Motive and Mayhem

SPOILERS: All manga, all anime, L's true name, Another Note, Law and Right, Truth and Justice.

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Motive and Mayhem

Chapter 10: Juncture

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Matt had not been surprised when he'd heard the water in the bathroom running. It would be a simple thing for Mello to turn it on with his feet. The yell didn't surprise him either -- Mello had no way of knowing that Matt had manually turned off the hot water for the tub and rigged the pipes so that the water was automatically divert to the showerhead.

Ah, the simple pleasures in life. Matt slouched in the hotel's plush chair, stabbing at the controls for his latest game. A cigarette hung lazily from his lips, its silky ribbon of smoke drifting up towards the ceiling. They already had to pay through the nose for the door Mello had broken, so he might as well pay the smoking fine, too. They had enough cash to cover it, anyways.

The water turned off and he could just imagine Mello standing there, dripping, trembling with cold and rage. He grinned, kept playing for a good ten minutes before he paused the game, tossed the remote aside and went to inspect his naughty little pet.

Mello had only been in there an hour, and it had been a nice, peaceful hour though Matt was absently missing the excitement of the struggle. He was really enjoying it far too much as he pushed open the bathroom door, stepping inside and pulling the shower curtain open.

He was expecting a kick to be aimed at his face, an angry snarl, maybe another head butt. He wasn't expecting Mello's hands to be in front of him, let alone free from the bar. As fingers curled around his throat, Matt had the most unbefitting thought of his life. We're gonna have to pay to replace that, too.

Which was not a very normal thing to think when someone was trying to strangle you. Even so, Mello's hands were still handcuffed, and his shoulders had to have been sore from the strain of pulling his hands over his legs. Which meant Matt was still at an advantage.

He would not underestimate Mello again. His hands flew up to Mello's wrists, hissing as he felt pressure being applied to an artery. His fingers moved quickly, seeking out the pressure points on Mello's wrists. He found himself shoving toilet paper out of the way, stepping backwards to pull Mello into the main room.

Mello had anticipated Matt going for the pressure points and had stuffed toilet paper between the handcuffs and his wrists, hoping it would buy him enough time to knock Matt unconscious. He hissed in annoyance when it didn't quite work when his fingers went lax without his permission as pain spasmed in his wrists. He jerked his hands away, but Matt still had a firm grip.

He was shoved backwards, his bare back slamming up against a wall as another snarl rose from his lips. He jerked his leg up and had the smug satisfaction of watching Matt's face contort in pain when he didn’t quite managed to dodge the crotch shot.

Matt had evaded it just enough that he didn't drop to the floor or release Mello's wrists, and he now pinned those above Mello's head against the wall, using his body to secure the rest of him there. It wasn't exactly a safe position -- his face was open to attack from Mello's mouth, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

They stayed that way for several long, tense moments before Matt leaned in close enough to speak against Mello's ear. "Why are you fighting me so hard on this one?" he asked mildly. "I'm just making things a little more formal, giving it a name and defining it more clearly."

"Fuck off," Mello snarled, twisting his wrists in his handcuffs. Shredded toilet paper rained on them like snowflakes.

"You know you enjoy it," Matt said easily, letting his tongue trace the outside of Mello's ear. "When I shove you against a wall, grind my body against yours. I feel the shiver, the delight that squirms its way through you, squashing any urge you had to suggest we postpone playtime. Yeah, I can read you," he chuckled softly.

Mello turned his face away, sneering. "You don't know anything." He knew everything. This wasn't good.

"I feel your absolute delight when you're twitching around my cock because I've shoved your face into the bed, pinned your shoulders there when I'm fucking you until you scream. We both know you cum harder when I'm rough like that, we both know you crave it, that you love the way I rip the control right out of your hands and drive you wild," Matt purred, biting down on Mello's ear lobe, grinding their hips together. He could already feel his words taking effect, feel the hardness beginning between Mello’s thighs.

"Yeah, I feel that, too," he grinned when Mello tried to jerk away, failed. "You want to give in to me. You don't mind it so much because you know I'm never going to take your spot away from you. I've always been number three, haven't I? I'm no threat, not like Near was, and I've got nothing to gain by taking you out of the picture."

"It's not fuckin' about that," Mello sneered.

"Then what's it about?" Matt smiled in the face of Mello's glare, nipped gently at his nose.

"You're fucking crazy. Batshit fucking crazy," he snarled. "I don't call anybody master. Least of all you."

Matt couldn't help but laugh. "Your lips might not, but your body certainly does. I can make you feel good, Mello, I can take your mind and body to places you've never even imagined you could be," he lowered his voice then, lips brushing against Mello's ear as he whispered. "When you call me master, you'll be the center of my world. The center of my attention, and I'll make you feel that way. I'll make you feel like number one."

Now that was an enticing offer. Even though he'd beaten Near, even though Mello was now 'number one' beneath L, he'd never felt it. Never gotten that satisfaction of victory, of knowing that he was the best and no one could one-up him. For a fraction of a second he considered giving in.

"Go fuck yourself with a cactus you disgusting piece of shit!" Mello head butted Matt again and had the satisfaction of listening to him hiss in pain.

Thirty minutes later, Mello's wrists were behind him again, the chain on the handcuffs shortened with a small padlock to keep another escape attempt at bay and Mello was once more handcuffed to the bathroom sink while Matt inspected the damage done to the tub.

The strange part was that there wasn’t any damage at all. Matt had simply made a stupid mistake and not checked the integrity of the washcloth bar. A firm yank in either direction had the little bar simply popping free of the plastic shower wall. A little pushing and it was right back in place, no harm, no foul. He rolled his eyes in minor irritation at himself but filed the information away in case it ever became useful again.

Only then did he turn his gaze to Mello again. "You realize you have to be punished for this," he announced lightly. He smiled when he was met with a dark glare and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him and leaving the hotel.

Mello was not amused. Especially not when he heard Matt returning a little more than thirty minutes later, grunting as he carried something into the room. Half an hour more passed with a good deal of clanging metal and cursing, until Matt finally pulled open the bathroom door. He was wearing the same thing as always. Those damn patchwork pants, that striped shirt, his goggles and a frown. At least that fucking fluffy vest was out of the picture. For the moment.

Smoke slithered from the tip of Matt’s cigarette as his gaze fell on Mello. "Now you're going to be punished," he announced, releasing Mello from the sink and dragging him to his feet by the hair.

He was fairly certain that, for a brief second, the world screeched to a halt as he saw what was set up in the middle of the hotel room, waiting for him. "Oh fuck no!" Mello snarled, jerking away despite the pain in his hair, growling and glaring as he struggled.

It was another twenty minute struggle before Mello had been subdued and locked into the large dog cage Matt had purchased. What was worse, there were piddle pads on the cage's bottom, a pair of dog dishes, one with water and the other with dry cereal.

"You're going to stay in there," Matt announced, "Until the cereal is gone."

Unfortunately, Mello knew Matt was serious and they both knew Mello had a stubborn streak the size of Japan. Which meant this was going to take a while, and Matt was taking a gamble.

If Mello held out long enough, Matt could potentially lose his chance. It was a gamble he had decided to take for one reason only.

Mello's weakness was chocolate. So, once Mello was locked safely inside the cage, Matt settled down in that plush chair and went back to his video game. With a nice, big box of chocolate sitting right next to him, the first bar already hanging from his lips.

It wasn't until the dead of night that Mello finally gave in. Matt was sleeping, curled up on the bed with his goggles safely within arm’s reach. Most people didn't know they had prescription lenses in them, that Matt wore them out of his own insecurity -- preferring to look 'cool' as opposed to 'disadvantaged'. Mello thought that was a stupid reason, that Matt would be better off wearing the goggles because it was harder to knock them off a person's face.

Either way, they were off and perched on the bed stand when Mello finally gave in and began eating the cereal. There wasn't much, maybe half a cup of the dry, crunchy stuff, but Mello ate it. It was a type of cereal he hated, but he knew that was why Matt had chosen it. This was a punishment and despite his anger, his fury, the words Matt had said the day before were echoing around in his mind.

When Mello curled up in the corner of the cage to sleep, the words bounced around in his brain like an echo.

I'll make you feel like number one.

Yeah, right. Even through his disbelief, Mello found himself dreaming of just that while he slept. The worst part, he would realize when morning came, was that the dream forced him to recognize that Matt's reasoning was sound.

It was the lack of control that turned Mello on the most. It was the trust that they had, the trust it took to let Matt be so rough with him that made it feel so good.

It made him feel important.

Feeling like number one, he imagined, wouldn't be so different. Perhaps a bit more intense.

It was no wonder that, when he woke with sore muscles and aching where the cage bars had pressed against skin, that he was grumpy. He could already feel the points racking up on Matt's scoreboard, drained from his own.

The tide was turning in Matt's favor, and Mello didn't like that at all. So, when Matt greeted him with a cheerful 'good morning, pet,' Mello kicked at the side of the cage and snarled a few of his more creative obscenities.

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A/N: And we have another chapter, still in the flashback. Like I said, I'm having so much fun writing this part, you can expect quite a few chapters. =3 Don't worry, though, I won't forget that we're in a flashback! We will, eventually, return to the party.