bestavocado | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

This is absolutely not her fault, to get that out of the way immediately. One minute she's consulting with a once well-respected neurosurgeon who now hangs out in the world's best haunted house about some legal issues tangled up with his property, and the next she's tripping on his stupid cloak that doesn't seem to quite conform to the laws of gravity. She accidentally knocks some kind of weird amulet or something off a table in an attempt to not fall flat on her face, and then -

Well, she's still in the world's best haunted house. But instead of standing next to Dr. Strange, she's staring shell-shocked at a guy who could practically be her brother. Dr. Strange re-appears before the sheer what the fuck factor can set in to full effect, which thank god, because even if he's utterly confused about their presence, he's quick to invite them into the parlor for some soothing tea while he examines the amulet that was still clutched in Foggy's hand.

The deal is, apparently, that the amulet is a kind of magical escape hatch. Once activated, it scans nearby parallel universes for the closest safe one and sends you there for a period of time. It's like the world's weirdest Kit Kat break. There's a timer on it, lasting somewhere between three to four weeks, after which it will automatically return her to her universe. Bringing the guy to her location - Franklin P. Nelson, holy shit, apparently her counterpart on this Earth - was the magical equivalent of a glitch, grabbing two Foggy Nelsons instead of one. After explaining all this, Dr. Strange asks if there's anyone they want contacted, and they both say Matt Murdock at pretty much the same time. Stephen leaves the room to go call the Matt Murdock of this world and explain the situation and then to see if he can get in contact with the Stephen Strange of her world to pass on the message that she's okay.

And then there's two Foggy Nelsons sitting in a room with cups of tea that magically refresh themselves every so often. So that's... something. "I feel like we should be comparing notes or something."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Matt!" Foggy greets him when he arrives. The amount of worry pasted all over the man's face takes him by surprise and he suddenly regrets not talking to Matt on the phone himself to make it clear that he was safe. "It's okay Babe. I'm okay. Didn't even get dizzy from the disappearing act."

Next thing he knows Matt is by his side leaning over and hugging him and expressing his worry. Foggy smiles and hugs him back. "I'm fine Matty." Matt leans down to kiss him and Foggy sits up taller to close the gap between them. He would kiss him longer considering the scare and how endearing it was that Matt was so worried but they do have company in the room. Then again of all people another Foggy should be sitting back and flashing him a thumbs up in solidarity because she totally knows what it's like to kiss Matt Murdock right?

There's a split-second of relief when Matt comes in - and then reality reasserts itself when he heads for the other Foggy because right, obviously it's the Matt who belongs in this reality and not her Matt. And in case she had any lingering doubt still, they're kissing in front of her, and that's -

Okay.

She fumbles her teacup but manages to tighten her grip on it before it can tumble out of her hands and break (although it's magic so who knows, maybe it'd bounce). That was - definitely not a thing she expected, holy shit. Like, good for male her, but holy shit.

Matt hears the other Foggy's heart race and senses that fumble following the moment his lips touch his Foggy's. He pulls away and stands straight, blinking in her direction, a crease between his worried eyebrows. Why would she be...? His mind jumps to terrible suggestions. If Foggy was a woman he wouldn't have had to come out; is she disturbed seeing him kiss another man? Never mind that it wouldn't be like Foggy Nelson to be so close minded or the high likelihood she is just as bisexual as the Foggy he knows. In the moment it skips his mind as other various troubled explanations pour in.

Matt takes a small step forward in her direction. "Foggy? What's the matter?"

Matt pulls away before Foggy expects and he looks up at him in confusion. Then he sees the worry on his boyfriend's face and turns to look across the table at the other Foggy who looks mighty worried herself. Matt asks her what's the matter and Foggy immediately echoes him, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," she says too quickly because that's, you know, believable. "Just, uh, I think we found another difference between our realities."

Which she is not going to speculate about because wait, Matt kisses guy me, how the fuck did that happen, I didn't even know Matt liked guys is not very productive right now. It's weird enough to have Matt in the room but not Matt, and somehow that's kind of weirder than drinking tea with another Foggy? Or maybe the whole weirdness thing is just kind of hitting her right now.

"Nothing." Lie. Matt starts to speak but loses his voice. Not my Foggy, not my Foggy. he reminds himself but his heart still pounds as if something terrible is about to be said. He would have thought the other Foggy's differences, some blatantly obvious, would be enough to draw a clear line for his emotions to follow but there are so many unseen similarities, here he is worrying as if his own Foggy was upset with him. He thinks about the other Matt, surely he would be just as concerned with making Foggy Nelson happy regardless of which Foggy it was.

Foggy. Right. He backs up a step and grabs his Foggy's hand. He has his partner to back him up. It will be okay. This time he speaks successfully. "You seemed uncomfortable when we kissed. I'm guessing that difference involves my sexual orientation?"

"Oh shit," Foggy realizes and he sits up and leans forward. He squeezes Matt's hand in silent support while he clears his throat and puts his game face on. "Wow. We clearly forgot something very important while comparing notes. Matt is- Well like you- Wait is that different?" He pauses. This is new. He puts a hand on his chest. "I'm bi. Both of us are actually. Matt took a lot longer to come out but he is now and we've been together for about a year and just under three months."

"That's cool." It doesn't come out quite as enthusiastically as she'd like, but, well. Alternate universe. Matt and her counterpart are dating. She's pretty sure she has good reason to be - not responding ideally. "Uh, I am bi which was, you know, super-great in high school, it's just Matt and I haven't... ever..." She waves her hands vaguely in lieu of finding a delicate way to phrase what she's thinking and doesn't bother verbally captioning it for Matt because, honestly, the pointed silence on its own probably makes more sense. "So I was just... surprised."

Matt breathes out a small sigh of relief; this isn't about that. He licks his lips and tries to put his question delicately. "You've never been romantically involved. Is that...?" On second thought he should have let Foggy ask. It's better if they discuss this Foggy to Foggy right? "Is it strange because you're strictly just friends or... Has he never...?"

Why wouldn't he? Matt would love to hear the excuse the other Matt has. His Foggy is a woman. If she has feelings for him he could have her without having to face his identity, without the crisis of wondering how he can love Foggy Nelson and still have a connection to his faith and God. After all he has been through in the last year he'd like to slug the other Matt and tell him to be with her.

Foggy shoots Matt a look like he's crazy. "UH YEAH Foggy loves Matt," he thinks. He turns to the other Foggy. "I'm sorry. That should have been obvious to ask." He squeezes his eyes shut and waves a hand. "Just last year I was in the same position. But uh. Hey!" He offers her a smile. "Maybe this is a good thing! I mean now you know that despite all the doubt you may have Matt actually feels the same way! I thought I didn't stand a chance after all these years and all the hot girlfriends and then we had the fight and- But it turned out we felt the same way all along."

He gives Matt a sidelong glance and rubs the back of the hand he's holding with his thumb. "SOMEONE just thought he didn't deserve what he wanted. Yeah. It sounds crazy I know. Why me Matt? Why not one of your supermodels?"

Luckily - because she's not sure she wants to hear the answer to that question right now, and she's really not sure that's a conversation they'd want to hear with a visitor, even if the visitor is another Foggy Nelson - Dr. Strange enters the room to announce that he spoke to the Dr. Strange of her world, who will get in contact with her Matt to explain what happened as soon as possible. He then kindly offers a room at the Sanctum for her if she needs a place to stay until the amulet brings her home.

Which is absolutely, 100% Not a Thing She Wants To Do but as she opens her mouth to decline politely, it occurs to her that she doesn't technically have a place to stay in this world and her assets consist of pretty much the cash she has in her purse. So. "Uh - "

Foggy looks between the three other people in the room and shrugs. "You can stay with us! Right?" He turns to Matt. He can't imagine Matt saying no. In fact he'll take it personally if he decides to turn a fellow Foggy out the door. It's him just shorter and more ladylike and with a few different life experiences but still!

Matt turns and nods his head, first at his own Foggy then at the visiting one. "Yeah, of course."

She lets out a breath because - really, she did not want to stay here. "Thank you."

And then, to Dr. Strange, awkwardly: "Uh - thanks for your help." Because he's been nice, even if this was kind of his fault? Or a Dr. Strange's fault? God, she doesn't know. This has been weird as hell.

"Unless you guys want to stick around, maybe we should... go." Before someone else trips into an amulet and gets sent to another universe.

Matt offers Strange a handshake and politely excuses himself. "You know where to reach us. And please keep us updated. If it's possible at all for me to speak to the Matthew Murdock of that universe briefly I would be interested. If he expresses interest let him know that I would be open to it."

Now if he could just reach across and hit him with his cane or something.

Foggy pats Matt on the back. Serious Matt talk. He is guessing that could yield some good results if it doesn't turn into a self-hatred brood jam.

"Guess we get to compare apartments and interior decor between universes. Let's catch a cab home. Are either of you hungry? I'm hungry. Discussing the physics of reality and translating Strange's magic talk wear a guy out."

Dr. Strange nods to Matt and tells him he'll see if it can be arranged and then turns to Foggy to wish her the best and remind her to keep the amulet with her for the foreseeable future so she doesn't have to worry about any difficulties returning to her universe.

"I'm kind of iffy on food right now - " hopping universes apparently unsettles your stomach a bit " - but." She gives a slight shrug because she doesn't want to prevent him from eating or anything.

"We can order in something," Matt suggests, "Then we can speak freely about the multiverse without any strangers overhearing and getting concerned."

"Ah! Smart. Can't let potential clients think we spend our free time trippin' on something bad." He turns to the other Foggy as he lifts an arm to wave down a taxi. "We have our pride and our reputation to uphold as Those Two Penniless Lawyers. We can't have them thinking we can afford shrooms!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only