Vigilante | ✔

Part III: KAPOW!

Eli did his absolute best to stay out of Matthew's way in the coming weeks. It was a good thing that Matthew didn't show up nearly as often as before. He supposed fighting crime on a regular basis cut into one's coffee shop time.

"Hey, Matthew's been looking pretty beat up lately," Michael commented one day. The very man in question had just left with what was his third coffee cup of the day.

"Has he? I hadn't noticed," Eli said, and he thought his lie sounded rather convincing. Michael certainly didn't question him.

"Yeah, he has. Not that he doesn't usually look like crap," Michael said with a thoughtful look on his face and a slight frown. "Wonder what he does," he muttered, as he moved out from behind the counter to wipe the tables.

Personally, Eli thought Michael was better off not knowing what Matthew did to look so utterly exhausted. After all, he knew and it got him nothing but trouble. Granted, he hadn't talked to Matthew since that night on the rooftop. He still wasn't sure whether he was glad for that or not.

If he were to be honest, he would admit that a part of himself found the man amusing. Even if he constantly irritated Eli close to the point of getting a fist to the face. Still, Matthew had helped him out of a few tight spots and Eli figured he owed the man at least a bit of gratitude.

He still felt that way as he walked into his apartment after another grueling day at school. Not so much after he walked into his bedroom to see Matthew walking out of his bathroom with a hand towel held up to his head. Eli wasn't all that aware of his schoolbag falling with a dull THUD, nor did he notice he was openly staring. At the moment, all he really knew was that there was a masked man bleeding in his apartment. Matthew gave him a sheepish grin.

"Oh, uh, hey there Eli," he greeted lamely with a weak wave of his hand. It took Eli a moment to say something, the words stuck in his throat.

"'Hey'? 'Hey'!? That's what you have to say? What the hell!?" Eli never had been known for his composure.

"Uh, how was school?" Matthew tried again. Eli just stared at him blankly for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nope, I can't do this," he said. "I can't have masked men bleeding all over my apartment, breaking in whenever they feel like it, and dragging me on drug busts."

"Oh that was hardly a real drug bust," Matthew said with a roll of his eyes.

Eli just looked at him like he was insane — which he probably was — before throwing his arms up into the air in frustration. "Nope, I'm done," Eli said, ignoring Matthew.

"Really? You're just going to leave me here. I need medical attention, you know," Matthew said, not sounding particularly pained.

"Then go get some!" Eli snapped. "I'm a college student not a doctor," he added when he saw the way Matthew was looking at him.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. Just patch me up a bit and I'll be on my way," Matthew insisted.

Very reluctantly, Eli agreed to help Matthew, if only so he'd get out of his hair for a while. Of course, once he decided on that, he realized he had no medical supplies.

"Huh. Well that explains why I couldn't find them," Matthew said from his seat on the edge of the bathtub as he watched Eli walk into the bathroom. He'd had to run to the store around the corner to get what he needed.

"You know, I'd appreciate it if you didn't break in here to dig around in my bathroom cabinet," Eli said dully. "Actually, I'd appreciate it if you just didn't break in at all," he added after a moment. He was fairly certain that if he didn't he'd find Matthew in his apartment again.