[Fic] "With Only Mild Complaining" -- Daredevil (MCU)

[edenfalling]

rosaxx50 said: I would love something for Karen & Foggy & Matt (or ot3!) + libel! Something about how vigilante/law/media deals with a case of libel in some way. (400 words exactly)

Note: Three months late, but look! I wrote a thing! :D Also, insofar as this has a canon setting, it's in a happy future sometime post-Defenders.

[ETA: the AO3 crosspost is now up!]

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With Only Mild Complaining
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"How much experience do you have with libel cases?"

Foggy pulled his cell phone away from his face, gave it his best sternly disappointed stare, and then returned it to his ear. "Hello to you too, Karen. It's a lovely autumn morning, thank you for buying bagels before you left for work, and I'm doing well, thanks so much for asking."

At some point in her resolutely mysterious past, Karen had learned the trick of sighing sarcastically. She deployed it now.

Foggy leaned back in his chair and wondered, not for the first time, whether his choice of partners revealed some secret masochistic yearning in the depths of his soul. Or maybe he was just a sucker. Probably both, come to think of it. "I see how it is. You only love me for my brain. But seriously, why me? My only direct experience with libel is a couple classes that Matt took right along with me, and he doesn't have a boss breathing down his neck about his ratio of pro bono to paying clients."

There was a brief but noticeable pause before Karen said, "There is, let's say, a minor ethical conflict with Matt representing me in this particular case."

Foggy tipped his head back and stared imploringly at the ceiling of his office. "He's your anonymous source, isn't he. For whatever officially unsubstantiated yet totally true accusations you printed about some scumbag who's most likely a longstanding HCB client."

"I can neither confirm nor deny any such allegations," Karen said, and Foggy knew she was secretly laughing at him. He bet Matt was too, from wherever he was (inevitably, because he was an incurable nosy stalker) listening in to this call.

Foggy sighed. Because he was a kind and magnanimous person, he did it sincerely and with no trace of sarcasm. "Yeah, okay, fine. Meet me at one-thirty at that little Tibetan place on 48th and we'll talk. Bring Matt too, what the hell, we might as well get all the cards on the table at once if I'm going to pry your reckless behinds out of your latest disaster."

"You're the best, Foggy. We love you!" Karen said, and hung up as abruptly as she'd called.

Foggy smiled helplessly at his phone for a moment. "Definitely some kind of masochistic sucker," he said to himself, before getting up to tell his paralegal to clear his afternoon.

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And now I will go eat lunch. :)

Comments

[sholio]

Awww, this is fun! :D

[edenfalling]

Thank you! :)

[rosaxx50]

Aww, Foggy loves them so much. He's done with it all, but he loves his partners so much. And I'm not the least bit surprised that Foggy is the one with the answers, the one that Karen goes to for a better chance at representation.

This is adorable!

[edenfalling]

I'm glad you liked it!

Foggy is 100% done with Karen and Matt and their shenanigans. But he loves them, so he soldiers on anyway. *pets him* They will probably treat him to lots of love and attention by way of thanks and apology, since Karen at least has a rudimentary sense of social awareness. *wry*