Purgatory

When Matt woke up the next day, his body was still screaming at him. The only thing that had improved was his headache, but other than that he felt like shit. He wasn't so sure anymore, that his ribs were still in place. Logically speaking, he knew they were, since he could hear exactly where they were, but the burning pain begged to differ.

Still, his bladder needed some relief, so he went through the agonizing process of sitting up and then slowly shuffled to where he sensed the bathroom to be.

Five minutes later he shuffled back into the living room. There were two couches and in the back a kitchen area, which he approached now, despite panting like crazy and wishing he'd just pass out so the pain would stop.

He didn't.

Instead, he reached the next chair and collapsed on it. Only moments later the elevator opened and Tony Stark stepped out. Matt recognized him by his distinct scent of industrial oil and the lingering smell of coffee with a hint of alcohol. The mechanic walked over to the lawyer and stopped in front of him, clearing his throat.

“So.”, Matt interrupted, before the genius was even able to say a single word. “I must apologize for yesterday's arguing. I should have been more reasonable.”

“Well maybe, but I'm not a doctor. Besides, I wouldn't have stayed in bed either, so I'm not one to judge.” He grinned. “I have to say though, you look kinda cute when you sleep.” He didn't mention the thoughts that had crossed his mind when he had looked at the unconscious man.

“Perhaps I should introduce myself properly, then.” Matt held out his hand into Tony's general direction. “Matt Murdock. Lawyer, Vigilante, Bisexual.”

Tony snorted and took the other man's hand. “Tony Stark. Genius, Iron Man, Bisexual.” Matt grinned and his whole face lit up, making the mechanic's heart jump.

The lawyer seemed completely unfazed by the older man's nervousness, even though he was very well aware of it. “So, what's the plan now?”

“Because of the Avengers you mean?”

“Yes.”

“Well, your friend Miss Jones was kind enough to tell me about your … situation” Tony grinned. “and I talked to Pepper. She wasn't exactly happy because of all the paperwork, but she agreed that you do a lot of good work. You're not any worse than any of us, so she agreed to make you an Avenger.”

“That's absurd.” Matt let out an amused huff. “There's no way anybody would accept that.”

“Oh yes there is. I told you before: they accepted Natasha, too. I don't see why they wouldn't do the same with you.”

The vigilante gave the mechanic a dirty look. “Because I'm a maniac who beats people into the hospital!” He shook his head. “I told you that before. I'm not one of the good guys.”

“Jesus, you really do have a huge guilt-complex.” Tony shook his head. “You do what you do to help people and don't tell me you don't, because that's just insulting. The people of Hell's Kitchen like you. They feel protected because of you.”

“And if I become an Avenger I'll have to wait for missions and the needs of the small people will be ignored and I won't be able to help them any more.”

“Not really, no.” The mechanic gave him a smile. “You can do whatever you want; you can go out at two in the morning and stop a mugging and occasionally we'll take you with us on missions.”

“What about my friends? Will they be safe, now that my identity is blown?” Matt frowned, doubt still clear on his face.

“I can't guarantee that Nelson will be a hundred percent safe, considering it's really easy to find out you were partners, but that would be the case either way. Although if you ask really nicely, I'm sure we can keep the names of the others out of your file.”

“What can you do to protect Foggy?” He was using his lawyer-voice now, his mask of confidence concealing any other feeling that might be lurking underneath. There was no room for emotions if there was even the faintest possibility that his friends – even if they maybe weren't his friends any more – could get hurt.

“Everything in my power.” Tony had noticed the change in the other's features as well and he had worked with enough people for him to know that it would be unwise to make a sarcastic remark or crack a joke now. The wrong words had the power to scare the vigilante away forever, so he had to make sure that he picked the right words. “He can come here whenever you feel like he needs to be protected.”

Matt nodded. “That's a start.”

“So, will you agree to become an Avenger?”

“One last question: do I have to live here?”

“...well you don't have to, but you can, if you want to.” Why would anybody not want to live in Tony Stark's tower?

“I will stay here then, until things have cooled down a little. Then I will return to my apartment.”

“Is that a yes then?”

“Yes.”

“Brilliant.” Tony clapped his hands and grinned. “Time for you to meet the others, then.” He turned around towards the elevator and waited there for the other man.

Matt sighed and pushed himself to his feet. Slowly he shuffled past the genius and into the lift, leaning against the cool metal.

What felt like seconds later, the doors opened again and the two stepped out. The lawyer was met by the distinct smell of burned pancakes and coffee. For some reason, those two scent were mixed into one. Tony seemed to think the same thing, because he rushed to the kitchen and barely a moment later he exclaimed: “Clint, what in the goddamn hell are you doing??”

A very proud voice answered: “I mixed coffee into my pancakes.”

“You did what?”, the mechanic flatly asked, and Matt could hear him pinch his nose.

“That way I don't have to waste time by waiting for two things to cool down.”

“It's a nice concept, except for that one flaw.”, a female voice now spoke up from the couch, whom Matt recognized as the Black Widow. She'd been in the car with him. “You do nothing but waste time.”

“Maybe, but it's funny.” Clint exited the kitchen area and flopped down on the couch, shooting the lawyer a short look, who was still standing in the middle of the room. “Who's this?”

“That's Daredevil, you moron.”, said the spy and roller her eyes. Her next words were directed at said Daredevil: “Sit down, you shouldn't even be up in the first place.”

Matt just nodded and joined the two Avengers on the sofa, while Tony recovered from the shock of having to experience the creation of coffee-pancakes and took a seat next to Clint. “Cap and Bucky should be here soon.”, he announced and grinned. “Capsicle came back from a mission yesterday and I bet they haven't slept at all.”

The lawyer decided not to say anything to that. Except that when finally the two men entered the common floor, they did indeed smell like sex. He cleared his throat. “It seems that Stark was right about their … nightly activities.”, he quietly said.

Clint snickered loudly and nearly choked on one of his dark pancakes, while Tony frowned. “How'd you know?”

“I can smell it.”

Natasha nodded approvingly. “Nice.”

“What's going on here?”, Steve asked. He didn't even question the disgustingly brown heap of pancakes of Clint's plate.

“We discussed the importance of safety.” Natasha didn't even show the faintest sign of a grin when she said this, although her eyes were glittering with mischief.

“...really.”, Bucky replied, with an equally stoic expression.

Tony snorted. “Guys, you're supposed to make a good first expression on our new member!”

“Hey, I created a new form of pancakes!”, Clint immediately felt the need to exclaim with glee.

“And I didn't kill him.”

“We've only been here for two minutes!” Steve frowned. “Besides, why a new member?”

“Oh right, you only just came back from that mission.” He grinned. “So I didn't tell you yet.” He pointed at Matt. “This good man here is Daredevil, aka Matt Murdock, aka a lawyer. And now he's agreed to becoming an Avenger since his identity got blown like … two days ago.”

“You're the man who locked up Fisk.” Bucky nodded at the lawyer. “Impressive.”

“You um … know about that?” Matt cocked his head to the side a little and listened to the assassins heartbeat. It was slow and strong and even, like nothing could ever make the man the slightest bit nervous.

“I followed the case.” He offered his hand – the right one – and introduced himself: “Bucky.”

Matt took the hand. “Matt.”

It was like a silent pact that they understood each other, that they weren't enemies. It was quite a nice feeling to know that such a strong and smart, as well as skilled man was this … calm towards the vigilante.

“And you're an Avenger now?” Clint grinned. “Pretty cool.”

Matt chuckled softly. “You really think that?”

“Yeah, love your fighting style. I mean there's like two recordings of it cause you're really damn good a hiding, but still.”

“Well … thanks.” The lawyer tried not to show how flustered he was by this. Not many people had told him that he was a good fighter, apart from people who didn't know what they were talking about. “I mean I can't say that I've seen you fight, but I've heard only good things.”

Clint chuckled and formed the following masterpiece of spoken literature: “How do you do all the things you do anyway?”

The other man ignored the curious looks of the rest of the Avengers and explained: “I guess you have to think of it as more than just five senses.” Confused frowns, which he tried to remove by clarifying: “I can't see. Not like everyone else. But I can feel. Things like balance and direction. Micro-changes in air density, vibrations, blankets of temperature variations. Mix all that with what I hear, subtle smells. All those fragments form a sort of … impressionistic painting.”

Bucky made a kind of impressed sound in the back of his throat. “Cool.”

Matt nodded. A slightly awkward silence followed.

Eventually Tony spoke up again: “Great. Now that this is all out of the way, we can tell the public.”

Steve pulled a grimace. “Another press-conference? That's the third this month!”

“Yeah, but one of them was because Bucky was announced to be an Avenger, too and the last one was the one I did yesterday, because of our new friend.” The genius turned to Matt with a judging glare. “You'll have to be there, too. You know, show your face and look handsome.”

Matt gave him a dirty look. “I'm sure I can manage that.”