how fate does so love the restless

Oh how Aiden tested him at times! For all the love he bore his son, and indeed that love was nothing if not terribly vast, there were times in which Aiden was nothing if not perfectly exasperating in every possible way. He understood the reasons behind the younger mans frustrations and too- he understood Aiden quite unlike any other surely ever would- or could. Yet such understanding came from the years they had spent together. The things they had seen- and survived together. That understanding so coming at the very price of a closeness that afforded Aiden that knowledge of just how to irritate him best when the boy chose. His son, tonight it seemed, entirely content to regress into a veritable ten year old as those words were all but snapped at him from across the room. Surely....he should simply allow such a comment to go ignored and yet Matteo too, it seemed, was entirely unwilling to back down on that argument tonight when he might otherwise have simply allowed such words to roll smoothly from his back.To ignore Aiden's outbursts was a tactic he employed far more frequently. To engage them was an entirely different battle and yet, here and now, the Frenchman saw little need to bow so easily to the Alpha's sharp words. After all- it was hardly the car they were talking about any longer. Aiden having taken that verbal brawl to an entirely different playing field. A far more personal one. One that the others within the room would have little understanding of and one, Matteo suspected, Aiden would regret engaging within if too many questions were asked. His son's words however, managed to coax a ready scoel to the Frenchmans features, Matteo's eyes rolling notably once more before a soft snort left his nose.

"Oh please, Aidun. No one has time for you fucking theatrics tonight! Sit down before you say something you're actually going to regret."

Children! Why on earth had he ever had them? Those very thoughts all but dominated his mind as he moved to deal with that ringing phone, the idea both his sons were, in fact, narks and that car and garden that so required his attention. It was only once those very matters had been dealt with that the Frenchman found himself...calmer then before. Matteo returned to that room smoothly, his hand briefly resting upon Aiden's shoulder before offering those quiet words to his youngest son alone. That reassurance, he suspected, would do little to appease his son and yet he could already see the exhaustion that had begun to settle upon Aiden's features now. The both of them, in that aftermath, content to collapse upon the couch before Matteo turned his attention to attempting to engage that fire into some sort of life. How fickle that element was! The near ancient Fae all but muttered a near gruff word of thanks to that fireplace for, at last, following his command. His very use of that newest talent however had hardly gone unnoticed by the room at large, his efforts to brush away Dorian's curiosity were met with a far more pointed question from Aiden in turn. His younger son so often refused to accept those purposefully vague answers Matteo so often gave and yet, in truth, that fire was a veritable mystery to himself in so many ways. The Frenchman yet to truly test the extent of its capabilities. Aiden's softly uttered query drew his silver gaze toward the younger man.

"I suspect it has purifying qualities along with some deeper power. I will need to test it properly when I have the time."

There was considerably...more to that fire than Matteo felt but any need to discuss in that moment. Not when half that room was already veritably exhausted and dealing with the emotional onslaught of the earlier evening. Besides, his talents were hardly the most curious topic of the evening to discuss. Mira's very existence among them so surely took that pride of place tonight. Sebastian, as dutiful as Matteo had well anticipated, returned with those drinks a few moments later. His own word of thanks was offered to his son in law as he took that tumbler from the vampire and Mira offered that description of her own family. God how he needed that drink. Mira's near bafflement at being offered wine seemed to ensnare that attention of Dorian entirely. The younger Fae man all but demanded to know why Aiden had never offered her wine before. Matteo could hardly prevent the simper that found his lips in the wake of that very comment. The Frenchman so attempting to conceal it behind his own glass all the same as it rose to his lips. It was almost fortunate, perhaps, that such a conversation was given to shift from Mira's family and her lack of wine drinking expertise and toward her animal form. Dorian, as Matteo had near anticipated, was all but fascinated at the idea of that wolf Mira was so capable of embodying. A wolf the young woman insisted was not nearly so terrifying as Aiden's own panther form. That jest was so very quick to leave Dorian's lips that even Matteo found himself near surprised and yet, he could hardly deny that it was funny. A ready chuckle rose within the Frenchman's thoat. Matteo's gaze shifted but briefly to Aiden's jeans. Hmmm, perhaps Dorian was right. Then again, fashion was hardly so terribly high on Aiden's list of priorities.

That notion of Were trapping, however, was a far more sobering topic. One that Aiden was quick to insist existed within the city- much to Dorian's own abject horror. How easy it was to forget, at times, that his elder son had missed so very, very much of the world. That curse a veritable blessing at times even if, he suspected, Dorian may never truly come to believe it as such. Without that Were trap however, it would have been....years before Aiden and Mira had met again. Those circumstances would have been far more different. The relationship that had formed between the couple equally so. He had known Aiden had been destined to find Mira for months before it had occurred. That meeting played out behind his eyes over and over and yet to hear that tale told by Mira herself was perhaps a far more...enjoyable method of observing that tale. Even if it so prompted Dorian to demand a royal commission into such things. Sebastian was ner mercifully quick to remind the younger Fae that royal commissions were nothing short of difficult to demand in countries one did not rule. Dorian, thankfully, allowed himself to be dissuaded from that notion for now. The monarch instead content to query just what title Aiden and Mira might prefer in the wake of Matteo's own willing acceptance of the young woman into their family.

Ah, but how readily that simper so found the Frenchmans lips once more! Dorian, with that near angelic innocence, was by far the most....potent among them tonight for those pointed questions. The Fae King was near relentless in his pursuit of some sort of official title for his sibling and the woman he favoured. Yet- Matteo had known he would be. It was perhaps a veritable blessing of the age Sebastian and Dorian had both grown within. Relationships had been near akin to business arrangements. Each party demanded to know where he or she stood at all times. Dorian, it seemed, refused to allow anything less when it came to his sibling.The exasperation upon Aiden's own features was decidedly clear, that offer that followed hardly romantic in any fashion and yet how very ....Aiden it was. Matteo's gaze shifted from his son toward Mira then as the young woman seemed to mull over that answer. Ah, but a woman after his own heart! Her flair for that near dramatic response was nothing short of appreciated before she declared that she did, indeed, desire to be Aiden's girlfriend. Ah, but it had only taken years! Perhaps he should not have meddled as he had and yet without his prompting, or at least, without his having...assisted in having them all together within this room, Dorian would not have been the driving force that relationship needed to take that critical step forward. Matteo, this evening, found himself near decidedly satisfied.

"Ah, Mon Cherie, you were fooling no one."

A warm simper found his lips once more before Matteo moved to drain the last of his drink, his gaze but briefly shifting to Aiden once more. That exasperation, for now, seemed to have lessened. Dorian's sudden query in regards to the Ark, however, was near quick to prompt Matteo's own attention once more. The involvement of the police force or indeed, anysort of special investigations unit would be distinctly...unwise. Matteo, in that moment, content to speak before Aiden might be forced to. The Alpha had surely already suffered enough questions tonight. Matteo, in this, content to act as a veritable shield even if Dorian had provided something of a way out of that conversation all the same.

"I think such things might be better dealt with in the morning, oui? It is late, there is little to be done for it now. Aiden and I can surely discuss it in the morning. For now, I think, we have all had enough excitement for one evening. I think some sleep would do us all good."