Chapter 46 #2
“Not the one you mean, no,” Matty stayed firm. “Like I said, you get to decide what you do about who I am. That’ll decide whether I come see you on a Sunday. If I stay for the entire meal. You know how to be decent, Mum. I know that. Whatever you might prefer I’d chosen.”
“And there’s really no hope for— something else? Something normal?” Mum sounded like she was going down towards pity now.
“I’m what I am, Mum. And I like this me a lot better than I did six months ago.
I feel—” He hesitated. “Claudio makes me reach for something better. Want things to be better. I think that’s good.
Now, shall I walk you down to Portal Square?
You go home, talk to Dad, and let me know if you still want me to come out on Thursday to talk things through more. ”
She sighed, but he’d won. He could tell.
Inasmuch as this was a battle. Maybe he’d talk that through with Orion when he got a chance.
She paused to drink the tea while Matty wrote a quick note to Claudio letting him know he’d be at the pub and it had been, well, not as bad as it could be.
When she was done, he took down the privacy charm and cleared the mugs.
Then he let Harlow know they were on their way out.
She gave him a sympathetic nod. The cleaning lady had come through with her cart, so the mugs were easy.
He walked Mum back downstairs, through the streets, waiting in the queue with her until she went back to London. At least the London portal cycled fairly promptly. It was always one with people waiting. That done, he came back down to Urania’s Apples.
He paid attention as he walked. There was always a chance someone would be difficult.
Harassment of various kinds, Claudio had warned him about that.
So had Orion and interestingly, Hypatia.
By the time he slid into a seat at a table, he was exhausted.
He could feel the slight damp of sweat under his arms and against his back, under his jacket.
A couple of people stopped by to nod and have a word, including Treeve, but none of them lingered.
He claimed a paper from York and spent time reading it, sometimes going over the same bit five or six times due to lousy concentration.
Claudio wrote by journal nearly at eight that he was on his way.
He walked in at quarter past, and a fair two thirds of the room made it clear they’d spotted him.
No one was quite so obvious as to hoot and holler, but there were various calls that tumbled over each other.
“Warren” and “Congrats” and “Remember the little folk, right?” Nothing that made the queerness the point of the thing, but everything made it central.
Claudio paused a couple of times on the way to his table to speak to one person or another.
York immediately brought over a cider as Claudio slid into the chair next to Matty, foot touching foot.
“I’d say on the house, but you’re posh. You won’t miss the coin.” York was teasing.
Claudio snorted and pulled out his wallet, sliding a couple of larger coins across.
“Round’s on me. And another, sometime later, yeah?
Spread it out.” That was beyond generous, but as York had said, Claudio had the money.
“I don’t think we’re inclined to do anything that draws too much attention here or outside your door, but you let us know if there’s something to be careful of. ”
“Quiet discretion’s best for the rest of us, yeah.” York relaxed a hair. “Figured you’d understand.”
“We no longer have the same Tuesday meeting.” Claudio said softly.
“Might shift around our habits a bit. I’ll drop a note when we know more?
” York nodded and left them to it. Claudio stretched slightly.
“So, my mother completely surprised me. Here’s not the place to talk about it.
Are we going to your place or mine tonight? ”
Matty was about to swallow cider and put it down. “Getting right to the core, aren’t you?” He considered the options. “Your bed is bigger. But we should talk about, um. Habits, there?”
“Mine tonight, then, and we’ll talk about it.
I’ll want to be there tomorrow, delighted to have you with me, not sure what my mood’s going to be like.
Or anything else. I’ve got to sort out how I’m going at tomorrow’s meeting.
But Mother made a real effort. The kind she hasn’t ever shown me, not like that. Yours?”
“Shamed her sufficiently into being decent for the moment, even if she didn’t much want to. Dad wrote me a note over lunch today. I told her to go home and talk to him and decide if I was coming on Thursday. If I do, I’ll be ready to leave. You— do you mind?”
“Glad to go lurk somewhere handy. There’s a lending library not too far away, right? You said. I can keep myself busy in a library just fine.” Claudio sounded entirely relaxed about that part. “And if it’s horrible, we can go to Fairlight.”
“Having an alternative feels good,” Matty admitted. “People who will be glad to see us. Both of us. As we are.”
“Like that.” Claudio agreed. “All right. That’s the immediate planning. I desperately need a drink, and just people not being immediately challenging on a dozen levels and also completely confusing.”
Matty eyed Claudio thoughtfully. “She got you good, didn’t she? Does Cammie need to bite her?”
“No. That’s the confusing part.” Claudio shook his head, a little like a dog shaking water out of its fur. “Might wake up at three am and go off to my study and— I don’t know. Feels like that. Sorry if I wake you, I’m not used to having to think about that.”
“You probably will. It’s not like I’m a heavy sleeper most of the time.
But that’s fine. I can roll over and go back to sleep.
” Two could be practical here, and the bed was, in fact, quite an inducement to that sort of response.
Also it was a good argument for being at Auctoritas, where Claudio had an office and sitting room he could lurk in without keeping Matty up.
“Here, I was reading the bohort predictions for the coming year.” The leagues mostly ran from September to the end of June, and the Faire, with a break in July and August for harvest and holidays and all that. “You need to eat something, yeah?”
Claudio looked down at the table, then grimaced.
“Yes, please. I didn’t before. And then it was...
” He was at a loss for words. Matty shook his head, signalled York, ordered food for Claudio that he was likely to eat, and some more chips for himself.
That would do to be going on with. One step at a time, especially right now.