So that was it, as far as Matt was concerned. He now had an excuse to keep the kid close, he was his employee after all. Just needed some of the official paperwork. And just needed the kid himself to agree to stay. That might be the hardest part. Well, who was he kidding? That will definitely be the hardest part.

Might as well rip off the bandaid now "So… Pete… what would you think if I said that you could be working here if you wanted?"

"Uhm what? Why?"

"Why not? We need a secretary, you seem smart enough" he left a pause, to think of more reasons but came up with nothing "uh, yeah that's basically it" he paused "So, do you want a job?"

"Uhm- what-" Peter said, stunned at the sudden shift "but you don't know anything about me?"

"You seem like a good enough kid, and besides, I feel like we could really use your help around here: make the place more, how do you say it, freshen it up a bit"

"Well… If you say so…"

"So that's a yes?"

"Uhm, can I think about it?"

"Yes!" Matt said, happy with anything other than an outright no "Of course! I'll tell you what: why don't we do a kind of trial run today, see if you like it and then you can decide?"

"Uh"

"You'll definitely have a more informed opinion. Oh! And you'll be getting paid of course!"

Well… sure, okay…"

"Great!" (SCORE!) debating skills wins again! "Let me show you around." He clapped his hands together, settling the issue like the great businessman that he was "So that you can fully appreciate all these beautiful sights around here"

"You'll probably have to ask Karen about most stuff since she used to be the secretary around here. I don't really know all that much about printers and machines so if you have any questions, go to her…"

The office tour was short, there wasn't much to tour after all. But he showed Peter the little space that they did have. Where the coffee machine was situated and their two office spaces, the one that he and Foggy shared and Karen's place. He showed him the conference table; if you could even call it that, with the impressive number of 4 chairs that fit snugly around it. And that was all.

"...And this is where you'll be situated" he gestured to the desk that stood in the entryway "the printers and everything are all here. I really can't tell you much about those" He said looking comically confused "anyways, that's basically it, any questions?"

"Uhm," Peter said, pretty overwhelmed "I don't think so?"

"Great! Just get comfortable," he walked towards his office "and I'll be with you in a second to print some documents. The braille printer is the one machine that is not a mystery to me, so that's a win," he said happily, gesturing to the machine that Peter had been wondering about its uses "and eat that damn sandwich already" He called to Peter when he had already left the room.

So Peter went and sat on the office chair, next to the desk Mr Murdock had pointed out to him. So he sat on his! desk and unwrapped the sandwich. He had just carried it here, all the way from Mr Murdock's apartment. Feeling awkward about what he should do. Should he just eat it? Should he save it for later? Did Mr Murdock just give it to him for safekeeping? But okay. Eat it. That was definitely something he could do. So he sat and he ate while looking around his new environment. The printers that Mr Murdock had said he didn't understand did look like the most ancient things in existence. Probably older than Peter himself.

He wondered if that old thing still even worked and stood up to take a look at it while shoving the last bite of his sandwich in his mouth.

When Matt came back in the room, Peter was elbows deep in the printer.

"What-"

Peter looked up with a startled expression

"Oh" he looked down at the printer, and back up at Matt "I swear, it's not what it looks like"

"Okay?" Mr Murdock didn't seem angry, but maybe… "And what would that be?"

"I'm sorry. It looks like I'm sabotaging your printer, but I swear I'm not. I'm really just fixing it"

"You're… fixing it?" Mr Murdock said with a puzzled look on his face. Trying to fit the pieces of the kid he found on the street and the kid that's elbows deep in a printer together in his head.

"Yeah, well, uhm, so, I wanted to figure out what was wrong with it and well, now there's this little tiny screw that if I could just put it back… I'm sorry, I'll just stop"

Peter looked back at Mr Murdock, expecting him to get mad any second now, what kind of person is a guest somewhere and proceeds to tear apart their printer? Sometimes Peter even surprised himself with his weirdness.

Instead, Mr Murdock just looked amused. Like this was all a funny joke

"Okay, kid, I believe you"

"Really?"

"Yeah" Mr Murdock took a step closer and went to sit at Peter's desk chair "do you think you'll be able to fix it?"

"Uhm, yes." He shot a look back at the printer "I'm just trying to take a look inside to see what's wrong, and this screw… well a loose screw at the bottom of a machine can never be a good sign, so I figured; might as well start there"

"That sounds just great," Mr Murdock said with a smile "why don't you finish that in a second and I'll explain the braille printer to you"

Peter took his hands out of the printer, careful not to accidentally rip the entire thing in half and came over to stand next to Mr Murdock with a bounce in his step. It had been a while since he learned something new, even with studying for the GED, which was only repeating stuff he had already learned at school. Now, school, that was something completely different. Learning new stuff almost every day, science; awesomeness. Plus hanging out with people… Just great.

So even though this would be learning how to work a printer; it would be a braille printer. Something he had never seen before, didn't even know such things existed. Of course, thinking about it, it made sense that it existed. Still, very cool. He wanted to figure out how the machine worked. Could you just put it in words and it would print out braille?

Mr Murdock explained everything to him; that you needed a special program to work the printer, to make the words into braille. That it took just a bit more finetuning than a normal printer, or an ink printer as Mr Murdock called it.

"...So if I click this one after that… it should work?"

"Yes, you got it!" Mr Murdock smiled at him "that's great, kid" he praised "Why don't you try out these documents right here" he pointed at a stack of papers, printed normally.

"Uh, okay!" He placed the first one in the scanner, and closed it, "wait is that good?"

"Yes but I'm not going to say anything anymore. I think you've got this" he nodded encouragingly.

"Well… if you're sure"

"I'm sure"

After going through the motions, going slowly to make sure he did everything just as Mr Murdock had demonstrated before. Peter pushed the last button and the printer began ticking, making a sound that seemed impossible from such a small machine.

"Is it supposed to be this loud?" Peter shouted over the noise

"Yeah!" Mr Murdock called out "Let me just…" He set the noise-cancelling box over the printer and let out a huff of relief when the printer was mostly silenced.

Peter just stared wide-eyed at Mr Murdock who just laughed at Peter's shock "it's a pretty intense machine, you'll get used to it. But hey! Good job, took me a long time to figure that monster out."

Peter smiled at him and felt, for the first time in months like somebody saw him. A weird thing to feel concerning a blind person, but still. He already knew Mr Murdock was special.

The rest of the day Peter was thrown into all kinds of legal documents, Mr Murdock kept saying that he wanted to see what he thought of what it said. And actually listened to what he had to say about things. He even took something Peter had said and put it in one of his speeches that he was going to say in court.

After an hour or so a man walked into the office and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Peter, sitting at the desk, surrounded by legal documents.

"Uh," the man said, shocked "hi?"

Peter looked back at him, just as shocked "Hi"

Just as the man was starting his next question "wha-" Mr Murdock came rushing in.

"Foggy!" he walked over clapped the man on his back and gestured to Peter "this is Peter, Peter, this," he gestured to the man "is Foggy. He also works here"

"Uh hi sir, it's, uh, it's nice to meet you," Peter said while sticking out his hand for a handshake "I'm Peter, but you knew that, uhm, hi?"

Mr Foggy returned the handshake, although he still looked pretty uneasy at the unexplained kid in his office "Hi Peter, nice to meet you too" smiling reassuringly at him but all the while shooting a quizzical look in Mr Murdock's direction, who was just standing off to the side. Seemingly enjoying the awkward exchange.

"Okay." Mr Murdock said, putting an end to the silence "So, Foggy, remember when you said we needed a new secretary?"

"Well… yeah"

"Yes so" he pointed both hands at Peter as if he was presenting something "It's just his first day and he will see whether he likes it or not… but this kid is a genius"

"Okay, but…

"Yeah, well he's a good kid"

"Sure he is, but... Are we not violating any labour laws?"

"Oh… uh, probably not; Peter you're over 18 right?"

"Yeah, I- I'm 18" Peter croaked.

"Great! See! No labour laws were violated here"

"But, do you have ID to say that you are over 18?"

Peter hesitated as he realized how much shit he would be in "…No" fuck. These people are lawyers, he should get out before they would throw him in jail or something.

Mr Foggy shot Mr Murdock which looked a lot like 'I told you so'.

"But I swear, I'm 18… I just lost my ID" Peter hastily added, still trying to save his hide. Very confident that he wouldn't like it in prison.

"Mhm okay," Mr Foggy said sceptically "Matt?"

"He's telling the truth"

"Okay…" Mr Foggy said, seeming to completely trust Mr Murdock's judgement "well… sorry for the interrogation."

Wow, okay, so it was that easy? Is it maybe too easy? Should he not be in jail right now? "Uh, no problem?"

"Just, had to make sure you know?" Mr Foggy had done an entire 180 from his previously guarded and concerned appearance and now seemed completely friendly.

"Yeah, uh, sure"

"So, how did you end up here?"

"Uh, Mr Murdock kind of found me?"

"Oh," Foggy's face fell at the implication "are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! I'm fine!"

"Okay… well… good. A secretary, nice! We need one of those."

Peter got to work on fixing the old printer that afternoon, after also getting a heap of documents for Mr Foggy. Mr Murdock had tossed yet another sandwich at his head at lunchtime, loudly calling 'LUNCH' as he did so. The printer proved not as easy as Peter had first hoped but eventually, he figured that he wouldn't be able to make it worse; so he just did what felt right: taking the whole thing apart and building it up again. Careful to clean every part, hoping it would do something when he would push the 'on' button this time

Mr Murdock was present at the big moment when Peter had finished re-assembling the entire thing and witnessed the previously dead printer come to life. When he did, he clapped Peter on the back and congratulated him on his victory against the machines. Not unlike uncle Ben used to do so many years ago. Peter tensed up as he realized.

"… are you okay?" Mr Murdock said, alarmed "did I hurt you?"

"Huh?" Peter asked looking up at Mr Murdock, confused by the worry in his voice.

"Are you okay?" Mr Murdock asked again

"Oh" Peter realized he must've noticed the flinch "uh yeah, I'm fine"

"You sure? Was it something I said?"

"No, no, it's fine"

"Okay… well…" Mr Murdock paused for a second and reached under his sleeve, presumably to check his watch "it's time to go anyways, got any preferences for dinner?"

"What?"

"So I was thinking enchiladas" with the hesitation he sensed from Peter he continued "but if you don't like that we can get something else"

"No-no," Peter reassured him "that sounds amazing, it's just that I thought I should get going now…"

"Oh.." Mr Murdock's face fell "well... you can still stay for dinner if you want?"

Maybe being Daredevil didn't come with many friends, just as Spider-Man hadn't. Maybe Mr Murdock also felt that pang of loneliness that Peter had grown accustomed to these last months. But it would be cruel to pretend to be just some kid any longer. Peter decided to tell him at dinner "Okay"

"Great!" Mr Murdock's face lit up in genuine pleasure "Let's go to the store on the way home, you'll have to help me get the right stuff." he gestured to Peter as he grabbed his bag and made his way out of the office, calling goodbye to Mr Foggy and Ms Karen "Normally I use a scanner on my phone and it'll tell me what I'm holding, but with you there it will be much easier!"

Peter was happy to help

That night while cooking Matt noticed Peter was hyping himself up to tell him something. But by the time they were eating and Peter was still inhaling in preparation and then not saying anything Matt was done with waiting and maybe a little curious to find out what the kid had to say.

"It's okay kid, you can tell me"

"Wha-what," he said, startled

"You want to tell me something." Mr Murdock stated "I'm telling you it's okay and I'll help you… whatever it is"

"Oh," Peter said, "well uhm… you don't have to, you know help me, there is nothing really to help with. The thing is… well… wow this is hard, I've never really had to tell someone before, they always just found out… well anyways.. the thing is… well… I'm Spider-Man

You're Spider-Man." He deadpanned

…yes?

"Well…" he let out a breath and here I was thinking it was going to be something bad. That's great!

"What do you mean great? The way I see it, it only complicates things"

"No… I've always wanted to meet Spider-Man " Mr Murdock said happily

At that Peters, face fell and Mr Murdock must've noticed as well because he asked "Yesterday wasn't the first time we met, was it?"

"No… we met this fall"

"What happened? Because I'm pretty sure I don't remember"

"Yeah, well, there was this wizard…" again he felt himself uneasy, being unable to really explain something he never had to tell to anyone before. "Uhm well, first everybody found out my identity after the whole Mysterio thing.. and you helped me off my murder charges." He paused "Thanks for that by the way"

"Uh, no problem I guess..."

"So after that, I was hoping things would go back to normal but they didn't. The last straw was that my friends didn't get into college because they knew me…" Peter tried to keep the emotion out of his voice while talking, not sure if he was doing at least a halfway-decent job. But Mr Murdock didn't say anything so he went on. "I went to this wizard and he helped me make people forget that they ever found out who spiderman was. But I messed up the spell and these people from different universes came and… well… in the end" he said, glossing over the bad stuff "to save everybody, the wizard had to make a different spell. This time he had to erase every memory of me… so…"

"So I don't know you because?..." Matt said, struggling to grasp the crazy story.

Peter nodded "Because a wizard erased everybody's memories of me"

"Wow… that's just… wow"

"Yeah, I know it sounds insane. But I swear it's the truth."

"I believe you. I do have a lot of questions though…" Matt sighed "But they can wait."

Peter made a sound of surprise at that.

"I think we need to figure out what you are going to do right now first."

"Oh"

"Yeah… you said you had to leave but… Well, I think it speaks for itself but… for complete clarity: I would like you to stay with me" He gestured around the room "You could work at the office and maybe work on something for yourself on the side? What do you think?

"Stay with you?"

"Yes."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"It's just… everybody gets hurt around me… I can't risk it… I'm sorry but I just can't do it… I will figure it out myself."

"Sure you will… But I would like to help you."

"But I do not need your help!" he shouted with indignation, a little louder than he had anticipated.

"I think you do," Matt replied calmly, "but okay, wouldn't it be nice to at least have a roof over your head?"

"Yes…" Peter contemplated "but then you will die"

"Kid, you seem to forget that I'm Daredevil. I can take very good care of myself, now let me take care of you"

"I can take care of myself! I'm Spider-Man!" Peter cried out

"I know…" Matt replied softly "and you have been taking care of yourself. I'm just offering help and I would like very much for you to accept said help. I know you said you didn't want to be helped, or don't need to be helped, whatever. I know that you yourself believe that, that you would be better off doing it yourself. But I also know that deep down, you do want to be helped. That you want nothing more than just someone, anyone to be there for you. I'm offering okay? I'm here. You've got a place to stay, a place to sleep and you won't starve. We'll figure the rest out later. It will just be like a stepping stool. Something to help you get onto your feet."

Matt had been holding that monologue in for a while he realised, and Peter didn't make any noises of complaint in hearing that he wasn't about to just give up on him. It seemed like Peter was going to give up resisting. Like he would accept some of the help Matt wanted to give him without struggling against everything.

"Now, the only thing you have to ask yourself is: 'how am I going to take this, together with everything I already have; my talents and my brain, and make something out of it.'"

"So you want me to stay with you?"

"Yes, I'd very much like that, if that's okay with you?"

"I think so…"

Matt smiled brightly, impossibly happy that it had worked. Happy that Peter would finally let him help and maybe also a bit happy that the apartment would be as empty as it was before.