[[A/N Yes! There's anther update! I will warn you all that the next chapter will be the last, I have finished it in fewer chapters than I had originally planned but then again, I didn't expect over a years break between updates either. Once again thank you to everyone who is reading this or has read this. Reviews would be greatly appreciated since it's been a while since I wrote any DN related stuff and I think I'm more than a bit rusty.]]

Chapter 13 - Extra Baggage

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mello asked as he stormed into his shared bedroom and slammed the door behind him.

"Nothing," Matt replied as he continued to type at his computer.

"You've barely said two words since you got back. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Matt repeated as he opened a drawer on his desk and began rooting around inside.

Mello strode over to the desk and slammed the drawer, almost catching Matt's fingers.

"Jesus Christ," Matt yelled indignantly. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Tell me the truth."

Mello glared at Matt. Matt glared back.

Mello's expression became softer, Matt's, more wary.

"Please," Mello whispered. "Please tell me."

Matt's eyes began darting around the room, looking for his escape. Mello slowly placed his hands on either side of Matt's face, effectively stopping him from doing anything other than looking at the blonde.

"Matt," Mello started.

Matt knew what was coming. He had dreamt of the different scenarios since he got back, but funnily enough, he hadn't contemplated this one.

Mello leant forward slowly, gazing into Matt's eyes, giving him every opportunity to stop him but he never did. Instead he put a hand on the back of Mello's head and pulled him closer to close the gap, to seal the kiss.

A tender moment passed and slowly, the blonde let his hands drop from Matt's face. Matt's hand ran down the side of Mello's neck before he pulled away.

"What happened?" Mello breathed.

Matt closed his eyes.

"It was like I was back there." He said quietly, his hands balling into fists on his lap. "It was like I was seven years old and waiting for my father all over again. But back then, Kai would save me. Kai would protect me. And then you were there. And you saved me, and you protected me. I couldn't deal with that. I couldn't understand why until I left. Then I realised that someone may care. I used to think that I was bad luck. That anyone I let come to close would get hurt the same way. So I stopped caring. I know a lot of people, but I haven't had a friend in the four years since I came here. Then you came along and all of a sudden I have these feelings that maybe someone can get close without being hurt and it scared me. Then... that happened and I didn't know how to deal with it, so I did the same thing I did the last time I didn't know how to deal with something. I ran away. But this time I had somewhere to go back to. But I was determined not to hurt anyone so I decided to keep to myself, not to talk to people and to get on with my work. But I couldn't ignore you forever, especially not when you're right in front of me."

"Matt, no one is going to hurt me. Least of all you. You need to stop thinking that you can deal with everything by yourself; you need to share the load when it gets too heavy to carry."

Matt looked into Mello's blue eyes. "When you've been carrying the load for so long on your own, you forget you have it, until something else gets added."