Still working on a title.
So @mrsdaredevil here’s most of your gift for @mattelektrasecretsanta It’s supposed to take place in three different times, and because it’s a work in progress the title I had for it, makes no kind of sense. That said, the rest is coming, as soon as I have time to work with my usual beta (andmydog is a lifesaver though for pinch hitting on this to beta for me at the last minute).
In retrospect, Foggy thinks, he should have realized that Matt giving up Daredevil wasn’t a sign he was ready to live up to his responsibilities like a normal person. It was a sign of Matt’s severe depression. Foggy finally understood Matt wasn’t made to be normal.
Matt stumbles into their room just before sunrise, and startles Foggy out of a really good dream about Marcy. It’s not the first time Matt’s made the walk of shame, and Foggy always wonders a bit if Matt’s part homing pigeon. No matter where his hookup lives, Matt always finds his way back to the dorms without resorting to a cab.
“Good night buddy?” Foggy asks, even though it’s obvious that the answer is yes. Matt’s the king of never kiss and tell, but Foggy’s learned the signs of when Matt’s likely to actually make it to the three-hookups per person limit he seems to have established. If he’s reading Matt right, and if there’s one thing Foggy’s good at, it’s reading Matt Murdock, then Matt’s got the look he gets when he’s figured out the hook for that lets him win an argument. He gets it with people he wants to sleep with again too, it’s a self-satisfied smirk that says he’s surprised someone with his skill and wants to really blow their mind the next time.
“The best night Fog.” Matt’s smirk turned into a blissed out smile as he toed off his shoes and fell into his bed, and that’s a brand new look.
“What’s your paramour’s name?” Foggy’s got to know what kind of person can hold Matt’s attention. He’s so standoffish with most people unless he’s actively sleeping with them that it hurts Foggy’s soul sometimes.
“Her name is Elektra Natchios, she was at the reception.” Foggy remembers seeing Matt sneak out with a dark haired woman. She was hot. Someday Foggy will figure out how Matt always finds the hot ones.
“Is that Greek?” But Matt’s already asleep. That’s also new. Usually after a hookup, Matt’s relaxed, his usual tight-wownd posture loose, but he’s still attentive and ready to either study or turn up to class with sly-smartass humor on full display. She had to have been something to wear Matt out like this. The man’s still in his clothes from the party, sans jacket. It’ll be really telling if Matt’s surly in the morning from how itchy he usually finds it to sleep fully dressed, or if he’s still got that slightly dazed happy look like he’s stoned on really good sex.
Foggy turns out the light, excited to meet the girl who can get over Matt’s walls like that.
It takes two weeks before he finally meets the mysterious Elektra, and he realized that he’s been wrong all this time, Matt probably not aromantic, because Matt’s well and truly gone for this girl. Even though something about her sets his teeth on edge, probably that she’s really rich and really spoiled, she and Matt are genuinely, obviously in love. It’s the little things, Matt hums under his breath, songs Foggy’s never heard before, but turns out to be French, Greek and Italian love songs. He’s also taken to snacking. Matt still complains about Foggy’s Doritos, which Foggy always thought was because Matt was a health nut, (how else to explain his miniscule body fat and rock hard abs) but he’s constantly turning up from time with Elektra with his pockets full of expensive chocolates, and small batch potato chips from food artisans in Brooklyn, and their mini-fridge is full of olives and expensive cheese. One night Matt comes home with silk sheets, and Foggy’s used to Matt being a restless fidgety sleeper, but apparently wrap him in silk and Matt will sleep like a baby. Seeing Matt genuinely happy makes how unengaged with the world he was before, really really obvious.
When whatever breaks them up happens, it’s like all the joy Matt’s learned to feel disappears with Elektra. He keeps the fancy food, and the silk sheets, but Foggy’s never sure if it’s because Matt really likes them, or because she introduced them to him. Foggy wants to track her down, whether to demand she come back or stay the hell away he’s not sure, but she’s gone like she was never there, and Foggy burns with the need to confront her with something.
Foggy also learns that Matt’s depression isn’t easily managed. He’d seen Matt at what he thought was low points, days Matt had to force himself to get up, and fight through it. Where Matt would talk about trauma therapy he had as a kid, and made it sound like he had all his triggers and coping methods figured out.
This however is something new, and Matt almost flunks out of his classes.
Foggy stood over Matt’s bed with Matt’s shoes in on hand and stack of forms in the other.
“Matty, buddy, I need you to put on a coat and come with me to the student health center. If you don’t get a doctor’s note for the classes you’ve missed you are going to lose your scholarship.”
“I’m too tired Fog, I’ll do it tomorrow.”
“No, it has to be today, I’ve made the rounds, talked to all your professors, and got you the appointment, but you have to physically go in.” That’s when Foggy realizes he needs to pull out the big guns. “You can’t let some girl ruin everything you’ve worked for, what would your dad think?” Matt gasps like Foggy’s physically hurt him at that, but he sits up in bed.
“It wasn’t like that, it wasn’t her fault, not really. Something happened, and she thought I wanted something I didn’t.” Matt takes a deep shuddering breath, and looks like he’s about to sob. “She understood me better than anyone, but she still left rather than fix it.” Foggy isn’t sure he can unpack any of that, so he hands Matt his shoes. Fortunately Matt puts them on.
It stings a little bit, the idea that she knew Matt better than Foggy did, because he thought he understood Matt pretty well. He’s had a hard life, and while he’s the smartest guy Foggy knows, he’s also emotionally stunted. Matt needs all the hugs because he’s been so obviously deprived. He supposes for someone like Matt who’s always been standoffish about love, that it might be easy to miss the difference between crazy good sex with someone who laughs at your jokes, and someone who doesn’t give up when shit gets hard. Maybe he needs to play matchmaker, throw dates at Matt until he figures out what it was that Elekra got that no one else did. There must be something Matt’s keeping close to his chest.
