A/N: Yeah, Karen is gonna know about DD, because I said so. We'll just work on the assumption that she recently learned about it and just finished recovering from the shock of the truth and everything like a week or two before the story starts. Kay? Kay.
—*—*—*—*—*
The day after the CPS visit was largely uneventful, besides the meeting with the court investigator. By then though, Matt and Hebi had already talked to one another and set their stories in stone so they wouldn't accidentally give each other away. Court date set, they had simply went about the rest of their day as normal. Well not Hebi since she would have normally been busking or hunkered down in an alleyway, but she figured sleeping the day away while basking in the window of Matt's apartment was nice too.
When Matt woke up on the morning of his fourth day knowing Hebi, he instantly went to work on the routine they had already started to hash out. Namely, ignoring that day's unique sleep-pretzel she had somehow curled into in the middle of the night and starting breakfast for her. That morning it was just toasted ham and cheese, but it still did the trick.
He heard her untangling herself as she always did, and laying down flat for a moment. He was starting to realize that that was a habit of hers, laying down flat in the morning for a few seconds before opening her eyes. She probably liked getting a feel for the vibrations around her before actually getting up, it's what Matt would probably do in her situation.
But instead of yawning and joining him at the table after she opened her eyes like she had the previous two mornings, her heart stuttered for a moment. The redhead froze, recognizing her brief panic before her heartbeat slowed down again but remained slightly unsteady.
"Hebi?" He called out slowly, frowning at her odd behavior. He heard her take in a slow breath before sitting up and walking over to him. "You okay?"
"Huh?" He could feel her head raise up in his direction, her voice too tense for somebody who had just woken up. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Uh huh," Matt didn't believe her for a second. "Your heartbeat is still uneven. What's up?"
"Wha— you are way too observant for a guy who spent the past two nights kicking the snot out of thugs until three in the morning," she hedged, reaching out to grab the sandwich he had placed on a plate for her. "When was the court date again?"
Matt sighed, reminding himself that he hadn't even known the girl for a full week yet. He let it go, deciding he could ask Foggy later if something seemed wrong with her. Maybe it was something that required eyes that could actually register light.
"Next Thursday, why?"
"Exactly a week," she mumbled, biting off a huge chunk of her sandwich and chewing slowly. "Nothing, just wanted to know. After that, we have to go to truancy court and see what's gonna happen as far as school goes for me, right?"
"That's the plan, yeah," Matt agreed, turning off the stove and sitting down with his own food. He couldn't help but feel amused by the tortured groan that came from Hebi's throat.
"If I never have to set foot in any court after this ever again, it will be too soon."
"Yeah, fat chance if your guardian is a lawyer," Matt responded ruthlessly. He would have smirked, but the glare he should have felt from her was absent. He couldn't help but furrow his brows—he could feel her muscles contracted into what was probably a scowl, but for some reason it didn't feel like it connected to his face.
"Do you have any extra sunglasses?" She asked suddenly, making Matt pause right after taking a bite of food. He frowned as he chewed and swallowed, wondering what was up with the girl today.
"I think so, but it's not like I have much of a reason to switch between them. I might have a pair that covers a bit more than these round ones do though, why?"
"It's bright out today," which Matt knew was a lie because he could feel the muted heat coming in through the window. It was hot but cloudy. "I was wondering if I could borrow them?"
"I know we agreed that you'd come to the office today to meet Karen and just get out of this apartment for the day, but I really don't think you need sunglasses. You'll be inside with Karen for most of it."
He could feel her heartbeat go slightly uneven again, telling him that she was getting a bit anxious about something. They were interrupted by Foggy's scent coming down the hall.
The moment Hebi smelled him, the teenager stuffed the last of her sandwich in her mouth and ran into the restroom.
Definitely a light-registering issue then, Matt thought. No reason to chat calmly with a guy she knew was an experienced fighter but run away at the appearance of his much more amiable best friend otherwise.
"And good morning!" Foggy was way too happy for such an early hour as he walked through the unlocked door, but he quickly noticed the missing body. "Where's the little ninja girl?"
"Hebi ran into the restroom as soon as we noticed you were down the hallway," Matt informed him, mouth tilted down into a frown. "Her heartbeat's been a bit off all morning, I think she's hiding something from me that I can't see."
"Oh?" Foggy's eyebrows rose. "What is this? Is Foggy Nelson actually necessary for unraveling a mystery for the dreaded Devil of Hell's Kitchen?"
Matt felt a few muscles in his shoulders loosen. Foggy's energy was definitely what he needed, dealing with a kid just wasn't something Matt was used to.
"Yeah Foggy. Let's try to get her to come out and maybe we can figure out what's wrong."
"You mean, maybe I can figure out what's wrong," Foggy corrected with a beaming smile. Matt just grinned, and lifted his head towards the restroom.
"Hebi? I know you're sitting on the ground in there. You're gonna have to come out eventually if you wanna get out for the day and meet Karen."
"On second thought, how about I don't meet her until after the court day? I mean, what if they decide you can't be my guardian? We'll become best friends for nothing!"
"Hebi, CPS is pretty desperate for a way to just get you a place to stay that you won't run away from, they're not likely to turn me down at this point. Now come on, Foggy and I have work to do."
"And best friends? That's the best you could come up with?"
"Not helping, Foggy."
They stood there for a long moment before the door slowly creaked open, and Hebi walked out.
"Okay, even I can tell you're walking backwards," Matt deadpanned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Turn around, Hebi."
The moment she did, Foggy's colorful curse proved Matt right.
"Holy shit! How the hell did that happen overnight?" Foggy seemed so shocked that it put Matt on edge.
"What? What is it?" He asked impatiently.
"Matt, she's blind. Hebi's eyes are milky white right now."
—*—*—*—*—*
The silence from Matt was almost deafening. I could only squirm in front of the both of them uncomfortably, feeling Foggy's gaze heavy on my face and my heat pits able to pick up Matt's sightless one directed not far off from it.
"Is this why you said you'd stay here for nine or ten days max?" Matt's voice was almost too soft for me to hear, and I didn't have my eyesight to follow his lips this time to help me out. I licked my lips, ignoring the shock to my senses that it created when my tongue temporarily blocked out my heat vision.
"Well, yeah," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck. "I, Uh, didn't get to cover this part of my abilities with you the other day."
"So this is normal?" I could tell that Matt was raising his eyebrows without even needing to see it, the evidence was all in his voice. "You just, what, wake up every now and then unable to see? You didn't think that was important enough to share? 'Hey, Matt, just so you know, I'm gonna be blind and almost deaf for a few days so don't let me wander out alone to stumble into the guys who are trying to find me,'"
"Oh that's rich," I snapped, scowling. "You're blind and you still go around getting beat up every night in a Halloween costume. I have heat vision too, in case you forgot. I'm just fine. I'm sorry if it felt really awkward and shitty of me to complain to the permanently blind dude that I can't register light for the next week. So what if I'm channeling my inner Hellen Keller for a few days?"
For a long moment, all I could hear was my own annoyed breathing echoing in my ears.
"Yeah, not all my senses are as enhanced as yours," I could tell my voice was low, it echoed in my own internal ears. "And yeah, this is my most vulnerable week of the month. I don't have a staticky picture of the world, I just have my heat vision and my smell to help me out. Maybe the vibrations if I can touch the ground or something. But that's more than enough, I've survived for five years dealing with these weeks."
"It's not that," Matt argues, but his voice seemed strangely beaten. "I know you can take care of yourself. Trust me, I know that being blind doesn't make you weak. But this is still kind of important. If Foggy noticed it right away, how are we going to hide your eyes? And those men, if they see you like this they could send in people you haven't met yet and you might not realize they're hostile until it's too late. They don't need guns to take you down, what if they use something you don't smell in time? Or if they disguise so that the smell isn't out of place?"
I could only lower my head, glaring in the general direction of my feet.
"If I'm gonna keep you safe, I have to know things like this so I can plan out how to work around them," Matt just thundered on, and I knew he was right.
"... We can start with those extra sunglasses of yours?" I pitched in hopefully, feeling a lopsided smile make its way onto my face. He seemed to sense it, my heat pits picking up on the way he relaxed into his seat.
"They're red," Foggy's voice startled me, I had been so worried about Matt that I had forgotten he was there. "Karen's probably gonna take you shopping too, so I'll tell her to get some sunglasses more your style for you if this whole blind thing is gonna be a regular occurrence."
I sighed, knowing I couldn't get them out of shopping for me. But despite the caseload I knew they had now that Fisk was down, I knew they couldn't have a whole bunch of extra money to spend on me. But I also didn't have to pay for food anymore, so my busking money should help out if they insisted on buying stuff for me.
"I have about a hundred and ten dollars from performing earlier this week," I piped up.
"I'm giving Karen money for anything you might need," Matt confirmed my suspicions, but I just shook my head.
"Then I'll save you a hundred bucks. Non negotiable."
I had a feeling he was frowning even if I couldn't sense or see it, but he didn't argue.
"Congratulations, Murdock. You found the one kid in the city just as selflessly stubborn as you. Come on Hebi, I'll show you where his other glasses are."
I let Foggy enter Matt's room first, following his already familiar shape of heat. He was looking through something that was basically a slab of coolness, probably not something used very often. It wasn't very big, so probably just a box.
"Matt doesn't use these very often, but here you go," Foggy said, and I didn't have much time to react as he turned and slid something over my ears. My muscles were tense, fighting the instinct to attack whoever dared touch me without warning, but I knew Matt wouldn't like that. And this was Foggy, even after only knowing him for three days I knew he was pretty harmless.
I rose my hand up, running my fingers along the object to see that it was only a pair of sunglasses. Right. Exactly what we went into the room for in the first place, why would it have been anything else? The lenses were pretty wide, and curved a bit at the side to block as much light as possible without being too clunky or ugly. Obviously meant for someone blind, but if Foggy chose them then they could probably pass for normal sunglasses easily.
"Uh, thanks," I managed, my muscles still locked, and I took two carefully measured steps backward. I didn't generally like being very close to people. For various reasons. "But, uh, a bit of warning next time you're gonna do something like that? I don't like being touched very much, I might hit you if you catch me by surprise."
"Oh!" Foggy seemed to notice that he had just done something fairly distressing for someone who wasn't only blind, but also hard of hearing. Generally touching someone with even one of those issues without warning wasn't advised, which he probably already knew being Matt's friend and business partner but probably hadn't applied to me yet considering I had been able to see just fine the day before. "Sorry. Guess this whole thing, uh, hasn't sunk in quite yet."
I snorted, finding it disturbingly easy to smile around the goofy man. "It's only for the next six days. They should peel off next Thursday morning."
I had a feeling Foggy was making a face, able to sense some of the warmer muscles in his face bunch up but not really giving me much information on the exact face he was making.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say something that sounds really gross and move on to the stuff that would embarrass Matt if I said it in the same room as him."
"I'm ninety-nine percent sure he can hear you," I remarked, eyebrows raised.
"Well yeah," Foggy agreed with a shrug. "But this way he can pretend he wasn't super embarrassed when we go back out. I'm gonna put my hand on your shoulder, okay?"
I nodded, able to relax my muscles for him since I knew what to expect when he reached out to gently lay one hand on my shoulder. And I had to instantly tap down my urge to lean into it, because the air conditioning was on and his hand was pleasantly warm even through the fabric of my shirt.
"I know Matt is a bit overprotective, and he can come off a bit harsh when he's worried like that. But when he says he isn't underestimating you, he means it. He just likes to know everything that can help him feel a bit more capable of keeping his friends safe."
"He's known me for less than a week, I seriously doubt he considers me a friend already. I'm like an abandoned puppy he's nursing back to health—"
"Nuh uh uh," Fogg interrupted, waving a finger in the air. "Matt doesn't do pity. You can be excused for not knowing that yet, but it's really not his thing. He's able to help you, so he's going to. And he might not admit it, but I think he definitely thinks of you as a friend already."
And man, I wished I had more time to let that sink in before Foggy continued, but he didn't seem to notice the emotional turmoil he had subjected me to and just went on talking without pause.
"And honestly, he's probably feeling a bit guilty right now so you should go easy on him."
Wait— what?
"Guilty? What the hell does he have to feel guilty about? I just didn't wanna make things awkward by mentioning my monthly, temporary blindness."
"That's exactly it," Foggy's sigh was heavy enough to barely tickle the tip of my nose, making me blink despite the discomfort it caused my eyes. "It's probably his catholic guilt complex he has going on. But he doesn't have anyone else that understands what it's like, being blind I mean. He's probably secretly a little happy that he has somebody that can relate, and that's making him a bit testy because he doesn't like being happy about it."
Ah. That… strangely made a lot of sense.
I slipped my foot out of my sock, lying it on the ground and tuning into the vibrations running through the apartment. "Tap your foot twice if that's true," I turned my head away from Foggy when I said that so that he knew I wasn't talking to him. I figured asking Matt to his face would be too awkward for the man, and if I asked while in another room then we could both pretend the exchange never happened after I went back into the living room with him. "I'm not gonna be mad if it is, you know. It makes sense. Kinda like feeling relieved when you meet someone else with abilities because you feel like you belong a bit more, right?"
The air was silent for a long moment before I felt two very reluctant taps echo through the ground and onto the skin of my bare foot. I smiled, strangely happy that he was honest with me. I turned to sit on what I suspected was the bed (and my suspicion was confirmed a moment later when it sunk under me slightly) to put my sock back on. As I did, I heard Foggy whistle and my heat pits sensed his head moving side to side as he shook it in what I guessed was disbelief.
"Kid, do you give lessons? Because I've never seen anyone handle Matt that easily before. And I was his roommate back in law school."
I paused with my sock halfway on, finding myself thinking back to the way Matt fought. That night after the CPS visit I had snuck out to watch him, scared that the first person to put this kind of careful effort into me would disappear. I only stayed out for half an hour, only needing to see the way he fought once to understand. The way every hit was efficient and ruthless, measured and professional. The ease that it seemed to come to him to take down multiple people at once.
The way he never seemed to hesitate to pick himself up whenever he was kicked down.
There were many things I didn't understand about Matthew Murdock, but that was not one of them. A person didn't learn to fight like that, or how to keep getting up like that, by living an easy life. They learned that by being knocked down mentally and physically over and over until they built up such a hatred for being knocked down that they couldn't stay on their backs long enough for it to sink in that it had happened again.
"I guess it's easier to know how to treat someone that is as similar to you as he is to me," I muttered, slipping the last of my sock over my heel and standing up. I didn't give Foggy a chance to react to what I had said, turning and walking out of Matt's bedroom almost immediately.
"Okay, you boys have work to do and I apparently have someone new to meet. Fun," I had tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, I really had. But instead I just had something new to add to my list of failures. "Please tell me she doesn't wear heavy perfume."
Matt just chuckled, slinging something over his shoulder that I guessed was his work bag. He grabbed something else, which by the vague shape I got from my heat pits was his walking stick. The thing he didn't actually need.
I was suddenly very glad I invested way more of my busking money than any other homeless person would approve of on thick-soled shoes to muffle the vibrations in the ground, because him using that thing would get annoying fast.
"That's it? All I get is a chuckle?" I pushed, but Matt still didn't respond. "Oh come on, I can't rely on Foggy's word here so you gotta give me something. Don't just leave me hanging here, c'mon!"
—*—*—*—*—*
Oh thank God, it was only floral scented soap and deodorant. I could handle that.
"You must be Hebi! Matt and Foggy told me about you," the voice that greeted me was pleasant, and very typical of a voice for a secretary but that was neither here nor there. I could sense her hand held out for a shake, and easily met it with my own before Matt or Foggy could comment.
"You're Karen, right?" I responded as kindly as I could. I was currently blind and that woman was taking me shopping for clothes and other things, I had rather not piss her off and end up with an ugly neon wardrobe. Matt wouldn't be able to notice and warn me before I put any of it on, either.
"Yep. And the boys told me I was in charge of taking you on a girl's day today," I turned my head towards the limo of heat that was Matt, hoping he had not actually phrased it like that. His pointed lack of reaction did not encourage me. "Don't worry, they told me about the situation."
"New development, actually," Matt spoke up, probably still a bit annoyed at my lack of warning when it came to the whole sight issue. I sighed, already expecting it when he reached out to tug off the glasses that sat firmly on my nose.
Karen's gasp was not surprising either, but the speed at which she calmed down was. She groaned a little, and I could sense some of her muscles twisting in her face area. Again my heat vision couldn't really give me an accurate picture of the exact face she made, but it was probably a frown or scowl.
"Now I have two blind trouble makers to watch after. How did this happen in just a day or two, anyway?"
"It's regular," I answered for the lawyers. "For one week every month, my eyes are like this. It peels off on the seventh day."
Foggy's accompanying disgusted gag was studiously ignored by the rest of us.
"Peels?" Karen asked, tilting her head. "Matt told me that all of your… abilities are snake-like, even if he didn't tell me exactly what hose abilities are. So, I did some research last night out of curiosity."
Oh boy.
"Apparently when snakes shed, they produce an eye cap over their eye that comes off along with the rest of their shed skin. Is this," I registered a vague wave of her hands in my direction, "Related to that?"
"Thankfully I don't shed my whole skin, that would be gross," I wrinkled my nose. "But yeah, this is my version of a shed cycle. But the only scales I have are the translucent ones over my eyes, so it's really only a drawback. Some of us don't have completely beneficial mutations."
Matt snorted. "Okay, you know just as well as I do that having senses elevated to this degree isn't completely beneficial."
"True enough," I conceded.
"Is it just me, or is it still a bit surreal to just be casually having a conversation like this?" Karen asked Foggy, who I could sense rub his forehead.
"Nope. Definitely not just you."
It wasn't long before Matt and Foggy had to go off to do adult lawyer stuff, leaving me alone with Karen in the office. Considering the fact that we had only just been introduced, we just sat awkwardly silent as Karen did some paperwork and I tried to identify every chemical in her body wash to distract myself.
"So, uh. Foggy told me you were trained as an assassin."
Yes, because that's amazing conversation material. I sighed, figuring she was probably just awkward because she had no idea how to start a conversation with me. Still, that was a pretty horrible attempt.
"I try not to think about it."
"Well, yeah, I can't imagine it's exactly fun. But, you obviously know how to fight because of it, right?"
I tilted my head, wondering what she actually wanted to know. "That is definitely something they teach in the two-year intensive training course, yeah. I learned a bit extra after I escaped from a makeshift teacher here and there. Nobody that I got to know well enough to tell all of my abilities, but saving a person's life or helping them out with a job tends to earn a week or two of lessons. Why?"
"Oh, uh. Before Fisk was taken down, I… I had a bit of an issue with a guy thinking I knew too much about his operation—"
"Did you kill him?"
That caught Karen off guard, and I could feel the heat in her face slightly drop because of the blood draining from it. Her breath stuttered, which I could easily catch by the scent of it becoming irregular.
"What kind of question is that?" She asked weakly. I frowned, leaning forward.
"If someone ever thinks you know too much about something illegal, they're not gonna just back off even if their boss is locked up. You usually have to kill them to keep yourself safe."
"That's— Okay, never say that to Matt. He would never approve, and quite frankly I'm extremely concerned about what would make a fifteen year old say something like that so easily," that didn't surprise me. "And— and no. That's not the point of me bringing it up, I just wanted to ask if you'd be okay giving me a few tips as far as self defense, so that I might have a bit more of a fighting chance if someone tries to catch me off guard again."
Yeah, maybe she shouldn't try to lie to someone who was trained in lying. But I let it drop, Matt probably wouldn't like it if I traumatized his friend with talk about death and killing. I was trying to leave that behind me anyway, so the sooner we changed the subject the better for the both of us.
Apparently Karen misinterpreted my silence, and decided to continue rambling.
"Well, I would ask Matt but he's a bit… intense, you know? And I ignored him for a solid week after I found out about the whole daredevil thing, so it's kind of unfair for me to ask him to do something like that when—"
"You honestly think I'd be any less intense?" I interrupted, brows furrowed. "And I know a few self defense tricks, but most of my training was more of the overpower-and-kill-ASAP kind, and not the disarm-and-run kind. But I guess a fight-for-your-life angle wouldn't be completely out of the ballpark for you to try out," I tilted my head and thought over all the different types of fighting I had been force fed. Most would require more time and effort to teach her in a normal fashion than what she would probably be willing to take.
"I'd be up for learning whatever tricks you can teach," she eagerly spoke up. "I don't need to be a prize fighter or anything, but I'll take anything I can get that might help me out of a tough situation."
"That seems easy enough," I agreed with a shrug. Her following clap, though not particularly loud, startled me.
"Great! Now, we've spent enough time in this musty office. Let's go out on that girl's day."
"... do we have to?"
—*—*—*—*—*
"You bought tea?" Matt asked the following morning, when he opened up the cabinets to find unopened packages he hadn't bother to decipher the muted smell of yet. It was really good quality stuff too, loose-leaf and whole herbs.
"I would prefer to make my own blends, but those smelled really good and I wanted to try them out," Hebi explained as she walked over to take her usual morning seat at the counter. She opened her mouth to take in the scent of each of the three bags Matt had discovered. "I got a teapot too. With my performance money, of course. Can I try the one with lavender today?"
Matt chuckled, glad to have one pretty normal thing about Hebi to add to his surprisingly short list of knowledge about her. She really liked tea. He had assumed from the way that she always seemed to smell vaguely like some type of it or another, but the confirmation was nice. He handed her the bag that held the tea she had asked for, putting the other two away.
He hated to admit it, but it was oddly nice having a normal interaction like that with somebody he knew was currently blind just like him. It was like Hebi had said the day before, it just gave him an odd sense of belonging that he couldn't shake no matter how bad he felt for it. It had been the same way back with Stick, which he had originally blamed on his young age and the fact that he had still been adjusting to his situation. But there he was as a full grown adult and feeling that same thing all over again, this time with somebody that was obviously not a gigantic asshole like Stick.
At least, not from what he had observed so far.
"You make your own tea blends often?" He decided to ask, popping toast in the toaster and setting eggs to fry on the stove.
"I try. Usually by picking from rooftop gardens or forking over a dollar for a cheap box of tea or two at the dollar store. When I first escaped, I was always so… scared of everything. Scared that they'd drag me back," Matt listened even as he felt Hebi take down the teapot she had bought the day before and fill it with water. They just shared the kitchen for a moment in silence, Matt scooting over when Hebi needed space to set her teapot over a burner to start heating up.
"But my mom, on some of her better days she'd make chamomile tea in the mornings. Or mint tea loaded with sugar whenever she felt a sore throat coming on," Matt sensed Hebi shrug as she pulled out a measuring spoon and measured out a serving of the tea into what he guessed was a reusable tea bag. "So, one day I was just walking by a cafe and the old lady that ran it decided I could use some old fashioned tea to improve my health," it wasn't hard for the redhead to hear the nostalgic grin in Hebi's voice. "It calmed me down. After that, I just started drinking at least a cup a day to get my nerves under control. It's better than alcohol, anyway," her voice grew bitter at the end of that sentence, but Matt ignored it. Part of the information she had mumbled to him during that day at the CPS office was about her mother having died from alcohol poisoning. She had drank herself to death. "It just became a habit after a few weeks, and now I love making my own blends and trying new flavors. It's fun."
"Well, it sounds better than soda at least. Do you have an extra tea bag? It did smell pretty good."
If Matt could sense the way Hebi's face was lifted up into a wide smile, he didn't comment on it.
They really only got to have quiet time like this in the mornings before Matt had to go to work. Even after work he usually didn't spend up time checking up on Hebi before heading out as Daredevil. They had dinner together, but that wasn't really the same. Matt figured she needed her space, but it was probably about time he figured out what she liked to do. It was almost summer so she couldn't go back to school right away, meaning it would be best if she had something to do during the day when he couldn't be there to keep her company.
And, as he had just realized, he didn't know all that much about her.
"So," Matt decided to speak up after they had their tea and their eggs with toast on plates and ready to eat. "Let's talk about more normal stuff like that. Let's forget about assassins and thugs with guns and Daredevil for now. For example, what do you wanna do when you finish school?"
Hebi almost seemed to deflate, which was not the reaction Matt had wanted or expected. "I don't know. I don't exactly have the best college resume right now, Matt," he could sense her reaching for her mug of tea, cradling it in her hands as in siphoning comfort from it. "I mean, what can I do? I guess opening up a cafe or a bakery would be nice, but it just," she sighed and sipped from her mug. "It's probably all I can hope for though."
"I don't think that's what I asked," Matt said firmly but gently, frowning in her direction despite knowing she couldn't see it just then. "Don't worry about your record right now, you're still young. You can fix that. But let's start smaller then; what's your favorite subject?"
"Biology," Hebi instantly answered. "Botany is cool too. I'd probably try to become an herbalist so I can make and sell teas, but just as a hobby you know? But biology, zoology? That's so interesting to me. Chemistry," Matt couldn't help but feel relieved at how light and happy her voice sounded. "And obviously I'm a good example of the fact that animal DNA can be compatible with that of humans. Maybe even that Spiderman guy that stays around Queens. That scientist who went crazy not that long ago, Doctor Connors? I kinda like the idea he had, though obviously he took it way too far. Animals have so many different adaptations to survive, if science can harness a few of those to temporarily transfer to humans— the impact it could have!" Hebi seemed to have entirely forgotten about her breakfast, a bit of her tea spilling onto her hand when she started waving them in excitement. She hissed at the heat on her skin, setting down her mug and grabbing a napkin.
"So you're a secret science nerd," Matt summed up, grinning. He had managed to finish pretty much all of his food while he had been talking, but he didn't mind. It felt like he was slowly gathering enough information to fill in the outline of the person that was Hebi Teal. "You know, going into biochemistry or something like that is a pretty good dream."
Hebi's head raised in his direction, and she took her first bite of her food.
"You think so?" Her voice was almost painfully vulnerable when she spoke after swallowing. Matt nodded.
"Yeah. And depending on how you do on your placement tests we can see about getting you into a school with a good science program. I can't really afford anything private, but there are plenty of public schools we can look at. It doesn't matter if it's a little far, we can figure out transportation. Maybe Karen can drive you in the mornings if we need her to."
Matt had a feeling that Hebi's eyes would be heavy on his face if she had been able to see him right then.
"I'd like that."
—*—*—*—*—*
The guardianship hearing went smoothly. CPS really just wanted Hebi out of the system, and the investigator had had nothing negative to report besides the fact that Matt only had a couch for Hebi to sleep on. Considering her previous accommodations though, it wasn't hard for her and Matt to argue that it was a definite step up. After all, the court knew from experience that Hebi would run from even the more lavish foster homes they tried to chuck her in— if she was willing to stay on the couch of a one-bedroom apartment then fine with them.
The truancy court a couple weeks later and following tests went even better. As Matt had suspected, homelessness was something that could be excused and remedied. And Hebi's scores had come back even better than expected.
Apparently, Hebi had informed Matt that night, she liked to read scientific journals and work on her math in the library whenever she could go. She was not only exactly where she needed to be for her age, but she was even slightly advanced. Not enough to bring up the question of grade-skipping, but definitely enough to make a difference. Matt had Foggy help him go over the websites and pamphlets for several science-oriented public schools the day after the results were given back to them.
So, a month and a half into Matt and Hebi knowing each other and everything seemed fine. Matt was going to have Hebi have the final choice of schools she wanted to apply to (the better ones all had tests required for entry), and the gunmen hadn't been seen again. Hebi would go to the library while Matt was working, they'd occasionally visit the gym together on sundays when Matt wasn't making his own visit to the church. Hebi would occasionally wake up at three or four in the morning to patch up and scold Matt. It worked. It was nice.
Obviously it wouldn't last.
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These three chapters have all ended up almost the same length— like, less than a hundred word difference— and it is kind of spooking me. Not purposeful at all, I just get to a point where I think is a good ending and check the word count and, yeah, almost the same number has greeted me each time for these three chapters.
Please review! I appreciate constructive criticism, no matter how self indulgent this is. Plus I just wanna know if anybody even likes this :/ I might just be impatient though because this story has only even been up for three days (yes, I wrote a chapter a day. I upload every chapter the same day I finish their first draft, which is why there are mistakes) so I guess not that many people have even found this and read it yet, but I can dream. Anyway, thanks for reading!
See you next chapter~
