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sinsandsweetness · 6 months

Text

thinking about living across the hall from Frank…

-> always running into him at the most random times. in the elevator or the lovey super late at night or bright and early in the morning. When he’s on his way to a job and you’re coming back from work. Or you’re on your way to study at the library and he’s got his keys and a bag of groceries in his hands. Always giving you a little nod of acknowledgment but neither of you ever have the courage to speak. To actually say hi.

-> until one day where you get locked out of your apartment. You lost your keys or something. And with your luck, your roommate works the night shift at the hospital. You’ve got no way in until morning.

-> So you find yourself stuck. An hour goes by and you’re sitting on the dirty carpet hallway floor. Leaned up against the wall. Eyes fluttering closed because hell it’s been a long day. Frank, on his way home from work, makes his ways down the hall. Concerned at first by the sight of your body laying in the hall. But he gets to his door and it’s just you, half asleep. You give him a soft smile and he finally asks you for your name. You explain your situation and he nods in understanding.

“Well don’t just sit there. C’mon.” He’d wave you into his place, lunchbox in hand. Dirty from a day of construction. In desperate need of a shower and some food.

-> you’re reluctant to come in. Not because of Frank. Or at least not because you didn’t like him. More so… the opposite. You found him intimidating. Handsome. Rugged. You always enjoyed running into him. Smiling at him in the elevator. Trying not to blush too hard. But there’s just this aura about him that makes you a little nervous. Butterflies or something.

-> he’d tell you to make yourself at home while you wait to get ahold of your roommate. Or come up with a plan to get your keys. To call the landlord. Though you doubt they’d answer at this hour.

-> he asks if you’re alright if he showers, “I’ll be quick. You can help yourself to the fridge.” He even grabs you a beer and places it on the table in front of you. Cracking one for himself as he heads for the washroom.

-> it feels weird. Being in a strangers home. It’s empty. Sad almost. Grey walls. Nothing… personal. Nothing that tells you anything about the man. It’s clean. As clean as any of the suites in you cheap ass apartment can possibly get. But it’s bland. It’s a bachelor suite. He’s got nothing more than the necessities. The basics. You can’t help but think about Frank. In this apartment. Every night by himself. He must be lonely.

-> you saunter over to the fridge. Not particularly hungry, but feeling slightly awkward just sitting at his table and doing nothing. There’s enough to make a weeks worth of sandwiches. And a more than a few weeks worth of beer. You take a swig of your bottle.

-> when the water shuts off, you get back to your spot at the table. Checking your phone. The messages with your roommate. He’s probably busy. Drawing blood. Stitching people up. Doing whatever it is he does as a surgical intern.

-> “you get ahold of him?” Franks voice brings you back.

“Oh, no. He’s- he’s probably busy. Works at the hospital so… um… thanks for inviting me in, but uh, I can just wait out there.” You sling your bag over your shoulder, getting up to leave.

“Wait out there? All night?” He asks. Your gaze goes down to his shirt. A little damp where beads of water are running down his neck. Off his beard. You look back up. He’s got such pretty eyes, you notice.

“Yeah, i’ll be alright.” You give him a tight lipped smile. But he’s not having it.

He shakes his head, “here,” he grabs a blanket from the supply closet. And a pillow. A pillowcase. He fumbles with the makeshift bedding for a moment until he makes the couch up. It does look nicer than the stained hallway carpet.

“You can’t stay out there. There’s some real… weirdos in this area. Wouldn’t want anything happening to you.” His concern makes your stomach flutter. Even if it’s just human decency. Courtesy of not wanting you to get mugged or murdered.

“You really don’t have to-“ you try to deny the offer but he grabs your bag. Gently pulling it off your shoulders and placing it against the wall.

“It’s just for the night. I don’t mind. Seriously.” His eyes are serious. Brows furrowed in concern.

-> the couch is cozier than you expected. Worn and used in the most perfect way. It takes you no time to fall asleep. Frank on the other hand, is having some serious insomnia. There’s the prettiest girl he’s ever seen, right outside his bedroom. Sleeping on his couch. Probably making his blanket smell like her vanilla perfume. It’s making his brain all fuzzy. He can’t think. Well, he can’t not think. You’re wearing one of his tee shirts. He offered it up. No, he insisted. And when saying goodnight from his bedroom doorway, he couldn’t help but notice that your pants were folded up on top of your bag, and your bare legs gleamed in the dim light of the living room, as you fluffed up your pillow.

-> the two of you had some very interesting dreams that night.

-> Waking up to the smell of coffee, you’re blushing hard when he hands you a mug. He tells you he has to leave for work. Lunchbox in hand, jacket on.

-> He didn’t ask for his shirt back.

-> you wave Frank goodbye as you watch him head down the hallway, and at the same time, you see your roommate come out of the elevator at the end. Both of them exchange a nod and a glance. Your roommate jogs up to let you both into your place.

“You coulda came to the hospital. Coulda grabbed my keys,” he says plopping himself down on the couch. Rubbing his eyes. Long night for him as well.

“I didn’t even think about it. He just- Frank invited me in and I was so tired… I mean, it seemed like a better option than sleeping in the hall…”

“Well it was real nice of him. Maybe you should make him a dish or somethin’. Lasagna? Y’know, to say thank you.”

“You just want some lasagna don’t you?” You smirk, rolling your eyes.

Your roommate smiles back. A low chuckle escapes his throat. “The man let you sleep on his couch. You better be sayin’ thank you somehow.”

continued here

(Idk what this is tbh but um… let me know what we think??)

#officially writing for Frank now my loveys <3 #Frank castle x reader #frank x reader #Frank castle x you #frank castle x y/n #frank castle fanfiction #frank castle imagine #frank daydream #frank castle

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thelaurenshippen · 4 years

Audio

oh hey, here’s a playlist from 2017 that I realized wasn’t on my website with the rest of them and that I totally wasn’t thinking about because there’s actually a part two that has never seen the light of day that may or may not be incoming

notes on my website and also under the cut

As I write, I like to build playlists for all my characters and, occasionally, will make playlists as a character as well. These playlists are part of my writing process and I take them far more seriously than anyone should. Sometimes the playlists come together instantly and effortlessly and sometimes I play around with them for months. As such, there are a fair number of cast-offs that never make it onto the final, official playlist. That's what this playlist is.

So here we are: all the songs that nearly made it on to the character playlists but got cut for various reasons. Those reasons tend to fall into one of a few categories:

There wasn’t space / another song was serving a similar purpose

The song was right for the character but not right for the character at the beginning of their story (which is what most of the playlists are)

The mood/genre/tempo of the song was out of place in the playlist

I discovered the song after the playlists had been put together.

All my playlists are very specifically ordered, so adding or removing songs after their publication is more or less impossible. Instead, I would throw songs into this B-Side playlist as they appeared, meaning that, unlike most of my playlists, the order here is random (aka this playlist has NO flow). Here is a list of where they would have gone had they made the final cut. The characters are listed above the tracks, with a link to the playlist in question.

A/N, 2020: These are the B-Sides specifically from pre-Season 4. Back in August of 2017, I did a sticker giveaway to see what folks would guess about which songs were for which characters - these annotations were published after that giveaway and thus, there's some reference to how people guessed!

WADSWORTH

1. “Heavy Metal Lover” - Lady Gaga

This is a Wadsworth song through and through in terms of style and swagger. There just wasn’t space for it.

But would you love me if I ruled the world

DAMIEN

2. “Reaper Man” - Mother Mother

This is a song that was recommended to me as a Damien song by tumblr user kalgalen and I am actively mad that I didn’t know this song before making Damien’s playlist. The style, the lyrics - everything about this song is Damien. And it actually fits perfectly after the opening track but by the time I was made aware of it, it was too late.

Oh yeah, I’m an ugly mess/not in the face, but in the head - regardless of how attractive Damien is, this is something he thinks. God, what an edgelord line this is.

Oh yeah, I got no choice/got no choice/but to love myself - I mean, it’s just all there.

A/N, 2020: this song eventually made its way onto a playlist - my playlist for A Neon Darkness, Damien's book.

CHLOE

3. “Her Morning Elegance” - Oren Lavie

I love that this song really conjures a visceral image to your brain - it paints such a vivid picture. It’s delicate, but determined. I think Chloe sometimes moves through her world separate and observing and that’s what this song is.

There’s also an amazing music video that I think Chloe would watch over and over again.

I got a lot of submissions guessing that this was a song for Sam and I really see that too. It fits well with the aesthetic of her playlist and the theme of fighting for your life everyday definitely resonates with Sam, as does the “Nobody knows” lyric. But the lyrics are also about being out in the world, which is something Sam doesn’t do but Chloe wants to continue to do desperately, despite her ability making it difficult.

CALEB/ADAM

4. “Blue and Yellow” - The Used

This was a song suggested by my sister for Caleb and Adam because of the colors involved and also because The Used was a band we both listened to a lot when we were emo teenagers like Adam. Ultimately, this song feels very dated as early emo and didn’t quite fit musically on any of their mixes, either in-universe or not.

And it’s all in how you mix the two/and it starts just where the light exists/it’s a feeling that you cannot miss/and it burns a hole/through everyone that feels it

5. “Stupid for You” - Waterparks

This is another song that was recommended to me, this time by a tumblr user and it is absolutely perfect. I didn’t even realize that there was pop punk being made like this anymore, so I was delighted.

You’re yellow, I’m natural blue/let’s get together and be green like my insides - I mean??? Couldn’t have said it better myself

Also, the refrain of “stupid for you” fits perfectly with the “I’m the guy who’s been so stupid about you that it broke my fucking super power!” I mean, I clearly ghostwrote this song.

ISO: the tumblr user who suggested this song. I have scoured both of my blogs to find the ask to no avail so if it was you, please raise your hand.

Both of these songs would go on a Caleb/Adam ship mix if such a thing existed. But in fact, both their mixes are in-universe and, while one of them might put this on a mix now, it would have been way too vulnerable of a thing to put on one of those earlier playlists. I've linked to their second in-universe mix - the quite lovey one that Adam makes for Caleb.

MARK

6. “Time Machine" - Robyn

This definitely felt a little too on the nose for Mark, so I went with “Hang With Me” instead. But Mark loves Robyn and would love the DeLorean reference in this so it was very tempting. It’s also a song all about making impulsive decisions, which Mark definitely does a lot, but in classic Robyn style, it’s such a bop despite the serious lyrics. That balance fits Mark perfectly.

7. “F U” - Miley Cyrus

I know this song is about someone cheating, but it is such a good angry-fuck-you song that I can’t help but think of it in the context of Mark’s feelings towards Wadsworth. Having missed the heyday of pop borrowing from dubstep and the increasing use of internet slang, I think Mark would have gotten out of The AM and fallen hard for this song. I imagine many an afternoon before Joan gets home from work just angry dancing around the living room singing along to this.

SAM/MARK

8. “Someone to Fall Back On” - Jason Robert Brown

This is 100% Sam singing to Mark about being his knight in shining armor. Sam is hard on herself - doesn’t realize her own strength - so the self-deprecating lyrics really work for her. It didn’t make it on the playlist because it felt like it was a little further down the line in their relationship - somewhere around Episode 40.

I’ll take your side/if I’m the only one/I’m used to that/I’ve been alone/I’d rather be/the half of us/the least of you/the best of me

I got a lot of guesses for Frank on this one, which completely fits. He’s quite a bit more confident in his abilities than Sam - if he thinks he can be your knight, he’ll say so right from the get-go.

9. “Can’t Get Started With You” - Ella Fitzgerald

This is pretty self-explanatory. It didn’t fit with the very particular structure that I created for the Sam/Mark playlist and it also felt like a later stage of their relationship. That playlist was them falling in love and wanting to be in the same time; this song is getting close to that but then getting pulled apart again, first by Damien and then by the difficult realties of actually trying to have a relationship. If the previous track is end of Season 3 for them, this is a Season 4 song.

A/N, 2020: it certainly is a Season 4 song, because it actually ended up going on their Season 4 playlist.

DAMIEN/MARK

10. “Elvis Ain’t Dead” - Scouting for Girls

So…this is a reject from an as of yet published playlist. I know - not fair. Think of this as the free square on a bingo sheet. In the course of writing Season 3, I was motivated to make a playlist for a relationship that was becoming increasingly interesting to write. While this playlist could certainly be seen as a ship playlist, I have no intentions to ever put these characters together in a real way, but their dynamic was so compelling that I wanted to explore it. I will eventually release the playlist because it’s one of the best I’ve made, but I didn’t want it influencing anyone’s reaction to the end of Season 3. Loose lips sink ships.

I wish it was me you chose/Elvis ain’t dead/and you’re coming back

Okay, okay, I won’t leave you hanging because a few people actually guessed this one right - it’s from a Damien/Mark playlist. This is actually one of three unpublished Damien mixes - for whatever reason, music is the fastest and easiest way for me to connect to him. He really brings out the playlist-making skills in me.

A lot of people guessed that this was Agent Green which I absolutely love. Poor Owen.

A/N, 2020: I didn't link to the playlist originally, but it exists now! To this day, I think it's some of my best work.

ROSE

11. “Carolina” - Harry Styles

This was mostly rejected because I felt stupid having two songs called “Carolina” on one mix and Sara Bareilles trumps Harry Styles (as much as I love him). But in style and content, this really feels like a Rose song.

#playlist #playlists #b-sides #the bright sessions #man elvis ain't dead still really slaps

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vinciaka · 4 years

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KALEIDOSCOPE: a project by DAYE

my dear friend serge aka daye just sent a full project for me to listen through before the release of it. It moved me so much that i couldn’t sleep without trying my very best to explain how listening to this made me feel, cause it made me feel very much, all 7 tracks. i want to (try to) explain to you how each song made me feel.

a little quick thing to know before you read this: i tend to reach a lot, and in this little post here, i will try to explain how i saw these songs and the conceptual interpretations i made. they’re probably wrong and might not have been the artist’s true intentions when making the songs, but songs are more fun if you listen to them in your own way. oh !warning! my “review” or whatever might be very biased lol okay

where were we? oh right, the feels. I feel like it made perfect sense to name this project KALEIDOSCOPE, because just like the real thing, daye reflects both his personal life and producing essence in his music and it creates this beautiful art that transforms into another masterpiece depending on how you decide to look at(/listen to) it. he has used things like audio clips from moments in his life, sounds of a cassette player being opened/closed, voices of friends with his (oh so) suitable voice to enhance theirs, and his own voice as main focus (spoiler: my fav song is where he raps the outro... stay tuned xo). It all results in a beautiful memoir, that i felt was focusing on the things surrounding him, perceived by serge and translated by daye into these songs.

the first song ROLLIN sucked me in with the very calming cheerful melody. the song features rapper mike jones that tells a story about a cute blossoming affection between two people who both seem too shy to come forward about it. the story is accompanied with beautiful inputs of shorter melodies created with something that sounds like a very pianoy electric guitar (comes in around 1:46). this song really shows dayes talent when it comes to creating melodies and layering the same melody with different sounds. we hear everything from violin sounds, to synths, backed by fabulous kicks and claps and hi-hats and tambourines and... you get it. he pays a lot of attention to details and it shows through the very subtle sounds of “plings” and his own “so now we” voice input. the beat is concluded with a beautiful piano outro played by one of his friends and puts a more “ripened love”(lol) denouement to the cutesy lovey dovey mood introduced in the beginning of the song. it ends with an audio clip talking about rolling....the green (or brown) stuff. This song feels: buoyant, calm, blissful, bubbly, cute.

the second track BADBOY (also my second favorite song) is just pure, fantastic, simple yet detailed quality production. this song feels like taking an evening walk in the inner city when everything is about to close during warmer weather & meeting up with fun adventurous friends. the drum loop is just so beautifully chosen and is the highlight of the song to me. the second name of this song should be SYNTHBOY (sry). the thing is, i usually don’t like synthy sounds, but daye chooses his sounds so perfectly and breaks it off with complementary non-expected sounds, and the result is... my second favorite track. the outro is a fun audio clip where his friends are joking around. The song really gives me both summer night and summer day and summer day vibes. This song feels: sunny, refreshing, cresent-moony, breezy

next song SWAGOO is my personal favorite. wow.. just wow. i would divide the song into 3 parts and i mean… 3 parts? ugh daye’s mind! the first part is a sample of a song with vocals that go “your love, your love, your love” and it’s a great introduction to the theme of the song. Next part we’re introduced to a very soothing R&B electric piano feel that was quickly accompanied by a very minimalistic, clean kick, snare and hi-hat. once again, rapper mike jones is featured and this time tells a story that seems to continue on where he left off in ROLLIN. but this time he’s ready to settle down. the whole minimalistic instrumental through the second part gave off the good feelings of liking someone and being really sure about the whole thing. but i realized that it all was a false feeling of comfort when the second part was cut off into an audio clip. the audio clip is from a video featured by yours truly (lol) & other friends and is from a house party both me and daye were at at some time in april 2019. in the audio clip you can hear us singing to self control by frank ocean, and the part daye chose to add just makes so much sense and is so fitting into the story. it was the part where frank says “i came to visit, cause you see me like a ufo”. after mike jones spoke about being ready to settle down into the relationship, it seems like it all fell off, just like what that part in frank’s song hints at. two people falling off. right after the audio clip, i was hit by what gave me kind of a revelation, kind of an unreligious epiphany… the third and final part of the song. the last part lasts for 30 seconds and that’s what i dislike the most about this project, because to me that last part is the highlight of this tape. daye uses his own voice (!!) in a gloomy way with a sullen beautiful instrumental that i was amazed by. that part of the song is what fits my personal music taste the most. its crazy. the goal of trying to write all of this down instead of reviewing it directly to serge was to give me a chance to fully express how i felt about this project, but still this part gives me a hard time to explain how wonderfully divine it was. his vocals concludes the love story that mike told. the love interest was just “bad news” and the whole thing left daye in a slump. this whole song is just a wonderful story about love that fades when the mutual feelings stop being mutual and daye portrayed it beautifully through merging 3 different parts and leveling it out to create one harmonious song. excellent. i wish i could replay those last 30 seconds over and over again. in the very end, you hear the sound of a cassette player opening, welcoming the next song. This song feels: jolly -> hopeful->surprising->gloomy, amazing, rainy

track 4 and 5 i will review together as one part. first we hear SMILLAS INTERLUDE and then we hear TIMELESS, both have beautiful melodies and lyrics sung by serges friend smilla. the interlude is just different cuts of her voice singing some words, but mostly overwhelmingly beautiful runs. wow what a voice. in between the cuts of her voice daye carries on the theme with cassette player opening/closing sounds. the interlude almost sounds like the process of writing a letter with drafts and parts that both are kept and thrown away but that in the end results in a fully written letter, and that’s what TIMELESS is. if deciding to look at this project as one big storyline where all songs are small pieces of a bigger story, the lyrics in TIMELESS seem like an explanation to why the love was “bad news”. the whole intention of the relation seemed to be confusing and not straight to the point, a “timeless haze” as told by smilla. the best point of this song, the music production by daye, made it feel like everything still was alright. the beat felt like a hug, saying that the confusion is okay. it felt like a rainy summer day. bright outside with gray skies and a rainbow. the song is fully nuanced because all of the elements in it. everything has more than one layer. the drums, the synths, the vocals. during the chorus, a simple bassline is added to the instrumental and it gives the song a whole new layer of depth. the mixing of this song is the best in my opinion. This song feels: reassuring, confidently confusing, self focusing, profound, like a kiss on the forehead.

the second last song of this tape, COMING HOME shares the spot together with BADBOY as my second favorite track. the production is just so spectacular and high quality! i love it. the drum loop hits hard throughout the whole song and once again, daye’s ears made my ears a big favor by choosing it. his talent with finding and picking out the best sounds & layering was really noticable in this song and it all feels like a whole majestic musical arrangement more than just a beat. it feels like the last day of summer. the melody created by the bass, synths and other sound effects makes the song feel like a sad farewell, but affirming of that better days will come. To further push the feeling of that this is a goodbye, we once again have the talented mike jones lifting the song even more with his added lyrics about “coming home”. between mike’s verses, i was blessed with a beautiful guitar solo played by daye’s talented friend edvin. i had a hard time choosing, but the point of this song is the drum loop and the bassline. listening to the project as a whole, it feels like this is the last song of the project even if isn’t. This song feels: elevating, reminiscent, bittersweet, concluding

like i said above, COMING HOME feels like the last song. but now, we have come to the official last song: INTRO2PHASE2. what im about to say, the title already hints on it. this song sticks out the most to me and it is made very obvious the first two seconds of the song with a very intense synth sound that differs from any synth throughout the whole project. the music composition differs a lot too and is no longer soft and summery but rather upbeat, more intense and less... lovey. it was impossible not to move your head along to the beat. What i like the most about this song is that it shows a whole different side of daye and portrays his versatility when it comes to production. whichever genre he decides to approach he does perfectly and leaves his fingerprints scattered all over the finished product, so it still sounds like daye. this feels more like an intro to the next concept more than outro to this tape, and that is why the song before this was (to me) the last song of this project (or should i say phase?). mike (who is featured here too) also uses his voice in a more powerful way compared to the more relaxed/soft way that is heard in the other songs he is in. if it still isn’t obvious that this is an intro to the switch of concepts, it is made even more clear with mike’s unfinished sentence where he says he doesn’t want drama, he wants-... to be continued i guess! This song feels: intense, like fire, stinky face, hard

im excited for what’s next to come, and curious about where the focus will shift in the next project. daye left us with a cliffhanger, and hopefully, in the future we will know what it was that mike jones wanted instead of drama.

to summarize, this project felt very conceptual even if intentional or not, the order of the songs made sense if you were to look at it as a whole story. generally, it sounds like the theme is love; from its exciting beginnings to the end of it (and maybe the rebound too?) in a very realistic way. all songs can be seen as one big coherent story, or as individual songs and which one you see depends on how you want to look at it through the KALEIDOSCOPE. This project feels like: love, summer, a story

#wow if u made it all the way here #my opinion is irrelevant tho

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danyka-fendyr · 5 years

Text

As the Raven Flies: Part 2

Taglist: @dreamwritesimagines @rhabakoli

Are there only two people on my taglist? Yes. Am I making it anyway? Also yes. It makes me feel more official. Anyway, here’s the next chapter of my disaster fic. The good news is that I took the time to edit this time and actually like...paced myself somewhat while writing.

Wordcount: 3246 bc apparently I have no self-control???

“My entire family is dead.”

“What?”

“You gonna make me say it again, Castle?”

Frank looked speechless. “How did it happen? If you don’t mind..”

“I mind.” Vivien crossed her arms over her chest, trying to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear even though it was all bunched up in a ponytail. Nervous tick.

Thus ensued the longest, most regret filled pause of Vivien’s life. She didn’t know what to say any more now that no one was asking her about her dead family, and Matt seemed to think he either wasn’t a part of this particular conversation or just didn’t have anything relevant to add on. Vivien waited as the silence stretched out, just about ready to kick Matt Murdock for not opening that big fat mouth of his the one time in his life she actually wanted him to.

Finally, Frank spoke. “Are you hungry miss?”

Vivien blinked. “What?

“You hungry? I only ask because Red here doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to remember what food is, let alone that he needs to feed someone else.”

Vivien laughed slightly. “Yeah. He’s pretty bad about that. So am I though.”

“I’ll take that to mean you’re hungry. C’mon. I know a pretty good diner about 3 blocks down from here. You can keep the mask on if you don’t wanna show me your face.”

Matt went to speak up, but Frank interrupted him. “The invitation was for you too, Red. Though you should probably lose the costume.”

“We can swing by my place first. That way I can change into something a little less...conspicuous,” Matt said.

“I don’t mind showing my face, so if nobody objects I’ll be wearing something not made out of Kevlar to this late night snack party.”

“Fine by me,” Frank said. “But we ain’t doing that running across rooftop stuff you two do. I’m getting my car.”

Vivien turned to Matt, hands on her hips. “Why don’t we have a car?”

“I’m still blind, Vivien.”

“Excellent point.”

Eventually, they got everything sorted, and thankfully they ended up somewhere that didn’t smell like blood and urine. Said place also happened to have a killer burger, which was currently making Vivien very happy. Whoever invented eggs on cheeseburgers was a genius.

Frank didn’t speak much, just letting them eat and doing the same. Matt, on the other hand, suddenly couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Maybe that was why he was so bad about eating. He would have to stop listening to the sound of his own voice to do that.

Currently, he was giving Frank a lecture on morality that Vivien gathered was a standard precursor to every conversation they had. She couldn’t be sure though, since she had stopped listening shortly after, “This city needs heroes, not your twisted version of justice Frank.” Blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah. She made a face, copying Matt behind his back as he leaned across the sticky green tabletop, intense. She exaggerated his movements, hamming it up because frankly, she was bored.

Frank’s laughter was slow. It started as a quiet snicker, but it quickly turned to a loud bark that devolved into what could only be called giggles, spurred on by Matt’s sheer indignance at not being taken seriously. When Vivien started laughing too, he turned on her.

“You too? Is there some kind of joke I’m missing?”

“Oh, this is...this is too good,” Frank gasped, wiping his eyes.

“Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week. The impressions are free, but if you want me to tell you exactly what Matt Murdock would say to you in any given situation, that’s going to cost you $5 an hour. If you don’t think that’s a practical business model, then I don’t know what to tell you. Clearly you’ve never been lectured by Matt. I’m surprised he doesn’t charge by the hour.”

Frank was dying. Absolutely dead. What could she say? Vivien was quick to feel out her audience. Or something like that.

“Were you mimicking me again? Vivien, we talked about that!”

“You said not in front of clients,” Vivien reminded him, waving a fry pointedly.

“Frank used to be a client.”

“Keywords being, ‘used to be’. I don’t deal in the past anymore Murdock. Makes me uncomfortable. Plus I’m cranky that I have a traumatic backstory because that’s just cliche.”

Matt pouted. Matthew Murdock, the devil of Hell’s Kitchen, Daredevil, attorney at law, was sitting in some grungy diner smack dab in the middle of New York, pouting over a turkey sandwich.

“You know what I think? I think we owe Frank our lives for introducing us to this place. This is a truly awesome burger.”

Frank smiled. “I’m glad you like it miss.”

Vivien nodded, eating another fry, her burger officially gone now. “Like I said, we owe you our lives. In lieu of those though, since we are currently making great use of them -or at the very least, mediocre, in Matt’s case- how about we feed you next time? Karen’s been dying to have you over for dinner.”

Frank paused, shoulders stiffening.

“Yeah? She say that?” He asked carefully.

“Didn’t have to. She’s been talking about how much she misses you for weeks. It’s getting irritating. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love Karen, I do. But if I have to hear her wonder what you’re doing one more time…”

Frank smiled. “I could maybe come around and visit sometime. But only if you promise to do more impressions of Red over here.”

“No more impressions! I am being targeted here,” Matt objected.

“Only because you make it so fun, Matty,” Vivien said. “You know really I love you, you self-righteous jerkface.”

She leaned over, hugging him from the side in a silent plea for forgiveness.

“Those words did not sound like love.”

“I can hear you pouting Murdock.”

“I don’t pout!”

“What’s that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of you pouting. I think it’s getting louder.”

Frank was laughing again. “Oh, you’ve got a deal. I can’t possibly miss a dinner with all of this happening.”

“Good. Let’s say...Tuesday?”

“That works for me.” Frank nodded. “Thank you for the invitation, miss.”

“You’re welcome,” she said.

Matt glanced down at his watch. “You’ll have to excuse us Frank. This little munchkin is up past her bedtime.”

He patted her head patronizingly, causing Vivien to glare at him.

“I have to tuck her in and read her Green Eggs and Ham five times so she can drift off into dreamland.”

“Don’t get confused. I’m the funny one in this partnership,” Vivien said.

“Sure you are,” Matt looked quite pleased with himself.

“I have to let him win sometimes. Otherwise, he gets cranky and refuses to feed and house me and then I have to become a little old bag lady like Vanellope from Wreck it Wralph,” she said solemnly.

“Wait, you live with Red?”

“Yes. He was kind enough to take me in after everything that happened. But that’s a story for another time.” Or never.

“Tuesday,” he said. “You’re telling me that story on Tuesday, miss.”

“Okay, fine. But you better come!”

“I’ll be there. Promise.”

“Cross your heart?” she asked.

“Cross my heart.”

“Good. See you!” Vivien sat up, waiting for Matt to grab his cane and join her.

“You told Frank what to get him to come to this dinner?” Karen whirled around, hands swallowed up by oven mitts and carrying a pot roast fresh out of the oven.

Karen’s kitchen was small, but cozy and warm. Everything had a sort of yellow accent to it that seemed to brighten the place up, even at the worst of times. And right now was not the worst of times, not even a little bit. For once.

“I told him you’re in love with him and you want to have his children,” Vivien said nonchalantly, sitting on the counter and letting her legs dangle, swaying in the nonexistent breeze.

Karen leveled her with a scolding look Vivien was very, very familiar with.

“Okay, okay. I told him that you really wanted him to come over and that you missed him.”

Karen turned bright red, setting the pot roast down on the table before burying her face in her hands. “You told him that?”

“Yep. Left out the lovey-dovey bits though. Figured you can’t force true love.”

“It’s not-it isn’t-just….just toss the salad, please!”

“Whatever you say, K.” Vivien hopped off of the counter, grabbing everything she needed to toss up a mean old salad.

Karen peered over her shoulder. “That’s too much dressing.”

“No such thing. Besides, your lover probably likes dressing.”

“Vivien, so help me!”

Vivien was giggling like mad, pausing in her enthusiastic efforts at pouring dressing. Karen took this opportunity to snatch the dressing from her, and as she put it in the fridge the girl’s smile slowly faded.

“You know what this reminds me of?”

“What?” Karen asked, voice soft.

Vivien leaned against the counter, staring at a crack in the wall shaped a little bit like Ohio. “My mom. Whenever we had people over she would fuss over everything like this too. And she hated having too much dressing on the salad. My dad liked a ton, but my mom was always trying to get us all to be healthier or whatever.”

“That sounds nice,” Karen said.

“Yeah. Yeah, it was.”

Vivien blinked sharply, wiping at tears that refused to fall out of her eyes, just hanging there off the ends of her lashes and stinging. She turned to the table, busying herself with making sure all the plates and forks and such were set up right. Karen let her, watching for a moment before grabbing the bread basket and setting it out.

“How is that story you’re working on going?”

“Pretty good. It’s just a boring fluff piece though.”

“Still in trouble for that last one you wrote?” Vivien grinned.

“Uh, yeah.” Karen laughed a little bit. “Yeah, definitely still in trouble for that.”

“Well, you know, Matt would say-”

There was a knocking on the door, and Vivien went to go answer it. Speak of the devil. Or the Daredevil, as fate might have it.

“Am I early?” Matt rested his cane on the wall.

“No. For once in your life you’re on time, actually. It’s everyone else that’s late.”

“Don’t give him any credit.” Foggy appeared behind him. “He’s only here on time because I dragged him.”

“You don’t get enough credit for all the good work you do, Foggy.”

“I know.”

Vivien moved out of the doorway so they could come inside, squeezing into Karen’s modest dining room. The tablecloth had more than a few wine stains, but fortunately it was wine colored, a wise decision on Karen’s part. Everything was set out and ready to go, the pot roast buried in a nest of carrots and potatoes, the rolls sitting pretty in their basket, and a glass of wine ready to be filled for everyone except Vivien. She had tried to argue in favor of her drinking wine because she already broke the law anyway, but Karen vetoed that. In truth Vivien thought that wine was absolutely horribly nasty, but she definitely didn’t want to be the lame kid drinking orange soda in front of The Punisher. No matter how much she loved orange soda.

“Is that...orange soda in a wine glass?”

“Don’t call me out like that Foggy. I’m doing my best.”

“That’s absolutely adorable,” Matt said, trying not to laugh.

“I’m going to punch you.”

The doorbell rang before Vivien could make good on her threats, and Karen’s head snapped up, swiveling over to the door.

“You going to get that?” Matt was still visibly amused.

“Yes. Yeah. Definitely. I’m going to go…” Karen wandered in the direction of the doorway.

“It’s true looooovvveee,” Vivien whispered.

Karen shot her a look.

“I bet you $5 he has flowers,” she said, ignoring the look.

“That’s ridiculous. You’re about to owe me $5.”

Karen opened the door to Frank holding a bouquet of flowers.

“Hi Karen,” he said.

Was The Punisher...blushing? Yes. Yes he was.

“Oh. You brought flowers,” Karen said, looking pretty red herself.

“Um, yeah. Thought I would thank you for dinner,” he said.

“That’s really nice of you Frank.” She smiled at him.

They were totally making eyes at each other. Vivien communicated as much to Matt through barely audible whispers, making Matt laugh very audibly. Karen glared suspiciously at her, and Vivien shot her an innocent grin as she let Frank inside, letting him pull her chair out for her.

Frank sat down across from Vivien, giving her a concerned look. “So, do you have a name miss?”

“Oh, we never actually formally told you that, huh?”

“It’s Valerie or something, right?”

“Vivien.” She smiled at him.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you in a setting where you probably won’t die, Vivien.” Frank glared pointedly at Matt.

“I just want you to know that I can’t see you glaring at me.”

“What you just said contradicts that, Red.”

“I made an educated guess.”

“It was still my idea to be a vigilante, Mr. Castle. Matt objects every time. It’s very annoying,” Vivien said.

“Have you ever considered… I don’t know, not recklessly putting yourself in danger?”

Karen poured wine into Frank’s glass as he spoke, going around the table.

“Sometimes I think about that at night when I can’t sleep, and then I start laughing because can you imagine how boring leading that kind of life would be?”

Frank looked like he was about to say something, but Karen interrupted. “Alright, who wants to cut the roast? Matt?”

“Karen, I really think that’s a bad idea.”

Karen looked down at the table, biting her lip. “Right. Sorry.”

“I’ll do it.”

Frank stood, starting to slice the roast into thin pieces. It was obvious this wasn’t his first roast slicing rodeo. The man knew what he was doing. He wasn’t as good as Foggy, admittedly, but Foggy was raised by butchers, so that was sort of a given.

“I’ll say grace,” Matt said.

“You still say grace, altar boy?” Frank scoffed.

“Yes, yes I do. And you could probably benefit from it.”

Frank rolled his eyes, but bowed his head to pray with the rest of them as Matt blessed the food and prayed for the safety of the city. He kept it short and sweet, no doubt trying to avoid complaints from Frank, who Vivien was starting to get the sense was very jaded. She figured that was more than fair.

They ate in silence for the first few minutes, before Matt started trying to lecture. Karen intercepted though, not about to have any arguments break out at her dinner table.

“So, Frank, how have you been lately?”

“Oh, the usual, I guess.” It was a non-committal answer if Vivien had ever heard one. “And you? How is the reporter thing working out for you?”

“Good. I like it a lot, although I...tend to get in trouble.”

Frank chuckled. “Yeah, I figured as much. Your last article seemed like it might ruffle more than a few feathers.”

“You could say that.”

“It was good though. Great, actually.”

“Thank you.” Karen looked down at the tablecloth, smiling to herself.

They returned to silence before, surprisingly, Frank started the conversation.

“So, miss, how did you end up living with Red over here?”

“Well, that’s a somewhat complicated story,” Vivien dodged.

“Try me.” Frank speared a carrot, stuffing it in his mouth.

“Long story short? My family died and Matt found me living on the street through a fortunate series of adventures that involved some unpaid legal representation, which is what most of Matt’s adventures involve. Anyway, he found me, decided that I should probably not be homeless at such a young, vulnerable age, and took me in. And here I am today, thriving.”

Frank look at her appraisingly. “You don’t seem awfully torn up about your family.”

The change in Vivien was immediate. Her eyes darkened, hands balling into fists under the table. This son of a-

Karen placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey. Easy there. It’s okay.”

Viven stabbed her fork violently into her pot roast.

“Some of us murder dozens of people, others deflect with humor. Just because I don’t feel the need to shoot anyone in the face doesn’t mean I don’t grieve, Castle.”

There was silence at the dinner table, but not the comfortable kind like before. This was cold and stunned.

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t right of me to assume.”

“No. No it wasn’t.” Vivien chewed viciously.

Frank watched her carefully, but Vivien refused to meet his gaze.“You have a lot of anger in you, huh kid?”

“You have a problem with that too?”

“No. Seems pretty natural to me. I guess you take that out on criminals, huh?”

“It seemed more constructive then becoming a cheerleader and being horrible to every teenage girl that might threaten my supreme reign over all things high school related.”

Karen laughed softly, and Frank smiled at the sound.

“Yeah, I guess you’ve got me there. And I’m not in a place to judge how you take out your anger, as you so passionately pointed out.”

“Sorry about that.” Vivien glanced tentatively up at him now, doing her best to look genuinely remorseful.

“It’s okay. You were right.”

“Being right doesn’t mean you should say something.”

He chuckled. “You’ve got me there. So, Red trained you?”

“I trained myself.” She set her elbows on the table with complete disregard to all traditional manners. “And then Matt helped because apparently I was clumsy.”

“You still are.”

“Matt, please.” Vivien gave him a rather pathetic look.

“It’s just the truth.” He held up his hands in surrender.

“You’re mean.”

“You know, I get that a lot for a guy who does as much pro bono as I do.”

“Probably because you’re an a-”

“Ah!” Foggy reached over to his right to cover Vivien’s ears. “No swearing around the baby!”

“I’m not a baby! ...But he’s right, you shouldn’t swear. There are much more creative ways to express yourself,” Vivien said.

Frank looked at her like she had grown another head. “You don’t swear?”

“No. And if you have a problem with that then I hope a flaming squid falls on your face and squirts ink in your eyes.”

“Okay. Point taken.”

The rest of dinner was fun. They ate, they laughed, and nobody further mocked Vivien’s orange juice in a wine glass. Eventually, though, it had to come to an end, as all good things do.

“I should be heading back,” Frank said.

“Yeah, us too.” Foggy nodded, slightly tipsy.

“Did you want to stay the night?” Karen asked her softly.

Vivien may or may not have half-fallen asleep on the kitchen table. She reasoned that it wasn’t her fault that they had talked till 1 in the morning. She nodded sleepily, turning her head to look at Karen with sleep-blurred eyes.

“I’ll come by and get her in the morning,” Matt said, grabbing his cane.

“Okay.” Karen began trying to pick Vivien up in order to move her to the bed in her room.

“I’ve got her.” Frank scooped her up like nothing, carrying her into Karen’s room and setting her down gently on the bed. For a moment, Vivien almost could have confused him for her Dad.

She could hear them speaking in soft voices, trying not to wake her up.

“Thanks Frank.”

“No problem.”

Vivien may have only been half-conscious, but she could feel the way they were staring at each other.

“Red, I need to talk to you,” Frank said, breaking away from Karen.

“Yeah?”

Vivien tried to listen in on their conversation, but they went outside to talk, much to her chagrin. Slowly, what little she could hear of their voices faded away. And then she was fast asleep, gone until the next morning.

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