Who: Matt and Eve What: all of the pranks and noise overwhelm Matt Where: his apartment When: April 1st (evening of) Warnings: TBD Theme:Watch the Sky by Something Corporate Status: g-doc
Matt was in his kitchen. Earlier he reached out to Eve about maybe catching up over a drink. But, he sent that message before. Before the Dome decided to make today a perfect one for pranks. Big, little, funny, terrible? Hell’s Devil heard all of it.
At first he filtered through the noise, although happy he didn’t have to go to the office today. After his shower, he thought about a nap with his white noise machine before Eve came to his apartment.
Unfortunately, the overwhelming noise now had him curled up on the floor, against his stove. For Matt it became too much. He could even hear a fucking water pipe like it screamed at him and at this point he had his hands over his ears, knees up to his chest, unable to move. If he could, he’d text Eve, but instead he didn’t know when it would end or even how to fix it.
Eve was over today. While she managed to avoid most of the pranks because she was a ghost, it hadn’t stopped the Dome giving her a few. It seemed as if some of the resident ghosts had decided to get in on it and Eve hadn’t acted nicely to those who bothered her.
Now she was on her way to Matt’s place and she hoped she could unwind a little. When she got to the door, she knocked, but then headed right through the door. She manifested almost immediately while talking, “I knocked, but I also let myself -” She saw Matt and whatever quip she had been about to finish was forgotten.
She moved to him quickly and crouched. “Matt?” Something was obviously wrong.
Matt dimly realized Eve showed up for drinks. If he’d been slightly more with it, Hell’s Devil would have canceled, but too late now. He heard her arrival and vaguely heard her voice, but right now those sounds just added to the pain Matt currently experienced. Someone started a shower somewhere in the building and the lawyer just closed his eyes further. Forget about nails on a chalkboard, it was like twenty sets of nails on two chalkboards turned up to top volume.
He managed to open his eyes, briefly, although his face still screwed up in pain. Finally he gasped as a pipe squealed. “The sounds. They’re.” Another shrill noise forced him to pause. “I can’t. Overwhelming” Hopefully Eve understood, because Matt didn’t think he could explain further.
Eve frowned deeply. She did understand since he'd explained. She couldn't empathize - she doubted she could ever understand it - but she knew it had to be bad. Matt looked bad.
She gave a nod. "Okay." Then she stood up and looked around as if trying to find a solution. She knew how to make others unable to hear them, but could she reverse it?
Nothing like augmenting a skill in real time.
Eve let out one of those exhales that was a work-thinking one. At first she thought about affecting the space, but that'd be hard to maintain. It'd be easier to create a bubble around Matt somehow.
"Give me a few minutes Matt…" She had to re-arrange a few things in the spell.
Matt didn’t particularly want to know how he looked, but he hadn’t managed to get his sunglasses on his face, so Eve definitely saw his eyes for once. They hadn’t exactly progressed to the point he felt comfortable enough to remove them. Too late now.
His one hand pounded into the floor, just to distract his brain for a moment. Obviously poor planning, because the noise just added to the ill-effects.
He managed a nod to acknowledge he heard Eve’s words, but didn’t know what else to say or what to do.
Eve berated herself silently as it took her three tries to get it right. On the third try, she manage to encase both her and Matt in a spell that worked the opposite of a privacy spell. Normally it was used to keep people from hearing what you were saying. This time (Eve hoped anyway) that it would block out noises from coming into the space. Eve wasn’t sure how long it would last, but she'd recast it if she had to.
Exhaling, Eve looked over to Matt to see if there was any change in his demeanour. Had it worked?
The sudden near silence shocked Matt’s system. Not in a bad way, but his body slowly unclenched, a few tears streaming down from relief. Matt never wanted to hug someone the way he wanted to currently hug Eve.
He slowly stood. “Thank you. I don’t know what you did, but thank you.” Matt pulled Eve into a hug. Hell’s devil let go of Eve after holding onto her a little longer. “I don’t…know what happened but everything got to be too much for me today.”
The hug was a little surprising, but Eve was mostly just happy it worked, even if she had to keep some of her concentration on the spell. She didn’t mention that at the moment and instead let Matt speak for a bit. It was only when he let go that she spoke, not wanting to add to the noise for a moment or two. “There’s a lot going on. It could be the Dome itself. It seems like it took April Fools really seriously this year.” It hadn’t done it last year so at least Eve was confident it wasn’t some sort of tradition they’d have to put up with. “There are a lot of not-happy people today.”
She paused, eyeing him up and down. “Are you okay?”
Matt realized, belatedly, how he must look; rumpled and without his sunglasses. He tended to wear them as a piece of armour and also to help keep others at ease.
“The Dome has been pulling some shit lately.” The lack of power, the replicators, and now this. “Although, I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“I’m okay. Do you want me to put on my sunglasses?” Matt would if it helped Eve feel more comfortable. “Drink?” Hell’s devil hoped Eve still wanted to get a drink with him.
Eve looked entirely confused. “Why?” It was her knee jerk reaction before she realized maybe he wanted an excuse to put them on. She had seen a lot of things and her eyes didn’t bother him at all. “... I mean. Unless you want to….do you want me to find them?” She had no idea where they were, but how hard could they be to find?
“Drink yes.” She’d just have to nurse it a little more than usual to keep her concentration up. “Wine?”
Matt paused. “I know how some people feel about my gaze and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” But, he didn't go and grab them, either. “No, if you’re okay with me without sunglasses, then I’m fine not wearing them.” This felt like a bearing of his soul of sorts.
He nodded and then looked sheepish. “I’m still feeling somewhat out of sorts. Would you mind opening the wine?” Usually he could do these things, but his sight still needed to adjust after the last while. Matt could at least reach for the beer in his fridge, but a corkscrew seemed out of reach.
“They need to learn to get over it.” Eve had no time for people who couldn’t deal with other people being a little different. It wasn’t like Matt’s eyes were oozing puss or something. “Besides… I think they’re kind of pretty.” Sure, maybe it was because Eve had seen a lot of things and dealt with death and demons, but whatever. She did.
She went for a bottle of wine and uncorked it without making a big fuss of it. She poured some for both of them. Then she decided to sit, but not before pulling out a chair for him. He could scold her later if he wanted to, but it didn’t just have to be men who pulled chairs out for people.
“Does this kind of thing happen a lot?”
Eve felt the spell slipping so she quietly recast it.
He chuckled. “I could have used you in my earlier days. An emotional support ghost/angel with a no-nonsense attitude.” Matt found himself liking Eve more and more. At the compliment, Matt blushed slightly. Not that people didn’t compliment his eyes, but usually it had to do with his grin.
Matt accepted the glass of wine gratefully. “Thank you.” He sat and heard her recast the spell. “Are you okay? Like, can you keep recasting, because I don’t need you to get exhausted on my account.” Obviously, Matt wanted to ensure Eve’s well-being.
“No. Thankfully. It seems to happen on occasion and then I’m fine for months or years.” Matt’s head still hurt, but he could focus on other things.
“If people from home were to hear you, they’d probably wonder who you were talking about.” Maybe not all of them, but Eve had a certain reputation and she upheld it in ‘public’ since she needed people to be afraid of her - not that it was an act or anything, but Eve did have some feelings even if the rumour was she was incapable of such a thing.
“I’ll be fine. It’s not a heavy spell to recast and besides, I like the quiet.” It was like they were in a deafened room not unlike one you’d find at a recording studio. Eve made a mental note to teach it to Savannah later. “Even if I get a little tired, it’s worth it. I figure the Dome can’t keep this BS up forever.” Eve was stubborn enough to try to outlast the Dome.
She nodded. “I guess that’s a silver lining.” That it comes and goes for periods of time. “Probably not helpful if it comes when you’re kicking someone’s ass I imagine.”
Matt laughed, and felt a little more tension leaving his body. “I imagine Savannah might side eye me as well if I say such a thing.” Maybe because of the Dome, but Eve seemed to just be herself with him. A self that Matt rather liked, truthfully. However, he understood keeping up a certain rep, after all he acted as two completely different people.
“You’re right, it probably can’t.” Hell’s devil took a sip of wine.
“Thankfully it’s never happened when kicking someone’s ass, at least not to this extent.” A moment later, Matt leaned over and brushed Eve’s lips, hoping she didn’t mind. When he pulled back, he wore his trademarked smirk.
Eve blinked, surprised, but not in a way that left her aghast or appalled. Now there was a part of her that wondered if this was cheating, but she reminded herself that the very alive Kristof Nast in Madison Valley had told her he wasn’t ready to be with her again. She reminded herself that she’d pined for the man long enough and they’d always be connected through Savannah. She reminded herself that if she had a chance to be happy, she should take it, since it wasn’t like life was fair to her most of the time.
That damn smirk too.
Fuck it
Eve pushed her thoughts to the side - she always did better on impulses anyway - and leaned forward to give him a much more solid kiss on the lips. Maybe it was also a little ‘one-uping’, but Eve couldn’t help it that she was a little bit competitive.
Matt wanted to take things slowly, especially given what he kind of knew regarding her history with Kristof. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt anyone, himself included. Just look at what happened with Claire. Thinking about Claire still hurt Matt, but the pain lessened over time at least.
He hadn’t exactly expected her to deepen the kiss, but Matt didn’t complain. At all. His hands cupped her face as he moved her chair closer with his foot.
The thing about being a ghost half the year and having pined over your ex for almost two, meant that while Eve had talked a good talk, she had been having a very dry spell. So even if she had to concentrate on staying physical and on the spell, the kiss and his hands were still some of the best feelings she’d had in a long while. It was like his fingers were made of warm flame against her face and damned if she didn’t miss this.
She let the kiss go on for as long as she could muster before she had to pull away to recast the spell. Eve was a little out of breath and she licked her lips as she refocused. “Okay. So I’m going to add good with your mouth to my list.”
Matt liked the feel of Eve’s lips. They felt so soft and fit well against his mouth. He hadn’t really kissed anyone since Claire, except for a brief one at the end of their date. This kiss differed and Matt didn’t want to pull away to breathe.
But, he didn’t exactly want to pass out either, so when Eve pulled back, Matt rested his head against hers and his cheeky smirk appeared. “The same applies to you.” Hell’s Devil decided to let Eve direct where this headed, not wanting to push for anything she may not want. “You have a very kissable mouth.”
She let out a soft little laugh, her lips pressing up into a smile. “I do, huh?” She leaned in again and kissed him, this time a little deeper. She leaned into him too, shifting so that a little more of her was pressing against him. It was a little awkward with them sitting, but it wasn’t too bad. Not when her body was telling her more and </i>hell yes</i>.
Not one to do things halfway, Eve shifted and moved them both so she could sit on top of his lap. She’d only just deepened the kiss some more when she completely dematerialized. She fell through him and onto the floor behind him with a belated curse. She felt the spell start to slip, noise coming back into the apartment. She recast and then had to take a moment to focus on materializing again. She was now on her back on the floor. “I’d say it’s a good thing you can’t see, but I know that’s not true now.” She moved to sit up.
Matt responded to the deeper kiss hands running up and down Eve’s sides before drawing her closer to him. When she sat in his lap, Matt groaned, and pulled Eve closer to him. He really liked her and at the moment his body very much wanted to get Eve as close to him as possible. To be fair, even if Matt couldn’t see he would notice the sudden weight shift on his lap when she dematerialized. He winced slightly when he heard Eve land behind him. “Are you okay?” Matt’s hand reached down to help Eve as she recast the spell.
“I’m happy to pretend I didn’t see it?”
>
“Define okay.” She was fine which was probably evident by her tone. “Just a little bruised ego and an itch I apparently can’t scratch right now.” And damned hadn’t she been ready to scratch it too.
She sat down again next to him and had to resist the urge to try again. Clearly three things at once was too much for her and she’d have to find a way to rectify that because Eve Levine was not the sort of witch who liked to be limited.
“Do I get to ask for a raincheck?”
Matt leaned over and brushed her lips with his. “I’m sorry about both of those things, but a raincheque sounds good to me.” He didn’t want to push for anything, but Hell’s Devil wouldn’t turn down seeing Eve again in the future.
“So, how’s work going?” he asked, happy to spend a little more time with Eve.
At least with the topic of work she could concentrate on the other things a little better. She let out a small sigh, but then answered. “Oh, it’s fine. The kids aren’t as thrilled because they know I can be anywhere so they can’t try to vape in the bathroom or something, but I remind them they’re pretty terrible at hiding it even when I’m not a ghost.” But she didn’t mind. Eve actually understood troubled kids better than the straight-laced ones since she had been one of those kids herself.