#matt Murdock x Claire temple

[stackthedeck]

For the prompt list you just posted: #7 is literally something that would happen to Matt

- pluto

I know right! I saw that I was like god I hope someone sends that one

7. I know I'm your doctor and the horns growing in overnight was kind of a surprise but why do you want them removed those are sick as hell

A little more than 1k of Matt/Claire and Claire being done with yet intrigued by Matt's bullshit

On nights that Claire miraculously isn’t on call, she’s usually on a different kind of call.

Her phone rings.

It could be that cute new nurse she was flirting with. It could be her supervisor begging her to come in. It could be fucking spam.

She doesn’t look at the screen, just picks up. She knows exactly what it is.

“I didn’t know who else to call,” Matt says. Although his voice doesn’t have its usual edge of pain to it, no gritting teeth, quick short breaths, and dropped syllables. He sounds…well he sounds almost scared. That’s new and more worrying than the usual stab wounds.

“You never do.” He’s probably a normal amount of hurt, maybe a head wound is making it seem worse than it is. She’s not going to panic with him, only one of them is allowed to panic.

“What’s the damage this time?” Claire asks.

“Um,” Matt says like the articulate lawyer that he is, “so I’m not hurt but it’s weird, and again, I didn’t know who else to call.”

“So no medkit?” Claire is already on her way out the door, she just needs to figure out what supplies she needs to save his life. “Matt, what’s actually the problem?”

“No, bring the medkit,” Matt says, “I can’t really describe it, it’s vigilante shit, it’s a problem in the medical sense, I call you when these things happen.”

“So not an active emergency?” Claire pauses by the door. Oh, she has been waiting for this moment.

“Claire,” Matt sighs, “please.”

“There’s the magic word. I’m on my way.”

…

Claire walks into Matt’s apartment and she’s not sure if she should walk back out, laugh in his face, or…or well. Okay, she’ll examine that another time, but for now, vigilante shit.

“Those are horns,” Claire says, drawing upon all her medical knowledge to come to that diagnosis.

“Claire,” Matt whines, throwing his head back in frustration.

They’re not like the horns on his suit, little and protruding from his forehead. They’re big and spiraling out of the top of his head. The red light from the billboard outside catches on them and they gleam the same shade as his glasses. Matt turns his head towards Claire, the red light silhouettes him, and for once there are no bruises or split lips to distract from the fact that he is gorgeous. And Claire’s mad that the horns are also not distracting from—made even adding to—his stupid beautiful face.

“Horns,” Claire repeats. 

She’s standing in front of him, hands hovering over the horns. She wants to touch him, she’s never stopped herself from touching him before, not when he’s hurt. But something is holding her back. It’s the fact that Matt’s not in pain, these aren’t wounds. She hesitates like the first time they kissed, the first time she pulled him to her bed, the first time he fell to his knees and she tangled her hands in his hair.

“Claire,” Matt repeats, a little more forcefully, “how do I get them off?”

There’s nothing Claire wants less.

“Well,” she says, “how’d you get them on?”

“I don’t know!” Matt sighs, throwing his head back again, taking the horns out of Claire’s reach. “I was fighting a new group of people and there were weird noises, strange sensations. Claire, I know what everything feels and sounds like, I had no idea what this was.”

“And you got hit,” Claire says.

“And I got hit,” Matt agrees, “but nothing physically touched me, there was just a flash of heat on my chest and then a pain in my head. I’ve had concussions that hurt less than that.”

“Do they hurt now?” Claire asks. It’s terrible that she wants them to hurt, but she’d have an excuse to touch them and she could figure out what to do. Pain is just another symptom that leads to a diagnosis that can be treated. 

“No,” Matt says almost sheepishly.

“Well—” He’s not in pain, he doesn’t need her “—you got hit with a spell, I think you should talk to someone that knows magic.”

“Who do we know that knows magic?” Matt asks. “I purposefully avoid that kind of bullshit.”

“Danny?” Claire says although she doesn’t mean it. There’s that Doctor Strange guy, but he’s an Avenger, a superhero, not a vigilante. 

“I’m not fucking calling Danny,” Matt huffs, “I called you because…”

“You didn’t know who else to call.”

“Because I trust you, I wanted you.”

Oh.

“Well, they look really cool if that makes you feel any better,” Claire says.

“I can’t go into court like this,” Matt sighs.

“I don’t know,” Claire says, “there’s that big green girl now. Superhuman lawyers are in.”

Matt frowns with confusion. “I—what—I’m going look into whatever that’s about.”

Claire takes a step closer, knees knocking against his as she steps between his legs. Her hands still hesitate over the horns. “I should—I don’t know—make sure there’s no damage to your skull from these.”

Matt nods, delicate and slowly as if he might impale her. They’re not that sharp. Probably.

She puts her hands on his temples, right below where the horns protrude. No obvious signs of bleeding or scar tissue. They come out of his head completely naturally like hair or fingernails. The question is are they like hair or fingernails or are they bone? Horns in animals are made of the same tissue type as hair. It should be silly, imagining Matt as a billy goat. But Claire can’t call the image to mind. He’s beautiful and powerful and terrifying like this. He looks like the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, the creature that keeps criminals off the street with fear alone. He is a stained glass window come to life, bathed in red light.

Claire touches the places where the horn meets his skull, circling her finger around it, and Matt whimpers.

They both freeze.

“Shit,” Claire says, “I thought you said they didn’t hurt.”

“They don’t.” Matt bites his lip, taking slow measured breaths. “I guess they’re just…sensitive.”

“Do you have court in the morning?” Claire asks.

“No,” Matt says, confusion plain in his face and his voice. God, this guy can hear heartbeats and smell adrenaline, but he still doesn’t have a goddamn clue.

“Tomorrow we’re going to find that Doctor Strange guy and he’ll take the horns off and you’ll leave the rogue wizards to him,” Claire says.

“Why not tonight?” Matt asks.

Claire sits down on his lap, bracketing her legs on either side of his hips. She circles the edge of the horns with her fingertip again then traces upwards, letting her nails catch on the ridges. Matt is biting his lip, practically shaking with the effort to stay still and silent.

“This—holy shit—” Matt cuts himself off as Claire grabs a horn, rubbing her thumb into the side as her other hand finds its way into Matt’s hair.

“Isn’t this weird?” Matt forces the words out like they’re painful, like he’s holding back what he really wants to say. Which is probably something like do that again.

“Super weird,” Claire says, “but weird is why I keep you around, Matt. But we can stop if you want.” She takes her hand off him, but his hand shoots up to grab it.

“Please,” he says so quietly, a sound only for her, “do that again.”

[mordredisacoolname]

yoo please do more dex headcanons, there’s a severe lack in content for him nowadays. i appreciate your work!

Hey I'm so happy you like it, thank you

Here's some more DD headcanons

DAREDEVIL CHARACTERS COMING BACK FROM WORK TO YOU SLEEPING NAKED

GN READER

Characters: Matt Foggy Karen Frank Elektra Claire Dex Ray

CW: implied smut, nothing too serious tho

MATT- he'll probably sense you sleeping naked before he even enters the house. Smiling to himself Matt will enter the flat, stripping of his clothes and quietly entering the room not to wake you up. As much as he likes the idea of doing other things with you he knows you're tired, and he is too, so he just lays down next to you, hugging you from behind and kissing your forehead.

FOGGY- he'll be (pleasantly) surprised, walking up to you and kissing you awake. Will tell you how hot you look, asking sarcastically if you were waiting for him. If you're up to it you two can have fun, but if you're tired or not in the mood he'll let it go immediately and cuddle next to you.

KAREN- she'll smile to herself, eyeing you. She'll take off her heels and go up to you gently stroking your shoulder to tell you she's home. Karen will quickly kiss you, strip of her clothes and will join you in bed, asking how was your day. As you kiss her temple and hold her in your arms she'll drift off to sleep, as you are too.

FRANK- he'll smirk, coming up to you, and cupping your upper body with his big arms. "Hey (nickname)" he'll say kissing your jaw and neck. Frank will laugh at your grumpy response, kissing you deeply and admiring your sleepy face. He'll leave you to it to finish some work and later will join you in bed.

ELEKTRA- she'll smirk and strip of her clothes, getting on the bed and turning your head to her. She'll start kissing you and feeling your face and body with her hands until you completely wake up, and than sitting on your lap she'll jokingly say "good morning" continuing to kiss you.

CLAIRE- she'll laugh quietly, setting her things down. She's super tired so she just lays down next to cuddling you closer.

DEX- he's super tired and stressed from his job, so seeing you will make his day a little brighter. Stripping off his clothes he will go up to your bed, get in and hug your waist. Brushing your hair and tracing his knackels on your cheek bone he'll stare at your face in awe, obsessing over your beauty. You may or may not wake up to him eagerly kissing your neck and feeling your soft lips with his thumb.

RAY- Ray is also very stressed, working in his line of jon isn't easy. Smiling to himself at your sight he'll go finish some of his paperwork and only than join you to bed, feeling your warm body and your soft breathing on his skin, instantly relaxing and feeling at peace.

[farfromstrange]

Do No Harm

CHAPTER ELEVEN: He's Not The Sun

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Pairing: Matt Murdock x F!Reader

Summary: Claire puts one and two together, and she confronts Matt when he climbs through her window that night.

Warnings for this chapter: Angst, Claire is a bit "mean" in this one, self-hatred, brief description of injury

Word Count: 3.2k

A/n: At first, I thought about writing Claire's POV, but I didn't like it, so I circled back to Matt. Be patient though, things are purposefully moving very slowly. We all love Matt, but Claire cares for Reader, so she is being overprotective (which we can't blame her for!). Just don't hate me for this, 'kay? (Also, I hope at least some of you get the references I put in this one).

Read Chapter 11: He's Not The Sun here on AO3

The wooden frame of the window creaks as he slides through the opening. 

Matt has been all over the city tonight. He tried to channel his anger and frustration into his fists and out into the world; he tried to make sense of the chaos that surrounds him everywhere he goes, but he didn’t get very far tonight. 

Bloody and bruised, he crawls home to the one person he knows won’t turn him down.

Something feels off tonight though. It isn’t the lack of hopelessness he has been experiencing ever since he heard your voice for the second time that day. That, as unusual as it is for him, doesn’t feel all that odd. He has embraced it. He likes it. Something else is in the air, and a looming sense of doom threatens to constrict his airway.

You’re a bad idea, a lapse in judgment, but no one consumes him more. When everything burns too brightly for him to breathe, you supply him with fresh oxygen. When he’s spiraling, your voice brings him back from the cliff's edge.

Matt is irrevocably obsessed with you. After that phone call—after you dared to ask him out again—he felt his chest fill with a new sense of hope. You gave him something to look forward to. Something good. Something pure.

The prospect of getting to know someone who seems to be a very guarded person is the most valuable. It means that you consider there to be a certain level of trust between the two of you. It may be dangerous, and acting on the feelings he keeps having may be the worst idea he has ever had, but Matt couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. 

Hell’s Kitchen has seemed a little less like a dead end tonight. His fists are bloody now, his ribs are bruised, and the old stitches on his chest have torn the first hour in, but the world isn’t ending. Usually it does whenever he fails. Not tonight though. He thinks of you tonight, and his chest gets a little lighter with each breath of fresh air he takes to calm himself.

He’s in good spirits when he climbs through Claire’s window, but that is where it ends.

Matt enters, and he instantly can no longer shake the feeling that something is, indeed, very wrong. 

Claire has been pacing. The echo of missed calls and text messages hangs in the air. And when he takes a deep breath in, the lingering scent hits him like a truck.

Sliding the mask off his face, he tilts his head.

“How bad is it?” Claire asks from the doorway to the kitchen. 

The guilt drips from her tongue, but it has nothing to do with him. Anger and worry spike her blood pressure; she can’t fool him, no matter how hard she tries. 

“Someone was here,” he deflects. 

“Can’t be that bad if your voodoo senses still work.”

“Just a bruised rib. I, uh, popped my stitches.” Matt takes a step forward, hissing. “I told you not to tell anyone where you are.”

On any other day, in any other case, he would have lectured her, but his voice lacks power this time.  

Matt wants to protect his identity—needs to—but he can’t even keep Claire safe. She didn’t have to pull him out of that dumpster, but he was the one who told her he would be coming back. He’s burning everything and everyone around him to the ground like an old church at first contact with a tipped-over candle. 

He’s unable to stop. He wants to be a savior; protecting the city, protecting his family, and protecting everyone else. Matt wants to be a hero, as much as he claims otherwise. To him, that is the purpose God gave him. 

He grew up believing he was nothing but a soldier. Stick taught him that. Then, he left, and Matt eventually gave up hope. He was just a child then. A little boy, lost and alone. The mindset Stick forced onto him stayed, and it is a resilient bastard. It’s like a parasite that feeds off of him and refuses to leave. 

He has no idea what to believe in anymore. The one person willing to take him under his wing walked out on him years ago, and he has accepted that it’s all he will ever be good for.

Experiencing all the injustice in the world in every sense but his eyes have given him no other choice but to leave the path of lawfulness and take a different turn—a turn he is now facing the repercussions for at a very dead end. 

You’re getting close to him, and that means you’re inevitably in the line of fire too, just like everyone else Matt holds dear—but he never holds them close enough to allow himself to get hurt. The thought of you getting hurt remains to kill him like a dangerous toxin in his bloodstream. 

Your scent is glued to the walls of the apartment, and Matt is roughly brought back to reality. The love-sick haze he had been in all night dissipates.

Catching himself on the back of the chair she keeps next to the couch, he groans. His side screams in protest. He’s bleeding; he can smell the copper in the air, mixing with Claire’s sweat and her previously shed tears that are still thick in the atmosphere. And perhaps it is your tears, too. 

You.

Olivia Clarke. He truly does believe there is more to it, and that something else is going on, but too many thoughts crowd his mind at once, and he can only think about one. 

He imagines her standing with crossed arms in front of him, her stance wide and her eyes empty, wiped clean by the storm of her emotions. The fire begins to burn a little brighter, swallowing her whole. All he can think about is the fact that you have been here. Neither Matt nor Claire can deny that. 

“Who did you meet?” he asks, his voice low and rough as he takes another unsteady step forward.

“You tell me, Mike,” she counters. “Or should I call you Matt?”

The blood freezes in his veins. “How did you—”

But Claire cuts him off. “I was hoping to be wrong.” She shakes her head, and under her breath, she whispers to herself, “She was so happy. God, why does this always happen?”

The alarms are blaring at full volume in his head. Matt bares his teeth. “Who are you talking about, Claire? Who told you–” he grunts.

She knows. 

“Who told you my name?” he asks. 

“I hate being right sometimes. You wanna know who was here?” Claire pauses. “I have a friend who I happen to work with. You may know her,” she says. “Olivia Clarke? Yeah. She’s the one you’ve been lying to about who you are behind all of—” she points him up and down, “This. A blind, masked vigilante who likes to get himself on Russian ganbangers’ bad side.”

His face falls. Hearing it out loud puts things into perspective. Hearing it out loud makes it real. 

Your scent fills his nose again. Your heartbeat pounds in his ear, a very vivid memory of this afternoon, and your voice echoes.

“Fuck!” he curses. “It’s not—” he was going to say that it isn’t what it looks or sounds like, but that would be the most unbelievable lie. “It’s not like that,” he says. 

“Then what is it like? Tell me, Matt—if that’s even your real name.”

“I… okay, listen. We bumped into each other at the hospital the other night and hit it off. I didn’t know—” His face contorts.

“Didn’t know she had feelings?”

Claire breeches the distance between them. She glides her fingers along his clothed torso, lifting his shirt to see the damage for herself. The skin is slick with his blood, the stitches long gone. 

Her usually so calculated movements are a lot more disoriented tonight. She’s tense, shaking. 

Matt sucks in a sharp breath when she starts working on cleaning the wound with a cotton swab from her first-aid kit. “No,” he shakes his head. “I didn’t know you two knew each other. Let alone that you were friends. If I had, I wouldn’t have…” he trails off. No matter what he says, it will only prove her right that he is, in fact, an asshole. 

“What did you think?” Claire sneers. “You tell me to turn my whole life around while you act like nothing’s wrong during the day, flirting your way through Hell’s Kitchen and landing on someone who works at the same hospital as me? She’s my best friend!”

“We had coffee. That’s all.”

“Don’t lie to me. You gave her your number twice, and you asked her out. She came to me, panicking because you were her first date in years, and I gave her advice like the idiot I am.” She scoffs. “Don’t act like it was just coffee because if it had been, you wouldn’t have said yes to dinner when she asked you.”

Claire pours the disinfectant directly onto the cut, and he howls in the back of his throat. “Sorry,” she says, but it lacks sincerity. “I couldn’t even answer her texts because I feel like I’m complicit in lying, even though I never signed up for this.”

Matt adjusts in his seat. The medicinal alcohol burns through his bloodstream. 

She sticks three butterfly bandages over the cut, one after the other. “To think I told her you were a good guy because I was hoping someone had finally come around for her who wouldn’t hurt her.”

“I would never hurt her,” he answers without missing a beat.

“Then why did she tell me about how she met this handsome lawyer, but not that he runs around in spandex at night, throwing fists at bad guys?”

“Because…I couldn’t tell her. I couldn’t.” Taking a deep breath, his eyes stop darting around. He wraps his hand around her wrist, stopping her desperate attempt to patch him up. 

Right now, Claire hates him. She’s furious with him and worried about you, and she doesn’t quite know where to with herself, but she also can’t let it be. Matt’s hurt; after saving his life, she feels responsible for making sure he’s okay. Her movements are muscle memory, but he can’t focus, not like this. 

“You see the situation you’re in, Claire.” Her pulse quickens at the mention of her name. “If I tell her,” he explains, “she’ll be in danger, and I can’t… She’s too good for that. And so are you, but you chose to pull me out of that dumpster.”

“Don’t act like it’s my fault for not wanting to let you bleed out,” she claps back. 

He tightens his grip, urging her not to slip away. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Oh, I know what you meant. And I agree, Liv’s too good for you.”

The second she has finished bandaging his wound, she breaks free from his grasp and steps away. Being close to him seems to hurt her. He can hear it in the way she breathes, brushing her hair away from her sweaty forehead. Her temples must be pounding. 

Matt lowers his shirt again, sighing. “She has something about her. The way she talks, the way she carries herself, I just… she draws me in. And she’s good to me.”

A million reasons why he can’t stay away from you, but he can’t voice any of them in the way he wants to. The words just won’t come.

Claire wipes her hands on a towel nearby. “She doesn’t exist to make you feel better,” she says. “She doesn’t exist to make anyone feel better. She thinks she does, but she isn’t. I thought you, out of all people, would understand that.”

No one exists for the sake of another person.

“I know she’s had a bad childhood,” he says.

“It’s not just about her bad childhood. It’s everything. She deserves better.”

“Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I’m aware that I’m bad for her? That everything I do has a tendency to backfire on the people I care about?”

She avoids looking at his face entirely. “I want to believe you, but I can’t,” she says.

“Claire—”

She shakes her head. “You need to cancel that dinner.”

The words take a very long moment to register. “You want me to break her heart?” he asks.

Matt imagines that—hurting you, breaking your heart, and never seeing you again—and it crushes him. Over his dead body, that is what he thought when you answered the phone earlier that evening. Now, Claire is begging him to kill himself so that you can be free of him. She finally sees him through the same mirror he views himself through, and it is terrifyingly isolating.

The floorboards creak under the weight of her steps as she begins to pace. “I don’t know,” she admits. “Maybe? Yes? All I know is that you can’t see her again.”

The wave that comes at him threatens to pull him under. She met the Devil first, but he was so broken then that a glimpse of Matt was already peeking through. He wants to disappear.

Claire’s view of the world has always been sober, but now that he is in the spotlight of it all, he wishes he would have never come to her again. He was alone, and she was there, but it should not have happened.

Subconsciously, he matches her labored breathing. “I get you, Mi—Matt,” she murmurs. “I do. And I keep telling myself it’s twisted, but I can’t help it. You’re hurt, and I know how to take care of that. God knows I shouldn’t have got involved with you. I don’t regret it. I’m not trying to make you feel worse than you already do, but Liv’s safety is something I can’t risk. I won’t. Endless devotion is the only way she knows how to love. And if you go out with her—if you make her fall for you—she will get herself killed.”

You. Dead. The combination tastes sour. No amount of bleach could remove the blurry imagination of you, dying because of him. His chest tingles, a thousand lightning bolts at once. If he goes along with it, he fears her words might become real. But who’s to say they won’t either way? The fear settles into his bones like a chronic ache.

Matt gets up. His knees buckle, but he tries to stand strong. The question is, who is he trying to fool? Claire knows better, and he can’t even believe himself anymore. It’s pointless. 

“I know you care about her, but after the Russians are taken care of—” he begins.

Claire raises her hand. The wind brushes across his cheek, stopping him in his tracks. “Doesn’t matter,” she says. “You won’t stop.”

“I…” he sighs. “You know I can’t. Not when I have to listen to the law fail every damn night. This city needs me in that mask.”

“I’m not telling you to stop. I know you’ve made up your mind, and that’s your choice, but Liv can’t be dragged into this. If it’s not the Russians, it will be something or someone else trying to get a piece of you, and they will drag those close to you down with you.” Claire crosses her arms again. “We both know I’m right,” she says. 

“You’re asking me to break her heart. That’s not fair,” the sentence hangs in the air, a helpless breath on his lips as he tries to reach for a way out of this hell. 

Her fingers dig into her biceps. “Can you promise that she won’t get hurt?”

He opens his mouth. Not a single sound escapes him. And Matt realizes that if he wants to answer that question, he has to lie. The truth will prove her right. It proves him right.  

She nods. His hesitation speaks volumes. “If you let her down easy now, you won’t do any irreparable damage. You both can move on.”

But he doesn’t want to move on. Again, nothing but a strangled grunt in the back of his throat slips past his lips. Matt loathes himself more than anything. Death seems kinder than whatever this is supposed to be.

If he had chosen to go home and stitch himself up tonight, maybe he could have still been pretending by now, and he wouldn’t be on the verge of losing you.

She sniffs. She isn’t crying, but her nose is still running from the presence of the very persistent cat, who has been watching them ever since Matt climbed into the window. 

“She’s like family to me,” Claire tells him as calmly as she possibly can. “I can’t let you do this to her, not after I’ve got a taste of what it’s like.”

If you were there with them, you would tell her to mind her own business. Knowing you, you wouldn’t allow her or anyone to control you. You are in charge of your own destiny, but as she said, you would go into it blindly and sacrifice yourself if he truly means that much to you, and if that were to ever happen, he might lose you. Claire might lose you. You might die, and that is a thought that Matt can’t even stand to form, but he has no choice as the voices come crashing back in. 

rough his shirt to touch his wound. It’s not a gentle caress, not at all.

“Promise me she’ll be okay?” he asks. 

Claire nods. “Of course, she will. You’re not the center of her universe,” and although she probably meant it to sound snarky, a certain softness follows through the sound of her voice.

Maybe in another life, he could be. In another life—another universe—he could be your sun, or perhaps the moon that shines at midnight as rain falls. Just not in this one.

He slips through the window back into a reality that is much different from whatever fantasy he could possibly conjure up to soothe the hot ache that spreads through his heart, and when his feet hit the wet ground, he knows he has a decision to make. 

Tag List: @shiorimakibawrites @allllium @siampie @auroraslibrary @roseallisonparker @abucketofweird @thatonegamefish @capylore @kniselle @sumo-b98 @peachstarliight @danzer8705 @kakamixo @littlehappyperson @atemydadforbreakfast @stevenknightmarc @zheezs14 @shouldbestudying41 @kiwwia-wiwwia @writtenbyred @echo-ethe @kezibear @peterbarnes

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Omg, I was just browsing through Paul Anthony Jones's "The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities", and did you all know flirting is technically ILLEGAL in New York??? 👀👀👀 (*** See below)

The real question is whether Mr Summa Cum Laude, officer of the law, Matt Murdock, is in fact well aware of that and has just been insouciantly going around committing more acts of criminality than just vigilantism all this time. 😂

I'm sorry, but you can't look at this shameless hussy and tell me he doesn't know exactly what he's doing! 🥴

He's relentless! You just can't take him anywhere! 😅💗

Not to mention Mr Sounds-Like-We're-Getting-Married/You're-Not-Gonna-Kiss-Me/Cross-My-Heart over here.🥰💕

And where to start with these two? I can't even. 😏🔥

Okay, he wasn't in New York here, so we'll give him a pass this time...

In summary, the gentleman is a tramp. 🤭

I love him, Your Honour. 💋

Don't let the innocent act fool you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury -- that is the handsome face of a shameless flirt!! ☝️☝️☝️

*throws panties the book at him*

(***)

So he's really only innocent of fault in the case of Claire, because they weren't in public, but he's guilty as sin in all the other cases. 🤣

(Sorry, but I have a nerd's sense of humour, therefore this is very funny to me, if not necessarily anyone else. *shrug* 😅)

[amberlynnmurdock]

Blind Faith (Ch. 14)

Chapter Fourteen: Revelations

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Reader

Summary: You have multiple revelations in your savior's room when you wake up.

Warnings: 18+ content, SMUT!!! unprotected sex, mentions of drugging, violence

A/N: OKAY HERE IT IS THE LARGEST UPDATE I HAVE EVER DONE. This bad boy is a whopping 9,678 words! Just some warnings/reminders: there is unprotected sex in this. Please read with caution and also (not to go all high school gym teacher on you) please practice safe sex in real life! OKAY LOL now that that's out of the way... ENJOY!

Tags at the end!

Ao3 Link

credit to gif owner!!!

New York City 

Matt Murdock’s Friday nights were usually meant for patrolling Hell’s Kitchen. He always sat up at the rooftop of his apartment—he spent most nights there, whether it be to escape reality for a little and live in his own head, or to listen into the city for any trouble or danger. The case was always the latter, of course. As he paced under a dark sky, and as raindrops began to trickle over the city, he sat hunched in the corner of the roof, listening. Only tonight, he was listening for something in particular.

As soon as he heard you enter a taxi that took you all the way to Zach’s apartment, he bolted from his rooftop and jumped from roof to roof, to roof, until he was finally caught up with the taxi, and you were stopping in front of Zach’s apartment. Careful not to be seen, he slid down a fire escape and ran to the side of the building, waiting as he listened for you to enter the elevator that took you all the way up to Zach’s apartment. 

Matt wasn’t new to sneaking around. He slipped into the apartment lobby without being seen. Instead of taking the elevator, Matt took the stairs. After reaching Zach’s floor, he noticed his apartment took up the entirety of it, and there were strangely no hallway cameras. He slipped inside the hall after you entered his apartment. Zach locked the door behind you. 

The only hard part about this mission was listening to you and Zach talking. He listened from outside the door, against the wall, patiently. Waiting for any indication that this was a bad scene, waiting for something for Zach to do or say that showed he was lying. He listened as you faked not being impressed by the view of the city, he listened as Zach showed you his library, he heard your subtle disappointment at not looking at the law books, he listened as you finished your glass of chardonnay, and graciously accepted a second glass. 

And then, he did hear something that piqued Matt’s interest—as Zach poured your second glass of wine, he reached for something in the pocket of his pants. A small pill container, the size of a quarter. Matt couldn’t smell what the pill was. He couldn’t tell which glass he let the pill dissolve in. Maybe it was a prescription for Zach. The two of you continued on with conversation—Matt’s heart jumped when you mentioned him and Foggy’s name—and his hands created fists at Zach’s answers. Everything seemed okay—maybe the pill was for Zach, but Matt needed that confirmation. 

The next few minutes happened so fast, as Matt was trying to piece it all together and make sense of the scene he was listening in on. 

“You okay?” He heard Zach ask. Matt’s brows furrowed underneath his black mask, and all his heightened senses were focused on you. Your hands weren’t moving—they were sweaty. Your breathing was beginning to get heavier. Your throat was dry suddenly. You could barely move, and you were struggling to find your voice. And when you did, Matt’s heart dropped, and he broke into a cold sweat. 

“Something’s not right,” he heard you utter weakly. Matt wanted to barge in there now, but he needed to make sure that what was happening was true, and with every bone in his body he prayed to God that it wasn’t what he thought. He listened as Zach offered to help you lay down on the couch, but it wasn’t until Zach whispered those words you wanted to lay down that his fears were confirmed true. 

Zach must’ve not heard Matt’s first attempts at kicking his door down. With all his might, Matt rammed his right foot at the door handle, kicking and kicking until he finally made a dent in it, and he was able to knock the door down. 

An all-encapsulating rage filled Matt’s bloodstream, it felt like—it felt like he wasn’t even in control of his body. The rage was controlling his movements. He stomped over to where Zach hovered over you, as he was unbuttoning his pants, and gripped Zach’s shoulders so hard he threw him onto the dining room table. 

Without thinking, he began to punch Zach in his stomach, in his arms, his jaw. Everywhere. 

“YOU DO NOT TOUCH HER!” Matt shouted as he gripped Zach’s shirt by the collar and yelled in his face. Pulling a punch back, his knuckles met Zach’s cheekbone, again and again and again. 

“CAN YOU HEAR ME?” Matt hollered above Zach’s groans in pain. “CAN YOU HEAR ME?!” Matt hadn’t yelled this hard since the last time he ever was in the same room as Wilson Fisk. Matt’s hands were trembling with rage. 

“Y-yes,” Zach cracked, coughing up some blood. Matt threw him back on the floor and knelt on his chest, pressing on a bruise Matt’s fists had formed. 

“Listen carefully,” Matt seethed, holding Zach’s face. “You will be disbarred,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’ll find your pill bottles, and tie you to this overpriced dining table, and leave you until someone finds you.”

Matt punched Zach in his chest once more before asking, “Do you like how it feels to not be in control?”

He doesn’t let Zach answer. He throws him to the ground once more and does exactly what he said he would—instead of sensing for the pills, he sensed for the containers. After finding them, Matt dragged Zach’s beaten body to the table and tied him with the dining room tablecloth so tightly, that his arms would probably lose all sense of feeling in an hour. Matt threw the pill bottles in his lap. 

Feeling that cold sweat over himself again, Matt immediately ran to your side. You lay unconscious on the couch.

He whispered your name. 

“It’s me,” he said, even though he knew you couldn’t hear him, “I’m here.” He placed his fingers on your pulse—it was there, but it was slow and faint. 

Without wasting time, Matt took you in his arms and escaped Zach’s apartment down the stairs. There was nowhere else to go but his own. 

⠋⠁⠊⠞⠓

Matt busted down his rooftop access door and immediately rushed to his bed with you in his arms. Gently laying you down, he ripped off his mask and searched for his burner phone on the nightside table. 

“Claire,” Matt said hurriedly on the phone, “I know it’s late, but I need you.”

“Hi Matt, it’s nice to speak with you too,” Claire said sarcastically over the phone. 

“I have an emergency,” Matt said in a hushed tone. With one ear pressed to the phone, the other focused on you. You were lying so still, and your heartbeat was faint. He could tell your body temperature was rising into a fever. “Could you come to my apartment?”

“What’s wrong?” She asked with worry in her voice. “Are you hurt?” 

“Not me,” Matt shook his head, “it’s a young girl. Twenty-one. She was drugged and now she’s unconscious and I think she’s got a fever now.”

“Jesus, twenty-one? Why didn’t you take her to the hospital?”

“I—I can’t,” Matt said, “I’ll explain when you’re here. Just please come. I’m worried. Her heartbeat it’s… it’s slow. Like, really slow.”

“I’ll be right over.”

Matt clicked his phone shut and immediately went to kneel by your side. He took your delicate hand in his and held it to his lips, eyes closed. Your heart was so faint, it was a struggle for his senses to focus on it. Closing his eyes, Matt whispered a prayer against your hand.

“Be near her in time of weakness and pain, sustain us by your grace…”

Your skin felt so hot in his—it seemed your temperature had spiked. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “This shouldn’t have happened. Not to you.” And when he spoke these words, he wasn’t sure what exactly he was sorry for—he couldn’t narrow it down to one thing. He was sorry he lied to you. He was sorry you didn’t know the truth. He was sorry he broke your heart and you needed mending and this is what happened. In every single way, he blames himself for what happened to you tonight. He’ll blame himself forever; forever beg for your forgiveness. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again, against your knuckles. 

He stays like this for a long time, kneeling next to you and holding your hand, until he hears Claire’s knock at his door. 

Matt lets her inside immediately—he can sense she has her usual first aid kit along with a bigger suitcase, one he wasn’t familiar with. 

“Thank you,” Matt breathed out. “She’s in my room.” 

Claire began to unpack her kit and suitcase. Matt listened from the corner of his room, giving her some space. She had a stethoscope and thermometer, and inside the larger kit was a portable IV drip. Matt listened as Claire unpacked the IV drip, standing it next to the bed. She pulled out an IV packet and laid it on the side table. She placed the stethoscope on your chest, right over your heart. It was still very slow. Matt felt a tightness in his chest.  

“She was drugged?” Claire asked.

“Yes,” Matt affirmed. 

“Do you know who did it?” 

Matt tightened his fists. “Yes.”

“Looking at your bloody knuckles, I don’t even have to ask what you did to him.”

“He’ll be disbarred.”

“Disbarred? Wait—a lawyer did this to this poor girl? Matt, how do you know her again?” 

He sighed and ran his hand over his face. Obviously, he hasn’t told anyone about you. He’s wanted to talk to someone about it, but never found the strength to—not even in confession. “It’s a long story.”

“Well, I’ve got all night.” 

Matt moved to sit at the edge of his bed, near you. By how Claire was kneeling and looking at Matt, he knew there was no escaping the situation. She had such a way over him that he ended up confessing more than he intended to. It was just the way things were between them. 

He sighed again before he spoke. 

“I saved her one night,” Matt began, “at the beginning of the summer. She was out with her friends. She went back to the bar she was at to get her wallet. She was alone. A few guys stopped her on her way home, with ill intentions, but I saved her.”

“Okay,” Claire gently urged, knowing it didn’t stop there. 

“I…I didn’t expect this to happen. She started talking to me, and I ended up walking her home that night. I didn’t think I’d run into her again. But then, I did. Another night. This time, she was saving another girl from some asshole boyfriend. She was almost attacked again.”

“Seems like you have a type,” Claire said with irony in her voice. 

“I saved her again. She asked me to teach her self-defense, so I did. And then… I just kept coming to her. Every night this summer, on her roof. I wanted to be with her.” 

She was silent for a moment. “Does she know who you are?” 

“No,” Matt shook his head, “and that’s the worst part.”

“Jesus, Matt,” Claire shook her head. “Why wouldn’t you tell her who you are if you felt something for her? You just kept this lie going?” 

“Because she ended up getting hired at my firm. I—I didn’t know she applied. Karen interviewed her and wanted to hire her. I couldn’t tell her.”

“You could’ve,” Claire argued, “you so could have, Matt.” Claire’s exhale said it all—it was a sound Matt was used to hearing from his friend: a sound of disappointment, exasperation, one that asked what were you thinking?

“She’s…young, Matt.”

“Age has nothing—“

“That’s not what I mean. I mean, I don’t know her, but when I was her age, I was naive as hell and thought everyone around me had good intentions. So when someone you think is close to you, someone you trust, hurts you, it hurts a thousand times more than it should. A thousand times.”

“I know, Claire,” Matt said, “I know.”

“Then, why lie?”

“I didn’t want anything to ruin what we already had. Like, her finding out that the person she’s been seeing is actually her boss,” Matt said, and he never really spoke these thoughts aloud. When he did, he once again, realized how fucked up the situation really was—his lying, in both parts of his life. 

“Sounds like you selfishly withheld the truth so you wouldn’t lose her.”

“Right,” he digressed. 

“But something tells me now, you may lose her either way.”

“I already lost her. One night, she tried to take my mask off while we, you know, and I—I lost it. I yelled at her. Told her I wasn’t ready. She told me she never wanted to see me again. She told me she loved me, and it wasn’t fair what I was doing to her.”

“She was absolutely right,” Claire said. 

“She was wrong about how she thought I felt about her, though.” 

“I know how you are, Matt,” Claire said softly, changing her demeanor from before. “You push the people you love away. It’s a terrible habit.” 

“I didn’t want to push her away,” Matt argued. “I wanted her, more than anything. I was afraid to lose her. I thought that keeping the secret would afford me that luxury. The truth is, I don’t deserve her.” 

“Stop,” Claire said. “Enough with the Catholic self-loathing. That alone is enough to push people away. If you want her, you tell her the damn truth, and you fight for her! If you already lost her twice, it sounds like you have only one chance to make it right.” 

He stayed silent. If only he was so lucky to still have one more chance with you. 

He listened as Claire took your temperature and placed the back of her hand on your forehead. 

“Jesus,” Claire uttered. “She’s burning up. 104 degrees.” 

“The side effects?” 

“Rohypnol is a very strong sedative, hypnotic drug. Just one pill can knock you out for hours. She’s—it’s not good, Matt. I think he gave her a high dose to burn up like this.”

Matt shut his eyes tight, in an attempt to control his anger. “How long will she be out? What does she need?”

“It depends. She’ll definitely need you by her side because she may be really anxious when she wakes up. It’s another side effect. Plus confusion and nausea. You’ll need to talk to her calmly. She needs sleep, plenty of water, and this IV I’m putting in now.”

“Okay,” Matt nodded. “Do you think she’ll be out the whole night?” 

“I don’t know,” Claire shrugged, “but you need to make sure you are here with her, or else if she wakes up to an empty room, she’ll panic. She needs you here.”

“I’m not leaving her side.” 

“She needs you, Matt. As in, Matt Murdock. Not vigilante boyfriend.”

“I know,” he breathed. “I know.” 

“I didn’t know what to expect so I brought some clothes for her. She can change into them when she wakes. Otherwise, just make sure she drinks water. It’ll have to be flushed out of her system. It’s going to be rough if she wakes up earlier than six hours after the drug, and it’ll take another 12 hours for it to be out of her system. I think she should stay here for the weekend.”

“That’s fine,” Matt nodded. “She’s safe here.”

“I know she is,” Claire said. “I’ll leave the kit so you can take her temperature—unless your abilities can do that. Otherwise, you know what else to do.” 

⠋⠁⠊⠞⠓

After Claire left, Matt stood in his room for a moment, standing over his bed with you in it. Tuning out the light rain that had begun, he listened to your chest as it gently rose and gently fell. You made no movements at all except to breathe. He sensed that your shirt was still more than half unbuttoned. Careful to not touch your skin, he buttoned it all the way back up. 

He closed his eyes and focused all of his senses on you. Your body temperature was still high. You’d likely get chills from it. He threw his silk blanket over you and found some more blankets to put at the foot of the bed, in case you wanted more. He fetched a glass of water and placed it on the nightside table. With one final pause, Matt retreated to his living room and to his couch.  

For a while, he just laid there, hand over his heart, the other under his head. He listened to you through his sliding doors, sleeping. A great part of him was concerned for you, but the other part of him was wondering how you would react when you woke up. From waking up in his bed to realizing what had happened—would you remember it all, or would the side effects be too strong? And of course, when he decides to tell you who he is, how will you react? The one thing he has been trying to avoid this entire time will now be reality. He wonders, if he had told you from the beginning, would this all have ever happened? 

He’s imagined having a relationship with you as Matt Murdock. He imagined late nights at his apartment, with you studying and him coming home from a late-night patrol. He imagined talking about law with you, drinking with you, kissing you, leading you to the bed he’s imagined laying you in countless times. Yes, he’s wanted you in his bed, but not like this. Not like this. If the guilt he felt was bad before, it was nothing compared to now. 

An hour passes. And then two, and then three, and Matt’s counted each breath you’ve taken. Your heartbeat was steady now, not slow like it was before. Your fever was still high, and you’ve begun to shake in your sleep. He almost wants to get up and put more blankets on you but— he pauses—you’ve shifted in bed. Your heart starts pounding loudly in your chest, in his ears—you’re awake, and you’re scared, like Claire said you would be. 

Matt sits up from the couch and listens as you reach for more blankets. You’re breathing is shaky and your heart is still pounding so hard in your chest. He knows it’s now or never. Slipping his black mask on over his face, one last time for you, he walks slowly to his room and slides the doors open. 

“M-Mike?” Your quivering voice feels like a million tiny pricks in Matt’s heart. It’ll be the last time you ever call him Mike. “What—you brought me here?”

“Yes,” he answers, and he realizes this is the first time he’s speaking to you as your savior in a long time. God, it made him realize how much he had to say to you. So many things were limited to work, to be cordial, to pretend he doesn’t miss how you feel against him, and now that he has another chance, he knows he can’t mess this up. This moment is so delicate for the two of you, but especially you—he’s walking slowly and pauses immediately when he senses you flinch in bed. The reaction breaks his heart.

“It’s me,” Matt reassures you, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I know,” you quivered, pulling your knees to your chest. “I don’t know why I flinched.”

It’s no time for Matt to be angry right now, angry that that piece of shit has given you trauma. Matt packs his anger away in a box and mentally shoves it in the back of his mind. He needs to be soft with you right now. Gentle. That’s what you need. And he wants to be that for you. 

“It’s okay,” Matt whispers, and now his own heart is beating hard in his chest. He’s not used to you being so…small. Vulnerable. A lump forms in his throat. He needs to be near you. “Can I sit next to you?”

“Yeah,” you squeak, and Matt can hear the desperation in your voice. “Yes.” 

“Okay,” he quickly says, and he sits on his bed near your knees. You’re still shaking. He wants to wrap his arms around you—tell you it’s okay. But it’s not. “How do you feel?” He asks, even though he knows it’s a stupid question. Truthfully, he’s not sure where to begin. 

“I can’t stop shaking like I have a fever,” you say through chattering teeth. Your body is twitching from the chills. “My head is pounding. My throat is dry.”

“You have a fever,” Matt says, “but the IV is helping bring it down.”

“Did you hook me up to it?” 

“No. A friend did,” he said. 

“Mike,” something in your voice changes: you sound uncertain, scared, confused. Everything Claire said you would be, you are. Anxious, frightened. You can’t remember. “What happened to me?” Your voice cracked as you asked your question. Not even Matt’s mask could cover the fact he was nearly trembling too. Matt swallows his pain away and clenches his jaw. 

“Nothing happened to you,” Matt tries to reassure you, but he knows there’s more to unpack. Later. “I didn’t let him.” 

“Did he… I felt like everything was fine and then suddenly I couldn’t walk. Did he slip my drink something?”

Matt only nodded. “You’re experiencing the side effects now. It’ll be in your system for 12 hours, but the IV is flushing it out.” 

“Oh my, God,” you cried. Tears welled so fast in your eyes, that they pooled down your cheeks, and the room smelt overwhelmingly like salt. You cried and cried, and Matt thought that while he was well-prepared for the darkness of life, the heaviness that this curse he has brings him, nothing could prepare him for the sound of you in pain. Nothing. He never wanted to hear you like this again. You weren’t supposed to know this pain. This shouldn’t have happened. 

Honestly, being in this mask around you made Matt feel sick. It suddenly felt so tight on his face, like he was being suffocated. He couldn’t do it anymore—he couldn’t hide from you. He couldn’t hide his feelings anymore. He didn’t want to console you as your savior. He wanted to as Matt Murdock. 

He says your name, ever so softly. “You’re with me.”

And slowly, Matt unties his mask and pulls it over and off his head. 

For those few short moments, he doesn’t know what to make of your reaction.

⠋⠁⠊⠞⠓

“Matt,” You could barely form syllables, let alone words, when you squeaked out Matt Murdock’s name. You didn’t even truly believe you said his name when you saw his face. A tornado of thoughts swarmed in your head: Matt? How is this even…he’s blind—your boss?! Your savior is Matt Murdock? It’s been him all along? 

It’s as if the sight of him alone took away every chill in your body, and you felt even more hot than you did before. Your heart started to pound again, and your tears dried on your cheeks. You weren’t sure for how long you were speechless, but in those moments you tried to put together the puzzle in your head of how this could be possible, but you couldn’t get the pieces to fit. Nothing made sense.

You ran a hand over your face and blinked really hard before opening them again to still see Matt Murdock sitting on this bed—his bed—with you. Concern was etched over his hazel eyes—you were still reeling in this revelation. Your boss, Matt Murdock. Who gave you daily tasks at work, who you helped write briefs with, who you went over his cases with, Matt Murdock who you went out after work with to Josie’s, Matt Murdock who got mad at you for putting yourself in danger, Matt Murdock who you desperately wanted approval from so badly because you admired his work, Matt Murdock who you shared early mornings with at the office, Matt Murdock who took his coffee black, Matt Murdock who encouraged you in your legal career…

And then it dawned on you—like, really dawned on you, all at once. 

This wasn’t only Matt Murdock, but this was your savior, too. Your savior who saved you all those months ago on your way home from the bar; your savior who walked you home that very first night; your savior who saved you again, your savior who met you on your rooftop and taught you self-defense; your savior who kissed you on your rooftop, your savior who has touched you—oh my fucking, God. 

“I’m going to throw up,” you felt an overwhelming fullness in your stomach and chest, and your mouth suddenly became very watery, that familiar feeling of your body preparing itself to vomit. Without hesitation, Matt immediately ran to the bathroom and fetched a garbage pail. You grabbed it from his hands and leaned over his bed, throwing up bitter bile and liquid. The nausea you felt compared with the shock was a lot for you right now. You felt Matt reach to pull your hair back but you swatted his hand away, in surprising frustration. 

God, you felt so fucking angry right now. And you wanted to yell at him like he was your savior, but then again, he was also your boss, and that didn’t feel right either. Coupled with anxiety and nausea and that strange dryness of sadness you felt all over your body, you placed the pail on the ground and fell on your back, trying to focus on not feeling nauseous. 

“Nausea is a side effect,” Matt says softly. A side effect of what? The drugs, or finding out you’ve been my boss this entire time? 

“Is it,” you breathed. You really didn’t know what to say to him. You didn’t know how to talk to him. You couldn’t even look at him. You lay on your back, facing up at the ceiling. His ceiling. 

“Do you need—“

“I don’t know what I need,” you cut him off. You leaned up on your elbows, looking at him. He looked concerned, worried. Like he didn’t know what to say either. “I don’t know how to talk to you,” you began to shiver again from the chills. “I don’t know if I should talk to you like my savior or my boss.”

“Just talk to me,” Matt furrowed his brows. 

“You? Talk to you?” You questioned. “I—I don’t even know who that is. I’m—I’m infuriated right now. I’m confused how this is possible. You’re—you’re Daredevil? I don’t understand.”

“It’s a long story,” Matt started to say, but you cut him off again. 

“A long story, like how you ended up being both my affair and my boss?” 

He was silent for a moment, his gaze falling short of your chin. Something flashed over his face—realization. 

“You’re upset,” he plainly states. 

“I’m not upset,” you frowned, “I feel…I feel betrayed. I feel like a fool. I… I feel like an absolute mess right now. I wake up, in your apartment, feeling grateful you saved me again from a predator, and then, I finally find out who you are, and all over again I feel like a fucking idiot. Like this is some sick joke.”

“It’s not,” Matt said, “you’re not an idiot.”

“Clearly you think I am,” you argued, “for you to pretend like you didn’t know me this whole time.”

“I didn’t pretend until after your interview.”

“After my interview,” you repeated, “right at the beginning of the summer.”

“Yes,” Matt answered. “I didn’t know you would apply to the firm. I didn’t know we would have this connection before. I didn’t know.” 

“But…you still kept coming to me,” you said in disbelief, “you kept coming to see me, knowing you were my boss now, and the things we did—I feel—I feel so violated. I feel gross. Now that I know it was my boss—you—who I was doing those things with. You… you touched me,” you squinted your eyes at him. “I—I told you that I love you.” 

“I know,” Matt swallowed and looked away. “I know.” 

And that’s all he had to say. You scoffed at him and shook your head. 

“Did you think revealing yourself to me would change anything?” 

“I didn’t know how you’d react. But I wanted you to know because I’m done pretending around you.” His calm demeanor didn’t match your uncertain, upset one. 

“And it took me nearly getting raped for you to finally make that decision,” you jabbed. You were still shaking, but now you weren’t sure if it was from the chills you had or anger. “I wasn’t worthy of it before.” 

Matt furrowed his brows, lips parted—you struck something in him. He shook his head. “__,” he said your name, “that’s not at all why. I care about you so much more than I’ve ever cared for anyone.”

“You lied,” you whispered, ignoring his reasoning. “You lied to me. You sat in your office every day, knowing that at night we’d meet at my rooftop and you’d touch my naked body and kiss me and you showed up the next day like nothing. You—God, and this is the worst part—you knew how badly I was hurting when we fought that one night and you came in every day asking how I was. I—God, I even confided in you about… you… and I didn’t even know it. And you gave me advice. You even lied then.”

“You’re right,” Matt nodded, “I lied. __, I haven’t felt a connection with someone in a long time. You changed that. You changed so much for me. And what we had was—is—special. I didn’t want anything to mess that up. If you had found out after the fact that I was who I was, I was afraid to lose you. I—I didn’t know what to do. I admit it. I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I lied. I will never forgive myself for it.” 

“I’m not sure I can forgive you,” you whispered in return, feeling your heart beating fast. You started to feel nauseous from sitting up and began to lay back down, too weak to continue to argue, too anxious to look at him. It felt like a gate was closing around your heart. Thick chains wrapped around it, with one single lock holding it shut. Once, he may have held the key. 

“You don’t have to,” Matt said after a long pause.

“I know I don’t,” you said obviously. Tears welled in your eyes and your throat suddenly felt very tight. “God, this is so weird and fucked up,” you said as the levity of this revelation fell all over you. “When I didn't know who you were, moments before, I might’ve heard angels sing when I realized you were the one to save me from that awful man. But now, I feel tricked all over again. I want you to go away, but at the same time, I want you to never leave me again.”

“I won’t leave,” Matt said with a quiet urgency, his brows furrowed. “Not ever again.” 

“Maybe you should,” you said.  

You didn’t know what else to say. The man you were pining after for months turned out to be right under your nose the entire time. The man you lost sleep over, the man you cried over, was sitting next to you and he was your boss. You felt anxiety creeping on your skin, and you couldn’t stop shaking. 

“I’m so cold,” you tried to turn on your side avoiding moving the IV in your arm. You closed your eyes, the heavy feeling of exhaustion in your eyes. You felt Matt put more blankets over you before he got up and did as he was told. 

The weight he had on the bed disappeared as soon as he stood up. When the weight of him was gone, you felt instant regret. He walked outside of his room and slid the door shut again, leaving you alone. It was then you finally cried yourself to sleep. 

⠋⠁⠊⠞⠓

The loudest crack of thunder shook you awake. One of those sounds that sends you into a mini panic until you get a sense of your surroundings. Heart pounding, eyes searching for a threat in your room. Then you realize this isn’t your room, it’s Matt’s. 

Still feeling the side effects from the drugs, you weakly reached out to grab the glass of water that sat on the nightside table. You finished the whole thing in a few gulps. Settling back down on Matt’s silk sheets, you looked around his room as the rain started to fall hard on the roof. 

The roof made you think of all the times he’s met you on yours. So many late nights you spent with him, lost in kisses and touches. You could imagine it now. His half-covered face, dark silhouette waiting for you, arms open for an embrace. The person you longed for all this time turned out to be Matt Murdock, the person you had so much respect for. Now, things were strange because those two people ended up being the same person. It was Matt you were kissing. It was Matt you loved. It was Matt you exiled and it was Matt you missed, all this time. It was Matt who saved you tonight. 

You felt another urge to cry, and you did. Tears fell on his silk pillowcase. You were upset, but not at him anymore. Flashbacks of the night before reeled in your mind. Zach’s devilish smile, his gentle urgency at offering you wine, leading you to the couch, and… 

A cold shiver went down your spine. You couldn’t remember anything else, and that terrified you. Your skin started to crawl—you wanted to rip this IV out of your arm but knew that wasn’t an option. You lay on your back in frustration, staring at Matt’s ceiling. 

Why did this happen? Why did you feel this pain? Why did Zach drug you? Why did Matt lie? Why did this happen? Why? Why? Why? 

Your eyes welled with tears again, that thick feeling only sadness could bring all over your body. It was a suffocating feeling, to feel so attacked in many parts of your life. All you wanted was your savior to be honest. All you wanted was help with law school. Your tears stained the silk pillow you lay on. 

You felt an overwhelming feeling of not wanting to be alone. Alone in this room, alone in this bed. The one person you wanted to see was your savior, and that turned out to be Matt. And you didn’t want to see him right now, but it was hell to lie to yourself like this. 

“Matt,” you weakly called. He was probably sleeping, what was the use? “Matt…”

Not even a moment later the sliding doors were opened, and in came Matt without his mask on, worry all over his face, brown hair tussled like he was just lying down. He immediately knelt beside you. A warmth spread over your chest at the sight of him. 

“I’m here,” Matt whispered. “What’s wrong?”

Another crack of thunder and you jumped from the noise. 

Everything about him was starting to become familiar, like a blurred image coming into focus. The more you looked at his lips, the more you thought how obvious it should’ve been. You ignore his question. Everything is wrong. 

“Just stay here,” you whispered, “please. The thunder.” 

He nods, and sits patiently, waiting for another command from you. He looks so worried. You stare up at his senseless eyes, wondering if he really was blind. Of course he was, you push the thought away. You didn’t understand it, but he was certainly blind. His gaze fell on your right shoulder. You’ve never been this close to him before, as Matt Murdock. 

“I keep trying to imagine you with the mask,” you reach up suddenly and place the back of your hand over his face, just above his nose, like a mask. He takes your hand off his face and instead holds it, smiling sadly. It’s then you see how bloody and bruised his knuckles are, and the picture becomes even more clear. All those times you saw him with wounds, the times you’ve offered a bandaid, were from his activities as Daredevil.

“What did you do?” You found yourself asking. “To him?” You were mesmerized by the way his knuckles looked a mix of purple and red. It looked painful. 

He shook his head at first. It felt wrong for you to know the lengths of violence he was capable of. “I hurt him badly,” Matt spoke evenly, “for what he tried to do to you.” His hazel eyes were soft, eyelids half moons. Even to hear Matt’s voice gave you shivers. 

“It looks like some of those hits might’ve ricocheted to you,” you commented, holding his hand in the dim light of his nightside table. “And this is just from tonight, huh? I don’t know how you deal with this pain every night. I can’t even handle it now, and I didn’t take anything physical.”

“People like you aren’t supposed to know this pain.”

“And neither should you,” you gently argued. 

Matt pressed his lips together. Something behind his words made you think of all the times he’s told he is Catholic. 

“It was hard,” you felt your tears well again, “to be in that position. I didn’t think I’d make it out there unharmed. Thank God you were there. I keep replaying it in my mind, and these images of him over me keep intruding, and I just get scared again.”

“I could hear it,” Matt said, “in your heartbeat. That something was wrong.” 

“What do you mean? Like your heightened senses?”

“Yes,” Matt nodded, “I can hear your heartbeat. It can tell me when you’re lying, excited, nervous, or scared.”

You were quiet for a moment, realizing Matt probably listened to your heartbeat during the entirety of your affair, and you had no idea. You felt a pang in your heart this time, realizing how unfair it was he could hear if you lied, but you never knew he lied to you. 

“Tell me,” you whispered, “did you ever catch me in a lie?”

“No,” Matt answered, understanding your message. “Never.” 

“I still can’t mesh the two of you together,” you thought aloud, “That the person I fell in love with is the same person who’s kneeling next to me. It’s weird. And you’re the person I spent mornings with, making small talk. Making you coffee. Seeking your approval.”

Matt’s eyebrows lifted at your last sentence. “My approval?”

“If it wasn’t obvious before Matt, I happen to have respect for your work. When you got mad at me that one time, I was crushed. It was like being scolded by a favorite teacher, or mentor. Now, it makes a whole lot more sense to me why you reacted the way you did. You were reacting as my savior, not as my boss.”

“There’s nothing you needed to do to prove yourself to me,” Matt said. “I knew from the moment I met you you were a pure, kind person. Smart. With a tendency to talk back,” he let himself laugh. “You’re going to make an amazing attorney one day.”

“And at night,” you choked up at your words for some reason—you were emotional all around. You felt stretched thin and your emotions felt intense, like you didn’t know what to feel first. “At night, you were the one I always waited for. The one I needed to be held by. The one I needed to—to kiss, and touch and be with. The one I grew so attached to,” your voice quivered. “God, the things we did together,” you shut your eyes tight, cringing at the memories of your savior—Matt—making you shake from an orgasm, wet from his touch alone, his lips on yours… it was all with him. 

Matt shifted as he listened to you speak. He didn’t know what to say. 

“That’s why you never let me return the favor,” you realized. While you were still reeling in you did sexual things with your boss, part of you was thankful he never took advantage of you like that. He could’ve. He absolutely could’ve. But he didn’t. Did that make it better? You weren’t sure. You were still lied to. 

“Do you regret it?” He asked. “Doing those things with me?”

“No,” you said, after some thought. “If you’re the same person I fell in love with, then no. Do you regret it?”

“I only regret not telling you it was me sooner,” Matt answered. “But I can never regret those moments we shared together. More than the physical things. Everything with you, I hold to my heart,” he took your hand and placed it on his chest, so you could feel his heartbeat. It was beating fast. 

“I can’t read heartbeats,” you said, “what are you feeling?”

“Afraid,” Matt replied. “I’m afraid to lose you. Again.”

“Then help me understand,” you whispered, tears in your eyes. “That it really is you.”

Your hands lay folded on your stomach. With his gaze softly on your neck, Matt reached his right hand and covered it over your hands. He felt warm and strong—a feeling you knew all too well. You gasped at the contact, even though it was so small. You knew your savior and Matt was one and the same from his touch alone. You looked at him through bleary eyes. 

“It’s me,” Matt whispered. “It’s always been me.”

“This is strange,” you said softly. “I watched what I said around you at work. I wanted to impress you so badly. I wanted to learn from you. At night, when I didn’t know it was you, I just—this is going to sound weird—I just wanted to feel you. Be near you. You made me feel so safe. And I can tell you anything and be myself.”

“You can still feel all of that,” Matt gently said, reaching the back of his hand to caress your face. “It’s me.”

“That’s going to be a tough threshold to cross, and I can’t do that alone.”

“What do you need, then? Anything, and I’m there with you.”

You took a deep, sleepy breath. There truly only was one way to cross this threshold of uncertainty. 

“I need you to kiss me,” you said. 

Matt listened to your heartbeat for a few moments to make sure that you weren’t lying. He wanted to be certain that this was what you needed. Truthfully, it's what he needed, too—desperately. 

With his one hand still on your stomach, and the other brushing your hair out of your face, Matt closed his eyes, and slowly filled the small space between your faces. You closed your eyes as well. Just as the hint of his lips was on yours, barely a millimeter apart, Matt paused, let your lips brush for a moment, before he put his lips gently on yours and kissed you ever so softly. You melted in the kiss like you always have. Yes, it was certainly him—your savior. 

He kissed you with a gentle urgency, his nose pressed on your cheek. Forehead to forehead. You placed your fingers on his chin, like you always did before you were going to kiss him. You gently moved his face to yours and leaned in again to kiss him softly. Matt closed his eyes and with a new urgency kissed you again, placing his hand on your neck. He breathed in your scent, and felt your velvety skin under his fingers. You opened your mouth, inviting Matt to enter with his tongue, and at the contact, you gasped. 

“Oh my, God,” you said, and Matt pulled away from you like he’s been burned. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked out of breath. 

“It really is you,” you breathed, chasing after his lips with yours. 

“It is,” he said against your open mouth. 

You pull away again, that uncomfortable feeling of knowing it was Matt. Was it uncomfortable, or was it that thrill you felt the very first night you kissed your savior? 

“We can stop,” Matt offered, lips wet from your kiss. You ran your fingers through his brown hair, your fear of letting him in slowly fading the more you looked at him. This was your savior, this was Matt. You shook your head. 

“I don’t want to stop,” you said softly. “Kiss me again, and make me understand.” 

Matt wasted no time in doing as he was told. He shut his eyes and focused his senses on all of you. Your heart was beating in his ears, and he was grateful it was from excitement and not fear. Finally, he could kiss you without hiding. He licked your bottom lip and gently placed his hands on the back of your neck, lifting you to meet him more comfortably. When he felt you tug at his hair, Matt lifted himself on his bed with his knee. He felt your legs spread under the silk blanket and felt you wrap your arms around him, bringing him closer to you. You placed both hands on his face, Matt kneeling between your legs now. It felt dangerous to be this close to you, closer than he ever has before. Your legs were spread, and he could already sense your wetness pooling in your panties. He could smell your delicious scent. You started to shake again, and Matt stopped. 

“Are you okay?” Matt pulls back and places both hands on your shoulders. “You’re shaking.” Your legs started to shake around him.

“Yes,” you said. You leaned up and met him for a kiss, lips clashing and torsos touching. Wrapping your legs around him through the blanket, you brought him closer to your body, and felt him through the sheets. Matt’s whole body, on yours, fully clothed and separated by blankets. There’s no denying and no stopping what’s about to happen between you. 

“Closer,” you pleaded. Matt stepped off the bed and pulled the sheets from off of you. You took your skirt off but struggled with your shirt from the IV. Matt chuckled, and that familiar smug smile on his face made you want to wipe it off with a kiss. 

“Let me help,” he said softly. You laid your arms flat on the bed and watched as Matt leaned down to slowly unbutton your shirt. You shut your eyes, pushing the thought of that awful man away. This was Matt leaning over you, your savior touching each button slowly, Matt’s gaze falling on your chest. The thrill of it being Matt was a lot, but you realized you’re nothing he hasn’t touched before. 

When your shirt was fully unbuttoned, Matt slipped it off your arms easily. You watched as he also took off his shirt, and you raised your eyebrows in shock. You knew he was built from the times you’ve touched him, but nothing prepared you for his toned and muscled naked torso. 

“Can I take this off?” Matt tugged at the loop of your skirt. You nodded. 

“Please.”

Matt unzipped your skirt and slowly dragged it down your legs, leaving kisses on the way. You couldn’t stop shaking.

“You’re shaking, sweetheart,” Matt said softly, and God, the flips your heart did when he called you that nickname, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes,” you breathed, “yes, Matt.” The more you said his name, the more comfortable you felt with knowing he was your savior, this whole time. 

Matt leaned over you again, moved the hair out of your face and kissed your forehead. You ran your fingers over his bare torso and wrapped your legs around him, putting pressure on where you needed it most. Matt kissed your forehead, your nose, back to your lips. When he heard your heartbeat pick up again, he whispered in your ear. 

“It’s me,” he whispered, “It’s always been me.”

“Okay,” the feelings you felt were overwhelming now. Your chest felt full when Matt leaned down to kiss you slowly again. He began to pepper kisses on your cheek, your jawline, your neck. And he kissed you for a long time on your neck. You lightly moaned at the contact. 

“Mm,” you moaned softly as Matt kissed your neck again. Goosebumps formed all over your arms and back, and you shivered against him. Matt missed hearing you like this as much as he missed kissing you. He felt your nipples harden against him. Your sex was wet through your panties, aching to be touched. 

“Can I touch you again?” Matt asked in a deep voice in your ear, pulling back from the neck kisses. 

“Please,” you whispered. Matt’s eyes were half moons as his gaze fell on your chin. First, he slowly ran his hand from your neck to your right breast, gently squeezing and kneading it. He felt your nipple harden in the palm of his hand, and he had to stifle his moan. Matt leaned down to kiss your collarbone before he kissed the supple skin of your breast around your nipple. You bit your lip and closed your eyes. Matt could feel the heat pulsating from your pussy, but he wanted to take his time. 

“Matt,” you whispered. He liked hearing you say his name. His real name. 

“Matthew,” he gently corrected against your skin because God he needed to hear you say his full name. 

“Matthew,” you whispered again. Matt wrapped his lips around your nipple, and a jolt of pleasure spread all over your back as he began to suck the sensitive bud. His tongue began to flick your hardened nipple back and forth, back and forth, and you curved in the bed. 

“Oh,” you chanted as he kept licking and sucking your nipple. He played with your other nipple with his fingers before he pulled back and kissed you between your breasts. 

“It’s me,” he says again. He begins to kiss you down your stomach and stops right at your panties, which are soaked with your wetness. Before he does anything, Matt kisses either of your thighs and slowly pulls your panties off. He takes off the rest of his clothing too, so you are both naked. Though he can’t see you—he can only feel you. And God, do you feel so soft and wet. Your skin has goosebumps all over. You haven’t stopped shaking. Matt can hear your heartbeat in his ears, can sense how wet you are in his bed. 

The ache for him is too much, your pussy is throbbing to feel him inside you. Matt leans down and you tug on his brown hair. Matt breathes in your scent before he places his tongue on your pussy and licks up slowly to your sensitive clit. 

“Oh, God,” you breathe, “Matthew.”

Matt groans against your pussy and begins to lick your wetness faster. He spreads your pussy with his fingers and licks your sex. He presses his lips gently on your clit and sucks, and the intense feeling of pleasure leaves you wanting more. You thrust your pussy onto his face as he continues to lap at your juices. He takes your hand and holds it. 

“Mm,” you moan in a sensual voice, enough to almost make Matt leak on the bed. His hardness is throbbing as it aches to find that sweet relief inside you. He continues to lick at your wetness before he pulls back. 

“How do you feel, sweetheart?” Matt asks. 

“Really good,” you answer, your heart hammering in your chest. 

“Do you really want this?” He asks again, concern laced in his voice, despite the situation at hand. 

“So badly, Matt,” you reply. 

Matt moves up and kisses your lips. You feel your wetness all over his stubbly face as he kisses you deeply. When you closed your eyes, you could see your savior, but when you opened them, it was Matt, your boss. The two were the same. The two were slowly forming into one image. You both pull back at the same time. 

“There’s no going back after this,” you whisper.

“I don’t want to go back if it’s not with you,” Matt says. 

“Don’t lie to me,” your voice cracks, and it surprises you as much as it surprises him. Matt’s brows furrow as his gaze looks down on you.

“Never again,” he says. 

You spread your legs wider in return and the feeling of his hard cock rocking between your pussy lips causes you to moan. Matt balances himself over you, gently sliding his hard cock over your wetness, back and forth. His cock was completely covered in your wetness as it slipped over your pussy. The pressure of his hardness on your clit caused you to feel a tightness in your stomach. 

“You’re so wet,” Matt whispers, “like always. So wet.” He could feel his cock aching for your warmth. 

You kissed Matt. His lips molded to yours as it always did. And suddenly, Matt pushed the tip of his cock into your warm, tight pussy. 

“Mm,” Matt moaned as he tried to push into you more. Your toes curled at the attempt. Matt snaked his arm under you and adjusted you so you lay further down on the bed. Matt leaned down to kiss your neck and it was then you felt the revelation rock your body as his fully pushed his cock inside you, filling you up with every inch. 

“Oh, God,” you moaned in his ear as Matt paused with his cock inside you, letting you adjust to his size. He closed his eyes and began to thrust slowly. He felt your velvety pussy wrap around his cock so tightly, it took a few thrusts to fully push inside. 

“That’s it,” Matt chanted softly, “you feel so good. Dear, God,” he moaned in your ear. You wrapped your legs entirely around Matt as he continued to thrust inside your pussy. You felt so full with his cock inside, and the more he thrust, the more you wanted him deeper. 

“Please,” you begged, “Matthew.”

Matt began to thrust faster and harder into you, knowing he was reaching your sweet spot with every thrust. You just felt…so… good…he kissed your neck to suppress his moans as he continued to thrust harder into you, that sweet relief coming over his cock. The pressure and the need was being melted slowly with your warm and wet and tight pussy. 

“You feel so good,” he says again, because it’s all he can say. “So good.”

“Matt,” you said with urgency, knowing you were about to come, “Come inside me.”

Matt paused at your request but continued to thrust into you. Out of breath, he looks up at you. “I’m so close,” he breathed. 

“Come inside me,” you say again, this time with moan at the end, begging. “Please, Matthew.” 

Matt continues to thrust inside you, every wave of pleasure washing over him as he listens to your moans and hears the sound of how wet you are and his cock slamming into you. He wanted you to come first, and he felt you were on the way as your pussy began to clench his cock harder than before, your toes began to curl and your stomach began to tense and suddenly—you were washing all over his cock as you moaned his name. This wasn’t your savior, this was Matt. 

“Matt!” You screeched as you came and your pussy convulsed in orgasm and Matt was thrusting even harder into you. You could feel the tip of his cock all the way inside you, each time it hit your sweet spot you moaned in his ear and came all over him. 

Matt took a shaky breath as he let those familiar waves wash over him, his throbbing and aching cock soon to feel the relief he’s been wanting and needing this whole time. From your tight wetness around him to you moaning his name, Matt isn’t far behind. With one last hard thrust inside you, he stays inside your pussy as his cum completely fills your warmth and you clench his cock. Matt comes inside you and continues to thrust with each pump of cum he spills in you. One, two, three… his warm cum feels so good inside you, as it spurts in your pussy. 

“Oh, God,” he breathes in your ear, “Oh, oh, my God.”

Breathless, he stays on top of you for a moment, both your bodies slick with sweat. It’s your wetness and his pooled together as his cock stays inside you until he’s strong enough to slowly pull out, and when he does you feel the absence of his size immediately. His cum spills out of you slowly and Matt is on his way to get a warm towel. 

You lay there, breathless, as he cleans you up and your heart returns to its normal pace again. He brings the silk blanket over your naked body and kisses your bare shoulder. 

“Stay here,” you give him one last command. Matt's eyes are soft and he smiles a little. He joins you in his bed, under the silk covers, and brings you close to him. He hopes you’ll be this close for a long time. 

TAGS: @starry-night-20 @sumsytee @queerqueenlynn  @mattmurdocksstarlight @marvelcinematiquniverse @hailey-murdock @yeonalie (please let me know if I missed you!)

[cyberspqced]

netflix’s defenders high school AU is coming so soon you guys 👁️ it’s more or less a breakdown of every possible dynamic / pairing in a high school setting but if enough people like it i’d be so game to specifically write fics while referencing lore.

i’ll say right now that matt foggy and karen DID become friends in a way similar to how they did in daredevil .. just without the dead man. i’ll also say underrated friendships like colleen and claire + colleen and jess have a lot of coverage because this fandom doesn’t talk about them enough. ironwing is also very canon ANDNANDAND kastle slowburn + frank and amy do in fact meet and maintain a similar bond:)

okay that’s all i’ll say for now. if you have any requests for duos you’d maybe wanna see featured, requests are so open.

[sunfairyy]

Does anyone remember or know of the post that consisted of screenshots from a PowerPoint where they discussed the racism and orientalism in daredevil in regards to Elektra and Claire???? Also spoke about how they were always compared to Karen and put in a love triangle but Karen wouldn’t be seen as someone actively competing for Matt.

I’m trying to find it but I’m unsuccessful and I really want to go through it again 😭😭 if you know, please let me know

[skyfallslayer]

The Daughter of The (Dare)Devil - Story 10

Series Masterlist

Series Summary: A Series of stories revolving around the MCU timeline of Matt Murdock and his Daughter, Kaila. Being the child of a vigilante can be hard and scary at times, but it doesn’t mean she ain’t going to enjoy the most of it.

(Can be read as Y/N if you’d like)

Story Summary: Relieved that his daughter is finally home safe, Matt makes two life changing moves. First is to stop and help Frank Castle in any way he can; The second one? Finally asked Karen out on a date. A date that might have to get cut short when someone from his past shows up unexpectedly (Set During 2x04 & 2x05, “Penny & Dime” & “Kinbaku”).

Date: 7/26/23

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 14,016 (Ya'll deserve it)

Warning: Possible OOC (?); Karedevil; The Murdocks Are Stubborn People; Angst; Heavy Language; Allusions To Mental Illness; Bullet Wounds/Recovery; Child Abuse; Blood and Gore; Violence; Heavy Injuries; Talks of Death/Murder; The Murdocks Could Use All The Hugs In The World; A Brief Near Death Experience; Matt Being Overprotective (He Needs A Warning, I think?); Past Toxic Relationship(s); Elektra Could Use A Warning Herself; Suggestive 18+ Themes; READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

- Let me know if I missed anything, please.

A/N: First off, a small apology. Like I was replying to a DM a few days ago, I don't know what really happened. Despite the fact that my laptop took a dive, I ended up on a unexpected hiatus. Which... I think was a good thing for me. It gave me enough time to take a step back after slowly becoming burnt out from writing. But I'm back! I promise I won't go MIA without saying something next time. So, sorry again! But the story you all have been waiting for has returned!

Secondly, Don't let this story fool you, I don't necessarily hate Elektra. I just don't like the fact how toxic she was for Matt and how she tried to change him after finally getting in a good place in his life. So I'm going to change Canon a little bit (Which shouldn't be a surprise since I've been doing that already). Other than that, Enjoy, my loves!

- Fifteen Years Ago -

His only comfort was the pittering of the rain against his window. He sat on his bed, feet touching the ground, his phone in hand; His finger hovered over the voice command. His mind racing over and over and over with the question of– 

Should I? 

He wants answers. Sure they didn’t leave on a good note, but shouldn’t she give him some kind of explanation? It’s only been two weeks, surely she hasn’t left the area already…

Right? But even a part of him knew she probably was long gone just like the cops said, yet he still held on to some kind of hope that’ll he be able just to talk to her at least once. To just ask the “simple” question of… ‘Why?’.

He rubs his face with an open hand, fingers massaging the dark circles under his blind pupils. He didn't need sight to know they were getting worse and worse everyday. 

He sighs.

Loudly.

Heavily.

He let every ounce of emotion into that one. 

He didn’t care.

I’m really drowning right now. And indeed he was, however– 

His thoughts immediately fade away when he hears the familiar cries he’s gotten used to. Out of instinct, Matt lets his phone slip away as he slides down to the end of his bed, shifting his body down to carefully take his baby in his arms from the bassinet. He remembers how he was taught to hold his child properly, a consistent drill from the nurses and Mrs. Nelson badgered him with (mostly from Mrs. Nelson). 

He shushes quietly in the attempts to calm her. “Hey, hey. Shush. You’re okay, you’re okay.” He whispers, exhaustion in his undertone. 

God, he was so tired.

He whispers some more, his daughter starting to calm down into tiny whimpers. His face quirked into something bittersweet. 

“Did you have a nightmare?” He asked, wanting to stroke those little teardrops away, but he was too afraid to free one of his hands out of concern of dropping her. “I have those too sometimes.” He chuckles humorlessly. “I guess those can be hereditary.”

He still has those kinds of dreams. Memories from his childhood. All the dark shit he’s been through, he’ll see them every once a while. His father’s dying day, His time in the orphanage, His roller coaster of past relationships. It’ll take turns haunting him. Taunting him. Egging him to give back in, crawl back into that dark hole. Jump off the edge.

It eats him alive every single time.

Matt’s lip twitched. “Sorry. That was a bad joke.” He admits, trying to look on the positive side. “Although, your Uncle probably would have come up with something more corny than that. Right?”

He could feel her tiny gaze, something he was still trying to picture what it meant. Happiness? Sadness? Confusion? 

He sighs. “I wish I could see you. It’ll make this easier.” So much easier. “It’ll make your life easier. I’m not going to be the… typical parent of the group. So, I’m… sorry.”

How the hell was he going to do this? How was he supposed to help her through life? Through her first steps? Through school? Through any hardships she faces? How was he supposed to help when he feels like he’s drowning?

How am I supposed to be a father when I don’t know what I’m doing? How am I supposed to be a father when I can’t even see your face?

He heard the front door open and close. The person entering was setting their bag aside and kicking off their shoes and heavy jacket before strolling over where he’s been sitting for who knows how long now. Matt could smell the sweat on his friend’s brow and a light drum beat from his chest that told him his friend had been in a hurry to get here.

“Matt?” Foggy said, peeking inside the bedroom. A look of relief crosses his face upon seeing his college buddy. “Sorry I’m late.”

Matt couldn’t help but smile at his consideration. “Nah, you’re good, Foggy.” He said, half heartedly (he just hopes he doesn't have a look of desperation plastered on). He felt those hazel eyes scanning him head to toe, concerned.

“Have you been up since this morning?” Foggy asked, remembering he had called around eight this morning. There was a pause of hesitation from the blind man before he ended up nodding. He frowns worriedly. “Matt–”

“Please, don’t lecture me.” Matt said, sounding like a little kid cowering with fear. 

Foggy felt his heart hurt from it. “I wasn’t.” He promises, his frown deepening. “Have you eaten?”

Another small nod. “Yeah. I ate a little.”

“Showered?”

“No.”

“How come?”

“I…” Matt felt his chest get tight as he stumbled with his words. “Don’t want to leave the room for too long.” 

Foggy couldn’t help but laugh. “Matt, you can take her in the bathroom. Just put the bassinet by the door.”

His face scrunched up. “Isn’t that weird?”

Another laugh. “Okay, how old is she again? Two months old? Even if she sees you naked she’s not going to remember.”

Matt closes his eyes to sigh. “Yeah, yeah. I guess…”

Foggy shakes his head. “You need to sometimes turn that Catholic brain of yours off, Murdock.” He replies, coming to sit down. Upon sitting he felt something underneath him and pulled out his friend’s phone. It didn’t take long to figure out what he was doing. “Did you call Mary?”

“Tried…” Matt chews on his cheek. “I uh… I just want some answers. I mean she’s… the mother so, I would think she would be… more capable at this. I mean why would she give her kid to a blind man who has no idea how–”

“Okay, going to stop you there.” Foggy butts in, hand coming to rest on the troubled man’s shoulder. “Even if you thought Mary was more capable, you’re still the father, you know? Blind or not, parenting isn't easy. Trust me. My own parents made that very clear. I’m sure your dad told you something along those lines too.”

Matt grew quiet for a second, thinking. “Yeah. I guess you have a point.” He shifts his gaze in his direction. “But it’s just… it’s frustrating. I-I can’t see so I… I-I have no idea how she’s feeling half the time. I’m scared that if I get that wrong I’m going to hurt her.”

Foggy squeezes his shoulder comfortably. “I know, man. I know.”

“And she’s… s-so tiny, Foggy.” He whispers, fearfully. “So tiny and I’m… a big guy. I-I feel like I’m… like I’m drowning because I don’t know what to do.”

Now it was his turn to get quiet. Foggy was trying to figure out how to phrase the next few words without striking too deep. “Do you regret your decision to keep her?”

“No, no, no.” Matt shakes his head. “I just… I-I love her, she’s my daughter. But there’s… times I wonder if…” He swallows. “If she would be… better not in my care.”

Those words hurt to even say, but it was true. Maybe this would have all been better if he went through with the adoption.

As the processing time ended, Matt felt Foggy’s arms wrap around his shoulders, cautious of the baby, and placed his head against him. Matt couldn’t help but lean into the touch he felt like he suddenly craved, and tried not to cry.

“Matt–” Foggy begins, his voice full of warmth and love. “You’re going to do great. Sure it’s hard, and it’s always going to be hard, but under all that exhaustion I can see how much you love this kid. You’re going to be an amazing dad.”

Matt chuckles, somewhere between disbelief and relief. “You r-really think so?” He said, swallowing again as his throat tightens.

“I know so.” Foggy pulls back. “Trust me, Buddy. I’ve seen the emotions you pack. I can already picture you picking her up on her first day of school, or helping her get a summer job, or walking her down the aisle for her big day.”

Matt raises an eyebrow. “Who says she’s getting married?”

“See?” Foggy lightly slaps him in the arm, grinning. “You’re already accepting the universal dad laws. Never letting your daughter near a boy her age. You know when my niece was born, my brother was pretty much ready to lock her in a tower far, far away. Surrounded by a dragon that was fifty feet tall, which breathed hot fire.”

Matt laughed again. “Uh, not sure if Amazon sells dragons but… the tower I can find and work with.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m pretty sure New York has some of those.”

“How will I know they do?”

Foggy snorts and gives him a small shove while playfully saying his name. He finally felt a bit of success bloom when he noticed his friend’s happy face staying the same. “You’re doing great, man. But if you ever need help, Me and The Nelsons are here to help.”

Matt’s smile widens genuinely. “Thank you, Foggy.”

“Don’t even mention it.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

-Present Day-

Matt’s eyes open at the shift in the bed, he sets his blind gaze in that direction, quietly listening to see if she is awake. 

She wasn’t. Good.

She needed to sleep.

It’s been about a week since the incident, and they’ve just gotten out of the hospital yesterday, and to his surprise (Well, he really shouldn’t be), his daughter wanted to stay pretty close to him for a while; Not that he was complaining. He wanted this too.

He shifted his own weight too, rolling to his side for a better view. She had gently wrapped herself in his blankets, and had carefully propped her injured leg on a pillow. His daughter finally looked like she was at peace, especially since he could tell she wasn’t suffering anymore night terrors.

Good. She doesn’t need that right now. He remembers she had one after Brett left the hospital room, her body finally giving out after the nightmarish incident. He remembers she bolted up, drenching in sweat as her heart raced a mile a minute. She was hyperventilating in a way he’s never heard before as she started muttering. ‘Where is he?’ or ‘Where am I?’. It broke his soul to her muttering, to feel her shake in his arms as he calmed her down. He never wants to go through that experience again.

I wonder if Brett’s figured anything out? The whole kidnapping situation still wasn’t adding up. Why was this… man who claims to be their first client’s brother kidnap his daughter? Because… what? Nelson and Murdock ‘failed’ him? This just didn’t sit right with him. And Matt recalls when the man said something about a Boss. Boss? What Boss? Who could this Boss be? Who wanted to hurt Matt Murdock more than the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen? It just didn’t make any–

His daughter’s phone chimes loudly, the sound of a notification hit his ears quickly. Despite not being able to see it, he tries his best to reach over to the side table to hit the button to mute the sound. However his speedy actions cause a stir in his bed.

Kaila grumbles in her sleep, eye opening half lid. “Is it morning yet?”

Matt shifts back around, frowning at himself as he shakes his head. “No, no. Not yet.” He replies, gazing at her. “Go back to sleep.”

“Are you going out?”

That was like a little needle in chest, and made his face soften. “No. I’m not going out.”

“Shouldn’t you though?” She asked, dazed and confused.

“No. Not until I know you’re okay.” He brushes some of her stray hair out of her face, tucking it away gently. “Go back to sleep, baby girl.”

She hums at his touch and words, closing her eyes again, snuggling up the mattress some more. “M’kay… love you…”

He smiles. “Love you.” He waits for her to fall back to sleep before he does, closing his own eyes and forcing himself to sleep lightly for obvious reasons.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

He opens the door to the light knocking, a soft smile on his face as he senses who it was. “Hi.”

“Hey.” Karen said, with a small wave and her little quirky bow of her head. 

“I'm just about ready.” Matt explains letting her in and walking towards his living room to finish up.

“Okay.” She closes the door behind him, watching him closely as he struggles to finish his tie. “Uh, here, let me help with that.”

“Oh, thanks.”

She hums in reply, getting real close to help him out. She mentally curses at herself when she could hear her own heart in her ears. Now that she knew his secret, she felt embarrassed by everything she did in the past.

Karen bites the inside of her cheek, keeping her eyes on the fabric in her hand. “You feeling any better?” She asked, knowing the last few nights were rough in the hospital. 

Matt nods. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good… Now.” He swallows and whispers as she finishes, “With you.” He felt her curious eyes on him, now he felt embarrassed by what he just said. “Uh, not that I can verify, but you seem good at this.”

She brushes off her flustered face with laughter. “Uh, well, my brother wasn't, so that's where I came in.”

“Your brother must have been lucky for you.” He soon regretted saying those words as soon as it rolled off his tongue. Matt didn’t miss the goosebumps suddenly covering her body, and how her heart rate went up three notches. He frowns, concernedly. “Karen… You okay?”

She pales. “Um–”

“I thought I heard Karen.” Kaila says, coming into the room (unknowingly saving the day). She had her backpack in hand while her free one was gripping the crutch she was given for support.

In a motherly way, the blonde comes over to take the bag. “Let me grab that. That looks heavy.” She replies, slinging it over her own shoulder despite the teen’s protests.

“I can carry it.”

“The doctor said nothing too heavy, which…” Karen gestures to the bag and makes a face. “What’s in this?”

Kaila shrugs. “I gotta keep myself entertained somehow, because I ain’t doing you guys’ paperwork when I get there.”

Karen shakes her head, turning away towards the front door. Matt comes over next while sliding his jacket on, worriedness creeping on his face.

“You feeling okay?” He asked, hearing her crack a smile.

“Yes, Dad. I’m good. A little sore, but I’m alright.” Kaila replies, honestly. “So…” Her eyes flickered to the woman by the door before back at her father. “When’s the date?”

His eyebrows shoot up. “The what?”

“The date?” She chuckles at his puzzled expression. “Come on, Dad. I see the googly eyes, and you can cut the sexual tension in here with a knife.” She jabs him in the arm as he mouth becomes agape. “So when is it?”

“There’s no date.” He says, expressionless.

“But you want there to be.”

“Uh, well–”

“She knows you’re the devil, and she didn’t run away. I’d say that’s a keeper.” She walks past him, hand patting him on the arm. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“He’s lucky to be alive.” Karen says, as Kaila holds up an x-ray of the Punisher’s skull for them to see. “This is all of the stuff that the DA’s collecting for her case. And most of it’s about the Punisher’s victims. The Dogs of Hell, the cartel... But this was in the middle of it. Not someone he shot, him.”

“He’s insane.” Foggy says, as he, and everyone in the room, looked unwell by the picture. “Maybe he shot himself.”

“But he saved me.” Kaila points out, puzzled and baffled at the same time. When she learned that this was the man that helped save her from Baldy, the man known as ‘Punisher’, she was honestly surprised by how much of a bloody trail he’s really left behind.

“I know, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t.”

“I-I thought about that, but at that close of a range…” Karen trails off, waiting for someone to finish.

Which was Matt with, “Yeah, he’d be dead already.”

“Okay, not to go all tin-foil hat here, but Tower obviously slipped this to me for a reason. What if the Punisher isn’t the worst of it? What if Reyes is trying to cover something up?”

Now it was Foggy’s turn to look surprised. “You think that murderous psychopath isn’t the worst of it?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “And I think our best shot at protecting Nelson and Murdock is to find him.”

“It’s our best shot at career suicide or just getting shot.”

“She kind of has a point, Foggy.” Matt says, hands on his hips.

Foggy blinks in disbelief. “How?”

“I owe it to Frank, alright. He saved my daughter.”

“I know that. But what if he was just trying to get something out of you? Like an IOU? Or maybe he’s trying to pin the blame on you? Have you thought of that?”

“I have. But I don’t think those options are logical.”

“How? In what way is it not?”

Matt frowns. “He told me, ‘He expects me to do the same. Father to Father’. He’s a family man, or at least he was, I get the impression.”

Foggy sighs. “Look. Even if he is, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s a dangerous man that tried to kill our client and a couple other groups of people.” The phone starts ringing and he gets up. “Just think about what I said, okay? I don’t want you getting shot again.”

Karen looks Matt’s way, confused. “Shot again?”

“Uh, he…” He clears his throat, blind gaze going somewhere else. “Kind of shot me in the head when I first met him.”

Her eyes widened. “Huh?”

“It was the day you came for a visit and I was pissed at him.” Kaila replies, setting the x-ray down after gazing at it for so long. “He went temporarily deaf too.”

“You went deaf?!” Karen said, scolding. She watches him shrug sheepishly before sighing. “And I thought I was insane.”

“Welcome to having a Murdock in your life.”

She sighs again, rubbing her face. “Okay, I… I know this Punisher, or Frank, is a lunatic, but–”

“But you care, anyway?” Matt finishes.

“I wouldn’t say that, it’s more like curiosity. In between these files and… Reyes’ obsession and the fact that humans are a pretty complicated species to begin with, I just feel like there’s gotta be more to the story.”

He hums. “I think you are.”

She scoffs. “Oh, my God, you think I'm insane.”

Matt chuckles at her reaction. “I’m kidding. You’re compassionate. It’s a good quality, Karen. Stuff of saints.”

Karen frowns. “Yeah, well, I’m no saint…” She mumbles, looking away (Kaila does too for obvious reasons).

Matt, sensing something was off, replies with, “I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that.”

“Matt!” Foggy calls from his office. “We have real, live, non-criminal clients who need our help.”

“Excuse me for a second.” He excused himself and entered the room. “Tell me.” 

“Mr. DiPesta defaced the elevator in his building.”

“Which, technically, makes him a criminal.”

“That’s what his slumlord, excuse me, landlord says, but look. He’s got no AC, no hot water. This has Nelson and Murdock written all over it. But we gotta file today. Kar–”

“Dad!” Kaila shouts, and the boys immediately run back to the front at a quick speed. She was standing at the door that was open. “Karen told me she’d drive me home later and then left.”

“Maybe she just stepped out for some fresh air.” Foggy suggested just as Matt suddenly had a sinking feeling.

“Did she take the files?” The blind lawyer asked, worriedly.

“I think so. She grabbed some folder quickly that I didn’t see.” Kai continues, as her father feels around her desk; His head drops immediately while sighing.

“Shit.” Foggy rubs his head.

“I have to find her.” Matt said, already shedding some of his work attire for some street clothes. 

“Find Frank first.”

“Already planning on it.” 

“But, Dad–” Kaila begins, watching him slide a sweatshirt on. “You didn’t bring your suit.”

“I don’t need it.”

She blinks. “Huh?”

“I’ve been waiting to pick up my new one. Reinforced alloy.”

“Which means…?” She trails off with her eyebrow raised.

And with a ghost of a smile he says,

.

.

.

“Which means I won’t get shot again,”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Thanks to Karen’s A+ detective work, she manages to track down George Buck, a nurse with an… interesting past experience. It took a little bit to convince him to walk along the Hudson, just a small bribe of getting coffee.

“You were with him when this was taken?” She asked, ready to jot down the mental notes in her head.

“Yeah.” He replies, nodding. “That bullet tore through his head. Not many people survive that.”

“Well, I’d like to know what you remember.”

“John Doe. Guy was a total vegetable. I guess that’s why they decided he only needed one nurse.”

“Any family or visitors?” She knew Frank was a father judging by what he said to Matt, but still wanted to know if they were still around.

“No. I mean aside from the suits.”

“Suits?”

“Yeah. Uh, sometimes men, sometimes women. You can tell ‘em ‘cause they all wear the same ear pieces. That and the black suits. Kind of like uh…” He trails off while gesturing to the open air, hoping she gets the idea.

“Got any idea who these suits were?” She asked, curiously.

“No.” He shakes his head. “Uh, but they had their run of the place and they were the ones that pushed for the, uh, the DNR.”

She tilts her head. “A ‘do not resuscitate’?” 

“Yeah. They had the paperwork. And I was there when the doctor pulled the plug.”

“I…I’m confused.” This wasn’t making any sense. “You’re saying this guy died?”

“Yeah, for about a minute. It’s crazy, but they say it happens sometimes. You know, one minute, flatline, then boom.” George’s eyes widened with the shock that was still there. “His heart starts back up again. On its own. He just didn’t wanna die. Within ten minutes of being awake… h-he reaches up and grabs my scrubs, yanks me down, and says, real close ‘Take me home’.” He frowns, guilty. “I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have done it. I should’ve known it’d get me fired.”

Now this got her interest peaked even more. “His home.” She tests out, hopeful. “Do you have an address?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

As the sun finally kissed the sky goodnight, Frank was reliving his gut wretched past. He could still hear the music from the carousel; His children’s laughter; His wife’s beautiful words.

All of it.

The lights of the morbid thing only go off when the ride stops and everyone walks away with a smile on their face. Now all he sees is the silhouette that haunts him in his dreams. And with his extra sense, Frank quickly notices the mysterious man sitting on the next bench over, grinning like the son of a bitch he was.

“Nice night.” Is what he said, causing the ex-soldier some confusion. Before Frank could say anything, the man, who’s name was Rory, flashed the gun in his belt and replied, “I’m not alone.”

Right on cue people were coming in every direction, an expressionless feature greeted him.

Rory continues to boast saying, “You wanna come with us? Or you wanna make a mess?”

Frank, wasting no time, goes for him and starts beating him up, not caring that Rory had stuck some kind of needle into his neck. Rory’s guys move in only for Frank to take them all out with a single bullet each. But as soon as he thought the fight was over, someone knew entered the ring and shot his challenger.

The Punisher stumbled on his own two feet as the sedative kicked in, but his spirit wouldn’t be broken yet until he knew who this other person was. 

The Irish gang leader, Finn, strolls over with his own set of individuals, looking more cocky than the man before. “Well, thanks for thinning out the herd. You’re surrounded, son. Now be a good lad and drop the iron.” He says, just as his men pointed their laser at his prey’s chest. “Come on. You seem like a smart one.”

With strong will, Frank tries to advance, only to be shot with various tasers and rendered unconscious.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Matt waited until he came out from the crime scene from the Irish themed bar. He stayed in the vibrant black and red light, ignoring the gun that was trained on.

“I need to know what happened here.” Sounds more like a demand than a question.

Mahoney looks behind him, nervously. “I’m not telling you shit.” He whispers, harshly. “You helped us catch Fisk, that don’t make us friends.”

“Was this the Punisher?”

“Jesus. The Irish, okay? To find the Punisher. They put a bounty on his head. Now people all over the Kitchen are getting hurt. It’s the goddamn Wild West out there.”

“Have the Irish found him?”

“As long as we keep getting calls like this, I guess not.” Mahoney watches as the vigilante seems satisfied with his answer, and was about to leave, although the cop was concerned for his safety. “Hey, stay out of it. You hear me?”

“I just wanna help, Sergeant.”

“No, you can’t help this one.”

“We’re on the same side, you and I.”

“Listen, You’re–”

‘2-Adam, shots fired. 65th Street transverse, by the carousel. All units to back.’

Mahoney touches his radio, eyes moving away. “Fifteen Sergeant responding, Central.” He replies, just as Matt makes his move to leave. Once seeing this, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

Jesus, Murdock. Stay out of this for once.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

The window rolled down completely to see Foggy’s smugged face. “Ah, look who finally showed up. Did Cinderella really want to go to the ball that bad?” He asked as Karen sighed apologetically. 

“I’m really, really sorry, Foggy.” She says, honest.

“It’s okay, just remember, we’re your friends. We worry.” He says, as she apologizes again. “It’s okay. Seriously. But don’t run off like that again. I’m still technically your boss.”

Karen snickers. “Alright, Boss man, I’ll remember to ask.”

“Thank you, my lovely co-worker.” He smiles and gestures for the teenager to come over. “Ready, K-Pop?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Kaila replies as he opens the passenger door. “Thanks.”

“Sure you don’t want a ride?” Karen asked, as he shook his head.

“No thanks. You know I live in the opposite direction.” Foggy said, waving them goodbye. “I’ll see you in the office tomorrow.” 

The girls wave back as he takes a few steps down the sidewalk looking for a cab. As the young Murdock starts putting her seat belt on, she could see the blonde’s mind practically racing over something. It especially was clear when she was gnawing on her bottom lip and her fingers lightly drum the steering wheel.

You can really never turn that Reporter brain of yours off, huh Karen?

“You ready?” The blonde asked with a ghost of a smile.

Kaila tilts her head, feeling her out. “You’re taking me back home, right?” 

“Yeah.” Karen said, nodding.

The teenager raises a knowing eyebrow. “But I can tell you don’t want to.” She says, ignoring Karen’s shocked face. She sighs and rolls the window back down, poking her head out just enough to still see her Uncle. “Hey, Foggy!”

The man perked up at his name just as he was raising his hand for a cab. He wastes no time to jog back over, concern on his features. “What’s up?”

“Get in.” Kaila jerks her head towards the backseat. “We’re breaking and entering.”

Those hazel eyes of his batted quickly, bafflingly. “What?”

“I said, get in the car. We’re going to need a lawyer if this goes south.”

“...What–”

“Just get in the car, Foggy.” Kaila said a bit more stern, which managed to get his ass in the back seat, muttering about what was going on. She pays no heed to him for a second and looks back at Karen who still had the same exact look on her face from a moment ago. “All yours, Cap.”

“Huh?” Karen looks between the teenager and the road ahead of her, debating. “Kai, I really shouldn’t–”

“Listen. I don’t really know who he is, but he saved my life. Whatever you have in mind, we owe it to him.” She smiles bittersweetly. “It’s the least we can do. Right?”

Karen took a minute to let it sink in, before putting her game face back on and taking the car out of park. While she starts pulling away, their guest in the back still seemed clueless about what this really was.

“What exactly is going on here?” Foggy asked, watching as the two girls give each other a look before deciding on a way to spill it to him.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Rory did his best to pretend to be dead, but once the Irish took away the Punisher, he made his move.

Somewhat.

His leg was dead weight from the bullet wound, so his only option was to crawl across the grounds around the carousel. He was using all the adrenaline he had to make his getaway, but that dream seemed short lived when the Devil was suddenly peering down at him. He was soon pinned against the ride, his wrist broken so fast when he tried to use his gun, causing him even more agony than necessary. 

“Who did this?” Daredevil snared, still holding a nice grip on the man’s wrist.

Rory clenches his jaw as he tries to catch his breath. “People you don’t mess with.”

With the subtle tilt of his head, he replies, “You’re bleeding out. And I got all night.”

“Go to hell!!”

Matt twists his arm, getting him to cry again. “Who did this?”

“The one they call Punisher.” 

“Where is he?”

Rory lets out a laugh. “It doesn’t matter ‘cause when we’re done with him, he’s as good as dead.”

Matt mentally sighs, “That’s helpful.” He mumbles, and twists a bit more, causing a louder scream. “But it’s not what I asked.”

His voice grows darker just as the sirens around them become louder and louder; and with a look of fear in his eyes…

Rory spilled everything.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

So this is the Castle family’s house? The trio was thinking as they parked their car across the street before trekking along the darkness to the back door.

“So, what are we doing here again?” Foggy asked, feeling like he was still in the dark about everything.

“We’re going to find anything that can help us with understanding Frank.” Karen explains, surveying the area. 

“And how are we going to find something by looking at a house?”

“Because we’re going to be looking…” She slowly gestures to the back door. “Inside the house.”

His eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“What– Karen, we can’t just–” Foggy trails off when he notices the teenager, crouching down carefully and jiggling a lock with a bobby pin. With a disapproving touch of his hand on her shoulder, he says, “Uh, excuse me, young lady. How do you know how to do this?”

Kaila smirks. “Remember that ‘secret’ candy drawer in your apartment?”

“Yeah…” He gasps quietly. “You were the one stealing from there?! Why?”

“Because–” She shrugs. “I wanted candy and you weren’t giving me any.”

He scoffs and shakes his head. “You’re in so much trouble. I interrogated a lot of people over that!”

“Yeah, and I lied. Sorry,” She pauses for a second. “Huh, and my dad knew the whole time.”

“You’re so grounded.”

She continues jiggling the lock until they hear a small ‘click’. She grins, standing up and grabbing her crutch as she moves inside, the other two following swiftly. The first thing they noticed beside the darkness was how cold the house was, and how you couldn’t hear anything. It made them all get goosebumps and a slight shock up their spines. 

All having the same idea, Karen, Foggy and Kaila slowly start walking around the house with their phones’ flashlights. Going from the kitchen in the back to the main area. When they slowly start to make things out, Karen pulls a tissue from her purse, carefully grabbing and examining things as Foggy looks around, paling.

“This is really eerie, Karen.” Foggy replies, feeling his heart skip a beat.

“Well, I wasn’t really expecting a picnic in here either.” She says, feeling the same way.

But to add more to their emotions, the three of them nearly jolted out of their own skins when Kaila’s crutch hit a small toy frog on the floor, activating it. 

“Jesus…” Kaila muttered, holding her chest before sighing with relief. “What was that?”

Foggy shines the light where he heard it land, frowning. “It’s a wind up toy.” Then the realization hit. “Oh, God… He really was a father.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Matt arrives at the scene just as Frank manages to get himself untied and kill Finn while muttering a very… interesting phrase. He knocks out the two that would have put a few more bullets into Castle’s brain before cautiously walking towards him, but there was still a concerned aura around him.

Frank’s face twitched in anger. “They’re gonna pay. Every single goddamn one of ‘em.” He spews with boiling venom.

“They will.” Matt agrees before shaking his head. “But not tonight. Move. And no killing.”

Frank gives him a glare. “Altar boy.” He replies before grabbing something he could use as a weapon.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

After a while, it was starting to become more and more heavy. It hit even harder when they came across the table filled with very depressing items. It made the whole situation worse than they thought.

Kaila stares at all the bouquets of flowers sent with condolence cards. The cards were addressed to none other than Frank Castle himself. She finds herself feeling very teary eyed.

“This is really…” She trails off, heart hurting. She couldn’t find the right word to say. Losing your entire family? In one night? She could only imagine what this must feel like.

So this is why Frank wanted to help my dad.

“I guess this explains his actions as the Punisher.” Karen said, standing next to her, looking the same. “I guess anyone would do the same thing in his shoes…”

“No shit.” 

“Looks like he was a war hero, too.” Foggy calls out to them, getting them to turn around to face the wall of memorabilias. Sure enough there was Frank in uniform in several pictures, and a couple of his metals were on display. “And this is where his sniper skills come from.”

“Now it all makes sense.” Karen said, looking over them carefully, imprinting the images in her head. 

“True. But–”

On cue, the three of them immediately turned their flashlights off when a vehicle pulled in front of the house. The headlights powered off just as Karen decides to take a peak. And just like the nurse from earlier was describing, here comes both men and women in black suits strolling out of the yellow van.

“Shit…” She whispers, letting go of the curtain.

.

.

.

What the fuck do we do now?

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

On the other side of town, after an intense battle for their lives, Matt found himself carefully setting down a heavily injured Frank Castle against a tombstone. The man grunted at the way his body seemed to mold against it, his adrenaline finally wearing off.

“Hey.” Frank begins, panting. He spares the blind man a glance. “Not bad.”

“Thanks.” Matt said, breathing through his nostrils. 

“I guess I, uh… I guess I was wrong.”

A tilt in his head. “About?”

“About you being a pussy.”

“Don’t get all sweet on me now, Frank.” Matt said, getting a laugh which soon turned into a coughing fit. He frowns worriedly. “Help’s on the way.”

“Nah.” Frank shakes his head. “You should go. I’m past saving. At least I’d have company, right?” A sigh. “I think I might cash out. You’d have made a hell of a Marine, Red.”

There was a twinge of guilt as he could hear the sincerity from his voice. Although Frank was the definition of ‘rough around the edges’, he could still see the soft and wonderful man he really was underneath. 

It made Matt feel like shit to even think about.

“That rhyme. What's it mean?” Matt asked, genuinely curious while crouching down.

This catches Frank off guard for the first time in a while. “What’d you say? …Huh?”

“The thing you say. Right before you pull the trigger.”

“What do you… You heard that?”

“Well, when you’re a blind man, your other senses get heightened so… yeah, I heard it.”

Frank blinks in disbelief. “What the…” He sighs, not even going to question it. “I gotta say, sometimes... Sometimes I think you really just might be the devil.”

Matt nods in agreement. “Sometimes I think I might be, too.”

“It’s, uh…” Frank begins, already getting choked up. “One batch, two batch. Penny and dime, you know. It was her favorite book. You know, you… You gotta cross the ocean… and go fight. You see… whole time you’re thinking you’re gonna be scared, right? But then, you’re not. See, that part of it was always easy for me. Killing. Even watching my buddies die, it just… it didn’t mean nothing.”

His face twitches. “The first time I got scared was on a plane on the way home. I kept thinking God was gonna pull the rug out from under us, you know? Shit, that’s his kind of funny, you know. But the plane landed safe and we were home. Driving through traffic. Yeah, you pass fast food and donut shops and all that… that greasy shit. It’s the shit you fought to protect and then the car stops. We were outside her school. I get to her classroom, right?”

Frank keeps going as Matt slowly sinks himself into the ground, listening wholeheartedly. “She’s in there… but she’s got no idea.” His dark eyes glisten with tears. “She’s got no idea that Daddy’s home. I walk in, these kids, they’re not even studying, they’re–” He chuckles. “Doing some kind of yoga. Yeah. You know? She’s there. She’s doing her poses, you know. She’s bending and, you know, she’s moving. She looks like a flower. Yeah. And, you know, you can’t even understand it, you know, how does something like that have... How does something that beautiful– How does that… does that come from me, you know? I know you probably do. Don’t you?”

Matt nods. “Yeah. I do.” He could relate to that. Sometimes his daughter was so pure compared to him. So innocent despite the things she’s seen. It hurts a lot to think about sometimes.

Frank smiles brightly. “And she looks up and she sees me. I see her. By God, that’s real. That’s real, Red. Boom. In an instant, she’s across that classroom floor, she’s in my arms. She’s squeezing me so tight, I swear I was gonna bust a rib, you know? We just stayed there like that, we’re holding each other. Teacher, she’s filming the whole thing on her phone, you know, she’s gonna put it on YouTube or some shit. She can’t hold the thing steady, because, you know, she’s… she’s bawling so hard, and the kids are all wailing, you know, they’re screaming. And me? Shit, I’m the worst of all. I’m a… I’m a rubber-face clown, you know. I cried so hard.”

He looks up to the sky, trying to hold the floodgates from opening. “But not my baby. Not my girl. You know, she’s my girl. She’s… She’s not crying, she’s holding me up. My girl, she’s keeping me on my feet.” He sucks in a shaky breath. “She says, ‘I knew it, Daddy. I knew it.’ And then we go home. Wife, the boy. Place is the exact same. It’s like it was just holding its breath waiting for me to get back, you know? Then it hit me.”

Now he sounds desperate. “All of it, you know. The first time I felt how tired I was, you know, I was just tired, you know? You… Y-You ever been tired, Red?”

“Yeah.” Matt nods, sadly, knowing that feeling so very well. He’s known it his entire life.

“So, you know. It’s just, I couldn’t do nothing, you know?” Frank's lip quivered. “All the things… I couldn’t take my wife to bed. Ball with the boy. Shit, I was too tired, I couldn’t even drink a goddamn beer, you know. But not her. My girl was up. See, she wanted me to, uh… she wanted me to tuck her in. She… She outgrew it, she knew it, but she didn’t care. She wanted it. She had that book. Her favorite book was out on the pillows.

“‘One Batch, Two Batch Penny and Dime’. Yeah. I read her that book every night before this shit. I read it every single night, but, see, that was over now because Daddy’s home now. She looked at me and she begged me, Red. She begged. She begged. I said, ‘No… Daddy’s too tired, see. But I’ll… I’ll read to you tomorrow night. I’ll read to you tomorrow night, I promise’. Yeah. Never think that… for her there was not gonna be any tomorrow, see. The last time I’d see her, I’d be holding her lifeless body in my arms. Meat was spilling out of her, Red. The place where her face used to be.”

Frank casts a glance at the vigilante, pity on his features. “As much as I hated you for interfering with my work… I couldn’t stand the thought of another father going through that. I don’t think I could stand seeing you holding your daughter in your arms like that. Wailing like a baby, praying that the clock would turn back and the bullets would come for you instead. I didn’t want that for you.” He sighs, letting go of everything. “No. I think I’m done, Red. I think I’m done.”

Matt opens his mouth to speak, but a cop car pulls up with two officers hopping out, drawing their guns from their holsters.

“Police.” Brett said, walking at them at a steady pace. “Don’t move. Hands where I can see ‘em.” He sounded and seemed so disappointed. “Shots fired. Bodies, mayhem and shit. How come I just knew you weren’t going to listen?”

“I have something for you, Sergeant.” Matt said, standing up and giving them a view of the Punisher.

“That’s him?” Brett asked, getting a nod. “Cover him and get EMS.”

“Yep.” His partner replies, and moves around the Daredevil for the other man.

“And you, you incredible pain in my ass.” Brett continues, sheathing his gun as he makes the man before him kneel, hands behind his back. “I really wished you listened.”

“Get him help.” Was Matt’s reply.

“Shut up.” He starts pulling out his handcuffs. “I don’t want to do this.”

“Take the collar.”

Brett falters his movements. “What?”

“You heard me.” Matt replies with a bite. “You caught him, not me. It can’t be me, it has to be you.”

“Why?”

“To protect the Kitchen. For law, for order.”

“You’re telling me how to file a report now?”

“Yeah.” Matt scoffs. “Take the collar. Take the credit. Get a promotion, if you can. You’ve earned it.”

Brett purses his lip. “Bullshit.”

“No, people have to know the system works. Not his justice and not mine. Vigilante days are done in this town. The police are in charge.”

“That’s not how it happened.”

“Then make it how it happened.”

The cop closes his eyes, realizing he is speaking the truth. “Shit…”

“EMT and backup on the way. Two minutes out.” The other officer calls out.

Brett sighs, and pulls Matt up from the ground. “Go. Go!” He shouts, making the devil run off into a sprint, leaving him with a newfound understanding.

Now I really know that’s you, Matt. A smile graced his lips for a split second just as thunder rumbled the sky and rain started to fall.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Miraculously, the troublesome trio somehow got out of the house without being seen. Which ended up being Karen taking Kaila’s crutch from her hand, and Foggy throwing the girl over his shoulder like a shake of potatoes. On the drive back was a mixture of anxiety and small bickering. How in the world are they going to explain this to their vigilante friend? As Foggy puts it, they’re ‘so fucked’. 

But they eventually could release a breath of relief as they arrived back in the city, and back on route to where they were supposed to have gone in the first place. And despite their protests, the exhausted teenager went inside the apartment alone as the adults watched from the car.

“Think she’ll be okay by herself?” Karen asked, being a mother hen she was.

Foggy nods. “She should be fine. She’s just going to sleep.” He sighs, running his fingers through his hair. “Matt’s going to be so pissed when I tell him what she can do. Fuck. He’s going to be pissed at all of us.”

“I’ll take the blame again.”

“Oh, hell yeah you are.”

Suddenly her phone starts to ring, a picture of Matt appears along with his favorite song. 

.

.

.

Oh, yes…

Perfect timing Mr. Daredevil.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

After picking up their important guest, who had slipped a long coat over his costume, he had Karen drive them all back to the same apartment, watching/listening to the “news of the year” on the phone:

‘Frank Castle, the gunman wanted in connection with the Metro-General shooting and linked to dozens of recent gangland-related killings throughout Hell’s Kitchen was apprehended just hours ago outside Saint Michael’s Cemetery. An NYPD spokesman says, “Tonight, New York has Sergeant Brett Mahoney of the 15th Precinct to thank”.’

“Gotta hand it to Brett. He seems to follow you wherever you go.” Foggy replies, sending a look at Matt from the backseat.

Matt ignores that jab and says, “I’m glad people like him are looking out for Hell’s Kitchen.”

Foggy chuckles. “Yeah.”

“And I’m glad someone was looking out for him.”

“Oooh… I wonder who.”

“Press are calling Castle ‘a cold-blooded psychopath’.” Karen said, scoffing. “The DA’s gonna have a hell of a time using his prosecution to turn herself into a hero. It’s all working out perfectly.”

Now it was Matt’s turn to laugh. “Wow, way to bring us down, Ms. Page.” He says, smirking. “I think we've had enough Punisher for one evening. We’ll worry about the rest tomorrow.”

“Amen to that.” Foggy agrees, and Karen sighs again (Only Matt noticed something underlining there).

“You okay?” Matt asks, hearing her shift in her seat.

“Yeah.” She breathes, just as his eyebrows shoot up, not buying it. “Okay, that wasn’t convincing, was it? Um, I don’t know, I just, uh days like today remind me how precious life can be, you know?”

Matt and Karen exchange loving glances and that’s when Foggy, who was grinning like an idiot, made up an excuse to leave.

“You know what? My apartment’s kind of far. I-I should get a cab.” He explains as he starts gathering his things. 

“A cab?” Karen asked, confused. She swears she convinced him earlier it was okay for her to drive him. What changed?

“You know we don’t mind driving you.” Matt adds as his friend shakes his head.

“Nah, that’s okay. Cab’s fine.” Foggy continues.

“It’s raining.”

“A little rain never hurts anyone.” He smiles and clasps a hand on each of their shoulders. “Well, you two have fun, have a drink for me, maybe play a board game, and try to keep it PG with your daughter in there. Okay? Goodnight!”

He wiggles himself out of the car with his belongings, leaving the two of them staring in disbelief…

Before both turning beat red.

Karen buries her face in her hands. “Oh, Foggy…” She said, making them both chuckle. “Uh… should we… um…?

“...ignore… him?” Matt says slowly.

“Uh, y-yes? Maybe?” She starts hearing him laugh again. “I don’t know.”

“Uh, m-me neither. So…”

“You… Um…” She fiddles with her hands. “Actually…”

He tilts his head. “Something you want to tell me?”

She shakes her head. “Oh, I’ll tell you tomorrow. Promise.”

He smiles. “Okay.”

“I’ll walk you inside.”

The two of them get out of the car, Karen taking him by the hand and pulling him towards the door. The warm rain soaking them immediately, but neither of them minded. They walked the concrete path, touching the edge of the steps with their toes when Matt suddenly tugs them both to a stop. The atmosphere was so light and comforting; It made them feel like they were on cloud 9.

Matt’s fingers ghosted her arm, trailing seductively up to her shoulder as she quietly gasped at his touch. Finally he cupped her cheek, some of her golden locks getting entangled, trapping his fingers like a spiderweb. And with hope in both of their eyes, both of them leaned in for a (long overdue) blissful kiss. Short and sweet, but it was breathtaking, exhilarating. And when they broke apart, they let their foreheads rest against each other, smiling.

“Can I take you to dinner?” Matt asks as he couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Yes.” She replies, happily.

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

His smile grew, his chest feeling a thousand times lighter now. “Goodnight, Karen.”

She mimicked him at this very moment as well. “Goodnight, Matt.”

With a new pep in her step, she heads back to her car which was just the cue Matt was waiting for to head back inside. He couldn’t wipe the grin off his face as he climbed the stairs and entered his home. Setting his things by the door, he starts heading in the direction of his room. If his daughter was still up then–

Oh, boy. He thought, only imagining what her reaction would be when he tell her the news.

Kai’s going to have a field day with this one.

But just as his hand was reaching for the door handle, his senses suddenly caught onto something. He jolts in his stance, spinning around with his fists up, ready to fight. He tunes in on a figure -a woman- in his kitchen, twirling with one of his knives. With that sweet, sweet voice of poison he remembers so very well, she says,

“Hello, Matthew.”

With his heart in his throat he croaks, “Elektra.”

Her sharp eyes stayed on him for a while before she stopped her movements to take a swig of the drink she stole from the fridge. “Mmm! German beer. Tastes like piss.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” He says, lowering his hands slightly, focusing completely on her.

“You’ve never been hard to find.” 

He clenches his jaw. “That’s not what I asked.”

“At least your furniture’s improved.” She said in her attempt at small talk. She sets the bottle down and starts making her way over.

“Kinda liked my old futon.”

“I liked breaking it in.” She says, seductively. “Nice place. Too bad about the clothes, though.”

He holds his hand up, a sign she took for her to stop as she entered the living area. “Why are you here?”

She sighs. “Would you believe it if I said I missed you?”

Not missing a beat he says, “No.”

“Smart man. Columbia education really paid off.”

“No thanks to you.” He bites back.

She chuckles. “I’m in New York for a meeting. I thought I’d pop by.”

“Well, you’re not staying here, so…”

“Fine.” She shrugs. “My penthouse in midtown will just have to do, then. We spent some nights there.”

He mentally cusses, holding back an eye twitch. “Look, if you came here to walk down memory lane, I don’t really have the–”

“I’m sorry. I’ve spent years trying to convince myself that things happen for a reason, that you and I were not meant to be. But I know now. That wasn’t fate. It was a choice. My choice. And I’m sorry. I’m alone in the world, Matthew. Do you know what that feels like?”

Matt scoffs in disbelief. “No.”

She seemed disappointed. “Of course you do. You–”

“I really don’t.” He snaps, bitterly, honestly. “Not in a long time I haven’t.”

Elektra sighs. “Well, you must know what it’s like to clean up your father’s messes. A long time ago, before he died, my father did business with the Roxxon Corporation.”

Matt raises an eyebrow. “Roxxon?”

“Energy, cleaning supplies, macaroni and cheese. Child labor, slave trade. They have their fingers in everything. I believe it’s called diversification. And thanks to my father’s shitty investments, they hold most of his wealth.”

“Yeah, okay. I–”

“I have a meeting tomorrow with the board at the Yakatomi Building. And I need your help, Matthew.”

“How am I supposed to help you?” He asked, puzzled. 

“I want you to use that expensive legal training of yours to help me get my money back–”

“See, I’m a defense lawyer.”

“I’ll pay you well.”

Matt laughs, shaking his head. “I’m not taking your money. And, even if I accepted, there’s not enough time.”

“For what?” Elektra asked, confused.

“Oh, just research. Accounts, shareholders, hierarchy of the–”

“You have fifteen hours.”

He blinks. “Fifteen hours, Elektra, are you insane?”

“Matthew.” She sighs his name. “You’re the only person I–”

She trails off like she suddenly listening for something, and Matt was puzzled on what until–

Nobody could miss the way he tenses and holds his hands up. “Elektra.” He starts warning, as he could hear her gripping the kitchen knife. “Wait– Don’t!!”

He manages to snag the knife midair just as the bedroom door slide opens, his quick action startling his poor kid. He winces as soon as the blade makes contact with his skin, and lets it go immediately. 

“Shit!” He cusses, blood pooling from his open palm.

“Are you okay?!” Kaila gasps, shifting her weight onto her good leg as she tries to look at his injury.

“Matthew?” Elektra’s voice broke through making him stiff up again. “Who’s that?”

He hides his pain quickly, and uses his non-injured hand to push his kid behind him. “You need to leave.” He said, stern and underlining cold.

Kai casts a glance at him. “Dad?” She whispers, scared.

Elektra looks between the two, puzzled. “Dad?” She asked, hurt in her face as she looked at her ex. “You have a daughter?”

“Dad, who’s is–”

“You need to leave. Now.” Matt repeats, tougher.

“Since when did you have a kid?” Elektra asked, pain in her voice as steps closer. “And with whom?”

Matt pulls his daughter completely behind, a subtle sign to tell her to stay back. “Does that even matter?” He asked, not even letting her answer. “You have no right to ask me that. Leave.”

“Matthew–”

“Leave.”

If anyone else was in her place they would have trembled under his tone of voice alone; But even Elektra, who claims she knows the real him, seemed taken back. Not even saying another word, she left out the front door like she was a guest and not someone who trespassed (which seemed to piss Matt off more than it should have). Matt almost didn’t want to relax, he knows she’ll come back. She always does. She always seems to–

Kaila nearly fell to the ground if he hadn’t been standing there. Her name passed by his lips quickly as he caught her, leaning her against him.

“Why are you walking on your own? Where’s your crutch?” He asks, getting them both settled down on the bed. 

“I kind of leaped out of bed ‘cause of concern.” She replies, before grabbing a gentle hold onto his wrist. “Your hand.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think I need stitches.”

She stares at his palm, carefully feeling around the cut to confirm his words before asking, “Who is she?”

He frowns, slightly ashamed. “She uh, is an old… flame of mine. Second year. My uh… party boy era.”

“Party boy era?” She watches him nod. “You told me some stories. But you never mention a girlfriend.”

“She’s… not my proudest accomplishment.”

Kaila frowns, sadly. “Was she before my mother?”

“Before Mary, yeah.”

“So what happened with… her?”

He sighs. “After a while, she started doing stuff that… I didn’t like. The last thing she did was pretty awful. When I comforted her about it, she yelled at me and then disappeared. That’s the last time I ever saw her.”

“Damn.” Kaila muttered. “That bad, huh?”

“You have no idea.”

“Well…” She starts leaning forward to grab the first aid kit under the bed. “You might have dodged a bullet there, dad.” She pulls out some disinfectant wipes and a gauze. “She seems… violent.”

Matt chuckles dryly. “Very.” His expression fades back into worriedness. “You’re not going to ask more questions?”

“I’ve heard enough. You told me enough.” She starts looking around for her phone. “Besides–” She snags it off the end of the nightstand. “If there’s more to what you need to tell me you will. But if it doesn’t affect our lives, then I’m not worried about it.” 

She smiles up at him, and he couldn’t help but copy her.

“I really lucked out with you as my daughter, Kai.” Matt said, making her snort.

“Well, that’s good, ‘cause you’re stuck with me. Here–” She hands him her phone that had the flashlight on. “Hold this up for me.”

“Can do.” He lets her do her thing, taking this small moment and cherishing it despite the circumstances leading up to it. “Thank you, Dr. Kaila.”

She smirks. “Hey, that’s Dr. Murdock for you, sir.” Kaila replies, cheeky just finishing up. “‘Least it was your non-dominant hand.”

“And I’m grateful for that.” He says, handing the device to her. Just as he does, the teenager’s phone buzzes and he feels her gaze immediately lock with it, disappointment registering on her face. Matt latches onto this quickly. “What’s wrong?” 

“It’s… nothing.” 

“Doesn’t sound like it. You seem… upset.” He uses his non-injured hand to tilt her head towards him. “What’s wrong?”

She frowns. “It just… I met someone at work–”

“You met someone?”

“A friend. His name is Jayden–”

“His name?”

She rolls her brown eyes. “Dad, stop.”

“Sorry.” He apologizes. “Continue.”

“Anyway, we started talking and texting one another, and we even made plans to hang out, however I got… you know… kidnapped.” Her frown deepens as she crosses her arms. “He texted me if I was okay, I said I was, and then… that’s it. He hasn’t responded to any of my texts. It’s… weird.” A sigh. “Do you think I did something wrong?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Of course not.”

“Then how come he’s ignoring me?”

“Well… maybe he doesn’t know how to respond after what happened to you. Maybe it just feels awkward for him. It’s not everyday that someone’s friend gets kidnapped.” 

Kaila nods slowly, processing his words. “True.”

“He’s also probably taken back by how you responded. To him, you might have sounded… too okay with a text. It might have been different if you two would have talked on the phone or face-to-face.”

“True.”

“Just give him some time. If he doesn’t respond, maybe try giving him a call. Okay?”

She sighs. “Okay. You’re right.”

“Good.” He says, as a smile starts to grow. “Well, on the bright side–” He nudges her a bit. “I’ve got good news.”

“What?”

“Your old man might have… put a move on a certain blonde tonight.” A gasp. “And I might have asked her to dinner tomorrow.” Another gasp. “And she might have said yes.”

She squeals. “Dad, that’s awesome!” She shouts, making him laugh. “Awe. Do you have something to wear? Or do we need to go shopping? Or–”

 “Kai–”

“We could go to that new tailor store up the road. Or we could go into town square for the day.”

“Kai–”

“What about places to eat? Do you have any idea where you’re going to take her?”

“Kai–” He laughs again at her enthusiasm and grabs her by the forearm to stop her. “Relax. You’re way more excited about this than I am.”

“Sorry.” She said, blushing. “You haven’t been on a date in a long time. One that you actually seem happy for.”

“Well, I…” Now it was his turn to get red. “I like Karen. She makes me feel… good. Happy. Warm.”

“Awe.” Kaila threw her arms around his neck. “I’m glad you feel that way. Although… I can’t believe Karen of all people is trying to take my number one spot with you.”

Another laugh. “Oh… baby girl–” He kisses her temple. “You'll always be my number one.” 

And that was the absolute truth.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Morning.” Kaila said, as she and her father entered the office the very next day.

Foggy smiles, eyes still glued to the newspaper he was currently reading. “Murdocks.”

“We, uh, have anything for breakfast?” Matt asked as he started pouring himself a glass of water from their filter.

Foggy raises an eyebrow. “You hungry or hungover?” 

A brief pause. “Both.”

Kaila gives him a look as she sits down. “Since when did you have a drink last night?” She asked, and got a shrug in return.

Foggy chuckles. “All right, you need some potassium, some electrolytes, and a jolt of caffeine. I’ll give you, uh…” He looks around before snapping his fingers at something. “-The last piece of Mrs. DiNizio’s peach cobbler, which is… the last piece of anything in this office.”

“I guess our finances haven’t improved since last week.” Matt said, frowning.

“Yeah, well, clients don’t respond well to a ‘closed’ sign.”

Kaila looks between the two, concerned. “Should… I be worried?”

Her father sighs and shakes his head. “No, baby girl, don’t… it’s my fault. I’m sorry, Foggy.”

“Don't be.” Foggy replies, taking a seat next to his niece, still reading. “You got Punisher off the street. I’m hoping Reyes will get her jackboot off our neck and this office can go back to normal.”

“Can you though?” Kai said, getting their attention. “I mean with everything we’ve gotten entangled with… can we be normal again?”

Before the boys could process her words, Nelson and Murdock’s last employee finally arrived.

“Matt–” Karen enters the room, startling herself as she tries to balance a tray full of beverages. “Uh, good morning.”

“Hey, Karen.” Matt said, a little smile ghosting his face.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Uh, not so much. You?”

“Me?” She slurred, closing the door with her elbow. “Yeah, sure. Uh, I-I mean–”

“Is that coffee I can smell?” He said, feeling his heart race.

“Hmm?”

“Coffee.”

“Uh, yeah, um… Yeah, arabica for all.” She chuckles and starts handing the cups over. “For everyone.” She hands over the last one for Kai. “Uh, Chai for you.”

The teenager’s eyes light up with happiness. “Thank you, Ma’am.”

“Yeah, Thanks. You’re a goddess.” Matt said, still grinning.

“Okay, you two.” Foggy cuts in, still smiling like a goof. “Let’s talk business. Potential clients. Real ones. With bank in the bank.”

“Uh, actually, yeah, can we, uh, talk about these first?” Karen asked, holding up some paper. The boys follow her as she stands behind her own desk. “The, uh, press is still painting Castle like he’s nothing more than some deranged lunatic.” 

“Well, it’s not like our boy was out collecting for the Red Cross.” Foggy points out, even after knowing what he discovered last night. 

“I know. I know, but–”

“You think there’s more to the story.” Matt finishes, already knowing this was going to be true (everyone did).

“Exactly. I mean, five different papers and not a word about the bullet he took to the brain, or his military record, or his family.” She continues, running a hand through her locks. “So we know what he said last to you about his daughter was true. W-We found this photograph. It’s of him and his wife and kids at the carousel–”

“We?” The Blind man asked, confused. “You mean…” He points between his friends. “The two of you?” He didn’t miss the way their heartbeats flickered. “You guys found it where, exactly?”

“W-We… sort of broke into his house last night.” 

“Broke in? Last night you–” He trails off at a realization, and with a steady expression he turns in his daughter’s direction who was nervously sipping her drink.

She eventually just shrugs. “Murdock curse…?”

“I… shouldn’t even be surprised at this point.” Matt said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Anyway, I get what you were trying to do, but that still was dangerous and illegal.”

“I know, I know. Sorry.” Karen said, apologetically.

“For the record, I didn’t know that’s what we were going to do. I just thought we were going to look at the house from afar.” Foggy said, holding his hands up. “But, I will still take some of the blame… but your daughter knows how to pick locks.”

Matt looks her way again. “You know how to do what?”

“Why are you throwing me into this?” Kaila asked, dumbfounded. “Shouldn’t we be listening to Karen? I mean, I know Frank is a lunatic, but he threw one of his missions away to save me. Shouldn’t Nelson and Murdock at least try to see if they can help him?”

“No.” Foggy shakes his head. “No. I mean, yeah he saved you, but come on, we successfully dodged a metaphorical bullet and quite a few literal ones. We need to be done with the crazy, guys. We need normal.”

And with that said he stormed into his own office.

“I’m sorry.” Karen said, bowing her head. “I’m really sorry if I– I pushed it too far.”

“It’s okay.” Matt said, with a light laugh. “Just Uh, I don’t think you’re wrong about him, I feel the same way too, but it’s really simple, Karen. Just I don’t want you to get hurt. Not like I have…”

She lets those words sink in before deciding to test the waters somewhere else. “So, uh... Last night.”

“Last night?” He pinches his brows together, all tongue and cheek. “I don’t– What happened last night? At Josie’s? With Foggy?”

She giggles. “You…”

“Did something happen?”

“Yeah.”

“Anything else? I don’t–”

“Yeah?”

Matt laughs quietly, softly. “Yeah, it was great. And I like to think I can do better, if we’re still on for dinner.”

“Uh, yeah. It’s a date.”

“Holy shit!” Foggy said, coming back into the room. “That was the bank.”

Karen frowns with dread. “Oh, no.”

“No, it’s all good.” Foggy continues, still stunned by the news. “There was a deposit. A big one.”

“What?”

Kaila’s eyes widened with realization before looking at her Father. “Dad–”

“Uh, actually, do me a favor, don’t spend any of it.” Matt blurts out nervously.

“Dad–”

Foggy gives him a strange look. “Why not?” He asked, concernedly.

“I-I was hit up by a potential client yesterday, so, I just–” Matt tried explaining but his friend was now nervously saying things.

“Is it dirty money? Are we doing that again?”

“No! No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just, um– I’m not sure it’s gonna work out, let me… Let me just–”

“Dad!!” Kaila shouts, getting him to stop. “Enough lying! Just tell them the truth. You promised no more secrets.”

With those words, she trapped her Dad like a deer in a headlight. He felt everyone’s eyes on him, puzzled and on the border of hurt.

“What secret?” Karen asked, with a tilt of her head.

“Okay, who’s this client, Matt?” Foggy asked, bracing himself for the answer.

Matt lets out a sigh knowing he’s been pinned down. And with a small shift in his stance, hands on his hips he says, “It’s… Elektra.” And he didn’t need sight to know that his college roommate’s eyes were slowly bugging out of his head.

“Wait…” Foggy mumbles, hands waving around, grasping something imaginary. “Elektra?” He tests out the name that burns on his tongue. “Psychopath Elektra? Your old girlfriend from college?”

Karen immediately copies his expression. “Old girlfriend?” She asked, looking between the two.

“Yeah!” Foggy boasts, arms flinging out in a dramatic way. “I-I mean she was beautiful, b-but fucking off the walls crazy!” He stares at Matt in disbelief. “You mean she showed up back in your life?”

Matt nods. “S-She… was at my door when I came home last night.”

Karen crosses her arms, intrigued. “W-What did she want?”

“Uh, basically, long story short, she wants to get her father’s wealth back from this company called Roxxon. She wanted me to be her lawyer. I told her no, but apparently she didn’t listen.”

“What do we do?” Foggy asked, while rubbing his tired face.

“I’m going to have to talk to her, I mean we’re defense lawyers. What can we do?” 

“And you’re talking to her as… Matt Murdock? Or the other guy?”

Matt frowns. “Not sure yet. I’ll be back.” He says, making his way where he left his walking stick. His gaze soon leads to Karen. “I’ll make sure to be back for tonight.”

Foggy raises an eyebrow between the two. “What’s tonight?” He asked, confused by this potential memo he missed.

“They’re going on a date.” Kaila sang, grinning ear to ear while making the two adults blushed.

“What?!” Her Uncle said, baffled. “Are you serious?” He gets a quick nod of confirmation from his niece before throwing his arms in the air. “Finally!”

Matt listens to his daughter’s giggle before touching her shoulder, grabbing her attention. “I’ll be back.”

Kaila nods as her expression fades. “Be careful.” 

“I will, but–” He taps the top of her phone, knowing exactly what she was doing on it. “Worry about meeting your friend.”

Her eyes widened. “How did you know I was texting–” But he leaves without another word, and she’s left staring at her device.

Once the door closes, Foggy reverts back to a curious fellow. “Your friend?”

“Uh–” Kaila meets his eyes for a split second before looking away. “I made a friend at work, and I’m… having some trouble with him.”

“Him?” He asked in the same tone of fashion her father had the night before.

She almost visibly eyerolls. “Okay, I don’t need the protective lecture again. He’s just a friend that happens to be a boy. Alright?”

He shakes his head. “Sorry. Habit, you know?”

Suddenly the office phone rings and Foggy excuses himself to go answer it just as Karen takes a seat next to the teenager.

“Need some advice?” She asked, softly.

Kaila shrugs and sighs. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well… what’s this boy like? Is he nice? How did you meet?”

“I… I met him before the summer, right around the time you guys were about to bring Fisk down. I met him, Jayden, at that coffee shop I like to go to sometimes. We talked, just a short little conversation as we waited for our drinks, then that was it.” Kaila explains slowly, shifting in her seat. “Then, about a month into my job, he started working there. Maybe it was just a weird coincidence, but I took it as a sign that maybe the universe was finally giving me a friend.”

Karen tilts her head again. “Finally?”

The young Murdock shrugged. “I never really had friends growing up. Everyone was also so cliquey. It was strange. I was basically the girl you invited to a party because you felt bad.”

The blonde frowns. “Kai…”

“It’s fine, really. I’m not bothered by it as much as before. I mean, I did have one friend who I considered my best friend in the sixth grade, I mean we did everything together.” She slouches in her chair. “But the day she and her parents met my father, she never spoke to me again. Her parents were the helicopter ones, strict about everything. And… they obviously didn’t like blind people. Rich jackasses.”

“Kai, that’s horrible.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I like Jayden because we have a lot in common. Same music taste, we love scary movies, love books, I could go on. But ever since the kidnapping, he texted me if I was okay, I replied back and that was it. Dead silence.” She continues. “I want to go talk to him, but I don’t know where he lives, and I can’t exactly go back to my job because I’m on temporary leave, and to quote my Boss, he said, ‘If I see you set foot in this store instead of being home healing I’ll fire you’. And I kind of like my job, so… yeah.”

“Huh.” Karen said, thinking. “Have you talked it over with your dad?”

“He suggested I should give him a little bit before calling, but I don’t know. Should I even wait?” 

“Maybe you shouldn’t.” And just before more could be said, a certain DA’s right hand came strolling in. Karen stands up, surprised. “Mr. Tower? I, uh, wish you’d called. I’d have something set up.”

“Are they in?” He asked, quickly. And right on cue, Foggy peaks from his office door.

“Just the Nelson half.” He replies, puzzled as well.

“We need to talk. In private.” Tower replies, ignoring the many jabs the people in the room were giving him as he entered Foggy’s office.

“Asshole.” Kaila said, once the door was closed.  

Karen chuckles. “Can be…”

“Why don’t you do what you have to?” The Murdock gestures towards the exit. “I know that detective brain of yours wants to work on the Castle case.”

The blonde looks surprised again. “You sure?”

“Of course. There’s not much I’ll be able to do since I don’t know what you’re looking for. Besides–” She holds her phone up. “Maybe I should try.”

Karen smiles and grabs her purse. “Good luck.”

“You too.” Kaila waits till she leaves before scrolling to his contact and hitting the phone icon; She lifts it to her ear, waiting to see if it’ll stop ringing.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Hours later after their separate adventures, both Karen and Matt made it on time for their date. The blonde was nervously flipping through the menu as the lawyer stayed silent, just listening.

“D-Do you drink wine?” Karen nervously stutters. “I should know that.”

“I… don’t drink anything they don’t serve at Josie’s.” Was Matt’s answer, which got her to laugh.

“Yeah, well, I don’t see swill on the menu.”

Their eyes locked for a moment before getting preoccupied again. Eventually they both tried to speak at the same time. “So how was–/So what did–” A laugh. “I’m sorry–/I was just gonna–”

Karen smiles, setting the menu down. “Uh, you go ahead. Go, go first.”

Matt copies her. “How was your day?”

“Fine. Uh, yeah, just a regular day at the office.”

“Well, it’s a nice change of pace, right? Not being shot at?” He nervously laughs. “That’s gotta feel good.”

She hums, and takes a sip of water. “Yeah.” She sets the glass down, folding her hands on top of one another. “You, uh… how’s the, uh, new… you know. Elektra.”

Matt inhales deeply, clearly still frustrated over the mess. “Honestly, I didn’t get the chance to talk to her. I kind of…” A slight shrugged. “Eavesdropped on the meeting.”

“Is she… in trouble you think?” Karen asked, genuinely curious.

He sighs. “I don’t know. Maybe. But I don’t want to get involved. Like I told Kai last night, she left many years ago, I’ve forgotten about her, and that’s all I want to do.”

Karen looks at him worriedly, finally seeing the hurt he’s been through appearing on his face. “I’m sorry. It… sucks when your past comes back to bite you. I know I’ve… I’ve had my fair share of that.”

Matt’s heart clenched, frowning sadly. “I’m sorry to hear that.” He whispers, and there was a brief pause before they both recollected themselves. “Well, uh… that covers work.”

She changes her expression to a joyful one like earlier. “Uh, well, it's a start. Um–” She pointed to a corner of the restaurant where the bathroom was. “I’ll be back in just a minute. Order something fantastic.”

“Sure thing.” He says, hearing her leave. Once she does he lets out a sigh, embarrassed how this was going. He thought maybe his struggles would be helped when the waiter suddenly appeared by his side. “Look. If I had to seem like I knew everything there is to know about wines in the next 60 seconds, what would I… what would I order?”

“Matthew Murdock?” The waiter said, sounding all buddy-buddy.

Matt tilts his head in confusion. “Yeah.”

He holds out a phone. “You have a call.”

“Oh.” Matt takes it. “Thanks.” He lifts it to his ear. “This is Murdock.”

‘Sorry to bother you while you're out, but you have a few moments before she returns, right?’

Matt mentally curses as soon as he hears her voice. He clenches the phone, and hiss, “What do you want from me?”

‘You should ask yourself the same question. That rooftop act was cute.’

“Yeah, nothing compared to your damsel-in-distress one.” He grits his teeth as she laughs at his reply.

‘Oh, you’re right. I didn’t actually need you. I told you, maybe I just missed you. But don’t worry, you can keep the money.’

Matt chuckles sarcastically. “Aw.. Go to fucking hell.”

‘If you really want to be done, consider this me firing you.’

And then he was met with the dial tone, supposedly ending this ‘nightmare’ (or maybe it was just starting it). 

“Hey.” Karen’s sweet voice broke through, pulling him away from the memories of his past.

He flashes her a reassuring smile. “Hey.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah… th-they ran out of wine.”

She chuckles at what she thought was a joke. “No.” She frowns when she sees he wasn’t laughing back. “Wait, seriously? Matt–”

“I-I don’t I don’t like this place, you know?”

“Is it the place? Or is it–”

“It’s definitely not you.” He quickly says, truthfully.

“You’re sure?” She said, heart skipping a beat.

“Yeah.” He hears his own heart flutter, getting back into the groove. “I’m positive.”

She bites her lip seductively before taking him by the hand. “Come on. I know where we can go.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Thank you.” Karen said to their new waiter at their new date spot. 

“Wow, this smells amazing.” Matt replies, the curry and other spices hitting his nose blissfully. “What is it?”

“Um…” She laughs at herself, not knowing either. “Who cares? They have wine.”

Matt finds himself grinning ear to ear. “Right. That’s…  You know, I’ve always felt more comfortable with the cheap stuff. You know?”

“Yeah? Well, here, I’ll drink to that.” She holds her glass up waiting for Matt to do the same before clicking.

“Cheap stuff.”

She grins too. “Cheap stuff.” She sets her glass down after a sip, grabbing her fork to dig in. “You know, I never even had Indian food until a few months ago.”

“How is that possible?” Matt asked, surprised.

“Well, my hometown in Vermont had about 400 people, so the most ethnic food it offered was French fries.”

“So that’s why you, uh, came to New York? For the food?”

She shakes her head at his cheekiness. “Uh, no. Although, if I knew places like this existed, I’d have left Vermont ages ago.”

“You see, that’s why I love this city.” He says, hearing her hum to continue. “I’ve lived here my whole life, and the place never stops unfolding new secrets.”

She nods in understanding. “Yeah, you know despite the crime, and the darkness, every once in a while, New York makes me feel…

“Like, safe?”

“Yes, is that weird?”

He shrugs. “Well–

“Huh.”

“I get it.”

Another flutter to her heart as she leans in closer. “I wish you could see this place.”

Matt smiles. “I can, if you describe it to me.”

She hums again, setting her fork down and using her hands to speak. “S-So, anyways, my favorite part… is the ceiling. It’s literally dripping with thousands of lights. They’re shaped like chili peppers–” She holds her hand up before he could protest. “Which sounds really tacky, I know, but it’s um, it’s not. Just… It’s magic.”

“Magic?” 

“Yeah.” They lock eyes again. “Magic.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

After dinner, the two of them took a lovely stroll hand and hand. It seems like this wonderful night would last forever, until they arrived just outside the Page residence.

Karen looks torn as she pulls them both to a stop. “This is me.” She said, before laughing nervously.

“Are you sure you don’t… live two more blocks?” Matt asked, feeling the same way. “Maybe three?”

“I wish.” She shifts her towards him. “We could sit.”

“Yeah.” He guides them down on the steps, and he pulls his shades off, taking this moment in. He chuckles, scooting closer. “All right, I’m gonna kiss ya.”

And she lets him.

They both started off sweetly before turning it up a notch, hands gripping onto each other’s clothing like it was a life line. Maybe in some way… it was.

“You can come up… if you like?” Karen asked in between their kisses.

Matt hums against her lips, smiling. “I’d love to.”

And he kisses her again.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Okay, so how many voicemails did you leave?” Foggy asked his Niece as they walked from the office back to her home. He wasn’t surprised when Karen left earlier in the day to do some research, but he was taken back by how his Niece seemed very repetitive with her moves today.

Looking quite embarrassed, and not even looking at him she said, “...Eight.”

“Eight?” He replies, shocked. “Jesus, Kai. I don’t think I’ve seen you stress something over like this before.”

“Yeah, I know.”

He frowns at how disappointed she sounded. “Kaila–”

“It’s okay, Foggy. I’ll be alright.” She says, as she heads up to her apartment entrance, keys in hand.

“Hey.” He says, getting her to finally turn around to look at him. “Try not to stress over it. I’m sure he’ll come around. And if he doesn’t…” He shrugs. “Fuck him. You’re too good for him anyway.”

Kaila cracks a smile. “Thank you, Uncle Foggy. Goodnight. Love you.”

“Love you too, kiddo.”

She unlocks the front door and heads inside, carefully guiding herself to ride the elevator. She sighs after hitting her floor number, a wave of exhaustion hitting her hard.

He’s right. I shouldn’t be stressing over this. And she shouldn’t, but it still hurts to admit that.

I finally found someone that I consider a real friend and he ghosts me. Lucky me…

The elevator dings and opens, and she slowly moves across the hallway to the very end. She fishes around her key ring for the right one–

“Hey, Coffee girl.” A voice erupts behind her, making her nearly jump out of her shoes.

Head whipping around quickly, she blinks upon confusion. “...Jayden?”

The dark haired boy looks nervous, and out of place, but still manages to give her a wave. “Hi.”

“W-What…” She shakes her head, recollecting herself. “What are you doing here?” 

“Uh, I… got your voicemails.” He holds up his phone before putting it back away. “Can we uh… can we talk?”

“Talk…?”

“Yeah. Can we?”

She doesn’t know if this was a dream or not, but if it isn’t, something was telling her to cease this opportunity or else. Finally relaxing her tense body, she replies,

“Sure.”

-Taglist is open if anyone wants to join-

@stinkywhore @invinciblerikkai @glass-ghost

@your-not-invisible-to-me @ohtacosindrome

@mirkwoodshewolf @dreamscandys

@omniromanticbitch @987coley

@hearts4murdock @katnisspeetaprim

@astrobees @cg94 @simpingforpeterparker3000

@cg94 @winterschildren17 @wolfgirl-205 @hallecarey1 @mademoiselle-marquise-blog

@graciegoeskrazy @magsmilk

[hart269]

Headcanons for Matt x teen!vigilante reader

A/N : An ask by @hutaos-gh0st, hope this is good. Also my first headcanon, so this is not that good, I'll admit.

Masterlist

• Let's say you two met at a random night while you were patrolling crossing paths.

• You were trying to find information about someone and being all sneaky and he suddenly came up behind you.

• "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the devil of Hell's Kitchen"

"And I'm Jesus"

• After talking a bit you figure out you were both going after the same person, so you kind of teamed up.

• He figures out you are a kid by the heartbeat thing and is instantly protective big bro mode on.

• "Aren't your parents worried"

"You think i'd be doing this if i had them"

• Which ofcourse leads to more questions because he was worried.

• "So who do you live with"

"Oh yeah, let me tell a stranger everything what do you want next my social security number"

• After a few more encounters, Matt figured out you didn't actually have a place to live, you sort of stayed around.

• "I mean i can barely pay my school fees, where do you think i'll get the money for rent"

• So he offered you to come live with him, which you took after some hesitancy and a NDA contract signed between you two.

• You learning he's blind and being shellshocked also a little fan moment.

• "Dude, that's so cool, so how does it work"

• Going on patrol together

• Meeting foggy and karen

• You and foggy becoming besties talking about stupid shit Matt does.

• Karen is the person you'll go to when you have any trouble.

• Giving life advice to each other

• Being scolded by Claire but also being patched up after.

• Matt also having to pull you away from dangerous stuff despite your protests.

• also you having to pull him away from stupid stuff.

• Running into frank castle and boy that was a awkward moment, seeing the tension between him and matt.

• Overall a weird combination but it works.

• Also imagine teaming up with spiderman and annoying Matt with all the vines and slangs.

[she-likesorchids]

Just My Type

Pairing: Matt Murdock x F!Reader

Summary: You give blood regularly, and you hope one day through the Thank Your Donor program, someone will reach out to you. You have given up hope on being thanked for being a blood donor, until one day a very handsome stranger thanks you for saving his life.

Warnings: Blood, Violence, Medical Procedures, Tooth Rotting Fluff, and Foggy and Karen meddling in Matt's love life. I think that's it.

Author's Note: I had this on my old blog and never put it up on AO3, so here it is! Also, the "thank your donor" program is very real, so ask your local blood donation center if you would like to opt in. I am also going to take this time to encourage you to donate blood if you can! You can save 3 lives with just one pint of whole blood! Divider courtesy of @firefly-graphics

Donating blood was something that you had done your whole life, and it really made you feel like you were doing something good. It all started when the blood institute bus came to your high school, and you decided to sign up so you could get out of class for the day. Turns out your blood type is O negative, so the blood institute was constantly blowing up your phone for you to come donate. Like clockwork, you donated blood every 6 weeks. All of the phlebotomists knew you by name, and you had several t-shirts, mugs, and stickers letting everyone know that you were a regular donor.

One day at your donation appointment, the receptionist that checked you in told you about a brand new program they had called “Thank Your Donor”. It was totally optional, but you could leave an email address for the recipient of your blood to tell you thank you if they chose to. You had always been curious about where your blood went, so you happily signed up. You made several donations since then, but no one had sent you an email to thank you for donating. While you were a little disappointed, that didn’t deter you from your standing appointment every six weeks to save lives. 

Read the rest on AO3

[ao3sdaredevil]

“I walked into a file cabinet,” Murdock says loudly, when Claire reaches for his face, tilts it toward the light so she can check that nasty-looking cut on his cheekbone a little better.

“Oh my God,” Karen murmurs; in her peripheral vision, Claire sees her press her face into her hands.

“I thought we were going to come up with a better-” Nelson begins, visibly stops himself, and continues: “-explanation of that thing that definitely happened.”

[mordredisacoolname]

DAREDEVIL CHARACTERS AMD WHERE THEY LIKE TO KISS YOU

MALE/GN READER

characters: Matt Foggy Karen Frank Elektra Claire Wesley Dex Rahul

CW: slight suggestive content

MATT- neck. He likes feeling your pulse and warmth on his lips.

FOGGY- cheek and arm, he likes saying he's a gentleman.

KAREN- she likes kissing your nose. It's a cute gesture she prefers.

FRANK- neck. He likes leaving a lot of kisses and marks.

ELEKTRA- your lower stomach and chest. It's very intimate and a lot of space to kiss. She also likes teasing you.

CLAIRE- upper back and spine. She likes surprising you from behind and wrapping her hands around your torso.

WESLEY- lips. He likes holding your face/neck and gently buy deeply kiss you.

DEX- lower back. Kisses you while you lay on your stomach and goes up to your jaw.

RAHUL- lives for forehead kisses. Never fails to do so before work. It's sweet and affectionate.

[cowboyhorsegirl]

more of u need to see the light of Steve Rogers x Claire Temple x Matt Murdock x Frank Castle polycule

[takoscribit]

@domaystic: #22, s/o on the local news Fandom: Daredevil, Matt Murdock/Claire Temple

“I. Want. To. Die.” Claire said, discarding everything on the floor.

“I heard your interview last night,” Matt greeted her from the bedroom as he heard her slump into the couch. “Right, the interview! I didn’t tell you, did I?” “Nope.” “Sorry,” she babbled tiredly, sinking into a pair of velvet cushions. “Managing a clinic is so exhausting.” “I think you're keeping up pretty well, and I must say, it was nice to hear your professional tone.” She snorted and shook her head against the backseat, making a mess of her ponytail. “You’d love it even if I were to read the subway lines timetable.” “That’s also true,” he confirmed shamelessly.

[skyfallslayer]

The Daughter of The (Dare)Devil - Story 9 (Part 3)

Series Masterlist

Series Summary: A Series of stories revolving around the MCU timeline of Matt Murdock and his Daughter, Kaila. Being the child of a vigilante can be hard and scary at times, but it doesn’t mean she ain’t going to enjoy the most of it.

(Can be read as Y/N if you’d like)

Story Summary: Part 3 - Matt, Karen and Foggy scramble to find out who their “official” first client was in an attempt to find their missing teenager; Meanwhile, Kaila finally sees what her father sees in her darkest time in Hell’s Kitchen, making her question everything she believed in (Set shortly after 2x03). 

Date: 4/5

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 13,243 (Super Long, Ya'll)

Warning: Possible OOC (?); Karedevil; The Murdocks Are Stubborn People; Talks of Child Neglect; Attempted Murder; Allusion To Murder; Brief Allusion To Rape; Major Blood; Self Blaming; Heavy Guilt; Non Consensual Touching; Heavy Angst; Heavy Language; Crying; Mental Break (Down (?); Karen and Foggy Are The MVPs Here Again (Frank & Brett Are Added To That List); Possible Identity Reveal (?); Kidnapping; Allusions To Mental Illness; Bullet Wound; Child Abuse; The Murdocks Could Use All The Hugs In The World; I'm Going To Hell By Putting The Adults/Kaila Through The Wringer; Fluffy Ending (?). READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

- Let me know if I missed anything, please.

A/N: Yeah... still going to hell for this. But I swear their lives will get better maybe. Anyway, sorry for the wait, I had writer's block halfway. Hopefully this is to ya'll's expectations. As always, enjoy!

“Kaila.” He said, smiling. “Kaila… Jackie Murdock.”

.

.

“What a lovely name.”

.

.

“Kaila Murdock.” Fisk tests it out. “You’ve got a lot… history in a name like that.”

.

.

She said with a little smile. “I’m assuming you’re Matt’s daughter?”

.

.

“And when you have no tears left to shed, then…” He sends another glare that sends a shiver down her spine. “Then we’ll come for you, Miss Murdock.”

.

.

She opened her tired eyes slowly, her spinning world coming to an abrupt stop. 

The teenager finds herself standing in a dark abyss, making her drugged induced self suddenly more aware of her surroundings. She finds herself looking around in a worried state of confusion. She saw and heard nothing in the void. It was just her in this room that didn’t seem like reality.

She tries to recall what happened last but is met with a splitting headache. She winces at the pain with her eyes growing shut, craning her neck down and gritting through her teeth.

Jesus. What… what happened? She fights herself to pry open those chocolate orbs with the blown out pupils, finding herself staring at her attire. She had on what looked like a blouse and a pencil skirt, something she didn’t even possibly remember owning. 

She frowns as that sets in before she starts to notice something else different. The hair on her head felt lighter than ever, a sensation she doesn’t remember ever feeling. She wanted to touch her locks, but couldn’t. When she looked at the source that had bound her wrists together she couldn’t believe it. It was stringy and white, and sticky like glue. It was–

Spider webs? She brings her hands closer to examine, ignoring how the hairs over her body stood straight up.

.

“They’re all gone.”

.

She jolts in her stance, jerking her body around to behind. She swears she could see some kind of dust lingering in the open air, some even brushing by her like a taunt or a warning. Or…

Maybe it was both.

What in the hell…? 

“What are you doing?” A familiar voice asked, sending her spinning on her heels again.

She shouldn’t be surprised but she is; Especially when her friend looks older than before. Jayden was taller, more defined in her arms, his hair a bit longer in the face. She blinks again, and tries to say his name only that she couldn’t. It felt like someone had jammed something into her throat.

He looked just as panicked as she was feeling, and took a step closer with his hands up defensively. “You know I can’t help you right now. That’s why I told you to wait until I felt better.”

She tilts her head, scanning him over again. None of this made any sense whatsoever, especially when she saw tiny little sparks of fire resting on his fingertips. All she could do was stare as he seemed unbothered by it.

He sighs. “I should know better by now. You Murdocks sure are stubborn.” He said that with a small smile. “But you need to get out of here. You’re needed out there tonight.”

What? What is he talking about? She tries to speak his name again. Nothing.

“Here, Kai.” 

She felt him shove something into her suddenly freed hands, something that felt oddly like… 

She gasps.

My dad’s helmet? 

“Can’t forget that. You’ve been holding off for a while.” He said, a look of pride on his face as she shakes her head.

Jayden… what are you… what is he talking about? She felt him step closer, his face practically hovering above her.

“The devil of Hell’s Kitchen’s been gone long enough. These people need you. You got this.” 

She looks at him before looking down at the helmet, looking polished and brand new. It didn’t look like it was shot through with a bullet. Her brows pushed together, perplexed.

This is my dad’s helmet, but… it… it doesn’t feel like it. She clenches the sides, a shiver running up her spine again.

What is going on–

.

“Ah, you’re awake. Good.” A slimy hand roughly grabs her chin, forcing her to open her eyes. “We can have a chat about how your father and his partner ruined my life.”

.

Her breath hitched itself in her throat as she stared at her capturer. His creepy stare seemed more intense than before.

“Come on, little devil, show me what you got.” 

.

.

.

She awoke with a muffled scream. Out of instinct she tugged on her restraints, wiggling in her chair. The thick ropes dug into her skin, irritating it in a way she never felt before.

Fuck. Fuck. What the fuck is–

“So you’re finally awake.” 

She froze again.

The man was sitting in a foldout chair, he had a pocket knife out that he was using to cut a bright red apple. Kaila watches him smile towards her before moving his seat in front of her, retaking his spot.

“Sorry if you feel cold. I had to use your shirt to clean up your head.”

Kaila pinches her brows together, looking down at herself. Her band shirt was gone, laying somewhere in this warehouse covered in blood, which left her just in a bra. Her cheeks flushed as she started to grow self conscious, but the man didn’t seem to either not mind or care about the state she was in (emotionally and physically).

“You bleed a lot. Which is good. Means you’re healthy, and I need you to stay healthy.” He continues, and cuts up a huge slice, letting it fall onto the plate in his lap.

“Hungry?” He asked, reaching over and pulling the gag off, watching her stare in discomfort. He stabs one of the slices of apple and holds it close to her mouth. She continues to stare, making him tilt his head. “I know it’s a little weird, but I can’t let you starve, you know? Come on.”

She felt her heart about to burst out of her chest. The sickening feeling was brewing in her gut. But there was something heedfully telling her to just play along. She opens her mouth, allowing him to slide the apple slice in. She carefully crushes it between her teeth, slowly chewing it.

“Good, right? Gala’s were always my favorite.” He boasted with a chuckle. “You got a favorite?”

She shakes her head leisurely at… what should she call him? Baldy? Yeah, Baldy would work. She shakes her head at Baldy.

“No? That’s surprising. I won’t take it personally if that’s what you’re worried about.”

No, not exactly. She thought, watching him eat a slice himself, and gaze around the room full of metal shipping containers (she was assuming they were at the port). Strange.

He’s acting paranoid, but he certainly doesn't look it.

Baldy seemed to catch her wary gaze in the dim lighting, and locked in. “This too weird?” He said, with a dry chuckle. “Don’t be shy. You can speak freely.” That spine chilling grin returns. “I don’t bite.”

You sure look like you do. She holds her tongue at the spicy words. She starts spinning the wheels in her head, trying to figure out what she can and cannot (or should not) say.

I’ve got to do this carefully.

“W-Who are you?” Kaila manages to say, which makes him straighten up in seat, expression fading away.

“Me?” He asked, voice low and cold. “I’m the brother of one of Nelson and Murdock’s clients they failed.”

She tilts her head, puzzled. “Failed?”

Baldy hums. “You got that right, sweetheart.”

She swallows, and starts feeling a sense of déjà vu from this. “You’re… you’re going to have to be more specific. My Father and Uncle can’t exactly… help everyone.”

“That’s true, but–” He sighs. “They could have helped him.”

She furrows her brows. “And… who’s your brother?”

“He was their first official client.”

First official client? Now she was even more confused.

He said he had a brother, right? And Karen was their first client who had a brother. She starts remembering the story the blonde told her after the whole Wesley thing.

Yeah… Kevin. Yeah, that’s right. But he’s dead. This doesn't make–

“Not clicking with you, sweetheart?” Baldy asked, interrupting her thoughts. “It’s probably hard keeping track of all your Father’s clients. And that’s okay, I didn’t expect you to know who I’m talking about.”

She gives him an odd look again. “Then…” She pauses. “Why am I here?”

He shrugs. “Ransom. Bait. My… personal punching bag.” He laughs at how pale she got. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything… too reckless. Unless, you give me any reason to do the opposite.” Another laugh. “It’s just the Boss’ orders.”

Boss? So this isn’t independent. He’s tied to someone. But who? All she could do was wonder as continues to lose color in her face.

“Awe, don’t be so scared. Besides, you’ll be fine. You’ll be fine as long as you behave. Mmm, okay?” He brushes some of her hair from her face. “But if you don't… I’ll have to listen to my Boss anyway. Trust me. You don’t want me to follow his instructions.”

She bites the inside of her cheek hard to keep herself from trembling at his words.

Oh, god… please let this be another dream.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Foggy dumped another box of files onto the table, tossing it aside before sitting down again.

“Okay.” He breathes, mentally preparing for another round. “There’s gotta be something in this one.”

He didn’t even acknowledge his two partners nodding before they all dug into it, their minds were all in overdrive trying to find something useful. Their bloodshots orbs scanned the pages, their small, worried panting brushed against the ink, turning the inky fragrance into coffee. And they were all dealing with the excess jittery energy in different ways. Like Foggy was lightly bouncing his left leg under the table, and Karen was gnawing at the fingernail on her thumb, while Matt was almost still like a statue, except for the occasional twitch in his lip or hands.

Silence carried on again and again, but just like with every box they shifted through, one of them would break the focus eventually. This time it was–

“This is going nowhere.” Matt said, dropping his half of the file that was transferred in braille. He didn’t care if the pages were slipping out of the yellowish folder, and scattered across the table. Organization was not on his mind.

Foggy frowns, concernedly. “Matt–”

“No, he’s right, Foggy.” Karen said, also dropping her half. “This is hopeless.”

Foggy looks between the two. “Guys–”

The blonde shakes her head, stopping him. “No. It’s going nowhere. We’ve been through ten boxes already. Nothing is matching up with the ransom note.”

This got him to sigh, and rub his face into his hands. “Okay…” He rests his palms in the back of his head. “Okay. What have we got so far?”

Matt clenches his jaw. “All we got is some guy claiming we… failed helping his brother. Who so happens to be our first client.” He explains, hearing him nod, taking it in. “However, from our knowledge, Karen was our first client.”

“Right.” Foggy said, and focused his gaze on the woman across from. “But you told us you don’t have a brother who could have done this.”

Karen nods. “Yeah. I-I had one, but he’s… passed.” She replies, getting teary eyed.

“And… you’re not aware of having any others? No half siblings or…?”

“No. My father’s… life, after my mother passed, he practically just lived in the diner we owned. Never really doing anything outside work.” She shrugs. “I mean, if he had other children somehow I would’ve known since I was with him all the time. And then I’ve lived here for about… three years now, so if he had a kid after I left he would be about that old.”

Foggy hums. “And I doubt a toddler could commit a kidnapping.” He scratches his chin. “But it has to be you. You were Matt and I’s first client.”

She shrugs again. “Then I don’t know what else to tell you…”

Matt lets out a sigh, standing up in a way that makes his chair scrap across the floor. “I need more coffee.” Was his reply, and grabbed his empty cup. He leaves the office for their kitchenette, ignoring the two pairs of eyes on him.

Once he left, Karen made a move. “Go talk to him.” She said, quietly.

“Me?” Foggy said, surprised. “I don’t know, maybe you should–”

“If I really am somehow connected to this, maybe I shouldn’t be talking to him.”

That made his heart break a little. “Karen–”

“Please.” She begs, her blue orbs glassing over.

Foggy stayed quiet, only replying with a small shake of his head. He stands up and leaves the room, faintly hearing her sobbing. He finds his partner bracing himself against the counter, the coffee pot and lights weren’t even on. Foggy didn’t even correct that, instead he just came and silently stood next to him.

It wasn’t until the clock on the microwave turned from 11:38 to 11:50 when he decided to crack the ice wall his friend was putting up.

“What’s going through your head?” Foggy asked, voice strained with all sorts of emotions he tried to hide. 

Matt inhales slowly, blind gaze still on the countertop. “Guilt.”

“It’s not your fault, man.”

��You don’t get it.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“I did.”

“Explain it to me more clearly then.” Foggy rephrases, watching him closely. “What happened?”

Matt finally looks in his direction, thinking. “After the… you know…” He lowers his voice. “You guys found me on the rooftop. After you left, That's when things got… tense between me and Kai. I-I just wasn’t thinking about hers, or yours, or Karen’s feelings. I was just… pissed that I got hurt. Pissed that I didn’t stop the Punisher.” He swallows. “I… the gunshot made me… lose my hearing.”

Foggy’s eyes widened immediately. “What? You went deaf?!” He said just as Matt shushed him quietly. He quickly winces and takes a look to make sure Karen didn’t hear that. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Just… keep it down.”

“I will, but… you lost your hearing? What the fuck, man?”

“Only… only temporarily. I promise.” Matt reassures, truthfully. “Anyway, She, Kai, helped me but um… I was being stubborn as usual.”

“Shocker.”

“I know. Afterwards, I went to this guy who owed me a favor, said he’d fixed up the helmet and that’s when I got a text from her. It said it was an emergency, told me to get home quickly, so I did.” Matt sighs again and continues, “She… she lied to get me to come home. Begged me not to go out there to look for the Punisher. I told her it was my job to stop him, then that’s when everything went downhill.” He frowns. “She brought up an agreement we made after Fisk was put in jail.”

Foggy cocks his head, intrigued. “What agreement?”

“That she’ll help me balance my two lives. Which I… I didn't want to listen to it. And instead, I flipped it around on her.”

“How so?”

Matt's gaze flickered to their office, the one that Karen was in, pausing to hear if she was eavesdropping (She wasn’t from what he could tell). “Remember our argument after you found out my secret?” He asked, turning his attention back to him.

“How could I forget?” Foggy said, gloomily.

“Well, Kaila said she needed a break, so she decided to go stay at Karen’s for the night.” Matt replies, shifting his stance. “Remember when you went to find Kaila at her favorite coffee shop, did you notice anything… ‘off’ about her?”

Foggy ponders on that for a moment. “Actually… yeah. I did. She seemed down and in her head.”

Matt nods. “I noticed that, quickly for obvious reasons. When I asked what happened at Karen’s, she told me she’ll tell me when she’s ready. And… I respected her decision, and it became part of our agreement.”

“So… instead of listening, you try to turn it on her?”

“Yeah. I thought it should be a two way street. We went back and forth for a few minutes, eventually she accused me of the suit having a possession over me. I told her that the devil was a part of me, then she asked me if I was worried about not coming back to her. Then I…” He trails off.

“What?” Foggy asked, heart already aching before the answer. “What did you say?”

There was a small pause, and then– “I said, ‘Well maybe I wouldn’t have to worry if you weren’t here’.”

Foggy closes his eyes with a inhale. “Jesus, Matt…”

Matt swallows, throat closing up. “She told me she fucking hated me, Foggy.” He said, sounding so small and fragile.

Foggy sighs. “Matt, she didn’t mean that. Nor did you mean what you said.” 

“It doesn’t matter if I meant it or not, Foggy.” Matt says, looking down. “I thought she wanted space, so I gave her space. And the time she called for me was the first time I didn’t answer.”

“First off, she tried to call you, so it’s not like you ignored her call.”

“But–”

“And you were just respecting her wishes. What happened to her was not your fault.”

“But she’s my daughter, Foggy.”

“And we’re going to get her back.” Foggy touches both his shoulders. “I know it’s hard, but let's put this guilt aside and figure this out.” He lets a tiny smile on his lips. “And when this is officially over, we're temporarily closing up shop and going to Hawaii.”

That got Matt to chuckle a little. “Hawaii, huh?”

“Never been, and would love to go. We'll probably have to start a go-fund me to get the money, but we’ll make it work.”

“Yeah.” Matt’s face fell again. “Wait… you said ‘officially’?”

Foggy raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, I did. Why?”

Matt’s confidence started to come back at a realization. “Because I just remembered what the ransom note said. It says that we failed our ‘official’ first client.”

“Yeah… and…?” Foggy trails off, not following his partner’s lead.

“If it’s saying ‘official’ in the way I think it’s referring as, then…”

“Then…?”

.

.

.

“Then that means Karen isn’t our first client.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Kaila silently watched him eat another apple by himself before leaning back in the chair, eyes glued to his phone. The volume was low, but she swears she can hear some kind of sports game playing. This causes her to pinch her brows together and get the gears in her brain to start turning once more.

None of this… this… 

Well…

Could she even call this a kidnapping? Could she tell herself over and over again that’s she being held for ransom? 

It sure didn’t feel like it. Sure, this guy was clearly unhinged to a certain degree, but he didn’t exactly (at least her in mind) scream kidnapper. I mean, her last one didn’t exactly fit the description either. James Welsey was just a right hand man with the best poker face on this side of the hudson. 

Maybe I’m just watching too many cop shows. 

But that’s besides the point. She was just waiting and waiting for something to happen. Like maybe he’ll start recording her for the news media to share, or maybe he’ll talk on the phone to negotiate with the cops. She didn’t expect him to feed her an apple and watch sports. 

This is really, really odd. But she can’t just sit here and keep guessing. Besides, he said that she was allowed to speak freely, and she might as well use this privilege to get some answers.

She swallows the heavy bile in her throat first. “So… a-are we just waiting for money to be brought?” She asked, carefully shredding the unclear water.

Baldy sighs. “No. No money. Boss didn’t want any.” He replies, still looking at his phone.

What? She blinks as her interests peak. He left a ransom note about her. How could he not want money?

“Then… w-why did you grab me if you’re not using me for money?” Kaila asked, confused.

Another sigh, but this time he looks up. “Look, sweetheart. I’m just following my instructions.”

“But you’re holding me hostage. What’s the point in you doing this if you aren’t going to get anything in return? Am I just some… some trophy at this point or–”

He suddenly kicks the chair he was sitting in over, the metal rattling against the concrete flooring, startling her. His nonchalant mood changes drastically as he strolls over. “Are you questioning my mission, sweetheart?”

She clenches her jaw. “You told me I could speak freely–”

“Are you–” He roughly grabs her chin, throwing her head forward. “Questioning my mission, sweetheart?”

She gulps down the urge to wince in pain as she keeps her confident gaze. “W-Who’s your Boss?”

He scoffs in disbelief. “Excuse me?”

“I said… who’s you’re fucking Boss? And what does he want with me?”

His lip twitched, and he found himself closing his eyes to take a deep breath. “I really wish…” He opens them. “I really wish you didn’t ask me that. I thought we had an understanding.”

Before she could say anything his whole palm covers her mouth, and he pushes her head back until it's against a crate, her chair tipping back along with her. 

What the fuck is he– Her thought died on her lips as she felt something cold against her thigh, followed by a small click and a loud bang. Pain ripped through her body as she let out an animalistic scream. Of course that sounded like she was underwater by his hand, which became even more when he squeezed down.

He shushes her soothingly. “I warned you, sweetheart. Now I gotta play into my Boss’ rules.” He said, holding up the gun to her watery view. “Don’t ask me questions like that. Okay?” He pauses to see if her scream had subsided, which it did (Now it was just really heavy panting). “Got anything to say for yourself?”

He removes his hand, letting the chair level back to the floor as she takes in a shaky gasp of air.

“Y-You’re…” Kaila chokes, and tries to give him a cold look. “YOU’RE FUCKING INSANE!!!”

Baldy shakes his head. “Me? ME?! I’M INSANE, HUH?! I’M THE CRAZY ONE?!” He starts laughing with hysteria. “Oh… I guess I am. Huh?” He scoffs and cups her face, ignoring how she tries to jerk out of his touch. “Oh, Miss Murdock, what am I going to do with you? Hmm?”

He uses his thumbs to wipe her stained cheeks cleaned, and earns another flinch. He then stands up to fetch his chair to plop down in front of her again.

He sighs. “Alright. Let’s have a look at this.” He starts touching the wound he caused on her thigh, and she whimpers loudly at the touch. “Alright. You know what? Let’s…” He reaches for the gag around her neck, placing it over her mouth and tying it roughly. “Let’s put that back on.”

He starts touching it again. “Well, the bullet’s still in there. But–” He gives her a smile. “You wouldn’t want me to go digging for it, would you? Don’t want to cause you any more pain, right?”

Kaila closes her eyes, more tears falling as he pats her cheek in his attempt to ‘soothe’ her. She wishes she had the power to burn that disgusting hand from his arm.

Suddenly, off in the distance of this gigantic building, you could hear a door closing loudly.

The two of them perked up for different reasons. One annoyed and one (slightly) hopeful. Could you guess who was who?

Baldy hums. “I don’t remember expecting anyone yet.” He quickly pulls out his phone, turning on the screen. He frowns. “Hmm… nothing.” He stands up once more. “I’ll be right back. ‘Cause last time I checked, Boss was supposed to call me before picking you up.”

Picking me up? She wonders as she watches him walk away while whistling some tune. She could only hope whoever came in was on her side, but she was scared for them. She now knew that Baldy was a lot more crazy than she thought, and didn’t know what he was fully capable of.

She closes her eyes and starts quietly crying.

I really hope that’s my dad…

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

She promised herself she wasn’t going to cry again, not unless they were happy tears; But here she is, doing the opposite. Karen had her face buried into her hands, feeling like the weight of the world was crushing her form. Unlike Matt and Foggy, Karen knew really what this kidnapping was (probably) doing to Kaila.

Although, the more she thought about it, the more she didn’t like the outcome. When the teenager stumbled to her door after killing Wesley, it sure felt different than now. Karen knew what killing another human being feels like. She knew how to handle the situation, knew how to comfort like nobody else would.

But this was different. They didn’t know who this kidnapper was. And even with the note they left there was no clear MO. Was it just revenge? Did they want money from Nelson and Murdock? What was it? And why was this person’s brother their first client? She was their first client. She remembers that day as crystal clear as it could get. And it couldn’t be her beloved brother Kevin because she killed him he died. Or…

Do I really have more siblings than I thought? That thought made her skin crawl, and Karen couldn’t help but choke down another sob.

Oh, god… what if I got that poor child killed?

“What exactly are you saying? Matt?!”

The sudden voice makes her look up, finding her colleagues coming back in.

“Matt?” Foggy tries again, but the blind man isn't listening as he sets another box on the table, opening up and digging inside.

“What’s going on?” Karen asked, wiping her eyes clean as she stood up.

Foggy jerks his finger towards their friend. “He just said something weird and won’t elaborate on what he meant.”

She looks his way. “Matt?”

Matt didn’t answer until he found the file he’s looking for. He holds it close like it’s his last life source. “In the ransom note, It states that we, Nelson and Murdock, failed to help the kidnapper’s brother. Which is…” He trails off for them to finish.

Foggy and Karen share a look of confusion.

“Which… is your guys’ first client.” She replies, stating the obvious.

“Which is Karen.” He adds.

“Correction. It says our ‘Official First Client’. That’s not Karen.” Matt said, getting even stranger looks thrown his way.

Foggy shakes his head, holding his hands up. “Hang on a second.” He said, processing. “What?”

“It’s not Karen.” 

“Explain.”

“Okay…” Matt nods with a small sigh. “Do you remember the beginning for us? We met Karen on the first day we opened after Brett gave us that tip that we desperately needed. Without any questions, we went down there with hope. However…” He cast his gaze at the blonde. “Karen. What did you say to us that almost made Foggy walk out the door?”

Foggy cocks his head in confusion again, as the gears in Karen’s head start to turn.

She pursues her lips. “That…” Her eyes widened. “I didn’t have any money.”

Matt points at her. “Exactly. Now, of course since you were our client, regardless if you paid or not, we still would have a file on you. However, since you never gave us any money, besides that one file, there’s nowhere else to tell anyone that Karen was a client of ours. Which means…” 

Now it was Foggy’s turn to understand. “It wouldn’t be something we write on our taxes. Or better yet, there’s no check from Karen in our bank account. There’s no statement backing her up as our first client other than word to mouth.”

Matt points to him now. “Now you’re both getting it.”

“Okay, okay.” Karen begins, holding up her hands, thinking. “So… your first client was a paying client. Something that you can prove. Who?”

“Yeah.” Foggy says, nodding. “Who? We did a lot of charity work before we started making bank, Matt.”

“Agreed. We did.” Matt admits, nodding as well. “So I really had to think about this one. But then it hit me. Our first client was someone who gave us a lot of money that day. And that was–” He flips the file over, showing off the name. “John Healy.”

Foggy cocks his head again. “John–” He gasps. “The bowling ball dude! Prohaszka’s killer.”

Another nod. “Exactly.” Matt said, setting the folder down. “He was our first paying client, which–

“W-Which we, quote-on-quote, failed… when he committed suicide.” Karen said, piecing it all together.

“Also correct.”

“B-But…” Foggy stutters into a sigh. “That doesn’t make any sense. Didn’t we learn later on that he killed himself because of Fisk?”

“Yeah.” Karen replies, pointing at her colleague, agreeing. “H-He killed himself. W-We didn’t have anything to do with that.”

“Obviously Mr. Healy’s brother didn’t see it that way.” Matt said, somberly.

“But I don’t remember seeing in the reports that Healy had a brother.” Foggy said, thinking again.

“Doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have one. Also, who knows…” The blind man shrugs. “John Healy could have been a pseudonym for all we know.”

“True.”

“Wait.” Karen said, holding her hand up. “M-Maybe it’s true. Maybe he really does have a brother. However, we can’t forget that John Healy was hired by Fisk to assassinate Prohaszka so that the Russians could take over his territory. What if… Fisk is behind this?”

Foggy looks at her with bewilderment. “Karen, Fisk is in jail, we put him there.”

“I know, but…” She bites her lip. “Once a mob boss, always a mob boss. Even if he’s in jail, it doesn't mean he doesn’t still have eyes and ears everywhere. Right?”

The question made the room fall into darkness. The silence was almost hard to bear as they all mentally trembled at the mere thought of Fisk coming back into the field.

Matt clears his throat. “So… we have two options, I guess. One, is that John Healy had a brother who blames us for his death. Or…” The next sentence felt ill on his tongue. “Wilson Fisk… is coming back with revenge for putting him behind bars. Both unfortunately seem likely.”

“So what do we do?” Karen asked, hugging herself.

“We call Brett.” Foggy replies, sounding more confident than before. “Tell him what we found. Maybe he could use it to find her, and hopefully he has leads already.”

She nods at this. “Hopefully. D-Do you want to call him or–”

“No, No. I’ll call him. I got him on speed dial anyway.”

“Really, Foggy. I can do it.”

“No. I got it. Don’t worry.” 

She tries to convince him again, damn well knowing what he was doing, but already left the room with his phone in his hand. She bites her lip.

Damn you, Foggy. She cusses and hugs herself a little tighter. Maybe if she stays quiet, he wouldn’t ask–

“Hey, Karen?” Matt said, which makes her close her eyes out of frustration.

“Y-Yeah, Matt?” She stutters, quietly.

“Are you okay?”

She opens her eyes to look at him, and even with his shades on she could see the genuine concern on his face towards her. For being a blind man he sure knew how to read people.

Karen finds herself shaking her head, getting teary eyed again. He seemed to figure that out as well.

“Karen?” He begins, but she finally replies.

“No… I’m not.”

And that was the absolute truth.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

The door creaked open louder than he wanted, and cussed under his breath when it closed the same. The Officer had his gun trained on something imaginary infront of him, eyes carefully looking around the warehouse. A simple task of checking the port for anything out of the ordinary took a turn when heard a single gunshot. Just a single sound of one could mean a lifetime of choices. 

The man in blue started taking a slow and steady stroll, peeking around corners on the metal crates, listening intensely for anything out of place. Well…

He certainly found something out of place.

He lowers his gun slightly, eyes full of surprise. “Oh my god.” He mutters, his presence making the girl meet his gaze. “You’re that kidnapped girl.”

Kaila’s heart sank, and she swears she probably became even paler than she already is. The Officer obviously didn’t see that her expression wasn’t out of surprise but rather out of fear for him.

He uses his free hand to touch his radio, the device making a tiny crackling sound. “This is Officer Carmichael. I was at my post when I heard a gunshot, seeked it out. I’m at a warehouse, one closest by the water, I have a hostage situation. The hostage is the abducted girl we’ve been looking for.”

He lets go of the button, face softening on his strong features. “You okay, Ma’am?” He asked, taking a small step forward. She starts shaking her head, muffling saying something. “Don’t be scared. I’m here to help.”

She repeats the same motion again, praying he’ll get the message.

{Copy that. Is the hostage injured?}

The radio crackled again, and the Officer paused his steps to answer. “Hostage is…” He trails off to do a head to toe scan. “Hostage appears to be–”

She never knew metal hitting bone would sound so terrifying.

She had so desperately tried to say something before she watched the man get struck in the side of the head by a chair. Baldy had come out of nowhere, a rageful look in his eye as he knocked the officer down. She screamed as he hit him again, and again, and again until the man in blue stopped moving.

Baldy let out a sigh, dropping the chair painted red with a loud rattle, making her sob loudly. 

{-Carmichael? Officer Carmichael? Do you copy? Sir?}

Another sigh. “Stupid cop. Almost ruined all the fun.” He grumbled, and stepped on the radio a few times until it stopped spewing feedback. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Frank’s been called a lot of things his entire life. Some of it was true, some of it was just a meaningless taunt, and some of it was just to get under his skin. But there’s one name that he’ll have to take to heart, one that he just has to accept.

Monster.

He was a monster. He knows what he’s done. From here to the war. A monster. But even this monster knows when to take a minute and show some kind of mercy.

He heard stories about a man in a mask long before coming to Hell’s Kitchen.

The Man in Black. The Man without Fear. The Devil. 

He heard stories about people fearing him. People fearing that they’ll end up getting thrown off a rooftop, or having both their legs broken by just robbing an old lady for her purse. He was the vigilante protecting this city, and it wasn’t until he stopped Wilson Fisk from escaping that’s when he started to earn some respect. They called him Daredevil. A hero. But one that people still needed to fear despite the good stuff seeping through the cracks.

But Frank didn’t care when he came to do his job. He didn’t care if he would get a visit from someone who plays dress up. And, to be honest, Frank wasn’t at all impressed. This so called… Devil of Hell’s Kitchen was a prissy.

Sure, I guess he’ll give it to him that he knows how to put up a fight, but that’s it. Just the man talking wanted Frank to melt his own ears off. That shit about hope made him want to strangle Red until he stopped moving. 

These vile people needing redemption is a bunch of bullshit. He scoffed.

His plan was just to let Red hear his voicemails before shooting up the gang’s hideout, letting Red listen to the scum crying for help as he couldn’t do anything but just sit there tied in chains. But plans change. He’s a soldier, he expects the unexpected. Yet…

None of that training could prepare him for what happened next.

Red had a friend. A friend who sounded hysterical, one who was begging him to answer the phone. And slowly those pleading voicemails turned into every parent's worst nightmare. 

Red’s child was missing -no- taken. Taken by some… low life prick in this city. It wasn’t just Frank’s exterior that changed, but Red’s did. His whole hero front fell as he started to beg, beg him to let him go and find his child.

Now Frank may be a monster, but he loved nothing more in this world than his children. 

And from the sound of it, so did Red. And what kind of father would Frank be if he didn’t let him go?

The police radio he had started crackling, a new signal coming through. Frank paused his task of cleaning his rifle to listen, silently hoping that this is the lead he needs.

{S-Shots were fired. Officer Carmichael is not responding after sending in his call. Calling all available units to the port. The Officer states the kidnapped teenager is at one of the warehouses closest to the water.}

{Copy that. Did the Officer state what’s going on with the teenager?}

{Nothing to be reported. The teenager, Kaila Murdock, is five-four, one hundred and ten pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. The suspect charged with her abduction may be armed. Proceed with caution.}

{Copy that. Heading over there now.}

Frank takes the information in, thinking his plan over extremely carefully.

The port, huh? He stands up from the ledge he is sitting on, turning off the radio.

Time for me to pay Red a visit.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Matt could hear the hurt in her voice. The guilt. The pain she was feeling from all of this. He finds himself standing in front of her, smelling the new and old salt on her delicate cheeks.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, gently. He heard her lip quiver as she said,

“I really thought it was my fault, Matt.”

“Karen–”

“I really, really thought this was because of me.”

“Karen, Karen.” He tries to soothe. “Even if it was your brother, I could never blame you for this.”

She shakes her head. “But Matt, It’s your kid, I can’t–”

“Karen–”

“I really love her, Matt.”

Of course she does. Matt knew this. He senses this. However, her confession felt… different then when Foggy says it. Why would it be–

“She’s an amazing kid.” Karen continues, oblivious to his overthinking. “She’s been nothing but nice to me. Polite. I always have good conversations with her and… I love her. I love her enough that I don’t want anything happening to her. So… If this really is my fault then… I don’t know what I’ll do to myself.”

All of a sudden, her confession reminded him of a case he took early in his career. It was a custody case, one that Matt knew right away that the father wasn’t going to win; But his client, the mother who he knew would win without any worries, broke down in the most painful way. The love she had for her son was off the charts, she would do anything to keep him in her arms, even if it was only for one more night. And that woman… reminded him of the blonde standing before him. Matt came into a sudden realization that Karen–

Loves my daughter. And that was like a one and million chance for him. His past few dates or people who were almost his girlfriend never stuck around when he told them he had a kid. Now it’s not like he expected them to be a mother to his daughter, but all he asked was a little respect that none of them could provide.

Until now.

“Karen, That’s–” Matt begins, a little smile growing on his lips. “The nicest thing that anyone has said to me about my daughter.” He felt her look of surprise, and slight confusion.

“Wha– really?” She asked, getting a nod.

“Yeah.” He couldn’t keep the happiness off his face. “Thank you.”

“Matt–”

“Relax.” He takes her by the hand. “Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll get her back.”

She squeezes his hand as the words sink, her red lips curling into a smile. 

Foggy suddenly comes back in, cell phone in hand. “Alright, I called him.” He said, expression somber.

“What did he say?” Matt said, hopeful. 

“Well, Brett didn’t take the call, someone else did.” He frowns. “I told them what we found but they didn’t have any updates yet.”

Matt’s face falls and Karen squeezes his hand.  “Of course…”

“I’m sorry, Man.”

“No. It’s fine.” It’s not but, “I can just–” He was cut off when his phone started to ring. He digs it out with his free hand, listening to the automated voice.

.

[Unknown Number]

[Unknown Number]

[Unknown Number]

.

“Excuse me.” Matt said, swiping the screen and bringing it to his ear. “Hello?”

‘Didn’t think I’d ever get your attention, Red.’

He felt the wind get knocked out of him. “Frank?” He said, and immediately felt eyes on him.

‘Don’t sound surprised. Listen, Red. Take a left out of your building, and I’m on the roof of the coffee shop.’

“Frank–”

‘Don’t waste any more time.’

The call cut off and Matt was just left standing there with disbelief. 

What the fuck is he–

“Who’s Frank?” Foggy asked, already sensing something is off.

Matt starts conjuring up a lie on the fly as he puts his phone away. “Uh, that was a police officer. They found something at my apartment that they wanted me to look at.” He replies, letting go of Karen’s hand.

“An officer?” 

“Yeah.”

“But you called him by his first name?” Karen said, suspicious. 

“I-I did.” Matt said, shifting his weight. “I became acquainted with him a while ago. So, um, I… gotta go.” He starts shifting past them.

“Go? Do you want me to drive you?” 

“No, No. I’ll be good.” Matt touches Foggy’s shoulder he passed, a silent message that he’s got Daredevil business to deal with. “I’ll give you guys a call afterwards.”

Foggy nods, playing along. “Okay, man. That sounds good.” He said, watching his friend gather his things by the door. “Keep us in the loop.”

Or that was loosely translated to, ‘Be careful or I’ll kick your ass black and blue.’

Matt gives them a nod before heading out the door. Foggy inhales the breath he was holding, and starts rubbing his face with disbelief.

“Foggy?” Karen said, staring at the now closed door.

“Yeah?”

“Wasn’t that strange?”

He stares at her. “Wh-What do you mean?”

She gives him a look like he has two heads. “Did you not see what I see? He’s hiding something.”

“I-I didn’t see anything.”

Karen crosses her arms, looking stern. “Foggy.”

“What?” He raises his hands. “I didn’t see anything.”

She frowns and starts looking around for her belongings. “Well, I’m going after him.”

Foggy felt his stomach drop. “What?” He said, confused.

“He shouldn’t be walking alone.” She explains, grabbing her purse. “I’m going to find him and drop him off at his apartment.”

“What?” He starts following her as she heads for the door. “Y-You can’t.”

Karen sighs as she opens the door. “Why not?” She asked, looking his way.

Now he was like a deer in a headlight, and for some reason he couldn’t come up with a good lie. “Uh…”

She cocks her head, realizing something. “Wait. Do you know what’s going on with him?”

“Uh, well I, um–”

“Oh my god.” She mumbles before hustling out the door, enough to shock Foggy out of his state.

“Wait! Karen!” He yells, quick to snag his keys and runs after her. “Karen! Hold on! Karen!”

But he knows he’s not going to catch up with her in time.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

All her hope was squashed like a bug.

Crushed like a can.

Stepped on like trash.

Every little bit of hope she had of getting out of here was discarded out the window now.

Kaila trembles under his gaze after Baldy uses the front of his shoe to touch the officer’s back. The little movement didn’t even seem to faze the cop who was either unconscious or–

Oh, god. Is he…? 

He seemed to have read her mind as he grins and says, “Don’t worry sweetheart, he’s fine. He’s breathing.” He shrugs. “Barely. But it’s there.”

And you’re okay with that, you sick fuck.

Baldy starts walking over to her, and with little movement she had with her hands, she ends up gripping the chair. She casts her eyes to the floor, too scared to even look at him. Of course he didn’t seem to like it as he tilted her chin up at him.

“Did you say anything to him?” He asked, curiosity and cold make a terrible mix. She shakes her head eagerly. “Good.” He ruffled her already tangled locks. “Good job, sweetheart.”

And she started to cry.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Matt finally climbed up the fire escape once he knew the coast was clear. Throwing his walking stick aside, but kept the bag he was carrying on his shoulder as he speed walks towards the figure staying in the shadows.

“You got a lot of guts calling me on my phone.” Was his reply, watching the Punisher look at him calmly, despite the large sniper rifle in his calloused hands.

“Well, you didn't look like you were going to be leaving that office of yours any time soon. I had to get your attention somehow, Red.” Frank said, serenely. “I’m surprised you’re not out here with your costume looking for your daughter.”

Matt frowns, hurt. “The devil is the reason my daughter’s in this mess.”

Frank scoffed. “Really? ‘Cause in the police reports I’ve read, it sounded like it was your job that got your daughter in this mess–”

“What do you want, Frank?” The blind man asked, quickly. He just wanted some straight answers at this point. No run arounds.

Frank straightens his stance off the wall. “Followed a police call. An Officer found your kid down by the ports.”

Matt’s heart skipped a beat from the news, his tough exterior cracking immensely. “What?”

“Yeah. The report says the Officer became unresponsive, so they don’t know what’s going on. But your daughter’s there, Red.”

Someone…

.

““Your daughter’s there, Red.””

.

Someone found his kid.

Someone found his kid while he was–

“And…” He almost laughed with disbelief . “And you went through all this trouble to tell me that?” He asked, still not fully processing this yet.

Frank nods slowly. “I expect you to do the same.” He admits, with a sadness in his undertone. “Father to Father.”

Matt cracks just a little smile on his downcast. “Father to Father.” He said, and gestures to the open air without any hesitation. “Lead the way.”

I’m going to save my daughter.

Frank chuckles under his breath, fingers tightening on his weapon, a sign showing he's open for business. “Let’s go get your kid.” He replies, pushing off the wall and heading in the direction with Red right on his–

“Matt?”

The two grown men stop in their tracks, a cold sweat on their necks.

Shit. Matt felt his stomach drop.

He swears he didn’t even hear her following. He was so caught up in his own thoughts he didn’t even get the chance to slow down and really listen. He turns around, hiding his surprise as senses Karen standing at the top of the fire escape; He could almost picture the look on her face. The look of shock, confusion… betrayal(?). All of it. And all of it made his throat tighten up.

She seemed to realize she was just staring, and started moving to stand on solid ground. “W-What are… what is this?” She asked, looking between him and the gunman she quickly recognized. “W-What’s going on?”

Matt wants to bow his head in shame, he wants to start running away but he couldn’t. His feet felt glued to this rooftop. 

This is not how I want her to find out. He must have stayed quiet for too long because she started shouting his name.

“Matt!” Karen said, arms moving in frustration, enough to make the heels in her hand start thumping loudly together. “What is this? What’s going on? How’d you even get up here?”

Matt takes a deep breath, coming up close, careful not to step on her bare feet. “Karen. Don’t get mad, I–”

“Mad?” She said, almost scoffing. “I-I f-find you with the criminal that is after our client a-and you’re telling me not to get mad, and–”

“Karen.” He said, calmly enough to cut off her rambling.

“What?” She said, a hiss in her tongue.

“He…” He swallows. “He found Kaila.”

She stares, stunned. “What?”

“He found Kaila. He’s asked me to come with him.”

Another long stare. “What?” She shakes her head. “C-Come… come with you? Matt, are you crazy?! You can’t go with him! You’re not–”

Her words die quickly when he opens up his gym bag. 

Shock was probably not the strong enough word to describe what she was feeling all of a sudden.

Inside she saw a very familiar looking helmet. Painted a nice shade of red and black with a stitching mark near one of the eyeholes. The mask that’s…

Oh my god, He’s–

“I know this is a lot to take in right now, and I’m really sorry.” Matt says, getting her attention. “I-I promise… I'll explain everything later, But right now… I need to go get my kid.”

Karen tilts her head, trying to make sense of this. “Matt–” She croaked.

“I know.” He whispers softly. “I know. But I need to go. The officer who found her non responsive, so I don't know what's going on. But my daughter's in danger, and I need to go get her.” He swallows. “Okay?”

Matt was ready for her to counter back, expecting her to. But she didn’t. He heard her nod very subtly as she sealed her lips, hiding what she had to say. Yet, that was enough for him to take it as a sign to leave.

He closes his bag, and with every promising bone in his body he replies, “I’ll be back.”

Then he left, following the Punisher in the direction of the ports.

Karen was left just standing there, standing there wondering what she should feel. Anger? Sadness? Shock? She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t pulled from her thoughts when she heard someone calling her name very faintly. Somehow she found herself back on the ground floor, briskly strolling out of the alley and onto the sidewalk, not even bothering to put her heels back on as she stared blankly in the open space.

“K-Karen!” Foggy shouts, with a heavy underline of breathing. “K-Karen…” He starts slowing his pace upon seeing her. “Jesus, you walk fast.” 

She stayed quiet as he stopped to put his hands on his kneecaps, taking a moment to breathe some air. Once he started to cool down, that’s when he realized how silent she was being.

He looks up at her with a slight tilt in his head. “Karen?” He asked, straightening up. He then takes this chance to look at her, quickly noticing the shoes were in her hand and the torn gaze in her eyes. It took all his strength not to let his heart drop to his ankles.

Oh… His hazel eyes widened slightly, pursing his lips.

“Oh.” He mumbles verbally. “So… you know.” He watches her meet his gaze and nods. He inhales loudly. “Okay. Um–” He runs his hand through his hair, thinking. “Y-You–”

“Matt was with that…” She bites her lip. “That Punisher guy. I asked him what and why, and…” Karen throws her open hand in the air. “H-He showed me his costume so… yeah.”

“Oh.” He blinks. “So that’s how– wait… The Punisher?”

“From what I gather I think he’s that… Frank fellow on the phone so… um–” She sighs, throwing her head back. “He told Matt he knows where Kaila is.”

Foggy felt his eyes widen again. “What?” He perks up at the news. “He does?” He waits for her to nod once more. “T-That’s great! Oh my god, that’s…” He felt his joy burn away instantly. “Karen–”

“How long have you known?” Karen asked, locking her blue orbs with his. She was starting to look torn between two worlds again. “How long have you known that Matt was… that.”

He frowns, a bitter memory coming to haunt him. He takes a deep breath, and takes a small step forward. “Do you remember around the time before we took down Fisk, and Matt and I were… resenting one another?”

She copies his expression. “I do.”

“Well… it was around that. Uh, Matt had uh… tried to go after Fisk when he killed Ms. Cardenas. Uh–” Foggy starts waving his hand around, like he was trying to conjure his thoughts. “I-I got… drunk at Josie’s if you remember. After that, I went to his apartment. I wanted to talk to him about getting justice for her. Before you know it, I find him in his black outfit, bleeding to death. That’s when I realized why Matt looked so… used all the time. He had another life.”

Karen lets out a sigh, closing her eyes to take a moment. Once she opened them again she started shaking her head. “And… y-you argued with him, after that?” She asked, trying to make sense of this all.

Foggy nods eagerly, hiding no shame. “I was angry at him. I mean, we’ve been best friends since College, to find out that’s what he’s been doing every night just… baffled me. I couldn’t believe it.” He replies, sounding hurt just by talking about it. “I said things that should be said, and I said things that I probably shouldn’t have said to him. It was just… hard seeing him like that. Hard to see what he was becoming and what it was doing to his life and his family.”

“Wow…” She whispers, before paleing. “Wait. D-Did… Did Kaila figure that out that night? Or…”

“Oh! No, no, no.” Foggy chuckles dryly. “She found out… about a year before me.” He almost shakes his head again upon picturing Matt’s face. “In fact, he told me once he tried to hide that from her.”

That actually got Karen to snicker a little. “Oh my god, that sounds like something he would do. I mean, I guess I could understand keeping it from his friends, but his daughter? How would he be able to do that?”

He gestures at her. “Right! God, he’s so… stubborn, it’s ridiculous.” He listens to her laugh, showing off her pearly whites which lifted his spirits. It was only for a minute or so before he had to break this emotion. “So how do you feel about this?” 

She shrugs. “Honestly… I don’t know. I really don’t.” She looks at him again, her mixed expression resting on her features again. “What do we do now?”

Foggy frowns, hurtfully. “All we can do right now is wait. We did our job. Now it’s Matt’s turn to finish.”

Silence came again, but it was one that was going to stay until they got that important phone call.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Great news.”

Kaila looks up at him with bloodshot eyes. Baldy seemed so bubbly now, like he had just won the lottery or something big like that. She knew whatever he was going to say wasn’t going to be good despite his appearance. 

Unfazed by her disheveled appearance he continues, “Boss is sending someone to come get us.” His reply makes her body grow cold, shaky fingers gripping the armrest. “Awe, don’t look so down. It’ll be fun.”

The dim lights above them suddenly went out, and with them, so did Baldy’s happy-go-lucky attitude. 

He points at her furiously, rage filling his already dark orbs. “You.” He snarled, preying closer. “You told me you didn’t say anything to the cop.” She tried shaking her head but was met with his fierce back hand, causing a small whimper. “Fucking bitch.”

The same door from earlier slams shut, echoing off the wall and scaring him straight.

“Fuck.” He grumbles, pulling out his knife. He starts cutting her free of the ropes, looking around worriedly. When the last limb was free, he pulled the disoriented girl to her feet by her hair. “Come on.”

Kaila would have toppled over from her injured leg if it wasn’t for his arm wrapping around her waist, keeping her upright as they moved. The whole moving process became a blur from the pain. She knew she was wincing every time they abruptly stopped to hide behind a crate, or to make a jerky turn somewhere; Every time they did he would curse something under his breath, occasionally looking around again, knowing someone was in this warehouse hunting them down. Who though? That’s the sketchy question.

Somehow, she knows the direction he wanted to go was inevitable, judging by the way he reacted. This hunter of theirs was trying to cage them in, keep them in one place for who knows what reason. So he chose their detour to be some stairs leading to the roof. What was going through this crazed man’s head was beyond her, as she stared at the dark river and city skylines that had started to become really fuzzy.

They got close to the edge, stopping right before their toes went over. Dread crept up their spines, and Baldy spun them both around, pressing the gun into her temple making her whimper. She shuts her eyes out of instinct, afraid to see who was following them.

“Looks like this is the end of the line for you.” 

Kaila shot open her eyes at the familiar voice, and never has she been so relieved to see him in that suit. He really looked like the devil was out hunting by the way he was illuminated in the moonlight, which was showing off just the right amount of rage he didn’t dare to hide this time. She called out his name, but of course it was muffled.

“Quiet.” Baldy hissed, pressing the barrel in more, making her sob (and her father clench his fists). “What the fuck do you want, freak?”

The fact that Matt could smell his daughter’s blood and taste the salt on her skin was enough to make him boil. “I want you to give me the girl you're holding.” He said, low and cold, enough to rattle anyone in their boots.

“Not a fucking chance, Devil Boy.” Baldy snaps, squeezing her around the waist tighter. “I’ve got orders.”

“Orders which you’re going to disobey. Give me the girl.”

“Not a chance.”

Matt grits his teeth. “Listen to me. I’m giving you one chance to do this on your free will. I suggest you take it.”

“Bite me.”

“Listen–” Matt begins to take a step but that seemed to be the wrong move at the moment.

“Don’t you fucking come any closer!!” He yells, taking a step backwards so that his heels are off the ledge… and that Kaila was being held over.

Her scream was enough to make Matt’s skin crawl. He holds up his hands defensively. “Whoa! What about your orders?!” He asked, urgently (alarmed).

“These are my orders! If anything gets in my way I can get rid of her.” Baldy explains, disgusted. “I-I mean... I get paid more if I deliver her alive though…”

“Then keep her alive!” Matt shouts, hearing the way this man was loosening his grip on his kid. “Just give her to me.”

Baldy shakes his head. “No.”

“Last chance.” Matt replies, hearing a certain someone starting to press their finger on the trigger. “Give me the girl.”

He shakes his head again. “I told you. I’m not–”

The vigilante remained as still as he could to let the bullet rip by and lodge itself in the man’s skull.

Kaila finds herself screaming again as the floor gave out and her captor started dropping too. She closed her eyes out of fear again just as she felt a familiar grasp. She felt his hands around her forearms as her body scraped against the side of the building, slowly rocking back and forth from the sudden momentum. 

Matt dug his feet into the roof, grounding himself enough to pull his kid up with all his might. The impact of his daughter to his chest made them both stumble to their knees. He could finally let out a gasp of relief feeling her in his arms. He never thought he would be happy to feel his daughter shaking uncontrollably in his embrace. It almost felt too good to be true.

“Kai. Kai.” Her name felt like heaven on his lips as he used one hand to hold her upright, while the other was used to discard his helmet. He could feel her shocked expression on him as he removed her gag. “Kaila?”

“D-Dad…?” She said, throat all scruffy from the hours of yelling.

He lets a smile play on his lips from hearing her speak. “Kai.”

“D-Dad.” She sobs, eyes trailing to his mask. “Y-You’re helmet, you–”

“Hey. Hey.” Matt cups her face gently, making sure she was looking at him. “It doesn’t matter.”

Kaila starts looking puzzled. “But… you’re identity–”

“I don’t care.” He shakes his head. “I don’t care about that right now.”

“Dad…”

“Listen to me, Kai. I am so, so sorry.” Matt almost broke right here. “I am so sorry. I should have never said what I said. I never meant it. I swear. I am so sorry.”

Kaila's lower lip quivered. “Dad.” She sobs. “I’m s-sorry too.”

He shakes his head once more. “You have nothing to be sorry about.” And he meant that. “You hear me? Nothing at all.”

She makes a sound between a laugh and a cry. “D-Daddy…”

Matt’s heart broke all over again before pulling his daughter closer, showering her face with kisses. He only starts silently crying when she does, which makes him pull her back into his arms, carefully cradling her head into his chest. She starts wailing, tightening her grip on him like she was afraid he would disappear.

Matt shushes softly, rubbing soothing circles on her bare back. “It’s okay. I got you. You’re safe. You’re okay.” He said, which was supposed to be for her but to put some comfort in himself too. “You’re okay…”

She’s okay. She’s fine. She’s in my arms. He closes his eyes, pulling her closer.

She holds back a sob a few moments later, feeling like someone was watching them heedfully. Kaila nestles her head, looking over her father’s shoulder to someone off in the distance. She didn’t recognize the man with the large rifle, and although he looked pretty threatening with it, his face was holding onto the emotion of relief; He looked satisfied with his mission. She opens her mouth to question who he was but ends up whimpering in pain when her father moved her the slightest.

Matt pulls back, worriedly cupping her face again. “What’s wrong?” He asked, scared. He wasn’t mentally prepared for what’s next.

She lets out a shaky breath. “L-Leg…”

He pauses to figure out what she meant, using his senses to figure it out. It didn’t take him that long to figure out why he smelled so much blood on her. He could even hear the tiniest sound the bullet made when she moves.

“I-I…” Kaila begins, trembling again. “I-I said something I shouldn’t have and… h-he s-shot me and–”

“Oh, Kai.” Matt said, quietly. He should have prepared for something like this. He shouldn’t have suspected she was going to be in some kind of painful state. “Oh, Baby girl.” She freezes under his touch, and Matt fears he did something wrong. “What?”

“You… haven’t called me that since I was kid.”

Matt chuckles at how surprised she sounded. “Ah, well… maybe I didn’t call you that enough.” He admits, sensing her smile. Now it was his turn to pause, tuning in on something loud nearby. “The police are here. In the distance.”

“I honestly didn’t think they were coming.” Kaila said, sounding small.

“Well there’s ten of these warehouses by the water so…” He trails off, the guilt returning again. “Listen, I can’t… I can’t take you home with me. I have to hand you over to them.”

She nods slowly. “I know. I suspected.”

“Good. But I’ll be there when they call me. Okay?”

“You better.” She teases, getting him to laugh again.

Matt plants another kiss in her hairline. “Alright, I’m going to pick you up, okay? It’s probably going to hurt. You ready?”

Another nod. “I am.” But before he did, she carefully reached over for his mask, holding it towards him. “Helmet, Dad.”

He takes and slips it on, then carefully takes her in his arms bridal style. She cries out weakly, shutting her eyes when he tries to adjust the injured leg somewhere comfortably. 

He apologizes which she tells him off politely. Matt begins carrying his daughter towards the roof’s entrance, listening to the law enforcement get closer to their location.

“I want a vacation after this.” She says into his neck, dead serious.

Matt finds himself smirking at a fresh memory. “You know, funny thing, Foggy mentioned something like that earlier.”

“Well he’s not wrong.” She smirks too. “I mean it, I want to go to the beach, do absolutely nothing while drinking something fruity.” She tilts her head enough to look up at him. “Does Florida do fruity drinks too?”

“Your Uncle was thinking more like Hawaii.” He explains, shifting his weight to open the door without jostling her.

Her eyes widened. “Hawaii? Can we even afford that?” She scoffs playfully. “Well, this can be one hell of a Go Fund Me story.”

Matt shakes his head. “Okay, you two are scary.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Officer Brett Mahoney rolled his vehicle to a stop, quick to get out. Flashlight in hand he strolls over to what he thinks is a person on the ground. He sees a small pool of red around the man’s head, eyes closed and limbs spread around. He had a feeling he knew who this man was, but it was still his job to check for a pulse. He puts two fingers to his neck, feeling a very, very faint flutter underneath them.

Brett shakes his head. “You lucky, lucky bastard.” He mumbles, bitterly as he comes to a stand. Then he hears someone walking towards him, and out of instinct his hand goes to his holster. He honestly shouldn’t be surprised that he was there, but still was. 

“Mr. Daredevil.” He said, eyeing him as he came into view, the flashlight shining upon him to give him a better look. He perks up what’s in the vigilante’s arms. “You found her.”

“She’s injured, and the officer who found her is inside. He’s unconscious, but breathing.” Matt explains quickly, feeling his daughter shift her head to see their acquaintance. 

“I’ll send some men over.” His eyes land on the teenager, softening slightly. “You alright, Miss Murdock?”

Kaila nods. “I’m better now.”

“Good.” Brett gestures to the man behind him. “I’m assuming this ain’t your doing.”

“You know me well then.” Matt said, grateful that he wasn’t going to be pinned to that (despite him being okay that that vile man got a bullet to his head).

Brett hums, thinking. “Then who then?”

He shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He replies, playing dumb.

Brett says nothing more on that, instead taking care of what he was here for. “I’ll take Miss Murdock now. Get her some help.” He says, putting away his flashlight.

Matt nods and starts slowly setting her down onto her feet, just as she grabs him by the wrist.

“Thank you.” Kaila says, which was underlining the real sentence: ‘I’ll see you soon’.

Matt’s serious exterior melted visibly. “You’re welcome.” He helps her grab onto Brett before backing away. He stays for a few seconds just until he knows she’s settled in, then he turns on his heels to disappear into the night.

Brett stared with knowing eyes in the direction he left in. “He seems different.” He says, as Kaila looked at him funny.

“How?” She asked, confused.

But he shakes his head, getting a good hold on her. “Nevermind. Let’s sit you in the car. Ambulance’s on their way.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Three sets of footsteps came bursting into the room, the heavy door practically came off the hinges from their impact. They shouted the girl’s name who immediately looked up from her gaze at the nurse who was changing her IV.

Kaila smiles, only twitching a little from the bruise on her cheek. “S’up?” She asked, the woman in scrubs slipping away.

“K-Pop!” Foggy said, coming over to give her a bear hug. “Holy fuck, that was scary.”

Her happiness sounded more like a groan when he gave her a tight squeeze. “Uh, Foggy, my leg, please.”

He pulls back from confusion. “What?” He watches her lift the sheet up showing up the bandage job. His eyes widened. “What the fuck happen?!”

“Eh, kind of my fault. I said something I probably shouldn’t have.”

Karen came up next, giving her a more mild version of his hug. “Hi, sweet girl.” She said, earning a hum.

“Hi, Karen.” Kaila's facial expression grows upon seeing her dad (again). “Hi, Dad.”

“Kai.” He said, cupping her cheeks carefully and kissing her forehead. “How are you feeling?”

“Honestly… nothing. This pain meds doing its job.”

“Good. I would hate seeing you in pain.” Foggy said, truthfully.

Her face falls into something bittersweetly. “It is what it is.” Kaila sighs. “The police come by yet?”

“Not yet. Brett mentioned something about giving you some time.” Matt explains, a slight anger in his undertone, not directed at her.

“That’s… honestly surprising. I’d thought they would want answers on a looney like that.”

“Well, that looney of yours is in a coma right now. So I doubt he’s going to try to run anywhere any time soon.” Foggy replies, frowning bitterly.

“Exactly.” Karen said, nodding. “Just don’t worry about him and just focus on recovering.”

“Agreed.” He smiles. “We’re just happy you're okay. I’m glad that the Punisher guy gave Matt a tip to save you.”

Kaila felt herself lose air from that sentence, stiffening immediately. “Wh-What? W-What are you talking about? M-My… My d-dad didn’t save me, i-it was Daredevil and…” She trails off when the three of them looked away from her, making her realize–

“Wait.” She points at the blonde. “You know?” She watches Karen nod before she points between her and her Uncle. “You both know?” Another nod, and Kaila let her tense body relax. “Oh, thank god.” She breathes, throwing her hands up. “Do you know how hard it was to not say anything to you about it?”

Karen laughs. “Oh, I can imagine.” 

“Wow.” Kaila said, taking it in. She looks at her father, curious. “Did you tell her, Dad?”

“Uh…” Matt shifted his stance before giving a half shrug. “Well–”

“She walked in on him talking to the Punisher, then to clear it up, your dear old dad showed her his suit.” Foggy clears it, Matt nodding along.

Kaila raises both eyebrows in shock. “Accidental? Again? Dad, you got to work on that.”

Matt chuckles dryly. “I’ll… I’ll try.”

“Well, I guess that’s a better way to find out.” She said, now gazing over towards Karen. “At least you didn’t find him bleeding half to death.”

Her blue eyes widened at the news. “What?!” Karen snaps her neck towards the blind man. “She found you bleeding too?”

Matt holds on hand up in defense. “I have no comment.”

She sighs. “Oh my god…”

Suddenly there was a light knock on the open door, a nurse poked her head inside, holding a clipboard. “Mr. Murdock?” 

“That’s me.” Matt said, turning his attention towards her.

“I just need to go over a few things with you.”

“Okay. Um–” He cocks his head towards his friends. “Hey, can one of you help me to…” He makes a writing motion with his hand.

“Yeah, I’ll come with you.” Foggy said, and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder to guide him away.

Now it was just the two girls looking in their direction they left in, both having different thoughts running through their heads. Their brewing minds were put to the stop soon enough when one of them finally broke.

“Now you see why I didn’t want to tell him.” Kaila suddenly says after she watches them step into the hallway, quietly talking.

The older woman turns her attention to her, confused. “About what?”

The teenager frowns. “About the incident. What my father does, that’s the main reason why I have trouble telling him.”

Now it all makes sense to her. Karen now realizes why it was so hard for the kid to come clean about Wesley. She was afraid of…

“That’s why you were afraid.” Karen begins, piecing it together. “You aren’t afraid for your father, you're afraid of what your father’s going to do.”

Kaila nods. “Yeah. You’ve seen him in action. You know what my dad can do.” 

“But, Kai, your dad wouldn’t go that far. Would he?”

The teenager’s frown deepens. “You haven’t seen what I’ve seen. My dad he’s… he’s got this… darkness inside. He tries to hide it from me but I still see it sometimes.” She explains, sadly. “Like, I-I think if… the situation with me earlier was different, like if he found me tied to that chair and not dangling over the edge of a building, I think I would have seen that side of him tonight.”

Karen copies her expression, coming closer to sit on the side of the bed. “Listen, your father really loves you and what I think you’re describing is just a normal feeling for a parent. No parent wants to see their child get hurt by anyone else.” 

“Yeah, I understand that. However if my dad–” Kaila lowers her voice. “Kills someone because of me, not only will I feel guilty, but I might lose him.” She starts to get a little teary eyed from this. “Don’t get me wrong, I love you and Foggy, and I wouldn’t mind living with you guys, but I still want to be able to live with my dad until I’m that age. You know?”

“Kai–” Karen takes her hand. “Don’t worry about this too much. We’ll figure something out, I promise. But for now, just focus on getting better, okay?” She waits until the girl shakes her head, satisfied by it. “Okay. Are you hungry at all?”

“I could eat.” 

“Alright. I’ll go get you something.” Karen stands up and makes her way to the door just as the boys were coming back.

“Where you heading?” Foggy asked, curious.

“Cafeteria. I’m going to get her something to eat. You hungry?”

“Famished, actually. Matt?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Matt replies. “You know what I like.”

“Yes! Hospital food! Here we come.”

Karen snorts. “Come on, Cowboy.” She starts tugging him along. “We’ll be back.”

When they left Matt made his way over, taking the same spot Karen was sitting moments before. “How you feeling?”

“Fine.” Kaila said, truthfully. “I wish I was in my bed though.”

“We’ll get you there soon. You just need to rest.” He said, grabbing her hand gently. 

She inhales through her nose quietly, almost afraid to say what she was thinking. “Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I finally understand why you do what you do.”

He tilts his head, confused. “You mean with Daredevil?”

“Yeah.” She swallows. “That man was crazy. Unhinged. I don’t think I ever… felt evil like that, despite that one time I met Fisk. I understand why you… want to protect this city now. I can see the… the void that’s suffocating this place.”

His heart broke hearing how scared she sounded, and started to become mad at himself over it. He sighs. “I didn’t want you to see that side.” He replies, coming up to wipe a stray tear off her cheek. “I wanted to keep that from you as much as I could.”

“B-But why?”

“Well, you’re daughter. You’re the only good thing that’s come out of my mistakes over the years. Even though I never had a good thing going with your mother, she still gave me something I’ll cherish until I die.”

“But, my m-mother–”

“Enough about Mary. I’ve long forgotten about her.” He said, squeezing her hand delicately. “My only priority in life right now is keeping you safe as long as I can. And…” He smiles. “I’m going to be better about listening to what you have to say. So promise me you'll help me out with that.”

She raises an eyebrow. “You’re actually willing to put your pride away?”

He chuckles. “What can I say? I’m stubborn.”

Kaila couldn’t hold back a fond grin. “Well, you know what my great-grandma says…”

“‘You gotta watch out for those Murdock boys’.” He replies, remembering her saying that like it was yesterday. “Lucky for you, you seemed to escape that.”

She hums in disagreement. “I don’t know. Just because I’m not a boy doesn’t mean I escaped the ‘Murdock Curse’. I’m still stubborn as hell and looking for trouble.”

“Don’t do that.” He lightly pinches her in the arm.

“Ow. Okay, I won’t do that.”

“Good.” His smile faltered slightly. “Are we good now?”

“Dad, I couldn’t stay mad at you if I could.” Her expression grows. “I love you too much.”

He squeezes her hand again. “And I love you more.”

They sat in a comforting silence for a few minutes before the others arrived, plates and drinks in hand.

“We got food!” Foggy announced boisterously. “Frankly it looks like prison food, but it’s edible.”

Kaila laughs loudly at his childish antics. “I’ll eat a sauce packet at this point I’m so hungry.” 

“What do you got?” Matt asked, shifting his weight on the bed to sit straighter.

“Well, let’s see…” The man begins, drifting off into one of his colorful rants.

Kaila’s got a lot of questions about tonight. Some thoughts she needs to share. Some things that need to be done. The first thing she promises herself is she’s going to find out what that dream meant, and who really was that guy who took her away. But her family’s right, she needs to take it easy, relax, heal. She’ll worry about that later.

Right now she’s just going to enjoy the nice moment the universe has granted for her.

A/N: Jesus that was a long one! Hopefully ya'll enjoyed it... and paid a little attention to some details. Trust me, they'll come handy later. If you think you happened to catch one, let me know, I would love to hear it! :D

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[amberlynnmurdock]

Blind Faith (Epilogue)

Epilogue: An Oath

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Reader

Summary: A familiar face appears on the day of your Bar Admission Ceremony.

A/N: Wow. Finally, the end of Blind Faith. I'm honestly emotional about it, I can't believe I can mark this series complete! Seriously, thank you to all who have been here since July and for reading--it truly means a lot to me. I hope you love this last chapter <3.

Ao3 Link

Flashback to Sunday Evening

FOGGY’S VOICEMAIL: Matt, where the hell have you been?! I've been trying to call you since Friday night! I saw the news about Zack… that had to have been you. Is __ okay? Where is she? Call me back as soon as you can—Karen and I are worried. 

Matt sighed as he clicked the message off. He was still standing by the doorway you just left out of. He couldn’t muster the strength to leave the space you once lingered. He stood there and leaned against the wall… the wall he just kissed you against. 

He called Foggy. 

“Jesus, Matt, now you can call me?” Foggy cursed over the line. “What the hell happened?”

“A lot,” Matt sighed, turning his hand into a fist. “You should come over so we can talk about it. Maybe bring Karen as well.” 

“Okay,” Foggy sighed, “is __ alright?”

“She is now,” Matt answered, as he finally heard you enter a cab from outside. “She’s on her way home.”

“She was at your apartment? What the hell, Matt… you have a lot of explaining to do. And no bullshit. Karen and I deserve to know the truth.” 

“I know,” Matt didn’t have the energy to argue with his friend. He sighed, leaned his forehead against the wall, and deeply breathed. “I’ll tell you the truth.”

⠋⠁⠊⠞⠓

Foggy and Karen weren’t happy with what Matt told them, which was the truth. 

“Jesus, Matt…” Foggy shook his head. “I don’t even know where to begin. You—you and __ have been together since this summer, and she didn’t know, but you knew, and now she found out because Zack—Jesus,” Foggy pinched his temples as he processed what Matt confessed. 

Karen was silent, like she always was when Matt revealed a big revelation. He remembers the time he told Karen his secret like it was yesterday, and the way she acted then was close to how she is now. Hunched, biting her nails, furrowed brows. Her heart pounding in her chest. Out of anger or confusion, he didn’t know. 

“Karen?” He called her name softly. 

She glared at him. Matt didn’t need to see to know she was. 

“I’m upset we lost a good employee because of your lies,” Karen stated. “I’m upset she couldn’t talk to any of us about it. I completely understand why she wouldn’t want to come back.” 

“You can reach out to her,” Matt suggested. “She would probably like that.”

“I’ll probably write her recommendation letter for Columbia if she still needs it,” Foggy added. “I just—I can’t believe Zack almost—Jesus. I hope he gets disbarred.”

“He will,” Matt said instantly, “I’m sure of it.” 

“For what it’s worth,” Karen began to say, “I’m glad you were there to save her.”

“Me too,” Foggy said. 

Matt nodded his head, “I knew it was bad news. I just didn’t know he was going to try to do that.”

“Who took care of her when you took her back here?” Karen asked.

“Claire,” Matt sighed. “She hooked her up to an IV.”

“And what did you guys—you know what, never mind,” Foggy stopped himself from asking an obvious question. Matt shifted uncomfortably on the couch. 

After another few drinks and conversation with his friends, Foggy and Karen left Matt’s apartment. He laid on his bed, on the side you slept on the entire weekend. Your scent was still there. Even if it wouldn’t last for long, the memories he made with you and the way you made him feel, would last an eternity for him. 

And despite his best efforts to move on, he was never going to stray far. 

⠋⠁⠊⠞⠓

“I was happy to see your name in our applications,” Geri Hogarth said as she poured herself a glass of seltzer water. You watched as the bubbles rose in the glass. “Would you like a glass?”

“No, thank you,” you gently declined. “I was really happy to see you guys looking for a legal assistant. And it works perfectly you’re so close to Columbia.”

“Congratulations on getting in, by the way!” Geri cheered with her glass. You blushed. 

“Thank you. I’m really excited to be working here, along with you, Marci, the other colleagues.”

“You’re going to learn a lot here. But I’m curious—Mr. Nelson and Mr. Murdock are really fine attorneys—what made you want to leave?”

Wasn’t that the question, you thought? 

“I felt it was time for me to move on and explore new opportunities—get as much experience at different firms as I could,” you answered, which was true, in many ways. “I’m… grateful for my experience there. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for them.”

“Good,” Geri agreed, “I won't ever forget the first firm I ever worked at. It really builds you as a person in your career.”

“It sure does,” you smiled. “So, when do I start training?”

And you would start training at Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz that following Monday. And you would work there for the entire length of your law school years. 

Eventually, the past became the past, but it didn’t mean you wouldn’t think of him every now and then. A thought of him was behind every alley way at night. A thought of him was behind every second thought you put into going on a date with someone new. It never was more than a thought, but it was enough to make you feel a certain way—a true longing for something that could’ve been. You could never look at rooftops the same, or black coffee, or even a church. There was always Matthew behind all of that. 

And little did you know, he was there, all along. 

Three Years Later

New York County Supreme Court 

A cold day in Manhattan. One of those mornings, the moment you stepped outside, you were chilled to the bone. But today was an exciting day: after finally passing the Bar Exam, you were to be sworn in officially as an attorney. A lot of sweat and tears went into this day—this day you knew would come all along. 

You stepped out of the cab and held your coat around your shoulders tighter as you looked up at the New York County Supreme Court in awe. There were two signs near the entrance. One read: CONGRATULATIONS! The other read: BAR ADMISSION CEREMONY. You watched as other people arrived at the court and stared in awe just as you were. You smiled at them all, wondering where they came from and what it took for them to get here as well. 

Finally, entering the courthouse was like seeing the Museum of Natural History. Nothing will compare to that feeling of seeing it for the first time. You followed the red velvet carpet down the hall and into the chamber where the ceremony would take place. There were ushers along the way who guided people to their designated seats. The Law Judge would call your names one by one and you would go up for a picture. 

Other people were here too, to support the new attorneys. Friends, families, colleagues. You spotted your parents and friends in the audience, as well as Geri Hogarth and your favorite professor from Columbia. When you caught their attention, you smiled and waved in excitement before taking your assigned seat. 

The Law Judge went up to the podium and gave a long speech about how important this day was for the future of justice. After a short while, he finally had all the new attorneys stand from their seats and hold their right hands up to take an oath and be sworn in. You raised your right hand and repeated the words in tandem with everyone else. 

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, your class of new attorneys! When you hear your name, please come up to the podium for a picture and your certificate.” 

One by one, the assigned seats became empty as the newly sworn-in attorneys went up to get their certificates and pictures taken. The closer it got to your name being called, the faster your heart began to beat. You felt yourself sweat under your white button-up and blazer. You fixed your hair and pushed two strands behind your ears. 

Finally, your name was called. 

You smiled at the people you walked past and carefully walked up the stairs to meet the Law Judge, who held your certificate in his hands. He held his hand out for you to shake and pointed at the camera. You smiled at the camera, the flash blinding for you a moment. After it had faded, you searched the audience for your friends and family again and smiled when you caught their attention, holding up your certificate. 

You met them outside in the lobby of the courthouse, for more pictures and hugs. And amid all the congratulations, the smiles, the selfies, the jokes about being your friends’ future lawyer, you saw him. 

Walking out of the chambers you just were sworn in, you saw him. Donned in his gray suit, black tie, dark red glasses, and cane in hand. You saw him. 

He stood there, in the corner, away from the crowd. Cane standing straight, with two fists at the top. From that stance alone, you knew he knew you noticed him. 

“I’ll be right back,” you said to your friends, “I see someone I know.” 

Gravity pulled you in your path to Matt who waited for you to approach him. It was like seeing a vision, this image of him standing there and waiting for you. 

It’s been three long years. Three years of wondering what he was up to, and if he ever thought about you the way you fell asleep thinking of him. 

What were you to say? 

You looked at his appearance—not much has changed. If anything, he was more handsome now. His hair was styled nicely, he had a slight stubble. His hands, his knuckles—red. Not much has changed. 

“Congratulations, __, Esq.,” Matt smiled. To hear his voice after so many years—it still made your heart flutter. So many memories flashed in your mind, memories of Matt’s face being half covered, memories of those early mornings you spent, memories of being tangled in his sheets. 

“Thank you,” you answered. “How did you know—I guess the list of attorneys is public on the site.”

“It is,” Matt affirmed, “I—I hope you don’t mind I’m here.”

“Not at all,” you said. “I’m happy to see you. I told myself that I wouldn’t seek you out. I’d let—“

“Fate decide it,” Matt finished your sentence. “I remember… you once said that it was fate, how we kept running into each other.”

You raised your eyebrows in surprise—he remembered. 

“Yeah,” you breathed out, “fate. But I’m not sure how much fate had to do with you searching the day of my admission.”

“You’re right,” Matt said. “Not much.”

“So, what have you been doing?” You asked.

“Same as always,” Matt replied. “I’d ask you the same but I know you graduated law school and now this.”

“Yes,” you affirmed, “law school, HC&B. Now I’m an attorney.”

“HC&B treating you well?” Matt couldn’t help but ask.

“They are,” you smiled. “I’ve learned a lot from Geri.” Things I wished I learned from you.

“Good,” Matt grinned. “Foggy and Karen miss you.”

“Last time I spoke with Foggy was about my letter of recommendation,” you nodded. “I miss them, too. So much has happened, so much time has passed.” 

“__,” Matt said your name in a low voice. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” you said softly, letting your guard down completely. It was like you were waiting for him to say those words. The moment you left him has haunted you to this day. “I… thought about you. All the time. In everything I did.” 

“I did too,” he muttered.

“I kept your secret,” you suddenly said before you could think, “I realized I never made sure of that with you.”

“I trusted you,” Matt nodded his head. “I wasn’t worried.” 

“So… why are you here? Why now?” You asked him. 

“Well, I wanted to support you. And… I wanted to know… if enough time has passed,” Matt gently said. “I know—I know I hurt you. And I know you needed time to heal and move on. So I came here, to ask you, will you give me another chance, to make things right?”

Enough time had certainly passed. And each day that went on, the less hurt you felt and the more longing you felt for Matt. The more you wondered what would happen the next time you saw him—which was right now. Would you give him another chance? 

“Now that you’re here in front of me, I can honestly say that I have faith again,” you whisper, “so yes, Matt. I will give you another chance.”

Matt smiled. “If I could take an oath right now, to ensure I will make it right, I would. But instead,” Matt reached in his pockets to grab something. When he pulled out the cross necklace he gave you all those years ago, your heart dropped and now you felt tears brim around your eyes. “I want you to have this again.”

You took the cross necklace from his hand. He wrapped the thread around your fingertips, placing the cross in your palm and closing your hand to cover it. 

“I promise I won’t hurt you like I did before,” Matt said gently, “my oath to you.”

And you held onto his cross necklace like you would hold onto his oath. Faith had finally come back. 

TAGS: @starry-night-20 @sumsytee @queerqueenlynn  @mattmurdocksstarlight @marvelcinematiquniverse @hailey-murdock @yeonalie(please let me know if I missed you!)