Marvel one-shots and short stories

Matt Murdock/Stephen Strange, hurt/comfort

"Matt?" Stephen Strange asked, announcing himself when he entered the apartment that he shared with his boyfriend, Matt Murdock.  When there was no response, he walked in without expecting his boyfriend to be home from work yet.  That all changed when he stepped into the kitchen.
"Matt!" He yelled, moving to his boyfriend's side.  Matt was unconscious on the kitchen floor, and he was bleeding.  Stephen gestured for his cloak to pick up his boyfriend from the floor and it quickly deposited him onto the couch in the living room while Stephen grabbed the first aid kit from the hall closet.  When he stepped back into the room, Matt had been woken up by the movement of the cloak.  He sat straight up and looked like he was listening for something.
"Matty, it's Stephen," Stephen said, just in case Matt couldn't recognize him for some reason.  Matt shifted slightly at the sound of his voice but made no move to respond.  Assuming that he had been heard, Stephen moved up to the younger man's side.  As he sat down on the couch next to Matt, the other man shot away from Stephen and pushed himself into the corner of the couch.  His breathing was quick and ragged--he was terrified.
"It's me.  It's Stephen," again, Matt cocked his head slightly, acknowledging the sound, but didn't seem to understand.
"Can you hear me?" Stephen asked, remembering the story Matt had told him about the time when he had hit his head really hard and lost his hearing for a while, rendering him both deaf and blind for a time.  When there was again no response, Stephen assumed that similar circumstances had occurred again.
Stephen decided to take a different approach and reached out to take Matt's hand.  When the other man tried to move away, Stephen held his boyfriend's hand tightly.  With his other hand, Stephen forced Matt to feel over the scars on his hands.  When Stephen let go, Matt kept feeling over his hands, reminding himself of every little mark, bump, and line on his boyfriend's hands.
"Stephen," Matt all but whispered.  For a moment, Stephen hesitated when he heard the scratchy nature of Matt's voice.
"Yes," Stephen said, while simultaneously tapping the answer in Morse code on the other man's hand.
As soon as he had processed what was said, Matt launched himself into the sorcerer's arms, desperate for some comfort of any kind.
"Can't hear," Matt explained, crying.
"I know." Stephen tapped out on his boyfriend's back.
"Please don't leave," Matt begged.
"I won't.  But I need you to let go so that I can patch you up." Stephen explained, still in Morse.  After a moment, Matt carefully let go of the older man, still holding onto the hem of Stephen's shirt and he let Strange rifle through the first aid kit for the things they might need before turning back to him.
"I need you to take off your clothes." Strange tapped the instruction to Matt.
Matt carefully, and with Stephen's help, struggled out of his shirt and sweat pants to give Stephen better access to the scrapes and bruises that were undoubtedly already forming.
Stephen couldn't stop himself from gasping when he saw the blossom of red and purple bruising that covered his boyfriend's ribs on both sides.  They were accompanied by plenty of bruising along his arms and legs, as well as a few deep knife cuts.  He quickly set to work putting ointments and bandages on what he could.  Then came the part that had become tricky ever since his accident--stitches.
Before beginning, he decided to ask Matt as quickly as he could using Morse, "You need stitches on two spots one on your thigh and one on your side.  Do you want to do them or me?"
"You.  I think you could do better than me right now." Matt answered, and suddenly Stephen realized how faint the other man's voice was getting.  Stephen tapped the side of Matt's head, reminding him that his head needed to be looked at before he could fall asleep again.  This was responded to by a small head nod before Stephen moved on to the stitches.  He moved slowly and steadily, focusing almost all of his energy on keeping his hands from shaking.
Around 30 minutes later, he finished with the stitches and Matt was barely awake anymore.
"Hey," Stephen said and tapped.
"Yeah?  Did you finish the stitches?" Matt asked, his words slightly slurred.
"Yes.  Can you hear anything yet?" Stephen asked once again both verbally and in Morse.
"A little I think, but it's still barely there," Matt explained.
"Ok.  I'm going to look in your ears, just try to relax," Stephen instructed gently.  He took Matt's face gently in his hands and tilted his head to the side.  Using a penlight to light Matt's ear, he quickly inspected the right ear before shifting gently to assess the other ear.  After that, he felt around his boyfriend's head, finding one particularly tender spot a couple of inches over his right ear and eliciting a sharp yelp from the other man.  When Stephen had finished with that, he kissed Matt's forehead.
"Your ears are a little congested, but I think most of the issue is the concussion." Stephen tapped.
"Oh.  Wait, who says I have a concussion?" Matt slurred.
"You passed out.  You're falling asleep, you're having trouble focusing, and you're slurring your words.  I'd be willing to bet that you're also nauseous." Stephen explained.
"Yeah.  Tired," Matt declared softly, leaning forward to put his head on Stephen's chest.  Stephen chuckled, hugging the younger man.
"Babe, you need to be in the bed before you fall asleep," Stephen tapped out slowly, trying to make sure Matt got every word.  His comment was greeted with a disapproving groan.
"Come on," Stephen said, picking his boyfriend up bridal style and carrying him into the bedroom.  He pulled the blankets over both of them after he had taken off his robes and was left in a t-shirt and shorts.
" 'M not tired," Matt decided, forgetting that he had already admitted to being tired, as he snuggled up next to Stephen.
"Of course not, babe," Stephen said, holding Matt and carding his hand through the other man's hair.  With the warmth of both men under the blanket and the constant brushing of his hair, Matt quickly succumbed to sleep.

After waking up a couple of times throughout the night to help Matt when he was throwing up, Stephen woke up the next morning.  After making sure that Matt was asleep still, Stephen went to the kitchen to make something for breakfast.
He ended up finding three eggs and some bread and went back to the bedroom to ask Matt which he would prefer.
"Hey Matt, can you hear any better this morning?" Stephen asked before sitting down, to get a more honest answer.
"Yeah but it's still muffled a bit," Matt answered, rolling over to press his face into a pillow.
"Matt.  You need to eat something." Stephen said, sitting down on the bed and rubbing Matt's back for a moment.
"Fine," Matt said, pulling himself into a sitting position, and leaning into Stephen.  Stephen started to help Matt up while trying desperately to not tear the younger man's stitches.  They stumbled into the living room, where Stephen gently deposited his boyfriend before grabbing the bread and eggs from the kitchen.
"You know, you have very little food in your house, babe.  Do you want eggs or toast?" Stephen called back to Matt.
"Um," Matt said from right next to Stephen, making the older man jump, "eggs.  Protein."
"Alright, but you should be sitting down, you know that," Stephen reprimanded.
"I don' wanna." Matt decided, shuffling with Stephen, keeping physical contact with his boyfriend by holding onto the edge of his shirt as though he was afraid that Strange would disappear if he let go.
"Alright, fine, just be careful.  I don't want you passing out on me again, sweetheart." Stephen said, joking slightly.
"Mhm," was all the response Matt gave as Stephen started frying the eggs.  When all three eggs had finished cooking, Stephen got them onto a plate on the table and got Matt to sit down and start eating.
"Do you want any toast also, or not?" Stephen asked.
"No.  Jus' eggs." Matt declared after a moment of consideration.
"You need to call Foggy, and let him know that you won't be at work today,"  Stephen said when he came back out of the kitchen with some toast for his breakfast.
"What?  No, I can go to work." Matt defended.
"No.  As your resident doctor, no you can't," Stephen denied.
"Ugh.  Fine.  But I am fine," Matt said, punctuating his sentence with a wide yawn.
"Uh-huh, sure you are." Stephen agreed with a soft smile playing on his lips as they began to eat together.
By the time they had both finished their meals, Matt was almost asleep again, still exhausted from the night before.
"Ok, let me check your stitches and your head again, and then you are going back to bed," Stephen instructed Matt gently, leading the younger man to the couch.
"Fine," Matt said, trying to snuggle with Stephen as the older man tried to look at the stitches on Matt's thigh.
"Can you hold still?" Stephen reprimanded with a chuckle.
"Ugh," Matt groaned, sitting still for as long as it took to check the stitches.
"Alright, sweetheart, I have to check your head again.  I can see right here," Stephen gently swept his fingers along Matt's right temple, "a bruise is already showing.  I'll try to be gentle, but I need to make sure there's no other damage."
Matt nodded his consent and Stephen started gently brushing his fingers over his boyfriend's skull, stopping as soon as he reached the area he already knew was hurting Matt.
"I'm going to check your ears again, and then you're going to bed," Stephen said, pulling a penlight out of the first aid kit that was still out on the coffee table.  He, like the night before, gently tilted Matt's head to one side, then the other, checking each of his ears in turn.
"Your ears still don't have any injury, so your hearing should be back to normal by tomorrow.  Now come on, to bed," Stephen took Matt's hand to lead him back to the bedroom of the apartment.  When they got there, Stephen tried to leave after getting Matt in bed, but as soon as he stepped towards the door, Matt let out a pathetic whimper, almost like Strange leaving was causing him physical pain.
"You said you wouldn't leave." Matt pointed out, feeling like a little kid who was scared of the dark that defined his world.
"Alright, alright.  Scooch over," Stephen gave in after a moment of hesitation, laying down next to Matt.  Matt quickly began snuggling with Stephen, and Stephen resumed carding through Matt's hair as he had the night before.  Once more, they were both soon asleep.