i apologize for this chapter being so late. life got in the way - i got a job, caught up in naruto, got addicted to playing call of duty: ghosts, and recently became obsessed with shingeki no kyojin. not that you guys wanted to read that, lol. i'm also sorry if this chapter seems like its lacking - there's a second part that i'm adding next chapter! extending their date night. sadly, after that there's going to be only 2 or 3 more chapters and then the final story in the convention series. for any of you still reading, hahaha.

enjoy.

"Oh, no.
The battle forms insides,
and I speak, but you don't see the signs.
My heart aches, leaving me here to hide;
my world shakes until you assure me."

- Same Problem, Waking Ashland.

Mello shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he walked down the road towards Matt's house. It was a relatively short distance; it was barely long enough for him to run through all the possibilities he had in mind for their date. When he asked Sayu about it the night before on the phone she had been very tight lipped. She offered little information on the subject, and telling him to use his imagination.

Mello had done just that, but it wasn't good enough.

The sky was beginning to darken in the horizon, forcing the streets lamps to flicker as he darted across the street and into Matt's driveway. Matt was leaning against his car with his arms folded across his chest and red locks falling into his face. He looked absolutely gorgeous standing there, and to Mello, he was something - someone - to be coveted.

Matt was definitely and truly something else.

"You ready?" Matt asked when he was within hearing range.

"Not really," the blond answered.

"Why not?" Matt tilted his head to the side in confusion, looking at Mello from under his hair.

"Because," Mello whispered for a legitimate reason as he wrapped his arms around Matt's waist. "Plus, we have a few minutes before we need to leave to pick her up."

Matt placed his hands on Mello's hips and lifted his head, green eyes looking at Mello with an intensity that Mello only saw during their most intimate moments together. He was momentarily stunned - because he missed being looked at in such a way or because he was no longer used to it, he didn't know. As long as the redhead continued to watch him the way he was there would be no reason for their date. It would be straight to the bedroom. Or, in their case, the back of Matt's car after he found a secluded spot to park.

Not that either boy would complain.

Matt leaned in, softly pressing his lips against Mello's own and pulling the blond flush against him. A small gasp escaped Mello's mouth as their bodies connected and Matt decided to use the moment to his advantage. He slipped his tongue past Mello's parted lips, enjoying the way his natural taste mingled with the lingering minty flavor of the gum Mello had been chewing prior to their meeting. In response, the blond rolled his hips forward and elicited a satisfied moan from Matt.

Matt reluctantly pulled back to switch their positions. He pushed Mello back until he hit the car and parted the blonds' legs with one knee so that he would be able to comfortably settle against him. Matt could feel Mello's growing erection against his own, straining to be released from the confines of the jeans they both wore.

If only they didn't have somewhere they had to be. Fuck... life was seriously starting to act like it hated them.

It was with the thought that Sayu was waiting for them that they pulled away from one another, both trying to regulate their breathing and calm down so that it looked like nothing happened. Mello was the first to open his eyes, blue eyes riddled with lust and affection. Matt would love nothing more than for Mello to look at him like that at all times. That one gaze made him feel like the most important person in the world. It made him feel wanted and worth something.

"If we don't leave now we'll be late," Matt said, backing away from the blond so that Mello could go around the car and slip into the passenger seat. "I'm sure your girlfriend won't like that."

"The only thing she'd get mad about is that we're late," Mello retorted with an eye roll. Despite Matt knowing their situation wasn't the best and that Sayu was only going along with it for their sake, the redhead was still acting ridiculous. There was no reason for him to be jealous.

"I'm sure she still looks at it as a date with you, though."

"Matt," he softly spoke as the car pulled out of the driveway and took off down the road towards Sayu's house. "She's doing this for us. Sayu set it all up for us. She paid for it out of her pocket for us." Mello made it a point to emphasize that it was their date, despite Sayu being there.

"But she's going to tag along with us the entire time," the redhead told him.

"Wrong. She invited Misa and Near so that we can have our time together and they can do their own thing. That's pretty much all I could get out of her yesterday."

"But..."

"Don't." Mello stopped him, placing his hand atop Matt's as it rested on the center console. He gave a gentle squeeze. "It's going to be fine. The only time she'll be with us is the ride there, when we meet up to figure out arrangements home, and when we leave. Maybe Misa will be understanding and take Sayu home for us."

Matt bit his lips and nodded. He didn't miss the unspoken words that they'd get to spend time alone. If anything, he heard them loud and clear.

They arrived at Sayu's house in record time, giving them several minutes to be alone before they were to round the corner and pull up at the curb. Sayu made it a point to tell him not to pull into the driveway, otherwise her parents would want to ask him a million things and they would see Matt. She told Mello that they would mention her 'redheaded friend' to Light to see if he knew who the unnamed kid was and that would ruin everything.

Sayu, not one to make people wait, was standing outside when they pulled up. She waved to them before darting through the yard, down the driveway, and knocked on the back passenger side window so that Matt could unlock the door. Tossing her bag into the seat next to her, she closed the door and settled in, content to listen to the low murmur of music that was coming from the speakers behind the backseat.

"Going to tell us where we're going now?" Mello asked, turning to awkwardly face her.

"Wasn't planning on it," she said, "but then I figured Matt would like to know since he's driving us there."

Mello snorted in response. She could really be aggravating when she wanted to be.

"Well?"

"First, what do you guys want to do?" she asked, scooting over so that she was sitting in the middle of the backseat. She propped her hands on her knees so that she could lean up, making it easier to talk to them. Also, because Mello looked extremely uncomforable turning to face her.

"Each other." Matt answered honestly. Mello simply nodded, lips closed.

"Haha. I know that already," she chuckled, eyes drifting between the two. "Seriously, though..."

"I'm up for anything," Mello told her, earning a hushed "for anything?" from Matt.

"So if I said to turn the car around, drive back to my house, and have dinner with my family you'd do it?"

"No."

"Absolutely not."

"You said anything..."

"Anything but that." Mello all but hissed.

"I figured."

The light chatter continued for a few more minutes, usually starting with a question from Sayu. She gave out directions as Matt drove, throwing in a random "take a left here" or "no, i said right". Ocassionally Mello would have to tell her to stop shouting in his ear. He felt that he didn't deserve to lose his hearing because Matt couldn't follow directions correctly.

Gazing out the window, the blond tuned them out. His thoughts wandered off as he watched the cars zoom by - some playing music too loudly and some not playing any at all. It was growing darker out, signifying that Sayu was taking them somewhere that would be open much later than most other places people went to for dates. Mello couldn't help but think that she picked this specific place on that fact alone, as it would give him more time to be with Matt.

Mello couldn't complain, especially if that was her reasoning. She was already putting herself at risk for helping them. If anything, he found that he was grateful for everything she was doing for them. Sayu really was a life saver.

"We're almost there!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly and pointing at the lit up ferris wheel that was peeking out over the trees in the distance.

"The fair?" Mello asked, tilting his head back to look at her.

"Of course!" Sayu said a little too loudly. "I'm surprised you didn't think of it when I mentioned that Misa and Near were coming."

"Me too," he muttered. Sayu didn't miss the slightly disappointed tone he took on.

"I can't wait," Matt said, adding in his two cents.

"Good! I can't either!"

They went their own way after all the tickets had been purchased. Sayu gave them a location to meet up at an hour before closing to figure out ride arrangements and where they were to meet each other for the fireworks that were set off nightly. It would be the only event they'd do together as a group.

Mello stayed relatively quiet, offering little words as Matt pulled him around. He watched the redhead point at different rides, games, and declare that before the night was over he would own a goldfish in a little plastic bag. Mello snorted at that.

Matt walked beside Mello, holding the strawberry smoothie he'd bought from a vendor minutes after they left their group. He would sip on it from time to time, mostly in between periods of talking and staring at the games he wanted to play.

"Y'know," Matt began, inching closer to the blond, their arms touching. "I've never been to the fair before."

Mello blinked and looked over at him, an eyebrow raised. "No shit?"

"Yeah. Dad never bothered to take us," Matt told him. "Something about there was more important things he could be doing other than watching two kids run around and spend his hard earned money. Honestly, it wasn't really that hard earned and his something important was that he wanted to drink."

Mello knew a little bit about his father. He knew that the man basically ignored Matt, save for when he wanted something done or when he wanted Matt out of his hair. That had been a common theme over the summer, giving them plenty of nights to get to know one another on every level possible.

He hadn't know that his father refused to indulge in his kids experiencing one of the most exciting things a kid could. That was cruel. And, while he hadn't been too keen on the idea of their date taking place at the fair (since he'd been so much), he decided to make the best of it for Matt. He deserved it.

"So, what next?" Mello asked as they rounded the corner leading towards the rides. It had taken them a good hour to get through the games, thanks to Matt declaring that he could beat every high score. That had been a lie, of course.

He'd only bested three of the eight games he could afford to play.

"Uh... well, let's do that!" Matt exclaimed, pointing at the spaceship lodged between the spinning cup ride and the rocking music coaster. Both looked lame in comparison to the brightly lit spaceship. "That looks fun."

"Yeah," Mello reluctantly agreed. Thankfully Matt missed the hesitation in his voice.

The line to actually get into the spaceship wasn't as long as Mello would have liked. In fact, it was much shorter than any other ride they'd passed. Maybe he wasn't the only person to dislike the ride.

Matt was swaying side to side in anticipation, eyes wide as he vocally wondered what would happen. A childish part of the redhead asked if actual aliens would make themselves known and Mello wasn't sure if he was supposed laugh, roll his eyes, or do both. Instead, he just let Matt rattle off his outlandish ideas.

"Yeah!" Matt shouted excitedly as he entered the ship.

It was dark, save for dimly lit lights circling the man sitting inside a booth in the middle of the ship. He was appropriately dressed like an alien, though his choice in humanized music screamed that he wasn't from another planet. Much to Matt's dismay.

Mello grabbed Matt's wrist, directing him to a spot on the rounded wall closest to the door. He leaned back onto the mat, pushing the moving wall upwards and instructing Matt to do so as well. The redhead claimed a spot beside Mello, following his movements. He watched how the other people circling the middle booth were doing the exact same; some even going as far as pushing themselves up until they could hold onto the ceiling. Matt warily looked over to the blond. Mello simply chuckled at his expression, clearly thinking you got yourself into this mess.

"Three, two, one!" the man in the middle said loudly over the music that was slowly picking up in volume. The door beside Mello clicked shut, the center lights shut off, and the spaceship slowly began to rotate. Matt, who had been sure what to expect, didn't know how to feel. "Blast off!"

Without warning they started to spin at gravity defying speeds. Excited shouts and laughter filled the circled confine, people telling their friends to try to pick up their hands or to sit up. Matt turned his head to the side, watching the guy next to him attempt to sit up. When he failed and was roughly pushed onto his back with a soft 'umph!', Matt laughed.

"I'm gonna try!" Matt shouted, turning to face Mello. The blond looked at him from his spot next to the ceiling - the mat had been pushed up - and shrugged. He'd find out soon enough that it was nearly impossible to do. Matt would either be forced back like the idiot next to him or he'd fall onto the floor when the spinning stopped and the gravity was no longer being messed with.

Try he did.

Matt centered himself on his back, his arms at his sides and knees raised to keep himself balanced. The first attempt got his head off the black wall; the second attempt he managed to almost have his shoulder raised. Mello curiously watched him as he failed on the third try. The song changed, indicating the ride would be ending soon, and Matt sighed as he lost his battle with gravity. He mentally decided that before they left they would have to ride again, if only for him to accomplish what he saw no one else do. Matt was going to win.

"That was fun," the redhead said as he waited for Mello at the end of the exit gate. "I think we need to do it again."

"No," Mello spat, looking at his boyfriend and holding onto the gate beside him. He'd gotten much dizzier than he ever had before. Walking was a chore, though the closer he got to Matt the better he felt.

"Why not?"

"It makes me feel like shit." Mello answered honestly.

"But I want to..." Matt started to whine.

"Fine, but don't expect to get any later."

"W-what?!" Matt shouted too loudly, looking back at Mello with his mouth open. "That's not fair!"

"Oh, but it is." Mello told him, motioning for Matt to walk. "If I'm not feeling up to it because I don't feel good then it won't happen."

"That's mean..."

"What's mean is making me go on it again when I said no."

Matt grumbled to himself, but kept his mouth shut otherwise. He would have some thinking to do - win against gravity or take the loss so that he could have alone time with the blond. It was a hard decision.

They walked off their frustration with one another before they realized what time it was. Mello soon regretted making Matt pick between him and the ride, but he honestly felt that it would make him puke a second time. Hopefully Matt understood that he didn't mean to do any harm, but was just trying to keep himself from needing to end their date early.

"Come on," Mello said softly, grasping Matt's hand in his own. The redhead nodded and allowed himself to be pulled toward the meeting spot where everyone else was already waiting.

Mindless chattering about what they'd been doing, what they were planning on doing before the fireworks, where they would gather to watch said fireworks, and who was taking who home followed when they were all grouped together. It was decided by Misa that Sayu would leave with her, allowing Matt and Mello time alone before they had to call it a night. It was also decided, by Sayu, that they were going to stay a little longer after the firework show to catch a few short lines on the rides that remained open for an extra hour. Mello, of course, figured that was what Matt would want to do since he'd planned on doing that awful ship for a second time. Sayu also told them that they didn't have to meet up with them for the show. In fact, she practically encouraged them to do their own thing.

"Okay, so I'll talk to you guys tomorrow." Sayu said, turning to face Near and Misa. "I expect to hear all about your night!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Got it."

Mello walked away from the group, Matt trailing behind him. They returned to the midway section so that Matt could get a feel for the other rides, which he would say that he enjoyed after riding them. Aside from the spaceship, the redhead rather liked the pirate ship that would swing back and forth while threatening to go upside down.

"What is it with you and ships?" Mello asked completely out of the blue the minute they stepped outside the exit gate of the pirate ship. Matt had asked to ride that one a few more times before they headed off to find different.

Matt blinked and shrugged. "I don't know. They're fun?"

"That's it? They're fun?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Matt responded.

"Anything else you want to do?" Mello asked, trying his hardest to right where he'd screwed up.

"I want to win a fish," he said.

"Okay."

Together, and slightly less awkward than they had been, they made their way back toward the games. Mello explained to him several games that had a fish for a prize, and of course, Matt picked the most difficult one. It was the game with the milk bottles and the rings. The object was to throw as many rings and hope that they all landed around the top for the grand prize. That prize being a giant stuffed animal of the winners choice, but Matt really didn't want that. Instead, he found out how many rings it would take for him to obtain a gold fish.

"This is easy!" Matt said, tossing the third ring and watching as it threatened to fall off the top. It spun around the bottle neck several times before landing on top of the rings that he had thrown before it. Three rings was all it took for his desired prize, so he started to mess up on purpose when it came to the fourth and fifth rings.

A few people watching him groaned behind as he failed to get the grand prize, but he smiled like a kid in a candy store nonetheless. Especially when the game operator handed him a clear bag full of water and a little fish swimming along the bottom. He rightfully named his new pet goldeen.

"How long do gold fish live?" Matt asked Mello as he held up the bag to study it.

"Depends. Mine always died the day after, but I think that's because I wasn't doing something right."

"What do you mean?"

"I was just dumping them into a bowl without letting them get used to the change in water temperatures." Mello told him, trying to mentally count off the amount of fish he had die on him. It wasn't just the ones won at the fair, either.

"Mello," Matt began, holding the bag away from the blond. "How many have you won?"

"I don't know. Maybe, like... ten."

"And they all died?!"

Mello nodded in response.

"That's horrible!" Matt laughed.

The blond couldn't help but laugh along with him. The tension was fading, but Mello still felt horrible.

"Where to next?"

"Ferris wheel," Mello said softly. It was the last thing he wanted to do before the fireworks were to go off. Mainly because it took a good twenty minutes for the Ferris wheel to get from start to finish, but also because he figured that their night could use a little cliche moment since he'd pretty much ruined everything else for Matt.

"Alright," Matt said, reaching down to lace his fingers with Mello's as they turned to walk towards the entrance to the fairgrounds.

Much like the spaceship earlier, the line wasn't nearly as long as Mello thought it would be. Every time he'd come as a kid the line had been horrible, with just about every single person in the fair waiting for their chance to ride. In reality, he only saw a few young couples waiting their turn for an open seat. They would be the third open seat and he was fine with that. In meant that they'd have enough time to run back to the spaceship for Matt to exact his revenge on gravity.

"Hey," Matt called out to him when they were seated in a car with a blue top. Mello looked up at him, an eyebrow raised and silently acknowledging him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You seem distant. What's up?" Matt prodded, setting the bag on the seat beside him and scooting closer to the blond.

Mello watched him, eyes softening as Matt gently grasped his hands and squeezed. It was a small gesture, but one that told him that Matt was genuinely bothered by his change in demeanor and that he wasn't going to take any old bullshit answer.

"I feel like an asshole." Mello told him truthfully.

"What? Why?"

"I ruined your night," he muttered, trying to pull away from the redhead. His desire to get away only made Matt tighten his grip on him.

Matt pulled Mello closer to him and wrapped his arms awkwardly around him in the small space of the cart. He held onto the blond as if life depended on him, resting his chin on the blonds' shoulder. Matt placed a quick kiss to the side of his neck.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Mello turned his head to the side so that he could look at Matt when he told him that he didn't mean to deny him the ride. "You wanted to ride the spaceship again and I was being a dick. I shouldn't make you pick between that and me, it isn't fair. I don't know what I w-"

"It's okay," Matt whispered, gingerly pressing a kiss to the corner of Mello's mouth.

"You're lying just to make me feel better."

"I'm not. I'm honestly fine with it," Matt told him. "I admit I was kinda pissed about it earlier, but the more I thought about it, the more I didn't care." Matt released his hold on the blond. Mello turned to face him, briefly looking outside the cart and taking note that they were almost to the top of the wheel. "I figured that you'd have good reason to say no, and I decided that I'd rather spend more time with you tonight than worrying about a stupid ride. I wouldn't want you feeling bad when we leave and ending our night prematurely."

"Still, I'm sorry." Mello said softly.

Mello jumped when a loud booming sound went off, causing him to look over the edge of the cart. In the distance he saw bright sparks of blue melting into green. Shapes that turned into circles, and a rainbow of colors that began to decorate the night sky.

The fireworks were early.

Or... they lost track of time.

"I know. Don't worry about it." Matt smiled, his eyes bright as he watched the display go off behind Mello. In that moment he couldn't decide which looked more amazing - the fireworks or the way they lit Mello up as he watched in surprise. It was the latter, if anyone were to ask.

They continued to watch in silence - Matt paying more attention to Mello and Mello focusing on the fireworks explode around them. A smile ghosted over Mello's lips when the Ferris wheel came to a stop and they were situated on the top, giving the blond a clearer view of the sky. The cart moved a little with the wind, and he turned around to capture Matt's lips with his own.

It was the moment most couples dreamed of having - the most cliche reason to come to the fair - and it was theirs.

yes? no? lemme know!

also, i hate the spaceship and love the pirate ship! these are legit rides at the virginia state fair, so i'm not sure if they're the same elsewhere! what's your favorite fair ride (if you ride them or go to the fair)?

review, please. thank you.

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