truly pathetic
Matt was not expecting an angry Karen to show up at his doorstep.
Maybe he should’ve been. Lately, everybody angry was turning up at his doorstep. It was just usually because of a court session he had missed or the vigilante thing.
He knew it was her before he even opened the door, but he had to wait for her to speak first. “We need to talk.” Karen snapped, walking straight past him.
Matt paused, a bit taken aback. “Uh...nice to see you too, Karen.” He closed the door behind her.
Karen stopped a few feet away, turning back around to cross her arms. Then she realized Matt couldn’t see her anyway, so it was pointless. “I brought you some case files to look at.” She said, holding them out.
“That’s not really why you’re here at eight in the morning, is it?” Matt walked over to take the files. Usually even Karen didn’t show up that early.
Karen waited a few moments, either for him to finish reading or to gather herself. “It’s about Foggy.”
Matt looked up, maybe a bit quicker than he should’ve. After all, he was supposed to be a cool, suave lawyer. “What about him?”
Karen gave a little huff, like she’d been expecting that. “You’re both killing me with this unrequited love thing.”
Matt made a little choking noise, which also ruined the cool and suave lawyer facade. “What do you mean?” He asked, trying desperately to recover it.
Karen rolled her eyes. “You know exactly what I mean. He keeps flirting and you keep acting like you don’t notice.”
Matt tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a struggle to speak. “I don’t…”
“You both keep pining after each other and then feeling sorry for yourselves.” Karen sounded entirely done with the both of them. He didn’t need to listen to her heartbeat to know that. “Am I right?”
Matt struggled with how to respond. He might’ve given in and agreed with her, except something was sticking out to him. “Did Foggy tell you…?”
“He didn’t need to tell me anything. You’re both so obvious you may as well have it plastered all over your faces.” She stopped to take a breath. “But, yes, I talked to him. And now I’m talking to you. Because this is stupid. You should both just come out with it already.” She paused. “No pun intended.”
Matt had to grin at that, but it quickly faded. “I don’t think,” He stopped, then started again. “If he was really interested, he would’ve said something by now.”
“Matt,” Karen said, sounding completely exhausted again. “He thinks you’re straight.”
“He does?” Matt was so taken aback by that, it was all he could say. Suddenly, things made a lot more sense. The ridiculous amount of speeches about girls, for one thing.
“Yes.” Maybe he was imagining it, but she sounded slightly more hopeful now. “So why don’t you just do us all a favor and clear things up?”
Matt hesitated. She had a point. What was the point in keeping things as messed up as they were now? But there were other things to consider. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not fair to him.” Matt managed to say, despite every other part of him wanting to agree with her. “Foggy deserves better than me.”
Karen just stared at him for a long time. “Are you fucking kidding me?” If she’d sounded hopeful before, she’d now done a complete 180 and sounded ready to give up on the both of them. “You wanna know what’s not fair to him? Dragging him along like this because you’re too busy with your own self esteem issues to really consider someone else’s feelings for once.” She paused, taking a breath. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe he does deserve better since you’re being such a coward.”
“Karen,” Matt choked back an angry retort, even though he’d walked right into it. He paused to collect himself, then continued quietly. “That’s not fair.”
“Like hell it is.” Karen stopped, taking many long, deep breaths to calm herself. Eventually, her heart rate slowed again. “I’m sorry,” She said, and it sounded mostly true. “It’s just...you two should at least talk. You’re suffocating the rest of us with your romantic tension.”
Matt smiled faintly, in spite of himself. “I’m not sure…”
“Matthew Murdock,” Karen said, in her best stern motherly voice. “You are going to talk to your friend about your feelings or I am going to talk to him about it for you.”
Matt was silent. He could’ve said she was bluffing, but her heartbeat said otherwise. “Fine.” He said, trying for a smile. “Since you’re so determined to blackmail me. I’ll talk to him.”
“Good.” Karen sounded satisfied with that. She started to head out, then stopped. “And Matt?”
“Yes?” Matt answered, resisting the urge to ask if she was going to yell at him some more.
She seemed to hesitate for a moment. “I want those papers back on my desk by tomorrow morning.”
Matt actually smiled this time. “Got it. Tomorrow morning.”
Karen headed out, but he heard her mutter one last thing before closing the door. “Good luck.”
--
Matt had not been looking forward to Monday morning.
He knew Karen would corner him as soon as she saw him, and he was right.
She slammed her hands down on his desk, thoroughly interrupting his work. “Well?” She demanded, just above a whisper.
Matt carefully moved his coffee mug further away from her. “Well?”
Karen huffed impatiently. “You’ve been sitting here for a full hour.” She hissed. “Do something!”
Matt started stacking up the papers she’d tossed around. “Do what, exactly?”
“Talk. To. Him.” Karen had that tone of voice that meant she was done messing around. Usually she only brought it out when they were dealing with a particularly sneaky bad guy.
Matt knew better than to push it any further. He sighed, getting to his feet as slowly as possible. “I don’t know what you’re expecting.” He muttered, trying to prolong the process as much as possible.
Karen put one hand on her hip, pointing firmly at Foggy with the other. “Go.”
Matt sighed again, fumbling for his cane. There wasn’t much more he could do to put it off, though, and soon he was walking to his doom.
He decided to approach it casually. “Hey.” He said, stopping a few feet away. ~heterosexuality barrier~
Foggy looked up from his work. “Oh, hey,” He said, grinning. “Did you read the case file yesterday? Why do we always get the weirdos?”
“Because no one else is crazy enough to take them.” Matt said automatically. He could already feel Karen’s eyes boring into his back.
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s true. So what’s up?”
Matt knew what he was supposed to say. He also knew Karen was going to kick his ass if he didn’t. But he couldn’t make himself do it. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”
“Okay. What’s that?”
Matt tried to continue, but he couldn’t. “I…” Foggy waited expectantly. “I….was wondering about this case file, you know. Some things stuck out as strange. I thought maybe we could go over it later. If you have time.”
“Oh...uh….sure, Matt. Whenever.” He shrugged, going back to his work.
Matt retreated to his desk, silently cursing himself. Karen gaped at him. “That was pathetic.” She whispered.
Matt slowly settled back into his chair. “I know.” He muttered. He could face down dozens of wanted criminals in one night, sustain multiple life threatening injuries, and then do it again the next day. But he couldn’t fess up to a crush.
Truly pathetic.