A Day By Me
AN: A really old one-shot, for a contest on dA, from year ago.
Death Note; Mello/Matt; AU
Disclaimer: I don't own them. And I never will.
Beta-ed by Dirge C: thanks, babe!
dunno what else to add.
nuff said?
It was one of his ordinary days. Wednesday, which was too long until the next weekend and too far from the previous one. Matt got up at 5 am every morning he spent in his one-room flat. The subway rumbling below woke him up, just as it did every morning. He angrily threw a pillow against the closed window. Sometimes he just wanted to move far, far away from this overly-peaceful city. If it wasn't for the subway station making a racket, everything would be a little too perfect. On the other hand, he was always glad that the first train left the station at five and not three in the morning.
The light from the streetlamp touched the bare skin of his chest and he groaned. Matt, like everyone else in the city, hated mornings. He set up in his bed, which is only few blankets and pillows on the floor, and immediately lighted up a cigarette. He looked around with his usual "I want to go back to sleep" look .All he could see was his computer with its glowing screen, his Xbox, his joystick, and his Nintendo 64.
Nothing special, and nothing new to notice, only the old crap of mine, he thought to himself, lying back onto the floor, exhausted from previous night. He had been out with Mello until 3 am, the closing time of their favourite club.
Matt had two more hours before Mello would come for him to give him a ride to work, so he decided first to take a shower. He grabbed a clean towel and headed to bathroom. Of course, at 5 in the morning, there's no warm water in the horrible little flat, which he always realizes only after the cold water hits his skin. Matt sighed and hurried. He didn't want to freeze to death. At least, not today.
In ten minutes, he was out of the bathroom with a cigarette in his mouth, wearing tight brown pants and a striped black and white T-shirt, a towel draped over his shoulders, still dropping water from his damp hair. He made himself a cup of extra delicious and extra expensive cocoa, which he got from Mello for his birthday a few weeks previous.
Cocoa, cigarette, and then Nintendo. That was his morning.
Eventually, Mello came to pick up Matt. The ride to work was fairly uneventful. Matt just stared out of window, not saying anything, listening to Mello's music (which happened to be an old visual key band called Gazette).
Today was the day he was to present a huge project to his boss. And Matt hated to make presentations. If it had been done to the boss' liking, Matt would get a raise. Of course the advertisement (for that was the project) looked fantastic despite a poor budget, but the boss, a true moron, was know to change his mind sponatniously and make idiotic decisions.
They parked in front of the office building at 7:50, which was too early for his taste. Matt just wanted to get out of the car and head to the office, but Mello grabbed his hand.
"Hey, don't I get a 'thanks'?" Mello raised an eyebrow, a wry smile playing on his lips.
Matt kissed the blonde on the cheek. "Thanks for the ride," he said tiredly, not making eye contact.
"Something's wrong with you. You're nervous, aren't you?" Mello pressed his free hand against Matt's cheek. "It'll be okay. You are a great programmer, and a great artist. I'm sure your boss will love it." Mello's sweet expression quickly became sour. "And if that moron upstairs doesn't appreciate it, you'll have to leave this awful place."
Matt smiled a fake smile and managed to get out of the car with his notebook in one hand, a little box of orange juice in another, and a cigarette in his mouth. He felt Mello staring at him until he reached the door. He had to throw away the cigarette; smoking was forbidden inside the building.
Matt hated his job. He had to do it, because he needed money, but he hated to make some stupid advertisements for poorly-designed children's video games. He was so sick of them, those awful little games, those with pitiful graphics, that cheap voiceacting, and poor character designs. As he was heading to his boss's office, he wanted to turn tail and leave. He hated his boss with a fiery passion.
Matt took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Mathew! Come in and have a seat," the boss shouted in his annoyingly cheerful voice.
"My name is Matt, not Mathew, Boss. Anyway, I have the project for you."
"Oh, of course, Matty, just show me, show me. I'm so excited about it, aren't you?"
"Actually, no. I've seen it before," answered Matt bluntly.
His boss stared stupidly at him.
"Ok... may we start?" the redhead asked.
"Yeah! Sure!" the boss clapped his fat hands together.
The lights were already off, and the room was dark enough for Matt to turn on the projection.
His boss just smiled as he always did. He waited until the project for the advertisement, Matt worked on had finished playing and turned on the lights.
"So," the boss said. "I did like it. I did at the beginning, but then there was that awful part with the dragon... it was too messy."
Matt waited for something more.
"That's all, you can go. You're fired."
"What?! You saw this part with dragon before, and I wanted to cut it out, but you told me to leave it there! You said it looked 'fantastic'!" he imitated his boss "You tell me this after two months of work? Two moths of drawing, coloring, programming, and editing!? I just hope, you're kidding! You can't just fire me!"
"Oh, yes I can, and look! I'm actually doing it" the boss took Matt's contract out of a file on his desk and tore it in half with his fat hands.
"You can't just pretend nothing happened, like I never was here! I came because I need the money!" exclaimed Matt, looking in horror at the torn paper. "I wasn't sure if you'd agree with this project of mine, but you have to give me another chance to do something else, or pay me a normal payment at least!"
"I am sorry, I can't do that. Now please, take all your stuff and get out of here."
Matt was furious. He just didn't get it! The stupid fat man had rejected an idea based on things that he himself had demanded previously. As Matt gathered his belongings, he shook his head. People made no sense.
I can't even buy anything for lunch! he thought as he walked down the street to nowhere. He was broke, without money, without food, without anything. He put on his headphones and turned on his cheap walkman. The CD was 'The Go-Betweens', an Australian alternative rock band.
After a few minutes of mindless walking, Matt sat down on a bench and lit up a cigarette. The redhead had no idea what to do. He had to pay the rent for his apartment, but he had no money. The apartment was cheap enough, sure, but along with electricity, food, and cigarettes... he needed to spend more than he had. Sure, Matt could get another job, but that could take weeks! Even months!
And the worst of all, he couldn't tell anyone, not even his own boyfriend! Especially not his boyfriend. Matt knew that if he told Mello, the blonde would want to help him, maybe even give him some money. Matt didn't want any money. Although he knew that Mello inherited quite a fortune, he still didn't want his boyfriend to pay for anything. Matt realized that they weren't very far in their relationship, and maybe Mello wouldn't offer him any money at all. Asking would only make things awkward. Matt really didn't know what he was going to do. He was, at best, desperate.
The sun started setting down after few hours and Matt was still sitting on the bench, not wanting to go anywhere near home. He sort of fell asleep, appearing to passerby as a homeless person with a weird sense of style, his body trying to make up for the long nights he had been pulling lately.
Matt was suddenly woken up by a light bump on his arm. Someone was standing behind him. The thing on his shoulder was a chocolate bar. The hand with the candy clenched in it slid lower down his chest, and whoever it was hugged him.
"Why are you sitting so all alone?" asked a familiar blonde man.
"Mello, how—how did you find me?" asked Matt sleepily.
"There are only three parks in this city. Whenever you want to be alone, you're in one of them. This one is closest to where I saw you last." Mello set down beside Matt, taking a bite from his chocolate bar.
"And you didn't even think of maybe just leaving me alone?"
"No, because when you want to be alone, something is wrong with you, and I want to know what." He leaned closer to Matt, kissing the redhead softly.
Matt moved backwards, away from the kiss, staring at the ground between his feet. "I really don't know."
"What don't you know, Matty?" Mello touched Matt's cheek lightly with his fingers.
"I don't know what's wrong," lied Matt. Mello was not satisfied with the answer and took his hand away
"Bullshit!" shouted Mello, his voice rising considerably as he moved away from his lover. "You wouldn't be out here in the cold if something wasn't wrong! Don't lie to me!" Mello crossed his arms, now sitting a good foot away from Matt.
"Fine," Matt sighed, still staring at the dirt. "But you have to know, I don't wanna any help from you. I'll make it on my own."
Mello looked on his boyfriend and nodded.
"I lost my job. The jerk didn't like it. So he fired me, without any payment."
"And the problem?"
"I have no money and soon I will have no apartment," answered Matt, meeting Mello's eyes.
"Idiot! What kind of a problem is that?" asked Mello with a laugh.
"Huh? Being homeless sounds like no problem to you?"
"You won't be a homeless," laughed the blonde, "You'll move in with me, you dummy!"
"What? Move in? Really!?"
Mello just grinned and kissed his lover deeply. And for Matt, that was more than enough of a good answer.
AN: I hope you liked it. Reviews, please! This way! C: