Chapter Four

When I woke up, Matt wasn't in the bed. I looked around for a moment before I heard the shower running and saw a chocolate bar on the pillow next to me. Not able to hold back my smile, I grabbed the chocolate as I got out of his bed, shoving the bar in my mouth as I crept into the steamy bathroom, still naked myself. I could see Matt moving around in the shower through the red translucent shower curtain. He was rinsing his hair.

Before he could start washing his body, I decided to do it for him. I stepped into the shower behind him, pouring soap onto a loofah and pressing it to his back.

"Holy loofah, Mello!", Matt shouted as he spun around.

"I believe you meant 'Batman'. 'Holy loofah, Batman!' Sheesh, and everyone thought you were the nerd." Matt stared blankly at me for a minute before bursting out in hysterics.

"You haven't changed a bit," he said when he regained his composure.

"On the contrary. I've changed quite a bit. I've grown," I said as I pressed the loofah to him and began to wash his back again.

"Well no shit, Sherlock. That's a given. I've grown too. That's what happens to guys in their later teens." Matt was still giggling over my horribly embarrassing Batman joke. Just being able to talk to him again warmed my heart. I'd missed him so much over the last two years. As I finished washing his back, I hugged him.

"Fuck it. I wasn't going to tell you this, but I've missed you like hell the last two years. I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye." I could feel Matt's arms go around my waist.

"I'm glad. I missed you too. Even though I saw you almost every day, it just wasn't the same. It's all good now though. We're back together, just like the old times!" I pushed back from him, purposefully making long glances back and forth from his face to our naked bodies.

"Okay, not exactly like the old times," he giggled.

"I was going to say, I don't ever remember having sex, or taking a shower, with you before. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you. I quite enjoy it, actually."

Matt burst out laughing as he looked down. "Yeah, I can tell."

I couldn't help laughing too. It had been so long since I'd seen him, just talked to him even. I stared at him, taking in all his features. I promised myself to memorize every last bit of him. His eyes were greener than I'd remembered. He had high, feminine cheekbones, which I had never noticed before, and he had pouty lips. Even when he was giggling his lips were pouty. Very kissable. And with that realization in mind, I leaned into him and pressed my lips to his. They were soft too. And they tasted like smoke and chocolate. I leaned back from the kiss, Matt letting out a little noise of protest, and eyed him suspiciously.

"Have you been in my chocolate stash?" He blinked twice, then let out a laugh and leaned in to give me a kiss.

"Now why would I do that, Mr. Mafia Boss?"

"Then why do you taste like chocolate?" He considered me for a moment before answering.

"Well, I plan on kissing you a lot more, and I figure you like the taste of chocolate, so I've been buying chocolate flavored cigarettes since I can't quit smoking, and I didn't thi..." I cut him off as I kissed him again, my hands running up and down his sides, the shower head still spraying gently on us. I leaned back an inch from the kiss.

"You talk too much," I said, "but it's cute."

Matt turned pink and made a sound of indignation. "I'm not cute!"

"You are too. Extremely." I leaned in to kiss him again, but he pushed me back and put his hands on his hips.

"I am not! I'm badass," he pouted. I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it. Naked, wet Matt, pouting with his hands on his hips and claiming he's badass was as far from badass as a white bunny rabbit eating peanut butter.

Still half-laughing I said, "Matt, take minute to think about this. You're a genius, are you not? You're number three for a reason. Do you really believe that in the position you are in right this very moment makes you look the tiniest bit badass?"

He stared at the shower floor and dropped his hands to his sides. "No... I guess not," he mumbled, "but I'm still not cute."

"Forget it, Matt. You're not going to win this one. You're cute right now. You very well may be badass, though I don't believe I've ever seen any proof save for the massive amounts of morphine you've got stashed here, but at the moment you are cute. And I like you just fine that way. No need to be all pouty." I considered my own words for a minute. "Never mind that. Stay pouty. It makes you cuter." I smiled at him. And then his face lit up in an expression I can't really describe except for it looking like he was on crack and really excited about something.

"No, you were right the first time, Mels. There's no need to pout! I should be happy you think I'm cute! Am I still cute," he asked as he contorted his face into a mix of happiness meets crack meets overexcitedness.

"Okay, not when you do that," I laughed. He joined in, not being able to keep a straight face after screwing it that much to try to win.

Still laughing Matt said, "Okay, so I'm cute. But only for you. I really am badass though. Following you for two years kind of forced me to be. I just exude nerd, so no one believes it." He looked at me for a second, and then laughed again. "Except for you. You seem to think I exude cute, and therefore am not badass."

"I did not say you definitively were not badass, I just said that you didn't look it! It's not the same thing."

"Yeah, yeah. I don't really care. It's an advantage, not looking badass, when you really are." Matt looked so serious. Showertime is not serious time. So I decided to fix that.

"Can we have sex now?" Matt's jaw dropped about five feet and two inches to the shower floor.