There was a new vigilante on the scene and Wade did not know him.
There were few things he hated more than not knowing something.
Well. That wasn't strictly true. There were plenty of things he didn't know. He didn't know what pi was, or how to calculate velocity. He wasn't completely sure of the order of the planets from the sun. It wasn't like he'd ever shipped off to some fancy college and gotten some fancy degree he didn't need so that he could work at a job he fuckin' hated.
But he wanted to know about the new vigilante.
Spider-Man, they called him.
Or maybe it was Spiderman. Spider space man?
Didn't matter. He wanted to know about the new vig and the new vig just would. not. be cornered.
So probably a mutant.
Or enhanced.
The flips were pretty cool, to be fair.
But he needed to get close, and to get close, he needed more information. And for more information, he needed Red. Which was.
Which was.
A problem.
Red was difficult to track down on a good day. Impossible to get a hold of on a bad. And if the whispers of Fisk's old gang rearing their ugly heads were true, then Red was having one or two no good, very bad days. Which was extremely inconvenient.
However, it was a problem easily solved.
"The whole fucking warehouse, Wade?" Red was snarling at him with all of those pearly whites. Oh ho, he was pissed.
"Like twenty guys, tops, Red. I need your ears."
"They're horns-"
"Nah, your ACTUAL ears."
It was odd enough to get his attention, but Matthew Murdock loved nothing more than to dig his heels in when someone wanted him to move.
"Find someone else."
"Nah. No one else can get close enough-"
"I am NOT helping you on a job, Wade, we've talking about this shit. You swore to Foggy-"
"Chill out, Red. It ain't like that. Take a fuckin' breath and listen." There was just enough of a dangerous edge in his voice that Red stiffened. His knees bent a little, shoulders loosening and sloping, his head cocking. It was a fighting stance. Pfft, as if Red stood a chance. "You hear about the new vigilante?"
That gave Matt pause again, his head cocking further. Intrigued. Curious. He just had to get Red all the way on the hook.
"Heard of him. Spiderman. He's come close, but never crossed over."
He shuffled closer to Wade, hunching into a crouch on the edge of the roof beside him. "Why?"
"I don't know him. I want to know if he's going to be a problem. Can't get close enough. Want to know why. Want to know who he is. You in?"
Matt was swaying just slightly, tracking tracking tracking the movement on the street below. Considering Wade's request. Thinking about refusing for the hell of it. But Matt liked knowing things, too. Liked to know exactly where he stood with people. Did not like people to know exactly where they stood with him. Part of the whole double-life gig, he guessed.
"... Fogs was asking about him." Ah hah! Victory, thy name is Franklin. "... he thinks he might be a kid."
Now there was a thought.
"What makes him say that?" he kicked a heel against the stone below. Wade hadn't really been close enough to get more than a shadow of the vigilante. He knew his colors were red and blue, but that was about it.
"Seen him on TV. Says he looks little." Another long pause. But if Foggy was asking, the battle was already won. "All right."
"Hell yeah, dynamic duo, back toge-" Wade threw out a hand when Matt shoved him, catching the edge of the roof, just barely as Matt sneered at him.
"We are not a dynamic duo."
Because god forbid the implication that his other half was anyone but Foggy Nelson.
"Definitely a mutant."
"How can you tell?"
"Heartbeat. Way too fast to be normal. But he's not in a fight right now, so it's probably not adrenaline... I can just hear it, okay?"
An elbow to the gut, silencing Wade once more to allow Matt to listen.
Three days it had taken Matt to wrap his shit up and get on board with finding the Spider. Three fuckin' days Wade had moped around his apartment, tried to learn how to trade cryptocurrency, and broken his computer in frustration.
He wanted to know now, Red.
Matt suddenly straightened, shoulder knocking against Wade's chest. "What is it?"
"Wait."
And then that little red and blue blur was arcing towards them on a long swing, falling downwards before throwing out another line of web. And then he was just.
There.
In front of them. Crouched, like he stood a chance.
"Why are you two following me?"
And oh.
Oh no.
Matt noticed it immediately, too. He could tell by the aborted way his hand moved towards his chest. Like he wanted to cross themselves.
Because that? Standing in front of them right now?
That was a god damned kid.
They relocated to a different roof, because Matt was getting antsy being too far from Hell's Kitchen.
Wade was being uncharacteristically quiet. He knew Matt could tell, because he kept twisting his head towards Wade on the way over. The Spiderkid did not seem to notice. Or if he did, he was keeping mum about it.
The minute they were all situated, Matt rounded on the kid, letting the Devil come to the surface in the curl of his lip and the loom of his shoulders. It didn't work on many people, Red wasn't a big guy, but seeing as Spidey was a literal child, well...
"You need to stop this shit. Now."
"Excuse me?" Spidey took a step back, sputtering indignantly as Wade crossed his arms from behind Matt.
"This shit. This vigilante stuff. You need to stop. You're a child- don't lie to me. I'll know. You need to stop, because it is going to ruin your life."
"He's right." Wade stepped up beside Matt. "And listen, kid, I hate to say it. Literally. Like, for sure I'm a do whatever the hell you want kinda guy, but..."
But my girl wanted a kid. My girl wanted a kid that would stay safe and not a kid that was throwing on a costume to go get shot at. Because my girl would have wanted you to stop this shit.
"But what?"
"But nothing. This shit ruins lives. It ruined mine. Multiple times. It almost ruined the people I care about's lives. You need to stop this shit because this city doesn't need you-"
"Yes, it does-"
"No, it really fucking doesn't. This city doesn't need you, you need this city. We are addicts, kid, and this is the drug."
"And when I don't do something, who does?"
Matt stepped back, exasperated.
Wade rolled his eyes openly.
But the kid was on a roll. He took a step towards them, spreading a hand towards the blinking lights behind him.
"No, answer me! Who does, then? You? You won't step a foot outside your ten blocks of Hell's Kitchen. And you? I know who you are. You're here because it's the easiest place to be where people who wanna pay you can find you. You're not here as a vigilante. You're not here as the sword of justice or whatever the hell you think that I'm imagining myself as. Maybe this city doesn't need me. Maybe it got along just fine on it's own before me, but I AM doing something. I am making a difference and there is nothing you can say to convince me that I'm not."
The kid's chest was heaving, and Matt had gone totally still. He was listening.
"You want me to put away the suit and then what? Pretend I can't hear people screaming- begging for help that isn't gonna come? Let the drunk girls hop in cars with people they don't know? Let some asshole with a gun shoot someone on the street just because they fucking can? I can stop that- I can't stop them all- but I can stop some of them. I am doing this because I need to do this, because the police aren't always the answer. The Avengers aren't always the answer. Iron Man isn't looking out for the little guy. Captain America isn't gonna show up when the corner store is getting robbed- but I am. I can. I can make that difference-"
"Why though, kid?" What had the world ever done for people like them?
"Because..."
He was deflating, but he wasn't shying away. He was thinking. Wade could tell by the turn of his head and the twitch of his fingers. Red had a twitch like that, too.
"Because when you can do the things that I can do... and then the bad things happen... they happen because of you. With great power... comes great responsibility."
God, where did these people get these lines?
"Gag." Wade sighed, but uncrossed his arms, turning his full attention to the kid in front of him. "If you're gonna do this shit, you should know how to throw a punch."
"What? And you're gonna teach me?"
"I might."
Wade eyed him up and down, before tugging his mask up. Just enough to flash a grin. "Wade Wilson, at your service."
"... Peter. Peter Parker." The kid reached up, pulling his mask off entirely. Fluffy brown hair, big brown eyes. Ugh. Like a fucking puppy this kid was.
The two carefully, studiously ignored the third member of their kowtow. But Matt surprised Wade, taking a step towards them slowly. He didn't remove the mask, but he twisted his head towards Peter slowly.
"My name is Matthew Murdock. And your form is fucking awful."
Well, hale-fucking-llujah.
Matt's favorite place to be after a relatively quiet night of lurking was crammed into the space between Foggy and the back of the couch.
The couch was certainly not suited to fit two grown men laying side by side. It was barely large enough to fit one man laying on his back, particularly if said man was a little broad in the shoulders from parkouring his way through Hell's Kitchen every night. But every night that he could, without fail, Matt would worm his way into the space and mash against Foggy's side.
If there wasn't enough room, Matt would loom and huff and bare his teeth in Foggy's general direction until the other would give him an inch to squirm into.
Matt listened idly to the shitty reality TV show until he felt Foggy take a breath.
"You meet Spiderman?"
"Mm."
"He a kid like I thought?"
"Yeah."
"What did y'all do?"
"Asked him to stop. Told him, really."
"And?"
"And he gave us a speech, Fogs. The whole nine yards."
"Damn... then it really is too late for him, if he's already lecturin'. That was like your third favorite thing-"
Matt's indignation and scoffs only set Foggy off further, much to his chagrin.
They went to bed laughing.