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Nearly an entire month since his arrival, and Matt is finally starting to move past the initial confusion and shock of waking up in Ancient Rome. The Strix attacks made everything that much more real, and now his time training is about more than adjusting to the changes to his senses. It's about protecting people like it ought to be. Among those he specifically wants to keep safe, the man he's currently talking with and passing water back and forth.

They had just finished another round of training, Matt was stretching out his limbs and catching his breath. He didn't go easy on anyone during exercises, including Foggy, knowing it would be better for everyone if he practiced with purpose instead of holding back. He wasn't about to encourage others to go easy on the blind guy, this sent that message loud and clear. The rest was a force of habit, the training reminding him of childhood memories learning from Stick. He would have had hell to pay if he didn't give one hundred percent.

"You did good today," he tells Foggy, "You improved."

[ A plain, corked glass bottle waits outside his door, filled with clear liquor and bearing a rolled slip of papyrus tucked into the handle– a note: ]

Foggy,

Thanks for the help with the icehouse preparations. Enjoy the brandy!

Cheers!

-Flynn

[ Matt can't seem to stop grinning, it's almost difficult to talk he's that happy. Training felt like it took a lifetime, something he rarely experiences, all because it's Foggy's birthday and there is nothing he wants to do more than spend the day singing his praises and making him happy. So far the day had gone great. Matt woke him up in the morning with some affection that might have woken the neighbors too. Over breakfast, he mentioned that he had something to give him later. "Nothing big but maybe it will remind you of home," he hinted. It took far too much willpower not to smile at him during training and he was hit a couple times by strikes he could have dodged because he was distracted by his thoughts. They spent their other meals and evening free time with Karen and other friends before finally retiring to their "separate" rooms. Matt was sitting on Foggy's window frame by the time he made it up the stairs. He nearly forgot to wait for Foggy to close the door before launching across the room to embrace him. ]

This is what I wanted to give you. I know I already made you one before but since it's still at home and- I don't know if you still have it...

[ He holds out the leather bracelet he had woven, grin giving way to a softer smile. ]

Happy birthday.

[ The end of another day. In the early evening, Matt had left the complex to go down to the tree near the river again, once more without telling anyone where he was off to and why. Later, as he walked back to the complex he wondered if he was doing the wrong thing not telling Foggy about the stones he had stacked under the tree and the prayers he kept reciting, hoping it would help him get through his grief faster. Couples don't have to know every little thing the other one does. Privacy is still important. He comes up with the same excuse every time and every time it doesn't feel like it fits quite right. He's late to dinner and finds his typical spot next to Foggy waiting for him.

Later that night he thinks he hears people talking from afar and his heart leaps. He raises a hand and snaps his fingers, hoping the click will reverberate off the walls and reveal the area around him the way it would for him normally. He tries several times then lowers his hand again and sighs. Just his imagination, his hearing isn't back to normal.

The night seems even quieter than usual after the reminder. He remembers to make a point of speaking softly to Foggy later when they're a tangle of limbs pulling off clothing and slipping into the bed, whispering sweet nothings and laughing softly at their own terrible jokes between kisses. He had just positioned himself in Foggy's lap facing him and leaned in to whisper in his ear when Matt pauses and lifts his head, tilting it side to side to try catching the noise he hears better, brow furrowed. ]

Is someone in another room talking?

[ Not as if that would be odd in a complex. Of all people, they have no right to complain about neighbors' noise. It seems closer though, quiet but not muffled the way it should be if it was coming from behind a wall. ]

[action] Late June, Post-Strix

;delivery; backdated to the first week of june

July 10th

Late July