Here's To Us *Damned Coda* Matt Murdock*

5) A different kind of bravery

Matt didn't go with Vera to the doctors, thank god. He stayed in the house, finding a book in Braille they packed with them and kissed her goodbye. It was incredibly domestic and Vera couldn't shake off the feeling of Matt belonging here. In her life. In her home.

Sure, driving their old Fabia was a little rough in the beginning, but she managed the first journey without scratching the car – or anything else – and she ignored the shout of the impatient driver who needed to vent his frustration when Vera's engine died on a crossroad with unfavourable vertical drop.

The rest of her morning and part of her afternoon went alright, the docs reassuring her she was perfectly healthy (considering) and agreed to seal her records for her to hand it to another doc. Vera had no idea how since it was in Czech with a few latin phrases, but she didn't argue. She picked up the pills prescribed by her gynaecologist and hurried home to her possibly tortured boyfriend.

Matt hadn't been tortured. He was in her room, a cup of tea on the nightstand, welcoming her with a bright smile and sweet kiss. Huh, she really could get used to the domesticity. The non-bloody kind at least.

---

After a late lunch, she found out Matt was a real hero. That was no news, but... seriously. He survived grandma's visit. Vera loved her grandma, she was family (Vera would never admit out loud she liked her other grandma better, because that was not a nice thing to say), only she was very obviously from dad's side of family. Which meant she was... cranky. And when she wasn't cranky, she was the queen of criticism.

Vera was clever enough to hide Matt in her room during the visit, but her dad slipped and revealed it. It started when Vera truthfully answered she had a boyfriend in New York and obediently informed Grans he worked as a lawyer (the first time it went to shit – lawyers are greedy bastards with no morals). When Vera said he worked lots of pro bono cases, he was suddenly naïve. Obviously. At that point Vera gritted her teeth and changed topics, honestly grateful Matt might heard them, but couldn't understand Czech. And then dad slipped. Vera wished she could just sink into the carpet, and tried to play it off with jet lag exhaustion excuse, which was a blatant lie, because Matt existed just fine – his sleeping patterns were a disaster before that, changing them wasn't a problem for him.

"Matt, I need you to take a deep breath and come downstairs with me. And possibly not to punch my grandma. Can you do that for me?"

Matt frowned, looking up from his laptop.

"I won't punch your grandma, Vera. Even if she punches me first," he joked and Vera would love to believe him, but she was ninety-nine percent sure Grans would make an ableist comment. Not that Matt would understand what she would be saying. "She sounds like a lovely lady."

"Matt, your poker face is terrible, has anyone told you before?"

Matt grinned, quickly changing from his sweatpants.

"Oh, and she doesn't know you're blind. Yet," Vera hummed guiltily.

"Should I take the cane for a good show?"

"Matt, you do not want to have the cane with you, trust me." That would mean more comments and possibly a long distance weapon at his disposal, which was not a good idea.

It went as well as expected. Grans' first words were "What kind of an asshole wears sunglasses inside?" followed by "Who the hell is still taking a woman's elbow? Not to mention this doesn't look right." and brilliantly finished with "How old is he for god's sake?". Vera was ready to leave the country.