"Mello?" The door opens and Rod comes in, clutching my phone in his hand.

"What now, I didn't do anything; ask Skyar. I haven't moved" He chucks my phone and I catch it with ease.

"There's fifteen messages from either of Those Two; along with three missed calls..." My eyes bulge. "I left it for five minute in the cupboard whilst I got a coffee; I came back and that was there"

"You want me to believe that you didn't not say anything deliberately?" I scoff. "Please, I know they're not on your list of top ten people to like" Rod showers me with excuses, I know he probably really did only leave it for seconds, but any chance I got to make him feel bad about doubting my friendship with A and BB was an opportunity to take. Whilst he's explaining awkwardly, I scan through the messages.

- From BB: How fast can you get here?

- From BB: Mello, this is serious.

- From BB: Mello?

- From BB: Fuck you then

- From BB: Fuck you all the way to mars

- From BB: You shit face

- From BB: fucking twat; you'll help me but not him?

- From BB: If you don't reply, I'm taking him to the Hospital.

- From BB: Twat.

- From BB: You don't give a shit do you?

- From BB: Asshole, what kind of friend are you?

- From BB: Mello this isn't funny – you need to get your ass here!

- From BB: MELLO!

- From BB: I'm gonna' take him. You obviously don't give a shit.

- From BB: BTW, in case I forgot to mention, not that it should matter now, A just topped himself.

- From BB: You're dead. Get it?

...and the missed calls were all from BB, but they didn't have answer-phone messages. My eyes bulge in horror, my knee's giving out as I sink to the floor in shock. Rod's voice seems deeper, sluggish and slower than normal. He rushes to my side, a large hand on my shoulder.

"Mello!" The house phone begins to ring; It stops, Skyar rushes in with it and passes it to Rod, who hesitantly leaves me and puts it on loudspeaker. It's BB.

"What the hell have you done with Mello?"

"He's—He's grounded"

"You took his phone off him?"

"Y-yeah..." Rod frowns.

"Fucktard. I'm not going to question your fucking parenting skills but I really need to talk to that traitor of a son that you own – so if you could kindly break his being grounded for a mere five seconds of his time, I would be very very thankful" Rod twitches and shoves the phone in my direction. I caught everything BB had said.

"H-hey" I croak. "I'm sorry – it wasn't my fault—did you really take him? Is he with doctors?"

"You will be with doctors when im finished with you, Mello. I'm going to fucking cut you up so damn hard it'll make your face melting off seem like a paper cut" Rod looks pissed, about to interject, but I hold my hand out. "He's fucking dead Mello, can you live with that?" I freeze

"No" I breathe in disbelief.

"Dead. Gone. It's your fault. I tried; I did what I could but you, Mello...you could have helped him so much more. Can you live with the guilt? You just killed your best friend; report that to the media!"

"No...A..." My throat clogs up, like there's cotton wool stuffed down my windpipe. BB chuckles on the other end of the line. Rod is fuming.

"Can you live with the guilt, Mello?" I can't say anything. My vision is blurry and my body is frozen. Why? Why would A even consider anything like that? "I hope it tears you apart" He hisses. "But ... do you want to know a secret? I'll tell you, he's not really dead" BB bursts into laughter. "He died. But came back"

"BB...is he alive, or not?"

"He's breathing. Breathing very well" BB sighs. "But he could have died and it would have been your fault"

"He fucking lied?" Rod mumbles lowly. "That's sick"

"I'm on my way; keep the door unlocked. Keep checking him for a possible fever" I hang up and take Rod's surprised state to my advantage. I dash past him and head for the garage, picking up my leather jacket and helmet before taking the keys and firing up My Lovely. Rod doesn't chase after me, so I exit the garage quickly, flying to BB and A's apartment ignoring every single speed limit there is.

I get there and rush in. BB was apparently nice enough to leave the door open for me, so I dash upstairs and fall to A's bedside. I rush the covers aside before BB's even in the room, protectively hovering but glaring murderously from the doorway.

"Fucking shit" He hisses, folding his arms over his chest and leaning on the doorframe. I tear my eyes from him and frantically analyse A's body. He's pale, there's bandages wrapped from his wrists to half way up his upper arms; I can only assume they're knife wounds. My hand hovers over his nose and mouth, his slow easy breaths tickling my palm. Beside him, scooped up in an orderly fashion and placed on the bedside table, empty pill bottles are lined up with their labels facing the same direction. All of them are pain killers, which would definitely allow A to hurt himself more without feeling the affects, as well as slow his heart to a deathly minimal pace. Surprisingly, A sighs heavily and mumbles something incoherent as his consciousness sluggishly returns.

"A?" I whisper softly. "Talk to me, c'mon" I pause. "It's Melly"

"Melly...w-what happened?" Like floating to the surface of a groggy and hazy water, A rolls over and blinks at me.

"You tell me, A" I trace his arm lightly with my finger, the bandages under my fingertip seeming scratchy and uncomfortable. A smiles slightly, weakly.

"Tickles, Melly" I grin.

"Sorry" I pick up the pill bottles from the bedside table and hold it close to him. "You remember these?" A nods, his eyes suddenly glistening as tears roll down his cheeks.

"M'sorry Melly" He croaks. "M'sorry B" He says louder. I turn to BB, still in the doorway, who scowls darkly and snarls like an angry animal. I hover closer to A just a little, but BB's surprise attack catches me off guard. He leaps onto the bed, shuffles A so he's on his back and pins him to the bed. A wails and struggles to explain, to apologise, to say things to calm BB down, but nothing is working. After a mere five seconds that felt more like five minutes, A stops struggling and BB leans in.

"You leave me, you fucking leave me...and you say sorry?" I shuffle backwards on my butt, still on the floor. Not because I'm scared... but because I know BB needs his space. I won't leave A though. Not in his condition. "Give me one fucking reason A!" BB shouts, surprising even me as the passion and anger in his voice overwhelm A's weak apologies.

"F-for what B? Anything! I'll tell you anything, you know I will! I love you B, I love you, love you, love-"

"Why shouldn't I take you to the hospital?"

"BB no!" A wails, struggling against BB's stronger form.

"They can fix you up, fix you better than I can" BB reasons. I don't think he's being serious; BB would only use the hospital as a very last resort.

"Don't, please. I won't do it again, you know I won't. I'll stay with you, I won't ever leave you!"

"Who's to say you are? That you will? You could be a liar A. You always lie"

"I don't! I'm ok, I'm fine! BB – baby look at me"

BB tries to mimic A's voice; almost perfect. "I'm fine, I've eaten all my fruit today. Eaten all my veg and taken all my meds, done so much studying. I'm just A-OK!" He stops and switches to his own menacing tone. "Lies. Lies. Lies!"

My eyes itch with tears but I refuse to let them fall. A manages to get a hand free and cups BB's cheek with it.

"I'm ok now. Doctors just get in the way, they do things BB. Think were they'll take me, they'll take me away from you. Don't-..." A sudden tiredness overcomes the weaker of the two, leaving A to fall back a little on the bed and sigh. "Don't leave me, B, M'sorry" B shudders, shaking violently before pounding the space next to A's head repeatedly as he falls unconscious. I lay a hand on BB's shoulder and he stops, collapsing tiredly onto of his lover and cuddling him closer.

"Want some jam toast, BB?" I offer, rising to a stand and heading for the doorway.

"No" I take it as my cue to leave and I do, heading to the kitchen and making some good old English tea. BB's in there for longer than four hours, and I assume they're sleeping soundly, so I take a blanket from the back of their couch and sleep on the chair (because who knows what they've done on that couch); I'm surprised to find it's actually very comfy.