Have Some Sympathy
Matt fell off a building.
In front of his soul mate.
Great.
He could feel himself going into shock, however there was enough adrenaline running through him to prepare for an escape. He couldn’t deal with this. Not right now. While falling, he quietly landed on a fire escape and climbed through an conveniently open window into an apartment. There was no one in this apartment.
It smelled of Foggy.
Shock.
Matt was actually in shock.
He made his way to the front door and rushed down the hallway. Careful of other people.
The man was still on the roof.
Foggy.
He met his soulmate.
He actually met his soulmate.
He had to get home.
Then he would have to tell Karen.
There were so many things running through Matt’s mind. He will deal with Foggy in the morning. Right now he had to deal with himself.
Matt ran out of the building and called it a night for Daredevil.
______
Karen was surprised when Matt came home at 10:00 that night.
Then she saw him going into shock.
She let him get changed, grabbed a blanket, placed it over his shoulders, sat him down on his couch, and let him calm down a bit before asking him questions.
“What happened?”
______
Matt was still shaky.
He lifted his sleeve and grabbed Karen’s hand.
He had no doubt that Karen would be understanding and wouldn’t hate him for having a soulmate. She wasn’t like most.
______
Karen let Matt grab her hand and put her hand over his wrist.
She felt his skin and found small bumps on his skin. She knew it was braille. But what was braille doing on his wrist.
Oh...
Karen never really believed that people with soul marks were weak or not human or whatever they said. She never believed that. She didn’t believe that Matt was evil.
If she did, well it would be hypocritical of her.
Karen broke the silence.
“I have one too.”
______
Matt didn’t expect that. It wasn’t a lie to make him feel better anyway. He nodded.
“Did you already know?”
The question hurt a little. But he understood it. He kept many things from Karen. He wished he didn’t. Matt shook his head.
He was thinking of asking her about it, to maybe calm him a bit. He was also curious.
______
Matt’s voice shook as he spoke. “What does yours say?”
It was a personal question. But Karen didn’t mind.
“Punisher. I’m guessing it a nickname. It’s located on my right shoulder. Easy to hide.”
Karen figured it was okay to ask Matt what his mark said.
“What does yours say?”
She felt his wrist again. The mark was subtle. He could hide his pretty well. If someone accidentally felt the mark then they wouldn’t automatically think it was braille, probably just thought it was an odd skin condition and not ask about it. The mark wasn’t in black ink either. Which helped the subtlety of it.
“Foggy,” Matt’s voice stopped shaking. “I think I met him tonight.”
______
Matt could feel Karen nodding. The silence between them was weird. It would be awkward on almost any other occasion but it was almost comforting in an odd way.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Matt liked how she asked. She didn’t just pry. Expecting she was entitled enough for the information (which she was). He would’ve told her anyway but it was nice that she asked.
“Not really,” Matt said truthfully. “but I probably should.”
Matt worked hard on being honest with Karen now. It made him feel better and it made Karen relax a bit.
“Just say what you want to.”
Matt always thought that Karen was good with this stuff. She knew how to comfort him.
“It’s the man from the bakery,” Matt finally said.
“The guy that always looks at you, and who you claim you don’t like in that way.”
Matt slightly chuckled.
“Yeah.”
______
Karen grinned brightly.
“At least it’s someone you like.”
Matt’s face fell.
Oh shit, did she say something wrong?
“Yeah,” Matt agreed. “But what if he doesn’t like me, all of me? I think he has the word Devil tattooed on him. I mean what does he think of me. I literally have the persona of the Devil. He approached me when I was Daredevil. He was afraid. I could hear his fear in his voice.”
______
Matt finally voiced his fears. When he became Daredevil he realized that his soulmate might hate him. Sometimes he even hates himself.
Then Karen spoke.
“Well he must’ve known that the ‘Daredevil’ was his soulmate. He wouldn’t have went up to you. He was probably scared because he didn’t know what you would do. You tend to beat up people who are doing illegal things and having a soul mark is technically illegal. There was a risk to it.”
Karen took a breath. Matt braced himself for an emotional hit.
“Which leads me to my next point,” Karen added. “Matthew Michael Murdock, why on earth are you a lawyer? You could get arrested if any one found out about your mark.”
Karen smiled.
Matt chuckled. He felt better.
“I can’t just sit by Karen.”
Karen snickered as well. She had heard the argument before.
“Fair enough.”
Matt was okay. And if he wasn’t then he had Karen.
Tomorrow he will find his soulmate again. It helps that he knew his name now. Franklin Nelson.
“Oh yeah I also fell off a building.”
“Murdock!”
______
Foggy called Brett as soon as he got back into his apartment.
“Hey Foggy,” Brett answered. “Have you given up yet?”
Foggy chuckled. “Quite the opposite my dear friend.”
“Wait, what?”
“Brett, I found him. I found the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”
“What happened? Are you hurt? Is he with you now?”
“I’m fine Brett,” Foggy said with exasperation. It was nice to know he cared so much though. “He was up on my roof and I scared the shit out of him. Then he asked what I was doing. I told him I wanted to chat, then he pointed out my knife. That was weird. I don’t know how he knew but he did. I told him it was for protection. He just went with it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah it was odd.”
“Yeah, keep going.”
“Then i asked his stance on soulmates then he got aggressive asking if Fisk sent me. Or a stick? I don’t know what he asking but he was really defensive. It was kinda scary.”
“Did he threaten you?” Brett sounded angry.
“No, but he was confused. I told him that i wasn’t a part of anything and wasn’t there to hurt him or threaten him. He believed me for some reason. Then I told him my full name, then my parents nickname for me, then your nickname for me.”
“And? Any sort of reaction?”
“Well when I said Foggy, he fell off the roof.”
“Oh god, was he okay?”
“Well I couldn’t find him afterward,” Foggy said.
“Hm.”
That wasn’t good.
“Hm what?”
“Are you sure telling a vigilante your full name is a good idea?”
When Foggy thought about it, that move wasn’t a good idea. But Foggy is almost 92% sure that the Daredevil is his soulmate.
“No but I have hope.”
“Well that hope better not get you injured or arrested.”
“Sure thing,” Foggy smiled.
“So when are you going to meet up with the Devil again?” There was a smile in Brett’s voice.
“I don’t know,” Foggy admitted “I’m going to let him come to me.”