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Empty chinese take out boxes covered the sofa table. A man and a woman sat crossed legged on the floor, each on their own side of said table. The man had a faraway but still very concentrated look in his eyes, like he was listening to something. The woman observed him in a comfortable silence, while subconsciously petting the belly of the cat that laid on its back in her lap. "Matt, were you always blind?" Arabella's voice was soft, much like that of a curious child.
"No, I was in an accident when I was a kid." Matt's unfocused gaze shifted from the floor and to her face as he smiled softly at her. Arabella didn't know what to do with his answer. She couldn't imagine having her sight just taken away from her like that. "Oh.."
Silence fell upon them once again before she broke it shortly after. "–Is it just black?" Her vague question made Matt huff humoured by her. It was like she almost couldn't get herself to ask him because she knew it wasn't exactly polite and that he'd probably been asked a million times before, but she just simply couldn't stop herself because the curiosity was too strong. And he didn't mind telling her.
"No, I see in other ways. Sound, smell, feel, taste, all of the fragments form a sort of impressionistic painting." Matt explained. Arabella nodded before realising that Matt couldn't see that anyways. "Okay, but what does that look like? Like, what do you actually see?"
"Mostly reds, oranges, yellows and blacks." Matt furrowed his brows like he was struggling to explain it to her. "So, like a blurry autumn forest?" Arabella closed her eyes and tried to imagine.
"More like a world on fire." The look on Matt's face had Arabella wondering wether she had overstepped by asking him all these things. But Matt probably heard her tense up, cause he quickly wiped the tense look off of his face and put on a charming lopsided grin instead. "It's funny. Sometimes I still see in my dreams. It's limited of course to what I remember from back then, but.."
"It's sounds kind of bitter sweet to me.." Arabella was happy in that second that Matt couldn't see the sad smile on her face. She had the feeling that he wasn't exactly a guy who liked to be pitied.
Matt smiled as an involuntary yawn escaped Arabella's lips and she tried to hide it. "I put fresh sheets on the bed for you." He said nodding his head in the general direction of the bedroom.
"Oh. That's so nice of you. I'll be fine on the couch though." Matt wanted to protest but Arabella cut him off before he even opened his mouth. "–You already provided me with a place to stay. I won't steal your bed too. Please Matt, I'll be fine on the couch."
"You do know you're trying to argue with a lawyer?" The cocky grin that found Matt's lips made Arabella smirk. He thought she was arguing and not just politely stating that he was sleeping in the bed, how cute. "Well what can I say, your case is weak Murdock."
"From what I understand about my living room, the bright neon sign outside its windows says otherwise." Matt said lifting an eyebrow. Arabella looked out the window. She actually hadn't really noticed it before, but now that she did, it was quite pretty how the sign subtly lit up his apartment in different blush colours. "I could sleep through July 4th if I wanted." Arabella shrugged out of habit.
"You're stubborn." Matt commented making Arabella smile triumphantly.
"I'm going to take that as a compliment."
"–Are you finished?" She then asked looking at the empty takeout boxes. Matt chuckled defeated. "You do know that I'm just blind, and not completely helpless right?"
"I have no doubt you're able to take care of yourself. But it would be impolite to have you do the dishes since you already insisted on paying for the food." Arabella reminded him as she gathered the boxes and their plates.
"You're very proper."
"I was raised by my Catholic mother and father. You know, no sex before marriage, 'forgive me father for I have sinned' and all that jazz. So I am very 'proper' yes." Matt couldn't help but laugh at her way of saying it. "Wish I could say I'm a good catholic too."
"I don't know if you can call me a good catholic either." Arabella said humorously and shrugged as she threw out the takeout boxes before beginning to wash the dishes. She was as pure as can be, but she felt bad actually calling herself a good catholic since she'd definitely missed out on more than a couple of confessions and masses.
She was surprised that Matt was a Catholic too though.
After cleaning up and making her bed on the couch, all while Matt silently observed her, Arabella brushed her teeth and changed into her pyjamas in the bathroom. When she came back out, Matt was sitting with Mozart in his lap, the cat purring loudly as he scratched its head.
"He likes you." Matt looked up in her general direction with a lifted eyebrow. "You sound surprised."
"He's blind, so he doesn't really trust people he doesn't know." She explained as she walked over and sat on her makeshift bed. "He's blind?"
"Yup." Arabella said popping the p. "Well maybe he's attracted to his own kind." Matt joked as Mozart jumped down from him and began searching for Arabella knowing she'd returned. He struggled to find his way to her in the new environment though.
Instinctively Arabella snapped her fingers and Mozart quickly took a couple of steps towards her avoiding all obstacles and then stopped, waiting for another snap. Arabella complied and smiled as Mozart walked the rest of the way to her and she picked him up. "You taught him that?" Matt asked, his head tilted slightly to the side, clearly intrigued.
Arabella yawned again as soon as she began talking, "I don't know.. I think it was a common effort. He didn't loose his sight immediately, he lost it over time, so I think we just slowly adapted to communicating by sound.. that specific trick though, I think I started doing it as a joke because I'd read something about a blind boy who used echolocation and thought that maybe Mozart could do that too. I never thought it would actually work, but.. here we are I guess."
"That's pretty impressive. He seems like a very intelligent cat." Arabella snorted at that. "I wouldn't say intelligent, he just acts a bit human at times." Mozart sneezed, seemingly offended by her words. "But you're my little old man, isn't that right Mozart?" Again the cat let out a complaining sound which made both Arabella and Matt laugh.
"It sounds like he's tired too. Maybe we should just call it a night?" Matt suggested as he stood up from his chair and stretched. Arabella would've been ashamed for looking at his abs that was shamelessly exposed as his t-shirt crawled up, but he was blind, and she wasn't a good catholic, so.. "Perhaps that's a good idea, it's been a long couple of days anyway.. uhm, and thanks again, for letting me stay here, and for buying food. It's all very nice of you, and you know, about earlier, I'm not the only one who's trusting an almost stranger, you are too by letting me into your home, and I really appreciate it Matt. I owe you."
"Don't worry about it. Sleep tight."
"You too."
❧
The next morning Arabella was awoken by the smell of frying eggs and the sound of boiling water. "I didn't know blind people could cook?" Arabella rubbed her eyes before she groggily looked over the back of the couch at an amused Matt. "Me neither."
"..I don't know if you're kidding or if you actually have no idea what you're doing." She confessed as she watched him stir something carefully in a pan. "I'm kidding." Matt confessed smiling cheekily in her direction. "Tea or coffee?" He asked as he moved to a cabinet and pulled out two mugs before turning off the kettle.
"Tea please, too much caffeine doesn't treat my anxiety very well." Arabella said chuckling a bit at herself being so damn delicate. "I didn't know you had anxiety?" Matt said furrowing his eyebrows in a concerned expression. "Me neither. Thought I'd grown from it. But apparently that's not a thing that you just go and do." Arabella shrugged before chukling at herself as she remembered he couldn't see it.
"I'm sorry. I had a lot of anxiety back when I first became blind as a child. I know how.. 'unpleasant' it can be sometimes." Matt said smiling empathetically. "I'm fine. It's mostly just a small discomfort in form of my hands or legs shaking, or a nervous kind of stomach feeling.. you know the drill." Arabella explained earning a small nod from Matt in response before silence fell upon them.
It was a low buzzing from the sofa table that interrupted said silence. "Oh, your phone has been ringing all morning by the way. I think someone really wants to get ahold of you." Matt said as Arabella picked up the phone.
"I can see that. Oh my–" Matt lifted an eyebrow, a smirk appearing on his face as he silently challenged her to finish the sentence. Arabella rolled her eyes at him though she knew he couldn't see. She could practically hear her mother's voice, "Don't use the Lord's name in vain mija."
The phone interrupted her thoughts as it buzzed in her hand with yet another message. "Who is it?" Matt asked as he put her cup of tea on the sofa table in front of her. "Thank you. And, it's just Raoul wanting me to meet some high end brand for some acute photoshoot since their other model cancelled on them in the last minute." Arabella explained as she read Raoul's seven-hundred texts.
"What kind of photoshoot?" Matt asked curiously. "It's for the cover of some magazine. They're launching some new line of organic, environment conscious and recyclable clothes, where the profits goes to help Doctors Without Borders in countries like Africa."
"That sounds amazing." Matt said impressed, he'd never thought the fashion world was anything but clothes. "It's just a PR stunt. Though I do like the idea of taking the job for them since it'll no doubt spread awareness about so many good things and maybe even inspire others too think about environmental friendly clothes too." Arabella explained simply as she sipped her tea.
"Well, when's the shoot?" Matt asked placing his already empty coffee cup on the kitchen counter. "Now.. Do you wanna come?" Arabella asked casually.
"Sure."
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The cab ride to the photo studio had been uneventful, but Arabella had used the time to explain to Matt what would be happening when they got to the shoot, since he couldn't really see anything and the people probably would rush her through makeup, hair and wardrobe too quickly for her to explain anything there.
"–Don't worry though, I'll make sure to find a chair for you or something before they whisk me away. I'll show you around the studio too so you can get your bearings and don't get lost or walk in front of the cameras." Matt laughed sweetly at her as she skilfully lead him through the many people on the sidewalk. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because you made it sound like I'm a child or a confused little puppy." Matt said still very much amused by her protectiveness. It was sweet that she worried about him, especially because he definitely wasn't helpless, like at all.
"Left." Arabella said as she gently gave his left arm, that she was leading him by, a little squeeze. After walking for a couple of minutes more, Arabella stopped. "We're here." She sighed relieved before ringing the door phone on the gate. They waited for a few seconds before Matt could hear a flimsy man walking hastily across the pavement and towards them.
"Arabella! Thank goodness you could make it! We didn't know what to do! Cara rang in sick this morning and the magazine needs the photos tomorrow! Thank you so so much for coming on such short notice!" He rambled on as he opened the big metal gate and quickly began guiding them to yet another door which revealed a huge photostudio filled with people buzzing panicked around.
"Who's your guest? A boyfriend?" The guy finally asked. Matt smiled politely as Arabella laughed. "No, unfortunately not, he's just a friend." Matt politely stuck his hand out and introduced himself. "Matt Murdock." The guy's heart skipped a beat as he shook his hand.
"I'm Carl, uh, I'm co-owner of Dedicated, the brand."
"Can I show him around the studio before we start? I promise it'll be quick." Arabella asked, she couldn't help but chuckle a bit as Carl blushed under Matt's sunglass covered gaze. "Sure! Take your time, our male model hasn't showed up yet anyway." Carl said seeming a bit annoyed at said male model. "Thanks, I promise it'll be quick. Let's go Matt."
Arabella did as promised and showed Matt around the studio before she found him a sofa to sit in behind the cameras. Shortly after, Arabella was rushed into hair, makeup and wardrobe. It didn't take long before she was back out and hesitantly made her way over to Matt who was reading some documents he'd brought in braille.
"So, this turned out differently than what I'd expected."
"What's wrong?" Matt asked confused by her sudden discomfort. "The clothes I mentioned turned out to be kind of sort of lingerie and underwear. I guess their goal is still to give more organic and environment friendly options without having too feel less beautiful and or sexy.. but, it's underwear."
"It's times like these I wish I wasn't blind." Matt joked and sighed for added effect.
"Oh, I totally forgot.. sorry, do you want to feel the fabric or something it's quite nice actually?" Arabella asked casually, making Matt chuckle at her. "Do you want me to feel the underwear you are wearing?" He made sure to emphasise the words so Arabella would realise what she'd just asked him.
"Oh! No! I didn't mean it like that, I eh-I meant like I-." Matt chuckled as her heartbeat sped up immensely in panic and embarrassment of the misunderstanding. Arabella rolled her eyes at him. "–Shut up." She mumbled feeling her cheeks heat up.
"The robe I'm wearing is the same material as the underwear.. Here." Softly she took his hand and guided it to the bottom part of the robe. His hand accidentally brushed against her thigh as he felt the fabric and Arabella suppressed a shudder as the hairs on her legs and arms stood up. "It's surprisingly soft." Matt pondered facing up like he was looking at her. "Yea, I was surprised when I put it on. I expected a more raw material." Arabella tried her best to ignore the fluttery feeling in her stomach as Matt let his fingers wander over the laced hem that hang just below her mid thigh.
"Arabella! Josh is here! Get on set!" Arabella almost jumped away from Matt in pure surprise of having her name called. "I'll be right there!" She yelled back before looking at Matt.
"It'll be like an hour tops, then I'll get changed and we can go to the office or back to your's, I promise."
"It's fine. I have some files to read about our current case anyway." Matt smiled at her reassuringly, having sensed her stress about the situation she'd put him in.
"Alright, I'll be back before you know it."
❧
When the shoot was over Arabella stood a chatted with Josh the male model and some other people for a while before she went and changed clothes and removed her makeup.
Matt smiled as she went and picked him up by the couch he'd been dumped at earlier. "You ready to go?" He asked politely as he took ahold of the arm she offered him. "I'm ready, let's go."
On their way to the door they were unexpectedly stopped by Josh, who only gave Matt a short, somewhat disgusted sideglance before his eyes fell on Arabella. "IM sorry but is that your boyfriend? Why would you date a blind guy, he can't even appreciate the fact that you're a model?" Arabella didn't know wether to tell him off for being a complete douche or correct him and let him know he had it all wrong, but in the end she just looked at him blankly and said; "It's funny, I think he's the only one who really sees me."
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