Chapter 7 – Matt's Firewall

When Mello woke up the next morning, he found he still had the clothes from the night before on. He had slept on top of the covers and he was almost positive Matt had shared the bed with him.

Mello turned over to face Matt's bed; it was made, probably unslept in. Sitting up, he realised the redhead wasn't in the room, as he began to wonder where Matt was, his question was answered. Matt walked into the bedroom from their bathroom, his hair was wet and he had a towel draped over his shoulders. He was, however, wearing jeans, which made the situation somewhat more bearable for Mello.

"Matt," Mello said as he tore his eyes away from the redhead. "Thanks, for last night."

"No problem, have you seen my PSP?"

"Last time I saw it, you had it."

"Dammit," Matt mumbled as he threw the wet towel to the floor and walked out of the room.

Mello threw himself backwards onto his bed. He hadn't meant to open up that much to Matt. Least of what he wanted was sympathy.

Sighing, he sat back up and ran a hand through his hair. This was going to be a long, if not awkward day.

*

Matt took his usual seat in the dining room and pulled a bag of potato chips towards him. As he silently ate the chips, he pulled his Gameboy out of his pocket and loaded up his game. Unnoticed by him, Mello sat down opposite him.

"Did you find your game?" he asked.

"Nope," Matt replied.

"Why are you so annoyed at having to share your room with someone?"

"Like I said last night, the last person I shared my room with was my brother."

"So, what's the big deal? So he didn't get in here and you haven't seen him for a while."

"Mello, shut up," Matt said as he stood up, leaving his potato chips at the table, he walked out of the dining room.

*

Mello wandered around the school looking for Matt for most of the day. He couldn't understand why the redhead was being so quiet about things. It wasn't like Mello had said anything wrong… Had he?

*

Matt was sat on his bed nursing a swollen and bloodied hand when Mello finally decided to back to their room.

"What happened?" Mello asked when he saw Matt's hand.

"Nothing, it's fine," Matt replied, wrapping a bandage around his hand.

"If that's nothing, I'd hate to see what actually puts you in pain," Mello replied shortly as he sat down on his bed.

Hours passed in silence. Matt played his video games and Mello studied. Neither were particularly happy with the silence, but it was better than the impending argument that both could feel coming.

Mello eventually broke the silence.

"So what happened to your Mom and Dad?" he asked in what would have been a casual voice.

"I don't want to talk about it," Matt answered as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes.

"Ok. Do you have any other brothers or sisters?" Mello asked in the same tone as before.

"Stop asking me about my family. I don't want to talk about them."

Mello stood up and stood at the foot of Matt's bed, next to the wall. "Why not? I told you about my family. You're family can't be any worse than that."

Matt put his game down and stood up. He stood in front of Mello, barely an inch separated them.

"Look," Matt said quietly and dangerously. "I don't want to tell you about my family, I don't want to tell you about my past and I sure as hell don't want you to know what's going through my head right now, ok. Just leave me alone, Mello. I don't care about you and I don't care about your stupid life."

Turning around, Matt walked towards his desk and turned on his computer.

"I was just trying to be nice, Matt, but if you don't want me to, fine. I can be a jerk too. If you don't want to tell me about your fucked up family, that's fine."

Matt stayed silent.

"It's not like I actually care about what you have to say anyway. I mean, there's only so many times you hear about someone's alcoholic mother before you get bored."

Sighing, Matt opened a document on his computer, ignoring Mello's comments completely.

"Or maybe it was your dad. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time I'd have heard about someone's dad being a homosexual freak who knocks their kids about, getting pissed off because he has to fuck guys to get drugs."

Matt closed his eyes. Mello was really starting to annoy him, if only he would shut up and let Matt work in peace.

"I've got it!" Mello said enthusiastically. "Mommy and Daddy decided that little Matty wasn't worth their time and effort anymore. They needed their alcohol and drugs so they thought instead of selling themselves, they'd let their dealers do whatever the hell they like with you."

Matt stood up. He was getting no where fast and Mello was showing no signs of letting up. He walked towards his bed, walking past Mello.

"That's it, isn't it? You were a drug lord's bitch. I bet drugs weren't the only thing he stuck up your ass," Mello said smirking as he saw Matt freeze up.

Matt spun around on his heel so he was facing Mello. Within a second, Mello was pinned against the wall by Matt's hand.

"Give it up, Mello. I don't want to talk about it and if you keep winding me up, I will kill you."

Mello smirked slightly. "If you're going to kill me, do it, don't stand around talking about…"

As Matt released his grip on Mello's throat, his fist connected with the blonde's jaw. Mello dropped to the floor, shocked at the force Matt had put behind the punch. Matt kicked Mello in the stomach and rolled the blonde onto his back before putting his foot onto Mello's neck, almost cutting off the blonde's air supply and eventually making him fall unconscious.

[[A/N Ok, I know that's sort of a cliff hanger but here's another one... I don't know when I'll be able to update next. I'm moving on Monday (17th) and I won't have internet access for god knows how long. I promise I'll update when I get a chance though... Reviews will make me want the internet more *hinthint* and may mean I update quicker, lol]]