25-Runaway

"Oh good for her!" Laura exclaims as she rocks Cooper back and forth. Clint carries a warm bottle back into the living room. He was tired and half awake.

"Good for who, honey?" He asks, yawning. Clint looked over to television. On said television was a video of Peyton Stark, quickly walking whilst holding a man's hand. Both of them were dressed in workout clothes. Her face was mostly hidden by a hoodie, but Clint Barton would know those lips anywhere. The man she was with had dark hair and was wearing tiny red rimmed sunglasses. In his free hand was a seeing cane. That bitch always loved a sob story.

"Can you please give us some room? Please." Peyton snapped at the reporters surrounding the two. They backed off, still shouting questions at the two. Her natural pink lips were pressed together and she held onto her gym bag a little tighter.

"Isn't nice that she's with someone? I wonder if that's father of that baby of hers." Laura says, a smile on her face. Clint pressed his lips for a moment, anger bubbling up inside of him. Laura rocked her baby back and forth. To Laura, Peyton Stark was just a celebrity, just a billionaire. Peyton Stark was someone for her to gossip about, to copy her style after. She only thought that Peyton and Clint were friends. On the screen, Peyton and the man were still surrounded by the paparazzi. Clint gripped the bottle in his hand so hard that milk squirted out.

-

"I'm sorry, oh God I am sorry." I was a blubbering mess as soon as we got into Matt's apartment. I dropped the bag on the table, running my hands through his hair. My thoughts were running though my mind a thousand miles per minute. How did they find us? It was so late at night. I thought we were okay.

"Hey hey hey, I'm okay. We're okay." Matt took me into arms, holding me close. We both smelled of sweat, but I don't think either of us really cared. My thoughts slowed down and I started to calm down.

"I-You don't deserve that. I'm used to it, but I didn't want you to have to go through that." I murmur into his chest as he rubbed my back. I honestly didn't want Matt to have to experience what Tony and I have been dealing with. It was always pain in the ass to deal with and I didn't want him to have to go through all that shit.

"I'm okay, darling. I told you that I wanted you regardless. I wasn't lying. I said I'd try to keep up with you and I am going to keep up with you." Matt murmurs to me, kissing my forehead. I look up at him, the light shining in from the windows painting us in a pink light.

"You can get out now, if you want. I'd totally understand if you want to." I tell him, my hand moving to cup his cheek. He leans into my hand, his hand reaching up to hold mine against his face.

"I'm not going to leave you." He says, his voice soft. My heart is thumping in my chest, butterflies filling my stomach. It was incredibly cheesy, ridiculously cheesy. The feelings he gave me made me want to abandon everything I knew. It made me wish I could have that white picket fence lifestyle. But we would never have that.

"I don't think I could ever give you a normal life." I tell him and he nods, a small smile on his face.

"You're a billionaire and a superhero and I'm a blind lawyer by day and a blind vigilante by night. We were never going to have a normal life." He chuckles and so do I. My heart swells and I kiss him hard. My other hand moves to his hair, holding him to my face. He kisses me back, holding me close. I suddenly realize in that moment-or maybe it finally dawns on me-that I would do anything for this man, in the same way I would do anything for Tony.

"You know, my brother is going to want to meet you now and he doesn't like a lot of people." I say with a laugh. He chuckles and kisses me again, still holding my hand to his face. I felt warm all over.

"I want to meet him. I mean, he can't be that bad can't he?" Matt says, still smiling at me.

-

"So you're the man who has been fucking my baby sister." Tony exclaims as Matt and I walk in a few days later. I wince and I swear Matt blushes.

"Tony! You can't just say things like that! I am so sorry for his behavior." Pepper cries out as she gets up from her spot on the couch and walked over to us. Tony rolled his eyes and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, also walking over to Matt and I. I cleared my throat, motioning towards Matt.

"Pepper, Tony, this is Matt Murdock. Matt, this is my brother's girlfriend and the CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts." I say, my hand on Matt's arm. Pepper smiles, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Hi Matt. It's very nice to meet you." Her voice was as cheery as polite as ever. Both Pepper and I turned towards Tony.

"And over there, is my dear asshole of a brother, Tony Stark." I grin, which makes Matt chuckle. Tony sticks his tongue out of me, holding his hand out for Matt to shake it. Pepper quickly forces it down, blushing in embarrassment. Inside, I am screaming at my idiotic brother.

"I'd say we've heard a lot about you, but we haven't. What do you do for a living, Matt?" Tony asks as he leads us to sit down. Matt taps his cane across the tiled ground, still smiling.

"I used to work for Landman and Zack, but my friend and I are going to start up our own firm." He says as we sit down. Matt folds up his cane, setting it in his lap. Tony drinks from his water bottle, him and Pepper sitting across from Matt and I. My brother raises an eyebrow at me.

"A lawyer? Wow." Tony says, leaning back into the couch he sits on, "Where do you live, Murdock?"

"Tony, be nice." I warn, giving my brother a look. Matt puts his hand on top of mine, turning his head toward me.

"It's okay, Peyton. I'm from Hell's Kitchen, born and raised." Matt responds to my brother. I cross my legs, leaning back into the couch as well. My fingers still interlaced with Matt's. Pepper smiles at the sight, leaning into Tony.

"Hell's Kitchen. Where'd you guys meet?" The question is normal enough for me to relax. Even Matt relaxes slightly, but he is still sitting slightly rigid, so I decide to speak up.

"We met in a bar in Hell's Kitchen. I had gone there after we tested out my powers that one day. I asked for a Shirley Temple and he asked if I was old enough to be in the bar. I said that he was awfully dressed up." I'm smiling at Matt as this point and he's smiling as well.

"Disgustingly adorable. So you've guys have been together for four months? Damn sis, that's a record." Tony actually smiles, holding Pepper slightly closer.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." I run my thumb across Matt's knuckles, which makes Matt turn his head towards me.

"Peyton, can we talk?" Tony asks, standing up. The smile from his face his gone and a queasy feeling fills me.

"Yeah." I kiss Matt's cheek and stand up. I follow Tony up the stairs and into the new lab. He waits until the door slides shut for him to turn towards me.

"Does he know everything?" Tony asks. He doesn't look mad or overly sad, just worried. I press my lips together, sitting on the table.

"He probably heard about it on the news, but it's still hard to talk about it-I mean I cried about it around him. It's just something that you can't just randomly bring up." I tell my brother as he sits down next to me. Tony nods, his hand moves to hold mine.

"But he likes you though, right? It's not like how it was with Clint. Clint never held your hand like that, he never acted like that around you. You never brought him around like that." Tony's voice is just as soft and I nod.

"He likes me and I like him a lot. It's so much different than it was with Clint." I say and he nods. Tony turns his head to look at me and I look at him.

"I just want you to be okay and to be happy, Pey. I don't care where he lives or what his day job is-okay maybe I care about that a little bit-but I just want to make sure you're okay. I don't you to go back to where you were with all those other guys and I don't want you to go through what Clint put you through. I just want you to be happy for once in your life. You deserve it." There is tears Tony's eyes as well as in mine. I laugh, sniffling. He smiles, tears slipping out. I wipe at the tears that start to fall.

"Thank you. Thank you, Tony." I say through some light sobs, throwing my arms around his neck. Tony hugs me, sniffling as well.

"Just be happy and be safe, please. You, Pepper and Happy, you're the only family I have." He murmurs, rubbing my back as I cry into his shoulder. Tony then holds me at arms' length.

"I love you." I smile, wiping my tears and he smiles as well, kissing my forehead.

"And if he ever hurts you, I'll kill him." He warns and I laugh, hugging him again, "I love you too, Peyton."