#fishborl

It’d been a while since they had a night like this: Quentin Beck and Montana not having to worry about the bug, just them joking and playing pool in Montana’s bar after hours.

“And so I said, ‘Oh but Spider-Man, you are in a pickle!’ And then I dropped a pickle prop on him!”

Montana let out a hearty laugh, messing up his shot, but it wasn’t like he cared. Quentin laughed along with him.

“Darling, I can’t tell whether you’re the funniest guy I’ve met or the stupidest.” He smiled at Quentin, his gold tooth shining in the light hanging over them.

“It could never be the latter, Mysterio is no idiot!” Quentin did a dramatic hand motion as if he were still in his Mysterio get up.

“There’s some people out there who could beg to differ.” Montana chuckled.

Quentin rolled his eyes. “Well, even though the spider got away again, at least I still got what I needed.”

Montana stood up from his position over the pool table. “Is that so? What was the job this time?”

He shrugged. “Otto just had me steal some machinery. It wasn’t easy but it’s better than that time he wanted me to get some money. Can you believe how difficult it is to open a vault while also juggling multiple illusions to throw at Spider-Man?”

Montana smirked, going back to lining up his shot. “Can only imagine, sugar.”

Quentin glanced away, grinning. As he paused, he began to think. Could this maybe be the night he would…but Montana wouldn’t…well, gotta find out.

“Hey, Montana?”

Montana stood up, facing him. “Yes?”

Before Quentin could open his mouth, he felt his stomach turning. He would always be in awe of the Enforcer, how his long russet hair flowed perfectly behind him. How his scars, while could be seen as unnerving, brought attention to his strength and resilience. His one scarred eye still managed to see so much in Quentin. He was the perfect man for him.

He shook his head. “Montana, let’s go somewhere, you and me.”

The Enforcer blinked. “Alright, sugar. Where’re we going?”

Quentin grabbed his hand. “I wanna show you something, something I’ve wanted to bring you to for a while.”

Montana smiled. “Sure then.”

***

It took a while of sneaking around, they were criminals after all, trying to avoid places where Spider-Man often swung around, and a lot of “Your place must be far, hun,” but eventually, the two got to just outside their destination.

Before the two went in, Quentin covered Montana’s eyes with his hands. “Now, now, no peeking just yet. It’s a surprise.”

Montana chuckled. “Alright then, I promise.”

Doing his best to navigate Montana around, Quentin led him to the surprise, trying to not cause Montana to trip.

Quentin stopped walking and removed his hands from Montana’s eyes. “So, what do you think?”

Montana stood in front of Quentin’s surprise, and what did he see?

A room, with a giant hole in the wall, or where there should be a wall, as a sort of window to all of Queens. The walls had paintings and stolen art hanging on them, with a rug in front of the hole. There were cabinets to the sides as well, with a rouge couch with two pillows on them. The hustle of the city sounded so distant, and the night sky above sparkled with stars.

Quentin Beck’s special abode, for his nights of peace.

“Not even Mason knows of this place. It’s not too much but—”

“Wow.” Montana walked a little bit around, observing the room. “How long did it take you to set this all up?”

“Oh, not much.” Quentin went and sat down on the rug, looking out towards the city. “I obviously had to steal some stuff, like the couch and art, and had to install the cabinets myself for just-in-case situations, it took a while.”

Montana looked back at Quentin and sat down next to him. “Y’know, despite the giant hole here, this place looks pretty well kept.”

“I actually like this view.” Quentin glanced over at Montana and then glanced back out. “It reminds me of how the world’s a stage, and someone out there is watching us perform. And us, the characters, set on a stage that, despite its troubles and flaws, can actually be beautiful. The stars are our stage lights, and the traffic below is our orchestra.”

Montana chuckled. “You’ve been rehearsing that one for a while, huh?”

Quentin rammed his head into Montana’s shoulder playfully. “Knock it off!”

“I’m kidding!” Montana laughed again.

The two looked back out up to the stars, observing how they shone and twinkled, clouds not being able to hide their beauty.

“I’ve wanted to take you up here for so long, ever since we started dating,” Quentin said, not taking his gaze off of the stars.

“Oh really?”

“Yes, well, it’s because…” Quentin turned over to Montana, placing his hands on the other’s hand. “I’ve just wanted to say that—”

Montana turned over to Quentin, meeting his gaze. “Enough.”

Montana grabbed Quentin’s chin and kissed him. Quentin’s eyes widened, but returned the kiss by grabbing Montana’s head and pushing further into the kiss.