Chapter Text
Tonight was just for Jake. The only thing he wanted to do tonight was go grab a coffee in some lone diner, go for a ride and then go to sleep. He had no plans to protect the travelers of the night tonight. No, thank you. He rarely got the chance to front. Marc and Steven knew he existed, they just didn’t know his name or… literally anything about him. He didn’t want to talk to them. He didn’t want them to know him. He was… scared. Jake hated to admit it but that’s exactly what it was. He was terrified. He was afraid they were going to judge him, that they were going to try and get rid of him.
He knew, logically that they wouldn’t do that, especially not Steven, but...
Why wouldn’t they want him gone? He was a killer. Despite his only real motivation to do anything being protecting the two, his methods were a bit extreme. He knew Marc has killed people, of course. He was no stranger to Marc's previous activities and his missions as a mercenary and Moon knight.
But the difference between Marc and Jake was that Marc did it out of necessity. Jake may kill out of necessity and the need to protect his headmates, but he also enjoyed the killing.
He didn’t want to bring his issues to the front with him. He didn’t want Steven or Marc digging in his memories and he didn’t want them to worry about his nightly activities as Moon Knight. He didn’t want them to know he still served Khonshu. They were free and he would keep it that way. Khonshu was a manipulative bastard. He knew that very well.
Despite Jake wanting nothing more but to protect his two alters, he also wanted some time for himself. He felt selfish for doing so. He felt bad for keeping them up at night for no other reason than him simply wanting to enjoy a coffee. They should be getting the sleep they needed and yet… and yet Jake was too selfish to let them sleep. He knew Steven would probably say that they all shared the body and that they all deserved the time to front, but Jake was stubborn.
He told Khonshu he wasn’t going to be doing anything moon knight related tonight. He told him that tonight he wanted to be alone. He wanted to do nothing. He wanted to enjoy some black coffee with too much sugar in it, and he wanted to go for a ride in his car and he wanted to lie in bed and enjoy the silence.
That was his plan for today. Except when he finally decided to abandon the diner, he felt too tired to actually drive. Khonshu may prevent him from getting injured if something were to happen to him while he was driving- but he couldn’t protect other people from getting hurt, nor could he save his car from getting totalled. Jake wasn’t going to risk it.
He was selfish, but he wasn’t selfish enough to risk other people’s lives, innocent people’s lives.
When he stepped outside, it was raining. Soft water droplets fell on his face and Jake looked up into the dark night sky. He closed his eyes and just let the rain fall for a bit. The feeling of the rain on his face was comforting.
Jake loved the rain. He knew Marc had a hard time with water, but Jake wasn’t Marc. Marc wasn’t here. Jake was. And Jake loved the rain. He loved the smell, he loved the way the water droplets felt on his face. Like tiny needles prickling his skin over and over again. It made him feel alive. It made him feel real. And god, Jake needed to feel real even if it was only for a moment.
The Moon Knight suit protected him from rain when he was out doing Khonshu’s bidding, and he rarely got to front when it was raining in general. It was usually Steven who would front when it was raining. If Marc would front, he would slowly retreat back and leave the body to Steven.
Jake started his walk home to Steven and Marc’s apartment. He didn’t dare call it his own. It wasn’t, really. He didn’t really feel like he was at home. He knew, logically, that it was his apartment as well, but it felt like he was trespassing.
The walk home was peaceful. The diner was roughly 20 minutes from their flat and Jake was not in any hurry. He was walking along the mostly empty London streets, looking around in mild interest. He didn’t often get to walk around like this. If he could, he mostly preferred to ride in his car, but tonight... tonight Jake just wanted to stretch his legs and enjoy the nighttime.
His train of thoughts got interrupted when a scream cut through the calm atmosphere of the night.
„HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME PL-„ the scream was cut short as someone tried to muffle the cry for help.
Jake didn’t want to do any Moon Knight business today, but he couldn’t just leave without doing anything.
Quickly summoning his suit, Jake sprinted towards the sound of the scream. Despite him not wanting to do any vigilante stuff today, he couldn’t deny that it felt good, running towards danger like this, feeling the rain soak his suit and feeling the slight burning in his legs, feeling the adrenaline rushing through his veins when he fights.
Jake turned to the left when he reached the alley where the sound was coming from, and saw two people in the dark, on the other side of the alley, hiding behind a dumpster.
Coming closer, Jake saw what looked like a man trying to force himself onto a woman, who was struggling against his hold.
Jake didn’t waste a second and threw a crescent moon dart towards the man.
The assailant screamed in pain and let go of the woman as the sudden sharp pain cutting through his calves sent him to his knees.
Jake was immediately by his side, grabbing him by his hair and smashing his head into the wall next to the lady. She was shaking and crying, and she screamed in surprise when the man’s head hit the wall.
„You will never touch another person like this ever again or I will find you and you will not like me then, amigo.“ Jake growled in his ear before smashing his head into the wall again, knocking the man out. He would have happily killed him, he knew scum like this didn’t deserve a second chance, but there was starting to be too many bodies that could potentially lead people to Marc and Steven. Jake didn’t need the two of them getting in trouble because of him. His job was protecting them, after all. He also didn’t want to scare the lady further.
„Are you okay?“ he asked, turning towards the woman, who was shaking and leaning against the wall. She looked terrified. He didn’t blame her. She almost got assaulted and a random masked vigilante almost killed a man in front of her.
„I- Is he- is he dead?“ She asked, voice shaking. She seemed familiar. Has he met her before? Or maybe Marc and Steven knew her, and he’s seen her in passing. Jake felt like he’s met her somewhere.
„No, no. Just knocked out.“ He replied.
„Do you need medical attention?“ He asked, looking her over to see if she had any visible injuries while staying a short distance away to not crowd her.
„I- no. No, it’s just a few bruises, I think. I should just. I just- I'll just go. Thank you ah- just. Thank you.“ She said, slightly nervous and anxious. Not surprising. Jake understood.
„Good. Get home safe.“ He said, turning to leave when he felt a hand grab him by his wrist. He froze, his body immediately in a fight or flight mode. He can't remember the time when someone's touch wasn't to hurt him.
„I- sorry.“ She let go of his arm and Jake felt himself relax a bit. “Probably not smart grabbing violent vigilantes like this”. She muttered under her breath with a laugh and Jake couldn’t help but smirk a bit under his mask.
„I just- who are you?“ She asked, looking him in the eyes and Jake’s breath hitched in his throat when he finally realized where he knew her from.
The tour guide. Dylan. He asked her out on a date in hopes of finding someone for Steven.
„Doesn’t matter.“ His mouth was suddenly dry when he replied and turned away from her again to leave. This time, she didn’t reach for his hand again.
Good. He didn’t need her telling anyone she met „Moon knight“. Jake wasn’t really Moon Knight anyway, was he?. That title belonged to Marc.
Jake was just... Jake.
-
Donna has apparently moved away and found a different job, and Steven decided to try his luck at the museum again, to see if he could get his old job back.
Surprisingly enough, he got it. Now that he knew about Marc and the whole Moon Knight business, he was hoping to get their life back on track. He wanted to find them a job. Well, Steven wanted a job. He knew Marc had quite a bit of money saved up from his time as a mercenary, but that was Marc’s money. And Steven wanted to bring some semblance of normalcy back to his life. After the whole thing in Cairo, he wanted nothing more than to go back to London and continue on with his and Marc’s life without a stupid overgrown pigeon insulting him at every given opportunity. Which meant that Marc had the front row seats to Steven’s attempts at finding a new job before they got their museum job back.
„Do I have experience with autism- what does that even mean.“ Marc was currently watching Steven lose his mind while going through different job applications. He was filling out some questionnaire for a potential job.
„Marc, what do they mean „Do you have experience with autism?“ „I don’t know, Steven.“ Marc honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What sort of a job was this anyway?
„How am I supposed to even reply to this? Theres no elaboration! Do you have experiences with autism...“ Steven mocked the website.
When the next question was how many years of experience they had, Steven threw his hands up and gave up.
Their job search went swimmingly.
Marc could have cried when Steven got the old museum job back.
-
Layla had promised she would come to visit- and maybe even stay after she took care of some business back in Cairo. She also said she needed a bit of a break from their relationship. Both Marc and Steven understood. It was all very confusing and new to all of them. Steven thought it would do them some good as well, figuring out their stuff before trying to jump back into a relationship with her.
She still kept in touch. She would send them occasional pictures and updates on how life was going. Both Steven and Marc liked reading her messages and talking about their own day.
Steven made sure to text Layla as soon as he knew he got his job at the museum back. He was excited and he needed to tell someone and well, Marc already knew. He was there when Steven got the news.
Not only did Steven get his job at the museum back, but they offered to let him try the tour guide position as well, if there were no further issues back in his employment.
Steven was ecstatic.
And now with Donna gone, Steven wasn’t as anxious going to work.
Life was good. It was going well. Both Steven and Marc have split their days in a somewhat regular manner so both of them had their turns with the body. It wasn’t set in stone, but it was a somewhat regular schedule that both of them agreed on.
It’s been around two weeks now since Steven got his job back and right now, Marc was packing up Steven’s things, about to head home. Steven checked out as soon as his shift ended, and Marc was left to get them home. Marc knew it was going to happen, and he offered to take over for Steven even earlier- he could finish Stevens shift or even call in sick for them and leave for the last few hours, but Steven refused. Today was rough on him and Marc could feel how exhausted Steven was.
As social and friendly as Steven was, sometimes people were just too much and Steven needed a break. Today was one of those days. Marc didn’t mind. Steven deserved the rest.
„-no I’m telling you, the guy had glowing white eyes!“
Marc frowned.
„You got saved by a mummy guy with glowing white eyes? Like the guy that was in the news a while back? When the sky lit up a few months ago in- where was that, Cairo?“
Marc froze when he overheard what Steven’s coworkers were discussing.
„No, this guy had a black suit, although it did look very similar to that moon guy. I don’t know. He didn’t give me a name, but he saved me. God knows what would have happened if he wasn’t there.“
The first thing that jumped to Marc’s mind when he heard the two coworkers chatting was „Khonshu found himself a new avatar“. He quickly shut that thought down. No, he didn’t know if it was another Avatar. For all he knew, it could have been some random vigilante in a similar get up. Or even an avatar of a different god. He didn’t have to worry about Khonshu anymore. Khonshu released them. And if Khonshu manipulated some other poor soul, it wasn’t Marc’s problem. He was done with all this. He was done. Khonshu released them and he promised. They had a deal.
“How’s this deal gonna work?”
Still, he couldn’t help the jolt of anxiety that ran through him, thinking about the possibility of Khonshu lying to them.
“You would negotiate now, with so much at stake?”
If it really was another avatar of Khonshu, he just hoped they weren’t manipulated into serving him like he was.
“Well, we did learn from the best, you silly old bird.”
He grabbed Stevens jacket from his locker and headed home.
“I will release you both. You have my word.”