One Shots

The Fact of the Matter

Ness walked into his best friend's apartment. He unlocked the door with his copy of the key. The two of them walked in on each other all the time, so it really wasn't out of the ordinary. Boundaries practically didn't exist in their friendship because of everything they went through together back when they shared a dorm room in college.

He shut the door behind him and hung his coat up on the nearest empty hook. Ness failed to notice the extra jacket hanging up and walked further into the apartment.

"Hey, Miles!" He called out. "Did you get my message?"

Ness walked into the living room. Seeing that the room was unoccupied, he turned to check the kitchen that was only separated by an island.

There, he found a man sitting on Miles' counter. Miles was standing between the man's legs. His head was tilted up and the man's was angled down, as they were busy passionately kissing each other.

Ness let out a surprised gasp. Only then did the pair break the kiss.

"Ness!" He took a step away from his...partner? "I didn't hear you come in."

Miles tried to walk toward Ness, but the man sitting on the edge of the island reached a hand out to prevent Miles from doing so. Miles gave in easily and let himself get pulled back in. His back was to the other man, and the latter wrapped his arms around Miles' waist.

"Who's this?" Ness asked since Miles didn't seem to be forthcoming with the information.

"Oh!" He responded, like he forgot the other man was there. "This is Vinny. We uh, well, we've been seeing each other?" He rubbed the back of his neck, like he tended to do when he was feeling shy or awkward.

"For how long?" Ness asked calmly.

"About a month?" He turned his head toward Vinny for confirmation. Vinny subtly nodded his head, so with more confidence, Miles repeated, "About a month."

"And why hasn't he been mentioned before?"

"I thought you told him," Vinny said quietly to Miles.

"I...was going to. I was working up to it." He looked back at Ness sheepishly. "I wasn't trying to hide this from you. I just didn't know how to bring it up, I guess."

"Right." Ness shared a look with Vinny. They both understood Miles. Ness wasn't too concerned that his friend had trouble sharing the news. He knew him well enough by now to know that Miles is a secretive person. He doesn't do it on purpose; he's just not used to willingly giving out information without being prompted. Ness has been trying to break him out of that habit for years—to share things with his best friend at least—but he hasn't been successful. Ness supposes it's just one of his best friend's quirks.

"It's nice to meet you, man," Vinny offered. "Miles talks about you a lot, and I've been trying to convince him to let us meet."

"Nice to meet you, too." He then brought his attention to Miles. "No thanks to this idiot."

Vinny laughed while Miles blushed and looked down to avoid eye contact. Vinny kissed Miles' hair and held him just a little bit tighter.

Ness suddenly felt like he was intruding on a private moment. It felt slightly voyeuristic to keep watching, but Ness couldn't help but notice how cute the two of them are together. It was obvious they cared for each other, and that they'd be together for a while. He didn't have nearly enough information to know if this was "the one" for his best friend, but he could tell there was something special between them.

"Okay," Miles said, breaking Ness out of his thoughts. Miles stepped away from Vinny, and he let him do so this time. "Did you need something, Ness? Or did you just come to hang out?"

"If you checked your phone, you would know," he answered sassily but with no heat to his words. "I wanted to see if you still had a hoodie of mine. I couldn't find it at my place, so I thought I might've left it here."

"So you wanted to hang out," Miles concluded. Ness saw Vinny looking confused, and Miles must've sensed it because he (for Vinny's benefit) continued, "If he was just wondering about the hoodie, he would've texted or called to ask, but since he came over, he was looking for something to do."

"But he did text you?"

"I don't have all the answers, okay? We just know how each other's minds work. We don't always have explanations for it."

"Fair enough," Vinny mumbled, shrugging.

"So," Miles dragged out the word. "Movie?"

Ness shrugged, and Vinny quietly agreed. The two sat on opposite ends on the couch, leaving the middle open for Miles while he was still up choosing a movie.

While Miles went into his bedroom to search for the rest of his CDs, Ness quietly told Vinny, "I'm glad he has you." Vinny tilted his head, wondering where Ness was going with the statement. "Miles is...he's, to put it nicely, very independent. It's nice to know someone else is around to watch out for him."

Vinny smiled—small but genuine. He was happy to know someone cared so much about his boyfriend and his well-being. He understood what Ness was saying. Miles had a tendency of doing things alone and without help. It wasn't a pride thing as much as it was how he had grown up. Neither man begrudged him for it, but they both wished Miles would learn that he could ask for help and that he didn't have to do everything on his own.

"Alright, okay." Miles came back into the room holding three CD cases. "You can stop talking about me now."

He didn't actually hear the conversation. But, he assumed they were talking about him, whether it was because Miles was common ground between them or because Ness decided to give Vinny a shovel talk.

"Who says we were talking about you?" Ness sassed.

Miles paused and raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"What movies are we choosing between?" Ness asked to change the topic, and Miles let him, seeing as he held up the three cases for them to look at.

Once the three of them agreed on one, Miles set it up, hit play, and settled into the seat between the two people he was closest to.

He wished he could've been the one to tell Ness instead of him finding out by accident. But he was glad that now his best friend knew about his relationship and that the two most important people in his life finally got to meet.

He may have a lot of baggage and issues that need to be worked through, but despite that, he was content for the time being.

A/N: *reluctantly admitting* this was inspired by a daredevil fic...so I had Matt/Frank in mind with Foggy walking in on them as I wrote it because I am daredevil trash at the moment. Hope you enjoyed :)