This chapter pulls heavily from the Ultimate Elektra and Daredevil series, which I only mention in case you think I was able to come up with these characters all on my own.

Let's start this crazy journey that came about because a friend texted one simple question: What if Matt hadn't been assigned to live with Foggy?

...

Matt's heart was racing as he walked toward his dorm room. The next chapter of his life was about to begin, and he was prepared to make the most of it.

He felt the sign on the outside of the door, but there was no braille label. He knocked twice and put his key into the lock. It worked, so he must be at the right place.

"What the hell?" The man that was already inside the room greeted.

"Um, is this room 312?" Matt asked.

"Yeah."

"Hi, I'm Matt." Matt said as he extended his hand, trying to hide his nervousness behind a friendly smile.

"Are you my fucking roommate?" The other guy responded, not taking Matt's hand.

"I was assigned to 312, so if this is also your room, yes, I guess we are roommates." Matt fought to keep a friendly tone, even though he already knew it was a lost cause.

"A blind guy. They assigned me a room with a blind guy. I can't wait to talk to my father about this."

"Is there a problem?" Matt asked.

"Yeah," the guy replied. "I've been assigned a cripple to take care of."

Matt's eyes widened. "You don't have to take care of me."

"It's not like you're going to take care of yourself."

"I have, for a while now, so I'm sure I'll be just fine."

"Well, the bed you're standing in front of is yours. I'm going to get out of here. Don't, like, put your hands all over my stuff."

Matt took a deep breath as the guy stomped past him. "At least tell me your name."

"There's a sign on the door. If you are so independent, figure it out yourself."

Matt heard, and felt, the door slam. His roommate stomped away, leaving him to check out their room on his own. At least this way, it was faster than pretending to explore with the cane.

Matt concentrated and quickly got an impression of the layout. Within a half-hour he had unpacked his one bag and felt as settled as he ever needed to be. He sat on the bed and pulled out his instructions for getting getting the assistance the University was supposed to provide. He had read the materials twice already, but liked to be over-prepared.

He was halfway through when his roommate returned. Matt looked up, his fingers still on the page.

"You're still here." His roommate said.

"Yeah." Matt replied.

"Guess you aren't one for an active social life."

Matt looked up, staring directly toward the other man. His tone was even and cool as he replied. "You can jump to whatever conclusions you want, but you don't know anything about me. I want to share this room with you as little as you want to share it with me, but here we are."

"Don't have to be an ass about it." The roommate said.

"Neither do you."

"I wasn't being an ass."

Matt took the paper he was reading and placed it on his desk. "I'm going to go for walk." He said, reaching for his cane by the door.

"Be careful, you're in New York now, kid. It's a big scary city. You might get lost."

"Yep." Matt replied, then closed the door behind himself.

...

Matt convinced himself that his lack of college friendships was a good thing. He went to class, studied in the library, and spent a fair amount of time in the gym. He did whatever he could not to go back to his room.

It hadn't taken him long to learn that his roommate was "Trey." Trey couldn't have lived a life more different than Matt's, full of privilege and excess as one of the politically connected Manhattan elite. He went to keggers, slept through class, and complained about women. Somehow, he was still making top grades.

Matt was doing well in his courses, and with access to the University gym he was getting stronger. He had never had access to gymnastic equipment, but now that he did, he loved the feeling of flying on the bars.

He didn't want to admit it, but he also loved the attention he was getting, while on the bars, from one particular person.

He heard her asking about him. He learned her heartbeat. He enjoyed her smell. So he avoided her.

Getting close to people wasn't a good idea. It wasn't something Matt Murdock was destined to enjoy.

But he was intrigued by this woman.

The week of Thanksgiving, stress levels were high. There were mid-term exams, professors weren't letting up on assignments, and the students were preparing to travel home in the middle of the semester. Matt was looking forward to a few days without most of the other men on his hall being around, particularly Trey.

As Matt walked the hall to his room, he heard his roommate suppress a laugh while walking past him. When Matt opened the door, he was surprised by the pleasant smell of roses. He scanned the room with his senses and found the flowers on his bed. Hesitantly, he reached for them. It wouldn't be the first time Trey had set a trap. Matt had gotten home plenty of times to find an obstacle course set up between the door and his bed. He just wasn't sure what the other man had planned, this time. He sniffed again, realizing that the roses were in two different places. Matt turned and carefully reached into the trash basket to find a note card that smelled like the flowers.

It was in Braille. "Matthew, stop avoiding me. Elektra."

Matt picked up the flowers and smiled. Then he remembered that getting close to people only results in heartache, so he stepped out of his room and threw them off the balcony.

Thanksgiving was lovely. Matt was able to stay in his room and study most of the day following it up with a long meditation, but it all came to a halt when somebody he hadn't heard approaching knocked at his room. With one breath, he identified the visitor.

He opened the door and smiled a warm smile in her direction. "You know I'm avoiding you." He greeted.

"You know I'm pursuing you." Elektra, his admirer from the gym, replied. "And since I'm here, it would be rude to not invite me in."

Matt wanted to be rude. He wanted to send her away. He didn't want to let anybody get close.

But she smelled of vanilla and he loved her voice, so he stepped back and motioned her into the room.

"I brought you some Thanksgiving dinner." She said, crinkling a plastic bag.

"Are you stalking me?" He asked.

"Maybe, just a little bit." She replied. "You aren't that big of a mystery, Matt. Even if you went somewhere for Thanksgiving, it wouldn't be as good as what I have here."

He could smell the food she brought and knew she was right.

"Why aren't you with your family?"

"We do dinner early. I spent the morning with my sensei, had dinner, and now I'm back here to be with you."

Matt avoided emotional attachments.

So he stepped forward and skipped to the physical portion of their relationship.