Log: Matt and Rachel

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Following this log, Matt and Rachel go have fun.



Rachel was waiting in one of the mansion cars when Matt got out. The windows were down and she was drumming her fingers impatiently against the car door. Ten guesses as to why. That’s right. She needed them to get the crap out of there before someone like Dukes or Scott came screaming after them for stealing a car.

“Heya,” she greeted him with a cheerful enough wave, leaning over to throw open the car door for him.

"Yo," Matt had on jeans and a t-shirt with a blue stripe across the chest. He thought it was a step up from his usual solid coloured shirts. He also held his cane in one hand, though as usual, he wasn't using it. It was there for later though, in public. "You ready?" He had no idea that they were stealing the car. He assumed Rachel had signed it out like residents who could drive were supposed to. "What's for eating then?"

“Not much a foodie,” she admitted with a shrug as they pulled out of the driveway. “I eat most things, though. So whatever you’re up for eating and paying for I’m most likely cool with.”

"There's a new barbecue place across from the mall," Matt suggested. That sounded good to him. "It has picnic tables outside too so it's not so loud."

"You know the directions?"

"Are you serious?" Matt asked, surprised. "Of course not. If I walked it, then sure. But buses and all that? No way. Use GPS," he had little problems navigating, especially in the city, but what he used for directions and navigating and streets for cars were completely different.

“Uh huh,” Rachel hummed, already sticking the GPS holder to the windscreen even as she pedaled the gas. “Just checkin’. Hate the bloody voice. There in 15.”

Getting to the restaurant, Matt could hear it all as they pulled up and he was glad it was good weather and they could sit outside. Inside there was enough reverberation from all the noise and decor that it was like nails on a chalkboard to ears. "You want to order?" he offered, pulling out some money. "I'll get us a table? Barbecue sandwich with mac and cheese and tea with no sweetener," and definitely no soda! Matt was not a fan of soda.

“Gotcha.”

Seeing New York City this bustling and lively was still really peculiar to Rachel. There was so much careless activity and so many carefree people and… just, wow. Really? The redhead focused on her breathing and tried to crank down the tempo of her heartbeat, but there were just so many things she was not used to seeing in this particular city – Children running around making a loud racket, waiters gossiping about the patrons behind the condiment stand, bags and valuables left practically unattended and a man in a strange uniform asking her what she would like to eat. Wait, what? Oh!

She gave him their orders and then twiddled her thumbs as she waited, watching a spit roast turn over the fire through a glass window. She’d been to the Europe of her world, of course, which was where most of her experiences of a free civilization had came from, and she’d spent a year wandering about like a vagabond looking for Xorn. But still. By the time she found Matt outside, the girl had semi gotten over her consternation and had gone back to ruminating over the clusterfuck that was her life.

“I didn’t know what sauces you wanted so I got one of each,” she told him, setting the food down. There were so many fries on the plates, it was almost amazing. That was more potato than actual meat or sandwich, man. “It’s crazy inside.”

"The boring, bland one," Matt replied, reaching out to take it. He could smell the spices in the others. Ew. "And yes. Hence why I waited here," he had at least done well in getting them a table. "Between the powers and the vision, I'm not a fan of that sort of crazy," but he didn't mind it as badly out here.

Rachel shrugged and handed the ketchup and mayonnaise over, then proceeded to stick a fry into the other sauces with a curiosity usually seen in seven year old toddlers eating solid food outside for the first time. The jalapeño one was tasty.

“I have this one trick where I can put a telekinetic bubble around us and cut off the noise,” she said after a while. Her shielding was stable because it had to be, and, well. “Problem is people can walk into it.”

"That...do that," Matt wanted to see how it went. If it truly blocked out all the noise then it was worth its weight in gold. Good thing telekinetic shields didn't weigh anything.

Amused, Rachel discreetly drew an arc in the air with her pointer fingers and snapped them together. It required a tad more concentration to keep the shield invisible and as close to their table as she could get without risking blowing up the bench or something. But she knew it had worked when she couldn’t see it with her naked eye, and a screaming baby’s cry was cut off mid-wail.

“How’s that?”

"That..." Matt practically whispered, "is amazing..." he smiled slowly, like the Cheshire cat before digging into his barbecue sandwich with gusto, one hand reaching out questingly for his drink after a moment, "It's so quiet."

Subconsciously, the tension in Rachel's shoulders had eased up a little too as she cut into her chicken. She was glad to help. Now, if only she could cut off the voices in her head as cleanly.

With a curious tilt of her head, Rachel watched Matt find his drink. "Why... Are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" he asked around the straw, sucking the tea before using his other hand to find a clear spot to place the drink back down. That's when he realized. "I'm blind, Rachel," he replied, amused. "Without being able to hear all the reverberation and whatnot with my powers, I really can't see. You blocked the sound out with your bubble. And it's awesome!" It felt so good to be able to have the quiet for a few minutes.

"Ohhhh," Rachel grinned. "I was wondering how that worked. Now I know how to throw you for a loop." She would have said decapitate, but she couldn't chance the other teen taking it too seriously. Instead, she took another bite and crossed her legs, ankle to knee and enjoyed the peace. "You know, we could've just asked for a takeaway before escaping to somewhere with less noise, right?"

"Yeah, but this place is normal," Matt replied with a grin, not at all minding that she knew one of his weaknesses. Really, it didn't take rocket science to figure it out and anyways, it wasn't easy to get things this quiet. All it did was knock out his hearing, too. He still had the others left, he wasn't powerless nor was he incapable of functioning like normal. "I figured, now that I have you out here, we can see what movies are playing or do something fun. Minigolf's good. Or something. Go karts."

"I knew there was a ploy hidden in there somewhere!" Rachel teased. But she could definitely get on board with being normal. "And, seriously, this is my pleasure. Quiet is good." Fantastic, really. "I do, however have something to confess..."

"Hm?" Matt paused munching on fries, "What?" It was probably a bad thing, given that it was Rachel.

"Well," she started, completely serious. "First of all, what the fuck is a go cart?" She could guess what minigolf was and she vaguely recalled seeing something in Austria to that effect. Maybe? "Secondly, I have no money on me. At all." Or anything at all, for that matter. Hence the complete lack of a bag or purse on her person.

Laughing, Matt shoved a couple fries in his mouth, "I've got some cash, so don't worry about that," he assured Rachel, "but if I'm paying then it's a date. Secondly...I'm not going to tell you what go-carts are. I'm gonna let you find out. But I promise that they're fun."

“You give yourself bruises for fun in your free time. Your definition of fun is suspect,” Rachel retorted with a cheeky smirk that he could not see. She neatly sliced up her ribs and stuck one her mouth, making short work of it. “As is your definition of a date.”

"I don't give myself bruises intentionally!" Matt felt obligated to defend his choice of pasttimes, though he was more entertained than offended. Anyways, just because he couldn't see the smile didn't mean he didn't know she was smiling. He could hear it. Smiles were loud. "What's wrong with my definition of a date!? You're single and as far as I know, into guys."

“Uh, huh. I forgot the rope burns too” Rachel dropped the bone on the table and snagged another fry. Her heart twisted painfully at the reminder of Korvus. She hadn’t really had the opportunity to mourn him. But given that he wasn’t real, maybe she didn’t have to. The redhead said nothing about it, though. “Well, I did call you Romeo…”

"Keeps things interesting," Matt joked, finishing his sandwich, "Anyways, you're going to have fun. I promise. You need more fun, you always seem so sad."

“Haven’t had much to be happy about,” she said honestly, but with a note of faux cheerfulness as she reached over and unceremoniously dumping half her packet of fries atop of his. “Which, I suppose, also makes it easier for you since it means that my expectations won’t be high or hard to meet to begin with.”

Picking up a couple more fries without commenting, Matt just nodded as he munched, "You know you can always tell me. Shared joy is multiplied. Shared pain is lessened," he wouldn't press though. "I consider this a challenge now."

“Oh, but it is a challenge,” Rachel replied, appreciative of his tact. In return, she blatantly ignored his offer to lend a listening ear. Maybe some other time. Why spoil the day? It’d been going just fine so far. To ruin it now would be a waste. Although she did have a couple of interesting stories she’d heard from Deadpool and Riveter about Daredevil – whom she was now more certain than ever was (an older) Matt. “I’ll even let you choose a prize.”

"Oooh, prize!" that was fun! Matt caught that Rachel didn't reply to his offer, but that was okay. That was the thing about offering - sometimes it wasn't accepted. It had nothing to do with him and she wasn't obligated to do anything at all with it, "Alright. Let's head to the ridiculously loud whirlygig place. You gonna like this!" He was certain.

“Slow down, blind boy,” Rachel laughed around a rib bone. “I’m not done yet.”

****

Finally, Rachel finished eating. She hadn't actually taken that long, but Matt managed to polish off all his food and the rest of her fries during that time, which he defined as 'forever.' It was a slightly inaccurate description. Whatever. The adventure place was loud and busy on a Friday night, especially in the summer. That didn't stop them from getting tickets to play games and drive the go-karts though, "So, I'm driving," Matt informed Rachel as they headed to the line. He had the use of his powers back now, not that they were much help given the cacophony of sounds, but outside was more bearable than inside. The guy selling the passes had insisted that they take a two-seater kart.

“I don’t know how wise that is, but since I don’t seem to know much at all, I differ to your better judgment,” Rachel grinned, patting her jacket pocket to make sure the actual car keys were still in there. The line was moving pretty steadily, but the redhead was constantly looking about, floored again by the level of activity around them. She just couldn’t decide if the crowd was suffocating in its mass or liberating in the ease in which one could get lost in it. “Just, uhm. Don’t crash us, okay? I have this… reflex-thing that doesn’t mix well with that kinda thing.”

Wow, she was the queen of being stupidly vague today, wasn’t she?

"I can drive," Matt informed Rachel dryly. He'd folded his cane up again in his pocket and slipped on some sunglasses, but otherwise wasn't even bothering to act like he was blind. "Well, I drove. Once. This is a little different, but with my powers, crashing shouldn't be a problem. We don't go that fast though. And there are safety belts," mostly it was go in a circle around and around. "Just don't kill my hearing like you did earlier. Then we'd crash."

“Well, I’d stop us if we crash but that may entail, say, flying our cart or blowing up whatever we were going to crash into,” she said, not even joking. But then the redhead grinned. “Depends on my feelings at that point in time. Oh,” she stopped and peered over someone’s shoulder. “So that’s a go cart. No wonder you can drive it – it hasn’t got a roof! Hey, does that mean that you can drive one of those sports cars with the roof down?”

"Technically...yes," Matt replied, keeping his voice pitched so only Rachel could hear him, "but no one is dumb enough to give me a license," and the one time he had driven a car, it had been exhilarating and terrifying and he was good not driving. He could see why Drivers Ed and practice was required

“So who was dumb enough to even let you drive in the first place?” She whispered back, amused.

"Wade," Matt replied, as if it were obvious, "I wanted to drive for my 16th birthday. It was this drivers ed car with two brake pedals and an open field where I couldn't hit anything if I tried. Was awesome!" He hadn't done over 30mph and it had been exhilarating! Totally worth it. "I am totally over my need to drive cars now. Just go-karts."

Deadpool would do that, wouldn’t he? Rachel chuckled at the thought, though she could only imagine what it would have been like with a blind boy at the wheel of the car. “All right then, Champion. Show me your skills.”

They had reached the front of the line, and were pointed towards a blue double go-kart. Rachel slipped easily into the back seat and sorted through the safety straps, eyes never quite leaving the track on which other tiny cars were zipping by.

WWWD? What would Wade do? It was good advice sometimes. And other times it was terrible. The key was knowing which. Getting in the go kart, Matt sat down, hands tracing the straps carefully before buckling himself in. They weren't complicated. "Okay," he said, getting a feel for everything. They couldn't go until the guy running the attraction had checked them and they were given the green light. Since they were one of several karts going at once he didn't have to worry about missing the green light.

"Matt?" the guy checking them asked, surprised. "Uh, can you do this? Being blind?"

Crap, it figured that one of his classmates from the public school would recognize him.

"Powers," he replied easily. "It's fine. Just check the straps and don't tell anyone, huh? I paid and all that."

Rachel helped the only way she knew how – by giving the dude a bright, reassuring smile. “I’m not worried, so you shouldn’t be. He’s done this before and all.” At least, that was the impression that she was under.

"Uh huh," the guy looked dubious, but he didn't argue it either, just tightening their straps and moving on to the next kart. A minute or so later, the engines began to rev, then they took off behind the cars in front of them, racing around the track. Matt wasn't the greatest driver, refusing to go too fast and was very, very careful around turns. On the other hand, he wasn't crashing into anything either.

His faithful passenger was laughing, though, and she let out a whoop as they went around another bend. Next time, Rachel thought, she was definitely driving.

When it was finally time to stop, the cars slowed and stopped on their own. Getting out, mar grinned ear to ear, "See? Fun! I'm gonna record this date in case hog ever forget!"