Who: Ellie and Matt What: chatting Where: their apartment When: after this Warnings: mentions and allusions to SA Status: open/closed/in progress/complete
Ellie hadn't had the greatest night so far. She'd been woken up due to a bad dream and had ended up waking her guardian up in the process. She felt really bad about that, as she was starting to like Matt. She was starting to trust him. She probably wouldn't trust him as much as she'd trusted Joel, but there was a chance.
She flicked on a lamp and settled onto the couch while she waited for Matt to finish rummaging around in the kitchen for snacks.
"You better not have eaten all the Doritos," she said, once he came into view from the kitchen. She had curled up onto one part of the couch, making herself as small as possible. She was more comfortable that way.
Matt shook his head. “I promise I did not eat all of the Doritos. In fact, they’re strictly for you.” While not a picky eater by nature, Matt didn’t particularly care for Doritos. He preferred snacks that wouldn’t leave coloured powder on his hands that he might not notice. So, Hell’s Devil stuck to things like salted potato chips or chips and dip, which after all these years, he’d worked out a system of sorts.
He sat on the couch and passed a blanket to Ellie. Of course Matt wanted to be someone Ellie trusted, but that would take a lot of time.
“Here are your requested Doritos.” He also passed her a glass of water if she wanted one.
"Aww, you got the Doritos just for me? I knew I was growing on you." She took the chips, blanket, and water from the man, and made herself comfortable under the blanket. She nibbled on one of the chips, trying to determine what she should tell Matt and what she should keep to herself. If anything.
"Did I tell you I'm immune to the virus or whatever that killed most of the population in my world?" she started. "I got bitten. I should be dead. But I'm alive and absolutely nothing came from the bite. …except I had to watch my best friend die instead."
Ellie allowed herself a moment or two before continuing. "People wanted to study me. Find a cure. Sounds great, right? Except I'd have had to die for it to happen. I didn't know. Joel somehow figured it out and got me the hell out. He's the only person who never left me. Or abandoned me. Or tried to get into my pants."
She then pulled up the blanket to just under her chin. "But I trust you now, too. You're nice and funny and you save me Doritos and you won't leave me on purpose. …or try to force yourself on me because you're not a pervert who likes teenage girls."
Matt blinked. A few times. He didn’t wear his sunglasses at the moment, which meant he felt comfortable around his ward.
“No, you didn’t, but the fact that they wanted to study you doesn’t surprise me.” Hell’s Devil kept his abilities to himself mostly for very good reasons. “I’m so sorry you watched your best friend die instead.” What would Matt do if he witnessed a similar thing happen to Foggy? Or Karen? Or even Jess?
He said nothing and didn’t speak, although he did take a sip of his own water. “It sounds great for everyone except you, even without the dying part.”
A grimace. “I would never try to force myself on anyone. I’m so sorry that happened to you, Ellie.” He couldn’t imagine and it pissed him off that people thought it was okay to do that to anyone.
“I promise to be a safe person for you, but I’m sorry you’re here without Joel.”
“I know you wouldn’t,” she said, after a moment. If there was one thing she had learned about Matt Murdock, it was that he was generally a good guy. She did trust him not to try to force himself on her. If she didn’t at least trust that much, she wouldn’t have spent even that first night in the same apartment as him.
She reached over toward her guardian, and patted his arm lightly. “You may not be Joel, but I know you won’t purposely hurt me.” Joel had been the only man Ellie had trusted in a long time. Now Matt was in that group. …and not just because he saved Doritos for her, either.
“Just… try not to leave if you can help it, yeah?”
Ellie then leaned back against the couch. “Can I spend the night with Ciri one night? …she has a guardian she can vouch for. Jaskier I think his name is.”
Matt angered at the idea of anyone forcing themselves on anyone, let alone a child. And, in this case, a teenager was still a child. No, he wouldn’t do anything to hurt Ellie. “I will try my best to not leave.”
The question about spending the night with the girl she was dating gave him pause. Matt knew how he’d feel if she asked to spend the night with a boy. He took a sip of his water. “I’d feel more comfortable if I met them both first.” He could at least agree to it more easily if that happened.
"Matthew," she said, her tone conveying the look she had just given him. "We aren't going to be doing anything that you might think we might do. You know what I mean." She paused for a second, considering. "What if she spends the night here? I mean… it takes a special person to approve of Jaskier."
Not that she thought Ciri's guardian would allow them to get into any danger. He just might not think anything of it if two teenage girls had sex.
"We'll be good, I promise."
Matt heard the tone in her voice, but didn’t comment. “I would feel more comfortable meeting her before any type of sleepover happens, so why don’t you invite her for dinner. Assuming that goes okay, I’ll be far more open to your having a sleepover with her.”
He wanted to be sure his ward was safe and given what she’d just told him, a sleepover sounded like both a good and bad idea, so he needed time to think. “I’m not against it.” Completely.
Ellie knew that Matt had registered her tone. She was glad he hadn’t commented, though. She knew that her tone hadn’t been the greatest – she could have probably chosen a different tone to go with asking to have Ellie spend the night. Or with her spending the night with Ellie. She made a mental note of that for the next time.
“I can definitely do that,” she said, after a moment. “I want you to meet her anyway.” His opinion of the girl she was dating – her girlfriend – meant a lot to Ellie. Almost as much as Joel’s opinion would have meant, had he been in town.
“Do you want me to invite Jaskier over, too, or just Ciri?” she asked.
Matt grinned, not really all that concerned with her tone. A teenager might cop an attitude, especially one who had a lot of trauma.. “Why don’t we invite both of them? Then I’ll have a better idea of who is in charge if you stay with Ciri.” Hell’s Devil didn’t know enough to realize he might have less faith in Jaskier after meeting him.
“I’ll be sure to order food.” Matt didn’t cook. He could cook a few things, but he preferred takeout for his own peace of mind and to be sure his ward ate enough.
Ellie knew Jaskier enough to know that Matt might trust him more now, without ever having met the man. But she also knew Jaskier wouldn’t allow any harm to come to Ciri, and that’s what mattered to her. She did not want any harm to come to Ciri, either, so she and Jaskier had that in common. “I’ll invite them both over, then,” she said. “Can we order Chinese? I like Chinese.” It had been something she’d never had in her world. She liked trying new things. Back in her world, Chef Boyardee was the epitome of good.
Now she was being introduced to all sorts of things.
“Now. Let’s see if we can figure out how to do the descriptive audio on Grace and Frankie,” she said.