I woke up. Groaned. Turned over. Buried my face in my pillow to escape the militant sunshine. I really didn't need my eyes to be scorched a funny red colour whilst shut, thank you very much.
But soon I couldn't breathe and had to turn over again, meaning that the sunshine army could resume its attack.
"Oh, fuck off," I mumbled groggily.
"What?" There was a sleepy mumble from my right.
My heart thudded in panic before I realised that it was just Matt. God, all this running-the-Mafia shit made you paranoid.
"What's up, Mello?" Matt asked. I cracked an eye open and saw him looking at me, his green eyes half-lidded.
"Fucking sunlight," I complained, turning my face into my pillow. "Don't want it. Make it go away."
"Jeez, Mello, it's just sunshine," he murmured. My heart thudded again. Goddammit, to whoever said that a boy's sleepy voice is the sexiest thing on this planet – no shit, Sherlock Lawliet Holmes. I turned over for the third time, trying to control the blood rushing to my cheeks and grumbling about a sunlight siege and useless boyfriends to disguise it.
"Useless?" I felt a pair of arms slip around my waist and jumped. "Chill, Mello, it's only me." Matt pulled me against his chest and I relaxed into the solid warmth of him. However, as a very manly Mafia boss, I had a reputation to protect.
"Bloody hell, Matt! Don't just creep up on me, you fucking pervert," I snapped.
"So now I'm a useless…"
His hair brushed against my neck as he breathed in my ear, "…fucking…pervert."
My cheeks went from gently smouldering to full-scale combustion. "Pack it in with the hints! You are not getting in my pants, Matt!"
Silence.
"Not today, anyway."
I could tell he was grinning like the bloody Cheshire Cat. I shifted in his arms and turned to face him. It turned out to be one of the very few bad ideas that I have, not least because his unbelievably gorgeous face was about an inch from mine. He cocked one eyebrow and tightened his arms, pulling me flat against him.
I buried my face in his hair, breathing in that smell of boy-shampoo-smoke, the one that clung to Matt. The one that had been the only home I'd ever known. The one I'd come to associate with someone actually giving a shit about me. I wrapped my arms around him.
"Please don't go," I whispered. If he left…there'd be no one left. No one to swear at me and insult me whilst smiling crookedly. No one to steal my chocolate and hold it to ransoms that are not legal to mention. No one to hold me when I cried (to which I will never, ever confess).
I felt Matt sigh, his chest inflating and then warm breath against my neck. "I'm not going anywhere. Don't you go anywhere, Mihael."
Oh God, we'd brought true names into this.
I just nestled my head further into the crook of his shoulder and lay there, one hundred percent content to lie in Matt's arms under the duvet. And fuck that sunshine. Who needs sunshine when you've got a Matt to light up your life?
