Chapter Text
To say Matt Murdock was surprised to find Spider-Man in a dumpster behind Panit Pad Thai was the understatement of the century. In fact, one might even venture to call him shocked.
He leaned over the open dumpster, enduring the smell if only to make sure that he wasn’t severely misreading the situation, however-- his original hunch had been correct. That was, in fact, Spider-Man in a dumpster.
Suddenly, the trash-covered vigilante began to groan, clawing his way back to consciousness. “Ugh… God?”
He sounded younger than Matt thought he would, almost pubescent really. “No.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think Heaven would smell like old Thai food…” he grumbled, snatching the carton of noodles off his head and tossing it over his shoulder, “who are you anyway?.. Are you a LARPer?”
“What the hell does that even mean?”
“Like-- Live action roleplaying?”
“You’re making it very tempting to leave you in this dumpster.”
“Sorry, sorry--” he attempted to stand, but quickly realized it difficult to find his footing in loose garbage, “but seriously, can you give me a hand?”
Matt pondered this request for maybe a beat too long before grabbing Peter’s hands and yanking him out of his rotten pad thai hell.
“Thanks,” he said, frantically attempting to brush the remnants off his body and bolt, “I really appreciate it!”
However, not before Matt seized his arm, “Not so fast, Spider-Kid.”
“Spider- Man.”
“What exactly happened to you anyway?”
“I kinda got caught up fighting this big gray guy’s henchmen and they were comin’ from all over and I was fightin’ ‘em off, because I’m Spider-Man and that’s what I do, and then I realize, ‘Oh shi- shoot! There’s more of ‘em!’ Then one of ‘em pulled out this gun lookin’ thingy and I woke up in that dumpster.”
Oh lord. He really was a kid. However, that wasn’t the part that alarmed him most. “Did you say a ‘big gray guy’?”
“Yeah? You know him?”
“I think I may…” Matt released him from his grasp. “Which way did he go?”
“I don’t know? The opposite direction?”
Immediately, he began to sprint in the opposite direction and of course-- Peter followed.
“Hey! Wait a minute! You’re not gonna try and take this guy on yourself, are you?!”
"That’s the plan.”
“But he’s huge and has like-- a million henchmen!”
“I’ve seen worse, kid. I promise.”
“At least let me help!”
“No.”
“Why not?!” Peter whined, practically jumping from wall to wall just to keep up with him.
“Because I just picked you up from a dumpster. That’s why.”
“But I’ve literally never seen you in my life!” He exclaimed, land squarely in front of Matt. “How does that make you any better at this job than I am?”
“Well, for one, I’m an adult and you sound at least fifteen. And also, this is my neighborhood and whatever goes on in my neighborhood is my business.”
“Okay, I am not fifteen-- I’m sixteen and that doesn’t tell me who you are!”
“I’m Daredevil and that’s all you need to know.” He shoved him aside. “Now get out of the way, kid.”
“Wait, but Mr. Devil! Haven’t you considered the fact that maybe we’ll have a better chance with two people rather than one?” He asked. “I wasn’t kidding when I said he has a lot of guys.”
Matt paused, weighing his options. It quickly became apparent that this kid wasn’t going to leave him alone and would probably just follow him anyway, no matter how much he snipped at him. So really, it was pointless to just ignore him and put him in needless danger, when he could just work directly with him and put him in slightly less needless danger.
He sighed, “... Alright. Just try to do what I tell you and don’t get in the way.”
Peter pumped his fists in the air, “Nice!”
He cleared his throat, realizing how embarrassing that sounded, and attempted it once again in a deeper register. “I mean, uh-- nice .”
Matt’s face immediately met with his palm. “Let’s get this over with. Please.”
“Yep, yep, totally. Totally professional and cool collab. You got it, Mr. Devil.”
“And stop calling me that.”