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thesinfulrook · 2 years

Text

HEARTBEAT.

summary : it almost never happens that the devil of hell’s kitchen has a quiet night, even so he still patrols the city again. although even with the ambient noise of the city, one heart in a sea of others stands out to him. caving into to his curiosity for another night, the devil visits you sitting on the roof of your apartment building in front of a neon bill board sign.

pairing : matt murdock / gender neutral reader (some slightly gendered compliments.)

warnings : slightly she-hulk episode 8 inspired, mainly fluff & confessions, established friendship, reader doesn’t know matt is dardevil but foggy and karen do, reader has crush on matt

wordcount : 1895

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it isn’t too chilly to night, at least that’s what you thought before you decided to climb up to the roof; where in the night you could see the neon lights from the billboard cascade onto the apartment building across from yours. sometimes you wondered how the people across could deal with the light, but at the same time you didn’t mind the way the colors danced upon your skin. you typically came up to the roof top after a long day at the office.

it was nice to observe the city as day turned to night, people retiring from their nine to five whilst others were just rising to start their long and slow night. your thoughts were absorbed in work, and attempting to wind down from another day working for nelson & murdock. your previous bosses barely treated you like an employee, nelson & murdock seemed to value the quality of friendship and family. you recalled the many times you, karen, foggy and matt would go to josie’s after a long shit for a couple rounds of beer and pool.

a smile tugged to your lips at the thought. content with your job and your life now; even with being paid in assorted fruits instead of money. but there was still something tugging at your heart constantly. matt murdock, your boss, and one of your best friends. you had become known foggy, karen, and matt even before you started working for them. you’d gotten even closer since you started. but there was something in the way you and matt interacted that left you hiding smiles by biting the inside of your cheek and your face feeling hot at the thought of his smile..

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the night has been passing by slowly, almost too slowly. a idea that had his muscles tensing and his senses heightened to catch even the lightest hint of something, anything. his hands would open and close into fists, fidgeting and pacing. on nights like these he couldn’t help but worry slightly; trying to listen in to the unique rhythm of a heart beat that he thought— no, knew— he could pick out from any area of hell’s kitchen. yours.

he knew about your nightly adventures to the roof. he lived in the building across from you after all. at first he had simply found out on accident. a night where he couldn’t sleep, tangled in a mess of silk sheets, forced to listen to the loud city nightlife. instead, picking up on a unique rhythm that seemed to draw him in. he knew it was you, all the time spent together in college your heartbeat was something he couldn’t forget and it was your heartbeat that lulled him to sleep that night. he would say it was simply “coincidence” the next day you bumped into each other at the coffee shop, where he asked you about how things were and where you were working. the next thing he knew, you were apart of nelson and murdock and he couldn’t have been happier.

foggy and karen noticed the way he acted around you. how he started becoming happier around the office when you were around. and how you acted the same way around him. you were oblivious to his feelings towards you. and matt could not help but keep you at an arm’s length. he never meant for foggy and karen to get caught up with the devil of hell’s kitchen, he intended to keep you out of it.

although, it didn’t seem to last very long. after that sleepless night he couldn’t stop listening for the beat of your heart. even on his nightly patrols. he had convinced himself that he was just checking in on you, as you were his coworker and friend. nothing more. at least, that is what he said to himself. which left him a few roof tops away from your hypnotically musical beating heart, trying to decide between circling the block for the seventh time or finally giving in to see exactly what had you on the roof for the last three hours on that chilly night.

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your head perked up the second he landed on the roof. almost as if, similar to how he was listening for your heart beat, you were listening for him to. a part of it was true, at first the nights on the roof were an escape from everyone. but the devil of hell’s kitchen had become an exception the night he joined you on the roof for the first time. a complete stranger, a vigilante, and maybe even the devil himself sat next to you until three in the morning that night. you didn’t know why, but you trusted him, telling him everything about your life while he spoke vaguely about his. but you connected in a way neither of you could describe. the devil of hell’s kitchen became one of your favorite people to talk to. you were starting to think you told the vigilante more than you told karen, foggy and matt.

you had been wondering if he was going to show. it had been a while since the devil has visited you. but, he had a city to protect. a small smile spread across your face, your arms wrapped around yourself for a bit of protection from the chilly night.

“i was wondering if you were ever going to show.” you couldn’t help but pay attention to the way he crossed the roof top to sit beside you. the dim reflection of light from the neon bill board soaking you both in slowly fading colors.

“the city is quiet tonight.” he offers it as the only explanation for his wear-a-bouts. he didn’t intend to get you involved with daredevil’s business. even if he was breaking his own rules by speaking to you in the costume. you were special. he knew you were simply two strangers when he was the protector of hell’s kitchen, simply someone to talk to and confide in. but a part of him desperately wanted you to notice him. notice how he was trying to flirt with you as matt, and how daredevil was his only was to get closer to you without completely embarrassing himself around you.

“i’m glad you’re here.” i missed talking to you. you say in your head. your thoughts racing. he feels you lean into him slightly, he almost can’t contain the smile on his face as he feels you relax against him. he knows it’s been a long day.

“what are you thinking about?” he ask.

it takes a moment before you answer. you aren’t exactly sure what to tell him. you know enough about him, to know he knows when you’re lying, so it’s better not to. but you don’t want to dump everything about your life to the strange vigilante man you’ve started to make friends with on the roof of your apartment building.

he can hear the way your heart begins to race slightly. his brows furrow, as he’s trying to decipher just what might have your heart racing before you can utter a word.

you take a sharp inhale.

“i think i like someone.” it comes out quick.

he can fell his heart sink to his stomach. his lips coming into a fine line. a small part of him upset at the idea you could be interested in someone else. he’s angry, then jealous, even sad, thinking of the person so lucky for you to be pinning over. slightly cursing himself off for not trying to ask you out sooner. he then pulled a smile, the best he could muster.

“you should do a criminal background check on him, he could be a criminal.” he joked.

“he’s not a criminal!” you laugh, “at least i don’t think so. he’s a lawyer.”

had you met someone through one of the cases the nelson & murdock firm? dating a former client? oh god- did you like foggy? no-- the thoughts rushed to his head so fast he didn’t realize the way he tensed.

“don’t lawyer’s not have souls?” something you had jokingly said to him at one point at the office.

“ha! you know, i used to think that. but, i’m pretty sure he’s special, a lawyer with a soul. he cares a lot about his job-”

“what does he look like?” jealousy and a bit of curiosity had gotten the better of him, wanting to know the person who beat him to the punch. something he would silently be envious of.

“well.. he’s around five ten. he has this dark brown hair and he’s growing a stubble right now, sometimes i wonder what he would look like with a beard. oh and he wears these red glasses with golden frames, he almost never takes them off but he has these dark brown eyes i cant stop thinking about. he walks in the office every day and i can hear him come down the hall with his cane, and my heart races” your heart racing as you ran out of breathe, your entire face heating up as you realized just how odd your situation was. telling the devil of hell’s kitchen about your silly little crush. “i’m sorry i didn’t mean to rambl-”

“you really like him?” he spits it out quickly. your heart beat becomes muffled over his own rapidly beating heart. his throat felt dry. the realization hitting him, that he had gotten himself too attached to the idea of you liking him. but he couldn’t take back his words, a part of him didn’t want to take them back, genuinely curious.

matt and you were just friends. but he was craving more than playful flirting and friendly joking. his previous relationships had been temporary, but you were the constant steady thing unlike anything else he needed in his life. a balance. you weren’t like anyone else he had met. you didn’t walk on eggshells around him. you fit perfectly in with foggy and karen. you were compassionate about your work on cases for clients at the firm. you made him feel comfortable to smile, laugh. that there was a type of normalcy in his life.

your voice brought him back to reality.

“yes. i do.”

“i think he’d be lucky to ask someone like you out.”

you laughed.

“thank you. but he’s kinda my best friend.. and my boss.” he hears you shift as you move to stand, your arms wrapped around your torso. what time was it?

“maybe he’s already in love with you.” there’s something about the way that he says it that makes you pause. you smile slightly and shrug.

“sounds like a fairy tail. thank you, for another night protecting the city i mean.” you joke, “it’s nice talking to you.”

“goodnight, <insert name.>”

you’re walking towards the door back into your apartment building, looking back to see the devil of hell’s kitchen dip off the edge of the roof as you close the door behind you.

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the next morning matt woke up to the automated voice coming from his alarm clock. a part of him was worried it was all going to go wrong some how, but the aching hole in his heart was tugging and tugging. he got ready rather quickly, showing up to the office earlier than he usually did. making it a point to use the slightly damaged coffee machine to make two fresh cups as you entered the firm.

you seemed surprised he was there so early, your heart beat racing as you recalled the conversation you had about him with the vigilante last night. he couldn’t help but walk straight up to you, holding out a cup coffee to you. you gratefully took the cup.

“i was wondering if we could get dinner?”

“like a date?” your heart beat is fast.

“like a date.”

“i’d love too.”

the devil was right. he was in love with you from the start.

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#matt murdock x reader #matt murdock #marvel #mcu #matt murdock x gender neutral reader #matt murdock marvel #mcu matt murdock #dare devil #x reader #x gender neutral reader

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