Foggy Nelson: You're blind, right?
Matt Murdock: Uh, yeah, so they tell me. I hope that won't be a problem.
Foggy Nelson: Why would it? Oh! You're my roomie!
.***.

Foggy had never been what you'd call popular. Or what anyone would call popular. He wasn't even a proper loser in high school-a loser might have gotten some cool computer skills. No, Foggy went on a lot of dates with library books and was the type of kid who didn't mind spending a night in with his parents watching reruns of Sanford and Sons. Because he knew that when he got to college all of that would change. He would be popular.

And then he got to college and realized that he still wasn't popular, but no one was really popular. College was bigger than that. And, if he wasn't strictly popular, then Foggy had somehow become cool in the summer between Senior year of high school and Freshman year of college. Cool was good enough. Cool got you dates.

"So give it to me straight," he said to one girl over a bowl of ice cream they'd been sharing. It was a good date. He'd made her laugh and she was a pretty red head with some meet on her bones and bright eyes. Plus, she'd shared his pizza, laughed at his lousy mini-gold game, and insisted on ice cream. He was going to marry her any day now. Fiona. That was her name, that first college date in the September of his Freshman year. Fiona with the easy laugh.

Anyway, they were eating ice cream and Foggy was just bursting to know, just dying. "What made you go out with me? You could have gotten anyone in the class."

Their class was three hundred people large. Intro to Ethics. There were at least ten guys in there better-looking than Foggy (not that he was looking. Mostly he was looking at the girls. Mostly.) So he was just curious, and told Fiona so.

"Honestly? I wasn't going to. I mean, don't get me wrong," Fiona giggled, throwing her straw wrapper at me. "I'm glad I did. I'm having fun. But you were kind of nerdy and awkward. You got gum in my hair."

"Again, sorry about that."

"But then you were getting off the bleachers and there was that blind kid who got whacked with that backpack, remember? And you were so nice and you helped him off the bleachers and made sure he was okay and you took him outside and I kind of followed you and you got some napkins out of your bag and stopped the bleeding." Fiona smiled, and damn it was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. "You didn't have to do that."

Foggy puffed out his chest and swiped some of his loose hair behind his ears. "Well, what can I say? I'm a nice guy."

Fiona nodded, her eyes going wide. "A really nice guy." She took a big bite of ice cream and some chocolate got on her lip and Foggy wiped it off. They were already adorable. Fiona nipped playfully at his finger. "You didn't have to help that blind kid. I mean, it's not like he's going to actually become a lawyer like the rest of us. But you've got a big heart. I can tell."

If only she hadn't said that, Foggy might be married to easy-going Fiona right now. But he was in his first month of school and he already knew the rules: if you have a good roommate, don't let anyone make fun of them. Or maybe that was one of Foggy's rules. One of the many rules he was already making up in regards to Matt. "That blind kid is my roommate."

Her big bright eyes went wide. "Oh! I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make fun of him, Foggy. I just mean, you know. He's blind. Some of these books aren't even in Braille. I checked." She tried doing damage control. "I'm sure he's a nice guy. He sure would be cute if he took off those glasses-but not as cute as you! There's just some things that people with disabilities can't do."

Foggy was standing up, trying to be smooth but he tipped over his chair on the way. "I'm sorry," he said, "Really, you seem like a nice enough girl."

"I said I was sorry," Fiona retorted. She sure went from apologetic to mad pretty fast. "How was I supposed to know he was your roommate?"

Closing his eyes, Foggy debated with himself for a second. Was now really the time to debate with a girl about right and wrong? A girl who, up until bare minutes before, he was really falling for? But, if he was going to be a lawyer, he was going to have to star arguing sometime. "First, even if he wasn't my roommate it would be a shitty thing to say because you don't know that blind guy whose name happens to be Matt. Second, Matt happens to be the single most intelligent person I've ever met in real life. Like, he blows me out of the water, and he keeps up with the work, and he'll be a great lawyer some day. So don't tell me about his disabilities because Matt sure as hell isn't letting his blindness keep him back. And third," Foggy was taking in great heaving breaths. He and Matt weren't friends at this point. Foggy liked his roommate more than enough, but Matt was kind of quiet and didn't seem interested in friendship, which was fine. It didn't stop Foggy from feeling protective, even though he'd die before letting Matt know about this particular diatribe. "Third, you should know that I really liked you, and I think you're beautiful, and thank you for a good night but I don't think we should see enough other again."

Fiona was a nice girl, but she'd been dumped pretty quickly so you'll have to forgive her for her outburst. "Well, I hope you and your little boyfriend Matt are very happy together."

Not wanting to grace that with an answer, Foggy just nodded, and left.

.***.