By the time they arrived at Eli’s apartment, both his friends were still talking about their encounter with Vigilante. Which, to be honest, was to be expected. 

“He was so cool!” Tucker was saying, positively starstruck. 

“And surprisingly nice,” Collin added.

“Of course he’s nice! He’s a hero, Collin. You don’t become a hero unless you’re all about upholding justice and all that.”

“Or unless you’re an attention whore,” Eli pointed out. He thought it was a very good point. Tucker’s glare said otherwise.

“He just saved your life,” Tucker said, as if Matthew didn’t do that regularly. Granted, Tucker didn’t know that.

“And?” was Eli’s flat response as they finally arrived at his apartment and he pulled out his keys. Tucker just threw his hands up in frustration while Collin snickered behind him.

Eli did his best to ignore them as he opened the door of his apartment and walked in, instantly dropping his bag and dragging it the rest of the way to the living room, where they would be studying.

"Well, now I get why we never come here," Eli heard Tucker say. "Seriously, is that a dirty sock on the couch and half eaten instant soup next to the TV?"

Eli was about to turn and answer with something that would undoubtedly be very rude, but stopped when he heard something coming from his room. A sound like a THUD, and Eli was about ninety-nine point nine percent certain that he knew who'd made that sound.

"Uh, hey, why don't you get the food out while I go change," he told Collin and Tucker, already moving towards his room. Collin was already doing so while Tucker used the plastic fork from the previously mentioned soup to knock Eli's sock—which was actually clean, he'd just dropped it when sorting the laundry—off of the couch, as if it were radioactive. Under different circumstances, Eli might have taken the time to be deeply offended.

"Yeah, just hurry up, I'm starving," Collin said, not looking up from his task of unpacking the food.

Eli hurried to his room and closed the door as soon as he'd walked in. It was dark, just like usual, but he could see a shadow shifting just across from him. He turned the light on and wasn't surprised to see Matthew standing by the window, somehow managing to look both sheepish and completely unapologetic.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Eli asked, though it was more of a furious hiss. He would have yelled if it weren't so counter productive.

"I just thought I'd drop by. You know, make sure you got home alright," Matthew said, stepping in further. “I tried calling, but you didn’t answer.”

Eli remembered how his phone was somewhere in his apartment, most likely gathering dust. He didn't think it would be a good idea to tell Matthew that.

"I probably just couldn't hear it in my bag," he lied easily. Matthew gave him an utterly unimpressed look and held up his own phone, making a call to what was clearly Eli’s number. The awkward silence between them was broken by the ringing of a phone. 

From under Eli’s bed.

"I think you have your bag confused with the space under your bed," Matthew said as he ended the call. Well, at least Eli had been right about it gathering dust.

"It fell out?" Eli wished that hadn't sounded so much like a question. Then he remembered the two guys waiting for him in his living room and suddenly, he didn't care so much about how guilty he felt. "Look, it doesn't matter right now, you have to get out of here," he said, walking up to Matthew and trying to push him out the window—something he didn't even stop to think about, because normal people didn't push other people out the window.

"Ow! Hey watch it," Matthew said, moving away from Eli to rub at the place on his arm Eli had grabbed. Eli narrowed his eyes and, for the first time, noticed the long tear in Matthew's clothes. The fabric looked wet with what was most definitely blood. There was an eerily silent moment during which Eli reminded himself not to scream.

"You got hurt again," he said with deathly calm. On the inside, he was raging at Matthew for being such a reckless idiot.

"Yeah, I ran into some trouble on the way here. It's not that bad," Matthew said, adding the last part quickly. "Seriously, it's just a cut,” he insisted, looking more worried about what Eli would do to him than about the injury he already had.

Eli was just about to say something about how everything was just a cut or just a bullet wound to Matthew, but stopped when he heard someone approaching. Without really thinking, he pulled Matthew—by his uninjured arm, at least—over to the bathroom and pushed him in. Just a moment later, the door opened and Collin stuck his head out from behind the door. He gave Eli a funny look that probably had to do with how suspicious the redhead looked.

Eli now understood why his mother always knew when he was getting in trouble. Simply put, he was shit at playing innocent.

"What's taking so long?" Collin asked impatiently. He didn't fail to notice that Eli hadn't so much as taken off his jacket.

"Uh, I um, I just lost my laptop," Eli said. It was the first thing that came to mind. Collin gave him an odd look and pointed at the sticker covered laptop on Eli’s desk.

"You mean that laptop?" Collin said. Eli could feel his face burning in embarrassment. If he tried hard enough, he thought he could hear muffled laughter from the bathroom.

Rude, Eli thought, glaring at the closed bathroom door.

"You found it! Great. I'll be out in a second," he said, trying to push his friend out and close the door.

"Are you okay?" asked Collin, looking like he very much doubted Eli's stupid story. Which, fair enough.

"Hey, did you just leave Tucker alone with food?" Eli said, changing tactics from lying to distraction. It worked, because Collin looked startled for a moment before hurrying off to protect his meal. Eli heaved a sigh of relief. He closed the door, turned around, and nearly had a heart attack when he saw Matthew standing right behind him.

"You have someone over?" Matthew asked, staring at the closed door behind Eli.

"Yeah, my friends. You just met them," Eli answered, taken aback by the question. He straightened up after a minute and glared at Matthew full force. "Friends who will freak out if they see you here!" he said, in a sort of furious whisper.

Matthew rolled his eyes, raising his hands in a sign of surrender. "Fine, I'm leaving," he said, while visibly pouting. Which really, he had no right to. 

Eli felt satisfied for about a second—right up until he realized that this was the perfect excuse to keep Matthew from getting killed. At least for one more night. After all, the guy was hurt.

"Hold on," he said, pulling Matthew back by the back of his shirt. "You're staying right here," Eli said, ignoring Matthew's startled face. Clearly, he was taken aback by the sudden change of heart.

"What? Why?" Matthew asked, turning to look at Eli without having to turn his head at a, frankly, painful angle. He also looked very suspicious. Eli was willing to admit that was fair. Especially when Eli’s past tricks were taken into consideration. Still, rude.

"You're hurt," Eli pointed out, like it was the most obvious reason. What was really obvious, was that it was all just a poor excuse. It was a good thing that Matthew didn't mention it because it was seriously embarrassing.

"I have what amounts to a paper cut," Matthew said instead. "I sincerely doubt I'm in danger of bleeding out or dying in some other way related to my so-called injury."

"Don't care, you're staying," Eli insisted. "And if you don't, I swear I will switch your coffee to decaf for a month," he added when it looked like Matthew wanted to argue.

"You wouldn't," Matthew said, but there was clear uncertainty in his voice.

"Keep telling yourself that," Eli said. Of course, Matthew was right, Eli really wouldn't if only because he was certain Matthew would pass out from caffeine withdrawal. But he didn't need to know that.

With a huff, Matthew moved to the bed and sat on the edge, crossing his arms. Seeing that he wasn't about to leave, Eli took off his jacket and grabbed his laptop. He paused just as he was about to open the door, and looked back at Matthew.

"And don't make any noise," he said with a warning glare. Matthew rolled his eyes but nodded.

Thankfully, Collin didn't mention the odd exchange he'd had with Eli earlier, nor the fact that he hadn't even changed his clothes. Instead, the three focused on eating and studying.

All in all, things were going pretty well. Especially considering the masked man with one of the weirdest hobbies possible, sulking in the other room. Eli tried not to dwell on that. He figured he might have a nervous breakdown if he did.

He was reminded of his current situation when a loud BANG sounded in his room. All three young men jumped and Tucker fumbled with the TV remote for a moment, nearly dropping it.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, looking at Eli. For one horrible moment, it looked like Collin and Tucker were about to go to Eli's room to see what was wrong. Maybe it was the fear of being discovered, but Eli suddenly found himself standing in his friends' way.

"Oh, uh, I think I left the window open," he said, the words spilling from his mouth without much thought. "Must be the wind," he added, knowing full well that did not sound like any kind of wind. He didn't wait for a response as he hurried to his room.

He shut the door to his room as soon as he was inside, not letting his friends catch even the slightest glimpse inside. After all, who knew what insane antics Matthew was up to. 

It turned out, it wasn’t so much insane antics as it was just Matthew being clumsy. There he was, standing in Eli’s bathroom, holding up about half of his toiletries while the other half were on the floor. Eli couldn’t help but stare in disbelief. Matthew stared right back with a mixture of surprise and embarrassment. At any other time, Eli might have laughed. 

At that moment, he kind of wanted to kill Matthew. 

"What the hell are you doing?" Eli asked. He sincerely wished he could scream, because compressing all his rage into harsh whispers was going to give him an ulcer. 

“I was just looking for first aid stuff,” Matthew said, looking sheepish. 

Eli just sighed, rubbing at his temples as if that would help. He was seriously starting to wonder why he’d thought it was a good idea to make him stick around. 

Because at least this way he won’t be out there trying to get himself killed, his mind supplied rather unhelpfully. Eli was starting to hate the part of his mind that insisted on pointing out things Eli really didn’t need to know.

Eli took a moment to compose himself, breathing in and out slowly and feeling just calm enough to do something about Matthew. With a glare at the man, Eli hurriedly put his things back in his cabinet. Then, he reached into the sink base cabinet and pulled out the first aid kit he’d gotten because of Matthew. With a look that spoke of how close Eli was to snapping, he shoved the kit at Matthew.

“Now be quiet,” Eli said, knowing full well he shouldn’t expect much from Matthew.

Which is why he didn’t even bother to stick around to hear what Matthew had to say. Instead, he headed back out to his friends. Friends who were looking at him like he'd lost his mind when returned. Granted, Eli suspected he really would lose his mind if he had to deal with Matthew for much longer.

Well, you did make him stay, he thought. Eli wished he could tell his brain to shut up.

Thankfully, neither one of his friends said anything and soon, the whole thing was forgotten. Mostly thanks to Eli distracting them with food. Just like Eli told Matthew, it wasn't much longer until his friends said they had to leave. Something Eli was glad to hear because he still had a masked Vigilante in the next room who could not be left unsupervised. He couldn't help sighing in relief as he closed the door.

"So, now can we talk?" Eli would be lying if he said that didn't scare the crap out of him. He turned and glared at Matthew—something he did an awful lot since meeting the man.

"Stop doing that!" he snapped, taking full advantage of the fact that he could now yell at the man.

"I mean, it’s not like I’m trying to sneak up on you," Matthew pointed out. "Now seriously, why was your phone tossed under the bed?"

"I don't know, I dropped it. Things like that happen all the time, get over it," Eli said, walking past Matthew and starting to pick up his books. He was tired, had a growing headache, and didn’t really want to deal with a stubborn vigilante trying to lecture him about staying safe when he was the one stalking him on a regular basis.

"I gave you that thing because you complained about not hearing from me," Matthew said, following Eli to his room. "Because you said you worr—"

"If you say I worry about you I will kick you in the shins," Eli cut him off, setting his books down on his desk. “And maybe I wouldn’t have to wonder if you’re dead in a ditch somewhere if you didn’t keep trying to get yourself killed.”

“I don’t try to get myself killed,” Matthew said, sounding insulted. Eli just looked at him, utterly unimpressed.

“This coming from the guy who crawled up to my fire escape after getting shot.” 

“Well it’s not like I tried to get shot. And if anything that was me trying not to die,” Matthew pointed out. Eli was almost amused at how proud of himself he looked, like he’d really said something clever.

"Fine, then I worry about you," Matthew said, giving up on his previous argument. "And I feel better knowing you can at least call me if you need me."

Eli made the mistake of looking at Matthew. He stared back at Eli, blue eyes looking at the redhead with concern and making Eli’s heart beat just a tab bit faster. It made his face heat up and his brain push forth thoughts of that night Matthew kissed him. To be honest, Eli kind of hated that. Mostly because the man was so damn infuriating with his constant need to put himself in danger. And now, here he stood, telling Eli he worried about him while not giving a damn about his own life. Maybe that’s why Eli finally lost it.

"Well I don't," Eli snapped. "I don't need you, so stop freaking stalking me you weirdo."

Matthew stared at Eli for a moment, and the redhead wondered what the masked man was thinking. It was always hard to read Matthew's expressions, especially when he was wearing the mask. To Eli's surprise, he sounded very calm when he spoke.

"Fine," he said. "If that's what you want, then I won't bother you any more."

Eli couldn't help but look at him suspiciously, because that was just way too easy. 

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, really." Matthew walked over the window, opening it. He stepped out into the fire escape. He paused for a moment, looking back at Eli, and seemed to hesitate before speaking. "Just, be careful, okay?"

"I can take care of myself," Eli said, arms crossed. Matthew just laughed, but it didn't sound like his usual laugh. It sounded flat and hollow.

"Yeah, I know," he said. A moment later he was gone and Eli was left all alone.