When dealing with someone who might bolt at any moment, an individual must use caution. Take time and figure out which topics need to be covered right away, and which need to be given time before approaching.
Usually Matt skipped those steps and went straight to pummeling out the answers he needed, but obviously that method was only meant for people who deserved said pummeling. But he was, after all, a lawyer by trade. He knew how to prioritize when it came to questioning flighty clients, none of which were too different from the teenager stubbornly laid across his couch asleep. At least, not when it came to their reluctance to accept help.
The blind man had a feeling Hebi wasn't quite similar to any other living person in any other way than that.
Even Mister Fantastic would feel uncomfortable just looking at the way that the girl's limbs were twisted around each other like twist ties. She just overall seemed like a puddle of twisted up putty, even to Matt's senses. Part of him was glad he couldn't actually see the uncomfortable picture she displayed. Was that her knee she was using as a pillow? And her right arm was twisted around her left leg like the two flavors in a candy cane.
She had argued the night before that she'd be much more comfortable on the sofa than he would, and refused to take the bed with a stubbornness that would have made the Murdock name proud. Now he knew what she meant. If she could sleep peacefully in whatever the hell that position was, she was probably just fine on the couch.
But the sun was inching up into the sky, and Matt knew he would have to go to work soon. He had to broach some of the topics he had purposely not brought up the day before, knowing that none of Hebi's problems would be solved just by spending the night in his apartment.
But shaking awake a fifteen year old who had somehow managed to mangle the barrels of two good quality guns the night before did not seem like the smartest idea in the world, regardless of the pretzel she had contorted herself into.
Food was always a good way to wake somebody up though, and Hebi's mouth was wide open with silent breaths so it should work. Without further debate, Matt made his way over to his fridge and started cooking.
Sure enough, the moment the smell of frying eggs made it past the stove the teenager started to stir. The lawyer felt his mouth tilt up in an amused smirk as he sensed her untangling herself and just generally getting back into a natural position before even attempting to stand up.
"So? Super flexible, huh?" He asked as casually as he could, flipping the eggs on the pan onto a plate he had waiting for her. "Anything to drink? I got soda and milk, and water obviously."
"Mm. Milk please," she managed to ask through a yawn, sitting herself down at the counter and picking up the fork he had set down for her. She seemed to stare at the eggs for a while before even cutting into them. "I guess I do owe you some explanation. I'll tell you my powers if you tell me yours?"
"I never said I had powers," he said teasingly, already knowing what her response would be as he continued to cook a serving of food for himself. Sure enough, Hebi snorted.
"Yeah, like a blind guy can be a vigilante without some kind of ability. Besides, you already admitted to the smell thing."
"Fair enough," he agreed with a smile. The fact that she didn't even seem to entertain the idea of pity was nice, refreshing. Most teenagers were either crass about it or overly sympathetic, but she was neither. It was nice. "My other senses compensate for my sight. I could hear your heartbeat from down the block if I needed to, and I can feel your body heat pretty well. I can taste things in the air too, though that usually ends up way more of a nuisance than anything else. Vibrations in the air, you get the idea."
The slow breath from her was all the agreement he needed to that statement. "Wow," she breathed. "That's— that can give you an accurate picture of the world without needing to see. Echolocation, vibration sensitivity, heat sensory location, scent identification. There's almost no need for light registering," Matt could feel her shake her head in disbelief. "Damn, that's better than me. Like I told you yesterday, my hearing is shit," she took a big bite of egg, followed by a swig of the milk he set down for her.
He could feel the muscles in her face twist. "What? Don't like milk?"
"Hate it," she confirmed, making him raise his eyebrows. "Don't judge, I need the calcium. I'll stomach it if it keeps me healthy. Haven't eaten anything with any calcium in it for the past week, which is pushing it even for me."
Matt didn't want to focus too closely on the fact that she paid close enough attention to what she ate to know exactly which nutrients she needed. Instead he settled down with his own finished place of food, willing to patiently wait for her to finish her explanation of her abilities.
"Anyway. I do have internal ears, right at the back of my throat," Matt could sense her patting her neck with two fingers, right where it connected to the back of her jaw. "I can hear really low frequencies that way, some even lower than normal humans can hear. But my mouth has to be open to register that. Higher frequencies? Forget it. My internal ears won't pick it up. But I do have heat pits right under the outermost layer of skin on my lips, and along the bottom of my nose," she tapped those areas with one finger to illustrate her point. "Gives me heat vision. Pretty accurate too, probably even more accurate than yours. I can sense temperature and proximity, to a hundredth of a degree and a sixteenth of an inch. My tongue is covered in scent receptors, which is where my elevated sense of smell comes from," she stuffed the last of her egg in her mouth to give Matt time to decipher the information dump she had given him so far.
"So," Matt tapped a finger on the counter in thought for a moment. "Like a snake? Vipers and pythons have heat pits along their jaw, and snakes are famous for smelling with their tongue," he cautiously fished for information.
"Exactly like a snake," Hebi's voice was suddenly sullen, tired. Tired in a way that no fifteen year old should ever be. She sighed. "My bones are all segmented, like vertebrae. It allows me to move and twist them in pretty much any direction I want, like how a snake can twist their body into a knot. And my skin is sensitive to vibrations, probably not as sensitive as you are but definitely far beyond what a normal person is capable of. I can feel the vibration of a person's heartbeat from the opposite side of a building, as long as even a finger is touching the wall connecting to where they are leaned against. The floor works too, usually easier to sense their heartbeat's vibration through their feet anyway. And my muscle is proportionately as dense as a snake's. A constrictor's, to be exact," she reached for her cup of milk, downing it easily.
"And you think just my heightened senses are amazing?" Matt asked, eyebrow raised. He could feel Hebi's unimpressed glare.
"Well yeah. My physical shit won't help me if my mouth is duct taped shut and I can't figure out where the hell I am or if there's anything nearby I could use to help me out. I might be able to tell how many people are in the room with me if I can feel their heartbeats through the ground, but that probably won't help me out much. My eyesight isn't twenty-twenty either. It's pretty much a snake's eyesight— not good, but enough to get by without relying on inch thick glasses. You have a whole extra reliable sense than I do," she shrugged. "My other abilities are more internal. Like, I can adjust my metabolism. I can slow it down up to seventy percent so that I can survive for a week or two off of a glass of milk, a hot dog, and an apple. Can't speed it up much though, so my healing is only ever sped up by maybe a day or two compared to normal people. But you take what you can get—"
"That food example seems oddly specific," Matt interrupted her attempt to change the topic, his concern outweighing his need to learn anything else about her abilities. Judging by the pacing of her speech though, there was probably only one or two more aspects to it anyway. Just because she could survive off of that little bit of food didn't mean she should have to, and it definitely didn't seem healthy.
"Okay, calm down," Hebi held out her hands to try and soothe him. He realized belatedly that she could probably feel his sped up heart rate through the counter. "Snakes can go several months after eating only one rat or mouse, so I probably could last a month on that much food. But I didn't even try, see? I know how to take care of myself, I don't take unnecessary risks. I'm okay."
"Thank you," he said once he was able to push away his worry. Which had been odd enough, it was normal for him to be a bit concerned for somebody in need but this was a bit much even for him. Why did he feel the need to keep her safe so strongly? He just met the the day before. Twenty four hours is not long enough to justify that strong of a reaction, and he knew it. "For trusting me," he continued. "You could have just half-assed your description or only told me a couple things. So thanks."
Hebi chuckled. "Nah," she said softly, turning her head in the direction of the window. Matt guessed she was looking out of it at the meager view it offered. "Thank you for caring. That reaction… it's a bit foreign to me. 'Sides, knowing about what I can do doesn't automatically mean you'll be able to capture me or anything. We only agreed for me to explain my unnatural abilities, you said nothing about confessing any learned skills to you."
Matt had to smile at that. "Be careful, or we might get confused about who the real lawyer is here," he teased.
"Or my background," Hebi continued impishly, and Matt could sense the smile on her lips. "You said nothing about telling you how I got my abilities or anything, so you're outta luck there. No tragic backstories today," she stuck her tongue out.
Matt raised his eyebrows, unable to get rid of the smile on his face. "What's that supposed to do? Smell my deepest secrets?"
"Oh ha, ha," she rolled her eyes, but the both of them turned to the door not a moment later when the smell of bagels drifted towards them from down the hallway.
—*—*—*—*—*
"Okay. When I told you not to bring her back to the office, I did not mean to bring her back to your house."
"Technically, it's a really cheap apartment," I chimed in, successfully getting the newcomer's glare off of Matt and onto me. I recognized his scent as one of the two besides Matt's that saturated the office I had visited the day before. I turned my head to Matt. "Your partner?"
"Wait, how—"
"Yeah. Hebi, this is Foggy. Foggy, this is Hebi Teal."
"Foggy Nelson. Wait, don't distract me," the man drew his hand away from where it had been half extended for a handshake. "Dude, I get that being homeless sucks. But we don't have the resources to take in a kid."
"Yeah, well. I wasn't going to, until I had to save her from getting shot in the stomach with a military issue gun last night."
"Oh right, I still haven't thanked you for that have I? Thank you for not letting me die in a grimy alley."
"Wait, she was what? And that means she knows you're Daredevil. You know he's Daredevil? Shit. You do. Dude, you tell her after only one day? Wait, why were men with military guys trying to kill a fifteen year old anyway?"
And there we go. The question I knew Matt had been skirting around all morning until he was sure I wasn't gonna bolt the moment he asked. I watched the redhead frown at his friend for a moment before sighing.
"I said no tragic backstories today," my voice was so soft that I couldn't even pick up exactly what I sounded like with my own ears, but I could tell by their reactions that it probably wasn't nonchalant like I was hoping. "But I guess if you're gonna try to keep me safe from them, you deserve at least the basics," I ran a hand through my hair, looking anywhere but them. "Okay. Let's get this straight, I'll stay here for nine or ten days max, then I'll be out of your hair, okay?"
"No, that's not the deal," Matt interrupted me, mouth set I a determined line. "You'll stay here until I know you're safe or I can get you set up in a safe arrangement—"
"No," I hissed, making both men tense in surprise. "I appreciate the sentiment, I do. Nobody gives a shit about the unlucky girl on the streets in New York, so I really do appreciate everything you've done this far. But I don't deserve it, and you don't want someone who was trained to be a kid assassin just sleeping under the same roof as you for that long."
The silence was heavy and immediate following my statement.
"Those men," Matt said, clearly having to work hard to keep his voice loud enough for me to pick up on. How had he even already been able to assess what I could and couldn't hear, anyway? "Are they the ones..?"
"I seriously doubt those grunts know anything about me. But their bosses, yeah. Those guys wanted me to be an assassin they could sell out to the highest bidder, everyone trusts kids after all. I got out."
"But obviously they don't want you just running around unless you're under their thumb," Matt finished for me, and apparently my hum in response was enough of an agreement for him. "Yeah, you're not going back out on the streets any time soon. Who knows what they'll try in order to get rid of a rogue mercenary?"
That stumped me, and not even the odd gestures coming from Foggy could bring me out of my shock.
Just why was Matt sticking out his neck for me like this? I just… I just didn't understand.
But I was always too curious for my own good. I'd stick around, but just long enough to understand why this stranger gave a fuck. It didn't make sense yet.
"Later, Foggy!" the harsh whisper barely made its way to me. I probably only even registered it at all because my mouth was open and Matt's voice was just low enough for my internal ears to pick up. I snapped my eyes up to them, eyebrows furrowed in thought still.
Foggy sighed, shaking his head and putting the bag of bagels down on the counter. "Well. I brought breakfast because I didn't expect you to be up this early after getting beat up until who-knows-O'clock.
"Give Hebi one of—"
"Half of one," I interrupted, but Matt apparently knew how to pick his battles because eh only frowned before consenting.
"Okay, give her half a bagel. She needs to eat more."
"What kind of bagel is it? Wheat?" I asked, watching as Foggy cut a bagel in half and gave me one side.
"Just plain," Foggy replied, blinking as he realized I didn't even attempt to go for cream cheese.
"Oh good," I was pleasantly surprised, smiling slightly. "That gives me a good amount of protein, fiber, and iron. I can always use whatever potassium and calcium I can get too, though I could do without so much sodium. And it's just been a while since I've been able to have a bagel at all, so thanks," I took a bite, chewing contentedly before realizing the room was just a bit too quiet. My eyes darted up, and it wasn't hard to notice both lawyers staring at me (or towards me) with expressions I couldn't quite decipher.
"You… just know the nutritional facts of bagels off the top of your head?" Foggy's voice was cautious as he slowly asked me that. I tilted my head slightly in thought, swallowing my bite of bagel.
"Well, I don't know the exact percentages or anything, and things vary depending on where you get the bagel from. But I try to memorize the general important nutrients in all the common foods, it helps when I have to decide what I need to eat next. The best way to make sure I never have to drag myself to the hospital is to make sure I get everything I need in my diet, no matter how pitiful of a budget I have to work with." I took another bite of my bagel. I wasn't used to talking so much, so my throat was starting to feel the strain. "If all I ate were cheap empty calories, I'd be dead of malnutrition long before I died of starvation."
The rest of my bagel was eaten in silence, both men slowly chewing alongside me.
"So. You go to school?" Matt asked slowly. Even I could hear the hope in his voice despite him definitely knowing better. My snort didn't seem to give him any extra confidence.
"I try to go for a while every year," I said slowly, shrugging. "But once CPS or the gunmen find out where I am, I ditch. I do try to spend a lot of time in the library teaching myself whatever I can though, so I'm not dumb," a pit in my stomach opened up, souring my mood. I wanted to go to school. It was normal, and I liked learning. History and math I could usually do without, but I was totally up for suffering through them if it meant I got to learn the other subjects. If it meant I got to be normal for a while. "The mercenaries don't usually find my school though. They prefer to hunt me at night."
"So, in other words," Matt's purposely casual tone instantly caught my attention, making me narrow my eyes at him in suspicion. He ignored my sudden scrutiny of him, which I was pretty sure he noticed. I knew when people were being sly. "If we deal with the CPS issue, you'll agree to go to school?"
"That depends on what you mean by 'deal with,'" I replied slowly, frowning. "Besides, I've missed too much. Wouldn't I have to go to truancy court?"
"Let the lawyers handle that," Foggy interrupted, giving me a disarming smile that I didn't humor with any reaction. He was nice and all, and I could probably grow to really like him, but he was still a stranger for the moment.
"If we get you under the care of a legal guardian and off the streets, Foggy and I can handle getting you back into school. You might have to take a few tests to see where you stand, though."
"School is almost over for the year, though," I might not have been going, but I did keep track the the general school year schedule to know when I would and wouldn't be able to sneak my way inside one for shelter or food if necessary.
"Then it's best if we get you figured out so you can attend for the whole term next year," Matt plowed forward, not about to be discouraged by any of my arguments. I huffed; apparently he was just as stubborn as I was. That could get annoying.
"Okay, let's say I do agree. Who's gonna be my legal guardian? You?"
His smile was all the answer I needed.
"Woah, okay. Uh, nope. Crashing in your apartment for a week or two? Yeah, I trust you enough for that. You saved my life, and you didn't lie to me about wanting to keep me safe. But becoming my guardian? Are you crazy? Wait, don't answer that," I held up my hand to keep him from answering, knowing he could sense it despite being unable to see my hand at all. "If you dress up in red and go around beating up assholes at the asscrack of night, obviously you're crazy—"
"My suit is red? I didn't notice," Matt innocently interrupted me, but I didn't buy that bullshit for a second and just continued on.
"— But you've known me for a day. A day. Saving me from some asshats trying to kill me does not justify wanting to be legally responsible for taking care of me—"
"You say Ass a lot, don't you?" Foggy asked with one eyebrow raised. He was ignored.
"—And I just told you a few minutes ago that I was trained to be an assassin! What part of this whole situation makes you think that stepping up to be my guardian is a logical decision?"
"Well, have you killed anyone lately?" He asked, leaning on his arms towards me over the counter. I threw my hands up in exasperation. Did he not get it?
"No, but I have killed before. I have baggage that makes the airport jealous—"
"I'm not trying to date you, so I don't see what baggage has to do with anything," Matt interrupted firmly, making me pause. "Besides, do you think I'd go around as a vigilante without my own fair share of it?" I could feel his next sigh almost to my bones. "I'm not trying to be a father figure or anything—" my breath hitched at the word father, but thankfully he pretended not to notice. "—But you need someone to take care of you. Legally if for no other reason, because you are obviously physically capable of taking care of yourself. And you don't have to worry about me being in danger because of anybody that might be after you, since I can protect myself just fine. We can just coexist, if that's what you are comfortable with. I'll be legally responsible for you, allowing you to go to school and have a safe place to sleep indoors every night, and you won't have to worry quite as much about money or food. You'll have someone to back you up in you're in danger, and the CPS will get off your back. There really isn't any reason for you to not accept."
And there we go. The biggest reason people avoid getting tangled up with lawyers— they knew how to make a damn good argument. I grit my teeth.
"Sounds pretty one-sided to me," I muttered, hands clenched tightly into fists. "What's in it for you, huh? Nothing's ever free."
"Well," Matt straightened up, shrugging lazily. "I guess it'll help my conscience if I can make sure you're okay. But if it makes you feel better, I can always make you train with me on weekends at the gym I go to. I could use some combat practice against someone like you."
"So, what, that's it?" I asked again, frustrated that I couldn't wrap my head around the situation at all. "I get to be safe and taken care of, and you get combat practice? That doesn't seem fair—"
"Why are you trying so hard to get him to give up on you?" Foggy's voice made Matt and I whip our heads over to him. The frown on the blonde's face seemed out of place, as if he was better off smiling and being serious just didn't suit him.
Then I made the mistake of looking into Foggy's eyes. Despite his arguments for not taking in a stray like me, he actually did seem genuinely concerned for me. And eyes as honest as those just had a way of completely wiping away my urge to fight and stay stubborn.
"You know, you're just gonna make Matt even more determined to take you in," Foggy continued, making me furrow my brows in confusion. "You see, all you've been doing is arguing about why it's unfair to him. You haven't even once said anything about it being unfair to you, or asked for anything he didn't already offer. That selfless attitude is only gonna make him want to keep you safe even more. The two of you are clearly kindred spirits already— stubborn, selfless, badass. Please tell me you don't have a martyr complex," he met my eyes almost desperately. "You don't, right?"
"Uh, well I mean," I just didn't get these people. "I… don't think so?" I shook my head, knowing Foggy had successfully thrown me off my game and now I didn't have any chance at winning my argument with Matt. "Damn it, tag teaming should not be allowed!"
"If it gets you to agree, I'm all for it," Matt quipped, dutifully ignoring my responding glare. I growled under my breath and crossed my arms, not caring how childish it was.
"Yeah, Yeah, fine, whatever!" I finally caved. "I won't get you to shut up about it until I do, and being able to stay in your apartment will seriously help me out for these next few days, so I don't really have much of a damned choice."
"Awesome," Matt said with a smile, standing up. "Foggy and I have to get to work now. I'll make a call to CPS— oh," he suddenly seemed to realize something, looking down at me. "You don't have a phone, so you?"
"Please tell me you know the answer to that already," I drawled, eyebrows raised. He nodded, unsurprised but frowning all the same, and disappeared into what I assumed was his room for a moment before coming back out.
"I can probably afford to buy you a cheap phone later. For now, take this. I usually use it as my Daredevil burner, but it'll be your phone until I can get you one. Don't call any of the numbers on it—"
"There's only two numbers on it anyway—"
"—and I'll call you if CPS decides to have a meeting with both of us today. I guess you can go out to perform, but if the CPS agents ask, I did not allow you to. Okay?"
"Yeah, I got it," I agreed easily as I stuffed the phone into my pocket. His nose wrinkle was easy to decipher.
"Oh come on, I'm homeless. You can't seriously expect my clothes to smell great."
"No, but now my burner is going to smell like Hell's Kitchen's alleyways."
"Just like your costume, get over it," I rolled my eyes and turned. "At least it doesn't smell like blood, too."
"Okay, point to Hebi."
—*—*—*—*—*
"So, she had super smell too, huh?" Foggy asked as he pretended to lead Matt, who obviously didn't need to be led but it was good for show. Foggy hadn't said anything while they were still in Matt's apartment, but he hadn't missed their little conversation about smells. "Wait, she can't still hear me can she?"
Matt chuckled at his friend's sudden panic, shaking his head. "No, our abilities aren't exactly the same Foggy. Yeah, she has super smell, but her ears aren't very good. I might get her a hearing aid, actually, if I can trick her into agreeing to it."
"You think she won't?" The blonde asked, eyebrow raised. "I'd think that most people would jump on the chance to improve their senses if they could."
"She's not most people," Matt said, mouth turned down at the corner. "She doesn't seem concerned about the issue at all. Even if hearing aids were free, I still think she'd deny having one. I think she needs glasses too, but I'm not dumb. I might not even have the ability to get her to agree to one of those things, let alone both, and her hearing needs more help than her eyes do."
Foggy sighed, shaking his head. When Matt tilted his head curiously, Foggy rolled his eyes. "Honestly Matt, I'm giving you two months."
"For what?" The redhead asked, not following his friend's path of thought.
"Before you adopt her. Two months."
"I know you heard me when I said I wasn't planning on being a father figure," Matt argued, eyebrows drawn down. "I just wanna help out. Being a guardian is one thing, but adopting her.."
"You will, just watch," Foggy persisted, shaking his head again. "She adorable, obviously has a tragic past, morally ambiguous, and orphaned. If she was ten years older, I'd be worried that you were going to date her. But she isn't, and if there was ever a person that you'd adopt, it's someone exactly like her. I'd bet money on it if I had any to spare."
"You're wrong Foggy," Matt continued. "She probably won't even try to get to know me more than necessary. She isn't the type to get close to people, there's no way she'd let me adopt her even if I wanted to."
"Whatever you say, Murdock. Whatever you say."
—*—*—*—*—*
It was at four thirty that same evening that Matt found himself walking in to the nearest CPS building. He couldn't help but be grateful that Hebi had had his business card still on her, otherwise she probably wouldn't have been able to get ahold of him when she was picked up by CPS. Apparently the teen was smart enough to know that continuing to run from the agency would not help their case for him to become her guardian.
"I thought I said not to go out today," he said in his best Responsible Adult Voice, and was pleased to find that Hebi was apparently also smart enough to know to play along.
"Yeah, but who knows how long these guys are gonna take?" He sensed her turning her head towards the agent in the room, likely glaring at the older woman. "And I wanted a bit of extra money. Not like I could go back to school yet anyway, I don't think I'm even still on the roster."
"Mister Murdock, how do you even know Hebi?" The agent interrupted their little act, and Matt raised an eyebrow. He was hoping Hebi could take over from there, since she was more likely to know what would or wouldn't conflict with her past.
And look (hypothetically) at that, she knew exactly what to do.
"He knew my mom. Family friend, right? But he went off to college so I never thought he'd be able to take care of me. Besides, didn't think I'd ever see him again anyway. Didn't expect him to recognize me when I was out dancing on the street a couple weeks ago, but apparently he heard my voice when I was thanking the crowd and decided to check if it was me. You'd think my voice would sound way too different after five years, but apparently it hasn't changed enough for him to not recognize it."
The agent frowned, raising her eyebrows. "You are okay with going to live with an old family friend you haven't seen in five years?"
"I know him better than I know you or any of your stupid foster families."
Okay, maybe Hebi's attitude couldn't completely be reigned in. Matt sighed, glaring at what he hoped was close enough to her face to be effective.
"Okay," the agent took a breath to keep her composure, but overall seemed unruffled by the barb. "In that case, you won't mind if I ask Mister Murdock some questions about his friendship with your mother in private, would you?"
Matt could feel his heart briefly pick up, his mind working quickly. He'd have to be careful, any misstep and—
"Don't worry. I'll coach you from the hallway," Hebi's surprisingly quiet whisper easily registered in Matt's ear, making one of his patented confident smirks rose onto his lips to mask the more sly one that wanted to be in its place. Well, he definitely chose a smart girl to take into his care if nothing else. Her voice had to be far too quiet for her to even hear herself, which would account for the slight oddities as far as the pitch went, but it showed that she was comfortable with her disabilities and was not afraid to work through them.
Okay, Maybe Foggy was right and they were a little to similar already. But that didn't really make Matt want to back down, it only encouraged him further.
It didn't take long for Hebi to make her way to the hallway, where she continued to whisper under her breath to give Matt all the information he needed to fool the agent.
"So when did you meet Miss Teal?"
"I can't remember exactly when, but I met her when I was still in high school. I liked hearing her sing, as you can probably imagine," a not so subtle nod to his blindness usually succeeded in making whoever was questioning uncomfortable, which held true with the CPS agent, who faltered slightly.
"In the seedy bar she sang in?" Disbelief colored the woman's voice, but Matt just shrugged.
"I'm used to seedy, and it's not like I could really see how bad it was. I'd go maybe once a week, have a soda and just listen. She picked up on it, and after the first time we stumbled into each out on the street it just turned into a casual friendship. I'md come by to visit Hebi every now and then, and Stella would sing every now and then if I was feeling stressed. Music therapy, you know."
"I see," the agent sighed, probably sad that she couldn't refute anything he said. Matt ignored her, patiently latching on to every whispered word drifting from Hebi in the hallway. She was just babbling about anything and everything she could think of about her mother, not being able to listen in to the Agent's questions to give Matt direct answers. It was enough for Matt's own quick brain to supply a story, despite his usual lack of skill when it came to lying.
Oddly enough, he would usually be a stuttering mess if he had to lie about Daredevil. But the fact that he was lying for somebody else's well being made him significantly calmer and the words flow a bit easier.
It helped that Hebi occasionally went on a tangent about possible answers he could give.
"I was in college before she died. I didn't even hear about until months later," Matt was saying, making a silent note to himself to not mention her mother's death to Hebi. He knew how tired he got of people apologizing for his dad's death when they had nothing to apologize for, he knew Hebi would probably appreciate it more if he didn't bring up the topic at all.
The questioning went on for the better part of twenty minutes, and despite a few stumbles Matt was able to get through it. Hebi was still mumbling when the office door opened again and he stepped out with the Agent into the hallway with her. It took a second, but Hebi stopped mumbling when she noticed they were there, and stood up with a surprising amount of hope in her eyes that only the Agent could see— but Matt could still sense her nerves from her heartbeat, and knew she was hoping for the best.
"Alright. Now Mister Murdock, I'll talk to Hebi alone. After that, we'll discuss possible guardianship."
—*—*—*—*—*
"I'm so glad lying was part of assassin 101," I breathed once it was all over and Matt and I were walking back to his apartment at slightly past seven that night. It had taken forever for us to go through all the motions— questioning, background checks, apparently assessment for whether Matt was even qualified to be a guardian, and of course the dreaded paperwork.
Matt chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you took advantage of my hearing to give me the verbal cheat sheet I needed, otherwise we would have been screwed."
"I thought guardians weren't supposed to cuss around kids," I teased him, earning a playful huff and an eye roll I could just barely see through the side opening between his eyes and his glasses.
"You've said worse things than 'screwed' in the past day since I've known you, and I doubt I could get you to stop so there's really no point. Besides, we've only just filed the paperwork. An actual court investigator will give us the same exact treatment in a few days, and then it's the court hearing."
"Which makes me glad that you are a lawyer," I admitted, shaking my head. "No way I'd be able to rest easy until the whole thing was over if you weren't. But you know what you're doing, so I'm not as nervous."
"Let's just get dinner so you can speed your metabolism back up to something normal."
"Shit, I was hoping you'd forget about that," I hissed with a grimace. His answering smirk annoyed me.
"Yeah, you're not going to get away with barely eating just to make it easier on my wallet, kid. The first thing I'm doing as your unofficial guardian is getting you back on a normally sized diet."
I watched my shoes for a while as we walked, but found that I couldn't get rid of the goofy smile on my face even when I tried thinking of dying puppies.
"I think I can live with that."
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A/N: there we go! Please excuse any spelling errors, this is a first draft and my keyboard on my phone couldn't keep up very well with my typing speed so there are probably mistakes everywhere. I might fix them if I feel up to it later, like I fixed all the mistakes I caught in chapter 1. You're welcome.
Also, I have pretty much no idea how the whole guardianship thing works, so I did five second research and flew by the seat of my pants on the rest. Allow for inaccuracies, thanks. Hope you guys like this!
See you next chapter~
