Matt Murdock ୭ ᵎᵎ 🦯

Matt had been trying to ignore the feeling for the better part of an hour.

It wasn't rational.

There was no specific reason for it.

They simply hadn't shown up.

They had missed their usual rooftop.

Then the next one.

Then another.

Matt told himself it wasn't unusual. Patrols changed. Plans changed. People had lives outside of masks and rooftops.

But he knew them.

He knew their footsteps.

Their breathing.

The rhythm of their heartbeat.

And tonight, something felt wrong.

So Matt went looking.

He found the alley by following the signs of a struggle.

Footsteps.

Scuffed pavement.

A broken piece of equipment.

Then voices.

Matt didn't bother announcing himself.

The fight was over quickly.

Whoever had been hurting them barely had time to realize Daredevil was there before Matt put them down.

Hard.

By the time the attacker was no longer a threat, Matt was breathing heavily.

"Where are they?"

Silence.

Matt's head snapped toward the sound of another heartbeat.

There.

His stomach dropped.

"Shit."

He crossed the alley immediately.

They were on the ground.

Still.

Far too still.

Matt dropped to his knees beside them.

"Hey."

Nothing.

He listened.

Their heartbeat was there.

Fast.

Uneven.

Their breathing was worse.

Shallow. Weak.

Matt's entire demeanor changed.

The anger disappeared.

Not because he wasn't angry anymore.

Because there was something more important.

"Hey, stay with me."

His hands hovered for a second before he carefully checked for a response.

Nothing.

"Come on."

His voice cracked slightly.

He swallowed it down.

Matt forced himself to concentrate.

Heartbeat.

Breathing.

Heartbeat.

Breathing.

He listened harder than he ever had before, trying to catch every tiny change.

"You're okay."

He wasn't sure who he was trying to convince.

"You're okay. I'm here."

He kept talking.

Anything to keep his own panic from taking over.

"I've got you."

A pause.

"You're not alone."

Matt carefully adjusted their position and stayed close, monitoring every breath.

The attacker was somewhere behind him.

He didn't care.

The rest of the city didn't matter.

For once, Matt Murdock wasn't thinking about Fisk.

Wasn't thinking about the law.

Wasn't thinking about Daredevil.

He was just listening to the person beside him and silently begging their heartbeat not to disappear.

"Come on, breath."

His voice was barely above a whisper now.

"You have to breathe."

He waited.

One breath.

Another.

Still weak.

But there.

Matt lowered his head, relief hitting him so suddenly it almost made him dizzy.

"That's it."

His hand settled carefully against their shoulder.

"Stay with me."

And for the first time since he'd found them, Matt let himself admit the thought he'd been refusing to acknowledge all night.

He had almost been too late.