Author's Note: Okay, so if you listen to only one song that I've suggested in this fic, listen to Mello's for this chapter. Even if you've already heard it before, go listen to it again. I consider it to be the single most important song for this story, so please take the extra couple minutes to go look it up.

Mello: Walking Disaster by Sum 41
Matt: Let It Be by Blackmill (Ft. Veela)

Chapter 13: Intimate

Mello's cell phone chimed, and he pulled it out of his pocket to flip it open. 'New message from Matt' the small screen informed him. 'Hey whats all this crap on the counters? and where r u?' it read, and he let out a small laugh, knowing exactly what Matt was referring to.

"What is it?" Misa asked, leaning over to get a better view of the screen.

"I think I'm gonna get going," he said, standing up and quickly typing out 'be right up' before returning his ancient flip phone to his pocket.

"Let me guess," Misa said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest, "Matt calls and you come running."

"He didn't call, he texted," he said, shooting her a cheeky grin, "Besides, I've been over here for three hours."

"And?" Misa's hands went to her hips.

"And…" he tried, but his phone chimed again. His hand instinctively went to his pocket, but he thought better of it, crossing his arms over his chest instead.

"Go ahead," she sighed, "Get it. I know you'd rather be with him than me."

"Misa, don't be ridiculous. I just-"

"Now I'm being ridiculous, am I?" she said, making it sound more like an accusation than a question. "You're the one who came over unannounced, refused to talk about how things are going with you and Matt, and then jump up to leave the second he texts you."

"Okay, to be fair, you didn't ask how things were going between me and Matt; I believe your exact words were 'So have you two had sex yet?'"

"Well, you were alone with Matt in his apartment for an entire night. I'm pretty sure that's a valid question."

"Yeah, we were alone for one night. We moved in together yesterday. Sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn't going to just jump his bones the first night no matter how much-" But he caught himself and stopped. He didn't want to encourage Misa further.

"No matter how much you wanted to?" she asked innocently, finishing for him, the pout on her lips slowly changing to a suggestive little grin.

"Why do our conversations always lead back to me and Matt having sex?" he sighed, trying to dodge her question.

"Because you never tell me anything," she said very matter of fact, looking at him expectantly.

"Right. Let's keep it that way."

"Melloooo," she whined, and the pout returned to her face.

"No, Misa. Absolutely not." That was it. End of conversation. He wasn't going to talk about it anymore. "I love you, Misa, but I have to go, okay?"

"Fine," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "One day living with Matt, and you're already whipped."

"I'm not- You know, never mind," he said and turned to leave. He was done arguing with Misa.

"No, wait! I'm sorry!" she called out, flinging herself at him and wrapping her arms around him. "I'm sorry. I love my Mel-Mel, and I don't want him to be mad at me," she mumbled into his chest.

"I know," he sighed, "I'm sorry too." He didn't want to leave angry. Besides, he missed her too, which was why he'd come over in the first place. The idea of not seeing her everyday was strange after they'd spent the past month living with each other.

"You better be," Misa said jokingly, letting him go. "Now don't keep Matt waiting," she added with a wink, flashing him a smile.

"Right," he said, rolling his eyes. "Bye, Misa."

"Bye," she called out after him as he started out the door and down the hall. He waved over his shoulder, and she shut the door.

He pulled out his cell phone to check what Matt had sent him while he'd been trying to leave. 'Ur at Misas? I won't expect u anytime soon then. lol.' At least he had an excuse for why it took so long after he'd said he would be right up.

To be completely honest, when he'd went over there to wait for Matt to get home, he'd expected Misa to ask if they'd slept together—it would have been naïve to think otherwise—but he hadn't thought things would go as far as they had. Maybe she really did just miss him. Or maybe living alone with Takada was driving her insane.

As he started up the stairs, taking them two at a time, he briefly wondered where Takada had been. It seemed like she would have relished the unexpected chance to make his life harder than it had to be. Not that he cared. He preferred to avoid her at all costs.

He made his way to Matt's apartment, but when he opened the door, he didn't see the redhead anywhere. There was a laptop sitting on the piano bench in front of the couch and an open can of Monster on the table next to it, but no Matt. A few seconds after closing the door, however, he heard "So ahre we stockin' up for the apocalypse or somethin'?" He followed Matt's voice to the kitchen where he found him reading over the instructions on the back of the frozen pizza box he must have discovered in the freezer, having already changed out of his work clothes, his goggles returned to their proper place on top of his head.

"You know, normal people actually do keep food in their apartments," Mello said, looking over the grocery bags he'd left on the counter. After he'd gotten back from running, he'd taken a shower and made a trip to the grocery store, deciding that if he didn't want to starve, he was going to have to take matters into his own hands. That was one thing Takada had been good for; she generally kept a decent amount of food in the apartment.

"Do they?" Matt said, turning to give Mello a look of mock surprise. "And I suppose normal people keep this much chocolate in their apahrtments too," he added, giving one of the grocery bags a poke before going back to the pizza box.

"Yeah, well, I never claimed to be normal," Mello said, taking one of the bars of chocolate out of the bag and tearing the wrapper down to take a bite.

"And you plan on eatin' all that? There's gotta be like twenty bahrs in there."

"Yeah. Should be enough for a week or two."

"Seriously?" Matt said, giving him a look of disbelief.

"Yeah?"

"Well, whatever you want I guess," Matt said, shaking his head. He went to turn the oven on, sliding the frozen pizza onto the rack. "You know, if I end up burnin' the buildin' down, it's your fault."

"How would that be my fault?" Mello asked with a laugh, taking another bite of chocolate. Going to the grocery store had definitely been a good idea. He didn't know how long he would have been able to go without chocolate.

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to go out for dinner, but then I came home and found all this food in the apahrtment, and you took a long time. Therefore, if I burn the buildin' down, it's your fault," Matt explained.

"Come on, it's frozen pizza. How hard can it be?"

"You overestimate my cookin' abilities," Matt said with a laugh.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he shrugged. Between the two of them, it seemed like they should be able to manage. "So where does this stuff go?" he asked, gesturing towards the grocery bags. He'd put the cold stuff away in the refrigerator and freezer when he'd gotten back, but he had no idea where Matt kept everything else.

"Wherever you want. I toldya, I don't go shoppin'. Just throw things in whatever cupboard you want," Matt said, and he started doing just that. It didn't even really look like he took the time to notice what he was putting away, that is, until he found a bag that had fruit in it. "What do we need fruit for?" he asked, giving Mello a look of disgust.

"I don't know. I like fruit sometimes," he said defensively. Takada always bought fruit, and he had gotten used to it being there on the counter when he wanted it. Besides, fruit tasted good; it was sweet. It wasn't like he'd bought vegetables.

"Hey, no big deal," Matt said with a laugh, "I don't care what you buy just as long as you don't make me eat it."

"Ha, don't worry. I won't force-feed you fruit," he said, putting the last of the groceries away, and tossing the chocolate wrapper in the garbage can before he followed Matt into the living room.

"Oh good. Wouldn't want you to ruin my diet of fast food," Matt said with a laugh, picking the computer up and setting it in his lap, putting his feet up on the piano bench where the laptop had been.

"Nice computer," Mello said sarcastically, going to sit next to Matt.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah," he said, a smile coming to his face as he turned the laptop around to see the lid. The outlines of two rather lopsided hearts stood out on the lid of the laptop in neon paint, one green, the other pink. "Tegan used to put them on everythin'. Gettin' her that finger paint set for her fifth birthday was definitely a mistake," he said, and although his words were regretful, his voice was soft and nostalgic.

"And you left them on there?" Mello asked cautiously. It really surprised him that he would, but from what he knew of Matt's relationship with his sister, he thought it wise to tread lightly. "I would've figured you'd freak out about her painting on your computer."

"I did. Well, I guess it was more for her paintin' on the walls—that was awful to clean up—but I'm glad I ended up leavin' 'em on my laptop," he said, his fingers brushing lightly over the paint. "She always said she was the pink one and I was the green one. Her favorite color's pink, but I dunno why she picked green for me. I mean, I like neon green as much as the next guy, but my favorite color's blue," he added with a small laugh. "Right before I left home, I even…" And although, Mello waited for him to continue, Matt only stared down at the neon hearts painted onto his computer. "Never mind," he finally said, closing the lid to his laptop and turning towards Mello. "You know, you never told me about your family." It wasn't accusing or prying, just curious, but Mello was so taken aback by the simple sentence, and it must have shown on his face. "I mean, you said a couple things before… You don't have to if you don't want to…" he trailed off.

"I…" Mello started, struggling to find the words. He considered trying to change the subject; Matt had said he didn't have to talk about it if he didn't want to, and he most certainly did not want to. But as he sat there like a deer caught in headlights, trying to figure out what to say, he couldn't think of a single reason why he shouldn't tell Matt. He'd have to eventually anyway, so why put it off? Besides, sitting there, thinking it over, he realized that he trusted Matt enough to finally let him in. "I-I mean, what's there to say? My dad's been in jail since I was five for aggravated assault and my mom's an alcoholic," he said staring down at his hands.

"I'm so sorry," Matt breathed out, and Mello's head snapped up to look at him.

"Don't say that. I can't have you pity me," he said, managing to keep his voice firm even though his eyes were pleading. That's exactly what he was afraid of, what had stopped him from going into any sort of detail the couple times something about his family had been brought up. He absolutely couldn't have Matt pity him.

"It's okay," Matt said gently, shaking his head slowly. It was hardly a conclusive answer, but Mello still found comfort in it. He would tell Matt, he had to tell Matt. He deserved to know.

"I, uh, didn't actually find out why my dad was in jail until a couple years ago after I was already in anger management," he started, but as soon as he said those words, a look of shock flashed across Matt's face. "I broke my chemistry teacher's nose," he explained with a wry smile that probably came across more as a grimace.

"…Why?" Matt asked hesitantly, clearly unsure of whether he should or not.

"Because he called me a fag," he answered flatly and watched as relief spread across Matt's face.

"Then he kinda deserved it, right?"

"Yeah…I thought so. No one else did. No one even believed me, and I couldn't exactly prove it with no witnesses. I guess looking back I got off easy. There was talk of sending me to juvie, but since it was my first offense, they settled on anger management. I hated it, but it really wasn't that bad. The worst part was when my mom was driving me to my first meeting and made the comment that I was turning out just like my father.

"I couldn't believe it when she said that—we never talked about him. I'd asked her about him a few times before that, but she would never tell me. Even after she said that I was turning out like him, the most I could get out of her was 'Let's just pray that I'm wrong.' So I did a bit of research on my own and discovered that he'd gotten into a fistfight with some guy and almost ended up killing him.

"After that, I couldn't stop thinking about it. What if I did end up like him? I mean, I was already in anger management at sixteen," he said, shaking his head. He took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. It was a fear that he had to deal with on a daily basis, doing his best to suppress it, and it made it all too real to voice his concerns, hearing them spoken out loud as if by someone else. "I…I don't want to be like him. I would give anything to not be like him," he managed, feeling tears well up in his eyes.

He tried to rub them away, passing it off as running a hand over his face as if to prepare himself and collect his thoughts, which in a way, was exactly what he was doing. But as he tried to decide how to proceed, he felt Matt take hold of his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. He turned to look at Matt, finding an encouraging smile on his lips. "You won't," Matt said softly, "I know you won't end up like him because you'll do everythin' you can to prevent it, right?" Mello could only nod. "Then you won't end up like him."

"I hope you're right…" he said, and if there had been any doubts in his mind that he was falling in love with Matt, they were gone then. Matt seemed to continually surprise him, and each time, he found more things to love about him. The fact alone that he was handling everything so well told Mello a great deal about his character, and he loved what he saw.

"So…did'ya ever visit him in jail or anythin'?"

Mello shook his head. "No. I thought about it after finding that out, but I never did. I don't even know what I'd say to him if I did. I brought it up to my mother again though, and she said that he was just a good man who let his bad temper get the best of him. I don't know if I believe it though. It's hard to know what to believe out of my mother. It's almost like she wanted to defend him, but I can't remember a single time when she ever tried to defend me. Of course she was drunk most of the time and had a hard enough time keeping herself together, let alone helping me.

"She always managed to sober up for church on Sunday though, would go to confession, and then the drinking would just start again on Monday. She was so completely dependent on alcohol that I'm surprised she could go without for a whole day. Well, she probably drank on Sunday too and just didn't let anyone see.

"She raised me Catholic, but I never understood why she could drink all she wanted during the week and then have all her sins erased as long as she went to confession. I mean, it's not exactly like that, but that's what it always seemed like. She could do whatever she wanted, but anytime I did something wrong, I never heard the end of it. It was always 'Why can't you be more like your cousin Near?'

"It wasn't like we were close with the rest of the family or anything—I don't think she even talked to her sister anymore—but her sister's son was perfect in her eyes. He was polite and well mannered; he didn't come home with black eyes and bloody lips from getting into fights at school. And then when he skipped a grade and ended up in the same class as me, everything became a competition between us.

"I worked so hard to beat him, but I was always second. I should have been valedictorian, not him," he grumbled, remembering how difficult it had been to have to sit there and listen to Near give his speech at graduation. "I mean, I didn't want to do well only to beat Near—it was also so I could get a scholarship and get out of that shithole town—but it would have been nice to get some recognition, to finally show my mother that I wasn't such a fuck up, you know?" He looked up at Matt for the first time in a while and was worried when he couldn't read his expression. It wasn't pity as he had been concerned it would be or fear as he had worried about when he'd brought up going to anger management. It was like Matt wanted to say something but didn't know how.

But when Mello looked over at him, he only nodded, adding in a simple "Yeah, I know whatcha mean…"

Mello could only stare at him. He was sure Matt hadn't meant anything offensive by what he'd said, but he was taken aback by it. How could Matt have any idea what it had been like for him. "Do you?" he asked and immediately wanted to take it back. He wasn't trying to start a fight, and he hoped Matt didn't see it for what it was: an accusation.

"Well, I'm sure it's not the same thing," Matt admitted with a small awkward laugh, "but for me it was 'It's not your job to take care of Tegan. That's what we hired the nanny for.' 'Why ahre you wastin' your time with that awful music? You should focus on doin' somethin' useful with your life.' 'If you wanna practice music, you should put your piano lessons to use. We paid good money for those lessons.' As if whatever money they did spend on 'em actually mattered. They wasted enough of their money on useless shit anyway.

"I hated those lessons," Matt continued, tipping the piano bench with his foot absentmindedly. "I mean, I'm sure learnin' to play the piano would've been fine if I wasn't forced into it. And then they stahrted makin' Tegan take lessons and she begged me to take the piano with me when I was gettin' ready to move out so she wouldn't have to play it anymore. I couldn't exactly sneak a piano out of the house, but I stole the bench and stuck it in the movin' van at the last second. They ended up buyin' a new one of course, but at the very least, Tegan got a kick out of it and it pissed my parents off," Matt said, sounding quite proud of himself. "Besides, I think it makes a pretty good footstool."

"You…stole a piano bench from your parents?" Mello said, giving Matt a look of disbelief, trying to suppress a laugh, "Just to piss them off?" It was by far the strangest thing Matt had ever told him. Matt had been right in saying that his experiences weren't nearly the same as Mello's, but it still made him feel a bit better. Or perhaps it was the oddity of stealing something as useless as a piano bench to spite his parents that lifted Mello's spirits.

"Yeah… I mean, it was kinda dumb, right?" Matt said, sounding embarrassed, "I used to do stuff like that all the time. Like when I told my parents I was bi, my dad told me to stop bein' ridiculous and that I was just lookin' for attention, so later that week I told 'em I was invitin' one of my friends over for dinner. My friend was actually my first boyfriend of course, and at dinner, I just blatantly made out with him. My mom and dad were furious. It was great," he laughed, but when he looked back over at Mello, the smile faded from his face. "Hey, everythin' okay, Mels?" he asked, sounding worried.

"Oh. Uh…yeah. It's just…my mother would have killed me if I'd done something like that," he said, trying to lighten his tone. He attempted to smile, tried to pass it off as unimportant, but Matt didn't seem to buy it; he only looked even more concerned. "I, uh… when I came out to my mom, she kicked me out of the house," he confessed to Matt and watched as a look of shock and disgust came over his features. "Yeah. Uh, first she said that I was just confused and that she'd help me find my way back to God," he explained, and as the words left his lips, he could feel himself starting to break down. "But when I told her that I'd always had these feelings and that I knew that wasn't it, she lost it. She started yelling at me and told me that it was disgusting and sinful and that I was going to Hell for it. And she, uh, said that no son of hers was gay and told me to get out of the house," Mello managed to get out, trying his best to keep it together. He tried to swallow the growing lump in his throat, but it wouldn't go away. He knew if he continued, the tears he was fighting back would escape, but he had to. It was awful to continue, but he couldn't just stop.

"It's okay, Mels," Matt whispered to him even though there was no one else in the room. He pulled Mello's hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it, offering him an encouraging smile.

He couldn't believe how kind Matt was, how understanding he was being, and Mello couldn't help but feel like he didn't deserve him. Matt had given up part of his life to try to raise his sister and was actively pursuing his dream. What had Mello ever accomplished? He'd never won against Near, he'd had to move in with Misa so that he had a place to stay…he was stumbling around in the dark without a clue of where he was going. No, he didn't deserve Matt. Matt was too good for him. He would have to do everything in his power to deserve Matt; that was all he could do at the moment. So he took a deep breath and tried again.

"After that, I stayed with Misa's family for a while," he continued, his voice a bit stronger than it had been. "After about a week, my mom offered to let me move back in. I was so happy because I thought maybe that meant that she was going to be okay with it. But…" He was losing it again; the tears were returning to his eyes. "God, I was so stupid…" he breathed out, giving up and letting the tears roll down his cheeks. "When I got home, she told me that we needed to sit down and talk, and I knew…I knew what was coming. She said that we could fix this, that I didn't have to live in sin, that it was my choice to do what was right." The tears were flowing freely from his eyes now, and although his hand stayed locked in Matt's, he didn't dare look at him. "She said that I could get help… And," he paused, bracing himself, and used his free hand to pull his rosary out from under his shirt and over his head. He stared down at it, moving it around the palm of his hand. He felt exposed, naked, without it against his chest.

"She gave me this and told me to pray for the savior of my soul…like I was broken and needed to be fixed, like I was wrong… How can I be wrong if God made me this way? If this is who I am…why do I need to change for my soul to be saved?" he said quietly, his fist closing around the rosary, the metal of the crucifix cutting into his palm.

He felt Matt shift next to him, probably trying to figure out what to say to that. He didn't even know if Matt was religious or not, so it might all just sound like nonsense to him. But he didn't need Matt to respond. He'd already made up his mind. "I hate her," he whispered, letting out a sob, tightening his grip on the rosary, his knuckles turning white. He wanted it out of his life. He wanted to break it into a million little pieces and burn them until they were no longer recognizable. "I just…I hate her so fucking much," he gritted out. He was losing it; he was going to do something he would regret if he didn't get a hold of himself.

But Matt's arms were suddenly around him, holding him tight against his chest. Mello tensed immediately, from the unexpected contact, but gradually relaxed, laying his head against Matt's shoulder. He hesitantly loosened his grip on the rosary before releasing it, letting it fall to the hardwood floor below. There was a small clinking sound as the crucifix hit the ground, and then the room was quiet.

His now empty hands made their way around to meet at Matt's back as he relaxed further into Matt's arms. He wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up there; he wasn't one to show his weaknesses freely. Yet there he was, allowing Matt to comfort him, enjoying the feeling of Matt's fingertips gently moving over his back.

He let out a small sigh, feeling much calmer, and pulled back to look at Matt. "You must think I'm so messed up," Mello said with a wry laugh, rubbing the now drying tears from his face.

"Not really," Matt shrugged, "We're all a little messed up in our own ways, right?"

"Heh, yeah, I'll second that." He ran a hand through his hair, embarrassed by everything that had just happened. He hadn't meant to share everything with Matt yet. He'd thought that Matt wouldn't be able to handle all his issues, but he had been wrong, and he felt ashamed of himself for misjudging him. He looked over at Matt who took Mello's hand back up in his own. Matt looked…proud of him? He was wrong, he had to be. He didn't deserve to have Matt be proud of him.

"You know, you're a lot stronger than you think you are," Matt told him and leaned forward to kiss him softly, pulling back slowly to look him in the eyes.

Mello stared at him, amazed. How had he been so fortunate to find his way to Matt? If either of them were the strong one, it was Matt, not him. He admired Matt so much.

Mello leaned in, pressing his lips to Matt's. He pulled back only to return, crushing their lips together, kissing him hungrily. He wanted Matt. He'd been holding himself back since he'd first met him, and he couldn't anymore. He'd just shared the most intimate details of his life with Matt; how was this any different?

He swore he could feel the corners of Matt's lips turn upwards into a smirk before his hands moved down to Mello's hips, pulling him closer as his lips parted, his tongue snaking into Mello's mouth. He pulled back, breaking the kiss, and saw disappointment flash across Matt's face. A small laugh escaped his throat at Matt's expression as he readjusted, moving to straddle Matt's hips.

He pressed himself flush against Matt's torso, his lips working furiously against Matt's, falling into sync just as Matt shifted. Mello felt his hot breath on his jaw as he moved down to his neck. Matt's fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of Mello's neck, tugging lightly at his scalp. Mello tilted his head back, granting Matt better access, letting his eyelids flutter closed, focusing on the wonderful things Matt was doing to his neck.

His breathing picked up, rushing past his lips in little gasps, and he could feel himself start to grow hard, the front of his pants tightening. His hands went down to the hem of Matt's shirt, tugging it upwards. But as he was about to drag it up past Matt's ribs, the redhead suddenly tensed.

"Wait," he breathed against Mello's neck. "Wait," he repeated, panting as he pushed Mello off of his lap, "There's somethin' I need to show you first… I should've just showed you earlier…" His already flushed face seemed to darken into a blush, a deeper shade of red crossing his cheeks. "Uh…" he hesitated and then pulled his shirt up over his head in one fluid motion, letting it drop to the floor.

Mello immediately noticed what it was that Matt wanted to show him and thought back to the way he had touched his chest that morning while talking about Tegan. At first glance, it appeared the same two hearts that were painted on Matt's laptop were imbedded into his skin in the space over his own heart. However, as he looked at it, the two outlined hearts were a bit more evenly shaped than the ones on Matt's computer, still not perfectly symmetrical, but more so. Tegan's name was scrawled under them in a child's handwriting.

"I got it done right before I moved to California," Matt explained. "I gave her a couple highlighters and let her draw them right onto my skin. I told her to sign her name and said her ahrtwork would be on me forever. She was ecstatic," he said with a smile. "I don't think she understood exactly what I'd have to do to get 'em to stay on my skin, and I didn't wanna explain it and then have her worry, so I left it at that.

"I let her see it again when I got back from the tattoo shop, and she kept askin' me why it was so red around it, and I prob'ly had to reassure her that it wasn't gonna stay like that about twenty times before she believed me," he said with a small laugh, but his smile faltered and a sadness filled his eyes.

Mello pulled Matt into a hug, hoping to comfort him much as he had done for Mello. His fingers trailed across Matt's back, feeling their way over the notches in his spine. Matt felt so thin in his arms.

"C'mon," Matt said quietly, pulling away to get up from the couch. He held his hand out for Mello to take and started for the hall when he did, not bothering to put his shirt back on. He led Mello down the short hall, taking a right at the bedroom. He went to sit on the edge of the bed, and Mello followed suit, watching as Matt pulled open the small drawer of the nightstand and pulled out the picture frame Mello knew he had seen in Matt's bedroom when he had first moved in. It seemed ages ago, but in reality, it had only been the day before. "This is Tegan," he said, handing Mello the picture frame.

Mello stared down at the photograph secured in the frame under a sheet of glass. Matt was kneeling with his arm around a young girl who was proudly showing a painting of a house and what Mello presumed to be her family to the camera. Her red hair, a shade or two lighter than Matt's, was braided into pigtails that extended just past her shoulders. Her messy bangs threatened to fall over her bright blue eyes, and a wide grin spread across her face, revealing a missing front tooth, the adult tooth just starting to come in after it. "She's adorable," he told Matt.

"Yeah…" he breathed out, and Mello turned to see him staring down at the photo with that same melancholy look in his eyes. He had no idea what it was like for Matt being away from his sister—he'd never had someone he was that close to—but he hated seeing Matt so sad.

He reached out, gently removing Matt's goggles from atop his head, placing them on the nightstand. Matt looked up from the picture to Mello, a confused expression on his face, but he paid it no attention. He leaned in, his hand cupping the side of Matt's face, and kissed him softly.

Matt was a bit slower to respond this time, placing chase kisses on his lips. He hand blindly searched for the picture frame, finding it where Mello had set it next to him on the bed, and placed it upside down on the nightstand next to his goggles. With it out of the way, Matt kissed Mello more passionately, his tongue finding its way back into Mello's mouth. His hands ran up Mello's sides, taking his shirt with them. Matt broke away from Mello for a second to lift the shirt over the blond's head, letting it fall to the floor.

As soon as they connected again, Mello's hands were at Matt's belt, fumbling in their haste to undo it. He eventually managed to push it out of the way, yanking the zipper on the front of Matt's jeans down and popping the button out of its hole. He struggled to tug them down what with the angle Matt was leaning over him.

Matt reluctantly pulled away, using his now free hands to help Mello. His pants were on the floor next to Mello's shirt in seconds, his Atari boxers the only thing left on his body. He leaned back into Mello, laying him back on the bed, kissing him quickly before tugging at his lower lip with his teeth.

Matt was panting above him, his hands at the front of Mello's pants, quickly undoing them. He yanked Mello's tight fitting skinny jeans down over his hips, exposing his simple black boxer briefs underneath. Mello kicked his pants off over his ankles as Matt leaned down over him again.

He held himself over Mello, bracing himself with one forearm as he began kissing Mello's neck again, moving down to suck on his collar bones, his other hand feeling Mello up through the thin fabric of his boxers before removing those too, returning to his work. Mello could feel his erection growing under Matt's touch, and he immediately thought to how Matt had said that he was good with his hands back when he had explained how he built computers. He most certainly hadn't been wrong. If Matt kept this up, he wasn't going to last very long.

He leaned up, his hand going to the back of Matt's neck, pulling him down to meet his lips, temporarily distracting him. It wasn't that he wasn't enjoying what Matt was doing; he was just ready for things to get a bit more interesting.

Mello wrapped one on his legs around Matt's waist, using it to guide him as he rolled over, switching their positions. "Hey, no fair," Matt said jokingly and tried to do the same thing Mello had, but it didn't work. Mello was stronger than he was and wasn't giving up the position of power.

"What's not fair?" he asked with a smirk, happy that he had won even if he would have liked a bit more of a challenge.

Matt only shook his head in response, his own little self-satisfied smirk appearing on his lips as Mello pulled his boxers off. He didn't understand why until he looked down; Matt was a good couple inches bigger than he was. It wasn't that Mello was small, rather, he considered himself about average; it was just that Matt was a bit better off than he was.

"Problem?" Matt asked playfully, that sly grin still on his face.

"Not at all," he replied, trying to ignore the feeling of inferiority. He didn't care if Matt had a larger dick than he did—that didn't do anything to change the fact that he had won the position of dominance. Besides, he found that Matt lying there, half erect, with that cocky smile on his face to be a major turn on.

He moved forward, using a knee to spread Matt's legs further apart, and pressed two fingers into Matt's entrance. He moved to kneel between Matt's legs, leaning down to slowly run the tip of his tongue up Matt's shaft, teasing him as he worked to spread the tight rings of muscle that were fighting his fingers. He took the head of Matt's cock into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it, and smiled inwardly when he heard Matt's breath hitch.

Mello removed his fingers, forcing a third one back in along with the first two, and felt Matt squirm under him as he took more of Matt's length into his mouth. He bobbed his head down a few times, going as far as he dared without setting his gag reflex off. Tasting precum at the back of his tongue as he started to pull back, he gave one last effort to deep-throat, breathing heavily through his nose, struggling to get enough air. A loud moan escaped Matt's throat, and he bucked upwards, forcing the last inch into Mello's mouth. He felt his throat constrict from the sudden movement, trying to reject the intrusion. He slowly pulled back, managing not to choke. Deeming Matt ready, he removed his fingers.

"D'you…have any lube?" Matt panted out, his breathing ragged, when Mello slipped his fingers out.

"Yeah…" he said almost reluctantly, climbing off the bed and going to kneel on the floor next to the box a lot of his stuff was still in. He rummaged through the box with his clean hand, and even though he was kind of glad Misa had stuck it in with his stuff, he could just imagine how presumptuous it probably looked on his part already having a bottle of lube.

He quickly found it and eagerly returned to the bed, squirting some into the palm of his hand and coating his dick with it. He tossed the bottle aside and kneeled on the bed between Matt's legs, running a still lube covered finger over and just inside the rim when Matt lifted his hips, pulling his legs back to grant Mello better access.

He positioned himself at Matt's entrance and pushed in, feeling Matt constrict around him briefly before he relaxed. Mello thrust in, and Matt's head tilted back, pressing against the mattress as his back arched, his eyelids fluttering closed, moaning softly with Mello's shaft buried to the base inside him.

Mello pushed in and out, slowly at first, gradually picking up speed as he lowered his torso closer to Matt whose legs moved to wrap around Mello's waist, his knees pulled up next to the blond's ribs with his ankles crossed loosely over his lower back. One hand gripped Mello's thigh, the other pressed against his back between his shoulders. Mello leaned down into Matt, kissing along his chest between gasps of air, trying to keep his breathing steady and failing at it.

His slick, lube coated hand snaked down between them to grip Matt's cock, pumping it in rhythm with his thrusting. A warmth was collecting in his lower abdomen; he knew he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer, and he wasn't going to want to finish Matt off after the fact. His hand moved along Matt's shaft in swift motions, his thumb playing with the head as he got him ready.

He thrust in a few more times with as much force as he could, bringing himself to completion, feeling himself release inside of Matt. He stayed there as he pumped Matt, waiting to pull out just as he orgasmed, feeling the warm liquid spread between them. Matt lazily untangled his limbs from Mello, allowing him to collapse on the bed next to him, an arm still around his shoulders, holding Mello to his side.

Mello let out a content sigh, allowing his eyelids to close as his breathing slowed to normal. He knew he should probably get cleaned up; he was a mess—they both were—but he had no motivation to move whatsoever.

But something was off; his hazy brain was forgetting something, and…did it smelled like something was burning? "Oh my God, the pizza," he said, it coming out more of a grumble, conveying none of the urgency it should have.

"Huh? Oh, right," Matt mumbled as Mello forced himself up from the bed. He tried to run out to the kitchen, afraid that Matt's prediction of burning down the building might not be so far from reality, but he was having a hard time making his legs work. They moved sluggishly under him, refusing to carry him there any faster.

The unpleasant, burnt smell became stronger as he entered the kitchen. He went to open the oven, but realizing his hands were still a mess, he moved to rinse them off in the sink, probably making a bigger mess splashing water over the counter in his haste than it was worth. He shook the excess water from his hands, not bothering to dry them, and threw the oven door open, revealing a very burnt looking pizza of charred crust and blackened cheese but thankfully no flames or smoke. He turned the oven off and started looking through drawers for an oven mitt or a hot pad, something he could use to remove it with, but the best he could find was a towel.

"You know, it's prob'ly not very safe to do that naked. Wouldn't wanna burn anythin' important," he heard as he pulled the oven rack out with the towel, setting it on the stove, and looked over to see Matt leaning against the doorframe. He had put his Atari boxers back on, and his hair was disheveled, parts of his bangs stuck to his forehead with sweat. He stood there, lazily smoking a cigarette, his movements languid as he brought it up to his lips, watching as Mello tried to scrape the ruined pizza off the oven rack with a spatula.

"Do you want to help, or are you just gonna stand there?" Mello asked lightly. Not even this was going to ruin the good mood he was in.

"Naw, I think I'm gonna stand here and admire the view," he said, taking a long, slow drag on the cigarette and breathing out through his nose, a coy smile coming to his lips as he quite obviously looked over Mello's naked body.

"Oh, thanks. That's real helpful," Mello returned playfully.

"Why don'tcha just leave that? We can take care of it latter," Matt said, finishing the cigarette and smashing it down in the ashtray on the counter that he'd brought with him to the kitchen. He closed the distance between them, taking the spatula out of Mello's hand and setting it down. His arms snaked around Mello's waist, pulling him close against his body. "Let's go take a shower, get cleaned up, and go out for dinner," he suggested, one of his hands moving down to cup Mello's bare ass, leaning in to kiss him softly. It was certainly a tempting offer.

"Yeah, I think that's an excellent idea," Mello said and took hold of Matt's hand, following him to the bathroom.

A/N: Oh dear…now this story has to be rated M. Heh…well, anyway…

A special thanks to the following reviewers:
sad1st1c m1stress, brightnight003, DarkAngelJudas, CatatonicVanity, Evidence Of Rain, Ironicsheep, Midnightkisses10, kiki1070, NessaYume, 494dwangel, XxHeartlessKissxX, MyBeautifulBlackHeart, teB360, Don't Forget Hope, Mahri, samiekins17