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Valentin stood by the wooden rail of his cabin, smoking a cigarette, watching the sunset fade down, and down, and down, until all of the sun was gone. It was a silent and chilly night, having to wear his green jacket outside. He needed to wash it soon, he thought.
"Nice night, huh?"
Valantin jumps, his cigarette dropping from his hand, quickly grabbing his pocket knife and holding it up to the intruder.
Malachi has his hands up, his eyes widened as he stares at the blade. "..Someone's in a bad mood."
Valentin sighs, putting down the blade, holding his chest. "Damn, kid. Almost gave me a heart attack."
"Hey, I'm not a kid." Malachi says, moving to lean on the wooden rail, it shifting against his weight.
Val just rolls his eyes, staring into the night sky. "Fuckin' annoying."
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Valentin sat on the barstool, chugging away at his favorite beer. The bar he currently was at had his favorite, and they made it the way he liked it. It was his favorite way to relax. Him and the bartender were okay friends, the bartender knew him as a regular. Valentin didn't know his name, but always appreciated how he'd ask about his day. He didn't care much to ask about his, though.
As he took one last sip from his bottle, a tap on his shoulder makes him look up, hoping it isn't some drunk trying to start a fight. Lord knows how much he doesn't want to deal with that.
"Is this seat taken?" Malachi asks, motioning to the seat next to him.
Val groans in irritation. "Yes, actually."
Malachi sits there anyway, spinning in the swirl seat. "Yeah, me." He grinned at him.
Val rolls his eyes. "Are you even 21?" He asks, glaring at him.
"I'm an avenger."
Val's eye twitches at just the mention of that. "..so?"
Malachi shrugs. "Im allowed in here."
Valentin doesn't bother to question it, just rolling his eyes in response.
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Malachi, had once again, arrived at his house with no warning. Valentin sat on his couch, country music filling the living room from his CD player. He leaned his head on the back of the couch, listening intently.
Malachis eyebrow twitched, his arms crossed against his chest. Valentin took notice, his eyebrow raising.
"What's got you so riled up?" Val questions.
"Your music sucks." He states bluntly.
Val's taken aback for a moment. "Excuse me?"
He leans forward, his eyebrows pressed together.
Malachi just shrugs in response. "It sucks. Old man music."
Valentins eyebrow twitches. "How old do you think I am, kid?"
He shrugs, counting on his fingers in thought. "Probably 70. Though with your music taste and how horrible you are at fighting... probably centuries old by now."
Valentin stands up angrily, stopping the music and leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.
Malachi blinks at the door, his mouth agape. Did he really annoy him that bad?
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Malachi and Valentin were sitting on top of a random stores roof again, their legs swinging off the side. They were talking about random things - well, Malachi was, Valentin was forced to listen.
"-And after the robber dropped the bag, I got to shoot it into the wall!" Malachi grinned. "Just like you showed me!"
Valentin just nods, and Malachi swears he can see a smile.
"You're a good egg." Val says, looking at him.
Malachi blinks, staring at him like he just spoke a different language.
"What?"
"What do you mean, what? You're a good egg." Val restates.
"What does that mean?" Malachi asks. "Saying it again doesn't clear it up."
"Like.. You're a good person. Have you never heard that saying before?" Malachi asks, his eyebrows pressing together. He was in actual shock.
"No, I haven't. Is that some old saying?" He asks, leaning back on his elbows.
"Yeah, my dad used to say it to me." Val shrugged. "Surprised you've never heard it." He says.
"Well, I'm not old, nor am I a dad."
Val's head snaps to the side harder than Malachi has ever seen it, his eyes boring into Malachis head. "Excuse me?"
"Sorry, I forget how senile you are. I'm calling you OL-" As he goes to pronounce it, Valentin takes his empty soda can and tosses it at Malachis head, making him yelp loudly.
"Bastard." Val says, standing up and walking to the ladder they used to get up on the roof.
"A Dad wouldn't hit their kid." Malachi calls out.
"I'm not a dad, and you're not my son." He calls back after a couple seconds.
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It's been 5 minutes since Valentin has been in his room. Malachi asked if he had a certain cord for his bow, since one of the strings had broken. He said he had one, and he's been searching ever since.
Malachi groaned in boredom, fidgeting with the pillow in his hands that he'd retrieved from the couch.
After another moment, he finally stands up, looking around his cabin. There's nothing much to look at, the walls are all bare, no pictures up or anything. Anytime Malachi asks about his family or anything, he immediately gets shut down.
As he's scavenging around, he sees a box under the table. It's a long box, with chips and cracks in the sides. He takes it out, curiously, and opens the lid. There, he practically finds the holy grail of Val's past.
There's a bunch of dusty pictures, all crumbled and coated in a dirt like paste. He wipes them off with his thumb, smearing the dirt across the picture.
There's lots of pictures. Theres ones of Valentin holding a baby, without an eyepatch. The one he's so used to seeing. Hes cleaned up a lot, smiling down at the baby in his arms. Like it's his life.
He swarms through more, more baby pictures, more pictures of him and a woman he doesn't recognize.. then he sees it.
A wedding picture. It's clearly a wedding. He could tell it was in a church, Val was wearing a suit, a flower stitched to his suit. The woman standing with him was wearing a white wedding dress, the most beautiful dress he's seen. He could tell just by looking at it, it was expensive.
The dots were connecting. That's his wife. Then that means the baby... was his?
"Hey kid, I got the string. Took a bit to find-" Valentin begins, but stops in his tracks when he sees what Malachi is holding.
Malachi scrambles to shove the pictures back into the box, but it was too late.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Valentin cusses out, walking towards him quickly and snatching the box out of his hands.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to snoop-"
"Don't look in this again." He says sternly, leaving the room without sparing another glance at him, going into his room.
Malachi sits in the living room for what feels like hours. He feels horrible, biting his lip nervously.
Valentin comes back out, throws the string at Malachi and sits on the couch. Everything is so tense. The air is hard to breathe in.
"Well?" Valentin said, a bit after the silence had passed.
Malachi jumped at his voice, expecting a yell. "What- what?" He said nervously.
Val just pointed at the bow sitting next to Malachi. "Go on."
Malachi swallows roughly, picking the bow up and fiddling with the string. He roughly attaches it to the broken part, fully knowing he fucked up. He could hear Val sigh, and then watches as he takes the bow from his hands, and begins to fix the string.
Clicking and pulling fills their ears as he messes with the bow. Valentin is much more skilled in fixing weapons than Malachi. He should've expected something like this.
"You're a dad." Malachi finally states after a moment.
"Don't." Val threatens. Malachi isn't looking at Val, but he can feel his eyes boring into his head.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Quiet.
"Cmon, we're pretty close-"
"Stop." Val stops messing with the bow. Malachi finally looks back at Valentin.
"Are you ashamed? You shouldn't be ashamed-"
Valentin slams down the bow against the table. The string was finally attached, but something between them broke.
"Du weißt einfach nicht, wie man den Mund hält." He states. "Get out."
Malachi stares at Valentin, wanting to say more. Valentin just stares back, and Malachi can tell he's pissed.
"We aren't close. You're just a bother. An Avenger." Valentin states.
"Why do you hate Avengers so much? What's so bad with saving people?" He huffed out, glaring at him.
"Because those fuckers killed my family!" He finally yells out, biting his lip in regret and rubbing his face.
Malachi just stands there, his voice repeating in his head.
Valentins finally the first to move. He quickly walks to the direction of his room. "Get the fuck out." Is all he says, before slamming the door behind him.
..Malachi pushed too far.