Chapter 7 part 1
Matias
"I've got to get to work, I'm supposed to be there at 7:15" He informed Samuel, walking to the door.
"Didn't I already tell you? You can't go to work like this!"
Matias wanted to be annoyed at how Samuel was always telling him what to do, but for some odd reason, he wasn't. If anyone else had tried to boss him around like that he'd be more than angry. But something was just different about Samuel.
"Of course I can, I've went to work in worse condition.. kinda"
He turned to walk out the door before Samuel stopped him once again.
"I'm serious Matias. You can't go anywhere, let alone work, in this condition." Samuel sternly spoke as he walked over to stand by Matias at the door.
"I'm serious too, I'm the only person taking orders today until 2. What time is it anyway?" Matias leaned onto the wall beside the door.
He watched as Samuel lifted his wrist and attempted to check his watch. He let out a sigh and dropped his wrist after realizing he wasn't wearing it.
"What does it say?" Matias asked with a smirk.
"Yeah yeah, let me grab my phone. Stay here, I'm serious" Samuel pointed a finger at Matias before retreating back to one of the rooms. Matias assumed it was his bedroom.
Matias turned to leave before instantly pausing and turning back away from the door. There was no way he could go to work straight from Samuels house. He couldn't walk back from Samuels house back to his own and still show up on time either. That was assuming Matias was right about it being around 6:20.
"So uh.. what time did you say you had to be there?" Samuel awkwardly walked back to where Matias was standing.
"7:15" Matias looked back up to Samuel who was staring at his phone screen.
"Why? What time is it?"
Samuel looked up as if he had suddenly realized the situation.
"6:45" He hurriedly said, watching Matias's expression change.
"6:45?! I cant make it to work in that little time!" Matias shouted as if it was Samuels fault.
He put a hand on his head and angrily looked around the room.
"You have a car right?" He finally asked
"What?" Samuel said, clearly caught off guard by the question.
"A car. You have one, don't you?" Matias stared at Samuel awaiting his response.
Samuel stared back at Matias dumbfounded as if trying to process the question.
"Oh! Yes, I have a car, why?" Samuel said as he finally came to his senses.
"I need to borrow it, I can't get to work on time otherwise" Matias was truly determined to get to work. The people there had been overly good to him and he felt bad inconveniencing then even in the slightest.
"What? You can't just take the car! I have to get Ellie to daycare. She's supposed to be there in fifteen minutes!" Samuel objected.
"Well I have to be at work thirty minutes and I still have to go back to my place and change!" Matias argued back. They both came to a realization that their schedules clashed in an unfortunate way.
"You know what, I'll go get Ellie ready and then we can talk about this. My daughter comes first"
Samuel spoke sternly, ending the argument. Matias watched as he limped back to Ellie's room. He probably needed to be staying off that leg more than he was. Matias considered going back there too, but figured he may seem intrusive if he did. He opted for sitting back down on the couch, just standing up made the stab in his torso ache a bit.
Moments later Samuel came back out of the hallway.
"Alright she's getting ready. If we can leave here in five minutes then we can drop her off, go back to your apartment, and then I'll drive you to the shop."
Samuel asserted.
Samuel was now walking back to his own room. Matias stood up fast as a stab of pain went through his stomach. He paused for a moment before following Samuel back to his room, no longer bothered by the thought of being intrusive.
"Hang on, there's going to be less than ten for me to get ready that way. Can't we go by my place first and then drop her off?" Matias desperately tried to sort out the situation.
Samuel tore off his shirt and began rummaging through his closet, unbothered by Matias who was standing at the door. Matias stared at Samuels lean back before forcing his eyes to look at the floor. He could feel heat rushing to his face.
"Then Ellie won't be at daycare on time" Samuel hurriedly put on a plain black shirt with long sleeves.
"It's a damn daycare, they're not going to stop accepting kids at exactly 7 am"
Matias tried his best not to raise his voice as he had noticed a pattern of brief arguing between the two all night long.
"Well.. no, but she shows up at or before 7 every day. They might think somethings up if she shows up later than that" Samuel was now digging quickly through a wooden dresser.
"Something is up Samuel! I almost died! You got shot! Everything is up right now!"
The attempts of not starting an argument faded away and Matias was glaring at Samuel from the door. His hands were balled into fists and bottom lip was pulled into his mouth slightly.
Samuel only glanced at Matias before grabbing some pants and walking calmly to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
"I told you to quit biting your lip" Samuel said, ignoring Matias's outburst.
Matias let his lip slip out from between his teeth. He hated how he felt an obligation to just listen to Samuels request. He stood for what felt like hours waiting for Samuel to exit the bathroom.
When he finally did he stared at Matias for a moment before snapping his fingers together.
"I knew I was forgetting something! We never even cleaned your neck, not to mention the bandages"
Samuel checked his watch as Matias glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was now 6:57.
"We don't have any time for that. We are going to get Ellie, go by my place, and then you can leave. We can act as if this never even happened"
He would never admit it to anyone, but the last sentence hurt. He didn't want to act as if it had never happened, he wanted to keep seeing Samuel. He didn't even want to go to work because all he wanted to do was stay by Samuels side. He didn't understand why Samuel made him feel this way, but he did his very best to ignore it.
He looked up to see a hurt look displayed on Samuels face. He looked at Matias with sad eyes before taking a step forward.
"Don't you need a ride to the shop?" Samuel spoke coldly, taking multiple more steps.
"It's a short walk. I just need to get to my house." Matias replied sounding more upset than Samuel had.
Samuel never stopped walking and was now moving past Matias out the bedroom door.
"Alright. I told Ellie to be quick, she should be almost done" Samuel seemed to emphasize every syllable as he spoke. He kept his head down and walked right past Matias, making his way to his daughters room.
Matias was now left standing at the door of Samuels room. He wanted to think about everything, but his mind drew a blank. He thought about absolutely nothing as he went to stand by the front door and wait. He leaned back on the door and stared blank faced at the floor. He had suddenly became hyper aware of everything. He could feel blood pumping through the area of all of his wounds. He could taste blood as he bit down on his lip. He heard Samuel pleading with Ellie from the other room. His eyes grew heavy as the lack of sleep hit him like a wave.
"Alright, let's go"
Matias was startled as Samuel was now suddenly standing in front of him. It was like time had skipped and now he was holding Ellie's hand and waiting for Matias to get off the door so they could leave.
"Oh.. uh yeah" Matias finally shifted off the door and opened it widely.
Matias walked to the casual black car sitting in front of the house. He hadn't noticed it either times he had come here, though one time he had just found out the hero's identity and the other he was bleeding out.
"What's that!" Ellie shouted from right outside the door.
Matias turned to see Ellie pointing at a small pool of blood and the trail of droplets leading up to it. It felt like it had been weeks since he stood helpless on the hero's porch, but his wounds were still fresh and the blood had barely dried into the concrete.
"I'll tell you another time" Samuels eyes were locked onto the blood for multiple seconds before grabbing Ellie's hand a pulling her to the car.
Matias sat awkwardly in the passenger seat as Samuel buckled Ellie into her car seat.
Samuel finally finished fighting with the buckles and hopped into the driver seat, putting the key into its spot next to the wheel. The car was surprisingly clean with nothing but a little dust built up. It wasn't a super new or expensive car, but it was still really nice. Especially to Matias's standards. Matias glanced at the time, 7:01.
"What way are we going?" Samuel snapped Matias out of his thoughts.
"Oh, this way" Matias pointed straight forward, realizing that Samuel had no idea where he lived.
Matias came to the realization that nobody knew where he lived. He avoided anyone from work coming over or mailing things to his address. He didn't have any friends throughout the city. And his whole family lived pretty far away, closer to the country. If anything happened to him people wouldn't know where to look. Not that he had many people to worry about him anyways.
"Take a left there" Matias said far before they actually reached where they needed to turn.
"How far away is it?" Samuel asked without taking his eyes off the road
"Not far, maybe a few minutes by car. It'd just take too long to walk there" Matias said.
"Couldn't you call someone to pick you up? A friend? An Uber? Something?"
Samuel interrogated
"I don't have many friends here. Plus I don't have my phone or any money for an Uber."
Matias wasn't sure why he felt the need to explain it all to Samuel. With anyone else he would've just said no and dropped the topic. He looked out the side window, resisting the urge to glance at the man driving the car.
"You could've used my phone. I would've lended you some money too" Samuel insisted
"I'd rather not rely on you like that. Is it really that much of an inconvenience for you to drive me home?"
Matias avoided relying on people as much as possible. Humans aren't exactly know for being trustworthy. Not to mention he didn't like the idea of owing Samuel a favor. Especially since he already kind of did.
"No, but you don't seem to want to be here. What way from here?" Samuel spoke casually though it seemed like he was pushing back other emotions.
"You just keep going forward. We're no more than a minute away" Matias chose not to comment anymore on their previous conversation.
It didn't take long before Matias told Samuel to stop in front of a rundown house and exited the car. The house wasn't hideous or anything, but it was definitely old and the yard was unkept. Matias didn't bother waving or saying bye before he walked away from the car and into his house.
Matias's body begged him to go to his room and lay in bed, but his brain forced him to make his way to the bathroom. He lazily combed his slightly greasy hair and brushed his teeth. He walked out of the bathroom with both poorly brushed hair and teeth. He checked the clock he had hung in the middle of an empty wall which read 7:08.
He moved as quick as he could to his bedroom and picked out a pair of black jeans and set them on his bed. He went to his closet and grabbed a black hoodie with the coffee shops name printed on it. Before closing the closet the got a glimpse of his other 'villain' hoodies. The sight of them reminded him that he left his hoodie and his mask at Samuels house.
"Damnit" the mumbled before hurriedly changing clothes.
Once he was changed he glanced into the large mirror he had sitting above his counter.
"Damnit" he mumbled again after remembering about the gash in his neck.
He fast walked to the bathroom to wet a rag. He wiped the blood from the higher bits of his neck. Luckily the hoodie set pretty close to Matias's neck. He hated that feature of the hoodie before but was now grateful for its uncomfortable fitting. The hoodie didn't quite cover the slash in his neck naturally so he was forced to pull it up even further. The fabric against the wound made him flinch, but there wasn't much of a choice.
He grabbed his phone off the nightstand and rushed out the door.
He checked the time which now read 7:16. He was already late and wasn't actually going to get to the shop until about 7:20 if he walked fast. Matias usually showed up at least five minutes before his shift so he was sure he was going to get interrogated for showing up late.
Of course nobody really cared when others showed up a bit late, but Matias didn't want to get used to it. Everyone who worked at the shop was pretty close and the schedules worked more around the workers schedules than as an actual work schedule.
Matias and Lexi were the only people who worked the average long shift that most adults worked. Lexi took off weekends though and she got off early on Fridays. Matias was grateful for the odd scheduling though. It meant that he could come in later instead of working from 5:30 til around noon. There was actually a collage student who worked the early hours before classes and left as Matias showed up.
Matias could now see the shop and checked his phone again, 7:19. He did his best to walk fast but couldn't be bothered to run or jog in his condition.
He finally entered the shop and was immediately met with two unexpected faces. One was Lexi, who wasn't supposed to be up front, and the other he was a bit more surprised to see.
It was Samuel. Samuel had showed up earlier than usual and was talking to Lexi before she turned and yelled to the door.
"Matias! You're here!"
Upon her yelling Samuel turned around and stared wide eyed at Matias. Matias sighed and finally let the door go, the bell on it ringing again.
"You're here early" he said casually to Samuel as he walked behind the counter.
"And you're late! Where were you big man!" Lexi shouted once again. Matias silently thanked the fact that it was only the three in the shop at the moment.
"I slept in" he said bluntly, walking to the back. Lexi followed him leaving Samuel alone at the counter.
Matias grabbed his apron and tied it around his waist, not bothering to tie it behind his neck. He personally thought it was ridiculous that he even had to wear one since he just took and handed out orders all day long.
"Did you leave the customer out front by himself?" Matias asked, already making his way to the front anyways.
"Oh! Wait I've got this!" She pushed past Matias and sprinted to the counter.
"So sorry! What would you like!" Lexi shouted into Samuels face enthusiastically.
"I already know what he wants Alexis. He's a regular" Matias said in a monotone voice from just a few feet away.
Samuel just stood there awkwardly.
"Go to the back, more people should be coming in soon" Matias ordered as he started making Samuels drink with the machine up front.
Usually there would be another person making drinks in the back and the machine up front would rarely be used, but there was no point in having Lexi make it right now.
"Fiiine. But I told you to stop calling me Alexis!" Lexi pouted, dragging her feet to the back.
Today Lexi and Matias were the only two working while other days there would be three or even four people at a time. But it was a Tuesday anyway, Tuesdays were never busy.
Matias finished up his work and went to hand Samuel his drink. He told Samuel his total and took the cash from him and put it in the register. He turned to walk away but was stopped by Samuels voice.
"Wait! Please don't act like nothing happened" Samuel whisper-yelled trying to keep the lady in the back from hearing.
"What?" Matias replied as he turned back to the counter and took a half step forward.
"You said we could forget this ever happened. I don't want that" Samuel pleaded
Matias stared down at Samuel, replaying moments from before back in his head. The way Samuel was so gentle when he hugged him. The way he had wiped the blood from his lips. Hell, even when Samuel was upset at Matias for not looking him in the eyes. Samuel made Matias feel different. He didn't know what exactly that feeling was, but he liked it. He liked it a lot.
Despite all the thoughts going through his head, what came out of his mouth was completely different.
"I don't know if we have much of a choice"
"Of course we do! Matias I don't want to go back to you just being the guy who gives me my coffee. And I sure as hell don't want to go back to fighting you as the hero and the villain" Samuel made sure to keep his voice low.
Matias glanced over his shoulder to assure Lexi was still in the back, probably on her phone.
"Samuel.." that was all he could get out before the bell rang and a small group of girls entered the shop.
"We are going to talk about this more, Matias" Samuel ordered trying to sound stern, though Matias could hear the uncertainty in his voice.
He watched as Samuel turned away and walked to the door while hiding his limp the best he could. He watched as the fists in his hands relaxed and fell comfortably to his sides. He watched as his hair swayed a bit as he walked. And he tried to keep watching until the girls approached the counter and started reading off their orders. It was going to be a long, long day.
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I just now realized (on Sunday) that I saved this as a draft rather than posting it (which was supposed to happen Wednesday) so today I'll be posting this part and another part