It was a foolish habit perhaps and yet, some habits were inclined to die hard. Especially when those very nuances had been a part of his very make up for several hundred centuries. Once one had become a parent- they hardly ceased to be one. Even when the child in question was hardly biologically their own. Matteo could hardly help those words that left his lips in the wake of Aiden's almost begrudging agreement to return to France with him. A prospect he knew the other man was more excited and perhaps even nervous about then he let on and yet Matteo had long ago become used to Aiden's facade of emotional indifference. If this was the exterior he wished to present the Frenchman with- then let him. Aiden, he suspected, had long since lost the ability to know when those introverted tendencies were being offered to those around him. He had protected himself for so long from that woman that such habits had became part of Aiden himself until the world at large was held at a metaphorical arms length. Those protective shields pulled tighter and tighter around him when any situation that might prompt some level of emotion within him was presented. Insecurity, no matter how much Aiden might disagree, still laced that panther deeply and Matteo saw little need to pry at those loose threads here and now.

Rather, he found those near parental tendencies tugging fitfully at him. No matter how old Aiden became (Dorian, after all, was well over five hundred) the Lord was assured he would never cease to care about the other man as if Aiden truly was he own son. He simply could not help that love he felt for the boy he had all but raised. No matter what they had faced, no matter how they had argued or those words Aiden had tossed at him more then once when it came to not truly being his Father- such emotion hardly flinched. Those difficult days they had faced hardly dented the surface while those closer moments they had shared over the years only fortified it further. Until the day he died, he would care about that boy. Those very emotions, in this instance, tempered into an insistence that Aiden pack sensibly. A task he suspected the man would leave until the last possible moment if he did it at all. Matteo suspecting that little mexican man would be sequestered to the task. Aiden content to mutter in exasperation him before resting his head on his hand in a gesture so decidedly adolescent the Frenchman struggled to keep that amusement from finding his features. That very simper finding his silvered eyes all the same.

"Good."

He offered simply, content to allow the younger man to believe he had won that veritable packing battle and yet, Matteo was assured he would keep an eye on that packing process all the same. Aiden, it seemed, was content to shift that topic of conversation then. The Panther once more making mention of that very wedding Matteo knew he held truly little interest in. That near pointed silence that followed in the wake of it so resulting in that meeting of glances. Both men, it seemed, entirely aware of this unspoken battle of wills and yet Matteo was willing to concede upon it tonight. For this evening, at least, he saw little need to sully his time with his companion with talk of those matters that would only bring them both some measure of distress. The Frenchman easily picking up that line of conversation then as he continued with his drink. His brows furrowed slightly as he contemplated that curly-haired woman he had met but briefly in Dorian's home. The discontent she had found him so apparently not unexpected. Aiden assuring him then that this was very much in the woman's nature. Matteo considering those words for another few moments.His shoulders rolling in an easy shrug.

"She seems fond of you, for what it is worth. She is a judgemental creature though. I'm certain she would have desired to have words with me if politeness didn't prevent it."

That soft chuckle rose from within his chest then, Matteo offering those singular observations on Tobias in turn before his attentions shifted to the newest of Aiden's acquaintances. He so hardly observed every inch of Aidens future and those interactions it entailed and yet, the appearance of Frost within that foresight, a man who lingered in Alexander's own immediate future, had been a curious thing. Matteo's own opinion of the steed was decidedly unsteady. The Frenchman prone to keeping such opinions to himself in every sense and yet he could not truly fault Aiden's intentions in that peace treaty he had formulated. One he knew the icelandic stallion would uphold in turn if only because he perceived Aiden to be a comrade of sorts in that shared suffering. Whatever the reasons, they perhaps hardly mattered so much as that assurance the stallion would hardly betray Aiden's trust. Matteo seeing no future in which that occurred even despite the tumultuous nature of the war horse. He saw little harm, in that moment, of sharing with Aiden those glimpses of the future he had seen surrounding the Hunter Council and the Mounted Unit in turn. The gruffness to Aiden's tone seeing the ancient fae's eyes return to the man beside him. Matteo distinctly aware of that near fragile ground he so stood upon once more and yet- he quite suspected that he knew yet again just what had prompted that discontent in his companion.

"My point, Mon Amie, is that it does not hurt to have an alliance with a Were who shares an alliance of sorts with the Hunter Council in turn. I think you made a good choice."

Such words were offered lightly all the same. Matteo hardly desiring to have Aiden believe he had shared such information to compare his life with the stallions own, rather, it was that choice he sought to praise. That further step to undermining Risque. Matteo inclined to find that peace treaty a rather cunning ploy on Aiden's part and one worthy of mention. Frost, in turn, surely not about to find his new life as distinctly easy as Aiden seemed to believe. Alexander was hardly prone to offering the same abuse the horse had suffered before and yet- Alex was a firm leader. He expected perfection. He would not permit behaviour he deemed unacceptable- especially not from his own horse. Frost, in turn, so set to challenge Alexander in more ways than any horse before him and yet too- Matteo had seen the pages of history they were so poised to write.If only history knew what was coming.

Such thoughts for now however were cast aside. Matteo determined to enjoy those hours he had left in Aiden's company. That near impish look so managing to infiltrate his features then as he hinted towards that teleportation he had seen the panther learning to master in those visions. A skill he was yet to see the other man display in the flesh and yet one he could not help but tease at in turn- even if he found that skill, so similar to his own, to be exceptional. His tongue poked between his lips in a fashion terribly boyish and starkly different from that near parental being he had been only moments ago. Matteo rewarded with that shove against his shoulder and that request to 'shut up'. A snort of amusement released from him then, that warm grin upon his lips. A final sip taken from that glass before he slid it onto the table. Matteo rising easily to his feet then.

"Come on then, Scoundrel. Let's see it."

That very same affinity embraced the Frenchman then. Matteo reappring upon the opposite side of the room and beside Aiden's bed now. His hand reached easily downward to grasp that blue rubber ball he largely suspected belonged to Tobias from the bedside table before teleporting back to stand beside that couch once more. That ball held upward within his fingers, one eye raising just so as he regarded Aiden then.

"Do you fancy a game of catch?"

He so hardly waited for that answer then, that ball thrown toward the other side of the room. Matteo almost curious, really, to see if Aiden had mastered that skill enough to move quickly enough to capture that ball before it hit the ground, let alone to right himself in time and space correctly so as not to prevent his own collison with the wall in turn. How curious he was to see how much Aiden had mastered and too- how he enjoyed the idea of sharing that power with him. Matteo watching for any attempt the other man might make to throw that ball somewhere else in the room.

"Tell me, Mon Amie. How far can you travel? Can you take others with you? What are your limitations?"


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