(hrnnnghh now it's going in seventeen directions like an octopus)
"Wait," Claire said, sounding amused. "I'm not the only girl in your secret identity phone anymore? Mike. I'm hurt."
"You're still first in my heart," Matt says. "Nobody does stitches like you - aahhh, shit -"
"Well don't bend like that," she says. Her heartbeat doesn't change, even when Matt lets the pain show; she's one of his favorite people for a bunch of reasons. Her heartbeat is like a metronome, even and calm enough to meditate to. Sometimes he wishes - well, sometimes he wishes that she'd met Matt Murdock, first, instead of the mask. Foggy would've liked her. Every time she's come to his apartment, the smell of her has lingered, clean and salty with the faintest hint of his own blood, for days afterwards; it makes it easier to think. Until they'd slept together, until she'd run her hands over his body, he'd half-hoped -- well. He knew Claire had a soulmark - my left wrist, she'd said that night, everything else is fine, gorgeous, but she hadn't said anything the morning after. (And asking anyone - even someone he cared for, like Claire - it was almost unbearable to imagine asking her, plainly, if she'd recognized his mark. He'd thought about it, wondered if maybe this time, but - no one could have seen their partner's mark and stayed silent. It didn't happen.)
She crouches in front of him, pulls his shirt up to check the gash on his chest, close to his shoulder. "Seriously, though," she says. (She's been chewing a mild, minty gum, and under that he can smell hot tea and whiskey. It's strong, but pleasant.) "Have you added another backdoor nurse to your secret phone?"
"Of course not," he says. "Ow, ow - ah!"
"Don't be a baby," she says. "It's a good idea, Mike; it'd be an even better idea to rescue a pretty doctor. I might not always be available when you decide to get your ass kicked." She starts to sweat, very lightly; it's acrid. Not quite - afraid? but an unhappy sort of smell. He reaches out to touch her hair; she allows it. Rests her head in his hand, thinking. "Well," she says. "I hate to say it, but - that cut on your hip should probably get stitches."
"You just like sticking needles in me," he says.
"It's next to your mark," she says, and her vowels have gone clipped and professional.
Matt winces.
"Don't really want to do it myself."
"Fine," she says.
And after she's tied the first stitch: "This is what I'm saying; do you know how few people in general population wind up with soulmarks on their abdomen? If you're ever in real trouble and need someone when I'm not here, you shouldn't go to the hospital - this is very recognizable."
"Yeah?"
"Almost splashier than that pretty face," she says.
"I'll keep it in mind."
"So who is it?"
"Pushy."
"Next to my name in your phone, Mike, what about the next time you get tossed into a dumpster?"
And Matt feels his own heart kick up. "I didn't think of that - shit, why didn't I think of that? - it's Fisk, Claire."
She stops. Leans back. Definitely sweating, now, and her heartrate has finally broken its even rhythm. "I'm not going to get mad, Mike," she starts, "but did I just hear you say you put my number in your phone next to Wilson Fisk? Headless Russian mobsters lying around, THAT guy? y'know what -- screw it, I'm mad, don't sniff me."
"I wasn't - Claire, I didn't - you're right, I'll get another phone."
She stops. He wishes he could hear what her face was doing; he has the feeling that she's staring at him. "You'll get another phone," she says. "Jesus. Why are you talking to that psychopath, what could you possibly - maybe you don't care about whether you stay alive or not, Mike, but shit, think about her, whoever she is with the mark that finishes yours."
(and this turns into one of those weird adrenaline-i'm pissed-off, you're-gonna-get-me-killed, you're-gonna-get-you-killed, fuck-you-mike-you-asshole fights.
"I can't think about her right now, whoever she is," Matt says, actually angry, why can't Claire get it, "I can't think about soulmates when Fisk is out there decapitating people with car doors and making nice with every influential politician and cop in the city, Claire, somebody has to stop him, it's not like I -"
"Oh my god," she says. "Every time I think you can't get crazier I get to be wrong, I love it," and Matt's new stitches, the ones closest to his soulmark, are burning. He hates this.)
(OK QUESTION for OP: i, personally, feel like at this point Matt sidetracks this fight into going down on Claire, a lot, enthusiastically, while thinking about how he has to stop Fisk goddamnit, totally for no reason at all but to distract Claire from how crazy he is, right? and we get to see just how tension-filled and angry and fucked-up i can make this sublimination, fingers crossed? but do you want het in your prompt? are you okay with a matt/claire scene here? if not, shit, then this is just exposition-further-evidence-that-whooboy-matt-friend-you-are-in-OVER-YOUR-HEAD and we'll get back to ur regularly scheduled programming, but if you're okay with it i kinda want to take it there, i dunno, talk to me bout this.)
Re: Matt/Fisk Soulmate AU (another piece of fill + question for OP)
"Wait," Claire said, sounding amused. "I'm not the only girl in your secret identity phone anymore? Mike. I'm hurt."
"You're still first in my heart," Matt says. "Nobody does stitches like you - aahhh, shit -"
"Well don't bend like that," she says. Her heartbeat doesn't change, even when Matt lets the pain show; she's one of his favorite people for a bunch of reasons. Her heartbeat is like a metronome, even and calm enough to meditate to. Sometimes he wishes - well, sometimes he wishes that she'd met Matt Murdock, first, instead of the mask. Foggy would've liked her. Every time she's come to his apartment, the smell of her has lingered, clean and salty with the faintest hint of his own blood, for days afterwards; it makes it easier to think. Until they'd slept together, until she'd run her hands over his body, he'd half-hoped -- well. He knew Claire had a soulmark - my left wrist, she'd said that night, everything else is fine, gorgeous, but she hadn't said anything the morning after. (And asking anyone - even someone he cared for, like Claire - it was almost unbearable to imagine asking her, plainly, if she'd recognized his mark. He'd thought about it, wondered if maybe this time, but - no one could have seen their partner's mark and stayed silent. It didn't happen.)
She crouches in front of him, pulls his shirt up to check the gash on his chest, close to his shoulder. "Seriously, though," she says. (She's been chewing a mild, minty gum, and under that he can smell hot tea and whiskey. It's strong, but pleasant.) "Have you added another backdoor nurse to your secret phone?"
"Of course not," he says. "Ow, ow - ah!"
"Don't be a baby," she says. "It's a good idea, Mike; it'd be an even better idea to rescue a pretty doctor. I might not always be available when you decide to get your ass kicked." She starts to sweat, very lightly; it's acrid. Not quite - afraid? but an unhappy sort of smell. He reaches out to touch her hair; she allows it. Rests her head in his hand, thinking. "Well," she says. "I hate to say it, but - that cut on your hip should probably get stitches."
"You just like sticking needles in me," he says.
"It's next to your mark," she says, and her vowels have gone clipped and professional.
Matt winces.
"Don't really want to do it myself."
"Fine," she says.
And after she's tied the first stitch: "This is what I'm saying; do you know how few people in general population wind up with soulmarks on their abdomen? If you're ever in real trouble and need someone when I'm not here, you shouldn't go to the hospital - this is very recognizable."
"Yeah?"
"Almost splashier than that pretty face," she says.
"I'll keep it in mind."
"So who is it?"
"Pushy."
"Next to my name in your phone, Mike, what about the next time you get tossed into a dumpster?"
And Matt feels his own heart kick up. "I didn't think of that - shit, why didn't I think of that? - it's Fisk, Claire."
She stops. Leans back. Definitely sweating, now, and her heartrate has finally broken its even rhythm. "I'm not going to get mad, Mike," she starts, "but did I just hear you say you put my number in your phone next to Wilson Fisk? Headless Russian mobsters lying around, THAT guy? y'know what -- screw it, I'm mad, don't sniff me."
"I wasn't - Claire, I didn't - you're right, I'll get another phone."
She stops. He wishes he could hear what her face was doing; he has the feeling that she's staring at him. "You'll get another phone," she says. "Jesus. Why are you talking to that psychopath, what could you possibly - maybe you don't care about whether you stay alive or not, Mike, but shit, think about her, whoever she is with the mark that finishes yours."
(and this turns into one of those weird adrenaline-i'm pissed-off, you're-gonna-get-me-killed, you're-gonna-get-you-killed, fuck-you-mike-you-asshole fights.
"I can't think about her right now, whoever she is," Matt says, actually angry, why can't Claire get it, "I can't think about soulmates when Fisk is out there decapitating people with car doors and making nice with every influential politician and cop in the city, Claire, somebody has to stop him, it's not like I -"
"Oh my god," she says. "Every time I think you can't get crazier I get to be wrong, I love it," and Matt's new stitches, the ones closest to his soulmark, are burning. He hates this.)
(OK QUESTION for OP: i, personally, feel like at this point Matt sidetracks this fight into going down on Claire, a lot, enthusiastically, while thinking about how he has to stop Fisk goddamnit, totally for no reason at all but to distract Claire from how crazy he is, right? and we get to see just how tension-filled and angry and fucked-up i can make this sublimination, fingers crossed? but do you want het in your prompt? are you okay with a matt/claire scene here? if not, shit, then this is just exposition-further-evidence-that-whooboy-matt-friend-you-are-in-OVER-YOUR-HEAD and we'll get back to ur regularly scheduled programming, but if you're okay with it i kinda want to take it there, i dunno, talk to me bout this.)