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duckapus · 5 months ago

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SMG4 Faces the Consequences of Not Buying Physical or Pirating

AKA The One Where the CCC Avatars Get Got

We start off with Jayin and Mr. L going over the plan, which goes like this; L, Reboot Saiko, Brobot and Rhythmi will each go after one of the CCC Avatars with their respective purchase key, represented by actual big goofy-looking gold key props Because Cartoon. They have to actually stick it into the Avatar in order for the Recall to take effect. When it does take effect, anyone and anything that's not meant to be in the game (memes, Code-Level beings, SMGs, visitors, etc) will be left behind, presumably to fade away into the code-dense ether if it isn't something that can survive in that. (I know the initial plan was for the Recall to just Happen all of a sudden but I've been having Ideas this whole time and it grew into an action setpiece). The only exception to non-native entities getting left behind is Tama, thanks to her recent Full Integration into the game's code.

Mr. L's going after Juliano, Saiko for Tulip, Brobot for Nimbus, and Rhythmi for Irene, and they'll also have basic Twilight enemies from CCTG as backup, and will be employing L's Anti-Admin tech to keep the USB avatars (and Emulator) trapped in their Podspace and block anyone from getting in so they can't interfere (it'll also somewhat weaken any Code-Level entities already inside so they'll only be Very Difficult to deal with instead of an instant loss).

Juliano

Mr. L strolls into the Showgrounds with an army of weird shadow monsters like he owns the place and demands they hand over Juliano, who has no idea what's going on, then sends the monsters to attack without waiting for an answer. Everyone there quickly works out that something really weird is going on, because Mr. L's almost always been focused on the Mario Bros before and suddenly switching to Juliano specifically while the whole mysterious amnesia thing is going on is kinda sus. Most of the crew along with a bunch of Leggys from the Meme Factory (there were tons of them I insist that they didn't disappear when Meggy went back to normal) sticks around to fight off the monster horde and distract Mr. L while the Bros, 4, Meggy, Bob and Toad throw Juliano in Luigi's RV and book it.

Mr. L eventually gets away from them and makes chase using the tank version of Brobot L-Type. So now there's a car chase through the streets of New Donk City, which the police and army get involved in since Mr. L's an extremely wanted criminal. Luigi tells everyone to use all the modifications from the demolition derby that Mario was supposed to get rid of but totally never did, and Toad gets to use a roof-mounted machine gun turret. Mr. L actually questions why Toad is helping since last he remembers he doesn't even like the rest of the group, and Toad's response is of course to just flip him off and yell "SUCK MY DDDDDD!!!!!" Because Toad.

Eventually the chase leads them to SMG3's old Gauntlet of Gloom. The good guys run in, and L tries to follow them only to be met by Stu and Pid, who tell him that to brave the challenges of the tower he must first answer their Riddles Three. He of course asks why he can't just kill them and move on, and in response they introduce their new manager; Slenderman.

...He answers their Riddles Three.

(I should note that in an actual episode we'd be periodically switching scenes between the four capture attempts, but since this is a summary I'll not be doing that. I'm putting this note here since it's the most obvious place for a jump-cut so far.)

Anyway, after getting up to the control room he gets into a fight with the group, and has clearly prepared to exploit all their weaknesses, so eventually they're all defeated and he approaches the spot where they've stashed Juliano... only for it to actually be Old Man Hobo in a wig, a recolored outfit and Juliano's top hat (as an explanation for why his CCTG model doesn't have it). The real Juliano is with the Haltmann kids, Marcy and Saiko in the Meme Factory's Great Glass Elevator, headed towards a safehouse in the Splatlands.

Mr. L gets so pissed that he fucking snaps and starts laughing uncontrollably, Super Jumps through the ceiling to the roof, pulls out Domains Western Spaghetti Headset, summons his Circuit model around himself as a sort of Code-Level power armor, and takes off towards the Elevator. I should also note that he made an exception for Circuit in the Program Weakening Field because why wouldn't he. He actually straight-up rams through it, sending everyone inside flying and falling onto the hard desert ground, and they do their best to fight him but with their injuries from the fall are no match for a full-power Program, so he grabs Juliano, sticks the Key in him, and flees through a portal.

Tulip

Tulip's being checked over by Kelsie when the attack comes due to her more volatile condition compared to the other three, and Kelsie actually manages to get out a very brief, may-or-may-not-have-even-gotten-out distress signal because Reboot Saiko was a little bit careless and only activated her anti-Admin tech right when she attacked instead of preemptively. Tulip's got no idea why a purple ninja and a robot girl with a hammer (who she can somehow understand despite not speaking Japanese) are fighting over her and would rather not stick around to find out, and Dale, 7 and 10 are inclined to agree with her (even though they do actually know who the two are), so they all try to make a break for the van...and there's a bunch of shadow monsters between them and it because of course.

Fortunately, it was one of Ashley's modeling days so he shows up, does a Team Rocket style quick-change-reveal (Tulip: how do you yank off a sundress and suddenly have more clothes than before!?), sends out whatever Pokemon he has on hand, then jumps into the fray himself because he has Aura Powers and can Do That Now. The Kelsie vs Saiko fight bursts through a wall into the front lawn where the Pokemon vs Twilight fight is already going on at some point, so Ash, Pikachu and Primeape switch from fighting the mooks to helping with the boss because the rest of the Pokemon have crowd control more-or-less covered.

It's very fast paced, at one point Primeape gets in enough Shadow Punches to Evolve into Annihilape, but they're fighting a Murder Drone (and one who has its normal weaknesses mostly removed no less) who has built-in Anti-Admin tech and happens to be Saiko FUCKING Bichitaru in full Hyper-Sadistic Yandere Mode, plus it's going on long enough that though there is now a path to the van every Pokemon except Pikachu Gengar and Staraptor is knocked out, so things aren't exactly going great, especially when Ash gets thrown through one of the few parts of the front wall that's still standing.

And then suddenly there's blue stiletto knives in Saiko's wing joints.

Everything stops and they look up to see Cursor of all people on the roof since apparently she was close enough to both get Kelsie's distress call and get in before the portal jammer went up. So now Saiko's up against two Admins, one of which is specifically designed for combat and is used to fighting at a disadvantage, and her quarry is getting away. So once she gets an opening she breaks off from the fight and flies after the van, and once they check on Ash (he's fine, he's actually already getting up and telling them he'll catch up) Kelsie and Cursor turn into a barn owl and a giant prehistoric dragonfly respectively and take off in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile in the van, Pikachu is doing his best to help Tulip calm down, which considering his attitude, the fact he's a giant talking rat, and the whole "Dale is breaking every traffic law in existence trying to get away from a psychotic killer robot" thing, is going about as well as you'd expect. Anyway, Saiko manages to catch up and is now having to deal with Gengar and Staraptor attacking her, and then SMG7 gets on the roof with a TF2 minigun to provide supporting fire Because Odd Number SMG, and eventually Saiko gets thoroughly sick of everything and throws her hammer at the van so hard it blasts clean through the back, the dashboard, the engine, all the way through the front and into the road causing the whole damn thing to fucking backflip.

With 7 still on top of it.

This is just about where another one of Tulip's lucid moments starts.

Meanwhile back at the mansion, Ash has apparently been chugging an obscene number of X-Speeds and fully intends to straight-up run on foot fast enough to catch up with everyone. And considering he sets off a small sonic boom when he starts running he's probably gonna manage it.

Kelsie and Cursor arrive on the scene where there is just Absolute Carnage. The van's a flaming wreck, Dale and Gengar are unconscious, 10's hysterical and clinging to 7's broken body, Tulip's seemingly in the midst of a panic attack while Pikachu and Staraptor are barely standing but still keeping themselves as a shield between her and Saiko, and everyone who can be injured is. Kelsie immediately goes Medic Mode and makes a beeline for the SMGs while Cursor hurls herself at Saiko like a bat outa hell, soon joined by a Supersonic Ash Ketchum.

Kelsie finds out that 7's broken most of her bones, including her spine, and has several ruptured organs, (also she's somehow still awake and can't feel her legs) so it's taking everything she has just to keep the poor girl's condition stable because this is bad enough that even Vitality would've had trouble and Kelsie's good but she's no Vitality yet.

Anyway, the thing about X-Speeds is that eventually they wear off (and they're not exactly safe for human consumption, especially as many as Ash just used) so the boost from them doesn't last too long, and the fight's been going on long enough that even Cursor's getting tired despite being and Admin and robots don't get tired, so soon enough all the little mistakes accumulate to the point where Saiko can get past them and finally tag Tulip with her Key.

The world starts fading away around them with some very conspicuous exceptions, and Cursor very quickly realizes what's about to happen and comes up with a plan, yelling at Ash to make a portal to anywhere but there and then once he does grabbing the edges of it and pouring everything she's got into it, with the resulting supercharge sending every non-native element on the server to the location Ash set, which was of course his own world.

Him, his Pokemon, the two Admins and the SMGs land in his mom's living room, since that was the first place he thought of, and as you can imagine Delia is very surprised so suddenly have a bunch of very injured people and Pokemon in her house. Once they land it's like a switch flips and he goes into full Regional Champion Ash Ketchum mode, sending Kelsie and the SMGs to Viridian Hospital with Delia so they can handle 7 (and also 10 since she was also in a massive car crash but she's not the one actively dying so it's a slightly lower concern. Delia's going to keep the poor girl from falling apart), sending Pikachu and Staraptor to Oak's Lab with the balls of the rest of the team both to get them healed and so Pikachu can tell the Professor and Ash's SMGs what's going on, has Mimey keep an eye on Cursor who's completely knocked out on the couch and will be for a while because between the fight and her crazy portal trick she's completely drained, and Ash himself needs to call basically every Major Official-Type Person he knows to get the refugees from Renata handled, starting with the other Champions, as well as call the other Avatars when he's got that squared away.

Nimbus

Dedede and Tune are both in town when shit goes down. Brobot shows up in his Mr. M body with Twilight monsters, and unlike with the other two it's not going his way at all, because he's got an entire army to deal with, Harmonian light magic is super-effective against creatures of pure Darkness, they have a goddamn mythical Pokemon (though the anti-portal field does apparently work on Hyperspace Hole so Hoopa doesn't have it all his way), they have an Absol so they had advanced warning that something was about to go down, they have King Goddamn Dedede and a Megaman Ripoff with a full arsenal of special weapons who fights dirty, and Canon Nimbus is very much not defenseless, nor is she going to stand idly by while whatever this thing is attacks her and her home.

They actually manage to outright destroy Brobot. Or at least, his current body.

Turns out there's now plenty more where that came from. And he can control several at once without any issues. So now instead of dealing with a near-endless swarm of mindless shadow monsters they're dealing with a near-endless highly coordinated army of Mario robots, which is significantly more of a challenge.

Especially when one of them manages to get his hands on Tama and decides to use her as a hostage.

Even when she has no memory of this kitten who's calling her "Mama," Nimbus absolutely can't let anything happen to Tama, so she actually end up turning herself over willingly. And when the world starts fading away, there's no Admin to save them. There is however the Hyperlink Gates, which gives Tune a crazy, stupid idea. The group (at least, the ones that aren't getting taken away) runs for the gate and inputs the coordinates for Dreamland, then Tune wires her arm into it and tells 8 and 9 to boost her as much as possible. The result is similar to what happened in Renata, except for two details.

Number one is that something went funky with the coordinates due to the rewire and they landed in the Anime Dreamland in the middle of Cappy Town's main square (that circular spot with the big tree).

Number two is that Tune's arm blew up and she needs some medical attention.

So, the group runs for Doctor Yabui's clinic, Dedede starts organizing Search and Rescue and temporary housing for the Harmonian refugees (both the local memes and any tourists) by barking orders at everyone in earshot (both getting some of them to actually start the search parties and getting others to send messages to the actual authority figures in the castle, including, unfortunately, his local counterpart). Cappy Town is thankfully familiar with this bigger, nicer more impressive Dedede, so they're immediately On It. He also calls Bandana Dee and finds out that about half of the refugees did get to the right Dreamland and the Star Allies already have things handled there even though they don't exactly know what's going on.

In the meantime 8 and 9 get in touch with 11 and 12 to let them know what happened to Tune, since I imagine they're kind of freaking out about sensing that their Avatar is suddenly seriously injured somewhere when she was supposed to just be checking in on Nimbus.

Also Dapple is very much freaking out because this whole situation is way too similar to her tragic backstory, and she needs something to take out her rage on that isn't breakable and/or important (there's just so many breakable and important things, you know? Cities, people, planets...). Fortunately, she landed in Cloudy Park, and Kracko is an unrepentant asshole who can't die in a way that matters.

Hello misplaced aggression.

Irene

I've unfortunately not got as much detail here as the rest of them, both because there's just not as much to work with with Irene and because this has been a very long post.

When we get our first look at the scene, Rhythmi's already got the SMGs and Comets wrapped up in her webs, and is slowly closing in on Irene, clearly having decided to drag this out and savor the poor child's fear.

And then a giant green flyswatter flattens her.

What follows is an absolutely insane, utterly hilarious fight sequence where Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda show off just how much Anti-Admin tech doesn't work on Fairly Oddparents Fairies. But one slip's all it takes and the fact they aren't allowed to kill her is a massive disadvantage considering the kind of person they're up against, so eventually Rhythmi stops playing, finds an opening, and goes in for the kill. Timmy realizes what's about to happen to all the memes and wishes that everyone was somewhere safe, and they all get Poofed to Equestria.

End Result: All CCC Avatars (and their games) captured, zero casualties, three hospitalizations, the Admins will now know who was controlling Circuit, Cursor's a hero and everyone somehow has to live with that now, and there's a 95% chance SMG7 will never be able to walk again.

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loveroftoomanyfandoms · 1 year ago

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Cooking Up Love, Chapter 14

Pairing: Chef!Matt Murdock x F!Journalist!Reader

Rating: T

Story Summary: Here

Warnings/Tags: Hallmark levels of fluffy, cheesy goodness (and speed that their relationship develops, lol), no use of Y/N, Matt is not a vigilante, idiots in love, revenge is sweet 😉

Word Count: ~3800

A/N: A heartfelt thanks to everyone who has read, liked, reblogged, and/or commented on this not-so-little self-indulgent Chef AU of mine -- like Chef Matt, I appreciate each and every one of you.

I would be remiss if I didn't give a special shout-out to the OG members of the Traumatized Irish Catholic Boys Discord server for the encouragement and cheerleading while I was writing this story -- @souliebird, @theradioactivespidergwen, @mattmurdocksscars, & @bellaxgiornata -- y'all are the reason Chef Matt even exists and for that I can't thank you enough.

While this may be the end of the main story, like every good (and some not-so-good, tbh) cheesy Hallmark rom-com, there's lots more to this tale! Chef Matt and Reader don't want to let me go, so I have more planned for them. Whether it winds up being several smaller one-shots or another multi-chapter thing remains to be seen, however, so stay tuned!

As always, thanks to @theradioactivespidergwen for the divider!

Tag List: @yarrystyleeza @hailey-murdock @mattkinsella @bellaxgiornata @danzer8705 @chezagnes @shouldbestudying41 @thepunisherfrankcastle @mattmurdocks6thscaleapartment @roseslovedreams

"Girl, you should have seen her," Skyler said as she filled you in over the phone on everything that had happened that morning at the Bulletin . "When she first walked into the office and saw all your stuff missing from your desk she got this smug-ass look on her face -- she was so sure you had either quit in embarrassment or had gotten fired over that article. God , was it satisfying to watch karma bite her in the ass."

You huffed out a laugh. "So then what happened?"

"Ellison had asked me to let him know when Kelsie had made it in, so I texted him and he immediately called her to his office,” Skyler continued. “She thought for sure that she was getting reassigned to Features so she made a big production of having 'no idea' as to what Ellison wanted then took her sweet time going to his office. Little did she know what was actually in store."

She chuckled. "She was fuming by the time she came marching out of there. First she tried denying the whole thing, then once Ellison showed her the proof we had gathered she accused you of trying to frame her, then she accused me of trying to frame her, then by the time she had packed her desk and was being escorted out of the building by security she had accused Ellison of trying to frame her and was threatening to sue the Bulletin for wrongful termination. I'm so glad you waited until after she had left for the weekend to move your stuff over to your new desk because the moment she realized that her little scheme hadn't worked and you had just moved to a bigger, better desk was priceless."

You sighed and shook your head. "Well, at least it's over and I can just move on with my life."

Skyler was quiet for a moment. "Still haven't heard from Matt?"

Your heart squeezed. You were still hurt and angry that he would believe that you would stoop so low as to pretend to get close to him in order to write a tell-all article full of false information simply to further your career as an investigative journalist, yet at the same time, you missed him. You missed the way he had waited with bated breath as you tried one of his culinary creations, as if your opinion was the only one that mattered to him. You missed the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled at you. You missed the way his hands had felt on yours when he had taught you how to identify fresh fruit and vegetables, the soft caress of his fingers as he had traced your face so he could draw a mental picture of what you looked like, and the way his breath had fanned over your lips as he had leaned in to kiss you.

You sighed and shook your head. You had spent the past 3 days crying over him, so the best thing to do now was to give up and move on. "No, he hasn't tried contacting me. He probably deleted the follow-up email I sent him trying to explain everything the second he got it and blocked my email address."

Skyler hummed. "Mmm, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Your brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Just that I don't want you to pass up the opportunity to be happy either."

Suddenly there was a knock on your door. "Oh, hold on, Sky, there's someone here."

"I'll let you go so you can get that."

You nodded. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"By the way, you're welcome."

"I'm welcome? For what?"

"Nothing, talk to you later, byeeeeee!"

Before you could say goodbye, Skyler hung up.

You shook your head with a fond smile as you went to answer the door. You were lucky to have a friend like her.

You opened it and sucked in a shocked breath at the sight of Matt standing outside of your apartment. “Matt?”

Matt smiled nervously at you. “Hi.”

You stood blinking at him for a few seconds. Finally you asked, “How do you know where I live?”

Matt bit his lip. “Oh, I um, I went by the Bulletin but you weren't there, so Skyler gave me your address. I know I probably should have called before just showing up at your home, but I really needed to speak to you and didn't think you'd answer my call, so may I, uh, may I come in?”

You hesitated a moment, then stepped out of the doorway. "Okay."

Matt walked in, then turned to face you as you closed the door behind him. "Thank you.”

You debated on whether or not to offer him a seat, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, you wrapped your arms protectively across your chest. “What do you want, Matt?"

Matt fidgeted with the container you had belatedly noticed he was carrying. "I owe you an apology for my actions on Friday. I should have known that something was off with that article and given you the benefit of the doubt instead of automatically assuming the worst and accusing you of using me in order to further your career. Not that I'm trying to make excuses for my behavior, but it wouldn't have been the first time that it had happened."

Your brow furrowed and you uncrossed your arms. "What do you mean?"

Matt took a deep breath. "A couple of years ago I met this woman named Elektra, who was a restaurant reviewer for a small online magazine. We started dating and she eventually asked me if I would be okay with sitting down for an interview with her. Naturally I said yes, but when the interview was published it turned out to be a scathing review of both my restaurant and me as a person. Elektra had taken my words and twisted them to make it seem like all I cared about was becoming famous and that I was using my visual impairment to try to get a network deal -- and not only that, but she also strongly insinuated that I hadn't actually earned the Michelin stars that Nelson and Murdock had received and that the food at my restaurant was subpar."

He shook his head. "The whole time we had been dating Elektra had been trying to get a job with a national publication and figured that an exposé on me would be her ticket in. Needless to say, we broke up after that but the damage had already been done. Her article had been picked up by The Hand , which absolutely tanked our reputation as a gourmet restaurant, forcing us to close Nelson and Murdock and nearly destroying my & Foggy's friendship.”

While you didn't know much about the culinary industry, you did know that The Hand was the premiere magazine for restaurant goers and their reviews were treated like gospel. “So that's why you don't trust journalists.”

Matt nodded. “After I found out that Elektra had used me I decided that I would never get involved with a journalist or do another interview again, but business has been struggling at Daredevil ever since we opened a few months ago so Foggy took it upon himself to schedule me for an interview with the Bulletin during Restaurant Week to try to drum up some business.”

He paused. “I was originally told that it would be with the writer for the food and restaurant section, so I hope you understand my… hesitancy at first.”

You huffed out a breath. “Yeah, it was supposed to have been Kelsie but she was actually out sick with food poisoning at the time, so it was reassigned to me. Oh, and by the way, it turns out that she wrote the exposé I accidentally sent you. She lured me away from my desk while I was in the middle of sending you my real article and swapped the attachment out in an attempt to sabotage me.”

Matt shook his head. "By the way, I did wind up reading your real article and I really appreciate all of the kind and wonderful things you said about me."

You shrugged. "I just wrote what I felt was the truth at the time."

"'At the time'?" Matt bit his lip. "Does that mean you don't still feel that it's the truth?"

You sighed. While you were still a bit hurt and upset that Matt could have thought so little of you, you could now understand the reasoning behind his thoughts.

You shook your head. “No, I do. I still believe everything I wrote.”

Matt huffed out a relieved breath. "Thank you. I um, I wanted to give you this.”

He held the container out towards you. “I promise it's not poisoned.”

You huffed out a laugh as you took it. “I believe you.”

“I also wanted to let you know that the butternut squash risotto, pesto pasta, cremé bruleé, and tiramisu will all be going on the menu at Daredevil next week.” Matt bit his lip. “I hope you'd still want to come by to get some.”

You nodded. “Yeah, I’d love to.”

Matt smiled. “I'm glad. And actually, how about --”

"Foggy, Foggy, Foggy, Foggy…"

Matt groaned as his phone started ringing. "I'm sorry, I should get this. It might be an emergency with the restaurant."

You shook your head and went to put the container of what you assumed was tiramisu in the refrigerator. “It's fine. Go ahead.”

Matt tapped at his screen. "Yeah, Foggy. Wait, wait, slow down… What? They are? How? You're kidding… Wow, okay, yeah, thanks for letting me know. I gotta go though… Yeah, I am. Okay, I'll talk to you later. Thanks. Bye."

"Big news?" you asked as Matt hung up the phone.

Matt nodded. "Kingpin lost its license this morning due to multiple health code violations and has been permanently shut down, effective immediately."

You bit back a smile. "Really? Wow."

"Yeah, they failed a surprise inspection and --" Matt's brow furrowed. "Wait, you already knew. Did you have something to do with it?"

"Not directly." You grinned. "Skyler may have called the health department a couple of days ago and anonymously reported a case of food poisoning that originated there last week." You shrugged casually. "After all, Kelsie was dating the sous-chef and ate there right before she got sick. But how did Foggy find out so fast?"

"He and I have a friend at the health department -- Brett Mahoney. He keeps us apprised of goings-on -- not when we're going to be inspected, of course, but of shutdowns and such." Matt shook his head. "So wait, the food writer for the Bulletin is dating Wesley?"

You nodded. "Yeah, they've been together for a while, although I didn't know anything at all about ‘James’ except for his first name until Friday when Skyler did a deep dive into Kelsie's social media and found his profile.”

Matt shook his head. “I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that he and Fisk were also somehow involved in her plans. I have a sneaking suspicion that they had been driving potential customers away from Daredevil.”

“You're probably right. They had to have known that Kelsie had been planning on covering Kingpin for the Restaurant Week kickoff, but then she got sick right as Foggy contacted my boss with the offer of an exclusive interview with you and by the time she had recovered enough to come back to work, it was way too late to try to convince Ellison to switch the story back over to Kingpin.” You shook your head. “At first Kelsie tried to fill my head with doubt about you, saying that you would do anything to try to salvage your reputation and that you were pretending to be interested in me while I was writing my article and would ditch me the second it was published.”

Matt shook his head, a slight smirk spreading across his lips. “Oh I can assure you, sweetheart, my interest in you is very sincere. Apologies if I didn't make that clear before.”

Your breath hitched at the term of endearment. The whole time Matt really had been flirting with you.

“I've never felt so comfortable with someone so quickly before,” Matt continued, “and have genuinely enjoyed getting to know and spending time with you this past week -- going to the farmer's market together and being able to make breakfast for you at the restaurant, having you come with me to the soup kitchen and Fogwell's then over to my place for dinner, getting your honest reactions during the blind tasting, finally knowing that you were just as beautiful as I had thought…”

A small smile crossed his face. “I'd really like to keep getting to know you, if you're interested.”

Your heart fluttered. “Yeah… yeah, I'm definitely interested.”

Matt grinned. “Then how about dinner tonight? My place, 7 o’clock?”

You nodded. “Yeah, I'd like that.”

“Great then. It's a date.”

You smiled. “It's a date.”

Matt shook his head. “You know, now that I'm thinking about it, Kelsie must've been the person I spoke to when I went by the Bulletin on Tuesday.”

Your brows raised in surprise. “You went by the Bulletin?”

Matt nodded. “Yeah, I had wanted to talk to you about the blind tasting Monday night -- well, actually, what happened after -- but you weren't there and the woman I spoke to said that you were out on assignment and working on a big scoop, and she also said something else about you being one of ‘those investigative types’ who were always looking for a good exposé even if you had to make it up.”

You shook your head. No wonder he thought I had written that article. “Yeah, that was Kelsie, all right. I actually had gone home early that day -- I didn't sleep well Monday night because I thought for sure you were mad at me for rushing out of Daredevil on you.”

Matt shook his head. “Actually it was the opposite. I thought my advances had been unwanted and that I had made you uncomfortable, so I went by to check on you and apologize.”

“No, your advances were definitely wanted, I just…” You sighed. “When Foggy walked in and interrupted us I panicked and began overthinking everything.”

You shook your head. “I guess when Kelsie wasn't sure if planting seeds of doubt between us was working fast enough she decided that straight-up sabotage was the best way to go and wrote that fake exposé since it would hurt both me and you professionally rather than just personally. Luckily I caught it before it went to press and was able to swap it out with my real article, so now that I think about it, it's probably actually a good thing that you went off on me because otherwise I probably wouldn't have known until it was too late."

Matt winced and shook his head. "No, I should've realized that you probably hadn't written that article and calmly asked you about it instead of being an asshole to you, I --"

You shook your head. "It's okay. I forgive you -- this time. But don't think you can just make apology tiramisu for me every time you screw up, no matter how delicious it is."

"Of course not." Matt bit back a grin. "There's also apology cremé bruleé, and apology crepes, and apology --"

You swatted at his chest playfully. " Matt --"

You let out a soft gasp as Matt caught your wrist and pulled you to him, your heart thumping erratically in your chest.

Matt reached up and caressed your jawline with his thumb. "You know, I don't know if I can wait until our date tonight to be able to finally kiss you.”

You shook your head. "I don't think I can wait until tonight either."

A bright grin bloomed on Matt's face. “Well then, I guess there's only one thing to do.”

You melted into him as his warm lips pressed against yours.

You'd had no idea what you'd been in for when you'd first gotten your assignment, but you'd definitely hadn't known just how much it was going to change your life for the better.

One Year Later

“Matt, honey? You in here?”

Matt turned towards your voice as you walked into the kitchen at Daredevil. “Hi, sweetheart.”

You huffed out a light laugh. “I should've known. You're supposed to be out in the dining area celebrating, Matthew, not at work in the kitchen decorating pies.”

Matt set the piping bag he had been holding down, feeling slightly guilty despite your playful tone. "I just needed to pipe the whipped cream onto these before they went out."

You walked up to him and took his hand. "The kitchen staff has it handled, love. Come on, everyone's waiting."

Matt followed you out to the dining area.

"Hey, there they are!" Foggy said, handing Matt and you each a glass of champagne. "The couple of the hour!"

Matt shook his head. "This is just as much of a celebration for you as it is for me, my friend."

"Ah, yeah, but you have a bit more to celebrate than I do, don't you, buddy?"

Matt grinned. "It has been quite the week, hasn't it?"

Foggy huffed out a laugh. "That's an understatement. I think we need a speech!"

"Yeah, speech!" Karen added. "Everyone, may I have your attention? Matt would like to say a few words."

You gave Matt's hand a gentle squeeze. "You've got this, sweetheart."

Matt nodded and cleared his throat. "First off, I would like to thank everyone for being here tonight. To our vendors -- thank you all for your patience with us as we got things up and running. I know I can also speak for Foggy when I say that you're not just our vendors -- you're our friends as well."

He turned to Foggy and Karen. "Foggy, you are the best sous chef and the best friend I could ever ask for. We wouldn't be here celebrating our first Michelin star for Daredevil nor our James Beard nominations if it hadn't been for you sticking by my side. Karen, same goes for you. Foggy and I are happy to welcome you as an official partner."

Next, he turned to you and took your left hand. "Next, I'd like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to my beautiful fianceé."

He paused for a moment, his thumb caressing the diamond ring he had placed on your finger during a surprise dinner date the night before. "I am so grateful that you wound up being assigned to interview me for the Bulletin."

"You're welcome!" Ellison called out from the crowd.

Laughter rang out from throughout the room.

Matt turned towards Ellison's voice. "Yes, extra thanks to you, Mitch."

A framed copy of your article hung proudly in the lobby next to a photo of Matt, Foggy, and Karen outside of Daredevil the day they had opened. After it had run, business had picked up almost immediately, with the restaurant being constantly packed and reservations being booked months in advance. He, Foggy, and Karen had had to hire both extra servers and kitchen staff to help keep up with demand and had recently signed a contract to expand the restaurant into the empty business space next door.

Matt smiled and gave your hand a gentle squeeze as he turned back towards you. "I'm also grateful that you were willing to give me a second chance after I was an asshole to you during our initial meeting, and a third chance once I had screwed up yet again.”

He nodded towards Skyler, who stood next to Foggy. “And Skyler, thanks for your help with that. ”

Skyler chuckled warmly. “You're welcome.”

Matt had been cautiously optimistic when he had gone to the Bulletin to apologize for (wrongfully) accusing you of writing the fake exposé that you had unintentionally sent him, only to find that you weren't even there.

“Where is she?” Matt asked Skyler, recognizing her voice as the person he had initially spoken to the first time he had gone to the Bulletin to apologize to you. “Will she be back in today?”

He could feel her studying him. “No, she took a personal day,” she replied. “She needed it after everything that's happened over the past few days. You really hurt her, you know that?”

Matt‘s shoulders slumped dejectedly. He nodded. “I know. I was hoping to be able to apologize in person and explain myself.”

Skyler was quiet for a moment, then gave him an address. “Hers is apartment 3-B.”

A broad smile spread across Matt's face. If Skyler was willing to give him your home address there was at least a chance that you'd forgive him. “Thank you so much… Skyler, right?”

“Mmhmm. You’re welcome. Just don't make me regret it.”

Matt shook his head. “I won't, I promise.”

He had hurried to your apartment, where luckily for him, you had not only accepted his apology and forgiven him, but had also told him that you reciprocated his feelings and agreed to a date, and then the two of you had kissed for the first (but certainly not the last) time.

He cleared his throat and focused his attention back on you. “I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, sweetheart. And congratulations once again on becoming the newest Assistant Editor of the New York Bulletin -- I'm so proud of you.”

He turned back towards the crowd. “And finally, to everyone here tonight -- Each and every one of you have contributed to Daredevil’s success and we can't thank you enough. I'd like you to know just how much each and every one of you are appreciated.”

He raised his glass of champagne. “So eat, drink, and enjoy. Cheers!”

“Cheers!” rang out throughout the room.

Matt pressed a kiss to your forehead as everyone toasted to the restaurant's success. “Love you.”

You hummed happily. “Love you too.”

As Matt continued to celebrate with Foggy, Karen, and you and the rest of their guests, he couldn't help but be filled with a sense of rightness. Daredevil was thriving beyond his wildest dreams, he was engaged to the woman he loved, and as an extra dose of karma, Fisk had recently been indicted on charges of tax fraud, racketeering, and money laundering uncovered as a result of the surprise health inspection closure.

Had you told him a year and a half ago that this would be his life, he'd have never believed it.

Now, however…

Well, he couldn't wait to see what life cooked up for him next.

#lotmf writes #Cooking Up Love Masterlist #Chef!Matt Murdock x Reader #matt murdock x female reader #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x you #matt murdock x fem!reader

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