Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.

A/N: I think this fic is going to be a total of either three or four chapters. The time it took me to update is not an indicator of the length of the story. XD

I looked between them. Mark was easy enough to read. All that was on his face was fear, and from the way he kept almost glancing at James, it wasn't hard to tell who he was afraid for. He even shifted his weight so that he was blocking James from Mello's sight.

Mello, conversely, was not at all easy to read, except that I knew him inside and out. His expression was much more complicated. I distinctly saw anger, hatred, and confusion. There may also have been traces of... discomfort? Like awkwardness?

James was doing the same thing I was, although I suspected he couldn't read Mello like I could. "Um... have you two met?"

"No," Mark said quickly.

Now more confusion was prevalent on Mello's face. Then he relaxed and nodded, and Mark nodded almost imperceptibly back.

Weird. I would have to ask Mello later.

James, uneasy but seemingly having taken Mark's word for it, had already moved on to suggestions about dinner. "Well, you're not from Maine, so I feel like we should have lobster... but it's a little pricey and I don't know your situation so..."

"It won't be a problem," Mello said, finally taking his eyes off Mark and putting on his best civilian face for James. Mark still looked scared shitless, but at least he was able to tear his gaze away from Mello.

What was going on?

"Okay! Then we'll go out for lobster tonight. Seven o'clock sound good? You've had a long flight; I imagine you'll want to rest until then."

Conveniently (and maybe to drag Mark aside to discuss what I was about to discuss with Mello?), James now left us alone. However, they were just in the next room, so we had to whisper.

I turned on Mello with both eyebrows practically in my hair, my most expectant look on my face.

"What the fuck?"

Expecting this, Mello said, "Mark was one of my Mafia guys." That made sense. Okay. That would certainly explain the fear. "He's one of the ones that went AWOL," he continued. That explained the fear in a whole new way. Mello did not like traitors and wasn't subtle about it. That's one of the reasons he hated himself so much for leaving me at Wammy's.

Instead of letting him dwell on this (which I knew he would if I gave him time), I said, "Why'd he go AWOL?"

Mello didn't answer that one immediately. "He broke my rules and didn't want to face the punishment."

"You had rules? ...What rule did he break?"

"He killed a kid," Mello said quietly. "Two kids, actually."

"He... killed two kids? Why?"

"I don't know. It didn't matter at the time. I only know he killed them and then disappeared. Totally fell off the map."

"Maybe it was an accident?" I asked hopefully. "Maybe they got caught in crossfire and he ran because he was scared you wouldn't believe him?"

"I wouldn't have believed him," Mello conceded. "And that's because it couldn't have been an accident. You didn't see the bodies, Matt. How do you shoot two people in the head six times each on accident?"

"I..." Actually, I didn't even have words for that.

"This man's a monster, Matt. Killing those kids wasn't the worst thing he ever did, it was just the first thing he did that would get him kicked out. He was one of the people I would dispatch if I needed someone tortured."

"I..."

"Also, full disclosure? In case this comes up later? I kind of fucked him. Long before you came after me."

"What?"

"I fucked a lot of my guys, you know that," he said patiently.

"Right, but this one is now sleeping with my oldest friend!"

"I didn't really have a way to predict that, Matt." The patience that had previously been in his voice was wearing, so I backed off.

"So, he's scared you're gonna kill him now?"

"Probably," Mello said slowly. "I make myself very hard to forget. But I also think... that James doesn't know."

"...You're telling me that Mark never told his lover that he used to be in the Mafia?"

The door opened and we immediately began a conversation about something completely different. We were well-practiced at being sneaky, after all, since we had been together for five years at Wammy's without being caught, doing just about anything you can name.

Halfway through the word "hippopotamus," a voice interrupted us.

"Hey, um, guys?"

I turned to look like a normal human being does, but as soon as Mello identified the voice he lowered his center of gravity a bit, tensed and ready. This man really must have been... bad... if even Mello was (a little, tiny bit) afraid of him.

"Yeah, Mark?" I finally replied. Mello looked at me with ice in his eyes.

"Can I talk to him for a second?" He indicated Mello with his head.

He was kicking me out of this conversation. I didn't feel too ripped off because I knew Mello would just tell me everything anyway, but at the same time I kind of resented the implication.

"Yeah, sure," I said, trying to keep the crabbiness from his dismissal out of my voice, "I'll just go over here... um..."

"No, actually," Mello said monotonously. "Matt is staying right here. Unlike you," he set his eyes dead on Mark, "I don't have any secrets from the love of my life."

"That's... kind of what I want to talk to you about," Mark said hesitantly. "The fact that he doesn't know. James, I mean."

Mello looked bored, but I could tell that he was really listening closely. "Yeah?"

"Please don't tell him."

"Why shouldn't I? He's my lover's oldest friend. I have a responsibility to protect him, both for his happiness and, more prominently, for Matt's. Who are you to me?"

"We worked together for years. Doesn't that buy me anything?"

"You're a traitor and a monster to whom I have no loyalty. The fact that I didn't shoot you on sight has already indebted you to me." Mello was breaking out his vocabulary and his sentence structure. Shit was about to go down.

"Please don't tell him," Mark begged. Apparently he knew it, too.

"You have yet to supply me with a valid reason not to. Why shouldn't I kill you right here and now?"

That alarmed me a bit. Not gonna lie. I'd never actually seen Mello kill someone, and while I knew that it wasn't something he was unused to, it still wasn't a side of him I really wanted to see. And I knew he didn't want me seeing it, either.

Mello tilted his head to the side a bit, eyes still glued on the older man. Waiting.

"Because... your lover's oldest friend loves me," Mark finally said. "I'm going to tell him someday. About all the things I did. I've told him I did something awful, he just doesn't know who I worked for or what my job title was... or the reason I don't work there anymore."

"Why did you kill those kids?" I piped up. Mello shot me a glare but I ignored him.

"I... I'm different now," he diverted. But he said it firmly. "I've changed. And part of the reason I've changed is because of James. He won't leave me even when he finds out, because he already knows there's something horrible in my past and he already loves me despite it. But please, please just give me a little more time to tell him. I have changed."

"Doubtful. People like you don't change."

"You're different," Mark pointed out, giving Mello a long, long look. "You changed about halfway through the time I knew you. I'm guessing it's when you found Matt, here."

Mello didn't answer.

"So if you can be different, especially considering that you still do almost all the stuff you used to do, why can't I be different when I've totally cut myself off from them?"

"I never tortured people," Mello snapped.

Mark snorted. "No, you ordered me to do it."

"You're the one who enjoyed it."

"I've changed!"

"Fine. I won't tell him," Mello said abruptly. "Happy?"

Mark sighed in relief, shaking his head once, hard. "...Yeah. Thank you. This really means a lot to me. I swear, I'll tell him one day."

Mello all but rolled his eyes, although Mark probably couldn't detect it. "Sure thing."

Reluctantly, perhaps not completely believing him (as he certainly shouldn't), Mark kind of nodded and stiffly walked away.