Summer's End - Bucky and Mel Universe 1

Walk On

"Matt, I'm so sorry about that. I was sure Mr. Majear would have been more thankful." Mel was explaining as they walked down the street.
"He has a tough case, he is in the right. We can only do so much for him, but it's his decision to take the suit to the next level. I know you said pro bono but..." Matt trailed off.
"Matt I got this, don't worry. This family has enough problems to deal with other than some case brought about by the snap. I know he is a really proud man, it would hurt his pride more if a woman was paying for it. Please?" She gave his hand on her arm a gentle squeeze.
Mel had been through a lot in her life. She and Matt met at the orphanage growing up. They each had trauma at the time. Mel, didn't talk for almost a year. She came in badly battered with no identification and no memory of her life before. To her, Matt was a brother. When she was adopted at age 15, they lost touch but found each other again in college. Since then, they were family.
"You really have to stop showing off like that," Matt started.
"What?"
"With the different languages, I really don't know why you don't translate for a living. Doing art and teaching, while a noble profession..... you could be doing more."
"I do do more, I help kids everyday and families. My art pays for kids to be able to afford the school I work at, even though families don't know I'm paying....."
"You're burning the candle at both ends and somehow lighting a third and it's melting through the center. You have to slow down. You're going to kill yourself."
"Matthew Murdock, please do not preach to me about candles being burned at both ends."
"You know I and Foggy are the only people you talk to like this, and kids. I don't know why your so shy around other adults, especially hot ones."
"That's it, I am officially taking you off my Christmas list this year. Besides, really, how could you tell he was hot?"
"Um, think about it... let's say your shyness went into overdrive."
They continued walking the street until they reached Matt's office. Matt brought Mel in for a hug. He loved her, more than she knew. She was the closest thing to home he ever experienced. She gave him a peck on the cheek She continued walking alone on this bright autumn day.
Mel would probably get a call from Matt about walking the streets of Hell's Kitchen alone, but this is where she grew up. She loved supporting the local businesses and shops. Kids ran past and said hi to her. She had plenty of these families as students and was now starting to gets second generations as students. Sure, lots of her friends said she was sad, depressed. She was always happiest working with kids and helping families.
It's those quiet times, when she was alone that the shadows started creeping in. Stop, she thought. She smiled and waved to the different families on the way to her building and started walking up the stairs to her studio. Painting would clear her head, teaching the kids would have to wait until Monday. People her age had families, she missed that opportunity. Mel laughed at the image of the old school mark being a spinster that popped into her head. Sad but true.
Mel walked the six flights to her studio. She used the entire floor, one apartment of the top floor of the building was a studio, the identical apartment was where she lived. In truth, she really lived in her studio. She only slept and ate in the apartment.
Grabbing a hair tie, she braided her hair and changed into her painting clothes, old denim overalls, a sports bra, and a shrug with the sleeves pushed back past the elbows. She worked barefoot.
She sat in front of the family portrait that she was working on. The Conners, she did a family portrait for them every few years. It hurt her heart to do it, but she understood why. They had lost their son in a tragic car accident. Every few years, Mrs. Conner asked for a family portrait with her dead son in it only as if he had aged as well. In her head, Mel made up a story of his life and what it would have been like for him. Flipping through her playlists she found a cool jazz station and played it. She let the notes wash over her as she got to work. Time always slipped away when she worked, if it wasn't for the timers she always set, she'd forget to do a lot of things, eat, sleep, shower. Art, dance, music, they are what brought peace to her world, quieting the storm of her mind.
After hours of work, she stood and cracked her back. Cleaned up her area as her stomach growled. The painting was finished, she didn't even remember doing it. A headache as setting in from hunger. Mel slipped into a pair of flats and left the studio for her apartment. Reaching into the freezer she pulled out a casserole, placed it into the oven and turned it on. Making her way towards the shower shedding her clothes as she walked. The casserole would take longer than her shower. She cranked on the shower waiting for it to warm up. She looked into the vanity mirror as she took her hair down. The scar on her eye and neck continued to her back to a tree of woe.
Years ago, waking up, bloody on the steps of the orphanage, she did know her name or where she was. Mel's name was something the nuns had given her. They needed to call her something. In the infirmary, she slept for a week. There was another child there, Matt. He was blinded years ago and his father had just been murdered. Not that anyone was advertising that. The nuns called them the twins of melancholy. Matt always seemed to know what she would say during the year she didn't talk. Even when she did start talking it wasn't much. Mel preferred books. She read voraciously.
It did hurt when Matt spent time with Stick, he was learning how to fight. Seeing Mel kept turning inward, Matt practiced with Mel. It helped her build confidence and him train. Neither felt lonely. And both were lonely. She'd kill for a normal existence, she wouldn't give up teaching. It did bring her joy, it was being away from all that energy, the quiet hurt.