Partners
Matt recovers enough to eat a mild cheese sandwich. Clint makes it for him, careful to avoid the subject at hand, and everyone in the room is blissfully unaware of the turmoil between the pair.
Matt sits on the couch next to Clint, munching through the sandwich. It tastes vaguely like chemicals, and he makes a mental note to ask Tony Stark to buy better quality cheese and bread in the future. The guy is a billionaire, after all. He can afford it.
Just as they’re settling down to pick something on the TV, the elevator in the room opens up and two familiar heartbeats step out. Without thinking, Matt immediately leaps to his feet and rushes across the room. He nearly trips over a coffee table, too excited to properly check his surroundings.
Foggy and Karen are both hurrying this way too, and soon Matt is enveloped in their scents. Foggy’s arms are around him, and Karen’s hair is in his face. He can smell her shampoo. Not caring about what the Avengers may think, he pulls Foggy into a kiss.
His mouth tastes like the burrito he had for dinner, but Matt doesn’t care. He turns, breathless, and collapses into Karen’s embrace. Her lips are soft in comparison to Foggy’s, her skin more delicate, and he allows himself to stay like this for a few seconds longer. Eventually be breaks apart from his partners.
Matt is now acutely aware that Tony, Steve, Clint, Wanda, Peter, and Natasha are all staring at the throuple with open mouths. Matt used to struggle a lot with shame, and would shy away from the peering eyes of others, however he is pretty used to it at this point. He grabs Foggy’s hand in his left hand and Karen’s in his right.
“Do you want to watch a movie?” he asks his partners, guiding them towards the couch.
“A movie?! I want to know where you’ve been for the past month!” Karen exclaims.
“And I will tell you. Tonight. I promise. I just want some normalcy for once,” Matt replies as he settles onto the couch.
Clint moves over to the armchair to make room for Matt’s partners. Karen sits on one side, Foggy on the other, and Matt is glad of the feeling of protection being surrounded by them brings him.
“Avengers, these are my partners, Karen Page and Foggy Nelson,” Matt says to the room, gesturing to his beloved.
“Partners?” asks Steve. Natasha smacks him on the arm.
“It’s fine!” Foggy says to Steve. “We get it a lot. Matt and I started dating in college, and then we both started dating Karen about three years ago. We’re all together.”
“Matt?” Tony asks, gobsmacked.
“Shit – Daredevil! Sorry Matt!” Foggy says, shocked at his own ineptitude.
“It’s fine, Foggy. I wasn’t going to be able to keep the secret much longer anyway,” responds Matt, somewhat glad that the weight of his secret has been taken from his chest.
“Matt,” Tony repeats, mulling it over. “Would that be the same Matt as Matthew Murdock?”
“The very same,” Matt replies, reaching up to take his mask off. There’s a shocked gasp from Steve, who had no inclination about Matt’s blindness. “It’s nice to meet you all properly.”
…
When they get back to the room, Matt confesses everything to Karen and Foggy. They listen to him, they hold his hand, they cry. Matt lies across the two of them on the bed, his head resting in Karen’s lap as she strokes through his hair with her slender fingers. Foggy is absentmindedly drumming a tune onto Matt’s thigh, obviously trying to distract his whirling mind.
“So we need to get a test tomorrow,” Matt says to the two of them. He doesn’t want to, because as soon as he has the result, it will become real. But the earlier he does this, the more options they will have.
“I’ll bring some back from the drugstore,” Karen responds quietly, her fingers working in circles on Matt’s scalp.
“And then what?” asks Foggy. He hasn’t spoken much, but Matt understands why; it’s an awful lot for someone to process.
“And then I decide,” Matt says simply. The issue is, of course, that Matt has already decided. He’s Catholic, and although he would never condemn someone for having an abortion, he himself would never have one. The only question now is if he is going to raise the child, or give it up for adoption.
“Matt, you’ve already decided,” responds Foggy. “If it’s positive, you’re going to have it.”
Matt rests his hand over Foggy’s. “And is that going to affect our relationship?”
Foggy chuckles. It’s a pained laugh, caused by something deep within his chest. “Of course not. I love you, you horn-headed idiot. I was just wanting to know how this would affect your career, Daredevil, our lives.”
“Does it all need to be decided right now?”
“Are you going to continue being Daredevil?”
Matt considers this. Being Daredevil is a big part of his life, however it is something he would have to give up to allow this new life to grow. He doesn’t know what to think about this – if he stops being Daredevil to cherish a new life, then multiple other lives will be lost in the process. So what is the morally correct decision?
“I…maybe not at first. Later on, when it get’s more dangerous, then I’ll stop,” Matt decides. “Melvin can add more protection around the stomach.”
“Matt, that is not a good idea!” Karen says, shocked at his suggestion.
“Is it not my choice?” counters Matt, using his unseeing eyes to glance up to where he thinks her face will be. “I can continue doing my job until it is too dangerous to do so. I’m already going to have to stop taking testosterone for this – I am not letting this situation take anything else from me.”