Not This Week

Posted on Mon Jun 9th, 2025 @ 10:42 by Matteo Beneventi & Phoebe Hunter

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Phoebe's room, Avalon Institute
Timeline: Early morning
2242 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

It wasn't really a surprise to Matt that he'd failed to drop off to sleep.

He'd never picked up the knack for much more than napping at the best of times; sleep allowed his power too much opportunity to fluctuate, which wasn't necessarily a problem when he could guarantee that he was alone but he ran the risk of being accused of trespassing, or worse, if he dropped off in mixed company. He and Leo had come up with a system that had worked pretty well and it had been a while, at least, since he'd started the day with no idea where he was going to end up come evening, but old habits died hard. He made do with shorter rest breaks and an inordinate amount of caffeine.

On this particular occasion, Matt was less concerned that the person in the bed beside him would have a panic attack about his presence, though he would have been lying if he'd said the possibility didn't still taunt him. It was difficult to relax when defenses had already been breached once and his loyalties were torn between his kid brother several corridors over and the redhead currently ensuring that the only part of him that technically counted as 'falling asleep' was his trapped arm. The urge to pace back and forth between both rooms was a powerful irritant, enough that Matt had actually stopped trying to sleep and had instead resorted to staring up at the shadows, determined to use the time to come up with some sort of means of being useful once the morning routines kicked in. He could hold his own in a normal fist-fight but mutants pitted against mutants left him with an entirely different arsenal. In the dark recesses of his mind, darkness shifted and offered a reminder.

He was doing his best to ignore it.

Phoebe sighed in her sleep as she rolled onto her back. Her sleep had been deep but barely restful if she was honest as she awoke more and blinked confused for a moment as she stared up at the same shadows before she smiled sleepily at the man next to her. She curled up on her side and lay her head on his chest. “Hello you.” She said her American accent just slipping out enough to be noticeable instead of her usual London accent.

"It's too early for you to be awake," Matt murmured, curling his arm to stroke his fingertips through the ends of her hair. "How's the pain?" Getting up to grab more painkillers meant disrupting the peace but, as always, his mind jumped to the practical first once it got over the initial hurdle of waiting for disorientation. It was promising, at least, that even in her current state, Phoebe hadn't taken long to make sense of their situation and recognition went a long way to releasing some of the tension Matt had been subconsciously amassing whilst he laid there.

“I’m okay.” She quickly assured, not really feeling any pain, but she felt so comfortable cuddling against him, half asleep, that it did not matter there and then. “I know, but I woke up.” She offered, wondering what he was doing awake. “What about you, hmm? How come you are awake?” She wondered, opening her eyes to look up at him a little better in the dark room.

"Force of habit." It wasn't entirely the truth but a tendency to sleep lightly and on high alert had been a feature of Matt's early life for so long that it didn't seem like an overly bold claim to make. A gentle half-smiled encouraged a lack of concern, followed by the peck of a kiss to her forehead for added reassurance. "That and I'm not the one that went several rounds with a psychopath. Switching the brain off isn't happening tonight."

"I am alive." She said softly as if it was the reason he should rest and switch his brain off, but she knew it was not that simple. "I survived and I am right here, so please get some sleep, hmm? The next few days are going to be busy." She did not need her abilities to know that.

There wasn't a lot of point in arguing. He wasn't awake out of choice, not really, and the more Matt had tried to fall asleep, the more his brain had just found excuses to thwart his attempts. "This is still more rest than I'd be getting on my own," he murmured, settling his chin atop her head. Ordinarily, when insomnia plagued him, Matt used the time to work on his bike or, more recently, on various jobs the new house still had lined up for him. Lying about in bed had always seemed like a waste but there was purpose to it now. As long as she was in arm's reach, he could at least reassure himself that Phoebe was not wandering into harm's way without him again.

Phoebe closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Well, in that case, I am glad I am providing the excuse for some type of rest, Matt." She whispered, snuggling against him a little more. "I am sorry that I have been so secretive. I have brought you into this, and you do not even know the full story or everything." She finally said into the darkness.

Once or twice, their conversations had circled around the topic of disclosure. It was enough that Matt, who may not have thought too deeply on the matter otherwise, had drawn the conclusion that Phoebe was more than just a history teacher. It wasn't unusual for mutants to have complicated histories, his had moments that didn't exactly reflect the impression of a harmless loner just trying to stick things out for his kid brother. The more he understood of Phoebe's powers, the less likely it seemed that she had lived any kind of ordinary life, and returning from a fight that she had clearly, if not won, at least not lost was kind of the icing on the cake. Lack of information mattered more because it didn't give him the necessary warning to act but Matt at least understood it. Life got complicated sometimes.

"If it's safer I don't know, I guess I'll take it." It didn't safer all things considered but, sometimes, ignorance was a decent defense.

"It is safer for now, but if I knew that you were going to get so involved in all of this, I would have... I would have approached all of this differently. I do not want to change this moment or these feelings, but I would explain to you and taken the time to explain more about me." She admitted, slowly turning around painfully to lay her chin on his chest, looking at him. "But one thing I should tell you... You know that Robin Hood guy? The one that was on the television?" She questioned softly.

His had never been an expression prone to elaboration. Anonymity didn't really require the development of outward communication signals and it was fair to say that, unless he intentionally relaxed normal reflexes, Matt was about as easy to read as a wall of hieroglyphs. There was a chance his eyes would give him away, which may have been why he lived in sunglasses when out amongst crowds, but here in the intimacy of another's bedroom, lit up by only the thin stream of moonlight through a crack in the drapes, they were almost too black to fathom at all, let alone gauge any sort of reaction from. His tone, however, carried the slightest hint of surprise. "Mutant Master-race guy? I usually turn him off, but sure."

“He is my ex.” She said wincing at how admitting that to Matt of all people was scary. “Me and him were involved for two years or so about three years ago until he used my abilities to free a prisoner from mutant jail. He is a mimic.” She used the words she used with Claire as they were safe words, words that were calm and collected.

The hand combing through her hair faltered just long enough to obvious. It was a hesitation Matt couldn't retract, at least partial justification for Phoebe's concerns, though as usual there was no immediate outburst. After several seconds passed, his fingertips grazed her shoulder again and the rhythmic caress continued as if never interrupted. It wasn't a flamboyant confession, there weren't even any immediate grounds to consider it one at all given the complexity of deciding whether Phoebe could actually be held accountable for any sort of wrongdoing. How many of them could pick apart their histories to identify moments of shame? There was implication, at least, of a line drawn in the sand that matched his opinion of her and Matt found himself strangely docile, caught in the act of trying to avoid being affected by the news at all until he could figure out whether he needed to be.

"And an opportunist, by the sound of it."

“He is certainly something.” Phoebe sighed softly not moving in his arms even as his fingertips caressed her reassuringly she tried to not break the moment or anything. “He had not always been so extreme but our paths deviated when he became that and I became this. The only time we have crossed paths since I left without a word was Halloween.” She revealed. “He has nothing to do with this current chaos… well not yet.” She sighed thinking of the letter.

It was a case, Matt decided at a time where making decisions seemed fraught with difficulties, of not really knowing why she was telling him now. An inability to arrive at a reason for that meant he couldn't pick a response that was guaranteed to land well. If this was preparing him for the likelihood of this man's interference, and the dangers he presented, then that seemed as much an attempt to provide him with some form of defense as anything, despite the potential for contradiction in her last reassurance. He somewhat suspected it was more personal than that, however, or perhaps a blending of prior warning and what sounded like guilt. Matt could understand this not being an association to be proud of, he just wasn't sure why now had become time for the big reveal.

"Fertile ground at the moment," he ventured into the safer territory of logical consequence. "I suppose it'd be much easier to recruit when the whole country is already painting targets on people's heads."

"Yes, I can imagine his band of merry men will grow with all of this happening." She sighed softly. "I try not to think on him so I can not predict his future as he always gave me a headache in moments of his changing his mind. But Matt, if you ever see him or there is a mere mention of him being close... run." She said softly. "I do not want to lose you."

"You're not going to lose me." It was, of course, a difficult thing to promise but it was a response that very neatly avoided more practical reassurances, such as the direction Matt's feet would take if the self-appointed visionary got within striking range. That was a complicated prospect, and knowing the man's powers certainly added a layer of risk, but Matt was not without his own stubborn streak and certainly wasn't so devoid of pride that he couldn't see an eventuality where his own powers trumped any attempt at subverting them. For the time being, he could probably agree not to go looking for the guy. The fingertips tracing lazy circles over Phoebe's shoulder sought to pacify them both in that regard at least.

"I better not. No idea how you snuck in after Robert, but you did and... well... here we are and I like this." The woman said, snuggling down just a little more as she relaxed again, trying to calm down. He was reassuring her enough that her body was feeling heavy again.

It was enough to circle Matt's thoughts back around to Phoebe's earlier confession, one that still remained unreciprocated. He'd thought about that a lot too, lying there with nothing else to do but chase complications around in his head, and wasn't a whole lot closer to resolving how he felt about it. In many ways, that seemed secondary to whether he ought being doing a better job of protecting Phoebe from the potential downfalls of trying to keep him around, and once again it became simply easier to hide behind the sincerity of this not really being a good time to talk about it. A wry half-smile preceded a kiss planted amongst the tousle of ginger hair and Matt settled his hand so that his caress switched to the slow rub of a flat palm. "I'm not going anywhere." The reassurance was as much for his benefit as hers. "Try get some more sleep."

"Better not." The woman said sleepily. It was nice to have a movement like this, even if it was the middle of the night, and her head hurt more than she had ever experienced, and she had been in some pretty intense situations before. "Please get some sleep too, Matt." She requested. "I do not plan to die this week."