"Uhh.. what?"
Mello folded his arms proudly. "You heard me."
"What could you possibly be afraid of?" Although I didn't show it, I was anticipating his next words more than I'd like to admit.
"Nothing," he answered flatly. He pushed his hair behind his ears and shook his head lightly. I thought I heard him mutter, "nothing that you could understand," but I wasn't sure.
No! I was completely sure.
I shifted my weight. "Try me."
Mello narrowed his eyes at me. "Why do you want to know so badly?"
"I- I'm your best friend. Everything about you is my business," I answered, throwing an earlier argument in his face.
He scoffed in response, but didn't react otherwise. I was the only one who dared to treat him the way I did. My confident smirk faded as I watched him.
He was beautiful.
"Matt," he breathed gently, placing his hand on my face. I closed my eyes and leaned my head onto his palm. I sighed as his cold fingers brushed through my hair and against my ear. His other hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into him. His hand that had been on my cheek was now in my hair, holding onto it for dear life. His other arm was around my waist, holding me tightly.
I rested my head against his chest and grabbed on to his shirt by his shoulder blades. Everything felt very natural and very calm and controlled, as if I was a marionette controlled by the most talented puppeteer in the world.
~~Mello's POV
"Uhh.. what?" Matt's eyes gleamed at me from behind his orange goggles. I could still see the green, even through the darkly colored and harshly scraped plastic. I liked his eye color; it was different. I had a baby blue that other people seemed to like, but Matt's eyes reminded me of deer's eyes. They were always very nervous and jumped around, even when he was relaxed. They were very wide and lively and innocent, even when guilty.
I folded my arms. "You heard me," I muttered. My eyes stared into his, although he didn't seem to notice.
He stared at the floor nervously. "What could you possibly be afraid of?" He looked around, his eyes as nervous as always.
I sighed. "Nothing." I pushed my hair behind my ears. "Nothing that you could understand," I added in a whisper.
Matt stomped a foot to the ground. "Try me."
I narrowed my eyes at my best friend. I took a breath to calm myself then, with a pounding heart, sputtered out, "why do you want to know so badly?"
Without missing a beat, Matt threw back, "I- I'm your best friend. Everything about you is my business."
I let out a small, angry sigh and pouted as I mulled his words over.
My eyes drifted up to him and I just looked at him. He was watching me, mirroring my expression, and at that moment, I knew.
Without thinking, I breathed the name of the angel before me and reached out my hand to his face. He reacted in the way I hoped he would, giving in to it and resting his head on my hand. He moaned lightly as my fingers rubbed his ear and I saw him smile faintly.
I hugged him to me. He was a little shorter than me, so his head bumped into my chest. I ran my hand through his hair and buried my nose in it, smelling the red locks right to the scalp. He smelled faintly of soap and mostly like sweat, but I loved his smell, and I never wanted to let go.
~~ Matt's POV
It took a while before I remembered how to move my body again. My fingers slowly unwound from Mello's shirt and my head pulled away from his chest.
Can eight year olds fall in love?
Love had never occurred to me before I met Mello, but when he touched my cheek, I felt like I floating, like my chest was going to explode, like everything in the world was the way it should be. As he hugged me, I didn't believe in suffering. If someone were to tell me about war or genocide or starvation, I wouldn't have believed them; I wouldn't even have understood them. In Mello's arms, I was in heaven.
When we were two separate people again, I stared at my video games. Not because I wanted to play them; no, they had all been played a number of times. But because it was something to look at. I was far too cowardly to look at Mello.
He grabbed my chin forcefully. He didn't mean to do it, I knew that. He was a naturally forceful person, and he didn't know it.
"What?" My voice was surprised as he grabbed me. I stared into his eyes, even though I didn't want to.
He let go immediately, and I felt a little empty at our lack of touch. "I just wanted you to look at me," he admitted.
I reached out and grabbed his hands with my own. They were much colder than mine, but I didn't care all that much. I didn't even notice. All I noticed was that I had Mello to myself, in a silent understanding of love.
He kissed my fingers and I pulled my hands away sheepishly. I never knew he could be so tender as he looked at me with a playful smile.
He leaned in and I closed my eyes as he gave me a passionate kiss. Our lips danced clumsily for a while before getting into a steady rhythm with the other's. He held onto my shoulders to keep me from backing away for some much-needed air until our kiss faded into nothingness and he finally pulled away.