To the world outside, Hell’s Kitchen sounded almost quiet and peaceful, and even the crimes decreased as if those thugs brought their business to a halt to give this city a break. To give Matt a break to be able to enjoy Christmas as much as possible. Except in Matt’s world, Hell’s Kitchen never was quiet, and it wasn’t quiet tonight. Peaceful, maybe. But not quiet. He heard all the indistinct chatter in the streets and even from within the houses along the road and down the blocks. He heard the faint traffic noises- cars, trucks, and the metro - and he heard the constant buzzing of electricity. He heard the wind whistle and almost heard the snowflakes flutter to the ground where they landed on the cold asphalt with a soft rustle. Almost.
Still, tonight not everything was as peaceful as Matt wished. For instance his girlfriend. She seemed quieter for some reason when he was used to, and definitely quieter compared to earlier this night. They’ve had a good time tonight; a couple of former clients had brought them cake and different dishes as a sign of appreciation of their help as well as a gift or Christmas. Foggy had decided for everyone to bring as many people to their spontaneous Pre-Christmas-Dinner as possible. Which meant, Foggy brought Marci, Karen came just by herself and Matt was lucky that Nika’d joined him. And though Marci was used to better stuff than cheap wine, they had a wonderful night with exactly that. Except for Marci being Marci - she respected Foggy, and for once their relationship seemed serious, but she wasn’t at all thrilled of their low standards - and Nika being… well, Matt didn’t know for sure. At first he hadn’t thought about it, but the later it was the quieter Nika became. Yet Matt didn’t spend much attention on it being tipsy from the wine and occupied with listening to Foggy telling the damn butcher story again. In case Karen hadn’t heard of it before, and Nika surely never had.
Only when they left their office and walked down the street in silence, Matt realized that the mood was kinda… off. He still couldn’t say why or if it was just him. He thought he would best ignore it- instead he took her hand into his and smiled at her. “Thanks for coming with me,” he thanked her openly, “and also for putting up with Foggy.” Not that he thought his best friend was embarrassing. His open and genuine and funny nature wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. “He’s a good friend.” The best friend he could think of. “And so is Karen.” Matt wasn’t going to say a single word about Marci, though he was happy for Foggy if it finally worked out with them.
After some time walking through the cold, snowy night, they came across a church. Matt stopped in his tracks, made Nika halt, too and cocked his head as he listened in to the mass. The Christmas Mass to be precise- his favorite mass, actually. The organ played silent night, the people sung to it, and Matt itched to go inside to join the mass. He cleared his throat and turned his face back to his girlfriend. Instinctively, his grip around her hand became a littler firmer, but not hurtful. “Hey, uh, would you mind joining the mass?” he asked her, nodding to the church. Even she must hear the sound of the organ. Nika agreed and only moments later they found themselves inside the church, in the back of the crowded hall just when the song came to an end and another started.Matt didn’t join in any church song being played but he prayed. He always prayed.
