#ofpoweredmen

It had been a while since he’d gotten back from Hydra and, stupidly, Miles had thought he was getting better. He’d thought he could just put it all behind him, that he could ignore it long enough until it disappeared, but life didn’t work like that. The things that happened to you didn’t just vanish because you ignored them long enough. Miles learned that the hard way as he sat up in his bed with his heart hammering in his chest and a scream caught in his throat.

The voice that came from the doorway wasn’t one he was expecting and, for a moment, he glanced up with panic in his eyes, but the expression faded quickly when he recognized Luke. Miles had no idea what time it was, but Luke being in Jess’s apartment wasn’t a rare thing. Miles tried not to ask too many questions. There were some things about Jess’s life he really didn’t want to know. “Nope,” he said quickly, getting out of bed and pulling the comforter up to the top of the mattress largely to give his hands something to do. “There was, uh... A spider. On the sheets. So.”

Harlem’s Paradise was exactly the sort of place Elektra belonged. She’d had clients in the past who did a lot of their business there, marks who’d frequented its bar, but that was years ago. Rumor had it the place was under new management now, that a very familiar face was running the show. She hadn’t seen Luke Cage since Midland Circle, had no idea if word had gotten out to him that she’d survived the encounter, but it seemed fitting to see him. She had a tentative peace with Jessica, had whatever it was she and Matthew were doing. She doubted Rand would be open to any sort of reconciliation, but Cage seemed far more level-headed. And besides, if he was running the show at Harlem’s Paradise now, there was a chance he might be more like her than she’d originally assumed.

It didn’t take her long to make her way up to the office above the club. She wasn’t sure if anyone had been told to keep people out of it, but Elektra had never been someone who had issues getting into places she wanted to be. She had her charm and, when that failed her, she had her sai. She knocked as she pushed open the door, raising a brow when her eyes landed on Cage. “You’ve certainly made a change,” she said, slipping into the office and taking a brief look around. Her eyes fell back to him, and she tilted her head. “If you’re going to mention my being dead, know that you’d be roughly the hundredth person to do so. It does get a bit dull, you know.”

(✉️ ➡️ Danny): I’m really sorry, Danny… (✉️ ➡️ Danny): But how could you do something so stupid?

Sleeping was a no go. That wasn’t entirely unusual for Danny, but after the Reaper, it had gotten worse. He didn’t even have to drift off --- just closing his eyes, even for a second, brought back images of Victor Graves’s face, blood dribbling out his mouth and eyes wide with the realization that he was dying. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, he’d said, and Danny could practically still hear it. 

He wasn’t sure where he was headed when he slipped out of his apartment and into the night but, somehow, he ended up at Luke’s. Danny didn’t remember deciding to head in that direction, didn’t remember turning down the street. One moment he was outside his own door and, the next, he was at Luke’s. He let his head fall against the wood with a hollow thud, waiting until the door opened to look up and catch Luke’s eye. Danny knew he looked like shit. He hadn’t slept in days, and his hands shook where he held them at his side. He knew Luke would see it, too, but strangely, he didn’t care. He wasn’t terrified of Luke judging him, wasn’t listening to Lei Kung’s voice off to the side warning him of how weak he looked. All he really wanted right now was for his best friend to stop being mad at him and just... be there.

It was only after he went back and reread his messages to Luke that Danny found himself regretting the... extensive amount of information he’d shared with his best friend. He’d still been in the hospital when he’d sent it, and reading it over reminded him of another reason why he hated hospitals. The drugs, the environment... It always loosened his lips far more than he’d like. And now... Now Luke knew exactly what Danny had done.

He was standing in the center of the living room, and for a moment Danny almost regretted giving him a key. Danny didn’t meet his eyes, kept his gaze focused on his leg, propped up on the coffee table with the cast glaring back at him. He shook his head, the movement small and uncertain. “You can’t,” he said quietly. “You can’t make it better.”

Holding grudges against the people he loved wasn’t something Danny was particularly good at. When Ward and Joy locked him in Birch, he’d only held it over them for a few days before he was making excuses for them at a press conference. When Davos tried to kill him and nearly left him crippled, Danny still did everything in his power to save him. The disagreement he was currently having with Luke was nowhere near as extreme, and considering everything going on, it was impossible for Danny to hold onto his frustration.

Especially not when there were things he needed to make Luke aware of. Davos had made it pretty clear the last time he’d been around that he had no qualms going after Danny through the people he cared about and Luke, while nigh invincible, was on that list. Danny didn’t know if his brother could actually hurt Luke, but he was pretty sure he’d try. And Luke deserved a warning for that.