Choices

AN: You will hate me for this.... you really will...buwahahah! :)

And thank you to Amaya-Ai who made my day. I updated this for you.

Suggested listening: Mosh N' Church by The Used; Suicide on My Mind by Angtoria (no worries, song has nothing to do with the chapter.)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Almost

It was two days later, close to becoming three, and there was still no sign of the chocolate L said he would get. Though Matt was neither annoyed nor concerned that L had forgotten. L probably had to take extra precautions when he shipped things to the new Wammys location now that Kira was out for blood.

Matt did hope it got there soon, as Mello seemed more irritable every day that passed as he ate less and less chocolate; he always frowned in displeasure at the generic brand of chocolate.

Matt sighed a little and rolled to the side of his bed and his eyes flickered to the closed bathroom door. Mello was in there, and had been, for the better part of an hour. Just for a shower.

Matt hardly took ten minutes when he was in there.

Had they been living in an apartment he was sure Mello would have used up all of the hot water. Matt was thankfully spared any cold showers, unless he chose to take one.

The only reason Matt had known how long the blonde had been in there, was he'd gotten back from the infirmary just as Mello had gone in.

Matt had finally tired of doing absolutely nothing all day long, and gone to the doctor to request he be placed back into classes. The doctor had made him do a few stupid tests to see if he was physically and mentally 'up for the task'.

Matt rolled his eyes. He was probably smarter than the man in most areas and yet the doctor didn’t trust Matt with knowing his own body. Though Matt figured that the man had probably treated many who had overestimated their own prowess.

But Matt had passed all of the tests and was allowed back into classes as of the next day. Though he'd still been told to take it easy, and the doctor had still pushed for the aquatic therapy. But Matt had told him flat out, as he'd finally decided, that he'd rather not do that.

The doctor had seemed disappointed and Matt got the feeling that the man would either go above him and pester L about it, or continue to ignore his protests and push the therapy along.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. He wished he could remember why he disliked water. Or at least water outside of taking showers. He knew that if he could supply a valid reason the doctor would back off, but Matt was stuck for the moment.

He heard the shower turn off but ignored it in favor of the PSP he'd abandoned on his nightstand. The game had just reached the start screen when Mello walked from the bathroom, shirtless.

The blonde had taken to towel drying his hair so his face was covered and he didn't spot Matt in the room. Otherwise Matt was sure Mello would have covered his scars. As Mello turned to toss the towel, directly from his head, into his laundry pile, Matt was able to see the full expanse of the blonde’s burns.

They jutted out from under the yellow hair and down the left side of his back and shoulder only to stop by his left hip. Matt wondered just how far they ran down the front.

Mello froze the second he spotted Matt in the room, his muscles tense. Mello walked stiffly to his dresser and pulled out a small jar, a cream of some kind from what Matt had seen, and sat on the edge of his bed, still unwilling to make further eye contact.

From what Matt had gathered, Mello's scars were a source of pain, beyond the physical, for the blonde.

And Matt could certainly understand why, as he finally saw the extent of damage. However, Matt didn't think they really took anything away from Mello, rather they added something to him... something dangerous.

Though he doubted Mello would have believed him had he told him.

He looked up at the sound of a swear and saw Mello struggle to get the cream onto his back. The scars were still inflamed and Mello winced as the skin stretched due to his actions. Wounds like his would take a long time to fully heal.

Matt stood up, pulled his gloves off, and took the small jar from Mello's hand which startled the blonde in the process.

“Just let me help, ok?” Matt wasn't sure what to make of Mello's silence, so he took the initiative and scooped up a liberal amount of the colorless goo and smeared it across Mello's back before he began to rub it onto the wounds in a soft, circular motion.

Mello had tensed up initially but as Matt had worked more of the stuff onto the reddened flesh, his shoulders had slumped and Matt smirked at the small sigh that the blonde released. Matt really had no idea why he'd suddenly decided to do that...

But it seemed it had been the correct decision.

Mello flinched when his hands had gone lower to cover the area above his hip, which stretched across his side to a small portion in front. Mello, whose eyes had previously been closed, opened them the second the cream touched his neck and shoulders.

He noted how Mello's face was slightly flushed and wondered if Mello was embarrassed by this.

Matt felt the shiver as his thumb brushed against the sensitive skin of Mello's neck and he couldn't help but trail his fingers up the blondes jaw line. Mello's blue eyes watched him intently and Matt felt himself lean foreword, though Mello appeared to do the same.

He had no idea what he was doing...

His fingers rested against Mello's cheek and his heart raced.

He really should stop...

Their lips were so close that Matt could almost feel Mello's breaths. Three loud knocks on the door startled them apart and Matt nearly dropped the jar of cream. He sucked in a breath and was thankful he'd been stopped before he'd done something stupid.

Mello's expression was that of shock and Matt cringed.

He set the jar down and opened the door. Roger stood there, with a rather irritated scowl on his face, that deepened as he looked passed Matt, to what the redhead could only assume was Mello.

Who was probably still shirtless.

“L has requested your presence. I will show you how to get to his room.” Roger told him. Matt took a small glance back at Mello, but the blonde had looked away and had started to rub some of the cream onto his face. It was going to be very awkward, for Matt at the very least, when he got back.

He really hoped the chocolate had come in...

Matt nodded to Roger, just so the man would stop with the suspicious glances at Mello, and shut the door behind him.

“You don't need to escort me, I know the way.” Matt muttered, and he touched his cheek to find the flesh heated. Damn. Mello really messed with his mind...

“That's fine by me as I have plenty more to do.” Roger didn't so much as give him a backwards glance as he walked off down the hall. Seriously, that guy really needed to get over whatever issues he had with him. But Matt supposed so long as he wasn't placed in any danger because of it, he shouldn't care.

It was Roger's job on the line not his.

As soon as Roger was out of sight Matt made a detour and a beeline for the main doors. He seriously needed a cigarette and L could wait a few extra minutes. Matt needed to calm down before anything else happened.

He lit up the second he was outside, in the fresh and clean smelling air, and sucked in a breath of the poison he was addicted to. He left the stick at the corner of his mouth and leaned against the railing.

It was definitely Mello he was in love with.

It couldn't be anything else, not with the reactions he’d had. Half of him was glad he'd pulled away when he had, and the other half was yelling at him for not having kissed the blonde. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed; ash flicked off the end of the cigarette and fell into the shrubs below.

Honestly, he had the feeling he'd just not wanted to admit to being in love with his friend. He smiled a little; he'd probably had quite a shock the first time around. But Matt was rather calm this time, he attributed it to the fact that he'd already known he was in love with someone, just not the who.

And Mello... well it shouldn't have been a surprise. Everyone he’d talked to was under the impression that Matt either played his games or was with Mello. So Matt supposed the only logical conclusion should have been that it was Mello.

But if one considered everything else that went on around him since he’d woken up, it was understandable that he would miss something such as that. But really, Matt was just making an excuse for being dense.

The only real question was... should he do something about it?

Mello had kind of had that deer-in-headlights expression and Matt knew that wasn’t exactly a great response to someone having almost kissed you, though Matt could have sworn Mello had leaned in too...

He took another large drag and sighed, the smoke trailed out through his nostrils and for moments afterwards all he could smell was the smoke.

He would leave everything as it was… for a few more days at the least.

He stubbed out what remained of the cigarette and closed the doors gently behind him. He wasn't sure if Roger still lurked somewhere around there, but he'd rather not chance it.

Matt made his way to L's room as quick as he could. Not because he felt there was anything important L had to tell him. In fact he highly doubted that. He just wanted to put as much distance between himself and Mello as he could at the moment.

He knocked once on the door in front of him and entered.

L was seated on the couch that time, rather than his chair, though he was still in his odd hunched state.

“It seems I was correct to assume you would smoke first.” L pressed a lollipop to his mouth and after what seemed a moment of thought, stuck it into his mouth.

Matt had the feeling that L wouldn't care what he did so long as he held his attention, so he sat in L's normal spot and he thought that he saw amusement flicker in those owlish orbs for a second.

“First I suppose I should inform you that Mello's chocolate has come in, it's on the table over there.” L pointed to a table to the right of him and Matt nearly groaned at the sight of the huge box. It was going to suck having to lug that all the way to the room.

Well, that would be his workout for the day.

“I have also called you here for another reason.” L stood from his crouch and picked up the laptop that had been beside him as though it were diseased. He placed it before Matt, who looked at the detective in question.

“Can you tell me, exactly, what is wrong with this system?” L sounded curious rather than angry or annoyed, or even worried, so Matt figured it wasn't much of an actual issue.

The screen was filled with many files, some of theme with strange names such as 'Decorations' and another with 'Successors'. He clicked on a random one and watched as everything in the file was instantly corrupted and made unreadable, and after trying various normal ways of restoring the data, concluded that there was a virus implanted into the system, and told L as much.

L had probably already known that, but it had Matt curious. It all seemed.... familiar to him.

He closed his eyes and when he opened them his fingers began to fly across the keys at lightning speed and his thoughts were all on the code that scrolled just under the surface of the system.

After a few moments he knew why it seemed so familiar.

He pulled his goggles down and stared at the ever changing line of numbers and symbols. “This is mine.” he told L as he looked up. L seemed didn't seem surprised.

“Do you know what system this is?” L had placed his thumb by his mouth, though he still held the lollipop in his mouth.

Did he know that system? Should he?

He took a few more minutes to look it over but nothing came to mind. It was his work, the virus, but he didn't know the system. Though he should, by all rights, know what it was as he'd obviously been into it before.

“No.”

“It's Wammys main systems. I believe it was rather easy for you to hack into it despite the effort put into the firewalls.”

Wammys?!

“Why would I....?” Matt started to mumble before he cut himself off, though the question still hung in the air.

“A day or so ago, there was an attempt to hack into the system. It succeeded.”

Matt looked alarmed, though he didn't know if there was anything of actual value on there.

“However, a rather peculiar thing happened as I attempted to shut them out...” L trailed off and Matt felt sure it was mainly for effect, and damn L as it worked. He wanted to know-

“Every file they opened was instantaneously corrupted and rendered useless. I believe you specifically placed safeguards in the system after you hacked into it. Though the fact that is that it shouldn't have been so easy to hack into for anyone.”

He had hacked into Wammys? For what? Had it been part of his job for Kira? Had he given away any vital information? Why hadn't he been told this? Unless L hadn't known about it yet....

“I am rather good with computers, however it seems I pale in comparison where you are concerned. If you would, I would like for you to redesign all the security for Wammys. You would of course be given your own laptop.”

Matt was... well he was rather overwhelmed. L had just said his own skills with computers were no match for Matt's. Matt, from what he'd been told, had never wanted to be L even if he hadn't been working for Kira.

But still, to have the famed detective say that...

“Sure. I don't have any of my programs so I’m not sure how long it will take for me to recreate some of them-” Matt paused mid sentence as L held out something to him.

Matt took it form the detective and inspected it. It was a flash drive. His eyes widened. That was his!

“You had this on your person when they found you and Mello after the building collapsed. I assume that this is at least part of what you had needed.” L's lips held just the tiniest amount of quirk to them, and Matt knew he was amused.

“Well damn.” was all he could think to say. He hadn't thought much about hacking or doing anything of the like, as he hadn't had a computer before, but to know that his main programs had survived...

“I had Watari place the computer in a book bag to make it easier for you to bring back to your room.” L moved back to his previous position on the couch and Matt assumed that was all to their little meeting.

“I have also added a few instructions, in a file, onto the flash drive as I am not certain how much you remember, or will instinctively know, about Wammys systems.” Matt nodded to the detective, a huge grin stretched his lips.

It was nice that the detective trusted him enough to give him a laptop and such a task to go with it. It would also, hopefully, ease his boredom.

Matt slung the book bag over his shoulder, the weight momentarily disrupted his balance, and picked up the box of chocolate. It was heavier than it had looked....

He managed to kick the door shut on his way out and though he was sure his arms would be weak after that, he smiled. Perhaps things would get better, if this were anything to go by?

Instead of heading back to their room Matt decided to go to the library and work for a bit before he actually went to face Mello. The more time Mello had to cool off the better. Because Matt knew from the blondes expression that there would have been something going on.

Matt also knew he would need to be back before dinner, so he wouldn't have too long to work at the moment. The library, as per usual, was silent and void of people when he stumbled inside.

He looked longingly at the stairs and sighed as he headed into the maze of book shelves that made up the bottom floor. He settled himself in the furthest corner away from the entrance and set the chocolates, propped up on end, against one of the shelves.

He seated himself on the floor and pulled the laptop onto his lap.

He would have preferred the second floor, but he had enough trouble with stairs on a normal basis at the moment, and having to lug that heavy ass box and the laptop not only up but down the stairs, would have been suicidal.

And he knew that if Mello ever decided to look for him, he would probably go to the second floor. Though Matt doubted he would look....

He booted up the laptop and stuck the flash drive into the USB port on the side and waited until the prompt came up before he opened the drive. He easily found the folder that L had left for him.

And while he normally would have liked to see how far he could get with his own memory, he didn't want to try and rewire the system with a migraine. That would be like a drunk person attempting to do trigonometry.

Neither would end in good results.

And L would expect his best. And Matt would give that to him.

He read over the entire file, which had helped, before he started up a few of his homemade programs for the job. It would take a few days, as he needed to make sure anyone else would have a hard time getting through the firewalls, but it wouldn't be too difficult.

He knew he had to make modifications to his own programs, as Kira would know, at least in some small way, how to get through them.

After an undetermined amount of time he glanced at the computers clock and swore. He froze the system and paused all his programs; he would be late if he didn't leave soon. Very soon.

He packed the laptop away, having it on standby, and hauled the chocolates back into his arms and staggered back out of the library. None of the children had flooded the hallways for food just yet, but Matt could hear them beginning to stir as their mutterings got louder.

He managed to get the door open, by some miracle, and winced as it flung open and smacked against the wall. Mello jumped at the sound and his eyes swiveled across Matt slowly, though his expression was somewhat unreadable.

Though Matt did catch the suspicion.

“I got chocolate for you.” he told Mello quietly and dropped the box onto the blondes bed, and watched in mild amusement as the bed groaned under the weight. Really, Matt had only asked L for a box a week. Not fifteen boxes a week.

He pulled the laptop from the book bag and placed it carefully on his desk. “Who gave you that?”

“L did. Someone broke into Wammys System, and L wants me to redesign the system so it can't happen again.” Matt commented slowly, though he realized he left out the part about nothing having been stolen.

“What!? Was it Kira? Did anything important-”

“Mello calm down before you hurt yourself, or me.” Matt muttered the last part so softly that Mello shouldn't have been able to hear him. “Apparently before everything turned to shit I had placed safeguards on the system so that if it was ever hacked, whatever files were opened would be automatically corrupted. They can take the data, but they can't use it.”

Mello looked a little surprised. “So you-”

“I don't remember doing it.” Matt said with a small smile. “Oh.” was Mello's only reply, and Matt didn't bother to converse with him anymore. He was lucky Mello wasn't even more distracted than he already seemed.

Mello finally seemed to notice the chocolate or perhaps, due to his reluctant motions, believed it were the same stuff Roger got him. So Matt found it rather... cute?... when Mello's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly at the brand that stared up at him from inside the box.

“Matt did you....?” Mello trailed off though Matt knew exactly what Mello had asked.

“I only remembered the brand name, nothing else. And even that had not been a pleasant experience.” Matt wasn't, obviously, about to tell him how he had gotten the memory, but from Mello's sudden glare, he hadn't needed to.

Though Matt was grateful that Mello hadn't said anything on it.

“How the hell did you get Roger to allow this?” Mello asked instead, his shoulders were slightly less tense and that in return had Matt more relaxed.

“I didn't ask Roger. I asked L.” Matt smirked at Mello's raised eyebrows, but was relieved that everything, for the moment at least, was ok.

-End Almost-

AN: Buwhahahah! I bet you all hate me, right? Hehehe. But now you know why this chapter was called 'Almost' ^-^