Mysterious Strangers (Daredevil x Reader)

Mysterious Strangers

You knew you shouldn't have been out this late. Not in the Kitchen of all places. It was an obscenely late hour, but your sister had called and your niece was sick with some kind of flu. She didn't want to leave her to walk the few blocks down the road to the 24 hour market for cold meds so she asked you. The joys of living in the same apartment building as family.

The bag crinkles in your hand as your feet shuffle across the pavement. You accidently send a rock skittering across the ground, the sound echoing as it bounces across a grate. This city is never quiet. But the little stretch of alleyway between you and your building is almost always empty this late.

You grip the bag a little tighter and step into the shortcut between the buildings.

"'Ey, whatcha doing out this late at night, honey?" A voice dark and dripping with malice calls out from a few feet behind you. He had clearly waited until you cornered yourself.

You drop the bag and reach for the can of pepper spray you keep in your pocket. The same time your hand curls around the small canister, three more men step into the alley behind the large bulk standing at the end of the alley.

"Look, boss, she's alone. Has some fight in her too." One of the other men chuckles and nods toward the canister in your hand.

The ringleader opens his mouth to say something else, but is suddenly silenced by a fist from a shadow you hadn't even noticed was there. You scramble back a few feet, fear nearly choking you from the inside.

The lean masked man who threw the punch was moving with expert precision, landing a heavy kick to the center of a second man's chest. After the very audible crunch of someone's nose breaking the crowd of assailants scrambled as quickly as they could at a dead sprint away from your savior.

The assailant walks surprisingly softly toward you. He holds his hands up at his sides as if to seem harmless, though you know better. His form is covered head to toe in black with the exception of his lower face.

"Hey. You alright?" His voice was strangely gentle. "You're okay. I promise."

You blink wildly as you slowly slide the pepper spray back into your pocket and reach down to grab the bag that crashed down beside your feet. You don't take your eyes off of him. The strangest thing about this man standing in front of you wasn't the calmness he seemed to bleed out of his pores or the fact that he was completely ignoring his own injuries as if he hadn't taken a few punches to the face himself - the evidence of which was dripping down from the corner or his nose and from the small cut on his jaw.

No, the strangest thing was a mask of thick black fabric covering his entire face with no possible way he could see through it.

"You must be in shock. Come on, I'll walk you home. Make sure you get there okay. Alright, sweetheart?" You nod at his insistent tone and then laugh quietly at yourself when you realized he probably couldn't see it.

"Yeah, okay," you rasp out. "I have a first aid kit, too. And coffee."

While you couldn't see the entirety of the man's face, the smile he flashes you is blinding before he makes a sweeping gesture with his arm and takes the bag out of your hand.

You started down the alley and took a shaky breath. "You're....that guy everyone calls the Devil of Hell's Kitchen aren't you?"

His laugh came out a little nervous. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"You know...you're not as scary as everyone says."

Right before you reach the door to your building he places a hand against your lower back. "Here's your bag back. I hope whoever it's for feels better. I can smell the menthol. Sick husband?"

"Niece," you say, as you accept the bag. "Wait. Smell the menthol?"

"Yeah, don't ask. You stay out of these alleys from now on. It's no good for your health. Got it?" He smiles again before stepping back away from you.

"Oh hold on there, mister. You're still bleeding. Just let me get this care package to my sister and I'm patching you up. No arguments. It's the least I can do."

He starts to mutter something about being fine but a pointed huff from you shuts him up with a chuckle. "Fine, fine. I could probably use that coffee anyway. It's been a long night."

He follows you like a scolded puppy though the door and up the stairs. You unlock the door to your apartment and usher him inside before rushing upstairs to quickly hand off the supplies to your sister. She lifts an eyebrow at your clear and obvious distress, but doesn't ask questions.

"I promise I'm okay. I'll call you tomorrow and explain. Right now I just want to get some sleep," you respond to her worried face.

"Alright, sugar. If you don't call me by noon I'm coming downstairs myself, got it?" She sternly nods at you after you agree to her terms before she closes her door.

You open your door to the smell of coffee already brewing and make a small surprised sound.

"Thought I should go ahead and put a pot on, how was your niece?" He says from the center of your kitchen holding two white coffee cups, black cloth still covering his face almost like a blindfold.

"She was sleeping. Not to sound rude but...how do you see out of that thing?"

"I don't." He laughs abruptly at your question. "Before you follow that up with another question, yes, I'm blind. My other senses are just...very good."

You shake your head at that admission from him. Before grabbing a cloth from a drawer and dampening it in the sink. "I'm going to wipe the blood off your face and see if anything needs tending to. Okay?"

He nods after filling both cups and taking a sip of his.

You reach up with the cool cloth and swipe it down the edge of his cheek and under his nose. He cringes at you and grumbles.

You flinch. "Sorry! I was trying not to hurt you."

"No, no, no. That cloth is really rough. Feels like sandpaper. Like I said, senses are very good." He reaches over and pulls the cloth from your hand, patting the spots on his face much more carefully than you did. "The one on my cheek could use some doctoring, but my nose is fine. Didn't even break it." He stretches and rotates his torso almost cat-like, the barest hit of a smirk at the corner of his mouth. "A little bruising here and there, I don't hear any cracked ribs. They really couldn't hit for nothing."

"Hear any cracked ribs?" You blink at him after composing yourself from watching the languid movements he made while checking over his body.

"Yeah, the bones sound...different if they're broken. You said you had a first aid kit?"

Five minutes later he was digging through the small box you sat on your small two person table. "You really should update this thing, a lot of the stuff in here is expired. I've got a friend who's a nurse. I'll see if she has anything spare and bring it by." He talks to himself as he grabs an alcohol pad and a small adhesive bandage from the messy contents.

He could have just as easily affixed the bandage himself but instead he smiled and handed the things to you. "Would you mind? I mean, you know, blind and all."

You shake your head and let out a sharp laugh before, much gently than earlier, wiping along the cut on his cheek with the alcohol pad. You carefully cover it with the small bandage and pat his cheek affectionately. "There. Good as new."

His smile grows just a tad bit wider as he stands and rolls his shoulders a little. "Yep, good job, doc. I'll get if I can grab you some better supplies for that depressing thing you call a first aid kid. Who knows when I might need tended to again? I'd better get going though. Take your niece to Metro-General, she sounds like she has a sinus infection, not just a cold. That cough sounded rough. I'm sure she'll be fine, though."

You blink at him and nod slowly, once again forgetting that he couldn't see you. "I...uh...sure, I'll tell her in the morning. Thanks."

All you saw was a flash of teeth in a broad smile before he vaulted out your window and onto your fire escape. He was gone by the time you got to the window to look. The only evidence he had even been there was the still hot, half-empty mug of coffee sitting beside the neatly repacked first aid kit on your small kitchen table.