Note: I first thought that this chapter would be insanely long, and finally cut a part that is now chapter 19 because it just can't be a 7000 words chapter...
So over with one day in one chapter for this time! You'll have the date tomorrow! Things will be spiced up a notch XD

I'm curious to know your theories about Mello, his blow-ups and the way he ignores Matt, just to see if someone got the few hints I left here and there since two or three chapters ago :)

DAY EIGHT – 7 contestants / 1 to be eliminated

"BOOOOYYYYS! HURRY UP DOWNSTAIRS!" Mello's voice covered the rock tune that had started playing, "Get ready, quick, we're leaving in twenty minutes!"
Matt started awake. Damn, the night had been short. He dragged himself under the shower, and once going downstairs, had to run after the others as the door of the mansion was already closing, the boys ready to hop in the bus. He had a feeling that Mello wouldn't have cared to leave him behind, and contemplated for a second staying in his room. But that would be childish.
Sighing, he took a seat in the bus, far from Mello who, obviously, was still ignoring him. It was getting ridiculous.

"Okay guys, here's the thing," Mello stood up as the bus was driving, addressing to the contestants, "Today we're going to be gathering presents for the Children Hospital of Los Angeles and the Make a Wish Foundation. I have lists there, and believe me, those little monsters know their shit, so you'd better be good! You can only count on the generosity of people and your own persuasion, you can't buy any of the items. The lists have been made even, with a few easy items, some less easy stuff, and one massive hard ass quest. You'll be on your own, no teaming up, don't cheat, that's an instant elimination. No swapping lists either."
The singer distributed the sheets of paper, and let everyone discover what they would have to find for the children.
The boys began commenting their lists, some clearly annoyed.
"How am I supposed to get a signed shirt of Josh Beckett?" a boy named Greg complained.
"What the fuck is Monster High?" Charly asked, showing the words he had just read on his list to the brunette with the tribal tattoo at his right.
"No idea but it sounds like school stuff."
"Ah, probably..." the mohawk-adorned boy nodded as he checked the rest of the items.
The chatting died as the bus stopped on a small parking lot in the middle of the city.

Matt had kept silent all along. His own list wasn't easy, but he'd do his best. He was determined to win this. Mello couldn't keep on ignoring him during a date. Well, he was capable of doing so, but at least Matt would have a chance to ask him to explain himself. If all of this was useless, than he'd better drop out instead of waiting for the impossible.

The building which the parking lot belonged to was actually a small restaurant.
"Here's an envelope for each of you, containing fifty bucks. You can use it to eat, make a phone call, take a cab, a bus, but I repeat, no buying presents. You can do anything you like to get the items, except whore yourself out, obviously. You can go where you want, just make sure you're back at this exact place at five this afternoon, the latecomers are automatically out of the run. The game is on!" Mello gave the last instructions while giving the boys the money, and entered the restaurant to get breakfast. The boys followed, since no one had eaten yet. Except Matt.
He didn't want to be in Mello's presence right now just to be ignored. And this way, he'd have a little advance. The annoying thing was that they were all followed by a cameraman, and Matt wasn't too thrilled about it.

His list consisted of various easy-to-find toys, it was probably a matter of being convincing at getting them for free, some CDs of unknown bands in the 'less easy' area, so he would probably have to run from record store to record store, and, lastly, the impossible task was to get... space food.
Matt decided to focus on that last part. If he didn't have space food, the rest would probably not help him win anyway.

He headed for an internet cafe and paid before sitting at the computer that was assigned to him by the waiter. He would have breakfast at the same time, so he wouldn't starve but wouldn't lose time either.
Space food. The only places he found that were selling in physical stores were way too far, so he crossed that option. He gave a try at online stores whose warehouse was close enough to pick it up or get it brought to him, no luck either.
Google finally redirected him to Amazon. They had what he wanted, but he didn't have the right to buy it... Fuck.
Maybe with the quick delivery he could have gotten it in the afternoon, but that was a no go anyway so better not dwell on that. Fuck fuck fuck. And fuck.
Matt munched on his food while making searches for the easy items, scribbling addresses and directions. At least he wouldn't end up empty handed at the end of the day. If he managed to get free stuff, which he had no idea how to do expect stir some pity out of the store managers.

Once he had all he needed, information-wise, Matt left the cafe and headed for the first toy store on his list. The manager was the most obnoxious guy he'd met. He almost threw him out. Great start...
Second store. Matt was surprised that the manager accepted to hear him, even more so when he exited the store with half of the toys on his list. It gave him a little faith in humanity, at least, and a lot of confidence for the rest of his quest. And now he knew what a Lalaloopsie was. Not that he wanted to know but oh well...
He didn't have much luck in the next stores, the only one that gave him something more off his list being out of a certain item that they would have gladly given to him as well.
"I'm so sorry, we have it in stock at our warehouse but not here unfortunately... I wish I could help more than that." the clerk shrugged in an apologetic manner, handing a boxed action figure to the redhead.
"That already great, thank you so much!" Matt replied, waving as he passed the exit door.

It was already 2pm and he had been running errands for four hours now. Matt was hungry and quite tired with all this walking and running and persuading... not counting carrying all the stuff he had gathered so far.
Sitting in a small diner he had found on his way, Matt suddenly almost choked on his food as he remembered the clerk talking about their warehouse. Amazon warehouse!
Why hadn't he thought about it earlier? They had some all over the country, there had to be one close to Los Angeles, and one that had spacefood maybe!
Well... it was nice to have a clue now, but it would be another thing to get some for free...
And he only had less than three hours left.
Swallowing the rest of his lunch, Matt ran off the diner and headed for the closest phone booth. He called the Inquiry Line, and in no time he had the numbers of all the Amazon Fulfilment Centers in a two hundred miles perimeter. There were three. He called the closest first, in San Bernardino, but they didn't have space food to begin with. Matt cursed when the second one didn't even reply to his request to know if they had the item he wanted, explaining him in a moralistic tone that they weren't an online store and that he had to go through the Amazon website to purchase.
"I can't purchase it, you moron!" Matt yelled in the phone at some point, to stop his interlocutor from going further, "I'm in a reality TV show and I have to get it for free for sick children, I don't need your useless talk, I need help, okay?!"
"I'm sorry sir, I can't help you." and the guy on the other end of the line hung up.

Matt breathed loudly. He wanted that fucking space food and there had to be a way to make these bastards understand that it was important that he got it.
Dialling the number of the last of the three warehouses, in Stockton, Matt was still at loss for convincing words, but time was running fast and he couldn't waste anymore of it.
"Hello! Okay, please don't hang up and listen to me, it's important. I have no idea if you know the show but I'm Matt from Mello of Love and I need your help. I-"
"Matt what? I'm sorry sir I think you got the wrong number, you're at the Stockton Amazon Ful-" the male voice on the other side of the line began.
"I know I know, that's precisely what I am looking for. Do you watch the show?"
"I'm afraid I don't understand, can you repeat who you said you were? Matt from Hello what?"
"Mello of love, the reality TV show."
"Oh, you mean the guy from the rock band, ah damn, what's the name, something Pollution? I'm sorry I don't watch the show. But I think you're mis-"
A female voice in the background asked Matt's interlocutor what he was talking about, and then the guy whispering with a hand obviously on the receiver: "I've got a guy who says he's Matt from the show with the rocker, you know, the blond who's gay..."
Matt heard some screaming on the other side of the line, that came from the background of his interlocutor again.
"MELLO! MATT! You've got Matt on the phone! Aaaah put the speaker on put the speaker on!" The female voice went crazy and soon they were obviously two: "Hello Matt!"
"Huh, hello?" Matt suddenly realised that people indeed know who he was. They were cut from the outside world in the mansion and had no idea about the public's reaction to the show.
"Matt you're so cute! Is that really you? I can't believe it!" The girls coed.
"Well... thank you! Yeah yeah it's really me..." the redhead was somehow amused to know that even knowing he was gay, girls hit on him. "Okay, I have a huge problem here, can you help me?" he went on. This was the time to take advantage of the situation.
"YES!" the answer was more than enthusiastic.
Matt explained the challenge, and fifteen minutes later and the promise of autographs, he had a shadow of a solution. Now it was only a matter of waiting.

It was almost three when he reached the first record store. It was time to move on with the rest of the list. It didn't start well when the store clerk himself had no clue who Kuroyume was. After six stores, and almost an hour passed, it was obvious that Matt wouldn't be getting any luck in the CDs search area...
"You have no idea either?" Matt asked the cameraman out of despair, but the other shrugged. He didn't have the right to intervene.
Matt lit up a cigarette, realising that he had barely smoked since the beginning of the challenge, and for a moment let the nicotine sink in. Unfortunately, the effect was more drowsing than calming, and any will he had left was gone, added to the tiredness of running around the city.
He would need to go back to the meeting point in a little more than one hour, and he barely knew where he was right now so he decided to move back to the parking lot. He was about to head for his destination by foot when his brain startled with a last thought: the CDs were in the 'not-easy-but-not-the-most-difficult' area, so there was a way to get them in Los Angeles, otherwise they wouldn't be on the list. He had to find the way to get them, he still had one hour after all.

Hurrying to an internet cafe once again, he was lucky enough to convince the manager to let him pay for less than an hour, which was the minimum use time, and Matt left the last cents he had to the man.
Quickly, he found some Youtube videos of the bands, and realised they were all of the same style, and, more importantly, all Japanese. It was some visual kei and gothic mixture. The Google search was then quite easy, and he mentally slapped himself for not checking this earlier.
Running again on his last resources, the redhead stopped a car and managed to find someone to drive him and the cameraman to a Japanese bookstore. From there, it became easier, the girl at the counter knowing the bands and telling him where he could possibly find the CDs. The store he had to go to wasn't far away since all Japanese resources were gathered in the neighborhood, and he felt like finding the Graal when his eyes fell on the right aisle in the store. Except that it was empty...
Matt froze, it wasn't possible... not now!
He ran to the clerk, who confirmed that they were indeed out of stock.
"I'm sorry Sir, you'd have come two days ago, we still had almost everything on your list, but it was all sold yesterday I'm afraid. Do you want to order them?"
"No, thanks, I needed them now."
Matt was disappointed. It had been so close!
"Do you know of another place where I could get them?" he asked. It didn't hurt to try...
"No, sorry, these CDs have been released quite some time ago, probably more than ten years for some, and they're all Japanese imports so it's very unlikely that you find them elsewhere, we are the only store with vintage visual kei in the city..." The clerk was really sorry but it was of no help to Matt, "Try Amazon maybe?"
Only Matt knew the irony of the advice, but he didn't let it show and left the store.

Now, the running was not over, as Matt realised he had less than twenty minutes to be back at the meeting point.
He arrived completely out of breath, his only relief being that the cameraman was in no better shape. From afar he could see most of the other boys already in front of the restaurant, at an outside table with Mello, with a lot of paper and plastic bags at their feet. He stopped running, trying to catch his breath, and walked to them. Just as he crossed the parking lot, a car entered, driving way too fast, and screeched to a halt right between the redhead and the restaurant.
"MAAATT!"
Two girls jumped out of the car and almost knocked him over, hanging themselves to his neck.
Matt didn't need to ask, he perfectly knew that they were the Amazon girls. He just couldn't believe they had made it, for real.
"SPACE FOOD DELIVERY!" the taller screamed as she came back from the trunk with an enormous bag filled to the hem, and handed it out to Matt.

The girls were batshit crazy a the moment, completely melting in front of Matt and threatening to render him deaf with all the screaming, and he ended up covered in lipstick, but it was worth it.
They had traded shifts with other employees and brought the items from the warehouse stock on their own balance, driving all the way from Stockton. They had said they'd try, and they had done it.
Matt posed on pictures, signed autographs, one that would probably give him bad dreams for a few nights as the taller girl had him sign her boobs, the boys laughing so hard that they forgot to be jealous of Matt's luck.

Mello tried to refrain a smile as Matt sat at the other end of the table with his findings, but the redhead didn't miss his expression, and it just made it all better. He was in a good place concerning the challenge, Mello didn't seem so cold right now...

They waited for Charly and Lou, who arrived way after the limit, the petite boy crying all the tears he had during the bus drive back to the mansion as he was automatically eliminated from the challenge.
"Lou, shut the fuck up." Mello sighed at some point, the sniffling and whining getting on his nerves.
"But I couldn't go faster, my feet hurt!"
"Too bad then." the singer scoffed, hopping out of the vehicle as it parked in from of the house.
Charly, for his part, had kept silent, he had barely found anything from his list so on time or not, it didn't change anything for him to his opinion.

"Okay, let's see what you have." Mello plopped in the same fuzzy armchair as the first day, gathering the five boys that had made it on time to the meeting point around him, "Aside from Puppy, who managed to get his difficult item?"
Puppy? Matt caved in. It didn't sound that good again.
"I have mine!" Greg pulled a shirt out of a bag, signed by Josh Beckett.
"Good job." Mello gave him the thumb up, "Anyone else?"
The brunette with the tribal tattoo raised his hand: "I have the console... but it's not functional." the boy had to get a Sega Saturn, and he had checked all the ads from people in the area and found one on Ebay after the rare stores that had one refused to give it for free, and the owner had brought it to him. Unfortunately, despite his luck with finding the item, the donor had insisted on the fact that it was only for pieces since the item wasn't working anymore.
"At least you're honest." Mello stated, "But I'm afraid that it short-circuits you. So, that's down to... Greg? Greg, and Matt. What else do you have?"

The two boys lined all their items on the floor. First, the easy ones. Greg had only half of them since he had focused on the signed shirt, but unfortunately for Matt, he had half of the less easy items, where Matt had none. Matt thought he would scream. It had been so close!
"So boys, I'll leave you an hour to get ready, then we'll be leaving for the hospital, and we will distribute the presents. This is a special date tonight because you've all busted your asses off and I want all the children to see who are the ones that worked so hard for them. Make sure you eat first because we're not going out for dinner, there will only be a few drinks and snacks. Greg, except you, because I'm taking you to meet a special friend of mine after we're done with the distribution and we'll have a little picnic."
Greg exulted. He ran upstairs and showered a whole day of running around's grim, before taking some rest. Matt on the contrary dragged himself to his room, ignoring Lou who was still crying, his head buried in his pillow, and let himself fall on his bed. When Mello had talked about a picnic, he had been unable to stop himself from remembering the one he had had with the singer in the pole dance studio. He just didn't care anymore. He couldn't care anymore. Mello had obviously changed his mind, he was most certainly used to get what he wanted easily and he got tired of trying to get him in his bed, and it only meant one thing: Matt had been totally, completely and utterly wrong. He should have left when he said he would... He would probably drop out during elimination tonight, if Mello didn't get rid of him by himself. Which was likely to happen if he got tired of him anyway.

Two men arrived and took away the items in a little van, and Mello left for his private apartments after that.
He had overridden the difficulty that was showering or taking a bath with his plaster, and freshened before laying on his bed to think. All his thoughts drifted to Matt and it was lucky that his phone rang to cut it short.
"Hey Danny, how's it going?" Mello straightened on his bed, glad to hear from his right hand man.
"Fine, fine, it's not as bad as I thought, well, the house's still flooded but except for the freezer and unimportant stuff in the cellar, we didn't lose anything. We moved the most necessary to the new house and sorted the furniture that's still usable, and we'll be moving the rest tomorrow."
"Good. How's Anna? And Lily?" Mello enquired.
"Both are fine. Wait a sec."
Mello smiled, he knew what it meant as he heard a little voice in the background, and now in the receiver.
"Hey, my girl! How are you sweetie?"
"Mello! I'm okay! Our house is full of water you know?" the voice was still one of a small child, although the little girl spoke to the musician in a very serious tone.
"I know baby, I'm so sorry. Do you like your new room at least?"
"It's green..."
"Ah, that's a problem. You know what? I'm texting the queen of fairies right now, she's a good friend of mine, I'm sure she can do something about that."
"Really?" the little girl was astonished, "Mello...?"
"Yes baby?" Mello said softly, he knew that Lily wanted to ask something, but she was too shy to do it, "Tell me Lily, is there anything more you'd like from the fairy kingdom?"
"Do you think that the queen of the fairies has a glitter gun for me?" the voice was so tiny on the other end of the line that Mello had to refrain bursting into laughter at the cuteness.
"I'll ask her sweetie, I promise."
"Thank you Mello!"
"Can you give me your dad back please baby?"
"What did you promise her?" Danny scolded Mello as soon as he had the phone back.
"Nothing that I can't fulfil."
Danny knew that, but he couldn't help thinking that Mello was spoiling Lily more than he should. She knew how to pull the musician's strings.

Note: No cliffie! D:
I had a lot of difficulties writing this one, I'm not sure I like it but no matter how much I work on it, nothing better comes to me so if you can point out what's wrong, it will be greatly appreciated. It's not even that I rushed it I think, it's probably because the action itself isn't that interesting so I didn't find a balanced flow to describe it...
Next chapter will have a lot more action!