"I'm not gonna hurt you." Matt stood in the small bedroom, only a few steps away from John. His arms were folded, shaking his head.

"C'mon I can take it. You gotta gimme somethin' luv."

"I told you, I can't."

John sucked his teeth, inhaling and thinking for a moment. "Wasn't your daddy a boxer? He didn't teach you how to slug a bloke?"

"Shut up." Matt snapped, turning his head to face him and taking those few steps to close the distance. As his arms unfolded slowly, the look in his face and the language of his body were warnings for John not to continue.

But, quite casually, he continued anyways. "Didn't maybe... Teach you by showin' you on your mum, did he?"

"SHUT UP." Matt's arms unfolded and before he knew what he was doing, a fist connected with John's face. The magician stumbled backward, hand holding his nose. As he drew it away, there was blood. Matt could smell it, what he'd done, and he couldn't say he was proud, but he also wouldn't say the guy didn't have it coming.

"There we go. Now we've got it." John wiped his nose on his sleeve, the blood only trickling out slightly now. "Jeez mate, you hit hard. Not exactly what I wanted, but I'll take it to get you hittin' me how I want you to." He smirked, but Matt wasn't having it. His anger was his least favorite emotion, and he didn't like it being manipulated for someone else's pleasure.

Angrily, swiftly, and without thinking- like he'd done it plenty of times before- Matt grabbed John by the collar of his coat, pinning him forcefully to the wall behind him.

"Ooo, still got some fight in you, luv?" John joked, knowing he was only poking the bear.

Matt was stationary, not saying anything, but not letting go. He was trying desperately to calm himself.

Still smirking, John tilted his head a bit, the blood from his nose changing course slightly with the shift in its origin. "Don't tell me you don't feel a rush when you're fighting, all dominant and wailing on those street thug blokes."

In response, Matt drew back and slammed him again to get him to stop talking- only this time it was lighter and he was careful not to hit John's head against the wall. Words weren't coming to him like they should. He could sweet talk a jury, no questions asked, but get him angry and it was like his brain stopped working.

"Aye! I'm askin' for it, aren't I? Although, you could be sweeter about it." John teased and Matt's head turned to the ground, still holding John against the wall.

John tugged at the lawyer's t-shirt, wondering if he'd broken the poor guy. Wouldn't be the first time he'd have made someone cry like this. His fingertips brushed Matt's abdomen as he pulled at it, making his head twitch a bit to the side.

The lawyer took a breath in to speak, but was abruptly cut off. "Uh-uh. You don't have to say anything, luv. Lemme go, I'll get out of your hair." It wasn't fun when the guy was a total sob story waiting to happen. Plus he'd made it awkward.

Matt nodded, pausing for a moment before easing up on John and backing away. John straightened his coat and his tie, wiping his nose again- Matt still in oddly close proximity to him. He turned to leave, but was stopped by a muscly hand gripping his arm. He looked at it, then up at the blind man and raised an eyebrow.

"Whatcha doin' there, luv?"

Matt sighed as John turned back to him, not yet letting go of his arm. "Your nose, it-"

"Don't worry about it. Said I could handle it. It's seen worse days, believe me." John scratched his head. Boy, did this guy make awkward situations ten thousand times worse. He glanced down at his arm again, wondering if Matt would ever let go.

The fact that he hadn't yet, though, made him wonder if the guy even wanted to. After all, John hadn't, for once, invited himself inside. He'd gone to kiss him, but Matt kissed back. It wasn't all hopeless and awful- maybe.

"Mate, you don't have to-"

"No- No, I know, I..." Matt released his arm in favor of pinching the bridge of his nose. Dealing with the aftermath of whatever he'd done was not John's area of expertise.

Running a hand down his face with an exasperated sigh, John leaned back against the wall again. Then, out of nowhere, Matt began to laugh. Just a little. Enough for John to shake his head and start laughing too.

"What a right mess this is, huh?" In a matter of minutes they'd gone from making out to daddy issues to bloody noses- the fact that the two were laughing about it was oddly disconcerting for the both of them. Constantine wiped his nose a final time through a breathy chuckle. "Hey, how's about we try this again?"

Matt shrugged, staring at him with a small smile, despite the previous situation. "What could possibly go wrong /this/ time."

"Hey. Sarcasm noted, and not appreciated." He stayed leaned against the wall, eyebrow raised as Matt seemed to be scanning him for something. "Well? You gonna help me outta my bloody coat, lawyer man, or am I gonna have to do everything myself?"

With a slight chuckle, Matt went over to him and slipped off his jacket. They were close now, and Matt let himself feel the heat in John's breath slink across his face. He studied the sound of it so he'd know he could hear when it'd hitch later on.

Matt was hesitant to do much, still not completely over what had gone on earlier. John could tell, so he helped him along. Didn't get a bloody nose to come this far and get nothing in return.

He let his jacket fall, then pulled the larger man closer to him by the belt loops in his trousers. Matt took the hint and kissed him, trailing from his lips to his neck softly. He ran his tongue down one of the muscles that stuck out there and nipped at his collar bone after beginning to unbutton John's shirt above the tie that hung loosely around his neck.

When it was off, John nudged him toward the bed, letting it softly buckle Matt's knees as they hit the edge so that he was sitting on it. John climbed up and leaned over him, sort of sitting in his lap but sort of trying to push him over. The magician was extremely impatient when it came to almost anything at all. More kissing, more feeling- their undershirts were off in some moments when finally Matt caved and fell backward onto the bed.

To put it nicely, Matt was gentle. But everything he did had a point, a purpose. He couldn't see, so he admired you with everything else. His lips, his hands, his tongue- all of them tracing each little muscle and bone and scar in John's skin. It was new for him- he wasn't exactly used to feeling like a treasure, and he couldn't tell how he felt about it either.

He leaned down into Matt's neck, nipping and sucking just above his collar bone while unbuttoning his pants and sliding them to the floor. He's really not kidding about the impatient thing. Matt reached out after a moment and helped John out of his, too- only two layers and a whole lot of heat in between them now.

Matt rolled John over so that his head was on the pillow. He held his arms to the bed and started kissing and licking down his chest and his abdomen, feeling everything that scarred it- whether it be tattoos or cuts or anything. Hands moved from John's wrists to his sides, tracing up and down before resting at his hips.

John tangled his fingers into Matt's hair, his toes curling a bit with impatience. But Matt wasn't teasing- he truly wanted to feel every part and remember every detail of John's body. Perks of being a blind man in bed with him, John would allow the seeming torture to go on for a bit.

Matt ran a thumb slowly over the front of John's boxers, causing his hips to buck up slightly. The lawyer let his lips skim the area too, letting his hot breath linger over the fabric for a moment before moving to nip at his inner thigh.

This earned Matt an annoyed groan from the other. "Hnn. You're killin' me, luv... Don't be a tease." Matt chuckled against his skin, which only served to worsen John's condition. "Ah, let me do it then."

John sat up and pulled Matt toward him, flopping him onto his back and situating himself between his legs. He leaned on top of Matt, kissing him roughly and grinding their hips together. It was cute, what Matt did, it really was- but as special as it might've made him feel (and you didn't hear that from me), John needed some... relief.

Matt held the back of John's neck with one hand, his other lightly gripping the edge of the bed. John's hand slipped past the fabric of Matt's boxers and pulled them down a bit. Hearing a hitch in Matt's breath as he did so made him smirk- he really just wanted to get a reaction out of the other.

((aaaaaaaaand bc im awkward and i cant actually write this shit and you probably dont wanna hear all those weird fanfiction synonyms for p e n i s we can just uhhhh... time skip.))

They'd been laying there for a bit, only Matt bothering to slide his boxers back on before the both of them made any attempt at sleep.

"John..." Matt's voice cut through their silence. John hadn't yet fallen asleep, and Matt had found it difficult as well.

"Mm..? What is it?" John turned over and ran a lazy hand through his blonde hair. "Round two already, hm?"

Matt let out short breath you could consider a tired laugh, shaking his head. "No, no..." He lay on his back, hands behind his head, eyes open and focused on a ceiling he couldn't see the features of. "Is there... Do you... You know, is there someone?"

John sat up a bit to lean against the headboard, scratching at his chin. "Well- that's a right odd question to ask a bloke after the fact, innit?"

"I'm serious."

"So am I." Matt shot him a look before returning his gaze to the ceiling, urging John to answer him.

"I don't do this, you know." The lawyer spoke softly, swallowing a little as if he felt guilty for something.

Sighing, John folded his hands and rested them on his stomach. "'I was engaged once."

"What happened?" Matt slowly turned to his side to face him now, hoping the fact that he wasn't exactly making eye contact didn't make John uneasy. He found it unsettled most people.

"Long story short, luv: someone like me doesn't get to be happy." He sighed again, leaning over the bed to fumble for his coat, probably looking for his pack of smokes. "Done nothing to deserve it."

Matt stayed silent as John returned to his position on the bed, now with lighter in hand and a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips.

"Don't do that in here..." Matt reached over, grabbing the cig from his mouth and placing it on his bed side table. "I'll smell it for weeks."

John let out an annoyed groan, tossing the lighter back onto his coat. "What about you then, luv?"

Matt guessed he shouldn't have asked if he didn't want to share as well. Still, he was nervous to speak.

"I, uh... I was engaged once too. Married, actually." Matt sat up, tapping his thumbs together anxiously.

"Catholics don't take kindly to divorce... Did she-?"

"No... No, not exactly." Matt leaned his head back, gently tapping it against the wood behind him. "Others, yeah, but not her."

"Savin' her from you, eh?" John wondered if Matt's social and romantic life had been plagued as much as his had. Everyone around the two of them seemed to end up dead or in a living hell- literally or metaphorically, depending.

"I wish I had..." He listened for a moment, seeing if John would say something- or tried to judge what his reaction was. He was terribly hard to read. "Mental hospital. She's... And the others are- well, they're-"

"Yeah... Not alone there, mate." John rubbed his eyes, checking his watch for the time. "That thing you're doing, letting it eat at you... Don't do that, luv. Ain't a thing you can do about it now." With that he rolled over, facing Matt as the lawyer continued bearing his blank gaze into the ceiling.

"And sleep." John said, getting closer to him. "Don't know how you street-level-hero-vigilante blokes do it- up all night, living all day. I'm bloody exhausted just thinkin' about it. And i've seen some shit, Matty." Matt laughed a bit, letting himself relax. Eventually, both their breathing had evened out after John's head had found its way onto Matt's chest, and they were sound asleep with the yellow tint of Matt's windows reflecting across the sheets strewn messily across their bodies.