“That was a shit show from start to finish.”, Matt growled and put a bandage on the newly stitched bullet wound in Frank's hip. They'd crashed at his place after they'd made it out of the … torture-basement of the Irish.
“Yep. That is was, alright.”, the other man agreed. “But it worked.”
“Yeah. But it was terrible.” The vigilante pulled off his own armour and started to take care of a deep cut just below his ribs. Blood was oozing out of it in the rhythm of his heartbeat. “They nearly got us.”
“What is that, you scared?”, Frank asked with a grin. “For me or for yourself?”
Matt huffed sneeringly at that. “Why would I ever be scared about myself??” He shook his head, not noticing the older man's raised brow. “Nah, man. I was worried about you. You passed out a couple times.”
“Ah.” The marine nodded thoughtfully. “So you uh, you got a crush on me?”
Matt chuckled. “What can I say, I got attached to your sorry ass.”
“Hmm. Sounds about right to me. I mean how can you not love me?”
“I could think of a few reasons.”
“Shut up.”
“So, uh, about earlier.” Frank walked to Matt and sat down next to him on the couch. “Were you serious?”
“About what?” Matt absently took a sip of water.
“About … getting attached to my sorry ass.”
The lawyer nearly spat out his water, then quickly swallowed. “What?”
“You … nevermind.”, Frank grunted and was about to get back up, but Matt pulled him down again.
“Sorry.”, he coughed. “Didn't think you'd … I don't know, talk about it.”
“Why wouldn't I?”
“Don't seem the type.”
“I was married, Red. Don't you think that requires talking to each other every now and then?”
“True.”
“So, you wanna answer my question now or not?”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I uh … I was serious. I guess I didn't pay enough attention. Otherwise this would not have happened, I'm sorry if you feel -”
“Are you apologizing?”, Frank interrupted with a frown.
Again Matt cleared his throat, nervously rubbing over the newly stitched cut on his stomach through his fresh shirt.
“Dude, I'm flattered that you'd so much as think of me when we're not beating people up.” He caught the other man's hand. “Besides, I'm Bi, so there ain't an issue.”
“But … it wouldn't work.”, Matt insisted, though he didn't pull away his hand. Instead he interlaced their fingers.
“Why not?”
“Because I'm not into … into like sexual … stuff.”, he finally blurted out.
Frank smiled. “That's okay, Angel Face. I don't have a problem with that. As long as you are up for cuddles that is.”
“Oh, so you're in secret a big softie.” Now Matt grinned, too. “I can work with that.”
“Glad we talked about it.”
“So are we now like, uh, boyfriends?” The vigilante shyly tugged at the Punisher's shirt.
“What, do you want me to ask?” Frank gently stroked the other one's hand with his thumb.
“Well of course I do, I'm a big romance fan. Didn't you know?”, Matt teased.
“There's a lot of things I don't know about you.”, Frank replied with a grin. “But, if you say you like romance, then romance you shall have.”
He slid off the couch and went down on one knee, still holding the lawyer's hand. “Do you, Red, want to be my boyfriend, and if one of those Irish fuckers makes an appearance again, kick their asses?”
The vigilante grinned. “Yes, I do.”, he said. “But the ass-kicking-thing only, if you don't kill them. At least when I'm around.”
“Deal.”
“Hey, Red?”
“Yeah?”, Matt looked up from a case file.
“About the whole asexuality-stuff...”
“Did you do some googling or something?” The way he sheepishly rubbed his neck was answer enough.
“Yeah.” Matt tried to suppress a proud smile and failed. “And somebody said that being asexual doesn't mean that you won't like nothing. So I wanted to ask, you know, to make sure.”
“That's great.” Matt gave him an encouraging smile and pointed at a chair next to him. “Sit with me? I can explain to you what I like. And what I don't like.”
“Yeah, sure, thanks.” He joined his boyfriend – holy cow, what an awesome feeling that word triggered – and waited for him to continue.
“Alright.” Matt cleared his throat. “I like kissing. Not necessarily in the sloppy making-out kinda way, but like soft kisses.” He grinned. “I'm a softie, too. I also have no problem with … touching you, but the other way around, I'd feel uncomfortable. I'm also totally up for cuddling, but again, in the soft kinda way.” He thought for a minute before adding: “That's about it I think.”
Frank nodded. “That's good to know. As for me … about everything is fine. Though I'm not the greatest sloppy making-out-guy either.” Then he frowned. “I swear to god, if anybody hears about this -”
“We are both going to die of shame and Foggy will never let that down.”
“Wait, you wanna tell Foggy?”
“He deserves to know. I can't keep any secrets from him. Not any more.”
“You wanna tell your lawyer-friend??”
“I mean … I'm sure you'll find whoever killed your wife and kids and it'll play out just fine.” He reached over and gently squeezed Frank's hand. “We're gonna be fine.”
“This is not fine, Matt!!”, Foggy snapped and pointed at Frank. “He's a mass murderer! You can't be with him??”
“Well tough shit, because I already am and I'm not changing my mind, just because you don't approve.” Though he'd prefer it if he did. “Frank went through some really bad shit and as soon as he's figured it out, it'll be fine! Trust me.”
“Yeah, because last time worked so well.”, the lawyer huffed and regretted it instantly, because he wasn't the only one who'd seen the hurt flash over Matt's face. Frank had seen it, too. And he didn't seem to like it. “But fine, whatever.” Now he pointed at Frank again. “But if you so much as raise your voice against Matt, you're dead meat! You hear me?”
“Yes, Sir.” Matt punched him in the ribs for that. “I won't hurt him. Promise.”