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The sky was an oppressive black with storm clouds rolling in by the time Frank had everything ready for movie night with Matt. It was perfect really. Had the sky been clear, rather than threatening heavy rain and fatal lightning, Matt might have blown him off for Daredevil. No such luck tonight.
He tried not to let that please him, and couldn't. It was just nice to get a win sometimes, weather permitting. And Matt had asked for this, granted under the influence of alcohol, but he'd admitted he wanted a few more normal things in their relationship, things like date night, and maybe a dog at some point.
Frank hadn't started scoping out local animal shelters just yet. He absolutely refused to sign his name to anything that was part poodle. There would be no labradoodles or pugapoos in this apartment. No way in hell. Unless Matt wanted one. Then they really would be fighting over a damn dog like Matt claimed to want.
He didn't even know why Matt wanted one. His boyfriend wasn't home enough to take care of a dog, certainly not a puppy. It was just a wish. Maybe one Matt had been holding onto since childhood. That made him pause. Frank didn't have a lot of wishes like that.
Everything he'd wanted to do, short of growing old with his wife, he'd done. Finished high school? Joined the Marines and made some kind of difference to the world? Owned real estate? Been married? Had kids? Honeymooned in Italy? Come out in his thirties to a gay Catholic boy who had a thing for batons and red leather? Been there, done that.
He was satisfied with his life. It surprised him to realize that. After Maria and the kids, and starting out as the Punisher, he hadn't thought anything would be enough to satisfy him. He had moments, he decided. Moments where he felt good.
Like this, setting out plates of food for the movie that he'd spent hours working on, and had to endure a busy shopping mall for. Matt didn't have a lot of what Frank would call ingredients on hand. Mostly quick meals, frozen stuff, and eggs in his fridge that Frank wasn't taking a chance on, knowing how infrequently Matt cooked anything.
His boyfriend lived on coffee and takeout, but Frank couldn't. Everything he ate, even on the construction site, was made by hand, not in some factory. Sandwiches with good quality deli meats, local fresh fruit and nuts, jerky in a pinch that came from a butcher just down from Nelson & Murdock. He wasn't judging, but Matt's diet could do with some improving. Okay, he totally was, but whatever.
The door opened just as he'd set dessert on the coffee table, and Frank called out, "Red, perfect timing."
"I thought we said chips and a movie," Matt commented as he came in, folding his cane and dropping it on one corner of the couch.
"We did," Frank agreed. "Then I remembered you forget to eat when you're hungover, so voila."
He gestured pointlessly to the array of delicacies he'd spent his afternoon preparing: spinach and ricotta pies, salmon rissoles, haloumi nuggets with tomato chilli jam, and a sponge cake layered with jam, and covered in chocolate. Saying 'voila' felt silly, something a younger him would have done to impress a girl, but the food he'd made for Matt didn't. It was all good. Quality, flavorsome, and pretty if that counted, which it kind of didn't.
"Can I change first?" Matt asked, a little tiredly.
Frank shrugged. "Am I in charge or something?"
"Apparently," Matt murmured, brushing a soft kiss to his cheek that made Frank smile. "Dress code?"
"Neat casual," Frank replied, not having given it much thought. "Although, I wouldn't say no to— "
"Done," Matt said quickly, before Frank could even mention the slutty lingerie Matt had hidden in the second drawer of his dresser.
"Tease," Frank retorted, unable to help himself. "Be back in five."
"Or what?" Matt asked coolly.
Frank smirked. "I'll come find you. That's what."
Matt laughed, but he was back within the allotted time, now in jeans and a dark blue t-shirt that definitely qualified as casual, as much as Matt had tried to dress it up with a blazer of all things. Frank smiled his approval of Matt having left his glasses in his bedroom as his boyfriend sank into a seat on the couch, helping himself to a mini spinach and ricotta pie.
"So what movie did you pick?" Matt asked, finishing the pie in two quick bites, and reaching for another.
Frank grinned and said casually, "Fifty Shades of Grey."
"What?" Matt exclaimed, actually sitting up properly. "You did not."
Frank huffed a laugh. "It comes with audio descriptions, Mr. I'm Easy."
"Yeah, easy, not horny!" Matt said in disbelief.
"Oh, you will be," Frank promised, enjoying Matt's reaction too much to feel guilty about his choice of movie. "Have you seen it?"
"Weird question to ask a blind guy," Matt mumbled, shoving his second pie in his mouth and chewing. "Also no."
"It's never too late," Frank declared, slotting the DVD into the player and picking up the remote.
"Tell that to Foggy when you've missed a court date," Matt said ruefully.
"Oh, I would never do that," Frank said with a smirk. "Court dates are far too important."
"Shut up," Matt grumbled, shaking his head at him.
He was so adorably grumpy that Frank couldn't help smiling. It was always an act with Matt, a way to mask insecurity around getting the date night he'd asked for, along with a little shameless spoiling. He'd already started on a haloumi nugget dipped in Frank's tomato and chilli jam, he noted, pleased that Matt was enjoying the food he'd made rather than some cheap junk for a change.
"Drink?" he offered as he navigated to the settings menu with the remote.
"To throw at your head?" Matt suggested. "Sure." Frank just reached for the bottle of white wine, pouring Matt a glass as his boyfriend observed, "I thought you were a whiskey man."
"I am. But wine says… date night," Frank admitted, setting the wine glass in Matt's hand, and reaching for another glass to pour himself a drink.
Matt took a sip and smiled. "To date night."
"Cheers, sweetheart," Frank replied, clinking glasses with him.
It felt weird to do that, to make toasts and drink wine, and even to hit play on a movie, and snuggle up to Matt on the couch. It had just been a long time, he realized. Maybe he needed a bit of normal too, to remember how to be Frank, not just the Punisher.