Title: Ordinary Things

Summary: When Matt gets sidelined by something so very ordinary, how will he react and will he let his friends help him? Matt whump within

Rating: PG-18 due to curse words

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Daredevil or its characters. But as I am in love with Netflix's version, I have jumped into the deep end of the fandom and am now enjoying the swim.

Author's Note: So, I love how much this show beats on Matt and their continuity with the bruises and wounds. But I was also curious about how Matt would deal with a simple injury, knowing that simple tho it may be, it will still make it difficult for him to become Daredevil. I also wanted some Foggy and Karen taking care of him and so this is what I wrote...

Hope you enjoy!


It was such a simple thing. An ordinary thing, even.

Matt Murdock had been slowed by many an injury, some almost fatal, but to be hindered by such a nuanced thing as a sprained ankle was simply ridiculous. Yet, he still found himself making his way, slowly, limpingly, into the office, unable to do more than that. Usually he was able to fight through whatever it was but this time his body simply refused to do it. And it was frustrating.

Taking a deep breath, Matt tried to calm his emotions so they didn't show to anyone else. As far as he knew both Foggy and Karen were having a good morning and he wasn't about to dampen that by his foul mood. Both of his friends were perceptive. But when it came to the friendship between the three of them, they all paid closer attention to one another's feelings and body language. Sometimes it still amazed him that, rather than separating them, Matt's secret had brought them closer together.

Five months. That's how long it had been since Foggy had broken down and had told Karen. At first Matt had been irate at his friend for the perceived betrayal but after some time alone (both Karen and Foggy had avoided him for a time) he had eventually come to the realization that it had been long since past time to let their friend and employee in completely. He had taken all of Karen's anger with him; had given her time to calm down before he had even bothered trying to explain himself and his reasons. It had taken another few weeks before she'd forgiven him and now things seemed the better for it.

At first things had been a bit awkward with Karen. Both of them had attempted to form something beyond friendship but the trouble had become that Matt had slowly grown to think of her as a younger sister rather than a potential girlfriend. Sooner or later Karen had realized the same only in reverse, of course, and they had been content to remain good friends.

A noise within the office brought Matt back to the present and his ears focused on the words which would have been audible to anyone within fifty feet but seemed to be louder than a rock concert to him. The door swung open and Matt had barely enough time to move out of the way before the person came out. The heartbeat was irregular and unfamiliar, leaving Matt with no clues as to who he (judging by the extreme whiff of cologne) was.

"Well, well, Matt Murdock," the male's voice (deep and with a note of familiarity in it) taunted. "So the Bat did get his own practice. Bit high-reaching for someone like you, isn't it?"

Memories rushed in like a dam that had been released and Matt's hands clenched in anger on the seeing-cane which he held. Yes, he knew that voice and he was ashamed to realize that it had taken him so long to recognize it.

"Cameron Drake," he said, hoping that he had kept his voice level so as to not give away the rage that boiled his blood. "What brings you to our lovely establishment?"

Two pairs of footsteps accompanied by two familiar yet fast heartbeats signaled to him that he wasn't alone with the man who had attempted to torture him through part of college. No doubt Karen was curious as to how the two men knew one another but Matt was sure that Foggy was allowing his more protective side to motivate him. Matt was grateful for their presence but it was unnecessary. Cameron had been a bully at best but he'd always been one to wait until the numbers had been in his favor rather than Matt's, therefore he wasn't likely to try anything whilst in the hallway.

At his question, Cameron snorted, disgust coloring the rather unattractive sound. "You mean this pathetic excuse for a law firm?" He puffed his chest out (judging by the deep inhale Matt heard him take) like a proud peacock. The rasp of cloth on skin suggested that Cameron had stuffed his hands into the pockets of his expensive suit and Matt didn't have to be able to see to know that the jerk had an arrogant smirk on his face. "Well since you two bozos decided to be the pathetic losers that everyone knew you to be and took on that hate crime case, I thought I'd come and check out the "opposing council"."

Oh, that's fantastic. He and Foggy were suing Cameron's client. No matter how much of a jackass Matt believed the man to be, he also knew him to be a good attorney. Suddenly their potentially easy case just became a little bit harder.

Cameron moved before Matt could reply, bumping as hard as he can into Matt's left shoulder. Matt stumbled back, failing to stifle a grimace as his ankle cried out against him putting all of his weight on it. Again, Matt hadn't needed to see to know that the taller man was smirking in pleasure. He heard Foggy and Karen's hearts beat faster but he didn't know why as there could be many emotions which would cause that in this particular circumstance.

"See you 'round, Bat."

His footsteps retreated down the hall and then out of the building, a small swagger in his steps. Matt swallowed heavily, his hands convulsively clenching the cane in his hand to stop him from strangling the man that had just left. After a deep inhale followed by a long, slow sigh, he walked into the office, closing the door behind him.


Karen stared, wide-eyed, as Matt gingerly made his way into the office. She knew that he could hear her heart as it raced but she also figured that he probably couldn't decide on a reason why. At the moment it was in a mixture of anger, adrenaline, and concern.

There had been tension in the air once the tall, attractive, man had come in. At first Karen hadn't understood it but the more he had talked, the more she had felt her temper rise. Cameron, as it turns out he's called, had been so incredibly condescending towards Foggy that she had been tempted to deck him. Thankfully he hadn't stayed long but then he'd opened the door and there stood Matt. He seemed annoyed, though she hadn't known about what, but then he'd heard Cameron's voice and his countenance had changed, going from annoyed to almost furious. His knuckles had turned white as he'd clenched the cane he used to help him judge distances and objects as he walked.

It hadn't taken a genius to figure out Cameron's reference for the name he had used to refer to Matt. After all, 'blind as a bat' is a common saying. The fact that it wasn't very imaginative was just annoying. Matt hadn't seemed to take offense but something about the name had clearly bothered him and that had made her desire to punch the asshole that much stronger.

Beside her she had felt Foggy stiffen as the two men had met. With a quick glance out of her peripheral she had noticed that his hands had clenched by his sides as well and she had reached out to grab a hold of the closest hand in case he should attempt violence of his own.

When Cameron had purposely bumped into Matt and she had seen him grimace, Karen had had to stop herself from going to her friend. Evidently he was hurt and her mothering instinct had made her want to help him. Now that the jerk was gone and Matt was inside, she had to fight harder, knowing that he wouldn't appreciate the strong show of concern.

"You're limping," Foggy observed with worry in his tone.

Matt smiled placatingly at them both, shrugging them off with practiced ease. "I'm fine," he said as he moved into his office. His right arm was out as far as it normally was when he felt for the edges of the doorjamb but his left barely extended far enough away from his side to reach the halfway mark to the doorway. No matter what he said, he was not fine.

"Y'know," Foggy said, turning so that his attention was on her rather than Matt, "he says that like we're supposed to believe him. We may be gullible but we're not blind."

A rich chuckled echoed through Matt's office as the man apparently appreciated the joke but he said nothing to argue in his defense. Not long after completing his thought, Foggy went in to join his friend and Karen followed. She paused a moment to grab the first aid kit in case it was need, which, honestly seemed more than likely.

Foggy had pulled up a chair on the same side as Matt by the time she'd entered and was apparently arguing with Matt about whether he was not only hurt but how badly. Needless to say the conversation wasn't going well. But Foggy was nothing if not persistent when he wanted to be. The two had stopped talking not long after she'd entered but it wasn't out of their desire to hide something from her, it was because they both had known that they weren't going to get anywhere.

"Take off your jacket," Foggy commanded as he stood up, abandoning the chair he had occupied.

Matt cocked his head to the side in curiosity. "Why?"

"So that I can take a look at your arm," Karen said, seamlessly inserting herself into the conversation.

Her heels made muted thudding sounds as she walked across the office and came to stand just behind Matt's left shoulder. She placed the first aid kit down on the desk so that she could help him, or force him if need be, out of his jacket if he needed it.

When Matt hadn't responded right away, Karen had been sure that he would resist. But. Eventually, he did as he had been told and slowly, obviously painfully, shrugged his overcoat off. In spite of the fact that she knew he could have handled it on his own, Karen helped him and took the coat when he was free of it. She tossed it over the desk where it landed on the chair in an uncoordinated heap and remained there.

He had just started to roll his sleeve up when Foggy suddenly reached out and grabbed Matt's left leg and pulled it onto his lap.

"Hey!" Matt objected as he held on to the arms of the chair when it slightly pivoted backwards from the motion that Foggy had created. "Foggy, what are you doing?"

"I'm checking to see how badly you've hurt your leg."

Karen watched as Foggy's hands gently explored his friend's leg, starting from the knee and working their way down. The familiarity with which it was done suggested that this wasn't the first time they had done this. She took a moment to wonder exactly how many times Matt had gotten hurt while rooming with Foggy and how many times Foggy had examined him. She also wondered how Matt would have gotten hurt given his senses. Had he actually fallen or had something more..sinister had happened.

Judging by the the hostility between Matt and the other lawyer, she guessed that it was the latter.

"Okay, one, it's my ankle so if you could please stop feeling me up, I'd be grateful," Matt answered. He lifted his leg as though he were going to lower it but Foggy's hand stopped him. "And two," he said when he realized that he wasn't going to be able to brush this aside, "I'm fine. Okay?" When Karen and Foggy shared a look, Matt sighed. "I can practically feel you guys looking at each other, you know?" When they remained silent, he sighed again, this time sounding more frustrated. He licked his lips and then added, "Look, I may not feel perfect, but I'm not an invalid."

The sharpness with which he said this made Karen flinch. Resentment had poured out of the words with such force that she knew it had come from within a part of him that he, more than likely, refused to acknowledge existed. God only knew how often he had been made to feel helpless by others and, on some level, she believed that she could understand the bitterness but she also knew that it would, in no way, come close to the level that it had filled up within her friend.

"We know that," she said, her tone gentling, almost coddling. She winced when she heard it and she was pretty sure that Matt had heard it too, if his sardonic smirk was anything to go by. "Look," she said with a much firmer sound to her voice. "I get that you don't like people fussing over you. And no doubt that it was a good trait to have when you didn't really have people around you that cared about you. But you've had Foggy for years and now you've also got me. We aren't doing this because we think you're an invalid. We're doing this because you're our friend and you're hurt and we're concerned. So, please, let us at least reassure ourselves, for ourselves, that you're alright."

Matt hissed in the silence and it drew her notice down to where Foggy was examining the now-bare ankle. Evidently he had continued to examine his friend's ankle whether Matt wished him to or now. From now on, Karen would have to remember to try ignoring Matt's demands and just do it anyways as it seems to work so well for Foggy.

"So, what happened?" Foggy asked as he proceeded to inspect the rather nasty-looking bruise that surrounded the outside of Matt's ankle.

"I fell on a patch of ice while walking here," was Matt's answer in such a resigned voice that Karen wondered if that happened often in the winter.

"Dude, I told you let me walk with you," Foggy lectured. "Winters are always worse for you - super senses or not."

"Yeah, I know. Next time, I'll let you escort me to the office, okay?" Matt returned, rolling up his left sleeve to mid-bicep or somewhere there abouts as he did so.

Karen chuckled a little at their banter, remembering when there had been a time when she had wondered if there was ever going to be laughter in the office again or if things were simply going to fall apart before they had even truly gotten started. She knelt down to get a look at Matt's arm and briefly wondering where he'd hurt it when it soon became obvious. The way he avoided resting his elbow on the arm of the chair alone should have told her that. But instead it was the slight swelling and bruise that had begun to form that made it all too clear.

She took a gentle hold on his arm, one hand on his bicep, the other on his forearm, and attempted to gently straighten the limb. He gave a groan deep in his throat and so she instantly stopped.

"Sorry," she quietly said. "That's going to make life a little harder for you, I think."

"Of that," he said, offering her a smile, "I have no doubt."

Returning a smile that he couldn't see (or could he? She still wasn't quite sure how that worked), Karen activated one of the several instant ice packs that were in the kit and placed it into his vacant right hand. He applied the cold to the sore limb without being told what to do and she smiled (inwardly this time), feeling as though she'd helped him to feel at least a little more independent.

"Yeah, somehow I don't think that'll be a problem, my friend, because it looks like you aren't going to be walking to too many places in there near future," Foggy said, referring to their earlier conversation.

The change in topic made Karen dizzy for a second and then she caught on. Having finished her part in the exam she walked around the desk to the other, vacant, side, making sure to go past Foggy so that she could get a better glimpse at Matt's injury. Not that she didn't trust Foggy but she wanted to see and judge for herself how serious it was. It appeared to be a decent sprain and while that wasn't too horrible, per se, it was to a guy like Matt who valued his independence way more than he seemed to his health. She knew that the pain would be nothing to him but the loss of function, to a degree, would be unacceptable.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Matt argued, clearly not liking the idea of not being able to do much because of a bum ankle. Karen was tempted to say that the Daredevil can take a night or two (or three or seven) off but she held her tongue. She already knew that he believed that to be untrue and she wasn't about to get into an argument where nothing was going to be accomplished. With a small smirk, Matt added, "Besides, I got here, didn't I? And when did you become a doctor anyways?"

Foggy was silent for a moment, clearly not believing that he really needed to answer either question, then he leaned back. His hands released their hold on Matt's ankle as they folded over his chest in a challenging posture. "Okay," he said with a triumphant smile already gleaming in his eyes. "You know what? I'm hungry. How about you and I go pick up some sandwiches for lunch before we hit the files?"

"What?" Karen asked, unsure that she had heard right. Surely he wasn't serious. Foggy wouldn't be that stupid as to challenge Matt to something that was, when it truly came down to things, a game of wills? Would he?

The smirk on Matt's face clearly said that he had thought of the same thing and was confident in his ability to accept and defeat the challenge. "Sure," he answered with an equally jovial tone of voice as Foggy had just used. "Just let me put my shoe and sock back on and my coats and I'll meet you at the door."

"Oh please," Foggy said with way too much civility to be actually meant. "Let me."

Before Matt could object, Foggy had slipped his friend's sock back on and then did the same with the shoe. While the sock went on smoothly and without a fight, the shoe took some convincing and though Matt hadn't made a sound, there had been a permanent look of pain on his face that Karen hadn't a doubt as to how uncomfortable it had been for him.

For a second Karen just stood there, trying to make sense of the one-eighty that Foggy had just done. He'd gone from being concerned to challenging his friend to cause himself more pain. Movement to her left caught her eye and she looked over and watched as Matt stood up. His weight settled onto his legs but she could see that he was doing his best to hold himself up on his uninjured leg more so than the injured one.

Karen scoffed and rolled her eyes. She laid out a bandage and then another instant ice pack before she gathered up the kit and said, "You guys are idiots." Then she walked out to leave the two to their lunacy, closing the door to the office behind her.


From the moment Matt had stood up, Foggy had been keeping an extremely close eye on him. He knew that Karen thought him an idiot but he also knew that Matt wouldn't be able to get very far. There hadn't been too many times that his blind friend had been injured when they were rooming together, but from the few times there had been, Foggy knew that of all the injuries that Matt could and couldn't handle or hide, leg injuries were the hardest for him. It wasn't that Matt couldn't ignore them or the pain they caused (like he could the others), it was more that they tripped him up more because of his inability to see like a regular person.

So when, on the second or third step, Matt's ankle rolled under him and he had begun to fall, Foggy had been there to catch him before he could hit the ground. He hadn't been able to stop his friend from hitting the desk, albeit thankfully not that hard, but at least he hadn't fallen directly on the floor.

"Smart ass," Matt grumbled into Foggy's shoulder as they both maneuvered him back into his office chair.

"Well, at least you made it three steps this time," Foggy consoled without an ounce of pity. "Last time I think you made it, what, one and a half before you fell flat on your face?"

"Yeah, thanks for that, by the way. And I'll have you know that that was at least five steps, not three."

"No, I'm pretty sure that was three - at most. At most."

"What? Clearly you're the one that's blind. That was more than three steps."

The pair broke off into quiet laughter at that. It always amazed Foggy how Matt could make light of his situation like he did. He never seemed to take offense when people made blind jokes (with the exception of Cameron, of course) and he was always able to tease others about their lack of sight when he was in the mood. Maybe part of the reason was that Matt wasn't entirely as blind as Foggy had once believed him to be?

"I'm not really blind, you know," Matt said as though he could read Foggy's mind. His voice was almost gentle. Pitying.

"How do you do that?" Foggy asked, unable to stop himself from doing so. Even knowing what he did, he was still amazed at the things his best friend could do.

Matt smirked but didn't answer. The look quickly turned to one of pain as Foggy began to take his shoe back off. He grabbed the instant ice pack which Karen had left behind and, after activating it, placed it against the swollen joint.

"What do you mean?" The sound of Karen's voice startled both of them since they had believed that she had been content to leave them to their idiocy. She gave a slight wince when she realized that they had both jumped. "Sorry," she said. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"We weren't startled. Were you startled, Matt? Because, I-I wasn't startled."

Now all three of them were laughing but this time it was at Foggy's expense. Oddly enough, he was okay with that. They all knew that he had been startled and the fact that he was, ineffectually, trying to play it off was comical at best.

"Anyway," Karen said as she brushed her hair off her face and behind her ear. God, Foggy could watch her do that all day.

There were some who thought that he was secretly in love with Matt. And while that was true to an extent, it wasn't what they had thought. He loved Matt. But it was like one would love a brother to whom they were very close. Matt was more than a friend. More than a relative. Foggy would do anything for Matt and he was fairly certain that Matt would do anything for him. But the love that one could feel for a partner? Well, that was all Karen's.

"Right," Matt said as he was reminded that they had wanted an explanation. He winced as Foggy began to work on wrapping his ankle but Foggy ignored it and contented himself with listening while he worked.

"You both know that when I attempt to see with my eyes, that all I see is a world on fire. It burns in various hues of red and yellow that are able to outline things that are around me. They are always outlined in flames, of course, but I can technically see them. Just not in detail."

They both nodded, which they now wondered if he could actually see, but said no more.

Matt licked his lips, looking like he was contemplating how to further explain. Both Foggy and Karen remained silent. Foggy wasn't sure about Karen but he was curious about what his friend was going to say, how he could possibly explain things further to them so that they could come close to understanding, and so he wanted to give Matt a chance to fully gather his thoughts before he, Foggy, said another word.

"For months after my father died, all I could do was pity myself. The poor little orphan who couldn't technically see. Then I met Stick and he taught me that there was so much more to me than that. Now granted things didn't turn out with him the way I had hoped they would but still, he got me to realize a few things. When we use our eyes to see, we are actually more blind than those who can't because we then come to depend on them so much that we stop paying attention to our other senses. Once that one main sense is taken away from us, the others open up and you are suddenly more aware of the world than when you could see it. You can hear the different shifts in tone when a person speaks and you learn to identify what those mean. You can smell things that you wouldn't have noticed before because you were too busy to even try."

Foggy finished wrapping Matt's ankle and then laid the leg on the chair that he was now vacating. Listening to his friend talk with such wonder in his voice made Foggy almost believe that he was the true blind one and not Matt. But he'd also picked up on the sorrow in Matt's voice as he'd spoken about his father and the anger (and something close to betrayal) when he had mentioned Stick, so maybe he wasn't as dependent on his vision as Matt had believed him to be. Or maybe he was just naturally more used to paying closer attention to Matt than he was anyone else, which, now that he thought about it, seemed more likely.

"Now, I'll grant you that I can take both of those senses and go quite a bit further," Matt continued as Foggy went to the other side of the desk and joined Karen in leaning against the wall. "And together, all of those things - the smell, the sound, even touch and taste, help paint a picture of the world for me that is more vivid and beautiful as well as heartbreaking and true than any who can see with their eyes will ever experience."

"You seem to have put a lot of thought into this," Karen said once she was sure that he was finished.

Matt smirked, and this time when he did so there was no hint of humor in it, just bitterness. "I've had a lot of time to," he answered, his voice matching the expression on his face.

Silence was all that greeted this as neither Foggy not Karen knew what to say to it. They both knew that they had pushed their luck with how much care and comfort Matt was going to take today and so anything they said might just put their friend on the defensive. The same familiar feeling of pity crept into Foggy's heart and try as he might, he couldn't get rid of it. He'd always felt a bit sorry for Matt but for the most part it had simply been because he'd been blind. But now, more and more it was because of how lonely the poor guy was. Oh he'd rather go after the Russian mob than admit it (and what do you know- he has!) but he couldn't hide it from Foggy (or Karen, Foggy suspected). And that more than anything made Foggy want to go over and give him a gigantic bear hug. Foggy knew and suspected that Matt knew they were his family but when you are often locked inside your own mind with little to distract you, that knowledge doesn't always register.

Matt cleared his throat which brought Foggy back to the room and out of his own head. The other lawyer looked distinctly uncomfortable but whether it was because of just how much he'd opened up or the pain he was no doubt feeling from his fall outside, Foggy couldn't tell. It was probably a mixture of both, now that he thought about it. Just as Foggy was going to say something, Matt beat him to it with, "So, Foggy, you mentioned something about sandwiches? Or doesn't that apply now that you think you've proven your point?"

"'Think' I've proven my point? Oh no, my friend, I know I've proven my point. Or have you already forgotten our earlier conversation?"

"I stand by my earlier statement, Counselor, it was definitely more than three steps."

"Wait, are you two seriously arguing over how many steps Matt could take before he collapsed?" Karen asked. There was a bit of something in her voice but Foggy couldn't identify it.

"Yeah," he answered anyways. "The defense seems to think it was five while the prosecution knows it to be no more than three."

"Okay, well, let me save you both the trouble of continuing by siding with Foggy."

"Oh Karen," Matt said sadly and looking hurt that she hadn't sided with him. He shook his head and gave a forlorn, over dramatic, sigh.

Foggy cried, "Yes!" and threw his arm around Karen's shoulder to make it look like they were best buddies. He hoped that Matt ignored the way his heart sped up at the contact. Matt, just to make a point, smirked in his direction and Foggy damn near sighed at the sight of it. "See, Matt," he said, choosing to ignore the tiny interaction, "I told you she likes me better."

Karen laughed thickly and Foggy felt his heart rate increase that much more at the sound. God, he loved her laugh. And her voice. And her eyes. And her hair. Hell, Foggy just loved her.

"I wouldn't go that far," she said, brushing his arm off her shoulders and then pushing her hair behind her ears. "But as I trust you with Matt's health more than I do Matt, we'll go with that."

"You know, I think we both just got insulted, Matt," Foggy said, addressing his friend.

"I believe you're right," Matt answered, though his smile belied any offense he might have been trying to portray. "But as I'm hungry and you two clearly won't let me get lunch, I'm willing to forgive any insult providing she makes up for it by buying us lunch. Sounds fair, wouldn't you say, Foggy?"

"I think that sounds more than fair," Foggy confirmed, looking over at Karen expectantly.

Karen scoffed but gave in. "Fine," she said. "But only because if I don't then the two of you will never get some work done."

"Hmm, she doesn't sound all that apologetic, Matty, maybe you need to work on looking more pathetic."

"I do not need to look more pathetic," Matt argued back. "What I, no we, do need to do is get back to Mrs. Helm's case."

"Great idea!" Foggy replied too enthusiastically on purpose. "You start doing that while I help Karen with the lunch."

"Uh, no," Karen said as she threw on her coat and scarf. "You stay here and help Matt. God only knows what he'll do if we leave him by himself."

Matt's brows furrowed, making him look affronted. "Between the two of you, you'd think that I haven't been taking care of myself for years."

"Uh, have you forgotten the night that I found you half dead in your apartment?" Foggy reminded his friend, still a little upset about that night for more than one reason. "I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have survived if I hadn't been there."

"The only thing I'm sure of is that you're over exaggerating." Matt waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "I'm sure I would have been fine given time."

"No, you probably would have bled out given time."

"And on that note," Karen intoned, shivering a little despite the warmth of the room. "I'll be back soon. Try to actually get some work done, please? Cause, I don't know about you but I don't really want that Cameron guy to win."

At the mention of Cameron's name, Foggy's heart beat faster again. This time it wasn't out of any pleasant sensation. Just anger. Fury would have actually been a more accurate description but as it was more like impotent fury, Foggy downgraded it to anger. He would never forget or forgive what that asshole had done to Matt in college and judging by the way Matt's hands had clenched into fists, he wouldn't either. Even so, his friend made the smallest of waves at him, silently telling him to calm down. It worked but only marginally.

Karen gave them both a look, not missing the exchange between them in the least. "And maybe during lunch you guys can tell me why you guys hate him so much."

Matt simply smiled, thought there was no warmth in it, and said, "Be careful out there. The sidewalks are icy."

TBC