In the end
Waking up has seldom been so sweet, so Matt Murdock pulls even closer to the warmth of his girlfriend. He nuzzles her neck softly, too tired and comfortable to open his eyes. It won't make a difference anyway with being blind and all. His finger tips gently stroke over her waist where her sleeping shirt has pulled up during the night and Matt feels how she gets little goose bumps. Karen Page lets out a tiny, sleepy moan.
"Hey, why aren't you still asleep?", she murmurs quietly and wiggles back until she is completely leaning against him, enjoying his warmth.
Matt tightens his arms around her. "Don't know. Couldn't sleep anymore," he mutters equally quietly and presses a kiss against her neck.
Karen turns in his embrace, her blond soft hair gently running across his face, giving him a sniff of summer. She wraps her arms loosely around his neck. She is still tired, her heart beat still slow, but he can feel her smiling at him.
"You're beautiful," he tells her, meaning it.
She giggles softly. "You don't even know what I look like, Matty."
"I think I have a good picture in my head," he replies, leaning over to kiss her lips gently. The kiss seems to her awaken her though because she leans closer into him, deepening the kiss. They move until he is on his back and Karen rises above him. His hands find her waist as he leans his head up to lose himself in her.
He still can't believe how lucky he's been. After he's behaved like a martyrian ass and lied to her so many times, Karen hasn't turned him away when he finally got his head out of his ass and told her the truth. That he was Daredevil. To his surprise she hasn't even been particularly shocked.
"I guess I know that," she said after his initial confession.
"What? How?", he asked completely baffled.
"When you saved me from the Hand and touched my cheek – I would know your touch anywhere, Matt."
It has taken them a while. She gave him one last chance to explain himself and everything, every little secret detail. And Matt, a fool who finally learned a thing or two, not least from Elektra and Stick, finally told her everything. About his life as Daredevil, how he has started this war against Wilson Fisk. About Claire and her nursing capabilities. About how Nobu almost killed him and Foggy found out about his secret. How that all caused the three of them to fall apart because Foggy couldn't understand his need to fight for his city. How he's come to understand that the law wasn't always going to be enough. How he's had a hard time stopping Frank Castle because in a way he could familiarize with him. Then he told her about Stick and Elektra. How he's loved her once and a part of him even always will but that he isn't in love with Elektra anymore.
He confesses that he only never told her because he's been afraid and not willing to risk her safety, but that now, after everything, he has learned that he can't do this alone anymore and that Karen seemed to get into danger all on her own anyway. That had her even chuckling a little.
Then Matt stepped closer in hope Karen wasn't going to move back and to his immense relief she didn't. Instead she stayed rooted and he felt her eyes on him.
"There's one last secret," he whispered as he gently took hold of her hand. His heart beat was as fast as if he were on a chase and maybe, in a way, he even was. This time he just wasn't chasing a bad guy but Karen Page who kept slipping from him.
"What's that?", she asked quietly. Her voice sounded calm and collected, but to his relief, her heart was fluttering nervously in her chest. It meant this was important to her, too, right?
"I'm in love with you," he finally admitted out loud, his own heart beating so loud he was barely able to take in anything else.
Karen stopped breathing for the blink of an eye before it continued a lot more trembling. "Oh."
"Yeah."
And when she didn't respond otherwise, he kind of started babbling nervously. "I know that I've been an idiot and that I probably blew the only chance we got not only by not telling you the truth but by running around with Elektra. I know that. But I swear, Karen, that-"
"Matt?", she cut him off, her voice broken and terrified.
"Yes?"
"You are an idiot, but I'm in love with you, too."
The feeling that was set free in him all of a sudden was so sweet that he felt himself grinning widely like a lovesick fool. Maybe he was one. His heart beat wildly, this time not from fright and nerves but joy.
His hand let go of hers and found her hips instead. His other one came to rest there as well and then, breathlessly, he slowly leaned down. He was so close now that he could feel her heart beat against his chest. Slowly, Karen raised her own hand to gently run through the short hair at the back of his neck and when he couldn't take it anymore, he bridged the rest of the gap between them and finally kissed her again.
Looking back, Matt realizes he'll probably never forget that moment. The sweetness. The all-consuming love he felt then and is feeling now as Karen moves enticingly above him. He lets out a groan when her finger nails scratch across his scarred body as she pulls the shirt over his head.
"Karen," he moans and silently asks himself if maybe he feels things even more intense because he's blind. Because sometimes, when they make love, it sure feels unearthly and he fears he isn't capable of handling it.
His fingers slip under her shirt and move to pull it over her head as well. Because he cannot see he's spent a blissful lot of time mapping out everything that is Karen Page. He's touched and stroked, kissed and licked, loved and treasured every tiny part of her so many times in the past and it always left her begging. And right now, he's working on getting her there again.
"Matty," she pleads breathlessly.
That's another thing he likes. Usually people call him by his full name or Matt which is okay because he's not a kid anymore. When Karen calls him Matty though, it's meant affectionate as well, but it also has a certain breathlessness to it that makes him think of exactly this – making love to her.
"I know, baby," he murmurs, his lips never really leaving her body. He's even a little feverish and unable to stop.
It doesn't take long until they're both moving frantically, kinda having lost their rhythm and soon there's only left a heap of sweaty messes. Spent, they cuddle and seek each other's warmth and Matt thinks that he really, really loves these mornings in bed with her.
"I love you," she murmurs against his neck and he can feel her words vibrating through his whole system.
"I love you, too."
And for now at least, in that tiny bubble that is their happiness during the early morning hours in his bed, Matt knows that loving each other is enough.