All The Way Here

Matt scrolled down the latest webpage of cash transfer small print, but he wasn\'t really reading it. He had got bored of the process three sites back and now was simply going through the motions. Nevertheless, the restrictive words caught his eye. He was going to need a credit or debit card. The redhead closed the browser in a fit of piqued tedium, then immediately wished he hadn\'t. Now he\'d lost all of the \'back\' information, which included the page he had reached on the search engine results.



For the first time ever, Matt wished he really was the new L. Not for all that pressure and responsibility, but because L came with an attendant Watari; someone who could fix things like how to get a sum of cash, in hand, to a third party in another country. What was maddening was that he actually had the money. He had it in his pocket and had he been home, this would not be an issue.



After another wasted five minutes, he sat back, lit a cigarette and decided that another approach was clearly needed. Credit and debit cards required bank accounts; bank accounts required real names. As much as Matt had resented the fact at the time, some residual care must have penetrated from the hammering home that Roger had done in matters of never, ever releasing your real name into the real world. With the television blaring away full of hysterical Kira fans, Matt did concede that that was possibly wise after all.



He paused to watch the coverage. The countdown to tonight\'s final was dominating every channel, because one of these lucky contestants would get to be Kira\'s spokesperson to the world. As infectious as the excitement was, it was difficult not to let depression over it all transmute into out and out cynicism. Lose yourself to that and you might as well choose apathy and be done. Let just one bit of the world stop being magical and it ends up eating away at your psyche until everything is dulled. Matt snorted. Who was he kidding? He\'d been cynical before he was ten.



Matt had tried though. He\'d attempted to lighten Mello\'s glowering mood last night with a question about who the blond wanted to win in the contest. Mello had glared at him, snapping back, \'I don\'t know. Who do you want to win?\', with a tone of such incredulous dismissal, that Matt had shrugged, said, \'I don\'t really care as long as it\'s not me\' and let them return to the loaded silence that had existed before.



He sighed and returned his attention to the laptop. This was not getting the rent paid back home. Near could probably snap his fingers and a team of Wammy minnions would flock to their estate. Matt pursed his lips, an idea forming. By the time Mello\'s footsteps sounded behind him, signalling that he was finally off the \'phone with Hal, the deed was done.



"What you doing?" Mello asked, seeming slightly pensive.



"Selling my soul to the Devil. You?" Matt closed the laptop and stubbed out his cigarette.



"Trying to work out Near."



"Good luck with that." Matt leaned back, against Mello\'s torso and half-lay there willing internet irritations to disappear with the smell of leather and chocolate.



"What have you been doing to sell your soul to the Devil?" Mello sniffed.



"I\'ve just given Roger my home address and asked him to lend me the rent money." Matt felt Mello\'s body stiffen. It was his address too. "I\'ve asked him to go and see the landlord to pay it in cash."



"What the fuck?" Mello\'s arm came down from the back of the settee now, but it wasn\'t in fond embrace that he wrapped it around Matt\'s back. His voice rose, "Are you completely mad?"



"How the Hell else am I supposed to get the money to Len? You think he\'s just going to overlook a late payment and let us keep all our stuff in there until we get back?" Matt winced as Mello\'s fist thumped his kidneys. "If you could have come up with a better idea, then I\'d be happy to know all about it. I\'m trying to help you! You get on with strategies to save the world and I make sure that we\'ve got a roof over our heads for when pull it off!"



"You\'ve hacked into banks before."



"Does Len strike you as the type of bloke with a bank account?" Matt moved his leg over Mello\'s lap, lowering his head to rest it on the blond\'s chest. "It kind of occurred to me when he told us cash only in the first place."



"I didn\'t know we paid cash only." Mello frowned, but loosened his grip on the back of Matt\'s shirt, rubbing his back absently. "Why didn\'t we just buy something outright?"



"Because it\'s my flat and you moved in. How was I supposed to know you had that kind of money?" He sighed. "I hate the internet sometimes."



Mello gave a laughing breath, which grew into a chuckle. "I never thought I\'d live to hear you say that." He kissed the top of the head under his chin, blowing to keep the red hair out off his bottom lip. "Ok. We\'ll just have to move after this is over. No way am I having Roger knowing where we live. It\'s bad enough we know where he lives."



"What do you want for your birthday?" Matt deftly changed the subject. "Besides Kira\'s head, Near\'s death, safety for the entire world, your rightful place as L\'s number one heir and chocolate."



"You?"



"You\'ve got me already." Matt smiled, strangely touched, especially as Mello\'s tone had softened and his hair was being stroked. It was soothing. "Come on, give me a break, I\'ve got to make my own plans here and you hate surprises."



"I don\'t." Mello brushed Matt\'s hair back to his hairline, then let it drop in a cascade of colour. "Not those kind of surprises anyway."



"You so do. Don\'t go into denial. You are a complete control freak, who hates any surprises." Matt countered firmly. "Tell me what you want for your birthday... realistically want."



"So none of the things that you already listed are realistic?" When Matt didn\'t respond, Mello added primly. "Ok, I\'ll have a surprise."



"Contrary fucker." Matt spoke from his chest, realizing as he had said that Mello hated surprises that that was precisely what the blond would want. The only predictable thing about his lover was that he always did the exact opposite of what anyone else said they expected him to do. It was a reflex action. "Any good reason for me not to go to the city centre?"



"It\'s full of Kira supporters." Mello responded, mildly. "Every shop has a CCTV camera and so you\'ll be recorded everywhere." A slight shrug. "So if Kira knows about you, there\'s ample opportunity to see your face and kill you."



Matt shifted from his comfortable position and dropped off the settee. Standing, he took his goggles from where they\'d dangled at his neck, rubbed over his kidney where a bruise felt like it was forming and picked up his cigarettes and lighter. "Coming?"



"Yeah." Mello smiled delightedly back and stood up. "What are you buying for me?"



Matt didn\'t speak, just took the car keys from the table and swung them on his finger. He watched as Mello picked out his jacket with the hood and experimented in the mirror with adding the huge sunglasses too. Matt smirked. He had once stupidly commented that Mello could be camp at times and had barely got away with his life as a result. Right now, Mello was being so camp. "You look gorgeous, Princess. Ready?"



"Arsehole." Mello swung around and snatched the keys from him. "I\'m driving."



The city happened around them in themes of concrete and neon. Signs, in Japanese, hung down above their heads, enticing them towards everything from pet food to diamonds. Smells, from the open air food vendors and the restaurants, picked at their stomachs and turned their heads. Two fashionable teenage girls almost collided with Matt and, as he turned to apologize, he noted from their giggles that it had been deliberate. Mello smirked, his mouth the only part of his face immediately visible. It made him look like a Cheshire Cat.



They stood in the middle of the pedestrian street, confronted with this taste of the exotic, and Matt lit a cigarette. "\'kay, Mel. Smoking laws? Drinking laws? Driving laws? Homosexuality laws? And what you want for your birthday, please."



Mello spluttered, spitting chocolate thickened saliva into the cold air. "What?"



"I didn\'t look any of them up and it\'s nice to know how many laws you\'re going to break before you do it." Matt shrugged, turning to stare into a window. "Cool! Whole shop full of anime! I love anime."



"Cartoons?"



"Heathen." Matt was already wandering away, peering in the window. "What is the exchange rate?"



Mello joined him. "Illegal; illegal; legal; and practically encouraged." The tiniest of smiles flickered across the blond\'s features. The sort he only flashed when he was truly happy, though the moments rarely lasted. "Still deciding; and it doesn\'t matter. Buy what you want."



"Oh good." Matt took a drag on his cigarette, enjoying it even more now that he knew he was breaking the law. "I\'ve got my own money too. I\'ve still got the rent..." He stopped, not wanting to ruin the mood. Mello\'s hand slipped into his and startled him. "Those girls still looking?"



"Don\'t know. Just letting you know that I know you." Mello straightened his shoulders and pretended to be interested in anime window displays. "Shit." He pointed a gloved finger at an advertisement. It bore the legend, \'We support Kira\'. He bit off chocolate pointedly, until Matt drew him away from its sight. "You\'ve got to remember not to be too vocal about... certain views. In fact, don\'t mention them at all."



"Me!" Matt exclaimed. "Yes, sweetheart. Indeed. I\'ll remember."



"Good." Mello muttered darkly, but his head went up as he saw where they were headed. A speciality confectioners, its window lined with moulded shapes and tableaus in a variety of chocolates. Its centrepiece was a whole house, two foot high, made completely of chocolate, with chocolate people outside it. Positioned around it, a landscape was formed from cocoa mountains and sugar trees. The air was filled with the scent of them.



"Let\'s go inside." Matt gently squeezed his hand, taking the initiative to open the door. Chocolate smells and chocolate shapes greeted them, overwhelming to the senses. The redhead deposited his lover on a chair and bowed to the shopkeeper, asking in perfect Japanese for two hot chocolates with kahlua, extra chocolate chips in one. Returning with a grin, he sat down beside the blond. "Wow. Finally found somewhere to shut you up." He winked. "Do you want the whole shop or just the stock?"



It was impossible to discern Mello\'s expression under the hood and the glasses, but there was an incredible stillness to the way he sat. Only his head moved slowly as he surveyed every shelf before whispering, almost reverently, "Can I have a dark chocolate truffle as well please?"



"You may." Matt added five to their order and laughed. "You\'re acting like you didn\'t even know places like this existed."



Mello\'s head shot around and he stared hard at Matt. "You did know?"



"You didn\'t?" The redhead bowed down beneath the level of the table, his whole back shaking with hilarity. Mello kicked him under the table, apologizing immediately afterwards. Matt sat back up. "Yeah. We died, you\'re in Heaven. I forgot to mention it on the way here."



"Shut up." The blond ate a truffle with far more delicacy than he usually attacked chocolate.



They spent over an hour and a lot of yen in the confectionary before stepping back out into the street. The winter was mild compared to New York, but still chilly. Mello clutched a small bag of expensive treats, but the bulk of their purchases were stashed safely in a bag carried over Matt\'s shoulder. "I\'ve thought of something for your birthday." Matt mused. "But it\'s only a little thing. What else do you want? Have you got enough leather clothes and skull jewellery?"



"That wasn\'t my birthday present?" Mello twisted around for another look at the distant purveyor of fine chocolates.



"No, freak. Your birthday isn\'t for another week." Matt ensured that they kept walking. "Another rosary?"



"I\'m good with the rosary I have, thank you."



"Engagement ring?"



Mello stopped dead. He managed to fit a lot of emotions into the single word, "What?"



Matt froze with him. In truth, he had thought it as he spoke it, without time to consider what he was saying nor yet the implications. The blond was unreadable. Too many clothes hid his stance and expression; too few words betrayed his true emotions. The fact that he\'d neither been punched or kissed gave no clues as to what Mello was thinking. Without due guidance, Matt slid to plan B, which is to work out what he, himself, was feeling about it. Across the street was a bridal shop, which explained the subliminal suggestion; but right here was someone awaiting a reaction.



"Don\'t look at me!" Matt responded eventually. "I don\'t know what Catholics do in these situations. I know I\'m figuring on spending the rest of my life with you, so if it\'s marriage. Yeah. Marry me."



Mello\'s mouth opened and closed, wordlessly, a few times, before he gushed out, "I need to think." Then rushed to a nearby wall and sat on it. His hands went up to cover what little bit of face he had revealed, until he resembled nothing more than a mass of black leather and fake fur.



Matt sauntered on over. Sitting beside him with a cigarette in his hand and people watching, while his stomach twisted into shreds. "Hey." He spoke evenly. "I won\'t be offended if you..."



"It\'s not about you." Mello\'s voice shot through the gloves, thick and heavy.



"Oh... good." Matt smoked, trying not to look like he was waiting; trying not to show any emotion at all. He kept telling himself not to beat himself up inside, until he knew for certain if he should be cursing his own stupidity or congratulating himself on an inspired spark of genius. His gaze took in the crosses at Mello\'s knees and the tiny crucifix dangling from a bracelet around his right wrist. "Is it one of those eternal damnation things?"



Mello suddenly uttered a gasping, half-scared laugh and pressed his hands into his face. Fingers swept under his sunglasses. Taking a deep breath, he emerged to face Matt. "Yes, please. I would love a ring for my birthday."