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The Problem with Crimes and Partnership

Summary:

In which Matt is a bamf, Steve had a misunderstanding, and the author greatly exaggerated Matt’s abilities for the sake of self indulgence.

Notes:

This was written for Helgas birthday. Helga, ilysm!!

Note: Matt’s abilities are greatly amplified bc idk the baseline and I am a simp.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Steve POV

Steve had heard the rumors about Daredevil, but he wasn't sure if he believed them, not after what he had heard from Clint over the months. Surely the badass vigilante that civilians were always talking about wasnt the dumpster diving mess that Clint described, was he? He wasn't sure, though, so Steve decided to see for himself.

Steve wasn't surprised at how easy he found the Devil, considering the reports of him coming whenever people called, but he was sure that they were at least exaggerated. Apparently not though, because when he entered Hell's Kitchen muttering about where the hell Daredevil was, a figure dropped from a rooftop in front of him.

“Right here,” the man said, and Steve was able to just make out the horns of his costume in the darkness.

“Jesus,” Steve said. “How the hell do you do that? Clint said you weren't a demon. Were you lying?”

“I'm not a demon. You called, I was in the area. Why are you in the Kitchen?” the Devil all but growled. Steve put his hands up in the universal sign for surrender.

“I just want to talk. I've heard lots of things about you, and I want to get the story straight.”

“Then talk,” Daredevil said. Steve paused for a second, deciding how to start.

“I need to make sure you're not a threat,” Steve started slowly. The Devil tilted his head.

“I'm not.”

“I've heard stories that say otherwise.”

“You of all people should know better than to trust the stories,” Daredevil said. Steve got the unnerving feeling that Daredevil was pulling him apart with his gaze, stripping him of his secrets and his pride.

“Which is why I came to ask you instead,” Steve said, feeling suddenly defensive. This Devil guy was starting to creep him the fuck out. Daredevil smiled, a dark grin that made the feeling even worse.

“What do you want to know?”

“What you can do, first of all,” Steve said. The Devil tilted his head further to the side, the smile dropping off of his face.

“I suppose you'll have to find out,” he said, flipping out of the alley, leaving Steve no choice but to follow him.

***

Matt POV

When Matt heard the bank being robbed six blocks away, all he could think was how good the timing was. He definitely did not want to have a conversation with Captain Righteous about his vigilante identity, and he wanted even less to be explaining his abilities to someone who had the power to fuck over not only his life, but the ones he loved as well.

Matt had to applaud Steve for his attempt at subtlety as he followed him across the rooftops. Any normal human might not have realized they had a tail. Unfortunately for Steve, Matt could hear the heartbeats of everyone in Hell's Kitchen, and screams from miles away. Fortunately for Steve, though, Matt had meant for him to follow.

When Matt arrived at the bank, Steve was ready to jump straight in and start kicking ass, but Matt grabbed him by the shoulder. Steve's heartbeat spiked.

“What the-”

“We can't go in without a plan,” Matt said. Steve made some kind of gesture, though Matt wasn't entirely sure what.

“What's your plan, then? And how’d you know this was happening?”

“Police hotline,” Matt lied. “And you're going to go to the vault and disarm the bomb while I get the theives and free the hostages.”

“The bomb?” Steve asked incredulously. “You know what? I'm gonna trust you on this. But like hell am I gonna be the one to disarm the bomb. I don’t have the smarts for that; I’m gonna save the hostages. You take care of the bomb.” He tossed an object at Matt and ran into the bank before Matt could explain why that was a terrible plan. Not that he could.

Upon further inspection, Matt found that the object was an earpiece. He cringed as he put it in his ear, the shriek of the vibrations grating his eardrums. He turned off the receiver, leaving only the output setting on so he could talk to Steve.

Getting into the basement of the bank was easier than it really should have been. For a group of armed thieves robbing one of the biggest banks in Hell's Kitchen, they were amateurs. There were a lot of them, though; Matt could hear them giving Steve trouble upstairs.

The bomb ticked steadily against a wall, not even attached to anything. From what Matt could tell, there were several wires sticking out of it and a screen on the front.

“Found the bomb,” Matt said into the comm. “How do I disarm it?”

“Describe it for me,” Steve grunts. Matt edges a little closer, trying to feel the smaller details in the air.

“Boxlike. Lots of wires sticking out. Small. There's a timer.” The faint ticking was loud to Matt's ears, but he wasn't sure if anyone with normal hearing would even be able to make it out. There was an overpowering smell of radium coming from the face of it.

“What does the timer say?”

 

“I can't make it out,” Matt lied. Steve snorted, soft enough for any audio receiver to struggle to pick it up, but audible to Matt. He didn't believe him.

“Right, then find the curly wire with metal tips. It should be green if there's more than one.” There were, in fact, more than one, but Matt had no idea which one was green.

“Uh, any other identifying factors?” He asked.

“Are there multiple green wires?” Steve asked, but he didn't give Matt time to answer. “Fine, I'm coming down there. You go up and fight.” Matt grunted his approval and vaulted himself out of the room.

***

Matt finished the thieves quickly and efficiently and was untying the hostages when Steve came storming up from the vault.

“Daredevil, a word?”

“A minute, Rogers. There are civilians tied to chairs.” Matt finished untying the rest of the hostages and met Steve outside the bank.

“The light was bright fucking blinding,” Steve fumed. “The timer has three minutes left, and it had radium in it, so it could glow in the fucking dark, anyways. And there was only one curly green wire, which should have been obvious and bold to anyone but a goddamn blind man.”

“Listen, Cap-” Matt started with a sigh, but Steve interrupted him before he could finish.

“What even was that? That should have been the easiest takedown you've done! From what I heard, you single handedly took down the Japanese Yakuza!”

“Not single handedly, and not relevant. We got the job done.” Matt took off running and leapt up the side of a building and got ready to run home along the rooftops, but Steve followed him.

“You can't just get away with slacking on the job, Devil,” Steve snapped. “You endangered lives today.”

“Rogers, I did what I'm best at: fighting. We got the job done, so it's finished.”

“Heartless son of a-” Steve muttered under his breath. Matt pretended not to hear.

“Fine,” Steve said aloud. “If fighting is what you want, fighting is what you'll get.”

Steve whipped his shield at Matt, but he flipped out of the way and spun a kick in return. He yanked out his billy clubs, throwing one at Steve and hitting him in the side with the other. Steve grunted at the pain of the stick hitting against injuries he sustained in the fight, but he threw a punch at Matt, trying to sweep his legs out from under him. Matt dodged out of the way and yanked his arm down, pulling Steve over his shoulder and flat on his back. He placed a boot on his chest while Steve struggled to get up and sighed.

“I don't want to fight you, Captain. We're on the same side here.”

“Then why did you risk civilian lives by lying about a bomb?” Steve asked angrily. Matt groaned internally. He was hoping to avoid this, but that didn't really seem like an option here.

Matt stepped off of Steve and held out a hand to help him up, earning a confused grunt. Still, Steve took the hand and climbed to his feet.

“The hell are you..” Steve trailed off as he watched Matt pull his helmet off.

“I couldn’t see the damn bomb, Rogers,” Matt said, relishing Steves the horrified gasp.

“Oh my god, I didn't even- god, I'm so sorry,” Steve stuttered. “I never would have-”

“Nobody does,” Matt laughed. “You should've seen Clint’s reaction.”

“If you're- if you're blind, then how do you, you know-”

“Fight? Think of it like echolocation,” Matt explained. “I can sense things around me.” Steve slapped a palm to his forehead, his heart beating sporadically.

“Jesus. I can't believe I got my ass beat by a blind man.”

Notes:

Happy birthday, Helga!