Watari Pt 2: Wammy's House

Mello waited, straddling his motorbike, but Matt hadn\'t even switched the engine on. Behind them, denizens of the Little Chef went on with their meals, despite the pounding music that suddenly erupted from the red car. Matt\'s head was bobbing in time to it, as he concentrated on something in his lap. Mello lifted his viser to see more clearly. The lyrics began with Matt singing along, "Drive boy dog boy, dirty, numb, angel boy, in the doorway boy, she was a lipstick boy, she was a beautiful boy." A cigarette paper rose to his mouth and he licked along the edges. Mello understood that Matt was rolling enough cigarettes for the journey home. He turned the key in his bike and waited.



Behind the hedge, there was the hum of traffic passing at speed. Above his head, the sun was starting to set in vivid reds and oranges. Mello pondered on the fact that Matt had been armed with access to Neuron and hadn\'t fired the bullet. That made two of them. Guilt and anger piqued again. Despite the fact that he had promised not to go after the boy, it felt too much like a loose end to comfortably live with. He glanced back at Matt, but he was still dancing in his seat, rolling cigarettes and singing with no evidence that he even knew that Mello was still there. The blond sighed. They would be passing shops. They could pick up ready-rolled. He slipped off his bike and strode across to knock on the window.



Matt jumped in his seat and opened it. "Random blonde, bio, high density rhythm, blonde boy, blonde country, blonde high density," He grinned back, "You are my drug boy, you\'re real boy... timing Mello." He paused the music. "Sorry, I thought you\'d gone."



"I\'m waiting for you." He peered across to the pile of five rollies on the seat beside Matt. "Those should get you as far as Southampton. We need to stop off there anyway."



The redhead frowned. He had been under the impression that they were going straight home. "Why?"



"To get another Nintendo DS." Mello winked. "And less of the random blond, boy."



"I\'ve grown so close to you." Matt grinned cryptically. "Kk, I\'m ready."



It took less than a mile for them to start racing each other, pushing into increasingly reckless speeds as the merging of the roads was signalled up ahead. Mello just made it, passing Matt at the eleventh hour to enter the single lane ahead. Sitting up as soon as he had clearance. Matt didn\'t need to see under the visor to imagine the smug grin. He just beeped his horn in protest at the roadhog and flicked the birdie at the blond\'s leather back. Mello was waiting for him at the roundabout, signalling to take the left, before roaring off again. For someone who had spent the time before and during the journey here checking that Matt was up to the drive, this was astonishing behaviour, the redhead decided and rebelled by taking a right.



Matt\'s mobile was ringing as he pulled into the retail park carpark. He quickly scrolled through the song he had had on repeat and held the phone up to the speaker as he answered the call. "You got a velvet mouth, you\'re so succulent and beautiful, shimmering and dirty, wonderful and hot times, on your telephone line and god and everything, on your telephone and in walked an angel." He turned it down and lifted the telephone to his ear. "Ohai Mello."



"Where the fuck are you?"



"I\'m already there. Sorry, did you think you\'d got me beat with cutting me up out there?"



"I went back to look for you when you weren\'t following."



"Yeah." Matt grinned. "Owned. I\'ll be in the games section when you get here."



Mello stalked into the store a few minutes later, but it took another couple before he finally caught a glimpse of red hair and stripes. He jogged down the aisle and finally caught up with his husband heading back towards the games, where he was meant to be. "What you got there, baby?"



"Yay! You caught up!" Matt grinned. "The most blond I ever met." He held up the box for Mello to see. "It\'s a Teas Made. Put it on my bedside cabinet and I\'ll never have to get up to make a cuppa first thing in the morning again."



"You don\'t. I do."



"I was up first this morning."



"Once!" Mello rolled his eyes. "First time in twenty years that that has happened. How do we keep the milk fresh in our bedroom?"



"Dunno." Matt frowned at the box and skim-read the instructions. "Doesn\'t say."



"So you get your cuppa, but I still have to run down to get the milk."



"Powdered milk."



"Oh Matty! You would so whinge at that." Mello took the box off him and inspected it dubiously. "We might as well just have a kettle in our room instead of this. There\'s just going to be clutter everywhere. Dirty teaspoons." He noticed Matt\'s head moving to some hidden beat. "Are you listening to your iPod?"



"Nope. The music in my head." He grinned, then pointed to the box. "Am I having that or not?"



"I just don\'t see the point." Mello sighed. "If you want it, have it, but I\'m not having a mess in our bedroom."



Matt laughed out loud. "Can you actually hear us? We\'ve only been married thirty seconds and we\'re standing in an electrical store rowing about household appliances."



Mello thrust the box back into his hands. "Have the Teas Made, Matty. Have you picked out a new DS yet?"



"On my way." Matt led the way back into the games section and picked up a basket. "I\'m going to need more games." Trailing behind him, Mello stared back dubiously. He scratched his arm and reminded himself that he\'d known all along that they were going to be in here for a while. They were on Matt time and it was all for the good cause of keeping his husband sane. "Oh! No! They haven\'t got the red one."



"There\'s a nice black one."



"Yes." Matt chewed on his lower lip, surveying the stock on the shelves.



Mello sighed and went to find an assistant. He returned a moment later. "They\'re looking in the back for you." He took the Teas Made and held it. "We could always order one in, if they haven\'t got a red one. Does the colour actually matter?"



"Just aesthetics." Matt replied, picking up a Mario skin and another box of spare styluses. Their house was littered with broken plastic sticks, mostly because he chewed on them. "I\'d prefer to have one today."



"Yes." Mello smiled. "Wasn\'t your last one silver though?" Something about Matt\'s stance seemed to him to be more cagey than usual, so Mello reached across to touch his arm. "What\'s up?" Matt turned away, so Mello pulled him back. There was moisture on his cheek. "You\'re crying because there isn\'t a red DS?" Though Matt shook his head, Mello knew that it was the truth. It disturbed him. "Fuck, you\'re a fragile thing at the moment, aren\'t you, baby?"



Matt swallowed hard. His voice whispered, but didn\'t crack. "I just want to take one home today."



"Ok. We\'ll get one definitely. We\'re not leaving this store without a Nintendo in your hands, ok?"



Matt nodded mutely and Mello rubbed his arm. "Sorry."



"It\'s ok. I know that this isn\'t you, but there\'s nothing to be ashamed of. We\'re going to sort your head out, I promise. Give yourself some time to heal and stop being so damned hard on yourself." Mello drew him closer, not caring who saw them, but Matt shook him off before a kiss could be delivered. "It\'s going to be alright, Matty. I swear." He watched as Matt wandered over to the games and started browsing through them. He didn\'t appear to be actually crying anymore, but he certainly looked unhappy. Mello just let him get on with it, knowing from long association that, sometimes, the best policy was just to leave Matt alone. He kept the redhead in sight, then almost gushed in gratitude as the assistant appeared around the corner with a box in his hand. Mello rushed forward. "Is that a red one?" With the affirmation, Mello beamed. "Thank you so much!" He turned and handed it triumphantly to his husband. "There you go, baby. All good now."



Matt blushed slightly, but took it, holding it to his chest. He already had five new games in his basket. The little smile he cast at Mello was worth all the trauma in the world to see. "Thank you."



"See." Mello winked. "Your luck just changed. It\'s going to be alright from now on."