Chapter 7

If Mello remembered right, there was a small lake in the back of the property. The land was fairly large considering the house was so far away from all the others. Taking a small stone path, he wondered down through the various gardens. Most of them had gone out of repair, letting weeds grow, and strange flowers bloom over the previous ones. Mello kept walking for awhile, finding the gardens getting fewer and fewer. Soon he came to a small, old Japanese style bridge. 'Tacky.' was the only word to come to Mello's mind as he crossed over the creaky stairs.

Matt had reached the store and gotten everything they would need for a few weeks without much incident. He was now heading back. He followed the road, it wad pretty much a straight shot back to the house. He was being stupid to think that he wouldn't remember where it was. He pulled the car into the gated area and took the bags out of the car. He didn't buy anything that would need to be refrigerated because he wasn't sure if there was one. So he just set it on the table in the living room near the front door. He looked around for Mello, not seeing the blonde in the house he went back outside, then after a moment around the back.

Mello had ventured to the very back of the property, leaving common sense behind and going off the trail. By the time he found the lake, he was out of breath and ready to sit down. Finding a dry bolder by the edge of the small lake, Mello perched himself on it. The lake used to have many flowers and beautiful landscaping around it. Now it was just run down and starting to turn green. Part of him wished that he had just gone back into the house.

Matt gave a slight growl went he saw how much land was behind the house. "Why are you making me search for you, Mello?" He sighed and started to walk around, trying to think like the blonde and try to follow him. He could sort of see his path through the over grown and un-kept gardens.

After awhile of sitting and starring at the run down lake, Mello was getting tired. He didn't like to think of this place as run down, or getting old. The house and the property held a special meaning to him, being his very first home. Suddenly a rustling sound was heard from behind him. Mello turned, standing on top of the bolder for a better look. Before he could really observe his surroundings for what made the sound, he lost his footing, slipping and falling backwards.

Matt saw Mello fall backwards off the large rock. He jumped over the other rocks and ran over to the blonde, splashing into the lake to catch him before he fell. Mello landed near bridal style in his arms. He smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "I'm home..." He was oddly extremely happy to see the blonde. He had actually missed him during the twenty or so minutes he was gone.

Mello fell, expecting to hear a splash. Instead he felt someone catch him. Embarrassed to be caught off guard, he looked up seeing who it was that stopped him from falling. "Matt..." He flushed, noticing the weird position they were in. "Welcome home. Now put me down."

Matt gave him a slight smile. "In the water or out of the water?" He wasn't caught off guard by their position. They had been in worse.

Mello glared at Matt. "Out." He worried Matt would also lose his footing and they would both end up getting wet. "Don't drop me." Mello felt like that came out wrong. What he really wanted to say was 'I'm happy you're back.'

Matt leaned close and whispered in Mello's ear. "I won't." He gave it a soft nip before setting Mello on the ground out of the lake he made sure the male was steady before getting out himself. "I bought you chocolate." He gave him a slight smile holding out a bar of South American chocolate, something that was usually hard to come by.

Mello took the bar, smiling, but only briefly. "Mm." He grunted, turning away from Matt and unwrapping the bar. He licked the chocolate lightly before taking a bite out of it. The taste was smooth, and extremely delicious. "Well done. Let's go back." Mello didn't even look back, starting to head up the moody trail back to the house.

Matt followed Mello up the hill without a word. What had he wanted from Mello? A big welcome home, delight at his return. How un-Mello like would that be? It would be more creepy then comforting. Then why did he feel slightly disappointed at the blonde's reaction?

Mello walked all the way back to the house, entering to the greeting area. He noticed how muddy his shoes were. Sliding them off, Mello decided to leave them there and go in barefoot. Hoping Matt would do the same, he ventured farther into the house. The kitchen like area was near the front, and Mello went to check and see if that was where Matt left all the food.

Matt noticed Mello's shoes at the door, so he took his off as well. He noticed that they were caked with mud. 'Jeez...I didn't even notice...well, I was in the lake.' It was then he noticed that he pants where wet to the knees and he was starting to feel the chill from it. Still he followed Mello for the blonde had not released him from his side.

Entering the dark kitchen, Mello went to open a window, letting light into the room. After inspecting most of the shelves, he found the food the Matt had brought. He inspected most of it, deciding that it was good that none of it needed to be refrigerated. Once all was deemed good, Mello turned. He noticed Matt standing in the middle of the kitchen. "Your pants are filthy and tracking mud. Take them off." He said, giving an order. "Now." He added, not wanting to have to deal with cleaning the trail they would leave to the bedroom.

Matt gave a little sigh. He unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his pants, taking them off and folding them up so they wouldn't drip mud anywhere else. He was now standing in the kitchen, in front of Mello, with only black boxers and a black long-sleeved shirt. It was an odd outfit.

Mello smirked. "I hope you have something else to put on." He started to walk out of the kitchen, looking disgustedly at the dirt on the floor. Stopping he turned back to Matt with a grin on his face. "Though that outfit is very becoming of you. I don't mind if you stay like that."

Matt gave him an unamused look. "It's a bit cold for that, don't you think." He didn't realizing the many different ways Mello could talk that sentence, he just meant that he was annoyed that Mello had literally ordered his pants off of him.

Mello laughed, "It's never too cold, Matt." He took in the sight of Matt standing in the kitchen in his underwear. Giving Matt a look, Mello left the room. Even in the short twenty minutes that he was gone, Mello had missed interaction with him.

'Which look was that?' Out of all of Mello's looks there were only two that he could decipher; well that's how it used to be. It seemed like there were more now. Matt gave a little sigh and walked out of the room. He went upstairs to put on a new pair of pants.

Wondering down the hall, Mello ended up in the bathroom. The warm air was a comfort as he slide the door open. Matt would eventually come looking for him. Mindlessly, he itched at the bandage around his shoulder. He thought of pealing it off, but quickly disbanded that thought. Matt would put something else strange on it. Ignoring the bandage completely, Mello hoped that if they just didn't talk about it, they wouldn't need to treat it.

Searching through the suitcase Matt found that he had little choice in clothing. He only had two more pairs of pants and both of them were a lot tighter then his other pants. Giving a slight sigh he pulled one of the pairs of dark blue jeans on. He looked down at the pants for a moment; they fit just not in his normal definition of the word. He wandered out of the room and searched for Mello, he found him just standing in the bathroom. "You must really like this room..."

Mello had been unconsciously itching his arm, but stopped as soon as he heard Matt speak. Looking over at him, Mello smirked. "Nice pants." He noticed to how tight they were. Suddenly he frowned, "What did you do with the dirty ones? You didn't leave them on the floor." Mello's eyes were wide, warning Matt of his actions.

"No, they're not on the floor." Mello could be odd about dirt sometimes. It was at these times that Matt wondered if Mello was a germaphobe or a neat freak. Though there were other instants when the thought would be wiped from his mind.

Mello went back to itching his arm. "Good." He liked things in order, especially when it came to his house and possessions. Everything had a place. It just irked him when things were just left on the floor, or not put away correctly.

Matt stared at Mello. "Will you stop screwing with the bandages? If it's bothering you we should probably change them. And don't worry; we're done with the blue stuff, just as long as you clean your arm before you put new bandages on." He gave him a slight smile. Wondering how Mello would react.

Mello quickly stopped touching them, putting his hand back at his side. "They don't need to be changed. It just hurts and itches." He said firmly, glaring at Matt. Hadn't Matt hurt his back during the accident? Why wasn't he hurting as much as Mello?

Matt gave a little shrug. "If you say so." He would let Mello do as he liked about his arm now, it was basically healed anyway. He probably didn't even need the bandages either. They weren't deep cuts after all. Matt wandered out of the bathroom heading back to the room to get his DS.

Mello frowned, folding his arms. Whatever. How the hell was Matt just up and walking around. He had been in the same bike accident. Why wasn't he feeling it the same way Mello was? Frustratingly, he picked at the bandages. Tugging at one of the seams to hard, the ties came undone. "Damn it." Sighing harshly, he slowly unraveled the white cloth. Crumpling the dirty bandages, Mello looked around for a garbage can. He found one in the corner, and tossed it in. Something caught his eye, sparkling in the light. Walking closer to the garbage, Mello reached down to inspect. Carefully picking though the contents, Mello pulled out what seemed to be a few used needles. The caps had been replaced, but he could still tell that they were used. Gently he removed the caps, touching the needle. It had been a clear liquid before being injected. A number of things ran though Mello's mind as to what could have been in them. Suddenly it hit him. Recapping the needle, he gripped them tightly and turned to fallow Matt. As soon as he entered the room, he saw Matt. Angrily, Mello threw the needles at Matt. "What the fuck are these?!" He yelled, gesturing to the needles now on the ground.

Matt looked at the needles his face paling slightly. How could he have been so stupid? He should have destroyed the needles right after he used them. He should have known that Mello would find them. "Maybe you wanted him to find them..." hissed a voice in the back of Matt's head. The red head stayed silent contemplating what to say. He could feign innocence but that was completely ludicrous at this point. He wondered how he could explain the needles to Mello. "It's not what you think..."

Mello glared, "It's not what I fucking THINK?! Then what the hell is it?" Mello walked farther into the room. "That's why you've been fine. You know how I feel about that shit!" He gritted his teeth angrily, making a face at Matt. "You should have said something." This time Mello's voice rang with a slight amount of hurt. "You're fucking sick." He turned to walk out of the room, disgusted at Matt.

Matt moved as if he was going to reach out and grab Mello's shoulder but thought better of it. "Mello...I..." He paused trying to figure out a good way to put it. "It's not drugs...well...it is, but it's not heroin or anything like that." He felt stupid; he had never screwed up with Mello like this before. The closest he had ever come was the time Mello had seen him drunk, the blonde was pissed, but it was no where near this. "What was I supposed to say anyway...my ribs are nearly broken but I know we can't go to the hospital? What would you have said, Mello? Forget the Kira case, we'll find you a doctor some place safe? I doubt it, so I took care of it on my own like you've always told me to do. YOU don't have time to deal with my problems, remember, Mello?!"

Mello spun on his heals. "Deal with your problems? You are a problem! You should have fucking said something! We could have done something other then you taking MORPHENE! You don't have to be such a martyr, MATT!" Mello was practically growling, teeth gritted and all. "You're probably addicted to the shit now. You know how much money it's gonna cost to keep you high all the time?!"

Matt gave a slight growl. "I'm not addicted...and I wasn't trying to be a martyr." He fell silent for a moment. Wasn't there an unspoken agreement about them fighting? Wasn't it that they weren't going to do it anymore? But he wasn't just going to shut-up and let Mello scream at him until he was done. He shot a glare at the blonde, this time actually yelling at him when before he was rather calm. "Maybe I'm not fucking used to you fucking caring about people! How the hell was I supposed to know that you would fucking care about me! Your subordinate! YOUR SLAVE! And If I'm such a fucking problem Mello maybe you should have just let me die or why don't you fucking blow my fucking head off, Mello? It's not like you haven't done it before to people who are more of a problem then they are help to you! Go ahead! IF IT'LL MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER THEN DO IT! FUCKING SHOOT ME!"

Mello laughed, sneering at Matt. His laughter was unpleasant, and obviously insulting. Slowly, he pulled his gun out of the back of his pants, and aimed it at Matt's head. "Maybe I should shoot you, because you're not the guy I know." He kept eye contact with Matt. "Your fucking ass deserves to be shot for not listening, or telling me what's going on." Mello cocked the gun. "Maybe I should just shoot you, because you're just too stupid for words." Mello un-cocked the gun, throwing it hard at Matt. "You're just such an idiot!"

For a second Matt actually thought that Mello was going to shoot him. It froze his mind and blood. His heart beat so fast he thought it would break free from his body. His mind snapped back into awareness when Mello threw the gun at him. Matt ducked to avoid the flying gun, it hit the floor and spun to the back wall were it stopped relatively harmless. Matt looked at Mello. "What the hell! Are you stupid? The safety wasn't on, if that had hit the floor right you could have killed either of us!"

Again Mello let loose a horrible cackle, laughing at Matt. He stopped just as abruptly, looking at him. "Then maybe I could have shot some sense into you." He walked closer to the man, getting in his face. Suddenly, Mello backhanded Matt as hard as he could across his face. "Stop injecting that shit into your skin and we'll go get your fucked up wounds looked at. If you had been smart enough to just get them looked at when they happened we wouldn't have to talk about this." He wiped his hand off in his pants, as if he touched something dirty.

Matt was slightly surprised when his head suddenly snapped to the right. He hadn't actually expected Mello to hit him. He almost felt like a child receiving their first scolding from their mother. He could feel his left cheek turn red from the force of the blow. Matt was only stunned for a moment before he glanced and Mello and gave a nice right hook to his jaw. The force of the punch sent Mello to the ground. "What ever the hell I do to my own body is my own fucking business. I DON'T BELONG TO YOU!"

Mello was caught severely off guard when he felt Matt's fist connect with his jaw. He had attempted to step backwards, away from him, but instead took the full force of the blow. Flying off his feet, Mello landed on his back. The taste of iron filled his mouth, as he nursed a severely bitten tongue. Standing, Mello had a fire in his eyes like no other. Angrily, he spit a bloody mess at Matt before lunging at him. He took his best shot to Matt's chest, aiming for that bruised rib.

Matt caught Mello's wrist, bending it back away from him. "You're too slow." He pushed Mello back, tripping him so he ended up on the floor. "Do you honestly think you can fight me like that? You're too dependant on that piece you're caring around with you, Mihael."

Mello landed on his back again, yelping when his hand made contact with the floor, jarring his wrist. "Fuck you, Matt." He said, much quieter, holding his wrist. Getting up slowly, Mello wished that he had something else to throw at him. How dare he use his real name. He looked unhappily at Matt. He knew he would never win in a fist fight. Spitting again, Mello tried his best to take another shoot at Matt. His anger flared, wanting to punch some sense into the man.

Matt blocked him again pushing him to the floor again. "Stupid, Mihael." He took a slight step back. He stood still waiting for Mello to get up again. The blonde was up again quickly taking another swing at him. His moves, however, were too easy to read and Matt tripped him back to the floor. This time Mello landed flat on his back, probably winding him.

Mello didn't get up this time, instead curling up and coughing, trying to catch his breath. Matt had pushed him a little too hard, and Mello was starting to feel it. Suddenly his vision started to blur with tears. Mello wasn't sure if it was because he had the wind knocked out of him, or he was hurt by Matt's actions. Slowly, he got to his knees, and then to his feet. "I hate you." He gritted out, letting tears stream down his cheeks.

Matt felt as if he had been thrown into an ice bath. The shock of the words hit him harder then any physical blow that Mello could throw. He stared at the blonde dumbfounded. He wanted to say, 'You don't mean that,' and have Mello assent to the fact that he didn't. Matt was speechless. He didn't know what to do. He just prayed that Mello didn't mean it...he didn't want the blonde to hate him. Not when...he loved him, more then life itself.

The fact that Matt didn't say anything angered and hurt Mello even more. Why was he just staring at him? Mello clenched his fists. A wave of unmistakable anger flooded the boy like fire. "G...g-get out! Just GET OUT! I FUCKING HATE YOU! HOW COULD YOU?!" He screamed, spitting small spatters of blood. Mello wasn't sure if he was talking about the drugs, hitting him or the fact that all of this had happened anymore. He vaguely thought about the fact that Matt was on morphine right now, and may not be able to control his actions well. Whatever it was, Mello had reached his boiling point. "J-JUST FUCK YOU, MAIL." A strange sobbing sound escaped Mello's lips. "I DON'T WANT YOU ANYMORE! JUST g-get out!" Mello curled into himself, wrapping his arms around his middle.

"I don't want you anymore..." The sentence echoed oddly in Matt's head. He felt as if his heart had been torn into shreds. He couldn't move for a few moments. "Me--" His voice died. He bit his lower lip so hard that he could taste blood. He unbelted his gun from around his waist and dropped it to the ground. He looked away from Mello, tears burning in his eyes. He walked unsteadily from the room. He paused for a moment at the door then pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He looked at it for a moment before throwing it as hard as he could at the back wall, it nearly shattered. He ran from the room, the house. He ran until he reached the main highway, and then broke down. Falling to his knees, his eyes closed tightly against the tears threatening to fall.