Tim is found by some of his coworkers, a few moments later, picking up the parts of his rifle, which were bent and damaged by the vigilante. He's glad it was marshal service's and not his own.

"Dropped it," he says smoothly, and they look rightly skeptical about that.

He's given a hard time by his boss for it, but Tim's barely listening. All he can hear is the Devil of Hell's Kitchen telling him to do the right thing.



The next day, Tim is interrupted at his desk by Matt Murdock, his quiet smile, and two cups of Starbucks, already giving out a handful of apologies about skipping out on coffee the day before. It's a bad idea and Tim should say no. Matt blowing him off was the right direction. Matt's a distraction, but he's not the good kind of distraction.

Tim takes one of the cups and goes on break, and they spend fifteen minutes drinking and talking about absolutely nothing on one of the benches outside. They agree to meet up again after work.

Tim feels stupidly giddy about it. But not so much that he neglects to look into all those things the vigilante told him to. He doesn't find concrete evidence, but he finds a lot of shit that doesn't add up.

They keep doing this. Grabbing drinks sometimes, or maybe coffee, and hooking up frequently. It's always Matt's place, though that might be more out of convenience than anything else. Tim stays the night sometimes, depending on how much he's had to drink. The drunker he is, the more likely he is to stay. He can always cite being too drunk to walk home, but it's really about how high the chances are of him having a nightmare. It's always a gamble, but so far, he's been lucky.

It helps that Matt's very good at wearing him out.

It's casual, nothing serious or exclusive. Almost a friends with benefits kind of thing, if Tim were better at actually having friends. He doesn't stop sleeping with other people, but Matt's the only person he sleeps with more than once. It doesn't mean anything, he keeps trying (unsuccessfully) to tell himself. This is the best sex he's ever had, it'd be fucking stupid to let it go if it happens to be working.

And it's working well. Very well. Tim's surprised by that.

If he's being honest, he has sort of gotten attached, just a little bit. Not enough, he thinks, for it to hurt too much if Matt decides to call it quits. Sometimes he shows up and Matt's supporting a new bruise or a new cut above his eye, and Tim wonders, even asks sometimes, but he always takes Matt's lies at face value. No need to make things complicated with a casual hookup.

And that's all they are, essentially. Even though, sometimes, he'll finds his heart fluttering restlessly, thinking maybe he wants more anytime Matt smiles a certain way or Tim sees him without his glasses. But this is better, he reminds himself. He'll have to settle for this.

It's a little over a month since their first night together when Tim runs into the Nelson and Murdock crew. Or, really, nearly literally runs into them, rounding a corner in the courthouse. It's Foggy, with Matt at his elbow that he nearly collides with, Karen not far behind.

"Shit--"

At least his reflexes are fast. He stops short, holding out a hand just to make sure nobody actually crashes into him. It's not unusual for them to see each other here. This is their job, and Tim is frequently called to testify as an arresting officer or whatever. Thankfully, usually, their work doesn't coincide much.

Usually, they're good run-ins. This time, though, Tim notices that Karen and Foggy look distinctly unhappy. Matt looks unreadable.