Chapter Text
If there was one thing that Matt Murdock’s relatively short life had taught him, it was that the world would never ever make any sense. His whole life had been a string of unbelievable accidents and strange contradictions. How else do you explain the son of a professional fighter not being allowed to fight? Or that same son selflessly risking his life to save an elderly blind man from a runaway truck, only to get in an accident with the truck and leave him blinded for life? This is not even mentioning the death of his father, or training with Stick and all that nonsense he always ranted about.
“Stick” Matt thought, even now the mere memory of that man caused him to involuntarily shake his head. “Crazy old man.”
After a life like his, Matt assumed that nothing could faze him. He would just take whatever life threw at him, roll with the punches the way only Murdocks could, and keep going. But all that changed two days ago, when the world, or God, or whatever you want to call it revealed it had one more surprise in store for him.
It had been nearly 4 years since Battlin Jack Murdock was killed and Matt had been living in Saint Agnes Orphanage(two years had passed since his training with Stick, but that's another story), as settled as someone in his situation could be. Then, completely out of the blue, someone from The Welfare Agency showed up and announced that Matt was being taken into foster care by a family out in Chicago. Questions were of course raised,calls were made, and interviews conducted (even though she refused to admit it, Matt had been told that Sister Margaret in particular had caused quite a stink), but eventually the wheels of fate/bureaucracy started to turn and Matt found himself in the southside of Chicago. Standing in front of a house that even from here he could tell was packed with people.
“Are you sure this is the place?” Matt asked. He was still hopeful that this was all some misunderstanding and he could go back to New York.
“Yes sir.” The cheery social worker smiled as she grabbed his luggage from the car. “2119 N Wallace St, Chicago.” Even though Matt couldn't technically see her, he could tell how excited she was. This woman was a true believer, someone who thought she was bringing families together. But Matt knew better, from the overwhelming stench of alcohol and mold coming from the house he had a pretty good idea why he had been chosen to come and live here. Foster kids come with a paycheck from the state to assist with their care, and ones with Matt’s “condition” usually come with a hefty one.
But Matt didn’t point any of this out, he decided he wouldn't be the one to break this woman’s heart. “Great.” Matt forced a smile.
Matt and The Social Worker walked up the driveway, and Matt made sure to make as big of a production of walking with his cane as possible so he could have time to get a sense of what was in store for him. Judging from the sounds of movements there were about 6 people living there, but only one was awake and working around the house. The others were probably sleeping judging from the distinct sound of bed springs shifting. As soon as Matt’s cane tapped against the steps to the house he heard a window curtain be slightly opened and then be slammed shut. As Matt made it further up the steps he heard whoever was at the window race towards the front door.
“Well someone is either excited to see me or pissed off based on how heavy those steps are.” Matt thought to himself.
Matt stopped at the front door so The Social Worker could knock, but there was no need. Before they could do anything the door opened up, revealing a young woman just slightly older than Matt. “Listen, I’m sorry Frank stole the church’s offering money, but guilt tripping him with one of the three blind mice here won’t do anything. The guy is an asshole.”
“Oh umm…” The Social Worker stuttered, clearly taken off guard. “Is Frank Gallahger around? I’m from The Foster Agency, and I’m just here to drop off you new sibling, Matt Murdock.” The Social Worker tapped Matt on the shoulder, and taking that as his cue, he nodded politely.
“Lovely to meet you.” Matt said with a fake smile.
“Back at you.” The girl grunted, then she drummed her fingers on the door. “I’ll go get Frank.”
The girl left and Matt strained his ears to listen. He heard the girl stomp her way upstairs and bang on a bedroom door.
“Frank, get up!” The girl pounded the door, “Some people from The Foster Service are here. Did you know anything about this?”
“Foster service?” A new voice grunted, his words slurring. “Oh right, the Foster Service! It's your new brother, Matthew.”
“Brother?” The girl yelled. “What do you mean brother? You can barely feed the kids you have, why would you drag some poor foster kid into this?”
Matt heard the bedroom door swing open and the man, Frank, walked out of the room.“I don’t know what you want from me Fiona. You’ve been nagging me to get a job ever since Monica left, and now that I found a way to put food on the table you're bitching about it.”
“Taking in a blind kid is not the same as getting a job, Frank.” the girl, Fiona, snapped. “I don’t care how much money the state sends.”
“Don’t talk about your brother that way Fiona.” Frank slurred. “Besides it's not just about the money from the state, don’t you know who that is?”
Back on the front porch, Matt was snapped out of his trance by The Social Worker placing her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure they will be out in a second.” She said encouragingly.
“Yeah, yeah.” Matt replied then concentrated again.
“Why the hell would I know who some kid is?” Fiona scoffed.
“Matthew Murdock was blinded whenever he saved an elderly man from a runaway Rand Industries Truck. The chemical blinded him for life, and he received a very generous settlement.” Frank explained.
“You’re not going to steal from a blind kid.”
“Who said anything about stealing?You need to get that kleptomania in check Fiona. ” The father-daughter duo was now marching downstairs. “Give it a few years and Little Matty will probably want to help out around the house just like all of you do. Hell, the boy is catholic, he’ll probably offer to help as soon as he sees this place.”
“Sees?”
“Fine, once he stumbles around for a few days he’ll offer to help.” The old man then stepped in front of the door and breathed.
“Hello Matty, it's good to meet you!” Frank exclaimed as opened the front door. Matt was instantly met by the stench of alcohol, drugs, and dried blood. But it wasn't overwhelming, Matt had met people like this before, they lived all over Hell’s Kitchen. Frank Gallagher is the type of person that his father would have been good friends with as a young man, but someone he refused to see again after Matt was born. A man who was always the life of the party, but failed to see that the party for himself was over. Sister Margaret and Father Lantom had a harsher term for people like him, they would have described him as an anchor dragging everyone around him down.
Of course Matt didn’t say any of this. He held out his hand for Frank to shake. “Pleasure to meet you sir.”
“Oh he’s a polite one.” Frank smiled at The Social Worker, who seemed to be fooled by Frank’s act. “Probably from living with all those nuns right? Don’t worry a couple of years here in the southside and you’ll be a rude degenerate like the rest of us, eh?” Frank ruffled Matt’s hair and The Social Worker beamed.
“Mr.Gallagher, why don’t we get some of the details of Matthew’s case worked out, and Matt can go inside and get acquainted with his new siblings.” The Social Worker smiled.
“Sounds like a great idea.” Frank patted Fiona on the shoulder. “My oldest daughter, Fiona, can show him around.”
Without a word Fiona grabbed him by the arm and led him inside. Once they stepped foot inside the house Fiona slammed the door behind them. “Sorry about that, but I can’t stand Frank when he is playing the part of a “happy father”, it's nauseating.”
“I’m guessing he’s not like that all the time?” Matt asked innocently. He still wasn't sure how he needed to play things with these people yet.
“Oh please, don’t play dumb with me kid.” Fiona snorted. “I saw your face whenever we opened the door. That social worker might have been fooled but you clocked him the second he stepped outside.”
“He needs to lay off the alcohol.” Matt admitted. “I smelled him as we were walking up the driveway.”
Thinking he was kidding, Fiona laughed. “Yeah, don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.” Fiona started to steer him around the house, casually kicking stuff away that she thought was a tripping hazard. “So what you are in right now is the living room, just pass that is the kitchen/dining room. All of our rooms are upstairs, but because of…how you are, I don’t know where Frank was expecting you to sleep.”
“The couch would work fine, but I can make it up the stairs no problem.” Matt said.
“Are you sure?” Fiona asked. “Listen, I’ve been around plenty of foster kids before. You don’t have to act tough to impress us or make us back off. We Gallaghers don’t have a lot of good qualities, but sticking together is one of them, and it looks like you’re gonna be one of us for a while. If something is going to be a problem just say it.”
“I appreciate that.” Matt bit back a smile as he thought of all the stuff Stick put him through. “But I can manage going up the stairs.”
“Alright then tough guy.” Fiona relented, but she still held onto his shoulder every step he took up stairs. Matt considered shaking her off, but she was being genuinely nice, so he decided against it. Once they got upstairs, Fiona led him down the hallway and started tapping the doors while providing descriptions. ‘This is the bathroom, this hatch right here is where you put the dirty clothes, on your right is my room, next is Debbie and Carl’s room(our youngest siblings), and here is Lip and Ian’s room.”
Fiona stopped in front of the door she labeled as Lip and Ian’s. “I haven’t asked yet, how old are you?”
“14.” Matt replied.
Fiona nodded. “Alright, so you're the second oldest after me. Anyway I’m guessing you’re gonna bunk with Lip and Ian.”
Fiona opened the door and started shaking the two sleeping boys awake. “Wake up guys, we have a new brother. He’s going to be bunking with you.”
“What do you mean, we have a new brother? Did Frank knock somebody else up?” The boy on the top bunk asked.
“Not exactly, meet our new foster brother, Matt Murdock.” Fiona grabbed the back of Matt’s jacket and pushed him forward.
“Oh no.” Lip sighed“He isn’t blind is he.”
“Yes I’m blind, but I’m not deaf.” Matt replied.
“Sorry Matt.” Lip quickly apologized. “I didn’t mean anything about you, I was just um…I just know how Frank thinks and his reasons for fostering you just became pretty…obvious.”
“Alright, well this looks like it's off to a great start.” Fiona said sarcastically and clapped her hands together. “I’m going to go make sure Frank doesn’t invite that Social Worker to stay for dinner, you three stay in here and get to know each other, and come get me if you need anything.”
With that, Fiona walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving the three boys in awkward silence.
“So…” Lip started, “where did you live before this?”
“Hell’s Kitchen.” Matt answered.
“You lived where?” The younger boy, Ian, asked in disbelief.
“He lived in New York, Hell’s Kitchen is a neighborhood there.” Lip explained. “One pretty similar to our part of Chicago from what I hear. You might just fit right in here.”
“It doesn’t really seem all that different.” Matt agreed. “Its a bit colder here, everything is a bit more spread out, but the people seem the same.”
“We seem the same, how?” Lip laughed, “Like White Trash?”
“I was going to say tough and resourceful.” Matt said carefully.
“Good answer.” Lip punched his brother’s shoulder. “Oh he is going to fit right in around here isn't he Ian?”
“Not only is he going to fit in, but he might end up more popular than we are.” Ian said. “Because you know, he’s got the whole blind angle going on.”
“Yeah about that, were you born blind?” Lip pressed.
“No.” Matt responded, “I was around 9 years old and I saw an old man walking across the street. He was hobbling, completely oblivious to everything around him, and up the street was a semi-truck barreling straight for him. I saw that the truck driver wasn't going to be able to stop on time, so on instinct I ran in the middle of the street and pushed the old man out of the way.”
Matt paused for the Gallagher brothers to ask him questions,normally that's what people did, but none came. Confused, Matt concentrated on his surroundings and felt that the two boys were on the edge of their seats,hanging on his every word, so he kept going. “Anyway, I pushed the old man out of the way, the truck driver swerved to miss the two of us, but instead overcorrected and tipped over, dumping the load of chemicals he was carrying. Some of which splashed on my face and took away my sight.” Matt thought about going into what the chemicals gave him in return, but decided against it. That was probably enough for one day.
“Jesus Christ man.” Lip said. “You’re a hero.”
“Nonsense, anyone would have done the same.”
“Bullshit.” Lip replied. “I wouldn't have done that, I don’t know anyone who would have done that.” Lip looked at his brother in disbelief. “Ian, would you have done that?”
“I would like to think so, but who knows.” Ian thought for a second. “If one of us were in the street Fiona would do it.”
“Yeah, but that's Fiona, she doesn’t count.” Lip shrugged and took a hit of his joint. “Besides, like you said, she would have done that for one of us. Matty here did it for a complete stranger.”
“It was nothing really. Just instinct.” Matt blushed.
“Uh huh.” Lip’s eyes narrowed. “Listen Matty, there is one more thing I have to ask: did you get a settlement from the accident.”
Matt replied without hesitation. “Yes, but all the money is in my savings and it is set aside specifically for college.”
“Good, be sure to keep it that way. Don’t let Frank talk you into loaning him money, no matter what he says.”
“I wasn't planning on loaning him any money.” Matt said, but then he looked guilty. “But you know…if you guys need help to make ends meet, I can chip in.”
By force of habit, Lip shook his head no, but then he remembered who he was talking to, So he responded verbally. “That is something you are going to have to talk to Fiona about.” Lip then decided to change the subject. “What do you want to go to school for?”
“I want to become a lawyer.”
“Shit man, definitely don’t loan Frank any money. You're gonna need all that to get into law school.”
***
Matt spent the rest of the morning talking with Lip and Ian, and to his surprise he found himself actually liking the two boys. Lip was obviously smarter than he let on, he was probably smarter than Matt was, but the boy had such a laid back attitude that you almost didn’t notice. While Ian wasn't as smart as Lip, he made up for that with heart, this kid actually cared about things in a deep and meaningful way. Which was something that Matt identified with instantly. The only catch was that Ian seemed to be hiding something, but it was too soon to have any guesses as to what that could be.
Around 11, Matt heard the sound of footsteps coming upstairs and walking to the door, and even though the boy had only been there a short time he knew exactly who it was. It wasn't like it was hard, he had heard her rush around the house all morning.
Deciding to have some fun, without turning around Matt greeted her as she opened the door. “Hey Fiona.”
“How’d you do that?”Fiona crossed her arms, she didn’t seem surprised or even impressed, she was just studying him.
“Lucky guess.” Matt shrugged. “You're the only person I’ve met here. Well besides Frank, but I would have smelled him coming.”
“Makes sense.” Satisfied with that explanation, Fiona snorted. “Man I bet you freaked out a lot of nuns with that trick. Anyway, lunch is ready guys.”
The boys got up to head downstairs. Without having to be told, or even asking for permission Ian grabbed a hold of Matt’s arm and started to guide him downstairs, while Lip kept talking.
“What was Fi talking about? What Nuns?”
“After my Dad passed away I went and lived at Saint Agnes Orphanage.” Matt replied.
“Are you Catholic?” Lip asked with a smile.
“Yeah. Why is that a problem?”
“Not at all,” Lip slapped his free arm “Saint Matthew.”
*****
After lunch was over, Matt ended up helping Fiona with the dishes while everyone else went their separate ways. Fiona was against him helping at first, but she eventually relented, and seemed to like the company.
“So Lip told me to talk to you about the money situation.” Fiona said as she washed a plate. “He said something about you being a regular Richie Rich.”
“When he asked about it, I told him that I received a settlement from the accident. Lip then told me to never loan money to Frank, I said I wouldn’t. But he started acting really funny whenever I talked about helping out around here.” Matt replied, “So I’m guessing that you’re gonna tell me to not help out around here? Out of pride or something?”
“Sort of.” Fiona sighed. “If you want to help out, then do it with money you earn. You're a smart kid, I’m sure you can find little side hustles here and there to do. There is no reason to dip into your settlement money.”
“I understand, but if I have the opportunity to do more around here then shouldn't I?” Matt asked seriously. “ After all it's not just you, Lip, and Ian living here, you also have to worry about Debbie and Carl, that's a lot of mouths to feed and that's something I can help with.”
“God, Lip’s right, you really are a saint.” Fiona paused a long time before replying. “My answer remains the same Matty, if you want to help, get a job. You have the opportunity to actually go to college and get out of here. I won’t let you give that up to help a bunch of people you just met.”
“I can find other ways to get into college, there is scholarships and students loans, and I’m sure I can get a disability grant of something-”
“End of discussion Matthew.” Fiona said, it had barely been a morning and she already sounded like his mom. “Tell you what, if it will make you feel any better we’ll just call it a big IOU.”
“What, like a favor?”
“Yep. Lip blabbed on and on about you wanting to go to law school. So, in place of you giving us any money from your settlement, you will help us out with any legal trouble for free whenever you become a big time lawyer.Sound fair?”
“Sounds fair.” Matt smiled, “And the term is doing Pro Bono.”
“Just keep scrubbing dishes, douche.” Fiona laughed
****
After that, “Saint Matthew” adapted pretty well to life with The Gallaghers. He quickly became Fiona’s number two, making lunches, helping the other kids do their schoolwork, and pitching in wherever he was needed. While Matt didn’t tell them about his abilities or training, his new siblings knew that he was pretty self-sufficient, and accepted all the unusual stuff Matt could do pretty easily. They either didn’t care, or didn’t know enough about blind people to know if something was out of the ordinary.
The next few months flew by without any incidents. Matt kept his head down, went to school, worked (he got a job teaching a class on how to read Braille, and helping out at the local church), and helped out around the house. But all good things must end, and one cold winter night, The Gallaghers learned the last secret Matt had been keeping from them.
That the Murdock men have the devil in them.
He had gone out for a nighttime stroll alone, which was just another one of Matt’s oddities that they accepted after a while. He had been walking for about ten minutes whenever he heard a faint cry for help. He concentrated on the voice and knew that it wasn't just anyone, it was Debbie and Carl!
“Stupid kids.” Matt grunted as he took off in a dead sprint. This was the real reason for his nightime walks, he now had his entire neighborhood completely mapped out, and after leaping through some backyards and scaling some buildings he found what he was looking for. Two of the older Milkovich brothers had Debbie and Carl cornered in an abandoned lot. Debbie’s heart rate was racing, but Carl’s seemed strangely calm, Matt made a mental note to talk to Fiona about that later.
“Hey!” Matt yelled at the two goons. “Leave them alone!”
“Oh well if it isn’t Saint Matthew.” One of the Milkovichs mocked. “Don’t worry kids, you're saved. Your blind brother is here to rescue you.”
“Let them go.” Matt said through gritted teeth.
“We will, we just need to borrow them for a few days. Frank owes us money and we need the kids as collateral.”
“Let them go.” Matt growled again.
The Older Milkovich laughed. He then walked right up to Matt and spit in his glasses. “Or what?”
Matt responded by punching him in the face, breaking his nose. His opponent stumbled back, but Matt wasn't done with him yet. He delivered a few quick strikes to the man’s stomach, dodged an amateurish counter punch, replied with an elbow to the man’s nose, he then grabbed an arm and judo flipped the man onto his back. By that point, the other Milkovich brother had arrived to help, but the warmed up Matt made quick work of him. The man fell to the ground with a broken nose, three cracked ribs, a sprained wrist, and a story he would never tell anyone. When pressed on what happened that night, both men would insist that they fell down a flight of stairs together after a night of drinking.
As soon as it was over Matt rushed to Debbie and Carl’s side, but whenever he got close to them the two children stepped back. So Matt knelt down and took off his glasses. “Hey look, its me alright? It's Matthew.”
“How did you do that?”Carl asked in amazement, while Debbie still looked scared.
“Don’t worry about that, right now we just need to get you home.” Matt scooped up Debbie, and ran back home with Carl by his side. They burst through the front door and locked it behind them.
“What the hell happened to you guys?” Lip asked, he and Ian were on the couch sharing a bag of chips and watching TV. Hearing the commotion, Fiona also came downstairs to see what the problem was.
“Matt kicked Joey and Colin’s ass!” Carl yelled.
“You did what?” Fiona yelled.
“Ugh…Frank owes The Milkovichs some money and they were trying to send a message through the kids. I stepped in and got them out of there.”
“More like he beat the shit out of them, it was awesome!” Carl smiled, jumping up and down.
“It was scary.” Debbie said quietly, going over and hugging Fiona. “It was like he became a completely different person.”
“Debbie…” Matt said softly. “I’m sorry I scared you, but you have to know I would never do anything to hurt any of you. You know that right?”
Debbie nodded her head yes, so Fiona started speaking. “Is that true? Did you really beat up Joey and Colin?”
“Yes.” Matt sighed.
“...How?” Lip asked, cocking his head
“Well the men in my family have a bit of a temper problem, and my Dad was a professional boxer who taught me how to fight.” It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie either.
“But you're blind.” Fiona stated.
Matt tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders. “He was a really good boxer.”
“I don’t care how good your Dad was, you shouldn't have been able to beat up two dudes.” Lip shook his head. “Are you even really blind?”
“Of course I’m blind.” Matt took off his glasses so they could see his eyes. “You see, blind as a bat, if you want you can do whatever tests you want to prove it.”
“Then how did you fight off Joey and Colin?” Lip pressed.
“I told you, Dad trained me how to box. Muscle memory must have kicked in.”
“Bullshit.” Ian snapped. “No one's muscle memory is that good. There isn’t a boxer alive that could fight off two dudes while blindfolded, so how did you fight off Joey and Colin whenever you can’t see?”
Matt started to speak, But Fiona cut him off by telling Debbie and Carl to go upstairs, then walking over and putting her hand on his shoulders. “Listen Matty, something doesn’t add up. We’ve all noticed it, but just decided not to say anything. But now we need to know the truth.”
“There is nothing to tell.” Matt protested.
“My skin and bone, nerdy brother who just happens to be blind, fought off two street thugs. There is a story there Matt, so spill.” Fiona replied.
Matt took a deep breath. “Its not a short story, we might be here a while.”
“Oh no.” Lip deadpanned “and we were so busy to begin with.”
Matt smiled and looked at the ground. “So do you guys remember how I said during the accident some chemicals splashed in my eyes?”
“Yeah every time I have a nightmare.” Fiona snapped “I keep dreaming of Ian or Debbie doing something that stupid.”
“Hey, what about me?” Lip asked
“Yeah, right.” Fiona laughed. “Even in dreams, you would never do something like that.”
“Fair.” Lip ate another handful of chips.
“Anyway,” Matt continued. “The chemicals took my sight, but it didn’t exactly…give me nothing in return.”
“What do you mean?” Ian asked, then his eyes lit up. “Do you have superpowers?”
“I don’t have superpowers, well not really.” Matt sighed, “After the accident my other senses, like hearing, smelling, touch, they all went into overdrive. Far beyond normal blind people’s senses because of the chemical exposure. So even though I can’t see, I can still “see” everything around me. The best way to describe it is that I have a radar around me that notices everything.”
There was a prolonged silence as everyone absorbed the news, but then the three siblings launched into a hailstorm of questions.
“So that first day you came here, whenever you said you could smell Frank from the driveway, you weren’t kidding?” Fiona asked, making her voice heard over the others.
“That man really does need to lay off the sauce.” Matt replied, then he sniffed the air. “Just in case anyone is wondering, Frank is currently passed out two houses down, behind Mrs.Williams rose bushes in her backyard.”
“You're lying.” Lip said, “There is no way you can know that.”
“Hold on a minute.” Matt held up a finger and tilted his head. “As we speak a dog is peeing on his leg.”
Lip and Ian looked at each other, then took off sprinting out the back door. Fiona chuckled then shook her head. “Alright, so let's just say I bought this. That you have a sixth sense or whatever. It still doesn't explain how you fought off two guys.”
“Well, if we are getting technical, I didn’t “fight off two guys”, that makes it sound like it was a struggle. No, I kicked their asses. And I was able to fight them off because two years ago, this old guy, Stick, who was part of some cult, trained me how to fight. Apparently I’m destined to be a soldier in some secret war or something.”
“Fine, don’t tell me then.” Fiona rolled her eyes, causing Matt to snort.
Just then Lip and Ian ran back inside the house, grinning from ear to ear. “Dude, how did you do that?”
“So Frank was really there?” Fiona asked.
“Not only was he really there, but there was a dog pissing on his leg, it was awesome.” Ian laughed, “Matt is a superhero.”
“Alright you two, that's enough excitement for one night, go get ready for bed, I just need to talk to Matt in private first.” Fiona said. Lip and Ian groaned, so Fiona sternly said, “No buts, go upstairs.”
Whenever the two were alone, Fiona looked at Matt. “There are no more secrets between us right?”
“None.” Matt said, and he meant it. For the first time ever, someone knew all of his secrets, even if she didn’t technically believe them.
“Good, now go up the stairs and get to bed. You gotta go to Ian’s parent teacher conference tomorrow.”
“What, why? I thought you were doing that.”
“Hell no I’m not doing that, those old bats hate me, but they love you.” Fiona teased, then she made her voice really high pitched and swooned, pretending to be the teachers. “Oh Mr.Murdock, you're growing into such a handsome young man.”
“Shut up, Fi” Matt sighed
Fiona then copied Matt’s snort-chuckle that he does and dropped her voice an octave to imitate Matt’s. “Oh please ladies, you're too kind. Now I understand why Ian’s grades are slipping, how can a young man be expected to focus in front of such radiant women?”
“I-I would never say that!” Matt chuckled
“I’ve heard you say it, that's the line you used on Carl’s teacher.”
“Well I had to sweet talk her, you called her a bitch.”
The two siblings then walked up the stairs and continued their argument there.
****
A year passed. Matt found himself in his sophomore year of highschool, and had been forced by Fiona to go to some lame dance. While his sister still wouldn't go into why she wanted to attend the dance so badly, he agreed to go anyway and bring her along as his plus one. After all, she earned it. After Monica left, Fiona had dropped out of high school to take care of her siblings, but over the past year, with a little help from Matt, she was able to get her GED.
“Are you ever going to tell me why you wanted to come to this thing?” Matt asked. The brother and sister were sitting on the bleachers, drinking punch and watching everyone slow dance. Fiona was in a dress that must have been pretty revealing based on how every guy’s(and some of the girl’s) heartbeat spiked whenever they looked over at her.While Matt was dressed in a simple suit with his nice red glasses. “I get that you miss school a little, but it almost seems cruel to put yourself through this.”
“I just wanted to go, alright.” Fiona snapped.
“It's a guy, isn’t it?”
“No.” Fiona hissed, her heartbeat going all over the place.
“I can tell you’re lying.” Matt said in a sing-song voice.
“You know that it's unfair when you do that, right.” Fiona sighed.
“I think it's perfectly fair, those chemicals stung like a bitch, the least they could do is give me some benefits.” Matt argued, “So this guy, it's not Tony is it?”
“What?” Fiona asked, legitimately confused. “Tony Markovich? No. Why would you think that?”
“Well for starters, every time he thinks you're not looking he stares at you.” Matt sighed. Proving his point, Fiona looked over at Tony, who immediately looked down at his plate. “ At school he goes out of his way to find me and ask how you’re doing, oh and when we walked in he made it a point to hold the door open for both of us.”
“Is this your way of trying to set me up, Matt? You seem to be talking him up quite a bit.”
“Quite the opposite. If I was you I would stay away from him.”
“Really? You just went on and on about how nice of a dude he was.”
“Exactly, he is a nice guy, but the kind of nice person who expects something in return.” Matt shook his head. “Sure he’s harmless and he will probably treat you right, but he will also most likely read too much into every interaction you have, and he is too safe and law-abiding to keep you interested for long. What you would see as a nice date that ends in a one night stand, he would see as the story the two of you would tell your grandchildren. Keep him at a distance for both your sakes.”
“O, why thank you, my wise younger brother.” Fiona rolled her eyes.
“No problem, my stupid big sister.” Matt smiled, causing Fiona to punch him in the arm. “Anyway, if you're not here for Tony, who are you here for?”
“I could be here because I wanted you to have fun at your high school dance. Maybe live vicariously through you, since I never got to go to my own dance.”
“Uh huh.” Matt said, unconvinced.
“Ok fine, you realize that this is technically my senior dance right? Tony was in my class. Isn’t that reason enough?”
“It could be if that was the truth.” Matt said, taking a sip of his punch, then gagging in distaste. “Ugh, did you spike your’s?”
“Yeah, you want a sip?”
“Absolutely, this tastes awful.”
Fiona shared her drink and then grudgingly said. “Craig Heisner.”
Matt wagged his eyebrows teasingly. “Oh so the truth comes out at last. You have a thing for Craig Heisner huh…you and every other girl here.”
“I know it's stupid, but…I just wanted one last shot you know? I had a huge thing for him from middle school onward, and I feel like I would have made my move if…”
“If I hadn't dropped out”. Matt knew Fiona well enough to know that is what she was thinking. So, he decided to help his sister get her shot. Matt concentrated, tuning out all other noise and casting his senses out until he found his target. Craig Heisner was currently in the upstairs bathroom, shacking up with the blond girl Matt had in one of his electives…Lucy something? Anyway it didn’t matter, Matt had found him, but like the good brother he was, Matt lied about it.
“Just in case you're wondering, I don’t think Craig is here.” Matt lied.
“Really?” Fiona asked, she then put her index fingers on the side of her head. “Did you do your thing?”
“I’m still not psychic, but yes I did my thing.” Matt shook his head. “Craig isn’t here, he must have left early, if he was even here in the first place. You want to head out?”
Fiona was disappointed, but she did her best not to show it. “Nah, you go out there and have fun. That group of cute girls has been looking at you this whole time, you should go talk to them. I can go catch up with some of my old track teammates.”
“They're always looking at me, it's the blind angle.I get sympathy points” Matt said, he took one last sip of his punch and then stood up “Come on let's head out.”
“I know what you're doing Matt, and I’m fine, go have fun. I can catch up with some old classmates.” Fiona argued.
“If you had wanted to catch up with any of these people, you would have done so already.” Matt countered. “Come on, let's go home. Before you dragged me to this, Lip and I scraped together enough money to order pizza and rent a movie. It will be much more fun than hanging around here.”
“Alright if you insist.” Fiona sighed, but on her way out she smiled. “Thanks Matt.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Matt replied. To make sure they wouldn't accidentally run into Craig on their way out, Matt zeroed back in on him. He and the girl were still going at it, but then all the noise stopped and Matt heard a very annoyed Lucy groan. “Really, already? We just started.”
Matt choked back his laughter and Fiona looked at him like he was a crazy person. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Matt smiled. “Just trust me, you’re not missing much with that Craig guy.”
“...Alright weirdo.”
****
While Matt never quite descended down to levels of shadiness that the other Gallaghers thrived in, Saint Matthew’s morals did become a bit grayer than they had been whenever he left New York. Case in point, on this warm summer day the fifteen year old was sitting on a street corner in Beantown, asking for money from the wealthy tourist that came to visit the giant metallic bean.
It honestly worried Matt a little on how easily he justified this decision. “If the tourist had enough money to go see a giant metal bean, then they can send some of that my way. I’ve got a family to feed”.
So Matt spends about half of his day here. Camped out, reading a braille translation of law textbooks he bought, with a sign he had Debbie write that read, “College fund, anything helps.”. Which wasn't technically a lie, allowing Matt’s conscience to breathe a little easier.
“College fund huh?” A middle aged man said, standing over him. His family, a wife and a daughter about Matt’s age, stood back a little ways away.
“Yes sir.” Matt said politely. “I want to go to law school.”
“Good for you.” The man said as he unfolded a wad of bills and threw them in the tin. The man’s teenage daughter eyed him a bit more closely.“Good luck son.”
“Thank you sir.” Matt smiled. “Enjoy Chicago.”
As the man and his family walked away,( Matt made a note of the girl turning around to get one last look at him) Matt heard the familiar stomping of a very tired young woman coming his way. Smiling, Matt called, “Hi Fiona.”
“You know it freaks me out when you do that.” Fiona sighed, “the least you could do is wait till I get next to you.”
“Yeah, but what's the fun in that?” Matt laughed. “So what brings you down here? What do you need?”
“ Who says I need something, can’t I just visit my favorite brother?”
“Oh wow, you’re laying it on thick, you definitely need something.”
Fiona sighed and sat down next to him. “I’m just here to give you a heads up, Tony stopped by today-”
“Ooh police cadet Tony?” Matt asked. In the few short months since Tony graduated high school he had enrolled in the police academy, and he had made several “casual visits” to see Fiona while in his new uniform. “Well what did he have to say?”
“He came by to give me a heads up. Evidently someone finally complained about you setting up shop in one of our “great city’s tourist hotspots”. But they thought it would be a bad look for the police department if they were seen manhandling a blind kid from the projects-”
“Like they could “manhandle” me.” Matt scoffed, legitimately offended. “They wouldn't be able to touch me.”
“Yeah, because that's the takeaway here.” Fiona shook her head. “Anyway, they sent Tony to talk to me, so that I could talk to you.”
“What would Frank say? “Our tax dollars at work”.” Matt deadpanned.
Fiona snorted. “Listen Matty, just get your crap and call it a day. You can come back in a couple weeks and just say you forgot about the whole thing.”
“I will, I just got to do something first.” Matt said slyly.
“Oh yeah, what's that?”
“Did you see that family that I was talking to whenever you came up?”
“Yeah, with the guy who made a big show about giving you a handful of ones?”
“Oh the amount isn’t important. What's important is that his teenage daughter hasn't stopped staring at me this whole time.”
Fiona looked around until she found the family, and whenever Fiona made eye contact with the girl she turned red and looked away.
“The one with the curly black hair? She’s cute.” Fiona said approvingly.
“Not only is she cute, but she was completely uninterested until I said I wanted to go to law school. But once she heard that her heart rate sped up and she started stealing glances.”
“Oh so you have an in.” Fiona nudged his shoulder
“I have an in.” Matt confirmed, smiling.
“Alright, well have fun with your fellow nerd. But I’m serious, once she leaves, you better come back home.”
“Yes mom.” Matt sighed.
“Bite me Murdock.”
Fiona left, leaving Matt all along on his street corner. He debated on what his next move should be, if it would be too bold to go over and talk to her, or if he should use one of the moves that Lip is always suggesting he do and “accidentally” trip in front of her or something. But luckily, the decision was made for him.
“Hey,” a new voice said, and Matt jumped just a little. He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that someone had actually managed to sneak up on him. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No you’re fine, I should have been paying more attention.”
“Ok well…I heard you talking to my dad earlier about going to law school…” So it was the girl from earlier, Matt thought as he memorized her voice. It was confident and shaky all at the same time. Like she was seconds away from erupting into a rant at any given moment.
“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer.” Matt replied.
“Me too, actually.” The girl replied. “I was just wondering what your plans were, like what your study habits are, or what school you're thinking about applying to, or what scholarships you're going for.” The girl started listing things so Matt cut her off.
“Yeah, we can talk about that, but I have to move here soon. Tell you what, I’m told there is a coffee shop just right across the street, with a pavilion that you can see from The Bean. Why don’t we go there and talk and when your parents are done at The Bean you can go back and meet them.” Matt suggested
“No random stranger, I’m not leaving this spot.” The girl laughed. “And before you ask, no I won’t get in your windowless van either.”
“But the van is so comfy.” Matt smiled
“Doesn’t matter how comfy it is, you're still a stranger.”
“Oh so the problem is that I’m a stranger? Well we can fix that.” Matt stood up and offered his hand for the girl to shake. “Matt Murdock.”
The girl shook his hand. “Jen Walters.”
****
“So tell me again what happened?” Matt said, as he was getting the medical supplies.
“I fell.” Ian snapped.
“Riiiight.” Matt sighed. “You “fell” into some kid's fist right?”
“I fell down a flight of stairs.” Ian maintained.
“How on earth would falling down stairs give you a black eye?” Matt pressed.
“Why do you need to know?” Ian snapped
“So I know how to treat you.” Matt replied. “I need to know what stupid thing you did, because right now your vitals are all over the place. Your heartbeat is racing, but I haven’t heard your eyes move or react to any form of light, so you might have a concussion and it sounds like you have a hairline fracture in your shoulder.”
“What the hell does a hairline fracture sound like?” Fiona asked.
“Like an old rickety floor.” Matt responded calmly
“Are we really just going to blow right past the fact that Matt said he can hear “our eyes move”?” Lip asked
“It makes about as much sense as him being able to know whenever we are lying.” Carl added.
The entire family(minus Frank) was in the kitchen gathered around Ian, who had stumbled his way home after getting the shit kicked out of him. Even though the young man insisted that wasn't what happened.
“Alright, everybody back up. I need some room.” Matt said as he gathered all his supplies. He sat down next to Ian, took out the tools he needed to stitch him up, and downed a shot of tequila. “Now hold still.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Ian yelled, “You're not gonna stitch up my forehead while drunk!”
“I’m not drunk, the tequila is just to steady my hands.” Matt defended. “Now hold still.”
It was a very long couple of minutes, but Matt got Ian’s forehead stitched up. Now all that was left was to get Ian to tell him what happened.
“Once again, Ian.” Matt said softly. “Who did this to you?”
“I fell down the stairs.” Ian reiterated, then bolted up to his room.
“I’ve stitched up plenty of head wounds in my day, and that cut was from a left hook. A pretty damn good one too.” Matt yelled as he and Fiona chased after him.
The Team Mom and Team Dad of The Gallaghers got to Ian’s room and opened the door.
“Ian, we just want to help.” Fiona said, “Tell us what happened.”
“No.” Ian yelled.
“Why not?” Matt cried.
“Because you’re gonna go crazy again! Like you did with Joey and Colin, and those two guys who went after Lip, or that guy that was stalking Fiona…”
“I didn’t go crazy, those people threatened you guys, I just made sure it wouldn't happen again.” Matt defended
“You can’t just go around beating people up!”
“Since when? You offered to help me take on all of those people. What makes this time so different?” Matt yelled. He couldn't understand this kid, any other day he would be ready to fight at the drop of a dime, but today he wouldn't even think about it. Why, what was going on? But then Matt realized why and he stopped right in his tracks. When he spoke again his voice was calm and deliberate. “The person you got into a fight with, was it Mickey Milkovich?”
“H-how did you know that?” Ian asked softly.
“Lucky guess. Come on Fiona, let's go.” Matt said. Then he turned around and walked out of the room.
“What?” Fiona said, as she hurried to catch up with him. “One second you’re ready to go all old testament on some guy, and the next you're just gonna let it go. What happened to “us Murdock men got the devil in us” huh? You got a name, go out there and kick some ass!”
“Listen to me.” Matt grabbed Fiona’s arm and whispered, he didn’t know who might be listening. “You know that thing you always suspected about Ian, well I’ve always thought the same thing about Mickey.”
Understanding dawned in Fiona’s eyes. “Oh, do you think that they-”
“I don’t know. But whether Ian realizes it or not, he didn’t want to tell me for a reason, and if I step in, he might never find out what that reason is.” Matt said, “So if it happens again, we’ll step in but for now…let's just see if they can figure things out themselves.”
****
Time flew by over the next few years, and unbelievably, Matt started to grow up. He graduated high school as valedictorian, and thanks to a combination of money from the settlement, his dad’s wager, and multiple scholarships/student loans, he managed to get into Columbia University. The best part about this trip was that as a thank you present for all that she did for him, Matt invited Fiona to go with him to help him move. And she took on this responsibility in normal Fiona fashion, being mean while secretly being nice.
“Pretty crappy dorms.” Fiona said, sizing up the room. “It's about as big as your old room.”
“Translation, “Matt don’t go I’m gonna miss you, stay in your old room!” Matt teased.
“Shut up Matthew.” Fiona rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
“Alright.” Matt started to put his stuff down on the bed. “The rooms might be the same size, but now I only have to share with one roommate instead of three.”
“Speaking of which, where is this guy? I want to scare him straight so he doesn’t try anything with you.”Fiona said, then she mimed punching an imaginary guy’s lights out
“What could he try?”
“I don’t know, he could be some pervy freak, or some party animal who distracts you from your studies. He needs to know that you came here to get some work done, not drink and chase wild women.”
“Yeah, because I never did anything like that at home.”
“Yeah but now you won’t be at home, you’ll be…” Fiona looked up and gestured around the room. “Here. Things will be different.”
“I know Fi, you don’t have to worry. I’ll be good.” Matt then cocked his head towards the door. “Speaking of my roommate…”
The door opened up, revealing a heavy set man, with long dirty blond hair that was partly covered by a beanie. The man took one look at Fiona, and his heartbeat skyrocketed. “Oh hello. I uh…I think you're in the one room. Unless of course you are not in the wrong room and I’m in fact in the wrong room. In which case I must have gotten turned around…” The man then started to nervously chuckle, so Fiona rolled her eyes and clarified why she was there.
“No you’re not in the wrong room. I’m just helping my little brother get moved in.”
“Little brother?” It was only then that the man noticed Matt in the room. “Oh hey, you must be my roommate!” The man stepped forward and stuck out his hand. “I’m Foggy Nelson.”
“Matt Murdock.” Matt shook Foggy’s hand, but he made sure to play the part of a blind man. Groping around for it before Foggy put his own hand in his.
“Yeah, I heard about you.” Foggy smiled.
“You did?”
“Yeah, the university sent out notices about our class schedule, roommate situation, stuff like that.So I looked you up, you're a goddamn hero man.” Foggy said in awe. “What you did as a kid, that was insane.”
“No, it was nothing.” Matt blushed
“Don’t let Saint Matthew act all humble, he knows what he did was awesome, he just won’t admit it.” Fiona chimed in.
“I just don’t like talking about it, everyone treats me differently.” Matt shrugged. “They always walk around eggshells with me even though I’m just a normal guy.”
“Yeah I get it.” Foggy said supportively. “You’re just a normal guy, just a really…good looking guy.”
There was a very long awkward pause as Matt stammered out a few words and Fiona tried to hold back her laughter. But eventually Foggy realized what he said. “Oh I didn’t mean it like that. I was just pointing it out. I mean with that and the whole blind thing you must get some pretty good action.”
“I’ve been known for that, yes.” Matt smiled.
“Nice! Me and you buddy, we’re gonna hit the town tonight!” Foggy said as he put his arm around Matt’s shoulder. Then he looked at Fiona “Of course, you're welcome to come to miss…”
“Fiona Gallagher, and no I think I’ll let you boys have your fun.” Fiona waved goodbye. “See you around Matty.” Then she walked out of the door.
As soon as Fiona left, Foggy turned to Matt. “Man, what were your parents like supermodels or something? Because we’ve already established that you’re a good looking guy, but she is just gorgeous.” Foggy hit Matt’s arm. “Hey, do you think if I go and visit you over the holidays I might have a shot with Fiona?”
Matt shrugged his shoulders. “Probably not, but you never know.” He then walked towards the door. “Excuse me for a second.”
Matt caught up with Fiona down the hall. “Fiona, wait!”
“What, did you get tired of your roommate already?” Fiona asked, wiping the tears out of her eyes so Matt wouldn't see them, and for his part, Matt pretended he didn’t.
“No I uh…just wanted to say…” Matt then shrugged his shoulders and pulled his sister in for a hug. “Thank you, for everything.”
Fiona hugged him back. “Don’t mention it Matty. I feel like you helped us way more than we helped you.”
“Nonsense, before you guys I was being raised by nuns, do you know how boring that was?”
Fiona laughed and then punched him on the shoulder. “Go back to your roommate and have fun alright.”
“I'll call you guys every day.” Matt promised.
“You’ll call us once a week, and only on Sundays.” Fiona countered. “Seriously, have fun here Matt I…” Fiona breathed and then went back to hiding behind sarcasm. “ I want you to make more friends besides a grown man named Foggy.”
“Yeah, I think he has a crush on you, by the way.”
“Doesn’t everyone?” Fiona then turned and walked out the door. “See you around Matty.”
“By Fiona.” Matt said, and then walked back to his dorm.