Title: Candy Kisses [Chapter Seven
Author:
Endless-Kaoru
Rating:
M
Disclaimer:
If I owned Death Note, there would be a lot more Matt, Mello, and Takeda, a lot less Soichirou, and Misa wouldn't exist. Also, Eliza is my friend's creation, but I have permission to use her.

Warnings:angst, perversion of the Shakespearean language, sexual innuendo, cussing, and general crack. .
Summary:
Whammy's lets the kids loose on the nearest town! And what better than an arcade and milkshakes to disperse the muddied up relationships?

Candy Kisses

Chapter Seven

Matt had never, in all of the fourteen years that he was alive (at least the ones he remembered), imagined that he could be so utterly and completely bored. Least of all on a Sunday, when every resident of Whammy's Orphanage was given their weekly allowance, loaded on a bus, and shipped off to the nearest town for a day of rest and relaxation. Smaller children were sorted into groups and accompanied by a teacher, but the older kids were the ones to learn the true meaning of freedom during these trips. Matt had, since the second month of this year, been a part of this exclusive 'club' and had excitedly adventured the town with Mello and, occasionally, some other boys. He'd (not very) smoothly hit on girls that were far beyond his grasp, spent five straight hours in an arcade, and had his games taken away for an entire month by a teacher for shoplifting a candy bar. His initiation ceremony was completing a dare to take off his shirt, jump up on the fountain that stood in front of their favorite arcade, and sing the chorus of "Bad Boy" by Cascada while swinging his shirt overhead. (He'd done so, keeping his eyes firmly on the ground, and had ended up dropping his shirt in the fountain. The boys had accused him of staring at Mello.)

But Matt wasn't sure how to act around his closest friend anymore. Did a kiss make them a couple? Were they supposed to hold hands and share a milkshake at the ice cream parlor? But he didn't like Mello that way. Should he pretend it never happened? That seemed to be the best route in the name of keeping his sanity intact. At least until this blew over or he thought of something better.

He was far from naïve about how a normal, loving relationship between a girl and a guy went. What he didn't know was how a one-sided relationship between a guy and another guy should go – especially when one of those guys had his heart set on another, much-less-male friend. After a few long moments of pondering this and wondering how it was he'd managed to get caught in such a mess, he decided that maybe he was thinking too much and should loosen up. Maybe something like… oh, say, an arcade would do the trick.
Standing before the gaming center, Matt silently thanked the gaming gods that whoever ran this town had thought to build a sacred chapel wherein gamers of all ages and types and levels could come together in harmonious competition and practice their religion! Surely someone up there loved him.
Matt had never been one for poetry or prose, but he caught himself thinking,'O, my beloved arcade… wherefore doest thou belong but deep within my grasp?' Aurora would have called that a perversion of the classics and then laughed, had she heard it.
Walking inside almost reverently, he looked about in anticipation, trying to decide on what to play first. A classic? One of the latest and greatest?
It was when his eyes had landed on the DDR stage, where a crowd was already enthralled by the moves of some hot-shot novice, that Matt had made his decision. Look out, kid, Matt's in town.
He managed to pushed through the crowd in order to better observe the movements of his soon-to-be competitor, but instead found himself staring at the one dancing closest to him. The dancer turned sideways in a rather showy move, and he must have caught her eye, because she began to laugh and called out, "Matt! I'm playing you next, no complaints!" she sucked in a breath and added, "Keep the redhead there! Mattie-boy will show you some real dancing skills!" and she was laughing breathlessly again, moving without a hitch in sync with the on-screen arrows as if they were programmed into her from birth. A light sheen of sweat shone on her skin, catching the colorful lights of the game, and Matt wondered briefly if the gaming god had sent him his very own angel in a nicely fitted t-shirt.
And then it occurred to him that the gaming angel had not only challenged his dancing skills, but had called him 'Mattie-boy' and his competitive spirit overrode his fantasy and pushed him to study her strengths and weaknesses.


Leaning on the foam-covered bar that bordered the dance pad, Matt panted for breath, "You're… pretty good…"

"You… too…" she pressed her back to the DDR screen, arms up and tucked behind her head. Her chest rose with each deep breath, and sweat droplets caressed her skin, and Matt was disappointed because he was too tired to appreciate it fully.

The audience broke into a round of applause as the winner's name flashed across the screen above their heads. The pair looked up, and Aurora only managed half a smile when it was her own alias -- Miheal.

"What a weird name…" Matt swiped sweat from his brow, "Why 'Miheal'?"

"Miheal is an angel of sensuality and fidelity." She offered.

"It fits."

She watched him look her up and down and made a face, but didn't otherwise protest. He wasn't the only one, anyway.

"…Another go?" she asked lazily.

He pulled off his vest, "…Yeah."

She turned to the monitor, "You pick the song. I don't care."

Shifting to stomp the arrows on the game board, he flipped through the songs, "Loser buys the winner a drink."

"I like strawberry milkshakes." She yawned, whipping her hair into a ponytail.

He chuckled, "Don't get cocky."

"I'm a girl. I can't."

Matt stumbled, face reddening. She only laughed.

"Look, look, Mello!" someone's voice yelled out over the crowd, making both dancers turn their heads, "There must be a competition! Let's go watch!"

"Let go of me! Leave me alone, you crazy witch!" and that was most definitely Mello's voice shouting now.

Matt saw them first, spotting Eliza clinging to Mello's arm and dragging him along in her excitement. Mello, in all his fury, reminded Matt of a dandelion. A very, very, pissed off dandelion.

He didn't have time to consider anymore when the game suddenly started and Aurora yelped, "Geez, give some warning, Matt!" He turned his back and stumbled into the dance moves. The crowd cheered.

Mello resisted as Eliza dragged him into the crowd that surrounded the DDR stage. He didn't want to be here in this stupid crowded arcade! So what if some snot-nosed brats were dancing?! Why did he have to go with? They finally emerged at the front of the crowd, and Eliza said something, but he didn't catch it because he was busy cussing out the kid that had just grabbed his ass. Once the kid had been thoroughly humiliated, Mello looked to the dancers… and his jaw dropped. Or, it would have, if it weren't for his amazing control over his facial expression. As it was, he looked as if someone had punched him. Hard.

There was only one thought in his head: 'Matt looks damn sexy…'

His eyes shifted to Aurora on a whim, and he decided then that she wasn't all that bad to look at either. His face heated up, and he seriously hoped he wasn't blushing.

Eliza was still holding his arm, staring up at the pair, looking star-struck, "They almost look like their glowing… And their both so good…"

Mello swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Hey, girls, are you gonna compete, too?" a boy asked, slinging his arms over Eliza and Mello's shoulders, "The Miheal chick is pretty good… wouldn't want to see a couple of pretty girls heartbroken."

Eliza and Mello simultaneously turned and punched the boy in the face, shouting, "Shut up!" and "I'm a man, asshole!" respectively.


"Here you go!"

The waitress cheerfully set down four milkshakes in front of the group and tottered off to serve other customers.

Aurora sipped her strawberry-flavored shake and sighed in pure hedonistic pleasure.

Matt grumbled under his breath, "I didn't lose, so why did I have to buy the drinks?"

"Of course you didn't, sweetie." She replied condescendingly, "But you'll get the money back."

After Eliza and Mello had punched the kid, a fight had broken out, putting an end to Aurora and Matt's dance off. It was decided then that Eliza and Mello would buy them drinks… but it turned out that Matt was the only one with money left.

"Aurora, I never knew you could dance like that! It was really cool!" Eliza gushed, "I've seen Matt dance before -- he's never been beaten at DDR before, that I've seen!"

Aurora smiled, pleased with herself. Matt mumbled something unpleasant.


A/N: This is entirely out of the blue, but I just kinda like hearing people's opinions on stuff, because it inspires me... so far, what's your favorite pairing from this fic? (Or just favorite friends, I guess it would be at this point. haha) What two kids are you cheering on, and maybe why?

Oh, but any review at all is much appreciated! Clicking that sexy little review button is what's bringing you new chappies!