so in the comics, matt's mum leaves to become a nun after suffering postpartum depression. so here's my thoughts:
one day matt passes a room and he hears some nuns talking, and of course he's too polite to eavesdrop except it's so hard not to hear them, esp. bc one of them sounds upset, and matt wants to know why (hey, he's not perfect) and maybe see if he can help
but anyway as he's overhearing, this nun's talking about her son. about how she never wanted him, how she looked at his face and couldn't stand it, how she dreamt about killing him and herself, (unfortunately, rather standard postpartum depression stuff. if you want to be REALLY CRUEL you could have her bring up seeing a devil in him, just like his father) how she ran, how she's not able to face him again
and matt's feeling kind of queasy and uncomfortable but he doesn't know why? except that he can't stop listening even though his heart is aching and he WANTS to stop, he just can't. he thinks about how terrible it would be not to be loved by your own parent, because though he was flawed and dead he knew for a fact his dad loved him to the ends of the shitty earth.
he wants to find the boy and help, because that would be so horrible, he'd like to make that easier for him, but mostly he wants this sense of dread to stop weighing down on his bones, suffocating him, and then--
and then the nun says a name.
matthew.
and everything just kind of falls together in a terrible, crashing crescendo of panic and self-hatred and anger and hurt hurt hurt .
where it goes from there is up to you, if it goes at all. maybe matt's recounting this tale slightly drunk to foggy? it starts off as a joke in that "didn't want my hands shaking when i stitched him up" sort of way, except foggy's like "dude, no, what?" and matt'd start talking all low and heavy and tear up by the end of it like, "how could she say that? i know...i know, i know i'm--but did i deserve that? and foggy is comforting him bc of course foggy is comforting him but it's kind of bitter comfort because of course, foggy doesn't know exactly how right matt's mom was.
ANYWAY that was a fic in and of itself i'm so sorry thaNK YOU BYE
matt and his mom, matt and his oversensitive hearing
one day matt passes a room and he hears some nuns talking, and of course he's too polite to eavesdrop except it's so hard not to hear them, esp. bc one of them sounds upset, and matt wants to know why (hey, he's not perfect) and maybe see if he can help
but anyway as he's overhearing, this nun's talking about her son. about how she never wanted him, how she looked at his face and couldn't stand it, how she dreamt about killing him and herself, (unfortunately, rather standard postpartum depression stuff. if you want to be REALLY CRUEL you could have her bring up seeing a devil in him, just like his father) how she ran, how she's not able to face him again
and matt's feeling kind of queasy and uncomfortable but he doesn't know why? except that he can't stop listening even though his heart is aching and he WANTS to stop, he just can't. he thinks about how terrible it would be not to be loved by your own parent, because though he was flawed and dead he knew for a fact his dad loved him to the ends of the shitty earth.
he wants to find the boy and help, because that would be so horrible, he'd like to make that easier for him, but mostly he wants this sense of dread to stop weighing down on his bones, suffocating him, and then--
and then the nun says a name.
matthew.
and everything just kind of falls together in a terrible, crashing crescendo of panic and self-hatred and anger and hurt hurt hurt .
where it goes from there is up to you, if it goes at all. maybe matt's recounting this tale slightly drunk to foggy? it starts off as a joke in that "didn't want my hands shaking when i stitched him up" sort of way, except foggy's like "dude, no, what?" and matt'd start talking all low and heavy and tear up by the end of it like, "how could she say that? i know...i know, i know i'm--but did i deserve that? and foggy is comforting him bc of course foggy is comforting him but it's kind of bitter comfort because of course, foggy doesn't know exactly how right matt's mom was.
ANYWAY that was a fic in and of itself i'm so sorry thaNK YOU BYE