Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the beginning Brett hadn’t really noticed, so yeah the guy sometimes came in with a small limp or a partially visible bruise. Matt was blind and, according to himself, a very clumsy guy.

But Brett never knew Matthew Murdock as a clumsy guy, even in the police precinct which was a hectic place filled with desks and chairs and people walking around Matt always seemed to be able to find his way with that cane of his, and usually Foggy’s help. When Matt came in alone Brett always offered the guy an arm, he usually took it, but it was clear that both did this more out of politeness than necessity. Because of this is was a strange experience when Matt started coming in with various injuries over the last couple of months.

Brett didn’t see Matthew that often, they weren’t really friends. Brett saw Matt whenever they needed to speak for a case or when he happened to run into him on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. Brett and Foggy weren’t even really friends, sure they helped each other out every once in a while, but that had more to do with the fact that they had known each other for so long. It wasn’t like Brett and Foggy got together regularly to go watch the football game or something, but they did trust each other to some level. At least as far as trust could go between a cop and a lawyer. Brett trusted Foggy to not outright lie to his face, which was more than he could say about some other lawyers in the city, Matthew Murdock included.

Matt appearing with seemingly small injuries every once in a while was not that strange, and he always offered up an excuse for them. It ranged from “hit my shin on a coffee table” to “I got so drunk I tripped over my own cane”. Brett always accepted these excuses, he had no reason to question the blind lawyer. Not until that one day.

It started off as any other day. Some teenager got caught driving a stolen car, the teenager in question however was very adement about the fact that he had not stolen the car and had no idea that it was a stolen car in the first place. The evidence was not in his favour, he had asked for a lawyer and it turned out that Nelson and Murdock had helped his family with a tenancy issue in the past. So they were called, and they came in. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary, Foggy was charming and optimistic like always and Matt was glued to his side saying very little except for the occasional critical question.

Brett welcomed them in and briefly spoke to them about the teenager and the reasons why the NYPD thought he was guilty as hell. That’s when he noticed something. Matt had a black eye, like someone punched him straight in the face. It was mostly hidden behind his dark glasses, but Brett still noticed.

“Damn Murdock, what happened to your face?” he questioned.

Matt shrugged, “Nothing much, I was taking the trash out and someone left a bag in the hallway, just tripped and hit a wall in quite unfortunate fashion.”

“No way that happened to you."

Matt just shrugged, this stupid little shrug angered Brett, it felt like Matt was making fun of him in some way, “I’m literally a cop, you think I don’t recognise the effects of someone planting a fist in your face?!”

“Don’t worry about it alright, it’s not that bad, it’ll heal,” Matt protested.

“Did you get robbed or something? Blind guy in a fancy suit like you walking the streets would make a prime target. If you got mugged you would be better off reporting it to the police. I mean you’re already here right, I could just call over a colleague to take your statement. I’m sure Foggy could handle your client by himself.”

“Brett I’m fine, I didn’t get mugged, it probably looks worse than it is, don’t worry about it.”

Brett looked at Foggy hoping to get some support on the fact that Matt was being absolutely ridiculous, but was met by a neutral face. Not the neutral face of someone who was uninterested or relaxed, but the neutral face of someone actively trying to not show any type of emotional response to a situation.

Again, Brett was a cop, and a good one at that, and these two idiots treated him like he was the weird one in this situation. Where these lawyers fucking with him right now?! No, they knew Brett wasn’t stupid, he could only assume it was something that they wouldn’t want a police officer to know about.

Maybe one of their clients got a little handsy, they worked in criminal defence after all, surely that type of stuff was not uncommon. If a client did hit one of his lawyers before trail that type of thing might be kept under wraps. They were still supposed to argue their clients innocence. It would be a little hard to do that when the person who was supposed to defend the criminal was also a known victim of said criminal.

“Listen Brett, you and Matt can keep arguing this, or we can just go and meet with our client. Which is the actual reason we are here in the first place,” Foggy sounded annoyed and tired.

Brett decided to drop the issue, for right now at least. After that day however it became a lot more noticeable to Brett how much Matt was actually injured on a regular basis. His excuses also simply didn’t cut it, most of them sounded believable enough if they happened once or twice, but who trips that much?! Matt might be blind, but he was not nearly as clumsy as he was making himself out to be.

The worst part however was the fact that whenever Matt was giving some flimsy excuse Foggy would just stand there, emotionless. Sometimes sounding tired of slightly annoyed, but that was it, he would always go with whatever Matt was saying.

Brett was worried, surely, every time he saw Matt stumbling into the precinct. But he knew asking would just lead to more flimsy excuses, and it wasn’t like he saw Matt that much or that they were actually close in any way.

No Brett didn’t start actually worrying until he handled a particularly bad domestic violence case. The story started like any other, a man brutally hitting his wife. But this case was not like the other domestic violence cases Brett had handled before. The abuser had no history of violence, no history of substance abuse, the only criminal history they could find was a single parking ticket. Every person they interviewed about the abuser had seemed absolutely shocked. The guy was so nice, so optimistic, he helped his elderly neighbour bring her groceries inside, he held doors open for people. No one suspected anything until his wife went to a friends house, and had promptly collapsed. It wasn’t until she was in the hospital that anyone started to connect the dots. The wife had some noticeable injuries before it came to that point, but it was always described as her being clumsy.

Brett didn’t want to believe that any of his friends would do something like that, but assuming that they wouldn’t treat their partners horribly just because they were nice to their friends was the reason why abuse could continue for so long.

Shit, shit, shit, he didn’t want to think about things like that, but what if....? What if Brett had just been too blind to see it. What if there was more to Matt just being a clumsy blind guy. What if there was more to that story and Brett was doing NOTHING. Just sitting by and watching. Foggy wouldn’t do such a thing, not Foggy. Not the sappy nerd who looked at his boyfriend with stars in his eyes, not Foggy who...... was nice and optimistic..... who Brett could totally see helping his elderly neighbour bring her groceries inside or hold doors open for people.

Brett knew Matt was a smart guy, a really smart guy, but what could he truly do in a situation like that. Defend himself? Out of the question, he was blind, how was he supposed to know where to hit someone. Go to the police? A place where Foggy clearly had friends and connections? Brett knew that if someone ever came in with a story about domestic abuse he would believe them and try to help them, but did Matt know this? Brett was suddenly very aware of the fact that he and Matt barely knew each other, it was likely that Matt didn’t trust him, not enough to tell him about something like this. Tell a friend? Who would he tell? Brett was pretty sure that everyone Matt was friends with was also friends with Foggy, it was a side effect of them always being glued to each other side. Brett was pretty sure Foggy had friends outside of his little Nelson and Murdock bubble, but Matt, it was unlikely that he knew people that Foggy didn’t.

Wait a minute.... their Nelson and Murdock bubble was bigger than just the two of them, they had a secretary, the blonde one that they once defended. What was her name again? Oh right Page, Karen Page. If Brett noticed something was up, then their secretary and friend who saw them every day must also know something was wrong. Brett knew he had nothing to go off, he couldn't just arrest Foggy under the vague superstition that he might hit his boyfriend. Except for Matt's injuries there was no evidence of any kind. He couldn't talk to Matt directly, maybe Matt was scared, maybe all he would be doing was making the situation worse. No this needed to be handled with care, time to gather some evidence and testimonies before doing anything. He knew who he would talk to first, it was time to bring in Karen Page... again.

Chapter Text

Karen liked her two bosses a lot, they were nice and considerate and funny, she enjoyed spending time with them and they quickly became the best friends she had.
Karen was also very smart, she knew things, and if she didn’t know something she investigated until she did.

Now she had always known Matt as a clumsy guy, not as in she had ever seen him walk into something, but she had seen the supposed effects of him walking into something many times.

Despite Matt and Foggy living together, it was not uncommon for Foggy to come into the office by himself some mornings. Matt usually stumbled in an hour later, it didn’t matter much, Karen knew not to schedule his meetings first thing in the morning. She asked him about it once and he had mumbled something about just not being a morning person. Foggy told her Matt had “sleeping issues”. Apparently he had a hard time getting to sleep so he was often up until late, and in the mornings Foggy didn’t have the heart to wake him up, as he needed all the sleep he could get. Karen thought that was reasonable enough, it wasn’t like they had many clients that needed Matt early anyway, and when needed he always stayed later to make sure all his work for the day was finished.

However, Matt just being a little late wasn’t the only issue. He also tended to walk in like..... well like someone beat the crap out of him. It usually wasn’t very noticeable, a small limp, a bruise or scrape peaking out from under his suit, a short but painful sigh as he sat down, none of these were uncommon occurrences. These things became so frequent she started to worry. She knew Foggy also worried, whenever he noticed Matt being hurt he always pulled a face that was an appropriate combination between utter sadness and worried, but there was also some annoyance in there, maybe even some disgust.

One time after Matt had stumbled in late and left early to attend some mysterious meeting that definitely wasn’t in the schedule she decided to question Foggy about the state of his boyfriend.

“What do you want me to say?” Foggy had shrugged, “Matt is a blind and stubborn dumbass who isn’t as careful as he should be.”

“Aren’t you worried?” Karen questioned.

“Of course I’m worried, but what do you want me to do?!” Foggy had snapped at her, he later apologised for it.

This went on for a while, Karen would first ask Matt what was wrong and he would give her the vaguest answer he could possibly give. Then she would go to Foggy, and Foggy would be worried about Matt and irritated with her. In conclusion, she never got any type of answer. The only data she had been able to gather so far was “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine” “He is just stubborn and clumsy and refuses help from anyone, believe me I’ve tried” and “This isn’t 20 questions Karen, stop worrying and go back to work, we have actual things to get done today.”

One day however Foggy actually snapped at Karen, and she finally got some new information. It had been another day of Matt limping in late, locking himself up in his office, and suddenly disappearing while Karen was printing something and Foggy was in a meeting with a client. Matt had left all his work neatly on his desk, and it was unclear wether he would return today. After Foggy’s client left, Karen saw another chance to interrogate him for his boyfriends odd behaviour and the obvious strain it left on their relationship.

“Fine, you want to know?! You actually want to know?!” Foggy had spoken in a tone that wasn’t quite yelling, but it sure ass hell was close.

“Yes, obviously I want to know! Was that not clear yet?” Karen replied in a tone that was a little less close to yelling than Foggy was, but is wasn’t a tone one would usually talk to their boss in.

“Fine, you know what?! Whatever, I’ll give you the answers you want. Matt...” Foggy hesitated, “Matt has an alcohol problem.”

“Wait what?”

“Matt.. has an... alcohol problem, okay. He just goes out drinking, late at night, and he returns early in the morning. And there is nothing I can do about it!” Foggy had all those theater classes that he took when he was younger to thank for this, he sounded quite convincing. Of course the whole he goes out late at night and doesn’t return until early in the morning bit was all true, which made the lies flow all the easier.

“Wait what? Matt’s like an alcoholic?”

Foggy just nodded, of course he felt bad about lying to Karen, and he’d have to tell Matt about it later, but keeping his secret was more important than Matt’s pride or whatever, and Karen could not get close to the truth. To be honest, Foggy had almost given it up, it was so hard to have no one to talk to about this, but he couldn’t betray Matt like that. It was a lie that made sense, it would explain Matt’s mysterious coming and going. It also explained why Matt had so many injuries when he was not a clumsy guy when sober. The only time Karen had seen the guy walk into something was when he was very drunk.

But what neither of the lawyers knew about Karen is the fact that she knew what addiction looked like, and it didn’t look like Matt. She has gone out drinking with Matt and Foggy before and Matt never did anything out of the ordinary, no excessive drinking or frequent mysterious trips to the bathroom. He actually tended to stay more sober than Foggy or Karen did. Matt’s breath never smelled like alcohol, but he also didn’t smell like mouthwash, or anything else alcoholics commonly used to get rid of the alcohol smell. If he was truly an alcoholic then he would have a flask on him somewhere. As office manager she was allowed to go through every drawer in his desk, he never locked any of them. All other storage spaces in the office were carefully colour coded by Karen herself, there is no way the blind lawyer would be able to hide something in there without Karen’s knowledge.

One time when Matt went to the bathroom she even looked through his bag. She knew it was an invasion of privacy, but once Karen entered investigation mode things like privacy didn’t bother her anymore. She was almost disappointed when she didn’t find anything noteworthy. Sure, Matt had the unfortunate habit of turning up to the office looking like a car crash victim, but Karen wasn’t entirely convinced that had anything to do with alcohol.

That’s when she got an interesting phone call from a certain officer Mahoney...

Chapter Text

Karen liked to consider herself to be pretty smart, so how she ended up being in a police officers house at a random Wednesday evening, she’ll never know. Everything about it was sketchy, and she was very aware of that. Brett had assured her over the phone that she was not in any type of trouble as whatever matter he had to discuss with her had nothing to do with her personally. He had also invited her into his home. Foggy had also always been very adamant about Brett Mahoney being a trustworthy cop, but Karen still didn’t feel quite at ease. It didn’t help that Brett had been so vague about the whole situation. Karen bought her handgun.... just in case.

Brett seemed nice enough, dressed in jeans and a sweater instead of his uniform. He had offered her tea and they sat down around his dinner table.

“So to start off I want to tell you that anything said here is completely of the record, I don’t have a case yet, I’m just trying to figure something out.” Brett said.

“Why am I here?” Karen asked immediately.

“It has to do with your bosses Nelson and Murdock. As office manager you must have a pretty good idea what goes on in there.”

Karen was not going to fall for the obvious trap Brett had put down. If Karen agreed that she knew what was going on within Nelson and Murdock she could be held responsible for god knows what. It was better to ignore the statement and ask a question of her own.
“Why not ask Foggy? I thought you two were friends? Why ask me?”

“I can’t ask Foggy because this concerns him directly. I need an outsiders perspective.” Brett replied.

“A perspective on what?”

“Have you noticed anything odd with Matthew Murdock? Strange behaviour? Wounds or injuries?” Brett decided that he was going to be the one asking the questions now.

“I know you said that I wasn’t in trouble, but is Matt in trouble?”

“No absolutely not, if anything it’s the opposite, I’m trying to help him.”

“Help him how?”

“I think Matt is in trouble, not trouble with the law or the police, and he isn’t saying anything because he’s trying to protect others. But I could help him, the police in general could help him, even if he didn’t ask for help.”

“Why do you think Matt would need your help?”

Brett sighed. “Miss Page, you seem like a smart woman. I’m sure you have noticed that Matthew Murdock sustains more injuries than the average person, blind or not. I might have reason to believe that he is being hurt on purpose, I’m sure you agree with me on the fact that an accident can only happen so many times and I highly doubt that he would do it to himself.”

“Wait do you think Matt is being blackmailed or something?”

“Not quite, but yes something like that.”

“Could you be any more vague?! If my friend is in trouble I would like to know about it.”

“Exactly miss Page, I would also like to know about it, why do you think I reached out to you?”

Karen hesitated, this cop seemed to be genuinely worried about Matt. The alcohol story never made sense to her, but Matt getting involved with some bad people? It would have to be really dangerous for Matt to not say something, that guy never backed down from any type of legal battle. Matt didn’t know fear, even when god knows who was after them Matt stayed calm and collected. They had taken clients that came with complicated pursuers, just look at Karen herself, but Matt never backed down, he was the man without fear. But Brett also said something about Matt trying to protect others, if someone threatened Foggy around Matt, who knows what he would do. Probably everything in his power to keep his boyfriend safe.

It did make more sense than the alcohol story Foggy had told her, and that worried her. Foggy had sounded so convinced of it, but what if he didn’t know? Karen only thought it was suspicious because she knew how addiction could manifest itself. Foggy however, the nice lawyer from a normal middleclass family, probably had no idea. Alcohol was a good cover, Matt was smart enough to think of something like that. But still one thing didn’t make sense in Brett’s story.

“You said you wanted an outsiders perspective, but why not ask Foggy? He might be close to Matt but he isn’t the one turning up with injuries. If Matt got into trouble Foggy has nothing to do with it. On top of that they are also together, if anyone knows Matt’s comings and goings it would be Foggy. So I ask again, why am I here?”

Brett looked down, fidgeting with the sleeves of his sweater, a nervous habit. When he looked up however all that hesitation was gone, he looked determined.

“I think it might be Foggy who is hurting Matt.”

***

That’s how Karen ended up keeping track of Matt’s injuries in an secured noted app on her phone. She didn’t want to believe it, but Brett was making an awful lot of sense. It made more sense than the alcohol story. Tracking some of the injuries she could notice on Matt wasn’t hurting anyone, and Brett said it might be useful later. It didn’t mean that she believed anything he had said, she would come to her own conclusions, but it was a possibility she had to keep in mind.

Brett was able to see the notes Karen took on his own phone, he had warned Karen about not being secretive with her phone. If Karen suddenly started keeping her phone overly close to her person in the office someone might notice. It wasn’t as if they had anything to worry about, Foggy was not particularly tech savvy and Matt..... let’s just say the phone was a touchscreen.

They spoke on the phone every couple of days, both doing their own type of research. Karen keeping a close eye on everything going on in the office, and Brett researching everything about domestic violence. They had talked through a list of symptoms once, the results of that conversation were worrying to say the least.

“Alright so I found a list of what to look out for in victims of possible domestic violence, let’s just go through these points and see what’s familiar, especially for you, because you see them almost every day.” Brett had said.

“First point: physical violence. Signs include all types of injuries, the ones they mention here are black eyes, bruises on the arms, busted lips, red or purple marks on the neck and sprained wrists.”

“I’m pretty sure Matt has had all of those at least once.” Karen had said.

“Yeah I noticed that too, other signs of physical violence are wearing covering clothes, heavy makeup or sunglasses inside.... well that’s kind of useless information as Matt always wears sunglasses.”

“He also always wears a suit, but that’s normal for someone who works at a law office.”

“Let’s just move on to the next point for now, when there is physical violence there is usually also other types of abuse. The next point is emotional abuse, signs may include agitation, anxiety, or constant apprehension. I’m pretty sure Matt has always been an easily agitated guy.”

Karen almost laughed at Brett’s relaxed tone, and he was not wrong.

“Changes in sleep habits.” Brett continued his list.

“Wait stop, yes Matt’s sleep habits are horrible, is that really a sign?!” Karen interrupted him.

“I mean it’s on the list so yeah, also what do you mean his sleeping habits are horrible?” Brett questioned.

“He is whatever the opposite of a morning person is. Matt is always late, he walks in all grumpy and tired. Foggy said it’s because Matt has issues getting to sleep at night.”

“Foggy said that? Damn okay. That’s a good point to keep in mind.” Brett scribbled down sleeping issues on his notepad, “the next point is developing a drug or alcohol problem.”

“Okay no stop again,” Karen interrupted, “that’s what Foggy said!”

“Wait Foggy said what?”

“Foggy said Matt had an alcohol problem, and that’s why he has all those sleeping issues and injuries. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, Matt never drinks excessively when we hang out, his breath never smells like mouthwash or mint or anything that could cover up the smell of alcohol, and there is no way he is hiding a flask at the office, believe me I’ve checked.”

“Damn you really did your homework. That’s very interesting information.” Brett scribbled down possible alcohol issues?? on his notepad. “I guess it would make sense in Matt had an alcohol problem in some capacity, but maybe it’s just not bad enough that it gets noticeable. If what you are saying is true it’s very unlikely that Matt’s injuries come from being an alcoholic, but it could be contributing to the situation.”

“What I’m saying is true.” Karen repeated headstrong.

“No no of course, didn’t mean to doubt you, I’m just trying to make sense of all of this. Uhm let’s just try to get through the list for now, and then we’ll look at all the information we gathered. The last few points for emotional abuse are extremely apologetic or meek, loss of interest in daily activities, low self-esteem, seeming fearful, symptoms of depression and talking about or attempting suicide.” Brett took it as a good sign that Karen didn’t interrupt him again.

“Not sure, nothing in particular coming to mind for those. Matt has always been a bit stand-offish.”

“Yeah that makes sense. We also have to remember that Foggy an Matt have been together for years, at this point how are we sure what is just Matt’s personality and what could be a warning sign.”

“That’s.... a very good point.”

“To be honest Matt really is just a walking warning sign sometimes. The next category is behavioural changes and let’s just say that we have already mentioned a lot of them. The signs are becoming reserved and distant, beginning to isolate themselves by cutting off contacts with friends and family members, cancels appointments or meetings at the last minute, drops out of activities they would usually enjoy, exhibits excessive privacy concerning their personal life or the person with whom they're in a relationship, and is often late to work or other appointments.”

“As his office manager I can say yes to almost all of those, Matt likes doing things by himself, is late on a very regular basis and cancels appointments a lot more than I would like.”

“So what we figured out so far is that Matt basically exhibits signs from every category..... that’s good to know.”

“What do we do now?”

“It might be time to bring Matt in, just to see if we can talk to him, offer some help. There isn’t much else we can do, all the evidence we have is completely circumstantial. It would be nice if you could also be there, you are a more familiar and safe presence to him than I probably am.”

***

There was one thing that Brett didn’t know. The encrypted note app Karen had on her phone was not just for Matthew Murdock, it was also for a man by the name of Daredevil. She had been keeping track of all his sightings. She analysed any case that might have to do with the masked vigilante.

The only reason Karen was still on the fence about the domestic violence story was the fact that Matt’s injuries and the Devil’s activities just fit a little too well. Or maybe she was still in denial about Foggy and slowly going insane from her daredevil hunt.

Chapter Text

It didn’t happen often, but sometimes both Matt and Foggy had appointments at the same time. Foggy had a client with some contract issues who he had been assisting by himself, it wasn’t the type of big case that needed two lawyers. So when Brett and Karen were hatching their plan Karen just made sure to plan an appointment with “a possible new client” at the police station for Matt when Foggy just happened to be busy with his own case.

Karen offered to walk with Matt to the precinct. The appointment was late in the afternoon, the only thing left to do at the office for the day was for Foggy to have a meeting with his client. They discussed that Karen would assist Matt at his meeting and Foggy got to lock up the office when he was done.

Matt didn’t really need a guide to stop by the precinct, he had been there plenty of times. But clients liked handing their lawyers big stacks of documents, documents that Matt of course had no way of reading. Karen has gotten pretty good at being able to quickly pick out the most relevant information from any legal document and read it out loud to Matt.

That’s how the two of them ended up walking to the precinct together, Brett was waiting for them. He welcomed them in and showed them to one of the more secluded meeting rooms in the precinct.

Matt and Karen sat down. Brett lingered.

“Alright thanks Brett, you can just send in our client.” Matt tried to wave him away, he just wanted to get through with this business. He still had things to do afterwards, he hoped to do a little research on one of his leads before going full Daredevil in the evening.

“Actually Murdock,” Brett sat down, “you are today’s client.”

“I’m not sure I follow, do you need to ask us some questions?” Matt asked.

He could hear Karen’s heartbeat going up next to him, why was she so damn nervous. Maybe just the thought of being in a police station, surely nearly getting strangled in your cell would leave you with some type of police-related trauma. But she hadn’t sounded this nervous when walking in.

“Some questions yes, but first I want to let you know you are safe here, the police is here to help you if you will accept it, but of course we won’t handle behind your back.” Brett also seemed nervous now, he was trying to appear steady, and doing a pretty could job of it, but his body still showed signs of sweat starting. It seemed almost like he was preparing for a fight. But what the hell was Brett talking about??

“We didn’t mean to ambush you Matt, we just want to help.” Karen said. Wait... Karen is involved in whatever is going on here? Matt tried to wreck his brain, but couldn’t think of any explanation, he didn’t keep any strange secrets that would warrant such worry..... except..... No there is no way they knew.

“What are you talking about?” Matt questioned.

“You can talk to us Matt, we know.” Karen said. Truth, she spoke the truth, Matt was sure of it.

His face must have shown some of the panic that was settling in his chest because Karen took a barely audible short inhale, the same way she did when she saw Matt hurt. It was pity and worry, Matt hated hearing it.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Matt replied firmly. How would they know? kept echoing through his brain. He was also starting to sweat now. They didn’t know, they couldn’t know, even if Karen had spoken the truth.

“Please, you can talk to us..... Matt please.” Karen’s voice sounded small.

It hurt Matt, he didn’t enjoy hearing her like this. He remembered a conversation* he had with Foggy a few weeks prior. (*read: fight). Foggy had tried to convince him that he needed to share his secret with Karen, Matt had of course refused. One sentence Foggy had said stood out to him: “You better tell her, because she will find out, thinking she won’t is underestimating her intelligence and you know it. It’s just a matter of time.”

Brett was just sitting there, observing what was going on, he and Karen decided it was probably best if she took the lead, especially in the beginning. He saw Matt sitting on his chair like a statue, completely unmoving, he had seen it before in many criminals. Matt was scared shitless and trying to keep it together, trying so hard in fact that he went into complete denial, which was suspicious in and off itself. Matt was getting into his own head.

“The injuries,” Brett said, “care to explain?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, I’m blind alright, things happen.” Matt was headstrong, but for a lawyer he wasn’t presenting any good arguments right now.

“How long has it been going on? How long have you been hiding this?” Brett just continued, not even taking the time or energy to address the last statement.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Matt repeated.

“Cut the crap Murdock, we are trying to help you here.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, I don’t need help, why am I here?”

“Talk to us at least. We know what’s going on, it makes sense. The injuries, the late mornings, the secrecy. Just talk to us, please. We are trying to help you before you get hurt even more.” Brett was nearly pleading with him at this point.

“I don’t need anyone’s help, I have everything under control.”

“So there is something that you need to control, something is going on?” Brett asked.

Matt can’t believe he walked into that. He is a lawyer, he should know better. He just fell for the simplest trick in the book because Brett got him off his rhythm. What was he getting all worked up for in the first place?! It was obvious that the two suspected him, but they had no proof. If they had proof they would have let him know by now, no no Brett was trying to make him talk, trying to make him say something stupid by being vague. Brett might have been able to talk him of his rhythm, but Matt was a lawyer, talking people out of situations was literally what he did for a living.

“That is not what I said and you know it, you are trying to trick me into talking about something, because you don’t actually have any evidence. Now I don’t know what you want to hear from me, because I have no idea what you are talking about, so I obviously have nothing to do with whatever it is you think I do. I’m not your guy officer, so me and Karen will be taking our leave.” Matt made up his mind, he wanted to leave, and he knew Brett had no right to keep him.

“Please just wait, you don’t need to do this. You keep getting hurt and if you leave now that’s just going to continue. I’m not going to leave with you.” Karen said.

“Karen, don’t be ridiculous, I don’t know what weird ideas have gotten into you. Let’s just go home, Foggy is going to close up the office soon anyway.” Matt got up from his chair and started walking towards the door.

“Don’t go home, please.”

That made Matt stop in his tracks. Karen didn’t sound like she was messing with him, she was honestly worried about him. Did she knew he kept the daredevil suit at home? He supposed it was a logical assumption to make, and she sounded genuinely concerned about him. He knew Foggy was always worried about him, when he started daredeviling Foggy had barely slept, he would wait up until Matt was home. Now he simply slept lightly, and mindlessly tried to find Matts hand to squeeze with his own whenever Matt joined him in the bed in the middle of the night or early morning.

He really needed to invest in some better body armour, even if it was just to keep his friends off his back.

“Why not? Give me one good reason why I wouldn’t just go home right now, I’m listening.” Matt sighed, he didn’t want to upset Karen, and it sounded like she was actually about to cry.

“This needs to stop. You’ll get hurt, we all know it.” Oh no was Karen actually crying? She sounded like she was trying to speak as steady as she could but the waver in her voice and the slight taste of salt in the air betrayed her. Was she trying to stop him from being daredevil? This was Foggy all over again, Matt didn’t need this, he knew what he was doing, if only his friends could trust that.

“Do we now? Do we all know it?” Matt questioned. He knew Karen was upset, but at this point he just felt anger, trying to confront him in a police precinct, trying to guilt him into not being daredevil anymore with a few tears. Matt wasn’t thinking anymore, it was highly out of character for him. If Foggy couldn’t stop him what did Karen think she was going to do, but of course that is what the police were for. Brett was probably just waiting to bring him in, catching daredevil, that would get him a promotion for sure. He didn’t think Brett was a bad guy, but he would be crazy to let the chance to arrest daredevil go.

“Why did you need to go involve him?” Matt pointed his cane in Brett’s vague direction, slightly to the left, just to play up the blind thing a little more. “I knew you were observant enough for this, but why go to the police?”

“Actually,” Brett spoke up, “it was my theory, I went to Karen with it, instead of the other way around.”

It seemed like the police officer was smarter than Matt gave him credit for. He knew Brett was smart but figuring out that Matt Murdock was Daredevil with the limited information he had on both of those identities was incredibly impressive.

“Interesting, but neither you nor Karen have any conclusive evidence, and that’s why you need me?” Matt questioned.

Brett nodded, then realised it was a stupid thing to do and make a uh-huh sound instead.

“Well that’s not going to happen, good try though. I’m going home, wouldn’t want to worry Foggy by sitting in a police precinct for hours.” Matt turned around and then thought of something, “you didn’t involve Foggy in any of this did you?”

“Oh God no,” Karen said.

“Blasphemy,” Matt mumbled, unable to stop himself.

“I’m a professional Murdock, of course I didn’t involve Foggy. He has no idea that this conversation is taking place, and he won’t know anything said here.” Brett sounded slightly offended at Matt’s question.

“Great, let’s keep it that way, no need to upset him. In fact, let’s all forgot that this ever happened.” Matt smiled and turned back towards the door.

“Why are you being so goddamn stubborn?! Yeah yeah blasphemy I know, but come on! We are trying to help you, we are trying to offer you an out, and you are just not going to take it?! You are just going to leave and continue your life like this?!” Karen was basically yelling at him now.

“Yes, yes I am. The two of you just don’t get it, I don’t need help. Like I said before, everything is under control. Just leave me alone.” Matt was done with this entire conversation.

“Murdock, how long are you going to let this continue? How long are you going to let this escalate? How long until you turn up dead somewhere?” Brett spoke up.

“How long until you turn up dead somewhere?” were also words Foggy had said to him many times during their daredevil related arguments.
Why did Matt choose the furthest chair from the door, walking through this room was taking forever, especially because he had to stop every step to get yelled at or questioned.

“That’s not your business officer, just stay out of my way.”

“I can’t just stand by and do nothing, it isn’t right.” Brett actively stepped in between Matt and his path to the door now.

“But that’s what you are going to do, because without evidence there is nothing else you can do.” Matt told him.

“You could help us get evidence. Just allow the police to monitor you. We can get evidence. Even just your word would be evidence enough, or go to a hospital, we both know you could use one.” Brett tried.

“Oh yeah, because that’s not writing my own death sentence, are you kidding me here Brett?! How stupid do you think I am?!” Matt was truly done with them, he was done with Brett, he was done with Karen. Who knows what type of sentence he could get when tried in court for being a dangerous vigilante. They couldn’t get him on murder, but Matt wouldn’t be surprised if there was a manslaughter case in there somewhere. And they could definitely get him for assault, breaking and entering, disturbing police investigation, all that stuff.

Brett seemed a little taken aback by Matt’s outburst, and he was pretty sure Karen was actually holding her breath. For a few seconds there was absolute silence in the room.

“Is that why you didn’t tell anyone? You didn’t tell us what was going on, why not? We could have helped you, we can help you now.” Karen seemed to regain her voice.

“And risk getting you involved? Risk you getting hurt? No, I won’t do that.”

“You can’t possibly put us in any more danger than you are in every single day.” Brett spoke. “We know what we are doing.”

“Listen, if we were to continue this questioning you need to bring me in properly, which means I would have the right to a lawyer. And I think all of us know that there is only one lawyer I would pick.” Matt was pretty sure the last thing Foggy would want to do is defend daredevil in court, and it was definitely a conflict of interest, but there is no one else he would trust to do the job. Foggy would do it, if only to stop Matt from defending himself, which every lawyer knew wouldn’t go over well with the jury. Karen and Brett knew what a great lawyer Foggy was, they had seen him in court, it felt like an appropriate warning to give. It wasn’t quite a threat, but he wanted them to know that if they decided to pursue this daredevil case, they wouldn’t just be working against Matt, they would be working against Nelson & Murdock as a team. And all that manpower against a case they had no evidence for, there is no way that would work out in their favour, and they knew that.

Karen’s heart actually skipped a beat at his last words.

“I don’t want to arrest anyone, at least not without your permission. I want to help.” Brett spoke, oddly enough he spoke the truth, he didn’t waver for a second.

This surprised Matt, it seemed like he hadn’t formed an accurate idea of why Brett brought him in. He had been sure that Brett had wanted to arrest him, even though the evidence showed that that wasn’t the case. He thought back at all the police officers exclamation that he wanted to help, they had also been the truth. Upon further inspection of the room Matt noticed that the only buzzing was the lights, no cameras, no microphones. Maybe Matt’s assessment that Brett didn’t like the devil had been wrong, maybe he actually wanted to help. Maybe Brett was sick of the injustice in this city in the same way Matt was, and he wanted to do more than just driving the criminals that fell victim to daredevil to the hospital or precinct.

Daredevil worked alone, but he wouldn’t say no to some intel every once in a while. As long as it didn’t compromise Brett’s career or Karen’s safety, his value as a trustworthy police officer was too high and she was a brilliant investor.

This conversation was honestly pulling him in every direction. Did they know? Was Karen trying to stop him? Was Brett trying to help him? Left is right, up is down, and Matt is completely lost on what these two wanted. But without cameras and microphones in the room he felt like he could speak a little more freely.

“Do you actually want to help?” He questioned.

“Yes” both Karen and Brett said, they sounded exasperated.

“Fine, I probably wouldn’t even be able to stop the two of you if I tried. But don’t do anything stupid, or get yourself hurt. Communicate with me before doing something.”

Brett and Karen agreed quickly.

“Now how do you want to help?”

“We can get you to a safe house out of the city, somewhere to spend you time until we decide what to do next. There is also a police car near your apartment, we can get Foggy arrested very quickly.” Brett said.

Matt’s voice got dangerously low. “Was that a threat? Are you threatening me officer?”

No one had ever threatened Foggy, at least not directly. No one knew who the devil was, meaning they couldn’t actually threaten his loved ones, only make vague threats that they had no way of making true.

If Matt had thought about it for a second longer he would have realised that Brett’s statement made no sense, that there was obviously something there that he was missing. But Brett had just threatened Foggy directly, and Matt lost all critical thinking skills.

“What, no no, I didn’t mean it like that.” Brett tried, it was too late, the devil had come out, and he wasn’t there to play.

Matt punched Brett straight in the face.

Brett’s head exploded with pain, and the only clear thought he was able to manage was he has spectacular aim for a blind guy.

Chapter Text

Karen felt like she couldn’t move, her heart was beating so loud. All she could do was stare at her friend.

Matt was still standing in the middle of the room, breathing hard. His cane tossed on the ground and he was clenching his fists at his sides.

“You are him.” Karen spoke in a whisper.

“What?” Matt moved his head slightly in her direction.

“You are him, the man in the mask, daredevil. It’s you, it’s actually you.” Karen had spent much of her time reading any article she could find on the mysterious man, she replayed her meeting with him in her head over and over again and she was incredibly familiar with every piece of grainy security footage there was of him. A punch thrown with so much precision, the injuries matching up with the devils activity. It both made so much sense and made no sense at all.

“Correct.” Matt spoke, it felt stupid to deny it now.

Brett made a painful noise from the ground and tried to get up. Karen seemed to wake up from the haze she was in and appeared at his side, helping him into a chair.

“What the actual FUCK was that?!” Brett groaned.

“You will not threaten my loved ones, officer. If you have an issue with me you will handle it with me alone.” Matt stepped closer.

Karen stepped between them, effectively stopping Matt from taking another step and putting Brett within punching reach again.

“No no he wasn’t threatening anyone, this is just a big misunderstanding, just stop for a moment, please.” There was a desperation in Karen’s voice, but there was also truth in her voice.

“I will ask again, what the fuck was that?!” Brett spoke again, voice steadier than it had been before.

Matt had the slow realisation that he just punched a police officer in a police precinct, and he also effectively proved his own secret identity.

Oh fuck... great job man..... what happened to talking yourself out of situations, you know, the thing you actually went to school for and are supposed to be really damn good at. But no no no, you just had to screw it up the second someone spoke Foggy’s name. Brett wasn’t even threatening to hurt him or anything.

“Let’s just try to sit back down and talk this out.” Matt’s emotional thought spiral was interrupted by Karen.

Matt took the chair opposite of Brett and for a second the two men were just staring each other down.... well Brett was staring Matt down, Matt was just facing Brett and emanating bad vibes.

“Maybe the third time really is the charm, so I am going to ask again, what the fuck just happened?” Brett said, obviously annoyed and confused.

“Matt is daredevil.” Karen supplied, as if that explained everything that just went down and required no further explanation.

“I.... what?? Do I have a concussion? What the fuck?” Brett murmured, more to himself than to anyone else.

“No, you don’t.” Matt said, tilting his head slightly.

“Okay so I have five million questions, but let’s start with why did you just hit me? Or how did you just hit me? Or just a general did you just hit me?”

“You threatened Foggy, I know how to throw a punch, and yes.” Matt answered.

“That.... answers my questions but at the same time it really doesn’t.” Brett replied. “But how do you do all these things? Daredevil fights crime and jumps off buildings and all that? And you.....” Brett trailed off, all the things he was thinking of were not exactly polite. He didn’t want to say you are blind or you are a total nerd that I wasn’t even aware could throw a punch until seconds ago or you need someone to lead you through unfamiliar territory so how the actual fuck can you go roof flipping at the docks to the guy who had just punched him in the face.

“We have established that I know how to throw a punch, is it really that hard to believe I might know how to stick a landing too?” Matt smiled, and not his kind I’m Matt Murdock and my boyfriend said something funny smile , but his cocky I am Daredevil and you should know better than to fuck with me smile. At that point any type of doubt that Karen had left in her vanished, she knew that smile.

“I can’t believe you are daredevil, how did you keep that a secret for so long?” Karen asked.

“Well obviously I did a shit job of it.” Matt mumbled.

“Does Foggy know?” Karen asked.

Matt just nodded.

“Wait wait wait, hold on, can we recap? I feel like we skipped over a lot of information in a very short time. YOU,” Brett pointed at Matt, “are DAREDEVIL.”

Matt nodded again.

“Daredevil is a blind lawyer who apparently knows how to throw a spectacular punch. Foggy knows this, and Karen you really are not nearly as surprised as I think you should be.”

“I had my suspicions.” Karen shrugged. “Your theory just made more practical sense.”

“Your theory?” Matt questioned.

“I had this theory,” Brett shrugged, “which I think we can throw out the window now I’ve seen how well you can throw a punch. Oh and also the fact that you are daredevil.”

“We thought that Foggy might be hurting you, because of all the injuries and secrecy.” Karen said helpfully, finally getting the words out there that could have prevented this whole mess, but of course it couldn’t be that easy.

“No way, Foggy would never, I can’t believe you would even think something like that” Matt bristled, obviously very offended at the thought. “If anything he tries his best to keep me out of danger. Wait, is that what all of this was about? Is that why you were so upset Karen and Brett was talking about arresting him?!”

“Correct, but I already had my suspicions that you were daredevil. But you punishing Brett with such ease really proved my theory.”

“You two.... are so smart and so stupid at the same time.” Matt sighed.

“Yeah we can say the same thing about you mister summa cum laude daredevil.” Karen scoffed.

“Fair enough, I promise you though, Foggy never did anything to hurt me.”

As if Foggy was the one with super-hearing and simply reacted to his own name Matt’s phone went off. A mechanical Foggy...Foggy...Foggy echoed Matt’s words.

Matt picked up.

“Hey, is your meeting running late?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Any idea when you’ll be home?”

“Hopefully soon”

“I’m going to order Chinese, you just want your regular?”

“Sure, actually could you hang on a second?” Matt turned towards Brett and Karen. “My sweet, kind, and completely not dangerous boyfriend is questioning why I’m still here and frankly I’m thinking the same thing, I assume I’m free to go officer?”

“Whoa not that fast, I just found out you are daredevil. We are not done talking.” Brett seemed incapable of saying it without really pronouncing the word daredevil, like he still did not believe it at all.

“Yeah after you very clearly stated that you weren’t going to arrest anyone, what were your exact words again?” It was a rhetorical question, Matt remembered what Brett had said, and he now repeated those words back to him. “‘I don’t want to arrest anyone, at least not without your permission. I want to help.’ Or when you started this conversation with ‘the police is here to help you if you will accept it.’”

“Okay, first of all, that was when we thought this was about something very different. And secondly, is a freaky memory part of the daredevil skill set?” Brett sighed.

“Not really, that one is part of the lawyer skill set.” Matt smiled, he knew Brett would arrest him, not right now at least.

“I’m sorry did I just hear what I think I did?” Foggy’s voice sounded from the phone that Matt had lowered so he could speak to Brett, but not actually kept far out of reach far enough that Foggy couldn’t hear what was going on.

Matt placed the phone back against his ear. “Karen, Brett and me might have had a little conversation about daredevil.”

“Well it doesn’t sound like you guys are done talking. What do you think, should we invite them over for some Chinese? Have a good conversation about our man with horns? Might be a good idea to bribe the police officer who I’m pretty sure might still want to arrest you later with some Chinese, don’t you think?”

Matt didn’t really feel up to it, but he also knew that it was a good idea to try and answer all questions now, so he could just get it out of the way. He also knew he really did owe Karen and Brett an explanation.

“You two want to eat some Chinese at my place and talk it over?” Matt asked them.

Karen nodded, a habit she still hadn’t fully let go off even when working around a blind guy on a daily basis. Luckily Brett gave him an audible “I’m guessing that’s the best deal I’m going to get, counsellor.” Matt wasn’t sure yet how much of his powers he was willing to share.

“Alright just tell Foggy your order.” Matt put the phone on speaker and held it towards them.

They both rattled off a basic Chinese takeout order.

***

All four of them were sitting around Matt and Foggy’s dinner table. Brett was able to leave a little early from work so he had offered to drive the three of them to the apartment. The car ride over here had been filled by awkward silence, but that cleared up once they were happily welcomed by Foggy and bags of food at the apartment.

Quickly the conversation subject moved back to Matt being daredevil, because why hold smalltalk when you are in the room with the devil of Hell’s Kitchen, who is also your friend.

“I will give you the short rundown, you two know the whole story of how I got blinded, right?” Matt asked.

“Pushed a guy away from a truck and got some weird chemicals in your eyes?” Brett offered, kind of unsure now.

“Correct, well the chemicals that blinded me also upgraded all my other senses. I might not be able to see you but I hear your heartbeat, so I know where you are. That’s how I managed to punch you.” Matt explained.

“Wait, you’ve had freaky powers since you were a child and I never knew? I met you in college. You were just walking around being able to hear everyone’s heartbeat? I don’t know why I assumed weird superpowers to be a recent development but I did.” Brett was a little shocked by the fact that the guy he met as Foggy’s nerdy friend actually had supernatural abilities.

“How good are these senses?” Karen questioned.

Matt focussed for a second before smiling. “You changed your toothpaste brand last week, this morning you were running slightly late so you just had an apple for breakfast. Right now your heartbeat is around 85bmp, which is just a bit more than the average 75bmp you usually have. Actually while I just said that it went up to around 110bmp.”

“Show off” Foggy scoffed which earned him a small snort from Matt.

“So wait hold on you don’t actually have any superpowers?” Brett questioned.

“Uhm yes I do? Did I not explain that right?” Matt said.

“No I get the whole super hearing and smell and stuff, but you don’t have any extra durability? Or strength? Or agility?”

“I work out.” Matt said defensively.

“No wonder you have so many injuries, you go up against the fucking maffia with two sticks and no fight-related superpowers. You are just some dude with a death wish.” Brett laughed.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him.” Foggy said.

“First of all, they are not sticks, they are batons, which as a police officer is something that you should be aware of. And secondly, I was trained alright, I can hold my own in a fight.” Matt was getting more defensive by the minute.

“Of course you can mister child soldier.” Foggy sighed lightly, the words were not loud so it was questionable if Karen and Brett had picked up on them, but Matt definitely did.

“Where did you learn how to fight like that in the first place? You say you were trained, but where and how?” Karen questioned like a true journalist trying to cover as much ground as possible.

Matt didn’t know what to say for a second, this was his least favourite part of the story to tell, it would just lead to pity and more questions he didn’t really want to get into.

“It’s a long story I don’t really want to get into....” Matt trailed off.

“His dad was a badass boxer.” Foggy said, he knew that Matt didn’t like talking about Stick or Elektra or the Hand. Foggy hated helping Matt lie, but what was one more? The biggest secret was already out there.

“That is correct.” Matt smiled.

He would tell them all the full story eventually, but for now he was just enjoying being around his friends. All of them sitting around the dinner table, eating cheap Chinese food, and not hiding a huge secret about his identity. It felt like he was just a little bit lighter, a little bit more free.

The prospect of not having to hide his abilities around the office anymore made the embarrassment of what went down in the police precinct fade away. It helped of course that Brett and Karen were just as, if not more, embarrassed than Matt was. They decided against telling Foggy that Karen and Brett had temporarily thought him an abuser, it would just hurt his feelings. They said that Karen and Brett had confronted Matt in the police station because they were worried about all the injuries and secrecy, which was not a lie, simply omitting a part of the whole story. And omitting the truth was something Matt had learned to be really good at.

And so, even with plenty of secrets still left unsaid between the four of them, it all felt a little better.