Chapter Text
Matt set the bag of groceries on the counter. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”
“Of course I do.” Foggy set down his own bag so he could throw his arms out expansively. “It is a crime, an actual crime, that you haven’t had the chance to experience me at my culinary finest. My mother would weep with shame over me if she knew.” He put a hand to his chest. “You wouldn’t want my mother to cry, would you, Matt?”
Matt just grinned, the bright, happy one that Foggy loved so much. “You have cooked for me before.”
Foggy grinned back at him, helpless to do anything else. “Yeah, but not when I was hoping to get laid afterward.” He walked over, stealing a quick kiss before also stealing his glasses and setting them safely aside. “I promise you, I achieve a whole other level.”
Matt’s expression softened, but there was a wicked tilt to the curve of his lips now. This look was a hell of a lot newer than the grin, but Foggy loved it, too. “I think it’s safe to say you’re going to get laid anyway, no matter what dinner tastes like.”
“I should hope so,” Foggy teased back, reveling in the way his heartbeat kicked up a notch when Matt looked at him like that. He didn’t have to hide any of it anymore. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be wooed in an appropriate fashion.”
“This is my first wooing, but I’d say you’re already doing a pretty good job,” Matt said quietly, his face radiating all the affection and wonder in the world.
Foggy’s throat tightened, and he had to clear his throat before he spoke again. “Stop being so adorable. It’s distracting.”
Matt grinned again. “Then at least let me help.” He held up his hands. “I promise you I won’t accidentally chop my fingers off.”
“You’d better not. I happen to like those fingers.” Foggy got out the skillet he’d brought over – Matt’s kitchen area was better than his, which was ironic given how little he used it – and started the oil warming. “Seriously, though, all you need to do is sit there and tell me how fabulous I am. Maybe applaud occasionally.”
He heard clapping behind him and smiled. “It helps sell it better if you wait until I actually do something impressive.”
“Hey, you didn’t specify that,” Matt teased. “How was I supposed to know?”
Foggy just huffed at him, his attention caught by what looked like a braided bracelet sitting in the far back corner of one of the counters. He picked it up, realizing that it was apparently made of ice cream wrappers, then turned back to Matt. “What’s this?” he asked, holding it up so it would be easier for him to “see” it. “Are you dabbling in arts and crafts now?”
Matt’s face instantly went pale. “No, I—“ He stopped, shaking his head. “It’s junk. I keep meaning to throw it away.”
Carefully, Foggy set it back down on the counter, pushing it back into the same far corner where it had been hiding. “Yeah, I don’t think so,” he said quietly. “Junk wouldn’t put that look on your face.”
Matt was about to say something else, then cut himself off again. His brow lowered. “You know, you really shouldn’t have been mad about the whole heartbeat thing. You read me too well even without it.”
Foggy made an exasperated noise. “That’s because, except for the whole costumed vigilante thing, you tend to make it really obvious how you’re feeling.”
Matt let out a breath. “Only with you.” Then he hesitated. “You really want to know? It’s stupid.”
“Yes.” Foggy turned the stove back off, leaning against the edge of the counter. “I really want to know.”
So Matt told him. All about Stick, the guy who pulled a scared kid out of the orphanage and taught him all about being a secret blind ninja and about how feelings were apparently evil and wrong. Matt had made the bracelet for him when he was a kid, a weird but heartfelt thank you that anyone who had an actual soul would have cherished solely because of the circumstances, but not Stick. No, that asshole had actually left over it, abandoning Matt simply because he’d dared to show some kind of emotion.
Foggy had never wanted to punch anyone so badly in his entire life.
It was only when Matt responded that Foggy realized he’d actually said that last bit out loud. “That’s not a good idea, Foggy. He’d—“
“I know.” Foggy held up a hand to cut him off. “He’s another secret blind ninja, and he’d kick my ass if I even thought about it. But I still really want to punch him.”
“I know the feeling.” Matt came over, smoothing his hands over Foggy’s arms in a soothing manner. “He’s not worth it, though.”
“But you are.” Foggy pulled him into a hug, squeezing tight. “I wish I’d known you when we were kids. Then you would have been smart enough to give me the bracelet instead of that asshole, and I would have been the most fashionable 10 year old in the history of ever.”
Matt laughed, and if the sound was a little damp neither of them commented on it. “I wish I’d known you back then, too.”