Chapter Text
“Kicking ass will do me good,” Vladimir says when Matt still doesn’t look convinced. The vigilante is putting on his black outfit but Vladimir is all set to go out without a lot of preparation. He only needed to add a makeshift mask to what he’s wearing every day. Hoffman would most likely recognize him without it and as they’re getting him in order to force him to sell Fisk’s secrets to the authorities, Vladimir prefers to stay dead in his eyes. “Backup won’t hurt you and I’ll stop going crazy. Turns out being dead is boring.”
Matt almost pouts but it looks like he’s not up for dragging the discussion. “Okay, but if you don’t keep up, don’t expect me to wait.”
Vladimir grins and Matt shakes his head at him.
ж
“What the hell was that?”
They were silent all the way back to Matt’s apartment but the moment they got in, the vigilante tore the mask off of his face in anger and faced Vladimir. He has every right to be furious, Vladimir came back to his old habits too easily once he got a taste of violence again. But then, he was a Russian mobster most of his life. He can’t just erase that in a few days spent with his righteous soulmate.
“Why did you stab that man? You didn’t have to--” he doesn’t finish, just huffs out a breath, disappointed.
“It was my knife or his bullet.”
Matt just shakes his head. Vladimir can sense what the man isn’t saying out loud. If I managed to do it without casualties, you should have, too.
Vladimir doesn’t add that the gun that he stopped that man from firing wasn’t pointed at him, but at the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.
“I know these last days were pleasant and all,” Vladimir says instead. “But I think you already forgot who I was before I started living on your couch.”
Matt huffs out a breath angrily, his hands are clenched tight in fists. But he stays still, doesn’t reply in any way. Vladimir was actually expecting a punch to his face.
“Listen,” Vladimir starts but then hesitates for a moment, “I am not a good person… I still think that whatever makes people soulmates mocked us…”
Vigilante’s anger seems to subside but now Vladimir can see a mix of frustration and resignation on his face.
“But we are soulmates and I care about you,” Vladimir admits. Matt seems startled but still says nothing. “I lost everything… And then got you… I was thinking what that means for me,” he pauses again, running a hand nervously through his hair. He’s not good at this. Anatoly and him didn’t really need to talk about their feelings, they understood each other without words. But now the situation has changed and he must adapt. He wants to change and that’s what he needs to finally stammer out of himself. “I’m dead to the world. There is nothing keeping me in my old life. I don’t think I will ever get a better chance to change things… I want to. I just don’t know how long it will take... Or if it is possible,” he sighs. “I was never given much, from the world, from life… I had to fight for everything, spill blood to save my own. It’s a habit hard to forget.”
Matt takes it in, standing in silence. The stillness couldn’t have lasted more than a minute but for Vladimir it feels like eternity before the vigilante speaks.
“Well, you can start by listening to me when I tell you not to do something,” he says finally and it looks like he wants to continue the lecture but he’s interrupted by his phone ringing. As they expected, the policeman that they told Hoffman to turn to has called to summon Nelson and Murdock. Vladimir leaves Matt to change back to his lawyer persona and he heads to the bathroom.
When Vladimir showers, he notices a new Mark on his hip. It’s a yin yang sign but its edges are blurred, the white and black without visible borders but fading into one another. He lets out a quiet laugh, shaking his head.
ж
Vladimir must admit that watching the coverage of Fisk’s arrest is satisfying - not as satisfying as crushing his skull would be but he is supposed to be on his way to reformed, isn’t he?
Now that Fisk is apprehended, Vladimir should be dropped off at a nearest police station by the Mask as well. That was Matt’s initial plan, but things have complicated beyond anyone’s expectations... Well, Matt could still believe that putting Vladimir in the hands of the system is a good way to redeem him. Vladimir said it himself he wants a change in his life… How will Matt interpret that? What will he see best for his soulmate?
For now, Vladimir decides to follow Matt’s advice and listen to the man. He doesn’t run. He stays on the couch with a celebratory beer and Matt’s laptop open to the news feed dedicated to Fisk’s apprehension.
ж
“Congratulations,” Vladimir says when Matt arrives at the flat. Vladimir expected Matt would celebrate Fisk’s arrest with his friends and he wasn’t wrong. It’s visible in the vigilante’s posture that he’s smug and relaxed - and a little bit intoxicated. It’s a good look on him, the lazy smile and the absence of tenseness that seemed to never leave him lately.
“You helped some,” Matt admits, taking his shoes off.
Vladimir snorts. “You know how to compliment a man,” he replies, his voice playful. Matt answers with a smile. He takes off his jacket and throws it on the kitchen chair. Vladimir expects him to stay in the area and treat himself with more alcohol from the fridge, but after a little hesitation, Matt walks to the couch and takes a seat next to Vladimir. They’re barely touching but it’s the closest they’ve been since the night they went out together to get Hoffman and their talk afterwards.
“So,” Vladimir starts hesitantly but fights his reluctance to go straight to the matter. “I helped you some with putting Fisk behind bars, the reason you decided to keep me on your couch…” Matt turns his face slightly in his direction, waiting for the punchline. “What now? Do I join Fisk in jail?”
Matt visibly tenses but doesn’t say anything.
“That was the plan - or am I wrong?”
“Shut up,” Matt says suddenly, he gets closer, puts his hands on Vladimir’s chest and crashes their mouths together. Vladimir returns the kiss with urgency, as if he were to be deprived of the closeness any second. He hums with approval when Matt climbs into his lap, deepening the kiss. He prefers this turn of the evening much more than the discussion about their future.
ж
… what appears now to be some sort of firefight involving the FBI transport carrying Wilson Fisk. Uh, Janet, can you confirm what we’re seeing here?
They almost ignore it, dozing off on the couch, their half-naked bodies wrapped around each other. But Matt’s incredible hearing doesn’t fail him and he jumps off the couch towards the chest where he keeps the Mask’s suit. Vladimir gets up after him. The laptop is still covering Fisk’s escape in the background. Vladimir has a ridiculous urge to punch it, as if that would help anything.
“Let me go with you,” he says, zipping his trousers and already locating his shirt but Matt shakes his head.
“No.” His voice is hard and allows no objections. “I need to do it my way.”
Vladimir doesn’t really want to have another discussion about their differing moralities and methods. Especially now, when Fisk is getting away as they’re speaking. He lets out a long breath, then approaches the other man by the chest. Vladimir leans to browse through it as Matt laces his shoes. When the vigilante turns back to the chest for the last piece of his suit, it’s Vladimir who hands him the mask.
“Go get him.”
ж
Matt gets him. Of course. Vladimir doesn’t follow but once again waits for him in the flat. This time Fisk stays where he belongs.
They don’t discuss Vladimir’s future. Matt goes back to his life. He has some gains and losses from the last weeks – both as lawyer and a masked man, now known as Daredevil. One of them in a form of a soulmate. Vladimir isn’t sure whether that counts as a gain or a loss for Matt. He doesn’t ask anymore, just accepts what he’s being given.
One day, soon after Fisk is actually put in jail, Vladimir leaves. He vacates the vigilante’s flat soon after Matt goes out to his day work. This time Vladimir is not worried Matt will take his prolonged absence the wrong way because they both know he will return. Neither of them know how to be together but they can’t stay apart as well. He will leave and come back and leave again in an endless cycle.
Then maybe, one day, Vladimir will stay for good.
| the end |