He could so hardly help that lingering amusement that so managed to turn within him at the sheer passion with which Aiden spoke of those very cars he adored, or in the case of Matteo's own- so seemed to find disdain in. How very curious it was that in near all the years he had known the boy, that this was perhaps the most enthusiastic Aiden had ever been about any issue. The WereKing positively enraged at the interior design of the Peugeot before proceeding to list each and ever one of the cars fault, to his own mind, before stabbing his dinner with far more force then was surely necessary as if to complete that very point. How decidedly serious the boy was and yet how amusing it was all the same. Matteo distinctly careful to conceal that amusement, for the most part, lest Aiden so mistake it for his finding amusement in such passionate speech rather then the manner in which it had come about. The Frenchman instead so considering those very words before that near impish look returned to him. His own accented lyrics insisting the boy was merely salty for the superior speed of the car that would so surely put his favoured Aventador to shame- despite the Puegots questionable interior. Matteo rather assured he held little argument when it came to that, even he was inclined to admit Aiden was surely right and yet in that moment he merely decided to rib the boy a little. His efforts decidedly well rewarded by Aiden's renewed vigor for the topic, the Were pointing his fork toward him in a near distinct challenge peppered with several cuss words. Matteo wholly content to eye that pointed fork for a moment before his own snort erupted. That wry grin finding his lips all the same/

"Your Bugatti may be faster, Mon Amie, but smoke me any fucking day as you say? Those are bold claims. You will be back here, in a few months, how do you feel about a bet? Since your car is so superior. We will find you a Bugatti, or if your powers have advanced enough we will bring your own here, I will use my car- but I get to pick the day we race."

After all, was that not Aiden's very claim? That the Bugatti would smoke him any day? That near wary look his adoptive son was content to give him already assuring the Panther had perhaps anticipated that this task was not so easy as it sounded and yet the Frenchman was content to afford the boy several days to consider his decision on that. Matteo content to return to his own dinner in turn. In truth, even the pleasantness of that food so did little to dissuade the...anxiety of sorts that turned within him for that conversation soon to come. One that, he knew, would prove decidedly difficult for them both if only for those things to be spoke off. Those things niether of them so often dared to mention as if some silent agreement existed between them both that such topics were simply not discussed nd yet here and now they so needed to be. Even if Matteo was near loath to upset his son in any sense. Aiden notoriously poor, through not fault off his own, at handling those more complex emotions. The Panther more often then not defaulting to simple anger or frustration. Aiden had improved, considerably so, since his teenage years and yet the man before him still struggled terribly to....process the depth of his emotions in most cases. The boy often taking days to come to terms with any sort of distinct upheavel. Matteo very near braced for the veritable storm he was sure would come with the utterance of those words that need be spoken.

Aiden's childhood years had been nothing but difficult for them both. How it had torn him apart over and over and over again to leave that sobbing, begging boy behind. That very trauma still so surely afflicting them both in some fashion or another, a wound that would not heal for either of them even if, he suspected, Aiden had not truly considered, until this moment, the very damage that had surely been done to Matteo in turn. How it....ached, even now, even all those years later when Aiden sat healthy and well before him to remember those days. Matteo softly content to insist he could not forget those memories, no matter what either of them desired. Aiden had been so...small, so vulnerable, so afraid and he had not been able to protect him the way he desired. If only love had been enough- Aiden would surely never have suffered again. The younger mans quote assurance that he was sorry for thos years, for not understanding, merely prompting that soft shake of Matteo's own head once more.

"You were a child, Mon Amie, you have nothing to apologise for."

The hindsight of an adult was so often but strikingly different to the whim of a child and yet the ancient Fae was near determined that Aiden might.....understand, on some level, that he had never desired to leave him behind, that he had tried to do the very best he could and that if his own death might have afforded Aiden freedom he would surely have allowed it to happen. Those very papers he so offered his companion, he knew, were somewhat destined to be received with mixed emotion. Matteo insisting upon perhaps those most important details in turn. That this sort of adoption did not replace Aiden's true parents in any fashion. Rather, it merely added to his family and so officially incorporated the man into his own. Family, after all, mattered a very great deal to Aiden. The Were sometimes inclined to....forget how very much he mattered to Matteo in turn. Now, in the very least, even with that offer alone whether or not he so chose to accept it- he could not forget his own importance, his own meaning. He could near see that warring of emotions with his son in those moments that followed. Matteo readily insisting he would surely not suggest such a thing as this very adoption if it would lead to the death of Dorian, of Aiden himself- of anyone either of them desired to protect. The Frenchman offering the younger man those schematics if only because he so knew Aiden required those practicalities. Even Risque, in all her vengeance, would not assault the Hunter Headquarters of Europe for a piece of paper she didn't know existed. The vampire woman fated to die if she tried. The near ancient Fae so offering Aiden what else he could see of that future in turn and that singular promise that no future existed in which Risque outlived him. That vampiric woman already marching toward her own demise and she so hardly knew it. Just as Aiden so hardly believed him.

The silence so persisted between them for several moments longer, Aiden tossing those papers onto the coffee table as if distancing himself from them might somehow make those very emotions that all but assaulted him more bearable. It would take....several weeks, he knew, for Aiden to fully come to terms with what he had been presented with today. The boys reaction then likely to be decidedly different again from what had occured tonight. Matteo so offering him that very choice a final time only for that scoff of sorts to leave the young man's lips. Aiden insisting those already signed papers proved he had been offered no real choice to begin with. Matteo, for once, so meeting his adoptive sons gaze with a decided seriousness he so often lacked. The look upon his features near rueful then as he so rose from his own seat at last. Matteo so content to call the boy out, in a way, on a aspect of his nature he so suspected Aiden had perhaps not ever truly been aware off.

"Sometimes, Aidun, you pretend you do not have a choice- because it is easier for you."

And could he truly be blamed for that? Surely not. He had been near...conditioned to be as such by that....woman. Letting her command him, letting her make decisions for him- they were easier then fighting, easier then having that free will utterly robbed from him all over again and yet those simple words were perhaps a gentle reminder that choice still existed- even if it was hard to make, hard to decide or hard to deal with. Matteo allowing that simper to find his lips once more. His hand lifting to rest upon his sons shoulder then. His other picking up those papers to take with him.

"They may be signed and sealed but they still need a final stamp from the Family Law Court of France. I will send them tomorrow, it will take a few days to finalised. If you change your mind you only have to let me know before the end of the week. As for now, no, there is nothing else. Do not stay up to long Mon fils, we have a lot to do tomorrow. Goodnight, Aidun."


m a t t e o
it's tough to be a god