The city-wide debate team finals were held in April to decide who would represent the New York City area in the state competition. The best and brightest of New York City's juniors and seniors were put head to head round after round over the course of a cutthroat weekend to determine who really was the ace of them all.

Lunch was a welcome break after five grueling rounds of morning debates. A ninety minute break before another five rounds in the afternoon. Most of the teams ate together and away from their competition. Only a few sat alone.

Franklin Nelson came out of his last debate feeling gutted but elated and he had to find the guy that just handed his ass to him. He scanned the groups to try to find him. It shouldn't be that hard to find a guy wearing a dark red suit jacket and black sunglasses. Apparently Foggy misjudged the ease of the task once everyone was outside. He soon found the group with the matching dark red jackets as his opponent but not the guy. Foggy scanned a bit more and soon found him, sitting by himself on a small set of steps.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" Foggy asked cheerfully as he approached his opponent.

Matt looked up in the direction of the friendly voice and moved over on the step to make room. "Didn't we just debate each other?"

"And I wanted to personally tell you that I have never had so much fun at one of these things before today. Even if you did hand my ass to me. Foggy Nelson," he said as he offered his hand to Matt.

"Matt Murdock," Matt replied as he held out his hand to hopefully meet with Foggy's. "Didn't they introduce you as Franklin Nelson?"

Foggy adjusted where he was to shake Matt's hand when he noticed that his gaze was a bit off from his eyes. "Yeah, but I hate that name. Matt Murdock? Are you the Matt Murdock that saved the old dude from a truck eight years ago?"

Matt nodded. "Pushed the old guy out of the way and then the lights went out," Matt said as he pointed to his glasses. "Kinda shitty like when they say no good deed goes unpunished."

"You're a goddamned hero. Everyone in the Kitchen said so," Foggy protested.

Matt smiled and thanked him. "It seems like it was a whole other world when that happened," he replied before changing the subject. "That was not an ass kicking what we went through. That was a fifteen round title fight that went to the cards at the end. You sure as hell didn't make it easy on me. I had to think of some pretty damn creative defenses for my points. Don't sell yourself short. I will agree that it was a shitload of fun."

"I'd love to team up with you to take on some of these assholes. We'd decimate them."

"We'd have to make it to the doubles round first," Matt pointed out. "Don't you have someone on your team that you usually pair with?"

"Sorta...but he's kind of a dick and he really doesn't like me very much. Murdock and Nelson is better."

"Nelson and Murdock. It sounds better that way," Matt said as he smiled. "I can't see shit but my hearing is fantastic."

Foggy nodded as he repeated it. "You're right. It does sound better. What are your plans for after graduation? What college did you pick?"

"I'm going to Columbia - pre-law. What about you?" Matt asked.

"No shit! Me too. Maybe we could dorm together?" Foggy exclaimed.

"You'd want to room with someone you just met?" Matt asked.

"We may have just met but we already have a few things in common. I'd rather take my chances with someone I know even a little than some random asshole," Foggy explained as he reached into his lunch bag. "Apple?"

Matt took the offered apple and thanked Foggy and offered him one of the cookies he had in exchange. "I like your logic but who says we can't hang out before then?"

"I like the way you think, Matt," Foggy stated before he popped a cookie in his mouth. "Damn. These are really good. Like bakery good."

"I'll tell my mom you said so."

"Just don't tell mine. She may actually try to end me for cheating on her baking. My parents are butchers and could make it look like it never happened."

Matt laughed. "That sounds like 'Little Shop of Horrors' Foggy."

"The only thing that's horrific is when my mom gets mad," Foggy laughed. "You got a phone?"

Matt reached into his pocket. "Yeah, why?"

Foggy took Matt's phone and put his contact info in and then texted himself. "Easier to hang out when we can contact each other. Do you know where we need to go for round two?"

"I think we're in the auditorium instead of the gym. I could use some help finding it though. They don't have very many accessible signs here," Matt replied.

Foggy smiled and wrapped an arm around Matt's shoulders. "Buddy, it would be my pleasure."

"I can't believe that we lost to those guys from the Bronx. Their argument was half assed at best and they actually won?!" Foggy exclaimed as he and Matt left the auditorium at the end of a long afternoon.

"We know we were better as well as everyone who heard it. Favoritism sucks and they were the defending champs," Matt sighed. "One day, they'll be paying us to argue for a living and they'll be stuck in some lab someplace. Sounds pretty damn boring to me."

"You and me both, buddy. You got anything going for the rest of the day?" Foggy asked.

"I was just going to hang out at the gym my Dad used to box at. You wanna join me?"

"Hell yeah! There were definitely some loud Battlin' Jack fans in my house on the night he won against Creel."

Matt's face fell when Foggy mentioned THAT fight. "Yeah, his best fight was also his last," Matt said quietly.

Foggy quickly picked up how Matt's voice wobbled as he spoke and the rapid change in the expression on his face. He felt awful. Everyone in the Kitchen knew about the night Jack Murdock died and here was Foggy dragging it back up for his son. "I'm so sorry, Matt. I didn't mean..."

"Foggy, it's okay," Matt interrupted him. "I actually like hearing people talk about him and how they were fans. I'm his biggest one. It doesn't mean that I don't miss him. Just some days it hits harder than others."

Foggy didn't know what to say without putting his foot in his mouth. He wanted to give his new friend a hug to make it better but he didn't know how it would be received. "How are you getting back to the Kitchen?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Trying to figure that out," Matt laughed.

"How'd ya get here this morning?"

"A truly horrific bus ride which I'd like to not repeat if at all possible," Matt stated.

"What happened?"

"There were just way too many strong smells thus morning that really made for an awful combination. Between the coffee and various breakfasts, the body odor of a few people who didn't shower and the smell of one person who probably crawled straight out of a full dumpster and the motions of the bus, it was making me a bit queasy."

"How are you with subways?" Foggy asked.

"It's slightly better, especially if I'm not alone. I've missed my fair share of stops and gotten on the wrong train more than once because no one will help me."

"People are such dicks. I'm excited to see your gym."

Matt was talking about Fogwell's throughout the whole subway ride with Foggy. He told about Fogwell and the history of the gym. Matt had practically an encyclopedic knowledge of the gym's history thanks to all the stories Fogwell and the old guys had told him when he was little. Matt talked about the guys he had grown up around, many who boxed with his dad and were more trainers now, and some of the new ones who were trying to make a name for themselves. Matt had given Foggy more information in twenty minutes than some of the boxers ever learn and the excitement from Foggy was contagious.

As they approached the gym door, Matt could tell the population inside was on the lighter side. It was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. Matt opened the door and got a quick read on the room. Most of the guys he knew were working out in their own spaces. The only one he didn't immediately know was the guy in the ring.

"Hey! You kids can't be here!" the voice called from the ring.

Matt set his backpack down off to the side and turned towards the voice. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"

"I said you kids can't be here. This is a boxing gym, not the library."

Matt quickly took off his tie and jacket as he sensed the tension from Foggy behind him. "Wow! You're either new here or taken a few too many hits to the head lately. Who the hell gave you the right to decide who stays and who goes? Look around here. I don't see your name on this wall."

Now, people were starting to watch the exchange between Matt and the guy in the ring who was only a few years older but no one stepped in yet. They were curious.

"I got trainin' to do and I ain't got no time to be dealing with some kids."

Matt toed off his shoes and had a smirk on his face. "If you want to call yourself a boxer, you sure as shit do. Hell, I'm blind and I can tell from here that your feet move like two cement blocks and you can't punch your way out of a wet paper bag with a hole in it! I moved better than you when I was five. Just ask Fogwell."

A few of the guys made a few comments about the sick burn Matt just threw down.

"What? You think you're better than me, you little shit. Put your money where your mouth is and prove it!"

Matt took off the button down shirt and handed his glasses to Foggy. "With pleasure. Maybe you'll learn some manners in the process."

"When I beat your ass, you and your friend will be out the door."

Matt put up his guard. "Other way around, asshole."

"I'll go easy on ya, being you're new to this and blind."

"What the hell is going on here?!" Fogwell roared as he comes out of his office just as the loudmouth is reeling back to punch.

Matt whipped his head in the direction of Fogwell's voice and missed the punch that came at his head.

"Dugario, get the hell out of my ring and clean up! Matty! Get your ass in here!"

"You owe us an apology," Matt spat down at his opponent as he got down from the ring and went to grab his stuff.

Foggy was stunned by what he just saw. "Holy shit! Where did that come from?" he rattled off quickly as Matt picked up his shirt. "Buddy, are you in trouble?"

"Quite possibly," Matt said quietly, all the rage he had just shown now gone.

"Should I leave?" Foggy asked as he handed Matt his glasses.

Matt shook his head and headed back to Fogwell's office with Foggy behind him.

"Matty, sit down," Fogwell said as he moved the chair. "Damn it. You're bleeding. Your mother is going to be up my ass if I send you upstairs bleeding." Fogwell got a large piece of gauze and stuck it in Matt's hand before moving it to his forehead. "Mind telling me what that was all about?"

Matt pressed the gauze to his head. "I came to show Foggy the gym and maybe workout a bit and that jackass decides to tell us we don't belong here. I took offense to that. I've been here since I was a baby. This was my home when I didn't have one."

"So, you lose your temper and humiliate him? Matty, you know better than that. What have all of us always told you? What would have happened if I had been a minute later?" Fogwell asked as he sat down across from Matt and took his free hand into his and started to feel the bones in his hand.

"Use my head and not my fists but he started it with all the crap he was spewing," Matt said before hissing in pain as Fogwell's rough hands went over his knuckles. "I can tell you nothing's broken. I never threw a punch."

"No, you just shot your mouth off with Dumb Ass Dugario," Fogwell asked as he started to deep clean the cut above Matt's eyebrow. "Matty, you gonna finally introduce me to your friend here?" Fogwell asked as he started to deep clean the cut.

"This is my friend, Foggy Nelson."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Foggy said as he offered his hand.

Fogwell shook his hand quickly and smiled. "Nelson? You Ed Nelson's boy?"

"One of them," Foggy confirmed.

"Send your dad my regards. Best damn meats in the Kitchen," Fogwell commented as he was putting a clean bandage on Matt's head. "How did you two meet up?"

"Matt was my opponent during the first round of the debate team competition today."

"And we teamed up for the second round," Matt added in.

"How'd you boys do?"

"We made it to the finals," Foggy started.

"But finished second to a team from the Bronx," Matt finished.

"Must've been a hell of a match considering the collective brain power I'm looking at in front of me," Fogwell said.

"We just came up short in the cards," Matt sighed.

"Happens to the best of us," Fogwell said before leaning in to give Matt a hug. "You two should head upstairs. Tell your mom about it. I've got a few people to talk to about not stopping that fight before it got to where it did."

Matt brought Foggy up to the third floor, counting the stairs and steps to his apartment door like he always did. Matt listened just before putting his key into the locker and he didn't hear his mom home yet. "You want something to drink?" Matt asked as he opened the door and let Foggy in.

"Sure," Foggy said as he set his backpack down and started to look at the pictures around the living room. There were a few baby photos and a bunch of photos of Matt when he was little with his dad. All the more recent photos were with his mom.

Matt shrugged off his own backpack and dumped it by the table before going to the fridge. "We have apple juice, orange juice, tea, milk." Matt paused and sniffed and quickly recoiled. "Skip the milk. That's like seconds away from expiring."

"OJ's cool," Foggy replied as he watched Matt move effortlessly around his kitchen. "How do you do it?"

"How do I do what?" Matt asked with confusion as he handed Foggy his juice.

"So, this may come out sounding really bad and I'll apologize right off the bat but you're the first blind person I've hung out with. Can you see a little bit? You move around like you can."

Matt shook his head and smiled. "Zero light perception and irreversible," Matt confirmed. "My eyes don't work anymore but my other senses compensate for what I don't have."

"Can you describe it to me? I mean I don't want to be offensive here but I'm interested," Foggy quickly added.

"You're not offending me. You're the first person to really ask. Most people just pity me or treat me like I'm made of glass, like I'm gonna break or can't do anything on my own. I hate that," Matt said as he gestured to the couch. "I don't want to be a burden on people so I try to do as much as I can on my own. Some of it is just memorization. I can easily get around places I know. I knew Fogwell's before I lost my sight and he doesn't change anything. If someone leaves shit out where it isn't supposed to be and I trip over it, there's hell to pay. I know how many stairs I need to go up and how many steps to my apartment.

"When I'm somewhere I don't know, it's a bit more complicated. I have to use a lot of other input to figure things out. It's like putting together a hundred different pieces to get one picture every time I move so I don't hit something or get lost. Remember how I said my hearing is fantastic? After I lost my sight, everything else became better. I can use sound to get a layout of a room. I either use my cane or snap my fingers and I can hear how the sound bounces off things. I can even hear little sounds, like the way fabric moves. I can feel the way the air moves. Even smell helps. Some of our competitors were really nervous. They were sweating bullets and practically having a heart attack."

"That sounds utterly exhausting," Foggy commented.

"It is," Matt confirmed. "Some days, I come home from school and sleep for a few hours before I can even think of doing my homework."

"Does all of that allow you to see?"

"It's not seeing as you do. It's more like a flickering mental picture...like the way fire flickers. But I can't read without Braille or see something on a screen or a sign. I can't see little things like facial expressions. I can only hear them."

Foggy was quiet for a moment, processing what he had just heard.

Matt picked up on a change in Foggy's heartbeat and got nervous. Did he just screw up with what was really the first person who wanted to be his friend? "Did I freak you out?"

Foggy shook his head at first. "Freaked out...no. Not one bit. I'm just processing everything and trying to see things through your eyes."

"It's kinda dark," Matt laughed.

"So, that's how it's gonna be," Foggy laughed. "I'm just thinking about how you do all this on your own and then this afternoon pops up when we took the subway back. Was I helpful?"

"Immensely," Matt immediately answered. "I can relax a bit when I'm with someone I trust. I can walk with them, sometimes I take a hold of their arm, and I know that I'm going to be safe."

"I'm there for ya, buddy."

Matt tilted his head, listening in the hallway before getting off the couch. "My mom's back and it sounds like she has her hands full."

Maggie had made it to the first landing with two arm loads of groceries when she saw Matt and another boy were coming downstairs to meet her.

"Mom, let us take them," Matt said as the took the bags from her left arm.

"Foggy Nelson. Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Murdock," Foggy introduced himself as he took the bags from her right side.

"Mom, please tell me you didn't walk all the way here carrying these," Matt asked as he started back up the stairs.

"No Matty. I took a cab," Maggie replied. "Nice to meet you, Foggy. How did you two meet? Are you in school with Matt?"

"No. I'm in PS 35. He was my opponent during the first round, Mrs. Murdock," Foggy said.

"Then we were teammates for the doubles finals," Matt added in.

"How did you do?" Maggie asked as she let them back into the apartment.

"Lost to a team from the Bronx in the finals," Matt said as he started to put the groceries away.

"We got robbed," Foggy added. "But we had a good battle."

"I would love to hear more about it. You're welcome to stay for dinner," Maggie stated.

"I'd love to Mrs. Murdock, but I can't tonight. I gotta get home," Foggy said politely. "Matt, what you got going on tomorrow?"

"Just church in the morning. I think the rest of the day is pretty open," Matt said.

"Cool. I'll call you after I get off from helping my parents in the shop and we'll hang out."

"Sounds like a plan," Matt said as he extended his hand to Foggy.

Foggy grabbed Matt's hand and pulled him in for a tight hug. "Bring it in, buddy. Tomorrow. Hanging out and dinner. Nice meeting you, Mrs. Murdock!" he called out as he headed out the door.

Maggie closed the door behind Foggy and saw something different in Matt. He was lighter and happier despite the gash on his forehead. Maggie knew that Matt didn't have many friends despite how much he tried but he seemed to find one that day. Where had that boy been all these years? Maggie silently thanked God for the blessing and guardian angel that Foggy Nelson was.