'literally bumping into each other' AU; Tony/Matt
Tony’s late.
Usually, he wouldn’t care; everyone who’s ever worked with him (for him) has learned that when Mr. Stark sets a meeting for 10AM, everybody except Mr. Stark will show up long before eleven thirty.
Oh, the sweet, sweet times before he had the genius idea to sign his company over to Pepper, making her the acting CEO. He thought he would have the time for the Iron Man business - he thought he could sleep for fifteen hours at once or not sleep at all for five days straight and the responsibilities he had towards the company’s management would fall right off his shoulders.
What he did not expect was how easy it is for Pepper to boss him around. And threaten bodily harm. Everyone knows that Pepper doesn’t fuck around with her threats.
That’s why he’s hurrying down the streets of New York at the ungodly hour of 9:57 in the morning, trying to type on his phone and sip his third coffee of the day at the same time.
What he also does not expect is that New York crowds don’t always part for him like waters did for Moses: he might be the technological messiah of this era, but it seems not everybody got the memo to step out of his way.
The coffee that has been a pleasant burn down his throat is decidedly less pleasant when Tony runs into what feels like a solid pillar and is a guy; Tony swears loudly and takes a belated step away, but it’s too late. The coffee’s scalding his nipples where it soaked through his shirt and Tony leans forward, but it’s useless. Good thing his reactor is water-proof. And sugar-proof.
“Watch where you’re going, will you!” he snarls and looks up at the idiot who got in his way: the guy’s fucking huge and Tony can’t see his eyes through the sunglasses, but the lifted eyebrow speaks volumes anyway.
“I thought that duty was reserved for people who could actually see,” he snorts and lifts his document case: it’s dripping Tony’s triple-shot espresso. But the guy only frowns after he runs his fingers over the soaked fabric. That’s when his words register in Tony’s brain and he makes a face:
“Shouldn’t you have a cane? Or a dog?”
“Would you have watched where you were going if I had one of those?”
That’s a good point. Tony sighs and digs into his pocket for his wallet.
“Look, let me just compensate you for the bag-”
“I’m supposed to be in court in thirty minutes,” the guy frowns right at him. How does he manage when he can’t see is beyond Tony.
“Are you a criminal?” Tony chuckles. The guy’s mouth twitches, but it’s exasperation turning the corners of his lips, not amusement. Alright. No sense of sight, no sense of humor, it seems.
“I’m a lawyer,” comes the terse response. “And you just ruined my defense materials.”
Tony groans. He’s terminally late and Pepper will have his balls, but maybe she’ll let him keep those if he has the excuse of helping the judiciary system. After having fucked with it.
“You got it on a drive? My office is right across the road, we could print it all for you.”
“I’ll be late anyway. Thanks to you.”
“I’ll drive you,” Tony offers and grins. Getting out of that meeting because of a court? Best excuse he could come up with.
“Do you watch where you’re going in a car, or are you going to wrap us around a telephone pole?”
“Guess you’ll have to wait and see huh?!”
The guy frowns again - still no sense of humor - but then gives a wary nod and Tony hooks his arm around the man’s elbow with a cheerful smile.
“Can you act blind? My CEO probably won’t murder me if I’m helping someone in need.”
“I am blind. And I wasn’t in need until the moment you spilled coffee over my defense.”
“Then act like you’re in need. Because if she goes off on a rant, I’ll be stuck in a meeting and you’ll be late for your hearing, you’ll probably lose that client, so no big bucks for you, yadda yadda.”
He drags them across the road to the sound of the guy’s offended sputtering.
“I work pro bono.”
“That’s awful,” Tony grins cheerfully. “Were you bad in school, or is it a punishment?”
“Not everything is about money, Stark.”
“Well, a lot of people would argue, but- hey, how did you know it was me?”
“Your voice. And the building across the street is Stark Industries.”
“Oh.”
“Plus, there’s the infernal whirring of your chest.”
Tony wonders about the guy’s super-hearing if he could pick up the faint buzz of his reactor in the morning rush of a New York street, but he saves it for later when Pepper comes charging at them like a bull to a red flag the moment Tony steps through the threshold of his building.
Of course it turns out the lawyer guy (Murdock, as Tony learns later) can be perfectly pleasant to people who do not spill hot beverages over his important documents. Pepper smiles at the man and then scowls at Tony, but lets him off the hook, for just enough time to let him drive Murdock to the courtroom.
Tony spends three hours sitting in the back of that courtroom, fiddling with his phone and only looking up when Murdock speaks. The guy’s pretty impressive. Tony’s intrigued, against his will, against his better judgment.
The guy’s also immune to Tony’s charm after the hearing’s done. If anything, he seems surprised that Tony hasn’t left yet; but he gruffly accepts Tony’s invitation to lunch anyway. He doesn’t find it funny when Tony needles him about proper nourishment for people who don’t earn actual money with their work... but hey, Tony swears to himself that he’ll eventually find a way to make this guy smile. And when Tony Stark sets his mind to something, well, miracles tend to happen.