Think Fast

#1 - Blind Man's Catch

Karen wasn't at the office that day; She had stayed for much too long the night before, so Foggy had told her to sleep in, and Matt had been reading the file on their latest client on his braille display when Foggy had called his name. When Matt turned towards the sound, he could practically hear Foggy's grin as they formed around his next words;

"Think fast."

Matt knew. He knew exactly what was going to happen. Foggy had been juggling his softball like he does when he's thinking, and as soon as those words left his lips, he turned around and tossed the ball in an easy underhand throw right at Matt, whose eyebrows had furrowed momentarily before raising way above his glasses, but whose hand instinctively shot up to cup around the object and caught it perfectly.

A moment of impressed silence followed, in which Matt's hand was still raised and holding the ball, before Matt let out a surprised laugh. He tossed Foggy the ball back and got up, hooking his finger around the cord of his earbud to take it out. He was still laughing as Foggy stared at him, trying not to grin. Matt could hear him struggling to keep his breathing even, to cover up his laughter, and that only made Matt laugh harder.

"I'm so glad that worked." Foggy wheezed, and began laughing, too.

"I can't believe you just did that." Matt laughed. "Imagine if I hadn't caught that." A new fit of laughter bubbled up as the image of Matt getting hit in the face with a baseball filled their minds. Matt released a breath and leaned on his desk, feeling the glossy wood press into the back of his thighs. He motioned for Foggy to throw him the ball again, thereby beginning a lazy game of catch.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that, you know." Foggy said with a smile in his voice, and a little something distant. "Your Super-Senses. Capital S." He waved a finger at that, the movement making him rush to catch the ball hurled his way again. (Matt tossed it extra hard just to spite him.)

They threw the ball in silence for a little while. A minute or two passed before Foggy caught the ball and held it, instead of throwing it back. Matt's head raised as soon as he noticed Foggy wasn't planning on continuing their game of catch. He frowned a little and was about to ask, but Foggy's breathing changed and Matt shut his mouth.

"What can you tell right now? Like, what can you sense?" He asked tentatively. Matt took a moment to clarify.

"Like, about you, or just, in general?"

"In general." He rushed. "Just, what can you tell me?" Foggy sounded slightly nervous about asking the question, like he wasn't sure he should've asked. Matt didn't mind much, however. He simply tilted his head down and focused on his environment, let the sensory stimuli in until it almost felt overwhelming.

"Someone left a coffee cup unwashed in the sink, it's kind of distracting." Was the first thing he said. Foggy laughed softly.

"That was me." He admitted somewhat guiltily.

"I know, your breath still smells like it." Matt tilted his head, and listened for a moment. "There's a cat on one of the dumpsters in the alley. It's enjoying itself, probably sitting in the sun."

Foggy released a breath and asked, "How can you tell it's in the sun?"

"He's very relaxed, and the garbage smells pretty strong, the way it does when it's warm."

Foggy chuckled.

"It must really suck to smell garbage all the time."

"You have no idea." Matt mused. He focused on the people walking along the sidewalk again, but one heartbeat stood out, and the faint body odor was familiar. Karen was a few feet away from opening the front door.

"Oh, Karen's coming. She'll be here in a moment. Hold on, she's carrying something. Smells like..." Matt breathed a moment, then smiled. "She brought us lunch."

That pulled a laugh from Foggy. "Karen's the best thing to have happened to us." He and Matt grinned. "Come on, let's pretend we were working all this time, and not exploring your weird powers."

Matt grinned. "Showtime's over. Let's get to work."

It was about half a minute later that Karen entered the office, announcing she brought lunch. Matt and Foggy thanked her profusely and acted as surprised as they could. And if Foggy bumped shoulders with Matt a few too many times that day it was just because Matt kept grinning in his direction, and only smiled wider when Foggy began muttering things under his breath so only they could hear. Karen didn't seem to catch on, but she looked at ease, smiling at their behaviour more than once.