Bottoms Up And the Devil Laughs

“You can bring me sandwiches whenever you like,” she said, very happy to encourage that sort of behavior. She was still reveling a little in food bliss. After satiating the hollow pit of hunger, she could actually taste the food properly, and it wasn’t too bad for train food. The soup smelled good and warmed her from the inside. Elektra smiled hearing his amazement about their destination. She couldn’t imagine a vacation in which they didn’t engage in some kind of adventure or physical activity. It wasn’t in either of them to laze around for long.

And honestly, the way he moved, Elektra hadn’t thought long about whether or not he could hang with her on the slopes. Surely he would get used to it after some trial and error. Those were her assumptions, though. She still wondered, marveled really, at how he experienced and engaged with the world. There was no way for her to know how the mountains and the snow and other factors would affect his senses. Hopefully it would be a pleasant change, not a hindering one. “We’ll be some of the first ones there, darling, and there are easy runs to start with,” Although she wouldn’t be opposed to kicking them off on the Black Diamond for fun. Elektra turned her attention to him and rubbed beneath his jacket affectionately. “I promise… I won’t laugh too hard.” She grinned and nosed his jaw, then felt a little dampness on her fingers. She pressed a little harder, exploratory. Loose threads, warm blood, his torn skin around firm muscles. Her touch lightened up and she gave him a look even if he couldn’t see it. “Matthew, you’re bleeding,” her tone was short and judgemental. He should have mentioned when his stitches ripped. They were still recovering from their latest injuries. She sat back in her seat, wiped the red from her fingers onto a napkin, and exhaled a little sigh. “You do like to suffer in silence… I’ll fix you up when we go back,” Of course she would, she would always be happy to take care of him. She was his partner. She just wished he’d told her earlier. Elektra couldn’t sniff out his injuries like he could.

Matt snorted at the thought of bringing Elektra tiny sandwiches on a silver platter-like a waiter might offer to the party goers at some fancy gala. Except in this day dream, the lawyer was in the comfort of his own apartment, wearing a pair of sweats and some baggy shirt, delivering his beloved the finest sandwiches he could manage with his limited fridge ingredients. As silly as it was, it brought a smile to his face. He wondered if she pictured something similar. 

“Perfect, so no one can see me wipe out, right?” A large grin was spread out over his mouth. Matt was certain with her help he could pick up the sport just fine, but he was always secretly worried about any activities he had never tried before. But at the same time, he felt his heartbeat increase ever so slightly- the daredevil side of him already anticipating the rush of adrenaline and feel of the wind as they would wind down the slopes. 

His smile eventually faltered once Elektra brushed her hand against his side. He had been hoping she wouldn’t notice since he didn’t want her to worry about him. The devil had suspected his bandages were soiled around the time he began following Elektra on her pursuit of food. There was no time to confirm or check his injuries once the incident had happened with that handsy “gentleman.” Of course she was right, he should have mentioned it to her. “It’s nothing. I didn’t want you to worry.” It wasn’t painful either, not really, more...runny and a little bit sticky. Matt tilted his head to the side. “Well, the Catholicism is to thank for that part.” The tiniest smirk crept up the corners of his lips. Elektra really knew him well, the man could be walking on a broken ankle for miles before thinking to say anything. 

It was exhilarating; sparring with somebody on her level, watching as he let go of all the restraints he’d put on himself over the years. Matthew was so used to hiding, she just wanted to show him that he didn’t need to with her. This begun as a game, a mission from Stick that she would complete with flying colours just like all the others. Over time something had shifted, she saw something in him that called to her and she would do anything to hold onto that. No matter who he was inside, no matter what facets of himself he showed - Elektra would always want him. 

Not that she could let herself get distracted by such sappy thoughts. 

“I did,” and she was grinning as she said it. “In the Summers when my capoeira teacher was away,” the words were on heavy breath but she wasn’t ready to stop yet. And she showed as much, twisting her body to extract her leg while simultaneously throwing punches. “And then there was karate in the Winters… Muay Thai in the Fall… Ninjitsu all year round. Of course.”

From the moment Stick suddenly ended his training, Matt spent the years following convincing himself he hated fighting. While the hurt was still fresh, this was easy- after all, despite Stick’s hardcore tough-love methods, he had become somewhat of a father figure for Matthew. Now as an adult, he understood that fighting ran through his veins just like it had for Battlin’ Jack. And it seemed the same fighting bug was strong with this women as well. The more time he spent with Elektra, she confused and enchanted him. 

Capoeira. That explained why many of her movements felt so smooth and fluid.

“Audio books are a great escape from reality, and I figured it’d be more enjoyable to lean back and let the narrator’s voice carry you off when you want to wind down from either of your jobs.” 

His reaction to her revealing that part of her gift to him only made her smile grow, nodding. “Yeah. I don’t know that you’ll ever be able to come to Themyscira with me, but I wanted you to have this piece of me and my home.”

“I’ve always thought books were perfect for that. You know I picked up braille pretty quickly as a kid- it amazed my dad.” If he tried hard enough, Matt could think back to when Jack was still alive. He would be telling Matty to hit the books, but he’d also have told his son how proud he was of him no less than five times. “But after a long day it would be nice to have someone else do all the work.”

That string of cheese dangling off his lip? Very menacing. That would definitely make Wilson Fisk quiver in his ridiculously expensive suits. “Yea, we cleared them out,” Kate confirmed as she took a generous bite of her own pizza, groaning in appreciation. “Took us a bit but we managed. The other Hawkeye got an apartment building and a dog out of it, so it wasn’t all bad,” she mused. 

“So, sounds like I have a standing IOU with Daredevil, that could come in handy,” Kate teased, opening her own drink to take a long sip as they sat side by side on the rooftop. Hey–vigilantes had to eat, you couldn’t fight crime on an empty stomach. “Here,” she offered, pressing a napkin into his hands. “You have a string of cheese on the corner of your mouth there. I mean, it’s pretty adorable but it’s totally ruining the whole menacing Devil motif you’re rocking there.” Yea, she wouldn’t want to be on his bad side. Not in a million years. She had seen him fight and yea–best to stay on his good side. “What’s the word in Hell’s Kitchen anyway? I know you micromanage the hell out of those city blocks but still…everything good?”  All heroes had their areas, sometimes they bled into each others more common territories, but with the exception of the Punisher, no one else but Daredevil really did anything in Hell’s Kitchen. He had a lot of it under control. “You know if you ever need backup or a couple extra fists, the other Hawkeye and I are just in Brooklyn. We’re not hard to find–and I mean like you said, fighting at a distance isn’t your style. Never hurts to have some arrows up high…”

“A dog huh?” Matt mused, still chewing his pizza. “What’d he name it?” He had always wanted pets growing up, but since they could hardly take care of themselves sometimes, it was for the best his father didn’t bring any into the house. Foggy kept threatening to buy him a seeing eye dog every time he discovered Murdock with a fresh set of bumps and bruises. And while the vigilante didn’t need the extra help, the companionship of said animal was starting to sound pretty good. 

“Was it a good apartment?” The lawyer side of the devil was starting to come out. The other hero should have been compensated correctly for his troubles. “Renting is so damn expensive. And for what? A hole in the wall?” Matt was lucky for the space he called his home. It might not have looked very glamorous but it was a spacious loft and provided enough comfort. The devil accepted the napkin from her. “What if I was saving it for later?” There was a cheeky grin on his face as he wiped the stray cheese away. 

Murdock snorted at the Hell’s Kitchen comment. “I micromanage just fine, thank you very much.” If he took a night off, everything would go to shit. Well, Matt had never really tested that theory out, at least not consciously, but he loved his city too much to risk it. 

One bite of the sandwich had her eyes rolling back and a satisfied little groan emitting from her throat. Elektra hadn’t quite realized how hungry she was, but perhaps beating on that loser a few cars back had worked up her appetite. She was going to devour this meal. It didn’t stir up any nostalgia for her, though. For Elektra, it was just good to have some food.

She kept glancing to his face as she ate and explained, looking for signs of excitement or approval. This was Matthew’s first trip anywhere outside New York, and she wanted it to be special. She wanted him to have a good time. His question made her smile a little because exactly, she knew he hadn’t ever gone skiing. What a terrible life he has led. Hers wasn’t really much better, Elektra reflected, it just looked better on the surface. “Yes,” she chirped back in a flat, no-nonsense tone. “Perfectly serious. You’re coming with me on the slopes, Matthew.” She took another big bite of her sandwich, sounding a little incredulous at his disbelief. There was a light in her eyes at his sudden burst of happiness, though. That was the reaction she was hoping for. “What, you use your city as a gymnastics playground but you can’t handle a little gravity?” Her words were slightly thicker through her chewing, but the hints of teasing came across just fine. It seemed to say don’t be ridiculous.

There was a smirk on Murdock’s face upon her reaction to their late night snack. “If I knew that’s what it took to get those sounds out of you, I’d bring you sandwiches more often.” He buried his face in his soup a few moments after that comment. “I make a pretty good cold cut if I do say so myself.” Matt was actually a decent cook he just never made time to really make himself a decent meal. This was why his apartment was littered with receipts and takeout containers whenever he failed to clean up. 

“Wow we’re really going.” He tried to imagine himself zipping down the mountain side. It almost looked like how he imagined others would picture him skiing; flailing like a deer on thin ice. It was enough to cause another chuckle to rumble in his chest. Elektra had a point; most evenings Matt ran around flipping, diving and climbing over obstacles in Hell’s Kitchen like ‘a Russian gymnas,’ as Jessica Jones once described. He supposed going down the slopes simply required a good sense of balance and ease which he clearly possessed. Still, it was an activity Murdock had never tried before, so it did make him somewhat anxious. “Okay, okay, maybe it won’t be as difficult. But...what if I can’t sense...everything around me?” His feet would be secured to the skis, making his sensations a little muddier. “Promise you won’t let me crash into a tree?” 

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