Chapter Text
It all starts with Frank Castle. Of course it does.
Out on a previously quiet patrol, Matt curses under his breath, he can hear the Punisher's steady heartbeat on the roof across from him. Moving closer, he can tell Frank's about to pull the trigger of his gun when Matt yanks him to his feet, keeping him in place in front of him.
‘What,’ he growls out, low and dangerous, ‘did I tell you about killing in my city.’
‘Not your city Red.’ Frank smirked. His heart racing in his chest betrays his surprise, but it doesn't falter when he spits out ‘But there weren't any bullets in that gun. Well, lethal ones at least.’
After a moment of hesitation, he lets him go and Matt picks up the gun. He keeps half an ear on Frank as he empties it - rubber bullets, hard ones, enough to cause enough pain, but evidently non-lethal. And although he can smell the metal and gunpowder of proper bullets on Frank somewhere, Matt has an oddly convincing feeling he wasn't going to use them tonight.
Whirling round again to face The Punisher,
Matt’s posture is slightly more relaxed as he opens his mouth to ask, but Frank beats him to it. ‘Not your city,’ he grimaced, ‘but I would really rather not get on your bad side.’ Again, Matt went to speak but Frank moved on fast, picking up his gun and turning back towards the docks, clearly where his targets had been.
‘Since you decided to show up, mind giving me a hand?’ he asked, but yet again he moved towards the edge of the roof before waiting for an answer, already knowing Mat would jump in, invitation or not. He huffed at Frank's back as he left, but still moved to follow, moving faster and surveying the area. He could hear the hearts of four girls beating rapidly, all in the same container, and a dozen or so criminals surrounding it, relaxed but not quite off guard.
Not bothering to wait for Frank to catch up, Matt dove into the crowd.
He methodically began swinging and dodging through them as he took them down, one by one, a crack to the head of one, another with a broken leg before Frank joined him, firing his new rubber bullets into chests and backs of the kidnappers, agony at such close range.
Thanks to Frank's arrival, Matt manages to make it to the container. But as he's shepherding the girls out and into the dark, giving hushed directions to the nearest police station, he hears the familiar sound of a knife sliding into flesh.
Without a second thought Matt throws himself toward the man, who is desperately trying to scramble away as he recognizes his mistake. Knocking the kidnapper to the floor, Matt ruthlessly drove his heel into the chest of the man, only stopping when he felt something cave, leaving him writhing in agony on the floor.
Stopping for no more than a second, he ensures the kidnappers are all out before crouching down next to Frank to evaluate his wound.
‘I’m fine Red.’ Frank gritted out, jaw clenched in a manner that indicated he really was not fine. ‘You need to get outta here before the cops get here, and I'm gonna need medical treatment.’ Matt wavered, debating his options.
On one hand, he could totally ditch Frank here, where he'd get medical aid, definitely not going to bleed out before the police he could hear in the distance got here, and The Punisher would be arrested. Matt wouldn't have to worry about him killing anyone in Hell’s Kitchen for a while at least.
Clearly the easy option.
Matt however, never seemed to take the easy way out, and took a steadying breath before rushing the words out before he could regret them:
‘I know someone’ he said, before rattling off his own address, helpfully only a couple blocks away, grimacing slightly. ‘I'm going to have to split with you on the roof, but I'm sure you can manage.’ he finished with a slight smile, lifting Frank's arm over his shoulder, pulling him to his feet, and helping him amble up to the nearest fire escape.
‘You gonna be okay to get there?’ Matt asked, relaxing more at Frank's unfaltering heartbeat when he looked down at his own side and replied with a steady, if not pained ‘I'll get there fine, didn't know ya cared Red.’ and a crooked smile, but looked up to see empty space where Daredevil had been. Rolling his eyes and sighing, he slowly made his way across the roofs.
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Matt was panicking.
He had raced back to his apartment, sliding in through the window, constantly focusing on Frank's heartbeat making sure he wasn't lying passed out on a roof somewhere as he tried to formulate a plan, recognising how bad of an idea this was.
Pulling off the suit as quickly as possible, Matt stuffed it in its box, shoved the box in the cupboard and began to rush around his apartment looking for his first aid kit, throwing some clothes on as he went.
By the time Frank knocked twice on his window, hesitantly peering through the glass, Matt had been patiently (read: very anxiously) waiting for him to arrive and jumped up to let him in. Show time.
‘You know Red?’ Frank asked hesitantly, all gruff exterior, eyes moving past him and immediately scanning the apartment for threats.
Matt nodded, gesturing vaguely at the couch. ‘He called me a bit ago, said you were injured? Come and sit down, I'll take a look.’ He chuckled slightly at his own joke, causing Frank to refocus on the man in front of him, and Matt could tell the moment he recognised him.
‘Murdock?’ he growled even more on edge, half-confused, half-angry, ‘How does a lawyer like you know Daredevil? And if you know him, why did you represent me? And why on earth does he think you can patch me up?’ Frank seemed to get more worked up with each question and again Matt chuckled, the picture of friendliness now he was out of his gear.
His stance was open, non threatening and trying to act as little like his intimidating Daredevil persona as possible. Matt moved toward the couch, leaving Frank standing there without any answers to his questions.
Against all instincts, his back was facing Frank, a clear display of trust and calmness. 'Sit down. I'll patch you up, and if you sit nicely maybe you can have a couple questions.’ He teased, finally coaxing Frank to the couch and letting Matt start to sort out his side.
Frank opened his mouth, probably to ask yet another question but hissed in pain before Matt could cut him off, who spoke while he stitched. ‘My dad used to be a boxer. He lost more often than he won and someone had to put him back together. That's why Daredevil sent you my way, I help him with stuff like this.’
This wasn't untrue, Matt did often stitch his dad's cuts, and then himself up after patrols when he didn't want to bother Claire or anyone else with something he could sort himself. He definitely didn't want Frank around Claire. Stitching wounds was practically second nature to him now after all his years of fighting anyways.
Frank hummed, wincing as Matt continued to stitch, but still remained tense. ‘How'd you meet Red? Doesn't quite seem like the type to make friends, let alone lawyer ones, what with you all upholding the law and shit like that.’ Matt was silent for a moment under the guise of focus, but was floundering for an answer. Why hadn't he been making this up while waiting?? He mentally cursed himself and pulled an answer out of thin air.
‘Pulled him out of a dumpster one time, back when he was still in the black getup.’ Somehow keeping traces of the lie out of his tone, he continued slowly as he finished fixing up the wound, ‘Lawyers like me get justice for our clients, and he provides justice for those the Law doesn't account for, or when people get away with their crimes. He protects. When he needed help with Fisk, he had someone to call already.’
Matt turned to what he hoped was Frank's face, trying to convey trust. He may not want his identity out, but Frank was a good man, and a trustworthy ally at that.
Matt would feel really shit if he died of an easily treatable knife wound because he didn't like Matt Murdock.
‘You need to stay here for a few nights before you go, alright? I'm sure that knife wasn't clean and I don't want that infected.’ Matt tried his best to channel his inner Claire, annoyed he wouldn't be able to slip Frank to go on patrols, but he needed him to heal properly. ‘Am I understood?’
Frank nodded, before realising his mistake and saying ‘Only until it's healed enough for you to discharge me, Nurse Murdock.’ He grinned, laying back on the sofa as Matt began to stand, but the lawyer shook his head.
‘You're taking the bed Frank, I can't have you ripping my perfect stitches by falling off the couch. And it's Matt, not like I didn't just patch you up or anything.’ Matt helped Frank up, showing him to the bedroom and the bathroom if he needed. Wandering off, Matt collected some sheets to sleep with in the night, and before he began to get himself settled for sleep, he heard his bedroom door open.
Frank stood in the doorway, and for a moment they both stood in silence. Matt was just about to open his mouth when he heard what would usually be classed as an almost inaudible ‘Thank you’, but Matt could hear the gratitude laced in his thanks, before Frank quickly spun round and shut the door. Only when all Matt could hear was the steady beat of Frank's heart, relaxed and asleep, did he settle on the couch and fall into a fitful sleep.