Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.

It was one of those rare, quiet moments in the MelloxMatt household. It only occurred, of course, because Mello was dead to the world at the moment, sprawled out on our shared bed, drooling slightly on my pillow.

I smiled softly at his unusual stillness, enjoying this uncommonly-seen side of him. He was alarmingly calm-looking and peaceful, for once. He was sleeping on the section of his face that bore his scar, and with his golden hair strewn all over the pillow and that twisted mark of his sins hidden, he looked almost angelic. What he could have been, if not for Kira and all the other crap that took our lives by the shoulders and shook them until their necks snapped. Not that I'm bitter about that. I'll never forgive Kira for what he did to the one I love.

Carefully, I reached out and brushed a strand of hair off of his eye and forehead. He sighed in his sleep. It sounded nothing like how he sighed when he was awake.

I got out of the bed slowly, narrowly avoiding the wreckage of a shelf that Mello broke, making sure not to wake him or to accidentally pull the covers off of him. He didn't sleep very often, usually too obsessed to stop working for a solid nine hours, so any sleep he got was of vital importance. And he slept lightly. That's part of the reason he eats so much chocolate, you know. The sugar and the caffeine. Well, that, and because he's always eaten that much chocolate.

I located my pile of clothes and shuffled it around quietly, looking for whatever would smell the best, relatively. How had his leather gotten into this pile? He was probably trying to get me to wear it, again.

I do love Mello when he's asleep and peaceful like this- I always love Mello- but I prefer him when he's awake.

Maybe it's because of the life I had before the orphanage, but not only can I stand the Mello-induced chaos, but I love it. When everyone else is screaming at him, I'm laughing hysterically. When the things Mello says make everyone else cry, I'm honestly not bothered. I like that he always eats chocolate, because it means that he always tastes like chocolate. Plus, chocolate is an aphrodisiac, which means that Mello spends an excessive amount of time excessively horny, from which I also benefit. I don't even mind that we have to have a Replace-Stuff-That-Mello-Broke fund. All the pulverization of our household materials is interesting. I like trying to fix his victims, which is almost never possible. When it's beyond saving, I'm, well, kind of turned on, which goes well with the side effects of the chocolate. Mello's favorite things to throw are toasters, radios, and lamps. He never throws his chocolate or my games. Since my games are all that I really feel the need to protect, the random acts of violence against all our other possessions just don't bother me. I can always sense his mood changes- even if I can't predict them, which I love- so his temper and mood swings don't bother me, either. And I just flat-out, no-holds-barred love the leather.

So, really, Mello is perfect for me. His constant energy and veritable whirlwind of emotion counteracts my calm, cool, and very laid-back nature. I'm also the laziest person you'll ever meet. Seriously. You could put out a wanted add, and you'd still never find anyone as lazy as me. It wouldn't even work because someone as lazy as I am wouldn't respond to a wanted add. Without Mello, in fact, I'd mostly play video games 24/7, interrupted only briefly by hacking my way into money. Not that I do much more than that now... but my gaming and hacking are interrupted briefly by Mello's rampages and helping him with the Kira investigation that's gonna get us both killed sooner rather than later. He keeps telling me that at least I will make it out alive, but I know it's just wishful thinking. He's convinced himself that I'll survive because he can't stand the idea of me dying. And, honestly, I'd rather die with him than survive while he's killed. I mean, how do you go on when the one you love doesn't?

My thoughts were interrupted by Mello waking up, which he did as he does everything: enthusiastically.

His eyes weren't open more than a minute before his mind was completely awake and running at its usual million miles an hour.

"Morning, Matt," he said. His voice wasn't scratchy, wasn't sleepy. He looked at me with those ice-blue eyes of his, their intensity addling me for a moment.

I grinned back at him. "Morning, Mello."

Mello watched me for a second, rolling over onto his back to do so. "You're not usually this cheerful so early," he informed me.

I shrugged. Explain to him it was because I had been thinking about how much I love him? Not likely. Besides, the man's a freaking super-genius. He'll probably figure it out on his own; I'm not that good of an actor. I'm no idiot, but, again, that lazy factor.

"Matt, come here," he ordered.

"Why?" Even though he and I both knew that I would.

"Because I want to hold you and you're too far away, fucktard, why do you think?" he said mildly.

Fucktard. Fantastic pet name. I couldn't help but wonder if it was going to stick. I didn't mind, of course, but wouldn't that be interesting? I tried to imagine Near calling me Fucktard. I almost laughed. I'd have to tell Mello that later.

Obedient as always, I crawled back into bed next to him, and he wrapped his arms around me. He sighed, the same sigh he had when he slept, and my heart rate increased. I nuzzled into him and he squeezed me tighter.

I love him when he sleeps, love him even more when he's awake, but my favorite, my absolute favorite, is when Mello's like this, awake, with all his fire, but beautifully calm, holding me.

There's just no one else like him, in the end. And really, I don't think he's capable of loving anyone but me, and I know I'm not capable of loving anyone but him.

Mello's the only one for me.