A/N: Oh wow, this story is moving along fast. O_O Anyhoo...here's chapter three, me and Dukki JUST finished this chapter like...maybe half an hour ago? Yeah, we're really getting into it. This chapter should give a little background on Matt and make you fluff lovers smile(not MxM fluff, not yet). Here it is, tell me what you think!

Chapter Three--Time to Leave

Matt decided that dealing with Mello was not something he wanted to do. So, that night he chose to set up camp on the couch. The cushions were lumpy, he was attacked by spiders, and he woke up the next morning with smears of chocolate on his clothes, but it was better than being shut up in a room with Mello for over six hours.

Early the next morning, while the sun was still hiding in fear of the moon, Mello pulled on his favorite black vest and matching leather pants. He needed to get out.

A note was left on the coffee table -- "Gone out. I have my phone. Call only for emergencies. -M"

Mello hopped in the beat-up old Buick he had managed to buy and tore off in the direction of town, leaving his team to fend for themselves.

Matt woke up sore; maybe sleeping on the floor would have been a better idea. He stretched and pulled on his boots -- he had slept in his clothes in case everyone else woke up before him again. He spotted the note Mello had left and rolled his eyes. Of course Mello would bail out. So typical.

He grabbed his smokes and went up the stairs.

Pip and Iggy were sitting in one of the pews with mugs of untouched coffee in their hands. They spoke in low voices, and the whispers carried over to Matt like wisps of smoke. As the redhead's foot crunched down on a bit of glass, Pip looked up at him. The talking ceased at once.

"G-good morning, Matt," the girl said with a faint smile.

Matt nodded and lit his cigarette, the lighter pin-pointing his location in the semi-darkness of the church.

"Did you see Mello's note?" Pip asked.

Another nod was his only answer.

Iggy and Pip exchanged glances; something seemed wrong with Matt, but they thought it rude to pry.

Iggy, in an effort to break the silence, cleared his throat and said, "Man, I can't wait to see Japan. I mean, I know it's like the epicenter of evil at the mo, but it should be...I don't know, better than this at least, right?"

Pip nodded and swirled her coffee around in the mug. "Yeah I'm excited too"

"Yeah, exciting." Matt said sarcastically. He took a deep drag on his cigarette and started to cough.

Pip bit her lip and went over to the redhead. "Here, why don't you try this instead?" She offered him her coffee and a small smile in the dank morning air.

Matt took the cup gratefully, still trying to catch his breath. He took a drink and wrinkled his nose. Apparently Pip liked her coffee black.
"Thanks," he said regardless.

Pip giggled softly at the face he was making. "Too strong? I could go grab some sugar?"

Matt shook his head. He went over and sat himself down on the pew the girl had been sitting on moments ago.
"How long have you two been up?"

"About an hour," Iggy replied. "We have a habit of waking up at the same time," he said with a wink.

Pip rolled her eyes. "If you're trying to suggest that you and I have sex and therefore wake up together, then I think it's my duty to remind you, Iggy, that you're most definitely gay."

"Oh, right..."

Matt snorted and smiled at the two. "Oh really?"

Iggy nodded and put a hand to his chest. "I've been a proud rider of the dude train for most of my post-pubescent life."

Matt couldn't help himself, he started to giggle hysterically. It felt good to laugh like that.

Iggy grinned as Pip joined in on the laughter as well. Good, he thought, at least I'm doing my job.

Matt's giggles began to slowly subside, but he was still smiling. That was good. He took another drag and started to play with the goggles around his neck.
"Sooo...either of you know when Mello left?" he asked.

Pip shook her head. "No, but you can be certain he left early when he knew that no one would be awake. He's taking a mental-health day."

"Wish I could do that..." Matt muttered under his breath.

"What? Leave?"

Matt raised an eyebrow questioningly, he shook his head.
"No. Take a break. Not have to worry about psychos trying to kill me. Maybe when this is all over I'll go to some tropical island and just....relax."

Iggy and Pip exchanged another look. "Well, good news, man," Iggy said, "The psycho killer isn't after you. I doubt he knows about any of us."

"Except Mello. He definitely knows Mello," Pip said. "But at least Kira doesn't know his name."

"Yeah..." Matt's eyes went distant as he thought about that. Kira couldn't kill Mello? Well that was good at least. For now, anyway.

After downing his coffee, Iggy stood. "Well, I'm gonna go get to work. I have a shitload of stuff to do before we leave." The purple-haired young man patted Pip on the shoulder as he made his way back to the basement.

Matt nodded his goodbye to Iggy and leaned back in the pew, trying to stretch out the kinks in his back.

"Rough night?" Pip guessed.

"Yes. The couch is worse then the mattress." The redhead groaned.

"Much worse," Pip said with a nod. "Oh well, think of it this way -- in two days, you'll never have to sleep in it again." She gave him a small smile.

"In two days we'll be in Japan trying to catch a psycho with a god-complex.""

"I can see why you and Mello have survived as friends; you're both cynics."

"You should have seen us as kids."

Pip smiled warmly and put her knees to her chest. She looked so unconsciously like L with her big brown eyes and curious expression that Matt had to blink.

"What was it like at Wammy's House? I've always wondered about it," the girl said dreamily.

Matt had to think about that for a minute. The things he remembered most were the fights between Mello and Near. Well, more like Mello fighting against Near and losing.
"It's...kinda hard to explain."

"Can you try?" Pip sounded like a desperate little kid trying to get a better explanation of Santa. She wanted to badly to be one of L's children. She had wanted it all her life…

"Well..." He didn't really know where to start. He had never paid much attention to his time at Wammy's. He knew that him, Mello and Near were next in line to succeed L, but that was about it. He had never really hung out with the other kids there. It was actually kinda...
"Lonely."

Pip nodded. "I can understand lonely. But why were you so lonely? Didn't you have Mello and the other children? Mello told me a story one time about a girl named Linda with a crush on you," she said with a giggle.

"Oh yeah, Linda..." To be truthful, he only just barely remembered the girl. Matt had always been off to the side as a kid. The only reason he knew about the crush was because Mello had told him.

"She gave you flowers and stuff a lot, Mello said."

Matt nodded with a smile on his face as his memories took him back in time. He remembered coming back to his room one day to find a small bouquet of daisies on his bed. It would have been a much nicer gesture if a bee hadn't flown out of said bouquet and stung him. He couldn't remember if he had ever thanked the girl for the flowers…

Pip reached over and carefully grabbed the mug of coffee that she had given to Matt. She took a small sip and placed it back in his hands. "Sorry, I was starting to get cold," she giggled.

Matt nodded. He wrapped a bold arm around the girl and pulled her close, trying to warm her up a little.

Pip felt her cheeks blossom with pink. "T-thanks," she said. She allowed herself to snuggle a little closer.

Matt laughed a little, his cheeks growing warm too, "No problem."

The two sat quietly for several long minutes, not sure what to say but feeling comfortable in the silence. Rain had long since begun to beat a heavy tattoo on the roof of the old church, and now-and-again, Matt would feel a droplet of water run cold down his neck.

They were not the only ones that had noticed the rain.

"God damn fucking cold! The one day that it rains... Fuck!"

Mello was home.

And wet.

Matt turned around in the pew to look back at the soaking wet blonde. "Something wrong, Mello?"

"Don't try to be fucking cute, Matt," Mello seethed. His sopping red coat was thrown to the ground, followed by his freezing cold vest. Pip was quick to give him the blanket that she had been using.

Matt snickered as he watched the blonde shiver. "You really should learn to check the weather before you go out."

"Shut the fuck up," Mello snapped. "I would have been fine if the fucking car hadn't fucking broken down on the way up the hill. I almost fucking died because the ground was wet and the brakes are for shit. I hate dirt roads..."

The redhead sighed and got up off the pew, snubbing out his smoke and flicking the butt away. He grabbed Mello by the shoulder and started to lead him back to the basement.
"Come on, lets at least get you down stairs where you can put on some dry clothes."

Mello nodded and allowed himself to be led away.

The sun was fully raised in the sky now, casting proper light into the dark chapel. It had to be nearly ten o'clock.

Down in the basement, things were busy as the task force members buzzed from computer station to computer station with USB-drives in hand. They had a lot of information to collect in only 48 hours...

Matt watched the kids move around the small area, collecting data and packing boxes. He flopped down on the couch and closed his eyes. If they needed him they could wake him. For now, he would just wait.

~*~

The next two days were a flurry of work, late nights, and cups of coffee, but finally, Mello, Matt, Pip, Iggy, and Mika were ready to embark on their trip to Japan.

Of course, now that they didn't have a car anymore, Mello was forced to hot-wire one...

Matt rolled his eyes as the car pulled away from the curb. Same old Mello.
"Why couldn't you have picked a bigger car?"

"Because big cars tend to belong to big people. How long do you think you would last against the captain of the football team, poindexter?"

The three in the backseat sniggered.

"About as long as you would without your guns, Miss Priss."

Mello shot him a look. "I could kick your ass any day. Ask Mika; I nearly broke his arm during a training session."

Mika grumbled in the back, "You didn't have to be so damn rough."

"You like it rough, now be quiet."

Matt put his face in his palm; this was going to be a long drive...

~*~

After an excruciatingly long car ride through idiot-infested highways and more than one outburst from Mello, Matt and Pip pulled the bags from the back of the car and handed them to their respective owners. They then made their way inside the airport.

Matt had intentionally booked them seats on a nearly empty flight, thinking that it would be to Mello's liking. It was, indeed, much appreciated, but Mello was having trouble showing it…

"Out of my way, asshole!" the blonde hissed at a slow-moving young man and his girlfriend. He shoved the lovebirds aside and led the way through the gate and onto the plane. Mello hated crowds, and he hated to fly. Shit.

"Such wonderful manners," Matt muttered, apologizing to the couple as he passed them. He was trying his best to keep up with his friend. The blonde was practically RUNNING to the gate.

Mello slumped into a seat toward the back of the plane and propped his foot against the empty chair in front of him. A chocolate bar was unwrapped, and Mello began the process of mental preparation. With a chuckle, Matt sat down beside his friend and patted him on the shoulder.

Pip, Miki, and Iggy took their seats in the row across from Mello and Matt.

Matt leaned back in his seat and took out his game. He was about to turn it on when a steward came by and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Sir, you can't have electronics on the plane."

Matt's face fell. "What? Why?"

"It interrupts with the plane's radio systems," the steward replied.

"No it doesn't," Matt retorted. "This tiny little hand held game couldn't possibly emit enough waves or whatever the hell you're afraid of to mess with the radio of a plane this big. This thing," he waved the game in front of the steward's face, "runs on double-A batteries. Since when are they a threat to airplanes?"

The steward could only blink. "U-Uh... Just...don't let anybody see you with it," he said before wandering off.

Matt smirked and chugged away at the game.

Mello had to chuckle; Matt wasn't Number Three for no reason, after all.

Matt laughed and glanced over at Mello. "Did you see that guys face when I told him off? Priceless."

Mello rolled his eyes, still grinning. "Atta boy, Matty."

Matt just nodded and concentrated on his game. He was almost to level 45.

Mello settled into his seat, already bored, and the plane hadn't even left the gate yet…
"Matt," he said. "Put the game away and fucking talk to me."

Matt snorted, "You can NOT be bored already."

"I am. Deal with it."

"What if I don't wanna?"

Mello fixed Matt with a narrow stare. In a flash, he snatched Matt's beloved PSP from his gloved hands and sat on it. "The only way you can get it back now is to dig around in my ass. I don't think that even YOU would go that far."

Matt contemplated whether or not he should try and grab the game. He had the choice of grabbing Mello's ass or talking...

"Fine, fine, what do you want to talk about?"

Good choice, Matt.

Mello thought for a moment as he chewed on his candy. "How about where the hell you've been? I thought for sure I'd find you standing on my doorstep right after I left; you always were like a fucking lost puppy."

Matt glared at the blonde; Mello actually thought he would follow him?

"When you left I got pissed. I left Wammy's as soon as possible and tried to make it on my own."

Mello nodded and looked down at his lap. "How'd that go for you?"

The redhead shrugged. "Pretty good for a while. I got a job as a computer programmer. Made good money. Hell, at one point I even thought about buying a house and settling down."

"Settling down?" Mello said, looking up at him. "With anyone in particular?" To be honest, he couldn't picture Matt doing anything as domestic as getting married or balancing his checkbook... Or maybe that was because Mello would never do any of those things himself.

Matt shook his head, laughing quietly to himself. He found the idea more than a little funny. "No, I wasn't even dating. That's not to say there weren't girls who wanted to." He smirked a little at that.

"No girls for you, eh? Am I gonna have to get used to the idea of you sleeping in neon pink short-shorts like Iggy?" Mello teased.

"NEON PINK SHORTSHORTS?!" Matt exclaimed, drawing stares from the few other on the flight, not to mention Iggy. He blushed and lowered his voice. "No, I wasn't dating anyone. No one really...appealed to me."

Mello had to hide loud laughter behind his hand. He now knew what to get Matt for Christmas... "Well, sorry to hear about your lack of love-life, man."

"Eh it's fine. I just didn't want to get involved with anyone. Seemed like too much trouble. Besides, I was still dealing with you leaving and the whole 'L is dead' thing..."

Mello grimaced. "Yeah, sorry you had to deal with that on your own..." The blonde returned his gaze to his knees. "And I'm sorry for leaving without saying goodbye..." he said quietly.

Matt shrugged. "It's fine." He went quiet after that, not really knowing what to say next.

Mello returned to nibbling on his chocolate bar as he tried to suppress old memories.