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Jennifer Walters never anticipated she would be scanning the rooftops for a man dressed in a ketchup and mustard devil costume. But she hadn’t ever anticipated she’d use Hulk-strength to make a jump to his chosen rooftop either.
Jen landed on the backside of the building on which she had spotted him, quickly crossing the roof to plop down beside the figure that was Daredevil. Or Matt Murdock, depending on if you were privileged to that information. Jen had the feeling she was very much glad she was.
The neon sign that advertised the building as her ridiculous client’s “LILYPAD” cast everything in a dull red glow, making the Daredevil suit fit right in.
The little small-talk between them was comfortable and teasing, a breath of fresh air she hadn’t realized she’d been missing. Jen brushed non-existent dust off her thighs before abruptly changing the subject.
“When do you head to New York?” she asked quietly, her eyes focused on the skyline.
“Tomorrow,” Matt said.
“Oh… well…” Jen sighed, hoping she wasn’t imagining the regret in the soft way he’d said “tomorrow,” like he would do anything to make it some other day.
“Maybe next time I’m in town I can take you out to dinner…” he said, leaving the sentence hanging.
“Yeah. Or maybe we can skip all of that and just….” Jen trailed off suggestively.
He shot her a grin, the cheeky smile she’d been waiting for, “Or we could do that.”
Jen glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, waiting for him to say something else.
“I’d invite you to mine, but unfortunately I can’t have the media attention of She-Hulk entering the hotel with the lawyer who just beat her in court,” Matt said, the humor warming his voice in a way that made Jen shiver.
“Hey! It’s not my fault my client is an idiot-”
Matt chuckled before turning to cut her off with a kiss. Normally Jen would have smacked anyone who cut her off with a kiss, but these were extenuating circumstances and ohh this man knew what he was doing.
Jen let her shoulders relax and her eyes close, leaning her head into Matt’s hand that cradled her face. The butterflies in her stomach had long since given up their residency, leaving behind only a steadily growing warmth. Matt’s other hand crept around her waist, pulling her to him so their hips touched and Jen could intertwine her shorter arms around him. After a moment that Jen didn’t want to end, Matt pulled away breathless.
“Is this okay? I didn’t mean to-”
“More than okay,” Jen said, bringing her lips back to his so she all but said the words into his mouth, “but I can’t keep kissing you under this ridiculous neon sign.”
Jen could feel his smile beneath her lips and she had the jolting thought that she never wanted to stop feeling that smile for the rest of her life. Pushing the thought down and burying it as deeply as she could, she stood up, swaying a little.
Matt stood up too and caught her, hands catching her hips and not letting go. Jen studied his features for a second, inspecting her own reflection in the unseeing eyes of his cowled helmet.
“Do you do this often? Get women with lots of problems and self-image issues to want to sleep with you?” she asked, only half joking.
Matt laughed, a warm sound that reverberated in his chest, a sound Jen didn’t think she could get enough of.
“I’d like to think I don’t, but my bestfriend likes to say that ‘if there’s a stunning woman of questionable character in the room, Matt Murdock will find her,’' he answered, sensing the hint of sincerity in her question.
“Are you saying I have a “questionable character” Mr. Murdock?”
“Well you did just cause a large amount of property damage-”
Jen shook her head before standing up on her tiptoes to press her lips to his jaw. To her immense satisfaction he let out a shuddering breath, his grip tightening on her hips.
“Catch me if you can Daredevil,” she whispered in his ear before diving off the building, slipping into Hulk form only a fraction of a second before sticking the landing. Although several stories above her, Jen swore she could see Matt’s teeth flash in a mischievous smile.
Jen thought her jump had been graceful, but Matt’s acrobatics and careful swinging down the building were far more so, better than any gymnast she had ever seen, better than even the videos of Spider-Man she had seen. She gave him a couple seconds to catch up before dashing down the street and through the streets of LA.
Taking a page out of Matt’s book, Jen focused on sticking her landings gracefully, not causing any unnecessary property damage and stealthily making her way through the city. Or as stealthy as a six-foot-seven green woman can be. She listened intently to where she could hear Matt following, very quickly gaining on her. She hadn’t realized before how much more powerful her hearing was in Hulk form, almost strong enough to create a mental image of the world around her. Maybe meeting Matt was just another step in her ‘superhero journey.’
While Jen had been pondering, Matt had caught up, using a final leap across an alley to tackle her to the gravely roof of an office building. They rolled across the surface to absorb the motion of the fall, Matt’s arms firmly around her in what would have been a protective gesture had she not been an indestructible Hulk.
The moment they stopped rolling, Jen let She-Hulk fade, liking the feeling of her slightly smaller figure compressed beneath Matt’s protectively clad form.
He hovered just above her, his breath heavy from running, his heartbeat now loud in her ears.
“I can hear your heartbeat now too,” she breathed, exhaling with a laugh.
“Hmm,” Matt said, kissing her carefully, before pulling away but remaining hovering over her, “I hope you don’t think I’m only interested in one of your personas.”
“What?” Jen said, slightly taken aback.
“You keep putting the Hulk away and I hope that’s not on my account…”
“Oh.” Jen said softly, “Well nobody is ever ah… interested in both.”
“I’m interested in whoever you feel like being,” he said, his voice low and with sincerity that made Jen want to cry with the joy of being wanted for who she was.
But she didn’t want him to know that his simple words were making her emotional.
“Do you mean like this?” Jen asked shifting to her Hulk form and using her larger size to roll Matt away so she could hover over the top of him instead.
“Only if you want to,” he said, reaching up to run a hand through her hair. In doing so he dislodged the loose gravel from the building’s roof that had tangled in her hair, setting it falling into his own face.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” Jen said standing up and fading to ‘just Jen,’ “I think we just need to go to my house now. No more of this.”
Matt got to his feet, “not that I haven’t been enjoying this too, but my suit is brand new and it is a little bit of a shame to get it unnecessarily dirty.”
“Matt Murdock you are a diva,” Jen laughed before following his lead off the side of the building and to the street below.
Not far from Jen’s own apartment now, they landed laughing and falling against each other, finding every excuse to touch the other’s form as they walked down the street. At every corner she resisted the urge to push him against a wall and kiss those pretty lips, but only because she had the feeling she’d be well rewarded for skipping a makeout session the sooner they reached her apartment.
As if reading this thought in her mind, Matt abruptly pulled her into a very small alley, body pressing against hers, breath hot on her face.
“Matt-”
Matt placed a finger top on her lips, mouthing “Police” at her as they stood in silence, chests heaving and electricity crackling between them. As they waited for the police cars to pass (at an excruciatingly slow pace), Jen wished she could see his eyes, wished she could see the way they wouldn’t quite look at her but also knowing he was focusing on her. All of her.
“I think the coast is clear now,” Jen finally whispered.
Matt’s finger came up to silence her again, gently resting against her lips.
“Almost,” he whispered.
“Right. Echolocation.”
“It’s not- nevermind.”
Jen felt like she could feel the equivalent of an eye roll in his voice, “I’m teasing,” she whispered, “I actually think I understand what you mean now.”
“Do you?” he asked mischievously, leaning away from her slightly as if to size her up.
“With the Hulk-hearing-”
“Hulk-hearing?” Matt said, his voice full of humor.
“Yes with the Hulk-hearing everything is a bit more vivid, like I can use it to picture everything around me and like I can see it better-”
“And I can hear your heartbeat fluttering,” Matt interrupted leaning back in, speaking slowly, his breath fanning across her face, “and your breath is shaking and you’re rambling.”
“Am I?” Jen asked, her voice rising an octave.
“And you’re blinking really fast-”
“You can hear me blinking?”
“Of course.”
“That’s creepy.”
“Maybe.”
“Definitely,” Jen said, a moment of silence stretching between them.
Matt cocked his head to the side, listening to something far off, “We could go now.”
“We could,” Jen said, her fingers reaching up to trail along Matt’s face to where the mask began. Gently she pushed it back, running her fingers along his cheekbones and into his hair.
Matt leaned his cheek into her palm, letting out a breath he had seemed to be holding, “you know I’ve never let anyone do that before, let alone outside the privacy of my home.”
“I’ll count myself a lucky lady then,” Jen said, catching the mask in one hand and continuing to smooth back his hair with the other.
“I mean- what I really mean is not very many people know me as both. And those that do it was hard on them when they found out. And I pushed them away because of it-”
“Now who is rambling?” Jen said, smiling and stretching up on her toes so her lips would reach his.
“What I mean to say Jen- to answer your question from earlier- if I do this a lot,” he said gesturing between them, “the answer is no. Almost no one knows me like this. Besides my bestfriends, no one knows both Matt Murdock and Daredevil-”
“And almost no one likes me as both Jen and She-Hulk,” Jen interrupted, “so I get it, I really do.”
Matt grinned, “Good because as much as I would love to talk about this more and I love this emotional moment we are both having, I think we have better things to be doing.”
“Right you are,” Jen said, pecking him on the lips and unceremoniously shoving his helmet back on before grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the alley and toward her apartment.