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1.
The first one is a surprise.
At first Frank doesn't pay much attention to it, just notes from the corner of his eye that Max found some stick, as Max does, and lets her have at it. He doesn't realize what it is until she's in his face handling him the stick to throw and Frank is about to grab it and play with her and he realizes...
It's not a fucking stick.
Oh God. He full on panics for a second because that's definitely a blind cane, white with the red tip, neatly folded and secured with a rubber band and what the actual fuck.
"Did you steal that, Max?" He hisses out, as if she could understand him, and wasn't wagging her tail, proud of herself, and then he looks frantically around for any blind people stumbling around without help.
The park's mostly deserted. Max had the stick for at least a couple minutes, because Frank wasn't looking. He curses under his breath and sticks the cane in his bag because oh god he can't have anyone see him with that little thief and grabs her leash to go back.
That's a lesson for him to pay more attention in the future.
He evacuates the place like it's a crime scene and he can't help but scoff thinking about the way he didn't feel this ashamed of his goddamn murders. Max is unapologetic, and he can't even stay mad at her with that lolling tongue and giant smile.
God, how does he explain to a dog to not take other people's things? He barely got his kids to follow the rules and they actually understood his words.
Mostly.
He sighs when he finally closes the door behind himself and takes the cane out of the bag, staring at it. Guess that's evidence now. He's just going to toss it so no one (out of the whopping number of zero people who visit him) asks where he got it.
For now, he just drops it on the floor and watches Max attack her new toy with delight.
Little shit.
He needs to stop letting her get away with everything. He sends a silent apology to whatever poor blind person will be buying a new cane now and drops on the bed.
Get a dog, they said.
It'll be fun, they said.
Maybe it's only fitting though for the Punisher's dog to turn out to be a kleptomaniac.
2.
The second time, at least, is not an obvious problem.
In fact, Frank is somewhat amused.
Because this? This stick is definitely not stolen. This stick has no right being where is which means it was probably just lost and if Max found it, he figures good for her. Let her have her little trophy.
When she brings him the stick this time, he's happy to throw it, but not before he gets a good look at it. Even at first glance, it's unmistakable, but it's not like he ever got to admire it in battle, so he takes his time now.
It's light. Surprisingly light and hard, scaly kevlar texture in deep, dark red. It's not technically a full stick, he can see upon closer inspection.
Half of it, broken, so it could be that Red doesn't even particularly care and has some spare. He's seen him pull them apart and connect them again but now he can examine the mechanism inside, the half of it he can see and a little torn up end of a string hanging from it.
It looks professional. Expensive, too. He wonders where Red dresses up and stocks stuff like that, actually. Not that Red would give him his tailor's contact, undoubtedly.
He tries to throw another random stick from the grass for Max, so he can have his own fun with the baton, but she just looks in the direction it had flown off into and then back at him, betrayed and unimpressed. Frank chuckles, and gives up, throwing the one she wants to. He plays with her for a while, using the opportunity to feel for how the thing flies and enjoy it, and entertain himself with the way she tries hard to bite through the thing and doesn't even really leave a scratch.
They walk back with her carrying it, and he has a feeling he won't get to put his hands on it for another while. Back home - except it's not, not really a home, just a random apartment - she carries it off to her bed where it joins the folded up blind cane. Frank just sighs, seeing it and silently hopes maybe now that she found the baton, he will be able to wrestle the cane from her.
He knows it's unlikely.
At least she doesn't make him take it on walks. He should invest in some actual, real dog toys for her.
3.
The next time it happens, it's a second damn cane, which makes Frank pretty suspicious, or it would if he wasn't paying attention this time and didn't see with his own eyes that there is no theft involved.
They're just taking a walk, not to the park, simply down the street, because it's cold, and late, and Frank's short on time. He doesn't have anywhere to be in particular, but his own bed. But the bed sounds good. Sure, it's a bit lumpy and nothing like... his own bed, his and Maria's bed, but he's had a fucking long week and took one tumble off a rooftop too many, and he doesn't have it in himself to entertain Max any more than she needs.
Not many people are out and about, just a couple other dog owners, and he lets Max wander, lead him from alley to alley as she sniffs the lampposts and dumpsters.
He sighs as she dives behind another dumpster and is about to go after her when she leaves with...
You gotta be shitting him.
"How do you even find yourself in these situations, girl?" The stick splitting her face in a grin is longer than she can comfortably walk with, which doesn't deter her at all, and is very obviously an unfolded this time, goddamn blind cane.
Frank sighs.
"We're not doing this again, sorry." He wrestles the cane out of her teeth, much to her dismay, and examines it. It doesn't look broken, so it was probably lost rather than actually thrown away. The only blind person he knows is his lawyer - ex-lawyer? Does he still have a lawyer if he's technically dead? It may be useful anyway. But for all he doesn't know many blind people, he figures being disabled in any way in this country can't be cheap, so he walks into the bodega by the alley and leaves the cane at the counter after folding it. The lady smiles at him and her english is a bit broken but she seems to know who to give it back to so Frank just nods at her and leaves her to it, taking grumpy Max back.
He buys her a rubber stick on the way, because he's not a monster.
She seems altogether unimpressed, grabbing her cane once they're back home instead.
"Ungrateful brat." He could swear she grins at him smugly around the thing.
4.
Of course the next one is a cane too.
Frank just sighs and pointedly doesn't think about the implications of the disturbing amount of abandoned blind man canes (or blind women... but who is he kidding) around recently and the way it all starts to paint a picture.
This cane, at least, is broken. The thing is very obviously in two pieces, and Max has latched onto the single red piece, already walking off with it before Frank can even consider trying to get her to drop it.
Not that he'd achieve much, he figures. That damn dog has him wrapped around her paw and some days he swears she knows it.
He gives the rest of the cane last wistful look before following Max, and dutifully throws the thing once they're in the park.
It's a nice red. Kind of like Murdock's glasses. Or his suit. Sure, Frank could also be completely off and Red and Murdock could be different people, but he figured there can only be so many sanctimonious pricks with lectures about justice in the Kitchen, right?
He snorts and thinks about the fact this is the third cane Max found in as many weeks.
He snorts under his nose. He still hasn't looked up if these things are actually expensive, but at this rate of going through them, they gotta be, even if they're reasonably priced.
He wonders if you can order them online or if there's a shop owner somewhere in NYC racking his brains about one extremely unlucky lawyer's purchases.
Unlucky.
Sure. If that's what you call it. You don't lose that many canes by accident.
He watches her take it to her bed once they're back, along with the baton and the first cane. That one is still functional, maybe he can give it back one day. Max is happily nesting with them all, and Frank wonders if they all smell the same to her. Is that why she keeps collecting Red's sticks all over the town?
If they're actually Red's.
They're definitely Red's.
Doesn't really matter, at the end of the day. If Red has a problem with it, he needs to stop losing the damn things.
Finders keepers.
5.
Max is an ambitious dog.
She won't satisfy herself with a single broken baton, it turns out.
Honestly, Frank has basically forgotten about the stick collection. He and Red are busy and walking the dog is the last thing on his mind as they work together to you know, stay alive.
Working with Red is so much more fun than working again him, all the more so since Frank figured out his day job and decided to pay extra attention to put the clues together.
He's definitely blind. And definitely spectacular despite it. It's fun, throwing things at him just to test him, figuring out his deal exactly. And Frank knows Red realizes Frank's playing with him at some point, but he lets him.
And if that ain't a revelation.
But it's good. Their dynamic becomes so much easier, more effortless, and the banter stays but there's no more heat in it, which is a break they both may have needed.
They come out victorious - no surprise, and mostly unscathed - more of a surprise. Mostly, which isn't not at all though, and Frank ends up with an ugly cut on his back that needs stitches but would be pretty hard to reach himself so Red offers to come with him and help.
Frank briefly entertains the way he feels strangely alright letting a blind man poke him with a needle and invites him in.
Max is all over Red the moment he steps in. It's kind of cute watching the way he's completely lost as to what to do with it, mix of enjoyment and apprehension in his features.
"You never had a dog, I take it." Frank laughs, deciding not to mention a guide dog, getting a feeling it wouldn't come across very well.
"Not really... hey!"
Max goes for... of course. Of fucking course. Max rips the batons straight off the harness on his thigh.
"Frank, Frank what do I do?" Red sounds kinda panicked. He's clearly attached to the batons but doesn't want to fight Max. Frank stands back and watches, because it's entertaining and he never claimed to be a bigger man.
Max eventually manages to free the batons and trots off to her bed with them.
"Frank! I don't just have an endless supply of these, they were new!"
"Oh yeah, I know that. She found your broken one. And some other stuff I assume is yours." He smirks and goes to take his shirt off and grab his first aid kit while Red tilts his head in that puppy way of his.
"Is that...?" He goes to lift the folded up cane from Max's bed. She immediately wrestles it back from him.
"Yeah, you're not getting that back, Matt." He smirks a bit, deciding to go with the name, to put all his cards on the table. Matt doesn't even seem surprised. He just sighs and grabs the first aid box from him, takes his gloves and cowl off, washes his hands and patches Frank up.
"So... I think my dog likes you." Frank says, turning back to him once they're done, because it feels polite to face him even if it doesn't matter, and because Matt has really nice eyes.
"Your dog, huh?"
"Definitely just my dog." Frank smiles, and leans into the kiss.
Red stays the night.
He doesn't get the cane back when he leaves in the morning.
+1.
Dating Matt is fun.
It's surprisingly easy. He never gets the cane back from Max, but it's okay because Max has a weird sixth sense for everything he keeps losing. Frank gives up on trying to get him to stop throwing them away whenever he goes parkouring pretty early on, and just resigns to Max finding the canes and bringing them back to Matt. She gets to keep the first one. He has to exercise some rules.
She gets to keep the batons too.
Frank's pretty sure he could get them back but turns out Matt is a softie who cannot say no to that dog. He takes Frank with him to the guy who made his suit so he doesn't have to explain it and end up embarrassed. Frank has no idea why he assumes Frank being there would make it any less embarrassing but the guy seems pretty understanding, pets Max for whole ten minutes, and makes Matt new batons without complaining, and then Max a special one.
Nice guy. Matt has a talent for that. He just knows how to surround himself with the good folk.
Frank has no idea what that means in terms of Matt deciding to date him.
"Let me just take this off and put on something more comfortable." Matt says, because Frank picked him up straight from work and he's seeing Matt's place for the first time, and he's got Max with him, which is like, a huge step because even normal people make a big deal of inviting each other over and Matt will probably be able to smell wet dog for days.
He leans in the doorway as Matt opens his wardrobe and starts putting the suit away, and just allows himself to admire him for a while.
"No need to." He jokes. Mostly jokes. "You can just stay shirtless, don't dress on my account."
Matt rolls his eyes, and Frank can see, and he relishes in it because Matt having his glasses off with him means Matt trusts him, and it's a fantastic power trip, honestly, knowing he has his trust.
Matt puts the suit away and throws on some sweatpants and a t-shirt with Colombia's emblem on it, and he's about to close the wardrobe but there's suddenly a very excitable dog inside it.
"What the--"
Frank moves to stand next to him, to figure out what got Max this excited. He realizes what's happening before Matt does, and bursts out laughing, because really, it's almost poetic.
Matt has a freaking cane stash.
Because of course he has. And Max found it.
She looks very proud of herself as she marches out of the wardrobe with one of the sticks in her teeth.
Frank leans against Matt, trying to catch his breath.
"Hope you don't want that back, Red."
Matt just sighs, a bit long suffering but unmistakably fond.
"I guess she can have it." He says. "As long as I can get her and her human."
Sap, Frank thinks, but he doesn't say it. Matt has a point. As far as they go, it's a pretty good deal.