Log: Matt & Molly

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

While watching the boxing match Saturday night, Matt gets a pint sized interruption. Then she gets loud.



Sprawled out on the couch, Matt had a boxing match on the TV listening to the announcer give a rundown of the matches up until that point as they waited for the next one to begin. Matt had always paid attention to the matches, even if these on TV were much bigger than any match his father had had. They were still fun.

Molly had finished doing her homework (bleh, math) and had stopped in the kitchen to get some ice cream. It was warm enough that she could have ice cream and not be too cold, not the cold bothered her that much but warm made it taste better, like cold made hot cocoa taste better.

She headed into the rec room, wondering why there was sports on the TV, when she saw him: the not very nice boy.

"Hmph." she said, turning to leave. She didn't want to watch TV, anyway....Maybe there was a TV somewhere else...

Turning towards the voice, Matt paused the DVR. "Hey," he called, unsure who it was. He could hear the flutter of a heartbeat though and the smell of something sweet and candy like. A girl, definitely. "Sup?"

Molly froze, realizing she was caught. Curses!

She spun around, then folded her arms. "I'm not talking to you and I was going away."

Uh...oookay? "Why?" Matt asked, more curious than offended. He was pretty sure he hadn't pissed anyone off. Especially not little girls. Had he?

Molly made a face, pushing her frog hat further back up as it started to fall down.

"You were not nice. So I'm not talking to you." She paused, then tilted her head.

"And I didn't just say that...because I'm not talking to you. So bye. Or...." She bit her lip.

"Not bye cause...yeah."

This girl made no sense. None. Whatsoever. "I...wasn't nice?" Matt asked, confused. "When? Who are you? And how old?" because she was acting like a child. And he was sort of amused by that more than upset. Possibly not the right response, but oh well.

Molly curled her nose. How could she not talk to him when he kept asking her questions!

"I told you happy birthday and you didn't thank me and you told me to chill out. And I'm Molly Hayes. And I'm twelve," she said.

Cause he sounded like it was funny and twelve was old enough. She lifted her chin.

"I'm gonna be thirteen soon."

Oh. Matt relaxed. She was a kid. Not that he was going to be mean to her, not intentionally, but well...she was a kid. "Well, I was going to thank you. But you got upset that I didn't do it fast enough. I wasn't trying to be mean to you, but..." ugh. He groaned, "Come here and sit down, okay? You're giving me a crick in my neck being turned around and I don't want you to get all upset again because I didn't face you," not that he needed to face her, but it was more polite than not.

Molly stared at him for a few moments before looking down at her shoes. They were pink sneakers with glitter on them and they were awesome. Sniffing, she glanced back up and shuffled over to the couch before sitting down at the opposite end of the couch, folding her arms.

"Everyone else got a thank you really quickly. And Meggan didn't either and Meggan's nice. You should at least say thank you to Meggan. Because it's nice and people are supposed to be nice. Except when they're not, and then the X-People kick their butts."

Shifting in his seat, Matt wondered why the hell he was even discussing this with her. Oh yeah, because she was 12. And because he wasn't a jerk to 12 year old girls who didn't deserve it. "I did say 'thank you' to Meggan," he pointed out, "and I didn't reply quickly because I was hoping to reply to all the posts that only needed a 'thank you' all at once." Matt sighed. He was really glad this was apparently the worst thing in Molly's life, "I'm not so great with computers and it takes me a while to reply to stuff. I'm getting better, but it takes practice. So I was saving the easier stuff for last."

Molly fidgeted with the tassels on her hat. She liked the hats with tassels best.

"Oh," she said quietly. She didn't read the rest after that cause she was mad at him.

"I'm sorry," she added, just as softly.

"Then I was the mean one."

"I'm not mad at you," Matt replied with a shrug. He hadn't really given it any thought at all actually and was a little surprised she had. "Anyways....we haven't formally met really," he leaned forward offering his hand. "Matt Murdock."

Molly peered at his hand a moment before taking it. His hand practically swallowed hers.

"Molly Grace Hayes," she said, offering a soft smile that matched her voice.

"Well, Miss Molly Grace...you like boxing?" he gestured vaguely in the direction of the TV. "It's the WBA super middleweight title: Andre Ward vs Arthur Abraham. It's gonna be a great fight."

"Boxing? Like..." Molly said as she turned to the TV and her eyes widened.

"Oh. Rocky!" she said brightly as she turned to watch.

"I can punch things too like that! Except harder. I kinda hurt Wademan accidentally." She frowned.

"But he got better."

Rocky. Oh, man. "Not quite the same," Matt replied dryly. He'd never seen the movie, but he had heard enough about it from his dad, bemoaning how it practically ruined a once-noble art. Matt wasn't too sure if was an art (or noble), but he did agree that it probably helped ruin it in that it was considered sort of mainstream, "You know Rocky's based on a true story right? You ever see the movie?"

Hearing that she had punched Wade surprised him. Especially since she had hurt him. That was impressive, "Yeah, he usually gets better," he agreed, "How'd you manage that? You're what? 90lbs soaking wet? Maybe?" Her hand had been tiny.

"I saw part of the movie! When there was something about tigers and he was running and stuff but I didn't get it. Daddy likes it, though. Who's the real guy?"

Molly squinted at the screen. "Is it one of them?" she said before looking back to Matt.

"I can punch realllly hard. I lifted a truck once. And Monet's teaching me how to punch things better...and not falling asleep cause that's bad."

Keeping up with Molly meant not keeping up quite as well with the TV. "I'm blind, kid," he reminded her, pointing to the plastic sunglasses on his face, "I've never seen Rocky. My dad used to rant about it though. The real guy was uh...Chuck Wepner. Went toe to toe with Muhammad Ali and is the only fighter who knocked him down while he was champ. Lost his big fight too, just like Rocky did. That was back in the 70's. Those guys on TV now probably weren't even born."

Molly made a squeak when he rementioned the blind part. She had forgot. "Sorry," she said before glancing over toward the screen.

"Oh yeah, the bee guy...Poor other guy, that sucks."

He assumed that she had some sort of super strength, because other wise, he didn't have an explanation, "How does having super strength make you fall asleep?" That didn't make sense.

Molly shook her head. "I don't know," she said, pouting.

"It's weird, and not fun and I can't be a superhero if I fall asleep. But they said its cause I'm little I guess...so maybe when I get bigger and I'm an X-Person then I won't fall asleep."

He shrugged, "No...I mean...I never saw the movie before I lost my sight. Not that I don't enjoy movies," though he didn't see too many. And he had never seen Rocky. It was just...something he had never done. He didn't much want to either because it reminded him a lot of his dad. "I don't watch a lot of them, but I don't hate movies."

"What's your favorite movie?" Molly asked, occasionally watching the people punch each other on the screen. "I like Superman! The one from the old days not the new one."

"Uh..huh," Matt wasn't really thinking he would become one of these X-people. Sure, he had been briefed on who the X-Men were and all that when he had arrived, but...joining them? Probably not. His powers were not offensive at all. Not even defensive really either. "That's what you want to do when you grow up then?"

Molly nodded with a big grin. "Yep! I'm gonna be a superhero. And help people. And if I'm not an X-Person I thought I might join the Elephants," she said. Did she remember that name right? It sounded funny.

"My favorite movie?" That was a really good question and not an easy one either, "I dunno. Don't think I have one really. Maybe Batman Begins?" Movies lost a lot when they couldn't be seen, even with descriptions. That was a good movie though, he remembered that.

"Elephants? What?" He had no idea what she was talking about.

And here was where Molly got loud.

"BATMAN YES!!!! OH MY GOSH I LOVE THAT MOVIE TOO!" she said before going back to the picture of quietness.

"Angelo is a member of Elephants...and that's not the right name but I forgot what the real one was," she admitted. She forgot lots of stuff.

"They help other countries, mutants and stuff who are having a hard time and stuff.I might get to be a mascot!"

Whoa! Crazy little loud girl! Matt literally grabbed at his head, fingers in his ears as she screeched like a wild demon spawn thing. She needed to quiet the hell down, now! Tentatively, he removed a finger from one ear, still cowering in case she screamed again, "Don't do that!" he hissed, voice barely above a whisper. "Fucking hell!" he didn't care that she was 12 and he was cursing. His head was about to half split open it hurt so bad. Matt was doing better at ignoring background noises and controlling his powers for longer times outside his room, but he was not able to handle that yet!

Trying to breath steadily, he groped for his cane on the floor with one hand. Even though it was within easy reach near his foot, he missed it as his heart continued to pound in his chest. He was going to throttle her once his head stopped hurting. If she could bench press cars, then there should be no problem with him wringing her scrawny little neck!

Molly abruptly stopped, her eyes widening as he seemed to double over in pain. And he cussed too.

"Oh...I'm sorry! I...I got excited...." she said as she quickly stood up and backed away.

"Are you okay? Should I get Doctor Beast?"

Pain. Yes. Lots and lots of pain. Slowly though, it began to recede, "Turn the TV off," he requested, not moving yet, but thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he did. His hand grabbed his cane. That was good.

Slowly, he sat up and then unfolded his cane from the bundle it had been in, "I'll...be okay," Matt finally decided, still speaking softly. "Don't need to call the doc. I'm fine," if she called the doctor he'd try to get pain meds. And he wasn't going to do that. He and Wade had talked about it, how he needed to man-up and have some self discipline. Matt hadn't really responded, but he knew Wade was right. And he was going to do that, just like his dad would want.

Biting her lip, Molly crept over to the TV and quickly pushed the power button, her eyes never leaving him.

"Are you sure? I'm really sorry," she added quickly.

"What...what happened?"

"Enhanced senses," Matt replied, standing. He wanted to go to his room now. Yup. "Well...excluding the obvious. But so loud...not a good thing. Don't like loud," he HATED loud noises. Especially screechy ones. "I'll see you later, yeah? Tell me how the match goes."

Molly frowned, nodding. "O...okay. Sorry," she repeated for the bajillionith time.

Waving away the apology, Matt headed towards his suite, running more on autopilot than any conscious thought, "It's okay," he assured her. "You didn't know. It was an accident. I'm gonna go though, okay? Until my head stops hurting," Laying down on his bed in his night quiet room sounded perfect. Hopefully, he'd feel better soon then.