All The Way Here

Matt had been sitting in a cafe near Times Square, eating a burger and searching eBay for a CS gas gun when Mello called. He calmly packed away his laptop and retraced his steps back towards the hotel. Pausing on the edge of the square, he turned to look again. The lights were breathtaking, rising like cliffs of neon and television. There was a flashing can of Coke half the size of a skyscraper. He liked Times Square. The rest of the city seemed dull in comparison.



He swiped the key card into their door and was immediately thwarted by a chain on the other side. "Mel, \'s me." He spoke, rather redundantly, as a piercing blue eye and a lock of blond hair loomed into view through the crack and, with a rustle, the chain was removed. "Had a nice day?"



Mello looked as exhausted as Matt felt. He nodded slightly blankly, standing in the middle of their transformed room as if he\'d forgotten what he\'d been about to do. Matt had already been back once. The computer equipment had been assembled into what looked like a proper control centre. Wires trailed everywhere. In front of the television, the PS3 was waiting. The bed was covered in a variety of weapons. The floor was strewn with papers. They had moved in. "You\'ve eaten?"



"Just had a burger." Matt blinked through his goggles, seeking the kettle. "You?"



"I\'m not hungry." Mello collected together the documents, pushing them into a metal briefcase and locking it. Matt tried not to feel offended by that. It wasn\'t a lack of trust directed at him. He knew that. "But I\'ve had enough for one day."



Matt raised his eyebrows. Mello never tired when he was embroiled with strategic thinking and planning. He kept going in the grip of some inner inferno, until he faded into sleep mode with little discernible interim between the two. "Tea?" There was no response. Matt glanced across to find Mello examining closely a case of bullets. Whatever he was looking for apparently passed the test, because he closed it and dropped it into the suitcase open at his feet. It was now or never. Matt had been planning this for several streets, debating on the wisdom of saying nothing at all versus the risks involved in speaking up. "Mello, I\'m sorry I acted like a junkie arsehole at the airport. I shouldn\'t have taken it out on you."



Mello surveyed him thoughtfully, as if trying to recall the incident. Then he wrinkled his nose, sucking on the chocolate in his mouth. With a slight twitch of his shoulder, he just dismissed as insignificant the thing that Matt had been mithering over all afternoon. "Don\'t worry about it." Perversely, that rankled Matt. He didn\'t react though, other than lowering his mouth beneath the level of his high collar, as if it was the fake fur alone that kept the words back. "How did you get on with the list?"



"Got everything except the smoke gun. That is CS?" Matt stirred the hot chocolate mixture into one mug of boiled water and his teabag in the other, a teaspoon in each hand. "Couldn\'t find it anywhere. Didn\'t get Near\'s address either."



"That\'s ok. You can try again tomorrow." Mello was suddenly right behind him, close enough that Matt jerked in the act of lifting their hot drinks and had to put them down again for fear of someone being scalded. "Got enough nicotine in your system now?"



Matt almost replied that he didn\'t think he would ever have enough of it again, but he doubted Mello would get it. It would sound more peevish, like an accusation or a weakness, than a cry for empathy. With a spark of realisation, Matt understood that that\'s precisely what he wanted. Someone to understand that it had been a nightmare. A non-smoker could not only never grasp that, but probably wouldn\'t see why they should. He shrugged and said, as lightly as he could, "Nearly."



Mello laughed, starting to nuzzle his neck with kisses, pushing down the collar at the back. "Took you long enough to answer." A hand rose over Matt\'s shoulders, black polish on each nail. It held a pair of handcuffs. "I did some shopping too."



Matt leaned back with a finally contented smile on his face, the back of his head on Mello\'s shoulder. "I\'m pretty much in for it then?"



"Oh yes." The blond kissed his ear, then reached beyond him for the hot chocolate, retreating with his prize back onto the bed. "But I\'ll let you have a cigarette first."



Matt glanced at him sharply. Was that a dig or an acknowledgment? He hated the thought that, today, he was being the awkward one. That was Mello\'s job. It helped Matt feel like he had the moral highground, whenever their relationship exploded. He took his tea to the table and sat down in a chair. "So you like what I got?"



Mello sniggered. Then, as Matt blushed, burst into raucous laughter. "Yes, Matt, totally fit for purpose." Legs akimbo, in black leather, the blond broke off some chocolate with his teeth. He watched the redhead with a serpentine smirk. "Please, have a cigarette. I love the smell of smoke on you." Another bite of chocolate. "It means you\'re not going to turn into lunatic on me."



Lighting up and smoking self-consciously, Matt replied quietly, "I said I was sorry." Across the room, Mello frowned and rolled his eyes. Awkwardness lingered, filled only with the sound of Matt\'s exhalations and the munching of chocolate. Matt\'s eyes found and lingered upon the PS3. He heard a sigh. "What?"



"Bring yourself, your tea, your ashtray, your fucking cigarette over here." He patted the bed beside him. "Fuck! I\'ve hardly seen you for weeks, then you get the hump every time I breathe. Come."



Obediently, Matt collected his comforts and joined Mello on the bed. Immediately, an arm looped around him and drew him close. He hadn\'t realized how tired and aching he was. He could feel his eyes closing, despite the nicotine and caffeine, and the powerful stimulus of Mello so close, oozing wild sexuality like a musk scented stag. They were quiet for now, but the instant that Matt\'s cigarette was extinguished, he was drawn into a kiss that chased away all notion of sleep. The heat of Mello seemed to fill him, vampiric, restoring his joints and lower back to life, re-energising him. As soon as he felt the hardness in Mello\'s groin, through the leather pressed up against his thigh, Matt felt his own loins answering in kind.



His sleeveless jacket was unzipped, Mello\'s hands all over his torso through the red and black striped shirt. The kiss went on, urgent, devouring, a constant yearning for more. Matt rolled on top and Mello, without breaking free or looking, pulled his jacket off him. His shirt now, pushed up underneath his armpits, required the kiss to end into order to be shed, so it stayed, bunched there, while Mello scratched at his back. Hips moving together, through jeans and leather, boots pressing against the bedstead. Mello reached up and managed to dislodge Matt\'s goggles to the top of his head, without once losing contact with those lips. But eventually they had to come up for air.



Lying, panting, gazing into each other\'s eyes with slightly stunned expressions, Mello was the first to recover.

"And that was just the kiss." A half-snicker. "Mother of God, your heart is beating fast." He never babbled, but Mello was on the verge of it now. He caught himself in time, but still rasped. "Matty, I can\'t wait. I just have to have you now, no preamble, just have you, now."



"\'kay." Matt blinking, pulling his gaze away to look in confusion at their boots and trousers. "Off... yeah."



Mello practically giggling, "For crying out loud, anyone would think we\'d never done this before! Look at us." He pulled Matt\'s goggles off his head. "Like fucking teenagers." He lifted the back of Matt\'s shirt urgently until his lover removed his hands, from where they\'d been been trapped behind Mello\'s narrow back, and raised his arms to be stripped. Momentarily free, Matt bent to lose his boots; Mello was just kicking his own off across the floor. "Fuck! Did I just do that?"



"What?" Matt was flustered, fumbling with the boots before finally dropping them over the edge of the bed. He followed Mello\'s hungry gaze to his back. "No, freak, that was last time."



Mello wrestled him back down onto his back, fingers already deftly opening the buckle of Matt\'s belt. Buttons were forced and popped into submission, as their kiss intensified again. Mello\'s hand inside now, rubbing over the cotton of his lover\'s boxer shorts. The stiffening member practically dancing in his hand, stifled grunts telling him that this was being met with approval from the redhead.



Matt, mind soaring with the high of rising sex, was less certain what to do. It had been a while since he\'d been in this position with his limbs free to participate. He made an instant decision. He could worry about it, or he could just do whatever his body screamed for him to do and if Mello didn\'t like it, he could just take over. The worst that could happen was a punch and some handcuffs, well, maybe not the worst, but the most likely, and that would be just fine too. He unclicked the heavy buckle of Mello\'s belt and moved it out of the way. Now his questing fingers encountered laces. He\'d done this before, but never with one hand. He was struggling until Mello\'s hands were suddenly there helping, before drifting back to pulling down Matt\'s trousers.



They rolled over, shedding the last vestiges of their clothing; finally, they were naked and in a position to follow through on the promises in kisses. Matt surprised himself by taking the initiative, grobing, stroking, touching every inch of Mello\'s body that he could reach, while his other hand teased the rock hard dick until his lover could take it no longer. Breaking away from the redhead\'s mouth, with a series of rapid kisses to finish there, Mello removed his fingers from their work at Matt\'s arse and turned them over again. Slick and practiced, Mello entered him quickly, his hand still moving at the front.



Just a few dozen thrusts and it was over for them both. They lay gasping for breath and sweating like this was suddenly a sauna, fiercely, protectively, passionately entwined. Matt peeped over his shoulder with a smile and found Mello\'s lips. Another battery of kisses, then they slowly disentangled themselves just to cool down.



Matt had everything and nothing to say. It came out as, "wow". He spotted chocolate and handed it across, lying on his side staring in awe at the blond on his pillow. Both of his hands clasped around one of Mello\'s, until the air cooled their skin into goosebumps. Then Matt slid one arm under Mello\'s neck and held him until they both slept.