Chapter Text
Matt woke up late. He didn’t feel bad about that. It was New Year’s Day. He was entitled. That is, until he remembered that he had a guest. Said guest was not in bed with him. Matt turned over onto his back, his senses focusing.
The first thing that he registered was the lightly falling snow. The snow landing on the pavement or against the building walls were like tiny shattering crystals to Matt’s hearing. He felt the drop in temperature, heard the ice forming on his windows. It made him smile. It looked like Frank got his precious snow, just in time for New Year’s Day.
Speaking of Matt's guest, Frank was in the kitchen, moving with the same familiarity and ease that he’d exhibited the night before. He was also cooking food that Matt knew for a fact didn’t come from his cupboards or refrigerator. Frank must’ve gone to the grocer’s down the street. He knew that place would be open, even on New Year’s. He smelled the frying breakfast sausages, and the sunny-side up eggs, and the stack of buttermilk pancakes that were already waiting on the dining table. But it was the aroma of freshly brewed coffee that finally got Matt to drag himself out of bed.
“Morning,” Frank said, when Matt came out of the bathroom and headed straight for the coffeemaker and the waiting mug.
“Morning,” Matt replied. “How late is it?” he asked, pouring himself a mugful of coffee. He took a deep breath and savored the aroma before drinking. These were the last of his Vietnamese beans.
There was a pause as Frank checked the time. “Not too late. A little after 9:00am,” he answered.
Matt nodded, leaning against the kitchen counter with his mug in hand. He wasn’t the least bit surprised when Frank ambled over and dropped a kiss on his cheek. They’d become so domestic, so quickly. Who would’ve guessed?
“It looks like you got your snow,” Matt said, thoughtfully.
“Just in time for New Year’s.” Frank sounded so pleased that Matt smiled into his coffee mug. “Your forecasting skills could use a little sharpening.”
“I said January,” Matt reminded him. “Forecasting isn’t an exact science.”
Frank grinned. "I'll give you a pass," he agreed. “You got any plans today?” he asked, while transferring the sausages onto their plates and heading to the dining table. Matt joined him.
“This is a full spread,” Matt noted, when Frank placed his plate in front of him. “Are you always going to spoil me?”
“Nah, this is the honeymoon period,” Frank said, taking his seat. “Don’t get used to it.”
Matt chuckled, cutting into a sausage. “You remember I can tell when you’re lying, right?”
“Plans?” Frank asked again, neatly evading the subject. He was pushing the sausages around his plate, evidently waiting for an answer.
“Is there another drug shipment you want us to break up? Maybe an arms deal?”
“I’d prefer that,” Frank said honestly. He sounded resigned. That reaction piqued Matt’s interest. “I got roped into a New Year’s Day lunch . . . thing.”
“A lunch . . . thing?” Matt repeated, reigning in his smirk.
“Yeah, a lunch thing,” Frank said, mildly exasperated. “Thought maybe you’d like to go with me.”
“You mean, suffer with you.”
“Okay, suffer with me.”
“Because misery loves company?
“So they say.” Frank helped himself to some pancakes. “How about it?”
“If I went with you to your lunch thing,” Matt said, drawing the torture out. “Would I be your date?”
“What else would you be?”
“Former enemy? New friend? Vigilante partner? Take your pick.”
“You always goin’ to make things this difficult, Red?”
Matt grinned. “You bet.” He placed two pancakes on his plate and Frank automatically passed him the syrup. “So,” he began. “Who’re we having lunch with?”
“The Liebermans,” Frank explained, extending his right arm for Matt to take.
Matt slipped his left hand into the crook of Frank’s elbow, his cane held securely in his right. It was time to maintain appearances. “How’d you get roped into this lunch anyway?” he asked, as they walked up the Lieberman’s driveway.
“I bailed on the Christmas lunch,” Frank admitted. “Couldn’t flake twice.”
“Do they know I’m coming?”
“Nope.”
“Are you really going to introduce me as your plus one?”
“I could always introduce you as my lawyer.”
Matt stifled a laugh as the front door opened.
“Frank!” came the excited cry. It was from a teenaged girl.
“Hey, Leo,” was Frank’s response, even as he was being crushed by an enthusiastic hug.
“You didn’t join us for Christmas,” Leo accused, finally releasing Frank.
“Yeah, sorry about that. But I’m here now.”
“Who’s your friend?” Leo stepped away from Frank and turned her attention to Matt. Matt could sense her giving him a proper appraisal.
“This is Matthew Murdock,” Frank said, making the formal introductions. “Matt, this is Leo Lieberman.”
Matt was pleasantly surprised that Frank had called him by his name, but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he extended his hand to Leo. “Very pleased to meet you,” he said.
Leo gave Matt’s hand a firm shake. “Are you Frank’s boyfriend?”
Matt’s lips quirked upwards in a half-smile. “To be decided,” he said honestly. Then he added, “I’m also Frank’s lawyer.”
“That’s good to know,” Leo told him seriously. “With all the trouble he gets into, Frank needs a lawyer. Are you any good?”
“I can hold my own.” Matt leaned towards Frank, dropping his voice slightly as he said, “She knows you well.”
“Get inside,” Frank grumbled.
By now, Sarah had appeared at the front door, followed by David with Zach lingering behind his parents. More introductions were made and then Matt was being ushered inside and into the living room. Frank ended up being the one to close and lock the front door, Leo keeping him company.
“Your friend’s hot,” Leo told him, when they were alone.
Frank felt his ears going warm, recognizing that Matt could hear their conversation. He cleared his throat. “You think so?”
“Definitely,” Leo said with such certainty that Frank grinned. She took his hand and lead him to the living room. “Smart too, if he’s a lawyer,” she went on. “He’s probably out of your league.”
Frank bit back a laugh. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Hey,” Leo said with a shrug, but she was smiling. “I’m just calling it like it is.”
Frank looked over to where Zach and Sarah were occupying Matt. Since he didn’t have Matt’s super-hearing, he didn’t know what that conversation was about, but it didn’t matter. Matt had that infuriating half-smirk on his face that told Frank he’d heard every word Leo had said.
The little shit.
“Hey, Frank,” David said, walking over and handing Frank a beer. He’d already given Matt his. “How about you and Matt come downstairs?”
“Oh, no,” Sarah immediately interrupted. “You are not going down to the man cave. Lunch is almost ready.”
“Come on, sweetie,” David cajoled. “You still need what? Twenty minutes for that roast to cook? That’s plenty of time.”
“Then you can help me in the kitchen,” Sarah argued. “Right, Frank?”
Frank didn’t have a chance to reply. Matt was smart enough to drink his beer and stay out of it. David was already walking over to his wife and giving her a placating kiss on the forehead that was not really placating her.
“Zach and Leo will be happy to help,” David said. “Right, kids?”
No response.
“We’ll be back in twenty minutes,” David powered on, leading the way to his man cave while gesturing at Frank to follow. Frank sort of sighed and held his arm out to Matt for the other man to take.
The man cave was actually the basement of the house. Originally meant to be a rec room, David had transformed it into a personal ‘work space’ to use the term loosely. It reminded Frank a lot of David’s old industrial HQ, where they’d holed up together as wanted men trying to clear their names (or, in Frank’s case, take vengeance). The differences were that the man cave was brighter, cleaner and had even more technologically advanced equipment.
“Is your friend some kind of voyeur?” Matt asked quietly, as they walked down the basement steps. “There are hidden cameras everywhere upstairs.”
“Thought he’d have taken them down by now,” Frank admitted with a chuckle. Matt inclined his head towards the other man, silently asking for an explanation.
“When Lieberman was on the lam, and his family thought he was dead,” Frank explained. “He wanted a way to keep watch over them, to make sure they were okay.”
“Hence, the cameras,” Matt finished.
“Any cameras down here?” Frank asked, standing with Matt at the bottom of the steps.
Matt did a survey, his head bowed. “Clean room,” he answered. “Surveillance is upstairs and outside.”
Frank shook his head. “Those sense of yours are really somethin’,” he said, his admiration plain.
Meanwhile, David had moved to the center of his man cave, which formed a technological hub. A bank of monitors, television screens and various computers were hooked up. On one of the television screens, the news was playing. David increased the volume. The newscaster was detailing the groundbreaking drug bust on New Year’s Eve.
“Now I know why you wanted me to gather all that information,” David was saying. “That bust you and Daredevil made last night is all over the news.” He shook his head. “Incredible. The police say it’s over five million dollars in cocaine. That’s one of the largest drug busts ever in New York City. Helluva way to bring in the new year.”
“We thought so,” Frank agreed.
“What is this ‘we’ stuff, Frank?” David asked, looking at Frank curiously. “Since when have you worked with Daredevil? You called that guy a sanctimonious prick who only dealt in half-measures.”
Frank felt, rather than saw, Matt’s smirk. The other man had released his hold on Frank’s arm and had begun to explore the room, cane in hand.
“He still is a sanctimonious prick,” Frank said, his gaze following Matt. “But he’s a highly skilled sanctimonious prick.”
“In other words, he’s useful,” Matt translated, stopping in front of a machine on one of Lieberman’s work tables. He ran a hand over it. “You have a Braille printer,” he said aloud, before he could think better of it.
“What?” David asked, still distracted by the news report. When he saw Matt admiring the Braille printer, he walked over. “Oh, yeah. Frank asked me to get one. Now I know why. I guess I was making all those reports for you.”
“It was appreciated,” Matt said sincerely.
“I guess I don’t understand why you’d share that intel with your lawyer,” David told Frank, who’d joined them.
“Attorney-client privilege,” Frank said, so smoothly that Matt almost arched a brow.
“It’s just . . .” David was thinking. “If I’d known that you were planning to work with Daredevil, it’s the kinda intel you should’ve given to him.”
A sudden tension filled the space between Matt and Frank, but Lieberman was completely oblivious to it.
“Wait a minute,” David said slowly, in a tone that indicated he’d reached some sort of epiphany.
Matt quickly cycled through plausible denials in his head. The blind card was always the safest bet. He sensed David turning towards him.
“Do you know Daredevil?”
That’s not what Matt had been expecting, especially since giving Daredevil intel in Braille didn’t make much sense to begin with. Unless Lieberman thought there was a reason the intel had to go through Matt first, as though he were Daredevil’s handler. Lieberman wasn’t entirely wrong.
“I’ve worked with Daredevil before,” Matt said. (It was Frank’s turn to smirk.)
“So, you brought Frank and Daredevil together?”
Actually, Matt thought it was the other way around, but didn’t voice that opinion. “Just a mediator,” he confirmed.
Lieberman was chuckling. “Isn’t that questionable ethics for a lawyer?”
“Most lawyers have questionable ethics,” Matt reminded him.
“But not Murdock,” Frank interrupted. “He’s one of the good guys.”
“He’d have to be,” Lieberman retorted. “If he puts up with you.”
“You have no idea,” Matt said.
“I got some idea,” Lieberman returned with a grin.
Lunch went smoothly. The food was delicious, making Matt feel spoiled for having two amazing homecooked family meals in consecutive weeks. The first had been with the Nelsons during Christmas, and now with the Liebermans during New Year’s.
“Nelson and Karen aren’t gonna miss you?” Frank had asked him that morning.
“No,” Matt had answered. “They’ll expect me to sleep in after last night.”
“’m surprised your phone isn’t ringing off the hook after the stunt we pulled,” Frank had admitted.
“Left them both voice messages,” Matt had replied, showing how he’d anticipated his friends’ reactions. “Then I turned my cell phone off.”
Frank had laughed.
The massive drug bust was the one thing that wasn’t alluded to during lunch, even though everyone at the table knew about it. Frank no longer went by the Pete Castiglione alias with the Liebermans. Frank Castle had done some awful things to awful people, but he’d helped the Liebermans and had been adopted by their family in the same way that Matt and now Karen, had been adopted by the Nelsons. It was heartwarming to know this other side of Frank, the family-man that Matt was afraid had died with Frank’s own family. Observing how Frank interacted with the Liebermans, especially Leo and Zach, confirmed that Frank was still human. That he cared. That perhaps he cared too much. Matt shouldn’t have been too surprised, not after the way Frank had been acting around him for the past 24 hours.
It was while the dirty dishes were being brought into the kitchen, and Sarah and Zach were preparing dessert that Matt cornered Frank near the doorway to the man cave.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Matt said, leaning against the wall of the semi-darkened hallway.
“What?” Frank stood in front of him easy and relaxed, hands in the pockets of his jeans.
“The mistletoe last night. On the roof. Was that your idea?”
Frank let out a low laugh. “You can tell when I’m lying, right?”
“It was a strange place to find mistletoe, Frank.”
“Nah, it wasn’t my idea. Didn’t see why I couldn’t take advantage of it, though.”
“In the middle of a mission?”
“Mission hadn’t started yet.”
“I thought lawyers were supposed to play the technicalities.”
“Murdock, you talk too much.”
And then Frank was pushing into Matt’s space, pinning him against the wall, broad hands on Matt’s hips as Frank kissed him.
There was a discreet cough. Frank pulled away and glanced to his right. Leo was standing there, a wide grin on her face.
“Dessert’s ready,” she said brightly.
“Thanks,” Frank said, placing his hand on the small of Matt’s back to guide him.
“I guess Frank’s your boyfriend after all,” Leo told Matt.
Matt smiled, leaning back into Frank’s touch, appreciating the warmth of the other man’s body along his side. “I guess so,” he said.
Fin.