Work Text:
It had been a difficult day for Nelson, Murdock & Page. They had been through a couple of months of effort and intense work in the firm and, although little by little they were recovering their name in the field, things didn't always go well. That day a witness had decided to back down at the last moment, the information they needed was reluctant to appear and the endless stack of papers they had read over and over didn't provide a single iota of light. So, after hours of despair and bad mood, they decided to go where they always did to have a beer and clear their minds a little. But it was already past ten and none of them seemed to intend to leave.
"One more drink?" Foggy asked on the way to the bar.
"Two more!" Matt replied, aware that he was not in a position to put his suit on that night and that Karen's glass was almost empty.
"I needed something like this," she whispered, leaning down and resting her head on one of her hands, her elbow on the table.
Matt nodded with a smile. Even with the glasses of alcohol that had paraded before him, he didn’t seem to find the courage to say a word if he was alone with her. He knew that if he spoke, his heart might step between his fears and his poor judgment and say something that she may not be prepared to hear. Or maybe she was. It was hard to know what terrified him the most. He had such a list of failures behind him that he doubted whether it was convenient to try his luck.
"Didn't you?" she insisted.
Stubborn, Karen was looking for her answer. He was aware that she would not stop until she found it, but he wasn't quite sure what to say or what to do.
He could confess that every day, upon leaving the office, he reproached himself for having missed another opportunity to approach her, even knowing that the same thing would happen the next day, and the day after that. And he might as well come to her and tell her that in his mind that same scene always ended with their fingers entwined under the rain, their lips flushed at the main entrance and them going up the stairs that led to her place. He could do so many things... But instead, he just smiled.
She let out a brief laugh that made him duck his head, visibly embarrassed, aware that even faced with an innocent question of hers, he didn't know how to behave. How was it possible that with just a breath of air she could tear down all his security walls? As much as he tried to come across as indifferent and be in control of the situation, all his bravery and assertiveness disappeared just because she was there.
"I'm glad you stayed with us tonight, instead of going out."
He nodded.
Her voice resonated in his ears. Her perfume eclipsed everything else. Suddenly, the only thing his senses perceived was her. The whole bar had disappeared. There were no more dry blows on the pool table, nor did he notice the strong smell of alcohol, he no longer heard Foggy talking to one of the regular clients at the bar, nor the glasses when touching the tables, the laughter, the talks... everything was gone. There was only her presence and her voice.
He felt drunk, but he couldn't blame it on the alcohol, that was how he felt every time she was by his side. She didn't need to do anything, not even talk, just be there. Exist.
Without being aware of it, Matt noticed how his hand moved slowly, as if it had a life of his own and was capable of making its own decisions, without consulting him. Feeling his own pulse accelerate because of what he was about to do, because of his lack of self-control, he approached her arm, and brushed her skin with his thumb before circling it with his fingers. Karen's heart and his own seemed to beat at the same speed.
She smiled then, took some air and her breathing stopped for an instant. Next, she exhaled very slowly and he began to move his fingers, in search for her hand. She turned her arm, inviting him to caress her skin until their fingers met. Time stopped as they brought their hands together.
They remained like this for a few seconds, in silence, feeling each other's presence in slight movements that were attempting to be caresses, but without becoming so because of the fear that, when their fingers slipped, either of them would become aware of what was happening, and the magic would disappear. It only lasted for a moment, Matt immediately felt how the bubble around them burst as a familiar voice approached.
"I got the alcohol!"
The two of them quickly put their hands away and Foggy, witnessing their smiles, left the glasses on the table and granted them a few more minutes.
"I'm going — I'm going to the restroom," he said as he turned around to give them a moment of intimacy.
"Do you think—?"
Matt nodded, smiling, and searched for the hand she had put away when Foggy arrived. She received him squeezing his, confirming that they both wanted to be like this: with their thumbs searching restlessly, their fingertips absorbing every sensation and their hearts somewhat less frantic, knowing that it made sense, that there was no reason to keep pretending that they didn't feel what they had never stopped feeling. It was now difficult to understand how, being so close, they had been able to keep their hands apart up until that moment.
"He's already out of the restroom," Matt whispered a few minutes later.
Karen sighed and, as she put her hand away again, she moved her head trying to shake off the thoughts that had settled there for some time.
"After this, would you like to—?"
"Yes, yes," Karen replied. "I'll walk you home."
Matt nodded.
Foggy sat with them, but for a short time. A couple of sips of his drink, a message from Marci that Matt and Karen knew had not come in by chance and, with a tricky excuse disguised as a sudden turn of events, he announced that he had an unexpected date and was already leaving. On their end, they feigned surprise and said it was a shame he had to go.
"But the night's still young, guys, enjoy," he told them with a complicit smile.
As soon as he walked out the door, she looked for the hand that was already on its way towards her. He brought it to his lips and kissed it before going to pay. Karen soon picked her things up and went back to his side, grabbing his elbow and resting her chin on his shoulder.
Outside, with each step they took the space between them became smaller and smaller. First they were only holding hands, studying every movement and every gesture, smiling. That small gap soon seemed immense to them and upon brushing their shoulders, she let go of his hand to put her arm around his waist. Taking advantage of this, he placed his arm over her shoulder and instinctively kissed her temple, taking his time to enjoy the smell of her hair. She turned, looking for him, sticking her body to his, and they both directed their steps toward the wall. Slowly, kiss by kiss.
Slowness and calm soon gave way to urgency. Nothing seemed to be enough, they wanted everything, and they wanted everything in that precise moment. Embraced, devouring kisses as if they were afraid they would fade away, sliding their hands over their clothes, yearning to get rid of them, hungry for caresses and more, much more, but aware that they could not have it there.
In the middle of nervous laughs they pulled away, panting.
"Maybe we should ..." she whispered.
"Yes, not one more kiss until we get home, or I won't be held responsible," he urged, laughing.
Holding hands again, they resumed the journey avoiding the traffic lights that made them stop, looking for shortcuts, accelerating their pace. The city was immense, the apartment farther than ever, but although it seemed like time and distance were expanding, they reached their destination.
Upon closing the door, they gave themselves a brief moment. They knew the time had finally come and the anticipation, the waiting, made each nanosecond they spent apart eternal, full of sensations that would be recorded as a living memory in their brains.
All the moments they had imagined a thousand times paraded impetuously through their heads. They had wanted them so much, but they were always too busy building and tearing down walls to stop and actually make them happen. And there they were at last, waiting, preparing their hearts little by little, anticipating that happiness that for so long they had believed was not for them.
He took a deep breath as he listened to the cadence of her heart, which speeded up when she saw him take his glasses off and put them in their case, finally showing his face free of his most usual mask. Matt let out a slight smile and she moved her hands to caress his lips with her fingertips. Her pulse increased as she felt how he placed one hand on her neck, the other one on her hip and leaned in to kiss her, gently brushing her lips, his tongue barely poking out. She surrounded him with her arms, one hand lost in his hair, the other one on his back, pressing him against her chest.
They walked towards the bedroom together, leaving her bag, their shoes, their jackets behind... Upon reaching the bedside, she nodded when she noticed his hand stop by the zipper of her dress. Matt smiled and rested his forehead on hers to calmly enjoy the moment. Karen put her arms down from his shoulders, and just felt as he unfastened the zipper, uncovering one shoulder first, then the other one, until the dress slid down slowly. She removed her feet from it and pushed it aside, aware that along with it, on the floor, lay the remains of that wall they had built based on deceptions and fears.
When he surrounded her again with his arms, between kisses, he took the opportunity to keep undressing her. She started fighting with the buttons on his shirt and Matt joined her fight, so she moved her battlefield somewhat lower. She unfastened his belt, his pants, and he helped her get them down on the floor next to her dress and the little clothing she was still wearing and that he was hurrying to make disappear.
Once naked, their bodies were found to be magnetic, each pore of their skin discovering places they were unable to stay away from. Their lips, their hands, their most intimate parts were accommodated in each other’s warmth, finding a shelter that they had long known they wanted, but not that they needed so much. Suddenly, they both felt immersed in him, in her, surrounded by their smell, sound, touch, their taste, capturing everything carefully, Karen with her eyes wide open, Matt feeling everything, even without being able to see it.
So much time trying to hold their feelings and, without planning it, those feelings had surrounded them and built new walls, housing with them that love that invaded them, making them feel calm and complete.
Because it was her and him. At last. Him and her. And time, relative as it is, made the few hours that had passed since that unplanned brush at that bar seem like a lifetime. Everything was new yet, at the same time, it was something they had been living with for years.
For them it had been a while since there was no home other than that person they had by their side. They were each other’s refuge in stillness and during the storm. Their one constant. Their safe spot, their place to return to. Their reference, their longing, their weakness and their strength.