thedevilsworkisneverdone

Tony might not have intended it to mean much, but it did. He probably doesn't realize just how annoying the whole phone thing tends to be for someone who can't functionally use screens the way that most people can. So even if he hadn't meant for it to be important, it is to Matt and definitely deserving of a kiss on the cheek.

He laughs when Stark mentions his newspaper clippings. Matt isn't surprised those came up, of course. He just hadn't considered how much volume there might be. He's been practicing law for a long time and doing high profile cases pretty much since the beginning.

"I take a few cases that make headlines here and there," he says, maybe downplaying it a little bit. "Most of my work doesn't, but certain clients have a way of bringing attention to their lawyers. That happens, too, when it's someone high profile on the other side." Like Wilson Fisk and his firm's work there. "I've heard courtroom sketches are notoriously bad so I'm glad mine are at least OK."

Matt might not be able to see them, but he could feel the outlines at least. Tony texts over one, which causes the screen to lift against Matt’s fingers for the notification, and then the image. It’s not perfect. The surface needs a lot more fine tuning to get the fibers to act cohesively, but it’s still something.

Tony will be tinkering with it for awhile. Maybe adaptive devices could be another give back method to cut down on some of the guilt Tony feels for all of the second hand killing he’s done.

“The New York Times is really wordy,” he complains. He had skimmed most of the articles, enough to pick up on names that came up often but Tony is not the sort of person to pay too much attention outside of his sphere. “But people are pretty mad at you for some of those clients.”

The picture part is still unusual. All of that has been translated to descriptions before instead of a picture itself. He can recognize what it is meant to be but there is still always going to be a lot that's lost in visual to physical translation.

"This is good, but for most pictures that aren't so-called art, more would be gained for the blind to have actually accurate and detailed text descriptions," he tells Tony, not as a criticism but because he knows he wanted feedback on this. "If you take a picture of a sunset, most of these things just say 'photo of sunset.' That doesn't tell you the color of the clouds around it, the size, the environment. For people who remember what things look like, especially, that failure of imagination follows us to visualize it."

He takes a sip of the coffee and just shrugs at Stark's assessment. "Everyone needs a defense. Even Frank Castle. Even so-called vigilantes. And a lot of people support them and by extension, support me in their defense. It entirely depends on the person at the center of it. Punisher, maybe not so much. No one hollered when we worked with Daredevil to put Wilson Fisk in prison." It's probably the first time he's mentioned that name.

“That guy has a good marketing team,” Tony says about Daredevil after he makes a few notes about focusing on photographic descriptions. A little AI coding will help with that and he could add a feature to toggle between raised edges on the case and braille. It’s not often he works with anyone on an idea, other than Banner, and he has never designed something for someone else with their input in mind.

It might hit him as strange later, but for now he is content enough. Projects keep him from delving into despair and depression, something he has flirted with his entire life.

“But you don’t strike me as the see good in everyone kind of guy.” That’s not a dig. Those people are boring. “And not a chase after the paycheck kind of guy either. Refreshing.”

"I don't know how much a marketing team is really needed when all someone does is just fight bad guys in a neighborhood. PR kinds of writes itself," he shrugs. He knows he shouldn't stay on the topic. It's unlikely to lead anywhere good but he's curious about why Stark said what he did, though he floats the comment instead of interrogating about it.

He takes another sip of his coffee. Of course it's made from excellent beans and Matt can taste the difference. Definitely steps above his normal swill in the office.

"I try to take on clients who are innocent but that doesn't always happen, especially in pro bono cases. Then it just becomes risk mitigation and damage mitigation. I don't subscribe to the idea of a justice system that leans on heavy punishments for small acts so small mistakes ruin lives. And if I was in it for the paycheck, I wouldn't care about any of that and I wouldn't represent clients free of charge at the percentage of my time that I do." Lots of lawyers do free work but not often at the rate Matt tries to.

“It’s a weird dichotomy between bleeding heart and working for a living,” Tony says, unwrapping his cheeseburger. “I keep finding by these similarities, little nuggets of…” He doesn’t want to say connection. He shouldn’t have even voiced this. “I just thing we have the same approach to the way we function.”

Now that’s a cop out, but it’s as much to save face as it is to save any further awkwardness. Connecting Matt’s representation of vigilantes with his own morally grey business practices isn’t really the way he should want to go with it.

Maybe back to Daredevil then.

“Anyway. Guy with a devil horn mask gets called Daredevil. Guy with a red and gold suit somehow gets called Iron Man? I’m stuck with it.”

"Tell me about it." There are not always easy ways to balance those two things. Money tends not to come from good causes and there had been a time of struggle to even keep the lights on while still maintaining some semblance of who Matt is. The remark about the same approach makes him smile, "Maybe. Not who I might have expected to have so much in common with," he agrees.

Stark seems to be uncomfortable with the turn, judging from how his voice is just a little different and the return back to Daredevil as a topic. Matt should probably nip that quickly but for some reason, he doesn't.

"As it was explained to me, he didn't choose the name. The papers did, same as they did for you, right? So I guess he just got the better end of the deal in the tabloids. The mask changed to match the name, I think. When he first started getting sighted around the neighborhood, it was just a guy in a ski mask, in black. So yeah, maybe he is better at marketing than you are."

Tony knows nothing to nothing about the second tier costumed heroes that wander around the city. To be fair, he knows next to nothing about any of the people that make up the Avengers either. It’s really just the way of things. They’re all loners. Tony included.

Tony finishes his coffee and cheeseburger about the same time before he sits down with Matt at the counter.

“Are you making it your legal niche? Masked vigilantes? Or just the ones with the cool name? You can’t have Banner but if you want to steal Hawkeye? Go for it. He’s pain in the ass.”

"No. Daredevil and I had a common enemy in Wilson Fisk. When it comes to Frank Castle, I thought there was more to the story than the one that the DA was telling everyone so I took the case. After that, it just kind of happened once in a while. Some people have secret identities or don't want their abilities publicized and I'm good at keeping a secret, I guess." Or at last he usually is. Stark made him slip a bit earlier.

"My focus is always going to be on people who need a good legal defense and don't have the money or resources for one. It just so happens that not everyone that decides they want to put on a mask has the money someone like you might. They need lawyers too." Tony has billions of dollars to wrap up into suits and towers. He could afford lawyers if things came up as a result.

Matt finishes his coffee and sets the mug aside. "I'm sure I'll have plenty of non-vigilante case stories to tell you at the charity thing."

“But the vigilante things are the most fun,” Tony says. He actually had been listening to the other man, not exactly making eye contact since, you know, the blindness thing. But maybe that just makes Tony even more comfortable.

The coffee is finished. The sun is burning off the night sky. Matt probably needs to get home or work on a case. Probably both.

He wants to linger. That’s not at all wise. Tony stands up before he tries to pry more conversation out of the man.

“Where am I dropping you off at?” he asks, hands slipping into his pockets. “Usually I offer the plane or a quinjet to sleepovers, but I guess you’re staying local?”

"Fun is probably not the word that I would use to describe some of them," he answers with a laugh. Castle, in particular. But it's probably better to get off the topic altogether. There's no lines to connect exactly, but Matt's proximity is better left unexplored.

He should be getting back. He has a lot of work to catch up on. He's going to go out that night as Daredevil and he should probably get a little more sleep before that happens too. He burns that candle at both ends but he took a night off and he needs to make up for that.

"My apartment is fine. Pretty sure I don't need a plane to get to the other side of Manhattan." Plus, he hates flying anyway, but that's a whole other issue.

“Car it is, since you’re no fun,” Tony teases. “I’ll get you a convertible. FRIDAY will drive you. She’s better than I am,” he promises. “And it will freak people out if you get out of the driver’s seat with your cane. That you don’t need. And still insist on using.”

Now they he has confirmation that Matt probably isn’t a HYDRA spy, he can feel better about the man again.

And go back to wondering why a blind man that can see has some fresh scars on his back.

That can wait until later.

"Yeah, that's not happening. I don't need my neighborhood wondering about me," he answers. Not that it isn't amusing but the last thing he wants is to invite questions from the nosy old ladies in his building. "I insist on using it because a.) I am actually blind and people need a visual cue to that, just like why I wear the glasses even though I'm not protecting remaining vision and b.) I don't want people wondering why I don't need it."

He can explain away all of that. A hell of a lot easier than he can explain away bruises and scars.

"Walk me down to the garage?" he asks. Not that he needs the help, as Tony has so astutely pointed out, but he'd like the company.

This is becoming a little less casual by the minute. Tony knows it, and knows he won’t say a thing about it. “Let me get a shirt on.” Not that the tank top is inappropriate, but he has a reputation. When he isn’t working, he can only be seen in public in expensive tees or a hoodie. He opts for the latter.

There will also be a set of keys in his pocket when he returns. FRIDAY gets the morning off, it seems. Like Matt, Tony likes the company. Hell’s Kitchen is only a twenty minute drive in this traffic. No big deal.

When they get down to the garage, though, Tony’s choice of cars is evident. The Acura NSX Roadster isn’t really an everyday car but it’s fast and quiet and the top goes down.

He's pleased when Stark returns and there's a set of keys jingling in his pocket. That means it's not being left to the AI to drive him home and while the computer is probably a safer driver, he's glad for the company to last just a little bit longer.

Matt follows Tony to the car in question and gets into the passenger seat.

"Putting the top down means you're going to be seen with me. If you don't stand me up on Friday, it might start to look like a habit if someone snaps a picture," he points out. Matt isn't worried about it, but he's not the one who is in the kind of tabloid spotlight. As Tony has gathered, anything written about him is about his cases, not his personal life.

That could change as they spend more time together.

“I’ve already been seen with you. Three times,” Tony points out. Twice, he’d even made a scene about it with the Iron Man armor and the crazy luxury Audi that had half driven up on a curb to let them out. The McDonald’s workers probably don’t count. “There will be photographers at the thing,” he gestures with his wrist, pretty sure Matt can tell what he’s doing, “for whatever it is on Friday.”

He checks his mirrors as he gets in the car. As if he’ll even use them when he drives. Mostly, he’s just making sure his hair isn’t too terrible for the ride. It will get windblown anyway, though traffic won’t be moving fast enough to really help it out.

Deciding it looks fine, he backs out of the space.

“People are going to speculate no matter what. I can scrub photos off of the internet pretty easily if you’re worried.”

"It doesn't bother me," Matt answers honestly. He's aware that it's a possibility and has been one since this kicked off. He hasn't sought out to determine if there has been coverage linking prolific defense attorney Matthew Murdock to billionaire superhero Tony Stark yet, but if they're seen together more frequently, he should expect it.

Speculation might happen. It won't really matter.

He shakes his head at the offer. "I'm not worried. It's fine, really. It'll just be the first time that my romantic associations make the papers. There's probably a learning curve in that but I don't mind." It's not why he's spending time with Stark but it is going to be part of the effects of it. "I just hope I don't ruin your reputation. Being seen with a lawyer?" he teases.

Tony vocalizes a scoff as they navigate the garage to the street. “If anyone asks, I’m going to say I had no idea that you were a lawyer,” Tony says, glancing at Matt to make sure his seatbelt is on. The moment the grill fully rolls up, they’ll be taking off into traffic. Does Tony have the ability to turn the lights around the Tower red when he’s about to leave so he can do just that? Yes.

Pedestrians beware.

As if nothing is happening by the sudden G-force, Tony continues: “I thought you were a philanthropist. You kind of are with all of those pro bono jobs.”

Tony has been linked romantically to so many people, half of whom he doesn’t remember ever meeting, that this doesn’t bother him at all. Just as long as he doesn’t have to talk to anyone about it.

"Fair enough. I would hate for my profession to bring embarrassment to you for having been seen with me," he grins in response. On instinct, he does reach to hold onto the crossbar on the door when Stark peels off into traffic. Not that he's surprised by Tony's driving prowess at this point, or the fact that he should have far more speeding and reckless driving tickets than he apparently does.

It's just a slightly new thing to navigate but Matt has always considered himself to be particularly adaptable. Besides, how long he's in the news with Stark, presuming that he will be, will depend entirely on how long this whole thing lasts. He's having fun but they have both been up front about the fact that neither of them are particularly good for anything too long term.

For now, he's just going to enjoy it until the wheels fall off.

For some reason, the drive a Ross the city seems too quick. It goes against Tony’s nature to slow down, but when he ends up at the apartment he had picked Matt up from yesterday, Tony almost wants to drive once more around the block.

Matt would notice. And he can’t be letting himself latch onto these feelings the way he is. It’s not healthy. And what’s more, knows better.

Tony lays his arm across the seat as he turns towards Matt. He stifles the urge to tell him about the curb or the paces to his door. The blind man knows exactly where they are.

“Let me know if you come to your senses or there is something big lawyer seance thing that comes up before Friday. Oh, and uh, if anything else comes to mind about that case? Send me a text.”

He knows where they are by the time Tony pulls up but admittedly, he'd like it if it had gone a little longer. Even though there have been some difficult moments, he thinks that they're ending the evening and day on a good note, even if there is some moment of self-deprecation from Stark about how Matt has the opportunity to come to his senses.

He's not going to. He knows that he's not and it would only take a grave emergency in Hell's Kitchen to keep him from attending.

Matt leans over to give Stark a quick last kiss. "Don't be late on Friday. I'll try out the case and let you know my notes in person. And try to get some sleep, Tony," he says, adding the last part with a gentle pat on his cheek before getting out of the car so he can head up to his top floor apartment.

Tony finds himself watching Matt go, right up until the door closes. Yeah. That isn’t something he planned for and maybe he should just go back to doing what he was doing before that guy texted him.

Tony finds himself lingering too long out in the street, eyes lifted to where Matt’s window would be.

The rest of the afternoon Tony spends working. He does drop off to sleep eventually, but only until Rogers calls them all to assemble for a quick trip to a newly discovered HYDRA stronghold.

While ultimately a success, the Avengers don’t come out unscathed. Tony’s armor is barely functional when Cap drags him back to the quinjet, but it mostly did its job in keeping him safe.

Tony finds himself thinking about the mild mannered lawyer with all of the scars and bruises and super senses back in New York and, given the proximity to lunchtime, sends his office takeout from the Indian place Matt introduced him to.

Matt changes clothes so he's not wearing the same thing that he did the night before and eventually goes into the office after dropping off his tux to be drycleaned as he said that he would. Foggy and Karen are used to the schedule that he keeps so there's no comment on it. He does find himself at his office chair, setting up Google alerts for Tony Stark and Iron Man, if only so he can know what a superhero is getting up to.

The Indian food arrival is unexpected and it makes him smile when it comes. He immediately sends a text in thanks for it, along with the note that he has sent his suit to be cleaned so he is going to make it on Friday.

He just has to get through the rest of the week. That's a little easier said than done. The Kitchen Irish are making a play for some territory ceded by the Russians in the last mob shake-up in the power vacuum left by Fisk's return to prison. It means there's a lot for Daredevil to do and there are bruises by the end of it. It's nothing he can control, but at least his face looks OK by the time he's done and he's handed over a couple of the leaders to the cops. Sometimes charges stick. Sometimes they don't.

In between all of the work, in the office and on the streets, he does text here and there about the case as promised. He doesn't have much feedback except a few things, here and there, but he reiterates what a game changer it is. And that he's looking forward to Friday.

Tony is looking forward to Friday too. Especially when he’s mostly grounded after that rough ride in Italy and working with an unfortunate bruising to his face. Matt probably won’t be able to tell the extent of it, though the slight limp Tony will have might give the game away.

And none of that stops him from pulling up outside of Matt’s apartment exactly on time the night of the gala. Despite his difficulties earlier in the week, Tony has pulled out the big guns. Firstly, the car that arrives for the lawyer is a limo. He could show up in a sport’s car, but there is something pomp to these things and even Tony mostly (sometimes) follows the rules. Secondly, his tuxedo is impeccable, tailored perfectly. Third? Well. Tony didn’t come alone.

It is not Iron Man’s rich and powerful alterego that is on the schedule to hold the door open to the car tonight. That’s not his job when Happy is chauffeuring him around. The larger bodyguard waits for Matt on the street after ringing the bell. He smiles and greets Matt, though, giving him a once over to ensure his boss will be safe. It’s an old habit. “Mister Murdock? Do you need an arm?” Happy means well. And Tony has kept his word when it comes to the other man’s secrets.

Matt is somewhat surprised by a limo, but much more so by the fact that there's someone else ringing his buzzer. The driver but also large enough to be a bodyguard so that's definitely a new development. He doesn't think it's due to the fact that Stark suddenly decided that he needed protection so he presumes that it's probably part of the formal affair of the evening. His tux is nice, though probably not as pricey, but he won't look or feel out of place in it at the party.

He smiles at the offer and shakes his head, "Sure. Thank you." He doesn't need it, of course, but appearances are what they are and he allows the larger man to hook his arm with his to lead him from the steps down to the passenger door and to climb into the limo. He's polite about it, of course. He even thanks him a second time for getting the door for him, even if it probably isn't necessary to repeat himself.

Matt has been inside these before as a side effect of dating Elektra but those aren't thoughts he wants right now. Instead, he gets into the back of the limo and smiles. "Hi," he greets, "You didn't cancel on me," he points out. Matt didn't either, even if he could be out on the streets tonight. Maybe he should be but his ribs and a broken knuckle are probably relieved.

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