This chapter doesn't really have any connection with the main plot, but I REALLY wanted to use this scene somewhere, so it ended up here! :)
第９話
"Ill"
"He's sick?"
"Yes. I'm afraid you'll have to come back in a few days, when he's feeling better." Mello's mother gave Matt an apologetic smile as she closed the front door.
Matt gave a sigh. Mello's always sick. It's from all that studying. He's making himself this way...
Also, Mello's parents never let Matt visit when their son was sick; he was always confined to his bed – from exhaustion – and Matt always had to wait until he got well.
However...
Knock, knock.
Matt tightly gripped the drainpipe by the window to make sure he didn't fall and peered into the window of Mello's room, knocking again when he heard no sound from within.
Finally, the curtain pulled back a moment later, and the window opened to let him (fall) inside.
"Matt? What are you doing here?" Mello asked, closing the window as Matt sat up on the floor.
"I heard you weren't feeling well, and your parents won't let me see you."
"Oh...right."
Up close, Mello looked pale in the moonlight, his thin frame obvious through the over-sized T-shirt he was wearing.
"I told you that you were working too hard," Matt said.
"Lay off, alright?" Mello griped. "I'm fine."
"You don't look fine. All that studying – and you haven't been eating, either, have you?"
"Why'd you bother coming?"
"Because I was worried about you." Matt stood up from the floor and walked over to Mello. "You always get sick when you're under pressure. All that work isn't good for you."
"I'm not sick because of working too hard, okay?" he shrugged Matt off as the other boy attempted to rest a hand on his shoulder. "I'm fine."
But he didn't look fine.
Dark circles rested under his eyes, and the deep blue irisis around his pupil had faded. His already-thin body looked frightfully weak.
"Mello, please. You're smart enough, so please stop working yourself so hard!"
"Just lay off! I'm fine, alright?! There was no point in even - !" He suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, and put a hand to his head.
Matt caught Mello just as he fell, and supported him as he collapsed.
With his arms around the other boy like this, Matt could feel the effects of Mello's constant studying, the result of always trying to be the perfect child his parents wanted and expected him to be. He had grown so pale and thin in so little time... Matt recounted the number of times he'd held Mello in his arms before, all the times he'd comforted the other boy, or had Mello comfort him.
Carefully, he helped Mello over to the bed as the other boy began to slightly regain conciousness.
"Are you okay?" Matt asked, as he sat down beside Mello on the bed.
"Fine." Mello kept his hand to his head, his expression slightly pained.
"You're not alright, Mello! You almost fainted!" Matt cried.
"Just stop worrying about me!"
"I won't!" Matt hissed, in a whisper so that Mello's parents wouldn't hear. "Stop doing this to yourself. You may want to act serious and try to be an adult, but you're still just a kid!"
Mello was silent for a while. "Sorry I worried you," he said at last.
"Just stop trying to hard, okay? It's wearing you out. You don't have to be perfect."
"I don't know why I try so hard," Mello said, shaking his head. "It all comes down to nothing."
"That isn't true!" Matt said. "Of course it amounts to something! Just because you don't always live up to what your parents want you to be, you think you're worth nothing. But that isn't true, Mello!"
"Sure it is," Mello said dejectedly, hugging his knees to his chest.
"Mello, if you keep trying to live up to your parents' wishes, you'll never be satisfied. You can't be perfect. And besides..." Matt rested a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "You already seem perfect to me."
Mello gave a small laugh. "If only my parents were as easily satisfied."
"Stop trying to do everything your parents expect. Just be yourself, Mello. That's all you can do."
"I don't even know myself anymore, Matt," Mello replied softly.
Matt felt his heart ache as he heard Mello say this. "Then start with you," Matt said. "Do what you want."
"I don't know what I want. I've never had the choice."
"Then what do you feel?"
Mello was silent for a while, and then his hand found Matt's and gave it a small squeeze. "Will you stay tonight?" he asked quietly.
Although surprised by his friend's sudden request, Matt nodded. "But...what about your parents?"
"I don't care." Mello's arms wound their way around the other boy and he buried his face in Matt's shirt, breathing deeply. "I don't want to be alone tonight."
"Alright." Matt gently ran his fingers through Mello's soft blond hair.
They both crawled under the covers and this time it was Mello who clung to Matt, craving some sort of comfort.
"Matt?" he said softly.
"Na?"
"Thank you." Mello whispered.
"For what?"
"For always being here." Mello's arms tightened around him. "I can't thank you enough for that."
Matt was silent for a minute, thoughts debating inside his head again. "Mello?"
"Yeah?" The other boy's voice was muffled.
"...I love you."
This time, Mello's reply wasn't hesitant. "I love you, too, Matt."
第９話 － 終
Author's Notes:
This was more like a bonus-bonus story than an actual part of the fic. But I had this scene in my mind for a while so I wanted to write it :)
REVIEW for more!! :D