Matt and Sue: First Meetings (Backdated)

[x-invisiblegirl.livejournal.com]

Hoping for seclusion in the library Sue meets Matt and the two start talking leading to an outcome neither expected.

Silence, sheer glorious silence; it was the first thing Sue noticed as she shut the door to the library behind her. The Mansion was certainly big but it always seemed so crowded, with people coming and going all the time it was a little unnerving. She'd never shared a house with more than 3 people, let along actually sharing a room. It had all gotten a little much for the blonde so she had decided to try and find somewhere to get away from everyone and get herself together. She dragged herself over to the nearest chair and dropped down into it with a small sigh as she stared at the rows and rows of books. A sad smile appeared on the girls face, she thought was going to like it here, but it wasn't home.

"You okay?" Matt asked, he was seated a little ways away at a table trying to do some homework, Emphasis on the trying. He was incredibly distracted by everything at the moment. The heartbeat in the library was new and a little erratic. Apprehensive maybe? A new person could be interesting. Had he seen a new person on the journals? Had he been on the journals in the past day or so to notice? Maybe not....hm....?

Sue started at the sound of Matt's voice, she would have fallen off her chair if she hadn't caught hold of the table to keep herself off the floor. She had completely missed the red-haired boy busy working in his...homework when she had first come in. "I'm fine," she assured him a little too quickly shooting him a smile before she took in his dark glasses. "They said not many people use the library" she told Matt as she imagined what Johnny would say if he saw her inside on a day like this, "I just needed to...the people" she tried to clarify a little incoherently with a catch in her voice before couldn't keep speaking and just gestured at the outside door.

"Summer school means summer homework," Matt replied, feeling a little bad about scaring her, but not too much. "You're new here.  I'm Matt. And yeah, sometimes you gotta get away from it all. I'll not bother you if you want."

"I'm Sue," the girl replied after she had taken a deep breath and got herself under control. "I was just thinking about what my brother would do if he caught me inside on a day like this," she told Matt not entirely sure why she felt the need to explain herself. "What subject you studying?" she asked  walking over to Matt's table to look at his text books. She might have wanted to be alone when she decided to... well hide in the library, but now she had company she realized she didn't really want to be left completely alone.

"Oh. Algebra II. I hate it," Matt wasn't so good at math. His book, like all his text books, were in Braille. Because this was algebra, part of it was in nemeth code too, which was the braille version of mathematical symbols. Distraction was awesome. "What would your brother do, then?"

Sue walked around the table to look at Matt' textbook and stopped. She couldn't read the books, ofcouse she couldn't. Pulling out a nearby chair she settled down in it. "After calling me a nerd and moaning about how I need to get a life? Probably something loud and obnoxious until I chased him outside and then grin cause he got me outside." the girl laughed quietly at the image. "Why don't you like math?"

"Sounds like most people," Matt noted. That didn't seem like a brother-specific sort of trait. "It's hard for me to visualize it, you know?" he gestured vaguely to his face, "There's braille for math and stuff and the rules tend to make sense, but when I go to do it, it might as well be Swahili."

"I guess," Sue agreed, "family just really know how to push your buttons, you know." She looked down at the book and then back up at Matt, "I guess it would be difficult without being able to see it," she said hesitantly. She moved her chair closer to Matt staring at his books, "What's the problem you're working on?" she asked curiously.

"I guess..." Matt and his dad had annoyed each other sometimes, but he never had any siblings and his dad wasn't around now to know him as an adult at all. "Ah,you don't need to help me, but thanks. I'd rather do anything else pretty much. Like a root canal," he paused for a moment, realizing how that might sound, "I don't mean that you're as bad as a root canal! Just you know...don't wanna do math."

"I hope not," Sue replied with a laugh. It was one of the first genuine laughs of enjoyment she'd had since she arrived at the mansion. She pushed her chair back from the table slightly and turned to face Matt, "Fair enough," she continued gesturing at the books on the table, maths couldn't be everybody's favorite subject. "How long have you been at the mansion?" she asked curiously.

"Um..." that was a good question. "18 months?" he finally hazarded, "I was 15, then I turned 16, then 17. So yeah, about that. It's not so bad. Better than anywhere else I've lived," so that made it good, even if Matt didn't say that. "Where're you from?"

"City girl through and through," Sue replied with a grin. "I've lived in Midtown for about 8 years now. What about you, you said you've moved around a lot?"

"Sorta," Matt replied, "I'm from Hell's Kitchen," if she was from Midtown then she at least knew of the Kitchen. It was more commonly referred to by people that didn't live there as 'Clinton,' but he wasn't from the gentrified, restored Clinton. He was from down and dirty Hell's Kitchen and proud of it! "Been in foster care for a few years now though, so had different placements and all that. Foster homes, group homes, all that," he didn't mention juvie or rehab. "Been here the longest of all of them."

Sue had to think a moment before she could place Hell's Kitchen, "That's isn't that far from me," she pointed out. Perhaps only a few blocks but worlds apart in experience, Hell's kitchen was one of those places that her parents would kill her if she ever considered visiting. "What happened to your parents?" she asked hesitantly, "I mean you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." It was just she may hate her father right now, but Sue couldn't imagine living in a world without him.

"Never knew my mom," Matt replied easily, why should he get upset or self-conscious? Lots of kids had parents that walked away and his dad had always implied that there was more to it than simply that, though he had no idea what. "My dad died when I was 13," no need to get into too many details there. "Don't have any other family. You said you have a brother, right?"

"Yeah, Johnny my younger brother," Sue replied, curious about Matt's dad but unwilling to push her new friend too far. "He's almost 2 years younger than me, not that he ever does what I tell him to.."

"Do they ever?" Matt asked, amused. "I don't have any siblings, but I've found that kids reach this point where either they don't listen just because they're obnoxious or because they don't see you as an authority figure. Given that he's your brother, it's probably both," he'd had similar experiences in foster care.

Sue smiled, "No probably not, but you know. I can always live in hope, can't I? Knowing Johnny, it's definitely both of the above with a health does of, 'cause it annoys you' thrown in," she replied in an bemused tone of voice."Although come to think of it, my dad probably says the same thing about me." she added thoughtfully. "So you've been here a while, what's the mansion really like?"

That was a dangerous question. "It's pretty cool overall," Matt replied, "Food's good, classes aren't too bad, I don't have a roommate or even suitemates so that's pretty awesome, but you probably do, huh? They make everyone take basic self defense. And there's always something going on, like a prank or whatever. There's a lot to do."

"Yeah, I'm rooming with a girl called Layla," Sue informed Matt. "She's...fun. We went skateboarding when she found me. Well by skateboarding she kind of dragged me around and I fell over, a lot. Then she decided my name was Road Rash, does she do that a lot? Make up nicknames for people."

"Yeah," Matt nodded, "She grew up in the Kitchen, we went to school together for a while," he explained, "Back before everything. Anyways, she's given nicknames to just about everyone. She's pretty cool though. "

"She is," Sue agreed, "So you knew one another before you came here? It musta been nice to see her again when you both ended up here. So what's your nickname?" she asked shyly.

"I ah....don't have one," Matt grinned, "Guess Layla doesn't like me all that much. We weren't really friends when we were kids, but we knew each other. I mean, you know, boys and girls and cooties and stuff. Then she disappeared and I went blind and into foster care and so did she and all that," Matt shrugged, "We didn't reconnect until she came here."

Sue nodded sagely, "It's a well known fact that boys carry cooties," she teased Matt, "it's scientifically proven". He couldn't see but she had pasted an expression of utter solemnity on her face as if she was dispelling the gospel truth. Inside she was struggling not to burst out laughing. "Maybe she hasn't given you a nickname cause you're the last link to her past she has to hand? I mean how could anyone not like you?" she asked blushing slightly. Why had she said that, she had just met Matt.

Shifting slightly, Matt reached for his wallet in his back pocket and opened it to see if he had any money in it. Probably not. Sure enough, there was no money in the billfold. "Well, no one can claim I paid you to say that," he joked, putting it back. "Thanks. Maybe. I never really thought about having a nickname or not with Layla. Anyways, she's cool. Um, you're really nice," he was possibly the worst flirt ever. Ever. He was the only guy in school right now. Well, the only one in the high school. Flirting couldn't hurt and he had told Mr. Summers that he was going to be a pimp daddy. "I think you'll like it here."

"I hope so, it certainly seems like an interesting place to be" Sue agreed unconsciously echoing her meeting with Professor Xavier. "And thanks...you're pretty nice too," she replied smiling through the blush which refused to go away. Sue wasn't sure if he flirting with her, or just being nice. Unsure of what to do she cast her mind around trying to seize a new conversation topic.  "You don't have to pay me to say something nice when it's true you know," she teased Matt, "although if you want you could answer a question. What powers do you have?" That was always the question with new people, "Enhanced senses," Matt replied, "Except the obvious. I can use sound waves as a sort of radar, echolocation sort of thing too to give me an outline of my surroundings, kinda like a bat. Makes me slightly less blind, but useless for reading or watching TV and stuff. Still need Braille for that."

"So you can kinda see where I am?" Sue asked in a curious tone of voice, "How good is the echolocation? Can you see my expressions? Or just peoples limbs and their movements?" Sue hadn't realized how varied or interesting the powers at the mansion were. echolocation wasn't something she had ever expected to see here. "You said senses? What about your other ones, touch, taste & smell."

"Kinda," Matt agreed, "No expressions. Movement is best, sort of this...hazy sort of outline? No colours either," he missed colours, but oh well. "Yeah. All those. Enhanced senses tend to go with feral mutations usually, which I don't have. And they usually don't include taste, which mine does. So...." he shrugged, "I hate spicy food. Or anything too strong. Bland is good."

Sue turned in her chair to look at Matt sadly, he couldn't eat anything too strong. She couldn't imagine what that must be like, "What about touch?" she asked quietly. "Is your skin extra-sensitive too?" As she spoke she reached out her hand hesitantly hovering near Matt's, she wanted to touch him and see how he'd react but was scared to in case it was uncomfortable for him to be touched.

"Uh....sorta," Matt nodded. He turned his hand up though to meet hers, "It doesn't hurt to touch me or anything. Which is good since I use my hands a lot. And I don't bruise any easier or anything like that," he had really, really soft sheets though. And towels. "I just don't like itchy clothes." But then, who did like itchy clothes? Why did they even make itchy clothes?! That made no sense to him. "What's your power?"

All of a sudden Sue was glad Matt couldn't see her facial expressions or colors, her blush which had finally faded was threatening to come back now in full force. Taking a deep breath she shook her head, and smiled at Matt, "I can make forcefields," she replied brightly, "well that and turn invisible."

Blushes were something that he wasn't quite attuned to yet. In theory he could hear the blood rushing and whatnot, but that wasn't something he paid any attention to and it was more random background fuzz with his power control. When he had first gotten his powers he had heard every heartbeat like it was a drum in his head. No wonder he'd been put on painkillers back then. "Cool," Matt agreed. "Can you turn invisible now?"

"Sure," she agreed brightly letting go of Matt's hand, she really enjoyed doing this. Focusing for a moment she wrapped herself in a forcefield, the forcefield bent light around the girl making her effectively disappear. "Voila," she said with a grin.

"You're invisible?" Matt asked, confused. He could see her just as well now as he had been a moment ago. "You're right there," he reached out and poked her shoulder, fingers bouncing lightly off the force field. "Oh, huh."

Sue dropped the forcefield in shock, just staring at Matt. "You saw me?" she breathed, "but that impossible no-one..." Her brain finally caught up with reality, "Echolocation," she muttered to herself. "You could sense me?"

"Yeah," she hadn't gone anywhere to him. She'd been sitting next to him and hadn't moved. "Why? Am I not supposed to?"

"No-one ever has," Sue confirmed still slightly in shock. "I guess invisibility isn't all it's cracked up to be." she joked with a smile.

"Well...I guess if I looked with my eyes, you'd be invisible," Matt offered, unsure if he should console her or not, "but...eyes don't work so well. Sorry. Didn't mean to ruin your tricks."

Sue laughed softly, mainly at herself, "It's alright, it's actually kinda cool that you can see me even when I'm invisible. Everyone has to have someone who can neutralize their powers, besides it'll give me a goal to work on," she decided.

Matt blushed scarlet, the curse of red hair, "Well, it works on other people! So, it's not all bad. You can still fool them!"

Sue nodded, "This is true," she agreed solemnly before shooting Matt a grin. She knew he couldn't see her face, but maybe he could pick up on the action, it was only when she looked at him she noticed he was blushing. She quickly glanced down at the desk smiling shyly to herself before sneaking another glance at Matt, "What else can you pick up while I'm sitting here?" she asked curiously turning her chair to face him.

He couldn't see things like smiles, but he could usually tell from the tone of voice that someone was. He shrugged, "The usual? Heartbeat and all that. I can kinda tell if someone's lying, but not very well yet. I mean, not solely from their pulse and respiration. I'm working on it. Right now I rely on heartbeat and voice to tell me. But I'm learning!" It was pretty cool actually, that he would hopefully be able to do this eventually. "I've focused more on learning to control my powers and then using them to supplement my sight than anything else."

"That's awesome," Sue replied excitedly, "Being able to tell when people are lying must come in pretty useful." He has said he was still learning though, "If you ever need someone to practice with." she offered.

"Thanks," Matt wasn't sure quite how to take that. On the one hand, he thought Sue seemed pretty cool and wanted to hang with her more. On the other hand, it was sort of an odd thing to do, playing human lie detector. "I should probably get my homework done. But we can definitely hang more. If you want." He paused, "I uh...I'm grounded to the campus for the summer, but once I'm ungrounded we could go into town or something."

He was grounded? They grounded people here? Well it was a boarding school so she guessed that it was a pretty effective punishment. Then the rest of Matt's speech manage to percolate though Sue's brain, had...had he just asked her out? "I'd like that," Sue replied a little shyly. She was curious what Matt had done to deserve being grounded but figured she'd find out sooner or later. "I guess I should let you get back to work.

Had he just asked her out? Thinking back, yeah, he had. He hadn't really thought about it, but why not? Sue seemed really nice and stuff. Smiling, Matt pulled his books towards him, "Cool. And we can hang here and all that until then. There's plenty to do."