"We are the champions my friends." Foggy sang loudly, getting glares from passersby.
"We didn't even win." Matt muttered.
"And weeeeee'lll keep on FIGHTING, TIL THE END." Foggy ignored Matt and began pretending that he was conducting an orchestra.
"Sometimes I wish I'd lost my ability to hear instead." Matt laughed.
"Aaaaw come on, Murdock." Foggy threw an arm around Matt's shoulders. "We almost beat Harvard."
"The operative word being almost." Matt rolled his eyes. They had come to Cambridge for a mock trial competition. Their team had come very close to winning, but had lost points on a cross examination.
"Where are we even going?" Matt asked.
"We are celebrating." Foggy said. "WE'RE THE BEST DAMN AVOCADOS THIS TOWN HAS EVER SEEN."
"Matt?" A voice called from behind them. "Foggy?"
"Oh hello, daughter of Tony Stark." Foggy said.
"Felicity." Matt held out his hand. Felicity took it and shook it. He noted that her heart rate was slightly elevated; she seemed slightly nervous. Then there was a small spike in her pulse when he gave her fingers a squeeze. It was a good kind of nervous.
"Foggy." She said, and Matt could hear the smile in her voice.
"I'm liking the new do." Foggy said.
"Well I had it black for my first couple of years. Then after Coop…um I mean, I needed a change after a few years so I let it turn back to my natural color, but after the reporters got my picture coming out of the bar 2 weeks back I decided to go blonde." She paused. "This way I look more like my mom. I'm sorry for my dad's…well craziness."
"You're dad's not crazy." Foggy reassured. "And I'm not just saying that because I know he's probably got drones watching your every move with missiles attached." He looked up. "We mean her no harm oh great and powerful Stark."
Felicity giggled.
"Do you want to join us?" Matt asked. "We're celebrating an almost victory."
"Sounds…unique." Felicity said. "I'd like that. Hey Foggy, do you want me to see if my friend Rayan is free? She speaks Punjabi."
"Funny." Foggy huffed as Matt chuckled. "That's real funny."
"So I take it that's a no…" Felicity said.
"Well the more the merrier." Foggy said quickly. "This is a celebration after all." He nudged Matt in the ribs. "See, I told you Punjabi was a useful language."
3 hours later Matt and Felicity were standing by the bank of the Charles River.
"Foggy, I wouldn't do that." Felicity said nervously. "That water is really gross and polluted." She'd jokingly mentioned that it was a Harvard tradition for students to jump into the Charles and Foggy had taken it as a challenge.
"He won't do it, right?" Felicity turned and looked at Matt. He shrugged.
"Comforting." Felicity said, "There's a bench over there, want to sit?" Matt nodded. Taking his arm, she led him over to the bench. "I'm glad we ran into each other." She said.
"I was kinda hoping to find a way to see you." Matt said. "But I wasn't sure if it would be weird. And also I wasn't sure how to find you."
"Well, you wouldn't have been able to find me." Felicity said. "Most people don't know I exist and I'm attending MIT under my mom's name."
Matt nodded. "By the way, I really like what you did with your hair."
She blushed, leaning her head against his shoulder. Matt was adorable and his shoulder was warm and deceptively well toned.
"Thanks?" he said. "I think."
Felicity groaned. "Damn it. Why can't my thoughts stay in my head?"
"Well as your future attorney, I think it's good for me to understand the nature of the harassment claims I'll be working on." Matt smirked. He motioned with his head in the river's direction. "What's Foggy doing?"
"He's…taking off his clothes." Felicity covered her eyes. "I think he might actually do it."
"I can't watch." Matt threw his arm across his face dramatically. "Tell me when it's over."
Felicity laughed. Matt put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
"It's cold tonight." He said. "It's not really swimming weather."
She bit her lip, looking at his face, specifically his glasses. "Do you mind me asking? It's just that Foggy mentioned at dinner that you weren't always…visually impaired."
"You can say blind." Matt said, giving her a reassuring look. "And I don't mind you asking. It happened when I was a kid. There was this old man crossing the street a barrel of toxic chemicals got loose from a chemical truck. I pushed him out of the way, but the barrel broke open and I got a face full of toxic waste."
Felicity slipped her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "Mr. Hero." She murmured.
"That's my sordid past." Matt leaned his head against hers. "How about yours?"
"You mean my dad?" She sighed. "It's simple really; Tony Stark isn't the world's most attentive parent. He was too young to be responsible when he knocked up my mom and well, now he's pretty much set in his hard partying despotic ways. Add the fact that I don't approve of certain business choices he's made…" She broke off.
"Certain?" Matt asked.
"My dad makes weapons of mass destruction, Matt"' Felicity sighed. "He's got one of the most brilliant minds this world has ever seen and he uses it to hurt. It frustrates me to think of all the good he might be able to do if he simply focused that brain power on something besides warfare." She watched as Foggy, who'd stripped down to his undershirt and boxers, was putting his toe in the water to test the temperature. "My dad expects me to work for him at Stark Industries, but…I accepted a position to work at Queen Consolidated."
"Won't they get suspicious of a competitor's daughter coming to work for them?" Matt asked.
"I was personally head hunted by the CEO, Walter Steele, and I told him who I am. He still offered me the position. It's entry level in IT, but at least I can go to work with a clean conscience." She bit her lip. "I've been working the last couple of years so I'll have enough money to survive on my own. I won't need to rely on him."
"You're Tony Stark's daughter." Matt said. "Couldn't you use that to make change in the company?"
"No." Felicity said. "I discussed it with Pepper Potts, my dad's assistant. She agrees with me, but seeing as my dad kept my identity a secret for years none of the board members know I exist. I'm the young illegitimate daughter of a CEO who has a habit of bringing escorts into board meetings…the ones he goes to. The only reason they haven't thrown him out is because he is the brains behind all their innovations. He gives them inventions that are decades ahead of anything else that the other companies can dream up, which lines their pockets. There's more money in weapons than in morality."
Matt turned to face her. "You'd go against your father and walk away from your fortune, all to make a moral argument?"
Felicity nodded. "It's the right thing to do." She looked down at her shoes. "You must think I'm insane."
"I think very few people in your position would have the courage to make that choice." Matt's gaze was piercing. "I think it's admirable."
Felicity fidgeted. "Thanks." She murmured. "Well, it's probably going to be a lot less courageous when he comes back from Afghanistan and disinherits me before I walk away from the fortune to make a statement."
Matt was about to respond when there was a loud splash from the water.
"Hey GUUUYS!" Foggy was waving at them from the river. "The water's great."
"I missed that Foggy," Matt shouted back. "I think you need to do it again so I can see it."
Foggy flipped him the bird. Felicity giggled. "He's making an impolite hand gesture."
"Judas." Foggy said. Getting out of the river, he shivered.
"Cold?" Felicity said sweetly.
"This is the shiver of champions." Foggy said, grabbing his clothes.
"Urgh, stay back." Matt wrinkled his nose. "That smells worse than the Hudson in an August heat wave."
Foggy stuck out his tongue, Felicity giggled.
"Impolite hand gesture?" Matt asked.
"Close." Felicity said. "He just gave you a little tongue action…I mean –"
"Hey now!" Foggy crossed his arms. "I do not engage in that type of behavior until the end of the second date."
Matt gave Felicity's shoulder a squeeze.
"I um…I should get back to my dorm." Felicity looked down at her fingers. "I've got a few things to get settled before graduation in a few weeks."
Matt nodded. "We'll walk you back."
"Yeah," Foggy said. "You can't be too careful. Plus we're from Hell's Kitchen, we're dangerous."
"Well that river smell certainly is." Matt said. "Walk in front of us so you'll be down wind."
"He's always mean to me." Foggy grumbled.
"The two of you are so married." Felicity giggled, leaning against Matt's shoulder. "Foggy, you can shower when we get back to my dorm."
"That depends," Foggy said. "How's your water pressure?"
"I have a communal shower. It's shared by all the people on the floor."
"So, it's terrible."
Matt laughed. "You just jumped into a river; I don't think you're in a position to be passing judgment." He jokingly put his cane in front of Foggy's legs.
"MURDOCK" Foggy shouted, laughing. "EVERYTIME, he does this to me every time." He added to Felicity. "He thinks he's funny and cute and charming because he can part his stupid hair."
"Don't self yourself short, Foggy." Felicity grinned. "You have glorious hair, it's like Norse god hair."
Foggy struck a pose. "Hear that, Murdock? I'm godlike."
"It's just because she's got no actual Norse gods to compare with." Matt retorted.
"And since there are no chances of any falling to earth any time soon," Foggy grinned. "I'm going to continue to be the peak specimen of manhood." He threw an arm over Felicity's shoulder. "Liss, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
"After you take a shower." Matt and Felicity said simultaneously.