Matt stood up. He was in so much mental pain that he considered, for a brief moment, slashing his arm or leg with a knife, to try to ease the worry tying his guts so hard he could hardly breathe.
It wasn't normal. No, Mello should have called. Even if he was retained at work, he would have called, he knew Matt would worry.
Did he have enough of Matt after three full days? Did he runaway?
Stupid thoughts... maybe not so stupid... "I'm so worthless... maybe he didn't want to take care of me... maybe he's ashamed of me... I don't have a job, I cry all the time... I'm such a useless ball and chain to his foot... I did everything wrong... he doesn't need me... who would need someone like me? He can take care of himself, I can't even save my own ass..." Matt fell on his knees, crying hysterically, rocking back and forth as he whispered his pessimistic lullaby, "I've never done anything for him, he's better off without me, I'm just a burden... oh fuck... why didn't they let him kill me... Mello would've never had to meet me... No... he loves me... I love him... I want him back... I won't let him go, I won't accept to live without him... oh fuck, I need him, bring him back to me!"
Matt jerked from the floor. He had fallen asleep on the carpet, exhausted by so many tears. He could swear he had heard a thud against the front door. Listening carefully while trying to put his sleepy thoughts in order, remembering the reason why he was on the floor, he suddenly stood up as the thud resounded again. He ran to the door and, unlocking it, he cracked it open.
A heavy weight pushed against the bottom of the door, forcing it open.
"Mello!" Matt's blood froze as he saw the body of his boyfriend on the floor in the doorframe, "Mello! What happened to you? Oh fuck, fuck!"
Tears began to fall again as Matt realised that the liquid staining the floor and his hands as he tried to help Mello to stand up was blood. "Mello... oh shit Mello!"
He dragged him into the bathroom, ran back to the frontdoor to lock it, panicking that someone had followed Mello in the apartment complex, and came back to his lover who was squirming to lay on the cold tiles of the bathroom.
"It burns... Matt... it burns..." he slurred, "Matt... I'm sorry... I..."
Mello had passed out, unable to take anymore pain.
The blond had managed to make it to the apartment, almost crawling on hands and knees, after being caught in the explosion of a factory a little earlier. Among his men, one had never really submitted after Mello killed the big boss to take his place, even after knowing how Mello had killed him and all the ones that had went as far as only saying a single word against it. The details had been enough to scare the shit out of each of his men in the hideout and even his enemies, but one, Brooke, had secretly thought he could trick Mello to steal the spot he thought he deserved better, being the nephew of the previous mob.
So when Mello and his men arrived to the fake factory hiding a stolen cars traffic he wanted to get his hands on and needed to negociate, they were awaited for far more than a simple negociation. It wouldn't have been a problem, Mello being careful and skilled enough to stir himself out of any bad situation and getting rid of the crew of thugs quickly, cleaning the whole place with his men. He never considered anything acquired and thus had always a second thought before jumping in the fire, and it saved his life as he sent a first wave of his men in recognition before going in himself with the rest of his gang. Having a planned meeting didn't mean everything would go smoothly, he knew better than that. Never trust anyone, not even your right hand, in the Mafia. Never.
After he had heard the gunshots, he knew that what was planned now wasn't a meeting anymore, but a cleaning spree. The nephew of his previous boss taking suddenly off a little earlier told him what he needed to know about the identity of the traitor, so once inside, among the dead bodies of both his men and his enemies, he knew he wouldn't leave before he would have gotten rid of the mole. His men had been useful enough to get killed for him, but he was now alone with Brooke.
The traitor was standing a few feet away from him, both were aiming at each other. Brooke smiled. He knew his gun was more recent than Mello's, who, despite the evolution in automatic guns, kept on using his old Beretta, for an obscure reason no one knew but Mello. Thus even if both shot at each other, he would have time to lay flat before the blond's bullet reached him, but he wouldn't miss Mello.
Mello knew it too, but he didn't blame his soft spot for the first gun he had been able to afford with the money he had saved from his waiter job, his brain was way too busy working to find how to get out of this alive.
All he could think about was that he couldn't let Matt on his own, and suddenly regretted the path he had chosen. He had to come back home no matter what. Or at least make sure Brooke was killed.
Mello had no doubts that Brooke would end up finding Matt if he managed to kill him, via his cellphone's memory. If he got killed, he had to at least make sure that Matt would be safe.
So he shot. But he didn't aim at Brooke.
The other man, surprised by the way Mello's arm deflected to the right, followed the movement with his eyes. When he realised Mello's intention, it was too late to focus back on the blond and shoot.
The detonation of the fuel container he was standing next to, which Mello had aimed at, sent him feets away, his bones crushing against the nearest wall, and he would have been killed by the bruising force of the blow if he hadn't already been burnt dead.
Mello knew it was a risk to take, and when he woke up hours later, covered in dust, wood, and other remains of the place, he couldn't believe he was still alive. It took him some more hours to stir himself out of the fragments of the the wall that had collapsed on him, an unbearable pain numbing his left side.
Little by little, he crawled until he reached an area of grass, letting himself lay face first in the dampness of the ground as rain poured on him.
He probably passed out again, because it was totally dark when he woke up. He had gained enough strength to move, despite the horrid pain, and tried to reach his cellphone. That's when he realised that the left half of his body was burnt. A part of his left shoulder, face, chest and side. And there was no way he could use his phone who had been half reduced to a crisp in the small pocket of what had previously been his leather vest.
"Matt..." he mumbled, trying to lift himself on his elbows, failing miserably.
He tried, again and again. It was dark, so it was late. He had to go home, he had to be with Matt. There was a better chance that he would be taken care of properly at his hideout, considering he had a doctor there that wouldn't ask questions and would clean the damage, and more than certainly had everything required for third degree burns, but he opted for his apartment anyway. For Matt.
It took Matt long minutes to peel off the leather stuck in the wounds, and he thanked whoever that was above, and that had brought Mello back to him, that the blond had passed out, because otherwise it would have been horribly painful.
He carried the limp body and deposited Mello carefully in the bathtub, running cold water.
The freezing liquid woke Mello up, who couldn't help but hiss.
Carefully, Matt cleaned the burns with a washcloth, the water slowly tainting itself with blood. He then let the bathtub empty itself before rinsing Mello with cold water one last time.
"I need to call a doctor Mello, I don't know how to heal that..." he whispered in his boyfriend's ear as he lifted him from the bathtub to a towel on the floor.
"No... no doctor..." Mello grimaced in pain, "Go to the chemist's and ask for gauze and burns ointment, I'll be ok..."
"No Mello, you're not gonna be ok, you've got third degree burns, we've studied enough about the topic at Wammy's for me to know you're not gonna be fine and it won't heal with whatever ointment they'll give me, you need antibiotics and probably surgery, I'm calling a doctor." Matt replied, wondering why Mello minimised the state he was in. His pain should've been enough of an indication of his condition.
"I'm so... tired..." Mello slurred again before passing out in the redhead's arms.
Matt carried the towel-draped body onto the bed, his gaze stopping on the now severely marred face of his lover. He was way beyond wondering what had happened, his only preoccupation right now being to bring Mello to the nearest hospital, until he realised that having money on an illegal account didn't mean he had cash, and his Camaro was out of gas for days now. Walking two miles for the nearest gas station and leaving Mello alone in the meanwhile wasn't an option, and considering the state of Mello's attire when he got home, any cash he had was now in ashes along with his wallet. Matt briefly considered carrying Mello to the hospital by foot but it would probably hurt Mello even more than he already was, and after a quick internet search, knowing the closest clinic was three miles and half away, he would never make it til there. So much for Mello wanting to live in a peaceful (Matt would call that empty) neighbourhood.
After a call to a cab company, and being informed that night rides where being paid in advance, Matt scratched that solution as well.
Doctor. Matt needed to call a doctor. If he explained well enough, the doctor would come with perfusions and blood pouches and everything, right?
But go find a doctor that would care to make a home visit in the middle of the night in that creepy area of the city...
Several fruitless calls later, Matt slammed the receiver of the phone after one last negative reply. Time was running, and although Mello seemed asleep and breathing almost evenly as Matt checked on him every fifteen seconds, the blond was sweating and obviously feverish.
"Come on, aren't you supposed to bring your fucking assistance to people who need you, dammit?" the redhead groaned, before remembering Mello's half melted phone on the bathroom floor in the middle of the leather pieces he had peeled from Mello's skin a little earlier. Maybe did Mello's coworkers know of a doctor, or could be of any help?
At this point, Matt would have done anything to get help, and since he had no acquaintances, he would use Mello's.
Stirring the chipset from the deformed plastic, he prayed for it to work, as he replaced the one in his own cellphone with this one.
A few seconds later, he sighed in relief as he accessed Mello's phone's memory. Browsing through the names, he almost cried when he read the word 'doc'. He pushed the call button and waited.
"Hi boss." a voice resounded on the other side of the line.
Boss?
"Errr... hello, I'm... I'm Matt, Mello's... friend. I know you don't know me but Mello came home severely burnt and I'm trying to find help..." Matt knew he was losing it. Suddenly, saying the words out loud made him realise how bad Mello's state was, the truth hit him like a slap in the face, "Please! I don't know what to do, he's got third degree burns and he passed out several times and his face... I don't want him to die... please, help me!"
"Where are you? Give me the address, I'm coming." the man replied, his tone not betraying any emotion.
Matt gave him the address of the apartment complex as well as the number of the door, trying not to cry on the phone.
"I'll be here in half an hour."
The click told Matt the man had hung up. So the redhead finally allowed himself to break down and cry.
Mello's pained moans resounded, as the blond regained consciousness. Matt jerked up, running to Mello's side.
"Mello! The doctor's coming, he'll be here soon! Don't worry, I'm gonna take care of you..."
"What doctor... no... call him again... tell him not to come..." Mello murmured, the burn on his face tightening the skin so badly that his lips were almost unable to move properly.
"It's ok Mello, I called your doctor, he accepted to come immediately." Matt replied, trying to soothe his boyfriend.
"What are you... tal... talking about... my doctor..." it was obvious that Mello's fever was gaining him little by little, Matt could see his boyfriend weaken minute by minute as he tried to form coherent words.
"There was a 'doc' in your phone's memory, I called him and gave him our address, he'll be here soon, don't worry, it's gonna be ok now."
Mello tried to sit up in a violent move, causing himself even more pain.
"NO! Oh Go...d M... Matt... what have... you... d...one..." Mello let himself fall back on the mattress, exhausted by the effort.
Not only would someone from the Mafia know where they lived, but soon the news would spread that the big boss was nothing of a threat anymore for an undetermined amount of time, leading to the best to chaos, and to the worst to the pure elimination of the boss and the one living with him. But it was too late, they had the address...
"We... need to... go..." Mello was fumbling with the towel draped around him weakly, trying to get out of the bed, but Matt pushed him back down.
"No Mello, please, stay calm, I know it hurts but the doctor will give you something for the pain, but for now try to rest, you're doing yourself no good by moving like that..."
"You don't... un...derstand... Ma...tt... We... have to... go... before..."
The doorbell rang. It was too late.
"Mello, please! You need help, stop being a baby, the doctor is here." Matt didn't understand why Mello seemed so agitated about a doctor's visit. What did he expect? A blow and a kiss on the wounds and goodbye pain?
"Matt! Promise me... you won't... say anything during... all the time the doctor... is here." Mello glared at him, as Matt turned his back to him to go open the door, "PROMISE!" That was all he could do now, prevent Matt from saying anything that would cost them their lives. If they weren't killed as soon as the door opens, that is.
"Ok ok! Don't get so worked up about that..." Matt would have been shocked by Mello's words in another situation, but right now, he was much too worried about getting Mello taken care of, much too relieved by the doctor's presence, and moreover he put Mello's strange attitude on behalf of pain and a clouded mind.
Pulling the lock, Matt didn't have time to open the door more than a few inches. He was roughly pushed back by the barrel of a gun, as the door slammed open against the wall...