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The first time Matt Murdock met Spider-Man, he was patrolling. He had heard about this other vigilante, superhero, or whatever he was, but he had never crossed paths with him. Matt was on a rooftop, listening closely to some criminals in the building. They were trying to sell some weapons. If he waited for just the right time, he knew he would be able to get out of it with barely any scratch, which wouldn’t be so bad for once.
But, before he could get to that, he heard something he didn’t expect. Someone else had come in. And, whoever it was, he was stopping those guys. As he heard that mysterious hero struggled, Matt couldn’t stay behind. He jumped into the fight without thinking twice.
The other guy seemed surprised to see someone else come in. It took a second before he understood that Matt was on his side, but after that they worked together to neutralize everyone. Once they were all unconscious, the other guy came closer to him, probably trying to understand who he was and what he was doing here.
“You’re Daredevil,” he exclaimed, surprised.
“That’s what they call me. And you are?”
“I’m Spider-Man,” he answered, a subtle trembling in his voice. Matt listened to everything he could figure about this guy, trying to find if he was telling the truth. The distinct beating of his heart made him realize one thing.
“You’re just a kid,” he noted.
“N-no, no I’m not,” Spider-Man tried to convince him, taking a deeper voice. It was ridiculous.
“It’s not your voice giving you away, kid.” He wasn’t going to push it, or explain how he knew that. He simply gave him a small nod. “Just be careful out there, Spider-Man. And stay out of my business, will you?”
His path crossed Spider-Man’s a couple of times after that night. They now had a common enemy to fight and they both could use a little help. Matt felt bad involving a kid he knew nothing about in all of this. But he was good at his thing and apparently he had experience. The only problem was the fact that he talked. A lot. Too much sometimes.
Matt wasn’t really used to working in a team. Sure, there was that time he got with Jessica, Luke and Danny to stop The Hand, but that didn’t really end up well for him. He was a solo type of guy. But, sometimes, threats were a little bit too big for just one guy. Even him. The only times he was really successful at stopping his enemies, he had some help. And, clearly, Spider-Man wasn’t just another kid who didn’t know what he was doing.
That’s what brought them together on a roof that night, looking at the abandoned warehouse where the guy they had been following for days was about to sell weapons. Based on what Spider-Man had told him, it was something far more dangerous, something he had dealt with before. Matt didn’t really want to ask, but he got a good idea of what he meant when, mid way through kicking those criminals’ teeth, part of the place exploded.
As the criminals tried to use all of this as a distraction, but between both vigilantes, they didn’t stand a chance. Once they were tied up with Spider-Man’s web, they quickly left before the police showed up, going back to the roof.
“That was a close call,” Spider-Man exclaimed as they heard the police sirens approaching. “We’re a great team.”
“I guess we are. Good work out there.” As he listened to everything going on back down, he felt a sharp pain in his left side. “Shit,” Matt swore under his breath when he felt the blood, caused by something that had cut him in the explosion. He should’ve been more careful there. “Hey kid, I might need your help.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I’m bleeding and my partner will probably kill me if he knows I could’ve asked for some help to get home,” he quickly explained. It was part of their agreement about all of his second life. He had to be more careful, for one, but he also had to ask for help when he needed to. Now was one of those moments, because he was losing more blood than he thought. “Maybe this cut is pretty bad.”
“Let’s go,” Spider-Man urged, his heartbeat becoming faster from the panic. “Where are we going?”
“My apartment,” he simply answered before guiding him through the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. With his help, he got to the rooftop of his apartment building, getting to his place through the roof access. Spider-Man helped him get to the kitchen, close to the counter. “Thanks again kid.”
“No problem. You’re sure you’ll be fine? I know hospitals are risky when you wear one of those,” he said, making a move that Matt assumed was to point at his mask. “But if you need any help, I can try my best.”
“Don’t worry, I’m used to this,” he promised. “I’ll patch myself up, get some painkillers and I’ll be as good as new tomorrow.”
“Jesus,” a voice exclaimed, followed by the sound of something – wood, probably a baseball bat – hitting the floor. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“Sorry Fogs, I didn’t realize you were awake.”
“How bad is it?” he asked, gesturing to him.
“I’m fine, don’t worry.” He had only lost a little bit of blood. Maybe more than a little bit. He was also getting a bit lightheaded. Okay, maybe he wasn’t technically fine. “I even asked for some help.”
“You’re lucky I love you.” He would have an easier time believing that he was actually fine if it wasn’t for the fact that Matt was clearly in pain and couldn’t stand without holding himself onto something. Or that he must be in pretty bad shape to actually ask for help. At least, he was home. “Spider-Man, right?”
“Yeah, that’s me,” he replied, trying to change his voice, which made Matt chuckle.
“Wish we could’ve met under other circumstances. Thank you for helping him. It means a lot. Now you,” he continued, turning to Matt, still in his costume. “I need to patch you up.”
“I’ll leave. See you around Daredevil,” Spider-Man quickly added. With that, he left through the same entrance he had come in.
“Double D,” Spider-Man announced as he arrived onto the roof Matt had been perched on for the past hour. It was the next night and, with his wounded side, he was taking it slow, only actually intervening if needed. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I told you, I’ve seen worse,” he assured with a smile.
“Your partner seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t think you could– hm–”
“Could be with someone like him? Yeah, I keep wondering about that everyday.” He could feel that Spider-Man was nervous, like he wanted to say something and couldn’t find the courage to do it. He didn’t want to push it, but he knew something was stressing him out.
“Look, I– how do I say this? – I think I figured out who you are,” he admitted and Matt felt he should’ve seen that coming. After all, it wasn’t hard to figure it out once anyone had seen his partner. “Outside of the mask, I mean. I didn’t want to, but I just put everything together. Your secret is safe with me, I would never tell anyone. But I don’t want to pretend I don’t know.”
“Hey kid, it’s okay. I wouldn’t have let you in my apartment if I didn’t trust you a little bit,” he told him, smirking. Truly, he wished he could’ve kept things apart from his normal life and that the kid never figured it out. Now he had to live with all of this. He couldn’t go back. He trusted Spider-Man to keep his secret. After all, he knew, more than anyone else, what it was like. Maybe he needed some vigilante friends. “How about we do this the right way? My name’s Matt Murdock.”
It took a moment before the kid said or did anything. His heart was accelerating in his chest as he weighed his options. Finally, after a moment, he made a movement that Matt could read as him removing his mask. “I’m Peter. Peter Parker.”
“Nice to actually meet you, Peter,” he said, smiling warmly. “Tell me, do you have anyone who knows about the mask?”
“No, no one knows,” he admitted with sadness in his voice. “I don’t have any family or anything. This is all I have, really. My parents died when I was young. For most of my life, it was just me and my aunt. When she – when she died, I almost stopped being Spider-Man. But helping people is all I have left to remind me of her.”
“I’m sorry about your aunt, kid,” he said sincerely. “You’re not alone now.”
“We’re getting an intern,” Matt announced when he entered the office. It was a monday morning, a couple of days after he learned about Peter’s identity. After he told him he was unsure how he could get into college, Matt had this idea that he could work at the firm. Mostly, he wanted to show him he was there to help him. He knew what it was like to have no family and be alone. He didn’t want Peter to end up like him.
“Isn’t that the type of thing we should talk about first?” Foggy asked.
“I’m not sure we have the budget to pay anyone else,” Karen chimed in.
“Unpaid intern. And this is us talking about it, no?” he tried, with a smile, like he could charm his way out of this. “He’s a kid, he has no one and I’m really trying to help him.”
“When you say kid, you mean–?”
“Seventeen, trying to get into a good college. Could really use that on his application.”
“Yeah, of course we’ll take him,” Foggy gave in. “You knew we couldn’t say no.”
“I was really counting on it. Come in, Peter,” Matt called. He could feel the glare Foggy gave him, but he could only smile in return. He knew he was doing something good for once. “Guys, this is Peter Parker, our new intern. Kid, this is Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, my associates.”
“Thank you so much for this opportunity,” he said with the enthusiasm Matt had come to know about him.
“Welcome to Nelson, Murdock & Page,” Foggy announced.
“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Foggy exclaimed as he entered Matt’s office one morning, a couple of weeks after Peter had officially joined the team. It was after a long night on the streets as Daredevil, leaving him bruised and exhausted. He wasn’t the only one that was out the night before. Peter had come in with a small cut on his forehead, the third injury this week. It was better than the night before, thanks to his fast healing, but it was noticeable enough to worry the rest of the office. Especially Foggy. “I’m used to you having bruises and scars. But Peter?” he added, pointing to the door. “You need to tell me what’s up with the kid.”
“I can’t Fog, it’s not my place to tell you about that,” he simply answered, truly sorry. He couldn’t give away Peter’s secret. That wasn’t his to tell.
“We’re really going on that path again, Matt? I thought we were over this. The secrets, the lies, the whole pushing me away… Are we really starting that again?”
“Foggy–”
“I’ll tell you,” Peter interrupted, coming into the office quickly. He had heard everything from the other side of the door and knew he had to do something. Mostly, he didn’t want to be the reason why they were fighting. As Matt tried to stop him and tell him he didn’t have to, Peter simply continued. “I don’t want you to lie for me, Matt. If you trust him, so can I.” Matt could hear he was nervous. He understood, more than anyone. It wasn’t the easiest secret to tell. If too many people knew, he could put some people in danger. On the other hand, the secret was hard to keep from closed ones. It was one of the hardest things about this life, all the people you could hurt because of your double life. “He’s not the only vigilante. I’m Spider-Man.”
Foggy went completely silent. Matt waited, analyzing everything from his heartbeat to his breath, trying to guess what he was thinking. Through that, he could hear Peter’s heartbeat beating excessively fast, showing how nervous he was. “You’re just a kid,” Foggy finally said. “You should do supid things like going to parties and trying to get into bars, not this. Do you think it’s cool to be a superhero? Is that why you do this?”
“I have powers. I can’t just do nothing when there’s people that need me and I can help them,” Peter justified himself. “It’s the good thing to do, isn’t it? I just want to help those in need. That’s what my aunt told me I should always do…”
It was the first time Matt heard him talk about his family since the night he told him he didn’t have anyone left. Foggy seemed to see he was sincere and simply sighed. “You need to be more careful. I won’t let another member of this firm almost die on us.”
“I keep an eye on him some nights, to be sure he stays safe,” Matt intervened.
“That doesn’t reassure me at all.” It was a fair point, he had to admit.
A couple of weeks later, Matt was on a roof, listening to the city below him, when he was joined by Peter. It had become almost a tradition for them to regroup on a roof on quiet nights like this one. Still listening to the world around them, in case of emergencies, Peter was telling Matt the story of how he once was almost an official Avenger while only sixteen. That’s when he remembered a detail mentioned earlier in the week. “Don’t you have a test tomorrow?”
“No— I mean, yes, but I’ve been studying all day. I’ll be fine,” Peter tried to assure.
“I’m not risking you failing that test. It’s for your GED, it’s important,” he insisted. “Plus, there’s nothing going on tonight anyway. I’ll manage all of this alone.”
“Oh, come on, I won’t fail,” he assured, with a small laugh. “Please, let me stay. It’ll make me relax before that exam.”
Even if Matt could understand that – after all it was totally his type to simply go on patrol the nights before a big day in court – he also knew it wasn’t the time to risk his future. Usually, he probably wouldn’t have insisted, but Foggy had made him promise to make sure Peter didn’t repeat the same mistake he used to make. That included the whole putting his place as a vigilante as more important than anything else. Matt knew that, deep down, Peter cared about getting into university way more than what he showed. And he now had people behind him for every step of the way. That included putting him in the right direction when needed. “School before anything, kid. Don’t make me call Foggy.” And like that, Peter left.
“Dinner is here!” Peter announced as he came into the office, carrying two bags of food and drinks from a restaurant nearby.
“Our savior,” Karen exclaimed as she got up to help him. It was getting close to 7PM and none of them had eaten a real meal that day. All day long, it was different snacks and an unholy amount of caffeine that got them through the day. Their current case was taking all of their attention. Only Peter seemed to remind them of the time and that they needed to eat, once he got to the office. He wasn’t even supposed to come today, but he felt alone in his small apartment, looking at the rooftop. Why not lend a hand at the firm?
As soon as Peter entered the place, Matt knew something was going on. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was exactly, but his heart was racing and he kept bouncing his legs. . He still let him sit down with them and start eating before bringing it up. “You seem nervous, kid. What’s going on?”
“Not nervous, excited. I got news,” he said, with a big smile. “I got into NYU!”
“Congratulations!” Foggy quickly said.
“Oh Peter, that’s wonderful!” Karen exclaimed, jumping to take Peter in her arms.
“Thank you. It’s not MIT, but at least I have somewhere to go.”
“I’m really proud of you Peter,” Matt said, his smile wide and illuminating. The kid was starting to build something great for himself after all the hard things he had to go through. He was glad he could see what was becoming of him.
“It’s all thanks to you guys. You saved my applications with this internship,” he said, getting a bit emotional. “I couldn’t have done it otherwise.”
“We need to celebrate!”
“You don’t need to, you guys are busy,” he tried to protest.
“Nonsense, it’s not everyday you get accepted to university. You’re going out with us. That’s right, you’re a minor, we can’t go to Josie’s. What’s your favourite type of food?”
“Hm, thai?”
“Foggy is right" Karen intervened. "We should celebrate that. We’ll go for some dinner tomorrow to that Thai place and how about bowling after? Do you like bowling? Maybe something else.”
“I like bowling,” Peter added.
“Great! Matt, you’ll come with us, right?”
“Of course,” he said, as excited as the others were.
For the first time since he lost everything, Peter felt like he had a family, a real one. Of course, none of them could change the fact he missed May, more than anything. No one could replace his aunt. But, he wasn’t alone anymore and he now had people he could count on.