Vigilante | ✔

Annual #7

Eli watched as Matthew struggled not to laugh and was actually rather proud when he didn't. He supposed there was a first time for everything.

"You look great," Matthew said instead. He was leaning against their couch, hair and clothes ruffled as was usual for him when he was home. Eli raised an eyebrow at him, clearly skeptical.

"Right," he said after a moment. He adjusted his cloak and picked up his mask from the coffee table. "Are you sure you don't want to come? It's supposed to be fun," Eli told Matthew, who just snorted.

"Yeah, you make it sound great," he said. "But no, you go ahead. Besides, I don't have a costume," he pointed out, not really sounding all that put out. Especially as he looked at Eli, dressed in Kylo Ren's black robes with his mask in his hand. His mouth twitched the barest amount. Clearly, he wanted to laugh.

The only thing that had kept Eli from glaring was the memory of Matthew's face when he'd seen Eli's newly dyed hair. It was for authenticity, Eli claimed — honestly he'd just wanted to annoy Matthew.

"You can be old man Han," Eli said with a grin.

"I'm going to pretend I don't know what you're implying with that," Matthew said with a weak glare, but the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards. "Anyway, I'm going out in a while," he added. Matthew honestly tried to ignore the way Eli's face seemed to fall at that.

Of course, they'd been together for a while and Eli was used to what he referred to as Matthew's stupid hobby. Clearly, he still didn't agree with it. But where before he would have called Matthew an idiot and tried to drag him to the Halloween party he'd been invited to, now he just sighed, resigned to having Matthew run around the city beating up criminals. Matthew appreciated the effort.

"Fine just, don't stay out too long," Eli said. "And try not to get too close to any cops," he added after a moment of thought. They both knew there would be a lot more of the police force roaming around the city in an attempt to keep drunken idiots from stirring up trouble. Unfortunately for them, they were still actively looking to catch and unmask Vigilante.

"I'll try my darnest," Matthew said earnestly, clearly trying to annoy Eli. Sadly for him, they'd been together long enough that Eli glossed right over Matthew's stupid jokes.

"And for the love of God, try not to get shot, stabbed or get anything broken," Eli nearly pleaded. Honestly, he thought it was sad enough that he had to mention that. "There's a limit to what we can fix with just the internet and a first aid kit," he pointed out. "Plus, blood is freaking hard to get out of the towels."

"Your concern for me is outstanding," Matthew said flatly. "But seriously, I'll be fine. You really shouldn't worry."

"Well someone has to since you insist on giving no fucks whatsoever," Eli muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Of course," Matthew agreed in a serious tone that was blatantly fake. He pushed himself off the couch and stepped towards Eli. "Now go on, you don't want to be late do you?" Matthew wrapped an arm around Eli, guiding him towards the door.

"Why do I feel like you're kicking me out?" Eli asked.

"Because you're paranoid," Matthew responded without missing a beat. "But have fun at your party." He leaned over, left a quick kiss on Eli's lips, and then promptly shut the door in the redhead's face. Eli was positive Matthew was up to something.

He rolled his eyes and walked off, hoping that at the very least Matthew wouldn't do anything stupidly dangerous. Not that it would be unusual if he did.