Notes: A present to my lovely new fanfiction wife Eggy, as a wedding gift. It's not light-hearted but is instead loaded with double meanings and possibly some fridge brilliance... which still doesn't make it light-hearted, but hopefully this is about as good.

...I feel like this should be labeled as a crossover...

Disclaimer: because this just wouldn't be a work of fanfiction without one of these, now would it?

The Last Midnight

I. Shells and Puzzles

Broken and scattered in the trash bins, the canals, and all along the floor.

There are some things that keep the façade together and believable for the people that don't wish to see. Mello knows this and has accepted it as a part of life; not everyone can find the excitement here in the dark hours and learn to appreciate them quite the way he has.

The comedians tell jokes in the clubs. The entertainers sing and dance and please the crowds. They fool everyone into thinking that maybe, just maybe, night isn't the foe they once thought it was. Maybe they are safe and maybe life is good, like they want to believe.

Mello takes Matt out on his motorcycle sometimes, where they ride through the lights and pass the people with their fun. In diners, the young and carefree couples kiss; in theaters, movies play all night long; in apartments the lights are on, and whether the occupants are kept awake making love or up late with their work is anybody's guess.

Once in a while Matt asks Mello if they can stop riding by and enjoy life like everyone else, but so far Mello has always said no.

Because he knows that the night isn't what Matt thinks it is.

II. Clarity and Rods

Where life is suspended in glass and the sick, twisted minds can't hold back anymore.

Midnight is when the perverts come out and run the cities to waste. They hide in the dark alleys and shadows of the lampposts where not even the artificial light can reach them, and while everybody knows it very few acknowledge the fact. The psychopaths flash smiles at their victims and cut them down before the helpless can even think to scream. They are a horror come to life and something to be avoided at all costs.

Mello bites his lip. More than once, he has been in a position to be one of them, but he has always resisted the temptation because he knows there is nothing to gain from it in the long run. He's seen the way they crouch out of sight and then jump out to attack, with pipes or daggers or other weapons that could beat the living shit out of anybody when put in the right hands. Is their revenge worth it? Maybe, but it still looks hard.

When Matt sees them, he holds onto Mello just a little tighter because while Matt is the Light, Mello is the Dark.

And even though he isn't as far gone the shadows, Mello is experienced and knows more than enough old tricks to keep Matt safe from the real monsters.

III. Gold and Rings

Because every threshold contains a treasure worth stealing.

But midnight is still the best moment of the 24-hour day, Mello decides. It is the best time despite the thrills and dangers it brings for one reason and one reason only.

Kira doesn't exist.

Light can't shine in the dead of night; if the sun isn't able to find the corrupt, the evil, or the unjust, then how is Kira expected to do his work? It is absurd to consider that midnight could be controlled: darkness has been that way for thousands of years, and no sands of time or structures of society can ever keep the people from playing their little games when daylight has left.

Midnight steals back from the people's so-called "god" exactly what the fucker wants to gain the most - and Mello savors the thought of it. He knows that others think the same way: what else could keep the entertainers working, the couples loving, the sick smiling, and the young dancing?

And sometimes it is the thought of their hope, the thought of their small victory at this time of the morning... sometimes, that is the only thing that keeps Mello and Matt going.

January 26, 2010

Mello pulls up next to a curb and turns off his motorcycle. Matt gives him a questioning look. "Why are we stopping?"

"Because," Mello says simply, "it's midnight."

Matt looks at his watch. "Well, so it is," he answers with a glimmer in his eye. Mello ponders exactly what the glint could mean, but before he reaches a conclusion Matt looks up again and continues, "I think midnight is a reason to celebrate, don't you?"

Mello shrugs. "Surviving to midnight - another day without getting killed..."

He doesn't have to say it. Matt knows that Mello is aware of the date, and Mello knows that he knows.

"...Yeah," he allows for the first time. The only time. "I suppose we can celebrate for once. Whaddya wanna do?"

Matt glances up and down the busy city street that Mello has stopped the motorcycle on before frowning. "Actually... I just wanna go back to the apartment."

Mello frowns too when he hears that. "And do what to celebrate there?"

Matt shrugs. "I want breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Mello scoffs.

"Yeah," Matt explains, "we should eat breakfast now just because we can. Right now, because we're alive and we have the freedom to do what we want... Can't that be our celebration?"

Mello considers that for a moment and stares off to the east. "Matt... Yeah. It's perfect."

Because as he revs the engine and feels Matt get on the bike behind him again, he knows that daylight is coming all too soon, and that salty-sweet taste of victory at midnight never lasts long enough.