Chapter Text
Noir shut the door letting his hand fall from the knob. He wasn't used to people choosing to meet him in his dimension of all places but Noir didn't mind it. His eyes trailed back down to his hands, the red trailed down his palm. Despite the fact it was blood of all things Noir couldn't help but admire the colorful hue.
He stepped into an off room and took a book that was hidden in the middle of the wall and bookshelf, and opened it to a page covered in red streaks, he flipped it to the blank page right after. Noir pressed his hand firmly down on the front until he was certian the color bled into the paper before pulling his hand away.
Ever since his first encounter with the colorful world that belong to Miles he had found himself fascinated by anything that didn't fall under black white or grey. Peni had lent him some markers that he took great care in keeping safe. Each page had a diffrent set colors and their shades. He had become very fond of what the actual Purple looked like.
The handprint fit perfectly, he carefuly moved the book back to its hiding spot and turned to leave the room to clean the remaining stains off.
"Ding ding." Noir called out through the apartment as he searched the floor and shelves for his cat.
"Mrrrph?" He could hear her from the kitchen side of the apartment. She always liked getting into the cabinets and whatever treats he hid high above.
"Ding-a-ling-ling." Noir called out for his little companion as he trudged his way through the rooms eventually making it to the entrance of his kitchen. His eyes trailed upwards expecting to find his little cat messing with something he possibly left out only to see the snout of a masked white haired horse infront of him.
She took up most of the little space he had in the small area and didn't seem to mind knocking over the few picture frames he has kept out as she made her way around, Ding Ding certianly didnt seem to mind as she was peacefully snoozing away on the back of the Mustang. It took a good minute for Noir to fully comprehend the situation.
"There's a horse in my kitchen." He spoke plainly. It may not have been the weirdest encounter he's had but it was certianly a strange one. He reached a hand up to brush against the steeds snout "Hello there Doll."
Widow didn't seem to care much for the physical attention and instead indulge in trying to snoop around Noirs belongings instead. The detective let out a sigh, hed have to ask Webslinger about the horse later. For now he'd just have to deal with the new freind Ding Ding had acquired for the time being. He shuffeled back out of the kitchen and eventually found himself falling flat on the comfort of his couch. He let himself sink into it, pulling the bottom part of his mask up for more movment to breath.
His body felt heavy with the exhaustion that weighed on him. The day was merciless and tomorrow was most likely going to be the same, atleast he managed to get some good out of it. The possibility of another freind, Noir of course knew the cowboy may as well abandoned him the second he's recovered but the thought of it atleast made the day a little more bearable.
And of course he had to go and have that thought. With a light ring of his ear he could feel his spider sense go off, he begrudgingly opened his eyes and caught the glimpse of one of Ereshkigals spiders skittering across the outside of the window frame. This was certianly going to be a great way to end the day wasn't it?
Reluctantly Noir forced himself up, dragging the end of his mask back down as he made his way to the window. "Make sure your new freind dosent get into anything Ding-ling." Noir called out before pulling up the window sill, he didn't truly excpect Ding-a-ling to actually take care in keeping the house in perfect shape.
With a quick swing out and up Noir landed on the roof, an uncountable amount of spiders skittered past him and he made sure not to accidentally step on any. He had become almost kin to these followers of the Spider-Godess.
"Ereshkigal." the Greyscale spiderman stared out into the horizon of his city, lights flickered and he could hear the bustle that always went on during this time.
"What Is that. New, Entity that you've brought with you." Her voice echoed- Especially inside of Noirs head as if she spoke outside of it windows may break, the skittering spiders moved around noir mimicking where Ereshkigal resided.
"That's" with the panic now died down Noir realized he never asked Webslinger what his formal name may have been. "Webslinger.. he's from that ol' society of spiders I told you about." He could hear Ereshkigal grumbles.
"He looks."
"Colorful?"
"Strange." Well that certianly was another word for it.
"Suprisingly thats simply what it's like out there." Noir adjusted his hat as he titled his head to stare above. "Turns out our world is the only one consisting of black grey an'white."
"I don't trust it." Noir could feel one of Ereshkigals spiderlings scamper up his back and onto his coat shoulder. "It' doesn't fit. It could cause problems you-"
"Better keep an eye on him?"
"Watch yourself." Despite the warning Noir couldn't help but atlesst smirk, he kneeled and reached out his hand for the spider to scramble back down.
"I'll make sure the moxie dosent get into any trouble." Noir felt the wind shift as Ereshkigal moved around him. "You think he will enjoy ruby?"
"That block of various- what did you say the other world called it?"
"Color." He thought back to the 'Rubix cube' he had taken from Miles deimension which he had lovingly named Ruby for short. "Ain't it a pretty thing?"
"Its dilly." Noir felt the wind pick up as the cluster of spiderlings dispersed, finding their way to depart either through the cracks or down the side of the building.
"Now thats just giving me the high-hat and you know it."
Ereshkigal let out a low rumble once more. "I don't enjoy when your freinds visit my domain, I can sense when someone leaves and enters this world and its not enjoyable so be careful with it parker."
"Iam not the one who caused it so that people can freely enter this deimension and you know it!" He wasn't awarded a respond as the wind died down and Ereshkigal disappeared to wherever it chose to return to. "And off you go." He stood on the roof in silence for a few extra seconds before calling out into the open air. "You could have just talked to me in my dreams you know. I know you have that power.."
Noir wasn't sure how long he slept for, could have been hours he only woke up when he felt Ding ding pawing at the back of his neck where some of his hair poked out from.
He turned his body and caught his cat in a hug which she desperately tried escaping from, with a small chuckle Noir opened his arms and she scurried off the couch. With a tilt of his head he turned to check the time- five hours. More than the usual amount of time he sleeps on the average- lucky day for him.
He stood up and almost promptly fell over if it wasn't for his spider sense warning him about the giant horse that sat at his feet.
"Exscuse me mamm." He mummered trying to move around Widow, he would hope his land lord didn't show up anytime soon- he didn't want to explain why there was a horse inside of his apartment. Widow didn't seem to mind, she tried nibbling at the end of his coat but besides that she decided to go back to sleeping instead.
With a slow creak Noir opened the door to his bedroom, he took a step instead before gently shutting it. He continued forward until he was at the foot of the bed. The Detective let his eyes adjust to the dark, from what it looked like the cowboy was still sleeping soundly. Patricks chest rose and fell with steady ease, Noirs eyes stared at the cowboys side, it didn't look like the bandages undid themselves or continued bleeding through so that was a good sign. His eyes continued to trail upwards until he paused as he lingered on Patricks face.
Noir wasnt sure what he was expecting under the mask- he certianly didnt excpect to ever see it. His hair was supposedly slicked back but throughout the previous commotion strands began sticking out, from what Noir could see Patrick had somewhat of a mustache- or goatee. Maybe a mixture of the two, aswell as bits of a fading side burn that trailed down the side of his head. It was clear that the cowboy took well care in keeping up his apperance.
Noir shook himself back to earth realizing he had been to focused on admiring the man. He tooks a few glances back at the living room mulling over wether he should wake the spider up or not. Thank fully he didn't have to think about it for long as the man blinked his eyes opened and almost jumped out of the bed from the suprise of having somebody be watching him.
"What the hells are you doin?" Patrick pushed himself up to be sitting, the hand that was placed over his heart moving up to push the hair out of his face.
Noir couldn't help but feel a light guilt. "I was just checking up on you. I wanted to make sure you weren't still bleeding out." After a quick second his head perked up and he turned and grabbed Patricks mask from the bedside drawer holding it out as he covered his eyes with a hand. "Here- apoligies I didn't mean-"
"Now there its fine." Patrick gently lowered The Detectives hand with his own, sneaking the mask out of his hand and back to the bedside. He spoke with a rough drawl, still waking up. "I don't mind you lookin at me, not like this is my deimension."
With light hessitance Noir lowered his hand back down, his goggles didn't do much to convey emotion but the way he stood and moved did. "I suppose." He grew quiet for a second. "How's the injury?"
"It's right as rain." Patrick swung his legs over the side and stood up. He wobbled for a good second using the bed for structure but he seemed all fine. "Got myself a good healing factor, dosent help when you still got the bullet inside you though." He looked up to other with a smile. Noir couldn't help but hum somewhat of a chuckle.
"Good Good… so the horse?" Noir gestured back towards the living room, it took The gunslinger a second to process the thought before a look of panic took over.
"Widow-" Patrick moved slower than he'd like and got to the doorway where he was immediately greeted by his companion with a horse head in the chest. She almost lifted him up but with the shock of pain that went through him she decided against it. With his legs almost giving out on him he rested the side of his head against Widows snout as she forcefully pushed him backwards until he fell back against the bed with a pained grunt.
Noir patted Widows neck, he nudged her to the side so he could step towards the bed to look over Patrick. "Sorry pal. Looks like your bedridden."
Webslinger slowly let his head fall to the side to face Noir, a smile creeping onto hid face. "Look'a-that. He's got a sense of humor." He forced himself to sit up again. "Sorry bout- forgettin to mention Widow by the way. Must've been suprised."
"I've has worse suprises." He decided that he wasn't going to think back on those memmories for the time being. "Ding Ding didnt seem to mind her."
"M'guessin that's the little cat I saw earlier?" The very distinctly Sassy cat that promptly rejected him. "One with the little bell that seemed to hate me?"
"She dosent hate people" Noir sat on the edge of the bed. "She's just. Shy." He watched as his cat walked in and promptly paused for a moment before turning her Little Sassy head away and strutting off. "Okay well, she's isn't used to…..Cowboys."
Patrick let out a laugh, loud and wonderful. It spooked Noir for a moment with the suprise of it. "Dont worry your head bout it Noir, I ain't getting my hackles up over it." He patted the detective on the back.
Patricks speech was intresting to him. Foreign but captivating, at times he was in a fog about what Patrick could possibly mean at times. The cowboy continued speaking but Noir didn't hear a word he said to focused on him. Gosh what was wrong with him today?? He hadn't felt like this since he had met MJ, and that relationship hadn't ended the way he hoped. He decided to try and push down the feeling, he didn't have the time to focus on it.
"But enough bout that'." Patrick shifted to lean closer to the zoned out Detective that missed most of his rambling. "Frankly I'm wonderin' what type of company you'd want from me."
"Sorry what?"
"You said you wanted Company as me paying you back. And I ain't one to leave debts unpaid pardner'." Patrick had a look of certianty, Noir had to pause for a moment he hadnt actually excpected the man to truly want to spend time with him. He had the littlest clue on almost anything about the Gunslinger and him accepting Noirs offer was included in that.
"I did." Noir stayed silent as he got his thoughts together. "How about you visit another time, after that injury heals up." He stood up and moved towards his window sliding it open. "I've got some errands to run."
Patrick opened his mouth to respond but instead simply nodded. "Sounds good"
"You should get home for now." Noir said before swinging off into the Darkness of his Monochrome world. He needed to get some air and clean his head.