Chapter Text
There were two heartbeats coming from room 312. As far as he knew, Matt was only supposed to have one roommate. Maybe one of his parents was still helping him unpack, or he already had a friend on campus. Or maybe Matt had the wrong room. There was only one way to find out. Matt opened the door and walked in. "Excuse me, is this room 312?”
"Yeah, who're you looking for?"
Matt stopped in his tracks and tilted his head. There was only one person in the room. The second heartbeat belonged to a furry lump curled up at the foot of his bed. He heard the jangle of metal tags as the creature hopped down and wandered over to sniff him. A warm tongue brushed against his fingers. Matt flinched and pulled his hand away.
"Nelli, down."
The dog immediately hit the deck.
"Sorry about that. I guess…you couldn't see her coming. I should've warned you."
Matt chuckled. "No, it's okay. I just...didn't expect to meet a dog here. I didn't think they were allowed in the dorms."
"They're not. She's a special case."
"Oh?"
"That won't be a problem, will it? You're not, like, allergic or phobic or something?"
"No, it's fine."
His heartbeat slowed a few paces as he heaved a sigh of relief. "That's good. I'd hate to be the reason you have to switch rooms last minute."
"Don't worry about it." He stuck out his hand to shake. "Matt Murdock."
The other boy closed the distance between them and shook Matt's hand. "Foggy Nelson."
He gestured to the dog still lying at their feet. "And you've already met Minelli."
"Minelli?"
"Yeah, as in Liza Minelli. The place that trained her has a theme for every litter. She's from the Broadway batch."
Matt smiled. "That's cute."
"Yeah. She's a good girl."
The dog perked up at that last sentence. Foggy scratched her behind the ears. Matt folded up his cane and sat down on the other bed.
"Wait a minute...Matt Murdock? Are you from Hell's Kitchen?" Foggy asked.
"Yeah. Born and raised."
"I remember you! That accident was right around the corner from my family's store. You saved some guy's life."
"I just did what anyone would have."
"Bullshit. You are a hero." He paused, studying Matt carefully. "It, uh...it was permanent, I take it? The whole...blind thing?"
"Yeah."
"That sucks."
Matt shrugged. "I'm used to it." Minelli rolled over and started scratching her back against the rug. He decided it was his turn to ask awkward questions. "I, uh...I take it she's not a guide dog?"
Foggy laughed. "No, but her brother Porter is! He lives in Connecticut. My mom is Facebook friends with his handler, so she sends me pictures of him all the time. I've tried showing them to Nelli, but I don't think she understands how pictures work. Anyway! Nelli's a diabetes alert dog. She lets me know if my sugar's too high or too low. She's usually quicker than the sensor, and a lot harder to ignore."
"Oh, okay." Matt had never heard of service dogs for diabetes before. "That's pretty cool."
"Yeah, she's been super helpful. She's the only reason my mom let me live in the dorms," he said sheepishly.
"What, is she spying on you with a hidden camera in her collar?"
"You know, I wouldn't put it past her."
Matt laughed. That was the one thing about moms he was glad he missed out on. The nuns had far too many children under their care to helicopter parent any one of them.
"Are your parents coming to help you unpack?"
“No, it's just me." Matt silently begged Foggy not to ask any follow-up questions. He didn't want to lie, but he also didn't want to have the orphan conversation this early in their relationship.
"Oh." Foggy sounded incredibly sad. "Can I help, then?"
"I think I'll be good. I don't have that much stuff."
"Okay. In that case, I'm gonna take Minelli for a walk, give you some space to set up."
"Okay."
"What do you think, Nell? You wanna go for a walk?"
The dog leapt to her feet and wagged her tail. Her paws tip-tapped against the floor as she danced around waiting for Foggy to get the leash. Matt had never considered himself a dog person, but he had to admit her excitement was rather adorable.
"Okay, let's go." He clipped the leash to her collar and she bounded out the door. Matt listened to her claws clicking against the tile floor until they entered the elevator. Then, he adjusted his focus to the room around him, getting a sense of the layout. Foggy's side of the room was already set up but for two boxes in the corner. He could hear the hum of a mini fridge next to the desk and smell a box of snacks right on top of it. A few dog toys lay scattered around the floor, including one under Matt's bed. There was a poster on the wall, but he had no idea what was on it.
Matt identified the empty closet and placed his clothes inside, making sure none of the braille tags had fallen off in transit. He made his bed with the silk sheets he'd spent months saving up for. Carefully, he unwrapped his refreshable braille display from the two layers of bubble wrap he'd packed it in. The thing cost more than all his other belongings put together, so he made sure to treat it with the utmost care. He tucked his rosary, wallet, spare sunglasses, slate, stylus, and extra cane tips into the top drawer of the desk. Finally, he put his toiletry bag and spare cane in the closet and shoved his now empty duffel under the bed.
Just as he finished up, Foggy returned, Minelli batting at his shins with her paw. “I know, honey, I heard you the first time," he said. He rifled through a drawer and opened a Ziploc bag, releasing the smell of chicken flavored dog treats. He tossed it to Minelli. "Treat for you, and then a treat for me." He opened the box on top of the fridge and grabbed fruit-flavored candy of some kind. After unwrapping one and popping it into his mouth, he offered Matt the other. "Do you want a Hi-Chew?"
"Oh. No thanks."
Foggy put it in his pocket and sat down on his bed. Minelli flopped down on the floor, gnawing on one of her toys. "I gotta say, unexpected perk of bringing her to school? Girls love it."
"Oh yeah?"
"Totally. A cute dog is a more powerful attractive force than any human's natural charisma. Seriously, you should look into getting one. Forget sugar alerts or guiding, this is the most important service a dog can provide."
Matt chuckled. "I'll think about it." He wouldn't, but he wanted to humor Foggy.
Foggy looked at something on his phone, then popped another Hi-Chew. "So...are there any ground rules you need me to follow? Severe food allergies? Smells that give you migraines? A stash of expensive chocolate from your grandma you need me to not eat?"
"No, nothing like that." He had lots of practice blocking out smells, and he certainly never had expensive chocolate on hand. "Just... please don't move my stuff around." One of the other boys at the orphanage thought it was funny to rearrange Matt's clothes all the time. Matt never told on him, just quietly put things back the way he liked them. However, the nuns found out anyway. They made him apologize in front of all the other kids—equally humiliating for both him and Matt—and it never happened again.
"Yeah, of course not." Foggy waited for Matt to continue. "Is that all? Do you have a time of night you'd prefer I shut up and let you go to sleep?"
Matt tried to smile, but it probably looked more like a grimace. It wouldn't make a difference if Foggy was quiet; he could still hear the whole damn building. "No," he said. "And you don't have to worry about lights out either; I can't see light anyway."
"Huh. That's pretty cool."
*What about you? What do I need to know?"
Foggy blew a raspberry. "I sleep like the dead, so you don't have to worry about being too loud if you wake up before me."
"Good to know."
"That's the main reason I got Minelli. A couple times I slept through an urgent low alarm, ended up having a seizure, it was a whole thing."
Matt tried very hard not to freak out over this information.
"Speaking of which, I will always have snacks around. Please help yourself, I'm happy to share. Just don't mess with the insulin vials in the fridge. That stuff is stupid expensive and I really can't afford to lose or spoil any of it."
"Yeah, of course. If you don't mind, could you show me? I don't think I'll be able to read the labels, but I want to make sure I know what you're talking about."
"Oh! Yeah, no problem." He scrambled off the bed and pulled a small glass vial out of the fridge. "Here you go."
Matt gently took the vial and rolled it over in his hand, memorizing the shape and the weight of it. He handed it back to Foggy and thanked him.
"I keep them in a box in the back right corner."
"Got it. Anything else?"
"If you hear strange beeping, don't worry about it, it's just my insulin pump. I was worried about freaking you out when I have to change sites and stuff, but I guess I don't have to since you can't see," he said nervously. "Sorry if that's offensive."
"It's not. Don't worry about it." Matt would actually be able to "see" whatever process he was talking about, but he wasn't bothered by that sort of thing. Even if he was, it would be pretty rude to tell Foggy that.
"Also I'm sorry in advance if Minelli leaves a toy on your side of the room. Just kick it back over to my side."
"Okay."
"I think that's it? If anything else comes up, I'll let you know."
"Likewise."
"Now that we've got all the awkward stuff out of the way, I want to know more about you!"
Matt blushed. "What do you want to know?"
"I dunno, the basic 'I just met a new person at college’ stuff. What's your major? Where'd you go to high school? Do you have any hobbies?"
"How about you go first," Matt suggested. He'd much rather listen to Foggy than talk about himself.
"Oh. Okay. Well, Foggy is actually short for Franklin. My mom's the only person who ever calls me that. It's actually kind of a funny story..."
They talked for hours. Well, Foggy did most of the talking, but Matt didn't mind. They discovered that while they had different majors, they both planned to go to law school. Matt managed to avoid the orphan conversation without outright lying about his family. He heard all about Foggy's family, their store, and his mom's dreams of having a butcher for a son. They compared schedules and realized they were in the same English class.
"What do you say we head to dinner now?"
Matt could hear his stomach grumbling from across the room. "Sure." He unfolded his cane and grabbed his wallet. "Do you mind guiding me?" he asked. The chaos of move-in day had exhausted him and he didn't think he could focus his senses long enough to reach the dining hall.
"Yeah. How do I do that?"
"I'll just hold onto your arm. I promise it's not complicated."
"Okay."
When Matt reached for Foggy's arm, his fingers brushed against a hard plastic lump surrounded by a patch of some kind. He flinched away, worried it was something he wasn't supposed to touch. "What is that?" he asked.
"Hm?"
"On the back of your arm."
"Oh. That's my Dexcom. It reads my blood sugar and connects to an app on my phone so l can see where I'm at."
"Okay. Sounds like something I should avoid touching."
"It's okay if you accidentally tap it. Just don't rip it off."
"Got it. Are you bringing Minelli?"
"Nah, we're not gonna be gone long. I'll let her rest up for tomorrow." He turned to address the dog. "We'll be back soon. You be a good girl."
She gave a few leisurely wags of her tail but otherwise didn't move. On their way to the dining hall, two people said hi to Foggy. "Those are the girls I met earlier while I was walking Nelli," he explained.
"Are they cute?" Matt asked knowingly.
"Yes. And they seem super nice."
"Hopefully we'll run into them again later."
Behind them, Matt heard the girls say the exact same thing about them.
The dining hall was less crowded than he expected. There were several options on campus, maybe the others were more popular. "Do you need help getting food?" Foggy asked.
"No thanks, I got it." One of his accommodations was for dining hall staff to help him get food, but Matt didn't think he'd need to use it that often. He could find what he wanted using his nose alone. "If you find a table first, though, just call my name. It's easier for me to find you that way than if you wave."
"Makes sense. See you in a few!"
Matt didn't hear anyone call his name in the dining area, so he sat down at an empty table. He said a quick prayer and started eating. A few minutes later, Foggy plopped into the seat across from him. He checked his phone, pulled a small mechanical device out of his pocket, fiddled with it for a moment, and put it back. The sound of the device changed ever so slightly. Matt figured this was the insulin pump he’d mentioned earlier.
“Have you ever listened to Digital Underground?” Foggy asked.
“No. What is that?”
They spent the entire dinner talking about music. Foggy had the most eclectic taste of anyone Matt had ever met. He liked everything from hip hop to show tunes, but he’d never heard of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Matt promised to send him some song recommendations.
Minelli greeted Foggy with robust enthusiasm when they got back to the dorm.
“I think I’m gonna go to bed early. It’s been a long day.”
“Good idea.” Matt got ready for bed, then plugged in his earbuds so he could listen to his audiobook to help him fall asleep. Across the room, Foggy changed into pajamas and drew back his covers, but stopped before actually climbing into bed.
“I should warn you,” he said hesitantly. “If, uh…if things really go to shit and Nelli can’t get me to wake up, she’s trained to find someone else and wake them up. So…if a dog jumps on you in the middle of the night, you, uh…you should probably call 9-1-1.”
Matt’s eyes widened. That certainly wasn’t something he expected to hear on his first day at college.
“It hasn’t happened since I’ve had her, so you’ll probably be fine. But, just in case, I thought I should let you know.”
“Yeah, no, that’s…good to know. Thanks for the heads up.”
He sighed and ran a hand through Minelli’s fur. “Sorry, I know this is totally not what you signed up for as far as college roommates go. Most people are just like, ‘Please don’t have sex in the room while I am also in here. That’s weird.’ But you got stuck with the guy who’s like, ‘By the way, not to freak you out or anything, there’s a small but non-zero chance my service dog will attack you in your sleep because you are the only thing standing between me and death.’”
“I don’t mind, I swear.” It was actually really nice to have an elephant—or a dog—in the room other than blindness. Matt had spent all summer worrying that his roommate would feel stuck with him, that they would’ve preferred someone “normal.” Foggy clearly felt the same way. After this interaction, Matt knew he’d find it much easier to ask him for help if he ever needed to borrow a pair of working eyes.
“Is there emergency first aid I’m supposed to do?” he asked. “Or just call 9-1-1?”
“Yeah, I have glucagon in the room. Nelli also carries it whenever we go out. The only problem is…shit, I have no idea how to say this without being offensive.”
“Let me guess, it comes with instructions but they’re full of pictures and diagrams?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how to show you what to do.”
“We’ll figure it out together.” Matt knew he could do it, but he understood why Foggy might not share that confidence. Yes, people’s low expectations irritated him, but he could plant that flag in a conversation about something other than administering life-saving medication. “If it makes you feel better, you could also pick some other people on the hall to teach and I could loop them in if there’s an emergency.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to freak out the whole hall. I dunno, I’ll think about it. It’s already taken a lot of courage to tell you,” he admitted.
“I get it. I know I’m lucky in that the cane does most of my explaining for me. I spend more time fending off help than I do asking for it, but when I do have to ask it’s kind of mortifying.”
“Oh my God, you actually do get it. Wow, I really lucked out in the roommate department.”
Matt laughed. “It’s only day one. You might eat those words after living with me for a while.”
“How many carbs are in them?”
“What?”
Foggy waved his hand. “Sorry, that’s just a stupid diabetes joke. If I’m gonna eat those words, I need to know the carb content so I can bolus accordingly.”
He chuckled. “Oh, I see now.”
Ten seconds after he said it, Foggy caught on. “Wait, was that a blind joke? You said it so seriously that I can’t tell!”
Matt pulled the covers up to his chest and rolled over to face the wall. “Maybe.”