The Mello Code

Even Matt was shocked at the amount of money that Mello had just offered. The optician himself was staring down at the counter in front of him, eyes on stalks and knuckles white as he gripped the edge. Mello himself was uncharacteristically cavaliar about the whole scene. He had walked through the door, as if he owned the place, two minutes ago. He had immediately nodded a smiling half-bow at the woman behind the counter and said, "Will you go and fetch the proprietor please?" Matt had watched her just flee and wondered at it. Mostly he wondered if this establishment had ever been on the Mafia protection list, because nothing else explained how easily she left her post for the asking. She had returned with a older woman in the same uniform, who had proceded to tell Mello that the proprietor was a very busy man. For all of her professionalism, she really wasn\'t paid enough to deal with Mello. The optician himself had appeared very quickly on. He had quoted £60 and four days wait. He was now looking at £6000 in cash and a pair of broken goggles. "An hour." Mello stated firmly, fixing his stare upon the hapless man. "An hour is my final offer."



The optician emerged slowly from some inner daze. With some effort, he prised his own fingers from the counter and picked up the goggles. "In orange?"



"Yes."



He sucked his teeth several times, but his voice was still hoarse. "The technician is preparing to go home. It is five o\'clock. I\'ll speak with her." He turned to walk through a door into the private rooms beyond. Mello immediately followed, despite the half-gasped protest of the older woman. Mello merely smiled and she backed off. Matt shrugged and trailed after his husband. There was something horribly compelling about witnessing the Slav at work intimidating people. They entered a corridor, lined with doors, and it was only as the optician turned to enter one that he realised that he had company. "I\'m sorry, Sir, this is out of bounds to the public."



"I know." Mello beamed, then swept past him into the workshop. A young woman was in there, unfolding a collapsible bicycle, already dressed to be riding it out. "Hello, ma\'am." Mello strode across, extending his hand. She cast a startled glance back at her boss, who was cowering with incomprehension. Matt watched him more than her. He was a fascinating example of what happened to the English psyche when all rules of etiquette were breached. The woman was already owned, as far as Matt was concerned, somewhere between her boss and Mello, she could be taking her bicycle helmet off and re-opening her workbench. Mello had already slid smoothly into flirting mode. "I\'m so sorry to trouble you, especially as I can see that you are anxious to be home. Only it is imperative that we have these goggles within the next hour. I\'m sure that I can make it worth your while."



She tore her gaze away from the leather and the smile to look at the optician. "Barry?"



The optician spluttered into coherent speech, "I would consider it a personal favour, Marie."



"As would I." Mello interjected, everything about him radiating out the fact that this was a very good thing. "Marie."



The technician made a last ditch attempt at escape. "I\'m supposed to be meeting Julian. We\'ve having a meal and going to the cinema."



Mello nodded, "Marie, how would Julian feel about you being just a little bit late, but ready to take him out to the Chesil Rectory?" His hand dipped into his inner pocket again and emerged with a folded wad of cash. He counted off £110. "That should cover your meals. Of course, you will want wine." He added another £30. "I thoroughly recommend the chocolate fondant. It is to die for." He slapped the money onto her workbench. "Do we have a deal, Marie?"



"I can\'t take your money." She gushed, breathlessly shocked.



"We haven\'t even got the prescription required." Barry rallied. "Have you got the prescription?"



Mello turned. "Matt, go with Barry and have your eyes tested, while Marie talks me through the fascinating equipment in this room." He ran a finger along a lazer cutter. "Do you make all of your own spectacles, Marie?"



Matt checked the time on his mobile phone, as they left the shop. An hour and twenty minutes, but the goggles were back on his face. He didn\'t dare look at Mello until they were well clear of the doorway and halfway down the High Street. When he did, he had expected a smug smirk and so was surprised to see Mello deep in thought beside him. "That was," Matt struggled for the words, "an experience." Now Mello smiled, his gaze sliding sidewards to view his husband. "You seriously weren\'t going to leave without these fixed were you?"



"No."



"Thank you." Matt took a drag on his cigarette. "I wonder what they made of us."



"Who cares?" Mello stopped suddenly and surveyed a menu displayed on a noticeboard beside him. "Are you hungry?"



"I could eat, yeah."



Mello scowled. "I hate it when they do that!" His finger jabbed the perspex over the words, \'Finish your meal with a choice from our delicious dessert menu\'. "How the fuck are you supposed to know if you want to eat here, if you can\'t see the dessert menu?"



A female voice called from further along the road. "Mello! Mello!" They turned together to find Lauren running towards them, Fair Trade reuseable shopping bags dancing in her hands. "Mello! What are you doing in Winchester? Hi Matt."



"Hi." Matt muttered, aware that he was superflicious to this encounter.



Mello grinned. "Lauren! How you doing?" He stepped forward into a hug as soon as she was close enough to receive it. "Sorry, I should have popped in to see you while I was at Wammy\'s."



"It\'s ok." She smiled back, blushing slightly. "What brings you to Winchester?"



"Business." Mello winked. "And you\'re shopping?"



She nodded. "I\'ve give myself a couple of hours off from studying. I was getting to the point where I wasn\'t taking anything in." She dropped her bags and extracted a tissue to blow her crimson nose. "How have you been doing? You\'re looking well."



Mello nodded carefully. "I\'m doing really well. Really well." He took a long, appraising look at her. "You\'re eighteen soon, aren\'t you? What are you doing then?"



Lauren straightened a little and Matt recalled the feeling very well. Roger had told him that he had a home at Wammy\'s for as long as he needed one. That was the party line, but the reality was that each of them knew that, if they had been in state orphanages, they would have been kicked out at eighteen. The Watari Network provided each of them with enough funds to set up their own home, which they received at eighteen regardless of whether they actually left, but with the proviso that there would not be another sum forthcoming in the future. With a childhood of hard work and exams behind them and a lot of money in their grasp, Matt doubted that any orphan there hadn\'t bolted for the door at eighteen to grab the nearest accommodation that allowed them to laze around. Nontheless, it had been a daunting prospect to step out from the sheltered, enclosed world of Wammy\'s House into the unknown outside. "I\'ve been trying to look around for a place. I\'m thinking of becoming a linguist." She waved her hand, a vague gesture, which both men read as her thinking about it all more than actually doing anything about the arrangements. "Or a detective."



"Oh good." Mello smirked. "I was hoping that the latter would be in there somewhere. How would you like to work for me?"



"What?" Lauren and Matt said together, though the latter immediately looked at the pavement. Lauren continued on alone. "Doing what?"



"I\'m making a name for myself. I need a good team around me. I\'ve been highly impressed every time I\'ve seen you out in the field. I think you would be a great addition to our team." He inclined his head. "Think about it. Carry on with what you\'re doing, complete your finals, look at your options. But I wanted to get that one in before anyone else snaps you up."



"Oh my God!" Lauren shrieked. "I would love to!"



Mello smiled. "Think about it first. You have plenty of time. When are you eighteen?"



"January."



Mello blinked. "This January coming?"



"Yes."



"Right." He smiled, his gaze just a touch too studied in its calmness. "Then I leapt in just in time. Were you planning on leaving in January?"



Lauren looked uncertain. "I was planning to get Christmas and New Year out of the way, then worry about it."



"Good plan." Mello patted her arm. "Have you had many other offers?"



Lauren shrugged. "Hal hinted that Near might be interested in my capabilities, but nothing firm yet."



Matt narrowed his eyes at Mello, but the blond pointedly didn\'t look at him. "Really? Well, Near has certainly got a higher profile than I could offer you." Mello licked his chocolate, then glanced at her and smiled. "It\'s totally up to you, of course."



Lauren blew her nose. "I don\'t know Near. I was in a car once when he was speaking over a laptop." Her eyes widened barely perceptibly as she remembered the circumstances. "But we don\'t need to go into that. Suffice to say that I don\'t know him." She met Mello\'s eyes with a look which was clearly designed to communicate \'but I know you\'. "I can\'t think how he would know me either, other than how I appear on paper. My grades."



"Of course he doesn\'t." Mello smiled. "If he knew you then he wouldn\'t have dragged his feet over offering you a position. Tell you what, Lauren, how about Matt and I help you find somewhere to live as well? So you aren\'t distracted from your finals. We could do that for you."



Gratitude flooded into her eyes. It was quickly disguised beneath a layer of neutrality. "That would be very kind. I am capable of finding something for myself..."



"I didn\'t say you weren\'t." Mello winked. "But friend to friend, I want to find somewhere for you. Call it a quirk of mine, but I enjoy house-hunting and so does Matt."



Behind Lauren, Matt turned away and lit a cigarette. He waited, while the couple exchanged more words, but he wasn\'t really listening anymore. Mostly, Matt was considering how precisely to kill Mello. He figured that his husband might be too fast to submit to a bullet in the head, but maybe might fall for eating chocolate laced with arsenic. Mello appeared to get the hint, because the banter which emerged was obviously Mello saying his goodbyes to the teenager. Matt turned back in time for Mello to push his arm beneath Matt\'s and to propel them away, still engaged in a string of \'think about it\' and \'e-mail me\' comments. Matt waited until she was a considerable distance behind them before fixing his gaze on his husband. "Why are we hiring people?"



"She\'s a clever woman. Keeps her head in a crisis and very intuitive. I like that."



"That\'s not what I asked." Matt hissed. "Why are we hiring people?"



"It\'s called initiative, Matt. We can use her."



"You already knew that Near was going to offer her a job."



"Maybe." Mello smiled over his chocolate. "Hal might have mentioned it."



Matt glared at him. "You don\'t even know what I\'ve been up to! I wasn\'t sitting playing games earlier, because you decided to have a panic attack. Didn\'t you wonder why I was at my computer?"



Mello frowned. "Was it unusual that you were at a computer?" He squeezed Matt\'s arm. "I\'m not looking to replace you."



"Well, good, because you..." Matt sank into silence, realising that he did sound like a jealous prima donna. "Fuck! I\'m turning into you."



"Huh?" Mello glanced at him and sighed. "Ok, I\'ll speak my lines. What were you doing at the computer, Matt?"



Matt flicked ash onto the pavement. "I was going back through the records of the Watari Network, picking out all the bits that Hal or Roger had done to support the cases being solved. I was looking to see how well I could reproduce that, with our resources and money. I was seeing how well I could be your Watari."



Mello smiled. "Matt, you\'ve been my Watari for years. You just react to any requests as quickly and efficiently as possible, so you can get back to your games, so you probably haven\'t viewed it as such. That\'s what happens when the support is a genius himself."



Matt stared at him, trying to work out how he felt about that statement. "Right."



"But thank you anyway. It\'s really touching that you\'re consciously doing it now."



"So why do we need Lauren?" Matt pointed with his cigarette back along the street that they were walking down. "And don\'t give me any crap about how brilliantly qualified she is. That\'s taken as read. She\'s a Wammy\'s kid."



"Because if we don\'t, then either Near will take her or she will set up in competition to us. Besides, haven\'t we just discussed how useful it is having a genius detective as your support?" The carpark was looming ahead, so Mello turned to glance at the last restaurant before the road. "I\'m fucking starving."



"Aren\'t we supposed to have some cases before we take on people to solve them?" Matt whispered.



Mello stiffened, staring intently at the displayed menu. "They will come. I have faith."



Matt sighed. "Maybe, but..."



"I have faith, Matt." Mello growled with a note of finality. "They will come."