Mako's Message: Okay, so, I just kinda wrote this and I just kinda went with it and didn't plan much of this out and it just happened so...

Here is a chapter!

Hope you like it. I'm gonna be trying to get ALL my fics regularly updated from now on. and by "Regularly" I mean "No more than two months between updates" (I have a lot of ongoing fics) so, here's hoping.


Dave.

Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave.

What am I going to do with you?

I mean, I know what I'd LIKE to do with you, but you wont let me.

And then you go and do something stupid and make me wanna strangle you. Seriously. How could you just-

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time. He couldn't have kept Riley from knowing forever unless he broke up with her, and seeing as how they just moved in together I'm sure that's not gonna happen any time soon.

Why can't he just be my boyfriend? That'd make life so much simpler. No one else would find out our secret, he wouldn't have to spend so much time away from me, and we'd get to have sex after our patrols. It's all win!

At least I get days like today sometimes. Sure, it may not have been the way I would have liked to, but spending an evening in bed with Dave is spending an evening in bed with Dave.

He came over after his afternoon shift at work to see how I was doing.

I said, "I'm doing fine."

And he asked, "Fine?"

And I rolled my eyes and said, "I'm as fine as can be expected." He just stood there looking at me so I said, "My lungs still hurt."

Then he sat down on the bed and said, "You're using the oxygen."

And I just looked at him like, "Of course I'm using the oxygen."

He said, "I figured you'd say you didn't need it."

So I said, "I was poisoned. The doctors said that this is the best way to get it out of my system. I want to be back on the streets as soon as possible. So I'm using the oxygen."

Dave smiled at me then and said, "That's very- I'm proud of you."

And I just looked at him again and said, "Why?"

And he said, "The last time you were in the hospital you kept trying to deny your injury."

I said, "The last time I was in the hospital it was because a little shit ambushed me with a pipe at school. I never denied that. What I denied was that I needed help," then I started typing again and said, "My traitorous leg didn't agree with me."

I didn't want to look at Dave because I just knew he was smiling at me and if I did I'd start blushing.

Then he asked what I was doing and I told him I was e-mailing realtors about looking at some property..

He asked if he could see so I told him to come sit nest to me, and that's how I ended up spending the rest of the evening with Dave in my bed.

He sat real close to me too. So close he had to put his arm behind me to sit comfortably. I wish he would have put his arm around me, but I have a feeling he was intentionally NOT doing that.

He was surprised that I was looking at entire buildings. I told him that sometimes it's easier to own the property outright than to try and rent a piece of it. Especially with the modifications we'd have to make.

I showed him one building that I really liked. It used to be a warehouse that was converted into an art center or something. The first floor used to be a supply store, the second had a ballet studio on it, and the third floor had smaller studios, but when the economy went to shit the people renting the space stopped being able to pay and the place had been vacant for the last fie years and the current owner was getting desperate.

He looked at me and asked, "How do you figure that?"

I pointed to the price and said, "Even for that neighborhood that's low. About thirty thousand less than I was expecting. Assuming we don't have to do too much work on the building itself it'd be perfect for what we're doing. Especially if we can find people to rent the other spaces. We might even be able to turn a profit after a couple years."

He'd leaned in to look at it better and said, "Wow. You are really amazing sometimes."

He was so close I couldn't resist saying, "Dave?"

And when he turned to look at me I kissed him.

Well, I tried to at least. He must have expected me to try that because he brought his hand up in front of his mouth so I ended up kinda kissing that instead of his lips.

He smirked at me and said, "Try that again and I'm leaving."

So I sat back and said, "Fine."

He poked at some of the other stuff I'd been working on, like trying to see what if anything the murder victims had in common.

I ended up just watching him for a few minutes before I finally asked the question I'd been trying to not think about; "What happened yesterday?"

He froze for a full five seconds before he said, "What do you mean?"

"What happened to me last night? What happened to you? How did I get out?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and said, "What do you mean? We got jumped, they carried you off, I tracked you down, got you out, and took you to the hospital."

I said, "I figured that much. But what actually happened?"

He sighed and said, "What do you remember?"

So I told him I remembered the guy tackling him then getting hit, carried off, and thrown in the van, then waking up tied to a chair and Chris taunting me for a bit, then waking up in the box and trying to break out, then a vague memory of gunshots, then finally waking up in the hospital. I left out the part about thinking I saw my Dad.

"Well, you know more about the beginning than I do then. By the time I got Kingpin off me the van was already speeding off."

So of course I had to ask, "Kingpin?"

"That's how big the guy was."

I saw the guy, so I know it was an exaggeration, but he wasn't that far off.

"I called Justice Forever, and the Colonel put out a description of the van. Insect Guy started checking traffic cameras. I hunted down a group of cunts to make them tell me where Chris would have taken you. I didn't get anything from them. Luckily I remembered to check the GPS locator on your phone. So, I grabbed some gear, got in the Hit Mobile, and hit the place hard and fast, and got you out. You weren't breathing so I gave you CPR until you were but you didn't wake up so I took you the nearest hospital and they took care of you. You woke up...I dunno. Later. I wasn't really paying attention to the time."

"So you saved me by yourself?"

"Uh...yeah."

"So, I guess that means you're my big damn hero?"

Dave started looking nervous, and I don't blame him because I started leaning in real close to him. He said, "I suppose...you could say that... But it's, ya know, no big thing. I mean, we're partners. Of course I came after you."

"Doesn't mean I can't thank you,"

He let me get about a half inch from his lips before he pushed me back and said, "Didn't I tell you not to try that again?"

I sighed and went limp, flopping against him and then hugged him around the waist. I said, "I'm really glad I don't remember most of what happened. Thank you for saving me."

He rubbed my back and said, "I told you. It's nothing you have to thank me for. If nothing else I owe you."

"No you don't. You've saved me more than I've saved you."

"No I haven't."

"Yeah, Dave. You have. You saved me twice at D'amico's penthouse, you saved me from that shithead with the pipe, you saved me from Nathan Bush, and now you've saved me again." I lay there with my head practically in his lap and I didn't even think about how close I was to his dick once.

Then he said, "You save my life all the time. Without you watching my back I'd have been killed dozens of times over by now."

"I don't know what I'd do without you. If it was just me and Marcus I think I might have gone insane and run off months ago,"

"See?" he said, "There's no need to thank me because we're there for each other. Every day. Like partners are supposed to be."

We sat like that for awhile longer before I finally asked, "There's nothing you didn't tell me? Nothing else happened to me?"

Dave shook his head and kept rubbing my back, "No, nothing I know of. Why?"

"Just feeling lucky I guess."

Then Marcus came in. Well, that's when he coughed and we looked up to see him standing in the door.

I think we should get credit for not leaping apart like we got caught doing something bad. I mean, we weren't, but still. I just sat up and said, "Hello" and Dave said, "What's up?"

Marcus just stood there, leaning against the door frame for a moment before he said, "Just checking in. How're you doing sweetie?"

I said, "I'm doing okay. Thanks for the headphones and the soup. I stayed in bed like you asked."

Then he raised an eyebrow and said, "Really?"

I shrugged and said, "Well, mostly. I went to the kitchen to get food, I let Dave in, used the bathroom."

"I'm just glad you're actually resting."

I shrugged again and said, "My lungs still hurt."

Then he looked at Dave and said, "What about you?"

Dave said, "I...am fine."

"You staying for dinner?"

I said, "Yes."

He said, "Actually I can't. I need to go talk to Riley."

A part of me hoped that meant he was going to break up with her, but that was a foolish hope and I knew it. I asked him, "Why?"

He said, "Well, everybody knows Hit Girl got snatched last night, that Kick-Ass was running across the city trying to track her down, and that she ended up in the hospital."

I really fucking hate twitter sometimes.

"So when I didn't come home until dawn it wasn't hard for to figure it out."

Marcus blinked and said, "That's all it took?"

He said, "Well, on top of everything else. Like, when I was stabbed in the leg." Then he paused and said, "And she found my costume."

And I screamed "what", called him an idiot, pounced on him and started choking him for being a careless idiot, while beating his head against the mattress.

I stopped after a minute and he said, "It wasn't like it's the one I wear now. It was my old, unarmored one. I left it in one of the boxes in my closet and forgot about it. And she already figured it out, that's why she went digging through my stuff. Her finding it just meant I couldn't deny it."

I sat there glaring at him and said, "You're still an idiot."

And he said, "Yes, yes I am. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

And I don't know if he did intentionally or not but goddammit it worked. I don't know if I'll ever be able to stay mad at him. So I huffed dramatically and said, "Yes. Dumbass."

Marcus just rubbed at the bridge of his nose and said, "If I ever start understanding you two, just put me out of my misery." then walked away.

Then Dave said, "Which reminds me," and scrambled off the bed for his backpack, "I don't want to forget to give this to you again."

He handed me a wrapped book and said, "This was for your Birthday, but with, ya know, everything, I forgot about it."

It was a purple faux-leather bound diary that had my mask and wig embossed on it with the word, "Intensity" under it.

He said he saw it when he went shopping with Riley for more notebooks and that there were a bunch of other ones. His said "Courage", Alice's said "Hope", John's said "Justice", and The Gentleman's said, "Civility"

Which is kinda cool. I guess. I don't know if I'll use it though. Right now I just use a composition notebook with "Algebra" written on the front. Keeps people from looking at. That time at the hotel being an exception. This might attract nosy people's attention.

I like it though. I snuck a quick kiss to his cheek and said "thank you" for it, which he didn't seem to mind. He left afterward though.

Sometimes I just don't know what to do.