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If this had been a movie, Matt would have called the situation a “meet cute.”
Not that he’s seen a movie in the last fifteen-odd years. But he’s heard about them.
Anyway, if he were in a movie, he would be charming and she would be flirting and they definitely wouldn’t be covered in so much garbage.
But this is real life and he’s a guy who fell into a dumpster. A dumpster that’s already occupied. By a girl.
“Jesus Christ, where did you come from?” she yelps as he lands, groaning, on the trash bags next to her.
“Well, I sure as hell didn’t fall in here by choice,” he manages through gritted teeth. He can feel her staring at him, sense her tense and confused outline.
“Why are you dressed like a…are those horns?”
“Katie!” someone hisses (male, probably white, not that much older than him) farther down the alley. “Be quiet! Do you want to give away our position?”
Matt can’t really see her, but he can feel Katie roll her eyes.
“Sorry dude,” she says. “My asshole partner down there decided that the dumpster was a great place for us to hide from the dealers we were trying to take out. He didn’t mention that they might end up being overrun with our fellow costume wearers.” Matt notices for the first time that she’s dressed in a purple jumpsuit, a quiver of arrows on her back and a bow at her side.
“You know how to use that thing?” he quips. He immediately regrets it, as she knocks and arrow and has the bow drawn and pointing in his face almost as soon as the words leave his mouth.
“Still think I don’t know what I’m doing? I know some very creative places where I can shove these arrows. And some of them explode.” Her voice is full of relish and Matt wants to laugh.
“Katie, if you’re going to insist on talking to strange men in dumpsters, you might as well come and get in the same one as me. Then maybe you can stop giving away our position.” Her partner sounds exasperated, but there’s a definite fondness beneath the irritation.
“You gonna be okay, devil dude?” she asks him as she hops out of the dumpster.
“I’ll be fine,” he assures her. “I’ve survived much worse.” He pulls himself up and climbs out after her.
“Well, try not to fall in any more dumpsters today. You already smell like shit.” She salutes him and heads down the alley, hopping into a dumpster a few yards away.
Matt shakes his head and heads off in the other direction. Hell’s Kitchen seemed to be in good enough hands for tonight- and he really did need a shower.