Chapter Text
Foggy had promised it would be quick.
"We show up," Foggy said, already pushing through the door with a paper bag that smelled like garlic and bad judgment. "We say hi to Andy. We eat one pastry if the pastries are decent. We do not say the word networking, because once you say it, someone in a blazer appears and asks what you do. Then we leave. That is the plan. That is a good plan."
Matt adjusted his glasses. "You brought garlic knots."
"Andy likes garlic knots."
"To an office opening."
"It is a gesture."
Karen laughed behind them. "It is a gesture that is going to follow us all afternoon."
"Exactly," Foggy said. "Memorable."
Matt did not answer. He was already mapping the room.
New carpet under new paint. Coffee. A printer warming up. Cheap champagne in plastic cups. Winter coats damp at the cuffs from the slush outside. Someone's perfume too sweet near the reception desk. A vase set close to the edge. Framed prints hung slightly crooked. Voices carrying up from below.
Stairs.
Not immediately. But close. An open stairwell past the windowed corner, six paces if he moved without counting. Metal rail. Concrete drop. No gate.
He logged it and let it sit.
Foggy was already being absorbed.
"Nelson," Andy said, loud and bright. "You came."
"Of course I came. You used exclamation marks. Several of them. I assumed something legal had happened."
"Karen, you came too. Come meet everyone. Actually, wait, you have to meet—"
Karen was pulled sideways before she could finish whatever she had been saying.
Matt moved toward the window instead.
Sunlight sat there, thin through the glass, warmer than the rest of the room. He let it touch the side of his face. A bus pulled away from the curb outside. Somewhere below, a delivery bike chain skipped once, then caught.
He stood still and listened.
A step approached.
Light, measured, then stopping just short of him.
Her heartbeat was a half-beat ahead of her voice.
"You're close to the stairs."
Matt turned his head toward her.
A small breath.
"Sorry," she said. "That came out wrong. I didn't mean—" She stopped herself. "If you're waiting for your friends, I can leave you alone. If you want to know where anything is, I can show you."
He waited a moment before answering.
"Is this the official tour?"
"There isn't really a tour. The office is small."
"Then what is this?"
"Me being useful at something I can be useful at."
She heard it after she said it. He could tell by the way her breath changed.
"Matt Murdock," he said.
"Xinia," she said.
Matt nodded once. He did not repeat it.
"Andy mentioned you," she added. "I work with him sometimes. Content, mostly."
"He said you helped him survive law school," she said.
"Foggy did that. I mostly sat next to him."
"He said both of you."
"Foggy will be flattered."
"I won't tell him."
"Do you want the tour or not?"
"I want the tour."
She stepped to his left, leaving space. She did not take his elbow.
"Reception in front of us," she said. "The desk is bigger than the office needs. Pantry to the right. The coffee is bad, but everyone's complimenting it because the founder is standing too close to the pot."
"Tragic."
"There are pastries. Avoid the powdered sugar ones if you're wearing anything dark."
"My friend brought garlic knots."
"Oh." A beat. "That was him."
"Unfortunately."
"It's kind of him."
"That's generous."
"I'm a generous person."
They moved toward the hallway. She walked half a pace ahead, corrected herself, and matched him. Matt let her.
"Conference room on the left. Two people inside are pretending to check emails but are really hiding from the crowd. Storage on the right. Bathroom farther down. The printer jammed during the ribbon cutting."
"Symbolic."
"Probably not the symbol Andy wanted."
A man passed them carrying paper plates. He greeted her by name. She greeted him back, and her shoulders went slightly careful as he went past.
"Andy said the office does community stories," Matt said.
"Among other things. Legal referrals, translation, and recorded statements when someone needs documentation and doesn't know where to start. I do content. Interviews, editing, captions. Outreach when we need it."
"That sounds like a lot."
"It's mostly admin."
"Andy made it sound like more than admin."
"Andy is generous about other people's work."
"Do you like it?"
A longer pause this time.
"I think people say they want to help until helping turns into forms and phone calls. Then they go quiet. The work is mostly the part after they go quiet."
She stopped.
"Sorry. That was more than you asked for."
"It wasn't."
"It was. For an office tour."
"I've had worse tours."
She did not ask. He had half-expected her to.
They came back toward the main room. Foggy's laugh carried across it, too loud, fully aware he was being heard. Karen was deep in conversation with someone from the board.
"Andy is going to want to introduce you," she said. "You should find him before he finds you. It's worse when they find you."
"Noted."
"And—"
She stopped. Whatever she had been about to add, she let go of.
"Just watch the stairs."
No pity. Just practical.
"I usually do."
Matt heard a small laugh. She walked back toward the crowd. Someone called her name before she had taken three steps. Someone else joined before the first one finished. She answered both without breaking stride.
Foggy appeared beside him.
"Powdered sugar is a trap, apparently," Matt said.
"Is that a warning or a confession?"
"Both. Possibly both." Foggy leaned closer. "Who was that?"
"Tour guide."
"Tour guide."
"Don't."
"I am not doing anything. This is just my face. My face has questions, but I am being respectful and allowing my face to process privately."
"Your face is very loud."
Karen joined them, amused. "Are we discussing pastries?"
"Stairs," Foggy said. "And pastries. Matt got the unofficial tour."
"Did you?" Karen asked.
"I got the version with practical warnings."
"That sounds useful."
"It was."
Andy waved from across the room. Matt heard him before he turned, in the sense that he ever turned. He lifted his cane and let Foggy steer him toward whatever conversation Andy needed him to perform in next.
Behind him, near the pantry, she gave a polite laugh at something someone said.
He kept walking.