Backdated Log: Matt & Molly

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Backdated to Nov 27 when Layla and Matt argue (again). This time, Matt goes looking for Molly to distract him and to vent a little. They end up discussing comic books and other things.



What was it about Layla that made him want to strangle her? No one else made him want to alternate between strangling them and wanting to bash his head against a wall. She didn't make him mad per se, more like...frustrated. She just didn't get it and he had no idea why. Not even Korvus and his inability to hold a conversation like a normal person bothered Matt like this. Knocking on Molly's door, he hoped he wasn't waking her up. It was lunch time, but not everyone got up before noon, though the mental image of Molly asleep and not moving was very disconcerting.

Molly was reading a book. It was something about fairies and she was sure Megan would like it. Meggan might too. Meggan was off doing things and Molly was doing this instead of homework cause she thought the homework was not fun. The sound of knocking at the door made her jump and she shoved her book under her pillow in case it was Mr. Bobby. She didn't know why Mr. Bobby would come to her room but in case he did she didn't want him to notice she was not doing her math homework.

"Who is it?" she called. Then, after a moment. "I'm totally doing my homework!"

"Well take a break and come hang with me!" Matt called, lips curling as he caught the change in her heartrate when homework was mentioned. A lie. He wasn't the greatest yet at using his powers as a lie-detector, but he was learning and when it was something this obvious he caught it clearly. "It's Matt by the way!"

Molly squinted. Mr. Bobby wouldn't want her to hang with him--wait. That didn't sound like Mr. Bobby. Of course when he said it was Matt that sealed it and she hopped up from the bed, flinging open the door. Luckily she didn't fling TOO hard because it'd make a hole in the wall and she already put a hole in the wall before. It was an accident, though.

"Hi Matt! Whatcha doin?"

"I'm bored and wanting to strangle Layla, so I thought I'd see what you were up to," he replied with a smile once the door opened. "And you were so not doing your homework. But I don't care, let's go find something to do."

Molly grinned all sneaky like. "I was totally not doing my homework," she agreed with a giggle.

"How about...walking? Or going to see Daisy! Or um....I dunno..." She liked to do a lot of stuff and it was fun to her but she wanted to make sure it was fun for Matt too and stuff.

"Why do you wanna strangle Layla?"

She hadn't really met the blonde girl but she knew she talked about food a lot. She didn't really read all the journals cause there was a lot to read and sometimes she stopped paying attention. Not on purpose but because there was a lot.

"We can see Daisy, sure," Matt was not a fan of the moose, but it was Molly's and he could at least go near it. Moose should be in zoos though or places not near him. They were wild animals!

He shrugged, "She pushes my buttons wrong. Everytime she's joking she takes it like, too far and it pisses me off. But I keep trying to be nice and it just never works. I know it's like, probably me because I'm blind and I don't get visual cues when talking and then it's even worse because it's the computers and the journal system, but it's still frustrating. I don't hate her, I just...I dunno. Can't talk to her. Or Korvus, but that's different. That's because he is so damn formal all the time and it makes me weird."

Molly frowned as she grabbed her coat and changed hats from a star hat to an owl hat, its feathers framing her face.

"Did you talk to her about not being able to talk to her? Or do you think she might get like...sharp? Or both of you get sharp or...something...That's not the right word," Molly said, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Maybe you could get a middle man? Like you talk and she talks and then if it gets like trouble and stuff then the middle man can be like...'okay everybody chillll,'" she said, drawing her hand down low along with her voice.

Why was it that Molly, who was barely 13, made sense when Layla apparently did not?! It was unfair. "Why would I do that?" Matt asked, sure it seemed absolutely logical, "If I try to do that she'll just laugh and get an attitude and that'll be it. Because apparently, she's perfect," he would have rolled his eyes if he could have. "It's never her fault!"

The middle man idea might work though, "Wade's intervened before and she got really pissed and stuff. And this time Kyle did and said I was being an asshat, but..." he trailed off, "I tried to explain and he didn't reply so I dunno if he still thinks that or if I made sense?"

"Cause if you don't then you'll be grumpy all the time and she'll be pointy and then there might be a fight of the bad kind and that would be bad. And I don't want you to be grumpy. Or sad. Cause that makes me sad," Molly said, putting her coat on. She made a face. That still wasn't the right word. Porcupine?

"Is there somebody that both you and Layla like that's all...projective?"

"Kyle, maybe?" Matt tried to think who might be. Not Artie or Korvus as well-intended as the latter might be. And not Wade judging by Layla's reaction to him a while ago. "You?" He asked, then questioned, "You mean 'objective,' right? Like unbiased?"

Molly blinked at him before she remembered what the word meant. "Ohhh...yeah! That one!" she said then pointed at herself with her thumb with confusion.

"Me? Like...be in the middle?"

"Sure," Matt agreed, "You can be impartial, right?" She was young, but that did not mean that she couldn't do something like this.

Molly nodded her head. "You mean like fair?" she said. She felt silly that she kept asking for the meaning of big words but she wanted to make sure they were right.

"Yes, exactly," he agreed as they walked, his hand casually on her shoulder for guidance. She was shorter than him, "You can be fair."

Biting her lip, Molly finally nodded. "Welll...okay. And if you guys start to fight like punchy I can pull you off each other! I guess. So then I'd be like a referee. But I need a striped shirt. Oooh! I have a striped hat. But it's blue stripes. Oh well!" she said.

That was close, right?

"I do not plan on punching her, short stuff," Matt assured her, "And a striped hat is perfect. If you're in a fight, you can't wait to have the right clothes you know. You just gotta do it with what you've got."

"So that's why you always wear good shoes. Cause they're made for walking. I heard that in a song," Molly said, sounding so sincere it was hard to tell if she was kidding or not.

"Grumpy people do not think properly, though. That's what Monet says. Well, the properly part. Angry makes you not think right. So that's why she tells me 'don't think with your fist, Molly' Cause your brain goes to your fist or something when you're angry," she said, punching her fist into her hand. "And it's like...'bye rest of the brain! I'm the brain now! So rar! I'ma punch stuff!'" she added, nodding.

"That's why Monet says to walk away when you're angry so you don't break things. Like faces and people and stuff."

"She's right too," Matt flopped down on the ground, laying there, "My dad, he was a boxer, right? And..." he paused, then continued on, "he was paid to hit people too. Not boxing, I mean. It wasn't a good thing he did, but...he did it so we could eat and have an apartment and stuff, you know? Anyways, he was pretty angry. He never hit me though. Just once. Never again..." that was when he lost his sight, but he didn't mention that. "Anyways, yeah. He died cause of hitting people. And I went to jail for it. So...you don't be like us, okay?"

Molly stared up at Matt for a few moments, thinking about it, then sat down beside him and reached over to hug him.

"Okay."

"Good," Matt hugged her back, grateful for it, though he would probably never admit it. Like father like son though.

He had looked really sad all of a sudden and Molly didn't like to see him sad.

"I'm gonna be an X-Person. Or a superhero. Or both," she said, nodding with absolute certainty.

That made Matt smile, "I think they are sort of both," he pointed out, "And what would you think if I wanted to be one too? I mean, if they let me?"

Molly blinked over at him. "Why not?" she said. The thought had never crossed her mind that he wouldn't become a superhero. Most of the people here seemed like they would be cause they were awesome like that anyway.

"I'm blind," he pointed out, tapping the sunglasses that covered his eyes. Matt wore them since he knew the scars around his eyes and his eyes themselves made people uncomfortable.

"So?" Molly said, blinking again with confusion. "Professor X is in a wheelchair and he does cool superhero stuff. And so does Barbara Gordon. And you got your bat thingy which is a super cool power!"

Who was Barbara Gordon? "The professor is old and doesn't do superhero stuff," Matt disagreed. He went to meetings and things like that. "And yeah, sonar is an awesome way to like, get around and stuff without looking like I'm blind, but it's not like I hit things hard like you do. Or shoot lasers or anything really cool. Or useful to the super-heroing business."

"He does too! He goes in the big round room and finds people and he goes on the jet sometimes and helps the X-People with his brain. And he did it when he was younger too I think," Molly said. She tilted her head at him.

"Batman does got any powers and he's like the best superhero ever. Cause he uses his brain too. And he's got gadgets. And you've got a built in gadget! That's a cool power."

Molly was pretty awesome with her knowledge of superheros and stuff, "Batman also has a utility belt, training in lots of fighting and other stuff and a car and gizmos and things. And Robin. You want to be the Robin to my Batman?" At least with his sonar, 'Batman' was actually appropriate.

"Dude...You're like sixteen," Molly giggled. "Batman's like...old and rich. He had time to do that stuff. You gotta learn stuff from the X-People first."

Glancing up at the ceiling, all plastered with glow in the dark stars, Molly fiddled with the pom poms on her hat.

"Robin's a boy. Unless it's alternate universe where its the blonde girl but then Batman's like reaaaaallly old and like...mean. Well...I guess the other blonde girl who became Batgirl would work but then she got dead but she wasn't really dead but she was in Africa and...." Molly tilted her head, biting her lip. "It was really confusing."

"Do I have to go to Africa and pretend to be dead?"

Matt followed for a moment and then got completely confused, "What are you talking about?" he finally asked. He hadn't read a comic book in years, not since he had gone blind. "No, you don't have to go to Africa and pretend to be dead! You are a strange girl sometimes, you know that Molly? Fun, but strange."

Rolling over onto her stomach, Molly propped her chin up in her hands. "Good, cause I don't wanna pretend to be dead," she said, then glanced over.

"Strange like weird?"

"Mmm," Matt realized he had touched on a sensitive subject, "Yeah. But not in a bad way. Just like...you are so into comic books and stuff, which is awesome, but..I don't think I know what you are talking about half the time. I haven't read comics since I was about 12. I'm not the most up on popculture. It doesn't tend to favour those with visual impairments," he rarely referred to his blindness as such, but it seemed to flow better that way right now, "Anyways, this is a good place to be a little weird. We're all weird, here, you know? Especially me."

"So....weird is good?" Molly said, tilting her head. When people usually said 'weird' they usually meant it in a bad way.

"Yeah, it's good," Matt assured her, "You just gotta explain stuff to me. Like all those different Robin's and stuff. No idea. I was 12 when I went blind, Molly. Everything since then..." he trailed off. He was 16 now.

"Oh...." Molly went quiet for a few moments. She smiled at him. "I can do that!"

"Awesome," he rolled onto his stomach and pushed his glasses up to rub at the bridge of his nose. It showed how comfortable he was with her, because normally, Matt didn't take his glasses off in front of just anyone.

Molly sat up. "Okay, there's been like a TON of Robins now...and like three or four Batmans..." she explained, not even batting an eye when Matt took off his sunglasses. It didn't phase her in the slightest. He was cool just the way he was, sunglasses or no sunglasses.