Bound by Law (Matt Murdock x Reader)

6. Strange Thoughts

After leaving Nelson and Murdock, you returned home, briefcase full of papers, laptop under your arm and a bag of groceries hanging on your forearm, you struggled to press the code on the front door, until a pleasant voice of a dark haired woman reached your ears,
"Please, let me."

You step away from the lock and let the woman press the numbers of the house, noticing how luxurious she looked. Quick overview, and you know - you've never seen her in the building. "Oh, thank you, I didn't want to drop anything." You laugh, still trying to figure out who she was. "I don't think I've ever seen you in the building."

"Oh, it's because I recently moved in. Temporarily. I'm Vanessa." She smiles, stretching out her perfectly manicured hand with quite a number of rings. Then she notices that your hands are indeed full, and awkwardly lowers the hand, "Sorry."

"No, it's alright." You laugh, "I'm y/n."

Now it's her turn to observe you - white blouse, black jacket and pencil skirt - "I've seen you somewhere, right?" Vanessa asks, squinting a little.

"Uh, I'm not sure-"

"Oh, the billboard in the other side of the city," she nods quickly yet elegantly, "you're one of the lawyers, right?"

You sigh, plastering a fake smile on your face, "yes, yes, I'm one of them." You glance at the open door and Vanessa gets the clue, quickly opening them wide for you.

"How exciting, I've always wanted to be a lawyer, but life made me choose differently." She follows you into the lobby, and you both take the first step on the stairs together.

"Really? What do you work now?" You ask, somehow interested in that random woman's life, but it was not your fault that she's feeling super chatty today.

"I'm an art dealer." She says proudly, and you get the feeling that she's feeling superior towards you. Of course, talking stuff about the paintings is not as exhausting as having to read a person's life file and decide whether they are right or wrong under one day. You roll your eyes to yourself.

"Interesting!" You say a little too excited, and hope that she didn't catch you pretending. "I never found time to enjoy many things in life, including art, but I've always felt some sort of pulling from it." This time you didn't lie - many things in your life became a part of your 'black list', especially after the big accident and your departure to law school.

"Then, may I suggest you to come to the exhibition sometime? If I remember correctly, there's a big one happening this weekend. What do you say?" She smiles, and you notice the teeth of a perfect shade of white. Do art dealers really get paid so much?

"Oh, I... Would love to, actually. I'll try to clear my schedule." You laugh awkwardly, caught off guard by the suggestion when you were actually trying to get rid of her.

"You can bring someone, the more, the better." She says, already pulled the keys out of her white purse, so second floor it is.

"Yeah, definitely, of course. Uh, thank you, Vanessa, for the offer. And it was really nice to meet you." You say, quickly collecting your thoughts that have already wandered to the other side of the city.

"Great, the pleasure's all mine, y/n, I'll see you then." She waves once and disappears in the darkness of the hallway.

You, alone again, with the burden, getting heavier with each step, sigh loudly, loud enough for anyone on your floor to hear.

***

Matt and Foggy separate at the door of Josie's bar. Drinking a couple of old-fashioned never hurt either of them, no matter the day of the week. Matt planned to go to church, for another confession, the one people wouldn't even dare to call a confession. It was more likely a heart-to-heart chat with Father Lantom, who never failed to clear Matt's head. But Foggy was persistent on having a couple of drinks, sort of celebration for the new case they got. Tomorrow, they will meet Walter, although, from your reaction, it was clear that you don't want to face him again in the court. Why? You were full of mysteries, a real treasure for poets who write about brooding and broken women. 

From all that Matt has managed to gather, there was a defence mechanism in you - a sign that something has happened in the past, and now you find it hard to open yourself to others. He smiles to himself, his cane gently hits a street sign, he has met you like five times, and each time you manage to leave an impression on him. He could tell a lot about you now - you, just like him, cared for justice, and weren't the type to be easily bribed, unlike those other losers at Hogarth, Chao and Benowitz. That's what Matt appreciates most, although he hated to admit it to himself, he felt that powerful pull from you, the femininity that you radiated all over the place was getting into his head, he knew that every man in the courtroom was watching you, imagining you in various scenarios, favourable to them only. And every time, he felt the need to stand before you and shield you from everyone's eyes, or take a punch to his face. Why did this bother him so much all of a sudden? Maybe it was the alcohol talking to him, destroying his brain cells and critical thinking, making him one of them from the crowd. 

He shakes his head, gently pushing the doors of his flat and breathing in the smell of the apartment. Home. But home began lacking something - someone. A noise outside made him turn his head to the side - apparently thugs never sleep.

*** 

Spinning the almost empty glass of wine in your hand, you flip another page of Sally's divorce papers, but feel like you can't do anything today. That mysterious Vanessa has been in your head the whole evening, more specifically, her invitation to the exhibition. You laugh to yourself. Getting worked up over such a silly thing was definitely your character trait. You could go alone, it was not a big deal, just some stupid paintings and stupid rich people looking at them, pretending to be the experts of visuals and the storylines behind the paintings. And most of these rich people know you - that's the problem. You could call Pug, but he's too busy anyway. No other options were suitable, unless you could talk to Benowitz... But going in public with your boss would be too weird. 

Matt was the first person to cross your mind, but you immediately crossed him out - your gut has been telling you to stop whatever you were doing with him and get a better option... Option for what, though? You sip on your wine again. Why all of a sudden Murdock was all over the place in your tidy, clean life? It was stupid and childish, no matter how saint he might be, those cases against him almost cost you your career, and no one in their right mind would easily forgive that. 

Now you had a personal task - crush Murdock in court with Sally's case. Sally must divorce that freak Walter, and get good money for that too. 

What can you say, the feminism in you was still brightly burning. As well as the feeling of loneliness.