Matt isn't stupid.
The first time it happens, he sits up ramrod straight in bed before he realizes what has woken him up. It's the door to his apartment; the sound of someone – clumsily – trying to pick the lock. His first thought as he silently pads to his entryway is that it's someone trying to rob him ("blind!" jokes the voice in his head that suspiciously sounds like Foggy), but by the time he reaches the door, he recognizes the heartbeat.
His body simultaneously relaxes and tenses, mostly because of course she's at his apartment in the middle of the night and nothing surprises him anymore, but also because her pulse is too fast. The second his hand starts to turn the knob, he hears her shoot up with a speed she hasn't matched since Midland Circle.
(They've hung out since then, the four of them. Usually "hang out" means "run into each other in the middle of the night", but occasionally there's drinks involved afterwards. He's pretty sure Danny is trying to adopt them as a surrogate family, and Luke seems more apt to joke than he used to be. Jessica...lets her guard down, some days, and others she doesn't, but then she seems to drift slightly closer to his side, and Matt lets her without judgement.)
Jessica Jones shuffles from foot to foot, and he can tell she isn't looking at him by the way her chin sounds when it brushes against her scarf. He raises an eyebrow at her anyways, almost positive that her eyes will dart up to look at his face.
"Sorry, Murdock," she says finally, making backwards movements as if to walk away. He leans slightly against the door so he looks less tense, for her sake, and she mutters bitterly, "I shouldn't even be here."
He rolls his eyes. "You can come in, Jess," he answers dryly. He's sure that if he's gentle with her the way his "Catholic sensibilities" (thanks again, Foggy) are telling him to, she won't respond well.
She hesitates another second, and Matt is confused (she's Jessica Jones, possibly the strongest person he's ever met, and she absolutely does not wear her heart on her sleeve the way he does) until he notices that the tang of alcohol that always clings to her skin is stronger than usual. And –
Oh.
She's definitely had sex sometime in the last few hours.
"There's a guy in my apartment," she says as the smell of someone else's sweat (and who knows what else) slowly assaults Matt's nose. He can sense her looking down the hall behind her as if she'd expected the stranger to follow her. Her head swivels and she looks him dead in the face for the first time as she insists, "I don't do cuddling and shit."
Matt backs away from the doorway and she shoves past him with a little more force than necessary. "I'll take your couch," she calls behind her as he relocks the door.
"The billboard?" He questions as he enters the living space. The sounds of her already settling into his couch and pulling the throw blanket over her frame makes him frown slightly. (He banishes any and all thoughts of Elektra sleeping there a lifetime ago, more or less successfully.)
"I'll be fine," she answers, her heart rate and respiration already slowing.
Matt just blinks in response.
He wakes up to the alarm on his phone the next morning, but notices instantly that his is the only heartbeat in the apartment.
When he slides open the door between his bedroom and the living space, the sound bounces around the room, echoing against the empty couch. It still smells like her, so she couldn't have gotten far. The blanket, he notes, is folded up again on the back of the couch.
She's like a ghost; gone (almost) without a trace.
Author's Note:
It has been quite a while since I've uploaded. Real life got in the way of me writing anything that I felt I'd be able to continue long enough to start uploading, as I try not to post anything I have no intention of finishing. However, this fic tugs at me, and I'd love to hear all of your thoughts. I have a few chapters already written in advance, so I'll try to set up a regular update schedule.
Please note; this work is quite a bit darker than some others I have posted. There won't be any explicit content, but for those of you familiar with these characters, you know they have some things they need to work through. Therefore, I will be touching on some things (like Jessica's past and how she is dealing with it now) that may or may not be a sensitive subject for you as readers. I won't be offended if this fic isn't for you ;) If characters seem OOC, that's because I wholeheartedly believe every person and every character has layers, so someone who is on the road to recovery (i.e. Jessica and Matt) may have setbacks. This fic will explore that possibility. (As a side note, this fic is slightly AU in terms of where the Defenders ended. Spoilers: In my fic, everyone knows Matt is alive and well. I probably won't be explaining how he lived or how he revealed it to the others purely because that's not the direction I'm choosing to take.)
Additionally – I was unable to find the category for The Defenders in the upload options. I will be moving this fic there once it becomes available. Within the next few weeks, I will also start publishing this work and my others on AO3.
Thank you all for reading and for your support. Every time I get any kind of notification I get a smile on my face! Have a great weekend!