Hell's Kitchen.
The very city smelled of sweat and smog, lacing it with a hazy shroud that made your skin feel sickly with its pollution. Frank Castle chewed a toothpick impatiently as an old crone counted out her quarters for the third scratcher she had purchased that night. Shifting from one foot to another, he was trying not to roll his eyes as she finally scuttled off like the old crab she was. Plopping a six pack of Budweisers down on the counter, he coughed up the cash with just a grunt and avoided eye contact. A few minutes later he was back outside, clutching the paper sack in one hand and slinging a leg over the motorcycle he had used to get there. The leather of his jacket creaked as he stared down a group of kids who were loitering out on the side of the building, trying to flick a lighter that sputtered and sparked in the shadows.
The growl of the motorcycle breathing to life made the group jump as Frank rolled around to them. Yanking the pack of cigarettes and the vice from the youngest one’s lips, he leaned in over the side of the cycle with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t smoke, kids..leaves tar in your lungs and ages ya to look like me..got it?”
Flicking open a lighter and stuffing the stolen cigarette between his lips , Frank took a deep breath of the nicotine in before raising an eyebrow. Twitching slightly like he was going to get after them, his voice deepened with a warning.
“Get outta’ here..”
The group scattered like the Scooby gang in a haunted house, making Frank chuckle as he pulled out of the parking lot. Ah, the night was off to a good start.
__________
“Triple meat with extra cheese?”
“Yup! That’s me! Thanks, bud.”
Murdock sighed as he did the awkward wiggle to get the cash out of the leather pocket in the back of his suit. He would need to redesign the pouch somewhere easier..or just give up on buying things while in the Devil guise. Sliding his thumbs over the bills, he grabbed the twenty dollar bill that he had folded in a specific way and slid it over the counter.
“Keep the change, Bill!”
The old man beamed as he cashed out the register and his customer grabbed the pizza that was practically steaming on the counter. Hefting it to his shoulder, Matt gave the shopkeeper a mock salute and a grin as he began to head toward the door.
“Thank you, Spiderman! You are one of our best customers..”
Matt paused , raising a single finger, mouth falling open for the briefest moment. He thought about correcting the man, but..heck. It was people like him that kept his identity hidden well. Waving the mislabel off, Murdock grinned.
“No problem, Bill. Can’t stay away from your pizza for too long. Have a good night!”
The jingle of the bell later, Matt was outside and breathing in the night air. Now..he just had to get up to the roof of the Cathedral without either getting the cheese stuck to the top, or the Padre stealing a slice…
___________________
“Dammit, you beat me here again, Red.”
“Advantage of home turf…it did cost me though.”
Frank huffed as he sat down on the ledge of the Hells Kitchen Cathedral, swinging his legs over into the air. He loved this part, the free fall feeling of swinging his legs into nothing. The cans of the six pack scraped along the concrete ledge as he placed them down between the two of them, yanking one out for himself. Leaning back to open the box, he laughed boisterously.
“We are going to have to start getting two to bribe that Padre of yours if he keeps stealin’ our pizza, man.”
To explain, in order for the Cathedral to be accessed, Matt had two options. Repel up the side of the building, or go in through the priest’s personal entrance. Option one left the pizza looking like a criminal’s face after Frank was done with them..Option two meant the Padre got paid pizza tax. Chuckling as he pulled back his hood, Matt snagged a piece and began to munch. Mumbling with his mouth half full, he hummed.
“OR..we could use that garlic habanero sauce as Priest away..”
“Nah, I ain't in for that spicy shit. All I need is a bad case of hot sauce farts on a sniper mission.”
Frank grabbed two slices, making them into a sandwich, and began to wolf them down eagerly. There was a pregnant pause for a moment as the two men took in the ambience of the evening. The city was alive and breathing, like a living entity of both sin and saints below them. The call of police sirens, party bass, and gunshots were the backdrop on a normal evening. But sometimes..very rarely, it was quiet, only the sound of pigeons in the rafters echoing from the giant bell that also resided there.
For Matt, it was a chance to be above the sounds of violence and pain. For Frank, it was a slice of omniscience, being able to see everything below him like a vengeful demigod.
“So, saw you took down the drug ring in Manhattan. Heard the leader got strung up by his balls and left to bleed out..”
Popping open a beer, Matt mumbled over the foam, wiping his mouth after a messy sip. Frank snorted, crushing his first can on the concrete and grabbing a second. After a loud belch, he opened it with a hiss of the depressurized beer top.
“Oh? Thought not seeing was your whole schtick, bud.”
“OH HA HA HA..so funny, captain obvious.”
Matt shot Frank a withering look for a moment before smirking.
“That was temporary captain America to you..”
“Yeah , but evidently America doesn’t want a gun toting vigilante as their spokesperson..”
Frank looked off blankly for a moment before grumbling under his breath.
“Then explain our current president..”
“Touche, Frankie. Touche..”
Matt ran a hand through his sandy brown hair for a moment before sighing, leaning back on his palms.
“Y’know I got called Spiderman today again..”
“Ah yes, because you have the body of a teenage boy. Of course.”
“I…like to keep trim. Shut the fuck up. We can’t all be built like an angry road hog.”
Coughing over his beer, Frank Castle laughed, clapping a hand on Matt’s back. The silence fell over them both again comfortably as they sat together, the scent of the city and pizza wafting around them. Frank watched the skyline, the twinkle of barely visible stars dressed in smog danced with a hazy moon. These nights were needed to keep sane sometimes..and Matt? Well, he was the closest thing to family he had left at the end of the day. Though he would rather have a mob boss make him swallow his own tongue then admit it.
“So, Kingpin finally stop trying to buy up your business?”
Murdock slowly swirled his beer which was still half full, zeroing in on the sound to drown out the chaotic thoughts inside. He and Elektra were having some issues since his ex Mary had resurfaced, carrying a raging murder hardon for the pair of them. Before that , Wilson Fisk had been trying to buy out the building that housed his practice. If it hadn’t been for a friend stepping in, he and Foggy would have been office shopping and possibly out of business before the end of the month. He was grateful that Frank had texted him earlier that day, the familiar pizza and beer can emojis with a singular question mark meant he needed decompress time.
Nights like these with Frank were usually spent talking shit about other heroes like Tony Stark or the Fantastic Four, the rich pretty boys who had the shiny reputations and didn’t have to run from the cops. It made the ridiculousness of it all feel normal for a change and it grounded him some nights when sanity felt like it was just as out of reach as his eyesight coming back.
“Yeah… Thankfully. But that is the least of my worries. Mary is back in town, calling herself Typhoid Mary…and Fisk is using her to burn through both innocent and criminal alike to get to me. To the point that weirdo showed up last week …Star knight? No..the dude in the white thing, cape.”
Frank snapped his fingers, crushing the second can of beer on his knee.
“Moonknight. Careful with that one..he’s crazier than I am..AND more violent. If you can believe it. One of my trafficking rings I was working? Guy came in and swept the room clean, carved out their tongues and eyeballs. The cops had a bag of them delivered the next day. Real squishy shit. I was inspired.”
Matt huffed out a breath , grimacing as he finished his first beer.
“Yeesh.. Good to know.. Anyway, nough’ about me. Anything new on your side of the fence?”
Waving his friend off, Frank shrugged, hunching as he watched the city below them. Rounding his shoulders, the man rubbed the bridge of his nose. The question was..loaded. On one hand, he had a full life. Shoot up the wrong doers, make them pay the way they had demanded society unfairly. Hunt down every bit of the mob attached to his family’s murder, go home, and do it all over again. On the other…when the night crept in and sleep wouldn’t take him, there was an emptiness inside that took the shape of his wife and kids. Some days it got so loud, it drowned out everything, making hopelessness feel like a tangible bitterness on his tongue. Looking up, Frank rested his chin on his clasped hands.
“Ahh..you know me. Try not to let the silence get too loud, so I fill it with the sound of a shotgun instead.”
Matt nodded slowly, grabbing a second beer, but not opening it. Swinging his legs in the empty, he didn’t feel like a deeper talk was needed. They both knew they weren’t over the line and nights like this proved that. When these nights stopped..that’s when he had to worry. His hand absentmindedly looked for the pizza box, but it was just nudged out of his reach.
“There any pizza left?”
The sound of a hasty swallow made Matt smirk as Frank grumbled.
“...Didn’t you HEAR me take the last piece? Or is your super hearin’ broke?”
Matt cocked his head to the side, pausing to listen for the briefest of moments..
“I can HEAR you trying to sneak the last one out the box, Frank..”
Castle chuckled for a moment, nudging the box back between them.
“Second to last..”
“So..you gonna really take the last two pieces!?”
“What do you think , Red?”
A playful shove sent Frank sliding on his ass backward , making the large man laugh as Matt snatched one of the slices. But it was miscalculated, most of the cheese falling over the side of the building and landing on the ledge below to the joy of several hungry pigeons. Frowning with a sigh, Murdock fussed.
“Dammit.. If the local pigeons get diarrhea cause’ of you, I’m sending you the cleaning bill for my suit.”
“I’ll venmo you..”
“Asshole..”
_______________
Beer was drained and pizza eaten, the pair of them enjoyed a couple of hours ribbing each other. From talking about failed missions and how they butt heads in the past, to poking fun at the newest wave of heroes and villains..they talked for hours. Matt opened up about Elektra and how unsure he was about asking her to move in..and Frank called him a pussy for not having asked her sooner. The conversations were long..filled with bullshit and deeper bonding, jsut the way they both enjoyed it.
But unfortunately, they both knew it wouldn’t last forever.
Sirens blew in the distance louder as a car sped past the Cathedral, gunshot ringing out from the passenger side window. Both heroes’ attention jerked down, Matt pulling his mask back on with a heavy sigh.
“Duty calls..Hey..Frank?”
As he was loading one of his own sidearms, Castle cast a look over as Matt began to stand.
“Yeah, Matty?”
“You ever think that one day, we will just be average Joes, drinking beer and eating pizza on some front porch somewhere?”
Frank grunted at that, heaving his bulk up to pull out his repel gun. Cocking it to the side, he shot to the building across from them, setting up the line so he could swoop down.
“If we do, promise you’ll put a bullet in my head..”
“Might take awhile..Blind, remember?”
Three cop cars skidded after, more shots ringing out as a volley began to go back and forth between the police and their quarry. Matt shrugged back on his gloves, taking out his own repel baton. Cocking a smile to his partner, Murdock grinned wide.
“First one to take down the car gets the next round of beer?”
“Deal.”
Frank grinned back, gruffly growling as the pair readied themselves. As both jumped from the top of Hell's Kitchen Cathedral, he couldn’t help but think something to himself…
They may be pair of idiots..
OR a pair of heroes.
But definitely never a pair of Average Joes.