Damned If I Do *Matt Murdock* (book one of Damned)

Daily dose of cuteness (Matt)

When Matt entered the office building, the corners of his lips were still twitching. The encounter with the girl (Mechy? What kind of name was that? A nickname perhaps?) was amusing if nothing else. She was new in the café, most likely new in Hell's Kitchen too – he didn't recall hearing her voice before. Her nervousness was endearing (once he found out her heart rate wasn't elevated because of her attraction to him, since there were no other signs of it, but simply because of his complicated order and – let's be honest – his blindness most likely).

And of course, there was the purest confusion about Foggy's name and her rambling when she realized that whatever she had said might have offended him. Her heart didn't skip a beat when she whispered to herself about not flirting with him – which was why it surprised him when she picked up one of the cups and wrote something on it – he was pretty sure it was Foggy's cup. Was it her phone number and her name? Why would she do that if she hadn't met him? Was she interested in the story behind the unusual name/nickname? Or did she think he himself was Foggy? If she did, why did she bother to write something since he obviously couldn't read it himself? Matt was absolutely baffled.

He paused in front of the door to their office. Karen was already in, siting at her desk, heartbeat and breathing steady as she was writing some notes. Her hair made soft noise against her shoulder as she tucked it behind her ears. Foggy was in his office, head on his own desk judging by the muffled sound of his breathing, and was closer to being asleep than awake.

Matt entered the office and Karen's head snapped up immediately. He leaned his cane against the chair at the door.

"Morning, Karen."

"Hey, Matt." She probably smiled at him. "Ooooh, is that coffee?" she asked despite the obvious answer and stood up to get her cup.

"Did she say coffee?" Foggy mumbled into his desk and made his way to them too.

"Yes," Matt answered loud enough for both of them to hear.

"Creep," Foggy muttered under his breath. His tone wasn't malicious, more like annoyed. Yes, he definitely needed that coffee.

He scared Matt when he stopped dead in his tracks and his heartrate picked up.

"What the hell happened to your face?!" he cried out and Matt froze, all alarm bells in his head set off. Was he bleeding? No, he didn't smell or feel blood, especially not on his face. As the matter of fact, he didn't recall getting punched in his face during his night activities the whole weekend – he was kind of proud of that. Then what was Foggy talking about?

"Foggy! Now he stopped! Matt, don't listen to him, he's a jerk. Your face is perfectly fine," Karen said as she came closer. There was a hint of anger in her voice aimed at Foggy. Matt relaxed and allowed himself to smile.

"See? It's back. What happened, buddy? ... Oh god. You got laid, didn't you?" he accused him and everything clicked into place. Foggy was talking about Matt smiling. The weird thing on his face was his smile.

Karen gasped. "Foggy!" she cried out, outraged.

"Thank you, Karen. You know, Foggy, I don't always have to get laid to smile."

"...but you did."

"I did not!" He sighed. The only way out of this was the truth. It was simple. "There was a nice new girl at the counter in MDDC. That's all."

Foggy's heart jumped. Ah-oh. He got new ammo. This was totally Matt's fault. "Of course. And she was hot, you got all charming and scored her number, didn't you, Matty-boy?"

Karen crossed arms on her chest and Matt could feel her curious gaze burning through him. "Did you?"

If Matt wasn't holding their coffees he would throw his hands in the air - sadly, he could only do that with his free hand. "Firstly, not everything in my life that involves smiling, is necessarily connected to a beautiful woman." He ignored the snort from Foggy. "Secondly, I wouldn't even know if she was beautiful." Another doubtful sound he passed over. "And thirdly, she was just being nice, got confused about your name and then ashamed because of it. I am actually pretty sure it was your cup, Foggy, she wrote some extra words on."

Foggy's squeak was possibly the most satisfying sound for Matt's ears at the moment.

"Gimme." Foggy wildly gestured towards the cups, crossed the room in a hurried pace and took one. While he examined it in silence, Karen reached for hers.

Silence prolonged. Except Foggy's heartbeat fluttered – a sound only Matt could hear.

Then there was a giggle. Honest to god, Foggy giggled. It caught both, Matt and Karen, off guard. They shot him a surprised look.

"What does it say?" Karen asked first and leaned closer to him.

He showed her (she awwwwed), but he read it out loud for Matt's sake.

"Say yay on Foggy day – sun is overrated anyway." He giggled again. "This is treasure. I'm keeping it forever." With those words, he walked back in his office and closed the door behind him. Matt wasn't sure, but he suspected Foggy snuggled up to the cup.

His grin widened.

-----Notes:

Let's call it intermezzo? I thought you might find the change in POV refreshing. I certainly did while writing it. I wanted to catch Foggy's reaction. Enjoy! Vera's POV will be back in next chapter.