Heatwave
Heatwave
It was a warm day. The kind where the scorching sun seemed to penetrate everything, including the shade. Any promises of clouds or rain on the weather forecasts were all lies, soon to be discovered and broken. Every building within a twenty mile radius had cheap Costco fans blasting on full capacity. Matt thought it sounded a bit like a hive of bees. Those creatures would beat all of their wings, a collective force to cool down their space. Fans.
Foggy wouldn’t stop complaining about the weather. He wouldn’t stop drinking icy water either, something about it being cheaper than lemonade but still cold enough to “do the trick”. Matt decided to take a different approach—to suffer in silence. The heat was especially unbearable for him. He could feel every droplet of sweat, smell every smouldering pile of heat and humidity, and it felt like his skin was on fire. In other words, a nightmare sent from hell. And yet he still wore his signature and professional long sleeve shirt. With a tie. And dress pants. At least some things stayed the same, no matter how stupid.
A slap sound appeared out of nowhere, and a rattle of paper and pens. “That’s it! Get up Matt, we’re escaping. We’re meeting a client at the local pool” Foggy dramatically announced. He also snatched a bag, the contents two swimmers and a towel. Presumably. Matt listened closer, noting a tag attached to one of them. Foggy must’ve bought him a pair of swimming trunks. The thought was nice, but Matt was definitely not up to swimming. Despite the fact that he never learnt how to swim, Matt wasn’t too jazzed on showing his body, especially as it wasn’t exactly healthy.
He had a scary amount of bruises, and an even scarier amount of scars collected over the years. The prize of his secret line of work. Foggy had found out before, but of course it was one thing seeing your best friend half-dead once, and seeing the aftermath of the event and the addition of far more. He didn’t want Foggy to worry. Or be scared. Or judge him. Or feel sympathy. Any predictable outcome did not bring Matt joy.
“No” Matt deadpanned. His arms unconsciously crossed. He definitely wasn’t ready.
“Too bad, cabs here and clients await”
Matt eventually gave in, and firmly stated that he wasn’t going to swim, only take notes for the client and add to the dialogue. For the moment being, his plan was solid and legitimate. Everything was going to be okay.
That was until they arrived.
First, they got tickets and Foggy got changed. Nothing unordinary. And then they arrived at the pool.
“Surprise, surprise. No client. I’m so sorry I had to trick you Matt! But you just wouldn’t have come otherwise. C’mon, we’re gonna have fun and cool down whether you want to or not you masochist freak” Foggy teased, laying down his towel and bag.
“That is so not cool. In protest, I’m going to sit here. The whole time. And you can’t make me move” Matt frowned, pouting. If he was going to be miserable, it’d at least be on the comfort of a lounge chair.
“Your loss dude” Foggy unevenly voiced as he ran towards the water, creating a cannonball. Matt could hear the initial splash, and the line of ripples which followed. He could feel the a wave of iciness waft in his direction, and scrunched his face a little more. He was not only jealous and betrayed, but now annoyed. Cold water did seem rather enticing.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Matt’s entire body seemed to shiver. He was on edge. Something was going on, he could sense it. There were seventy-eight heartbeats either around or in the swimming pool, and Matt started scanning them all, looking for irregularities. One. One person wasn’t right, in the water. Their heart-rate was very rapid, trouble. Their breathing was off too, because they weren’t breathing. Someone was drowning.
At this rate, it’d take too long to call out for help and point out the issue, plus he wasn’t too keen on explaining this one. And so, he did the only decent thing. Jump in the water, shirt, tie and all. He bounced off the bottom of the pool, nearing the heartbeat. It didn’t take him long before he dunked under, pulling up the body. The only real mystery to Matt was how literally no one noticed a literal drowning child. Probably around seven or eight. Literally, there were people everywhere, in and out of the pool. You’d think after someone dunks for way too many seconds, people would begin to notice, but alas, everyone was distracted. Alone in their own little bubble of carelessness.
Matt held the kid above the water and began on his way out of the pool, this time calling for help. A lifeguard ran over, blowing her whistle. She was carrying a first aid kit. Matt listened to the child's heart-rate and breathing once more, and concluded that after a solid moment, he’d be alright. The kid would have a very sore stomach though, and a possible phobia of water after this experience. He lifted the kid and let the lifeguard take over, before noticing his own state.
Water drenched his shirt, pants and hair. His shirt had melted like paper in the water, and was sticking to his skin, now in a see-through state.
“Matt! What the hell?” Foggy questioned, now out of the water and clad in a towel. He had another outstretched. One for Matt. Internally, he jumped a little at this, it was a nice gesture. Not only buying a pair of swimming trunks solely for Matt, but also a towel.
“Uh, kid was drowning. I kinda had to do something” Matt shrugged, slicking his drenched hair back.
“You’re unbelievable” Foggy chuckled out. “It’s really a full-time job, huh” he continued, clearly referring to Matt’s superhero gig.
“Yah. You wouldn’t believe it” Matt smirked, wearing his towel like a cloak.
“Right. Well, how about you get changed now. C’mon, let’s go. You’re wet already, might as well get in now”
Matt visibly tensed at this remark, jaw biting down. But, he also had a ‘eh, fuck it’ moment and decided that despite his better logic, yes it was time for swimming. And yes, he was going to have a damn good time. Even though there were gallons and gallons of pee in the pool. And chlorine. And- why was he even thinking about this. Matt tilted his head and grinned the slightest bit, signaling that he’d given in.
Foggy lit up, snatching Matt’s hand to lead the way. Foggy knew that Matt wasn’t blind in the traditional sense, but still! He was his best friend, and he was excited. Foggy was totally gonna lead him away.
The locker room was surprisingly empty. Matt guessed that the rush time for the pool had finished, plus a kid had literally just drowned. Of course, everyone was going to be crowding around, sticking their heads in business which wasn’t theirs.
Matt loosened his tie, pulling it down before off of his head. Then he started undoing his buttons as Foggy rambled on, something about an actual case that they were supposed to be doing. About how annoying the client was—a classic Karen, despite her legitimate if not *slightly dramaticized needs.
"Wait- dude. Stop” Foggy’s arm outreached. He’d cut off from his stream of thoughts, concern laced in his voice. “Wait. Where… where’d you get all those? Last time it wasn’t so… bad” He delicately continued, hand hovering just over Matt.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine”
“No, no you’re not! This is crazy. This is… no. Matt, you can’t do this to yourself. After everything, why wont you just stop. This is too much, you’ve done enough. Look, this is your reward. After everything you’ve done for the city. This… all this. Why Matt, why” Foggy continued, clearly on the verge of tears.
“Because of the kid in the pool. I couldn’t… I can’t just stand and let it happen. Because I could sense what was happening, because I could stop it. I had to. And no matter what happens because of it, what I do is always worth it. Because afterwards, the kid can go back to his mother. Because of it, all of those people are saved all the tears and mourning. All the pain and hardship. What I do, what I go through. I’m willing. Because I know what I do has a purpose, and a reward. All of this is just a reminder of that” Matt answered, all of his many jagged scars visible. There were ones from knives, other from bullets. Some weren’t from either, possibly burns or torture of sorts. Foggy was no expert in that area, but he knew whatever happened to Matt was bad. Very bad.
“I hate this… I hate this so much. But you’re right. And there’s nothing I can do to stop you”
Foggy stepped towards Matt, pulling him into a sudden hug. Tears were definitely coming from Foggy, and Matt was pretty close to crying as well. He was just relieved. Relieved that Foggy understood, and that he wasn’t going to walk away because of it. They weren’t going to leave each other again.
“love you, man” Foggy smiled.
“love you too” Matt replied, stepping back once more.
“Gotta say though, chicks must really dig the whole ‘scarred and battered badass’ thing going on. Like, you could totally exploit the whole tragic backstory”
“Ah, ever the comedian”
“I know, I know. Anyways man, here’s my t-shirt. We’re still swimming together” Matt grinned accepting the gift, and swiftly changed.
And with that, they both jumped in the water, and were the better off for it.