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“You smell of fur,” Matt says to Danny, in lieu of greeting, as the man climbs up onto the roof and hides behind the drying bed sheets with Matt, Luke, and Jessica.
“Hey Danny,” Luke says.
“Sup Fist Boy?” Jess supplies, then: “why do you smell of fur?”
Danny looks at Jessica with widened eyes. “You can smell it too?”
“No, I’m just entrusting Hornhead over here’s not lying.” Danny flushes a little at that, and then he awkwardly scratches the back of his neck, which Jessica does not fail to narrate to Matt.
“Colleen and I adopted a cat,” he says, “she was a stray.” Jess looks at Matt, and that was a mistake, because now both are trying to restrain their laughter. “Guys!” Danny complains.
“Don’t listen to them, Danny,” Luke says, “it’s nice that you’re adopting a cat.”
“You don’t have to adopt every stray you find on the street,” Jess rolls her eyes, referring primarily to the dog which he named Bill and died of old age, but also to the guinea pigs Peter found in the trash, an alive goldfish Matt chased in the sewers and the snake which was eerily out of place and turned out to be Loki in disguise, which led to rushing Danny to the hospital with an ‘unaccounted for’ stab wound.
Matt nods his head in a solemn agreement, “from personal experiences, I can account for that being one hundred percent true.” Jessica snorts.
“No, this is a good thing,” Luke sticks with his same argument.
“Have you decided who gets guardianship and who gets the weekend visits?” Jessica asks.
Matt keeps up his serious pretence and says: “I know some lawyers who could help you with the specifics, maybe you could even get shared custody... at a stretch.”
“Ugh!” Danny groans, “Luke…” but now, he is also trying not to laugh. “You guys are insufferable.”
“Nailed it.” The saltmates fist bump. Jess points out that they should actually do what they came here to do, which involves Matt swinging over to the adjacent roof, Jessica jumping to the ground, and Danny following after her with a passive aggressive grumble about literally just having climbed up the building and now having to scale down it. Luke chuckles to himself as he takes his position.
The plan is for Matt to jump in and scare the mafia boss or whatever and send his goons running out to Jess and Danny, with Luke waiting on the neighbouring roof because no doubt the leader has a perfect secret back exit that they don’t know about. About half an hour later, the four are walking down the street, Matt making an anonymous phone to the cops, doing an uncanny impression of Alan Rickman.
“Ok,” Jessica says when he hangs up, “that was good.” She takes out her wallet and hands over ten bucks. Matt smirks and pockets the money.
Luke can recognise Danny’s evil-mastermind-planning face from a mile away, and apparently Matt doesn’t need the facial expression to catch on to Danny’s scheming mind as he groans just as Danny says: “Twenty bucks if you do the next one as Kermit The Frog.”
“Danny,” he says, “if I do Kermit the Frog, the cops will think it’s a prank call. The whole thing will have been for nothing.”
“Thirty.”
“No, Danny.”
“Fifty.” Jess whistles at Danny’s offer, and Matt takes in a deep, considering breath. “Luke, tell Double D it’ll be worth it.” He begs, but Luke folds his arms. “What?”
“Luke’s still being pissy with Red,” Jessica explains.
“Why?”
“For the blackout in Harlem.”
“That was Double D’s fault?”
“It wasn’t,” Matt answers, and Luke scoffs. “It actually wasn’t.”
Luke arches an eyebrow; “you’re telling me that the power cut had nothing to do with you?”
“Yes.”
Danny’s confused, and looks at Jess for answers. She just shrugs in that noncommittal way which signals that she doesn’t really give a shit. “Who’d like to meet my cat?” Danny asks, shifting the conversation, and all three of them jump on the opportunity. They walk in near silence to Danny’s house, the only noise being the occasional hum from Matt in response to who knows what.
“What did you name your cat?” Luke asks.
Danny shrugs. “Colleen and I haven’t decided yet, Matt do you want to change?” Jess and Luke wait in the hall whilst Danny leads Matt to the spare room, as if they haven’t been here a hundred times before, and they wait for the man to come back dressed in sweatpants, one of Frank’s skull t-shirts, and neon rimmed shades. A classy mix, Jessica notes.
“Who got you the glasses?”
“Wade,” Matt says, and suddenly it makes sense. “And the tee was from Peter.”
“Does Frank like it?” Jess is risking it now, but Matt doesn’t seem to sense her ill intention and just nods in response, even if his eyebrows are doing the confused thing at the question.
“Yeah, do you?”
“So much, Matt. So much.” He beams and runs his fingers along the edge of the furniture as he walks closer to the pair of them, cocking his head to the side moments before Colleen appears at the top of the stairs.
“Hey guys!” She says, “sorry I couldn’t make it earlier. Practice completely overran.”
“It’s cool,” Luke says, “we’re here to see your cat.”
“Oh! Yeah, sure. She’s in the kitchen.” Colleen leads them through, but Matt stays frozen on the spot next. “Matt?”
“I, uhm…” he says, “never mind.” And he follows after the group, sticking surprisingly close to Jessica. She doesn’t comment, but Jess makes silent extra care not to touch him by mistake. “What’s… what’s a cat?”
Danny stops in his tracks. “You don’t know what a cat is?”
Matt scratches the back of his neck. “I… I thought I did.”
“Hey, we’ll show you.” Danny says, and opens the kitchen door, crossing over to the cat laying spread out across a small bed. He scoops it up into his arms, stroking it besides the ears. “Here,” he takes a step towards Matt, but the man jumps back.
“No thank you.”
“You never saw a cat before you lost your eyesight?” Luke asks, and the man hums.
“I did, our neighbour had one.”
“So… you know what it looks like,” Jess tries to confirm, but he shakes his head, “ok, you can like… make up it’s silhouette or something though, right?”
“It’s confusing,” Matt says, “I uhm, I’ve forgotten things. What things look like; I, ah, I don’t know.” Matt’s never told them this, Jess thinks, and she wonders if it’s recent. She rolls her eyes at the urge she has to comfort him, and just continues to stand as his human shield, figuring that will probably help him more at this point. “I can’t picture anything… but uh, but that isn’t a cat.”
“No, Matt- it’s a cat.” Luke says, and he is telling the truth. So, Matt takes a breath, and takes a step closer to Danny, who’s holding the cat. Danny approaches him slowly, and holds out the cat, but at the last second, Matt ducks back, and swiftly hides behind Jess once more.
Colleen takes the cat from Danny and passes it to Luke, who takes her with ease. Matt frowns. “Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure.”
“So not one hundred percent.”
“Matt, it’s a cat.” Luke says.
“What should we call her?” Colleen asks, and Danny hums indecisively and opens the question up to the group. Suggestions of ‘Cotton’, ‘Mila’, and ‘Whiskey’ have been thrown around when the cat starts to cough.
Matt jumps back into the wall. Everyone looks at him. “Maverick!” He barks out the first name to come to his head, and runs out of the mansion, stumbling over Danny’s rug on the way out of the house.
“Matt!” Danny calls, but the Devil’s already gone.
“You know,” Colleen says, “I don’t hate it.”
“Neither,” Danny says, “so, we’re going with Maverick?” Luke puts the cat down onto the ground, having been holding her for too long, and watches her wander back over to the bed. Collen stands closer to Danny and wraps her arm around him, giving him a kiss.
“I think so.”
“Yuck,” Jessica says, “you guys could at least wait ‘til we’ve gone too.” Luke laughs, shaking his head at the woman. “Have fun with Maverick, she’s cute.”
“Do you think Matt will be ok?” Danny asks, as Jess grabs Luke by the wrist, starting to drag him out of the house.
Jessica rolls her eyes at Danny. “Just give him some time,” she says, “I bet the next time we see him, he’ll have a ton of reasons of why he needs to see the cat to stop being afraid. Man Without Fear my ass.” Luke laughs, and waves ‘bye’ to Colleen and Danny, happily being dragged out of the place.
Sure enough, two meetups later, the four Defenders chilling at Luke’s flat at two in the morning with a couple of beers, all dressed in pyjamas, and Matt, after three failed attempts says: “Danny, I need to see your cat.”
“Uhm… ok.” Danny says, and Matt stands up. “You mean now?”
“This is going to be brilliant,” Jessica says, and the four leave Luke’s (or more like bring Luke’s with them as they don’t leave their drinks and they don’t even bother with shoes) without the faintest idea of how this is going to go down. “You good Murdock?”
“Yeah,” he lies. He’s so not good. They hail a cab.
“We called her Maverick,” Danny says, “I never told you.”
“Karen told us at work,”
“How did Karen know?”
Matt hums, “I think Claire told her.”
“We never told Claire, at least I think Colleen would have said if she spoke to Claire.”
“There’s this thing called ‘texting’,” Jess says, “don’t know if they had it in K’un Lun.” Danny rolls his eyes but lets the matter go. He takes another drink of his beer and checks his pockets for his keys. Before realising he has no pockets, he’s wearing pyjamas. “Why do you take your keys with you on patrol?”
“So that I can get back in,” Danny says, like it’s obvious. Jessica, Matt, and Luke silently and collectively decide that’s a dumbass thing to do. “Matt, can you pick the lock? I don’t want to wake Colleen.”
“Sure,” Matt says, and takes out a paperclip which Jessica knows makes sense that he’d have but is still surprised to see it come out of his pyjama pant pocket. But they are Deadpool merch, so it’d make sense that Wade would make sure he had weapons in there.
Jessica’s not going to doubt Matt’s ability to turn a paperclip into a weapon; that could end badly for all of them.
He bends the paperclip into shape as they walk up the drive, an arm linked with Jess’s and his cane hanging around his wrist, but he stops. “Colleen’s awake- we could just ring the doorbell otherwise she could hear me and stab one of us. Also, Karen has a gun.”
“Karen’s here?” Danny asks, and Matt nods. So, Jessica takes initiative and steps forward to ring the doorbell. A moment later, Colleen answers. “Hey Colleen!”
“Hey,” she greets them all, “I thought you guys were spending the night at Luke’s.”
“We were,” Luke says, “but Murdock wanted to see Maverick again, so here we are.”
“Oh, that’s cool. Come on in.” Colleen holds the door open, and everyone enters the house, wiping their bare feet on the mat, and Colleen points them in the direction of the kitchen. “I was playing with her in the living room, I’ll go and get her.”
Colleen walks off quickly. “What’s with her?” Luke asks, and Danny shrugs. Jessica looks at Matt who has his head cocked to the side, listening to something else then, she figures. Probably the cat.
“She’s hiding Karen, Claire, Marci, Misty, Trish and Joy in the living room.” Jessica stands corrected.
“Oh, that would explain it,” Luke says, and Danny agrees. “So, we’re just gonna forget about the super senses?”
“Super senses,” Colleen says entering the room with Maverick, “shit.”
“No, it’s ok,” Matt says, “Misty, Trish and Joy don’t know who I am.”
“Since when did Marci know?”
Matt looks at Jess like the world doesn’t make sense anymore. “Since college.” That would explain the look. “But I also don’t want Marci to know I’m scared of Maverick.”
“You’re scared of the cat?” Marci asks, from the hallway. “Sorry, Colleen, but there was no point in hiding.” She gestures to Matt. “Are you guys going to join us or not?” So, the five heroes sheepishly follow Marci back into the living room. “I believe you’ve all met.”
“Right,” Misty says, “Mr Murdock? What are you doing up at this time of night?”
“Getting these three out of legal trouble at the station,” he says, gesturing to the Defenders.
“In your pyjamas?” Karen points out, not very helpfully, and Jessica is willing to glare at her for Matt. Karen holds up her hands in surrender but doesn’t retract the question.
“It’s late, and we were closer to Harlem than Hell’s Kitchen.”
“So why are you here?” Misty asks, and Danny points at Maverick. “The cat?”
“Murdock’s scared of cats,” Marci has no problems sharing the information, and Matt groans, taking a seat on the floor next to Jess.
“I’m not scared of cats,” he says, “I’m just… appropriately afraid of Maverick.”
“Maverick is a cat,” Colleen says, picking him up, “do you want to hold her?” Matt grips onto his beer tighter. “She won’t bite.”
“If she did it would be fucking painful,” Matt mutters only loud enough for Jessica to hear, and she takes another look at Maverick, who’s teeth look less lethal than Parker out of the suit. Matt cocks his head to the side. “Can I just… touch her?”
“Sure,” Colleen sits opposite Matt, keeping Maverick steady in her lap, “can I take your hand?” Matt nods and holds his hand out, so focussed on Colleen and Maverick that he doesn’t notice everybody watching him with their breaths held. Colleen slowly moves Matt’s hand towards Maverick. “Ok, you’re just going to stroke her back, ok?” Matt nods, and Colleen places his hand on Maverick’s back. The second he touches her; he jolts his arm away like it burned. “Matt?”
“She’s soft!”
“Uh, yeah…” Colleen says, “Matt, cats are covered in hair.” Matt runs a hand through his, and his face is doing a thing where he tries to adjust for the information he’s just found out. Jess however doesn’t see the problem- they literally found out Danny had a cat because Matt could smell the fur.
“She’s soft,” he repeats, quieter this time.
“Cats do tend to be soft.”
“Matt, are you ok?” Karen asks. He nods. “If you don’t mind me asking… what did you expect Maverick to feel like?” He tilts his head in Karen’s direction, but his attention is entirely on Maverick.
He clicks his tongue. “I thought she’d be… slimy.”
“Slimy?” Marci asks, uncomprehending. She’s not the only one.
“Matt,” Colleen says, “did you ever meet Danny’s guinea pigs?” He nods. “Well, cats feel more like that than his goldfish.”
“No, I didn’t think she’d feel like a fish,” Matt says, “maybe like an… I don’t know. I can’t think of anything visual. But she’s covered in hair. Can I touch her again?” This time when Colleen places Matt’s hand on Maverick, he doesn’t let go right away, and with a deep breath, he strokes the cat. Jessica notices he’s careful not to go close to her face. “She’s not that bad, huh?”
“Are you sure she’s a cat?”
Joy laughs. “Matt, I can assure you, Maverick is a cat.” He hums.
“So,” Danny asks, distracting Maverick with a red pen light, “how often have you all been meeting up when we’ve been out?”
The next night, Matt’s on a stakeout with Frank. They’re sat on a bench by the docks waiting to get some intel from a gang meeting that’s allegedly taking place. “Yellow car,” Frank says, hitting Red for the fifth time.
“Frank.” Matt says.
“Red.” He replies.
“Is that a cat?” He asks, pointing at… a cat, wandering past the docks. Frank takes a moment to reconsider, wondering if it’s a trick question, but he can’t think of any better response than:
“Sure is, Red.” The man hums. Frank doesn’t question it, until twenty minutes later when Matt’s spent more of his time asking Frank to identify cats than hitting for yellow cars. “Ok, what’s up, Red?”
He fiddles with the wire of his grappling hook. “Danny’s got a new pet,” he says, and Frank grunts to show he’s listening, “everyone says it’s a cat.”
“Right,” he says.
“And they’re telling the truth.”
“So, Danny’s got a cat.”
“It’s not a cat,” Matt says, “they thought I didn’t know what a cat was.”
“Did you?”
“I mean, I wasn’t sure. Never spent much time thinking about cats,” he says, which Frank figures is fair. “So, I asked Foggy. He drew a picture, with extra hard imprints so I could understand the shape.”
“Did it help?”
“Not much,” Matt admits, “but they’re small, with four legs and a tail. I went down to the station on my lunch break, he often smells of cat. Turns out Bess feeds their neighbour’s.” Frank hums. “Brett said he could take a break from work, so we went back to find the cat.”
“You find it?”
“Yeah,” he says, “Bess was feeding it.” Frank thinks it’s unfair how bad luck seems to chase Murdock around and the only time he has any good is when he’s on a completely separate and irrelevant mission to anything and anyone else, but oh well. Nothing he can do. “So, Brett let me hold it.” Frank’s struggling to see where this is going. “So, I know what a cat fur smells like, and what they sound like, and…” he trails off.
“Red, I already know you’re creepy, this isn’t going to change that.”
Red cocks his head to the side. “If I wasn’t so busy trying to understand cats, I’d kiss those words right out of your mouth.” Frank desperately pretends he is not blushing and just gives a characteristically evasive grunt. “But I know what their bodies sound like, how everything works- how often they’re hungry, how fast their heart beats, what their blood smells like.”
Frank looks at Matt. “Does it smell different to human blood?”
“A little- not much, but I could distinguish.”
“Good to know,” Frank thinks, and saves that information in the back of his head for a later date. “Point is, now you can pick out a cat in New York. What’s wrong with Danny’s cat?”
“I already said,” he tilts his head in place of an eye roll, “it’s not a cat.” It’s at that point Red gets distracted with the criminals on the dock and the duo sweep in to recover the information they need before splitting up for the night.
Frank’s lying in bed, but what Red was talking about is niggling at the back of his mind like that dumbass song Karen kept humming when she was helping him with some repair work. “Fuck it,” he says, and he grabs his phone and texts Danny. ‘Heard you got a cat,” he sends, and goes to sleep, not expecting a reply until morning.
The reply he gets is ‘sure did, her name’s Maverick’. Top Gun, Frank thinks, and wonders if it was Red’s idea. He remembers Nelson joking about Goose and Maverick one time when he called around the offices.
‘She a real cat, or are y’all just pranking Red?’
The reply he gets is instant: ‘this is Maverick :P’, with a picture of said animal attached. Frank rolls his eyes; “that’s a fucking cat, Red’. He says, waits a couple of minutes, and then remembers to reply.
‘She’s nice. You and Colleen take care of her.’
‘We will.’ Danny replies, and Frank entrusts that they will, so he puts his phone back on charge and gets ready for his day of work.
A few quiet nights pass, but then Maverick gets sick. She’s fine, but Danny and Colleen have an important meeting they can’t miss… and they require a babysitter. “Hey Jess,” Colleen says over the phone, but Jess just tells her this is a ‘fucking bad time’ and hangs up the phone. Danny tries Luke, but he doesn’t answer. Frank’s in Ohio, Joy and Trish are on a date, Foggy’s homebound under Marci’s orders for the night, both are too afraid to ring Brett, and Ward is required at the same meeting as them.
“We could try Misty,” Colleen says, and rings the officer, who is working the nightshift in Harlem and can’t come over. They share a glance. “Karen and Claire?”
“They have the flu.” Danny says, so that leaves them with one final option. “Hey Matt,” Danny says, hoping he doesn’t sound as awkward as he feels. He explains the situation, and Danny really hopes Matt’s at the gym and not on the streets, because whatever’s on the receiving end of the punches he’s throwing isn’t going to survive it.
“Yeah,” he says, “I’ll do it. Just let me lock up, I’ll be there in ten.” True to his word, Matt’s there in ten- though, Matt’s still dressed in his gym clothes.
“Ok,” Colleen says, “she’s probably going to be fine, and you most likely won’t even have to touch her, just… if she throws up, or is in pain…”
Matt nods. “I’ll take care of her, Colleen. Have fun at your overly boring meeting,” he says, and the pair leave the house, leaving Matt alone in the house with an animal which is most definitely not a cat, but he doesn’t understand.
Matt folds up his cane, and places it on the table in the hall, and walks into the living room. Maverick follows him in, padding over to Matt. He shuffles away from her slightly, and his ankle brushes against something soft. “This your toy?” He asks her, picking up.
“Meow.”
Matt does not scream.
That would be childish and completely unnecessary.
But Maverick doesn’t get the hint, and she continues to approach Matt, and she paws at the toy in his hand. A wave of determination washes over him, and Matt will not be scared of her, so he moves to the middle of the floor and sits down cross legged, holding the toy out in front of him, dangling it there tauntingly. It attracts the cat closer, and she’s pawing at it. Matt lowers it to the floor, and starts moving the toy around fast, Maverick jumping after it.
She’s playing.
Matt hums; a mix of fear and curiosity, and a slight hint of content.
By the time he’s worn her out, chasing the soft toys and the ropes which were previously wrapped around his fists from Fogwell’s, Matt feels much more at ease, and Maverick curls up into a ball on his lap. He remains incredibly still, not even daring to breathe. But she shows no ill intent, no desire to hurt Matt, so he slowly places a hand on her fur, and dares to stroke her, just as shocked at the soft fur as the first time.
But Maverick is so soft, and the hair is tickly on his palm, and Matt’s soon stroking her, learning where she prefers to the attention the most. The first time Maverick purrs, Matt stops immediately, and waits an entire half hour before attempting at stroking her again. It turns out Maverick loves the attention, and she also loves Matt, following him around the house when he goes to get a drink or attempts to go to the toilet. Much like Max with Frank, Matt thinks.
“What are you, Maverick?” Matt asks, three hours later, lying on top of the roof with Maverick lying next to his face. He stays close to her, tickling her and enjoying the company. “Even Frank thinks you’re a cat, but you’re not. You’re dangerous.” Maverick meows, as if in offence. “That’s not a bad thing!” Matt jumps in to rectify his mistake. “We’re all dangerous. We’re not like anyone else either. You fit in here.”
When Colleen and Danny finally get back, they try to figure out what happened while they were gone when Maverick is basically mourning the loss of Matt when he goes home with an offer to ‘cat sit, but she’s definitely not a cat Danny’, again. But they let it slide.
It’s Wednesday, and Matt had been at Josie’s with Foggy and Karen as usual when Jess came in requesting Daredevil’s help. Two hours later, and the group had taken down a group of mind-controlled ninjas, but unfortunately with no trace of Kilgrave. Wade says nobody knows what happened to him since the Christmas special. They’re headed back to Danny’s to gate crash Colleen’s girls night when Luke remembers something.
“We need to leave a tip,” he says, “to the police.”
“Oh yeah,” Jess says, “we do. Don’t we Hornhead?”
“Yes. I suppose we do.” Jess hands him her burner, the number pre-dialled, and the three wait expectantly.
“NYPD, how can we help?”
Matt tilts his head to the sky, and Luke would take a guess he’s begging for forgiveness, as for a second later, he recites the address in an honest to God perfect impression of Kermit the Frog. He hangs up, and Jessica can just about make out a slight blush to his cheeks not covered by his cowl. “You actually did it,” she says, “I’m impressed Murdock, didn’t think you’d have it in you.”
He holds out his hand, and Danny takes out his wallet, handing over the promised fifty bucks. “That was awesome!”
“As impressive as it was,” Luke says, “what I’ve learnt from this is that Danny, you literally go out on patrol with your keys and a wallet full of cash in your pocket.”
“You never know!” Is Danny’s explanation, and they don’t get a better one. They reach Danny’s house not soon later, and Matt changes into his spare clothes before joining the group. Misty and Joy aren’t here this time, but every one else still stands, with the addition of Frank to the group. They take their seats, Matt sitting on the floor in the corner.
“Meow,” Maverick jumps up from Claire, and walks straight over to Matt, begging for attention.
“Matt!” Collen gets ready to whisk Maverick away but is fully surprised when he lets her jump straight onto him. “What happened here? I thought you didn’t like cats.”
“I don’t,” he says, “I met Brett’s neighbour’s cat again, and I can confidently say I don’t like cats.” Karen’s jaw drops, Marci looks at Matt like he’s the biggest idiot in the world, and Claire is just… done. He’s literally hugging the cat so tight, stroking her in all of the perfect places, and has his ear pressed against her fur.
“Matt,” Jessica says, “Maverick is a cat.”
“She’s not,” Matt says, “she’s perfect.” He clicks his fingers. “She’s eaten something big.”
“Matt,” Claire says, “please stop listening to what Maverick’s eaten.”
He shakes his head. “No, you don’t understand,” he says, just as Maverick starts coughing. He holds and rubs her, Maverick obviously craving the affection. “She’s eaten a laptop.”
Worried glances are exchanged around the room, and Karen takes a deep breath and voice everyone else’s concern, when Maverick finally finishes coughing, and still in Matt’s embrace, opens her mouth to reveal giant purple tentacles, covered in suckers, and three sets of dagger sharp teeth. Everyone’s screaming, jumping away from the creature, and backing as far away at the hallway, whilst Matt continues to just sit there and stroke Maverick behind the ears.
With his other hand, he runs his fingers along the extending tentacles, and explores the shape of her jaw. “I knew you were slimy,” he says, hugging her closer. The tentacles and extra teeth all retract back into her with a quiet ‘meow’ and leaving Danny’s saliva covered laptop in the middle of the living room floor.
Marci, Trish, and Danny are still screaming, Luke, Karen, Claire, and Colleen have been shocked into silence, and Jess and Frank look at Matt in shock. Nobody can tear their gaze away from the creature.
Marci thinks Matt might actually be the Devil. She then thinks she should spend more of her time listening to Foggy and not get involved in vigilante related shenanigans.
“Murdock; get the fuck away from Maverick! That’s not a cat!” Matt hums in acknowledgement but doesn’t stop petting her.
“I’ll, uh,” Karen says, pulling herself together, “I’ve still got Agent Coulson’s number.” She steps outside to call him, and Frank decides to take a step closer to Matt.
“Red,” he says, “put her down, ok? She’s not a cat, she could kill you.”
“She won’t,” Matt says, and no matter what anybody says, Matt will not leave the definitely-not-a-cat alone.
Coulson arrives within twenty minutes, and the petrified crowd around the living room door confuses him, until his eyes land on Matt sat in the corner, cradling Colleen and Danny’s pet. “Aww,” he says, approaching the duo, “is it a boy or girl?”
“Girl,” Matt says, “she’s called Maverick.”
“Agent,” Luke says, “that’s not a cat.”
“No,” he agrees, “she’s a Flerken. An alien species which look exactly like Terran cats.”
Jessica clears her throat. “What the fuck?”
“They’re incredibly dangerous, and I entrust you would take great care of her, but I cannot allow you to keep her under the new laws of…”
“Take her,” Colleen says. Matt gives Maverick one last squeeze before handing her over to Coulson.
“You know,” he says, on the way out, “Fury has a pet Flerken. Got him when he met Captain Marvel. And you know what the funny thing is,” Coulson shakes his head with a smile, “he’s called Goose.” And with that, Coulson’s gone.
Danny makes some tea. Chamomile, with the attempts to calm everyone down.
“You were right,” Frank says, saying what everyone’s thinking,” it wasn’t a cat.”
“That’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” Luke says, and everyone hums in agreement.
“Danny,” Jessica says, drinking whiskey instead of tea, “next time you go to adopt something out of the gutter, do a full background check first.”
Matt nods his head in a solemn agreement, “that’s what my fifth foster family said about me.” Jessica snorts.
“No, this is still a good thing,” Luke returns to his original argument, “it’s just an unexpected learning curve.”
“So, you going to take the joint custody that lawyer worked so hard for you to get?” Jessica asks.
Matt keeps up his serious pretence and says: “Actually, Danny, you might have to reconsider; it’s not looking promising on the weekend visit front.”
“Ugh!” Danny groans, “Luke…” but unlike the other Defenders, he’s struggling to keep a straight face, whilst everyone else remains completely confused and purposely out of the conversation. “You guys are insufferable.”
“Nailed it.” The saltmates fist bump.