Note: Last chapter! Can you believe it? I hope this ending is up to your expectations! I was as nervous as Mello, writing him, haha!
Thank you for reading this story! *hugs everyone*
DAY FOURTEEN – 2 contestants (finale!)
"Mello, wake up." Danny slightly shook the singer's shoulder, but he wasn't surprised to see Matt wake up first.
"What time is it?" the redhead yawned. He didn't exactly like the idea of having the man come and go as he pleased in their bedroom, but he hoped that once the show would have ended, Mello and him would have a little more privacy.
"It's 7am. I need to see a few things with him for tonight... without you, sorry." Danny gave an apologetic look to Matt, who simply smiled, understanding that it was for the show's purpose, and stood up from the bed, stark naked. If Danny wanted to come and go without warning around them, then Matt could as well not give a fuck about being decent or not.
Danny stayed unfazed, waiting for the redhead to get dressed and leave. He was about to open his mouth just as Matt opened the bedroom door, but Mello's voice rose instead.
"Hey, wait." the blond sat in the bed, looking at Matt, "At least kiss me before you go."
Danny turned his back to the two lovers, shaking his head with a tiny smile on his lips. Those two would be a handful for him and he knew it, even if he was used to take care of Mello already.
Matt came back and crawled on all four on the covers, Mello pulling him for a kiss.
At some point Danny cleared his throat. He didn't have much time before the schedule for the last date started, and Mello and him had a lot to take care of for the evening's finale.
"Okay, okay, I leave him to you!" Matt chuckled as he left for good this time, the filming crew already waiting for him in the corridor. He didn't really care, and just did as he had been instructed the previous day: he went in the lobby downstairs, and waited for the limo to pick him up and bring him back to the mansion.
"Are you sure?" Danny asked one last time, before he confirmed several things on the phone with a few people, Mello nodding in approval.
Once the man had finished with his calls, he stood up, waited for Mello to shower, helped him get ready, and drove him back to the mansion as well to pick his second date.
"I'm fucking hungry." Mello complained as he waited in the main room. He knew Matt was upstairs and all he wanted was to rush there, but David finally showed up.
"Okay princess, let's go have breakfast, I'm starving."
David knew perfectly well that he didn't stand a chance during the finale, he wasn't even bitter about it since he had absolutely no feelings for Mello. He would have loved, obviously, to live that fancy life a little longer, but being with someone he didn't care for would not be a good thing, especially someone like Mello. The singer would probably be difficult to deal with on a daily basis and from what he had seen already, he wasn't up for it.
But seeing Mello frowning slightly as he came downstairs... David hoped that at least, even if Mello wasn't pleased to be with him today, they could have a nice time and Mello could be decent.
The limo drove them to a fancy cafe, then Mello bought a few things to David in a Harley Davidson store. Unlike Matt, David actually appreciated getting spoilt.
They went to another resort afterwards, where they tried hot stones massages, then David soaked in a jacuzzi while Mello read, sitting in a sunchair on the balcony of their suite, until lunch was brought to them.
Although Danny wasn't sure that it was a good idea, Mello complied with the next activity, which consisted of a roller blade stroll on the pavement right along the beach. Fortunately, Mello was good enough with any type of skating that he was unlikely to fall, but Danny hated the idea that his boss could make things worse for his right hand. It was far from being healed and Mello needed to keep his plaster for a few weeks more. If he fell on it though...
The man kept on observing from the van, he wasn't supposed to intervene, and he hadn't had to the day before, so he hoped for this day to be the same, but at some point, the production called him.
He texted Mello since he didn't want to interrupt the date, hoping that the musician wouldn't get angry.
Mello looked at his phone quickly, sighed, and simply sent an 'okay' back to Danny.
The producers wanted him to act a little nicer to David. Mello hadn't meant to be rude, and weirdly enough, even if he wanted to tell them to just fuck off, the thought of the evening's finale was enough to appease him, and he tried to enjoy the date more. He was more nervous than anything actually, and a little bored right now too.
He smiled to David, and they engaged in a race that had Danny almost regret Mello's slight sulking, as the blond rolled on the pavement at full speed, uncaring for his safety as he slalomed between the people that were having a walk.
Matt had to wait for Mello to leave the mansion to exit his room. His heart wrung a little when he heard Mello leave, hoping him and David wouldn't go to the same place they had gone together the day before. He was feeling jealous even if he knew Mello didn't care for David, and he couldn't wait for this day to be over.
Matt was also really anxious about the finale. He knew he had nothing to fear concerning Mello's choice, but he wasn't fond of being under the huge audience's eye for a moment like that, even if it was just a formality. He had no idea what it would be like, actually.
Having nothing better to do, Matt played games all day long. He knew he was recorded, and he intended on making the footage in the mansion as boring as possible. Not that he could have made it entertaining if he had wanted to. Or maybe he could walk around naked, but his mum watched the show, he knew for sure now so that was probably not a good idea. He ate when hungry, took a nap in hopes that the evening would come faster, but at some point he was starting to go crazy so he decided to go pack his bag and get ready, even if he still had one hour and half to kill before he would get picked up and driven to the place where the finale would be filmed.
It's only when there was barely ten minutes left before he left the mansion that Matt realised that he would never come back here. He wasn't one to dwell into nostalgia, but he fell in love in here, and somehow, it counted as some of the best memories of his life now.
He walked to Mello's apartments, almost expecting the door to be locked, but it was actually open. He was surprised to see it was now empty. Well, the furniture was still here, but there was no trace of Mello, not even a piece of soap in the bathroom. Everything had been emptied and cleaned. It felt really definitive now. The room was a lot different without the many bottles in the bar, the rack of guitars, and the general mess.
A car horn resounded outside. It was time to leave, for good. Matt closed the door of the separate area behind him, crossed the main room, picked up his bag from the couch, and exited the mansion. His guts suddenly tightened in anxiety as he sat in the limo and it started to drive up the alley.
Mello was trying to contain the nervousness he was feeling. David had been deposited in a hotel room so he could get ready for the finale that would be taking place not far from there, and the singer was right next room, sitting on his bed, alone.
He had snapped at David, he had snapped at Danny, and although he wasn't proud of it, he just couldn't take the wait anymore.
But he was fortunately freed from his agony. Mello heard the door of David's room open and close, and he knew that if the contestant was being taken to the finale's place, then he would be next. He checked himself in the mirror, grabbed his phone, slid it in his pocket, and took the elevator to the lobby of the hotel, unable to stand still in this room anymore.
He smiled to himself as his fingers tapped on the railing in the cubicle, thinking of Matt, and their reunion soon. He was so eager to see his face, especially with the surprise he had prepared.
And suddenly, the anxiety flared up. What if he didn't like it?
Mello breathed heavily. There was no reason for it to go wrong.
Danny showed up twenty minutes later, and this time, he was driving. He had insisted to the production to be alone with Mello before the finale. He knew that everything would possibly set off the singer so he wanted this moment to be as peaceful as possible for his boss. And since the production didn't know about Mello's surprise for Matt, and that chances were that they would talk about it, it was better this way.
Mello was filmed entering in the car, and he would be filmed at arrival. They would have to do with that.
"Is everything okay?" the man asked, more as a way to engage the conversation than anything else, because he perfectly knew how Mello felt right now. The singer's valid hand was slightly trembling as he pushed a strand of hair behind his ear as he glanced at Danny, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Yeah, just nervous."
"That's a big day." Danny smiled as well. He was truly happy. Mello had changed so much over the course of these two weeks, it was simply unbelievable. But somehow, Mello seemed a lot truer to himself now that he had dropped the attitude. Oh, it would still come back here and there, you couldn't expect Mello not to show off or fly off the handle, but he was different. He was at peace with himself.
The car stopped on top of the alley leading to the hill where Mello had brought Matt once, when they had escaped the filming crew on the singer's motorcycle, and Mello had tried to kiss him and had been pushed away.
Matt smiled at the memory. They had gone such a long way since that evening. He had been so mad at the time, and now... he couldn't imagine his life without Mello. Somehow, this place was the perfect location for the finale, and Matt knew that it was more than certainly Mello's choice.
The place looked different in daylight though, but the sun was close to setting and Matt couldn't help but think that it was a lame ass romantic lightning for the finale, probably purposefully chosen by the production.
Matt nodded to David as they both came out of their respective limos and took place where they had been instructed to, side by side, facing the spot where Mello would be standing soon, a few feet further.
The cameramen, the staff and some people Matt had never seen where standing in the background, out of sight, and although the place was a romantic setting, there was absolutely zero intimacy.
Neither of them had time to really process the whole thing, as suddenly a man approached and started talking in a loud, unnaturally joyful voice. He was actually the host of the finale.
"Good evening and welcome if you've just joined us, this is the big finale of Mello of Love and I am Patrick Linfeld, your host for tonight. Hi David, hi Matt!" he began, "Our spectators are probably as nervous as you are behind their screen! How do you both feel? David?"
The boy replied as best as he could, he wasn't nervous since he knew he wouldn't be chosen, but he complied. Matt on the contrary only gave monosyllables until the host gave up and started filling the gap until Mello's arrival.
David was dressed as usual, which made Matt cringe because himself denoted completely: he was wearing dark denim jeans, a white shirt which long sleeves he had slightly rolled up, a black sleeveless vest and a loose red tie. And his Converses. You couldn't expect too much from him, the last time he had been wearing this was to a friend's wedding. But it was still a lot of dressing up for him, and it was only because they had asked him to.
He was just puzzled that David hadn't dressed up too. Maybe he didn't have anything else? Oh, fuck, Matt was so nervous that he was starting to ponder over trivial things...
"We've been following the last moments of the show for one hour and a half now, we've seen the lovely dates the last contestants got with Mello, we know they are ready there, and now we're waiting for Mello himself to show up, he should be here anytime now. I'm sure you are all as impatient as me to know who he will be choosing tonight, have you taken your guesses? I bet you have! Oh, but I hear a car coming! Is it Mello?"
Matt's heart sped up when the sound of a car came from down the hill and that a Mercedes finally arrived and Mello came out of it, followed by Danny.
Mello was gorgeous. Even more so when he flashed a smile so bright to Matt that the redhead blushed deeply.
The musician was wearing his trademark tight black leather pants, heavy biker boots, and a white button up shirt similar to Matt's, loose over his pants.
Mello walked slowly to the spot he was supposed to occupy, and stood there, his valid hand holding his right arm. Matt was refraining from fidgeting with the hem of his vest as he stared at the blond, feeling like he was about to explode with the stress of the situation.
Danny stood a little behind Mello, and the host approached them.
"Hi Mello, finally you are there!" he put a hand on the musician's shoulder, who gave him a murderous look, but the host ignored him, too busy talking in direction of the cameras to notice, "So, Mello, how do you feel? The finale! Wow, that's a big day for you!"
"Good." Mello simply replied, and although he gave a crooked smile to the host, who took it as a sign of content, Matt knew that the way Mello looked at the host meant that he just wanted to slap him. It made him chuckle.
"Have you made your choice yet?"
"Of course I have."
Matt refrained his eyes from rolling. The whole audience of the show probably knew already that he and Mello were together, even with the montage, the producers probably couldn't hide such an obvious thing to the public. It wasn't supposed to be like that, the suspense should have been kept until the end, but apparently, the production had gone with the flow and accepted that Mello showed his preference, for some reason. Probably because the audience rates were as high as they expected.
"Was it a hard choice? I bet it was! Two fine young men there..."
"Cut the crap."
Mello just couldn't hold his tongue anymore, the host was irritating as fuck and he just wanted to go on with his plans right now.
"Haha, it looks like Mello is getting a little nervous here!" the man said to the camera, "So, let's begin with the finale! What a ride it has been during these two weeks ! But it ends here, tonight, and Mello will be leaving with his winner, for, let's hope, a happy ever after!"
Mello gave a lopsided look to the host and Matt really thought that the guy would get Mello's palm on his face at that moment, but he saw the blond breathe deeply and look down, before looking straight at him.
This time, the singer didn't smile, he was obviously really nervous, his valid hand rubbing his arm up and down.
"You have two contestants left, and one will go back home tonight with, unfortunately, a broken heart. That's tough right? But that's the game, and they knew what they were getting into. Now it's your turn to do the talking Mello. They are waiting impatiently for your verdict, so let's wait no more!"
The man stepped aside slightly.
Mello straightened, pushed a strand of hair behind his ear, and looked at both the boys standing a few feet away from him.
"I'm not good at this shit talk and suspense stuff, and everyone already knows that Matt and I are together so let's just cut the crap. David, have a safe trip home." Mello walked to him, and shook his hand to tell him goodbye, the contestant smiling before leaving his spot and joining the others in the background.
Mello then took Matt's hand with his valid one, and the redhead was surprised to see Mello shy. That was odd...
"Matt, there's one thing that no one knows though, it's that I asked you to marry me, and that you said yes."
Some 'ohs' and 'ahs' resounded here and there, and suddenly Danny's phone buzzed in his pocket. The man pulled it out and answered the production's call, taking a few step to get away from the cameras.
Matt smiled, feeling Mello play with his fingers nervously, "Well, no one except these people in the van out there.
Matt turned around, his eyes becoming as wide as plates when he saw Linda and his mother exit said van and approach, both with a huge smile on their face. Not far behind, the other members of Mind Pollution appeared as well.
"Mattie, I know you agreed to marry me, but are you ready to marry me right now?"
The redhead looked back at Mello again, speechless.
"Say something, I'm dying of anxiety here." the musician chuckled nervously, his grip on Matt's fingers becoming a little tighter.
Matt opened his mouth and closed it again. He just couldn't find his voice. He was looking from Mello to Linda to his mum to Danny, unable to process what was happening.
"Hey Shortie, say yes!" Linda laughed, pushing his shoulder fondly, "We came all the way from New York to see a wedding and I personally won't be leaving before I get to be your maid of honour!"
Matt seemed to come back to his senses.
"Is that for real?" he asked Mello, still totally dumbfounded, "It's not just for the show?"
"No Mattie, it's not for the show. Well, they're filming, but I want the whole world to know that I'm marrying you." Mello's hand found Matt's cheek, caressing it tenderly, "I love you. If this is too much right now, I will understand, I won't push you into doing something you don't want to. It just felt right to me..."
"Mello, yes, I want to marry you right now, of course I do! Fuck..." the redhead looked apologetically at his mother, "Sorry mum..."
Mello laughed in front of this obvious display of motherly influence, making Matt redden even more than he already had.
"You obviously thought about everything, I'm pretty sure you knew that I wouldn't have done that right now without at least my mum and Linda being present, so where's the civil officer?" Matt chuckled, looking at Mello with a huge grin. He was happy, more than he had ever been. Mello was all kinds of surprising, he would always choose the crazy option, but Matt felt it was right as well.
A man approached, waving his hand.
"Here he is." Mello smiled to Matt, before facing the officer.
"Shall we begin?" the man asked, nodding to Matt, Linda and Matt's mother to greet them.
"Yes, please." Mello said.
Matt's heart was pumping in his chest. He was getting married and he could hardly believe it, it had happened so fast! But he had no doubt that he wanted to do this right now.
He was floating on a cloud as he exchanged vows with Mello and they signed all the required papers, Linda almost crushing him in her arms when the civil officer was done.
"Linda, can I at least kiss my husband?" Mello laughed.
"Yes! Sorry!" the petite blonde said, letting the redhead go.
Mello placed his arms around Matt's neck, the other snaking his around the blond's waist, and they could finally exchange a kiss as a married couple.
"Mmhff!" Matt mumbled in the kiss at some point.
"What?" Mello asked, breaking the contact of their lips. "My mum is watching us in case you forgot."
Mello exploded in laughters.
"My son, I might be your mother, but I'm not a prude." Mrs Jeevas patted Matt's cheek before pulling him into her arms, "I'm happy for you baby."
She set her son free from her embrace, only to hug Mello as well.
"Hurt him and you will understand that all these tales about mothers doing crazy things to protect their child are true." she whispered in his ear, making the musician snicker, the smirk on his face vanishing as he saw that she wasn't even joking.
Danny was the one to laugh this time, as he had heard everything, being close enough. At last, Mello was afraid of someone, and it had to be this tiny redheaded woman in a yellow dress that wasn't even as tall as her son with heels on.
Suddenly, Mello's phone rang.
"What are you talking about?" the singer asked in the device. He looked at Danny, who had a strange smile on his lips, but said nothing, "What have you done, Danny? How come the record company congratulates me for the wedding and my songs"
"Nothing, well, if anything, I just gave it a little push but it was Matt's idea."
Mello looked at his now husband. He couldn't believe what his record label had just told him, it was impossible...
Matt looked puzzled as well, not getting what they were talking about. The only idea he had had recently was only between him and Linda so it was apparently something else.
Tyler, Mike and Tommy were watching the scene quite perplex as well.
"Oh please! I can't wait anymore!" Linda suddenly exclaimed, "Danny, tell them or I will!"
She was laughing hysterically, jumping in place, and even Matt's mother seemed to know what it was all about.
"Okay, okay!" Danny started laughing as well, "Mello, your songs are yours. The record label doesn't own them anymore, you do. And you can thank Matt for that, and Linda of course."
"WHAT?!" Matt and Mello both said at the same time.
Matt went on, totally shocked: "How? Wha-... Linda, explain! It was just a little crowdfunding!"
"Matt, you set up a crowdfunding for me to buy my songs back?!" Mello was in total disbelief.
"Yeah but... ten millions Linda! How did you even... ?!"
"That's the little push Danny was talking about actually, he has access to all media accounts for the band, and he posted the link to the official Facebook page, and before the record label could even notice, fans just got crazy and more than five million people have donated. It's not that crazy if you think of it, there are more than fifteen millions fans on the page."
"I hope you don't mind Mello, but since I also have access to all of your bank accounts, I did the payment to the label on your behalf."
Danny handed a bunch of papers, and Mello just had to look at the first page to understand that it was a legal deed of transfer of the rights over the totality of his songs, signed by his record company. He took it, trembling.
Matt couldn't believe it. He had thought they could help Mello with the crowdfunding, he didn't really believe they'd gather much, but he wanted to do something because he knew that it was important to Mello.
"Matt... Fuck, I don't even know what to say... I feel a little bad that so much money got used to buy my songs, I mean... Fuck..."
"Mello, I know what you think, and it's not selfish. Yeah, that's a lot of money, but you will earn ten times as much in royalties, and you will give back more than those ten millions, I know you, the whole world knows it."
Matt took the papers from Mello's hand and handed them out to Danny, then he took the singer in his arms.
"That's unbelievable! Wow, what a finale, right?!" the annoying voice of the host suddenly resounded, all heads turning to him as he walked among the little group standing in front of the cameras, "Mello just married his winner for Mello of Love, and we just learned that he has bought back the rights on his songs, ain't life wonderful?"
"Oh, fuck off." Mello's voice rose, before he burst into laughter and kissed Matt, swiping the redhead off his feet and over his shoulder with an arm.
Matt was laughing as well in his precarious position, catching the keys Danny threw at him.
"You drive." Danny told him with a wink.
Both were finally sitting in the Mercedes, Matt on the driver's seat.
"Where to?" he asked, as Mello covered him with kisses.
"To the airport, we're leaving for our honeymoon Mattie." Mello smiled.
"Oh? Where are we going?" Matt was genuinely excited. This evening was completely stunning.
"Everywhere. We're going on a world trip, I couldn't decide where to go."
Matt burst out laughing. Typical Mello.
Note: I know! Mello didn't get his scar! It didn't feel right in this story, for once I'm letting him keep his face intact hehe :) (I already broke his hand, that would have been a bit much, poor Mello...)
This is over for real now... Ah I hate that so much! I'm going back to Elfen Lied right now just so I don't feel too sad for this ending.
I feel like I am terrible at endings so please, critics highly appreciated so I can improve! What did you like? What did you not like? Is there something missing?