Page 74 of Brave Truth

She sniffed loudly, then rummaged in her purse for a large handkerchief, burying her face in it. Matty made himself stay quiet and settled. When she didn’t look up again, he said, still holding his voice level and calm, “I’d apologise for not telling you, but I think we both know it wouldn’t have gone well if I had. I didn’t expect him to be as public as he was Sunday, but he checked beforehand, and I’m glad he was. He’s doing something tremendously challenging, and giving it his best, with an eye to helping a lot of people, including you and Dad. I’ll not get in the way of that.”

“But you— we raised you better than that. Have you...”

“Did you ever know me to date a woman?” Matty said, sparing both of them any chance of her coming up with some insulting term. It took her aback.

“Florrie...” Her voice trailed off.

“That was Don. Briefly. He didn’t stick with her either. I wish her well, but you’ve got no chance of my coming back to London to live, whatever else happens.” That much, he was going to be clear about. “London, my preferences could get me in gaol. I’m right at the average age for it, last time I did the maths.”

He spread his hands. “I’m the son you have. You can decide what to do about it. What you choose will matter in how often you see me, or where. I’m not going to be difficult about it on the street or anything like that. I’ve been keeping who I fancy from you since I was fourteen. If you’d not found out now, probably could have done it the rest of my life.” If he hadn’t actually gone and fallen for someone he wanted to make a life with, whatever that actually looked like.

Mum sniffled once more, then put the handkerchief in her lap, her hands a little shaky. “Where did you, how— I don’t even know what I’m asking.”

“How about I tell you what I’d tell you if it was the sort of girl you’d rather?” Matty went on without waiting for an answer. “We met because Claudio was the representative for the Penelopes at one of my weekly meetings. The one I’ve been running. I had—” He had to think about how to put this. “I had a bad moment after one of them. He made sure I was all right enough after. Checked in a couple of days later. He noticed. That was the thing. Someone needing a hand.”

“And he’s— I mean. Council.” There was a note of something like awe in her voice. The thing was, the awe wasn’t wrong. For all Claudio hadn’t told details— anyone yet, except maybe a bit to Gabe earlier today— Matty understood the awe. Something tremendous had happened during his Challenge, something that had loosened over-tightened bands around his heart and his magic and his sense of self. And then there was the political power and influence that came with the Council, hard to measure but always right there.

“He is, yes. Raised to it, and that’s all sorts of complicated, but he cares about doing the thing right. He has ideas for making things better. For folks in all sorts of places, including London.” They’d touched on that much, in the time they’d had, though Claudio had noted it was going to take getting others on the Council to agree, and that was going to be a project and a half.

“And you and he...” Mum hesitated. She certainly was not the kind to get into crude details. Matty, for his part, had quite pleasant and recent memories of various bits of energetic and vigorous buggery he would have to avoid mentioning or showing. Here, he could be grateful that he was talking to his own mum and not to Claudio’s mother. She would likely have figured out a fair bit of it from three expressions and an angle of his foot. Probably.

“We enjoy our time together in a range of ways. Normally, we’d be at a pub by now. Bohort, watching it. His friends get up pickup games sometimes. When things settle down, they’ll have me play. He’s got a regular poker game. I might get dealt in next time.” Matty shrugged. “Fair bit of reading and talking through matters at work. He knows a lot of things I don’t, or from a different angle. I like that.”

“And your flat.” Her eyes narrowed.

Matty spread his hands, this time willing to be a bit conciliatory. “We’re in no rush to do anything in particular. My lease runs through the end of December, as it stands.” That seemed about right to figure out what was next, whatever that looked like, honestly. “I’ve met his son, quite enjoy listening to him talk about what he’s learning. I’ll meet his daughter sometime. His ex-wife’s fine with it. We just hadn’t found a good time that wouldn’t interfere with other plans before now. But she knows about me. She has since the first bits of gossip came out.”

Mum sighed. “You’re not going to do the decent thing, are you?”

“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.”