Chapter Four: The Girl At Gamestop

I truly apologize for not continuing my daily updates! I've been busy, trying to write the fifth chapter of My Beautiful Cherub and been competing in Japanese Olympiad (like Science Olympiad, only Japanese culture/language/kanji questions). I've also been having trouble figuring out where to go in the next few chapters, so I apologize for that! Hope you enjoy in any case! ;3

"Mello, what color do you want for your walls?"

"Ummmm... Blue! 'Wight blue!" he took the paint sample he liked, and held it up for me to see, "'Wike 'dis! What does it say?"

"Um..." I took the paint sample which he had been waving in my hand, "Sky blue,"

"Okie dokie! 'Den 'wet's find 'dat paint!"

We wandered through the aisles, looking everywhere for the paint that matched this one. Mello held his dinosaur in one hand, his other playing with strings of hair. My child. My child which was, quite officially, mine now.

It had been a long process, no doubt, and nearly a month since Misa had died. The papers were filled, the lawyer had been contacted and done all the arrangements, and it was set in stone. Mihael Mello was in my custody now: and as such we were off to get items, paint and furniture, for Mello's room.

All of Mello's furniture had been delivered from Misa's house, along with a considerable amount of money. I found Mello's belongings almost as lacking as when he first arrived on my doorstep: a few stuffed animals, some outfits, a bed (with horrid cuteness), wardrobe, and that was it.

All signs point to one thing: Misa spent more on herself than on her child. Misa was extravagant in every which way, yet Mello was the opposite. He lived well, and was loved by his mother. Yet she seemed to spend outfits and jewelry on herself, instead of toys on her son.

It bothered me, yet there was little to do about it now then bring about a change.

"Found it," I mumbled, pulling out a can of paint from the bottom shelf and setting it in our cart, "Do you want to go look around the mall for a little bit?"

"Yeah! Can we go to the toy store? And the pet store? And the candy store? And the-"

"Yes yes, we can do all of that," I hand the paint to the check-out guy, paid, and led Mello out the doors to the mall.

The mall was not exactly crowded; it was a Monday afternoon, and everyone was either at work or at school. Mello and I had no such commitments, and so here we were.

Mello was ecstatic the whole time, running from store to store, bounding to each item he found the least bit interesting. He begged me to buy a lot for him, and I complied on a few occasions, the day's haul comprised of chocolate, a few assorted toys and stuffed animals, and-

I stopped Mello dead in his tracks from his trek to the candy store.

She was absolutely gorgeous. A shimmering beacon of light in a store full of overweight guys. She had that smile on her face, the smile that made my stomach flip every time I caught glance of it.

"Daddy! Whatchya starin' at?"

My happy daze was gone, replaced instead with the reality of the child staring up at me.

"Oh um...nothing just..." I shook my head, realizing I had been staring at her for quite a long time.

"Did you need some'fing in 'da game store?" He wondered curiously, his hands still wrapped around that decrepit stuffed animal of his.

"Game store...um...yes! Yeah, I could um...use something!"

My heart skipped a beat as I took Mello by the hand, leading him through the crowds of people to Game Stop. I let him go, the feeling in my stomach only growing in intensity.

"You look around, ok? Stay in here and I'll be right back!"

"Ok Daddy! I'm gonna go p'way some games!" he ran off, grinning, looking forward to playing games as I looked forward to the girl behind the counter.

I felt my heart catch in my throat. I had seen her often on my bi-monthly visits to the mall, but only had spoken to her in passing, while checking out. I was a regular at Game Stop, so after a few times she had learned my name. She wasn't like other women I liked: this was something more than sexual. She was beautiful in a way I didn't know someone could be beautiful.

"Hey um...Matt, right?"

I had wandered to the counter: shit, restart, restart! Where was life's reset button or last save point I could visit?

"Oh-um...yeah! I am..."

"Good, thought I recognized that hair," she gave me that smile once more, "I haven't seen you around for a while, what have you been up to?"

"Well y'know, same old same old..."
I in took a deep breath and opened my mouth to speak.

"Daddy, your cheeks is 'wed!"

My heart stopped.

"Do you have a c'wush on her?"

Fuck. Fuck FUCK!

"Mello!" I looked down at him angrily, my heart in my throat, "What on Earth do you think you're doing? Don't s-say things like that!"

"Matt, is he your son?"

"Yeah, I'm Me'wwo, nice to meet 'chya!" the small blonde hopped up to the counter, smiling, "Do you have a c'wush on my Daddy? He's very nice, but can sometimes be a poop-head!"

I blushed darker red, grabbing Mello off the counter and into my arms. He fought, kicking and punching at me, yet I held him back, not making eye contact with the girl before us.

"Daddy...'wet go~!"

"Matt, is that true?"

I sighed, putting the child down. I looked up, and was quite surprised to see a little blush on those pale cheeks of her's.

"I...er..." I rustled a hand through my hair nervously, "There's probably a more...mature word to use...but... I guess I do like you...a little..."

The tension in the room was quite terrible, and a few of her co-workers had looked on in interest, along with a few customers also vying for her affection.

"Well..." she began, "I...guess you could say I feel the same way about you...

"I'm free this Saturday, say...7:00? Maybe we could hang out and play some games..."

Mello grinned, and before I had the chance to blink he had replied, "We's not doin' any'fing 'den! You can come over to our house! Daddy, give her your phone numbe'w!"

She smiled lightly, looking up at me for some recognition that this was ok. When I nodded slightly, she got the idea and wrote my number down in her phone.

We left after finalizing the plans, and Mello held my hand as we made our way out of the mall and to the car.

"Daddy, see? 'Dat wasn't hard! Maybe now you can get ma'wwied!"

I thought about it a moment, and placed Mello in his car seat.

"Yeah," I grinned, the butterflies still swarming in my stomach, "Thank you Mello... I don't know what I'd do without you..."

I placed a small little kiss on his head, and he smiled almost as much as me. He held his dinosaur tight, and I wished Saturday would come sooner, so I could hold her that tightly. Mello had a way with words that I could never match; even if he were only four.

Sorry about the shortness of this chapter. I'm extremely busy as of late, working on multiple things at a time as I said, and this chapter sort of shows that in its hurried-ness. Please forgive me, dear people! OTL I hope Mello's cuteness sort of shines through, and Matt doesn't seem to be such a dick in this chapter!