Work Text:
Matt stumbled inside through the window, knocking down a vase, clutching at his side where blood started to seep through his suit, staining everything it touched and leaving a small red trail behind him as he limped inside towards his bathroom.
Tripping and grunting in pain he finally got there. Hurriedly, Matt opened the cabinet, wincing from how the wound stretched when he reached his arm up, and took out the first aid kit. Last time he used it himself was all the way back when neither foggy nor karen knew who he was. That time it was just to stitch up a small cut on his forehead and stop the bleeding on his arm.
The man set the first aid on the side of the sink, quickly snatching the top of the suit off and throwing it on the ground . He felt around his torso, trying to figure out how bad it was.
The main, and well the most painful wound was sitting diagonally across his stomach, right next to the healed scars that Nobu once gave him, sending him to the brink of death just under a year ago.
This new cut was deep, definitely reaching the fat, possibly even the muscle.
It was still bleeding, heavily so. Matt took out some gauze and held it against the wound, applying pressure, feeling the blood seep through the material.
While doing that, he also felt around for the intensity of any other damage to his body. Some of his ribs were definitely broken, crunching with every breath. There were another slices across his stomach and his legs, some of them almost stopped bleeding - some were deep but not too long- and most weren’t critical.
The left shoulder is probably either sprained or dislocated, he couldn’t confirm it in such state now, and the lip is split, leaving a metallic taste in his mouth and in the air.
Focusing back onto the deeper cut, he noticed that the bleeding wasn’t stopping. So he waited a minute or so, still with pressure, which didn’t do anything at all. Changing out the gauze for the third time now didn’t help either, the blood soaking it fully through after a few minutes. He’s getting lightheaded, a little puddle of blood forming on the floor.
“Shit…”, Matt mumbled, reaching for the phone in one of his pockets. He skimmed through his contacts.
‘Foggy? no, he’ll just get mad. Claire? she’s out of town. And Karen? she’d just call 911, which will lead to a hospital, which is out of the question .‘ The man thought.
Already losing hope and starting to feel like he’s either gonna have to somehow stitch that up himself, or bleed out on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor, he stilled. At the very bottom of the contact list sat a very familiar name.
A name he usually wished he would never need to hear again, now bringing him whatever hope he can gather.
“ Red? what the hell are you calling me for at… what time even ‘s it- at 2am?! If it isn’t something important i swear your head is gonna hang off a lamp post by the morning ”
-A hoarse voice, heavy with sleep answered angrily, yawning somewhere in the middle
“ Frank, i need you to come to my - cough - apartment .. I uh… need some help and i fear if i don’t get it in time, then i might bleed out on the floor, and i doubt anyone would like to clean that up later”
Matt tried to chuckle , but ended up wincing and clutching at his side instead.
- “ Be there in five.”
———————————————————
After a whole event of Frank trying to get matt off the floor and help him limp out of the bathroom, they finally had the blind man laying on the couch, with the other sitting by his side with the first aid kit. Happily, the bleeding subsided to almost nothing, leaving matt a lightheaded mess, vision blurring.
“How the fuck did you even manage to get this beaten up on a normal Tuesday night?” - was the first thing Frank said after looking at Matt’s naked torso.
“ Just some criminals with some pretty good katanas, for sure better than any i’ve ever held “
That was the only thing the lawyer could make out without hissing through his teeth at how his ribs and cuts moved painfully, now that the shock and adrenaline have gone down.
“ This is gonna hurt “ - was the only warning Matt got as Frank started to clean up the cuts, starting with the biggest one.
Matt hissed through his teeth, throwing his head back and trying not to squirm, grabbing the blanket underneath him until his knuckles went white.
Deciding to pay attention to something else around him rather than the pain, settling on the other man’s heartbeat.
Which was for a fact way faster than it should be.
“ Are you okay? You sound like you’re gonna have a heart attack” - Matt slightly raised up onto his elbows, wincing from that.
“ Nope. Completely fine.”
Frank answered as calm as he could, taking a big breath through his nose and putting a palm on Matt’s chest to lay him back down, not even looking in his direction.
“O-kay…” - The lawyer half-whispered and went back to listening and focusing on something else except the sting. Frank’s heartbeat only slowed down a bit after that.
———————————————————
Once Frank was mostly done with cleaning his torso and some of the cuts on his legs,it was time for stitches. He held the needle and bit off some of the thread, putting it all together, looking knowingly at Matt, waiting for a response.
“ Whenever you’re ready.”
So frank slowly sunk the needle through his skin, starting with the deepest cut. At which Matt let out a half-groan-half-hiss, throwing his head back again.
Frank’s heartbeat spiked again, him taking a deep breath to try and calm it, knowing Matt surely can hear it.
The blind man raised an eyebrow at that, and after a few times the needle went through he let out another groan, just to test his theory.
Frank’s heartbeat jumped a notch once again, which left matt smirking, letting out a half-huff-half-chuckle, trying not to move as much as possible.
“What’s so funny huh?” The man finally spoke up, shifting in his seat. He’s almost done with stitching up this cut.
“ Please evaluate on why your heart is jumping like it’s on a trampoline??”
“ No the fuck it’s not, i don’t know what you’re talking about. “ Frank instantly denied, tightening the last stitch, which led on to another sound leaving Matt’s lips.
Biting his lip and taking a hitched breath he snapped the thread off with some scissors, preparing a new one for the few next cuts he needs to stitch up and laying it on the coffee table near him.
The man on the couch got up on his elbows again, leaning closer to the other, warm breath washing over his face, noses almost touching.
“ Are you sure about that, Frank?”
—Matt said with a smirk on his face, dropping his voice to a whisper.
Frank could only hum as an answer, swallowing hard, quickly dropping his eyes down to Matt’s lips and back to his eyes .
The flushed man got up, gently pushing Matt back down on the couch.
“Rest for a minute. I need a beer.”
Now the lawyer fully laughed, instantly regretting it, chuckling awkwardly.
“ Oh god, you really can’t handle this properly, can you, Frankie boy?”
Matt continued laughing in pain, clutching at his side.
- “ Shut up.”