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‘Pay attention!’ Matt cries, and throws a soft foam ball at Danny.
Luke, currently sparring with Danny on the other side of the room, steps aside and out of the ball’s path.
Danny does not. It hits him right on the back of the head and he turns around, scowling.
‘Hey!’
Matt looks unapologetic, set up like a king in the best chair of Colleen’s dojo. A plush thing, with a remote that allowed Matt to adjust the footrest and back so he was more comfortable. Big, bulky and expensive as hell. It’d appeared days after they found Matt and the sight of it fills Luke with burning envy.
Of course, Matt hates it. Quite vocally. Though that could have more to do with the way he’s not allowed out of it if he’s in the dojo. Right now he has it up as straight as it can be, with the footrest down.
The chair is wasted on him.
‘You want to be an idiot on my streets at night, you have to pay attention now,’ Matt snaps and throws another ball. He has a bag full of them beside him, in easy reach for the still badly injured man.
Danny blocks this one with a growl. He ducks under the path of the next one, and has an arm up to block the one after that.
It’s then Matt nods.
And Danny doesn’t have time to react when Luke grabs him from behind and lifts, leaving him dangling a bit off the ground. Danny wriggles a bit, clenching his fist but he doesn’t try and hit Luke. That was the agreement - for both of them. This is fun, not life threatening and no one is going to try and actually hurt the other.
‘Pay attention!’ Matt snaps again, but this time he’s smiling. ‘Crooks in Hell’s Kitchen aren’t going to let you get away with anything.’
‘I’d like to see you do better,’ Danny grumbles as Luke lets him down.
‘Let me out of this chair and I will,’ Matt replies, going to stand even though his crutches are on Luke and Danny’s side of the room.
For just this reason.
‘Stay down,’ Luke grumbles and moves over to push Matt back into his seat. He doesn’t really need to - Matt barely gets a few inches off the chair before he’s wincing and crumbling back into it. But it means he’s now close enough to check Matt’s not pulled a stitch, undoing some of Claire’s patch up job.
Behind him, he can hear Danny sigh. Then the grunts that indicate he’s taking advantage of Matt’s distraction to run through some warm ups and moves without risking of being brained by a foam ball.
For a blind man, Murdock’s aim is killer.
Hell, for any man it’s pretty damned good.
‘I’m fine.’
Luke just raises an eyebrow and sighs.
He’s heard that a lot recently.
********
For the first three days after they rescued Matt - well brought him home, Luke’s still not sure if those nuns were a threat or helpers and isn’t that a sign of how fucked up the world’s become - he was quiet and demure. Didn’t talk much, or make much noise at all. Spent a lot of time unconscious and the rest just passively lying there.
It was almost terrifying.
And that was to Luke , who barely knew the man. Whose only measure of him was the few days they worked together.
But Matt had been willing to fight a much larger man, that he knew - probably? - had powers, with only Jessica’s invention stopping the fight. Matt then didn’t seem like the type to be passive or demure.
There was the fact Claire was freaking out. That was also a good measure of how out of character Matt is being.
Then Danny came into Claire’s place, where they’d been keeping Matt, covered in blood from his night defending Hell’s Kitchen.
Only a little bit of it wasn’t his.
That had brought Matt to life, with a vengeance. One that had lead to a fiery argument that had had Luke wanting to duck for cover, to hide in the kitchen with Claire and Jessica who were avoiding male egos by drinking.
Ending it had lead to this compromise.
Matt gets to train Danny up a bit and Danny gets to keep playing at being a hero.
Luke’s still not sure why he got dragged into it.
********
‘I am fine,’ Matt repeats, dragging Luke out of his thoughts.
Luke shakes his head, raising an eyebrow. …Which Matt can’t see. Right? Hmm, something to ask later.
‘You don’t look fine,’ Luke says. Matt twitches and Luke puts a hand on his chest, with just enough pressure to make sure Matt knows he’s not going anywhere.
That gets a raised eyebrow from Matt and a twitch at the corner of his lips. ‘Can I throw my balls?’ he says.
Which. Surely Matt knows how that sounds? Did he do that on purpose? Luke eyes him and a second later Matt smirks. With a huff, Luke passes him another of the foam balls.
Then takes one himself and throws it, timing it so his ball is a second after Matt’s.
Danny ducks the first ball. He doesn’t duck Luke’s and it makes him stumble back a few steps. He groans too, a flash of pain running across his face. Luke’s heart catches, his breath getting caught in his throat.
Then Danny throws the ball back at him, with none of the stiffness to his movements that Luke would expect if he’d actually broken something.
‘Hey!’
‘Pay attention!’ Matt and Luke say in unison. Matt then jerks, tilting his head towards Luke, with a slightly dazed look on his face.
Across the room, Danny huffs and goes back to his exercises. But facing them this time, his eyes darting towards the bag of balls every so often. He’s also moving a touch slower, his body language tense.
Prepared.
Luke looks back at Matt, who has his head tilted. He’s holding a ball but not in a position to throw.
He’s waiting. Waiting for something… Maybe trying to gauge Danny’s level of caution? Which is quite obvious from the look
‘Danny is giving your bag a hell of a look,’ Luke says before his brain catches up. ‘Not sure if you can tell.’
And Matt smiles, the warmest thing Luke’s ever seen on his face. ‘I can’t.’
Luke makes a noise of surprise. ‘For real?’
‘Yeah,’ Matt says and lowers his head to hide the smile. ‘Sightlines are… somewhat okay. I can usually tell if someone is looking at me, or where they might be looking but actual looks?’ He shakes his head. ‘Not really my area.’
All of which makes perfect sense. A jolt of annoyance at himself runs through Luke. He should’ve known that without asking. It’s so simple.
‘Makes sense.’
Matt shifts in his seat, his head still lowered. Shit, he looks so uncomfortable.
In the absence of anything else to do, Luke throws another ball at Danny. Who ducks it with ease, a grin spreading across his face. It only grows when he blocks the next shot, and the following one. He grabs the fourth ball, throwing it back at Luke with his cocky grin that lights up his whole face and makes him look about twelve.
The next ball, thrown by Matt, gets him right in that same grin.
‘Oh come on!’ Danny cries, over Matt and Luke’s cry of ‘Pay attention!’
‘I had it!’
Luke swallows a laugh. Matt doesn’t bother, just giggles and throws another ball.
‘Should get you involved in some kind of sport,’ Luke says. ‘You’ve got one hell of a throw.’
Matt smirks and waves a hand in front of his face.
Losing his battle to not laugh, Luke adds, ‘Somewhere private then. Or dark, where no one will notice your eyes.’
With that Matt’s smile turns thoughtful, then creeps back into being a smirk after a long moment of thinking. ‘I did use to hustle pool in college. Find a bar where I couldn’t hear many lights, far enough from campus that chances are I wouldn’t meet someone I knew, and played for a few hours. Usually made enough to cover the next month’s expenses, sometimes two months if someone was an idiot.’
That gets Luke rolling his eyes, the memory of the type of man Matt’s describing himself as jumping to the front of his mind.
‘Oh I know your type. Would’ve thrown you out of my bar if I saw you come in. Those kinds of matches usually end in fights.’
And Matt smiles at that, a shark’s grin full of teeth and the promise of blood. ‘I know.’
But something nudges at Luke. He might not be that close to Matt Murdock, but he’s getting more of a sense of the man with everyone moment he spends with him.
‘I’m guessing you’re also the type to pick your victims too?’
The smile slips off Matt’s face as he throws another ball, one Danny ducks under, and nods.
‘Helped with the staying anonymous, if I picked a place where the people were a little shady.’ There’s a defensive note in his voice, something that makes the hackles on the back of Luke’s neck rise. It’s somehow defensive and a challenge , all wrapped up in one tone.
Luke hums, tossing a ball from hand to hand and ignoring the way Danny tracks its every move from across the room.
‘Bet you were a killer at darts too,’ he offers, a peace offering.
That gets Matt’s shoulders to drop. ‘I suppose. Darts are harder than pool - I’ve got to feel out the board before hand, and it helps if I’m pointed at it. Made pretending to be sighted a bit tougher.’ His smirk returns. ‘But I don’t miss.’
Luke laughs. ‘I bet you don’t. Tell you what, first night Claire says you’re up for it, we’ll all go find one of your shady bars. See if your pool skills are better than your dart ones.’
‘You’d do that with me?’
There’s something in Matt’s voice, a note that makes a part of Luke scream with protectiveness. Despite the memories he has of Matt’s sharky grin and murderous anger, a part of him wants to give into this urge to protect him.
‘Well yeah. If things keep going the way they have, I’m gonna end up kicking someone’s ass beside you. Might as well do that with a friend, instead of a stranger.’
Matt lowers his head, but not before Luke sees the delight flash across his face.
‘We are in this together,’ Danny calls across the room. ‘Allies and friends, united in battle and partnership.’
Warmth fills Luke, Danny’s straightforwardness as endearingly awkward as always.
He then lobs another half dozen balls at him, just because he can. Matt joins in, throwing them with a look of such vicious glee on his face that Luke actually has a touch of concern run through him.
Luke manages to get one of the balls to curve, forcing Danny to move to avoid it. He turns back to Luke, with a delighted smile that only highlights how young he is.
It’s then Matt throws the last ball from his bag. It connects, getting Danny right in the stomach and making him squawk.
‘Pay attention!’