Fratt

Fratt is the slash ship between Frank Castle and Matt Murdock from the Daredevil fandom.

Season 2
NEW YORK'S FINEST

Matt awakens chained to the roof of a building, with The Punisher near him. Frank is sewing up the wound on his arm, while Matt struggles against the chains. He eventually stops and asks why he didn't take his mask off. Frank just doesn't really care who he actually is. Matt then asks why he didn't kill him, but Frank doesn't answer, and just pulls out weapons. Matt then question what Frank is going to do. Frank responds that he'll do what needs to get done.

Matt continues to ask questions, but Frank chooses to ignore him. He tells him that he can stop and not kill anyone else, but Frank asks if Matt could walk away from what he does. He takes Matt's silence as an answer. They hear church bells, and Matt asks if Frank is a catholic, and if he was from New York. Frank just says that he was...once. Matt chuckles at his answer, before asking more, but Frank tells him to stop. Matt starts talking about New York, before Frank stops him with sarcasm. He then asks if Matt has been to war, but since he hasn't, Frank tells him to stop talking about it. Matt says that he's been in fights, but that doesn't change his opinion. They continue to talk, Matt believing that Frank is at war, but he doesn't want to hear it and is annoyed by Matt's analyzing.

Matt asks why he's here, Frank tells him that what Matt does, doesn't work. Matt asks if what Frank does works, but Frank only does it out of necessity. Matt scoffs at this and asks who he lost, since he can tell that Frank has lost someone, but he's not the only one and he doesn't have to kill people because of it. Franks says that loss doesn't work the same for everyone, and he doesn't choose what helps him. He asks about the name that Matt was given, but Matt just tells him he doesn't do this to hurt or kill people. Frank asks if that what make's Matt better than him, but Matt just doesn't want anyone to die. Frank asks if he really believes that then asks who asked him to put on the costume. Frank tells Matt that all Matt is, is one bad day away from becoming him. Matt is about to respond when he hears someone coming to the roof. Matt asks him not to hurt them, and Frank won't as long as they don't give a reason. They hear a man shouting, and Frank tells him that if Matt make's a sound, Frank will kill him. He then goes over to see what's going on.

PENNY AND DIME

When the Irish Mob hear of The Punisher, they break into his home and take his dog. Frank watches from afar as they successfully kidnap the dog and drive off. Meanwhile, Nelson and Murdock are in communication with the DA about potentially arresting Frank and putting him on trial for his crimes. They have started collecting evidence of Frank's past through photos and news stories of the incident in which Frank's family was murdered and he was also shot. Karen specifically tries digging around to find more information, as the case is mysteriously hardly in the public consciousness.

That evening, Frank is sitting on a bench watching the carousel in the park, reminiscing on times with his family. The Irish then surround him and ask him to come with them. He tries to fight them off when he is injected with something and hears that the person who wants him wants him to be alive. Frank successfully shoots most of the men before the leader of the mob approaches with more men, tasing Frank as he collapsed under the effect of the chemical he was previously injected with. While this is happening, Daredevil finds Sergeant Mahoney and he tells Daredevil that the Irish have put a bounty on Frank's head, but that he doesn't want Daredevil involved, because his actions are resulting in the police being taken less seriously. Mahoney then gets a call over the radio about Frank's fight at the carousel and Daredevil follows.

At the scene, Daredevil sees the mess Punisher made, and hears a mobster who is still clinging to life. He extracts information about the attack from him, as well as the fact that the Irish have kidnapped Frank and are interrogating him in a secret location. In the undisclosed location, Frank is interrogated and brutally tortured by the head of the mob for information about his oldest son's death and a sum of money stolen, both actions done by Frank. Despite being beaten and drilled through with a hand drill, Frank refuses to talk. It's when the mob threatens to murder his dog that he relents and agrees to talk. However, Daredevil has already made his way into the area. Frank reveals where the money is supposedly hidden, and the head of the mob tells him that he will keep Frank alive until he's secured the money. It turns out that Frank rigged the money location with explosives and blew up the mob goons looking for it. At the same time, he is able to escape his duct tape handcuffs with a razor blade he hid under some bandages, and he shoots the mob leader and his goons. As he begins getting cornered and shot at, Daredevil arrives and takes down the men shooting at Frank.

They move escape the compound while fighting more men, where Daredevil ensures that Frank cannot kill anyone. Frank begins growing weaker from his previous injuries sustained during the interrogation and Daredevil carries him out into the open world, where they rest at a graveyard. Frank compliments Daredevil on his fighting and admits that he was proven wrong about what he was capable of. Daredevil tells Frank that help is on its way, and Frank tells him that he should leave him because he expects to die. Daredevil does the opposite, and sits down in front of Frank. Frank tells him that he would have been a good Marine if he ever enlisted. Daredevil asks about a rhyme that Frank whispered while he was being ambushed, which Daredevil could hear. Frank is surprised that he heard it, but then reveals that it was a saying from one of his daughter's favorite books. He then tells Daredevil the story of returning from service and spending a short amount of time with his children, specifically his daughter, before they and his wife were murdered. The story of Frank's connection to his daughter and the way she speaks fondly of her, as well as the way he describes holding his daughter's dead body, brings Daredevil to tears. After the story, Frank tells Daredevil that he's "done" as a cop car arrives to their location. Sergeant Mahoney begins to arrest Daredevil when he tells the officer that he wanted to give him Frank as a response to his previous comment that the police feel like they are useless because they never catch any criminals for themselves. The gesture allows him to evade arrest, as well as work for him on the legal front, allowing Frank to be arrested rather than killed, and stand available for trial.

REGRETS ONLY

Advancing on the Frank Castle case, a small-time lawyer, on orders from the DA, meets with Nelson and Murdock to discuss a statement Karen gave to the police regarding seeing Frank in action. As Karen reads the statement, she realizes that the DA completely fabricated her experience, presumably to make their case look better. Matt arrives at the office mid-way through their discussion and is shocked, with Foggy and Karen, at the earnestness of the lawyer. He assumes that the case will be done, and that Frank will be given the death penalty. Matt is confused at the joy that the lawyer seems to get by talking about the possibility that Frank will be linked to the killings of a biker gang along the New York-Delaware border, meaning he will be extradited to Delaware, where the death penalty exists. Karen tells the lawyer that she can't sign the statement because it's false, and the three hurry him out of the building. After the encounter, Matt and Karen attempt to convince Foggy that they should be the ones to represent Frank against the DA and give him a fair chance at not being sentenced to death. Matt especially emphasizes that Frank has a story to be told, and that story could convince a jury to keep him from being killed. Foggy reminds Matt that the move could risk their firm and reputations, and he asks Matt if his passion about Frank's case is genuine, or only motivated by the fact that he and Frank are both vigilantes. Matt assures him that he's interested in Frank's case simply because he's a person that doesn't deserve the fate of the death penalty. Eventually, Frank agrees to taking on Nelson and Murdock as his lawyers, only to disregard their advice to plead guilty to his charges, where he pleads not guilty instead, so that he can go to trial.

SEMPER FIDELIS

Frustratingly for Nelson and Murdock, jury selection for the Castle trial is not necessarily in their favor, as all potential jurors have their opinions on Castle and his methods. However, they hesitantly agree to the jurors selected and begin the seemingly-impossible task of defending Castle in court. In their offices, the team talk about potential ways to defend Castle. Foggy puts out the idea of trying for the insanity plea, but both Matt and Karen shoot it down, saying either that they don't believe he's insane or that insanity pleas rarely work. They discuss trying to get a mistrial to get more time to build their case, and Matt says that he'll work on their opening statements and try to focus on Castle's military past to push for an insanity plea with PTSD while Foggy and Karen look for enough evidence to get a mistrial. Karen then offers to talk to Castle alone to get him on board with their plan, and Matt tries to warn her about needing to be cautious around Frank because of his unpredictability. She shrugs him off and goes to visit Frank.

Frank doesn't buy their PTSD angle, but agrees to reexamining things like his family's death records and having a previous military officer used as a character witness. Matt, unfortunately, is not able to work on his opening statements as he needs to because Elecktra forces him on a mission with her. As a result, Matt is late to court the next day and Foggy must come up with his own impromptu opening statement to the jury. This only furthers the rift between the pair. At trial the next day, the state calls up the medical examiner that saw and recorded Frank's family's bodies as a witness. Matt is tasked with cross-examining him. When he stands to ask his questions, he can hear in the examiner's heartbeat that he is nervous. After asking his first question, the medical examiner breaks and exclaims that he needs to confess something on the record. When the courtroom is cleared of everyone but the lawyers, the examiner reveals that he altered the autopsy reports of Castle's family, and that he needed to get it off his chest because he was being threatened and manipulated to change the reports by an unknown third party.

GUILTY AS SIN

Matt is absent from court for a few days, as he is taking care of Elecktra at home after he is nearly killed, and he misses two witnesses in the case that are influential to the jury's understanding and empathy towards Castle. When an audience outburst shakes the courtroom, Karen successfully convinces Frank to take the stand for their case. Foggy agrees to the crazy idea, only if they agree to get Matt to question him while on the stand. Karen fights back, claiming that Foggy has been taking care of the case well on his own, but Foggy insists. Karen claims that Matt has spent next to no time with Frank, but Foggy eventually convinces her that Matt is still right for the job. That evening, Karen visits Matt at his apartment to urge him to show up to court the next morning to question Castle.

Matt shows up, and Foggy tells him that the only reason that he wanted him to question Frank is because he's "almost as crazy as Frank." Unlike Karen, Foggy is aware that Matt is Daredevil and that Daredevil has met with Frank before and knows how to approach talking to him. As Frank is seated in the witness box to testify, Matt hears an officer whisper "think about what you want" to Frank. Even though they couldn't hear the whisper that Matt did, Foggy and Karen immediately say that they feel that something is off about the moment when the officer walks away.

Matt begins to question Frank. He asks if he may call him Frank rather than Mr. Castle, and Frank seems confused before allowing it. Frank seems altogether uninterested in the process until Matt reveals that he only has one question for him: he wants Frank to recount exactly when and how his family was killed before him, similar to the conversation Frank unknowingly had with Matt episodes prior at the graveyard. Frank hesitates, and Matt takes a sympathetic angle, assuming that he is hesitating because of the trauma of the moment. However, Frank seems insulted by the sympathy and says that Matt will never understand what he went through. With that, Matt requests to treat the witness as hostile and his request is granted. He then lectures the jury, saying that he thinks that Frank is exactly what the city needs, someone to take the fight against organized crime into their own hands and help the police. He says that they need heroes. He agrees that Frank broke the law by murdering people, but that he also is doing what he does for the right reasons. Matt claims that he doesn't like Frank any more than anyone in the jury does, but that he cannot deny that Frank is a good man for trying to clean the streets up on his own. Matt then leans heavily on the insanity plea, saying that Frank does not have malicious intent and that he doesn't know right from wrong in his vigilante actions, and that he should be rehabilitated rather than incarcerated. After Matt finishes and returns to his desk, Frank asks if he can say something in response. The judge allows it, only for Frank to rant that he would kill every person he killed again and that he is not crazy. He starts yelling about how he enjoyed killing people and that everything Matt said was wrong, that he doesn't need help and that he knows exactly what he did and wants to keep doing. He is forcefully removed from the courthouse as he yells that he pleads guilty.

After the trial, Foggy is frustrated that he allowed for such an outburst by both letting Karen convince him to let Frank take the stand and letting Matt be the one to question him. Foggy accuses Matt of provoking such a response from Frank as Matt tries to tell them that he thinks Frank was manipulated by someone to ruin his chances. Neither of them listen to him, though. Foggy and Karen storm off, leaving Matt alone on the steps of the courthouse. Meanwhile, Frank is put in jail, where he meets Kingpin, who wants to speak with him.

THE MAN IN THE BOX

Kingpin, after putting Frank through a trial in his cell block, lets him walk free and escape prison. When Matt is visiting Claire at the hospital after bringing multiple nearly-dead teenagers from a cult there the night before, he overhears on a police officer's radio that Frank Castle has escaped. He, Foggy, and Karen are called into the barricaded courthouse to speak to the DA about any knowledge on how Frank could have escaped. Before speaking to the DA, they speak among themselves about the implications of his escape for their careers, as they are technically still his lawyers. Karen claims that she never heard him show any indication of planning to escape prison. Foggy mentions that Frank was placed in the highest security section of the prison, and Matt tells him and Karen that Frank was somehow put into the same cell block as Kingpin, which could have been how he was able to escape.

When the three talk to the DA, she admits that she is worried about Frank Castle being free because she unintentionally caused Castle's family to be killed with a sting-gone-wrong. Foggy, Karen and Matt are about to leave in frustration when the DA stops them and reveals the real reason why she's so worried: her daughter is being threatened by Castle and she wants them to tell her if Frank ever contacts them, for her and her daughter's safety. As they talk, Matt hears a gun cocking through a wall and calls for everyone to get down as someone starts shooting through the wall. While everyone else is able to duck for cover, the DA is shot multiple times and killed. Foggy is shot in the arm and as he sits outside of the ambulance, Matt tells him that he knows that Frank was responsible for the attack and that he needs to leave to find and stop him. Foggy tries to get him to stop, but Matt is undeterred and leaves. Matt visits Fisk in prison to find Frank's whereabouts. Fisk claims that he has no connection to Frank, but Matt is unwavering. Unfortunately, Fisk refuses to give anything away to Matt, but not before Matt threatens Vanessa to get what he wants. This backfires, and results in Matt being beaten up by Fisk as well as Fisk threatening to hurt Foggy.

Fanon
While Fratt was not historically a common ship in the comic fandom, it is pretty big among fans of the Daredevil TV series and has seen a resurgence in comic enjoyers. Both in the MCU and in the comics, the ship works due to their opposite philosophies and ways of tackling crime in the city, emphasizing the trope of "opposites attract." The ship also attracts fans based on small interactions between the two, including Frank's nickname of "Red" for Daredevil, or the way that Frank is openly emotional and vulnerable with Daredevil as he recounts the horrors of his past to him in Penny and Dime. Most fan art and fiction, despite this behavior not being entirely accurate to the canon, tends to emphasize a Brooding Boy, Gentle Boy trope, in which Frank is gruff and aggressive and Matt is softer and more attentive. As part of the trope, these fan works show Matt healing Frank of his traumas and reservations with his care and attention. On AO3, Fratt is the second most popular ship for both Matt and Frank. It is also the third most written ship in the Daredevil (TV) tag, the second most written in Daredevil (Comics) and The Punisher (TV 2017) tags and the most written in the Punisher (Comics) tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Matt/Frank tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Matt/Frank tag on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Frank's nickname for Matt is "Red", due to the color of the Daredevil suit.
 * Matt and Karen are the only characters Frank truly opens up to about his traumas, leading them both to develop soft spots for the humanity of a man that no other characters see.