Note: OMG I have no idea how long this fic is going to be, but obviously long... And to think I wanted this to be a quick write before I go back to TSFMS XD
This chapter was written in an hour, because I didn't want to miss the daily update, I just finished it and it's 10:42pm so please disregard any typo or grammar mistake, thank you ^^;;
I will be overly busy in the next days, at least until Friday next week, I'll try to keep up with daily updates but it's that time of the year when I get older and make my birthday trip to London, party with friends (and have to bake/cook a lot XD ) so it's a bit messy in my timetable right now ;)
So don't be mad at me if I miss a day or two...
Thank you for the reviews! *makes a heart with her hands*
DAY FIVE – 10 contestants / 1 to be eliminated
The elimination ceremony happening pretty early the previous day, since there had been no date involved before, and Mello nowhere to be seen after naming the latest abatement, most of the boys had gone to bed quite early, never knowing how long the night would be with Mello's fanfare wake up calls.
Matt himself was starting to feel the exhaustion of the latest events. Interacting so much with other people wasn't something he was used to, and never would he have thought that it would take so much out of him.
The downside of a night-owl sleeping this early was that now he felt more like an early bird, pushing the sheet off of him while stirring, having tried to get back to sleep for the last twenty minutes when he had seen the glowing 6am on the wall clock, but failing miserably. The blanket was long forgotten on the floor at the foot of the bed, the nights still being a sweaty nightmare, but he didn't bother making his bed and, picking up his stuff, he went to shower the Californian heat stickiness away.
At 6:30am, he was sat at the kitchen's counter, drinking his second cup of coffee, munching on leftovers of the previous day's breakfast, annoyed that he had left his Vita upstairs, but too lazy to go get it.
He wasn't too pleased to see Lou's head poke out of the door frame a few minutes later. The boy was still in his pyjamas, hair tousled, eyes sleepy.
"Hi." Lou said too casually to hide that he had something to ask.
"Hi." Matt replied, ignoring the slight fiddling of the fingers on the cup on the other side of the counter. Spit it...
He had wondered if he had awoken Lou, although he had been careful not to make too much noise, but the boy's presence had obviously nothing to do with a simple shortened night.
"What did you guys talk about yesterday?" Lou fired right away.
"A lot of things were said with a lot of people yesterday, be more specific." Matt, not really liking Lou's subtlety lacking ice-breaker.
"In Mello's room."
"That's none of your business." Matt didn't waste time being nice, "Do I ask you what you did yourself the first night in Mello's room? Seriously..."
"Oh, but I would tell you, I have nothing to hide, unlike you apparently. He told me to undress, he asked me to suck him off, and he fucked me on the border of the bed, then on all four on the floor while pulling my hair, then he came on my face, and then he did all again all night and-"
"ACK! I don't want to know! Shut the fuck up!" Matt objected. That was more than he wanted to hear, and considering that he didn't want to know anything, it was really way too much and he wasn't sure he could get rid of the images in his head now.
"Come on, I know you were dying to know... you're after him even more than me, always playing hard to get but really, you want him so badly that you spend all your time with him... don't tell me you're not after informations about what's happening with the others just so you have the upper hand!"
"Oh, that's down to that, then? For your information, I'm not playing hard to get, I am not playing for that matter. And I don't give a shit about what Mello does with you or anyone else, so you can keep your dirt for yourself."
Matt stood up to deposit his cup in the dishwasher, and before he reached the door frame, he turned around.
"I liked you better when you were a crying mess. This side of you now is pretty ugly."
The trembling lip and teary eyes prevented him to leave the kitchen for good though.
"I'm sorry..." Lou sniffled, "It's just... I want him so badly, but I just seem to do everything wrong... I don't want to be eliminated, I need to win this, I can't imagine leaving this show without him..."
"I get that, I don't want to know your reasons but you have to consider this a possibility, that you get eliminated I mean... you cannot bet on the only option you deem valid for yourself because you'll fall from too high if that doesn't happen. Try to keep your feet on the ground, at least a little, okay?"
"Okay..." the petite boy dried his tears with the back of his hand, and jumped from his seat, closing the distance between him and Matt to hug him.
Matt hugged him back, not really knowing what else to do, but he eventually pushed him away gently just so he could end this embarrassing moment and leave the kitchen for good. If the boy wasn't bipolar, he was at least totally confused between his apparent weakness and sensitivity and a desire to win so strong that it turned him into a calculating nasty little bitch.
Matt, at that precise moment, felt all too much how insane this place, or the entertainment industry in its totality, were. Two faced people everywhere... The weaker, the more likely to fall prey to the easy way of lies, manipulations and backstabbing, it seemed. He almost felt bad for Lou, he looked like a lost child eyeing candy, ready to steal it if he couldn't pay for it by his own means. Get it the bad way, since there's no good way you can have it, sort of... why couldn't they just leave it where it was then?
Sighing, he lighted a cigarette and went outside to smoke it, hoping the air was at least a bit refreshing at this early hour. Plus he didn't want to go upstairs since he had seen Lou head back to their shared room.
No luck, the day was starting on a light breeze already too hot to be appreciable on the skin.
Eyeing the pool, Matt decided to give it a go since he had nothing better to do, and hadn't swum for a few days now. He hadn't used a computer either and didn't really need a back relief, but it couldn't be bad to exercise a bit still.
He made a quick trip to the bedroom, finding Lou asleep again, slid in his bathsuit and went back downstairs. The water at least had a decent temperature, and he stopped after a few lengths, resting his arms on the border of the pool, enjoying being just at the right temperature for once.
"I could get used to the view."
Mello's voice came from above him, and Matt took a few seconds to locate the singer leaning on his balcony. Matt didn't even know there was a balcony right there, he hadn't really paid attention since he had barely seen the back of the mansion until now. The banister was barely three feet above the back courtyard, since Mello's apartments were on ground level, and Matt could only guess that it was where the glass door in Mello's bedroom was leading, since it was located a few feet after the bed, and probably the same height as the platform it was on.
"I'm surprised you didn't sneak on me already." Fuck. Why did he say that? Was he stupid or what? Matt would have drowned himself right now, when he saw Mello's smirk. Fuck fuck fuck.
Matt didn't really mind Mello's presence, it wasn't the problem. The problem was that he was in a bathsuit, and he was praying real hard right now that Mello wouldn't be, as he looked at the guy jump over the railing.
"You're right, I have a much better view now." Mello chuckled as stood to the pool, unbuttoning his jeans and sliding in the water. But the fact that he wasn't in a bathsuit was of no relief to Matt. Because Mello actually wasn't in anything at all.
"Fuck that heat." Mello sighed, resting the back of his head against the tiles of the border, closing his eyes, a little too close for Matt's comfort.
"As a guy from New York, I can only agree."
"Ah, I knew it!" Mello exclaimed, reopening his eyes to look at the redhead.
"Huh?" Matt wasn't so sure what it implied.
"The accent. You've got that sexy New York accent, I just love it."
"Thanks?" Matt offered, not really at ease. When Mello used anything that began with sex in a sentence, his warning diodes powered up immediately.
Silence fell between them for a few minutes, both enjoying the water, eyes closed, Matt trying to forget that Mello was very much naked beside him and that if he looked down, he could see a waving view of the whole package.
"You'd really be cute with darker hair."
Matt started when he felt a hand in his damp hair. He opened his eyes and glared at Mello.
"I'm kidding. It's not so bad in red." Mello laughed softly, still stroking the wet locks.
"I only come in this color anyway." Matt tried to push Mello's hand away, but he found himself trapped between the tiles and Mello's chest, each of the musician's arms on his sides.
"I should've known it would come to this..." Matt sighed, annoyed that his body reacted already. Damn hormones.
"I didn't do anything yet."
"Keep on doing just that, then."
"I thought you'd be happy to see me cross the water and reach your side." Mello teased him, his words a reminder of Matt's the day before.
"That's my dick you're reaching right now. Stop it Mello!" Matt pushed the hand that was trying to grope him under water, "You're impossible."
"I was just fooling around." Mello withdrew, to Matt's surprise. It had been too easy. But he wouldn't complain, because a little more and Mello would probably have had a much bigger area to grope...
"What do you have against redheads anyway?" Matt asked, curious, after another silence. Weirdly enough, silence wasn't unbearable, Mello not offended to the slightest by the rejection, simply resuming enjoying the pool. It almost felt like Matt was getting used to it.
"Personal tastes I guess. You probably have your own." Mello shrugged.
"I'm almost disappointed that there's no drama behind this." Matt chuckled.
"Call me a drama queen while you're at it." Mello laughed out loud. He wasn't mad at Matt, he was just so used to hear Danny call him that...
"I don't like hairy guys."
"Who likes hairy guys anyway?"
They both laughed, Matt resuming swimming for a while after that. Mello simply watched at him.
Danny entered Mello's room, hearing no response. Mello could be a heavy sleeper so it wouldn't be the first time that he'd had to shake him awake. But his boss was nowhere in sight so he checked all the rooms of the suite, which didn't take long since there was only a bathroom and a small office that Mello had mainly filled with instruments and a laptop. Heading to the balcony, he heard voices coming from outside and glanced quickly over the banister, spotting both boys. He stopped cold at Mello's expression, as he was watching the redhead swim. He had no idea how much progress these two had made, but the fondness in Mello's eyes was certainly something new. Danny was almost shocked.
He'd have to talk to him anyway, and considering the topic of the upcoming discussion, Mello wasn't close to liking it, Danny could tell in advance from what he was seeing right now.
He went back inside to reach the backdoor, and approached the pool.
"Mello." he simply said, "I have a message from the production." He waited patiently for Mello to come out of the water, but the blond didn't make a move.
"Yeah?" Mello made a little hand sign to invite Danny to talk.
"I'm not sure this is the best place to be talking about that."
"Danny, just spit it out."
Danny pulled a face. With Matt around, he felt a bit uncomfortable to say what he had to say.
"Danny, say it or leave, I'm busy as you can see."
Danny crouched next to the border where Mello was leaning, trying to keep his voice down as he spoke: "The producers think you spend too much time with Matt, and the footage isn't diversified enough for the montage. You really have to spend more time with the others. They specifically asked that you spend time with Lou too, because his airing time scored well, audience-wise."
"I don't give a fuck about what they say."
"Well, actually, you should. The record company just bought parts of the show."
"Sneaky bastards..." Mello growled.
Matt was surprised by the anger in Mello's eyes all of a sudden. That was something he hadn't seen yet, and it was rather unsettling.
"I'll leave now." he said, hopping off the pool. He should have left as soon as Danny had said he wanted to talk to Mello anyway.
"Why do they have to ruin it all?" he heard Mello rage in his back, "They can't control my music career as they like so they try to take control this way? FUCK THEM!"
"Mello..." Danny knew that it would end up in a fit of anger. This was a sensitive topic for Mello. He had enough fame and power to dictate the rules in his music career, and that included his contract with the music company he was signed with. No matter how much they had tried to make the band take a more pop direction, Mello had never given in, and had always been faithful to himself, music-wise. He wouldn't write and sing shit just so they could make more money. They already did a bunch, but those sharks never had enough. But they were too afraid to see him leave for another record label to oppose his choices. So many were ready to welcome him with open arms that they would never take such a risk.
But by buying parts of the show, a temporary show, they could pressure him. If he didn't comply with certain requirements from the production, they could stop the show anytime if the audience rates scored too low. And if it happened after he had refused to cooperate, he would be held responsible and would have to compensate the losses since his music contract stated that any activities he was involved in that also involved the record label were bound to that specific clause. Which could very well ruin him.
It infuriated him that he was cornered and had to comply.
Storming out of the water, totally uncaring that he was naked, he jumped back over the banister, leaving a wet track behind him in his suite as he went to fetch a towel in the bathroom.
Matt had heard everything. Mello had shouted loud enough that it had crossed the distance between the pool and the front door, where he had been heading.