#writing: claudia dardashti

[themarcspector-hasmoved]

title: see you again

who: matt murdock (daredevil) & cloud dardashti (original character) 

universe: fic idea. better the devil you knew - basically a mix of tv & comic stuff 

triggers: mentions kidnapping, canon typical violence, blood. 

notes:  drabble of cloud and devil man that’s been sitting in my drafts unfinished that i finally finished months later and just wanted to finally get out of my hair. i liked it and they are funny to me. also i love them your honor!

Claudia liked going to places where people never expected to find her when she went out on assignment. Especially as of late, since she did not want to be seen, heard, or thought of. She typically traveled during times where she knew she could avoid people she knew, and since she grew up in the New York City area, and her adoptive mother and her siblings still lived in different parts of city, she had to be extra careful. So careful, that her break spots had to be places people wouldn’t expected her to be.

Cloud assumed that going to a dive bar called Josie’s meant that people wouldn’t know who she was, though. And today her anonymity mattered more than anything since she had made a mistake earlier in the day.

She assumed, with that mistake in mind, that she would go in and order a few glasses of whipped cream vodka, get a little too drunk, and then she’d take an uber to a hotel and sleep, before she’d go and kill whoever she was supposed to kill to find answers, and maybe, just maybe, she'd be a step closer to finding her kid and help someone make sure their kid didn't suffer the same fate. 

What she didn't expect was seeing her ex. 

Her very irritating boy scout of an ex, mind you. 

“You know, out of everyone I’d expect to walk through those doors, it was never you,” Matty told her, a soft smile on his face as he tapped his walking stick over by her stool, before he maneuvered his way onto the stool beside hers. He then gave a charming grin to where he likely heard her breathing. “You know, I want to say the perfume gave it away, but it was the awful choice in vodka.” 

Claudia let out a laugh, despite not wanting to, and despite the fact that most people couldn’t smell vodka. Though she’s been gone for two years, she’s not considered dead because she texts her mother photos of the sights she sees and sends her sister flowers. But she is never ever around anymore. 

Matty should hate her for it. Since, the last time she saw him, he opened up, when he rarely does, and she closed him out. Which is awful. But it happened. Then, she left.

“You've always really liked the perfume,” Claudia teased, surprised that she could be genuinely playful after only being playful for the sake of mostly manipulation these past few years. 

It’s surprising, but Matt’s always brought out the best and the worst in her. She’s always loved and hated that about him. Because, despite her best and worst judgment, and despite her never ever being able to tell him how she feels, she’s always cared about him. “Always hated the whipped cream vodka, though — but really, everyone hates the whipped cream vodka, and I don’t really know why they do... it’s great stuff.” She smiled wider and she wished he could see that, which made her let out a soft, hmph. 

There’s a hiccup of pause as she looked at his auburn hair, and then at his face a little longer than needed —- her heartbeat so loud she hears it in her ears. The room echoed with spirits and the few disjointed thoughts of others. And though that might typically have her set her jaw, she’s weirdly relaxed, currently.

“You’ve been gone for a while,” he replied. “How are you?” There’s something in his voice that sounded like he really cared and it made Cloud’s throat prickle just a bit because, again, today she really fucked up. And in the past, she fucked up with him. 

Fucking Matty, was all she could think. Damn him. Caring. 

She’s not one to open up. It’s complicated. Well, she's complicated. He knows this. “I’m fine,” she replied, happy he couldn’t see her face because she’s no longer relaxed and is giving one of those pulled, half-assed smiles. But her heartbeat says otherwise, it beats quickly and she’s sweating like crazy. 

“‘Fine’ typically is what people say when they’re lying, Cloud. And it’s something you’ve always told me when you were lying to me. I had a way of ignoring it, to let you have your space, but I need to know: Where have you been? What have you been up to -- and why does your perfume have the distinct smell of blood to it? And most importantly, why do you smell like an open wound?” He asked, leaning in, near her ear, making her arch her brow. The word ‘boy scout’ again, coming to mind.

She does a heavy, dramatic sigh, no longer caught in her rose-tinted haze of memory involving him. Now she saw and remembered why she ran - hiding anything from him is impossible. "Don't know what you're talking about, Murdock…” she knew it was dumb to lie to the human lie detector but she could try. She only called him his last name when she wanted to distance herself from him. 

He lifted her hand, pulled down her sleeve a little, then felt a thick layer of liquid sliding down her arm from a wound with his finger. “I’m talking about this. What happened?" 

She immediately pulled her arm away, her expression sour. "I came here for a drink," she lied, the wound not bothering her due to a high pain tolerance - and it hadn’t during this whole conversation, since it was healing.

"You came here for an alibi." He accused, before he gave her an irritated glare.

“I have a valid reason for this. I don’t owe you an explanation for it,” she whispered in his ear, wiping the blood on her lap. 

"That group?" he asked, letting out a sigh. “This is about them, isn’t it?”

"Yes." 

"You know, doing this won't get you any close to finding your daughter. You're being used..."

"Are you saying I won't find Marta?" 

"I'm saying, I can maybe help you. I'm saying you can stop whatever it is that’s hurting you and I can help. Whether you’re lying to me or not." 

"Maybe?" Cloud asked. "Maybe doesn't sound convincing. I need to know you can." 

They both sit there for a while after that. Silently. Minutes passing. Her avoiding looking at him and him clearly thinking hard because she can almost break her glass from the weight of it.

Then suddenly, Matt said it.

“I can get your daughter back…but you have to take a break...from whatever this is.”

She shrugged, and then patted his arm twice to show she agreed since he couldn’t see her. “Alright deal. I'll give you a week. If we don’t get her back by then, I get out of the Big Apple and do it the way I’ve been doing it — See how things go.” 

She tapped his nose and he looked confused. She doubted he could be of any help, but she had an assignment in New York City, so might as well see where this goes --- right?