End Transmission

AN: OK so time for a new contest! The 250th reviewer get a choice of me answering any question they can think of about this (or any of my upcoming fics featured on my profile) or a oneshot. The winner will either be contacted via PM, or in the case they aren't signed in I will inform them in the AN of the next chapter.

In the event they don't respond by the time I'm ready to post the next chapter the person who reviewed after them will be declared the winner. Ok? Have fun until then XD

Suggested Listening: Don't Think I Love You by Hoobastank

Chapter Fourteen: Hack

Matt sighed as he finally stood back in front of their apartment door. He shifted slightly and honestly hoped that for once, at least for once in the past few days, that luck would be on his side and the two inside wouldn't look too closely at him.

He had bag full of new shirts, a few pairs of boxers he'd found, more games for himself and even chocolate and a few decks of cards; but he was disheveled. Noticeably so.

He had tried to fix his appearance, long before he had even thought of going to shop after his... encounter... with Jack; but no matter what he did to his hair it just didn't want to fall the right way and his lips were bruised and his clothes impossibly rumpled and he, at least in his mind, reeked of sex.

He had had to go shopping with the feeling of cum dripping from his orifice and the stale smell of sweat that clung to him and the almost overwhelming dry itch that clawed at his skin. And damn if he hadn't wished he hadn't let it go that far... he hadn't even gotten his energy drinks as he was far too tired to go to another store.

The only good thing, so far, was that he was back before eleven.

He winced as the lock opened with a loud click, loud to him at any rate, and he stepped inside quietly after punching in the code to the security system. But to his disappointment both Mello and Near were still in the main room. And both of them glanced at him the second the door had fully opened.

The lighting in the room was good, as Mello preferred the florescent white bulbs to those dim normal yellow tinted ones that hurt ones eyes after a while. He couldn't help but feel as though he had just walked in there naked.

Thank god I haven't, Matt thought. He knew he had bruises on his body and probably the dark markings of hickeys on his neck and god knew where else. The plastic in his hand crinkled sharply as he clenched his fists tighter.

"What the hell took you so goddamn long? Did you buy the entire store?" Mello hissed, eyes narrowed and dangerous. Matt refused to acknowledge the way his body had twitched as those poisonous eyes were directed at him.

"I told you it was a while away. And shopping takes time. I didn't only get games. Your chocolate is in one of these bags, something for you too Near." he dumped most of the bags onto the floor and while Mello was momentarily, and far too quickly, distracted by the mention of chocolate, he slipped from the room and took the one bag he'd kept into the bathroom with him.

He had bought a new pair of jeans, a blue and black striped shirt and a pair of Zelda boxers. He had thoughtfully shoved them all together into one bag so he could get on with his shower the second he had gotten home. Because there was no way he was doing anything else until then.

Matt didn't care if it seemed a little odd for him to shower twice in one day but he wanted to be clean; it also reminded him he needed to change his bedding. He was certain he had another set somewhere in his closet for times when he washed the other ones...

He made sure to lock the door behind himself and quickly disposed of his current clothing, ignoring the large mirror off to the right as he placed his goggles there, and stepped into the shower before he had even turned the water on. When he did, it burned him.

Matt sighed softly, mostly through his mouth, as he distantly concentrated on washing himself.

He had really messed up. He shouldn't have had sex with Jack again. It had been a mistake, a drunken mistake, the first time and he knew better. He honestly did. He shook his head slightly; he didn't have time to berate himself on something like that, he really didn't.

The deed, as it were, was already done and washing down the drain, he thought rather morosely, so he needed to move on. It wasn't as though he hadn't enjoyed it while it was happening...

He paused his thoughts there and stepped out of the shower and quickly toweled himself dry before he replaced his goggles so that he might actually be able to see. He shoved his soiled clothing into the plastic bag and made a note to do wash again in the morning. It needed to be done.

He crept from the bathroom and into his room, though he had no doubt he had been seen, and deposited the entire bag, his vest included, into the laundry basket. He had something to look over, to see if he could find anything else on L now that he knew what to look for, but first he had to deal with the bags he'd left in the main room.

Near looked up first and regarded him for a quick moment before he moved a playing card between his fingers and quirked his lip. Near was happy and Matt knew that it had been a good idea to get him something.

Mello on the other hand had a rather strange expression on his face as he simply stared at Matt for a few awkward seconds before the blond seemingly had to tear his gaze away. He tentatively nibbled at the chocolate by his mouth, a frown forming on his lips.

Matt blinked. Well that was odd.

But he didn't question it and simply meandered over to the door where the bags lay half opened, the one where the playing cards had been was neatly placed against the wall whilst the one where the chocolate had been in had his clothes and games half on the floor. Matt rolled his eyes.

He winced slightly as he knelt down and shoved everything back inside the bags. He felt Mello's gaze on him again and couldn't help but wonder at it. Especially as Mello hadn't yelled at him for anything else, which he was sure the blond would have found something else to nit pick over.

Matt usually didn't mind too much though.

But when the blond was silent, when he generally wasn't, it was weird. And made Matt suspicious.

He shook the thoughts off as he picked up the bags, and grabbed his laptop, which had taken him directly across the room with Mello's eyes following him; he quickly made his way into the solitude of his room.

And as Matt shut the door to his room it dawned on him. He had nothing covering his neck. And either Mello was obscenely naive enough to think it was a simple bruise from a fight or something, or he had realized they were hickeys.

Matt groaned softly.

He thought then, perhaps, he should just go to bed and hope the morning would be better. Maybe he would be inviting more bad luck to look up L at the moment, with everything else going wrong.

As if to prove his point the laptop beeped, though he was certain he'd turned it off before he'd left, and continued to beep to alert him that there was a possible threat to the computer. He sighed heavily and snapped open the lid and moved into his virus protection software and found that something had seeped through the wireless network and had gotten caught in his protection nets.

Whatever it was, was malicious.

Matt narrowed his eyes at the program and made sure it stayed quarantined as he checked on the laptop to see what, if any, damage had been done. Thankfully it seemed that it was made using a base program that his security recognized so it had been caught mere seconds after it had entered the laptop.

It had been searching for bank accounts and passwords. It was a good virus, but not nearly good enough to get anything from his system. Though he made sure to have all his specialty protection programs running just in case; it had just not been a good day.

He made sure the virus had been deleted, completely, before he opened his e-mail. It had been on his list of things to do before he slept but the virus had forced him into doing it earlier.

Matt wrote a quick e-mail to Near explaining what Jack had told him, and asked him to send a reply back should he decide to search anything before he got up so that they didn't end up wasting time on the same things.

He made sure it was sent, as sometimes the damn messages didn't go through, before he shut the machine off and placed the laptop on his bedside table as he turned to the mess that was his bed. With a sigh he pulled the covers off and dumped them into a heap on the floor.

He did the same with the sheets but stuffed them into the dirty laundry. He padded softly over to the closet and gently opened the door, which creaked ominously as he did so. When nothing fell out he opened it fully and narrowly dodged a falling book. "Fuck!" he swore and glared at the game guide that laid by his feet.

Seriously?

He childishly kicked the book under the bed and pulled out a slightly rumpled, but still mostly folded, pile of sheets and remade the bed. He stretched slightly, listening to the satisfying pop of his bones, before he removed his jeans and shirt, leaving him in only his boxers. He switched the light off and after removing his goggles, slid under the covers.

He closed his eyes and was just happy the day was over.

.

.

Matt woke to sunlight glaring in his eyes and he squinted in pain as he blindly searched for his goggles. He sighed in relief as his fingers brushed against the worn plastic and slipped them over his eyes. He would probably need to get a new pair soon; the lenses were fine for now, but he'd had the main frame for many years and he was slightly worried about the small crack that had recently appeared in the side.

He'd rather not have to go out and buy contacts or even worse, normal glasses, should those break. It was on his to do list, but things always seemed to get in the way. Mello type of things, that is.

Matt sat up and yawned but didn't roll back over and sleep like he wanted. He really needed to look over that L stuff, though he supposed he ought to check his e-mails first despite the fact that he doubted Near had gotten anything done the night before.

He booted up the laptop, that he had leaned across the bed to grab off the nightstand, and yawned again as he pulled open his e-mail. He had two e-mails. One of them was from Near the other... he wasn't going to deal with right then.

Near's e-mail mainly consisted of a list of places to start the search. Matt grinned. Near definitely hadn't done anything further than mention them, but that didn't bother Matt. If Near felt those were good starting places then he would use them first, exhaust them, then move on should nothing of value be found. Though Matt knew those would have been his first choices… well maybe not the last one.

His stomach growled but he merely rubbed it until it stilled. He didn't have time for food at the moment. Or rather he didn't feel the need to put forth the effort. That and he wasn't quite sure he really wanted anything despite his stomachs protests.

Matt figured that he had procrastinated enough and slid from the bed and redressed himself, though he decided there was nothing he could wear to cover the hickeys... not that both Mello and Near hadn't seen them the night before... and took the laptop as he exited the room and wandered into the main room only to find Mello still there; he was asleep on the couch in such a way that suggested he had been there the entire night.

Mello lay on his side, one arm left to dangle off the edge of the cushion, and his head was titled foreword so that his hair flopped across his eyes and nose leaving only his partially parted lips and chin exposed. It was rather... cute... in a way.

Matt crossed the room and gently set the laptop down on his desk before leaving for the kitchen. He rummaged through the cabinet as quietly as he could until he found the right container of coffee.

He poured an unmeasured amount into the maker and made sure there wasn't too much water in there before he shut the lid and turned it on. He didn't need to wait for it as he didn't drink that kind; where Mello had found those chocolate coffee beans he would probably never know.

He sat down at the desk and flipped open the laptops cover to view Near's message again as he had never closed it out. He took a few minutes to lazily set up all the programs he might need in his search but looked up at the soft sigh from the couch.

He watched as Mello's lips twitched as the smell of his chocolate coffee, that had begun to permeate the air, reached his senses. Matt stared on in amusement as the blond began to gradually stir into wakefulness.

Matt could see the impending disaster as Mello rolled foreword, presumably believing himself to be in his bed, only to roll over the edge of the couch and crash to the floor in a heap of tangled leather covered limbs and curses.

He looked on as Mello twisted on the floor and detangled himself after a few tries. Though he was surprised nothing had been injured with the way he'd fallen.

Matt couldn't hold in the laugh as Mello sat up, hair sticking out in all directions, and yawned. He managed to turn his laugh into a cough as the blond's eyes narrowed in his direction. Damn he was good entertainment sometimes.

Mello uncoiled his legs and managed to stand upright without much of an incident and stalk indignantly into the kitchen. It nearly sent Matt into a fit of laughter. He even thought he heard a quiet 'thanks Matt' from the kitchen, so he hoped some good luck was starting to take hold.

It damn well better after the mess he'd made of yesterday.

With his previous distraction now being distracted by coffee Matt set to work on the list Near had given him. He didn't start in order, but rather started with the ones most likely to have some sort of information hidden in their systems. He started with the Russian agencies as they were currently in that country. And though Jack hadn't stated it Matt believed England was one of the monetary detonators. Probably Italy as well.

He sighed as he hacked his way through the Russian government's agencies. There was nothing there. At least not about what he wanted; on a whim, as he was already there, he searched through their database about what they knew on the mob bosses there. He grinned. They had no information on Mello and one other; Matt wondered if Mello knew the other mystery guy, sadly it wouldn't surprise him if he did.

Other than that there was nothing useful, though he would do a more thorough search if nothing panned out from any of the countries. He was using his programs as a quick filter, using specific key words such as 'L' and 'Organized Crime' to do his search.

Matt had heard when Mello had walked back into the living room and had switched to one of his online games just before Mello had tossed something onto the desk as he stood off to the side. Matt merely blinked at the food.

"Eat something. I know you haven't made anything since I would have heard you. Thank you..." Mello trailed off and motioned to the cup in his hand but gave Matt a small smile.

Matt grinned back. He had no idea what it was that Mello had made him, probably one of his weird microwavable fruit filled freezer pastry things, but he took a bite anyway.

He was relieved when it was simply cherry inside rather than the apricot or peach he'd accidentally tried before. Those had been nasty. He gave a thumbs up and Mello rolled his eyes before he wandered off to the couch with his coffee, though it had seemed to Matt that Mello hadn't really been looking at him as more of something on him... like the something on his neck.

Matt withheld a sigh and took another bite of the hot pastry. Cherry wasn't bad but he didn't usually eat it. But Mello had taken the time to make it... granted he had probably only had to shove it in the microwave for two minutes but it was the thought that counted right?

And how many people could say that Mello had at least attempted to be nice to them? Probably no one other than himself or Near. That or they were long dead...

He moved onto the next set of agencies, as he was assured Mello would be occupied for a while at the least, to look for any hint at what Jack had told him. And while he hadn't exactly found a giant blinking sign that said 'L is working for us w00t!' or something along those lines, after around two hours of searching, he had found vague memos and random mentions of a 'large movement' being started by an 'unnamed source'.

If that 'unknown source' wasn't L than Matt decided he would eat his games.

And though he would still continue to search to see if something else couldn't be found, though he somehow doubted it, he decided to simply send what he had to Near. It was always better to have two sets of eyes on something rather than one. He and Near had always worked rather well together.

He didn't want to chance his odd streak off good luck so he knew he would either continue the search later on in the day or tomorrow. If, by the odd chance, that they had noticed something odd with their systems, in one or more of the agencies, he would be better off waiting until the chance of himself getting caught had gone down. Not that he thought he would. But he needed to be careful as the information was about L.

Once that e-mail had been sent, though he did wonder if Near was sleeping again as he only seemed to take naps rather than actually rest, he hesitated before clicking on his inbox. He sighed softly before he clicked on the only unread message he had.

His eyes scanned the text quickly and he had to read it again, twice, before he pushed his goggles up to the top of his head so that he could rub at his eyes as he frowned. "Fuck..." he muttered and was painfully aware that he had caught Mello's attention.

He definitely would have regretted sleeping with Jack again after this, if he hadn't already. "Having a problem Matt?" Mello questioned him. He started a bit and quickly replaced his goggles making Mello narrow his eyes.

Oh great idea Matt, make Mello suspicious of you, he thought to himself.

"Just the site freezing up so I lost all my progress.." he mumbled though he wouldn't have believed himself, so he hardly expected Mello to do so either. Mello's gaze flickered down from his face and it appeared that he would say something a soft shuffling came from behind him and Matt knew that Near was up.

He sent out a silent thank you to the albino as Mello had gone back to glaring at his coffee. He felt sort of bad that he was acting like that with Mello, but it couldn't be helped. It wasn't something he wanted to discuss with Mello... something that Mello couldn't know. He and Near would be in a massive amount of trouble should Mello find out they were helping him behind his back, or doing anything the blond deemed as dangerous, which was rather rich coming from a Mafiya boss. But that was Mello for you.

"Afternoon Near." he said a little weakly after he had glanced at the clock. He had been up for a while now. Though it hadn't really seemed it.

He didn't bother to mention to Near the e-mail he'd sent, as Mello was there and it would seem suspicious for him not to just tell Near what the e-mail was about now that he was up. Near would find it whenever he looked at his laptop.

Mello sighed heavily and left the room, back to the kitchen Matt presumed, and he hadn't needed the sigh to know the blond was irritated. But Mello would just have to deal with it now wouldn't he? There were just things he were better off not knowing.. that and things he had no right knowing.

Matt made sure that there was no trace left on the computer, or otherwise, of any of his important e-mails, and then exited out of the browser. He had forgotten that he needed to do laundry again.

He hoped it wouldn't seem too odd that he needed his sheets and a pair of clothing done. At the worst he supposed it would either look like he had had a wet dream or something. Not quite the truth but he didn't really care.

He left the main room just as Mello was inching his way out of the kitchen, head down and staring intently at the chocolate coffee that he stirred. There was no doubt in Matt's mind that he was still annoyed.

Matt grabbed the laundry basket and made his way into the laundry room again. At least none of his things would end up pink this time. That was a plus, right?

He shoved the load into the washer and set it to 'soiled' simply because he felt just the slightest bit bitter about the entire thing, and emptied the last of the detergent into the holder while he made a note to buy more the next time he went out.

When he had made it back to the main room Mello was seated, rather hastily, at his laptop and appeared to be searching for what he'd last been doing. Which wouldn't have worked since there was no way he would have gotten into his e-mail anyway. That and he had about ten different tabs open each time the Internet browser was up. So unless Mello wasn't in a mood to take things at face value, as all but a few tabs were gaming sites, he would find nothing.

Near caught his eye but Matt shrugged. He wasn't worried about what Mello may or may not find. He walked over to the desk and picked up the plate with the mostly eaten cherry pastry, startling Mello in the process, and headed into the kitchen to dispose of it. It served Mello right that he had gotten caught, not that he had gotten anywhere from the quick glance Matt had of the screen.

It was around lunch time, late lunch, and Matt wondered if he should attempt to make something for all of them. He was slightly bored, as with Mello around he either needed his games as stress relief or got to distracted to play them efficiently anyway, and didn't really have anything more to do for the day.

Well work related at any rate.

Matt rolled his shoulders to ease some tension and lazily scanned the contents of the cabinets. There wasn't much in the area of quick dishes, as he might have been bored but he didn't want to wait on the food unless he had to.

He could make that weird casserole thing Mello had picked up one day, but it was more of a dinner than anything...

Matt was about to just say fuck it and have everyone fend for themselves when he checked the fridge. He saw the eggs and the instant bacon and immediately felt like a bagel sandwich. The more he thought on it the more appealing it sounded.

Just to be sure, though he thought he had seen some while searching, he looked for a bag of bagels, and pulled them into view once found. He took the eggs and bacon, as well as some cheese, out and set it on the counter.

He got the pan out and turned the burner on while he melted a pad of butter in the pan. He popped the remains of the bacon in the microwave and set it for a minute. He hadn't looked at the directions to see the time but it was either one or two minutes. Better to have less time than to burn it or dry it out.

Matt knew Near would probably only eat a small amount of his food, as he ate like a bird, so he only made one egg for him whilst making two for himself and Mello. While they started to fry up he quickly popped the bagel slices into the toaster.

Near wouldn't care one way or the other but Mello hated anything toasted with the exception of pastries.

He flipped the eggs over and nodded with satisfaction as none of them broke. He wasn't a great cook but he could at least manage eggs, that was something wasn't it?

The microwave went off and he ended up putting it on for another 30 seconds as he wandered off to find the paper plates. He had enough dishes to do after this as it were. He may generally be rather lazy when it came to certain things, but Mello would complain if they weren't done after he'd made the mess.

He had just enough time to add the cheese onto the bagels, his beginning to melt almost instantly as it was fresh from the toaster, and take the bacon from the microwave before the eggs were done.

With the burner shut off and the sandwiches put together on their separate plates he stalked out of the kitchen with his and Near's. He noticed that Mello was no longer at his computer so he set his sandwich by the laptop and handed the other to Near.

"I don't expect you to eat it all so just toss what you don't want." he told Near. He paused for a moment, at the slightly offended expression Mello wore and when he thought on it, it probably seemed as though he were being snubbed. Making himself and Near food while ignoring the blond.

Matt rolled his eyes. Mello may irritate him from time to time but he was still his friend, whether Mello acted like it or not. He should know he wouldn't forget him.

With a small shake of his head he headed back into the kitchen and grabbed the last plate, after he'd placed the dirty pan and bacon dish into the sink, and quietly walked back out into the main room, where Near had started to nibble on the end of his sandwich.

He stopped just behind Mello and leaned over the couch to place the plate in his lap and smirked at the slight jump he was given in response. He walked away as Mello had started to look up at him.

He schooled his expression into its normal blank one and set in on his own food. Out of the corner of his eyes he thought he saw Mello smile as he picked up his food. Things would always be that way between them, he decided.

A series of awkward fights and just as awkward half apologies. But Matt was alright with it, for the most part.

They ate in silence and Matt was the last to finish as he got distracted by random amusing news articles online. Neither Near or Mello had their paper plates so he figured Mello must have gotten them when he'd finished.

He tossed his paper dish and eyed the sink with slight surprise before a small grin curled his lips. Mello had done the dishes for him. He wasn't about to complain.

He grinned at Mello as he sat down and Mello shrugged a shoulder before he returned his attention to the television which was amusedly playing some mafia drama, that Mello rolled his eyes and made rude comments about every five seconds.

Really, the TV shows were nothing like what Matt had seen of the real thing.

He settled down, simply browsing the web, for a short while, just long enough to entertain himself, somewhat, before he had to place his clothes in the dryer. Once that was done he could forget about his clothes until later. Assuming they had dried completely...

Matt was completely bored by that time and decided to look for new games online, mainly something he could shoot in; he blamed what Mello was watching for that sudden urge.

He had no idea how long he searched before he found something suitable, and downloaded it.

He placed his headphones on low and started the game. The graphics weren't bad, not at all. And then he was lost in a world of darkness, guns and blood.

A while later a shrill ring snapped Matt out of his daze and he pulled his headphones from his ears. Matt watched, his eyes straining as they stared at the blond though his head had stayed in the same down position at the computer, as Mello answered his phone with a scowl. His conversation was too low for him to hear from were he was, though he had no doubt that Near was able to hear it perfectly.

Mello growled something into the speaker before snapping it shut and heaving himself off the couch, his leather creaking slightly from the quick and forceful movement. He whirled into his bedroom at a brusque pace while Matt caught bits and pieces of his angry muttering. Something about 'the fucking idiots that work for me' though it had been in the form of several different languages, two of which he did not speak fluently, so he may have gotten it wrong.

At around five-thirty, nearly two minutes after the call, Mello was decked out in his usual attire and after grabbing his keys had stormed out of the apartment with a slam of the door. Matt sighed, it was definitely work related then.

He had to smirk a little in amusement though, as Near immediately moved into the middle of the couch to partially take up the space Mello had vacated; mainly so that he was able to stretch his leg out further to his side to ease the discomfort of sitting on such a lumpy and uneven surface.

He had always wondered why Near never used any of the Mafiya's connections to see if something could be done about his hip, though at Wammys they'd had the best of everything so it was possible there was nothing that could be done about it.

Matt let his focus drift back to his game and was lost in a battle of zombie killing before, not even a half hour later, his phone went off and fell off the counter from the movements and onto his lap. He nearly yelped at the sudden almost pleasant feelings the vibrations had caused.

He immediately removed the offending phone off his lap and looked at Near, who had glanced over, with a grin. "Mello is making me vibrate." to which Near sighed softly and tilted his head to the side. Matt felt it was a victory.

"Hello?" he asked blandly, as he already knew who it was, and knew it would most likely irritate him.

"Matt, I need you to bring me some things, I left them on my bed. Meet me around the corner from the base." Mello told him before he hung up. He didn't even wait long enough to see if he would be able to come, or would even want to.

Though he supposed it wasn't as though Mello would be able to come all the way back if he was in the middle of something, and Near couldn't drive.. Matt sighed heavily and exited his game.

On the upside, it gave him an excuse to go to the store while he was out. Hello new energy drinks.

He shuffled into Mello's bedroom and rose an eyebrow at the tornado like destruction that had been inflicted upon it. Something big must have happened if Mello had left his room in that state.

The only oddity was the neat stack of papers that were paper-clipped together that sat innocuously untouched on the blond's bed. Those were it then. Matt grabbed them and after shoving his vest and shoes on, and calling out to Near that Mello needed some shit he had forgotten, left the apartment.

He dumped the packet unceremoniously into the passenger seat of his car and lazily drove toward the base. If he remembered correctly it would take about forty minutes to get there, which meant that Mello had realized he had forgotten them before he had even gotten there.

The drive was boring, nothing much scenery wise, and he found his attention drifting to every little thing until he neared the base. He instantly spotted the shock of blond hair against the darkening sky, that and the motorbike that Mello was leaning against.

He rolled to a stop a few feet away and snatched the papers as he got out of the car. Mello greeted him with an irritated smirk, though he doubted that the irritation was directed at himself.

"You should get out more; you're starting to look as pale as Near." Mello told him as his smirk faded into a smile. Matt raised an eyebrow, he doubted anyone could be as pale as Near.

"You should smile more, it makes you look younger." he told the blond though his cheeks heated up. He hadn't meant to actually say that… Mello's eyes had widened with a small amount of surprise and Matt knew it was time to leave.

"See you when you get back Mello." he called over his shoulder and slid back into the drivers seat. He roared the engine and didn't spare another glance at Mello as he drove off.

He shook his head. Honestly what the hell had caused him to say that. It was true, but he didn't generally tell Mello those things.

His vest pocket vibrated and he pulled it out to see that he had a new text message.

'Don't fucking get yourself killed while speeding. Or pulled over! Thanks for the paperwork... see you later.' Matt grinned. Thanks for the paperwork? Sure Mello, whatever you say, he thought.

As he turned his music up louder he stepped on the gas he thought that, perhaps the day hadn't turned out quite that bad.

-End Hack-

AN: And yes i realize Mello said thank you twice. But the first time (and though i can't explain it as it's not mello's perspective) he hadn't meant for Matt to hear him. :)