Quick note from author:

Hey! Welcome! Thanks for clicking on this story!
So, this is an idea that hasn't left me alone for a really long time now. I really wanted to write it, so I did! I also did my best to make it as accurate as possible. I did hours and hours of research. I also interrogated certain people I know who have a background in criminal justice and the American legal/judicial system. (It was kinda hard to explain to them that I'm not, in fact, looking into become a lawyer, but instead writing fanfiction that has stuff to do with court. And then I had to explain what fan fiction was... welp... I now have multiple family members questioning my sanity for you, reader. Hope the story is worth it!)
If you do enjoy it, a favorite, follow and/or a comment would be deeply appreciated!
Also, special thanks LogicalVulcan for looking over my writing for errors and proofing/revising it! You're the best! I recommend going to look on our shared account for some stories written by LogicalVulcan and in collaboration of both of us!
Sorry for this getting lengthy. To those of you who haven't skipped this and are actually reading it, I hope you enjoy the story!
Love you!
- Identical Snowflakes

Matt slowly lowered himself into his seat. The chair itself felt like it cost more than his entire life savings. The overwhelming smell of expensive cologne and hairspray assaulted his senses. Across the cluttered desk in front of him sat a man who was clicking a pen rapidly. It was going to drive Matt insane.

His partner, Foggy, warmly shook the man's hand and took a seat next to Matt. If his friend felt out of his element at all, he wasn't showing it. Matt nervously tapped his index finger against his cane.

"Hi. I'm Foggy Nelson," Foggy introduced. "This is my colleague and good friend, Matt Murdock. We'd like to take Doctor Banner's case."

Matt heard some rustling as the man shifted. He leaned forward with his chin resting on his fist.

"He's giving us a skeptical glance," Foggy noted, leaning over to Matt. "I say we go with it."

"Excellent," Matt said, smiling. He set his cane aside and dropped a heavy, old briefcase onto the table that looked like it was 95 percent duck tape. He gave it a shove and it slid across the table to where his friend was sitting.

Foggy barely stopped it from falling from the table. He flicked it open with a click and produced a stack of papers.

The man shifted again. "And you're with-"

"Nelson and Murdock Law Firm," said Matt.

"Right…" to say the man sounded skeptical would be an understatement. He scratched his chin. "You know, most lawyers wouldn't want to go against the best the US government could hire."

"With all due respect, Mr. Stark, we're not most lawyers," Foggy said, peeking his head out from behind the suitcase.

"I can see that," Stark snorted. He leaned forward, placing both hands on the table. "Why should I hire you?"

"We're cheap?" Matt suggested.

"You see who you're talking to, right? Money's not an issue for me."

"Actually, I don't see who I'm talking to. I haven't seen anything since I was nine. Thought that was kinda obvious."
"We also have never lost a case," Foggy snapped the case shut and pushed it aside. He slid a large stack of papers that were held together with multiple staples and several paper clips towards Stark.

"Plus, you don't really have a choice in the matter." Matt said. He folded his hands in front of him on the desk.

"Excuse me?"

"It's kind of obvious," Matt shrugged. "No one else wanted to represent Doctor Banner. There's no way you, a billionaire and an Avenger, would call us, a small startup law firm from Hell's Kitchen unless you were desperate."

"Hence, we were most likely your last resort," Foggy said.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

Stark raised both of his eyebrows, going silent for a moment. After a minute a wry chuckle escaped his lips and he shook his head.

"You've got an attitude. I like that," Stark grinned. "So, you two go around Hell's Kitchen, helping those who can't afford to hire real lawyers?"

"We are real lawyers, actually. We've passed the bar exam in four different states," Foggy said.

"And we graduated from Harvard," Matt added.

"This guy was the top of our entire class," Foggy said, pointing at Matt.

"So, yes, we are real lawyers," said Matt.

"We just care a lot more about people then we do about money," Foggy finished.

"Well," Stark nodded. "You're hired."

He quickly clicked his pen once more and signed the papers.

24 hours earlier

"Matt, I've told you this once, and I'm telling you again. You. Are. Crazy," Foggy sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fifty guys, Matt. Fifty! It was all over the news!"

"Fifty-one," Matt corrected.

"Not my point!" Foggy snapped. He angrily stormed ahead, forcing Matt to quicken his pace in order to keep up. "My point is that you can't keep doing this! You're not a superhero, you're a lawyer! You could've died!"

"But I didn't," Matt insisted through grit teeth. His dislocated ribs were starting to burn. Foggy refused to slow down.

"Need I remind you that you are blind?"

"Really? I forgot," Matt deadpanned.

Foggy stopped walking. Matt almost bumped into him. There was a moment of silence. "I don't know if you can tell or not, but I'm glaring at you."

"Yeah, I assumed that."

Foggy sighed and started walking again. "Fifty people, Matt. Fifty."

Matt was about to say he regularly fought a lot more than that, but he held his tongue. "I'm fine, okay? Fine. And I have to do this. You know that."

"I know that you can be a real idiot and a real pain sometimes," Foggy groaned.

"Yes, but I'm your idiot. You're stuck with me."

Foggy laughed. "True. True. Just… just be careful, okay? I don't want to turn on the news one day and find out you were found dead in some alley or something, okay?" he shoved Matt's shoulder. "I don't want to be stuck going through your will. Those things are complicated. And I have enough on my plate as it is." he frowned. "You do have a will, right?"

"I'm fine, Foggy. Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine."

"No one's ever actually fine when they say 'I'm fine'. Crosswalk," Foggy said, looping his arm through Matt's and leading him across the road.

"You know I don't actually need you to help me across the street, right?"

"Yeah, but we've gone this far, might as well keep the ruse up," Foggy shrugged. "I mean, unless you're planning on announcing your identity to everyone a la Iron Man style."

Matt laughed. He shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm not."

"Good, 'cause I don't feel like getting kidnapped."

Matt bit back a sarcastic comment. Within a few minutes they stopped before an old, large run-down brick building that was in desperate need of some care.

"Here it is." Foggy ran his fingers across their buildings sign. "The place where the magic happens."

"You are a child," Matt laughed. He opened the door for his friend, following him in immediately after.

Matt wrinkled his nose as he entered the small foyer and slowly shut the chipped wooden door behind him. The old building smelled of dust and mildew, and the door creaked like it was about to fall off its rusty hinges. Matt's cane kept catching on the cheap, torn-up carpet that was peeling away in the corners. The ancient AC unit gurgled loudly in the background, randomly shutting off and turning back on at random times. The abused machine obviously wasn't doing its job correctly; it was so humid it Matt could feel the air around him.

"Home sweet home… Oh, come on!" Fogg stomped his foot suddenly, sending a cloud of dust through the air to attack Matt's senses. He coughed. A startled rat squeaked loudly and scurried away, its tiny nails clicking across the parts of the floor where the carpet had been peeled up to reveal hardwood underneath. "I thought Mr. Galboni hired someone to come take care of the rats…"

Matt shook his head. "Come on." He jerked his head towards the stairs. He heard Foggy's rapid, heavy footsteps fall in step next to him.

A long hallway sat at the top of the stairs. At the end of the hall stood the dark oak door with "Nelson and Murdock: Attorneys at Law" proudly engraved.

Their corner of the building was, admittedly, presented quite a bit better than the rest of it. They made sure to regularly clean the large window on the wall adjacent to their office, and according to Karen and Foggy, the sunlight peeked through the flowing drapes and gave off a warm, welcoming atmosphere.

The rest of the office isn't bad either, Matt thought to himself as he entered, smiling as the working air conditioning cooled him off immediately.

A ginger sitting in at the reception desk in the center of the room looked up from her computer as they entered. A warm smile covered her face.

"Hey guys," Karen said, waving her hand meekly. She set aside the papers she was signing and walked over to greet them.

Matt turned his back towards his friends, taking his sweet time taking off his jacket and trying to hide his smile. He could hear Foggy's heart speed up ever so slightly, and could sense the blood rise in his cheeks. Foggy had been smitten by Karen since day one.

"What's the damage, chief?" Foggy asked, shrugging off his own jacket as well.

"Rent was due last week and we're still short about eight hundred dollars," she said hesitantly, making a face and fiddling with her fingers.

"Well, um… just use the money we got from the Weller's case to pay it off," Foggy shrugged.

"Do you mean the apple pie they gave us, or the apple cider?"

"Oh, the benefits of preventing someone from losing their grandparent's apple orchard." Foggy forced a smile, a little bit of concern creeping into his voice. "How about the Ampler case?"

"They paid in breadsticks." Karen said.

"Johnsen case?"

"Coupons to Olive Garden."

"Any of the mortgage fraud cases?!" Foggy asked desperately.

"A tub of vanilla ice cream, roses, homemade sweaters, and season three of The Office on DVD."

"That… that is not good." Foggy squeaked. Matt could hear Foggy's heart beating rapidly, and he knew it had nothing to do with his crush on Karen.

"Don't panic, Foggy," said Matt.

"Panic? I'm not panicking! Who's panicking? Me? Nah!" Foggy laughed frantically. "Although if I'm being perfectly honest, the alarm bells are going 'ring a ding a ling ding' a little bit!"

"Foggy, calm down." Matt rested his hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll just pull out another loan on the building, and-"

"Actually, I already called the bank. They're threatening to freeze our accounts," Karen said quietly.

The room went dead quiet.

"Okay, well, now I'm panicking," said Foggy. He pressed his forehead against the nearby door frame that lead into his office. "We're doomed. We're doomed, we're doomed, we are doomed. We're going to lose our office. We're gonna lose our homes. Our career has died, just like my hopes and dreams."

"Foggy, don't be so dramatic. We'll figure something out. We always do." Matt smiled. He took a minute to find his cane, but he eventually grabbed it and led himself towards his office.

"Oh my gosh! Matt!" Karen exclaimed, finally noticing Matt's appearance for the first time. Her hand rose to her mouth. "You have a black eye! What happened?"

"Oh, I… um…" Matt stumbled over his words. "I fell into a… uh… a…."

"A door," Foggy improvised. "He fell into a door. On his way home from work."

"A door?" Karen asked incredulously. Matt pressed his lips together.

"Yes," Matt lied. The words pained him. "I fell into… into a door."

"How does that even happen?"

"He's just that clumsy! And… and he was drunk, so..." Foggy's voice trailed off. He clasped his hands together and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"I thought you didn't drink," Karen said. She crossed her arms.

"I don't," Matt sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

Luckily at that moment Matt was saved by the bell. Almost literally. The phone started ringing.

"Fine." Karen shrugged, holding her hands up in surrender. She made her way back to the desk. "Whatever. Don't tell me. I'm here whenever you're ready to talk."

"Roger that." Foggy gave her retreating back two dorky thumbs up.

As soon as she was out of earshot Matt swatted Foggy's shoulder.

"Hey, what was that for?!" Foggy hissed.

"'He fell into a door?' Really?" Matt whispered back.

"How about 'thanks for covering for me back there, Foggy. I really appreciate you lying to Karen's face even though you've told me repeatedly how against it you are.' And you're welcome, by the way," Foggy hissed back.

"I'll tell her eventually," Matt insisted.

"You better. I don't want her figuring out how I did," Foggy grumbled.

Matt grimaced.

How he found out about his secret identity was… unfair, to say the least. Foggy had stopped by Matt's apartment one night to find Matt stumbling in, beaten half to death and in full Daredevil uniform. Matt wasn't even able to explain himself before he collapsed from his wounds.

Once Matt woke up, he and Foggy had a very… unpleasant conversation, to put it nicely.

To put it not so nicely…. Matt sat there and cried while Foggy yelled at him.

Their friendship hit rock bottom after that. They even stopped being friends entirely for a few weeks. But they got through it. They always do. For the most part. Kind of.

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty," Karen said, holding her hand over one end of the phone. "Could you quit bickering like an old married couple for a few minutes? I'm on the phone."

"Sorry," Foggy said, grinning and shooting her another thumbs up. Matt nodded his head as an apology.

Karen rolled her eyes and turned back to the phone. "Yes, this is Nelson-Murdock Law Firm. This is Karen speaking, how may I help you? Yes… yes… uh huh. No, we don't…. That is to say we've never actually…. um…." She balanced the phone between her ear and her shoulder and reached for a folder. "I mean we could, but…." She flipped the folder open and looked through the papers. "I could get you in on… Potts? No, I don't… Huh? What?..." She lowered the folder.. " I'm sorry, but what's S.H.I.E.L.D.?"