Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jessica bursts into Matt’s office, making a beeline for the window. She scans the street below, then tugs the blinds down. “I need to hide out here for the next few days,” she announces, then turns around.

Matt is sat at his desk, looking exasperated. Sat across the desk from him is a elderly woman clutching a handbag to her chest, face twisting up.

“Many apologies, Mrs Nguyen,” Matt says. “If you’ll just give me a moment…” He stands, grabs Jessica’s arm, and yanks her into the reception area. Once there, he says in an urgent whisper, “This better be important.”

Jessica pulls her arm out of his grip and says again, “I need to hide out here for a few days.”

“Okay,” Matt says, “but is this an ‘I’m in grave danger and can’t return to my apartment’ kind of hiding out, or is it an ‘I pissed Trish off and if she sees me then I’ll get yelled at’ kind of hiding out?”

Jessica snorts. She glances around the waiting room, restlessly shifting her weight between her feet. “That second scenario is the exact same as the first,” she tells him, “but it’s actually neither.”

“Well, I’ve got a client waiting for me in my office right this second,” Matt says, “so you’d better get explaining.”

After another glance around the waiting room – there’s a teenager slumped in a chair with older man next to him, and then a twenty-something woman opposite them – Jessica sags. “An ex of mine is in town. Just arrived this morning.”

Matt immediately straightens. “An ex-person you dated?”

“Yep.”

He lets her stay.

“Matt…” There’s something in Foggy’s voice that Jessica can’t identify. Matt evidently can, because he winces.

“Her ex is in town!” he protests, spreading his arms wide.

Foggy sighs. “That’s hardly the end of the world.”

“It very much is the end of the world,” Jessica says.

Matt points towards her. “See!”

Eyes raising skyward, Foggy says in an exasperated tone, “Matt, not everyone has exes who are dangerous.”

“She is very dangerous,” Jessica agrees.

“Can’t you just…” Foggy makes a vague gesture. “…stay somewhere other than our place of business? What about Trish, doesn’t she have a saferoom or whatever?”

Jessica winces. “Trish…is a no go.”

Matt’s brow furrows. “Huh?”

“Mel and Trish are friends,” Jessica explains. “She’s how we met. And, uh. She doesn’t exactly know about us?”

“Your sister doesn’t know about the ex who’s freaking you out so bad?” Foggy asks, completely flat.

“First of all, she’s my adoptive sister. And secondly—well, Mel is staying with Trish, so when I say she’s in town I mean she’s in town.”

“Ah,” Foggy says.

“Yeah.”

Danny practically bounces into Matt’s apartment, a big box tucked under one of his arms. Luke is behind him, carrying a plastic shopping bag.

“Hey, Jess,” Danny says brightly, heading towards the living area. He vaults over the back of the couch to sit down on it and set his box down on the table. “Have you ever played Risk?”

Jessica, sat in her usual armchair, lets her head fall back against the cushion.

“So, Mel, huh?” Luke is amused, Jessica can tell. “Matt said she was bad ex.”

Jessica moves her little plastic soldiers into Peru. “She was the first person I ever…”

“Dated?” Danny fills in for her.

Blowing out a breath, Jessica says, “Yeah. We were in high school, but neither of us were willing to be out. I didn’t even tell Trish.”

“How old were you?” Danny’s expression is curious. “All the movies Colleen and I’ve watched have teenagers dating when they’re fifteen, but Misty says that that’s unrealistic.”

“That is unrealistic,” Luke says.

“I was seventeen,” Jessica says. “So was Mel. We had English together.”

Luke asks, “Why did it end badly?”

Jessica squints at him. “You’re enjoying this far too much.”

“No, no!” Luke protests, holding his hands up. “Not enjoying this at all!”

“Like hell you aren’t,” Jessica mutters. Then: “I heard that she’d hooked up with Robert Drew at his house party.”

Danny’s eyes go wide.

“I confronted her about it, she denied it, but—well, I pushed. We had a big fight. Then I heard Robert boasting about how he was sleeping with Mel, but the times didn’t match. I knew it wasn’t true, so I punched him.”

“How hard?” Luke asks.

“Hard,” Jessica says.

“Did you break his jaw?” Danny asks eagerly. “He sounds like a dick.”

“Oof, strong language from Rand over there,” Luke says.

“I broke his jaw,” Jessica agrees. “And then his nose. And then kicked him in the balls. It, uh—it wasn’t good. Everyone thought I’d gone insane or something. Trish wouldn’t talk to me for a week, and I didn’t know how to tell her why I’d done it.”

“And Mel?” Luke prompts.

“She broke up with me. Said she didn’t know me anymore.” Jessica huffs a laugh, shaking her head. “Imagine if she saw me now.”

“That sucks,” Danny declares.

Jessica turns to him. Says, “My troops are in Peru. Roll your dice to defend.”

Jessica’s phone beeps again. She steadfastly ignores it and continues scrolling through the scanned documents on her laptop. Matt’s tasked her with looking into a company trying to force a client out of their home.

“You’re getting a lot of messages today,” Karen says. She’s sat opposite Jessica, behind her desk, reading through complaints about the company post on forums online.

Jessica grimaces. She reaches out for her phone, ready to switch it off, but Karen gets to it first.

“Oh, they’re all from Trish,” Karen says, sounding surprised as she scrolls through the notifications on Jessica’s lock screen. “Who’s ‘Mel’?”

Groaning, Jessica flops down onto her crossed arms, burying her face.

“Oh my god, is that the ex-girlfriend you’re hiding from?”

“No,” Jessica says, muffled.

“Jess, where are you?” Trish demands. She sounds frustrated. “You said you’d be here today.”

“Something came up.” Jessica watches Spiderman as he attacks the punching bag. He’s still in his stupid costume, face covered, even though they’re indoors – at the rundown gym Matt likes. “I’m busy.”

“Jess, you better not have been kidnapped again,” Trish says. “You have to tell me if you get kidnapped.”

“I’ve not been kidnapped,” Jessica says, rolling her eyes.

Spiderman punches the bag hard enough that it goes flying back. The hook attaching it to the ceiling creaks.

“I said pull your punches,” Jessica tells him sharply. “If you break another punching bag, Daredevil’s going to kill me.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Spiderman says.

“Remember the breathing exercises. In, hold, out. Just like that stupid meditating thing Red’s teaching you.”

“Jessica?” Trish’s voice says from Jess’ phone.

Spiderman’s head tilts to one side. “Is that Trish Walker? From Trish Talk? You know, you’re on her Wikipedia page—”

“Keep practicing, kid.” Jessica untangles herself from the ropes of the boxing ring and walks off to get some more privacy.

“Jessica, what are you doing? Where are you?”

“Nothing,” Jessica says.

“Are you avoiding me?” Trish makes a huffy noise. “You told me you’d stop doing that!”

Jessica lets out a sigh. “Trish, I’m not avoiding you—”

“Well, I haven’t seen you in days and you’re not texting me back, and Mel—oh my god. Is this about Mel? I know you two used to be close, but you can’t just go underground whenever she comes to visit me.”

Stiffening, Jessica starts, “I don’t—”

“Oh, don’t even try to deny that,” Trish says. “Every time she’s here, you disappear for, like, a week.”

There’s a loud thud from across the room. “Uh, Miss Jones…?” Spiderman’s voice starts. Jessica looks, and finds that he’s punched the bag off the hook. It’s crashed into the lockers.

“Jesus Christ,” Jessica says, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Sorry, Trish, I’ve got to go.”

“Don’t you dare hang up on me—”

Trish [17:01]: You’re so immature Jess

Trish [17:02]: I can’t believe you actually hung up on me

Trish [17:03]: No, scratch that, I can

Jessica ignores Trish’s texts, leaving her on read.

“Trish wants you to know that she’s pissed at you,” Luke tells her when they’re out patrolling that evening.

Jessica rolls her eyes. “Old news.”

Trish [11:37]: Mel’s leaving this afternoon

Trish [11:38]: Will you at least tell me why you two don’t get along?

Trish [11:41]: Whenever I mention you, she goes all quiet

Trish [11:47]: She isn’t a fan of you being a vigilante

What a surprise.

Finally – finally – Jessica gets the text saying that Mel’s on her way to the airport, and she’ll be back in California before long.

She sags in relief, then starts making a plan for avoiding a pissed off Trish.