It was Eli's day off and he was spending it studying. He didn't find that as depressing as he would have months earlier. He had other things to worry about. Mostly, one annoyingly persistent problem kept plaguing him.

But, he was trying not to think about a certain masked stalker of his. He thought about him enough the rest of the time and Michael made sure he couldn’t get away from Vigilante even at work. 

"Hey, have you heard about that masked guy being back?" Eli wondered why he'd thought he could go through a couple of hours without having to hear about Matthew.

As much as he didn't want to talk about him at the moment, he still put his slice of pizza down without taking another bite from it and looked at the young man who'd spoken.

His name was Collin, and he was what Eli liked to think of as unfairly tall—but then again, most people he knew fell into this category, for some reason. He needed to find shorter friends.

Collin was a Black college student, with a sharp wit and a friendly look in his brown eyes despite all the shit he gave Eli on a regular basis. They'd met because they shared a few classes and had bonded over their constant complaints on classes and the lack of sleep they suffered through because of them. It was, Eli thought, a friendship forged through mutual suffering.

Collin also  happened to be a really smart guy and pretty funny, so it made studying with him a much better option than studying on his own. That was exactly what they were doing that day: studying. Though it was more like they were pretending to study while eating pizza and watching a show about what basically amounted to videos of people doing stupid—and very often, painful—things. It was what Eli called a good day.

He almost forgot he never could have an entirely good day.

"No, I don't really watch the news all that much," Eli lied. Matthew had told him he'd be going back to running around the city without any regard for his safety. Eli had told him he could go jump off a bridge for all he cared. Of course, by that point, he didn't think either him nor Matthew believed he was serious. For Eli, that was a horrifying revelation, for Matthew, it was probably hilarious. 

"How do you not watch the news when they actually have something interesting to talk about," Collin asked. Much to Eli's disappointment, he seemed to have joined the Vigilante fanclub. He sincerely hoped Collin never met Michael.

"I'll have you know, I'm a very busy person," he said, only to have Collin laugh at him.

"Yeah, sure you are," he said. "All that coffee won't make itself."

Eli huffed indignantly before picking up his pizza slice. He was all too used to having Collin make fun of his job. Apparently, it was too cliche for a college student to work at a coffee shop. Eli wondered what the hell he was supposed to do instead.

Just as he was about to answer with what would most likely be a snarky response, the door opened and Collin's roommate—Tucker—walked in with a plastic bag in his hand. Tucker was what most considered a jock. He was good at sports and relatively smart, but mainly he was good at sports—which explained why he was so tanned and in much better shape than Eli. Unlike what most people thought, however, he was also a genuinely good guy, even if he failed to accept that his friends were jerks who could not be left alone with food.

He paused in the doorway to assess the scene in front of him before glaring at Eli and Collin with his light brown eyes. 

"You jerks seriously started eating without me?" he asked, and both Eli and Collin wondered why he made it sound like this was a completely unexpected development.

"We were hungry, and you were taking your damn time getting the soda and chips," Collin said before taking a bite of his pizza while looking right at Tucker, practically showing off the fact that he had food.

"I seriously hope you two choke on your pizza," Tucker said, pulling out the contents of the bag. "See if I give you any soda to drink then."

Collin was unphased by the threat, while Eli just rolled his eyes at his friends. Bickering was like a daily ritual between them, much like him and Michael. He reminded himself to never let Collin and Tucker meet Michael. The last thing he needed in his life was those three teaming up, most likely against him. 

The bickering died down eventually, and Tucker settled down on a beanbag chair — his prefered seat. He managed to steal a piece of pizza and eventually decided to share the soda he'd bought. The latter was probably because Collin and Eli started shooting rubber bands at him until he "learned to share". Eli still maintained that he was the mature one. Which was sad, to be honest.

The pizza was soon gone and it was back to studying for Eli and Collin. Tucker was of no help when it came to that. This was true even when Collin and Eli were studying for a class they shared with him. Of course this time all he did was sit around, and annoy the hell out of his friends. After all, he wasn't the one that had a test coming up. Eli glared as Tucker yawned more loudly than necessary and scratched his head lazily, ruffling his messy, dark hair. 

And then he started singing along to some stupid jingle for a law firm that came up on the TV. Eli was just about ready to throttle him.

"How do you live with him?" Eli asked Collin, who glanced at his roommate and rolled his eyes.

"Miserably, that's how," Collin replied. "I still think you should be my roommate," he added, ignoring the indignant shout from Tucker.

"You already have a roommate," Eli pointed out, looking genuinely offended.

"We can kick him out," Collin said with a shrug, and Eli couldn't help but laugh at Tucker's face.

"I should kick you both out," Tucker said, sulking in his chair. "By the way, why do you always have to study here? Why not the library or Eli's place?"

"Because the library doesn't have a TV," Collin said.

"And we can't eat there," Eli added.

"Besides, you're the one that's annoying. If anyone should be complaining, it's us," Collin told his roommate. Of course, an argument ensued shortly. Eli decided it was time to ignore his friends and go home. There was only so much he could take from their bickering and he was long past his limit.

"You're leaving?" Tucker asked, taking the time to stop his bickering and look at Eli, who was gathering his things.

"Yeah, it's getting late," Eli said. It was true too, even if he hadn't noticed until then.

Idly, and entirely without his permission, he wondered if Matthew would be going out soon. If all he was waiting for was for the sky to darken just a bit more so he could recklessly endanger his life yet again. Eli frowned at the thought, and picked up his school bag.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," he said, heading to the door. Collin and Tucker waved and went back to their bickering—which now involved the sole slice of pizza that had been left over. He shook his head, not without amusement, and walked down the hall and out of the building, intent on getting home and resting for after the busy day he'd had, and that was without adding work to his schedule

Eli sighed tiredly as he reached the bus stop and sat on the cold metal bench. He took out his phone to check the time. The sight of it reminded him of the phone Matthew gave him a couple of weeks earlier.

He'd kept it in his school bag for just about two days before he'd felt too stupid to keep carrying it around. Now, it was somewhere in his apartment, probably gathering dust. Eli didn't really feel like having a constant reminder of Matthew's suicidal hobby with him throughout the whole day. Especially when he was finally starting to feel like a normal college student.

It was decided—not by Eli, of course—that the next study session would be in his apartment. This was thanks to Collin's argument of it being larger than the dorm room he shared with Tucker. Eli couldn't deny that, though he did point out that the difference wasn't much because he was broke. He also made it a point to mention how far it was. Sadly, nothing he said could change his friends' minds and so he ended up having to lead his friends to his apartment.

Of course, they'd stopped to get food on the way because Eli was not feeding them both. Even if he'd had food.

And so, they made their way to a Chinese food place on the way to Eli’s place. They left soon after with bags of takeout that Eli refused to carry because he was already providing them with a space to study. Also, he was gonna take full advantage of his friends while he could. 

In spite of having to host his friends without warning—and most likely having the assholes stay over—Eli was in a good mood. 

Which was probably why it all went to shit so suddenly. 

One minute they were walking leisurely down the street, Collin and Tucker arguing about some stupid superhero show. The next thing they knew Eli was yanked aside and held at knifepoint by some shady looking guy. Eli wasn’t even surprised anymore. 

He still wished he could go at least a week without something happening to him. Namely, some jerk trying to mug him. 

Unlike him, his friends weren’t so used to constantly being targeted by drunks and muggers. Which was probably why they looked so alarmed. Eli took a moment to appreciate the panicked expressions on his friends’ faces. It was kinda nice to know what he was supposed to look like in that kind of situation. 

Well, at least things can’t get much worse, Eli thought. And that was when God decided to laugh in his face. 

Once again, Eli wasn’t particularly shocked when some dark figure swooped down onto the poor unsuspecting mugger. He took a wild guess as to who his savior could possibly be and was proven right by his friends absolutely losing their minds.

“It’s Vigilante!” Tucker was shouting, like some gleeful kindergartener finally meeting their favorite TV show character, ignorant of the mess of a man hiding under the—most likely felt, definitely dead eyed—costume. 

At the same time, Collin was desperately fumbling with his phone. He was determined to capture the violent takedown of the mugger while absolutely refusing to let go of his bag of takeout. Honestly, Eli was almost proud of him for that. 

He was not so proud of the mugger for failing to put up a fight. 

It was kind of embarrassing how quickly the guy went down. At least, from what Eli saw of the fight. He’d freely admit he was a bit distracted by the internal screaming in his mind as he realized that this was his life. So when he finally calmed himself enough to pay attention, the poor mugger was on the ground and Tucker and Collin were fawning over Vigilante. 

“That was freaking awesome! Can you show me that move? The one where you threw the guy?” 

“Tucker, move your ass outta the way. I’m trying to get a good shot!”

Eli just stood there, watching his friends and feeling second hand embarrassment for them. He was also questioning himself for even having them as friends.

Not like I can do better, Eli thought to himself, resigned to having friends as stupid as him. 

He shook himself out of his thoughts as Vigilante approached him. Eli had to brace himself for whatever was coming because he’d yet to have an interaction with the masked man where he didn’t want to go home and scream into a pillow. 

“Are you alright?” Vigilante asked, clearly concerned. Eli didn’t know why, it wasn’t like he was the one who just got the crap beaten out of him by the city’s masked crime fighter. He was starting to think they should call an ambulance for the poor mugger. 

“Er, yeah, I’m alright. Thanks,” Eli said, feeling very self conscious now that he was in front of his friends. Especially when Vigilante leaned closer, masked face just inches from Eli’s. He could feel his heart racing and his cheeks heating up as his traitorous mind thought back to the time Matthew had kissed him. 

Unfortunately for him, Matthew noticed. Eli could tell by the smirk slowly appearing on his face and the glint in his eye that could only be described as evil. He braced himself for whatever was coming. 

“So, should I put this one on your tab?” Matthew asked. And then he winked. 

Eli honestly didn’t know whether to kick him in the shins or find a hole to crawl into and die of embarrassment. He probably would have gone with the first choice if his friends hadn’t chosen that precise moment to intervene.

Of course, it was in the worst way possible, but still. 

“You have a tab? How often do you get mugged?” Of course Tucker had heard that and decided to be nosy. 

“Shut up, I don’t get mugged that often.” Even to his own ears, that sounded like a weak argument. 

“You kind of do,” Matthew said, like the asshole he was.

“Does this mean you know each other?” Collin asked with a horribly smug look. Sometimes, Eli wished he wasn’t as sharp as he was. Especially because a lot more things would just fly over Tucker’s head that way.

“You know Vigilante and you didn’t tell us?!” Eli was starting to hate his friends. “You could have gotten us an autograph ages ago!” Tucker looked downright scandalized at this knowledge.

“I’m not getting you a freaking autograph!”

“You have to, it’s what friends do.” Collin wasn’t really helping and he knew it.

“He’s right there you assholes, ask him yourself!” Eli pointed desperately at Matthew, who was currently going ignored and didn’t seem to mind it one bit. 

“I’d be happy to give you an autograph if you asked nicely enough.” Matthew looked directly at Eli and somehow, even with the stupid mask, he looked like he wanted to waggle his eyebrows. 

Oh, and now Eli really wanted to kick him in the shins. If only because his face was now burning and he just knew it was positively crimson. 

“That’s it, I’m leaving. You assholes can stay here and get mugged, see if I care!” With that, Eli turned and began to walk off.

“Sorry about that, he’s kinda cranky ‘cause he hasn’t eaten,” Tucker could be heard telling Matthew. It took much of Eli’s willpower to not turn around and throw his shoe at him. 

“You know how short people get,” Collin added. Eli pretended not to hear. Mostly because he didn’t want to go to prison so early in his life. Following his dear old dad’s footsteps had never really been one of his life goals. 

It was still a close call when he heard Matthew laugh.

“I dunno, it’s kinda cute. Like a moody little hamster.” 

Eli would later deny having snapped. Even though he clearly did as he lunged at Vigilante, not really sure about what he’d do after that. To be honest, he probably wouldn’t do much damage. Still, he was kind of glad Tucker stopped him. 

“Okay, time to go and get some food in you,” his ridiculously tall so-called friend said as he basically picked Eli up and dragged him away after handing Collin his bag of fast food. 

“Thanks again for the help,” Collin said as he followed Tucker and the still struggling Eli. 

Eli heard Vigilante laugh once more as he was half dragged, and half carried away and swore he’d kick the man in the shins the next time he saw him.