A/N: Wow! Thank you guys so much for a great response to the first chapter, and particularly to romulus-girl, SistaOSCA, Matt'sUke, and Miss-Lena for reviewing.

Anyway, I've decided to give you all a little challenge for this chapter: Spot the reference to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Oh wait, you mean it's in the title? XD

Okay, then, the real challenge, which is actually not that challenging: tell me the significance of the initials of Matt and Mello's aliases. First person to do it gets a virtual cookie. If you don't get it, don't worry; I'll post the answer with the next chapter.

Have fun!

D

2 – Sweet Transvestite

"I can't believe it," Mello said, glancing out the window of their limousine. "I can't believe were actually going through with this. I mean…look at me."

Mello knew all too well that Matt had been looking at him, and often, but the redhead chose that moment to focus more on his PSP instead of on his partner. "What amazes me," he said, "is that you managed to get us a goddamn limo to take us to Kira's place. And on such short notice."

"I have connections," Mello replied, studying his nails, which were now…red. Like his toenails. This was so fucked up. "This better be worth it. Do I actually look like a girl?"

"Well, with the blush, and the eye shadow, and the earrings, and the dress," Matt rattled off, "I mean, yeah, you do. And the heels make your legs look really long, like a model or something."

"I hate the heels." It had taken Mello a few minutes of walking around the apartment to get used to them, and even as he had gotten the feel for them, his arches had started to hurt. "Hate. Instead of shooting Kira, I think we should get him to wear them, and then have him walk around until he keels over in frustration. I don't know why girls put up with these things."

"Death by high heels." Matt paused his game. "Well, it fits all of the major execution qualifications: long, excruciatingly painful, and humiliating. Not sure it would go over very well with the general public, though." He reached into his pocked and drew out a cigarette, then groped around for a lighter.

"Matt," Mello said warningly. "Don't smoke in the limo. You don't want me to actually have to pay for it, these things are expensive as hell."

He could tell Matt was a little nervous, though. Matt only smoked when he was nervous, or anxious, or annoyed. Hell, Mello was nervous, and he had more to worry about than Matt did. Sure, they might both die, but at least Matt would be wearing practical shoes when he did it. And Matt didn't really worry about failing "the cause;" he just happened to follow Mello around. But Mello worried. He felt that, on some level, assassinating Kira while wearing an evening gown was already some unspoken violation of "the cause," but it was a little too late to be thinking about that just now.

Tonight, he would show those idealistic leaders of the rebellion, L and N, the right way to get rid of a dictator. And if he had to suffer high heels for that, well, then, so be it.

"I think we're here," he said, as the limo slowed down in front of a very Victorian-looking building with far too many columns for his taste. "Let's get out, okay?"

Stepping onto the curb, however, proved easier said than done. Mello had to balance on the limo to keep himself from falling over, and then had to reopen the door when he closed it on his dress by accident. "Goddamn it."

"You're going to have to do something about your voice," Matt chimed in helpfully. "I mean, don't go for a falsetto or anything, just…try to be a little lighter. Purr. Or something."

Purr? Was he kidding? "No way in hell," Mello said, taking Matt's arm. "Although," he added, adopting a much smoother tone of voice, a contralto instead of a baritone, "You know I'd do anything for you, baby."

"Augh!" Matt exclaimed. "Mayday, mayday, overkill alert. Abort, abort!" But he was smiling. He was enjoying this too terribly much, and Mello knew exactly why.

Oh, he wasn't stupid. He knew Matt had been attracted to him for an eternity, and the only reason he continued to put up with it was that there was a chance he felt something not-entirely-platonic in the Matt-ward direction. He'd put that aside, though, for something much more important, namely, disposing of Kira. Matt would be a distraction from his goal. And Matt, it seemed, was doing his best tonight to prove Mello right about his being a distraction, with his little cheeky smiles and glances and crazy, crazy plan (even if it was almost sort of Mello's own idea) and his tendency to get on Mello's nerves much more easily than anyone else.

"You know," Matt said, adjusting the sleeves on his jacket, "I sort of like this tux. Makes me feel like…James Bond."

Mello flashed him an incredibly insincere smile. "I love what you've done with your hair, Mr. Bond, although I'm not sure that the red is quite your color. Introduce me to your girlfriend sometime, she's kind of cute."

"Heh." Matt shrugged. "I'm much more a Q than a Bond, I suppose. Oh!" A grin spread across his face. "And that brings me to several features of your little ensemble tonight that I modified myself."

"Really?" Mello asked, still in full-fledged vocal overkill mode. "Do tell."

"Well," Matt flicked his cigarette into a nearby ashtray. "To start with, we have your earrings. Now, they look like ordinary earrings, yes? But in the right one, I've installed a tiny camera, right in the gem, and in the left one there's a tiny communication device. If you look, there's a little bit of wiring on the back of the devices, but from the front they're completely normal. So as long as your hair doesn't block them, I'll be able to see and hear what you're doing at all times. Try to keep your hair behind your ears."

"Sweet." Mello shook his hair out of his face, glad the damn sparkly earrings now actually had a practical application. Now if only they weren't so heavy. "Anything else I should know about?"

"Well, you've already discovered the false pocket in your purse, I saw you put your pistol in there in the limo. And there's this."

He drew a simple, golden ring out of his pocket. It looked ordinary enough, but it still made Mello smirk. "Are you proposing? Now doesn't seem like the time."

"Very funny," Matt said. "Look, smart-ass, it's innocuous enough, but if you can hold down the little switch right here—" He turned it over and showed Mello the tiny ridge on the underside. "You activate a small but powerful laser. It's pretty useful in a tight spot."

"Holy shit," Mello said, taking the ring from Matt and slipping it on the fourth finger of his left hand. "You really thought ahead with this one, didn't you? You even ditched your goggles."

"Well, I tried." Matt grinned. "And the goggles were a sort of trade off. I have sunglasses in my pocket." Mello rolled his eyes. Sunglasses at night. Like he'd be needing those. "But let's get inside," Matt continued. "You've got to be cold, Mel."

Mello was, and it was the fault of his dress for not having any damn shoulders. "You sure we're gonna be able to get in okay?"

"No problem," Matt said with absolute certainty. "I hacked the guest list and added our names to it. Of course, you're 'Melanie King' and I'm 'Martin Jones.'" He winked mischievously. "I didn't want to be too obvious."

"How much more obvious can you get than 'Melanie?'" Mello grumbled, but he let Matt escort him up the stairs and to the door.

They gave their (fake) names and presented (fake) identification to the man at the door, who let them through without question. Inside the beautiful wooden doors, the opulence practically made Mello gag. The building itself was handsome enough, although Mello had never been a fan of columns, and those were everywhere, but the decorations…ugh. Too much, with the lights and the huge centerpieces on the tables and the everything¸ and Mello wouldn't have been surprised if Yagami had a giant picture of himself hung up somewhere to complement the décor. And they'd only entered the main hallway. The ballroom was at the other end. Mello spotted other guests, mostly young, pretty, and handsomely dressed, talking amongst themselves in couples or small groups. Well, Mello supposed, he must know who to invite to a party. It sickened him. Everything was so showy, so fake, so, ugh, so very characteristic of Light Yagami, Kira.

"Cocky," Matt said. "No metal detectors or anything. What, he's just assuming no one's going to walk in with a gun?"

"It's good for us that he did assume that," Mello replied. "Otherwise we'd have to get our guns around the detectors somehow. I'd have to smile pretty at the guards while you ran around the side."

"Yeah. Like that would work."

Mello glanced around at the scene. "He's not as cocky as you think," he said. "Security guards everywhere, see?" He indicated a couple of men in dark uniforms standing by the edge of the room. "He probably has some in plainclothes, too. We try to shoot him now, we'd be dead before you could say 'transvestite.'"

Matt bit his lip to suppress laughter. "By the way, my sweet transvestite, you're going to have to go a little softer with the gestures. A woman wouldn't gesture so forcefully."

"Oh, you shu—" Mello began, but he stopped abruptly as he realized there were other people around. "You shouldn't criticize me so much in public, honey."Avoiding Matt's glance, he smiled at a young couple who walked through the door, and noticed, with a bit of relish, that the man's gaze lingered on him a little too long. Mello blinked, realizing belatedly that it might have looked like he was batting his eyelashes, since those were visible now that he was wearing mascara. The girl, who shot Mello a withering look, tugged on her date's sleeve, and they both kept walking on towards the ballroom.

"I think that guy just checked you out, Mel," Matt said, sounding both amused and appalled.

"Mhm." Mello put his hands on his hips and smiled. Under any other circumstances, he would have been majorly pissed off. But since it meant his disguise was working…"Probably wondering what a girl like me is doing here with a dork like you. Come on, Martin. Let's go in and…enjoy the evening, hmm?"

And, as he strutted off into the main room with Matt in tow, he began to have a slight change of heart. Perhaps this would be a little bit of fun after all.

You know the deal, chickadees. R & R, and there will be more Mello in a dress coming your way soon. ;)