"...and now, one of the stars of the new movie Kira-Kira... it's Mello!"

Matt smiled as the audience clapped and cheered wildly. Mello walked out onto the raised platform to face the presenter; Director Demegawa himself. He was one of the greediest and slimiest men you could meet, and Mello absolutely hated him. But he flashed Demegawa a smile, letting his shake his hand and sitting down in the chair opposite him. He spotted Matt in the front row of the audience, giving him a reassuring smile.

"So, Mello. I hear you've been working with upcoming idol Misa-Misa, has that been interesting for you?"

Mello answered using his usual interview techniques; talk a lot but say nothing that can be used against you. He'd perfected the technique after years of talking to parasitic members of the press. Demegawa droned on about the actors, then the plot of the movie and then started on Misa and Light's relationship. Mello told the public what they wanted to hear; all the actors were wonderful, this was the best movie he'd ever worked on, and Light and Misa seemed to be getting along fine although there may be problems up ahead. Did he see the relationship working? He wasn't sure. Maybe not as a long-term thing. He was beginning to think that Demegawa was never going to ask the crucial question, but then it came as he'd known it would.

"Well, the last time we talked to you, you were single and planning to be for sometime. Is that still the case?" Demegawa asked with a corny wink.

"Actually, I am in a relationship right now," he answered as calmly as he could, his hands clasped tightly in his lap.

Matt held his breath, as all the audience stared at Mello. Mello looked completely at ease, but Matt wasn't fooled. Demegawa looked as though Christmas had come early.

"Is this a serious relationship then, Mello?" he asked, his fat face lighting up with excitement.

"Yes definitely. I hope he and I will be together for a very long time," Mello said slowly and deliberately.

Demegawa breathed in sharply. Mello could almost see the yen signs flickering in his eyes. He looked around at the audience, most of whom looked delighted. There were quite a few girls who looked distraught at this bombshell.

"So is he in the audience then?" Demegawa asked eagerly, spit flying from his mouth.

Mello managed not to flinch in disgust. He smiled, pointing over at Matt. Before the interview, he had been having serious doubts about doing this. But apart from the repulsive Demegawa, he supposed it was going well. He still absolutely hated this; it wasn't these people's business what he did, and he hated the fact that Demegawa would make money from it. But it could be worse, a lot worse. Matt was now smiling as well, looking slightly embarrassed as a spotlight found him and the entire studio stared at him. Demegawa beckoned furiously, shouting for somebody to bring up another chair. Matt sat down next to Mello, and Demegawa beamed at them as though they were little fish and he was a hungry shark about to gobble them up.

"What's your name then?" Demegawa asked, addressing Matt.

Matt told him, flashing a fake smile around at the audience.

"And you're an actor on the film with Mello?"

"Yes, I play the brother of the main character."

Demegawa grinned wildly.

"Love at first sight, then?"

"Not exactly, but we were certainly friends straight away, and that kind of progressed into something more."

They answered all of Demegawa's stupid questions with huge fixed smiles, ignoring the coos and wolf-whistles from the audience. Demegawa seemed to have abandoned the official interview, and was shamelessly grilling both of them on their relationship. They bluffed their way through most of the questions with vague answers and jokes, while Demegawa attempted to dig up some further gossip. He reluctantly let them go when they had over-run by five minutes and his staff team were frantically gesturing that it was time to interview the next guest. They were allowed to stay on to watch the rest of the show, but both of them declined immediately.

"That was fun," Matt muttered sarcastically as they made a beeline for the door.

"I hate fucking Demegawa," Mello moaned, following him as quickly as he could.

They collapsed onto a wall outside, revelling in the crisp night air after the glare of the studio lights. Matt put a hand to his throbbing head, and Mello gestured wordlessly towards a store across the street. Matt bought headache pills, cigarettes and chocolate, while Mello phoned for a taxi.

Two taxi rides and one plane flight later, they were back at the hotel. They had turned down the offer of a hotel near Sakura, insisting they'd rather get back. Both men could hardly wait until they could curl up and get some rest.

"Oh great..." Mello muttered when they walked through the front door.

"Mello! Matt! We saw the interview on Sakura TV!"

The first one to reach them was Misa's manager, Matsuda. He beamed at them both, pulling them forwards into the hotel.

"That was so romantic!" he gushed, before he was elbowed aside by a group of giggling extras brandishing mobile phone cameras and attempting to take pictures of them together.

Matt seized Mello's hand, and they barged through them. They couldn't see Near around, but he had almost certainly seen the interview. Well, it didn't matter about him anymore. They were too tired to think about anything. They got to Matt's room, and kicked their shoes off by the door. They managed to get undressed and crawl under the covers before falling fast asleep.

Light sighed, sitting on his bed and staring moodily at the blank television screen. He'd been flicking through the channels when he'd spotted a familiar face on Sakura TV. He'd stopped on that channel, confused as to how Mello had got there when he'd seen him in the hotel just that morning. He watched a little of it out of curiosity, and was about to see if a quiz show was on the other channel when Mello said something that made him pay attention. Something about a relationship. Yes, he'd definitely said he. Now Matt was getting up on stage. Light gaped at them both, wondering what the hell was going on. They'd... just outed themselves on live television.

When he thought about it, Matt and Mello being together made a lot of sense. They were always together, and if he'd paid more attention to them, he might have actually noticed that there was something between them. Well, good for them. He just couldn't help feeling jealous. Not that he'd go and announce it on Sakura TV; that sounded like Misa's kind of thing. But they could be together with no problems, and they could be happy together. The more he thought about it, the more that he hated Misa for stopping him from having something like that. Obviously it wasn't love, as love did not exist. But Matt and Mello got on, and could understand each other, and were clearly physically attracted to each other. In Light's opinion, that was what the concept of love was. Having things in common made you a friend, physical attraction was a crush, and having both made what people called love. Simple.

He ground his teeth, lying back on his bed. Yeah he felt like that about L... it didn't have to be a problem. It was just another thing to deal with. After filming was over, he might never see Misa or L ever again, and it would all be okay. There was no reason for him to hide and stop having a good time in the months he had left. In fact...

Light sat up straight, a thought having occurred to him. Maybe he could be with L, after all. Well, Misa was in hospital and she wasn't going to find out. If he'd willingly got into a relationship with her, things would be different. But he felt no remorse whatsoever in cheating on a girl who had basically blackmailed him into dating her. It could hardly even be classed as cheating. Since L knew the consequences if they were caught, he was sure that they could pull it off. It all depended on the risks involved... did he really want to take that chance?

The more that he thought about it, the more he wanted to go ahead with this. It wasn't even just about him and L; it was about freedom. He wanted this, so why the hell couldn't he have it? All his life he'd been able to have what he wanted. His parents weren't exactly hard on money, and his charm and intelligence came easily. He was the kid who had everything, and not being able to have L stung. He would not be done over by a girl, especially not a vacuous bimbo like Misa. Well then, he'd do it. He could always ditch L when Misa got back from hospital, and that might not be for months...

Light's frown slid into a small smile, and he chuckled under his breath. He might be able to turn this whole situation into something good after all. There was just one small problem... getting L to feel the same way. Light was an expert at charming every girl he met, but would he be able to do the same with a guy?? He got undressed, thinking about it. He had a nasty feeling that it would be a whole lot harder, and L was probably straight anyway. That made it harder still. But he could do it, right? He was going to try.