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"It's not poisoned, is it?"

BWAHAHAHAHA. So glad she said that. Atta girl. No matter how hot the guy, no matter how delectable the dessert, never let 'em assume that a little chocolate and sugar will give you amnesia. Especially after that spectacular first meeting.

That being said, a tasty tiramisu offered up with a charming apology can go a long way.

Sooooo, now she's got to write up the article. Will that be before or after she eats his confection.....

And Matt's got to get back to his basil. In some cultures basil is considered an aphrodisiac...

Looking forward to Chapter 4!

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 3

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

Rating: T (for now, might change, might not)

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, more tags to come as the story develops

Word Count: ~2500

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has liked/commented on/reblogged this so far! Enjoy this next installment!

(Also cross-posted to AO3.)

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

You were in the break room at the Bulletin the next day brewing your morning coffee and wondering how you were going to tell Ellison that you had bombed the interview with Chef Murdock when Skyler, your work BFF who handled the Lifestyle section of the paper, poked her head in. "There's this incredibly hot guy out front asking for you," she said excitedly. "Do you have a secret boyfriend you haven't told me about?"

You shook your head with a light laugh, wondering who it was that had come to see you. "No, definitely not. Bring whoever it is to the conference room and tell them that I'll be there in a second, will you, please?"

"Sure thing!"

After Skyler left you finished making your coffee then headed to the conference room, freezing in the doorway as you spotted the absolute last person you had ever expected to see again. "Chef Murdock."

Chef Murdock's head turned towards you, the red lenses of his glasses reflecting your look of shock at seeing him. Today he was wearing jeans and a light gray T-shirt, which made him seem vastly more approachable than the red chef's coat and black pants of the previous afternoon… and inexplicably even hotter.

"Um, hi," he said. "May we talk?"

You nodded warily. "Sure."

You shut the door behind you, purposely not asking him to sit. "So, come to berate me some more?"

Chef Murdock had the decency to look chagrined. "Actually, I came to apologize for my behavior towards you yesterday and ask if you'd be willing to reschedule our interview."

Your eyebrows raised. "You came to apologize ?"

Chef Murdock nodded and held a covered container out towards you. "This is for you."

You took the container and peeked inside. "You brought me tiramisu?"

Chef Murdock shrugged, a shy smile forming on his face. "I was kind of hoping you'd accept it as a peace offering."

"It's not poisoned, is it?"

Chef Murdock chuckled. "Let me just say that I'm pretty sure I didn't accidentally dust the top with cyanide instead of cocoa powder when I made it this morning."

You couldn't help but smile at Chef Murdock's joke. "Well I'm no expert on poisons, but I'm pretty sure cyanide isn't supposed to be brown."

Chef Murdock's expression grew serious as he said your name. "I was extremely rude yesterday and my actions towards you were uncalled for, and for that I am very deeply sorry and hope you'll forgive me."

You studied him for a moment. He seemed genuinely contrite, despite you not being able to see his eyes.

Finally you sighed and set the container on the conference room table. "In that case, I accept your apology… and your 'sorry for being a pompous asshole' tiramisu."

Chef Murdock huffed out a laugh. "Thank you."

"Will this afternoon work for you for our interview? Same time as yesterday?" 

Chef Murdock nodded. "Yeah, that'll work."

"Great." That would actually give you time to prepare.

Chef Murdock hesitated. "So I'll… see you this afternoon, then?"

You nodded. "Here, I'll walk you out. Let me just put this in the refrigerator first."

You quickly went to the break room before returning to escort Chef Murdock back to the elevator. "Want me to just call the restaurant when I get there?"

"Oh, actually, let me give you my cell number," Chef Murdock replied. "You can text me when you're nearby."

"Okay." You pulled out your phone and added Chef Murdock as a contact, typing in his number as he recited it to you. "I'll see you this afternoon, then."

Chef Murdock nodded. "Thank you again."

"No problem."

You waited until Chef Murdock left then went back to your desk to begin your research. 

Skyler immediately ran over to you. "So who was the hottie?"

You glanced up at her. "Oh, that was the chef Ellison asked me to interview yesterday. Something had come up so he needed to reschedule."

Skyler huffed out a laugh. "I wouldn't mind sampling his cuisine, if you know what I mean."

You shook your head with a smile. "I've gotta get some research done for my article, so I'll talk to you later, 'kay?"

"Yeah, I've gotta run anyway. I'm covering some fancy meeting that some rich old ladies' society is holding this morning and I don't want to be late."

As Skyler went to grab her purse from her own desk you ran another internet search on Chef Murdock, scrolling through the search results and pausing as you found a link to an old Bulletin article.

Local Boy, 9, Seriously Injured in Heroic Rescue Attempt

An attempt at saving a life changed another forever yesterday when Matthew Murdock, age 9 of Hell's Kitchen, was seriously injured after he prevented another person from being hit by a vehicle. Witnesses say that the boy came to the rescue of a man when a chemical truck overturned, causing an as-yet-identified substance to splash into the boy's eyes.

"He's a hero," said one eyewitness. "Didn't even hesitate, just jumped right into action to push that man out of the way."

"He should be commended," said another, "and his parents applauded for raising such a brave young man."

The boy's father, local boxing legend 'Battlin' Jack Murdock, declined to comment other than to say that his son is in critical, but stable, condition. 

You remembered Chef Murdock saying that his father had passed shortly after his accident, so next you looked up Jack Murdock, sucking in a breath at the news headline on your computer screen.

Local Boxing Legend Killed In Apparent Mob Hit

You quickly scanned the article -- apparently Chef Murdock's father had been beaten and shot after a boxing match against Carl 'Crusher' Creel and his murder never officially solved, although it was suspected that mob boss Roscoe Sweeney had been behind the hit.

You huffed out a breath. How awful. It was no wonder that your statement about how proud Chef Murdock's parents must have been of him had touched a nerve.

You made a few more notes and wrote down some other questions to ask Chef Murdock, looking up as Ellison stopped by your desk. 

"How'd the interview go yesterday?" he asked.

"Actually, something came up while I was there and Chef Murdock asked me to reschedule," you replied, deciding to leave out the details of what exactly had happened. "I'm meeting with him this afternoon instead."

Ellison nodded. "Okay, excellent. Let me know how it goes."

"Will do."

You finished up some other articles that you had due so you could focus your attention on Chef Murdock, completing the last one right as it was time to leave.

You grabbed your tiramisu out of the staff refrigerator and told Ellison you were leaving to go to Daredevil. 

You made a quick stop at home to drop off your dessert since it was on your way then headed to the restaurant, feeling much more prepared than you had the previous day. 

"So how'd it go?" Foggy asked as Matt entered the kitchen at Daredevil. "Were you able to reschedule the interview?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, we're meeting this afternoon. Same time as yesterday."

Foggy huffed out a relieved breath. "So how much did you have to grovel?"

Matt chuckled. "I made tiramisu for her this morning."

Foggy whistled. "Wow, pulling out the big guns."

Matt moved to wash his hands and put on an apron. "Come on, we've got a lot of prep to do for tonight's service."

He and Foggy set to work prepping ingredients for that night's dinner service, Matt's mind occasionally wandering to you and his upcoming interview. 

He had spent a few hours after dinner service the night before listening to transcripts of previous articles you had written, and he could tell that his initial assessment of you had been completely wrong. Your attention to detail in your articles showed that you clearly took pride in your work and had painstakingly researched each and every subject you had written about.

"...If you keep cutting up that basil you're going to get pesto," Foggy said suddenly.

Matt stopped cutting, realizing that the basil he was supposed to be chiffonading was now pretty much macerated. "Shit. "

Foggy chuckled. "You okay, buddy?"

Matt shook his head, trying to clear it. "I'm fine, I'm just…"

"Nervous?"

Matt remained silent.

Foggy patted him on the shoulder. "Just turn on that Murdock charm of yours and you'll be fine."

Matt's phone chimed in his pocket. "New text message."

Matt fished his phone out and tapped at the notification.

"Hi, Chef Murdock, just letting you know that I'll be by the restaurant in about 5 minutes, " his phone read out to him.

"I'll finish up here," Foggy said. "You got this, Matty." 

Matt huffed out a breath. "I hope so."

He took his apron off and went to wash his hands again, then headed up front right as you were walking up.

He unlocked the door and let you in, noticing your heartbeat pick up nervously. "Hi, thanks for coming."

"Hi," you replied.

Matt gestured to a nearby table. "Here, have a seat. Would you like something to drink?"

"Um, some water would be nice, please."

Matt nodded. "Sure thing. Just a second."

He returned to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of water glasses and a bottle of cold, filtered water before returning to you.

He poured some water into one of the glasses before setting it in front of you. "Here you go."

"Thank you," you replied.

Matt poured himself some water before setting the bottle down on the table and taking the seat across from you.

He could hear you tapping at your phone screen. "Um, do you mind if I record this? It helps me with direct quotes and stuff."

Matt shook his head. "No, that's fine."

"Okay, great." You tapped at your phone screen and stated your name, the date, and the time. "Interviewing Chef Matthew Murdock at Daredevil, take 1."

You cleared your throat. "Chef Murdock, thank you for taking the time to meet with me."

"It's my pleasure," Matt replied.

"So to start, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself."

"Well, I was born and raised by my dad here in Hell's Kitchen," Matt said.

"He was a boxer, right?" you asked. 

Aha. Definitely did her research today. "That's right, 'Battlin Jack Murdock'. He didn't have the best fight record, but to me he was the greatest boxer of all time."

"So what made you want to be a chef?"

"I was in an accident when I was 9," Matt said. He wasn't sure how much you knew about the details of it but decided to just go ahead and give you the full story -- well, almost the full story. "A chemical truck collided with a car and overturned, and there was this old man who would have been crushed if I hadn't pushed him out of the way. Unfortunately while I was pushing him out of the way I fell and some of the chemicals got into my eyes, which blinded me."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," you said sympathetically.

Matt shook his head. "My palate became very… sensitive after that and nothing anyone else ever made tasted right."

His other remaining senses had also become extremely sensitive, but that wasn't relevant to the current conversation. "Anyway, my father died when I was 11 and I was sent to live in an orphanage run by the local diocese." He smiled wryly. "You can imagine how the food was there."

You let out a light laugh. "Oh I can guess, especially for a picky eater."

"Well the nuns quickly got tired of dealing with my dietary needs, but then again they weren't going to let me starve so eventually they hired someone to teach me how to make my own meals."

Stick had taught Matt how to cook using his instincts and use his remaining senses to identify the freshness of ingredients but had abruptly quit when Matt had made him a cake as a thank-you. Clearly you're not learning, he had said after tasting it, in which case I have nothing more to teach you.

Matt shook his head. "I started developing my own recipes after that, then after I graduated high school I decided to enter culinary school, where I met my business partner.

"After we graduated we were both offered positions as line cooks at Landman & Zack over in Manhattan, but we decided to open a restaurant together instead. We stayed open a few years then closed it and reopened as Daredevil."

What he didn't say was that Nelson and Murdock had been a mild success until one bad review had nearly tanked both Matt's reputation and his friendship with Foggy. 

"Daredevil is a very interesting name for a restaurant. How did you come up with that?"

"One of my college professors referred to me as a 'daredevil' chef once, and it kind of stuck with me." Matt's lips quirked up into a smile as he waved a hand around. "And after all, we are in Hell's Kitchen…"

You huffed out a light laugh, your demeanor becoming more relaxed. "That's very true."

You continued asking him questions, both of you relaxing more as the interview went on.

Matt was telling you a story about the time one of his culinary school classmates almost set their hair on fire while trying to flambé some bananas for a bananas foster cheesecake when he heard Karen walk up.

"Hey, Matt," Karen said. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're opening in 10 minutes."

You let out a slight gasp. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how long we had been talking. I didn't mean to take up so much of your time, Chef Murdock."

Matt shook his head. "It's quite alright, I finished most of my prep work before you arrived." 

You stopped your recording and gathered your things. "Thank you for your time."

"It was my pleasure," Matt replied honestly. "Let me know if you need anything else from me for your article."

"Okay, I'll be in touch if I do."

"Have a good evening."

"You too."

Matt waited as you left, your heartbeat growing fainter the further you got from the restaurant.

Karen turned to him. "Now, was that so bad?"

Matt shook his head. You had been professional, yet warm and welcoming -- which he still wasn't sure he deserved after the way he had treated you the previous afternoon. "No, actually, it wasn't."

Karen nudged him with her elbow. "See? I told you. Now come on, let's get ready to open."

She's still calling him Chef Murdock in her head. Wonder how long that's going to last??!!

So Mr. White Pants Black T-shirt gave Reader his not yet on the menu tiramisu, huh? Yeah, Foggy knows the score all right. "Oh I can  totally make you tiramisu even though it's not on the menu, no problem." I'm right there with you Foggy. Chef Murdock Matt is going to beguile her at the Farmer's Market because who can resist a man who knows how to wield an...eggplant!

Sounds like saucy, succulent, seduction is on the menu on Saturday...maybe I'm a little too soon for that, but I'm betting it might be in their future at some point...

Great suspense for their next meet up. Can't wait to read about it; I like how you write!

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 4

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

Rating: T (for now, might change, probably not)

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, more tags to come as the story develops

Word Count: ~1600

A/N: Here's chapter 4! If you'd like to be added to the tag list for this story, please let me know!

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

Early the next afternoon, Ellison called you into his office.

You walked in. "What's up?"

Ellison leaned back in his chair. "I need to talk to you about your article."

Your brow furrowed. You had stayed up half the night working on it (while eating some of what was quite honestly the best tiramisu you had ever had) and had sent a rough draft to Ellison that morning after reading it over. "What about it?"

"Quite frankly, it sucks."

You blinked at him in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"It reads like you literally just transcribed the interview. There's no emotion to it."

"So, what, do you want it in another format, or…" You were hoping Ellison wasn't going to tell you to just forget about it or that he was reassigning the piece back to Kelsie, who was still out sick with food poisoning.

Ellison shook his head. "We need to switch gears. Instead of an interview, I want a full human-interest story." Ellison sat back up. "I want our readers to get to know Chef Murdock as both a chef and as a person. You got a bit of that in your interview, but I want more. Spend as much time with him as possible and do what you do best -- get him to open up to you. Find out what his interests are outside of cooking, how he develops his recipes, where his inspiration comes from. Give me personal details and anecdotes."

You nodded. Your second attempt at an interview had gone a lot smoother than your first -- you had found Chef Murdock had relaxed more the longer the two of you had talked, so you were pretty sure he wouldn't mind sitting down for a more in-depth interview. "Okay."

"Alright, that's it. Get a rough draft of your new article to me by next Wednesday -- that should be enough time to edit before we go to print the following Monday."

"Got it."

Ellison eyed you. "Don't make me regret that raise I agreed to."

You shook your head. "Don't worry, I won't."

You went back to your desk and eyed the clock. You had already been planning on stopping by Daredevil on your way home from work in order to drop Chef Murdock's dish back off to him and was just going to leave it with Karen at the host stand, but since you needed to talk with Chef Murdock anyway... 

You pulled out your phone and sent him a text. Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could come by the restaurant to talk with you for a minute before you open?

A few seconds later, your phone chimed. It's not a bother, and sure.

Okay, I'll be by in about 20 minutes.

Sounds good.

You grabbed your bag and Chef Murdock's dish and popped by Ellison's office again. "I'm leaving a bit early so I can go by Daredevil to talk to Chef Murdock."

Ellison nodded. "Okay, see you Monday."

You hurried towards Daredevil, sending Chef Murdock a text as you approached.

A minute later a man with shaggy blonde hair and a friendly face unlocked the door. "Hi, you must be the journalist from the Bulletin, right?"

You nodded and introduced yourself as you stepped inside.

The blond man smiled and stuck his hand out for you to shake. "Matt's signing for a delivery, but he'll be out in just a second. I'm Foggy Nelson, his business partner."

You took his offered hand. "Oh, yes, Chef Nelson. It's nice to meet you too."

Chef Nelson grinned. "So, I heard you were on the receiving end of Matt's apology tiramisu."

You huffed out a laugh. "Oh, uh, yeah, I guess he told you about that. Does he always apologize with tiramisu?"

"Only when he knows he really screwed up." Chef Nelson glanced towards the kitchen before looking back at you. "By the way, thanks for giving him another chance at an interview. Matt can be prickly but he's really a good guy underneath."

You smiled, thinking about how warm and open Chef Murdock had been the previous afternoon compared to your first meeting. "I'm beginning to see that."

"Sorry about that," Chef Murdock's voice said as he came out of the kitchen towards you.

You turned towards him. Today he was wearing a white t-shirt and black pants with his usual red glasses. It's unfair how damn hot he is , you thought to yourself.

You swallowed. "Hi, Chef Murdock."

"Hi," he replied pleasantly. "So what brings you by? Did you have some more questions for me?"

You nodded. "Yes, but I also came by to return your container to you and thank you again for the tiramisu."

Chef Murdock took the empty container with a grin. "I guess that means it wasn't poisoned, then?"

You huffed out a laugh even as your face heated. "I'm sorry about that."

Chef Murdock chuckled. "It's okay."

You shook your head. "In all honesty though I think that that was probably the best thing I've ever eaten. I'll definitely be placing some to-go orders for tiramisu after work."

Chef Murdock smiled. "It's not on the menu yet because I'm still perfecting it, but until then if you let me know in advance I'll be happy to make some for you."

"Matt makes his own ladyfingers from scratch," Chef Nelson chimed in. "That's the secret."

"Well, one of them." Chef Murdock grinned at you. "There's a few other secrets to my tiramisu that not even Foggy knows."

Chef Nelson chuckled. "And with that, I'm going to go get started on the dishes I do know the secrets to." 

He gave you a brief nod. "It was very nice meeting you."

"Same to you," you replied.

You waited until Chef Nelson had disappeared into the kitchen before turning back to Chef Murdock. "So about my article… I turned a draft of it into my editor this morning and he said it wasn't personal enough, so he wants me to expand it into a full human-interest story instead of just an interview."

Chef Murdock's brow furrowed. "Oh? What does that consist of?"

"Uh, well… usually with my human-interest pieces I spend time with the person I'm writing about, getting to know them over the course of several days, but since I don't want to take up too much of your time I'd probably just have some more interview questions for you, and if it would be possible I'd like to watch you work in the kitchen for a bit? It doesn't actually have to be during open hours or anything like that, and I'll even sign an NDA if you want me to promising that I won't reveal any of your recipes to anyone."

Chef Murdock pursed his lips as he thought. Finally, he nodded. "Yeah, that's okay."

You huffed out a breath. "Thank you so much. I'm free all weekend, so you can just text or call me and let me know whenever is convenient for you."

"Actually, how about we start tomorrow? Meet me here at, say, 8 AM?"

You nodded. "Okay, yeah, that sounds good."

"Great. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Thanks again for the tiramisu. It really was fantastic."

Chef Murdock smiled. "You're welcome."

"Okay. Bye."

You turned and walked back into the lobby so Karen could let you out, actually looking forward to seeing Chef Murdock the next morning.

Matt waited until you left then returned to the kitchen, where Foggy was slicing up cucumbers for the dinner salads.

Foggy paused in his prepping. "So… she seems nice."

Matt nodded. "Yeah, she is."

"Pretty, too."

Matt shook his head with a grin. "I wouldn't know."

Foggy chuckled. "Mmhmm. Sure you wouldn't, Matty. That's why you were totally flirting with her just now."

Matt's brow furrowed. "I wasn't flirting."

"I know your tells, Matty -- you like a girl, you cook for her." Foggy dropped his voice into an imitation of Matt's. "'Oh, I can totally make you tiramisu even though it's not on the menu, no problem'."

Matt shook his head. "She's writing an article about me -- of course I'm going to be nice and offer to make tiramisu for her again. Which reminds me, the editor at the Bulletin wants her to expand her interview into a human-interest story." 

"Oh hey, that's awesome, man. A full human-interest piece will be great publicity for the restaurant."

Matt nodded. "We're going to meet up tomorrow morning to discuss it."

"Couldn't wait to see her again, huh?"

Matt shook his head. "She wants to watch me cook, so I'm going to have her accompany me to the farmer's market then give her a small cooking demo here afterwards before we start prepping for tomorrow night's service."

"Ah okay, cool."

Matt turned his head towards the receiving door. "Josie's here with the wine order."

Foggy set his knife down as the doorbell rang. "I got it."

"Make sure she's got the Frangelico I added to this week's order, will ya?"

"Sure thing."

Matt sighed to himself as Foggy left to go receive their order. The truth was that he actually was looking forward to spending more time with you. You were kind, and funny, and endearing, and according to Foggy, 'pretty', which admittedly made Matt curious as to what you looked like. 

He shook his head. He needed to keep things strictly professional between the two of you. The last time he was interested in a journalist it almost cost him his career and he wasn't going to make that mistake again, no matter how much he was beginning to trust you.

LOTMF's Masterlist:

(Note: this should go without saying, but I'm not your mother and therefore it's not my responsibility to police what you read, so if you're under 18 I'd appreciate you sticking to the T & under stories.)

(All of my works are cross-posted to AO3 ONLY. If you see them on Wattpad, etc, please report them!)

Matt Murdock:

Salvation (M 🔥, 12 Chapters, ~31,200 words, Complete)

Salvation Chapter 1 - Matt's PoV (T, One-shot, ~3,300 words)

Salvation - 6 Months Later (T, One-Shot, ~2,500 words)

Meet Me in the Aftermath (E 🌶️, One-shot, ~4,000 words)

Angel of God, My Guardian Dear (E 🌶️, ONGOING)

Angel of God -- The St. Agnes Years (T, ONGOING)

Cooking Up Love (T, ONGOING)

Michael Kinsella:

It's Always Been You (Reader's Version) (E 🌶️, One-Shot, ~3,500 words)

It's Always Been You (Michael's Version) (E 🌶️, One-Shot, 5k words)

It's Always Been Us (E 🌶️, ONGOING)

Conversations (E 🌶️, One-Shot, ~2800 words)

TASM!Peter Parker:

Make My Wish Come True (T, One-Shot, ~2500 words)

Be Mine, Valentine (M🔥, One-Shot, ~2900 words)

Call it what you want. Delusion. Denial. Whatever term is appropriate, I seem to be under its spell. For I have this one true love—Peter Parker (specifically Tasm!peter but let’s not go into that or I will go off on a tangent for hours) but increasingly I am being drawn into another relationship thanks to some very talented writers who, of late, have been creating some extraordinary works with other fandom’s characters. My head is being turned and what is a reader to do but carry on because fictional love triangles with fandom loves are THE way. I can have my Peter Parker cake and eat it any way I like. It’s a little overstimulating overwhelming I must confess, having so many delectable stories from which to choose, but what a problem to have, right?

Looking forward to reading more of this as well as other writers I follow.

Okay, so I said I had some more fics in the works, and here they are!

Announcing... MIND THE GAP, the Daredevil/Kin crossover idea that I've been sitting on for MONTHS!

When Michael gets sent across the pond to fix an issue with the Kinsella clan's drug trade expansion into New York City, he never expected to meet and fall for a pretty law clerk from the office of Nelson, Murdock, and Page. But when she gets abducted by a rival cartel, Michael will have to enlist the help of the very vigilante that's trying to take down his entire operation.

(Note: This is a Mikey/Reader story, it is very quickly established that there is no love triangle between Mikey, Reader, and Matt.)

And also announcing... A GOOD READ, my super self-indulgent Mikey/Librarian!Reader love story!

Michael is hesitant when Birdy tries to convince him to join A Good Read, the book club she belongs to at the local library. However, that all changes when he meets you, the beautiful, shy librarian who runs it. Problem is, unless you're in your book club meeting, you seem almost afraid of him.

Can Michael convince you to open up and start a new chapter in life with him, or will you close the book on the possibility of a relationship before you even reach the first date?

Thanks so much to @theradioactivespidergwen for suggesting titles for both of these!

If you'd like to be tagged in one or both of these stories, please let me know!

“…I have another story for him…”

Okay, so I said I had some more fics in the works, and here they are!

Announcing... MIND THE GAP, the Daredevil/Kin crossover idea that I've been sitting on for MONTHS!

When Michael gets sent across the pond to fix an issue with the Kinsella clan's drug trade expansion into New York City, he never expected to meet and fall for a pretty law clerk from the office of Nelson, Murdock, and Page. But when she gets abducted by a rival cartel, Michael will have to enlist the help of the very vigilante that's trying to take down his entire operation.

(Note: This is a Mikey/Reader story, it is very quickly established that there is no love triangle between Mikey, Reader, and Matt.)

And also announcing... A GOOD READ, my super self-indulgent Mikey/Librarian!Reader love story!

Michael is hesitant when Birdy tries to convince him to join A Good Read, the book club she belongs to at the local library. However, that all changes when he meets you, the beautiful, shy librarian who runs it. Problem is, unless you're in your book club meeting, you seem almost afraid of him.

Can Michael convince you to open up and start a new chapter in life with him, or will you close the book on the possibility of a relationship before you even reach the first date?

Thanks so much to @theradioactivespidergwen for suggesting titles for both of these!

If you'd like to be tagged in one or both of these stories, please let me know!

Going ahead and announcing another fic so I'll bully myself into working on it -- this time with TASM!Peter Parker!

Peter's coffee maker has broken, leaving him in need of a caffeine fix. Luckily, there's a new coffee shop right by the Daily Bugle... With a beautiful barista inside.

The first chapter is already written and posted to AO3 but will be cross-posted here soon, and subsequent chapters will be posted in both places simultaneously.

I was giggling at Peter’s reaction to B.B. like the character ‘Mater teasing Lightning McQueen in the film, Cars: “Peter and B.B. sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-something, something…” and then when she adroitly (innocently?) slips him her number, Peter’s mental “Kachooga, kachooga.” Apologies if you haven’t ever seen that film, but it is adorable, just like this intro was. You have a knack for getting in Peter’s head and I enjoy that. It’s nice to know what he’s thinking. Wonder what Betty is going to think when she sees the two of them together? Will she spot that Peter’s interest extends beyond sugar and spice? Hmmm.

Of Coffee and Cinnamon Rolls - Chapter 1

Pairing: TASM! Peter Parker x F!Reader

Rating: T

Story Summary: Peter's coffee maker has broken, leaving him in need of a caffeine fix. Luckily, there's a new coffee shop right by the Daily Bugle... With a beautiful barista inside.

Warnings/Tags: Meet-Cute, Coffee Shops, Strangers to Friends to Lovers

Word Count: ~1650

A/N: Continuing my reignited thirst for Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker with this super sweet, super fluffy goodness! Enjoy this first chapter and I'll be back with more soon!

That being said, if you want to be added to the tag list for this or any of my other stories/characters I write for, please let me know!

Ugh, what a morning, Peter Parker thought as he hurried down the sidewalk towards the Daily Bugle's building. His ancient second (or more than likely actually third) -hand coffee maker that he had purchased at Goodwill when he had first moved into his apartment had finally given up the ghost that morning and he hadn't had time to try to fix it before needing to leave for work. Mr. Jameson had eventually relented and hired him on as a staff photographer rather than a freelancer after the former staff photographer, Eddie Brock, had quit to go work for the Post, which meant that Peter was expected to attend the 7am staff meetings.

He slowed as he spotted a sidewalk sign up ahead welcoming people inside a brand-new coffee shop. 

Deciding that getting his caffeine fix was more important than potentially being late, Peter adjusted his backpack on his shoulder and headed inside, taking a quick glance around the empty shop.

The woman behind the counter smiled as he approached. "Hi, welcome to Bean There, Done That, what can I getcha?"

Wow, she's beautiful, Peter thought . "Hi, could I get a large black coffee?"

The beautiful barista nodded. "Room for cream or sugar?"

"No, thank you."

"Can I interest you in a cinnamon roll?"

Peter's stomach growled as he eyed the display case of what appeared to be freshly-baked cinnamon rolls. In his haste to clean up the mess his now-broken coffee maker had made he hadn't had time for breakfast. "Uh, yeah, actually, a cinnamon roll sounds great."

"Awesome." The barista tapped at the iPad that was serving as the register. "For here or to go?"

"To go." As much as Peter would've liked to stay and enjoy his breakfast he was already cutting it close.

"Okay, that'll be $6.43. Can I get your name?"

Peter must've looked confused because she pointed to the stack of paper coffee cups and added, "for your coffee order."

"Oh! Peter... My name is Peter."

"Peter," the beautiful barista (or B.B. as Peter was now calling her in his head) repeated, tapping at the iPad again. "Your coffee will be ready at the end of the counter."

Peter paid for his breakfast and moved to the other end of the counter, watching as B.B. set his coffee to brew then moved to the display case. She appeared to be roughly his age, with Y/H/C hair and Y/E/C eyes. She wore black pants, a white shirt, and a flour-dusted apron which bore the logo of the shop and showed off her figure.

"Here you go," she said, walking back towards Peter and handing him a small bakery box. "Cinnamon roll for Peter."

"Thank you."

She put a lid on Peter's coffee and slid it over to him. "And here's your coffee."

Peter picked up his coffee and bakery box as the bell above the door chimed, signaling another customer. "Thanks again."

"No problem. Thanks for stopping by, come back again soon."

"Will do."

Peter ran the rest of the way to the Daily Bugle. Luckily Jameson was running late so Peter managed to slip into the conference room with a couple of minutes to spare.

He opened the bakery box and took a bite of the still-warm cinnamon roll. Wow, this is delicious.

He finished it right before Jameson walked into the conference room.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Jameson barked.  "We need a puff piece to round out Sunday's edition. Whaddya got for me?"

"The library is having a book sale--" one of the junior reporters began.

"Boring, nobody goes to the library. What else?"

"There's a pet adoption event in Central Park--" another one tried.

"We covered the last one. Gimmie something different."

Peter cleared his throat. "There's a new coffee shop down the street that's having a grand opening tomorrow… Bean There, Done That?"

"New coffee shop, huh? Is it any good?"

Peter nodded. "Yes, sir. I just had a cinnamon roll from there. It was great."

Jameson thought for a moment. "Might get some free baked goods for promoting it. Ok, fine. Brant!"

"Yes, sir," Betty Brant, one of the senior reporters, replied.

"Set up an interview with the owner. Parker, you go too since we need photos of the opening."

Peter grinned. "Yes, sir." Hopefully B.B. will be there.

"Alright, now get out of here. I've got golf with the mayor in an hour and I need to practice my back swing."

Peter headed to his desk to work on editing photos for the online edition of the paper, briefly stopping to eat lunch in the staff break room before getting back to it. As he was packing up to leave for the day Betty stopped by his desk. "Hey, so I stopped by that coffee shop during my lunch break and talked to the owner, and she agreed to an interview but asked if it could be before the shop opens, so I'll see you tomorrow morning around 7:30?" 

Peter nodded. "Sounds good."

"Oh and you were right, the cinnamon rolls are excellent. I can't wait to try some other stuff from there."

"Me either. See you tomorrow, Betty."

He grabbed his backpack and headed down to the lobby.

"Bye, Stan!" he called to the elderly security guard as he exited the building.

As he approached Bean There, Done That he noticed that the chalkboard sign was still outside. Maybe I should stop in and get another coffee and cinnamon roll since it's gonna be a long night. And if B.B. happens to still be there, well, that's just a bonus, isn't it?

B.B. looked up from the tray of cinnamon rolls that she was boxing up as he entered. She smiled. "Hi, back again? It's Peter, right?"

Peter nodded. "Right."

"What can I do for you?"

"Um, actually I was wondering if I could get another coffee and a cinnamon roll."

B.B. nodded. "You're in luck. I'm getting ready to close up so I was boxing up the few I have left."

She moved over to the coffee machine. "Large black coffee, right?"

Peter nodded, impressed that she had remembered his order from that morning. "Right."

"Ok, I'll have that for you in a sec."

Peter waited at the register while B.B. brewed his coffee. "So, uh, first day open?" he asked.

B.B. glanced over at him. "Yeah, sorta. Technically tomorrow's our official opening but I decided to go ahead and open for a couple of hours today."

She popped the lid on and set it in front of him, then grabbed the box of cinnamon rolls, waving off Peter's payment. "Here you go. On the house."

Peter blinked in surprise. "Oh, wow, thanks. Are you sure though? I wouldn't want you to get into trouble with the owner."

B.B. grinned. "Considering I am the owner, I don't think I'll get into trouble for giving away free stuff. Besides, you're my first repeat customer, so that should at least entitle you to a free coffee and bakery item, right?"

"You're the owner," Peter repeated, suddenly feeling dumb considering how obvious it was. 

B.B. nodded. "Yep. I couldn't sleep last night, and when I can't sleep, I bake, hence the cinnamon rolls, so I figured it was better to open for a few hours a day early and sell them rather than have to throw them out because I can't eat them all." 

She stuck out her hand. "I'm Y/F/N. Y/F/N Y/L/N."

Peter took it, giving it a brief shake. "Peter Parker."

"Very nice to meet you, Peter Parker."

"Nice to meet you as well, Y/N." Peter enjoyed the way her name felt on his tongue.

"Thanks for stopping by again. Hope to see you again soon."

Peter grinned. "Actually, you'll be seeing me tomorrow morning. I'm the staff photographer for the Daily Bugle so I'll be taking photos for the paper during your interview."

A look of realization flitted across Y/N's face. "Ohhh, that makes sense now. That reporter from the Bugle did say that one of her colleagues had stopped by this morning and recommended that she try the cinnamon rolls."

Peter chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, that was me."

"Well thank you for recommending them to your colleagues. I really appreciate it."

"It was no problem, really. The cinnamon roll was excellent." Peter gestured to the bakery box. "Well, I mean obviously, since I'm back for another one." Not because you're beautiful and I just wanted to see you again, he thought. Well… not only that.

He took a sip of his coffee. "So I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

Y/N smiled. "Yeah, I guess you will."

Peter picked up the bakery box. "Thanks again for the coffee and cinnamon rolls. I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem."

Peter turned to leave.

"Oh, hey, wait!" Y/N added.

Peter turned back towards her.

Y/N bit her lip, then picked up a business card from the holder in front of the register and wrote something on the back before handing it to Peter. 

Peter studied the card.

Bean There, Done That

714 2nd Ave.

New York, NY 10016

(646)-555-2390

www.btdt.com

He turned it over and saw an additional phone number written on the back. 

"If no one's up front when you get here tomorrow morning you can text me and I'll come let you in," Y/N explained.

Peter put the card in his wallet for safekeeping, making a mental note to add Y/N's contact info to his phone as soon as he left the shop. "That sounds great."

"See you tomorrow, Peter."

"See ya, Y/N."

Peter left the shop with a grin. Maybe my coffee maker breaking wasn't such a bad thing after all. 

I hope it's okay and not a reblog no-no, but I'd like to append my appreciation for your update to the other thoughts about your fic because I echo them completely. Very well stated @yarrystyleeza !!

I also loved the little thought processes of the characters. The "well no, I really shouldn't be thinking about that right now..." type thoughts because first, it's a perfect set-up (especially for Matt) and second, WHO HASN'T DONE THAT?? Gotten so much into the headdspace before anything has even really gotten going. Here it's just two adults perfectly free to fall into each others arms and yet the. mutual. pining. and. trying. to. talk. themselves. out. of. what. they. feel. because. this. cannot. really. be. happening. to. me. right? right? Reading it is like--oh heck just hook it straight into my veins. I love it.

I had a wonderful time reading about the time at the Farmer's Market. I love shopping at the markets like that. I'd have to stay away from the mangos though: allergic to the point of anaphylactic shock sadly. Pity because they taste soooo good. Yeah, found out the hard way. But crepes, oh my lord, do I love to make those even w/o mangos. Savory crepes, sweet crepes, they're all delicious. By the time I finish your chapters I'm having a hard time figuring out if I'm salivating over Matt or the food. I think it's both. Yep, I think it's definitely both.

She's going back to the restaurant for Sunday brunch...*giggles*

Well done!

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 5

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

Rating: T (for now, might change, probably won'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, but he is a naughty-minded flirt 😉

Word Count: exactly 3200 for this chapter

A/N: And we're back! Thank you to everyone who's been enjoying this story so far, and please let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list for this or any of my others!

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

Ugh, this is ridiculous, you thought to yourself the next morning as you tossed yet another rejected outfit onto your bed.  You had been torn between wanting to dress professionally since you were technically working and wearing something more casual since you knew you would be watching Chef Murdock cook and didn't want to accidentally ruin one of your nicer outfits, and had ransacked your closet in order to find something in-between. It's not like it actually matters what I wear anyway.

Finally you pulled on a pair of jeans and a cute-but-casual top then hurriedly finished getting ready before heading towards Daredevil.

You sucked in a breath as you spotted Chef Murdock waiting for you outside of the restaurant. Goddamn, even dressed casually he's sexy as all hell.

He was dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans today, paired with black sneakers and a comfortably-worn-looking brown leather jacket.

His head turned towards you as you approached. "Good morning," he said with a smile.

"Hi," you replied. "How'd you know it was me?"

"You slowed down as you approached me," Chef Murdock replied. "If it hadn't been you you more than likely wouldn't have changed your pace, so I made an educated guess."

"Oh, okay, yeah, that makes sense." You shook your head. "I guess you kinda have to pay extra attention to your surroundings, huh?"

Chef Murdock nodded. “Yeah, I’ve had to learn to utilize my remaining senses to adapt to the environment around me.”

He held a to-go cup of coffee out towards you. "Here, I picked up some coffee for you. I wasn't exactly sure what you'd want so I got you something based on what you were drinking at the Bulletin the other day."

Your eyebrows raised. To you your coffee always smelled like, well, coffee, but Chef Murdock was trained in the culinary arts -- he could probably tell what sweeteners and syrups were in a cup of coffee just from the scent alone.

You took a sip then nodded in approval. "This is great. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Chef Murdock took a sip of his own coffee. "So since any culinary dish starts with its ingredients, I thought we'd begin our cooking demo at the farmer's market this morning."

You nodded. "Okay, yeah, that sounds great. Do you mind if I record our conversation while we walk? Sometimes something will jump out in casual conversation that's good for my article."

Chef Murdock shook his head. "Not at all."

"Great, thanks." You took your phone out of your pocket and started recording, once again stating your name, the date, and the time. "Interview of Chef Matthew Murdock, part 2."

Chef Murdock gestured down the sidewalk. "Shall we, then?"

"Sure."

You headed down the sidewalk together, the gentle tapping of Chef Murdock's cane against the pavement creating a rhythm with your steps.

"So, um, how was dinner service last night?" you asked. 

"It was… okay," Chef Murdock replied. "Not quite what I'd hoped for in terms of customers, but we're still finding our footing."

You nodded. "Well, hopefully my profile of you for the Bulletin will help get the word out."

Chef Murdock nodded. "Fingers crossed. So what about you? How was your evening? Have any big Friday night plans?"

You shook your head with a light laugh. "Not unless you counted a date with my Netflix account."

Chef Murdock chuckled. "That actually sounds really nice."

"I would ask if you got to do anything after the restaurant closed, but I'm sure you probably just went home and rested."

Chef Murdock shook his head. "Actually, I have after-hours access to a gym near my apartment, so I frequently go there to work off my energy from service before heading home."

I wonder what kind of workouts he does to gain those biceps of his , you thought as you glanced over at his arms.

"Boxing." 

You looked up at Chef Murdock's face, which was sporting a small smirk. Shit, did I say that out loud? "Pardon?"

"I said I box," Chef Murdock repeated. "It helps me blow off steam after service and focus when I'm stuck on a recipe."

"Ah, okay. So did your dad teach you how to fight?"

Chef Murdock shook his head. "No, he didn't want me to be part of that world, said he wanted better for me than to come home with bruises and broken ribs every night like he did. He encouraged me to focus on my education, said he didn’t want to see me have to struggle in life like he did."

You looked up at him as the two of you paused at a crosswalk. "I think he would be proud of you, you know."

Chef Murdock sighed. "I would hope so. Not sure he'd be too proud of the way I treated you when we first met the other day though."

You shook your head. "It’s okay, really. We all have our off days. And speaking of off days, do you get any time off to relax and do anything fun?"

Chef Murdock nodded. "I take Sunday after brunch service to relax and unwind. Sometimes Mondays too, but most Mondays I'm at the restaurant testing and perfecting new recipes."

"Like your apology tiramisu?"

Chef Murdock chuckled. "Yeah, but I'm also working on a few other recipes as well right now, appetizers and main dishes and such." 

You continued on as the crosswalk sign switched from 'stop' to 'walk'. "How long have you been at the Bulletin ?" Chef Murdock asked. 

"Five years," you replied. "I was at the Bugle for a little while before that, but the editor was only interested in unsubstantiated gossip and wouldn't let me write the kind of pieces I wanted to write."

"Which are human-interest stories?"

You nodded. "Don't get me wrong, I like to dig into a good investigative assignment just as much as the next journalist, but my stories don't always have to be hard-hitting exposés -- I want our readers to connect to the people I write about."

Chef Murdock looked contemplative. "That's admirable. So what made you want to be a journalist?"

"I've always loved listening to people talk about their lives and hearing about their hopes and dreams. One day I decided I wanted to be able to share their stories with the world and since I always had a knack for writing, I decided to become a journalist."

"Where did you go to school?"

You huffed out a light laugh. "Hey, who's interviewing who here?"

Chef Murdock grinned, his cheeks turning an adorable shade of pink. "Sorry."

You shook your head. "It's fine, I'm totally kidding. I just didn't think you'd want to hear me ramble on about myself."

Chef Murdock shook his head. "No, it's fine, I uh… Actually I really like your voice." 

Your face heated. "Oh."

Chef Murdock shrugged, suddenly looking a bit shy. "I mean, I can't recognize people by their looks, obviously, so I pay a lot of attention to people's voices. Yours sounds nice."

Your heart fluttered again. Chill out, he's not flirting with you. "Thank you. I, um, I went to Columbia, by the way."

Chef Murdock nodded. "I considered going there -- thought about being a lawyer for a while, but I ultimately decided to go to culinary school instead."

You could picture Chef Murdock in a business suit, arguing a case in front of a captivated jury. He certainly could sway my opinion. "Oh, wow, that's… quite a different career path."

"Yeah, I thought that was what my dad would have wanted me to do but I eventually realized that what he really would have wanted was for me to be happy and do what I love."

"Which is cooking."

Chef Murdock smiled. "Yeah, cooking really is my passion. I love taking different ingredients and putting them together in order to create something for people to enjoy."

"That's really nice."

The two of you slowed down as you reached the lot where the farmer's market was held. "Here we are," Chef Murdock said.

You looked at the expanse of booths. "So, um, if you don't mind me asking… how do you know which vendors are where?"

Chef Murdock smiled and shook his head. "No, I don't mind at all. The vendors all have assigned spaces, so I've learned to map out who is located where. Plus Foggy comes with me most of the time to help out, or Karen will if Foggy's not available."

"Oh, okay."

The two of you began walking down the first row of vendors. "So, what are we looking for?"

Chef Murdock shook his head. "We're just going to browse and see what we can find."

He slowed as you reached a booth featuring baskets of farm-fresh eggs. "We'll definitely need some eggs though."

You nodded. "Okay."

The two of you stopped at the booth.

"Good morning, Chef," the vendor said. "How can I help you today?"

"Morning, Oscar," Chef Murdock replied. "We'd like a dozen eggs, please."

"Of course." The vendor waved a hand at the baskets of eggs. "Take your pick."

Chef Murdock reached out and felt the eggs in one of the baskets. "We'll take these."

The vendor nodded. "Alrighty then."

He took the eggs out of the basket and set them in a cardboard carton. "That'll be $5."

Chef Murdock took his wallet out of his pocket and opened it before taking out a $5 bill and handing it to the vendor.

The vendor took it then handed Chef Murdock the carton of eggs. "Here you go, Chef. See you next week."

Matt gave the vendor a slight nod. "Thanks, Oscar. See ya."

The two of you continued on, stopping occasionally to chat with different vendors and purchase various fruits and vegetables. You watched in fascination as Chef Murdock took his time choosing each one, squeezing and smelling each individual item before deciding whether or not it was worth purchasing.

Finally you asked, "how can you tell if something is ripe or not?"

"Each individual fruit and vegetable has a distinct firmness and smell to them," Chef Murdock replied as the two of you stopped at a booth that was selling mangos. "I've learned to determine at what point they're at their ripest."

He picked up a mango. "Like mangos, for instance."

He took your hand and placed the mango in it. "Feel how firm this one is?"

You nodded, trying to focus on the fruit in your hand and not how Chef Murdock's touch was making your heart start to race. "Uh huh."

"Now smell it."

You held the mango up to your nose. "I don't smell anything."

"That means it's not quite ripe yet." Chef Murdock took the mango and set another one in your hand. "On the other hand, this one is a bit overripe."

You squeezed the mango, this one much softer than the other. "Okay."

Chef Murdock held a third mango up to your nose. "Smell this one."

You inhaled, a slightly mango-y scent filling your nostrils. "It smells like mango."

Chef Murdock nodded. "Exactly."

He swapped the mango currently in your hand with the one in his. "Now feel it."

You squeezed. It had more give than the first one but less than the second. "Okay, yeah, I can tell the difference."

"This one is perfectly ripe." Chef Murdock took the mango back, his fingertips slowly grazing your palm as he did so.

You swallowed. You couldn't deny that Chef Murdock was extremely attractive, but you were there to do your job, not lust after the man. Keep it professional.

You waited as he selected a few more mangos and paid the vendor before moving on. 

You reached the last row of booths and stopped in front of one called Claire-romatherapy.

The vendor walked over to the two of you with a smile on her face. "Morning, Matt."

Chef Murdock grinned. "Morning, Claire."

He turned to introduce the two of you. "Claire helps run the community garden near my apartment," he explained. "I grow herbs there."

"Ah, okay," you replied. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too," Claire said. "So what brings you two by today?"

Matt adjusted the bag he was carrying on his shoulder. "Actually, I'm almost out of that lemon soap and I was wondering if you had any in stock."

Claire nodded. "Actually, yeah, let me grab some for you. How many did you need today?"

"I'll take two. Thanks."

"Sure thing."

You picked up a soy-based candle and gave it a sniff, the subtle scent of coconut and mahogany filling your nose. "Mmm. How much are your candles?"

Claire glanced over at you from where she was sorting through a bin of various soaps. "Six for the smaller ones, ten for the large."

You nodded and went to dig your wallet out of your purse. 

Chef Murdock placed a hand on your arm. "I've got it."

You shook your head. "Oh, no, I couldn't possibly --"

"No, I insist." Chef Murdock smiled at you. "Considering I'm the one who dragged you out here at 8 AM on a Saturday it's the least I can do."

You bit your lip, then sighed as you put your wallet away. "Okay then. Thank you."

"Alright," Claire said, returning with Chef Murdock's soap. "Total comes to sixteen dollars."

Chef Murdock handed her some cash. "I'll see you next week, Claire."

"Okay. Take care, Matt." Claire turned towards you. "And it was very nice to meet you." 

"You too," you replied.

"Alright, I think that's everything," Chef Murdock said as the two of you walked back towards the entrance. "Let's get back to the restaurant."

You nodded as you headed down the sidewalk together, excited to find out what sort of culinary creation Chef Murdock had in mind.

"Okay," Matt said half an hour later as he set a plate of crepes topped with fresh fruit, honey, and whipped cream in front of where you sat at the prep counter in the kitchen at Daredevil.

After finishing up at the farmer's market the two of you had gone back to the restaurant, where you had watched Matt prepare breakfast.

Matt had admittedly shown off his skills a bit, making perfectly cooked crepes and slicing the fruit with culinary precision before making freshly whipped cream.

"Oh my gosh, this looks amazing," you said.

Matt smiled as he set his own plate down across from you. "Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks then."

He waited as you cut a piece and took a bite. He knew every ingredient was exactly as it should be but was still nervous about your reaction.

You let out a moan. "Ohmigod ."

Matt sucked in a breath, his mind wandering to other sorts of situations in which he could get you to make those pleased sounds for him. He knew you were attracted to him -- all of the physiological signs he had picked up on had pointed to such -- and the more he had gotten to know you over the past several days, the more attracted he found himself becoming towards you in return. 

He cleared his throat, fighting to keep his thoughts professional.  "Good?"

You made a sound of affirmation as you took another bite. "Please tell me that your crepes are on the Sunday brunch menu."

Matt chuckled as he took a bite of his own crepes. "As a matter of fact, they are."

You took a sip of the freshly-squeezed orange juice Matt had also prepared. "Mmm, good, because now I know what I'm doing tomorrow morning."

Come home with me tonight and I'll make you all the crepes you want. 

Matt could imagine himself in his apartment's kitchen, making breakfast as you sat at his kitchen island wearing nothing but one of his shirts after a night of passionate lovemaking.

He mentally shook his head. He would definitely need to blow off some steam at the gym after service tonight. "I'm glad you like them."

You made another pleased sound. "These are amazing, honestly."

The two of you continued eating in comfortable silence. Once you were finished, you set your fork onto your plate. "That was so good."

Matt smiled. "Thanks."

He picked up your plates and brought them to the sink to wash them later, then turned towards the receiving door as the bell rang. "Oh, excuse me one second."

He walked over and answered it, the smell of motor oil and fresh blood filling his nostrils. "Hey, Frank."

"Hiya, Red," Frank replied. "I've got your delivery for today."

Matt nodded. "Come on in."

Frank wheeled the cooler with the fresh meat Matt had ordered into the kitchen, pausing when he saw you. "I didn't realize you had company. I could've come later."

Matt shook his head before introducing you. "She's doing a profile on me for the Bulletin. "

He gestured back to Frank. "This is Frank Castle. He's our meat supplier for the restaurant."

"Nice to meet you," you said.

"Likewise, ma'am," Frank replied.

Matt took the clipboard Frank handed him, feeling for the sticky flag he needed to sign by. "Give me just a second to take care of this."

"Actually, I should get going," you said. "I'm sure you have to start prepping for service soon and I don't want to be in the way."

As much as Matt didn't want you to have to go, you were right. He nodded. "Give me just a second and I'll walk you out."

"Okay."

He finished signing off on the meat order and handed the clipboard back to Frank. "Thanks, Frank."

Frank shook his hand. "No problem, Red, see ya Tuesday. Ma'am."

"Nice to meet you," you said.

Matt waited until the rumble of Frank's truck faded off into the distance before turning back to you. "By the way, if you're ever looking for someone interesting to profile, Frank's your guy."

"Oh?" you replied curiously as he escorted you towards the front door.

Matt nodded. "He's a former military veteran who was shot in the head while overseas then lost his wife and kids in a shootout between two rival gangs."

You sucked in a breath. "Oh my gosh, that's awful."

"He became a rancher in order to help with the PTSD and is now one of the biggest beef suppliers in New York."

"I'll definitely keep him in mind then. Thanks."

You both paused as you reached the door. 

"I… I had a really nice time today, Chef Murdock," you finally said. "Thanks for everything."

"No problem." Matt rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Um, you know… you can call me Matt if you'd like."

"Okay," you said, a smile in your voice. "Thanks… Matt."

Matt smiled at the way his first name rolled off your tongue. "You're welcome."

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

Matt nodded. "Have Karen let me know that you're here and I'll come say hi."

"I will."

Matt unlocked the door. "See you tomorrow."

He sighed as he let you out then locked the door behind you. It was getting more and more difficult to fight the mutual attraction between you… and honestly, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to keep fighting it.

Idiots In Love...understatement of the year, hehe.

I think Karen, Skyler, Foggy, and probably Father Lantom are so onto Matt and Reader that the entire crew is watching the little cupids float around in the air whenever Matt and Reader are together. The I could use some help testing recipes, beneficial to your article...Matt is just charming the socks off of Reader now isn't he? Don't think this reader didn't notice the little electric shocks whenever they happened to get close...

Besides the wonderful, and yes, fluffy cheesy goodness, I do enjoy the cooking/food descriptions as well. Savory, sweet, you name it, I like the details you weave into the story.

What were the ingredients in Reader's omelette again? (or was that supposed to be reader supplied, in which case I'll have shaved ham, gruyere, and a tiny bit of spinach, thank you Karen)...

Matt's nervous about how Reader is going to react; I think she's about to witness a whole 'nother side of Matt and it's going to be...rather warm in Hell's Kitchen in more ways than one....

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 6

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, Denial is not just a river in Egypt, Idiots in love

Word Count: ~3700

A/N: Here we are with the next chapter! I had to split this day into 2 chapters, so the 2nd half is coming soon!

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

No need to rush, they just opened, you told yourself as you headed to Daredevil the next morning. 

You had awoken early and in an effort to keep yourself busy (and distracted from thinking about Matt too much) you had done a load of laundry, straightened your living area, rearranged your kitchen cabinets, and had begun cleaning out your closet.

Finally it was time to leave for Daredevil, so you had taken a quick shower and gotten ready, then hurried out the door.

You slowed down and took a deep breath as you reached the restaurant, then headed inside. 

Karen looked up and smiled. "Hi!" she said. "Matt said you had mentioned coming by today."

You nodded. "Yeah, I loved the crepes he made yesterday during the cooking demo he did for me, so I definitely couldn't resist coming back for brunch."

"Well I know Matt definitely appreciates it." Karen grabbed a menu. "Right this way."

She led you through the smattering of diners to a small table near the kitchen. "Can I get you something to drink? Water, coffee, juice… champagne?"

"Just some orange juice would be fine," you replied as you sat. "Thanks."

Karen nodded. "Okay, I'll let Matt know that you're here then I'll be right back with that."

You smiled. "Thanks so much, Karen."

You looked down at the menu as Karen headed to the kitchen. You were definitely planning on getting the crepes, but you wanted to try something else alongside them. Steak and eggs, french toast, southern-style grits… oh, maybe an omelet?

You read through the omelet choices, finally settling on a 'create your own' style made with your favorite ingredients.

A minute later, Karen returned with your juice. "Here you go. Matt said he'll come say hi as soon as he can. In the meantime, are you ready to order?"

You nodded. "That's okay, I understand that he's busy. And yeah, I'm ready."

Karen pulled out a notepad and pencil. "Okay, what can I getcha?"

"I'd like an omelet, please." You listed off the ingredients you wanted in your omelet, briefly pausing in-between so Karen could write them down. "And a side order of the breakfast crepes."

Karen nodded. "Got it. Okay, I'll get this put in for you."

"Thanks."

You looked around the small restaurant as you waited. While it wasn't completely empty, there were only about a half-dozen tables that were occupied by couples and families. Granted, it was only about 20 minutes after opening, so you figured the after-church crowd hadn't yet descended upon the neighborhood but that it would fill up soon.

After a few minutes, Karen stopped by your table. "Doing okay?"

You nodded. "Yeah, just fine."

"Great. Your food will be out in just a minute."

"Okay. Thanks."

Your phone buzzed with a text message.

Skyler: Remind me why I agreed to take over Lifestyles from you? I'm about to die of boredom at this fundraiser for the senior center.

You shook your head with a grin. Because it was a permanent position and paid a lot more than your old internship.

Skyler: Oh that's right. Thanks. 

You huffed out a laugh. No problem.

Skyler: What are you up to today?

I'm at Daredevil having brunch. Matt did a cooking demo for me yesterday morning and made the absolute best crepes I've ever had in my life, so I decided to come back today and try something else on the menu.

Skyler: Like some of Chef Hottie's cake? 🍰🍑

You huffed out a laugh. Pretty sure that's not on there. 

Skyler: But it might be on the *secret* menu… 😉 And wait, he's *Matt* now? 👀 When did that happen?

Yesterday. He said that I could call him by his first name. But that doesn't mean anything because even if I *was* interested, which I'm not saying I *am*, he's been nothing but strictly professional towards me the entire week.

Skyler: Mmhmm. Methinks thou dost protest too much. Anyway, I gotta run, they're about to start the auction.

Okay, talk to you later.

You shook your head as you locked your phone back. There wasn't any point in letting yourself fall for Matt since he clearly wasn't interested.

"Create-your-own omelet and a side of crepes?"

You looked up as Matt's voice broke through your thoughts. 

Your heart fluttered. He was back in his red chef's coat, but instead of making him look fearsome and intimidating as it had the day you had met him, today it made him look professional and suave. "Matt, hi."

Matt set your plate down in front of you, a bright smile on his face. "Hi. How are you?"

"I'm good. How are you today?"

"I'm good too. Thanks for coming by."

You nodded. "Of course. I definitely wasn't going to pass up a chance to try some more of your food."

Matt's smile widened into a grin. "Well good, because I was actually wondering if you were busy tomorrow evening."

You shook your head. "No, I'm not busy. Why?"

"I was thinking maybe you'd like to come by and help me test out some new recipes? It'd be helpful to get an outside opinion on some of the things we're considering adding to the menu."

You smiled. "Yeah, I'd love to."

"Great. And, uh, I was also wondering what you were doing this afternoon?"

You shook your head again. "No big plans for today, either."

"I really enjoyed my time with you at the farmer's market yesterday, so I thought maybe you wouldn't mind accompanying me while I ran my after-work errands?" Matt bit his lip. "You don't have to, of course, I just thought it might be beneficial to your article to spend some more time with me outside of the kitchen."

You smiled. You couldn't ignore the fact that your article would be due soon, so you were happy to spend whatever time with Matt as you could until then. "No, I don't mind at all. It would actually be really helpful to get some more insight as to who you are when you're not working."

Matt gestured back towards the kitchen. "Speaking of the kitchen, I should get back in it, but can you meet me back here after closing? Say, around 3:30?"

You nodded. That would give you plenty of time to do the few things you still needed to do around your apartment. "That sounds good. Want me to text you when I'm nearby?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Okay, I'll see you later then."

"Okay. Enjoy your meal."

As Matt headed back to work, you cut a piece of your omelet and blew on it slightly to cool it before taking a bite. Of course it's amazing.

You had no idea how Matt could make something as simple as eggs taste so good, but he definitely had. The omelet was perfectly cooked with just the right proportion of salt and pepper to cheese and fillings. 

"How is everything?" Karen asked as she stopped by your table.

"Oh my gosh, it's so good." You took a sip of your juice. "Everything is great."

Karen nodded. "Good. Let me know if you need anything else for now."

"Actually, you can go ahead and bring my bill if you don't mind."

"Okay, sure thing."

You continued eating as Karen left once again, trying to not audibly moan at how good the crepes also were. Definitely going to have to mention how great the food is here in my article.

Karen stopped by to drop your bill off. "Here you go," she said, setting the folio with your bill on your table. "No rush."

You nodded. "Thanks."

You finished your food then picked up the bill.

Your brow furrowed. This can't be right.

Luckily, Karen was walking right past you. "Hey, Karen?"

Karen stopped at your table. "Yeah?"

You slid your bill over to her. "I think my bill is wrong."

Karen looked at it. "No, that's correct. Matt said it's on him today."

Your eyes widened in surprise. "Oh. Well, that was very generous of him."

Karen shrugged, a tiny smile playing across her lips. "Matt's like that."

You smiled. You were sure he had comped your meal because of your article, but the gesture was still nice. "I'll have to thank him later."

Karen turned as the bell above the front door chimed. "I better get back up front to go seat these customers, but I'll see you later?"

You nodded. "Thanks, Karen."

You looked back at your bill, then grabbed a pen out of your purse. Thanks for the wonderful service! you wrote on your receipt, then tucked $30 into the folio, figuring that the cost of your meal could at least go towards Karen's tips.

You stuck your pen and wallet back in your purse then grabbed your phone.

You glanced towards the kitchen before sending Matt a text. Thank you so much for brunch! Everything was great. See you this afternoon.

You stuck your phone in your pocket and stood, then headed towards the door. "Thanks again, Karen," you said as you passed by the host stand.

"No problem," Karen replied. "See ya."

Your phone chimed with an incoming message.

Chef Murdock (Matt): You're very welcome, and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed everything. See you this afternoon.

You locked your phone back and stuck it in your pocket as you headed towards home with a smile on your face. 

"Man, I think that's the fastest we've ever gotten through closing," Foggy remarked as he and Matt finished packing up the last few containers to take over to the soup kitchen at Clinton Church. "I might actually have time to visit with my folks a bit before we sit down for Sunday supper."

Matt nodded. "Tell them hi for me."

"You know, you're always welcome to join us after you get done."

Matt shook his head, trying to keep the smile that wanted to form off of his lips. "Actually, I uh, I have plans after that."

Foggy chuckled. "Do these 'plans' happen to be with a certain journalist from the Bulletin?"

Matt's brow furrowed. "How'd you know?"

"Because you've been on cloud nine ever since you personally brought her order out to her this morning and comped her bill." Foggy chuckled. "I thought you were going to sprint out of here as soon as you had her omelet ready."

Matt shrugged. "Even though she's writing a profile on me she's still going to mention the food, so I wanted her to get her order as fresh as possible. And I thought it would be helpful for her article to spend time with me outside of the kitchen, so I asked her to accompany me on my errands this afternoon."

Foggy chuckled. "Uh huh, sure , Matty, it's all because of her article, not because you've got a thing for her."

Matt shook his head. "I don't -- it's not a thing." 

"Mmhmm, keep telling yourself that, buddy." Foggy patted him on the shoulder. "Listen, I gotta run so I can get to my parents' before my brothers eat all of my mom's potato bread, but we're continuing this conversation on Tuesday."

Matt grinned. Mrs. Nelson's homemade potato bread was the stuff of legends and as much as he had tried, he couldn't quite replicate it. "Okay, have a good one."

After Foggy had left, he pulled out his phone and dictated a text to you. Hey, we finished closing up earlier than usual, so if you're free now you can come on by.

A few seconds later, his phone chimed with a reply. That sounds great! I'll be there in about 10 minutes.

Matt grinned. Sounds good.

He grabbed his gym bag and the cart of food containers, then turned off the kitchen lights and headed towards the front of the restaurant. 

He smiled as he heard you approach, waiting until you knocked softly on the door before walking over to let you in.

"Hey, ready to go?" you said. 

Matt nodded. "Yeah, just give me a second."

He set the alarm then wheeled the cart of food containers outside before locking the door. "Okay, all set."

"So where are we headed?" you asked. 

"First stop is Clinton Church. I volunteer to cook for the soup kitchen every Sunday after service."

"Oh, that's so sweet of you."

Matt shrugged. "It's my way of giving back to the community."

You reached for the cart handle. "Here, I'll get this cart for you."

Matt smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem. Lead the way."

Matt took his cane out of his pocket and unfolded it, then the two of you headed down the street. "So, how has your day been?" Matt asked as they walked. 

"It's been good," you replied. "Started some housekeeping this morning and finished it up this afternoon. How was your day?"

"It was fine. Service went smoothly."

"That's good. By the way, I appreciate you comping my meal. You really didn't have to do that."

Matt shook his head. Karen had told him that you had left the full amount plus tip anyway. "It was my pleasure, really."

You hummed. "Looking forward to your day off?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, even though I don't actually take the day off it's nice to have the time to just be alone in the kitchen and experiment with new flavors."

"That does sound exciting." You paused as the two of you stopped at a crosswalk. "I'm looking forward to trying out some of your new dishes."

Matt smiled. "I'm looking forward to it too."

"So have you ever had any culinary disasters?"

"Oh, tons, especially when I first started cooking. I once accidentally added garlic salt instead of sugar to a cake recipe."

You let out a light laugh. "Oh my gosh, that sounds awful."

Matt nodded, grinning at the memory. "I started labeling all of my containers after that."

The two of you continued on towards Clinton Church. 

"Okay," Matt said once the two of you had arrived. "We're heading this way."

He led you down a sidewalk towards the soup kitchen. "Okay, here we are."

He opened the door and gestured for you to go in. "After you."

"Thanks." 

Matt waited until you had wheeled the cart inside, then followed.

He could hear voices coming from the kitchen area. "This way."

"...Yes, that would be fine. Thank you, Sister Frances. Matthew, hello!" Father Lantom said as Matt and you walked around the serving area towards the kitchen. "I wasn't expecting you quite yet."

Matt nodded. "Yes, we finished our closing duties a bit earlier than usual, so I figured I'd just make everything over here rather than at the restaurant."

"Ah, I see. And I also see that you brought us some extra help today as well! I'm Father Lantom, the pastor here."

You introduced yourself. "It's nice to meet you, Father."

"Nice to meet you too. I certainly appreciate you coming today."

"It's not a problem. I'm happy to help out in any way I can."

"Well that's wonderful. I have a few administrative tasks to handle, so I'll leave you two to it. Matthew, let me know if you need anything."

Matt nodded. "Thanks, Father."

He folded his cane up and put it in his pocket, then took the cart from you and wheeled it into the kitchen. 

You moved to wash your hands. "Alright, Chef, put me to work."

Matt smiled, his heart warming at how eager you were to help. "Would you set the oven to 350 for me then cut up some cucumbers and tomatoes for a salad?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay, great." Matt took a couple of bowls out from under the counter and gave them a rinse in the sink. "You can just put them in these once you've got them all done."

"How do you want the tomatoes cut?"

"Wedges would be fine -- like in eighths, and about half-inch slices for the cucumbers."

"Okay."

Matt got to work seasoning the chicken he had brought for the night's dinner, smiling to himself as he heard you humming softly under your breath.

He felt a pang in his chest. As hard as he had worked to get where he was in his career, he missed having someone to share his joy of cooking with. There was Foggy and Karen, of course, but as much as Matt loved his friends he wanted someone special to cook for, someone to come home to.

…He wanted you.

Matt mentally shook his head, determined to get the melodic sound of your voice out of his mind. Don't get distracted. That's where mistakes happen. Deal with it later.

He finished prepping the chicken and set it on a baking sheet, then put it in the oven. "How are the cucumbers and tomatoes coming along?"

"Almost done," you replied.

Matt moved to wash his hands. "Okay, great. I'll go ahead and make the dressing for the salad."

"You make your own salad dressing?" you said in surprise, then let out a light laugh. "Wait, what am I even saying? Of course you do. What kind do you make?"

Matt grinned as he rinsed out a measuring cup. "A couple of different varieties, actually. But today we're just making a basic Italian dressing."

He got his Braille measuring cups and spoons out of the cart, then grabbed the container marked salad dressing. "There should be an immersion blender somewhere around here. Would you mind grabbing it for me?"

"Sure." You moved to Matt's right, then set the blender in front of him. "Here you go. Wait, let me plug it in for you."

"Thanks."

Matt began measuring out the ingredients for the dressing, adding everything in precise order before blending it together.

"So is there a reason you use an immersion blender rather than a regular blender?" you asked.

Matt nodded. "I can better tell the consistency of the dressing with an immersion blender," he explained. "Using a stand blender runs the risk of overblending."

"Ah, ok. That makes sense." You stopped cutting. "Okay, salad stuff is done."

"Great. Then I need you to portion this dressing out into individual take-out cups. There should be some in the storage closet in the back of the kitchen."

Your footsteps headed towards the storage closet. "Let's see… oh, here they are."

You returned with the cups and lids. "How many do I need to make?"

Matt shook his head. "It should yield about 80 servings or so. Just keep filling until you run out."

He began to work on dessert, which were homemade no-bake oatmeal cookies, and had just finished shaping them and putting them on some parchment paper-lined cookie sheets to set when he heard Father Lantom returning.

"How's it going?" Father Lantom asked.

"There's a few minutes left on the chicken but everything else is ready to go," Matt replied. "Salad is ready to be mixed and I just need to cover these cookies with some cling wrap until they're ready to be served."

"Thank you so much -- both of you. I know everyone will appreciate the wonderful meal."

Matt shook his head. "It's no problem."

"Happy to be of service," you added. "Here, Matt, I'll get started on cleanup."

Matt nodded. "Thanks."

He got the cookies covered then took the chicken out of the oven. "Okay, you're all set."

"And just in time, too. Thank you again, Matthew," Father Lantom said. 

"You're welcome. Do you need us to stay and help serve?"

"No, I have plenty of volunteers for today -- the church's senior youth group offered to help out. They should be here as soon as their meeting wraps up in a few minutes."

"Okay, sounds good." Matt turned towards the door as a cacophony of voices filtered towards him. "Actually I think that's them now."

"Ah, good. Let me go get them situated then."

Matt nodded. "Oh, do you mind if I leave my cart of stuff here and pick it up tomorrow? I have a few more errands to run after this and wasn't really thinking about needing to drop it all off at the restaurant tonight."

"Oh, no, not at all. Go right ahead."

"Thanks."

Matt began packing his supplies back into their respective containers while you finished washing the various dishes the two of you had used.

"Here you go," you said, handing Matt his set of measuring cups. 

Matt froze as your fingers brushed against his palm, your touch softer than silk. 

He swallowed. "Thanks."

You stepped away, your heartbeat increasing slightly. "No problem."

Matt finished packing up while you put away the kitchen supplies you had used. He ached to caress your skin, to know what you would feel like under his own touch. 

He sighed and moved the cart out of the way. "Okay, I think that's everything."

"Okay, great."

Matt grabbed his gym bag and led you out of the kitchen and into the dining hall, where Father Lantom was giving assignments to the volunteers. 

He turned towards the two of you. "Ah, all done?"

Matt nodded. "Yes, we got everything cleaned up and I moved my cart out of the way for now."

"Okay, wonderful. Thank you again for your help."

"You're welcome," you said. "It was lovely to meet you, Father Lantom."

"You too, my dear. See you tomorrow, Matthew."

Matt took his cane out of his pocket and unfolded it. "Have a good evening."

"Where to next?" you asked as the two of you headed outside.

Matt shook his head. He wanted to keep your next destination a surprise until you got there. "Can't tell you yet, but do you trust me?"

You were quiet for a moment. "Yeah," you finally said. "Yeah, I trust you."

Matt felt a wave of relief. "Okay, good. This way, then."

He bit his lip as the two of you set off down the street. He just hoped he wasn't making a mistake by letting you into his world.

Alright, alright, alright!

*Rubs hands together excitedly*

I read this late last night but saved commenting so thoughts could percolate a little bit along with the morning java. Going to be long so here's the TLDR for those who hate lengthy essays:

READ THIS ENTIRE FIC, YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

It's got everything promised so far and this chapter delivered better than a box from Mendl's bakery (the iconic bakery from The Grand Budapest Hotel just in case readers haven't seen the film)

Here is the remaining commentary below a cut (for spoilers) and also length:

*Paces floor, muttering: where to start, where to start*

Sooo tempted to begin with the food but I'm going with the relationship because that is, after all, the main course. And what a course it is! The delectable Chef Matt giving off quite the show for Reader in the intimate confines of Fogwell's and they're all alone too. Not for nothing was I hearing Joe Jonas singing in the background, "...let's start living dangerously..." when all that cake was right there. RIGHT. THERE. Just a little squeeze Reader, try it go on...but no...she just thinks it. Great line btw, still giggling over the quarter.

Then again, when Reader reacts instinctively and thinks less, everything just flows. The hug of reassurance was quite sweet. Not sure I would have been brave enough for that, but that is my personality talking and I'm quite tickled that it was just the natural thing to do when observing someone reveal a deeper side of them.

Ditto for the scene where Reader is attempting to gain Matt's perspective and tries the punching bag. Very nicely done.

Now, let's talk about their footwork. Boxing? No! The verbal sparring and the mental dancing around the two of them keep doing. OH MY LORD. It's half adorable half tearing my hair out and half 'just bang already'-little Crazy Stupid Love ref there-Wait, that's three halves, so maybe it's a sum of the parts expression. Anyway, I loved it. "You think I'm cool?" Yeah, Matt, she does. And then not two minutes later Reader is right back to heart on the floor with "it's just a thank you" as she mentally tries to scrape it together with a dustpan. Matt is not helping matters either, thank you very much AUTHOR. (Not really scolding you, I"m smirking at you if you can't read tone in text.) All in all, I could write about the apartment scene for four more paragraphs but I cannot hold off any longer. I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE FOOD.

OH MY LORD. (for the second time no less). The food. Final four right there. National championship material. You had me at basil, but the guanciale mention...oh the savory seduction of guanciale. Sweatergawd, that stuff is amazing. I can understand why Matt used the pancetta though. I once grabbed a bestie for a road trip because the closest place I could buy guanciale w/o online ordering is two hours away. So, pancetta is what I use most often too.

But how she wasn't just simply 'take me I'm yours' after THAT meal is sheer torture for us readers AND YOU KNOW IT. It's raining, they've eaten a lovely meal, shared some wine, and THEY END WITH A HUG. Now, never mind Reader, you could scrape ME off the floor with a dustpan because that left me just weak from exhaustion. Matt better pour on the charm like melted butter because this reader wants to get served I'm telling you. I don't know what you have up your sleeve for the next chapter, but I've got my nose pressed to the glass window by the light of that neon sign waiting for these two knuckleheads to get out of their headspace and just react to what they feel.

I'm going to stop here, but well done all around. I love this series!

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 7

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, pining... so much pining

Word Count: ~3800

A/N: As promised, here's the 2nd half of Chef Matt & Reader's Sunday afternoon together! Enjoy!

And thank you as always to @theradioactivespidergwen for the super cute divider she made for me!

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

Where the hell are we going? you wondered as you and Matt headed away from Clinton Church. 

It wasn't like you weren't afraid he was taking you off somewhere to murder you -- you truly did feel safe with Matt and hadn't been lying when you had said that you trusted him. "Any hint as to where we're going?"

Matt shook his head. "I know it sounds weird, but I'd rather just show you, if that's okay?"

You nodded. It seemed important to Matt that your destination remain a mystery, so you decided not to push. "Okay."

You continued walking past various shops and storefronts until finally Matt stopped. "Okay, we're here."

You peered at the faded letters on the door. 

Fogwell's Gym

You remembered Matt saying that he frequently worked out after service, but couldn't quite understand what was so special about the location that required the need for secrecy. Well, at least that explains the gym bag.

Matt pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door before stepping inside. "Come on in."

You followed him into the darkened gym and waited as he turned the lights on before looking around.

Cubbyholes lined the wall to the left of the door while several punching bags hung to the right. A large boxing ring was situated in the middle of the room, with wooden steps leading up to it. 

Matt gestured towards what you assumed was the locker room. "I'm going to go get changed into my workout clothes. Be right back."

You nodded. "Okay."

While Matt was in the locker room, you took the opportunity to look at the flyers advertising various past boxing matches tacked to the wall. Johnson vs Lewis, Conway vs Roberts, Creel vs Murdock…

You sucked in a breath, reaching out to touch the poster. Creel vs Murdock. Now it makes sense.

You heard Matt come out of the locker room and set his bag down. 

"This is where your dad trained, isn't it?" you asked, your eyes still on the poster.

You heard Matt sigh. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

You turned towards him and froze. As handsome as he was while wearing his chef's coat and black slacks or a t-shirt and jeans, he was even more gorgeous in a black tank top, gray sweatpants, and tennis shoes.

Your gaze drifted up to his face. His glasses were gone, revealing beautiful hazel eyes that were fixed in your direction. 

Matt must've felt you staring at him, because he ducked his head and began rummaging through his gym bag. "I, uh, I started coming here back when I was in culinary school," he explained. "I was struggling during my first semester and thinking about dropping out, so I came to the one place I knew where I would feel close to my dad to see if I could figure out what he would say."

He took out a small bundle of what looked like Ace bandages and began to wrap his hands. "I was having a particularly bad day that day -- there was this one professor who had been giving me a hard time about my need for certain accommodations -- so I began to take my frustration out on a punching bag."

You had found when people started to open up it was better to just let them keep talking rather than interrupt with questions, so you remained silent.

"With each punch I could hear my dad telling me that he was proud of me," Matt continued as he finished wrapping one hand and started on the other. "And that Murdocks never give up no matter how hard things get. So I decided to stay in culinary school and work my ass off to prove that I have what it takes to be a great chef and make my dad proud of me."

Before you could second-guess yourself, you walked over to Matt and wrapped your arms around him in a hug.

You thought for a split second that you might have crossed a line, but before you could let go and apologize Matt relaxed into your embrace, circling his arms around you and tucking his face into your neck.

You held him briefly, then let go and stepped back. 

Matt began to redo the wrap that he had begun, keeping his face turned downward. "I've, uh, I've never actually told anybody about that before. Not even Foggy."

Your heart constricted. You couldn't even begin to imagine the hardship that Matt must have had to go through in order to prove himself as a chef. "Thank you for sharing it with me."

Matt paused. "I don't suppose I can ask you to keep that off the record, can I?"

You nodded. "I will, if that's what you want. It'll stay just between us."

Matt huffed out a breath. "Thank you."

You sat on the bench as Matt moved in front of the punching bag. "So, I suppose you're going to show me some moves, huh?"

Matt chuckled. "If you'd like."

You watched as Matt did a few stretches, appreciating the way his biceps flexed as he moved. And if your eyes drifted southward, well… you were only human. Cake, indeed. One could bounce a quarter off of that ass.

Your eyes snapped back to Matt's face, which bore a small smirk. 

He reached out and touched the punching bag, found the center, then adjusted his stance, raising his fists in front of his face.

You watched in fascination as he skillfully maneuvered his way around the bag, landing punches as if he was squaring off against one of the greatest fighters of all time. He certainly doesn't fight like a blind man.

Finally he paused, chest heaving.

He steadied the punching bag. "Would you mind handing me that towel, please?"

You resisted the urge to lick the sweat off of his neck. "Oh, uh, yeah, sure."

You handed the towel to him. "So are you sure you haven't had professional training?"

Matt grinned as he wiped his face and neck down with the towel. "Yeah, I'm sure."

He draped the towel around his neck and picked up his gym bag. "I'm going to go take a quick shower and change, but I'll be back in a minute, if that's okay?"

You nodded. "Yeah, of course."

While you waited for him to return you checked your phone for messages, replying to an email from an artist you had featured a few weeks prior thanking you for your article.

You put your phone away and stood, glancing briefly over at the entrance to the locker room before walking in front of the punching bag.

You closed your eyes, curled your right hand into a fist, and swung, missing the bag completely. 

You opened your eyes, frowning. Maybe I wasn't close enough.

You moved a bit closer, then closed your eyes again.

You swung at the bag, this time barely connecting.

"...Your stance is off."

You gasped and whirled around, a hand flying over your chest. "Jesus, Matt, you scared me."

Matt stood next to the boxing ring, this time dressed in a dark blue t-shirt that clearly showed off his muscles and dark blue sweatpants.

He smiled softly at you. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

You shook your head, trying to calm your racing heart. "It's alright. I was just… um… just…"

"Trying to figure out how a blind man can hit a punching bag so easily?" Matt nodded in understanding. "I probably should have told you, but I'm not actually completely blind."

"Oh," you replied, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, I just assumed…"

Matt shook his head. "It's okay. The chemicals that got into my eyes basically fried my synapses, so whatever is directly in front of me looks like a black mass and the rest of my line of vision is what I can best describe as a 'world on fire'."

He tapped the side of his glasses, which you had belatedly realized were back on his face. "The red lenses help neutralize that part."

You huffed out a light laugh. "And here I thought you just wore them because they made you look cool."

Matt grinned. "You think they make me look cool?"

More like slightly mysterious and incredibly hot. Your face heated slightly. "Eh, maybe a little."

Matt shook his head with a chuckle. "Ready to head out?"

You nodded. "Mmhmm."

Matt gestured towards the door. "After you."

"So, where to next?" you asked as the two of you headed outside.

Matt shook his head. "Actually, that was my last errand." 

"Oh." You couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that you had to go your separate ways. "Okay, so I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, tomorrow." Matt bit his lip. "Um, that is… unless you'd like to have dinner with me tonight? My place? My apartment's not too far from here."

You nodded, unable to keep a smile off of your face. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd actually really like that."

Matt unfolded his cane. "Great!  I mean, it's the least I could do after you helped me out this afternoon at the soup kitchen."

Your heart sank slightly. Of course he meant it as a thank-you, how else would he have meant it? "Oh. Um, it was no problem. I was happy to help."

Matt turned the opposite of the way you were facing. "This way, then."

As you headed down the street, you couldn't help but entertain the thought of Matt having invited you over for dinner not because he felt obligated to as a thank-you, but because he hadn't been ready for your time together to end either.

You mentally shook your head. It's just as a thank-you for helping him out at the church, that's it.

…You just wished it hadn't been.

Why the hell did I say that? Matt thought to himself as the two of you walked towards his apartment. He'd had every intention of asking you to have dinner with him as a (sort-of) date, but the second you had said yes he had second-guessed himself and blurted out the bit about it being as a thank-you for helping him out at Clinton Church. 

He mentally shook his head as the two of you stopped at a crosswalk. Maybe I can fix this.

Before he could say anything, you cleared your throat. "You know, I'm sure you're tired and I don't want to be an inconvenience, so I actually think I'll just head ho--"

"No!" Matt shook his head. "I mean, no, it's not an inconvenience. I was going to make something to eat when I got home anyway, so it's not a problem to make an extra serving."

He inwardly cringed. Way to make things worse. "Actually, what I meant was that I've really enjoyed your company today and would like to have dinner with you."

He could feel you relax. "I've enjoyed your company today too," you admitted softly. "If you're sure it's not a big deal…"

Matt nodded. "I'm sure."

"Then okay. I'd love to have dinner with you."

Matt smiled in relief. "Great. And actually now that I think about it, I do have one more stop before we get back to my apartment. I need to harvest some herbs from my plot at the community garden, but it'll only take a minute."

"Okay."

The two of you continued on as the crosswalk signal beeped and changed to walk .

"So what kind of herbs do you grow?" you asked.

"All sorts of culinary varieties," Matt replied. "Rosemary, thyme, basil, lavender, and mint."

"Oh, cool."

Matt nodded. "Unfortunately I have to outsource my herbs for the restaurant since I don't have the space to grow the amount that we would need, but this works for my own personal use."

He slowed as you reached the garden. "Welcome to the Hell's Kitchen Community Garden."

"Oh wow," you said. "I never even knew this was here."

Matt led you down the center path then to the right, following along the fence line to his plot in the back corner. "It hasn't been here too terribly long, maybe six months or so."

"And you said Claire from the farmer's market runs it?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah. She petitioned the council to turn the property into a community space and keeps track of who has which plot and everything."

You hummed. "I might have to talk to my boss about covering the community garden for the paper too. This is really neat."

"That would be great. It definitely would raise more awareness and hopefully bring more funding for upkeep." Matt stopped in front of his plot. "This is mine."

He knelt down and felt his basil plants before picking a few leaves and placing them into a small storage container he kept in the side pocket of his gym bag. "All set."

He led you back out of the garden and down the street towards his apartment building, frowning at the distant rumble of thunder. Well, there goes my plan to have dinner on the roof. "Sounds like it's about to rain."

"Yeah, it does seem like it's getting a bit cloudy," you replied. "Is your place much farther?"

Matt shook his head. "No, it's just up ahead."

"Oh, okay."

You walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence.

"Okay, here we are," Matt said as you reached his apartment building.

He led you to the elevator and pressed the button for his floor, the sound of rain beginning to fall as the elevator began to ascend. "Sounds like we made it just in time." 

"Yeah, thank goodness," you replied. "I wasn't expecting it to rain so I didn't bring my umbrella with me."

You can always just stay the night… Matt shook his head. "I have one you can borrow if you need to, or I can call you a cab if it's still raining hard when you leave later."

He took his keys out of his pocket as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. "This way."

He led you down the hall to his apartment and unlocked the door, then opened it and ushered you inside as another roll of thunder rumbled overhead.

He closed the door and dropped his keys into the bowl on the side table in the entryway before folding up his cane and setting it next to the bowl. "Come on in."

He tried to ignore his sudden nervousness. It had been a long time since he'd had someone who wasn't Foggy or Karen in his personal space and hoped you wouldn't judge how barren his apartment was.

He turned on the lights then headed to his refrigerator. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Oh, um, sure," you replied. "Whatever you're having is fine."

He heard you walk over to the large window in his living area as he pulled out 2 bottles of beer along with a block of pecorino cheese and some pancetta. He had gotten an incredible deal on his apartment because of the gigantic neon sign that was situated on the roof of the neighboring building, so he was sure that was what you were looking at.

He quickly washed the fresh basil he had picked and patted it dry, then set the cheese and pancetta down on the kitchen island before popping the tops off of the bottles and walking over to you. "Here you go."

Your fingers brushed his as he handed you the bottle, a now-familiar tingle coursing through Matt's veins. "Thank you."

Matt swallowed and took a sip of his beer. "Quite the view, huh?" he said, gesturing out the window.

You huffed out a laugh. "It's very, um… picturesque."

Matt shook his head with a grin. "Funny, that's exactly how the real estate agent that sold me this place described it." He leaned in conspiratorially. "I have a feeling she might not've been telling me the truth though." 

You laughed again. "Okay, it is a bit obnoxious."

Matt chuckled. "I really do keep meaning to get some blackout curtains, but since it's just me it's never really been a bother."

You hummed. "I honestly don't mind it. It gives your apartment an interesting glow."

Matt could imagine the two of you together on his sofa, the glow of the billboard the only light in the darkened room as he gently caressed your cheek, your lips inches from his own--

He mentally shook his head and gestured to his kitchen island. "Have a seat and I'll get started on dinner."

He heard you sit as he began to gather the rest of the ingredients, placing the eggs he had taken out of his refrigerator that morning into a bowl and setting it on the island before washing his hands and filling a pot about halfway with water.

He set the pot on the stove and seasoned it with some salt, then turned the burner on high to let the water boil.

He crossed back to the island and roughly chopped the fresh basil he had picked, then quickly whisked together 3 egg yolks and an entire egg before grating a generous amount of cheese into the mixture, giving it an additional stir before setting it aside.

He could feel you quietly watching him as he unwrapped the pancetta and began cutting it into small cubes, unable to help but wonder what you were thinking. You'd had the same focus the day before when he had made your crepes, but you had been recording your conversation then and had asked questions about his culinary process. This felt… different. More personal, like you were deep in thought.

He cleared his throat. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"What?" You startled slightly. "Oh, sorry, it's nothing. Just trying to figure out what we're having for dinner."

You were lying to him, but Matt couldn't figure out exactly why or what about. "Oh, I'm making spaghetti carbonara. It's traditionally made with guanciale, but my supplier was out, so pancetta will have to suffice for today."

"Your supplier… Oh, right, Frank, wasn't it?"

Matt shook his head then moved back to the stove, dropping the spaghetti into the pot of boiling water before moving the pancetta to the pan. "He doesn't do cured meats. I get those and other specialty items from Nelson's Meats."

You made a curious sound. "Nelson… as in Chef Nelson?"

Matt nodded as he stirred the pancetta around. "Foggy's family owns it. Best capicola in the tri-state area."

He finished cooking the pancetta and turned the skillet off, then scooped some of the pasta water into a measuring cup before draining the pasta and adding it to the pancetta. "Dinner's almost ready if you want to move to the table."

"Okay."

As you moved to Matt's dining table, he gave the egg mixture another stir before pouring it into the pan, adding a bit of the pasta water and using tongs to mix it all together.

Once it was a perfectly smooth consistency, he added some freshly-ground black pepper and separated it into two bowls before adding an extra sprinkle of cheese and some chopped basil on top of each serving. 

He placed a fork in each bowl, then brought them over to you, setting yours in front of you and his in front of his spot across from you. "Dinner is served."

You gave a slight gasp. "Oh my goodness, Matt, this looks amazing."

"Thanks." Matt quickly grabbed two wine glasses and gave them a quick rinse before taking a bottle of Pinot Gris out of his refrigerator and pouring you each a glass. 

He set your glass down before sitting across from you. "The beer we were drinking doesn't really go with carbonara so I've selected a wine pairing, if that's alright?"

You gave a hum of affirmation. "Of course it's alright."

Matt nodded. "Okay, well, enjoy."

He waited nervously as you took a bite.

You let out a pleased sound. "Oh my goodness, this is so good."

Matt grinned in relief. "Yeah?"

"Yes, absolutely. Everything you've made for me so far has been amazing." 

"I'm glad." Matt took a bite of his own carbonara, the silky smoothness of the sauce pairing perfectly with the crispy pancetta and al dente noodles. "It's not quite traditional carbonara but it's very close."

"Right, you said it's traditionally made with guanciale."

Matt nodded. "And no herbs are usually added, but I like the flavor a bit of fresh basil adds to the dish."

"Mmm. Mmhmm. Yeah, I like it too."

You both continued eating and once you were done, Matt stood. "Here, I'll get this for you."

"Thanks."

"I'm afraid I don't have any dessert prepared, but would you like another glass of wine?"

"Yeah, I'd love one."

Matt grabbed the bottle of Pinot Gris and refilled your glasses. "Care to go sit on the couch?"

"Sure."

You took a sip of wine as the two of you sat together on Matt's sofa. "I really like your apartment, by the way. It suits you."

Matt shook his head with a small smile. "It's not much, but it's home."

You huffed out a laugh. "It's not what I originally expected, but to be honest, neither were you."

"Oh?" Matt turned towards you. "And what did you expect?"

"About you or your apartment?"

"Mmm, both, I suppose."

"Well, had I based my idea of what your apartment would be like on my first impression of you it would've been cold and industrial with no heart."

Matt winced. "Ouch."

"However, having gotten to know you over the past few days I would say warm and inviting with a certain charm."

A smile spread across Matt's face. "You think I'm charming?"

"Your apartment? Very. You? Maybe a tiny bit."

Matt smirked at the teasing tone in your voice. "A tiny bit? I guess I'll just have to work harder on charming you then."

You let out a light laugh. "No need, I'll send you a copy of my article before publication anyway."

"Okay, thanks." Although that's not the reason I want to charm you.

You finished your glass of wine. "And speaking of my article, I should probably get going -- I have to be at the Bulletin early tomorrow for our weekly staff meeting."

Matt nodded and stood. "Here, I'll walk you out."

"Thanks for inviting me along today," you said softly as you reached the door. "I had a really great time." 

Matt nodded, unable to keep a smile off of his face. "I did too."

"I'll see you tomorrow evening?"

Matt nodded again. "Six o'clock?"

"Yeah, that sounds perfect."

"Okay, great."

The two of you stood there for a moment longer. Finally you reached out and gave Matt a brief hug. "Goodnight, Matt."

Matt hugged you back, committing what he could of you to memory. "Goodnight."

He waited as you let yourself out, an idea forming in his mind.

…He just hoped he was able to pull it off.

I just love the fic and the world you've drawn us readers into further and further. Very much recommend it even if readers are not avid Daredevil followers. It still makes sense and that's so special.

The guanciale may be easier for some to find depending upon where they live, but yeah, it was a big deal (it ain't cheap) when I brought it home after the road trip but it was worth it. So much flavor. Cold pan to start and let the fat render out and wow. Pancetta still works but if you ever get the opportunity, try it and see. TBH, sometimes those little things (I prepared it with my S.O. not unlike Matt and Reader) are worth more than a trip to a resort to me. Just laundry and taxes and cooking together because it's the company one keeps.

As far as basil, several plants in the garden, and thanks to your story and also the timing of the slightly cooler temps/shorter days I picked a bunch this morning and made pesto because how could I not after reading Chapter 7?! You're such an inspiration!

Ultimately though, it's the characters and how you bring them alive for us. It's a real treat (obviously in more ways than one) and I'm going to be sad to see it conclude but until then, it's been such a pleasure.

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 7

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, pining... so much pining

Word Count: ~3800

A/N: As promised, here's the 2nd half of Chef Matt & Reader's Sunday afternoon together! Enjoy!

And thank you as always to @theradioactivespidergwen for the super cute divider she made for me!

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

Where the hell are we going? you wondered as you and Matt headed away from Clinton Church. 

It wasn't like you weren't afraid he was taking you off somewhere to murder you -- you truly did feel safe with Matt and hadn't been lying when you had said that you trusted him. "Any hint as to where we're going?"

Matt shook his head. "I know it sounds weird, but I'd rather just show you, if that's okay?"

You nodded. It seemed important to Matt that your destination remain a mystery, so you decided not to push. "Okay."

You continued walking past various shops and storefronts until finally Matt stopped. "Okay, we're here."

You peered at the faded letters on the door. 

Fogwell's Gym

You remembered Matt saying that he frequently worked out after service, but couldn't quite understand what was so special about the location that required the need for secrecy. Well, at least that explains the gym bag.

Matt pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door before stepping inside. "Come on in."

You followed him into the darkened gym and waited as he turned the lights on before looking around.

Cubbyholes lined the wall to the left of the door while several punching bags hung to the right. A large boxing ring was situated in the middle of the room, with wooden steps leading up to it. 

Matt gestured towards what you assumed was the locker room. "I'm going to go get changed into my workout clothes. Be right back."

You nodded. "Okay."

While Matt was in the locker room, you took the opportunity to look at the flyers advertising various past boxing matches tacked to the wall. Johnson vs Lewis, Conway vs Roberts, Creel vs Murdock…

You sucked in a breath, reaching out to touch the poster. Creel vs Murdock. Now it makes sense.

You heard Matt come out of the locker room and set his bag down. 

"This is where your dad trained, isn't it?" you asked, your eyes still on the poster.

You heard Matt sigh. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

You turned towards him and froze. As handsome as he was while wearing his chef's coat and black slacks or a t-shirt and jeans, he was even more gorgeous in a black tank top, gray sweatpants, and tennis shoes.

Your gaze drifted up to his face. His glasses were gone, revealing beautiful hazel eyes that were fixed in your direction. 

Matt must've felt you staring at him, because he ducked his head and began rummaging through his gym bag. "I, uh, I started coming here back when I was in culinary school," he explained. "I was struggling during my first semester and thinking about dropping out, so I came to the one place I knew where I would feel close to my dad to see if I could figure out what he would say."

He took out a small bundle of what looked like Ace bandages and began to wrap his hands. "I was having a particularly bad day that day -- there was this one professor who had been giving me a hard time about my need for certain accommodations -- so I began to take my frustration out on a punching bag."

You had found when people started to open up it was better to just let them keep talking rather than interrupt with questions, so you remained silent.

"With each punch I could hear my dad telling me that he was proud of me," Matt continued as he finished wrapping one hand and started on the other. "And that Murdocks never give up no matter how hard things get. So I decided to stay in culinary school and work my ass off to prove that I have what it takes to be a great chef and make my dad proud of me."

Before you could second-guess yourself, you walked over to Matt and wrapped your arms around him in a hug.

You thought for a split second that you might have crossed a line, but before you could let go and apologize Matt relaxed into your embrace, circling his arms around you and tucking his face into your neck.

You held him briefly, then let go and stepped back. 

Matt began to redo the wrap that he had begun, keeping his face turned downward. "I've, uh, I've never actually told anybody about that before. Not even Foggy."

Your heart constricted. You couldn't even begin to imagine the hardship that Matt must have had to go through in order to prove himself as a chef. "Thank you for sharing it with me."

Matt paused. "I don't suppose I can ask you to keep that off the record, can I?"

You nodded. "I will, if that's what you want. It'll stay just between us."

Matt huffed out a breath. "Thank you."

You sat on the bench as Matt moved in front of the punching bag. "So, I suppose you're going to show me some moves, huh?"

Matt chuckled. "If you'd like."

You watched as Matt did a few stretches, appreciating the way his biceps flexed as he moved. And if your eyes drifted southward, well… you were only human. Cake, indeed. One could bounce a quarter off of that ass.

Your eyes snapped back to Matt's face, which bore a small smirk. 

He reached out and touched the punching bag, found the center, then adjusted his stance, raising his fists in front of his face.

You watched in fascination as he skillfully maneuvered his way around the bag, landing punches as if he was squaring off against one of the greatest fighters of all time. He certainly doesn't fight like a blind man.

Finally he paused, chest heaving.

He steadied the punching bag. "Would you mind handing me that towel, please?"

You resisted the urge to lick the sweat off of his neck. "Oh, uh, yeah, sure."

You handed the towel to him. "So are you sure you haven't had professional training?"

Matt grinned as he wiped his face and neck down with the towel. "Yeah, I'm sure."

He draped the towel around his neck and picked up his gym bag. "I'm going to go take a quick shower and change, but I'll be back in a minute, if that's okay?"

You nodded. "Yeah, of course."

While you waited for him to return you checked your phone for messages, replying to an email from an artist you had featured a few weeks prior thanking you for your article.

You put your phone away and stood, glancing briefly over at the entrance to the locker room before walking in front of the punching bag.

You closed your eyes, curled your right hand into a fist, and swung, missing the bag completely. 

You opened your eyes, frowning. Maybe I wasn't close enough.

You moved a bit closer, then closed your eyes again.

You swung at the bag, this time barely connecting.

"...Your stance is off."

You gasped and whirled around, a hand flying over your chest. "Jesus, Matt, you scared me."

Matt stood next to the boxing ring, this time dressed in a dark blue t-shirt that clearly showed off his muscles and dark blue sweatpants.

He smiled softly at you. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

You shook your head, trying to calm your racing heart. "It's alright. I was just… um… just…"

"Trying to figure out how a blind man can hit a punching bag so easily?" Matt nodded in understanding. "I probably should have told you, but I'm not actually completely blind."

"Oh," you replied, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, I just assumed…"

Matt shook his head. "It's okay. The chemicals that got into my eyes basically fried my synapses, so whatever is directly in front of me looks like a black mass and the rest of my line of vision is what I can best describe as a 'world on fire'."

He tapped the side of his glasses, which you had belatedly realized were back on his face. "The red lenses help neutralize that part."

You huffed out a light laugh. "And here I thought you just wore them because they made you look cool."

Matt grinned. "You think they make me look cool?"

More like slightly mysterious and incredibly hot. Your face heated slightly. "Eh, maybe a little."

Matt shook his head with a chuckle. "Ready to head out?"

You nodded. "Mmhmm."

Matt gestured towards the door. "After you."

"So, where to next?" you asked as the two of you headed outside.

Matt shook his head. "Actually, that was my last errand." 

"Oh." You couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that you had to go your separate ways. "Okay, so I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, tomorrow." Matt bit his lip. "Um, that is… unless you'd like to have dinner with me tonight? My place? My apartment's not too far from here."

You nodded, unable to keep a smile off of your face. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd actually really like that."

Matt unfolded his cane. "Great!  I mean, it's the least I could do after you helped me out this afternoon at the soup kitchen."

Your heart sank slightly. Of course he meant it as a thank-you, how else would he have meant it? "Oh. Um, it was no problem. I was happy to help."

Matt turned the opposite of the way you were facing. "This way, then."

As you headed down the street, you couldn't help but entertain the thought of Matt having invited you over for dinner not because he felt obligated to as a thank-you, but because he hadn't been ready for your time together to end either.

You mentally shook your head. It's just as a thank-you for helping him out at the church, that's it.

…You just wished it hadn't been.

Why the hell did I say that? Matt thought to himself as the two of you walked towards his apartment. He'd had every intention of asking you to have dinner with him as a (sort-of) date, but the second you had said yes he had second-guessed himself and blurted out the bit about it being as a thank-you for helping him out at Clinton Church. 

He mentally shook his head as the two of you stopped at a crosswalk. Maybe I can fix this.

Before he could say anything, you cleared your throat. "You know, I'm sure you're tired and I don't want to be an inconvenience, so I actually think I'll just head ho--"

"No!" Matt shook his head. "I mean, no, it's not an inconvenience. I was going to make something to eat when I got home anyway, so it's not a problem to make an extra serving."

He inwardly cringed. Way to make things worse. "Actually, what I meant was that I've really enjoyed your company today and would like to have dinner with you."

He could feel you relax. "I've enjoyed your company today too," you admitted softly. "If you're sure it's not a big deal…"

Matt nodded. "I'm sure."

"Then okay. I'd love to have dinner with you."

Matt smiled in relief. "Great. And actually now that I think about it, I do have one more stop before we get back to my apartment. I need to harvest some herbs from my plot at the community garden, but it'll only take a minute."

"Okay."

The two of you continued on as the crosswalk signal beeped and changed to walk .

"So what kind of herbs do you grow?" you asked.

"All sorts of culinary varieties," Matt replied. "Rosemary, thyme, basil, lavender, and mint."

"Oh, cool."

Matt nodded. "Unfortunately I have to outsource my herbs for the restaurant since I don't have the space to grow the amount that we would need, but this works for my own personal use."

He slowed as you reached the garden. "Welcome to the Hell's Kitchen Community Garden."

"Oh wow," you said. "I never even knew this was here."

Matt led you down the center path then to the right, following along the fence line to his plot in the back corner. "It hasn't been here too terribly long, maybe six months or so."

"And you said Claire from the farmer's market runs it?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah. She petitioned the council to turn the property into a community space and keeps track of who has which plot and everything."

You hummed. "I might have to talk to my boss about covering the community garden for the paper too. This is really neat."

"That would be great. It definitely would raise more awareness and hopefully bring more funding for upkeep." Matt stopped in front of his plot. "This is mine."

He knelt down and felt his basil plants before picking a few leaves and placing them into a small storage container he kept in the side pocket of his gym bag. "All set."

He led you back out of the garden and down the street towards his apartment building, frowning at the distant rumble of thunder. Well, there goes my plan to have dinner on the roof. "Sounds like it's about to rain."

"Yeah, it does seem like it's getting a bit cloudy," you replied. "Is your place much farther?"

Matt shook his head. "No, it's just up ahead."

"Oh, okay."

You walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence.

"Okay, here we are," Matt said as you reached his apartment building.

He led you to the elevator and pressed the button for his floor, the sound of rain beginning to fall as the elevator began to ascend. "Sounds like we made it just in time." 

"Yeah, thank goodness," you replied. "I wasn't expecting it to rain so I didn't bring my umbrella with me."

You can always just stay the night… Matt shook his head. "I have one you can borrow if you need to, or I can call you a cab if it's still raining hard when you leave later."

He took his keys out of his pocket as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. "This way."

He led you down the hall to his apartment and unlocked the door, then opened it and ushered you inside as another roll of thunder rumbled overhead.

He closed the door and dropped his keys into the bowl on the side table in the entryway before folding up his cane and setting it next to the bowl. "Come on in."

He tried to ignore his sudden nervousness. It had been a long time since he'd had someone who wasn't Foggy or Karen in his personal space and hoped you wouldn't judge how barren his apartment was.

He turned on the lights then headed to his refrigerator. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Oh, um, sure," you replied. "Whatever you're having is fine."

He heard you walk over to the large window in his living area as he pulled out 2 bottles of beer along with a block of pecorino cheese and some pancetta. He had gotten an incredible deal on his apartment because of the gigantic neon sign that was situated on the roof of the neighboring building, so he was sure that was what you were looking at.

He quickly washed the fresh basil he had picked and patted it dry, then set the cheese and pancetta down on the kitchen island before popping the tops off of the bottles and walking over to you. "Here you go."

Your fingers brushed his as he handed you the bottle, a now-familiar tingle coursing through Matt's veins. "Thank you."

Matt swallowed and took a sip of his beer. "Quite the view, huh?" he said, gesturing out the window.

You huffed out a laugh. "It's very, um… picturesque."

Matt shook his head with a grin. "Funny, that's exactly how the real estate agent that sold me this place described it." He leaned in conspiratorially. "I have a feeling she might not've been telling me the truth though." 

You laughed again. "Okay, it is a bit obnoxious."

Matt chuckled. "I really do keep meaning to get some blackout curtains, but since it's just me it's never really been a bother."

You hummed. "I honestly don't mind it. It gives your apartment an interesting glow."

Matt could imagine the two of you together on his sofa, the glow of the billboard the only light in the darkened room as he gently caressed your cheek, your lips inches from his own--

He mentally shook his head and gestured to his kitchen island. "Have a seat and I'll get started on dinner."

He heard you sit as he began to gather the rest of the ingredients, placing the eggs he had taken out of his refrigerator that morning into a bowl and setting it on the island before washing his hands and filling a pot about halfway with water.

He set the pot on the stove and seasoned it with some salt, then turned the burner on high to let the water boil.

He crossed back to the island and roughly chopped the fresh basil he had picked, then quickly whisked together 3 egg yolks and an entire egg before grating a generous amount of cheese into the mixture, giving it an additional stir before setting it aside.

He could feel you quietly watching him as he unwrapped the pancetta and began cutting it into small cubes, unable to help but wonder what you were thinking. You'd had the same focus the day before when he had made your crepes, but you had been recording your conversation then and had asked questions about his culinary process. This felt… different. More personal, like you were deep in thought.

He cleared his throat. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"What?" You startled slightly. "Oh, sorry, it's nothing. Just trying to figure out what we're having for dinner."

You were lying to him, but Matt couldn't figure out exactly why or what about. "Oh, I'm making spaghetti carbonara. It's traditionally made with guanciale, but my supplier was out, so pancetta will have to suffice for today."

"Your supplier… Oh, right, Frank, wasn't it?"

Matt shook his head then moved back to the stove, dropping the spaghetti into the pot of boiling water before moving the pancetta to the pan. "He doesn't do cured meats. I get those and other specialty items from Nelson's Meats."

You made a curious sound. "Nelson… as in Chef Nelson?"

Matt nodded as he stirred the pancetta around. "Foggy's family owns it. Best capicola in the tri-state area."

He finished cooking the pancetta and turned the skillet off, then scooped some of the pasta water into a measuring cup before draining the pasta and adding it to the pancetta. "Dinner's almost ready if you want to move to the table."

"Okay."

As you moved to Matt's dining table, he gave the egg mixture another stir before pouring it into the pan, adding a bit of the pasta water and using tongs to mix it all together.

Once it was a perfectly smooth consistency, he added some freshly-ground black pepper and separated it into two bowls before adding an extra sprinkle of cheese and some chopped basil on top of each serving. 

He placed a fork in each bowl, then brought them over to you, setting yours in front of you and his in front of his spot across from you. "Dinner is served."

You gave a slight gasp. "Oh my goodness, Matt, this looks amazing."

"Thanks." Matt quickly grabbed two wine glasses and gave them a quick rinse before taking a bottle of Pinot Gris out of his refrigerator and pouring you each a glass. 

He set your glass down before sitting across from you. "The beer we were drinking doesn't really go with carbonara so I've selected a wine pairing, if that's alright?"

You gave a hum of affirmation. "Of course it's alright."

Matt nodded. "Okay, well, enjoy."

He waited nervously as you took a bite.

You let out a pleased sound. "Oh my goodness, this is so good."

Matt grinned in relief. "Yeah?"

"Yes, absolutely. Everything you've made for me so far has been amazing." 

"I'm glad." Matt took a bite of his own carbonara, the silky smoothness of the sauce pairing perfectly with the crispy pancetta and al dente noodles. "It's not quite traditional carbonara but it's very close."

"Right, you said it's traditionally made with guanciale."

Matt nodded. "And no herbs are usually added, but I like the flavor a bit of fresh basil adds to the dish."

"Mmm. Mmhmm. Yeah, I like it too."

You both continued eating and once you were done, Matt stood. "Here, I'll get this for you."

"Thanks."

"I'm afraid I don't have any dessert prepared, but would you like another glass of wine?"

"Yeah, I'd love one."

Matt grabbed the bottle of Pinot Gris and refilled your glasses. "Care to go sit on the couch?"

"Sure."

You took a sip of wine as the two of you sat together on Matt's sofa. "I really like your apartment, by the way. It suits you."

Matt shook his head with a small smile. "It's not much, but it's home."

You huffed out a laugh. "It's not what I originally expected, but to be honest, neither were you."

"Oh?" Matt turned towards you. "And what did you expect?"

"About you or your apartment?"

"Mmm, both, I suppose."

"Well, had I based my idea of what your apartment would be like on my first impression of you it would've been cold and industrial with no heart."

Matt winced. "Ouch."

"However, having gotten to know you over the past few days I would say warm and inviting with a certain charm."

A smile spread across Matt's face. "You think I'm charming?"

"Your apartment? Very. You? Maybe a tiny bit."

Matt smirked at the teasing tone in your voice. "A tiny bit? I guess I'll just have to work harder on charming you then."

You let out a light laugh. "No need, I'll send you a copy of my article before publication anyway."

"Okay, thanks." Although that's not the reason I want to charm you.

You finished your glass of wine. "And speaking of my article, I should probably get going -- I have to be at the Bulletin early tomorrow for our weekly staff meeting."

Matt nodded and stood. "Here, I'll walk you out."

"Thanks for inviting me along today," you said softly as you reached the door. "I had a really great time." 

Matt nodded, unable to keep a smile off of his face. "I did too."

"I'll see you tomorrow evening?"

Matt nodded again. "Six o'clock?"

"Yeah, that sounds perfect."

"Okay, great."

The two of you stood there for a moment longer. Finally you reached out and gave Matt a brief hug. "Goodnight, Matt."

Matt hugged you back, committing what he could of you to memory. "Goodnight."

He waited as you let yourself out, an idea forming in his mind.

…He just hoped he was able to pull it off.

"How was Chef Hottie's cake?" Oh, I like Skyler. Skyler knows. Skyler knows Reader more than Reader cares to admit...Chef Hottie, haha!

Kelsie, mmmrawr, claws out there. Could be trouble with that one.

Back to Skyler: you go detective! Each question revealing just a little more of the 'and then what happened' because each answer goes further and further into the place that Reader is scared to go. Loved how she grilled Reader and backed her into a corner until Reader is thinking, "hmmm, maybe?" But Reader gonna waffle so I hope Skyler keeps going matchmaker...

Chef Hottie Matt all excited and looking forward to the recipe tasting and then does the same thing overthinking it. Beginning to wonder if there is a spanner going into the works somewhere in this timeline and will it occur before or after the main course? Only you know!

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 8

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, love confessions (but not to each other 🫠)

Word Count: ~2650

A/N: Short little filler chapter here to move the plot along, but next up is the big "recipe testing" dinner!

Thanks as always to @theradioactivespidergwen for the divider!

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

"So? How was it?" Skyler said as soon as she saw you in the staff break room the next morning.

You laughed and shook your head. "Can I at least make some coffee before you start interrogating me about my brunch?"

"Oh, I already took care of that." Skyler turned and handed you a to-go cup from your favorite coffee shop near the office. "I know how much you hate Monday morning staff meetings and figured I'd get something for you while I was getting my own coffee."

You took a sip and sighed blissfully. "You are an angel, you know that? I owe you one."

Skyler took a sip of her own beverage. "So spill, girl, spill! How was Chef Hottie's cake?"

You shook your head with a grin. "Ok well first off, it's Chef Matt , and secondly, his crepes were excellent once again, as was the omelet I ordered. You really should check the restaurant out for Sunday brunch at the very least, although I'm sure their dinner menu is amazing too."

Skyler took another sip of her coffee as you walked into the conference room together and sat. "How was the rest of your day? Hopefully you did something more exciting than watching a bunch of senior citizens play bingo."

You nodded, smiling to yourself as you thought about your afternoon and evening with Matt. "Actually, yeah. Matt invited me along on his after-work errands yesterday afternoon so I could observe him outside of the kitchen."

"Ooh, so you got to spend the whole afternoon with him? Lucky. So what did you two do together?"

"He volunteers to cook for the soup kitchen at Clinton Church on Sundays after the restaurant closes, so I helped him out with that, then I watched him work out at the gym for a bit, then he asked me if I wanted to have dinner with him."

Skyler's eyes grew wide. "He asked you out on a date ? Way to bury the lede!"

You shook your head. "No, not a date , he just invited me to have dinner with him at his apartment as a thank-you for helping him out at the church, that's all."

"You went to his apartment? " 

You opened your mouth to tell her that it wasn't a big deal but was interrupted by Ellison walking into the conference room. "Okay, let's get this show on the road," he said. "First order of business: Kelsie, welcome back. Glad to see you're feeling better."

You glanced over at Kelsie, who was sulking at the other end of the table.

Ellison looked at his notes. "Okay, so assignment updates! Skyler, how was the fundraiser for the senior center?"

"Great," Skyler replied. "I sent you my article last night."

"Okay, good. Mark, what's going on in sports this week?"

Mark, who wrote the sports column, sat up in his chair. "I've got an interview with Coach Calhoun on Wednesday and Coach Dempsey on Thursday, so the article about the big rivalry between PS 114 and PS 118 will be ready to go for Friday's edition."

"Excellent." Ellison said your name. "How's the Restaurant Week feature coming?"

"It's coming along great," you replied. "Chef Murdock has been really open and cooperative, so it'll be no problem getting that article to you by EoD Wednesday."

Ellison nodded. "Fantastic. Okay, new assignments. Skyler, you're covering the music festival this weekend. They'll have a press pass for you at the gate. Kelsie, since we switched up the Restaurant Week feature you're now going to be handling the daily report on what each participating restaurant is featuring. Everyone else, you know your assignments. Let's get to it."

You stood and picked up your cup of coffee.

"Not enough to steal the Features position out from under me, was it?" you heard Kelsie say from behind you. "Now you're going after the lead story for Restaurant Week too."

You turned and raised an eyebrow. There had been a (one-sided, in your opinion) rivalry between you and Kelsie ever since you and she had both been up for the Features position six months earlier. "Oh damn, you caught me. I made sure that you would get food poisoning just so I could swoop in and steal the Restaurant Week feature when I know nothing about the culinary industry and had never met Chef Murdock until a few days ago after the article was assigned to me. And as for the Features position, I won that promotion fair and square. It's not my fault that my article was better and that you bombed the mock interview, just like you would've tanked this one."

Kelsie scoffed. "Yeah, right. I'm sure he would've been extremely 'cooperative' with anyone interviewing him -- as long as they were female and had a pulse."

You shook your head. "I'll have you know, Chef Murdock has been nothing but professional towards me the entire week."

Kelsie smirked. "Oh didn't you know? Matthew Murdock will do anything -- and any one -- to try to salvage his reputation, so there must be a reason if he's not hitting on you."

Before you could respond she turned and flounced out of the conference room.

"What a bitch," Skyler muttered under her breath.

You shook your head. "I'm not worried about her. Ellison knows what I'm capable of."

Skyler sighed. "Anyway, I want to hear all about your not-date with Chef Hottie. Lunch later?"

You nodded. "Sure."

"Great. I'll swing by your desk around 11:30."

"Okay."

You went back to your desk, dutifully ignoring the daggers Kelsie was continuing to shoot your way, and worked on your other tasks until it was time for lunch.

You looked up as Skyler stopped by, purse in hand. "Ready?"

You nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

The two of you walked down the street to your favorite food truck. 

"Okay, so tell me everything ," Skyler said once the two of you sat down at a nearby table with your food. "Like how you went from going to Daredevil for brunch to a private dinner with the chef."

"There's not much to tell," you replied with a light laugh. "But okay."

You took a breath. "I had told Matt on Saturday that I was planning on coming back to Daredevil for Sunday brunch because the crepes he had made during the cooking demo he did for me were really good, so he told me to get his staff to let him know that I was there and he'd come say hi."

A small smirk graced Skyler's face. "So he was willing to drop everything in order to come talk to you, got it."

You shook your head. "He wound up bringing my order out to me, so while we were talking he asked me if I would be interested in seeing how he develops his recipes so I agreed to stop by Daredevil tonight after work for another cooking demo. Then he asked me if I wouldn't mind accompanying him on his after-work errands since he thought that it would be beneficial to my article for me to spend some time with him outside of the kitchen."

Skyler huffed out a laugh. "Right, beneficial to your article, sure."

You smiled and shook your head. "We went by Clinton Church first to cook for the soup kitchen--"

Skyler held up a finger. "Wait a second. So he asked you to spend the afternoon with him out of the kitchen, then brought you to a different kitchen to watch him cook?"

You shrugged. "I didn't mind. He usually cooks at Daredevil and just brings everything over to the church, but he asked me if I wouldn't mind coming over early and he'd just do his cooking for the church over there instead."

Skyler raised an eyebrow. "Mmhmm, so he could spend even more time with you."

" Anyway, after we finished up at the church we headed to his gym since he frequently goes after service to unwind."

Skyler grinned. "Ooh, so you got to see him all sweaty?"

You nodded. "The arms on that man, let me tell you…"

"And the ass." Skyler did a chef's kiss. "You can't tell me you didn't check out his ass."

Your face heated. "Well… maybe a bit."

Skyler gasped. "You did! I knew you were interested in him!"

You groaned. "He's so handsome and sweet and funny and genuine, not to mention an incredible chef… but I'm writing a story about him for the paper, it's completely unethical for me to be thirsting after him -- even though it's absolutely unfair how good he looks in a tank top and a pair of sweatpants."

Skyler shook her head. "Your story's due, when, Wednesday? After that you won't have to worry about journalistic integrity or whatever's stopping you from jumping his bones. So how'd you wind up going home with him?"

You wrinkled your nose. "Don't say it like that, you make it sound so… clandestine ."

Skyler rolled her eyes playfully. "Okay, fine. Having dinner, happy?"

You chuckled. "Yes. After he was done at the gym I asked him where to next and he said that was all he had left to do so I said okay and that I'd see him later, but then he asked if I'd like to have dinner with him as a thank-you for helping him out at the soup kitchen. I agreed, so we stopped by his plot at the Clinton Community Garden to pick some fresh basil then headed to his apartment."

Skyler waved a hand at you to go on. "Where you…"

You shrugged. "Where I drank some wine and ate some delicious carbonara, then sat and talked with Matt for a bit on his sofa before I went home."

Skyler's eyebrows raised. "Wait, you were serious? Nothing happened between you two?"

You shook your head. "I mean we hugged before I left, but that was it."

Skyler shook her head with a sigh. "Girl, if you can't see what's going on…"

Your brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"He's clearly interested."

"What? No he's not."

"Oh come on. He invited you to his apartment for dinner."

"As a thank-you, I told you that."

Skyler took a sip of her drink. "I'm telling you, girl, the man is into you! He's probably holding back because he thinks you're not interested."

You shook your head and stood. "Come on, we need to get back. I'm sure Kelsie is looking for any excuse to report us to Ellison."

Skyler groaned then stood as well. "Yeah, you're right. But I am too, and you know it!"

You threw your trash away and started back towards the office, your mind racing.

Skyler had to be mistaken. Matt couldn't actually be interested in you… could he?

Matt grinned to himself as he headed towards Clinton Church. He had spent the morning finalizing his plans for your "recipe tasting" dinner and was eager to get started on prep, but he needed to pick up his supplies from the church's activity center first. 

Father Lantom had left him a voicemail that morning saying how appreciative everyone had been of the hot meal and how nice it had been to meet you. 

Matt's mind drifted back to the previous day. While you obviously wasn't as quick and skilled in the kitchen as he was, Matt had still been touched by your willingness to help out however you could, even if it meant doing menial tasks such as slicing up tomatoes and cucumbers and dividing salad dressing into servings. 

God , he had wanted to kiss you when your fingers had brushed against his while you were handing him his measuring cups, then again when you had hugged him at Fogwell's after he had told you about his dad, then again in his apartment when you two stood listening to the rain by his window, then again when you were getting ready to leave…

He sighed. Hopefully everything went according to plan tonight.

He stepped into the office at Clinton Church. 

"Matthew, hello," Sister Maggie, one of the nuns from the adjoining convent, said.

"Hi," Matt replied. "I'm here to pick up my culinary supplies from the activity center." 

"Oh, yes. Father Lantom did say that you'd be dropping by to pick up your things." Sister Maggie took a set of keys out of a drawer. "He's out on an errand at the moment, but I can let you in."

"Great, thanks."

He followed her out to the activity center.

Sister Maggie unlocked the door. "How is the restaurant doing?"

Matt shrugged. "It's… surviving so far. We're not doing nearly as well as I'd hoped we'd be by now but I'm hoping that the article that's going to be in the Bulletin next week will help drum up some business."

"Oh, the restaurant is being featured in the Bulletin? That's wonderful."

Matt shook his head. "Moreso me than the restaurant, but yeah. We're going to be on the front page of the Restaurant Week kickoff edition."

He paused, smiling softly as he thought about you. "Actually the reporter from the Bulletin who's doing the story on me was here with me yesterday."

Sister Maggie hummed. "Oh, yes, Father Lantom did say a young woman was assisting you, but he was under the impression that you two were seeing each other."

Matt shook his head. "What? No, we've only known each other for a few days, although…"

He sighed. "There's something about her that… I don't know, she makes me feel comfortable around her. She's kind, and gentle, and caring…" And beautiful. I have no idea what she looks like, but I know she's beautiful. 

Sister Maggie hummed. "She sounds lovely."

"She really is."

"What's her name?"

Matt smiled as he said your name.

Sister Maggie gave a hum of recognition. "Oh, yes, she's the one who does all of those lovely human interest stories, right? I do enjoy reading those each week."

Matt nodded. "Right."

He bit his lip. "I wanted her to get to know me outside of the kitchen -- for her story, of course -- so I, uh, I took her to Fogwell's after we left here yesterday and wound up telling her about Dad. She already knew about his murder -- she had done some research before our interview -- but I told her about growing up with him and how he always encouraged me to get an education."

Sister Maggie reached out and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before letting go. "Your father was a good man, you know."

Matt nodded. "I know."

She sighed. "I know I haven't always been there for you in the ways you've needed me, Matthew, but for what it's worth, I'm really proud of you."

Matt nodded. "Thanks… Mom."

"So what are you going to do?"

Matt furrowed his brow. "About?"

Sister Maggie said your name. "She's not seeing anyone, is she?"

Matt shook his head. "I don't think so. At least, she hasn't mentioned anything in that regard."

He gestured towards the kitchen. "She's actually coming by the restaurant tonight to taste-test some new recipes for me, so I better get going so I can get started on everything."

He headed into the kitchen to get his cart.

Sister Maggie gave him a hug as he came back out. "Goodbye, Matthew."

Matt hugged her back. "Bye."

He headed towards Daredevil, his mind swirling. He knew you were attracted to him -- at least physically -- but there had been something holding you back. Could you be seeing someone?

Matt had assumed you were single based on your availability over the weekend, but just because you were available didn't mean you were available. 

He shook his head. He remembered overheating your conversation with that other reporter who had greeted him the day he had brought tiramisu to the Bulletin, during which you had said that you didn't have a boyfriend.

…So then what was it?

Reader, Reader, Reader. Why? This is me after she ran away....

Back to the story...

Chef Matt is finding out all this info about Reader and then when Foggy interrupts HE JUST SAYS, "Here, I'll let you out..." ????????

Matt, you ignorant slut. Step outside with her for a minute. "Thanks again..." What happened to Mr. Mutual Agreement, I'll make time for you, and other charming flirty thoughts to put in her doubting questioning brain so that she...you know... knows that you LIKE her???

Despite Foggy's impeccable unfortunate timing, he does have a valid point or two regarding Matt and love. Glad to know culinary school isn't so different from law school when it comes to cross examination.

Reader just all flustered and full of hope and yet trying so hard to manifest a broken heart. She says she trusts Matt; does she not trust herself? Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette there girly girl.

Enjoyed flirty!Matt working the charm. Given the conclusion, (darn cliffhanger! I see you author, giggling over your keyboard) maybe he should've started with the mimosas (many of them) and creme brulee instead of the risotto.

Thanks for the update!

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 9

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

Word Count: ~3100

A/N: I'm so excited to share this chapter!!! This was the first scene that popped in my head when I first got the idea for this fic, so I hope y'all enjoy!

As always, thanks to @theradioactivespidergwen for the header!

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

“Hi,” Matt greeted you with a smile as you stepped inside Daredevil later that evening. “Thanks for coming.”

You smiled back at him. “Thanks for the invite.”

Matt led you to a table near the kitchen. “Here, have a seat.” 

You furrowed your brow in confusion. “I thought I was watching you cook again?”

Matt shook his head as he pulled a chair out for you. “I actually kind of had a different idea for tonight.” 

You sat. “Oh, okay.”

Matt pushed your chair in. “Be right back.”

You waited as Matt left then returned with a pitcher of water and some crackers.

He poured some water into your glass and set the pitcher and crackers down on the table, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a blindfold. 

He fiddled with it, looking somewhat nervous. “Since you said you wanted to get to know me and how I developed my culinary skills I thought we could do a blind tasting… if you’re okay with that.”

Your mind drifted back to the skillful way Matt had handled himself in the kitchen on Saturday and Sunday. You had been impressed at the ease and precision with which he had chopped and diced and flipped and sauteed and had been looking forward to watching him cook again (admittedly not only because his cooking skills were so impressive but so you could check him out without being too obvious about it). Oh well.

You nodded. “Yeah, yeah that’s okay.”

Matt huffed out a breath. "Good. I wasn't sure how you'd feel about being blindfolded."

You shook your head. "I meant it when I said that I trust you, Matt."

A soft smile spread across Matt's face. "I'm glad. And by the way, I promise there's nothing too unusual on the menu tonight."

He handed you the blindfold. "Here, put this on and I'll be right back."

You slipped the blindfold over your eyes as Matt left to go to the kitchen, engulfing yourself in darkness. 

About a minute later, you could hear the door to the kitchen open. “Okay,” Matt said. “Here’s the first course.”

He set a dish down in front of you. "I want you to use your non-visual senses to tell me what this is.”

You fumbled around for a utensil. "Oh, um…"

Matt placed his hand on top of yours then guided you to it. "Sorry, here, let me help you."

Your heart skipped a beat at his warm touch. "Thanks."

"It's no problem."

You grinned. "Apologies in advance if I accidentally make a mess. You might have to wind up feeding me like I'm a small child."

Matt huffed out a laugh. "Would you like me to?"

Your face heated as you pictured Matt sitting right next to you, his thumb caressing your cheek as he guided your utensils to your mouth with his other hand…

You shook your head. "It might wind up coming to that, but I'm going to at least try to feed myself first."

Matt laughed again. "Okay, fair enough."

You carefully reached your free hand in front of you, realizing that there was a small bowl set on top of a plate. You dipped your utensil into the bowl, coming into contact with a porridge-like substance.

You scooped some of it up then raised it to your nose to give it a sniff. 

You nodded approvingly. "Hmm."

"Well?" Matt said. "Describe what you smell."

You thought for a moment. "Well, it smells delicious, for one."

Matt chuckled. "That's good, but be more specific."

You smelled it again. "It smells… salty? Well no, not salty , but like something familiar that's salty, and it's also sort of earthy? Like grassy, but not."

You winced. "I'm sorry, I'm describing this so badly."

"No, no, you're doing great," Matt assured you. "Now give it a taste."

You took a bite, your eyebrows raising in delight at the taste of rice, cheese, and… something . "Is this sweet potato risotto?"

Matt hummed. "No, actually it's butternut squash and saffron, but I get how you'd think it was sweet potato."

You took another bite, now recognizing the salty with which you had described the scent. "With pancetta?"

"Yeah. I've been trying to perfect it but felt like it had been missing something, so tonight I used the leftover pancetta I had on hand to add some extra flavor and texture to the dish."

You nodded. "I really like it."

"So do you think it's menu-worthy?"

You took another bite. "Mmm. Mmhmm, yeah, absolutely."

"Okay, great." Matt took your hand and placed a cracker into it. "Okay, so between courses I want you to eat a cracker and drink some water."

"Okay." You furrowed your brow as you tasted the cracker. "Huh, I guess I was expecting it to taste like a saltine."

Matt chuckled. "Yeah, table crackers actually kind of remind me of Communion wafers. They're pretty flavorless but cleanse the palette so you don't get any flavors confused."

You heard him stand. "I'll be right back with the next dish."

You nodded as he picked up the plate. "Okay."

While Matt was gone, you carefully reached for your glass of water then took a sip. You couldn't even imagine the trauma he had gone through as a child, having to learn to navigate the world without his eyesight.

You felt around the table before setting your glass down, terrified that you would wind up setting it too close to the edge and spilling it -- or worse, dropping it and breaking the glass.

You turned towards the kitchen as the door swung open.

Matt set another dish down in front of you. "Okay, next one."

He handed you a piece of pita bread. "This one's a dip, so go ahead and try it."

You felt for the bowl and dunked the pita bread in, then took a bite.

You made a face then grabbed for your water, taking a big gulp to get rid of the taste. "I'm sorry, but what the hell is that?"

Matt chuckled. "It's beet hummus."

You heard him dip a piece of pita bread and take a bite. "Oh, yeah, no, that's definitely a failed experiment."

You shook your head. "Yeah, sorry, zero out of ten for that one."

Matt handed you another cracker before taking one for himself. "Let me go get rid of this and grab the next one."

He continued bringing out a variety of different dishes for you to try, including an arugula salad with heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese, a parsnip puree that he was considering as a side to the restaurant's steak options, and (your personal favorite) pesto-parmesan linguine.

"Oh my gosh, this is so good," you said as you ate the entire sample. "Eleven out of ten, definitely needs to go on the menu."

Matt chuckled. "Noted."

He stood. "Okay, time for dessert. Let me go finish getting it ready." 

You nodded. "Okay."

A few minutes later Matt returned and set what sounded like a small bowl in front of you before handing you a spoon.

You reached out and picked up what you realized was a ramekin, then inhaled the sweet aroma of caramelized sugar. "Mmm. It smells sweet."

You poked your spoon into it, the metal breaking through a solid crust into a custard-like concoction.

You took a bite, the flavors that were marrying on your tongue unlike anything else you had ever tasted. "Is this cremé bruleé?"

Matt hummed in the affirmative. "My own take on it, yes. Can you tell me what you taste?"

You nodded. "I can taste the caramelized sugar, of course, and a vanilla custard, but there's something else…" You took another bite. "It's definitely something citrusy… orange?"

"Yes, blood orange, to be exact." Matt guided your hand to a champagne flute. "I'm thinking about pairing it with a blood orange mimosa."

You took a sip of the mimosa. "Oh, wow."

"Good, huh?"

"Mmhmm." You took another bite of the cremé bruleé. "This is wonderful, Matt. It might even replace your tiramisu as my favorite dessert."

Matt huffed out a laugh. "Well damn, just when I thought I had someone to do a final taste-test of my tiramisu before I put it on the menu."

You shook your head. "Oh I'm definitely still willing to do that, this is just amazing too."

"Good, because I added a new ingredient and I want to see if it made a difference in the taste."

You smiled. "You know, you're spoiling me with all this gourmet food. Too bad I'd never be able to afford to hire you as my own private chef."

Matt huffed out a laugh. "Oh, I think we'd be able to come to some sort of… mutual agreement."

Your face heated. It was getting harder and harder to not misconstrue Matt's jokes as flirting, especially after Skyler had planted that seed of hope within you… and Kelsie a seed of doubt.

Matt stood. "You can go ahead and take the blindfold off, by the way. I'll be right back."

"Okay." You took the blindfold off, then blinked to clear your vision before looking over at Matt.

"Would you like something else to drink?" he asked. "Maybe some more champagne? No sense in letting the bottle go flat."

You nodded. "Sure."

You took a deep breath as he left to go to the kitchen. There was something about Matt that drew you to him (besides the fact that he was exactly your type), so you really hoped that he wouldn't wind up breaking your heart. 

Just a few more days, you thought to yourself. Just a few more days until my article is published, then I can see if this is real.

…Please let this be real.

Matt took a deep breath as he entered the kitchen. He felt an undeniable connection with you, one even stronger than the connection he'd had with -- 

He shook his head. He wasn't going to let her get into his head, not again.

He opened the refrigerator and took the tiramisu out. He was fairly certain that it was ready to be added to the menu based on his own taste-test as he was making it, but he really did want your opinion before making his final decision.

He plated a small piece for you then placed the rest back into the refrigerator before grabbing the bottle of champagne and another glass. Okay, here we go.

He headed back out to the dining area and set the plate of tiramisu on the table before pouring you each a glass of champagne. 

He sat and waited as you took a bite.

"Oh wow," you said, sounding surprised. "I don't know exactly what you added to this, but this is even better than the one you made the other day."

Matt grinned. "I added a splash of Frangelico to the espresso."

"It's delicious."

"So you think it's ready to be added to the menu?"

"Definitely, and please let me know when you do, because I'll be here right when you open so I can order both that and the pesto-parmesean linguine."

Matt chuckled. "I'll have it ready for you when you arrive."

You hummed. "Will you bring it out to me yourself so I can say hi?"

Matt nodded. "If you'd like."

"Yeah, I'd really like that -- if you'd have time and weren't busy, of course."

Matt shook his head. "I'd definitely make time for you."

He paused as your heartbeat picked up slightly. "Hey, um, can I ask you a question?"

You took a sip of champagne. "Sure," you replied.

Matt bit his lip. "I was wondering, um… what do you look like?"

"Oh," you said in slight surprise. "Oh, um…"

Matt quickly shook his head. "It's just… I have this blank picture of you in my head, so I've been curious, you know?"

You made a thoughtful sound. "That must be odd, not knowing what anyone looks like. Especially friends and loved ones."

Matt shrugged. "It can be, but I can at least imagine what people look like based on physical descriptions. And I can more accurately picture someone if I've touched them -- you know, if I've hugged them I can determine their body type or if I've felt their facial features I can put together an idea of their face shape."

You let out a light laugh. "I bet that makes dating interesting. 'Hi, yes, nice to meet you. Do you mind if I touch your face to make sure you're not hideous'?"

Matt chuckled. "I know it sounds cliché, but personality obviously really is the most important trait in a woman for me. The face touching usually comes later, although it's admittedly been a while since I've gotten to that stage. Kind of hard to meet someone I'm interested in when I'm always working." 

He paused and took a sip of his own glass of champagne. "What about you? Are you seeing anyone?"

"No, not at the moment," you replied. "Although the last woman I did a feature on kept trying to hook me up with her grandson."

Matt chuckled, relieved that he had been right in his assumption that you were currently single. "But you weren't interested?"

"Nah, he wasn't my type."

"Oh? And what is your type?" Hopefully dark-haired chefs. 

You hummed. "Honestly, just someone I can connect with, someone who understands me and is willing to put in the work to make a relationship equal. Someone I can build a life with, who I can trust and who will trust me in return."

Matt nodded. "Yeah, I get that."

You cleared your throat. "So about what I look like -- well…"

Matt listened intently, putting together a mental picture of you based on your description and the few hugs you had shared.

"So," you concluded, "did I describe myself well enough for you to picture me? Because I, um, I wouldn't mind if you wanted to feel my face too. You know, for accuracy."

Matt's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

Matt nodded. "Okay then. Um, I'll have to get really close to you so I can reach you."

He heard you get up and move your chair over. "Like this?"

Matt brushed his hand along your shoulder, judging the distance. "Yeah, that's good."

He swallowed, suddenly feeling nervous. "Ready?"

"Mmhmm."

Matt reached out once again, his hand bumping into your nose. "Shit, I'm so sorry, I --"

"Oh, no, no, it's okay," you replied. "I'm fine, I promise."

Matt shook his head. "Do you mind if I…" 

He waved vaguely up at his glasses. "If I can at least see your silhouette I can better judge exactly how far you are from me."

"Oh, no, go ahead."

Matt took his glasses off and set them onto the table. 

"You, um, you have very pretty eyes, by the way," you said somewhat shyly.

Matt couldn't help but smile. "Thanks. I bet yours are very pretty too." Just like the rest of you.

He reached out once again. "May I?"

You made a sound of affirmation. "Yeah, go ahead."

Matt tentatively traced his fingertips across your hairline, raising his other hand as well once he was sure he wasn't going to accidentally knock you in the face again.

He began to build a mental picture of you as he traced along your forehead, down your temples and across your eyes, down the bridge of your nose and across your cheeks down to your chin.

I was right, he thought as he brushed his thumb across your lips. "You're beautiful. "

You sucked in a quiet gasp of breath.

Matt's eyes flicked down towards your mouth. It would be so easy to kiss you, to taste the champagne on your lips.

He leaned in to close the gap, your name a whisper in the air.

"Hey, Matt, I saw the lights were on and --"

Suddenly you jumped back as Foggy entered the dining area from the kitchen.

Foggy froze. "I'm -- I am so sorry, I'm clearly interrupting something, I'll just go --"

"No!" you exclaimed. "Um, no, I was -- I was just leaving."

You grabbed your phone and bag. "Um, thanks for dinner, Matt. I'll let you know if I have any other questions for my article."

Matt sighed as you hurried towards the seating area. Shit. "Here, I'll let you out."

He put his glasses back on and followed you to the door, unlocking then opening it for you. "Thanks again for coming tonight."

"Sure. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Matt nodded. "Okay."

He locked the door behind you and turned back towards Foggy, who was fidgeting nervously.

"Shit, I am so sorry, Matt," Foggy said. "I figured you were working on perfecting those new recipes for the menu, I had no idea you were on a --"

Matt shook his head. "No, no it's -- it's fine. That was -- that was nothing."

Foggy let out an awkward chuckle. "That didn't look like 'nothing' to me, that looked like you were about to get your mack on."

"No, we were just --" Matt let out a frustrated growl. "Just drop it, okay? It's not like it would've worked out anyway." 

"And why not?"

"Because she's -- because it just wouldn't, okay?"

Foggy let out a groan. "You know, you're a damn good chef but you're absolutely terrible when it comes to love."

Matt snorted. "Says the man who's been single since Marci dumped you back in culinary school."

"Uh-huh. This is not about me, Matt, this is about you . I know Elektra screwed you over but that doesn't mean that every woman who also happens to be a journalist will." Foggy's demeanor softened. "Come on, Matty, admit it. You've got feelings for her, don't you?"

Matt sighed. He could hear your nervous heartbeat fading away the further you got from the restaurant. "Yeah, I do. I really, really like her, Fog." 

Foggy let out a delighted gasp. "I knew it!"

Matt shook his head. "I thought she felt the same way about me, but obviously I was wrong. I mean, you saw how fast she ran out of here after I tried to kiss her."

Foggy hissed in a breath. "Again, I'm really sorry about interrupting that, dude."

Matt shook his head. "It's okay, you didn't know she was even here."

He moved your chair back to its rightful place, his stomach twisting at the memory of how quickly you had lunged away from him. 

He sighed. "Come on, since you're here you can at least taste everything then help me clean up."

An update! (sorry about your trouble sleeping; it can be so awful)

"I'm fine." Oh Reader, any bestie knows that answer is unacceptable. Good thing Skyler is not buying it. Plus Skyler is ready to take out Chef Hottie Matt if necessary; I'm taking note of that in case we need her to kneecap Kelsie. Go stomp some grapes, Kelsie, maybe it will improve your mood.

"Can I get you anything? Water, coffee...tea...my hot and adorable colleague Skyler?" I like Reader and Skyler's tagteam matchmaking approach. This is good. I suspect that it will (unbeknownst to Reader and Matt) assist in the romance of Reader and Matt because Foggy and Skyler collaborating could result in Matt and Reader being in forced proximity to each other.

Pretty bold of Foggy to show up at the Bulletin, though. Tip of the hat to him, especially when he intimates to Reader that there's some uhm interest between her and Chef Cake Matt. That's a delicate situation but Foggy is way better at direct but tactful communication than Matt in a way, perhaps because Foggy is the interested bystander. Foggy understands Matt (similar to Skyler/Reader) and how past experiences influence present choices, as well as how we rationalize our responses to those situations. Foggy sees they are lovesick for each other but Matt is wary, Reader is wary and neither is being particularly honest with themselves (yes and no, they admit the attraction but not the relationship that accompanies it) or with each other, perhaps in the desperate hope that hearts will remain whole?

Hearts are meant to be used; it makes them stronger and full of life.

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 10

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 being idiots

Word Count: ~3200

A/N: Here we are with the next chapter! I have to prep for an important work event on Saturday that will more than likely cut into my writing time, so there may not be another update until next week, but until then enjoy our pining dumbasses!

(As always, thanks to the fantabulous @theradioactivespidergwen for the divider!)

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

"Come on , you stupid thing," you grumbled at the Bulletin's ancient copier as it sputtered and creaked. "I know it's early, but work , damn you."

You weren't in the best mood this morning -- you hadn't slept well, your mind choosing to replay your almost-kiss with Matt from the previous evening every time you closed your eyes.

You looked over at the doorway as the sound of footsteps neared. "Oh, hey, there you are," Skyler said as she poked her head in the doorway. "You have a visitor."

Your heart leaped. "Who is it?"

Skyler sighed wistfully. "The future father of my children. He didn't give his name but he's a really hot blonde-haired dude."

Part of you wished that it had been Matt, but after the way you had run out on him the previous night you supposed that would've been too much to hope for. "Okay, thanks."

Skyler stepped fully into the copy room, her brow furrowing. "Hey, are you alright?"

You shrugged. "I'm fine."

Skyler crossed her arms. "No, you don't look happy. Did something happen with Chef Hottie last night? Because I don't care how many Michelin stars he has, I'll go kick his ass if I need to."

You huffed out a soft laugh and shook your head. "Not necessary. I'm just tired."

Skyler nodded and uncrossed her arms. "As long as you're okay."

"I am. Thanks for your concern, though. I really appreciate it."

Skyler gave you a quick hug. "Of course. You're my bestie, I'm not going to let anyone mess with you."

You gave her a hug back. "Ditto. I'll tell you all about last night as soon as I deal with whoever this is, 'kay?"

Skyler nodded, then winked. "You'd better." 

You followed her out of the copy room and into the bullpen, your eyebrows raising as you spotted your visitor. "Chef Nelson." 

Chef Nelson raised his hand in greeting. "Hi. Is this a bad time?"

You shook your head. "Oh, no, I was just fighting with our copy machine, but I can let someone else have a turn trying to battle it out. What can I do for you?"

Chef Nelson bit his lip. "Can we talk?"

You nodded. "Sure."

You turned towards Skyler. "By the way, Sky, this is Chef Nelson, Chef Murdock's business partner. Chef Nelson, this is Skyler. She's our Lifestyle writer here at the Bulletin ."

Skyler reached out to shake Chef Nelson's hand, a broad smile spreading across her face. "It's nice to meet you, Chef Nelson."

"Nice to meet you too," Chef Nelson replied with an equally broad smile. "And please, call me Foggy -- uh, both of you."

You smiled to yourself. You could practically see the cartoon hearts floating above both Foggy's and Skyler's heads. 

You nodded. "Sure."

You turned towards Skyler. "I'll be in the conference room. Foggy, you can follow me."

You led Foggy to the conference room, your heart twisting as you remembered doing the same thing with Matt not even a week earlier.

You closed the door and gestured to a chair. "Make yourself comfortable. Can I get you anything to drink? Water, coffee… tea?"

Foggy shook his head as he sat. "No, thank you."

You sat across from him. "So what can I help you with?"

Foggy took a deep breath. "I um, I just wanted to apologize for interrupting you and Matt last night. I had no idea that he, uh, had company at the restaurant and didn't mean to intrude."

You shook your head, your heart beginning to thrum nervously in your chest. "No, you weren't intruding. I was just there to taste some new recipes that Matt had said he was thinking about adding to the menu. We had already finished and were just talking when you came in."

Foggy huffed out a laugh. "Seemed like a pretty important conversation."

Your face heated. You weren't sure what exactly Matt had told Foggy about your evening together. "Nothing he and I couldn't talk about later."

You licked your lips nervously. "By the way, how, um, how is Matt this morning?" 

Foggy shook his head. "I don't know, I haven't talked to him yet today. We start prepping later on Tuesdays since Matt's always experimenting in the kitchen until really late on Mondays."

"Oh." You couldn't help but wonder if Matt had ever had anyone else over to the restaurant for a 'blind tasting'. "Okay."

Foggy studied you. "You know, I really do appreciate you giving him a second chance after you two started off on the wrong foot. Not that I'm trying to make excuses for him, but he's been through a lot in the past couple of years and is still dealing with some stuff."

You shook your head. "It's not a problem. And there's no need to apologize for last night, I promise."

"Thanks so much." Foggy stood. "I should get going -- I have a couple of errands to run before I head to the restaurant, but thanks for taking the time to talk with me."

You nodded. "Of course. Here, I'll walk you out."

You opened the door to the conference room and ushered Foggy out into the bullpen, stopping by Skyler's desk. "You know, I actually really do need to get back to my battle with the copier, so Sky, would you mind walking Foggy out?"

Skyler shook her head. "No, it'd be my pleasure."

"Thanks." You turned towards Foggy. "Thanks for dropping by."

Foggy nodded, his eyes firmly on Skyler. "Sure."

Skyler stood. "Right this way."

You shook your head with a smile as Skyler and Foggy headed towards the elevator. There was no denying the chemistry between those two and you would've been shocked if Skyler didn't come back with Foggy's phone number at the very least, if not a date.

You headed back to the copy room, determined to beat the copy machine at its own game.

You had finally gotten it to cooperate when Skyler came in, sighing happily.

You grinned over at her. "You're welcome."

She playfully shook her finger at you. "Girl, why didn't you tell me Chef Hottie's business partner was even hotter than him?"

You huffed out a laugh. "I only met Foggy one time before last night, which reminds me…" 

You grabbed your copies. "Come on, let's go get some coffee and I'll tell you about it."

You walked into the break room, pointedly ignoring Kelsie, who was talking to another one of your coworkers. 

"James surprised me with tickets to this very exclusive wine tasting event upstate  this weekend," she was saying. "Only the finest vintages will be served."

You rolled your eyes. You had never met Kelsie's boyfriend and knew absolutely nothing about him (nor did you care to), but you had certainly heard his name enough times to already be tired of hearing about him.

Kelsie sneered over at you. "Well, I guess I better go get started on my Restaurant Week coverage since someone stole the feature story from me."

You sighed to yourself as they left the break room, grabbing the bag of coffee you kept at work and filling the permanent filter pod for the office Keurig before popping it into the brewer.

" God , I can't stand her," Skyler muttered. "Anyway, tell me about last night."

You filled a cup with some water and poured it into the reservoir before placing the cup underneath the Keurig and setting it to brew. "Okay, well, Matt was waiting in the lobby to unlock the door for me when I got to Daredevil," you began. "I was supposed to watch him cook again, but instead he sat me down at a table near the kitchen then went to get some water and crackers."

You bit your lip. "After he came back he, um, he pulled a blindfold out of his pocket and asked me if it was okay if we did a blind tasting."

"He blindfolded you?" A small smirk appeared on Skyler's face. "Kinky."

You huffed out a laugh. "It wasn't like that! Matt just wanted me to be able to understand how he develops his flavors and have me judge a dish using my non-visual senses."

You shook your head. "Anyway, he brought out the first dish, which was a butternut squash risotto with pancetta that both smelled and tasted amazing ."

Skyler hummed. "Ooh, that does sound delicious."

You nodded. "It really was."

"So how was it trying to eat without being able to see your food?"

You huffed out a breath as your coffee finished brewing. "Honestly, it was really disorienting. Matt had to help me find my spoon for the risotto and since he had me eat a cracker and drink some water in between dishes so I wouldn't still be tasting what I had just eaten when he brought out the next dish I was terrified of spilling my water all over. Luckily I made it through without making a mess."

Skyler smiled softly at you as she took a turn at the Keurig. "Something tells me he would've been understanding even if you had accidentally spilled something."

You nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Anyway, the second dish wound up being a beet hummus, which I'm afraid to say was awful ."

You grinned at the memory. "Luckily Matt tasted it and agreed with me that it was terrible, that it was definitely a no for the menu."

You continued telling Skyler about the different dishes Matt had you try, including the pesto-parmesan linguine that you were still thinking about. "Finally he brought out this blood orange cremé bruleé that he had been working on and a blood orange mimosa to go with it, and oh my god, Sky, it was so damn good."

You took a sip of your coffee. "I made a joke about it replacing Matt's tiramisu as my favorite dessert and it actually turned out that he had also made some tiramisu and wanted me to try it since he had tweaked the recipe. He also said I could take the blindfold off then asked if I wanted some more champagne since he had opened a new bottle for the mimosa and there was no sense in letting it go flat."

Skyler took a sip of her own coffee. "I'm sure that wasn't the only reason, but go ahead."

"The tiramisu was even better than the first one he had made for me, so he said since it had my approval it was ready to go on the menu." You bit your lip, second-guessing whether you should tell Skyler about the rest of your evening. "I, um, I asked him to tell me when it was added to the menu so I could be there to order it as soon as they opened, and Matt joked that he'd have it ready for me when I arrived, so I asked if he'd bring it out to me personally and he said yes, that he'd make the time to come say hi… and then he asked me what I looked like."

Skyler's eyebrows raised. "He did?"

You nodded. "He said that he'd had a blank picture of me in his head all week so he had been curious then he said that he could picture people based on physical descriptions alone but could more accurately picture them if he felt their facial features, so after I described myself to him I told him he could feel my face if he wanted."

"And did he?"

Your face heated at the memory of Matt's fingertips softly gliding along your skin, his brow furrowed in concentration as he painted a mental picture of you. 

You nodded. "He said I was beautiful… then he leaned in to kiss me."

Skyler gasped. "You kissed him? "

You winced and quickly shook your head. "Right before we did Foggy came in from the kitchen and startled me, so I jumped back. He apologized for interrupting and I said that it was fine, that I needed to go anyway, and then I grabbed my stuff and practically ran out of there."

Skyler groaned out your name. "Girl. Why? "

"Because I'm an idiot, that's why." You sighed. "I panicked. "

"And that's why you couldn't sleep."

You nodded. "I kept replaying it in my head over and over, trying to imagine different scenarios and ways it could have turned out if Foggy hadn't shown up or if I hadn't bolted. That's actually why he came by -- to apologize again for interrupting me and Matt last night."

You bit your lip as a thought struck you. "He said that Matt had been through a lot in the past couple of years, so what if Kelsie is actually right? What if Matt is just pretending to like me so I'll write a positive article about him that'll help him rebuild his reputation?"

Skyler shook her head. "Do you even know what could have happened to where Matt would need to rebuild his reputation?"

You shook your head in response. "No."

"Then don't listen to Kelsie. I'm sure she's just making shit up."

"I hope so, because I really like him. I haven't felt this way about anyone in a really long time, Sky, so if it turns out he's been playing me this whole time…" You trailed off with a sigh.

"Hey, if he has been then that offer to kick his ass still stands." Skyler smiled at you. "No matter how hot his business partner is."

"Oh, shit, yeah." You shook your head to clear it. "How was walking Foggy out? You seemed pretty happy when you came back."

Skyler grinned. "Well, that's because I have a date Saturday morning. Foggy and I are going to go have coffee before he has to get to the restaurant."

You smiled. I knew it. "That's great. I'm really happy for you."

Skyler studied you. "So what are you going to do about Matt?"

You shook your head. "I'm just going to wait until my article is turned in and see how it goes."

You finished your coffee and rinsed your cup out. "I need to start going over these printouts."

Skyler gave you a brief hug. "Hey, I'm sure everything is going to be fine."

You nodded. "I hope so."

You really hoped so, because with the way you were starting to feel about Matt you weren't sure if you could handle a broken heart.

"Combine properly, damn it," Matt growled at the dough he was trying to prepare for the night's supply of dinner rolls. "Why aren't you cooperating?"

"Because you're being mean to it," Foggy said as he came into the kitchen. "Well, that or the fact that your yeast is still sitting over here on the prep counter."

Matt groaned then dumped the dough into the trash. "Shit ."

Foggy chuckled. "Good morning to you too, buddy."

Matt turned his head towards him as Foggy passed him to go wash his hands. "You went by the Bulletin this morning. I can smell newsprint on you."

Foggy hummed in the affirmative. "As a matter of fact, I did. And before you ask, yes, she looked just as miserable as you do."

Matt could feel his friend studying him. "I'm not miserable , I'm just tired. I got less sleep than usual."

"Are you ready to tell me what happened last night?"

Matt nodded. "Originally the plan was for her to come watch me work on developing those new dishes for the menu, but I decided to make it a blind tasting instead in order to try to make it a bit more… personal."

Foggy chuckled. "You mean romantic."

"Yeah, okay, romantic." Matt sighed as he began to re-make the dough for the rolls. "And it seemed like it was working, too -- she was responding positively to my hints that I'm attracted to her."

He shook his head. "Everything was going great -- she gave me some really good feedback on the dishes and was joking around with me about the cremé bruleé surpassing the tiramisu as her new favorite dessert of mine, so I asked her to taste the final recipe before she made that distinction.

"She loved it, of course, and said to let her know when we added it to the menu so she could be the first one in line to order it once we opened that day, so I told her that I'd have it ready for her when she arrived, and she asked if I'd bring it out to her personally and I said of course, that I'd definitely make the time to come say hi to her."

Foggy huffed out a laugh. "Wow, you two are not subtle."

Matt shook his head as he mixed all of the ingredients and began to knead the dough together. "It's been driving me crazy not having any sort of clue what she looks like, so I asked her. She seemed a bit surprised at the question, which honestly was understandable since I just kind of threw it at her out of nowhere, but I explained how I can "see" people by touching them, so after she described herself to me she offered to let me feel her facial features."

He smiled to himself as his mental picture of you floated into his mind. At least he managed to get that before everything went to shit. "I told her she was beautiful, and that's when I tried to kiss her."

"And when I walked in and ruined the moment."

Matt shook his head. "It's not your fault, really. Obviously I had misread something between us somewhere and trying to kiss her made her uncomfortable." 

He covered the (now correctly prepared) dough and put it in the refrigerator to rise. "I spent all night replaying everything in my head trying to figure out exactly where I screwed up. She's the most incredible woman to ever come into my life, Foggy, I don't know what I'd do if it turned out she was just using me like Elektra did."

"I honestly don't think she is, Matty, but speaking of meeting incredible women…" Foggy huffed out a happy sigh. "I'm pretty sure I met my future wife today."

Matt chuckled as he moved to the sink to wash and dry his hands. "Well at least one of us is sure. Who is she?"

"Her name is Skyler -- she's the Lifestyle writer at the Bulletin ."

Matt nodded. "Oh, yeah, I met her the other day. She seemed nice."

"We're going out for coffee on Saturday morning, so I might be a bit late getting here depending on how well things go."

Matt patted Foggy on the back. "I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks." Foggy paused. "So what are you going to do about everything?"

Matt shook his head. "I don't know yet. Probably just wait until the article comes out on Monday and go from there."

Foggy sighed. "Well no matter what you decide, I'm here for you, buddy."

"Thanks." Matt began dicing tomatoes for the marinara sauce, his mind drifting back to you by his side as you cut up tomatoes for the salads at Clinton Church.

He really hoped you weren't just using him, because he was pretty sure he was already falling for you.

Thank you so much for answering!! I figured Chef Biceps Matt was keeping you busy and I love both stories so I'm happily consuming them (the story, not them them) anyway, where was I? Oh right, OCACR. Reader is going to be baking up a storm is she? I am so here for that!

Chef Matt is going to be very kneady isn't he? Hehe....

No pressure, absolutely. Just to make sure I'm leaving no doubt with that.

Curious minds (all right, me) would very gently ask how Of Coffee and Cinnamon Rolls is progressing?

I was looking at my *recipe (good Lord was that a cool front of 80 degrees I saw on my weather app, halle-freakin-lujah) for cinnamon rolls this past weekend and in the strange and slightly odd way that various fandoms coexist in my daily life, your PP fic came to mind. You might be saying to yourself, "Self? Why not Chef Bun-Buns Matt?" The answer is unfathomable, except somehow I associate Chef Almighty Abs Matt with pastries of a slightly more refined variety such as the tiramisu, dessert crepes, or the crème brûlèe and no shade for that, nor do I believe he would ever turn down an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll. It is just that in my less lucid moments Peter Parker, on the other hand, I can easily imagine devouring said cinnamon roll and ending up with just an eensy bit of warm filling or frosting on the corner of his mouth. Oh gawd, what am I even saying. I've entirely lost the thread here. Yeah, um anyway, I'll be here, standing in the kitchen doorway staring off into the distance and looking forward to your next updates regardless. Much love to you!

*I've used several different recipes since HS, but lately have been using The Pioneer Woman one. I had to cut back on the icing though because S.O. prefers the cinnamon spice flavor over the sweet.

Ahh, thank you for asking about OCACR!

Chef Beefy Buns Matt is demanding all of my time and attention right now, so my main focus is admittedly on him. (He's hard at work making ladyfinger dough since in case he needs to make Reader some apology tiramisu later, although he wouldn't mind trying to perfect a cinnamon roll recipe to serve her during a lazy morning in together.)

(Don't get ahead of yourself, Matt. You haven't even kissed the girl yet.)

That being said, Chapter 2 of OCACR is at almost 3k words and is close(ish) to being done (if I can figure out how to get to my planned stopping point without being too more wordy).

Peter will definitely be enjoying more of Reader's cinnamon rolls soon though (as well as her banana bread, croissants, muffins, coffee cake, and maybe even some icing off of Reader's lips birthday cake)!

(I'm with your S.O. -- I don't have much of a sweet tooth so I'm definitely team less icing.)

'Scuse me, heading to Vegas to place a bet on whether that was Kelsie.

Hmmm, Matt. Ask yourself why someone working in a newsroom would be revealing that much information instead of asking YOU questions??

Doubters gonna doubt...and those two lovers love to second guess everything except what is right in front of them.

Kelsie's comeuppance is going to be juicy, right? Right? Pie to the face? Copier explosion? Roundhouse kick?

Worried about the upcoming angst...hope Reader gets a good nap in so she's ready for it...

Looking forward to finding out what happens!

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 11

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, Kelsie is her own warning 😈

Word Count: ~1k

A/N: Super short but super important chapter here! This is setting up our Mega Angst for the story, which will be coming next! 👀

As always, thanks to @theradioactivespidergwen for the stellar divider! 🥰

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

Ugh, why isn't this coffee kicking in, you thought to yourself while you sat at your desk attempting to proofread several articles for the Thursday digital edition of the paper later that morning. I've read this same sentence no less than 5 times.

You shook your head, trying to clear it. The unusual quiet in the normally bustling office definitely wasn't helping your sleepiness. Maybe some stronger coffee will help.

You stood up and walked towards the break room.  Skyler had brought a bag of espresso roast coffee in the previous week and you were pretty sure there was some still left. 

You paused as you spotted Ellison at the Keurig. "Copier's on the fritz again," you said, walking over towards the cabinet that held the coffee mugs. "Thought you should know."

Ellison nodded as he waited for his coffee to finish. "Hopefully there'll be enough money in the budget to replace it next year. Damn thing's probably older than I am."

He looked over at you and squinted. "No offense, but you look like shit."

You huffed out a laugh. "Gee thanks, Mitch. You sure know how to make a girl feel special."

"Rough night?"

You shook your head. "Just tired. I only slept about an hour last night." 

Ellison studied you for a moment. "Look, why don't you take the rest of the day off? Go home and get some rest."

You opened your mouth to protest, then thought better of it. You were still exhausted and a nap honestly sounded wonderful at the moment. "Are you sure?" you asked instead. "I was just going to get some more coffee and try to power through the rest of the day."

Ellison nodded. "Absolutely. It's been a slow news day, and besides, you've been working your ass off lately and deserve a break."

You smiled. "Okay. Thanks, I appreciate it."

Ellison shrugged. "Eh, don't get all sappy on me. I just don't want you burning out on me, otherwise who else would tell me if my editorial column sucks or not?"

You grinned. "Oh I'm sure people would be lining up for that privilege."

Ellison chuckled. "Seriously, go get some rest."

You nodded. "I will. Thanks, Mitch. Really. I'll see you tomorrow."

You walked back out to your desk and gathered your things, then stopped by Skyler's desk. "Ellison gave me the rest of the day off, so I'm heading home. I'll see you tomorrow, 'kay?"

Skyler nodded. "Okay. Get some rest."

As you headed down to the first floor and out the door, you considered stopping by Daredevil on your way home so you could apologize to Matt in person.

You headed towards your apartment building, sighing happily when you finally walked in the door.

You shook your head. You were so tired that you honestly weren't even sure if you could come up with a coherent apology. I'll talk to him after my article is turned in.

You peeked in your pantry and refrigerator, wrinkling your nose at the paltry options you had for dinner that evening. Instead of a choice between boxed pasta, instant ramen, or leftover Chinese takeout you wished you had Matt's spaghetti carbonara, pesto-parmesan linguine, and tiramisu. Maybe I could order something for delivery later, try something else on the menu.

You headed into your bedroom, changing into something more comfortable before climbing into bed. 

Your mind drifted to your article. You really didn't want to have to replay the last few minutes of the blind tasting yet again, but you needed to add a bit about it at the end so you could give it a quick read-through then send it to Ellison.

You sighed. You were a professional, dammit, and no matter your feelings, you were going to write a damn good article about Matt… Even if you never spoke to him again after it was all over.

I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable last night… No, take responsibility for your actions, Matthew. 

I'm sorry for trying to kiss you last night… Actually, no, I'm really not.

I apologize for my behavior last night. I must have misread the situation and… Ugh.

Matt sighed as he rode the elevator up to the Bulletin offices, wishing he would have had time to make a fresh tiramisu for you. 

He stepped off the elevator, unable to detect your now-familiar heartbeat among those of the rest of the Bulletin staff.

"Can I help you?" said a woman's voice to his left.

"Uh, yeah." Matt turned towards her and asked to speak to you.

"She's not here."

Matt sighed. Damn it. He probably wouldn't have time to come back later and based on what Foggy had said about you looking miserable he wasn't sure if you would be willing to come by the restaurant either. "Do you know when she'll be back?"

"Actually ," the woman continued, "she's out on assignment for the rest of the day. You know those investigative types, always looking for their next big scoop."

Matt furrowed his brow. That had been the exact opposite of the type of stories you had told him you were interested in writing. "I thought she was in Features."

"Oh, yeah, she is, but she really wants to be an investigative journalist, you know, digging up the dirt on people, finding out their deepest, darkest secrets and publishing them for the world to see." The woman paused. "Nothing nor no one is going to stand in the way of her and a good exposé… even if she has to make one up."

She made a dismissive sound. "Anyway, would you like to leave a message for her? I'll make sure that she gets it."

Matt shook his head. "Oh, uh, no, that's okay. I'll… catch up with her another time. Thank you."

"Sure thing. Have a nice day!"

Matt walked back to the elevator then headed down to the first floor. He had thought that he was getting to know you, but after that surprise revelation from your coworker he wasn't so sure.

He shook his head. Could you have been lying to him this whole time?

Oh, Reader (or should I say BB?!) has got it baaaaad for him. Not that I blame Reader, but her inner thoughts went from he's cute, to he's cute and hot, to I hope he stays awhile and then backtracks because those inner thoughts are taking over, hehe. Trying to watch him without looking like she's watching him. Had me kicking my heels, because that's so real and flush worthy when someone kinda sorta likes someone after meeting them.

I love Ian. You have a nice hand at developing secondary characters and making them multi-dimensional and interesting with backgrounds and personalities of their own that complement the story in a variety of ways. Whether it's the shoulder to cry on, the taste-tester, or the what are you crazy, he's mad for you and you should jump in his lap advice-giver, these supporting roles are such an asset.

Now Peter's all but sighing with relief that Reader doesn't have some fancy pants Brit boyfriend that calls her pet names before he, Peter, even gets a chance to shoot his shot with the beautiful barista. Something tells me that coffee maker is going to stay broken....

Wonder what's coming up next for these two?

If Peter somehow has a croissant tossed at him (ala No Way Home) I will absolutely lose it.

*Also, I love to bake and cinnamon rolls are a favorite when taken in and shared at work. Your food descriptions are always a highlight!

Of Coffee and Cinnamon Rolls - Chapter 2

Pairing: TASM! Peter Parker x F!Reader

Rating: T

Story Summary: Peter's coffee maker has broken, leaving him in need of a caffeine fix. Luckily, there's a new coffee shop right by the Daily Bugle... With a beautiful barista inside.

Warnings/Tags: Meet-Cute, Coffee Shops, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Dual, Alternating PoVs between Peter and Reader, minimal use of Y/N

Word Count: ~4k (this chapter got LONG)

A/N: It's taken me freaking FOREVER, but here we finally are with chapter 2! Hopefully future updates won't take me as long.

Tagging @tarzinnia since they've been patiently waiting for an update!!!

Ok, what else needs to be done? you thought to yourself as you bustled around the kitchen in your shop. You had worked your ass off to make your dream of owning your own business a reality, and today that dream was finally coming true, so needless to say... You were nervous.

You grabbed your to-do list off of the prep table and gave it a quick scan. Cookies are bagged, cake pops are finished, muffins are good to go, croissants are ready, banana bread is sliced, cinnamon rolls are done…  

You glanced at the clock. You had way more than enough time to shower and then relax for a bit before things would get busy again.

You made sure your oven was off before heading upstairs to your apartment above the shop. 

You hurried through a shower before changing into something nice enough to wear for your interview and photos, but still comfortable enough to work in.

And speaking of photos...

You grinned. Not only had you been pleasantly surprised to see the hot skater boy-esque customer from the morning come back into the shop in the afternoon right as you had decided to close, but you had been even more pleasantly surprised to find out that he worked for the Bugle and had been the one to suggest that they cover the opening for the paper. 

You had made a flimsy excuse to give him your number and was surprised to receive an incoming text from an unknown number right as you had finished prepping dough for the next morning’s baked goods and popping it in the fridge to chill overnight.

Hi, Y/N. This is Peter.

Peter Parker. 

From the Daily Bugle?

You had quickly washed your hands then sent a reply, a wide smile spreading across your face. Yes, Peter, hi, it's good to hear from you. What's up? :)

Sorry to bother you, but I just thought I'd text you so you'd have my number in case you had any questions about the interview tomorrow.

Oh it's not a bother at all. You've got perfect timing, actually. I just finished prepping dough.

Oh, what are you making?

Well for the opening we're going to have cookies and cake pops in addition to the regular baked goods, which'll be croissants, muffins, banana bread, and of course, cinnamon rolls. I was just trying to get a head start on the dough since I'll be making extra goodies for the grand opening.

Oh man, that all sounds amazing. I'm going to want to try everything.

Lol, I'll be sure to set one of each aside for you. It's the least I can do as thanks for the free publicity.

So what are you up to?

About to attempt to fix my coffeemaker before I have to head out for my other job.

I'll let you get to that then. Good luck!

Thanks. 

You glanced at the clock. You still had an hour and a half until your interview, but maybe Peter was up and wouldn't mind you texting him?

Morning, Peter! you typed. Any luck fixing your coffeemaker?

A few minutes later your phone lit up. 

Peter had sent you a photo of what you assumed was his coffee maker, except it was in pieces. It was captioned, Are there supposed to be leftover parts?

You laughed before sending your reply. Definitely not that many, lol.

You bit your lip. You know, you're more than welcome to come by early if you need a caffeine fix. 

...Only if you want to, of course.

No pressure.

You nervously chewed on your lip as you waited for his answer. After what seemed like the longest 10 seconds of your life, Peter's reply came through. I'd love to. Be there in 15?

You grinned. Sounds good. See you soon.

You set your phone down on your bathroom counter so you could fix your hair, then took another look at yourself in the mirror. Guess this is as good as it's gonna get.

You headed back downstairs to the shop, fixing yourself a cup of coffee before sitting at a table to wait for Peter.

You looked around, smiling to yourself. You had chosen decor that you thought made the shop feel open and welcoming while still somewhat whimsical and hoped that your customers felt the same.

Suddenly there was a tap on the door.

You looked over and grinned when you saw Peter waving at you. 

He was dressed similarly today as he had been the day before, in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with a buttoned-up flannel over it. His hair was styled in what you assumed was a purposely messy, just-rolled-out-of-bed look and he was wearing black plastic-framed glasses. Damn, he is *hot*.

You waved back before getting up and walking over to the door to let him in. "Peter, hey. Come on in."

"Hi." Peter stepped inside and waited for you to lock the door behind him. "How's it going? All set for the opening?"

You nodded. "Yeah, actually. I live above the shop and couldn't sleep so I went ahead and got everything ready, but I've now found myself with an extra hour to kill."

You gestured to the table where your coffee sat. "Have a seat and I'll get your coffee ready."

You moved behind the counter as Peter set his bag down at the table. "Want anything to eat?" you asked.

Peter shook his head. "No thanks, I warmed up a cinnamon roll before I left."

You nodded and the machine to brew. "So how are you this morning?"

Peter shrugged. "Had a bit of a long night at my second job, but I'm good."

"Glad to hear that, despite the long night." You waited until the machine shut off and brought Peter his coffee. “Here you go.”

Peter smiled at you. “Thanks.”

You sat across from him and took a sip of your own beverage. "So what is the second job, if you don't mind me asking? Wait, let me guess... Private investigator?"

Peter laughed. "No, what gave you that idea?"

You shrugged, unable to help but smile at his adorable chuckle. "I dunno, it's the first thing that popped in my head that required a camera besides being a photojournalist."

Peter shook his head. "Actually, it has nothing to do with photography. I'm a security guard."

"Oh ok, that's neat. Where at?" You grimaced. Ugh, way to sound like a stalker.

You shook your head. "Wait, I'm sorry. I realize that sounds extremely nosy. I just meant that I'm planning on being down here late most nights doing prep for the next day, so… I mean, if you happen to work nearby you're welcome to drop in for a cup of coffee or some leftover pastries."

Peter shrugged. "It's fine. I just kind of fill in wherever I'm needed, which usually makes for a pretty flexible schedule but also long days, hence my immense and near-constant need for caffeine." 

He took a sip of his coffee. "But, uh, yeah. If I happen to find myself in the neighborhood I'll text you, if you don't mind?"

You smiled with relief. "Yeah, that'd be great."

The next hour flew by as you and Peter continued talking. Peter told you about growing up with his aunt and uncle, about his love of science, and about how he had gotten interested in photography, and in turn you told him about your own childhood and what had led you to want to open your own coffee shop.

"My grandmother taught me how to bake," you explained. "And she always added a splash of coffee to the wet ingredients for whatever we were making. 'The coffee is the secret ingredient,' she would always tell me. ‘But the true secret can only come from within’."

"So what is the true secret?" Peter asked, seemingly intrigued.

You shrugged. "I don't know. She said I would figure it out when the time was right."

Peter huffed out a laugh. "Well if you haven't figured it out yet I can't wait until you do. Your cinnamon rolls are excellent as is."

Your face heated. "Thanks."

Suddenly there was a knock on the front window.

You looked up in surprise then smiled brightly when you spotted your best friend, Ian, waving at you. You had made plans to go out to dinner with him that evening to celebrate the grand opening of Bean There, so you were pleasantly surprised to see him now. 

You stood. "Oh, sorry, hold on a second.”

You went over to the door and unlocked it, letting Ian in.

"Hello, love," Ian said in his crisp British accent before giving you a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, sweetheart," you replied. "What a surprise, I thought I wasn't seeing you until tonight."

Ian shook his head. "I just wanted to stop by on my way into the office to wish you good luck on your opening today."

You smiled. Ian had been your biggest supporter while you had been working to procure the space for your shop and had helped you with choosing the furniture and decor. "Aww, thank you, honey, you're so sweet."

Ian glanced over at Peter, curiosity evident in his eyes. "I tried texting you, but I guess you were busy.”

You patted at your pockets, realization dawning on you that your phone was still sitting on your bathroom counter. "Oh shoot, I must've forgotten my phone upstairs."

Ian shook his head. "It's fine, darling, no big deal. I'm just glad I got to see you."

"Me too." You turned towards Peter. "By the way, this is Peter Parker, the photojournalist from the Bugle . Peter, this is Ian."

"Nice to meet you," Ian said, walking over and shaking Peter's hand.

"Same to you," Peter replied.

"Want anything before you go, sweetheart?" you asked Ian.

Ian grinned in reply. "Oh, darling, you know I can't resist your banana bread." 

"Peter, you want some more coffee?"

Peter looked hesitant, as if he felt bad about accepting your offer. "Uh, sure."

You picked up Peter's cup and walked back over to the coffee machine, grabbing a fresh to-go cup for Ian and putting 2 pumps of strawberry rose syrup and 1 pump of white chocolate syrup in it before programming the machine to brew both his and Peter's coffee simultaneously.

"Have you tried Y/N's banana bread?" you heard Ian ask Peter.

You looked over at them as Peter shook his head. "I've only had her cinnamon rolls."

Ian let out a pleased sound. "It's incredible, mate. Then again, everything she makes is incredible, and trust me, I've tried it all."

"Ian was kind enough to be my taste tester while I was perfecting my recipes for the shop," you explained to Peter, your face warming at Ian's praise as you steamed some milk to add to his coffee.

"Anything to support my girl," Ian said with a wink. “And to get free pastries.”

You finished making Ian's latte then boxed up 2 slices of banana bread for him to take with him. "That reminds me, though..." 

You brought everything back over to the table. "Peter, I boxed up a sample of everything for you. Remind me to give it to you before you leave."

You handed Ian's banana bread and coffee to him. "Here you go, sweetheart. Just like you like it."

Ian took a sip and nodded. "Mmm, perfect as always. Thanks, love."

He gave you another kiss on the cheek then whispered in your ear, “You go, girl. He is gorgeous.”

You giggled and nodded. "I agree."

Ian straightened. "Bye, darling, love you." 

"Love you too. See you tonight."

Ian turned towards Peter. "Nice meeting you."

Peter gave him a slight wave. "Yeah, you too."

You followed Ian to the door so you could lock it back behind him.

You walked back over to Peter and sat once again. “Sorry about that.”

Peter shrugged and cleared his throat. "It's okay. So, how long have you been together?"

Your brow furrowed. "Who, me and Ian?”

Peter nodded, a slightly confused look blooming across his face. “Yeah.”

You shook your head. “Oh no, Ian's not my boyfriend." 

"Oh, he's not?" Peter's cheeks pinkened adorably. "My bad, I just assumed..."

"It's fine, it's a really common misconception. Ian and I have been best friends since 4th grade so we're super close, but it's not in a romantic way at all." 

You and Ian had met on Ian's first day as a new student in your class. You had invited him to sit with you at lunch and had been inseparable since, including spending summers together in England to visit his mom when she had moved back after his parents had divorced while the two of you were in high school and living together as roommates in college.

You let out a light laugh. “Besides, I don't think Ian's husband would be too pleased if I made a move on him, especially since I not only introduced them, but also was Ian's best woman at their wedding.”

Peter laughed. "Yeah, that might make things a bit awkward."

You bit your lip. "I'm, um, I'm actually not seeing anyone at the moment. Been too busy focusing on my career and trying to open my shop. Kinda difficult to find time to date when you're constantly working, you know?"

Peter nodded.  "Yeah, I get that."

You took a sip of your coffee, trying to come off as nonchalant. "So what about you? Seeing anyone?"

"Oh, um, no, I'm not seeing anyone either right now." Peter hesitated momentarily. "Uh, like you said, too busy with work and stuff."

"Yeah."

Peter jumped slightly as his phone rang. He reached into his pocket to pull it out, briefly looking at the screen before swiping to answer the call. “Excuse me a minute. Hey, Betty, what's up?”

You stood, not wanting to eavesdrop on Peter’s conversation.

Peter glanced up at you. "Oh, uh, actually, I'm already here. Uh huh, yeah, sure. No problem. See ya."

He hung up. "Betty said she'll be here soon. She tried to call you."

You nodded. "I should probably go get my phone in case my employee is also trying to reach me. I'll be right back, okay?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. If Betty gets here before you get back, you want me to let her in?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks."

You got up and headed behind the counter to wash your cup then ran upstairs to grab your phone, taking a moment to breathe before returning downstairs to find Peter talking to the reporter who had set up the interview with you the day before. 

You smiled. "Miss Brant, good morning."

"Hi," Betty replied.

"Can I get you some coffee?"

“Yes, that would be great, thank you.”

"Something to eat? We have croissants, muffins, banana bread, and cinnamon rolls, along with cookies and cake pops for the grand opening."

"Sure, I'll take a cinnamon roll. Thank you."

"Peter? Sure you don't want anything?"

Peter thought for a second. "Well, maybe a piece of banana bread?"

You nodded with a smile. "Coming right up."

Peter pulled out his camera as you walked over to the display case. "Mind if I take a few pictures? I want to get some test shots in before the official opening."

You shook your head. "That's fine."

You plated Betty and Peter's baked goods along with a croissant for yourself and made Betty's coffee while Peter took a few photos.

You slid Peter's slice of banana bread over to him. "Here you go."

Peter took a bite of his banana bread as you carried Betty's coffee and cinnamon roll and your croissant to the table. "Mmph, this really is delicious."

You smiled, pleased that he liked it. "Thanks."

"Okay," Betty said, turning on a digital recorder. "I'd like to get started, if that's okay with you."

You nodded. "Sure."

Betty cleared her throat. "This is Betty Brant with the Daily Bugle interviewing Y/F/N Y/L/N, proprietor of Bean There, Done That. So, Ms. Y/L/N…"

"Y/N, please," you interrupted.

"Y/N," Betty corrected. "Tell me a bit about yourself."

You told Betty much of what you had already told Peter, about baking with your grandmother as a child and how she had left you enough money to start your bakery. "I really miss her," you said, "but I know she's watching over me."

"And how did you come up with the name of your shop?" Betty asked.

You grinned. “My best friend Ian actually suggested that name. I wanted something catchy and memorable so he and I bounced around ideas until we arrived at ‘Bean There, Done That’.”

Betty smiled. "Care to share any of the rejected names?"

"Oh gosh, there were so many, and they got more and more ridiculous as we went on. Let's see, there was 'Caffeinated Bliss', 'Let's Get Roasted', 'Java the Time?', 'Espresso Yourself', and 'The Daily Grind', to name a few." 

You and Ian had drank several bottles of wine at his kitchen table together while coming up with the perfect name for your shop so several of the rejected names had been hilariously inappropriate. “I also considered naming the shop after my grandmother but ultimately decided against it.”

Betty nodded. "I see."

She asked you several more questions while Peter took a few more photos of both you and the shop, then finally turned off her recorder. "Okay, I think that's all the questions I have for you. Thanks for your time."

You nodded and stood. "Thanks for your time as well."

You walked over to the counter and picked up a couple of bakery boxes you had packed while you were getting everything set up. "Here, I packed some baked goods for you and the Bugle staff."

Betty nodded. "Thanks. I'm sure everyone will appreciate it."

She turned to Peter. "Peter, I'll see you at the office later."

Peter nodded. "Yeah, see ya later."

You walked Betty to the door. “Thank you again for your time.”

“You too,” Betty replied. “I'll email you a link to the article once it's live.”

You nodded. “I'd appreciate that.”

"Is there anything else you need to do before the opening, anything I can help you with?" Peter asked once Betty had left.

You shook your head. "Nope, I think everything is set."

Your phone rang, Olivia’s name flashing across the screen. "Oh, sorry, one second. Hello?”

“Hi, Y/N,” Olivia replied over the phone’s speaker. “It's Liv.”

“Oh, yeah, Liv, hi.” You had hired Olivia, who was working her way through college and thankfully had experience as a barista, part-time for weekday mornings but had asked her to come in today for the grand opening since you weren't sure how busy you would be.

“Just letting you know that I'm on my way and will be there in a couple of minutes.”

“Okay, great. I'll see you in a few then.”

“See you soon. Bye.”

“Okay, bye.”

You hung up. "Sorry about that. That was my employee, Olivia. She was just letting me know that she'd be here in a minute so I could open the door for her."

You checked your watch then grabbed your outdoor chalkboard sign, on which you had written ‘Grand Opening! Free samples inside!’. "Actually, it's close enough to 8 to where I think I can just go ahead and open."

Peter walked over to the door. "Here, I'll get the door for you."

You smiled at him as he held it open for you. Hot and a gentleman too. Swoon. "Thanks."

Peter shrugged. "Of course. Oh, that reminds me, I need to get some posed shots of you out in front of the building before you get too busy."

You nodded as you set the sign out front. "Oh, yeah, sure. Where do you want me?"

"Let's see…" Peter stepped back a bit. "How about here next to the sign?"

You moved to stand beside it. "Here?"

Peter shook his head. “Maybe a bit closer?”

You stepped sideways a bit. “How about now?”

Peter checked the shot. "Yeah, that's perfect."

He took a few photos, then checked to make sure they were okay. "Alright, we're good."

You grinned. "Great. Thanks, Peter."

"No problem."

The two of you headed back inside, you pausing to flip the sign on the door from closed to open. “I need to go grab the first batch of samples. One second.”

You went to the kitchen, where you had set up individual bite-size portions of everything on two large, round trays covered with clear domes. 

You brought them out and set them down on the counter before putting a little tag in front identifying what each tray held. “Okay, now I think we're all set.”

A minute later, the bell above the front door chimed and Olivia walked in. 

“Morning, Y/N,” she said with a friendly smile.

“Morning, Liv,” you replied. “Thanks for coming in today.”

Olivia nodded. “No problem. Happy to help out.”

You gestured to Peter. “This is Peter Parker. He's taking photos of the opening for the Bugle. Peter, this is Olivia.”

“Nice to meet you,” Olivia said as she grabbed her apron off of a hook by the door to the kitchen area.

Peter nodded. “Yeah, you too.”

You rubbed your hands together. “Okay, Liv, if you take the coffee machine, hopefully we'll start getting some customers in soon.”

“Are you expecting a lot?” Peter asked.

“Fingers crossed. I know that this area is busier during the week than it is on the weekend -- which is why we're only open for four hours on Saturday -- but we sent out a mailer advertising the grand opening with a coupon good for a free baked good with purchase of a coffee today only, so hopefully we get a good turnout.” You looked towards the door as the bell chimed, butterflies fluttering around your stomach in both excitement and nervousness. “And actually, there's my first customer! Let me get to it.”

You and Olivia spent the next two hours serving customers and refilling both the display case and sample trays while Peter took photos. 

“Thank you, come again!” you said to what felt like your millionth customer as the shop finally emptied. “Phew.”

You turned towards Olivia. “Liv, you wanna grab you something to eat and take like a 15-minute break? I'll call you up if I need you.”

Olivia nodded. “That sounds great, Y/N. Thanks.”

“Okay,” Peter said, quickly scrolling through his photos as Olivia left to go take her break. “I think I have everything I need.”

You nodded. “I really appreciate you suggesting that the Bugle cover the opening.”

Peter shrugged. “It's not a problem. Always happy to help out a new business, especially one with such delicious treats.”

“Oh, that reminds me.” You grabbed the bakery box full of goodies you had set aside for him. “Don't forget your samples.”

Peter nodded and took the box. “Oh yeah, thanks. I really appreciate it.”

You pointed towards the coffee machine. “Did you want a coffee for the road? I mean, since your coffee maker at home is still broken.” Not since I'm enjoying having you around and am trying to delay you leaving, even if it's just by a minute or two.

“Yeah, I'd love one.”

“Okay, 1 sec.”

You brewed his coffee, resolutely trying to ignore his eyes on you, then brought it over to him. “Let me know how you like the pastries.”

“Will do. Thanks.” Peter glanced at the door as a couple of customers entered. “So I'll… see you around then?”

You nodded. “That’d be great.” 

“Great.” Peter stepped out from in front of the register so you could help your customers. “Thanks again for the coffee and stuff.”

“No problem.”

You watched as he left, taking advantage of your customers being distracted by studying the menu board to wistfully sigh to yourself. Hopefully I'll see him again soon.