Note: I know I know, this chapter is late, but to make up for it, you will have one tomorrow, and then the regular update on Wednesday :)

I fought a bit with the autism parts because I didn't want them to be too boring, too long or to look like I was teaching a lesson, because that is absolutely not the purpose of the fic. The information given is there only to explain Mello's behaviour and relate to his past so I tried to stick to those parts of autism only.

If you wish to know more, and it you are interested in which book Matt is actually reading, it is Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome by Tony Attwood.

DAY TEN – 5 contestants / 1 to be eliminated (Part 1)

It was extremely calm in the mansion as Matt closed the book in his hands. The sun was barely rising, which had made him decide to take some rest although he was only halfway with his reading. But since he wasn't anywhere near the end, he thought it would be more advisable to sleep than try to finish the book Mello had given him, otherwise he'd be a zombie all day.
Not long, Mello had said. Matt chuckled, remembering a specific paragraph about autists' abilities. It was probably a quick read to the singer, but to anyone else, it was a four hundred pages book in small print that required more than a couple hours to achieve.

Still, Matt had learnt a lot. Especially about Mello's explosion the other day, and the meltdown that had followed. It was still very unclear how he could help Mello to deal with that, but at least he knew what brought it.
The type of autism that Mello had was called Asperger's syndrome, and although it had common ground with the form of autism most people knew of, this form could go unnoticed because people with Asperger's syndrome do not have speech delay, they look like functional persons.
Matt knew the basic autism, he had seen Rain Man like everyone, he had read about autism here and there thanks to the internet, but this... it was really something else. Everything that most people do without thinking, people with Asperger's syndrome have to prepare for it, learn to cope with it, and try to understand how things work when most people do it by instinct. No wonder why Mello needed alone time after dealing with all this shit, and why he broke down. It was probably really exhausting, although Matt couldn't totally get it. It was a little surreal still, to imagine that simple things could bring so much stress.
He would have so many questions to ask Mello... he even noted them down as he read because there was just too much he wanted to ask and he would probably forget half of it.

It was actually 1pm when Matt opened his eyes again. He was hearing noise downstairs, and walked to the railing to peep down, but it was only the four remaining contestants having lunch. There had obviously not been any wake up call from Mello, not that he would have missed it with the usual music blaring, but tired as he had been, you never know.
Content that he had had a decent amount of sleep, the redhead showered before joining the others and fetching food and coffee.
The tension seemed to be completely gone, except with Tribal Tattoo. He kept on glancing at Matt over his own mug and the latter became irritated.
"What?" Matt asked, staring at the other.
"Nothing." the guy replied, averting his eyes. But soon he was glancing at Matt again.
"Could you stop looking at me if there is nothing going on?" Matt spat.
"Oh come on, teacher's pet, do you think I don't know what you're doing?" Tribal Tattoo replied out of the blue, his glances turning to a glare.
Matt finished his plate quickly and stood up to clean it in the sink, turning his back to the angry contestant.
"Guys, don't start fighting..." Charly tried to calm things down, but it was useless. The brunette with the tattoo stood up as well and left the kitchen, yelling to Matt: "I can't believe he fell for your little game of hard to get, seriously, you're not even worth of him!"
"Guys, seriously, whatever happens is out of our hands and if he likes Matt, happy for him, what do you want to do about it?" David sighed. Everyone had a pretty good idea of who the winner would be at that point, some had accepted it, some had apparently not.
"I won't give up, I came here to win, and I won't let a stupid cunt have my place." Tribal Tattoo was back in the doorframe to reply to David, but the latter didn't even reply. He didn't want to entertain such a nasty conversation.
"Name calling now?" Matt chuckled, filling up his cup once more before leaving the kitchen, walking right past the brunette.
"Yes, cunt." the other watched him pass by, clearly wanting to provoke Matt.
Matt smiled to him and went upstairs. He didn't really care for what was happening with the other contestants at that point, since he was past worrying for his place in the show. No matter if he left from now on, it wouldn't change anything.

Sitting on his bed, relieved that the other didn't follow to continue the verbal fight, Matt sipped his coffee. He had just realised that all the stress had gone: no more questioning Mello's motives, no more worrying for him, or at least not for the previous reasons, no more wondering about their mutual feelings... wow... he had found love, and it only struck him now.
He had initially wanted to go back to the book, but suddenly, he needed to see Mello. Not for the questions, he just needed to see him.
Matt laughed at his reflection in the mirror as he was trying to fix his hair while brushing his teeth. I'm being stupid.

He finally went downstairs and headed for Mello's door, uncaring for the fact that the show was still on. His perspective on it was radically different now.
Just as he was about to knock at the door, it opened and Danny exited the apartments, Mello behind him.
The tall man smiled to Matt, to the redhead's surprise. Had Mello said anything?
He didn't have time to ponder, Mello snaked his elbow around Matt's and pulled him inside, closing the door on them.

"Ow!" Matt laughed as Mello pushed him roughly against the wood, crashing his lips on the redhead's seconds later.
Matt's hands found Mello's waist as the other had his elbows against the door on each side of his head, the kiss deepening quickly to a wet exchange.
Matt could taste booze in Mello's saliva, and the way the singer was moulding his body against his own, fuck...

Matt knew he had to stop the heated exchange at some point because Mello wasn't exactly sober, and himself wasn't ready for that step yet. He did want it, but it wasn't the right moment. So he pushed Mello gently, his palms against the other's chest.
"Mmh-" It was proving to be more difficult than expected, Mello sucking on his tongue, making Matt's lower half react against his will, "Mello."
Matt finally managed to separate their lips, and he had to refrain kissing Mello again because he was just so gorgeous and smiling and he had that kinky glow in his eyes and... stop. Matt wouldn't go there.

"Already drinking so early in the afternoon?" he chuckled, although he was a bit concerned about Mello's drinking habits.
"I had meds to take."
"And they tasted better with vodka, obviously." Matt said, spotting the bottle and the glass on the bar in the corner.
"I was in pain and I had no water left, and Danny took forever to come here."
Matt sighed, Mello was incorrigible.

"Speaking of Danny, did you tell him?" Matt finally asked, he was a little curious as to what the man knew now.
"I told him I would choose you, but he wasn't really surprised."
Matt laughed. Everyone had the general idea of what was happening between him and Mello so it would have been weird if Danny hadn't noticed himself. But had Mello said more than that? Saying he would be the winner, and admitting his feelings were two different things.
"What did he say?"
"That you were probably a masochist." Mello smirked, plopping on the bed, patting the free space next to him. Matt sat beside him.
"I also told him about the rest." Mello didn't name it, but Matt knew he was talking about his autism, "He hugged me. He fucking hugged me." The last words were more a whisper than anything.
Matt was happy to hear that. Danny had reacted in the best way possible to his opinion. Mello had hesitated so much before finally telling what was going on, and it was probably liberating as well as reassuring to have the people close to you know and accept your situation.

Matt put his hand on Mello's forearm, since he couldn't hold his hand. The singer had both his hands out of use, but the simple gesture was something Matt really wanted to do.
"I read half the book, but I'm afraid it wasn't a quick read for me." he chuckled, "Can I ask you a few questions, or are you too tired?"
"I'm fine, just a bit light headed, but nothing bad." Mello smiled, pecking Matt's lips quickly.
"I made a list." the redhead stirred a sheet of paper off his front pocket and unfolded it.
"You didn't have to do homework, you know." Mello laughed heartily, taking the list from Matt's hands.
He read it quickly.

"Okay... I was diagnosed when I was twenty-one, Danny made me see a shrink after I fucked up a lot of stuff and I saw many because it just never got better, until I met one that was actually aware of what autism was, and told me I could possibly be an aspie. I had to go through a lot of tests, and I mainly accepted to do them to prove I was normal. Well, what I called normal at the time."
"Yeah, I suppose it's not easy to accept that something is going on that makes you different, even if there's nothing to be ashamed of..."
"The hardest, when I got confirmed that I had autism, was to accept that I wasn't abnormal, just different, I really felt like a failure, I still do sometimes..."
"Is that why you act so tough and all?"
"Probably, I will never know what is my personality, and what comes from autism, the lines are really blurred."

"Next question... that's a hard one, I don't really know myself. I always thought that I found it hard to deal with people because I never had a regular family, and also most people around me as I grew up were bastards, even now in the music industry, or even in this show, I always feel like I tend to meet mostly shitty people. But then there's Danny and he stuck with me so I guess there's not a right answer to that, I don't feel like it's coming more from me than others, I'm probably just not a people person. I like performing in front of people, it doesn't scare me, I can deal with signing sessions and all, it's just really tiring."
"But when it's a situation you're not used to, I feel like it's a lot more difficult, and maybe that would explain why you flew off the handle the other day and took it out on Lou?"
"Oh, that's what you meant with the question? This I can tell you, it's exactly that. I just wanted to be away for a moment, alone, no noise, nothing. I needed it, because it's not my usual environment and when I'm like that, I just can't stand any interaction, no calls, no texting, not even an email, it drives me literally crazy and I want to hit people, seriously."
"That's just the need for alone time or something more?"
"It's a little bit more, like just really shutting the world around because you're ready to explode, it's way past being tired or fed up, it's like boiling up. A pressure cooker kind of."
"And if you open it before the pressure is gone, BOOM."

Mello laughed. He loved that Matt wanted to understand, and really put effort into it. Having someone genuinely interested in that, when himself had been really insecure about it, felt good. The singer surprised himself when he realised that he wasn't even questioning Matt's motives anymore. The thought that the redhead was trying to know more to use it against him hadn't even crossed his mind, and he was one hundred percent positive that it wasn't the case, not the tiniest doubt resided.

Mello pushed Matt on his back, landing on top of him, resting on his elbows. He smiled before kissing the surprised redhead.
"I wish I could use my hands right now." he whispered against Matt's lips.
"It's a good thing you can't, then." Matt replied, brushing away the blond strands falling in his face, as the other hovered above him, "It's still too early for that. Not that I don't want to, but it's just... not here. Not in the show." he added in front of Mello's puzzled face.
"They don't record here."
"And you believe them?"
"No, I checked myself, I check every time I come in here, I don't trust them."
"Still, let's just wait till this is all over, it's better this way."
"Better for who? Not for my libido at least." Mello smirked, sitting back.
"Horny beast."
Matt tried to be serious but he couldn't help but laugh. Mello did seem to have quite a demanding libido, but really, the mansion was not the place to get intimate, and even if Matt wouldn't voice it out loud, he didn't want to fuck in the same bed that had seen so many other guys before.

"Okaaay, then next question I guess?"
"Unless you're tired of explaining."
"No. So..." Mello checked the sheet of paper, "Do I have a high IQ? Really? You have to ask?"
The singer feigned indignation but he only earned himself a laugh from Matt.
"I didn't mean you don't appear as smart, they just said in the book that some aspies have also a high IQ and that makes it even more difficult for them to integrate."
"One hundred forty seven."
Matt opened wide eyes.
"Wow."
"That doesn't mean anything, seriously."
"One hundred thirty nine."
"Huh?"
"Mine is one hundred thirty nine."

Mello stared at Matt for a moment, then gave him a huge smile.
"I knew it!"
Matt laughed: "It takes a genius to recognise one."
"I suppose it helped us get along."
"Probably."

"Let's stop there with the questions, you look tired." Matt said after a hug. It still surprised him how Mello's behaviour had changed with him. Mello was unexpectedly tender and cuddly.
"I will need to go on with the show anyway, the activity of the day will start soon."
"I won't ask what it is." Matt said, standing up to leave, "Do you need help to change or anything?"
"I'm good to go."

Mello fetched the bottle of water on the bedside table, took a few gulps, and followed Matt out of the room.
He then waited for Matt to reach the top of the stairs to start the music that would call the others in the main room.
Matt innocently followed the others as they exited their rooms, and all the contestants lined up face to Mello.

"Hi guys! Today, I'm digging even more in your private lives! Guys, please welcome members of your families!"