He felt right at home. With the lush carpet beneath his feet and the fine silks atop the bed, the room felt right, perhaps even more a home than his own for that house still belonged to his fatherāto Hiran, the man whose name he bears between his first and last. And the man never lets him forget it. But this room was his and his alone, from floor to ceiling, wall to wall his own. And it was a glorious feeling to have something of his own. A place untouched by lesser men. A place where Matthew was unburdened by his brothers. A place to spread his wings and soar out from under dark and looming wingspan of dear olā dad.
After a shower, he secured his phone into the dock by his bedside and dressed quickly. Black slacks and a golden jacket with a matching bowtie he neednāt even look in the mirror to complete having mastered the knot so long ago. It was effortless, this look of perfection, this elegance resting upon his shoulders. And there was no other way to start out a night, a celebrationĀ like that of a taste of scotch and so he strode across theĀ room to pour himself a glass only to stop dead in his tracks at a knock to his door.Ā
Well you look fucking important.
He chuckled, hand resting against the doorframe as the other ran along the edge of his jaw, eyes drawing down the frame of what he could only assume was another agent.Ā
āWell, youāre right on both counts,ā a playful smirk spread across his face, āMyselfĀ and the suit are very important.ā Rather rough around the edges and utterly hopeless when it came to fashion, it was the least he could do to take pity on the poor boy and he ushered him inside.Ā āBut Iām always happy to help,ā the lie slipped from his lips as easily as a snake slithers through grass. Generous was not the word that came to mind when people, including himself, thought of him, but itās always better to have someone owe you a favor than you owing them one.
Thereās a smile that comes at the end of it all, but it wavers.Ā
Thereās a certain appeal to the man standing before him, a kind of presence that demanded attention and interest, that made Cade fairly sure that this was someone he ought nought make an enemy out of. The smirk on the otherās lips was so confident, and it made Cade feel as though he was being examined.
It was unsettling, to be near someone so settled.
Slipping past the doorframe, he sucked in a long breath of air as he took in the bedroom. It wasnāt altogether too much different from his own, though where Cadeās felt to him like dangerous foreign territory, it was immediately clear that his counterpart had found a home among the four walls. Looking at his standing there now, ease donned and chest light, Cade feels desperately out of place.
He feels like his spine has crumbled.Ā
Suppose Iāll have to get used to that.
He swallows, Adamās apple bobbing up and down as his brow furrows.
He steps away from the other agent, moving closer towards the open closet. āI donāt suppose we could find me a suit with a label in English,ā he says, eyes skimming over the various languages donning the labels. āI was good at languages in school, but never saw much of a point to French.ā He was broader, if only slightly, than his new friend, but it was possible one of the ones hanging there would fit him. If they didnāt, he feared heād have to go back to that awful room filled to the brim with expensive silks and embroidered finery.Ā
The costume room, Charlie had dubbed it. Eventually, heās sure that it will suit the mask Cade is still learning.Ā
Chaplin. He was still getting used to the taste of his new name on his tongue, learning the ins and outs of those two syllables, trying to make a home out of them the way Cade hadnāt been in a long time.Ā
āOr is that too much to ask?ā
