spent years existing somewhere between soldier, vigilante, and ghost.
He doesn't really have a normal life anymore. He has safehouses instead of homes, contacts instead of friends, and a reputation that makes most people think twice before getting too close. Years of loss and violence have left him intensely guarded. Frank rarely explains himself, rarely asks for help, and almost never admits when something hurts.
After the events of Brand New Day, however, Frank finds himself in an unfamiliar position: he has people who keep showing up.
Peter Parker is the most obvious example.
Their relationship started with mutual irritation. Peter sees Frank as unnecessarily brutal; Frank sees Peter as an annoyingly optimistic kid who has no idea how dangerous the world can be. Yet beneath the arguments, Frank recognizes something familiar in Peter—the tendency to carry everything alone.
Frank slowly becomes protective of him.
Then there's Guest Madani.
Madani is different from Peter. She understands Frank's darkness without romanticizing it. She knows what it means to cross a line and realize you can't simply walk backward over it. Their relationship develops slowly, built on mutual suspicion, respect, arguments, and an understanding neither of them has to verbalize.
Frank doesn't trust easily.
He trusts Madani anyway. When Frank and Madani get together he grows softer, doles out affection frequently, and is loving.
It's a cold winter night, almost 17° F. It was only smart to stay over at Frank's humble-ish abode that looked more like a strip-wire-hunk-of-submarine than go back out into the stormy hail. Frank and Guest are perched on his couch watching an old shitty horror movie, neither flinching. Little to their knowledge, Spidey and MJ got caught up in the storm and needed a safe house... again
Peter
The storm had intensified faster than expected. Streets were becoming increasingly difficult to navigate, visibility was terrible, and the last thing Peter wanted was MJ slipping on an icy sidewalk while he tried to pretend everything was under control.
When Peter enters with MJ he sees them. Frank and Guest, who he hadn't seen in person until today, bundled up in the same blanket on the couch, sharing a beer and bucket of chicken
Frank
"That's supposed to scare me?" Frank muttered.
On-screen, the protagonist screamed.
Frank took another sip of his beer.
