Who: Anna of Arendelle, Matt Murdock When: Monday, December 21, During the Mistletoe Plot Where: South Coast Plaza; Costa Mesa What: Mistletoe causes randomness Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Who needed a heavy coat in Southern California? There was virtually no winter to be seen in the region except it appeared Frosty the Snowman had decided to pay Orange County a visit for Christmas. Matt Murdock didn't own a single overcoat; all his suits were tailored from light material designed to breathe well in the heat. He'd taken a car to South Coast Plaza in order to pick up the overcoat he'd ordered from the Armani Exchange.
They didn't do their own tailoring, but he could deal with a rack coat for the length of time it was cold in the OC.
He hoped at least.
Matt really didn't want to have to deal with heavy layers in California. He could have stayed in New York if he wanted to experience Winter. The Christmas music was making his head hurt, too. There were only so many times a man could hear 'Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas' before he was prepared to explain in too many words why it was not 'the best time of the year.' Honestly, his new overcoat was too stiff across the shoulders as well as feeling too long in the arms.
Contemplating who he could get to do a fast tailoring job, Matt was walking out of the Plaza's Level One thru the Bloomingdale's Wing exit when he suddenly couldn't move either forward or back. He could move his head though tipping it down slid his sunglasses lower on his nose, exposing his sightless eyes as he tried to determine what was happening to him.
~*~
Anna was a princess. Well, in her Dreams, she was a princess. She was, in fact, Princess Anna of Arendelle. A Disney Princess. Spunky, sure, and humble… but a princess nonetheless. In her waking world, Anna was filthy rich. Her parents practically owned a television network, and Anna had inherited a lot of that money when they passed away. She owned her own house, owned stock in several companies, and had a bank account with more digits than her phone number.
Okay, not exactly. But close. Long story short; she shopped wherever she wanted to shop. She wasn't a Wal*Mart or Target shopper. She went to places like Bloomingdales and Tiffany and the like for Christmas presents. It wasn’t unusual for her to be carrying “Big Brown Bags” out of Bloomingdales. But what was unusual was being caught in some kind of invisible… what? Her feet moved a few steps, seemingly of their own accord, toward a man she’d never seen before--a guy wearing sunglasses… inside?
The snow was falling outside the front door, thankfully they were still mostly in the foyer of the store, so they avoided being covered in white fluff. But what came next was entirely unexpected.
Anna stepped right up to the man, went up on her toes, and kissed him. On the lips. Something she never, ever, ever would have done. It’d been months since her ex-boyfriend left, and since then she’d only shared a few, candid kisses with another guy in public. She’d almost forgotten what it was like to lock lips where anyone or their sister could see.
The strangest part about the whole thing, for Anna, was how …not strange it felt. Like, she didn’t have a choice. This was what she was doing. Kissing a stranger. A handsome stranger, sure, but still.
~*~
Physical contact was different for Matt than for most men. He wouldn't say he was more sensitive than other men, but he would point out he was more self-aware of his physical body as a result of being deprived of his sight. Without the ability to see someone reaching for him or leaning into him, Matt only knew when someone was going to touch him through the sound of their movements, the change in the air, or, in the case of the woman kissing him, in the smell of her---something soft and feminine.
Young.
That was his next thought as soon as he realized he'd made no effort to back away from her until suddenly the world righted itself and he could move again.
"Please excuse me. I have no idea what just happened, but if you'd believe it? I think I literally just fell into a kiss with you. I'm used to falling. Or I was when I was younger. I'm better on my feet now. Anyway, I'm Matt Murdock. Are you okay?"
She could have been drunk. It was the season for spiking everything from eggnog to coffee.
She hadn't tasted drunk, but what did Matt know? He'd been kissing her blind -literally- in a shopping center.
~*~
Anna pulled back the moment she was released from the compulsion to kiss the stranger. She got a good look at him, noting the sunglasses again, the sightless eyes, the crisp suit. He looked like... someone who her father would have worked with. A business professional... investor? Lawyer? Banker? Something like that.
Anna's face went slack, she cleared her throat. Why had she just done that? "Jeez, I am so, so sorry." She combined her bags from both hands to one hand, so she could offer one to him. "I'm Anna. Anna Arendelle." But then she realized he probably couldn't see her outstretched hand.
"Uh... I really don't know what came over me. I don't know what that was."
~*~
Extending his hand from his side, Matt followed the path the air in front of him had moved until his palm made contact with the young woman's, shaking gently, "Nice to meet you, Anna. I'm Matt Murdock. This meeting is a lot better than the last one I had with a woman. I ran into her on a college campus. I seem to have all the luck lately."
Clumsiness was humiliating to Matt. He'd worked with teachers to help him learn balancing techniques, how to use sound to track movement and distance between himself and objects, even how to follow air patterns to mimic movement of others. His parents had spared no expense regarding his education. They'd even hired martial artists to help him learn how to fight when he'd expressed an interest in it.
None of them were violent by nature, but Matt had wanted to feel as if he could fend for himself should the need ever arise.
From his training, Matt had gotten a lot more than self-confidence. He'd managed to find a way to calm down after a stressful day or meditate when he needed a little extra help. No way on Earth would he have given up those years of falls, hits, bumps and bruises while he was learning how to defend himself as well as how to balance himself to be at one with his body. It was his experience as a martial artist which allowed Matt to better estimate Anna's size and get an idea of her body type.
"I think the kiss was outside our control if it makes you feel better? I couldn't seem to move away or help myself."
~*~
Anna shook his hand, giving it a proper squeeze. She was a princess, sure, but she was steadfast and secure in herself. Anna wasn't one of those dainty, frilly, pink-clad princesses. Most of that probably came through in the way she shook his hand.
"Well, you're running into girls who don't mind it?" Girls' lips even? Had he kissed the other girl? Did he kiss a lot of girls? Was Anna going to get oral herpes now? Oh no. "I mean... I sort of... I didn't hate it." She gave him what she could of a smile, even though he couldn't see it.
"I couldn't, either." Anna said, shifting her weight. "Um... I don't know what came over..." She glanced up, and happened to see the Mistletoe above them. Then it sort of... disappeared. Floated away? She couldn't tell--though there was no breeze...
"Oh, man." Anna nearly groaned. "Mistletoe. There was Mistletoe." And this was Orange County. One plus one makes two.
~*~
Myths were something Matt didn't put any stock in. He had zero superstitions courtesy of the way he'd been raised. No mystical magic had placed him into the hands of a loving couple who embraced a blind baby. That had been sheer chance. Matt fought hard for his clients because he wanted the odds to be bettered for their sake. He knew putting his outcomes into the hands of 'Fate' was beyond stupid.
Unfortunately, Matt was learning Orange County was also beyond stupid in many ways.
"The other girl I ran into dropped some paint supplies and pencils. She didn't wind up kissing me. I'm not sure if this is a positive outcome or a negative one. I will say I have never believed in myths though magic mistletoe around here? I can almost buy. I don't know if I could sell it to a jury in court and get the verdict I want, but I can accept it for myself personally."
He figured it could have been far, far worse.
There could have been a woman old enough to be his grandmother attached to the lips which had latched onto his or worse, a man old enough to be his grandfather.
"I think we both managed to come out on top since you don't have to worry about me taking it personally and I am very glad to hear you seem legal if younger than me."
~*~
Anna wasn't really into myths and magic and all of that... well, until she started Dreaming. And then her parents died and Elsa froze Orange County. That sort of opened her eyes to all of it... since then there were wishes granted, people turning into Halloween costumes, vampires, snow... all sorts of weird things. She'd started to learn that nothing was as it seemed, and practically anything was possible.
She lived with three vampires. So.
"Oh," Anna said, a little relieved. At least she wasn't the next in a long stream of stranger kisses. Dropped art supplies was better than a tongue down some stranger's throat.
"I'm definitely legal." Anna said, the smile evident in her voice. "Well, not for drinking. But everything else."
~*~
A flush stained Matt's cheeks as he grinned at Anna's response. She was spunky. He couldn't remember having much fun at around her age. All his focus had been on law school, progressing his career, making the right connections. There'd never seemed to be any time for 'fun.' Matt never thought he'd regret the work he put in -and he didn't regret it- though he did wish he had more 'fun' memories to look back on.
This was going on his list of amusing events in his life, absolutely.
"I remember being in that state. Legal for everything except drinking. I don't like drinking so it's not really much different for me. I would never imply you might have imbibed before, but if you've seen a regular drunk? Picture it ten times worse when you picture me. Being blind has a few drawbacks. That's one of them."
Matt wondered idly if Anna would have to explain herself to someone else, a boyfriend or a girlfriend or someone with benefits since that was a thing, wasn't it?
"Incidentally, if you have a significant other? You can tell them this was completely involuntary if you choose to tell them at all. I'm an attorney. I don't disclose secrets so you're safe from gossip on my end."
~*~
"Oh. Yes." Anna didn't really know what he was talking about. A regular drunk was worse for a blind person? It took her a moment to realize he must have meant the sensations, the clumsiness, all that stuff. She'd been drunk before, sure. (What twenty-year-old hadn't?) So she knew what it was like to have her center of gravity thrown off, have her feet slip out from under her, the occasional word vomit that came out of her.
Though, she was a bit of a rambler even without any alcohol in her.
"Have you always been blind?" She asked, then quickly corrected herself. "Sorry, it's not any of my business." It wasn't, really. This was two strangers meeting randomly, not two friends. Though, Anna pretty much made friends with everyone.
"Oh! Hang on," she said, and dug into her pocket. "I saw this on a movie or a tv show or something once." There was that bright grin in her voice again as she pulled a dollar bill from her pocket, and then pressed it into his hand. "There. Now it's attorney-client privilege."
She sounded triumphant at her cleverness.
~*~
People asked questions about things they didn't understand. Curiosity was a part of human nature. Matt didn't mind questions about his blindness. He would rather someone ask him if he needed help than immediately assume he was a helpless invalid due to the fact he was lacking his sight.
Being blind was a disability, not a disablement.
Rubbing the paper between his thumb and forefinger, Matt chuckled, "I think you're the first client I've ever had who retained me for a dollar. I can't decide if I should be offended or flattered. To answer your question, yes, I've always been blind. I was born blind and my parents accepted me regardless. I don't perceive it quite the same way someone who was born sighted and became blind does as a result."
He had no idea what he was missing, why should he feel slighted?
"Do you watch a lot of movies or TV?"
~*~
“Please be flattered!” Anna said with a laugh, then nodded--though he couldn’t see it. She was starting to like this blind lawyer guy, even though they’d met under very, very unusual circumstances. It was a good thing he wasn’t holding that strange kiss against her. She’d just… gone straight up to him and kissed him without even saying hello. That was weird, right?
“I was really sick as a kid,” Anna explained. “It was an auto-immune thing, no one could figure it out. I was basically quarantined inside my house from the age of like, five, to when I left for college. So… I mean, I get it. Kinda. The parents accepting, and being treated differently? Not that our situations were the same, I just…” She cleared her throat. “Sorry. Open mouth insert foot syndrome.”
She shrugged her shoulders again, in vain. “I did. I do? I prefer reading, though.”
~*~
"I was adopted which made my parents a little more---I think they're called 'helicopter parents' now? They hovered over me all the time? I wasn't quarantined at all. They were simply more overprotective than most parents."
Matt had grown up with few friends his own age. His parents had been older, more established in their lives. Most of their acquaintances had begun to have grandchildren by the time Matt was adopted. It had always made for awkward visits for him when they had parties or dinners. He could thank his parents for his excellent table manners however as Matt knew exactly where every fork, knife, spoon, glass, dish, and napkin should be placed regardless of the course being served.
Tilting his head, he stated, "I think we're all a little different as a result of our upbringing."
He folded the dollar bill in half lengthwise to indicate its denomination before sliding it into his inside coat pocket. There was so much going on. Matt had to get back to working on his latest case if he had any hope of getting his motions filed before the holiday hit and the court house shut down for the season.
"Anna, it's been a pleasure meeting you. Unfortunately, I have to run. I've got motions to file before I get denied due to right to speedy processing courtesy of the holiday schedule. You should give me a call if you ever need an attorney. I'll make sure to hold onto your deposit."
Matt smiled at her as he moved to walk out of the shopping center toward the area his Uber driver should be waiting to meet him.