Chapter 8 part 2

Samuel

In just two days Samuel went from hating 'the villain' to adoring Matias. It puzzled him how he had never noticed how sweet the villain really is. Now he found himself hugging onto him tightly, not wanting to let go anytime soon.

He obviously didn't believe that their years of battles didn't bother Matias, and he was going to do his best to ensure that Matias trusted him and really knew how sorry he was.

"Thank you" Samuel spoke gratefully

"Oh uh.. it's nothing really.." Matias responded awkwardly

Samuel noticed pretty early on that Matias always got awkward when anything sentimental was happening. He made a point to let Matias know how grateful he was. Partially because he was incredibly grateful, and partially because he thought it was a bit ironic seeing the villain become nervous and fidgety.

Samuel wanted to continue enjoying me moment but there was a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something. He had constantly felt it whenever he was leaving his house or going home after a long day, but it rarely meant he was actually forgetting anything. However, every time he felt it, it was like he couldn't focus on anything else until he figured out what he was forgetting or ensured himself that he wasn't forgetting anything.

He backed up away from Matias and glanced around the room

"I feel like I'm forgetting something" Samuel straight forwardly stated.

Matias gave him a look of curiosity but Samuel paid it no mind. His eyes continued to wander the room until they landed on the hallway that led to Ellie's room. He wasted no time checking his watch and his eyes widened at the time it displayed.

"Shit!" Samuel shouted

He quickly made his way back to his room and grabbed the car keys off of his dresser.

"Dude what the hell is goin on?" Matias entered the room right as Samuel was making his way back out of it.

"I forgot about Ellie! She's supposed to be picked up no later than five!" Samuel shouted and frantically put on his shoes.

"Stay here! I'll be back in a few"

And with that Samuel was out the door. As he was rushing to his car the took a mental note of the blood staining the concrete in front of his house. He really needed to take care of that.

He nearly sped all the way to the daycare. The drive was only a few minutes but it felt like multiple long hours.

When he got there he sprung out of his car, breathless, and met Ellie's teacher who was standing with Ellie in front of the day care.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't-" Samuel was cut off by Ellie's teacher, Mrs. Adams, holding her hand up.

"Mr. Reed this is just about the hundredth time you've been late to pick your daughter up. Not to mention it's 5:30. You are thirty minutes late" Mrs. Adams scolded.

She was usually a sweet lady, but he could be harsh in situations like these. Samuel knew she was only doing her job, but it was still awful for him.

"I know, and I'm so sorry" Samuel tried to explain but she stopped him again.

"We have already given you more chances than we would even consider giving anyone else. I'm sorry Mr. Reed, but you're going to have to find another daycare"

Samuel could feel his heart rate pick up and suddenly felt really hot. Mrs. Adams handed Ellie to him and returned into the building before Samuel could say another word.

"dad?" Ellie asked, snapping Samuel out of his trance.

"Come on Ellie, let's go home" Samuel led himself and his daughter back to their car.

He had buckled her in without a word. The initial shock didn't fully pass until he sat down in the driver seat. There were no other daycares around. The nearest one was a 20 minute drive. If Samuel couldn't manage with the one only a few minutes away then there's no way he could send Ellie that far off. They had no family in the area that could watch Ellie and he already stressed enough about getting her a babysitter for just the afternoon.

"Are we going home?" Ellie asked after Samuel sat still in the car for multiple minutes.

"Of course. I'm sorry" Samuel finally pulled out of the parking lot, not leaving his thoughts the whole way home.

When they finally got back to the house Ellie rushed back to her room, presumably to play with her toys. Samuel pondered what he was going to do about Ellie now that she had no daycare.

He made his way to the living room and almost fell to the floor upon seeing Matias on his couch. He was so stressed he had forgotten Matias was even there.

The sight of Matias sitting on the edge of his couch, asleep, calmed Samuels nerves. He forgot about everything else for a moment and was absorbed into the sight before him.

Matias was still sitting upright rather than laying down. His knees were pulled up to his chest and he had one arm lazily wrapped around them. His other arm leaned onto the armrest of the couch and came up to support his head.

Samuel reached out to brush a bit of hair out or Matias's face. His hair was messy and beginning to grow greasy after the last few days allowed little time to take care of it. But Samuel still found himself lingering with his hand on Matias's hair.

He soon realized what he was doing and pulled back his hand. He walked over and gently sat on the other end of the couch, grabbing the tv remote on the way. He switched on the news, making sure he kept the volume low so he wouldn't awake the sleeping man beside him.

The screen displayed a news reporter standing in the middle of the police station with a police officer by his side. Samuel tensed in fear. Had something happened while he wasn't there? Did he let people get hurt?

His thoughts here pushed away as he listened to them talk

"Regarding the recent disappearance of the hero, our local police station says they received an odd message from him the day before he stopped showing up"

Samuel mentally face palmed. Usually he would make multiple public appearances as 'the hero' multiple times a day, but it had now been more than a day since anyone had seen him.

The police officer finally began talking.

"Yesterday morning we received a call from a public phone claiming to be the hero. The voice sounds the same but we are still concerned"

Samuel scoffed

"The call stated that something urgent had come up and he wouldn't be able to come in that day. He never said how long he would be gone, but said it could be at least a week. He explained that if anything urgent happened he would do his best to help out, but would not be taking regular calls"

He cringed as they twisted his words just a bit. The screen cut to a news reporter in the news building with a bigger than necessary microphone.

"There have been no sightings of the hero since almost two days ago and people are starting to grow worried. People have noticed than we have also not seen the villain since around the same time. Is the hero in danger? Are we in danger?"

Samuel shut off the tv, not bothering to listen to any more.

"Well that's not any good is it?" A smug voice asked from the other side of the couch.

Samuel jumped, his cheeks flushing

"Have you been awake the whole time?!"

Samuel wasn't one to get embarrassed by showing affection, but messing with Matias's hair while he was asleep is more than weird.

"Just long enough to hear that you're takin a few days off and people think I'm behind it" Matias rolled his eyes

"Oh" Samuel took a relieved breath

"Why do people just assume that when anything debatably bad happens that I'm behind it? There have been times where I've been blamed for fights that didn't even happen!" Matias joked, though he was obviously bothered by it.

"Mat!" A high pitched voice shouted from the hallway

Before they knew it Ellie had ran across the room and jumped onto Matias. He visibly flinched as her knee made contact with his stomach.

"Ellie be careful! He's still hurt, remember?" Samuel tried to help the situation.

"Nah it's good. I'm too tough to be bothered by a little scratch" Matias joked as he positioned Ellie where she wasn't hurting him any further.

"A little scratch?" Samuel teased

Samuel had scooted closer to the two and they were now sitting in a bundle on the couch, Ellie remaining in Matias's lap. They all sat for a long moment, unbothered by everything that had happened.

However, the moment was ruined when Ellie turned to her father and asked "why did Mrs. Adams say that you'd have to find another daycare?"

The smile vanished from Samuels face and his breath caught in his throat. Matias looked up curiously.

"I'm sorry Ellie, I messed up. You're not going to be able to go to that daycare anymore" Samuel explained sadly.

"Why? I wanna see Mrs. Adams" Ellie pouted

The whole time Matias was sending curious looks to Samuel, but Samuel just ignored them.

"We can still visit Mrs. Adams, you're just going to have to go somewhere else during the day. I might have to stay here with you for a few days"

Samuel did his best to assure Ellie that it would be okay, but she started crying anyways. She turned and buried her face into Matias's chest, grabbing fists full of his shirt. Matias simply wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"It'll be okay Ellie, things are just going to change a bit" Matias assured

I'd be an understatement to say that Samuel was a bit hurt by his daughters actions. He understood that she was upset, but her turning to Matias for comfort was like a punch in the face.

Matias looked up at Samuel questioningly, encouraging him to explain whatever happened to him. Samuel simply shook his head and looked back down to Ellie.

The three just sat there while Ellie cried, Matias comforted her, and Samuel pondered his mistakes.

"Why don't you give your dad a hug?" Matias finally said to Ellie.

Samuel started to smile. He didn't want his daughter to be angry with him. Just the thought of it made him sick to his stomach. He might've been being irrational considering Ellie was five, but it still hurt.

"No! He made me stop going to see Mrs. Adams!" Ellie pouted.

It felt like every last bit of hope Samuel had left had been stomped on. He knew she was just a kid and she would be over it pretty soon, but it still broke his heart.

"I'll leave y'all to it, I'm gonna go.. back here" Samuel gestured to his room, too lazy to make up a good excuse. He stood and left as quick as he could.

As soon as he had closed the door behind him he shrunk to the floor. His breathing hitched and he brought a hand up to his face. He was already overwhelmed by everything else and Ellie being upset at him just drove him over the edge. He tried his best to pull himself together but made no progress.

After he had sat like that for a while a short knock on the door. He stood and tried to calm down before opening the door, but it was too late. Matias had opened the door and was staring right at Samuel. Ellie was nowhere to be seen.

"You alright?" Matias asked in a surprisingly gentle tone.

He let himself into the room without waiting for a response and closed the door behind him.

"I'm fine" Samuel practically squealed.

He silently cursed at his voice for giving him away.

"She's just a kid you know? It's not like she's going to hate you because you got her kicked out of some daycare" Matias said while leaning back on the closed door casually.

Samuel took notice of how Matias was trying not to seem sentimental. It was painfully easy to tell when he was trying to seem tough.

"Yeah.. I know" Samuel said and looked up at Matias's eyes.

There was silence before Samuels eyes widened a bit, some of the worry leaving his face.

"You alright?" Matias questioned, noticing the change of mood.

"You're taller than I thought you were" His mouth fell open

"Uhm.. thanks?" Matias responded with a questioning smile

"Sorry" Samuel stepped closer to Matias "I just thought you were only like an inch taller than me"

"I'm not that tall, I'm just 6'3" Matias said casually

"I thought you were like 6'1" Samuel finally relaxed a bit.

"Yeah? And how tall are you? 5'11?" Matias joked

Samuel gasped dramatically

"I am six foot!" He said offendedly

"You know what?"

"What?"

"That's exactly what someone who's 5'11 would say"

The two continued to tease one another, the tension in the room evaporating.

"Weren't you sulking about your daughter hating you or somethin? You moved on awful fast"

Samuels smile dropped and his sad eyes returned.

"She'll get over it soon, it'll be fine" Samuel said more to himself than to Matias.

"Then stop sulking and go play with her or something" Matias opened the door with one hand and pulled Samuel through it with the other.

Samuel stumbled a bit before turning around and glaring sarcastically at Matias.

"Yeah, yeah. You might want to come with, she seems to really like you" Samuel requested

"Nah, I've got to get home. I am tired out of my mind and I've got work in the morning" Matias said

Samuel looked at him with a sad expression.

"Do you want me to drive you back to your house?" He offered

"It's alright, I'll walk. It's nice outside right now" Matias declined

The sad look on his face intensified.

"Are you sure? It's no trouble for me" Samuel insisted

"I like walking. I'll say bye to Ellie and then I'll be out of your hair" Matias walked past Samuel before he could protest again.

Matias said his goodbyes and practically peeled Ellie off his leg. He walked out the door was was about to shut the door behind him when Samuel stopped him.

"Thank you for telling me everything. And for letting Ellie bother you" Samuel laughed softly.

"Yeah no problem" Matias turned to leave once again

"You're positive you don't want a ride? It's a bit of a long walk right? I really don't mind driving you" Samuel tried one last time.

"Yep, I'm good. Bye" Matias walked down to the sidewalk waving back at Samuel.

"bye" Samuel mumbled far too quiet for Matias to hear him.

He couldn't push away the feeling he felt around Matias. The feeling he was all too familiar with.

He always wanted to be around Matias. He never wanted to fight with him and whenever they were together it was like he was incapable of being upset for more than a few minutes. His heart sped up and his stomach started doing backflips. He knew exactly what it was, and he didn't know how he felt about it.

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