Peter was dissociating.
Matt knows this because he’s seen it before. Well, not seen it, but you get the point.
He found him on a random rooftop, this time not passed out from exhaustion, though he doesn’t know which one is worse. The kid, or not the kid since he doesn’t like being called that. He does sometimes. Whatever, he’ll figure it out later.
Back to the point.
He was sitting with his legs crossed, staring into the abyss, motionless. His breathing was almost perfectly steady, minus the occasional change. Each puff of air left a white cloud in its wake. There was a small cut on his face, already healing. Under it was some dried blood.
The air was frigid. He was in his suit. There were some minor lacerations on it. The temperature must have had not been doing him any favors since he can’t thermoregulate. That meant no shivering which thereon continued into core temperature dropping.
They haven’t spoken in about a week which was pretty normal. Matt wasn’t worried, Peter could take care of himself, he always has after all.
He wasn’t even looking for him in particular, just stumbled upon him on patrol.
Matt approached him silently until he was close enough to kneel down.
“Peter.”
There was no response, it’s what he expected.
He took his hand and urged him to stand up. They needed to get out of this weather.
—
His mind was becoming less and less fuzzy with every passing second. He blinked.
There was the smell of bad coffee and fresh ink on paper. The feeling of rough fabric under his fingertips. An office chair.
His hands weren’t restrained, neither were his legs, that was a plus.
There was a sound of papers being shuffled, the clicking of a keyboard and muffled conversations that seemed far away.
His left cheek stung. Huh, he must’ve gotten injured somewhere along the way, can’t remember it though.
His senses were coming back to him as his surroundings became clearer. He took a deep breath.
Inhale
Exhale
A heartbeat. One that was familiar with its steady and soft beat. It didn’t fluctuate. Matt.
A voice startled him out of his daze.
“Hey, you back with me?”
His brain took a second to comprehend the words, once it did though, he replied.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
So, from what he had gathered so far, he was sitting in a chair in Matt’s office, and Matt was here with him, working on something. His hands were a bit shaky and cold. He didn’t remember how he got here.
He was feeling a bit hungry, and thirsty, though nowadays that seemed to always be the case. Case. Get it? Cause he’s in a lawyer’s office? Whatever.
Peter once again heard some shuffling as Matt leaned down behind his desk and reappeared holding a navy zip-up hoodie with a faded logo and a water bottle.
“Here, take this.” Matt said, facing him. His eyes were a bit off-target, even behind the dark red lenses of the glasses.
“Thanks.” He put on the hoodie on over his suit and left it unzipped. Then, he opened the bottle of water and took a few sips.
Matt went back to his work and Peter zoned out again. Neither of them asked any questions. It was better that way. They had a shared love of disliking emotional conversations, or heart-to-hearts, as some people nicely put it.
As Peter continued that train of thought, the soft pitter patter of rain started making itself known outside.