Work Text:
Ever since Foggy, Karen and Matt took this new case upon themselves everything seemed to go sideways. Albert Hill didn't make this case easier. He was falsely accused of murder of his fiancée- Patricia. The man was really sketchy and aggressive, besides he was the main suspect. He lived with her for over a year. Matthew with his freaky abilities knew that the Man was at least honest with them. Being falsly accused of such crime doesn't usually end up great.
This case kept them all up at night, Matt often came back from a late night patrol and went straight to the files just to hear Foggy and Karen scream at him the next day for being so reckless with his health. He really appreciated the care their friends have given him, but he could take good care of himself, right?
Main trope in this case was Patricia's Brother- Ben Skille. He was her much younger brother, often portrayed by Albert as extremely aggressive with sociopathic tendencies towards people. It was quite an irony hearing it form a guy whose work is being an night club bouncer.
Albert was an ex-solider, he got kicked out for being a danger to his surroundings, which doesn't put him in a good light to the courtroom. The man said that Ben was an addict, often envious towards his Sister and Her success in life. I mean who wouldn't be, Patricia was a gynecologist, graduated with top marks. She met Albert when clubbing with her friends to celebrate success.
So yes, there he was sitting next to Foggy in jail, looking at the 6'7 (200cm), buff Men in front of them, tears in corners of his eyes talking about his dead Fiancée. He looked devastated talking about Patricia and Matt knew he felt even worse than he looked.
"Look Man, Patricia was my light in this fucking shit hole. Her Brother did this shit, I can guarantee you that!" He said with full honesty looking at Matt, hoping to see validation.
"Okay Albert, calm down. Patricia was found in your House, dead at the kitchen floor, stabbed more times than I would like to hear. Crime was committed in rage, she wasn't even able to defend herself, because the person who attacked her was large. There is no sign of breaking in, there was no weapon found and crime scene was squeaky clean beside the floor which suggests she cleaned it right before the murder happend." Foggy Read to his client and to Matthew, that was too occupied by reading their Clients emotions to care. Foggy was annoyed by this, but knew they got this much detail in the file just because of Matt and his charm. "It means that either it was someone that has key to your place who did this or a guest that she let into the apartment. Did Ben come to visit you guys?" Foggy asked, Matt was pleasantly surprised by the fact how quick his friend catched what could have happened there.
"He never did if I was there." Said Albert, a tear rolling off his cheek. He started touching his chin, thinking. "Pattie said to me that he often came to her for money, most probably drugs money. He threatened to kill her if she didn't give him some, at least that what She was telling me. Ben was really tall, like 6'2 (188cm), She was like 5'2 (157cm), it's not a lot." His voice trembled as he spoke.
"Okay." Matt gasped, tapped the metal table hard enough to grab everyone's attention. "We will get security footage from nearby store that is just across the street and check if the Brother came into the building that day and when he left." Matt said confidently and stood up. He could feel the stares hanged at him, but the stares were impressed.
Matthew was man of his word. He checked out the crime scene area while patrolling, looking around checking for clues. His cheeky ass wanted Franklin to figure it out himself before saying the solution. They left jail with smiles and hope for this case to be solved right- Ben being the guilty one.
They rolled back into office, Karen gretting them with hugs.
"How did it go?" She asked with care in her voice. She seemed to really care about the Guy. Woman really had a soft spot for 'falsely' accused criminals (read: Frank Castle).
"This blind Fuck had knew what to do since the begging and didn't mind to tell us." Foggy sounded hurt, but it was just acting. He feel onto his chair with deep and exhausted gasp.
None of them had have a good sleep ever since the case started. First week of the case was trying to get Albert to speak up without him crashing out at the slightest remark about being untruthful. "The guy should really try to manage his anger." Matt thought to himself while continuing with the interview.
"I didn't Fogs and you know it. Big part of my nightly patrol turned into Sherlock Holmes shit show, looking for clues like fucking Scooby-Doo." Matt whined, a proud grin entering eyes.
"Yeah, shit eating grin like always. It was so obvious from the begging... Are sure there is no back entrance or anything?" He was as careful as always, even if he knew Murdock never said anything without checking it first.
"There is one, but its more secured than the front door. If he left by the backdoor he is extremely stupid, the footage there is extremely clean, better than the store cameras one." He said as he sat down beside Karen on the couch. Lack of sleep creeping into him as the stress left his body.
"He forgot to add that we already have the footage, took care of it. It took some whining to the store and building owner but I managed." Karen added smiling warmly, looking at Foggy to see his angered expression. Foggy was about to say something, but Karen interrupted him. "Yes Foggy, you were left out and we are sorry, but you had such a stressful moment with your families shop that we didn't want to give you even more work." Karen walked up to Foggy as she said it and hugged him tightly.
Matt was looking at the scene without thinking too much, he wanted to go home and sleep everything off, or at least go to patrole to let the stress out at the bastard's who deserved it.
"Matt?" Karen asked looking concerned, Foggy looked at his for the armchair blinking.
"Did I forget something?" Matt asked looking at them, now stressed.
"Yes? I know you're the king of being miserable, but forgetting about your own birthday is something else, Matty." Franklin said standing up and walking towards Matt. He grabbed his arms lightly and shaked him. "Fuck, you're so old! Happy birthday." Said Foggy and hugged him.
Karen walked up to them and hugged them too. Smiling sincerely. She giggled a little.
"We even have a cake for you, cream flavoured, because you're basic like that." She said to him and walked off to fridge they had in the office.
Foggy followed her to grab plates and cut the cake up while Matt sat there.
He didn't really feel anything special, he even forgot about the fact, too consumed by work and patrol. There is new gang in the area, which means more sleepless nights. He began thinking about patrols, completely zoned out, not a single care in the world around him.
"I gotta go guys, it's getting dark." He said as he stood up and was about to walk out from the office.
"Matt, no! I know you don't like birthdays, but fuck! This cake was expensive, the girl making it was a bitch too! Sit your ass down!" Foggy screamed at him, while Karen just looked disappointed.
"Oh, for fucks sakes." Matt thought to himself and sat back down. "Look Foggy, I don't mean to be mean, but I never really-" He didn't manage to finish.
"You never really celebrated your birthday, Nuns didn't let you and you lived your miserable life without celebrating it." He finished it for him and gives him an annoyed look.
"Oh Matt, but now you will, eat the damn cake, accept our wishes and go." Karen said with bitter tone.
"Making them upset again, great." Matt thought to himself and took the piece of cake. He sat down next to Foggy and began to speed trough the slice as Karen and Foggy gave him their greatest wishes.
He thanked them and left, hearing some sad words from Foggy and Karen after closing the door.
"Will he ever change, Karen? I mean he was always like that... I wish I could give him what he deserves but he clearly doesn't want it." Foggy said with pure sadness in his voice.
"Bitch move, Red." Imaginary Frank's voice commented in his head.
Its autumn, it's getting cold outside, chilly breeze going trough his long red hair as he walked towards his house. The piercing sadness in his friends voices scattered across his mind made him feel like a piece of shit. The worst part? He was a piece of shit. He knew he was supposed to just politely accept the wishes, eat and pretend to have fun, yet somehow it hurt him.
It actually was quite ironic, how can celebrating birthdays hurt anybody? Well it hurt Matt and Foggy knew it. Every single year Foggy didn't throw a party or anything, he just took him to dinner under the pretext of "too lazy to cook at home, let's grab something", Matt really appreciated it, no "Happy birthdays" or anything, just a dinner without mention of the celebration. He didn't really understand what have changed, he didn't feel worthy of celebration, hell, it's not even that, he remembers how his birthday was a couple of days after his Father died. It was so bitter to celebrate that he just stopped, why would he celebrate if every single time it reminded him of his dead father. Foggy knew it all, why now then?
Yes, maybe he was a Man stuck in his past, a Man that likes to be miserable, but who doesn't like to be? It's the best coping mechanisms, you don't expect too much or anything and you get something, so it makes your brain go into 'happy mode'. Not expecting anything and getting something always seems like pure pleasure, that's why he is so miserable.
First thing he did after coming home was putting on the suit and running to the docks. He was supposed to meet with Frank there, a patrole (or something more) was always pleasant, even if it meant arguing for half of the metting.
When he got there Frank was already on the rooftop, he smelled him from over a mile, it was his love language. He smelled the chemical cleaner that Frank used to clean his guns too, which means that the Man put in work into this patrol.
"Well that's new." Daredevil thought to himself as he landed and did a flip on the ground to don't feel the damage.
"Hi Red." Frank said not taking moving, probably didn't even take his eyes off of his gun that was currently being cleaned. "Brought you a bandana to tie around your mouth, thought it would be useful, cause' the cleaner smells like shit." He added and pointed at the all black scarf that was in the backpack.
Matt grabbed the bag and took the bandana out, tied it around his mouth and nose. He sat his ass next to Frank leaning onto his shoulder. He felt Frank's gaze piercing him.
"You good Darling?" He asked, he sounded unbothered, but his heart started thudding.
"Stressful client." He answered. He smelled rain and wet dog- "Most probably it's just Frank" he thought and leaned into nook of Frank's neck even more.
He felt as Frank is putting away the cleaner and gun, then he felt the Man grabbing him and linting his head onto his lap. A soft smile curved onto Frank's face.
"I can't see shit." Frank commented and took off Matt's helmet. Looked at him eyes for a moment, the diamond blues eyes. "Heard you aren't a fan of birthdays, huh?" He said and awaited a reaction.
Matt got off his Partner's lap and moved away a bit which made Frank scoff a little bit.
"Of shit the fuck up." Matt blew up. He was fed up with everything. "I'm not feeling well with mention of my birthday-" once again he didn't even finish it.
"Suck it up, fucking Princess. They care even if you don't like it. I fucking care. So shut the fuck up too and accept the gift. Happy fucking birthday, Love." He seemed annoyed, which made Matt feel guilty.
He took off the birthday bandana and one of the gloves. He touched the fabric. "Silk, a really soft and expensive one too." He thought to himself and squished the piece of fabric in his hand. He put it up to his nose and smelled it- "A faint smell of Karen and Foggy, it smells like Frank too. Fuck they bought this shit for me." Now he felt as if his heart shattered. Well, it often did, but not in this way. Being a shithead was a prat of being Matt, but he never really meant to be a shithead to people he loved.
"Fuck, I'm sorry Man, didn't mean to." Matt said a grimace forming on his face, his red hair falling onto his face, covering it even so slightly. He felt the calloused hand on his cheek, it slowly lifted up the loose strands and tucked them behind his ear.
"I know I'm not a saint, Red... But give them the satisfaction." Frank said with careful tone, his hand resting on Matthews shoulders. They both lived for moments like this. "Tsh' Karen was devastated, told me to keep an eye on you." Frank said in his nervous behaviour. Matt scoffed a bit and smiled. "Happy birthday Bastard. I kinda like having you around you know?" He added.
They both leaned in for a kiss, a make out session to be exact. Frank's hands wandering on Matt's body, mouths smooching, tongues tangling together. Saliva being stored at the corners of their mouth. Matt pulled Frank closer, pushed him to kiss even longer, knowing that Frank was a softie. He took the advance, Red's hands touching back of Frank's head, massaging it. Sounds, light moans escaping their mouths with wet smooches as they both leaned onto the pleasure, searching for more of it. Stopping only to take in some air. Now Matt laying down on the rooftop, Frank on top of him. Ex-Marines knee right between Matt's legs, shamelessly touching his crotch. The little gasps for air they made.
And then...
"You little fucking bitch! Where the fuck are my drugs!" Was heard, as loud as it gets. Even a deaf man could hear it, continued by several gunshots.
Right, they were here for a reason.