Matt and Gabriel, Tuesday night

[x-velocidad.livejournal.com]

Matt and Gabriel bond over late-night eats.


Being in college Matt's hours could be erratic and his meal times moreso. Therefore, cooking dinner at 11pm was no real shock. He was keeping it pretty simple actually, just making an omelet stuffed with whatever sounded good and a bagel in the toaster. He hadn't bothered turning the lights on as he worked, but he did have his cell phone playing something random from Pandora.

Months of bartending had made Gabriel nocturnal, and even on his days off (or, in this case, a mildly extended break he'd chalked up to sick leave), he still had trouble waking up at a normal hour and going to bed early like an actual human. That was the vicious cycle of the service industry.

Now wide awake at 11 and going a little stir crazy, he'd been taking the time to wander around the mansion in the dark, which he figured would be handy even if he wasn't sure how. The sound of music and the smell of something had made him curious, so he sauntered in the kitchen to find some other guy standing there. "Oh! Hey."

Matt had heard the approaching heartbeat well before the guy had entered the kitchen, "Hey," He replied, "Lights are to the left of the door in a big bank of switches if they're off," He hadn't bothered to check.

"Nope, they're on. Thanks, though." He took it from that sentence that Matt was blind; a quick scan of the other guy seemed to confirm it. "I'm Gabriel, by the way." He glanced around the kitchen then moved toward the fridge in search of a root beer or something. "Whatcha making? Smells great."

"Omelet," Matt replied, "you want one?" Making for two was as easy as for one, all he had to do was add more stuff and a little more egg, no big deal. His omelet was already pretty big anyways. "I'm Matt. Murdock," He added a beat later.

"Oh man, yeah, thank you." His stomach grumbled as if to emphasize the point. "Nice to meet you." He pulled open a stocked fridge and searched the shelves. "You need any help? Feels kinda mean of me to let you do everything." After a little while, he frowned and grabbed a bottle of ginger beer. That would have to do.

"Nah, I've got it," Matt assured him. He liked to eat and to cook. "I've thrown a little of everything in it, anything you don't like or whatever?" He held up the cheese he was planning on adding in a bit.

"Ha. No. I'm a growing boy, after all." He flashed a smile at Matt before realizing the other guy couldn't see it. Ah, well.

Gabriel placed the glass bottle under his T-shirt and twisted the top off, then used his powers to dash to the trash can to throw the cap out and hop on a stool in the blink of an eye. "You always eat this late?" He wasn't used to being around other night owls.

"You're really fast," Matt hadn't expected that. Most people, he couldn't directly tell they were using their powers depending on what was going on. "That's cool. But sometimes, yeah. I used to tutor one girl later like this. Mostly though, I needed a food break from homework."

"Ah, gotcha." Gabriel took a swig from the bottle and grimaced. He'd actually never liked ginger beer, but he always thought he ought to give it a chance, and he was always disappointed. Yet he never seemed to learn. "Homework?" Gabriel watched him for a second. "College?" He didn't wait for Matt's nod - the benefit of his speedy aging was a pretty good ability to tell ages. "Impressive."

"Gimme one of those," Matt said, meaning the beer. It was nonalcoholic, which was perfect for him. He didn't drink. "Yeah. I'm a sophomore. You?"

"Me? Not applicable." Gabriel thought about just handing Matt his bottle, but he figured that was pretty unsanitary and gross. So he got out of his chair and made his way normal-speed to the fridge. "College wasn't for me," he said, unsure how much he could explain to someone he'd just met. He popped the fridge door open and grabbed Matt a drink. "Kind of went in a different direction. Moved to the city, did some bartending and some other things. Here." He opened the bottle and handed it to Matt.

Taking a swig of the drink, Matt added cheese to the omelet then slid it onto a plate and cut it in half. Going to the toaster, he grabbed the bagel halves out to add to the plates, "That's what my dad did," He agreed, "Not a bad route if you don't mind the hustle."

Matt had no idea how apt his words were, but Gabriel wasn't about to tell him. "I didn't, not really. But I guess it all caught up to me, since now I'm here." He looked around the kitchen, drumming his fingers idly on the counter. "How long you been here?"

Remembering what his dad did sometimes to make ends meet when he was alive, Matt knew. He also knew that was why his dad emphasized school so much, "Me? Got here just before I turned 16, so almost 4 years. It's the nicest place I've ever lived."

"Oh, me too." Gabriel nodded in agreement. "I'm a little overwhelmed, going from this, like, tiny shoebox apartment to this huge, sprawling mansion, surrounded by other mutants." And that was weirdly discomforting too. He knew it was supposed to be comfortable for him to be here, with so many people who were like him, but he still felt really out of place. "Kinda feels like a dream, I guess."

"Yeah, definitely," Matt agreed, pushing a plate towards Gabriel then grabbing forks and cream cheese before starting to eat, "I was doing the group home thing before I came here. Flunked getting a foster family. This place... It takes getting used to. But it's really good, they work with you and let you make decisions instead of regulating everything all the time. And if you want to work instead of school, then no one judges and they have connections for jobs and stuff."

"Good to know. I still haven't figured out what's next. I mean, I like what I do, but Jean kind of gave me the impression she expects more from me if I'm gonna keep living here." Gabriel tried not to roll his eyes and grabbed a bite of omelet. "Damn, this tastes good." He grinned at Matt and nodded approvingly. "Thank you so much."

There was that. Jean was in charge of stuff and made these decisions, not him. "Glad you like," He replied, his own food nearly half gone, "There's a lot of options at least. And you wouldn't have to hustle, which leaves more time for stuff you enjoy."

"True, but..." Gabriel grinned slyly between bites, "I kind of like the hustle."

"Yeah, but," Matt shrugged, "Don't you ever get tired? Or want more than living hand to mouth or not even that well? I ain't gonna say you'll get millions, but at least you want enough to make a go. Money don't buy happiness, but it gives you options. I've been here long enough to learn that."

"Well, options would be nice." He ripped a piece off the bagel. "I don't know. This is the way I've been living, since — for a while, anyway. It's just weird to think of something else."

"Change can suck," very, very much. "Still...can't improve anything without it. Not saying things automatically improve either, but it beats being stuck in a rut," he reached for the cream cheese to spread it on his bagel. "My dad was a high school dropout, he wanted to be a boxer. Didn't work out so well for him in a lot of ways. In the end, the hustle and crap killed him.

Gabriel was about to ask what the deal was with Xavier's residents and their frequent allusions to death, but he caught himself in time. "Sorry to hear that, man," he said after he finished chewing. He took another swig of ginger beer and frowned. "I guess I should be thankful I get the chance to figure out how to get back on track, whatever that means."

"Eh, it was a while ago, but thanks," Matt replied. He didn't like mentioning it to get pity, but he wanted Gabriel to at least think about some other options, "Not sure you're off track specifically, you're just close to the rails. It's the nature of the beast. Gotta make ends meet and they keep moving the ends. So it's better to find a way to do it without so many....variables."

"Well, there are always variables." He stuffed a forkful of omelet in his mouth. Matt was weirdly perceptive, though Gabriel wasn't sure how seriously he'd be taking the advice of somebody who didn't know him all that well. "Where'd you learn to cook? I'm hopeless at this stuff."

Letting the subject shift naturally, Matt waved a hand about vaguely, "Here," he replied, "I used to cook for me and my dad and stuff. Then I took one at the Lighthouse for OT. And I took a cooking class here in high school," he wasn't the fanciest cook, but he had more than a basic understanding of how cooking worked and he could follow a recipe.

"Can't be easy doing it blind." It came out before Gabriel realized what he said, but instead of looking apologetic, he mentally shrugged it off. Life was too short. "My parents were really traditional - Mom and the girls did the cooking, Dad and I did the yard work. After that, I never really had an incentive to learn, and by the time I moved here, I was paying too much on New York rent for too little space, so I didn't really get more sophisticated than rice and beans." One of the benefits of working at a bar was that you made friends with all kinds of people who'd be more than willing to buy you dinner. "Never dined and dashed, though. Gotta draw the line somewhere."

Matt shrugged, "They accommodate me here and I'm not the first blind student, it's not that hard," He wasn't going to claim it was easy, but then everyone faced various challenges with different things. "It was just me and my dad and sometimes he worked nights and stuff. I started fixing food as soon as I was able. Nothing fancy, but it was edible," they hadn't had money to get fancy even if they'd wanted to. The few times his dad had extra money they had bought steaks to grill up on the apartment roof and they'd feasted.

Gabriel swallowed another bite of bagel. "Edible's pretty much my only requirement, surprise surprise." He reached for a napkin to wipe some crumbs off his mouth. "So, you know what I do. What do you do? Fair is fair."

It always amused Matt when people didn't quite figure it out. "But keeping it a surprise is so much fun!" he countered, finishing the ginger beer. Orange juice probably would have gone better, but this worked too. It was better than he expected anyways, especially since he wasn't a fan of carbonation.

"Not cool, guy." Gabriel sipped from his own bottle. "Isn't there some sort of, like, mutant reciprocity code? I don't know how any of this works. I'm new to the flock here."

"I suppose I can take pity on you this time," Matt agreed, feigning a sigh. "I have enhanced senses."

"That's awesome," Gabriel nodded, impressed. Not that he really knew what the full range of mutant powers were. "So you can, what, hear my heartbeat or some shit?"

No comment on his eyes failing the enhancement idea? That was a first. "Yep," Matt nodded, "exactly. I've got a sonar sort of thing so that when soundwaves bounce against something, I get a sort of mental image of it, too. It's not quite like seeing, I don't get colours, textures, little details, but I don't bust my shins against tables most of the time," he might be downplaying things a little.

"I mean, if you've gotta go blind, that's a pretty nice mutation to have." That was probably insensitive again, which figured. Gabriel spoke without thinking, something he assumed (when he thought about it at all) was a consequence of reacting too quickly and being able to run away from awkward situations. "So when you said it wasn't hard to cook while blind, you were sort of underplaying things, I'm thinking?"

"Uh, I wasn't born blind, I have chemicals burns to my retinas from an accident," Matt explained. "So the blindness is completely separate and unrelated to my powers. But I started cooking when I could see. And then I learned some more when I was blind and yeah...." the biggest thing was getting individual measuring cups for things instead of one measuring cup with lines for different amounts. "At this point, it's just how it is. Not easier or harder, just a thing."

"I guess I get that. So... just super-hearing? Or have you got super-touch and super-taste too? Can't imagine that being particularly pleasant."

"All of it. Taste and touch. Hearing. Smelling," sometimes, things that people thought smelled alright smelled horrible to him. Matt just learned to deal with it and not focus on that aspect of his powers all the time. Thankfully, his room was set up to be a place where he could relax and not worry with soundproofing and an air scrubber. It made a huge difference.

"Okay. So, I gotta know." Gabriel glanced around the kitchen to make sure nobody was around. "Who here smells the worst?"

"That is awful!" Matt laughed, highly entertained, "Not telling. Sometimes people can't help it with their powers and stuff."

"Awww, come on!" Gabriel grinned. "Just between us guys. You can trust me. I'm great at secrets." Well, great at his own anyway. "What about who smells the best? I bet it's someone you wouldn't expect."

Matt shook his head, "I'm going to leave you in wonder," he teased, getting up to go clean the dishes. That was how the cooking thing worked at the school, you cook, you clean up after. "Make you guess."

"Well, that's no fun. I barely know anybody here. Although I bet it's that hairy blue dude who I saw a picture of somewhere around here." Gabriel stood, lifting his plate and reaching out for Matt's. "Here, let me. Much better at dishes than cooking, and you said you had studying to do or whatever."

"Eh, there's always studying," which meant he was always either doing it or putting it off. Either or. He let Gabriel take the dishes though, he wasn't a fan of cleaning them even if he didn't have to do it all by hand anymore, "Then that's an excuse to meet people."

"Oh man, can you imagine?" Gabriel laughed, taking the plates to the sink. "Excuse me, hello. My name's Gabriel. Can I sniff you?"

Laughing, Matt stretched, bending backwards into a backbend, "There are weirder things around here. Like snow falling inside."

"Great," Gabriel groaned. He looked over his shoulder to see Matt contorting himself. He raised an eyebrow. "You know, in the short while I've been here, I've already had, like, 5 different warnings about how bizarre this place is. Weird beyond, like, mutant camp." He grabbed the dirty pan off the stove. "And I'm starting to wonder what was left out of the brochure."

"Look, I've lived a lot of places and none of them as weird or as awesome as this place," and now it was the only place he called home. It worked out. "I'll let you decide for yourself though. Get back to me on that, too. And the sniffing."

"Ha, okay," Gabriel said good-naturedly. "I'll see what I can do."