Chapter Text
- - - M
It was in no way Matt's fault that he had been sent to detention. Ok, so maybe he should've have flipped off the homophobic history teacher while knowing it would probably screw him out of his weekend plans. However, in his defense, most schools didn't do weekend detentions anymore unless you did something really terrible. Matt hardly would qualify a bad attitude as terrible. In his opinion, the teacher should be fired. It was no one's business who Matt chose to kiss and the man, staff or not, had no right to make 'subtle' comments and remarks about it.
And ok, maybe he did more than flip him off. Maybe he 'accidentally' ran into the teacher more than a few times, spilling the older man's coffee over his desk and himself, but those were 'accidents' and you can't blame a blind man for not seeing exactly where he was going. Part of Matthew figured the teacher most likely caught on to how purposeful most of these accidents were, but with no way to prove it he couldn't do or say anything about it. He could, however, give him weekend detention at the first possible opportunity.
The teacher, Mr Anthony, had made some remarks in class about his harsh opinions towards gay men and women, and in response Murdock himself had politely blurted out in class "Oh my god, shut the fuck up. No one actually cares about how deep in the closet you are." And once being told to go to the office, he stood up and promptly presented his middle finger to his dear old teacher and walked out the door. Some of the class had laughed, some of them were trying not to, and a few seemed to agree with the teachers opinions on the entire situation while the rest didn't seem to care one way or the other.
So yes, after the usual "I'm disappointed Mr. Murdock '' from the staff Matthew was informed he would have to spend his weekend in detention. The nuns at the orphanage would probably be pissed.
How delightful.
- - - J
To be fair, the annoying girl deserved to be slapped. Jessica was simply minding her own goddamn business like every other normal teenager (if you ignore the fact that she was in fact, not normal and had super strength.) eating her lunch in the cafeteria with her friends when some popular bitch named something stupid and typical like Jenny decided to make a few snide comments. Once confronted by Jessica and told to "watch your mouth." the blonde cheer girl had laughed in her face.
"You would know, whore." So yes, Jessica did technically throw the first blow. Surely that bitch Jenny would have a nice bruise forming on her face by now. It was a dirty and messy fight, Jessica clearly stronger but Jenny trying to even it out by shoving the forgotten lunch in her face. But no, because Jessica technically hit first and promptly beat Jenny's ass, Jessica was the only one to get weekend detention. Or maybe it was the fact that the faculty didn't trust Jenny and Jess in the same room anymore, which is why Jenny got lunch detention instead. Jessica was pissed that her weekend was now ruined because of a damn high school bully.
- - - D
Danny was typically a good student. Had decent grades and attendance. Just a small problem in the way that he never shut his mouth during classes shared with friends. Especially with his girlfriend Colleen. In the end, it wasn't even his fault that he had gotten detention. Colleen was caught with something she shouldn't have, a weapon, in her locker, and Danny took the fall. Colleen had pulled him aside and thanked him, to which Danny just shook his head and said it was no big deal. He didn't have much of any weekend plans, and he knew that if Colleen got in trouble at school she would be facing something much worse with her foster family.
He wanted to get her out of that situation, but she insisted it was fine. Without any solid proof that it was an unstable place for her to stay, the least he could do was make sure he could keep her out of getting into more trouble with them.
When asked why Colleen had a katana in her locker she hadn't said much besides "it's important to me, from my family." Danny didn't need to know more than that. It was confiscated and Danny and Colleen risked getting more detention when sneaking back into the school to take the sword back. Thankfully, neither of them was caught and Danny only had to deal with one weekend of detention.
- - - L
Yes, Luke had been skipping class and then gotten into a bit of a disagreement with some other boys in his grade. It was hardly his fault that one of them had to decided to break his hand on Luke's face. The staff did not see it the same way and Luke was given weekend detention, the other boys involved given lunch detention or something stupid like that.
When Luke had come across the other teenagers, they had been threatening one of their underclassmen. Juniors, same grade as Luke, threatening a single freshman. He didn't particularly care to listen, but it was obvious it was the typical bully situation. Ganging up on someone weaker than you, in a group at that. All he had done was step up to them, put his hand on one of their shoulders and said "You guys thinking of backing off?" They, apparently, did not want to. When they directed their threats to Luke this time and he still didn't try to leave, they moved to take action. Screaming attracted a lot of attention, as did broken bones. Really, all Luke had done was stand there this time after stopping a couple of bullies. No other witnesses means they can't prove that Luke didn't mean to break the kids hand. And so, detention.
(Saturday, 8am)
Thankfully, weekend detention was only a couple hours. Unfortunately, those hours were from 8am to 11am. Not a full day, but still more time and earlier than Luke wanted to ever spend at school. He had gotten to the class where detention was being held around the same time as the other 'trouble makers' had. It was an odd group. The blind kid from his grade, the rich boy from the grade below him, and some girl he had only seen in the halls before -- judging by the fact that they had no classes together, Luke could assume she wasn't in his grade. When he walked in his phone and other personal belongings were confiscated, he had the option of either doing school work or just sitting there doing absolutely nothing at all. The blind kid tilted his head as if listening to something Luke or any of the others couldn't hear as they sat down at desks at opposite sides of the room. His fingers were dragging over a page of a book written in braille. The weird girl he didn't know the name of was picking at her nails with a dull expression. Rich boy, Danny, was actually doing homework, or at least making it look like that's what he was doing.
The teacher assigned to weekend detention was Mr Anthony, one of the history teachers. Total asshole that made it clear he would rather be anywhere else right now. Blind boy-- Matthew -- spoke up suddenly. "Mr Anthony, I need my laptop to do my homework. I can't see paper to write and last I checked the school doesn't supply us with braille printers." It made sense to Luke that the kid would need his computer for that reason.
Mr Anthony apparently did not see it the same way. "We talked about this Matthew, the other students do not get their personal devices, neither do you." What bullshit. Murdock literally couldn't see, he needed his laptop in order to complete his assignments. He watched the corners of Matthews mouth downturn into a scowl and a few looked across his face, clearly debating whether he should say something or not. Apparently, he decided not to say anything and returned to reading the braille on the pages of his book. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the moody girl mumble something under her breath with an even moodier expression than before.
It had barely even been twenty minutes when Mr Anthony stood up and locked their electronics in a cabinet, turning to them and saying "I have some other things to attend to while I'm here. Do not leave this classroom. If you need to use the bathroom, write your name on the board along with the time you leave it. I expect you all to still be here when I get back." How typical. Mr Anthony left, and Luke still had two and half hours to waste and nothing to do.
- - - J
Jessica didn't want to be here in the first place so she was already in a bad mood when she arrived. Then the supervising teacher happened to be one of the biggest assholes teaching at that school. After denying the blind kid his laptop in a clear display of ableism Jessica had to hold herself back from calling him a whole list of less than school appropriate terms in order to not earn herself another set of detention. Thankfully, the teacher left, so she wouldn't have to worry about blowing her fuse in front of him. Once figuring the teacher was a safe distance away she stood up and walked to the cabinet that the electronics had been stowed away in.
"What are you doing?" She recognized the voice as Danny Rand, pretty much the wealthiest kid in her grade. Some tragic backstory too after having been missing for quite a few years.
She rolled her eyes. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting that guy his laptop so maybe at least one of us can be productive while here." Danny opened his mouth to say something. "You're not fooling anyone, Danny, everyone who walks over can see you're just scribbling little drawings of dragons in your notebook instead of doing any actual work." Rand crossed his arms and huffed.
Blind guy with a somewhat amused expression eventually spoke up. "You don't need to do that, if you get caught we'll all get in more trouble, besides I wasn't actually going to do real work. Just figured if I have a solid excuse to get my computer back might as well use it." Jessica grinned and could see the other unidentified guy in the room cover his mouth as if holding back a startled laugh. Instead of taking her seat across the room she walked over and plopped herself down at a different table making her simultaneously closer to Danny and blind boy -- Matthew, the teacher had said.
"So, Matthew, how did a blind guy end up in weekend detention?" Was it ableist to ask it like that? Maybe she should think things through a little more before asking questions so bluntly.
Matthew, for his part, didn't seem bothered by the question at all. "You just met my reason for detention. Mr Anthony must really hate blind kids." He wore this kind of shit eating grin that made Jessica want to slap it off his face and burst out laughing with the guy at the same time. She couldn't decide if she loves this kid already or hates me. "And please, call me Matt. Matthew just reminds me of angry nuns scolding me." He physically shivered as if remembering something unpleasant. Weird guy.
"Why did Mr Anthony give you detention?" Ever so innocent sounding Danny Rand chimed in, apparently invested. The other kid was still on the other side of the room, clearly listening to the conversation but not making any move to get involved.
Matt scratched the side of his head, still wearing that ridiculous grin. "I told him to shut the fuck up and then flipped him off on my way to the principals office. He already hated me long before that, though." At that, the mystery boy huffed out a laugh. "I'm sorry, I don't think I caught any of your names?"
"Jessica."
"I'm Danny!"
"Luke."
Matthew gave a somewhat softer smile, looking less like he was about to ruin someone's life and more like your everyday asshole. "So. What are you all in here for?"
Jessica crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, throwing her feet up onto the desk. "I slapped a bitch at lunch, the whole cafeteria saw."
"I didn't." That little shit. "Sorry, go on. Why did you slap her?" Matthew cocked his head to the side to show his interest in what she had to say. It was amusing, he looked sort of like a curious dog.
"She called me a whore." Understanding drew upon Matt's face and Danny gasped in the background. "What about you? Luke?" She spun around in her chair to face the kid who had so far been less talkative than the rest of them. She mostly figured it was just the fact that he didn't know any of them, but fuck that. Honestly, there was no way Jessica was going to spend over two hours in silence, especially not when the teacher had just left them on their own.
Luke looked like he was debating what to say, as if he himself wasn't too positive on the reason. "I may or may not have been involved in someone breaking their hand. It was definitely not my fault though." Matt choked on a laugh of disbelief, Jessica trying not to do the same. "What about you, Rand?"
Danny seemed to be taken off guard by the usage of his last name before determining that he was well known enough for kids at the school to know who he is. "I was doing a friend a favor and took the fall for something that would've gotten her in more trouble."
Jessica threw her hands up in the air and shook her head. "Seriously? That is such a shit reason for detention on the weekend. That guy-" she gestured to Matt "- flipped off a teacher! And him -" Luke "- broke a guys hand! You didn't even do anything bad to end up in weekend detention. The staff must hate you or the thing you took the fall for was really really bad. I gotta know what it was."
Danny opened his mouth but Matt cut him off before he could respond. "He was helping a friend out, if he doesn't want to share with what he doesn't have to. We all chose to share our reasons, but that doesn't mean he has to give us more than he already has." Jessica slumped in defeat while Danny muttered a soft 'thank you.'
Jessica stood up suddenly and watched as everyone turned to face her. "I'm bored. Who want's to join me in doing something that's almost definitely gonna get us caught!"
- - - M
Huh. What a weird girl. Matt didn't mind doing something completely stupid right now, in fact he welcomed it if it meant pissing of Mr Anthony even more. A few more scolding words from the nuns and another set of detention wouldn't be too bad, besides, it isn't as if they are for sure going to get caught. Although... "Depends what you have in mind." He reasoned. He shouldn't be doing anything too crazy.
He could feel the air shift as Luke seemed to sit up in his seat further, obviously intrigued by what Jessica had in mind. "Nothing special, but staying in this room for two hours just seems absolutely suffocating. Was gonna see how long I could explore the school without getting caught." And yeah, that's reasonable. Matt could almost certainly do that for the remaining time and not get caught, he had the advantage of enhanced senses meaning he could tell when the teacher would be returning to the room or when they were in risk of getting caught. The rest of the group obviously had no reason to listen to him if he were to ever point these things out, but if they choose not to listen then that will be their own downfall and reason they get caught.
"I'm in." Luke's voice pulled Matt out of his thoughts. "Got way too much time to kill, and that seems way better than fucking around doing nothing here."
Matt nodded his head. "Me too." They all turned to face Danny, expectantly. He could say no, of course, none of them were going to force him on their little adventure, they were just waiting for any kind of answer.
Danny made a slight choking noise before squeaking out. "Ok, me too. I'm in. Let's just... Try not to get caught I guess." Matt grinned. Maybe weekend detention would be a little better than he expected. They all filed out of the room, Jessica pausing in the doorway to make sure they weren't going to get immediately caught. Matt chose to leave his walking stick behind due to the noise it made, and thankfully Luke had offered his arm to guide him, which Matt accepted gratefully. Of course he could manage just fine without it, but he had appearances to maintain.
Surely they were quite a sight (not that Matt would know), a blind teen being guided by another abnormally tall high schooler, Danny Rand who was somewhat famous because of his status, and Jessica – the girl who got into a fight in front of the whole school.
The first place they stopped was the cafeteria, Jessica mumbling something about being super hungry but not having cash to get anything. Matthew decided it wouldn’t be terrible to help her out a little bit and walked over to the vending machine, kicking it in just the right spot for an already loose package of food to fall down. Jessica seemed to stare at him for a second, or at least paused for something, before accepting the bag of chips that had fallen into the bottom of the machine. “You’re welcome.” He grinned.
Although he couldn’t see it to confirm, he would bet that Jessica had just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever.”
Danny peaked over curiously. “How’d you know that would work?” Rand moved over to the vending machine, seemingly inspecting it for any clue as to how Matt had done that.
“A magician never reveals his secrets.” An asshole that just finds it funny to fuck with people was much more accurate than ‘magician’ but it was also a mouthful.
Luke scoffed at that. “A magician? Whatever man, that was obviously just dumb luck.” Was it, Luke? Was it. It was in fact, not dumb luck, but that was a conversation for a different time. A conversation that would likely never happen if Matthew was lucky. He just gave a sort of knowing smile instead of a verbal response. At some point they had all ended up sitting down at the same table to just have dumb conversation.
“Ok, ok. Kiss marry kill.” Jessica started, because of course she would. “Tony Stark, Captain America, aaaand Batman.”
“One of those three is a fictional character.” Luke pointed out.
“So?” Jessica leaned forwards with her elbows on the table. “It’s not as if any of us would ever get the chance to kiss, marry or kill Tony Stark or Steve Rogers, so it’s fair game to use fictional characters I think.”
Matt hummed softly. “I would marry Batman. Kiss Captain America, and kill Tony.” In reality, he wouldn’t kill anyone, but it’s a stupid game that no one actually expects them to enact. So yes, in their hypothetical game he would kill Iron Man.
- - - D
This was such a bad idea, they could get caught at any moment. If Danny was given another set of weekend detention for following along with the other teens stupid ideas he would be given so much shit from Colleen. And yet, here he was. With people that would probably be considered strangers walking through the halls back to the classroom hoping they don’t get caught. Matt was still letting Luke guide him as they walked, and Jessica was dragging her hand over the lockers. There wasn’t much you could do besides wander around the school, they made conversation about stupid things, gossip and what-not.
If they hadn't met only because of getting detention at the same time, Danny would’ve thought they could become friends. Maybe they still could become friends, but maybe as soon as the weekend was over they would all go back to pretending each other doesn’t exist, he hoped that the former would be the one to become true. Danny didn’t really have too many friends, he was friends with Colleen and Misty, but Misty had her own friends too. He was also friends with Claire, but Claire was friends with pretty much everyone and didn’t stick to one group. Now that he thought about it.. He did tend to see Claire with one person frequently – it was actually Luke! He finally recognized Luke as the guy he saw around Claire more often than not lately.
By the time they actually made their way back to the classroom they only had around 30 minutes left until they could all go home finally, and surprisingly the teacher hadn’t returned to the class room. “Are you dating Claire?” Danny blurted out to Luke.
This apparently caught Luke off guard and he froze before relaxing. “Yea, man. You know Claire?” He nodded. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, Claire seems to know everyone.”
Matt perked up and tilted his head to the side a little bit. “Claire? Temple?” Luke gave a huff of verbal confirmation, to which Matt just hummed lightly. Apparently, Matt also knew Claire fairly well.
Jessica slumped into her seat and sighed. “Am I the only one who doesn’t know this Claire person?” Matt snorted in amusement, sitting down in his respective seat. “What about you, Danny? Are you sure you took the blame for someone who is just a ‘friend’ or are they something more?” Danny felt heat rush to his cheeks.
Colleen was… Ok, they hadn’t really labeled it, but maybe more than friends? He wasn’t too sure how he should label it. “We’re.. Friends. Maybe more?” Matt seemed to understand what that was like and wore a knowing expression. “What about you? If you get to inquire about my personal life, I get to ask about yours.” It was a childish thing to say, he knew that, but that wasn’t going to stop him from saying it anyways.
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Me? Well, if you must know, I am single.” She directed her attention to Matt next. “What about you, Matthew?” Danny watched as Matt cringed a bit at the usage of ‘Matthew’.
He only sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t know how I play into this conversation, but I guess you could say that I’m.. seeing someone.” Not the blind jokes again. Luke seemed to share the same sentiment as Danny did regarding the blind jokes, and groaned in slight annoyance. Jessica questioned who. “That’s not relevant to anything and quite frankly, none of your business.”
Jessica groaned and threw herself back in her seat. “C’mon, at least give us something to work with. Doesn’t have to be a name or anything, just like. What grade?”
Matt took a moment to debate this before answering. “He’s a senior.” Before Jessica could harass Matthew into giving more details, the door opened and Mr Anthony walked in, giving them all a suspicious look before sitting down at his desk. What a shame, honestly. Now they had to spend the remaining… 15-20 minutes not talking to each other, being enveloped in boredom once more. At least he knew that the next day of detention wouldn’t be so terrible.