Matt: Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites by Skrillex
Mello: To the Moon for All I Care by Search the City

Chapter 10: Proposition

Mello fumbled with his keys at the door, trying to balance the two large brown paper bags on his knee, bracing them with one hand, while the other worked to get his key into the lock. He eventually succeeded, almost dropping the bags in the process, and pushed the door open. "Misa!" he called out angrily when he didn't see her immediately. He was a bit annoyed with her at the moment.

When he'd agreed to picking up their dinner that morning before he'd left for work, he'd imagined one medium sized bag. He could handle that on his motorcycle; the two huge sacks that he'd picked up at the Chinese restaurant she'd told him to go to, however, were quite a bit more difficult. In all honesty, he probably wouldn't have even been that mad about it had he not almost gotten into an accident on the way home trying to keep hold of their dinner.

"Misa!" he tried again, but instead of receiving a response, he heard one of the bedroom doors open.

"Oh my God! Mello, it was so amazing!" Misa exclaimed, practically skipping out to the living room towards him, evidently not noticing his irritated expression. "I got to the studio and-"

"That's great. Want to help me with this?" he said, cutting her off. She let out an annoyed huff and shot him a glare, but he didn't really care. "Is there a reason you ordered enough food for twenty people?" he asked as she begrudgingly took one of the bags from him.

"We're supposed to be celebrating my first modeling shoot," she said flatly, clearly upset that he'd interrupted her. "Is there a reason why you're in such a bad mood? If you didn't want to pick it up, you could have just said so."

"I was fine with picking it up, and I was still fine with it when I got to the restaurant. I started to regret that I said I would when the guy at the cashier told me I owed him fifty bucks, but no, I paid him and took the bags, deciding I could probably manage them on my motorcycle. I was fine with it until I almost crashed into the car in front of me trying to hold on to all of it. I mean, really, who is going to eat all this?" he added angrily, sitting the bag down on the coffee table next to where Misa had placed the other one.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't know why you're taking this out on me," Misa said, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at him as he dropped to his knees to pull his suitcase from under the coffee table and started rummaging through it.

"Who else would you like me to take it out on?" he said, pulling out a red t-shirt and a pair of dark wash skinny jeans. "You're the one who ordered the food, and you're the one who now owes me fifty dollars. Actually," he amended, pulling the receipt out of his pocket, "fifty-six, seventy-two."

"Fine. I'll pay you back. Happy?"

"Sure," he grumbled, getting up to head towards the bathroom so he could change out of his work clothes.

"Kiyomi's in the shower. Just change in here," she said, taking a seat on the couch, and although her voice still held a bit of annoyance, he could tell that she wasn't really all that mad.

"In here?" he said flatly, raising an eyebrow at her.

Misa rolled her eyes at him. "I'll even turn around if it's that big of a deal," she said in a mocking tone, already moving to turn away from him. He glanced over at her and let out a sigh, undoing the tie at the back of his Starbucks apron and slipping it over his head only to throw it at Misa. "Hey, if you're gonna make it a show, I'm gonna turn around to watch," she said, looking over her shoulder at him with a cheeky smile.

"Just turn around, Misa," he said and couldn't help but let out a small laugh. He really couldn't stay mad at her.

"So what's this actually about?" she asked when she was once again turned away from him. "Did something happen at work, or are you really just mad about almost dying on the way home?"

"I never said I almost died."

"Well you acted like it. 'I almost got in an accident because of your stupid Chinese food,'" she mocked.

"No, work was fine," he said, rolling his eyes, and tossed his work shirt to the arm of the chair, deciding to ignore her comment. He slipped the t-shirt over his head.

"So then what is it?" He glanced over at her, hesitating. "C'mon, Mello. When you get all quiet, then I know something's wrong."

"It's not really that something's wrong exactly. Well, I mean, it is kind of, but…I don't know," he tried, not being able to find the right words.

"Mello, just tell me," she said, sounding concerned.

"No… Really, it's…it's nothing…" He really didn't want to talk about it, even with Misa. Or, well, he did want to talk about it, but he didn't want to bring it up for fear that Misa would figure out what he was really getting at. Instead, realizing that he'd never actually finished changing, he quickly swapped his work pants for the jeans he'd taken out of his suitcase.

"Mello, you're a terrible liar," she said as he flopped down on the couch next to him, taking that as a cue that it was okay for her to turn around, giving him an unconvinced look. "You can't just act all angsty and then pretend like nothing's wrong."

"I'm not acting angsty," he grumbled.

"Something's wrong," she mocked, doing what he assumed was supposed to be an impression of him. "No, I'm not going to talk about it. I'm just going to sit over here and be aloof and brooding," she finished, throwing in a couple dramatic gestures for effect.

"Okay, really. I don't sound like that."

"Then just tell me. Keeping it all bottled up isn't going to help," she said, and even if she were trying to pry, she was right. Refusing to talk about it now would probably end with him lashing out at someone else later.

He took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "How much does Matt smoke?"

Misa only gave him a confused look. "Seriously? How should I know? You're with him more than I am."

"Never mind. I shouldn't have even asked…"

"No, wait. Is that really what's bothering you?" she asked, sounding surprised. His expression must have betrayed him because she added, "Aw, you're worried about him. That's cute."

"It's not cute. It's annoying." He'd tried to push it from his mind as he'd rushed to work that morning, but despite his best efforts, it kept resurfacing throughout the day. He didn't want to think about it, nor did he really want to talk about it with Misa or anyone else, for that matter.

"It's annoying that you care about him enough to worry about him?" she questioned, her tone gentle, a small smile on her lips.

"No, it's just… it's annoying that it reminds me of…" but he didn't want to finish. He looked over at Misa hoping she would understand. It took her a minute, but the confusion on her features slowly changed to understanding.

"Oh…right," she said, her eyes widening as she slowly nodded. "Mello, if that's how you feel, you should really talk to Matt about it," she added, her tone suddenly serious.

"I'm not gonna try to tell him how he should live his life," he said, though that was only part of it, the other part being that he really just didn't want to have that conversation yet. It was too soon for him to lay all his family issues on Matt like that.

"No, but he has a right to know how you feel. And besides, he definitely smokes way too much. Maybe if you explain yourself, he'll try to cut back," she suggested, offering him a small encouraging smile. "And if he cares about you as much as you seem to care about him, he'll want to." But with that, he heard the bathroom door open, and the conversation was over. "Just think about it, okay?" Misa said. Mello only nodded.

"Um, hey, Mello?" he heard Takada say behind him, and he instantly knew by her clearly fake pleasant tone that whatever she wanted wasn't good. "You want to try not to leave your stuff all over the bathroom?" and his bottles of shampoo and conditioner, along with his razor and canister of shaving cream were dropped on the couch beside him.

"Believe it or not Taki, I live here too," he said, turning around to find her glaring at him, her still damp hair hanging down around her face. "You leave your stuff all over the bathroom, and I can't even leave my shampoo in the shower?" So he had accidently left his razor and shaving cream on the edge of the sink on his way out that morning, but it was one time. It wasn't like he did it on a daily basis.

Takada opened her mouth to retort, but Misa didn't give her the chance. "Not now, Kiyomi," she pleaded, "Can't you two get along for once? Just for today? For me?"

"Fine," Takada said, going to sit in the chair situated at the end of the coffee table, clearly still annoyed.

"Yeah. Fine," Mello agreed, though by the way Takada was sitting there, silently fuming, he knew this was far from over. He didn't really understand why she was getting so worked up over something as small and unimportant as him keeping his stuff in the bathroom, but if she was going to make it a big deal, he was going to fight for it. So without another word, he got up, taking his stuff back to the bathroom. He put his razor and shaving cream in the medicine cabinet and placed his shampoo and conditioner back in the shower caddy where he'd left them that morning, scoffing at the fact that there were about ten bottles of different scented shower gels in there that he knew weren't his.

He heard a knock at the door as he made his way down the short hall, followed by Misa loudly announcing "I'll get it!" By the time he actually got out to the living room, Takada was setting the cartons of Chinese food out on the coffee table, and Misa was already at the door. "Hi, Matt!" she exclaimed, and he watched as she threw her arms around him in a hug.

"Hey, Misa," he said but gave Mello a smile and a small wave over Misa's shoulder, and though it was slightly tainted by the cigarette between Matt's fingers, Mello was still happy to return the gesture. He was a bit surprised, though glad nonetheless, to see that Matt looked much better than he had that morning when he'd found him in the parking garage. His goggles were positioned up at the top of his head, revealing that, although his eyes still looked tired as they always did, he seemed healthy and lively otherwise.

But when Matt tried to step into the apartment, Misa stopped him. "I told you before: no smoking in the apartment," she said, placing her hands on her hips.

He brought the cigarette up to his lips, taking one last drag on it before holding the filter up. "See? Done."

"Alright, so get rid of it," she said, continuing to stand in the doorway, not allowing him in.

"I can't just leave it out here."

"There's a garbage can down by the elevator."

"Yeah, there's also a gahrbage can in your kitchen that's a lot closer." But Misa only stuck her arm out, pointing in the direction of the elevator. "C'mon, Misa. You've never been this strict about it before," Matt said, clearly a bit taken aback by the way she was acting.

"You could've been back already," she said simply, and Matt let out a sigh, starting back in the direction he'd come from. When he'd disappeared from view, Misa turned back towards Mello, giving him an apologetic look and mouthing the word 'sorry.' He gave her a small appreciative smile in return. Although he didn't really know how she expected refusing to let Matt into the apartment with a lit cigarette to help, he was still grateful for her efforts, nonetheless.

"See. Look, it's gone," Matt said, coming back into view, holding both his hands up to show that they were empty. "Can I come in now?"

"Absolutely," Misa stepped out of the way, no trace of the stern expression she had given him earlier remaining; rather, a wide grin appeared on her face as she skipped across the room. "I'll put some water on for tea to go with our yummy Chinese food," she announced happily. "Everyone good with tea?"

She received a couple "Sure"s from Mello and Matt and a nod from Takada, though it wasn't apparent whether she'd actually bothered to listen to their responses or had just assumed that they'd be fine with it.

"Hey, how are ya?" Matt said, moving forward to give Mello a small kiss, his arms going around him in an embrace.

"Better now that you look a bit less like a zombie," he returned, a smile coming to his face.

"Toldya I'd be fine." But as happy as Mello was to see Matt looking much better than he had earlier, he found it a bit unnerving when he noticed Takada observing their exchange with curiosity out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but wonder if she was doing it just to annoy him.

"Alrighty," Misa said, coming back into the room with a handful of paper plates and napkins as Matt and Mello went to sit down on the couch. "Here you go," she passed them out and dug around the bottom of one of the paper bags, pulling out a few sets of disposable wooden chopsticks. Mello took his hesitantly. He was awful with chopsticks, but it seemed like everyone else was fine with them. He watched as Misa took a seat next to him on the couch and snapped her set apart, positioning them in her hand and loading her plate with a variety of the different foods laid out in front of her. "So guys," she said looking around the room expectantly, "I'm officially a model!" and her hands went up in the air excitedly, her now full plate wobbling slightly where it was balanced on her knees, appearing as if it wanted to fall off.

Mello turned to give her a congratulating smile from where he was trying his best to pick up a spring roll with his chopsticks, giving up and putting it on his plate with his fingers, when he heard Takada let out a disgruntled sigh at Misa's words. "Seriously, Taki?" he said, turning towards her and giving her a look of disbelief, "What is your problem? Can't you just be happy for her?"

"I am," she said flatly, a bit taken aback, "but I've already heard all this. Misa ambushed me the second she walked in the door. Didn't she do the same to you?"

"She, uh," he started, wishing he wouldn't have said anything in the first place. It was just that it bothered him the way Takada kept watching his and Matt's interactions as if she were observing them, trying to gauge the meaning behind their actions. "Something came up," he finally finished, going back to his attempts at using his chopsticks.

"Really? I just figured she'd want to share her big news with her best friend," she said, making it sound like an accusation.

"Are you two done?" Misa asked, sounding annoyed, "I thought you were going to try to get along?"

"That wasn't my fault," Takada said innocently.

"Sorry," Mello apologized, and as much as he hated to admit it, that had been more his fault than Takada's; he was the one who had lashed out at her, after all. "Keep going." And without further prompting, she did.

"It was so awesome!" she started, but in all honesty, Mello didn't hear much else. It wasn't that he didn't want to listen—he really did want to show his support for her—but as he bent forward, trying to get transfer some of the lo mein from the takeout carton to his plate, all he managed to do was drop one of the chopsticks. It fell to the coffee table and rolled to the floor where Matt bent down to pick it up for him.

"See? Like this," Matt whispered as to not interrupt Misa, giving Mello the chopstick back and picking up his own, showing him how to hold them properly. "Let the one rest in the bend between your thumb and finger and brace it with your middle finger. Then you can pinch the other one between your thumb and pointer finger." Mello watched with amazement as Matt demonstrated; he'd never realized before that Matt was left handed.

He tried to mimic the way Matt was holding his chopsticks, managing with minimal success to get the lo mein onto his plate. Matt chuckled lightly, seeing Mello try to guide the noodles that had only made it halfway onto his plate with his chopsticks. "Here," Matt said, taking the noodles dangling off the edge of Mello's plate up in his own chopsticks and holding them up in front of Mello's face. He leaned forward hesitantly, eating them off of Matt's chopsticks.

"Aww! You guys are too cute!" Misa squealed, "Seriously, like, I don't even care that you're not paying attention." Mello hadn't even noticed that Misa had stopped her story in favor of watching Matt try to teach Mello how to use chopsticks, and by the way Matt was blushing wildly to Mello's left, it appeared that he hadn't noticed either. "No, please don't stop on my account. Feel free to feed each other as much as you want. It's adorable!" But before she had the chance to say anything else, the teapot started whistling, and she hopped up, setting her plate on the edge of the coffee table. "Don't do anything cute till I get back, 'kay?" she sang out over her shoulder as she made her way to the kitchen.

"Sorry, about that," he told Matt, feeling the need to apologize for Misa's actions.

"Naw, it's not your fault," Matt said, giving him an awkward little smile, his cheeks still a bright red. He fidgeted in his seat nervously, readjusting more than once before eventually settling on leaning into the back of the couch, stretching his legs out under the coffee table. Or at least trying to. Instead, his feet collided with Mello's suitcase which had been pushed under it, out of the way. "What's with the suitcase?" Matt asked, bending over slightly to see what his feet had hit.

"It's mine," Mello said simply.

"Ahre you plannin' on goin' somewhere?"

"Uh, no, I, uh, just keep my stuff in it," he explained hesitantly, a bit embarrassed by his living conditions; Matt had his own apartment while Mello had to borrow someone's couch. But the confused look Matt gave him told Mello that there wasn't really going to be a way around explaining it. "I sleep on the couch," he added reluctantly.

"Really?" Matt said, sounding surprised.

"Where did you think he slept?" Takada interjected. "It's a two bedroom apartment, and Misa and I were here first. At least his stuff is cleaned up for once," she added, looking at Mello rather than Matt.

"I left my razor and shaving cream out one time," he told her, annoyed by the way she wouldn't let it go. "Look, I'm sorry, but your bitching isn't going to change the fact that I live here too, so learn to fucking deal with it," he shot out, finally becoming fed up with the way Takada was acting.

"Jeez, Mello. Calm down," she said as if his reaction had been completely unwarranted. "All I'm saying is that it wasn't a problem before you moved in."

Mello was about to retort but stopped abruptly, surprised when Matt spoke up on his behalf. "Well, I mean, Mello does live here, right? So shouldn't he have someplace to put his stuff?" he said, taking a bite of his food.

"You know, if you like him so much, maybe he should move in with you. That would solve the problem," Takada suggested calmly, but the second she got the words out, Matt, who had obviously not expected her to say that, started choking violently on his food.

"I have tea!" Misa announced, and Mello turned to see her coming back into the living room, managing to hold onto the handles of two cups in each hand. "Are you okay, Matt?" she asked, sounding worried, quickly pushing one of the takeout boxes out of the way to sit the cups down on the coffee table, and although Matt nodded, he still hadn't recovered. "I'll get you some water," Misa offered, running out of the room and returning a second later with a glass of water in hand. "Here," she said, handing it to him.

"Thanks," he managed, taking it from her.

"It was just a suggestion. No need to get so worked up over it," Takada said with a sigh.

"Wait. Suggested what?" Misa asked her.

"That Mello move in with him," Takada shrugged.

"You…" Misa started, her eyes getting wide, for once seeming to be at a loss for words. "Uh, Mello, I need to talk to you," she said and barely gave him the chance to set his plate down before grabbing his arm and dragging him to her bedroom. "What happened?" she demanded once the door was closed. "I was out of the room for like two minutes, and now you're moving in with Matt?"

"No," he said quickly. "I mean, Takada brought it up, but I don't think… I'm not sure what's going on either," he admitted, slouching down on Misa's bed and running a hand through his hair.

"Well, do you want to move in with Matt?" she asked softly, sitting down next to him on the bed.

He looked over at her, surprised that she was being so calm about it. "Don't you think it's kinda soon?"

"Maybe," she shrugged, "but not if you want to."

"I don't know… We haven't been together that long, and we've never talked about it," he said, feeling overwhelmed by the whole idea. "I've never even been in his apartment."

"Well, I would say just take your time and think about it, but Matt's sitting out there with Kiyomi, and she's probably trying to convince him that it's a good idea, so…maybe you should go talk to him about it now that it's out on the table?"

"With Takada out there?" he said, skeptical. He was sure the conversation would be weird enough to begin with, let alone with Takada there.

"I'll take care of it. I have a plan," she said, flashing him a grin before returning to a more serious tone. "Just go out there and talk to him. It's not like you have to move in with him just because Kiyomi brought it up, but don't feel like you can't because you haven't been going out that long," she said, giving him an encouraging smile. "It's completely up to you and him."

"Yeah…" But he honestly wasn't sure what he wanted. Living with Matt wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but he couldn't help but feel that it was too soon. Either way, Misa was right; he needed to talk to Matt about it now that it had been brought up; he doubted that they could just pretend like nothing had ever been said about it.

"Ready?" Misa asked, standing up.

"Sure," he sighed, getting up from the bed, trying to prepare himself, but as he attempted to take a step towards the door, Misa suddenly had him in a hug.

"Whatever you want, okay? I'll support you either way."

"Thanks, Misa."

"And Mello," she said, her hand on the doorknob, "Try not to look so upset. It's really not that big of a deal, not unless you make it a big deal."

"Right. Of course," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes, though he was glad she'd said that; it did actually make him feel a bit better.

He followed her back out to the living room, trying to convince himself that it wasn't that big of deal. "Kiyomi," Misa said as they entered the room, and both Takada and Matt turned to look at her. "We need soy sauce," she announced, and Mello looked at her in disbelief. This is her plan? Oh God… I'm screwed…

Takada raised an eyebrow at her. "We have these little packets," she said, picking one up from coffee table and holding it up.

"Oh…right, well, that's not the good kind. We need to go get the good soy sauce," Misa said, sounding determined. "Let's go, Kiyomi."

"Why do I have to go?" Takada demanded, "You're the one who wants a different kind."

"Yeah, but this is my celebration, and I want you to come with me. Now let's go," Misa said, giving her a stern look.

"Whatever," she sighed, getting up from her chair and following Misa to the door.

"We'll be back…sometime," Misa said, practically dragging Takada out the door. "Bye," she called out over her shoulder and shut the door.

"Uh, so…that was weird, right?" Matt said as Mello came to sit back down next to him.

"Heh, yeah, weird," Mello agreed nervously.

"I mean, what's up with Takada sayin' we should move in together? That's just… It's ridiculous, right?" Matt said with a small nervous laugh, and Mello really wasn't sure why, but his heart sunk when he heard those words. He didn't know if he wanted to move in with Matt or not, but he didn't want Matt to not want him to move in. Was the idea of them living together really so terrible?

"…Right," Mello said, trying not to sound disappointed.

"It's just too soon…maybe…" Matt trialed off, pushing his food around his plate with his chopsticks, staring down at it rather than looking at Mello.

"Yeah…" He's right. It's too soon. This is for the best… But as he sat there trying to convince himself of that, a silence fell over them, only serving to put him even more on edge.

"Not that I don't want you to…" Matt amended a few seconds later, breaking the silence and risking a glance up at Mello. He quickly looked back down at the plate in his lap, a blush creeping up into his cheeks.

"Wait, do you…do you want me to move in with you?" Mello asked, surprised. He knew he might be reading too much into what Matt was saying, but he had to ask. It was worth a shot.

"Well, it's just Takada's such a bitch to you, and I have the extra room so…" he said quickly, his blush deepening as he started fidgeting in his seat again, but then he licked his lips nervously and took a deep breath. "D'you want to?" he said, looking up from his hands at Mello. "We don't have to make it a big deal or anythin'," Matt added quickly before Mello had a chance to respond.

Mello could only stare at him for a moment, amazed at the way Matt's words echoed what Misa had said. Maybe he was just over thinking things. "…Yeah," he said, "I think you're right."

"So, uh," Matt started, swallowing thickly, "Is that a yes?"

"Yeah," Mello said giving Matt a smile, "I think it is."

"Okay," he nodded, sounding excited, and by the grin that spread across Matt's face, Mello was pretty sure he'd made the right decision.

He loved Matt's smile, he loved a lot of things about Matt actually, and Mello was happy that this meant that he'd have the chance to spend more time with him and get to know him better. He knew that moving in together would probably change their relationship no matter what anyone said about it not being a big deal, but he had a feeling it would be a change for the better. Mello took Matt's hand, pulling him closer and placing a soft kiss on lips.

"So, uh, whadya wanna do until they get back?" Matt said in what Mello assumed was supposed to be a suggestive tone, but if he was going for seductive, his dorky little smile sort of took away from it. Not that it was really a bad thing; it was one of the things Mello found so adorable about him. But the smile disappeared when Mello let out a laugh. "What?" Matt said, sounding a bit offended.

"When they get back? I'd bet you anything they're standing right outside the door, trying to hear what we're saying. Or at least I'm sure that's what Misa's doing. Watch," Mello said, getting up and going to the door. He opened it to reveal exactly what he'd described.

"Oh, h-hey, Mello," Misa said, looking embarrassed that she'd gotten caught eavesdropping.

"So did you get the soy sauce?" he asked, trying to keep his features neutral.

"Soy sauce?" she said, looking confused for a moment, "Oh, right. No they didn't have what I was looking for."

"Either way, you sure did get back quickly," he said, crossing his arms over his chest and giving her a skeptical look.

"Yeah, uh…" she started, but Takada cut her off, pushing past both her and Mello to get back into the apartment.

"So what happened?" she asked, going to sit back down in her chair. "We couldn't hear very well through the door."

"See? I told you that's what they were doing," Mello said, going back to sit down next to Matt, Misa following behind him.

"Fine. If you already knew we were out in the hall, just tell us what you decided," Misa said, sitting back down to Mello's right, sounding as if the suspense was killing her.

"Well…" Mello said, purposely drawing it out to antagonize Misa.

"Mello, just tell me!" she whined, poking him in the ribs, making him jump away from her, and by consequence, practically into Matt's lap.

"Don't you dare," he warned.

"Oh, you know I will," Misa said with a devious smirk. "Now tell me!"

"Wait, what ahre you gonna do?" Matt asked Misa, clearly confused as to what was going on.

"Mel-Mel is extremely ticklish. Use it to your advantage," she advised, giving Mello another poke in the ribs.

"Alright, alright! We're moving in together," he blurted out before Misa made good on her threat.

"Really? Yay! That's so exciting!" she squealed, throwing her arms around Mello's neck. "Just remember what we talked about earlier. Don't be afraid to let him in, okay?" she added, whispering in his ear.

"I know. Thanks, Misa," he returned, knowing she was right. If he was going to move in with Matt, he would have to learn to be more open with him.

"Yes, congratulations," Takada said, and he turned to see the self-satisfied smirk she wore.

"Thanks," he said earnestly, actually somewhat grateful for what she'd said. If it wasn't for Takada, he wouldn't be moving in with Matt.

A/N: Oh man, this chapter was so much fun to write! But anyway, yep, Mello is moving in with Matt. What do you guys think? Is this a good idea on their part? A bad idea? Do you think it's too soon for them to be moving in together? I would tell you all my opinion, but it's a bit biased since I know what's going to happen, and I don't want to give anything away, so I think I'll just keep it to myself ;)

A special thanks to the following reviewers:
brightnight003, DarkAngelJudas, CatatonicVanity, Scars and Cigarettes, 494dwangel, Evidence Of Rain, kiki1070, death2society, Midnightkisses10, AthenaRulestheEarth, NessaYume, Ironicsheep, Astreich689, hearts4theworld