Strong-Willed (Matt Murdock x Reader)

Rumors

Today starts off as any other day.

I wake up, play around on my phone for about half an hour, get dressed, and then head to work. On my way, I stop at the bakery to grab breakfast, and then catch the bus.

I enjoy my job. Loros Bookstore is quiet, calm, and smells like new books. Who could ask for anything nicer? It is smaller and less busy than Bern & Nobelle, but we receive enough customers to keep business going.

"Five minutes early today," I hear my coworker call out, "That's ten minutes earlier than yesterday."

"Don't you have something better to be doing then standing and waiting for me like a dog?" My tease is enough to win this battle, but the war is far from over. Lucas always comes up with something that I can't beat.

Lucas laughs, lifting a stack of books and relocating them to another display, replacing the previous display with numerous copies of the auto-biography of a poet who was recently murdered. People love involving themselves in drama and tragedies, as it distracts themselves from their own mundane lives, so these books should sell decently.

Clocking in, I begin my shift by going into the back storage room. Hundreds of disorganized books line the shelves. It'll take a few days to organize all of this, but that's only if we don't receive another shipment of books before these are all organized.

I only manage to get a few books sorted before I notice that Lucas has come in, barely standing a foot into the room. Waiting for him to say what he wants to say, I go back to organizing.

"I heard something good," Lucas steps in further, taking one of the wooden chairs that was stacked up against the wall and sits on it, the back of the chair between his legs. "I don't think you can guess it this time."

"I can try," I continue what I'm doing as I speak. "The body of a powerful man washed up on shore and somebody is trying to cover it up?"

"Not quite," I hear the chair make a creaking noise as he leans forward, desperately wanting to blurt something out. "I heard that there's a masked man, strong enough to take out four men, all on his own!"

It's hard not to laugh at the way Lucas gets excited over these things. "There are other people that can do that as well," I challenge, "What makes this one different?"

"He took out four armed men," Lucas' expression straightens, "without a weapon of his own."

Still not taking this too seriously, I decide to entertain his idea, "Do you think he's a new superhero?" "He might be," Lucas looks hopeful. He can't help but want this man to be fighting for good instead of wanting to destroy or take over New York, as the residents of New York have become too familiar with. "From what I could overhear, the men he beat up were human traffickers," My body shudders at the last part of his sentence. With every fiber of my being, I despise people who willingly contribute to crimes like human trafficking. Then again, most people would feel the same way. "I'm glad he stopped them." Lucas nods in agreement.

I consider the possibilities of this vigilante's abilities, "Maybe this guy has super-strength or something along those lines." Lucas shrugs, probably deciding it's not worth it to think about this fabled-man's powers. "Best to wait it out until the news tells us what we want to know," He concludes. "I like it better when you tell me," I groan. Lucas, however, seems to take this the wrong way. "You like it when I talk to you?" He stands up and comes to my side, leaning against my right arm.

"No, go away," I push him away from me as he breaks out into a howling laughter. Trying to ignore the loudness coming from my co-worker, I focus on the books further away from where he is standing.

I shouldn't have even bothered. Lucas rejoins me, taking the book I was reaching for and holds it above his head. Grabbing a different book, I give him a side-eye glance, "I'm not playing this game with you."

Lucas pouts, letting the book hit the top of my head as he brings it back down. "Ow! Hey!" I elbow him in his bicep, earning a quieter complaint from him.

"Don't you have work to do?" He shrugs in response to my question. "Yeah, I should probably get back to it," He stacks his chair back up and steps out, adding a final remark, "Try not to miss me too much!"

"Get back to work," I hardly keep my act up long enough before I feel a smile tug at my lips.

Would I ever date Lucas? No. He's like an older brother to me. He's also told me that he sees me as the younger sister he never had, so the feeling is mutual.

I met him when I started working here nearly a year ago. There aren't many employees, so he and I get scheduled a lot of hours together. We became friends pretty quickly and now we're really comfortable around each other.

After some amount of hours, about half of the books are organized alphabetically by author. I check the clock and notice my shift ended a little over an hour ago.

Letting out a faint curse, I exit the room. Through the front windows, I can see that it is now dark out.

"Late night," Lucas yawns, rising from one of the softer chairs in the store. "I didn't realize how late it was," I rub my eye, annoyed at how long I've been here.

"I waited for you so I could walk you back to your place," Lucas smiles, "It gets more dangerous the later at night it is."

I clock out, leaving the building with him. Thankfully, Ethan - the manager - is here to close the store today. I really don't feel like closing.

Lucas and I talk and joke around as he walks me home. He doesn't usually walk with me, but he insisted that he wanted to today because of the masked vigilante. When there is someone out fighting crime, criminals tend to get more aggressive to retaliate against that person. Innocent people can get caught up in that. We both learned our lesson from the Avengers incident; his previous apartment was destroyed by those Leviathans. He moved from New York City to Hell's Kitchen after that. I wasn't living in New York at the time, so I was saved from the property damage.

We arrive at my doorstep and Lucas wishes me a good night, heading off to who knows where. I hope he doesn't get himself involved with any of the things he's been warning me about.

I enter my apartment and set my bag down. It's not the greatest apartment by any means. It's small and smells like burnt wood. It would be a neat little place to live if not for my view of the alleyway between this building and the next.

When I watch the alley through my window, I can sometimes see people exchanging shady packages. I've even witnessed a fight. Maybe not the safest place to be, but it keeps me entertained.

As long as I don't get involved in anything, it will all be fine.