#62 Aliens

"Haha! Yes! Another highscore!!"

Mello gave a warning growl from his place on the sofa, where he was spread out, feet resting on an armrest, laptop on his chest and arms awkwardly bent as he typed his slow progress through the investigation.

This progress wasn't being helped by the sounds of Matt, cheerfully hammering away at the controller of his latest console, and by the sounds of it, winning without exception. Of course. The game hadn't been built that could take Matt on.

"Woohoo! I rule all! Mini-wave in celebration of me!" Matt whooped from in front of the t.v, waving his arms wildly like a possessed octopus.

Mello gave another snarl, and this time backed it up with a snap of, "Shut up! I'm working!" he glared at his red-haired best friend/sidekick/lover. "Remember that? It's that thing you do in between being irritating!"

Matt turned and smiled playfully.

Mello never could get his head around how exactly Matt had managed to grow up without loosing any of his child-like charm, the thing that had drawn the young Mello (always miles ahead of his age group) to the little boy.

Matt winked one eye behind those sheets of yellow plastic, "Aw come on Mells, Space invaders is a classic, and this remake rocks!"

Mello's icy glare didn't change. "I don't care what stupid game you're wasting time on, just shut up when I'm working."

Matt's smile faded to a pout. "But you're always working… it wouldn't kill you to take a break once in a while yanno." He mumbled, before turning back to the game.

Mello moved the laptop to the floor, and grabbed Matt's shirt, yanking him around. "Do you seriously not remember what evil we're fighting here?! This is Kira you dumb piece of-"

Mello stopped. He stopped because Matt was suddenly trembling, eyes tightly shut and whole body tensed against blows.

He bit his lip and mentally kicked himself for not remembering all the reasons why he could never, ever hit Matt.

His abusive childhood that meant he always assumed someone was out to get him, even someone he loved.

His strange chemical imbalance that caused him to feel, hear and see things far stronger than normal people. Ordinary yelling could send him temporarily deaf, those goggles were the only thing that kept him from being distracted by bright colours. Playful slaps brought him out in bruises.

And he never meant to sound so flippant about the case… it was just… it was the only way he could get by. He kept saying anyone who had to concentrate on that for too long would go mad.

Slowly Mello brought his hand to Matt's cheek, and stroked low circles. "Matty, it's ok…I'm sorry…"

Before Mello's befuddled eyes Matt's body untensed, and he nuzzled the hand that stroked his face. Like a puppy, Mello thought, a very lonely puppy.

Mello sighed deeply. "…You really want me to take a break, don't you?"

Matt nodded weakly. "You need to…"

The blonde sighed and slowly moved from his place on the cracked leather sofa to sit beside Matt in front of the tv.

"Show me how to play this then." He said sharply. "And if I win, you have to let me see your eyes."

Matt blinked behind his goggles. "You can see them."

"I meant without the yellow in front of them, dumbass. Come on, which one of those octopus things am I?"

Matt stifled a giggle. "None, you're the earth defender down there." He pointed at the square dot at the bottom of the screen.

Mello groaned, "What!? You play that thing?! What button do I press to stop this game sucking?"

This time the red-head burst out laughing, before pointing to one of the buttons on the controller. "That fires your laser, you have to kill all the aliens before they reach the bottom."

Mello sighed and prodded the button a few times, "This is hardly a challenge, Matt, they're not even taking evasive acti- what the crap?! They sped up!"

"Yeah, they do that when you kill enough of them. Keep firing!"

Several minutes later and Mello was down to one invader and firing wildly into the air.

"Its going too fast!! How the crap do you do this?!"

Matt flailed wildly behind him, "Fire at where it's going to be!"

Too late, the game played its death music and the last invader hit the ground.

Mello growled in frustration, "God damn it!! You actually enjoy this game?!"

Matt patted his shoulder, "Killing aliens is fun… anyway, it's always hard to get the last one."

Mello pouted furiously, "But… but I wanted to see your eyes!!"

Matt's head tilted, his shaggy red hair flopping around his head, very much like puppy ears. "Oh…" he glanced at the score on the screen. "Well… since you got the second highest score on the board… and if you promise to take a break…"

Mello turned and watched as Matt got to his feet, slowly walking across the room to their bedroom. He tugged his gloves off and dropped them haphazardly on the floor, then that fuzzy vest. He paused a moment to tug his shirt off and Mello gulped, admiring the red-head's toned back muscles.

Oh god, and then he heard Matt's belt buckle being undone and a second later a zip being pulled down. Matt's jeans hit the floor and he calmly stepped out of them and his boots at the same time.

Then went the mario-patterned boxers that Mello swore he'd burn one day, though at that precise moment his thoughts were more occupied with admiring the perfectly toned ass in front of him.

Finally, he watched Matt remove the goggles and calmly place them on a side-table.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Then Matt glanced over his shoulder at the blonde. He smiled in that child-like way, and winked one perfect, gorgeous emerald eye.

"Coming?" he purred.

Mello suddenly didn't mind the thought of taking a break anymore.