Note: Sorry for not posting yesterday, chapter 10 was written, and a good part of 11 as well, but I couldn't decide where to make the cut, and had to proofread, and it was late already, and I was too exhausted to do so. BUT you will have two chapters today instead :)
Chapter 11 needs a little proofread and will be posted later when I'm done. As you will see, the end of this chapter is a bit complicated, and the next one is even worse, hence the extra work to make sure I don't get confused myself in all the feelings and intentions of the characters.

Thank you so much for all the feedback, it's really great and really helpful! Please do review what's next, I'm writing out of my comfort zone and really want to know if everything seems logical and accurate for you. I've got the brain of a goldfish so not getting lost in what I'm describing is actually really hard for me XD

DAY FOUR – 11 contestants / 1 to be eliminated

Matt was in the shower when the rock tune resounded, along with Mello's voice.
"Boyyys, breakfast's ready!" the musician was shouting from downstairs.

The elimination had been quite unsurprising the evening before, two of the guys that Mello liked least leaving the mansion. The only funny part was that Mello had totally forgotten their names and Danny had to mutter them under his breath while standing next to Mello as usual.
Mello had given a slight smirk along with a pass to the redhead, who had barely replied with a defying look.

Weirdly enough, Matt had slept really well, and it was becoming less crowded in here so all in all, he was good. Still a bit hurt, but good.
He nonchalantly finished showering, and headed downstairs a good ten minutes after the call. He was almost disappointed that he wasn't the only one being late. Maybe he did want to piss Mello off...

Seeing as everyone was heading for the kitchen, he followed.

"Okay babes, today is about chilling at home. I know you have all made yourselves comfortable in this mansion by now, and so now that you're all settled, I want to see you in everyday life, if we can call this everyday life that is... I'll be hanging out with you here all day, and it starts with having breakfast together. Danny had everything delivered fresh this morning so suit yourself and take a seat."
"I'd rather have you for breakfast..." the brunette with the tribal tattoo purred, passing in Mello's back and taking the seat at his right.
"You're trying to bite more than you can chew sweetie." Mello replied, unfazed, barely looking at him. Some laughters were heard around the table but quieted down quickly, almost everyone trying to fuss over Mello.

Matt poured himself a cup of coffee and sat at one of the available seats, thanking Lou inwardly for taking the one at Mello's left and leaving this one free, as the petite boy stormed right in front of him to take the spot before anyone else.
Once sat, he grabbed a pastry and started eating slowly. He wasn't about to join the attendance crew around Mello, the other guys already smothering the musician. Matt could tell that he was starting to get irritated. It was quite surprising, Matt would have thought that he liked being served and ass-kissed. Well, maybe this was too much, even for Mello...
Mello ended up cutting it all by sending everyone at their place, so he could eat without being asked if he needed anything more or have his toasts buttered by someone else. Hell, someone would end up chewing for him at this rate.

Matt wasn't really feeling concerned by the babbling around him either, a mix of seductive catch phrases addressed to Mello and uninteresting banalities about life here or what was for breakfast.
Still idly looking at his cup, he suddenly felt eyes on him, and it made him quite uneasy. He didn't want to look, and he knew it was Mello anyway so he wouldn't give him satisfaction by looking back and continued ignoring him.

At some point, Matt stood up to get some more coffee, and to his relief, he saw that Mello was now focused on Lou. After hearing Danny talk about the boy, Matt was now seeing him under a very different light. He could only agree with the bodyguard, especially since he had seen Lou's little show the day before: there was no way he would have managed so well if he wasn't used to it, the act was assured, the moves perfectly in sync, he knew what he was doing. He wasn't exactly blaming Lou for doing what he did for a living, he wasn't one to judge, but it certainly wasn't putting Lou in such an innocent context anymore. So maybe all the rest Danny had said was true too, and the chestnut haired boy's attitude went in that direction: he was all over Mello, ready to accept anything, so very eager to be with him, and he knew everything about him too so the groupie gone vulture wasn't an impossible version for Lou's presence here.

"Matt."
Fuck. The redhead could hardly ignore Mello now that he had called his name. He would have loved to, but he didn't want to play that kind of game. He rose his head and looked at the blond, who was apparently waiting for an answer to a question that Matt hadn't even heard to begin with, a box of chocolate already half eaten in front of him. Damn, Mello did eat a lot of those...
"Still not over yesterday?" Mello smirked, making Matt want to throw his pastry at his face.
"I'm not sure there is anything to get over with so I guess I am?" the redhead offered, never knowing exactly if Mello was teasing or genuine in his batardness. The guy could be pretty straightforward and not even realise that you couldn't say things like that straight away... It seemed there was no filter between his brain and his mouth.

"I'm sure you were the guy in the back of the classroom close to the heater." Now Mello was teasing, popping a chocolate in his mouth.
Matt was, back in high school, but it wasn't the point and he wasn't about to admit it aloud.
"So, will the teacher repeat the question or do I have to stand in the corner?" Matt couldn't help retorting, but he regretted it right away when Mello's smirk turned to that expression that meant he liked where it was going and would push it his way even more.
"I'm gonna spank you for not listening, bad boy."
"Try and I'll suffocate you with your chocolates."

Matt didn't expect what came next, and it gave him a delay time that all but served him, as Mello jumped from his seat and ran around the table after him. The redhead jumped on his feet and sprinted to the main room, amusement taking over annoyance. All the boys started laughing and shouting, going after them not to miss a single second of the chase.
Matt aimed for the main door, trying to escape outside, and he managed to go as far as the bushes decorating the courtyard before Mello lunged forward with a push on his legs, his arms encircling Matt's knees, making him lose his balance and land face first in said bushes.
"OUCH!" Matt screamed, half laughing, feeling the branches scratch his face and arms, trying to prop himself up but unable to, Mello still holding his legs, fallen as well and laughing as hard as him.
Quickly, Mello crawled upward, not letting Matt go, grabbed his waist and, standing up, he lifted the redhead over his shoulder, holding him with an arm, slapping his ass with his free hand.

"Let me go you asshole!" Matt was still laughing, even if he was pretty embarrassed at the moment.
Mello walked back to the mansion, all boys clapping their hands at Mello's success.
"I caught dinner guys!" the musician was trying to keep the wriggling redhead on his shoulder but it was more and more difficult, Matt trying to get back on his feet.
Unable to hold him anymore, Mello threw him on the couch, and as he was about to say something more to tease Matt, he stopped cold and handed out his hand to him.
"Come with me, I'll help you clean."

Matt stood still for a few seconds before he caught up with Mello's train of thought. That's true, he was slightly bleeding because of the scratches, but it wasn't bad by any means so he was a little taken aback.
Anyway, he followed Mello upstairs in the bathroom and tried to take the item from the blond's hand as he approached with a damp cloth.
"Let me do it."
"I can take care of myself." Matt frowned, not really thrilled to let Mello touch him. He still had issues, and still found him attractive as hell, and even if he was more prepared than ever to the rockstar's trials at bedding him or any lies he could make up to get what he wanted - because there was no way that Mello had given up on the idea – he still felt the attraction, and right now Mello's expression was exactly why Matt couldn't resolve himself to leave the show, and this was precisely what could make him lose the little control he held on to tightly to stay in the run.
"That was my fault, I should have waited a little more before catching you, you would have landed on the grass..."
"It's okay. I'm not dying you know..." Matt chuckled, although he was more and more uncomfortable with Mello's concern. It didn't seem fake, but he had been fooled before so...
Mello didn't add anything, dabbing the scratches carefully until he had removed all the blood.
"That should do." he smiled, throwing the reddened towel in the laundry basket.
"Thanks." Matt just wanted out of this bathroom and stood up, stopped in his steps to the door by Mello's hand grabbing his arm and pulling him backward.

The blond raised Matt's arm and deposited a soft peck of the lips on the scratches.
"Let me at least kiss the harm away." he smiled... that smile that looked so genuine, but Matt knew better. He wouldn't fall for that.
Mello suddenly, but gently, pushed him against the wall, capturing his face in his palms, and started to kiss the scratches on Matt's cheeks and nose.
"Mello, stop that." Matt pushed him away firmly.
"You don't like it? Or are you still mad at me?"

Matt looked at Mello puzzled. If he was playing, the guy was a fucking good actor because even knowing what he knew, Matt was starting to feel butterflies in his stomach, and that wasn't good. Especially since the blush spreading so fast he could feel it heat his face already was giving him away.
"I'm not mad at you, or at least that doesn't matter. I just haven't changed my mind about not giving you what you want."
"Not even a kiss?"
"What you wouldn't do to get something from me... Mello, playing all concerned and caring won't get you anywhere with me, I won't fall for it. I almost did yesterday but if anything, you made me more aware of what an asshole you are, and less likely to fall into your little traps."
"I'm not playing, I wasn't yesterday either." Mello's eyes hardened.
"Oh come on! Would you have done all of that if that wasn't to sex me up?" Matt rolled his eyes. Mello sure had some nerve to try to make him believe something like that.
"Of course not. But I wouldn't have done it for anyone else."

Mello didn't get what was so wrong with Matt. Damn, he was nicer to him than to anyone else, and he had done his best the night before so, okay, he could understand that his little, and too early, victory smirk hadn't been appreciated because it had kinda ruined the romance in Matt's eyes, but he hadn't done anything wrong, not once. He was even trying to be nice now, and still it wasn't enough!
It wasn't playing to his eyes. Maybe he did use Matt's expectations,or what he thought they were, to his advantage, but once he had decided to comply with them, it was genuine, he didn't force himself, so what was the problem? It was no play, and no lie, really.

Matt, on his part, was still trying to analyse what Mello had just said. Half his brain, the romantic one, wanted to think that it was Mello's fucked up way to tell him he mattered somehow, while the other half was trying to hammer some sense in the nearby romantic part before it was too late.
Reason somehow won the battle in the sense that Matt suddenly felt the need to have a real conversation with Mello. Things needed to be cleared up. Which wouldn't be easy since he still believed that Mello could lie anytime just to get his ways with him.

"Mello, can we talk, like, really seriously?"
"About what?" Mello wasn't a talker. Conversations, reasoning, point of views, it was boring, and he liked action better. Not that he didn't have the brain to hold a conversation but damn, it was excruciatingly boring most of the time. But maybe he had a question or two for the redhead as well so...
"About why you wouldn't have done it for anyone else, about the fact that you don't think it's playing me to give in the romance to get laid, and maybe another thing or two."
"Where would it lead us?"
"To understanding?"

Matt was someone who liked to understand what was happening, what other thought and where he was going, and he was realising now that he hadn't been totally honest with Danny during their conversation the previous night. He hadn't hidden anything at that moment, it was something he had just realised now but still, it changed things quite a lot on his part, to know that now.
He was expecting something from Mello. Waiting to see was some kind of expectation, after all, but he could place it a bit more clearly now that he'd heard Mello somehow admit that he was going out of his ways for him. Danny was unsure about Mello's actions toward him, and because the man was the one that was supposed to know Mello the best, it was also a clue: if the one that gets you most of the time is confused, then there must be something. Mello might be changing, despite Danny saying that he never would.

Matt was shared between some impossible romantic idea that he could get Mello to change and realise that not everyone wanted to use him and so that he didn't have to use them back, and this attraction that prevented him to leave, trying to find a way to give in. And what was best than seeing Mello change for the best as a good reason to give in? Because he did want to get laid. Hell, each time Mello was too close, it was a hormonal nightmare for him...
But he wasn't that type of guy, and he would regret it later if he said yes to Mello now, he knew it. Hopeless romantic...

But it wasn't with Danny that he wanted to talk right now, he didn't really care that the man had gotten a wrong idea of him. He wanted to see into Mello, to scrape the surface and try to find the strings to pull on to untie the asshole costume. Yes, the hopeless romantic was sure that there was probably, well, not gold, but something worth it at least, under that thick skin.

"Now?"
Mello questioned him again, seeing as the redhead didn't reply right away.
"Let's strike while the iron is hot."
"Okay." Mello seemed to let go with regrets, and Matt was a little surprised when the blond stopped in his tracks to pull him back into his arms, "An honest conversation for a kiss."
Matt shook his head in despair. "You never stop, don't you?" he chuckled.
"You're the one that wants something now, so it's only fair. And I won't retaliate from the conversation."
Matt knew that it was a direct attack to the fact that Mello had given him romance and hadn't had anything in return, but still, that was so fucked up. Mello's way of thinking was so fucked up.
But... ah fuck, he couldn't decide what to do. He did want the conversation, and he did want the kiss. But he didn't want to encourage this behaviour.