Matt paused to eat a cookie as well, mulling over the questions as they came and buying some time. He'd never particularly liked talking about his childhood but he wasn't going to dodge out of it. It was just a question about where to begin.
"You know about my dad", was how he chose to eventually start. There was no hiding the bitterness in his voice even if he tried to conceal it as he talked about his father. Frequent disappearances, unexplained visitors, moving around and a certain cruelty in the man that had always been there - he'd never hit or beat either of them up, Matt or his mother. But he'd been good at putting them down. Had been impatient and disinterested with them but had given them money and the occasional affection that meant Matt had been upset when he left before that too had turned into bitter resignation.
He shrugged as he relayed this, not quite looking at Mohinder, slowly eating another cookie.
"I didn't want to be like him", he said after that. "Still don't. I guess that's when I figured, you know ... he's a criminal. Cops go after criminals, make sure they don't hurt anyone else. My dad - I don't think they ever got to him. Makes sense now, since he can do what I can do, but ... other people. I wanted to help put them away."
He'd figured it out when he was fairly young. In a subconscious way it was probably the furthest he could get from being his father, and that's why he clung to it, but mixed with that was a genuine desire to help people out.
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"You know about my dad", was how he chose to eventually start. There was no hiding the bitterness in his voice even if he tried to conceal it as he talked about his father. Frequent disappearances, unexplained visitors, moving around and a certain cruelty in the man that had always been there - he'd never hit or beat either of them up, Matt or his mother. But he'd been good at putting them down. Had been impatient and disinterested with them but had given them money and the occasional affection that meant Matt had been upset when he left before that too had turned into bitter resignation.
He shrugged as he relayed this, not quite looking at Mohinder, slowly eating another cookie.
"I didn't want to be like him", he said after that. "Still don't. I guess that's when I figured, you know ... he's a criminal. Cops go after criminals, make sure they don't hurt anyone else. My dad - I don't think they ever got to him. Makes sense now, since he can do what I can do, but ... other people. I wanted to help put them away."
He'd figured it out when he was fairly young. In a subconscious way it was probably the furthest he could get from being his father, and that's why he clung to it, but mixed with that was a genuine desire to help people out.