Title A Gift
Author Uozumi
Fandom Avengers (2012)/Daredevil (Netflix)
Character(s)/Pairing(s) Clint Barton, Matt Murdock, Karen Page; no pairings intended
Genre Crack-ish/Gen
Rating PG
Word Count 825
Disclaimer Avengers c. Marvel, Disney; Daredevil c. Marvel, Netflix
Summary The man Matt encounters in a Claire's turns out to be an Avenger bearing a gift later that day.
Warning(s) potential spoilers for Avengers and Daredevil
Notes Someone on Tumblr made a post contemplating what if Clint and Matt didn't meet in a dumpster but at Claire's as in Claire in MCU, not Claire's the store. Well, too late, I can see them in the store too clearly, so you're all getting a fic. Fracton's Hawkeyemight influence me in places since MCU hasn't bothered to flesh Clint out as much as the other Avengers yet.
Work Text:
A Gift
There was a Claire's about a mile from the law office across from a Starbucks. Matt promised to meet Karen at Claire's one morning and grab coffee to take back to the office so they could talk about something Karen did not want to mention on the phone. Matt entered the store and listened. He did not hear Karen. He could smell her shampoo but that was because four people in the store also used it.
One of the sale's associates crossed the room. "Can I help you with anything?" she asked.
"Uh…no," Matt said. "Thank you. I'm waiting for a friend."
"And you, sir?" the sales associate asked someone nearby.
"Me? I don't know," a man said. "I'll figure it out."
"You sure?" the sales associate asked as she moved towards the voice.
"Yeah. Thanks," the man replied. There was a long silence after the sales associate left. The man approached Matt and tried to casually pluck something off a tower of jeweler near Matt, but the packaging caught. "Aw, earrings," the man murmured to himself quietly, "come on." He got it off the tower and then he said to Matt, "I like your shades."
Matt heard new customers come into the shop, but none of them were Karen. He smiled slightly. "Thanks. I like your," he paused, "earrings."
The man snorted. "They're for someone else." He moved away from the racks. "I think your friend's here."
Sure enough, Karen appeared at Matt's side. "Hey," she said and then touched his arm briefly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you wait. Maybe I should have just met you at Starbucks."
"It's fine," Matt said. He heard the man walk away. "What are you looking for?" he asked her.
"Something for a friend's kid," Karen said. They were out of the store and on their way a few minutes later.
Throughout this crime fighting that night, Matt felt eyes on him from above. It did not feel like an immediate threat, if a threat at all. When the cops arrived and he slipped into the shadows as best anyone could in a red costume, Matt went upwards. When he got to the roof of a nearby building, he could hear a heartbeat.
"Took long enough," a man said. He was near the center of the roof where no one below could see him.
Matt recognized the voice. It was the man from Claire's with the earrings. He tensed, unsure what was about to happen.
"I'm Hawkeye," the man said. "A few months ago, people started bringing Stark canes from all over this area. They were worried that someone was going around abducting blind people once or twice a day. He told me about it when I came to the tower last week."
"It's not an abduction," Matt said. He always meant to go back for his canes, but he could either never remember where he put them or they were gone when he returned to the area he thought he left them. He bought them from a wholesaler in bulk.
"I know," Hawkeye said. He tapped something with a fine point that sounded heavy against the roof and then he manipulated it, securing it with an audible click. "I saw you fling one behind some trash bags on Monday, so I kept watching." He walked over, stopping with some distance still between them. "This is from all of us. You don't have to take it."
Matt reached out and Hawkeye carefully placed the object in Matt's hand so he could grasp it easily. Matt ran his fingers along it. It was a cane that folded in half, both sides equal in weight. Matt uncoupled the halves and held one piece in each hand. "Feels like two billy clubs," Matt said. There was a chamber in one that allowed a chain that could connect to the other. He hooked them together and tested the strength of the chain. "It can't be free," Matt said. He unhooked the chain and let it retract into the chamber. He connected the billy clubs together so they created a long cane.
"There's a closet dedicated to your canes at the tower. I think Stark wants to clean it out," Hawkeye said as Matt moved about the roof, testing the way he and the cane interacted. "The cane is white," Hawkeye continued after a while,
"but the handle is the same red as your suit."
Matt approached Hawkeye. He held out a hand. "Thank you. If I ever see Iron Man, I'll thank him too." They shook hands and said goodbye. Matt heard Hawkeye walk away. When Hawkeye was gone, Matt swung the cane through the air, listening to the sound. He snapped it apart quickly and let the smaller sections slice through the air. He supposed he owed Tony Stark now.
Finding a way to take the dozens of canes at the Avengers Tower home would probably be a start.
The End