually forgot it was this long, haha. It's always kind of weird to upload stuff I wrote ages ago and already kind of forgot. 

Hope you all liked it even though I was a little mean to Eli this time around. But it's not like I haven't always been evil to my poor angry ginger child. Anyway, thank you all for reading and for your support! Next chapter will be up on Friday, August the 28th. Unless the heatwave here kills me. :'D

As always, have a great weekend and stay safe!