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Your leg kept bopping. Up and down, up and down, a reflex that reflected your constantly increasing anxiety. This was your first case as the newest member of Nelson and Murdock and you were a mess, sweaty hands fiddling with your nails, the skin around them, the hem of your suit jacket, and the bopping leg. You had been waiting for the verdict of the case for at least 5 minutes, each second doubling your nervousness.
You had joined Nelson and Murdock a bit over a month ago, over the moon that you had gotten your first job in Hell’s Kitchen. When you get Foggy, Karen and Matt, you immediately realise that this job would be the best thing in your life, and you were right. You quickly learned that this job excited you every morning, ready 20 minutes before you had to be just to walk there or get everyone coffee just because you could. The looks on people’s faces when their cases won in court, the way everyone was so kind to you as you adjusted, now kind matt was. God, Matt, maybe he was the reason you woke up early and got coffee, just to see him for a few minutes alone or to see him smile when you handed him his favourite drink.
You knew that developing a crush on your literal boss was a bad idea from the get-go. Still, you couldn’t help yourself, how he smiled, the way he would tilt his head slightly when he heard a loud noise, how his nose scrunched at the smell of Foggy’s donuts, the way his fingers ran through his hair when he adjusted it, how his glasses shone deep red in the sunlight, he was almost too perfect, like a fallen angel…
Drawn back to reality by the small ticks of your watch and the continuous yet soft click of your heel against the marble floor, your anxiety returned, working you up as you ripped a bit too much skin from around your nail. A speck of blood appeared by your thumbnail. You looked down, wincing a fraction at the slight pain the action brought, before rubbing the blood away with the swipe of your thumb.
Before you could continue, a warm feeling spread across your knee, a warm hand. Your head snapped to your left, where the grip was coming from, to see Matt looking straight ahead as his thumb grazed your kneecap gently, softly in the most comforting manner you had ever known. You gasped slightly, quiet enough for only you to hear, oh but he could hear.
He could sense your tension, and your nerves, he could hear you picking at your nails, he could hear the clicking of your heel as your knees bopped up and down in anxiety for the jury’s decision, it was…it was almost adorable. He remembered when he was this nervous, waiting for the verdict of his first case, you were acting almost identically to him, it was making him smile. Then he felt you pick your skin so hard it drew blood. Without thinking, he moved his hand to your knee, gently grazing his thumb over your soft skin to comfort you.
Your cheeks immediately grew red, a strong blush reached up your face and you tried your best to hide the way the small action affected you, but he could feel your skin temperature ruse, the way your knee immediately stopped bopping, your nerves quickly soothed. It made him beam with pride behind his glasses.
You were so infatuated with how calmly he had managed to calm you down, the interaction did not need conversation or any words at all, the entire nation spoke for itself. You were so infatuated, in fact, that you didn’t hear the jury walk back into court, sitting back down as the foreperson got up to inform the court of the jury's verdict.
Without thinking, you grabbed his hand that was on your knee, squeezing it lightly in apprehension as the words flowed from her mouth.
“We, the jury, find the defendant…not guilty”.
You squeezed hard this time, concealing your squeal of excitement as best as you could behind your hand as your blush changed from one of embarrassment to one of excitement. Matt chuckled slowly under his breath at your reaction, his adoration for you increasing as you squeezed his hand under the table. You finally looked at him to see his face already turned to you, a grin adoring his face as you smiled back just as wide. You turned to see the prosecution slumping in the chairs, disappointment clearly written all over their faces, but you couldn’t find it in your care.
You had just won your first case!
The moment you got outside of the courtroom, you jumped up, pumping your fist in the air and ran to hug Foggy and Karen, who were already out as well.
“Congratulations!” Karen and Foggy told you at the same time, arms out as you hugged them, still jumpy as you squealed again, pulling back with such a wide smile your cheeks hurt.
“Thank you! So much! I could not have done this without you guys!” you told them, back to a semblance of seriousness, one hand on each of their shoulders as you told them.
“Oh, there’s no need to think about us! This was all you!” Foggy started but you interrupted him.
“Drinks at Josie’s are on me!” you told him quickly, effectively shutting him up.
“Well, we don't wanna deprive you of that joy, now do we?” he joked as the three of you laughed, hugging again as the tapping of Matt’s cane grew louder, signalling his arrival.
“Oh! MATT!” you almost cried as you ran to him, letting your emotions get the best of you as you collided with him in a hug. A soft roof escaped him as you wrapped your arms around him in a tight hug, unable to contain your excitement. He quickly moved his arms around you as well, hugging you back before you pulled away.
“I definitely couldn’t have done this without you,” you told him softly, arms still around his neck as he was around your waist. After a minute of staring at him, you got a grip and moved away, the tension dissipating as Matt cleared his throat to move on to something else.
“Anyways, I was just telling Fog and Karen that drinks at Josie's tonight are on me, you of course are also invited. It’ll be a whole company get-together! Thank god there are only four of us or I’d go bankrupt”
“Hey…” he started, joking when he heard your expression. You huffed out a laugh “sorry, Matthew, shame how the catholicism only shows up when I say it”
“Yeah, real shame…you can count me in!” he answered your previous question, making you smile.
“Well, let’s get the hell outta here! I’m hungry! TO JOSIE’S!” Foggy said a little out loud, making the four of you laugh as you headed to the court's exit.
“Three things: 1. To my recollection Josie’s doesn't serve food, 2. It's quite literally 4 in the afternoon and 3. He said hell! That has to count as something!” you argued, watching his smile grow as you both walked in as a pair towards the entrance, your hand immediately intertwined with him to guide him towards the exit. Walking him places wasn't unusual, but after the events in the courtroom, the simple action made you blush slightly. Unbeknownst to you, Matt was feeling the same.
Of course, he liked you, how could he not? You were such a kind soul, funny, sweet, but mean when you had to be, you were force and powerful and a wonderful asset to Nelson and Murdock, but Christ almighty, if the Daredevil stuff isn't sending him to hell, his thoughts about you sure would. He didn't know what you looked like, but he didn’t need to. The sounds of heartbeats around you increasing whenever you walked in public told him all he needed to know. Plus, how can someone so perfect on the inside not be just as beautiful on the outside?
“Okay, well 1. You are correct, but it's Foggy, so he’ll find a way, 2. See 1. And 3. I've put up with so much stuff from Foggy, I think my brain just censors it at this point” he smirked, a warm feeling in his heart erupting as the melodious sound of your laugh floated into his ears. How he wanted to take you out on a date, treat you the way you deserved to be treated, but if he did he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up the charade of his nightly activities, you were way too smart to not figure it out, and once you did find out, you would become a target and you would get injured, or you would hate him for the rest of your life and he didn’t think he could live with that.
The walk to the bar behind Foggy and Karen was in silence, comfortable silence. Your arms intertwined keep you close together and your steps sync up. It was peaceful and your mind wandered from what Karen and Foggy were so passionately talking about to the angel of a man walking next to you.
Christ, you wanted to do something, anything , ask him out, kiss him, even just lay your head on his shoulder, but he clearly didn’t feel the same, remaining charming and friendly yet distant enough for you to get the message. There were times when you thought there was a chance that he felt the same way, he would look (well, look) at you for a little longer than necessary, offer to walk you home when you both had late nights and knew a lot about you, but when you would give him a hint, and they were very obvious, he wouldn't take it, implying he didn’t feel the same. You could live with that, well you couldn’t but you could try.
Once you made it to the bar, Foggy quickly greeted Josie, asking for all of your favourite drinks before the four of you headed to the booth in the corner. It was your favourite, as secluded as possible and right by the pool table.
“So where are you gonna get us our food, Y/N?” Foggy asked, sipping on his fruity drink. You looked at him with eyebrows raised.
“ Your food? I never promised any food. You said you were hungry so you find us a place to eat” Foggy started pouting, upset that he hadn’t managed to swindle you into paying for his food as well. Eventually, you relented, sighing and running your hand down your face.
“Fineeuh.” You handed him your card and he took it quickly, running out of the bar after shooting a “MEATBALL SUBS IT IS!” and grabbing Karen who had dissolved into a fit of laughs as they both left the bar in a rush before you could change your mind. You sighed again, chuckling as you went over to sit in the booth next to Matt who had already taken a seat.
“Up for a game of pool while we wait?” he asked out of the blue as you had slowly zoned out, legs moving rapidly as if you were physically unable to sit perfectly still.
Once you had snapped out of it and actually registered what Matt had said you replied with “sure!” and got up from the booth, heading over to the table and setting up the balls. Matt followed after you, still keeping his distance.
“Now I know you have some weird sense where you can manage to do everything better than me even though you’re literally blind , but do you need help with this or am I officially allowed to kick your ass?” you joked, smiling when Matt laughed freely, one hand on his belt as he leaned with the other holding the cue stick.
“Sure, Y/N, I give you permission to try to kick my ass,” he said, removing the black border around the balls and setting the white one right on the spot. Your eyes widened but you remained silent as you watched him hit the first ball, leaning over the table and the balls went flying in different directions.
Once he moved away from the table, you moved over to the side of the table where the cue ball was, leaning over the table as you looked for a good shot.
“Are you alright or should you take a nap while you choose?” Matt smirked as you huffed a laugh, still leaning on the table. You moved a smidge readjusting as you murmured almost under your breath “just taking my shot, Murdock, don’t rush perfection…” you took the shot, watching two balls go into their respective holes. You jumped up, pumping your fist in the air as you had done in court and yelled “SUCK IT MURDOCK!” you slapped your hand over your mouth and whispered as sorry while Matt laughed at your outburst.
“I admit that was a good shot…” he told you as he quickly moved to where sensed the ball was hitting it without any need for calculations as two of his own balls went in the holes as well. He looked back at you with such a smug smirk you wanted to slap it off. You muttered a soft “oh fuck me” when the balls went in, knowing you were beaten before the game had barely begun.
“At least let me take you out to dinner first” he joked when he heard what you said. Your eyes widened and a blush quickly rose to your cheeks as your ears got hot.
Your eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, only to realise that he had heard what you whispered. The blush grew tenfold. Matt tilted his head out the side slightly, reading your emotions through your expressions, how you were blinking more than usual, how hot you had gotten, how you were fiddling with your nails again, but not in nervousness, in slight excitement.
“Huh…you do want me to take you out to dinner first, don't you?” your heartbeat started increasing as you took a half-hearted step away from him, but Matt moved forward, his long step drawing him closer to you.
“I mean, I’m only inferring because of the way you're practically sweating” he took a step. “How you’re stepping from foot to foot” is another step. “how hot your cheeks are '' he murmured as his hand grazed your cheek. “How your heart keeps beating faster and faster” his fingers ventured down to your neck, deftly finding your pulse and listening, although he could already hear it, just for show. Your breath hitched at the contact, eyes never leaving his face that showed no signs he was affected by this apart from the slight smirk.
“And how your eyes are stuck on me” you quickly looked away in embarrassment, still in shock that he managed to know all of this about you. His other arm had trapped you against the pool table, still giving you an exit option but you both knew you would never take it.
His hand went up to the bottom of your chin, tilting your head up to look back up at him.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, I don’t mind.” your breath caught in your throat at the nickname, your cheeks flushing even more as your eyes raced across his face. His smirk grew wider as you felt a brush of his breath fan across your face. His other hand that he trapped you went to the closest wrist of yours, this thumb rubbing over your pulse point, which somehow managed to draw you back to reality and calm you down enough to get a word out.
“Y-You’re really good at that” you stammered, your voice so much as a whisper since you were so close. The light reflected his red glasses into your eyes, fluorescents above bright enough to show you the soft silhouette of his eyes behind the frames.
“Good at what, darlin’?”
“At calming me down, well you’re also good at making me nervous, but the calming down thing is…nice…you’re nice. I would love to go to dinner with you, Matt”
He surged forward, closing the gap between the two of you as his slightly chapped yet soft lips met yours, both moving in sync and as one while he took another step to close the gap between your bodies. His hand on your shin, gently moved to your neck, a knelt hold, definitely not tight enough to hurt you, but just there to keep you in place. Your arms absent-mindedly went up around his neck, scratching at the short hairs by the nape of his neck.
When he pulled away, you reached forward a little, hoping to feel his lips against your sins more, but he was too far. He let out a low chuckle, one that reverberated through you and moved his hand to take yours in his, effectively taking you out of the bar after placing a few bills on Jose’s counter. The hand moved out your waist keeping you close to him while he moved the two of you towards the exit.
“Wait, Matt, where are we going?” you asked slowing the two of you to a stop.
“To dinner, there’s a small Italian place that you’ll love, since you enjoyed the food there on your trip” you blushed at his recollection of one of your stories from work, it showed he cared.
“Now?” you giggled softly as he nodded.
“Yes, now. I’m not wasting any more time. Foggy and Karen have each other.
Time for me to have you…”