Chapter Text
Matt disliked not knowing things. Perhaps this originated from the whole blindness thing. Maybe it came from the way people tended to keep him in the dark from visual secrets or events. Maybe it had to do with how his father got murdered.
Maybe it was all of them combined.
It wasn’t that much of a problem really.
Not a problem at all.
It, however, did mean it was no surprise he immediately hated this entire situation.
Yeah, he was running late. Probably later than what was usually acceptable in an office setting. But hey, he was his own boss, and his co-workers knew about his whole… devil situation, and tended to be lenient. Even if that leniency came with a lot of worry, fussing and mother henning.
He spends the nights fighting thugs in alleys. And yet, his friends still worry when he looks like he fought thugs in alleys.
He hated to admit it, but it was kind of… nice to have somebody care about his safety in a not blind related way.
He also hated it.
He did not deserve his friends; they shouldn’t have to worry about him. He only brings them misery, but he can also Not. Live. Without. Them.
Not for lack of trying. Because oh boy, did he try.
It’s an absolute miracle they still stick around, after everything he put them through.
But their return into Matt’s life did mean he worried about their safety just as much as they worried about his.
It’s only a matter of time until some villain finds out about his identity as Blind Matt Murdock and targets the people he cares about.
Ugh, feelings.
But going back to the situation at hand.
He was only a block away from their office, straining to hear Foggy’s heartbeat, voice, anything really, to know (okay, maybe it was a problem, bite him) how he was feeling, so he could prepare to be as tolerable as possible. It was the least he could do for making him worry all the time.
So when he could hear another person with Foggy, his mind shot a frantic panic through his entire body.
It couldn’t be Karen, her interview with some ex-convict had started- he felt for his watch- 7 minutes ago.
He subconsciously picked up the pace.
If any by passers were to give him weird looks for it, well, he couldn’t see it, could he?
His cane was barely brushing the sidewalk as he moved; sometimes it even skipped the ground entirely.
Matt couldn't care less.
He internally leafed through every enemy Daredevil had fought. Did he know any villain who had recently been released from prison?
No, Stilt-Man, who’s release date was the closest, was not coming out for at least another month.
Perhaps it was an enemy of Foggy? A real one, not the weird ‘Sworn enemies but actually really caring friends” relationship he and Brett had going on.
Foggy’s heartbeat was certainly agreeing with the enemy option. It was fluttering irrationally inside of his chest.
But the heartbeat, right.
He could identify emotions with heartbeats. Not amazingly accurately, unfortunately. He would love to be able to gouge the mood in every single situation without having to say a word. Being able to differentiate between the emotions that cause stress, and an increasing heart rate, would be helpful to say the least.
Especially now, because knowing whether Foggy was experiencing fear, anger or anxiety was pretty important to Matt. He was not close enough yet to determine anything but Foggy’s stressed heart and the annoyingly calm and steady heartbeat that the other person was sporting.
Matt was now mere meters away from the door that marked the entrance of their office building. If anyone saw him throw his entire weight at the door in his haste to open it, they kept quiet about it.
All Matt could think about was his need for Foggy to be safe and away from whomever is making his heart rate spike.
He could now distinguish more information about the other occupant in the office; it was a woman, on the old side. She was perfectly at ease, well no, her heartbeat was doing something weird.
She was frustrated.
Matt didn’t know whether to be glad or even more anxious. Frustration could mean something not going the way she wanted it to go.
On one hand, this could mean Foggy was outsmarting her. On the other hand, frustration could lead to violence and violence is something he wanted to keep as far away from his friend as possible.
He couldn’t smell blood. Yet. But he really did not want to wait any longer to try his luck.
The strange thing about this situation, the thing that made Matt hesitate just outside of the office, was the lack of sound from inside. Regular sound, sound a person without enhanced senses would be able to hear.
Not a word was spoken his entire way there. Their heartbeats were reacting, but no words were actually spoken as far as Matt could tell.
But the only way to find out what was going on, short of sneaking through the outside window, was to open the door and get inside.
So he took a deep breath and let his cane click on the ground as he walked down the hall to the door.
He heard both heartbeats speed up. Good. They heard him.
Now all that’s left is to find out what’s wrong.
“Hey Foggy, sorry I’m late; something came up.” He spoke loud and clear as he opened the door.
The scene he entered was not one he necessarily expected.
Foggy was standing behind his desk, his entire body tense as he flipped through some papers of a case.
An old one, because Matt knew for a fact that all cases Foggy had picked up were already settled in court.
The woman was sitting on a chair just next to the door. She was taking in everything about Matt’s appearance the second he opened the door.
He suddenly felt self-conscious about the clothes he had quickly thrown on this morning. Is this really my black tie? Or did I put on that avocado patterned one Foggy had bought me? He pondered while stroking the subject of clothing.
Actually, he wouldn’t really mind wearing either. A tiny part of his brain kind of hoped he was wearing the one Foggy had chosen just for him.
It made him feel weird. But a good weird, he couldn’t really describe it.
It was a very Foggy specific feeling.
Matt could feel the judgement radiating off of her. But she was no threat, physically at least.
He sensed no weapon on her and she was no muscle powerhouse. He could smell her wealth; she was not someone to get her hands dirty. He could definitely take her in a fight… If it came down to it.
Foggy was the one who broke his silence first. “Hey Matt, don’t worry about it. We had nothing urgent planned while you were gone.”
Okay.
That statement had a lot to unpack. The wording had meanings and Matt needed a few seconds to link the words to their meanings.
So Foggy was not going to bring up the elephant, well, woman in the room. He was completely ignoring her. But his heartbeat and overall nervous energy implied that he could see her. She wasn’t invisible or anything like that.
This meant Matt had to be the one to broach the subject.
And also Foggy’s last sentence. We had nothing urgent planned while you were gone. They did not have anything urgent planned this entire day. Matt had checked before he fell asleep last night.
So why not say that?
The conclusion was drawn quickly.
The woman was not allowed to know.
Foggy wanted an out if the woman overstayed her welcome. (Which she already had if you asked Matt. Anybody who made Foggy stressed this fast overstayed their welcome the second they walked in.)
He could deal with this. He had dealt with worse situations.
First on the agenda; identifying the woman.
Matt had only barely entered the office. So he turned around to close the door, purposely knocking into the woman with his cane as he did.
He jumped a little and made, what he hoped, a realistic startled face.
“Oh, sorry. Didn’t see you there.” He smiled, but offered nothing more as he tilted his head sideways. Mentions about his blindness always made people uncomfortable and uncomfortable people tended to talk to fill the silence.
“Ah, are you Mr. Murdock? I require your assistance.” Her voice was stern and matter of factly. It reminded him of how he always imagined Captain America to sound like, until he talked to the man for real.
Get to the point then. Sure.
“Just tell us your problems and we’ll see what we can do.”
Both of their heart rates did something weird at his use of us and we.
There was something between them. A history he was dying to know about. An ex was unlikely; she was clearly way too old to fit Foggy’s type. He would be vaguely concerned if that happened to be the case actually.
He had no time to dwell on it though, because the woman and Foggy both rushed to speak.
“Excellent, that will work for me.”
“You mean for her to only talk about her case, right Matt?”
Matt exhaled silently. Navigating this conversation might be harder than he initially thought.
Foggy had still not addressed the woman, only strictly speaking to Matt and the woman might have done the same thing. It was hard to tell if she spoke to the both of them or just him.
“Sure. Tell us your woes.” He settled on saying, the latter part of the sentence taking a sort of mocking tone. Perhaps the humor would scare her off, he would not be that upset about it if it did however.
It was the wrong thing to say, because the woman became excited while Foggy just sighed with dread.
“Thank you,” she sounded entirely too pleased, Matt noted disdainfully, “I’ll really,” Matt heard her hand brush over her purse, “appreciate it. I’ll have the required paperwork ready for the respective parties.”
So she was prepared and was going to pay. A lot. And based on a hitch in Foggy’s breathing, he knew it too.
They needed the money; they couldn’t pay rent with apple pies and hugs. He never regretted taking a case pro bono, but getting paid was always nice.
“But we should first hear her case, to see if we’re even interested.” Foggy was still talking to Matt only.
Weird.
Even weirder was this role reversal. It was usually Matt that needed to remind Foggy to not let his desire for money lead his heart.
“Yeah…” he agreed, still a bit unnerved. This whole situation gave him a loathsome feeling. She managed to rattle him and he did not even know her name yet.
“Sorry, I don’t think I caught your name, Ms…?”
“Sharpe, Rosalind Sharpe.” She replied and Foggy’s heart and breath did a weird stutter. It was enough to distract Matt from the familiarity of that name. He decided right then and there not to take her case, no matter what it was. He hated how she made his partner react.
Sharpe didn’t continue talking, so it was once again up to Matt to fill the silence. He missed Karen already.
“Maybe we should sit first.” He offered, because it was getting quite awkward with their positions. Matt and Sharpe were still next to the door with Foggy standing on the other side of the room.
“Right, yes, of course.” Foggy stumbled over his words and Matt felt another piece of himself die. He desperately needed to know the reason for Foggy’s discomfort and delete it from existence, as soon as possible. Even if that meant fist fighting this woman right here and then.
He stayed silent as he listened to Foggy and Sharpe sitting down at the desk Foggy was just standing behind before he joined them.
“Chair is at your ten o’clock.” Foggy narrated when Matt got close enough to the chair next to him. He didn’t really need it; the pretense was there strictly for Sharpe.
Plus, the added bonus of that narration was Foggy speaking normally for the first time the entire morning. So that was nice.
Maybe a bit more than nice, but who was Matt to say.
When they were all settled it was silent for a few tense seconds.
“So, the case?” He helpfully reminded Sharpe, who had not said another word after Matt had learned her name.
“Of course, yes. So I go to Generic Bank™ and they’re suing me.”
Her heartbeat was steady, she was either convinced of the truth of her claim or it actually was true. Matt supposed he could hear her out, if only for a little bit longer.
“And for what exactly?” Foggy cut in, his voice unusually cool.
Sharpe didn’t seem to take notice, or she chose to ignore it. “They’re attempting to sue me.” She amended her claim, it rang as a lie.
Interesting.
“They demand I pay them back an enormous sum of money for no reason.”
Lie.
Matt’s face might’ve broadcasted his skepticism. Because Sharpe quickly fixed her statement.
“No reason that would hold up in court. I got the money through totally legal means. I got most of the documents to back it up ready. I just need a good law firm to represent me.” She finished her explanation.
In the end she was telling the truth. It sounded very open and shut.
He could feel Foggy’s eyes on him, looking for confirmation of her story. He could only nod in response.
He did not miss the disappointing sigh that followed. Oh how he hated this day already.
It fell silent again. Matt really wanted to send the woman away already. But he refrained, he needed to console his partners first, which meant he needed to wait until Karen returned at best.
Suddenly Foggy’s heart sped up. Matt tilted his head at his friend questionably. But Foggy did not respond, he instead took a deep breath and finally started speaking to their not-client.
“And if I may ask, why exactly aren’t you handling this case yourself?”
Matt was stunned into silence for a second, as was Sharpe.
Foggy spoke to her directly.
Sharpe quickly recovered, she straightened up, her heartbeat went into overdrive and she wound herself up to respond, but Foggy cut her off before she could say anything.
“Because, as all of us definitely know, you are a pretty successful lawyer yourself, Mrs. Sharpe.” He continued, this time it sounded straight up accusing.
Matt mentally scolded himself. How did he miss that? He was talking to The Rosalind Sharpe. A big, successful, yet controversial, lawyer.
This certainly explained some of Foggy’s nerves.
A big time lawyer interested in their small practice was never good news.
Added to that, she could definitely represent herself in court. She was arguably more skilled than Foggy and him, which said a lot.
Her success rate was not something to joke about. Which did indeed leave the question.
Why? Why come to them?
“I am not established in New York-” She got cut off by Foggy once again, “Why are you in New York, Rosalind?”
“Strictly business related, don’t you worry Franklin,” she responded contemptuously.
Franklin?
This was getting personal really fast. Matt did not want an assault case on Foggy (or his own) record. This conversation needed to stay professional.
“As I was saying,’ she paused, likely to give Foggy a pointed glare, before continuing, “I’m not established in New York as you guys are, I’ve read about the Fisk case,” She paused, “I need this settled, fast. So the logical conclusion is to go here, is it not?”
If Foggy’s incredulous huff was anything to go by, he did not share her opinion.
Matt could not agree with his partner more. He had enough, he did not have the patience to wait for Karen, he needed this woman out of this office, now.
“Surely there are other options at your disposal? I’m sure Landman and Zack would be happy to take your case.” He flashed her his most fake charming smile he owned.
Suddenly Foggy’s heart pattern changed. “Matt, wait,”
What?
“We should talk it over with Karen first.”
What was going on? Why did Foggy just have a change of heart?
“Thank you Franklin, call me when you have a decision.” Matt heard a card hit the desk as Sharpe stood up.
Foggy’s heart did yet another stutter before she strolled out of the office. The sound of her clacking heels echoing in Matt’s ears as she exits the building until finally disappearing as she entered the street and blended in with the masses.
It was only silent for a few minutes. Well, as silent as it could be. He would call 911 if Foggy’s heart, breathing and blood flow suddenly fell silent.
But neither men spoke or moved after their uninvited guest left. They just sat for a while, stewing in their own thoughts.
“So what was that?” Matt eventually broke the silence.
“We should console Karen before we take any walk in case like that, right?” But his heart was not in it. Foggy sounded tired.
“Well yeah but,” He for a second grasped for a way to communicate his confusion. He was a lawyer, sure. But when Foggy was involved, he sometimes struggled in the whole speaking thing, “you didn’t like her. You were stressed.”
“To put it lightly,” Foggy scoffed, but agreed.
Matt gestured with his hand to emote how that was exactly what he meant.
“But we should still talk it over with Karen. Hate to say it buddy, but we kind of need the money.”
“I thought we left Landman & Zack, because we didn’t want to do it for the money.” Matt tilted his head a bit and smiled, it was more confused than genuine. But he internally sighed. Foggy was right, they did need the money, but Matt would put Foggy’s comfort level over cash Every. Single. Time.
“And whose fault was that? If it were up to me we would still be there, screwing over old ladies and selling our soul to the evil law gods.” Foggy easily went along with the more lighthearted conversation.
Matt involuntarily barked out a laugh. “There’s no such thing as evil law gods.”
Foggy hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re right, there’s no evil law gods. Only evil law demi-gods, like Landman and Zack.” He perked up, “Matty, I just realized why their firm is so successful! They had help from the supernatural!”
“They didn’t have any help from the supernatural because the supernatural doesn’t exist,” Matt hoped he wasn’t lying, “nor are they demi-gods.” Matt added.
“Would you be able to tell if they were though? Their demi-god status could have magically stayed off your radar. Literally.” Matt could hear Foggy’s smile in his voice. “You know, because of your superpowers that give you a 360 radar sense.”
“They’re not superpowers!” Matt huffed indignantly.
“Then what are they, Matt? Because they seem pretty superpower-y to me.”
“They’re, well…” Matt trailed off, “enhanced abilities.” He eventually settled on.
Foggy snorted, “that’s the same thing! Like I said, super powers!”
“You’re putting words in my mouth counselor, I never said that. They’re not the same thing, you said super powers, I said something completely different.” Matt could feel the argument tipping in Foggy’s favor, he didn’t really mind though.
The entire Sharpe ordeal was already being tucked away in the back of his mind. Locked in a drawer labeled things-to-worry-about-as-Daredevil. He couldn’t really do anything about it until then anyways. Nothing that wouldn’t unsettle Foggy that is.
“Then please, counselor, enlighten us with the difference between ‘superpowers’ and ‘enhanced abilities’.”
“Well, the name for starters,”
“Overruled, they’re synonyms!”
“Well,” Matt could hear Karen enter the building, she was wound up about something.
She would also make the perfect distraction.
This was good, now all he needed to do was to stall until she entered their office in order not lose this debate, “another aspect of the two terms that is different from,” he spoke very slowly, every second counted after all, “each other.”
Clack, clack, clack.
She was so close, yet so far. If Foggy paid attention, he could definitely hear her too.
“Is the amount of… power! Each word-”
Clack, clack.
Karen was in front of the door. He just needed to finish this sentence with a statement that sounded good if you didn’t think about it for longer than two seconds.
“has in the usual vocabulary of the average citizen.” He finished his bullshit explanation, just in time for Karen to open the door.
“That’s not-” Foggy started to argue, but was cut off by the door swinging open.
“You would not believe who I just saw!” She immediately gushed. And successfully distracted Foggy from whatever rebuttal he was about to make.
Sort of.
His 360 degree radar sense was telling him that Foggy was still side-eyeing him.
“Do tell.” Foggy sounded half interested. The other half was no doubt still hung up about how Matt acted.
“Doctor,” oh no “Fucking” why him? “Strange.”
“Did you talk to him?” Foggy’s attention on Matt disappeared immediately, his thoughts abandoned for Stephen. Fucking. Strange.
Ugh.
“I didn’t want to bother him. He could be doing something important. But it’s still so surreal, so many cool people live in New York, just, everywhere.” Karen sounded giddy as she sat down at her desk.
Ugh.
Changing the subject was risky. His voice might remind Foggy about his bullshit argument earlier.
Could he risk it?
“Was he in full superhero gear or did he look casual? Can people like him wear casual clothes? I bet it’d look weird.” Foggy’s enthusiasm made the decision pretty obvious.
Yes. Yes he could.
“Full superhero-”
“How was the interview?” He asked before Karen could answer Foggy’s question.
“Oh, yeah,” Karen paused, her good mood slipping away by the millisecond. Matt instantly felt bad, it was not a good interview then.
“Mister Nezorf is, um, was very distrusting,” she sighed, “I learned absolutely nothing from him.”
“Ah, I’m sorry it went that way.” Was all Matt could offer.
Foggy hummed nonsensically from where he was reading something on his laptop.
And then his heartbeat spiked.
Big time.
He almost spoke up about it, but Foggy revealed the cause before Matt could muster the courage to ask.
“Did you guys know-” Foggy started, his voice rising slightly as he spoke.
“Yeah?” Karen didn’t look up from her computer. Matt didn’t even bother talking. A short hum was all Foggy got as confirmation he was listening.
“-that even Captains America get discriminated against for their orientation?”
“What?” Matt finally stopped reading and put his entire focus on the conversation. Why was Foggy reading about Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers of all people?
They didn’t find out about his identity, did they?
“Isn’t it Captain Americas?” Karen cut through his thoughts.
“No, no, it’s definitely Captains America, there are multiple Captains, not Americas.” Foggy paused, “Well, now that you mention it, the naming is kind of vague. America could mean both continents, they should be more specific.”
Karen made a thoughtful noise. “Sure, but Captain United-States-of-America doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well, does it?”
Matt finally remembered how his voice worked. “I feel like that is not the part we should focus on,” he cut in, “Foggy, please explain what brought this on?”
“Right, well,” Foggy fell silent again, reading whatever superhero business was on his monitor, “A certain Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers were charged with public indecency. They claim all they did was hold hands, they need a representative to defend them in court.” Foggy summarized.
“Aren’t they friends with Stark? Make him and his huge lawyer team help them.” Matt really did not want to mix his day and night work. He also did not want any association with the Avengers, in any form.
“Didn’t you hear?” Matt tilted his head towards Karen, “Stark is currently in space. Perhaps they don’t know how to get in contact.”
“Still doesn’t make this our problem,” Matt grumbled.
“But Matty, they’re Captains America. How could we not help them!” Foggy gushed, “Matty, buddy, you don’t understand, we have to take this.”
“You don’t get to keep all the really cool superheroes to yourself, Mr. Murdock. That’s unfair!” Karen (unhelpfully) added.
“Yeah, Matt, not everybody can run around in red leather and get away with it. You can’t keep these very, like really how are they not models, beautiful people to yourself. Sharing is caring, Matt.”
Matt knew the criminals would feel the results of the emotions coursing through him later at night. But later was not here yet, so he had to deal with them as Matt Murdock, for now.
Why didn’t Foggy and Karen understand he didn’t want the dangerous people he (unfortunately) came across at night to meet them?
He couldn't put them on the radars of even more villain’s by associating with people who are notorious danger magnets.
“Please, Matt, let us help them fight injustice with their gay love.” Karen was definitely making puppy eyes at him.
He pretended not to notice.
“C'mon Matty, let us meet hunk one and hunk two.”
That made Matt feel a weird rush of… something. He knew it was a negative emotion, because it made him want to punch someone.
Preferably the Captains.
“We’re not taking this case.” He said matter of factly.
The disappointment in the room was suffocating.
He was working with children.
“Fine, fine! We’ll take the case, please stop being so overwhelmingly sulky.”
“Yay! Thank you Matt.”
“Karen, we’re going to meet real superheroes! No offense.”
“Overruled, all taken.” Matt grumbled half-heartedly. He heard Foggy’s heart and knew he didn’t believe in his own statement, which did more to Matt’s heart than he’d wanted to admit.
It made this entire situation maybe not that miserable after all.