AN- I'm backkk! Well, I'm not pleased with the length of this one (it's like a page less than normal) but I figured I shouldn't drag it out to much right? :)
I've had quite a few reviews giving me good ideas for the story, so I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to review 3 Love you guys as usual!
"-That is blood Light! He needs medical attention!" L's frantic voice cuts swiftly through the veil Matt's mind. Blood. Blood is not good. And since it's L speaking to Light…
The redhead practically throws himself off the sofa in panic. Green eyes zone in on the three other people in the room, only two of which have noticed his consciousness. L and Light are standing over a body that can only be Mello.
The gamer rushes to the blond, falling to his knees beside his head. There is blood staining the hair that his shaking hand brushes out of Mello's face. "W-what's going on?" He stammers, forgetting to put on his normal act because he can't bring himself to care about it.
"Mello fell and hit his head. He passed out but Light does not believe the hospital is necessary. He thinks bleeding to death on the floor is much more appropriate, of course." L relays. Matt rips his goggles up to rest on his hair as the brunet argues back.
"That is not what I was saying! I just said that we have no car or way of contacting Watari. It's your damn fault for sending him undercover to t-"
The redhead drowns the rest of what Light is saying out as he reaches for the phone in his pocket... Dead – well shit he really needs to charge it's fucking battery! In anger, Matt throws the device across the room, catching to duo's attention and glaring fiercely at them. "I don't give a SHIT whose fault it is, or what you want to FUCKING DO! Now one of you needs to give me a DAMN PHONE before my BEST-FUCKING-FRIEND DIES, OK?!"
Both stare in shock at his outburst before L whips out his phone from his back pocket, using his thumb and forefinger of course. The gamer snatches the phone out of his grip, flipping it open and dialling in the number he had been given without asking for.
It rings once, twice, three-
"Hello! Who's this?" Matt takes a breath to calm down, struggling to slip his friendly mask into place – he has to play this one carefully.
"Matsuda-san. It's Matt." Why is it L and Light are staring at him in horror? Surely they know that this phone is untraceable. Surely they know Matsuda is trustworthy? "I need a favour, but haven't enough time to explain fully. I need a ride. Really, really fast."
L steps into the redhead's line of sight while Matsuda starts his confused response. The detective starts talking to Matt using sign language, making him raise an eyebrow. Why is he so intent on his voice not being heard? He can't be that paranoid.
'He cannot come here.' Matt frowns in confusion, balancing the phone between his shoulder and ear, multitasking as he hurriedly replies to both L and Matsuda, extremely conscious of how long Mello has been out.
'You expect me to carry Mello away from this place? Moving him could be dangerous!' "I need to get to the hospital, we don't have time for this Matsuda-san, just come pick me up at…" His mind spins as he tries to think of the nearest place he can get Mello to while still pleasing L.
'The park on the next street over,' Is the detective's suggestion. Matt grabs it without a thought, relaying the location to Matsuda who gives him a concerned affirmative and hangs up.
"Well I won't question your motives right now, since Mello is in danger, but you better give a bloody brilliant excuse when he's stable." Matt says through gritted teeth as he puts L's phone in his pocket and leans over to pick up his best friend. Light comes over to help him support the weight.
The blond is actually surprisingly light, considering all the chocolate he eats.
"We'll help you to the corner of this street, but that's as far as we can risk." The brunet tells him as they move towards the elevator, L trailing behind uncertainly. They are both acting weird, but Matt doesn't spare it a second thought since he really wouldn't give a shit if there were an earthquake at this moment in time.
Yeah, he's worried, more so than he likes to admit.
The ride in the lift is tense, and the mood stays damp as they exit through the doors. Matt stabs at the controls to let them out of the main door, too impatient to let the raven-haired man do it for him. Before leaving, he makes sure to pull his goggles back down over his black eye.
They probably looked extremely suspicious, walking down the street together. Walking anywhere with L pulls people's eyes towards them, with his messy appearance and bare feet (the detective has to carefully avoid anything dodgy looking on the ground) but it is even worse with two of the group practically dragging another along with them.
Luckily, no one tried to question them, so when they get to the corner, it's easy for Light to pass his half of Mello over to Matt. The redhead carefully rearranges the blond so he's carrying him bridal-style. "We will get to the hospital as soon as we can." L says. "Please come up with a reasonable excuse for Matsuda-san. It should not be too hard, he's pretty trusting."
Matt nods absently, not thinking too hard about anything other than Mello at the moment, "got it. See you." He replies, turning without a backwards glance.
Without Light, Mello's full weight is starting to get to him. His muscles aren't yet fully healed from the previous day, so not matter how much he ignores the pain; Matt can't help the tortured expression that takes over his face.
He isn't yet at the park when a black car screeches up behind him. The redhead blinks owlishly at the vehicle for a second before the door is flung open, and Matsuda jumps out. "Matt-kun?!"
It takes him another second to get over the honorific. "Matsuda-san. Please help me get him onto the back seat." The older man isn't given a chance to refuse as Matt uses his foot to try and open the back door. Seeing his hurry, Matsuda quickly opens the door himself and both of them move so Mello is lying on his back with his head resting on Matt's knees.
He blushes slightly at the position despite knowing he is being stupid. Matsuda hurries to the drivers seat, starting the car up again and shooting off. "We need to get to the private hospital. Do you know the one?" He asks, distracting himself from his stupid thoughts.
"Y-yes. I know the way." Matsuda shoots a glance at him in the mirror, "w-why do we need to go there?" Matt is relieved that Matsuda hasn't questioned him on Mello yet. He'll have to leave that for later.
"I know someone in there that can help me. He shouldn't mind lending out his room…" Matt trails off, hoping Near won't mind sharing his room. It'll save any irritating paperwork, even if a doctor does come to treat the blond, he can't ask any compromising questions if Mello isn't technically a patient.
Or, this is the half cooked plan the redhead has managed to whip up since phoning the policeman. He hasn't had time to make it foolproof, and his head is in too much of a state right now to concentrate on anything but stroking Mello's blond hair carefully out of his closed eyes.
The gamer wishes those eyes were open, those icy blues glaring up at him and asking what the fuck he's doing. It's not that he wants Mello to be angry with him - of course not - it's just that when the blond has his attention fully directed at him, and not at anyone else…
…It's one of the best feelings in the world.
Matsuda gets them to the hospital in record time, clambering out of his seat to help the duo out of the back. Matt takes Mello back into his arms, ignoring the burning pain still present and giving the man a smile.
"Thank you Matsuda-san. I'm sorry to contact you under such strange terms so quickly, but I will explain everything when I'm sure my friend is ok." He moves towards the doors as he speaks, "I'm sure you have work to do, I'm fine from here. I can go on alone."
Even Matsuda doesn't seem to miss the undertone saying that it isn't negotiable. The man bows slightly and watches him go up to the door before getting back into his car and leaving. Matt lets out a slight sigh at the man's obedient actions but is knocked out of his thoughts by a loud gasp.
Suuki jumps up from behind her desk, slamming her phone back into its cradle. "MATT!" She yells in shock, taking in the unconscious blond in his arms. He knows he's going to be disrespectful, but Matt doesn't have time for the woman right now.
He walks straight past her desk, heading automatically towards Near's room. He can hear her shouting his name behind him, but the redhead knows Suuki can't leave her station at the front desk, so she won't follow him until her next break.
He bursts into the albino's room without knocking, shocking the inhabitant out of his crossword puzzle. "Near. Could you move?" Shocked black eyes are wide, staring at Mello. He quickly jumps off the bed, sweeping his puzzles onto the floor.
Matt cautiously lays the blond onto the sheets. Near is digging around one of his draws and retrieves a first aid box, which he hands to Matt without a sound.
The redhead takes it with a thank you, opening it to set to work on his best friend. Mello will be alright, because Matt couldn't live with himself if anything happens to the blond.
This thought doesn't stop his hands from shaking as he dabs the dried blood from Mello's face.
"…What happened?"
Matt lifts his head from where it had been buried in his arms. He's sitting in the chair beside Near's bed, half lying on the mattress. Near has been standing at the end of the bed, staring at Mello and not saying anything since the redhead finished up treating the blond to the best of his ability.
This is the first time in about an hour that either of them has spoken. "I wish I knew…" He mumbles. He has realised after getting to know the new Near, that the albino gets easily nervous when the others go quiet for too long – it's a sign they are thinking and the albino hates knowing that whatever goes through their minds is too far away for him to grasp at.
So, sometimes it's better to think aloud. "There is a possibility he was somehow dragged into one of L and Light's fights. L says he fell, but that is a poor excuse-" The redhead ignores how he himself used that excuse just yesterday "-because Mello was laying on his back. I would say that they just rolled him over, but after checking his wounds, I've realised he's hit the back of his head." He can't help but frown slightly, "did they even try to move him?"
Near shuffles over to Mello's right, with Matt watching him from across the bed. The white-clad boy crouches down into his sitting position – something he retained even after the memory loss – and stares at the blonds face. He doesn't look up as he speaks. "Matt, you look… depressed. But you looked… worse… yesterday."
The redhead inwardly curses. Near might not be a genius, but he is still no idiot. Even after putting up his façade, the albino could tell something hadn't been right. "I did?" He decides to play it innocent, "oh… well, I had I bit of a bad day I guess… My face had an impromptu meeting with the curb."
Well, that's not a total lie.
Near's black orbs travel from the unconscious blonds face to Matt's own orange-tinted eyes, staring at him in a way that makes the redhead sure his lie hasn't been bought for a second. "Ok." The albino surrenders, "I'm glad you're ok either way."
The next few minutes are filled with awkward silence. Matt gets too lost in his own thoughts and worry about Mello to pay too much attention to anything else going on in the room. It is only when he hears shifting and a low groan that the gamer snaps back to attention.
Blue iris' flicker into view, Mello's eyes opening to barely slits before scrunching close again from the onslaught of light. He groans again as Matt unconsciously moves in closer, blocking the majority of the fluorescents. "What… the shit…?" Comes his hoarse voice in groggy English.
"Mello!" Relief washes over the redhead in waves, a grin stealing across his face despite himself. "Oh thank Christ you're alright." He speaks in Japanese because even though Near has re-learnt a few languages, he still has trouble switching too quickly between them – even with English being his mother tongue.
The blond still seems a little dazed, blurry eyes blinking up at his friend. He pulls himself up to a sitting position and winces. "Fuck… my head. Argh… where am I?" Mello clutches at his skull with one hand, squinting at his surroundings. "Hos…pital?" He asks, getting back into the right language.
Near has apparently noticed that he is invisible from his position on the floor, deciding to get up from his seat on the ground. Mello's eyes go wide at the appearance of the albino, mind abruptly clicking the pieces back together.
Matt puts a hand firmly on the blonds' shoulder to stop him from trying to jump off the bed. "It was the best course of action I could think of. Bare in mind I was close to wetting myself in fear at the time Mels." He says in a low voice, then on a brighter note – "besides! You haven't been to see Near in forever, what with all those cases. I'm sure he gets fed up with seeing my ugly mug all the time!"
Matt shoots the albino a look when he looks like he's about to protest. He knows how curious Near is about Mello, how his eyes never leave the blond when he is nearby. The redhead guesses it's due to how L's successor acts around him – the younger boy knows there's something he's missing.
Mello scowls, making Matt flick the crease on his forehead. "You'll make your headache worse. Try not to think so hard for a while, as difficult as that may be." He teases.
"Sorry if we don't all have an off switch on our brains." He retorts, cricking his neck to relieve the stiffness there. "Whatever. Where are the L 'n Light anyways? I owe L an apology…" The last part is muttered in irritation. Matt sighs, wondering if maybe the reason Mello got hurt is the blonds' tendency to act without thinking too hard.
"Do I want to know?" He wearily asks. Mello's blue eyes quickly shoot to Near and back to his flexing hands.
"Not important." He growls. The redhead decides not to question him, the blond has only just woken up after all. Mello sighs, fixing his eyes on his best friend critically. "Well? Where are they? They better not have just dropped me off and bolted."
Matt's brow instinctively furrows in thought. Mello catches this and stares at him more intently, still awaiting his answer. Near chooses this moment to join in the conversation.
"Matt carried you in on his own… L-san and Light-san haven't been here yet." He says, obviously resenting being ignored and just as curious about what L and Light are playing at as the redhead is.
"What?!" Mello explodes, his head whipping between the two like he's watching some kind of tennis match. "They didn't even help me IN? Fuck the apology, bastards can rot in hell!" Then those furious blue orbs fix in on the gamer, "you carried me in? I'm obviously not fat, but you got ripped to pieces yesterday! Didn't that hurt? Christ Matt!"
Matt offers up a sheepish smile, tilting his head awkwardly. "I-I suppose…" He replies, wanting the spotlight of him before he starts thinking about it again. "You're really light you know, so it wasn't a problem. Besides, they helped me a bit of the way. We apparently had no car… I had to call in a favour."
The blond nods, indicating that he knew about the car situation. "Right. Well-"
There is a knock at the door, attracting the attention of the threesome. It opens to reveal a blank faced Light, whose sharp eyes quickly take in the situation. Not even a second later, the brunet's easy smile slips into place and he enters the room, followed by L.
"Mello," he starts, "I see you're ok. Thank goodness." Matt knows that disarming smile will do nothing to Mello - the blond will be more irritated by it than anything else. L obviously thinks so to, if the disbelieving look he shoots Light is anything to go on.
Then why does that the fact that fucking expression is being directed at his best friend bother him? Why does he want to punch that smile straight off of the older man's face?
Luckily, the reasonable side of the redhead's brain kicks into action for the first time in what seems like forever, telling him that his anger is totally unfounded and unjustified. No matter how much he really, really wants to hurt the brunet. Matt is brought forcibly out of his thoughts by Mello's voice.
"Oh, Light. I was ok until you shown up. Now for some reason, Matt is trying to cut off the circulation to my arm." All eyes turn to where the gamer is still painfully gripping Mello's shoulder, then up to his face. Matt hastily lets go, having forgotten that he had been holding the blonds arm in the first place.
"Right. Sorry." Four pairs of eyes stay trained on him for a few seconds more, so Matt tries to subtly direct the attention elsewhere. "So, hey! Near and Light get to meet now huh?" He waves weakly between the two in question.
Silence.
"Riiiiight…" Mello breaks the stillness and Matt has the urge to hug him in thanks, but resists. "Erm… So, L, you know I'm sorry for hitting you and everything but seriously. You let Matt carry me in on his own?" The redhead wonders absently if Mello implying he couldn't handle this on his own should bother him, or if he should be surprised that the blond has hit L. It doesn't. After all, Mello insults everyone.
"Hey remember that time you insulted the Queen and Roger didn't give you chocolate for like, 3 weeks?" The redhead randomly recalls. Oh great move retard, now everyone is staring at you again.
"Y…Yeah. Erm… you snuck me some after I threw your gameboy out of that window at Near." At the albino's shocked face, he hastily tacks on, "I missed." Near doesn't look the least bit better at the thought. "Now Matt shut the fuck up for a few minutes, anyone would think you hit your head with the random shit coming out of your mouth."
The gamer makes a zipping motion across his mouth and settles back into his chair. L moves forwards and perches on the bed, the blond having moved to sit with his legs crossed to make room. Near hesitates, then takes the place next to the detective, leaving Light to look slightly peeved at having no where to sit.
Matt suddenly remembers Suuki. Well, shit what time will she be off? "Hey Light, you can sit here. I've got to go stop a crazy-girl from calling every doctor in the hospital to this room." Light nods, moving around the bed and replacing the redhead in the seat next to the bed. "I'll be back in a bit."
Without waiting for a reply, the gamer makes his escape.
He takes a deep breath, happy to be out of the crowded room and itching for another fag.
Then, the redhead grimaces as he lets his legs slowly carry him off towards the front desk. It is time to face the music.
Or in this case, time to face something much more terrifying - an overly curious worried female.
Oh Hell.AN - You know, I realise that Mello should probably be dead. And technically, no one checked he was still alive until Matt got to the hospital but… shhhh I didn't think about it at the time! And everything did happen pretty fast, Matt assumed L or Light checked to make sure the blond was alive and crap so he didn't bother.
Yeah, lets go with that.
Matt's an emotional roller coaster. Worried, angry, worried, calm, curious, angry, happy, stern, pissed off… I could go on. Aw, he's so stressed /pats matt/
For next chapter, I'm going to try (try) to get more L cause I don't think he's been in it enough and that sucks. And the Police will be there. And more Mello. God it's hard to involve everyone when they're all in the same bloody room. I'll have to kick some of them out.
Love it? Hate it? Please review!
