"I'm sure we could be your family..." offered Mello quietly, looking to Matt.
"Matt's my best friend, but he's more than that to me. He's like a brother to me. He's stuck by me through thick and thin." He smiled and looked back.
"You're like... a big brother or maybe an uncle..." he added shyly.
"you barely know me." snows soft smile stayed in place, it always did.
"yeah... But you saved me..." the redhead finished his plate and got up to put it in the sink.
"Doing something so selflessly for my friend where the others turned us down... you don't know how much that means to us. We were taught that there is good and bad in this world and that the good are rewarded and the bad are given justice. You're a good person and you will be one day rewarded greatly for helping us." Mello smiled and did the same before returning.
"The person that took care of us before he left for good... he didn't have to raise us, but he did and he did a good job of it for as long as he did."
"you have no family to return home to then?" snow asked carefully, starting to look a little tired from being up and about.
"Well... no... not exactly..." said Mello then, looking at Snow.
"I was born here in America. I'm an American citizen like yourself... but I lost my parents at the age of 4 and I was moved to England where I lived until recently. I lost someone I was close to and I decided I didn't want to live in England anymore, so I came back to America..."
"and you Matt?"
The redhead gave a thick sounding sigh, "I liked it in England... I was born there... I don't know why mello was so insistent on coming but I'll follow him until I die... Or until he feeds me to Abby!"
"It's not going to happen, Matty and you know it," said Mello with a smile.
"There is a reason I did come back, but I am not quite comfortable telling you just yet. We have only been here less than a month now. It's not important right now though. What's important now is that we can help you in return for taking us in." He smiled and looked to Abby who looked about to pee right there, whining loudly to be let out.
"Come on, Abby. Let's go outside. I'll be right back."
"put some cloths on." snow advised wisely before mello left. It was raining after all. Matt did the same, it was still quite cold even in the apartment. The heater was warm but all the cracks in the roof and floor let the chill back in.
Mello had forgotten he was still in a towel and flushed slightly before going to change quickly, reappearing with his black clothes on before taking a whining puppy out to pee.
Snow once more shuffled off to bed, looking like death warmed up. Matt couldn't help but listen to the constant string of coughing that stretched on for what felt like hours. When mello got back he was still hacking, it was as though he could find no relief even in sleep.
"pretty sure he is dying..." Matt mumbled, looking out at the dark sky.
"If he is... then we can do what we can for him. We make it a better life for him now than what he probably was having for many years. We're guests in his home and we should respect it. I already know when he takes what medication, so I will tell you the times so you can help him out as well. I know A would be here right now making him as comfortable as possible. He would have a better mattress to sleep on, that's for sure. I'll look around for any store that has those foam things that make things comfortable for the back and head and I'll save money to buy them for him."
Matt turned off the light and curled up in bed, pulling the blankets that smelled of mud and dirt from him and mello crashing there the night before.
"suppose we can't do anything now..."
"I suppose not, but he's not dead yet and we should remember that. While he's still alive, we can't take it for granted. We honor him and respect him and treat him the way Watari would have wanted us to treat anyone like him." He looked to Snow's room and sat on their bed.
"I'll give him an orange first thing tomorrow in case he needs one."
"come on, lay down with me." Matt pulled on mellos shirt and sighed. He just couldn't see the situation the way mello could. Snow stayed coughing and hacking most of the night, though Matt slept through it. It was hard to resist the urge to go and check on him a few times when the coughing would stop and silence would take over.
Mello didn't sleep most of the night as a result of this and understandably so. He was worried for his new friend and while he knew that he wasn't dead, he was dying. That was not hard to see. He didn't know how Matt would react and how well he would accept this, but he was ready for it, whenever it would happen.
By morning the silence was deafening. Mello had gone over a million times in his head what he could do to save snows life, but it all ended in one thing... A... She was the only one who could do anything, but it would take time to find her. She was as well hidden as l himself. And deliberately so.
He removed himself from the bed and crept to Snow's room, feeling his heart pounding in his ears. He was afraid as he was this whole time for Snow's life. He pressed a finger under Show's nose, feeling some relief in small puffs, but those only made him worry more. He rubbed his arms gently then his chest, trying to stimulate deeper breathing.
Much to mellos surprise snow responded quickly and very well, starting to take deeper and deeper breaths in time with the blonds rubbing though he still didn't wake. Matt woke and looked about, feeling oddly alone in the small house.
"mells?" he called out in the still darkness.
"I'm in here," he replied just loud enough for Matt to hear.
"Snow wasn't breathing almost, and I am just helping him breath better at the moment."
Matt got up slowly and waddled into the room, still a little unsure on his feet. "you got him going again?" the redhead was more then a little curious as to what was going on right under his nose.
"Yeah. I'm doing what I did to you when you had your last asthma attack." He was still rubbing his chest carefully, happy that the albino man was doing so well. He wouldn't let him try on his own just yet.
"what happened?" Matt sat down on the horrible matrices and frowned. "this bed is horrible..." he was starting to risk getting hit for being so loud and he knew it. Mello was obviously trying to keep the elder asleep after being up all the night before sick. "god there's blood all over the pillow! "
"Matt... shush!" he hissed, glaring lightly at his friend. He let go after another minute and led his friend back.
"Don't pry into things that don't involve you, alright? He's very sick and these sorts of things happen."
"your prying more then I am!" Matt huffed, pulling a face. He wanted to help his friend not be stuck in the creepy old house all alone. "besides you can't help him if you don't know what's happening! For all you know he could have had a seizure or something and hit his head! Did you check his pulse? He could have had a heart attack and be on his last breaths! You don't know what's happened, so you can't treat him."
In the other room the ex-chefs chest quickly sank again, not able to sustain the deeper breaths on his own for long. It was sad, but this was almost normal for snow. As long as he held on no matter how weakly he would wake up and be thankful he was alive for another day.
"I don't know, but I'm not giving up on him, not like everyone else did!" He huffed and went back to start gently stimulating his chest once more.
Matt followed his friend to the door, "since when did you care so much mells?" he kept his voice down to avoid angering him further.
"Maybe cause he just looks too much like... him... I already lost him... I want to help Snow out so he can at least go peacefully..."
Matt sighed and walked back over to the bed, intending to help this time. He took the elders pale whist and felt for a pulse, giving a sigh and sliding his hand up along his neck after a moment of frustration "his pulse is to weak mells..." he sighed and shook his head. "dose he normally take anything for his heart in the morning?"
"From what I seen, I think so." He looks to the pills and parts to sort them out in the order he takes them, including the syringes.
"how far are you going to take this mells?" Matt's voice dropped even quieter, not wanting snow to hear, "it's one thing to take care of him and another all together to give him life support..."
"We're helping him, that's all..." Mello sighed and returned to rubbing Snow's chest carefully.
"When we have the right connections for him, then we can leave him be..." Even after saying that, Mello was apprehensive. He didn't want to abandon Snow, but Kira was still out there, like it or not.
"okay..." Matt was satisfied with that and looked over at the medicine. "well... That ones a blood pressure medication..." he stated bluntly and pointed to the bottle of pills. "gotta wake him up to take that though..." it was slightly worrying to Matt that even with the fuss of mello virtually sitting on him and massaging his chest fairly firmly the chef wasn't waking up, to him it screamed that his consciousness was impaired at the very least. A was a big fan of gently easing very sick people back into consciousness when she could, and the same thoughts had been printed into Matt's mind. If they stressed him out by waking him up and forcing medication down his thought there was always that chance the stress would be to much.
"He has medication for pretty much all his ailments. Painkillers, anti-inflammitories, antibiotics, vitamins and mineral supplements and even anti-depressants..." He didn't stop his efforts once. It was still early though and Mello believed Snow could wake on his own in an hour.
The last part took Matt back a little. Snow didn't appear depressed at all...
"w-well I suppose we can give it a bit and see if he wakes up before we go cramming it down his thought and choking him..."
Almost right on que an hour later the elder opened his eyes and blinked a few times to try and focus in the dark.
"mello?" his voice was still thick with sleep. "what are you doing?"
"I was helping you breath a little easier," answered the blond bluntly.
"Your breaths were weak and I was worried..."
Snows pale face lit up in a warm smile. "thank yo-" he was cut off mid word by a violent coughing fit that shook his entire body, blood coming up into his hand.
Though scared, Mello took off his shirt and used that to wipe the blood off.
"We'll help you with your needle again if you want," he offered with a small smile.
"yes... Please..." those bright red eyes where glistening with tears just from the force of the violent hacking. Matt looked at the blood and frowned, it wasn't from his lungs thankfully, but it meant his thought was ripped to peaces.
"I'll get some water okay?" he whispered and slowly got to his feet.
"n-no, you still need to... To be in bed..." the sickly male whispered, already shaking.
"We're already awake though... and it's impossible for me to sleep again." Mello used another part of the shirt to clean tears away.
"We're here to help you," he reminded gently.
"he is still sick..." snow protested though he was so weak his eyes where's starting to fall shut against his will once more.
"You're more sick," reminded the blond, feeling bad for bringing it up.
"Matt wants to help to. It's the least he can do, yeah?"
Snow nodded slowly and let his eyes fall compleatly shut until Matt returned with a glass of juice instaid. It would sting to drink but he needed the sugar to get into his body sooner rather then later.
"hey! Hey don't go back to sleep!" matt put the cup down on the bedside table "take your medicine first, then we'll let you sleep all you want!"
Snow gave a light huff, amused by the fuss. "this happens... All the time... There is no need to worry..."
"Please drink it as soon as you can, alright? No pressure; just take your time." Mello looked to his friend and back.
"I trust you."
"can you pass me... Some of those bottles please?" he asked gentily, trying to sit up and causing another wave of coughs.
Mello knew what bottles he took and opened them for the sickly male.
"There you go." The blond climbed off Snow and went to his side, mentally counting every pill and supplement and filing it away.
The elder knew exactly how much to take of everything without even having to look at the container. He knew the size and shape of every pill and what it did by heart. There where 5 different pills and 8 in total every morning and even more before he went to bed. He popped them all in his mouth and washed them down the the orange juice as quickly as possible to avoid the taste.
"can you get my injection to?" he asked more then a little shyly. He wasent used to the help, not that it wasent appreciated, he just didn't know what to do with it.
"Yeah." Mello grinned and looked to Matt.
"You wanna give it a try, Matty? I'll get the amount in and all you have to do is inject the needle, push the plunger and take the needle out again, but keep a swab over in case he bleeds."
Matt groaned. "I know how to give a needle mells!" he shook his head slowly, "a says I'm better at it then the nurses at-" Matt paused, realizing he had just set himself up to be called 'nurse-matty' for the rest of his life!
"Alright then, 'nurse Matty'," he said with a playful smirk.
"You can give his shot this morning." He handed the syringe over and gave the redhead space.
"asshole." Matt hissed, snatching the needle. It was true though, unlike snow who had littered his arm with puncture wounds and mello who still had to fiddle around once the needle was inside to find the vein Matt hit it the first time so smoothly the elder didn't even feel it go in.
"You set yourself up for that one, so you can't say shit," countered the blue eyed teen. He looked at Snow who appeared to be normal-ish again and smiled.
"Did you want anything for breakfast later? I can make oatmeal if you have it."
"I will cook." snow stated bluntly, "I enjoy cooking..." it was the one thing in his life he still took pleasure in, and he wasent going to give it up to his illness just yet.
Before mello or Matt could counter the door bell rung and snows smile became even wider. He knew it was the delivery girl with fresh food, and all he could think about was the taste of some caramalised apple or blueberry pancakes rather then the horrible young women who braught it every week. Slowly he tried to pull himself out of bed, but anouther coughing fit took him before he could.
"c-can you? The m-money's on... The bench..."
"I got you covered." Mello took the money and went to the door and answered it, immediately disliking the woman he was greeted by.
The girl was about 19 or twenty and she had braught two of her gasping friends along. They didn't even see mello had opened the door at first they where to busy chatting and giggling. "is he really a ghost? "
"nah he is just a sick freak of nature, but I'm telling you his eyes are bright red!"
"like bloodshot?"
"no like red red! Seriously!"
"maybe he is a ghost!"
"or a zombi!" the third chimed in.
Mello glared at this trio.
"Leave him alone, yeah?" he said rather loudly.
"He did nothing wrong to anyone!"
"oh?" the girl found disappointed snow didn't answer the door. "did he kick the bucket? Are you his like... Little brother or something?"
"no way there not related, he isn't a freak!" the second girl pointed out.
"shh! Don't say that! He's right there!"
"if he is dead what would his little brother care what we say, it's not like anyone would miss a freak like that!" they where speaking in hushed voices, atleast the girls thought they where hushed voices, mello could here every word.
"Just give me the food, yeah? I'll pay you and you ignoramus trio can take your loud traps with you..."
"hey! We just wanna see the down town ghost!" the third whined, trying to shove her way in the door. "ill put it on the table for you!"
"oooh your cute!" the second pinched mellos cheek, "pitty your not a bit older!"
"even if he was he has bad geans! You don't want baby ghosts do you?"
"aww look he isn't a ghost, are you blondy?"
"The name's not 'Blondy' and I'm certainly not a fucking ghost..." he growled.
"Please... just hand it over and we can go on with our lives..."
"no! We came all the way down here to see the ghost! The girl pushed past followed by her friend, exploring the house completely uninvited, though somewhere deep down mello knew that snow was incapable of being as mad at them as he has the right to be.
"Hey! You can't be in here!" Mello wasn't looking for a fight or conflict, but he would hit a girl to defend his new and current friend. None of the girls at Wammy's could say otherwise.
The three managed to force there way all the way to snows bedroom, peaking inside and immediately turning white themselves.
The albino had been choking on his own blood so Matt did the only thing he could do and pull him forward so he was hunched over, head resting on mats shoulder and recovering from the blood he hacked up, running down his chin and over the boys neck. Snow was to dizzy to really register what was happening, but when he turned to the girls scratching all they sore was a vampire sucking the life out of some random child's neck.
Mello looked in and had to stifle a laugh, at the same time a gasp of concern. This was perfect, but worrying.
"Leave the food and get out!" he said again, curling his hands into fists, but not before acting ahead of time and taking the container and shoving the brat the money.
The girl shirked and all three nearly tripped over each other in there hurry to escape, suddenly no longer wanting to see the 'ghost'
"oh god he's a vampire!"
"he's going to eat us!"
"vam-pire?" snow looked a little confused, but slowly his senses returned and he frowned. "o-oh sorry..." he took the blanket and started wiping Matt's neck, though the redhead was to busy trying to put together the events of the last five minuets.
"the hell is with them?"
"I believe those traps were helping Miss Ignoramus deliver Snow's food. That scene with Snow and the blood on your neck was just perfect timing, if a little worrisome."
"huh?" matt blinked a few times. "why'd ya let those idiots in?"
Snow frowned slightly, concern washing over his features. "I didn't bite him..."
"there... Kinda like wasps arnt they?" Matt's brows furrowed, "big, bitchy wasps..."
Snow was so delicate wiping the blood off the redheads neck it sent shivers down his spine and he shuddered.
"I'm sorry, was I to rough?"
"no it's just really ticklish." Matt snorted a little laugh at the implication that anything snow ever did could possibly be rough.
"Well they're gone and I'm glad. I don't wanna see them again for a while." He looked at the pair and smiled, becoming relaxed again.
"the blond one comes every week..." snow mumbled and tried to get to his feet again. He knew exactly what he wanted to make for brekfest, and he would get to the kitchen if it killed him
Mello looked to his friend and went to one side and helped him up to his feet.
"Well... maybe she'll learn not to barge in again now that we're here," he stated calmly.
"I don't like to be negative." Snow mumbled, trying to pull on a warm pair of pants and a hoody, though he refused to put anything on his feet, cold or not, "but this will most likely make it worse..."
"We'll make sure it doesn't," said Mello confidently.
"You learn a lot coming from an orphanage."
"I suppose..." snow finally got into the kitchen and suddenly it was hard to tell snow was so sick, every movement became far more graceful and practiced and he chopped up apples a cooked pancakes and melted toffy over each and every bit. Making the three plates easily. Te pancakes where so perfect and they where stacked two to a plate with a caramalised apple on top, drissled with the toffy left from the pan.
"god... He would love the old man!" Matt was drooling. He only ever ate food that looked this good once before and that was made by none other then watari.
Mello looked saddened, remembering their precious elder.
"I'm sure he would have gotten along swimmingly," he said with a sad smile, enjoying the very delicious pancakes.
"I don't think I could ever equal you in culinary skill, Snow," he added with a wider smile. They were simply Devine!
"most cannot. Snow smiled and ate happily. Just haveing someone there to make food for ,add him feel better.
After Mello could eat no more, he opted to wait before doing dishes. He would go out today and try get more connections for Snow and for Matt and himself. He also needed to get a hold of a foam mattress. Snow needed comfort, and he would do his best to provide it.
As soon as snow had finished eating he stood to quickly and nearly toppled to the ground if it wernt for Matt grabbing his arm. "don't fall over!"
"Careful!" Mello looked on with concern beffore gathering the dishes and piling them neatly.
"Hey Snow? Umm... I'm going to go out today. I'll be back later. There's something I need to do so we don't have to intrude on you anymore. Is that alright? Matt can keep you company."
"alright... Please be careful..." snows voice was almost a whisper. He let Matt guide him to his room and lay him down in bed, sitting down on the hard matrice.
"mells think you could fill a hot water bottle before you go?" Matt called out, wanting to warm frozen skin.
"Yeah, no problem!" Mello started the dishes and cleaned them as quickly as he could manage. He found his jacket and put it on. He didn't forget the hot water bottle and prepared one, taking a few minutes for the hot water and pouring it inside. He brought this to Matt and Snow.
"I'll try not take too long. I'll return earlier only if things don't look good."
Snow, not thinking of himself as usual, quickly took off his big, thick, warm hoody and pulled it down over mellos head. "it's raining." he explained, "don't get cold." the gesture Made even matt smile. He looked like he could pass away at a moments notice, and he was worried about the blond getting a chill.
"I'll be fine, I promise." Mello hugged his new friend and even gave a very short peck on the cheek before parting.
"I'll try be back before supper. If I'm not, then I'll be back a little later." He smiled kindly and walked to the door and opened it before exiting; he had a destination in mind. He seen a community center during a scouting trip. That seemed as good a place as any.
Matt watched over snow for a few long moments before giving a much wider smile and trying to settle him back into bed. "how about some tv?"
While Matt tended to Snow, Mello was having little success at the community center. As a street kid, they had already looked down on him as being no more than a no-good hoodlum. Even with his much greater and proven intelligence, they still turned him down. Even defending Snow didn't get him into their good graces. He left 2 hours later frustrated and began his search anew.
Matt was trying to get a good signal on the tv for much of the time, snow seemed to like whatever he put on, but it was hard to see anything through the fuzz of static. He sighed and opened the tv cabinet below, finding much to his surprise not a video player but an old, dusty nintendo 64.
"you have video games!" Matt chirped but a quick look at the console told him it hadent been used in awhile, and chances are that it was because it was broken.
"I did have games..." breathed the elder tiredly.
"It was... donated... but I didn't think it would work..." He broke into a short coughing fit and panted as he recovered.
"I can fix it for you!" Matt grinned widely, finally! Something he was good at! "do you have anything I can pull apart for wires? I mean... A radio or something?" the whole house was filled with half functioning things. Even snows beloved kitchen had a jug that boiled so slowly it wasent funny and his microwave hadent been used since it shot sparks at him.
"I'm sure there's something..." he whispered with a small smile. It was refreshing to see the youth animated in a way he's never seen before. Calm, intelligent eyes followed Matt as much as his position allowed.
"I'll get it working and we can play Pokemon!" Matt pulled off the shell and immediately noticed the problem, and it was an easy one to fix. Just a few wired damaged in a short circuit at some point. They would be easily replaced. He got to his feet and looked around the room, spotting an old radio "how bout that?"
"I don't li-" He coughed again and shuddered.
"S-sorry... I don't listen to the radio..." he said quietly, still watching the redhead work in awe.
"okay." matt took that and ripped it apart to, quickly gathering the wires he needed and fixing the game, plugging it in to the tv and the wall to test out. The light came on straight away and the tv lit up in a familiar logo. "easy fix." he smiled to himself.
Red eyes squinted as the bright lights hit his sensitive eyes in the dark space. He felt for his shades with shaky hands.
"Sorry again... I'm not used to bright light..." he said quietly.
"hey it's okay." Matt handed him a controller and his sunglasses. "let's play Pokemon stadium okay? "
"Okay..." He kept the controller on his stomach, not having the strength to hold it up. He vaguely had an understanding of this game and knew Matt was more knowledgeable than he was. He smiled weakly though.
"May the best man win..." he whispered with a smile.
"I hope not." Matt smirked. By the time mello got back they where both fast asleep, controllers still in hand and abby nestled between them. The final score was 3 to 2, and Matt had never came so close to losing in his entire life. That, however, was what made it exciting.
Mello however looked worse for wear. He had a seizure on the way back and his currently disgruntled state told of the ignorance shown because of his status. He was very tired, but stripped and changed before going to bed, sleeping before he was all the way down.
Matt was still asleep when snow got up, padding into the lounge room to find mello on the verge of having another. He quickly got to the boys, rolling him onto his side and shielding his head. "your epeleptic?" he whispered quietly, trying to comfort the boy while gentily stroking his cheek
Mello shuddered and shook, thrashing uncontrollably as the worst of the seizure made its course. He groaned and whined before he went still, panting heavily and shuddering lightly.
"you should have told me." he whispered as the boy came back to reality. "I have some medicine that might help. Do you want some orange juice with it?"
Mello nodded slowly, looking unfocused.
"I... I didn't want... to burden you..." panted Mello, looking shamed.
"shh, its no trouble." snow slowly got to his feet and walked back into his room, taking out some tablets and then headed for the kitchen for the juice.
"here, don't worry there only sleeping pills, but they are useful for helping you recover from seizures... So you don't wake up feeling awful tomorrow." he explained. "I take them a lot, they work well."
"Th-thanks..." Mello smiled weakly and finished catching his breath, feeling very tired now. All he wanted now was sleep. He could tell them about his efforts in the morning.
Snow helped the boy sit up and take the pill before tucking him in again. "I will make Matt something for tea and then send him to bed with you alright?" he spoke more gentily then he usually did, knowing the boy more then likely had a headache. "do you want something to? The tablet will probably make you every tired very quickly but if you are hungry I can make toast."
"N-no thanks... I want to sleep..." Mello sighed and curled on his side, taking a deep breath and falling back into a much welcomed sleep that quickly deepened.
"alright." snow rubbed the boys arm soothingly until he was out, mostly so he could keep an eye on the boy. After a while though he got up, made tea for himself and Matt then sent the redhead back to sleep himself. By the time he got to bed he was exhausted, but he didn't spend all night coughing this time and had a good nights rest for the first time in a week.
The following morning, Mello woke feeling much better, so much so that he almost didn't want to wake and fought to stay sleep. Only when his mind started ticking over did he wake and looked to Snow's room.
As usual it was the lack if noise that was worrying, though this morning snow was actually in a relatively good condition. The day before being looked after and aloud to sleep when he normally would have had to force himself to stay awake did him wonders. The only reason snow had survived so long was how quickly he could bounce back when taken care of properly, and he used to be able to do that himself though now it was becoming impossible.
The blond crawled out and got the number of pills Snow needed and filled a tall glass so he could take them with ease. He wanted tp give the needle today and prepared a new syringe for Snow.
The albino was sleeping peacefully for once and looked much better then mello had seen him the past few days, and that was saying something because if what they suspected was true the main reason snow deteriorated so quickly throughout the day was that the medicine was wareing off before he could pump it back into his system. By that theory he should be looking worse by now, though it could also be that the sleep itself was playing a part.
After some time had passed, Mello gently roused Snow from sleep.
"Hey..." he whispered, shaking gently.
"Good morning," he whispered with a smile, giving a gentle hug.
Snow smiled and pet the blonds hair. "do you feel better?" he asked, the first words out of his mouth once again being for someone other then himself.
"I'm alright. You sound a lot better." Mello smiled kindly then noted the controllers.
"I see that you got a demonstration of my friend's abilities, then? Was he better than you expected?"
Snow smiled, "I almost beat him..." he held out his arm for mello when he sore the needle in hand. "he fixed it with a radio." which was enough to impress him for sure.
"Matt knows his way around most technologies. I'm saving to get him a laptop and see what he can really do with it." Mello smiled and prepped Snow's arm, giving the injection carefully.
"It was always Matt's strong point," he added.
"I can see that." snow didn't even flinch at the needle going in though mello accidentally collapsed the vein, which was easy enough to do to the already frail man. "don't worry about that..." he sighed, "I do it every second day..."
"I'll try again."Mello was careful and got it right, breathing a sigh of relief.
Snows arm was almost immediately bruised, but it always was, "thank you." he smiled gratefully
"No problem." Mello smiled and offered the glass and handed him his pills.
"Things didn't go so well yesterday. I tried to get help at one of the community centers, but they turned me down flat, even if I have more than enough intelligence to take care of myself and my friend, they wouldn't help me. It was frustrating me to no end..."
Snow nodded slowly, "I know how that feels..." the albino frowned slightly. "I with I sisnt have to ask this, but I need a little bit of help today."
"What is it you need help with?" The blond looked at the elder curiously, ready to help, but unsure of what the details were.
"there is an old woman who lives in the house up the outside stairs above this one." he gave another smile then, she is lovely, but blind as a batt." even the people who where kind to snow where only kind because they couldn't see him. "I make her a pumpkin pie and give it to her every monday, and she is knitting me a new rug to go over the floor and a scarf in return. Can you get take it up to her? I don't think it would be a good idea for me to go up those outside stairs when it's raining like it is today... You can take an umbrella of coarse!"
"Yeah, sure!" Mello smiled and left the room, wanting Matt to go with him today if he was feeling up for it.
"Hey Matty..." he whispered, shaking his friend gently.
Matt pulled the blankets tighter around himself and burried his face in the pillow. "no!" he huffed, way to comfortable to move.
"Matt, did you want to help me with an errand? Snow wants me to deliver pie to the lady upstairs. She's blind, but he would like us to deliver it to her today. Did you want to help me out?"
Matt huffed. "no, but I will..." he still didn't want to pry himself out of the blanket but ever so slowly he did and got to his feet. "can't promise I won't eat the pie though."
"This is for an elderly woman, Matt. I don't think she would appreciate having a large chunk of pie going missing on her now. If she invited us to have a piece, then we can, but ONLY one, alright?"
"okay but if she is blind she wont know anythings missing!" Matt grinned mischievously. Anything snow made had to be perfect! "let's go!"
"Matt..." Mello looked at his friend sternly.
"We're not going to take any pie from her unless invited to. Understood?" Even if he'd let himself be a little more open, he knew who was in charge between them.
"fine!" Matt whined but got up, walking to the fridge and finding the pie wrapped in plastic and waiting. "oh it looks good! Why is he giving her a pie anyway?"
"He says he gives her one every week. I guess it's a kind gesture and something he enjoys doing." Mello shrugged and took the pie from the fridge and set it on the table before getting his jacket.
"Use Snow's sweater. You need it more than me."
"okay." Matt pulled on the thick clothing and put the white hood over his head with a grin. "do I look like him?"
"If you had much paler skin, longer hair and red eyes... I guess you could be," he replied teasingly. He took the pie and looked out at the new rain that was starting to fall.
"He said there's an umbrella we can use. Let's take it and make it quick."
Matt nodded and pet Abby on there way out. "look after snow alright?" he smiled and she yawned and went back to sleep. The redhead took the umbrella by the door, unfolding it and walking out into the rain. It was dark even though it was creeping up on 10am and it was even slightly flooded thanks to days of non stop rain.
The pair made it around to the stairs the would lead them to the level above this one, being careful not to slip and lose the pie-or their lives-in the process.
The women came to the door at the noise and opened it up. "hello?" she asked, looking more frightening then Matt had pictures with her thick black sunglasses, slicked back grey hair and Cain with a huge snakes head on top. "err... We brought you a pie?"
"Yeah, Snow needed the favor and we had volunteered," said Mello with a smile though he knew she wouldn't see it.
"He told us that you get one from him every week. I hope you don't mind us," he added.
"no no!" the creepy old woman smiled and led them in, "I have finished that rug he wanted, oh I am sure it is lovely!" inside her house was even more frightening, dead stuffed animals littering the entire house dispite her inability to see them. Every pet she ever owned she stuffed and put on top of shelves and beside her lounge and even her dead bird was perched on the tv which she loved to listen to. There was one live cat that came and rubbed against there legs as they walked, but it was just as frightening, jet black with one eye torn out and part of its ear torn off...
"You have an interesting collection in here," said Mello, shaking off a wave of sickness and fear. He looked to the area to where he assumed the rug was being made. Despite the creepiness of this apartment, at least this one contrasted against the room and even appeared rather nice, if a little blotched.
"I don't know what color it is." she smiled "but it's three layers thick, so it should be perfect."
Matt was so terrified he froze in place at the door. It seemed like every creepy dead eyed cat, dog, bird and even a ferret was looking through his soul.
"I'm sure he'd love it," he said politely.
"We should be going though. We have errands to run and we don't want to be in your way any more." He took the rug and backed himself to the door.
"alright take care boys." she took her pie and shuffled out of the room, letting Matt make a run for the door. He almost slipped on the stairs but he didn't stop until he was back at the albinos door.
Mello was no better and made a quick trip, going to the door and letting himself inside.
"Creepy place, much?" he said at last, shuddering at the images and not so much at the cold.
"what the hell was that!" Matt yelped, looking to see snow shuffling about the kitchen. "what the hell snow!"
"hrm?" the albino replied, looking to the door to see the now dripping wet boys. "did you lose the umbrella?"
"That old lady's place had dead animals everywhere!" exclaimed the blond, shuddering again in fear and disgust. He held out the rug though and shuddered again.
"oh that, they are her pets. Whenever one dies she has them stuffed so they never leave her." snow shrugged, "I suppose there her friends."
Matt's eyes widened as he pictures snow sitting stuffed on the couch next to them and let out a soft yelping sound. "you don't stuff your friends!"
"I'm sure he means just she does... but that's still freaky as hell..." Mello removed his jacket and sat on the bed, trying to clear the images out.
Matt quickly inched away from mello, the redheads thoughts clearly displaying on his face. He didn't want to be stuffed and put ontop of the tv or bed or next to the lounge.
"Matt... Don't let it bother you. I'm not going to stuff anyone cause that's just creepy... I'm still trying to forget what I saw in there... ew..."
"I don't want to be stuffed." Matt shuddered, "I want to be buried back in England..."
"So do I, and we probably will be in the end, but don't worry yourself. We're a team, alright?" He pulled Matt into a comforting hug.
"It's alright."
Matt pulled a face that said he was still picturing mello stuffing him slowly calmed himself down and huddled back in close. Atleast they had somewhere warm and safe to stay again.
The pair didn't part, just taking comfort in each other until each had calmed down.
