𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 - the neighbor

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𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐃 seen Foggy and Karen out of the apartment, she padded her way back to the bedroom and pressed down on Matt's talking clock just to find out that it was only quarter past two in the afternoon. With a groan she slumped down onto the bed and wondered what the hell she could do; Matt's apartment was bleak and almost entirely empty.

She pushed herself back up and found her shoes and jacket, putting them on at a leisurely pace. She was still tired and ready to pass out, but her stomach was growling so loudly that it made her own growls sound like kitten mews.

She patted her jacket pockets to make sure she had her wallet, grabbed the apartment key Matt had left on the coffee table and left.

The first place the wolf trailed to was the only Chinese take-out place that she could find that was actually open so early. Even though she had debated buying and trying something different; she settled for her usual and picked Matt up the same.

The next thing the woman wanted to do was visit Jessica, the only issue was that Malcome was likely there; neither he nor Trish knew she was alive; perhaps she would take the cowards way out and ask Jessica to tell them for her, it might help her avoid another smack at least.

With her mindset on doing exactly that, Olivia walked her way back to the quiet apartment and let herself in; quickly storing Matt's food in the fridge that was completely empty, bar a few bottles of sauce.

The wolf poured her own food onto a plate she found whilst searching through the cupboards and settled onto the couch in silence.

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After Olivia had demolished her meal and rubbed her bloated stomach like a pregnant woman for at least twenty minutes, she tried her best to stay awake and wait up for the vigilante with a death wish, but by eight in the evening she had migrated towards the bed and the second her head hit the pillow it was game over.

She slept like the dead.

And by slept like the dead, I mean the dead. She didn't wake up until the following morning at eleven. Thankfully Matt did have a mirror in his bathroom, probably for his previous guests he would have over. But at least Olivia could sort out the absolute mess that almost fifteen hours of sleep had turned her into.

Without a second thought, she jumped into the shower and let the water wash away the bird's nest that had gathered atop her head. She stepped out twenty minutes later, ringing her hair out and drying herself down.

Now, she might have gotten a little too comfortable with Matthew, because she slipped on her jeans she had been wearing and padded into his room, rifled through his closet, and slipped on one of his jumpers. He couldn't be annoyed, after all, she had already been wearing one, it was a swap... Plus, his clothes were soft, so she didn't care.

She frowned.

"Oh my God, Matt!" She yelled to herself with wide eyes as she mentally slapped herself. How on earth could she have forgotten about the poor man, and more importantly, why the hell wasn't he back?

"I'm a fucking mess." She whispered harshly to herself as she tugged her jacket on and rushed to slide her feet into her boots before practically throwing herself out of the apartment.

She tried to speed her way out of the building but was stopped when an older woman popped her head out of her door. "Hello, I haven't seen you around here?"

"Oh yeah, I'm uh, I'm a friend of Matt's."

"Murdock? Is he okay? I haven't seen him either."

The wolf's mouth opened and closed for a moment before she spoke, "Oh, he's been staying with me."

A knowing smile blossomed on the women's lips, "Oh, I see. You're his new girlfriend, aren't you?"

Olivia blinked, well, it would be much easier for her to just say yes than to disagree and have to think of some other explanation as to why the man hadn't returned home for almost three months. "Yeah, I am. I'm actually on my way to go and meet him."

"Oh! Well tell him I said hello, it's been lovely to meet you..." The woman dragged out.

"Liv."

"Liv. I'm Fran. It's been lovely to meet you. Matt will treat you right."

Olivia nodded with a quick smile as she played into the lie as much as possible, "I know, it's been great meeting you."

"See you later, dear."

"Bye." Olivia waved and quickly pushed herself out of the building.

Once she was outside, she ducked herself into an alley, unzipped her jacket, and grasped the bottom of the jumper, hoping that it still had enough of Matt's scent on it. She brought the hem of the jumper up to her nose and inhaled deeply.

It was weak, but the scent was there and just enough to go by; the only issue was, it was broad daylight and therefore she couldn't quite run at her full speed or vault herself over rooftops. She had to be human.

The city was buzzing as always; people were bumping shoulders and the honking of horns sounded out every minute. Whilst her eye would twitch every time someone bumped into her, she continued on and tried to ignore it.

Eventually, she turned herself into a relatively empty street and continued to follow the scene that was stuck in her nose.

She traversed through the streets as the scent grew stronger and the sky grew darker and eventually, she turned a corner and found him. There he was, stumbling his way forward, hand dragging along a wall to help him stand.

He was covered in bruises, blood, and cuts. But what confused her the most was the fact that he was leaving a small trail of water as he walked.

"Matt?" She called out and the man's head snapped up.

His eyes were drooping due to the lack of sleep and his voice was hoarse, "Olivia?"

"Jesus Christ." She muttered before walking over to the man, wrapping an arm around his waist and moving one of his to rest around her shoulders as she held him up.

"You found me."

"Well, my own company was getting boring."

"Thanks."

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By the time Olivia had managed to haul Matthew back to his apartment -after he passed out and she had to actually carry the man- it was already dark and she could see the stars blinking in the night sky.

She had somehow managed to hold Matthew up and open the apartment door. Once the door was shut and safely locked, she carried Matt to the couch and carefully laid him down before quickly retreating to the bathroom to find something to clean his wounds.

She grimaced at the thought, already sorry for the poor man; she didn't exactly have any experience in cleaning wounds, she never had the need to but she assumed some clean and cold water would do for removing the blood.

She pulled the coffee table closer to the couch and took a seat on its hard surface after moving the envelopes and other pieces of paper out of the way, setting down the jug of cool water and clean towel down.

Olivia reached out a hand and grasped one of his, bringing it closer to herself to dab the wet towel onto his knuckles. The blood wasn't too hard to remove, it wasn't quite fresh but whatever the hell had happened to soak the man to the bone made it much easier to get off.

The hand that held his was slowly flooded with coal colored veins as she took his pain, knowing that even just a water-soaked towel rubbing on his wounds was probably not the most comfortable feeling.

She had managed to clean both hands free of the red substance without waking the man. She leaned forward to get a better view of his beaten face and carefully began to dab at the wounds.

When the towel made contact with a particularly raw-looking wound, Matthew's dark eyes flew open and he sucked in a harsh breath, his hands flying towards Olivia's wrists and locking them in a tight hold.

"Hey," She whispered as she blinked out of her shock, "It's just me."

"Liv?" He breathed as his eyes darted back and forth.

She hummed and waited as he slowly loosened his grip before she continued to wipe the blood away, "What happened?"

"Fisk. He has control over the prison, the guards and prisoners attacked me under his orders."

The wolf paused in her actions, "How the hell did you get out?"

He forced a chuckle before wincing as Olivia continued to dab at his face, "I got to Vic, he uh, he took some convincing but he and his boys helped me get out."

"And uh-" Olivia spoke as she looked over his suit that was still very much damp. "-why are you wet?"

"Passed out in the taxi, one of Fisk's men took over the wheel and uh, well, he jumped out of the car that was heading towards the docks."

She nodded slowly, eyes blinking rapidly as she pulled back from cleaning the final wound, "I should've come with you."

Matt groaned and shook his head as he sat himself up with Olivia's help. "No, they would've found out who you were."

He was right, but it didn't make her feel any better as her eyes glossed over his bruised face. Fisk had no idea that Matt was associating himself with someone, someone other than Foggy or Karen; that meant that she was safe and as long as she kept her face covered, he never would find out.

Olivia stood and brushed her hands against her jean-clad thighs before pushing the coffee table back to its original position. "Right, you need to eat."

Matt lifted his head, sniffing the air, "Chinese food?"

"Yup, I got hungry after..." She paused, remembering the little visit she had received from Foggy and Karen.

"After?"

"Well... after Foggy and Karen showed up." She spoke as she opened the fridge to pull out the food she had left in there.

"Let me guess, Foggy told her?"

Olivia poured the food out onto a plate and brought it over to the man, she wasn't sure about him, but cold Chinese food was amazing. "Did you really expect him not to?"

He muttered out a small thanks as he took the plate and cutlery, she had handed him, "No, guess I didn't."

Rather than continue the conversation, knowing it would only worsen his mood, she changed the subject in hopes of making the man laugh, "By the way, your neighbor Fran? She thinks we're dating."

Matt choked on his food and brought a hand up to his mouth as he coughed, "She does?"

"Well, she wanted to know where you had been so I told her you were staying with me, she thought I was your girlfriend; thought that would be easier than the real reason."

Matt chuckled as he shook his head, trust Fran. "What did she say?"

A sly grin spread on her lips as she leaned forward, her voice full of mockingly sweet, "She said you'd treat me right."

He let out a hearty chuckle as he ducked his head, swallowing his mouthful of food, "Of course I would."

"Oh, really?" Olivia retorted.

"Would you expect anything less of me?"

"I guess not."

"Really?"

"Am I wrong? Because you sound surprised."

Matt smirked without answering, bringing another forkful of Chinese food to his mouth. He was surprised, not because he wouldn't treat her right, but more so because people knew that he wasn't exactly a 'relationship' type of man. He would never disrespect someone but he was shocked to hear the sincerity in her tone.

"You look far too happy about our fake relationship," Olivia commented, teasingly.

"I can't appreciate it?"

A fond smile crossed her features as she folded her arms and sunk into the chair, "You are such a loser."

"Wow, this relationship really isn't working out."

"I hate you." She tried to speak with sincerity and yet she couldn't quite fight the grin she wore.

"Yeah? Well your heart says different."

"Eat your damn food."

"Whatever you say, sweetheart."

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The pair had continued to banter back and forth as if Matt getting beaten up in a prison and almost drowning had never happened, and truthfully, he was thankful that Olivia had pushed the subject to the side. He didn't stop teasing her about their 'fake' relationship and the woman never relented either; she met him halfway with teasing and mildly flirtatious comments until. Both of them promptly ignoring the slight race in their hearts.

Once Matt had finished eating, Olivia stood and made her way into his bedroom, picking out the first sweater and pair of sweatpants she could find before walking back into the living room and throwing them onto the man's lap before making her way into the bathroom to wash her face.

When she had finished doing what she needed to do, she padded her way back into the space where Matt was; he was dressed in his sweatpants but still had the blood-stained shirt on, blazer discarded on the ground along with his suit pants.

"That the look you're going for?" Olivia snorted as the man stood still.

"It hurts."

Olivia had to bite her lip to stop herself cackling at his tone; he sounded like a pouting child. Her voice shifted to sound like she was talking to a child. "Oh, you poor baby!"

Matt shook his head at her, a small pout on his face as felt her make her way towards him.

She laughed at the look on his face as she began to unbutton his shirt. "This is just your way of getting me to take your clothes off, isn't it?"

Matt's lips tugged upwards, replacing his pout, "It's working, isn't it?"

She finished unbuttoning the shirt, helping to slide it off his arms, "The blood is really adding to the mood." She hummed in amusement as she picked up the sweater that had been left on the couch.

"Though-" She continued as she helped slide the article of clothing over his head, "that is your perpetual scent."

"Didn't seem to be a problem for me before."

"Are you- are you bragging?"

Matthew shook his head, knowing that the woman thought he was eluding to his... previous partners. "That's not what I meant."

"I know." Olivia grinned as she patted his cheek lightly.

Matt rolled his eyes in amusement before skirting around the wolf and walking towards his bedroom. He settled himself on the further side of the bed before raising a brow. "You just gonna stand there?

"Oh, I see," Olivia began as she slowly approached the room, a wolfish grin on her lips, "First an excuse for me to take off your clothes, and now you have your excuse to get me to sleep with you."

Matt chuckled, his head flying backward and into the pillow below him, "You got me."

"Mhm, I know your tricks, Murdock." Olivia slid into the bed beside him, shivering at the new warmth as she hummed contently and rolled onto her side, "Goodnight, flirt."

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23-08-2020