SUNLIGHT ━━ frank castle

part i

Three knocks on the door meant Matt was coming home with someone he trusted.

It meant you could speak freely with him.

You'd been living in his apartment for a little over three weeks now. Seamlessly blending in with his routine which felt like nothing to you and meant everything to him. You knew him and every move he'd make before he made it and you could tell that he was doing his best to make up for lost time. He'd ask you questions about your childhood that you shared with your Matt and pick up on your morning routine before leaving for the office.

"You're out of wine again." You called out from the couch.

"I wouldn't be out of wine if you didn't day drink." He called back.

"It's happy hour somewhere." You said more quieter as footsteps rounded from the hall and out popped someone you thought you'd never see.

"Amen."

"Frank freakin Castle."

He looked at you, barefoot, with bare legs, and in an oversized shirt. He raised a single eyebrow that as per usual, had you willing to risk it all.

"So, you watch the news." He commented, watching closely as you playfully rolled your eyes and scrunched your nose for a second.

"Not quite." You answered, pushing yourself up from the couch. "You haven't told him?"

"Told him what?" Matt asked walking around you towards his room. You spun the top half of your body around to give him a pointed look that you knew he could feel. Frank tilted his head, unconsciously following the movement of your shirt riding further up your thighs. "Okay, okay. No, I haven't told him details."

Matt gave a cheeky smile as he dropped off his bag in his room and then made his way to the kitchen.

"Told me what, Red." Frank asked, straightening up in time for you to turn and face him.

You frowned with a smile, not used to hearing him speak.

"I'm not from this dimension." You answered, your frown dropping and leaving the smile. "At least that's what your Avengers are saying."

Frank jokingly raises his eyebrows and points a finger to his chest. "My Avengers, huh?"

It makes you let out a surprised giggle that has Frank giving you a soft smile.

"Wow, Matt, your Frank is pretty skilled." You joked, turning to give Matt a look before smiling at Frank again. "He talks and he can smile. I didn't know they could do that."

Frank laughs, paying close attention to the way your cheeks bloomed with heat at his attention.

"Well, just like you," Matt handed Frank a beer before turning back to you with a warm smile. "Frank here continues to surprise us. He's on the straight and narrow these days."

"Oh?" You tilt your head at Frank's bashful smile. "What's that? Only four dead bodies this week?" You joked lightly with the sweetest of smiles he'd ever seen. "Don't tell me you're goin' soft, Frankie."

Frank smiled at the name, setting you with a heated look before looking you up and down, then bringing the beer to his mouth.

"Not on your life, sweetheart." He answered gruffly, taking a sip.

The gruffness you were used to but the smile was something else. You genuinely didn't think it was possible for Frank Castle to smile and you thought the ability to speak the English language had been beaten out of him. His hair was long enough that it curled and his beard had grown out enough that everyone would actually call it a beard. You were used to seeing him in his standard army cut, shaved at the sides, and clean-shaven, with a godlike jawline every woman in a two-mile radius dreamed of mounting. It didn't help that he had a nose that was made for riding.

"You're more scruffier than I'm used to." You mused out loud before you could catch yourself.

"I'm more scruffier than I'm used to," Frank grunted, bringing a hand up to the beard and giving it a rub. "Don't suppose you've got a spare razor, do you?"

Matt swallowed his beer, giving a nod and his own little grunt.

"Yeah, absolutely." He said, moving in the direction of his bathroom. "I'll show you and you can get settled in."

They walk passed you, Frank keeping his eyes on you as he passed.

"Keep the hair." You call out over your shoulder.

Frank turns back to you, keeping eye contact before nodding slightly. "Yes, ma'am."

You don't mind Frank calling you that.

"Frank's going to be staying for a while." Matt made you jump after coming back out of the bathroom with Frank, having not heard him as he came out. "He's got a job in the city so he won't be here during the day but he's going to be around, is that alright with you?"

"Not much I can do about it, it's your apartment." You answered taking a seat on the couch again.

Karen got a promotion at work so she was able to pull some strings for you to be hired on as her research assistant. Decent money to work from home so long as you kept the hours up and stopped ordering takeout all the time but it left you all by yourself in Matt's apartment. At first, you were thrilled. Now you missed bumping shoulders with rude New Yorkers.

"We don't know how long you're going to be here so I want you to feel comfortable. If you don't want him in here I'll tell him to get lost." He said earnestly and for a moment it was like you were back home. Like there was no gap between the two of you.

He did have a point. No one knew how long you would be here for. Would you suddenly pop back to your dimension or would one of those sorcerers that worked with Doctor Strange come looking for you and portal you back? Part of you didn't want to go back, as cruel as it sounded. There was always some lingering tension between you and Foggy, some insecure thought that he was stealing Matt from you in college and him thinking he could never live up to the friendship you shared with Matt. It bled through to your relationship with Matt and every now and again it made things tense between the three of you. With the way Karen came into your lives you thought she was a murderer and she never really let that go, giving you a side eye every time you messed something up.

But that wasn't the case with Foggy and Karen here. To them you know Matt better than the back of your hand and you make him laugh. You make them laugh. There's no tension. It was great here. And now Frank Castle actually fucking talks to you. Who would want to leave?

"I'm more concerned with where he's going to sleep." You said, leaning back on the couch. "I'm already on the couch."

"Well, there's two couches." Matt chuckled. "I'll take one, he takes the other, and you get the bed."

"I am not sleeping in your bed, Matthew." You deadpan without missing a beat. "I know who's been in there."

Matt chuckles again.