UNMASKED

#15

Against all odds, the place that Adria had set up for them was not that bad. Eli was just glad it wasn't yet another shady warehouse. He'd had enough of those to last him a lifetime.

"Huh, guess she isn't completely evil," Eli said as he looked around the simple little apartment they'd be staying in for the foreseeable future. In his travel carrier, even Matt mewled in approval at the temporary home—or maybe he was just hungry. It was hard to tell. Eli was still suspicious, because it was just a natural state for him at that point in his life.

"And you would know how to judge how evil someone is," Matthew chimed in with a small smile as he set the rest of their things by the entrance.

"You've gotten rude in your old age," Eli shot back. He set the carrier down and opened it, letting Matt explore the place.

"Hey," Matthew said, looking absolutely offended. He still fought off a smile as Eli snickered at him. As much as he complained when Eli took a dig at him, he didn't really seem to take it personally. It was more likely that it was just Matthew's way of judging how well Eli was doing.

Which was actually a pretty solid way to judge.

Together, they managed to sort their few belongings—mostly clothes, cat food and what Eli called Matthew's ninja crap—into place. As Eli looked at his small selection of clothing in the closet, he wondered just how long they'd be stuck there, away from their actual home. And all because some asshole insisted on killing his boyfriend. Eli probably should have been more worried than pissed off, but worry would do very little. Spite, on the other hand, was a very good motivator.

Honestly, Eli sometimes wondered how Matthew managed while being so damn cheerful all the time. He supposed that, at the very least, it helped take away any suspicion off him. Really, who would expect someone like Matthew to be the city's infamous Vigilante?

"Dinner's here," Matthew called, interrupting Eli's thoughts. A moment later, he was poking his head into the room, looking as unconcerned as always. Like they were just moving into a new place and not settling into their temporary safe house because some idiot could kill them in their sleep. Which Eli should have expected from Matthew. "Also, I baked cookies."

Eli felt his mouth twitch and had to fight to keep from laughing at just how impressively unthreatening Matthew could manage to be.

What kind of vicious crime fighting pseudo-ninja bakes cookies? Eli thought, though he didn't tell Matthew as much.

"What kind?" he asked instead. Mostly because he didn't want Matthew to put the cookies out of Eli's reach if the redhead dared to question his baking hobby.

"Double chocolate chip," Matthew said happily as Eli walked over to him and they made their way over to the small kitchenette they'd be using for the foreseeable future. "Figured we should celebrate moving."

"Even if it's for some shady reason?"

"What's that? You don't want cookies?" Eli glared, because Matthew knew damn well he wanted cookies. Matthew just snickered at the dirty look Eli threw his way.

Despite Matthew being, well, Matthew, they managed to eat in peace and settled to watch some mindless show. It was kind of nice, in a weird way, if only because they were very much not in their own home. Eli just couldn't get used to things being so different. Still, it helped to have Matthew sticking around.

"Can you at least try to get your cat to not hate me?" Matthew asked as he returned from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn only to find Matt sprawled across what used to be his spot on the small couch they were provided. It was nice to see there were some things that were still very much the same.