Matteo

It's tough to be a god

It was hardly difficult to guess at the thoughts that turned with a tormenting fury within the mind of his son. Matteo needing no true gifts nor affinity for the future to understand that very torment that so afflicted his child now in those moments in which Aiden, at last, pulled gently away from him to rest agianst that bathroom wall. The Panther pulling the blanket more firmly around him in some desperate effort to keep the chill of the bathroom tiles at bay as Matteo had intended. Aiden, in that moment, so pulled away from him in more than one way and yet the Frenchman saw little need to attempt to prevent the beginnings of Aiden's retreat well into the depths of his own mind. A place, the Fae suspected, that he would find little comfort for a time all the same. The metaphorical wounds of this very night still far to fresh. Sleep, he suspected, would do the other man at least some measure of good. That utter exhaustion was near desperately clear upon Aiden's face. His body, despite its healed state, still suffering that fatigue in near the same fashion as his mind. Sleep, if nothing else, would make the world a little more bearable then it surely was in that moment in which Father and Son merely sat upon those cold, bloodied tiles and so attempted to salvage those pieces of Aiden's very will to live.

How very broken Aiden was tonight. This far, far worse than it had been in so very long. That very pain in Matteo's own chest at the sight of his son having become a near unbearable aching that threatened to see those tears well within his own eyes if only for that raw, burning pain of seeing something, someone, he loved so fiercely reduced to something barely alive. To a shell of a man. That work to repair him, tonight, seeming almost overwhelming even for the near ancientFae whom had surely helped Aiden stitch himself back together time and again. Had Aiden even any metaphorical thread left to stitch together any longer? Perhaps it hardly mattered. Matteo assured he would have given the boy his own if only to see some semblance of Aiden return. That very evidence of just how he had failed to protect his own son lingering before his very eyes. What good was it, any of it, if he still could not protect the ones he loved most? Matteo's own sigh fell softly from him then, the Frenchman refusing to allow his own emotions, for now, to rise to the surface with the other man needed him far to much to be that single and only pillar left to lean upon. Aiden's fear that Risque would return for him sooner rather than later was easily cast aside, Matteo insisting upon what he knew to be true- at least in this very moment- that the vampire woman was far, far more taken with her preparations for war then worrying over her favoured pet. Aiden, he suspected, so hardly even hearing his words as the man simply continued to stare at those tiles upon the floor. Matteo hardly bothering to repeat them. A shower, perhaps, was a good place to start. The Frenchman rose smoothly from that place upon the floor to hold his hand down to Aiden then. The boy, thankfully, managing to reach for it off his own occured and allow himself to be pulled gently to his feet.

Matteo stepped but briefly away from the Panther then to turn on the water of that shower, that heat and steam rising readily to chase away the cold of the room as Aiden moved almost sluggishly towards it. The shower, it seemed, at least managing to hold some allure for the man and yet- Aiden so hardly seemed aware of the notion that blanket was still wrapped about him. That soft utterance of the man's name prompted him to pause, Aiden at last seeming to realise his folly before letting that blanket fall and stepping into the shower. Matteo left to deal with the rest of the bathroom. The blanket was picked smoothly up from the floor. The Frenchman summoning another burst of his own waning powers to clean that blanket and restore it to its original condition before stepping from the bathroom to lay it upon Aiden's bed. It was a simple task to summon that mop then before stepping back into that steam filled bathroom, Matteo, tonight, content to clean that room in that simple, mundane, old-fashioned manner if only to allow his own body to recharge from the use of those restorative powers and too for the simple distraction it provided his own mind from that ache that still clung to his chest. His voice rose above that shower then. The Frenchman offering that sleeping draught though Aiden afforded him no answer. Matteo, for a moment, paused in his own cleaning to eye that shower. Aiden's figure barely visible through that frosted glass and yet the man simply appeared to be...standing there.

"Aiden?"

He had hardly anticipated an answer and indeed so hardly received one. Matteo's own features frowned softly before that mop was lent agianst the wall, the Frenchman crossing the room then to gently reach out and slide that shower door back. His silver gaze momentarily resting on Aiden's figure as the man simply lent agianst the shower stall, that water running over him and yet hardly removing that more sticky, dried blood.

"Oh, Aiden, come now....."

That emotion, ever so briefly, promoting that very crack within his own voice and yet he was quick to swallow it, to force it downward, to wipe away that wetness at his own gaze as if the steam had momentarily bothered him. A singular, soft sigh fell from his lips once more. Matteo lifting one hand to run through his hair in contemplation of that next action. Aiden was so hardly child any longer and yet, tonight, the man's ability to care for himself had all but fled. Aiden, he suspected, cared for nothing in that moment. Matteo so simply taking up that care for him. After all- was it not what parents did? No matter how old their children became? It was with that single, silent resolve that the Frenchman so stepped within that shower in turn, that water near instantly soaking him and yet he paid it little as he reached for that sponge.

"You know, Mon Amie, the shower so often works better if we use this."

He held that sponge but briefly upward before gently reaching to grasp Aiden's left arm, Matteo so beginning to wash away that blood for him. His own clothed figure was thoroughly drenched now, his hair stained dark from that water and plastered to his own face as he reached for that second arm in turn to beginning washing away the blood that clung to it. Matteo determined to wipe away every stain and blemish and mark of this very night. That sponge easily found Aiden's chest and back and shoulders and neck and anywhere else the near ancient Fae could reach before the sponge itself was pressed back into Aiden's hand.

"Below the waist, I think, is for you to do. Turn the water off when you are done, alright?"

That warm simper so found his lips then by way of gentle encouragement, Matteo steeping from that shower then to leave Aiden to at least make some attempt to finish that very task. The Frenchman reached for one of those towels upon the rack, Matteo making every effort to dry himself as much as he was able, his shoes near sloshing with every step all the same as he draped that towel around his neck and stepped back into Aiden's bedroom in pursuit of those pajamas. Just where on earth Aiden kept them another matter entirely. How very disorganised this room! It was some minutes later that the near ancient Fae so settled upon that pair of long cotton pajama pants and the loosest t-shirt he could find amongst Aiden's clothing. The pajamas were laid neatly on the bed just as the sound of that water shutting off so at last afforded him some indiction Aiden had either finished, or managed to stand for several more moments before remembering to turn the water off. Matteo reached for another of those towels then, the man gently pressing it into his sons hands as Aiden stepped from that shower.

"Your pajamas are on your bed, Aiden. Put them on. I am going to fetch Tobias and then, Mon Amie, you can sleep."

Those instructions were simple, direct, clear and so required no thought from the WereKing in any true sense. Matteo lingered still, for several moments, as if to assure himself Aiden intended to do as asked rather then merely collapse upon the floor once more before he tossed his own towel back into the bathroom and made his way from the room. For several moments that sodden Fae merely paused outside Aiden's room, his own figure leaning heavily back agianst the wall as his own exhaustion tugged potently at him. That worry for his son turning heavily within himself. That very fear that, this time, Aiden would not find his way back so wholly potent. That ache within himself seeming to burn all the more painfully along with that.....anger. That anger on Aiden's behalf at the very woman whom Aiden himself could not even summon the will to be angry at himself. Oh how she would pay for this very night- even if she hardly knew from whose hand that blow had come. That very hate within himself so near burning at his veins before he forced that exhale. There was...no time for revenge tonight. Not tonight. Not when Aiden needed him still. Matteo pushed himself smoothly away from that wall to move quietly into that very room next door where tobias and Raven slept. The Deviant boy, as he suspected, already awake in those moments he stepped into that room. Matteo whispering softly then.

"Tobias?"
Is...Tetra.....home?
"Yes, hush now, do not wake your Birdie. Do you want to come and see him now? He is very tired though, Mon Amir, so you can only see him for a little and then he is going to come home with me for a little while, alright?"
.....why? I....do not want......Tetra...to go...away from...me again.
"He will come back, I promise. Tetra, you see, needs some time to get better. He needs a very quiet place. The Ark is not very quiet is it, Mon Amie?"
I can...take care of...Tetra. I am...very good at it.
"I know you can, but you need to take care of the pack instead while Tetra is...on holiday. Can you do that?"

That indecision seemed to rage within that deviant boys mind. Matteo watching those dark eyes near intently as the young man seemed to process those very things he had been told. Aiden, despite his desire to stay in the Ark, was simply not capable of it. Matteo so having made that decision for him in the moments in which the WereKing had merely stood within the shower staring at those tiles. Chambord, for the next few weeks, a far better place for Aiden to recover- far from Risque's reach and her nightmares. Tobias' head abruptly nodded then, the gangly young man rising from where he had rested only to hurry over to a dresser and fish from within it a rather dirty toy dog that Matteo suspected had, once, been white. A pink ribbon adorned its head. A matching pink collar and leash tied around its neck. The Frenchman eyeing that toy curiously.

"What is that for, Tobias?"
It is...for Tetra...to borrow.....while he is...on holiday. It is...a good...protector. Tetra...gave him...to me. His name...is Charles.
"Ah, I see, come then. Bring Charles."
You are.....wet.
"I had a shower with my clothes on. Come on."

What on earth Aiden was going to do with a little white dog on wheels the Frenchman hardly knew and yet his silver gaze lingered but briefly upon that dresser the dog had come from. That very draw filled with...oddities Matteo suspected Aiden had, intentionally or otherwise, given Tobias over the years. The boy seemed to treasure each and every object within it. The dog, he suspected, something of a prized possession that would, in some fashion, mean more to Aiden then it did himself. Tobias, in his youthful energy, had already run from that room. Matteo shaking his head in ready defeat only to trail after the boy. The Frenchman so reached Aiden's bedroom just in time to see Tobias all but launch himself at his (hopefully dressed) companion. The pair near sure to go tumbling back onto Aiden's bed, Matteo's words of protest caught within his throat as he stepped into the room too late to prevent that affectionate embrace. Matteo, this time, content to linger near the door and afford Tobias that moment with his companion. The pair, finally, reunited. Tobias' arms wrapped around Aiden readily then in that hug. Aiden afforded that conclusive proof of his best friends continued state of life and clear health in that moment before Tobias pulled backward. Charles still clutched under one arm.

"I.....missed you.....Tetra. Tetra's....fancy friend.....drove me and....the car....home. I...wanted to.....come to......find you but....he said I.....had to wait. He said you....would be mad.....if I came to....get you from.....Syn. I do not.....like the....vampires."