The atmosphere in the shabby apartment was strained, the tension practically choking the occupants. A young redheaded man sat cross-legged in front of the TV with a Playstation 2 controller held in his hands. His attention was totally centered on the pixilated world on the screen. A young blonde man in leather was agitatedly pacing the room, thus creating the tension in the room. He growled at his companion. "Dammit, Matt, why are you so calm! You do realize that you could die tomorrow, don't you!"
Matt shrugged, not looking up from his game. "Live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse.", he said smirking. The blonde didn't seem to find anything funny about this statement and grabbed the nearest object, his cell phone, and throwing it at the redhead, hitting him in the back of the head. "Ow, Mello! What was that for!", he said turning to look at the blonde. Mello growled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you have any idea what the word 'mortality' means, you moron!", he snapped.
Matt simply turned back to his game with a shrug. "Sure I do. Mortality. The condition of being certain to die eventually.", he said nonchalantly. Mello mumbled something that sounded like "smartass" and went to sit on the couch, his head tilted back to stare at the ceiling. Matt paused his game and went over to sit by Mello. "Mel, what's wrong?", he asked quietly. Mello tensed and glared at the redhead. "What's wrong! You know very well what's wrong! We're both probably gonna die tomorrow and you're sitting over there playing freaking video games like nothing's gonna happen!", he said angrily. The redhead winced a bit. "Mel-", he began quietly, but was cut off by the blonde. "Matt, do you even care about your life! Aren't you afraid of dying! Any normal person would be!", he continued.
"Mels-", Matt tried again. The blonde continued as if he hadn't spoken. "But, I guess you're not normal! You're completely calm when other people would be freaking out! I don't get it! Are you freaking suicidal or something!"
"Mello!", Matt said with force behind his voice. It was so rare that Matt raised his voice that Mello stopped talking and stared at him. Seeing that he had his friend's full attention, Matt sighed and took his goggles off. He looked Mello straight in the eyes as he spoke. "Mello, this is probably gonna be our last night together and I really don't want to spend it with you yelling at me. So can we try to spend a few hours without jumping at each other's throat?", he said calmly. Mello saw it. Deep in those green eyes there was a powerful fear. Matt was afraid. Mello calmed down a bit. "Matt, if you're afraid, then why are you going through with it?", he asked. Matt lowered his eyes. "I'm doing it for you.", he said quietly.
Mello's eyes widened. Sure they were friends, best friends in fact, but giving your life for each other? Wow. Mello felt guilty for yelling at Matt before. He looked at the floor. He heard Matt get up, but thought nothing of until he saw the toes of his friend's boots in his line of vision. He looked up to see Matt standing right in front of him. The gamer wouldn't meet his eyes. "Mello, if we really are gonna die tomorrow, then there's something I wanna do before then. You can hate me forever after I do this.", he said softly. "It's not like you can threaten to kill me.", he added with a humorless laugh.
Matt knelt down in front of Mello and gently pressed his lips to the blonde's. Mello tensed up for a second, his eyes widening in shock. Then, he noticed something. This actually felt…..good? He relaxed, closing his eyes and kissing back. Matt carefully put his arms around Mello and smiled a bit into the kiss when he felt his friend return the affectionate gesture, slipping his arms around the redhead's neck.
When they broke apart, Matt locked eyes with Mello, not releasing the blonde from his embrace. "Mels, this is the first time, and in all irony probably the last, that I'll tell you this properly, but I've felt this way for a long time. I love you, Mello.", he said gently. Mello gasped a bit. He'd never realized it until now, but….. "I love you too, Matt.", he said, smiling a bit as he realized just how true those words were.
