DareJones

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here."

- Matt to Jessica in The Defenders.

DareJones is the het ship between Matt Murdock and Jessica Jones from The Defenders fandom.

Mean Right Hook
Jessica is being questioned by Misty when a blind man walks in and tells her to stop talking. She asks who he is, and he says that he's Matt Murdock, her lawyer.

Worst Behavior
Jessica asks if Matt is a public defender, and Matt says that he's not. He was referred to by a friend who works for Jeri Hogarth. Jessica jokes about Jeri doing diversity hires, but Matt doesn't work for her. He's independent. Jessica says that she's not paying him, and Matt says that Jeri has it covered. He's also a catholic and has a soft spot for hopeless cases. He apologizes for the bad joke, but Jessica says that it barely was. Matt asks how long she's been a PI, but Jessica won't answer. Matt asks if she's rude to everyone trying to help her, but Jessica just smiles and says she'll find her own lawyer. Matt says that in reality she doesn't need one, as the NYPD doesn't have anything to hold her. Jessica asks if she can leave, and Matt says that she can. Although she is advised not to leave town, and she knows the drill already. Matt tells her that he read her file, and knows what she can do, what she did to Kilgrave. Jessica says that what's going on is separate, and Matt recognizes that. Matt says that she can tell him if there's anything out of the ordinary about this case, but Jessica says that nothing happened. Matt stays silent before telling her that she's free to go then, and Jessica quickly leaves. She then calls Malcolm as Matt overhears.

Jessica starts walking home when she notices that Matt is following her. She is able to shake him and circle around so that she is now following him. She notices him go down an alley and quickly follows him. She sees him starting to acrobat himself against the building and takes out her camera, quickly taking pictures as he disappears.

Teamwork
When Jessica and Matt meet again, this time they're both fighting against The Hand. Since Matt doesn't have his Daredevil helmet with him, he takes Jessica's scarf and wraps it around his eyes. When the fight is over, they go to a Chinese restaurant with the rest of the Defenders. While Jessica knows Matt's identity, at first, they don't seem to be too fond of each other, but slowly trust each other throughout the series.

Daredevil saves Jessica
When Jessica almost gets killed by one of The Hand's operatives, Murakami, Matt saves and protects her. The two work together and fight against Murakami and eventually throw him off the balcony. When Jessica gets a good look at Matt again, she makes a comment on how her scarf looked better than his suit. She teasingly calls his Devil horns "ears" and Matt corrects her, saying they're horns.

Saving Danny
"For whatever it's worth, I'm glad you're here."

- Matt to Jessica right before they save Danny.

Before they all go to save Danny, Matt says to Jessica that for whatever it was worth, he was glad she was here. Confused, Jessica asks him "what?" and Matt nervously replies that despite the circumstances, he was glad they found each other.

Finale
In the finale of Daredevil, when Matt says that he will stay with Elektra to make her remember who she is, Jessica tells him that they won't leave him there.

Quotes
"Matt Murdock. Why do I keep thinking about Matt Murdock? Oh, my God! I’m in love with Matt Murdock. Fucker!!"

- Jessica when she realizes she's in love with Matt. "We're not gonna leave you here."

- Jessica to Matt in The Defenders finale. "The Devil of Hell's Kitchen.. never met him but I do like the sound of him. Him beating the holy hell out of you like this... I want to find this Devil guy and give him a cookie."

- Jessica about Matt.

Fanon
Shipping between the two isn't as common as other pairings, but would not be considered a rare pair. Shippers began to ship them during the events of The Defenders and were drawn to their contrasting personalities, as well as their similar pasts. Many think that although they would make an enjoyable couple, they would not last, and could possibly be bad for each other, given their many life choices. Some fans argue against that however, and think that Jessica and Matt would make a great couple.

On AO3, Messica is the fourth most written ship for Jessica and the eighth most written for Matt. It is the most written ship in The Defenders (Marvel TV) tag, the third most written in the Jessica Jones (TV) tag, the seventh most written in the Luke Cage (TV) tag and the ninth most written in the Iron Fist (TV) tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Fanlore

DareJones on Fanlore

Trivia

 * The official Daredevil twitter responded to a DareJones fan saying "That's attorney/client privilege." when the fan said they shipped Matt and Jessica together. Jessica Jones' official twitter replied with "And I have the right to remain nauseous." The official Defenders twitter responded to Matt and Jess with: "Geez, get a room you two."