Living Arrangements

Posted on Sat Nov 23rd, 2024 @ 9:04 by Matteo Beneventi & Phoebe Hunter

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Phoebe's rooms
Timeline: Saturday evening, January 30th, 1993
1519 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

Phoebe had left Matt to speak to his brother and gave him directions on how to find her afterwards. She glanced around the space that she was living in and frowned that it was not much but it was the first place in years that was hers and she had enjoyed in getting things from Argos and BHS to make it completely hers to prove to herself and Claire that this was where she wanted to be. She glanced up a moment before a gentle knock sounded and quickly opened the door to let the man in though she had told him to just come in when he was finished.

“Hey… just come in.” She offered knowing they needed to have a discussion about the living arrangements.

The tousled head of a rather weary-looking ex-bartender poked its way around the door, intent on scanning the room before he committed to intruding. As much as it hadn't caused any regrets so far, the castle had already proven to be far busier than Matt was typically fond of, especially as Leo had taken only a few moments to get over his initial reservation about having his big brother so close-by and insisted on a guided tour. He'd met people he was sure he'd never recall the names of and though he'd escaped eventually to deal with the limited belongings he'd brought with him, Matt had still been left with the impression that finding an actual rosebush to hide in once in a while might not be a terrible idea. He smiled faintly, still holding onto the door as he shuffled partially in without wanting to take liberties. "That took a little longer than I expected, apparently I needed to see every last square inch."

“Come in.” Phoebe instructed firmer taking his hand tugging him inside and closed the door behind him. “That is not a bad thing though? Sounds like he was happy with the change.” She said sitting down on the couch so they could sit together.

"He was annoyed for about five minutes," Matt confessed, allowing himself to be dragged and instantly taking the hint. Sinking down into the cushions, he took note of the fact its dimensions made it cosy even for two and swung an arm behind to open up his stance. "Until he decided all his friends would probably forget about me anyway." The mutant huffed a soft laugh, finding it virtually impossible to be offended by a preteen's logic. "This is nice," he added, lifting his gaze to the ceiling. "Not as cold as I thought it might be."

Phoebe found herself laughing at Leo's logic. It was brutal but after teaching the boy for the last six months he saved that brutality for his older brother. "The boiler is pipes run through this area. I picked this room purposely. I've lived on the south coast all my time other than when I was much younger in America I was not prepared for how cold it would be up here." She admitted. She also wondered if it was warmer here because of Johnathon being her neighbour but she did not want to assume. "That is certainly a way to look at things. What did you say? Did you explain about me?"

There was something about the way Matt scrunched up his face that seemed undecided. "Yes and no," he eventually settled on before holding up a hand in his own defense. "Not for want of trying, but I got as far as saying that I'd been spending a lot of time with his history teacher lately and the little git shut me down." Matt laughed, a sound that was genuine in his affection for the young boy and all the more poignant for being rare. "I think he knows, he'd just prefer to play dumb."

"Well, you tried." She praised and smiled as she lowered his hand. "He has had a lot of change and most likely does not want anymore right now. I am sure he will stop playing jump eventually." Phoebe said hopefully. "So that now leaves us..." She said taking the plunge knowing no matter what he picked they would be okay.

"This is your space," Matt pointed out gently. "I feel like the decision should mostly be yours, I have no expectation that you give up your independence. That being said," he added, "I have no objection to crashing on your couch." A tiny glimmer of mischief, the playfulness that only she seemed to provoke, caused his eyes to twinkle. The mental image of him trying to stretch his bulk out on the cozy two-seater was decently amusing. "Why don't we play the safe and sensible adult card and take the offer of guest quarters, with the understanding that I don't have to sleep there every night."

“Okay. That sounds acceptable want me to show you the guest quarters or do you want to just chill out for a little bit?” She wondered quietly, turning on the couch a little to curl against him.

Leaning forward to press his face into her hair, Matt murmured, "I think you just answered that yourself."

“You know something, I think you’ll going to enjoy meeting some of the people who live here.” She said falling a little into the comfortable quietness of the television playing some random documentary on channel 3.

Having long-ago perfected the art of zoning out in front of the television, Matt roused and blinked himself awake as he considered the prospect. "I've served some of them at the pub," he recalled, "And Leo talks about a few. Are there any in particular you want me to meet?"

"Tom." She whispered realising she had never overly spoken about him. "One of my oldest friends. He knew me far back at university." She said making it sound like years and years instead of just five years or so ago. "And William. I think you will like him."

They weren't wholly unfamiliar names but Matt had grown accustomed to Phoebe's tendency to brush over school matters when they were together, having arrived at the conclusion that she tended to view their time together as an excuse to forget about work and the mounting responsibility that came with fostering young mutant minds. With that in mind, he realised how much of an adjustment it was going to be for her not to have such an easy escape and wondered how much she minded. "Are they expecting me?," he queried, gentle in his humour, "Or do I get to be a big surprise?"

"Oh, they have no idea so you get to be a surprise," Phoebe assured. "But anyone who lives here will be great for you to meet. They will find you interesting." She smiled, thinking of what Cameron would think of someone with his abilities before she got that sense of doom she sometimes got that made being in the man's presence impossible sometimes.

As much as his brother's expectations that the castle's occupants would likely slip back and forth between blissful ignorance of the older mutant's presence were slightly exaggerated, Matt couldn't deny a sense of curiosity regarding his inevitable niche. He maintained enough control that he could be reasonably certain nobody would actually forget he existed but with the way things seemed likely to go, a natural tendency to favour the background was going to render him an oversight more often than not if he had any capacity to predict the future. It wouldn't bother him but he did wonder how Phoebe would cope with it. "We'd better find me something useful to do then, before you have to start introducing me as your personal gigolo."

"That is not such a bad thing." Phoebe teased nudging before she lay her head against his shoulder and just sighed softly. "You are where you are meant to be but I will introduce you to anyone you want as whatever you want." She assured closing her eyes for a moment just savouring this moment.

"Something to worry about tomorrow," Matt suggested. He gestured towards the small portable television with his foot, noting the VCR attached to it. "Do you have time for a movie night?" Usually, if Phoebe was present, it was because she'd taken time for herself. Now, Matt realised, he was going to have to be more intentional about figuring out how her time was allocated. "I just need pointing in the direction of a guest room to dump my stuff and then my evening's free. Nobody could accuse you of hiding if you're entertaining company, right?"

"I would love that." A movie would keep her in the here and now more so than his presence did. "Come on then I will show you where the guest rooms are." She pushed up from the sofa in a weary way and offered him her hand.

"The smallest one will do," Matt reassured, allowing himself to be hauled to his feet. A rare twinkle of mischief lit up his dark eyes. "Something tells me I won't be spending much time there anyway."