End Transmission

Suggested Listening: Angel on my Shoulder by Kaskade (original mix); Midnight Heartache by September; Into the Night by Chad Kroger and Santana

Chapter Twenty: Home

Mello sat on the edge of the bed and watched Matt's chest move up and down as his soft breaths filled the silence of the room. He knew Matt would be alright, but he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of him no matter how much the doctor had assured him.

He took in the bandages that were wrapped around Matt's otherwise naked chest, and the ones that went around his head as well as the brace on his wrist and could imagine the stitches he had on his leg, though the sweatpants were in the way. And all the bruises that the darkness of the room hid, lit only by the open curtain filtering in moonlight, and couldn't help but be thankful it wasn't worse.

Mello sighed softly and carefully removed himself from the bed, not wanting to jar the sleeping redhead. It was better that he sleep as much as he could especially as he would be in pain when he woke. And probably a little disoriented because of his concussion...

Mello pulled the blankets over the redhead before he forced himself from the room. He couldn't just stay there despite how much he wanted too. He had a few things to tie up before he could lie down and rest.

The only thing he had done thus far was briefly call Near to tell him Matt was relatively alright. He didn't know what, if anything, Kain had found out so far. He didn't know where Sasha was, and he certainly didn't know if that damn doctor had been silenced yet.

It was rather regrettable to have to kill the man, but Mello didn't want anymore people knowing who Matt was or what he looked like than already did. The less information that was in circulation the better.

He shut the door behind him and didn't have to go far to get back to his men as he had taken Matt to the base. As much as it was a risk for others of seeing him, taking him back to their apartment and having him treated there was worse. No one knew where they lived and he wanted to keep it that way, though he would need to make sure there was more security now...

He walked in to Yuriy talking softly to Kain and the moment he was noticed there was an awkward silence. His eyes narrowed suspiciously but Yuriy merely sighed. Mello noticed the tension in the mans shoulders and the way his face seemed to have ages a few years. Then again, lack of sleep and the rush of the last few hours would have done it too.

Kain stayed where he was silently seated in the corner of the room, the main room of Mello's private quarters at the base, while Yuriy walked up to him. "I've got news on Sasha. He was run off the road and shot four times in the chest."

Mello's eyes rose upwards. He honestly hadn't expected that. He felt a small flicker of remorse, as he had helped save Matt, but it went no further than that. He had been loyal, but his life was not worth more than Matt's, and the other two seemed to realize that as well.

Mello didn't like death, if it was avoidable, but he was beyond the part of caring for everyone who was killed by him or someone else. He would have gone insane otherwise...

"Thank you for your help." he stated simply and Yuriy looked startled, too surprised to do anything other than nod. He wasn't one to praise his men, or thank them or really be nice to them. Not if he wanted to keep control over them. But for Yuriy and Kain he would make an exception.

If only for this once.

"I assume none of the abductors have been found?" he drawled and took a bite of chocolate, a bar he had hidden in his pocket from earlier when he had watched the doctor clean Matt up, had seen the damage done..

"Correct. They may have made some rather critical mistakes before but either they are being directed by an outside party now or they have been gotten rid of by other means." and Mello didn't need clarification on that either. It was entirely possible that L had them all killed for their failure.

Mello knew he would have.

He frowned at that. He didn't want to compare himself to that monster, and did not want to be similar in any way to the man who had started all of this. "Go get some rest. I'll be here if those idiots need anything." Mello muttered to two of them, referring to the rest of the Mafiya.

He turned from them and headed back into the room where Matt was. There was nothing left to do out there for now, nothing that was required of him at any rate. He pulled out his phone and texted Near the list of injuries Matt had sustained, nothing too bad all things considered, though there had been some concerning marks on his lower body.., before he turned it off. If someone needed him they would simply have to come and get him.

He tugged off his boots and crawled carefully onto the bed, as to not jar Matt's bruised ribs, and laid down on his side next to him. He breathed in a deep sigh and closed his eyes. He was so damn tired... and it couldn't hurt to rest for a little bit...

.

Mello woke up the moment the bed moved. It hadn't been a large movement, but having been so absolutely still for so long the small amount of movement was like an earthquake to him. Matt's eyes were squinted and a little unfocused as he blinked rapidly in the sunlit room. It was probably somewhere around mid-morning or afternoon going from the amount of light inside.

His groggy expression was different from the sleepy grin he had given Mello when he'd found him, but Mello supposed it was simply his bodies reaction to getting some actual stress free and unforced rest rather than the shutdown it had been forced into before.

Matt patted gently next to him, and Mello realized he probably wanted his goggles. With a sigh Mello made to get up only to have Matt attempt at sitting. "Fuck!" Matt moaned and clutched at his side in agony from the strain. He rolled his eyes as Matt attempted to curl into himself, probably about to do more harm than good with the action.

"You should have known better than that Matt.." he told the redhead softly, drawing attention to himself, not that he minded after the smile he received, even though it was a little unsure. Mello felt a little awkward himself, not quite sure what to do with himself and eventually settled on gently forcing Matt to lie back rather that stay curled up.

"You have bruised ribs, now lie still." he told the redhead; his tone firm and for once Matt seemed perfectly content to listen. He reached over Matt's body and grabbed, the now clean, goggles from the nightstand before carefully placing them on the redhead, mindful of the bandages there.

"Thanks..." Matt mumbled as his fingers brushed against the sides of the redheads face. He had a rather large purple looking bruise on his cheek, already turning yellow on the edges, that looked like it had probably gotten the bone. Mello let his eyes wander across the abused flesh, glaring at the cuts and bruises that adorned the front of Matt's body, those being the only ones noticeable at the moment.

"I'm a mess right?" Matt's voice was raspy, unnoticeable before through the whisper, and he watched as Matt winced. Mello wondered if he had been struck in the throat area but it simply hadn't bruised. Or if it was an under-the-skin type. He trailed his fingers, almost not quite touching, across the flesh of Matt's neck and grinned as he only shivered. It at least wasn't painful to light touch.

"Yeah... you are. But you'll heal." Mello finally replied. Matt gave him a small grin, stopping from a larger one as his split lips stretched and pulled at the injury, and relaxed further into the bed.

"Mello... tell me I wasn't hallucinating last night when you kissed me.." Matt trailed off though his voice was serious, cautious. Mello blinked. It hadn't even occurred to him that Matt would think that way... that Matt might have had an even worse time than he had imagined for the thought he might have hallucinated to have even crossed his mind.

"You weren't." he told the redhead firmly before leaning in to place a kiss at the corner of his mouth. Matt sighed and gave him a look that said 'you missed' but Mello simply ignored it and smirked when Matt's stomach chose that moment to growl painfully. Matt frowned slightly before grudgingly looking up at Mello as innocently as he could muster.

Mello shook his head and simply grinned. "I'll go get you something. And forget the innocent look, you fail horribly at it." Matt attempted to laugh but only ended up letting out a pained whine. Matt had either not heard him earlier, or had chosen to ignore him when he had been told his ribs were bruised.

Matt placed a hand on Mello's arm to stop him, as he started to slide from the bed, and pulled him down for a kiss; Mello's heart skipped a beat in his chest at the touch of those split lips on his. It must have hurt Matt to kiss him, but the redhead didn't seem to mind as he sighed contentedly, arms coming to slowly wrap around Mello's waist.

Mello was careful not to let any of his weight lean against Matt's battered form, and though his arms ached at the odd angle they were positioned, he didn't move even after their lips had parted. Matt's breathing was slightly elevated though not as bad as the night before. It was only then that Mello noticed that Matt's bare fingertips had found the exposed portion of skin between his vest and pants and was tracing something unidentifiable onto him.

Matt looked at him sheepishly though he didn't seem to have any intention of removing them. "Did you want me to get food or simply keep you company?" Mello asked with a raised eyebrow, though he found it so incredibly odd to be completely at ease around Matt when he hadn't been really spoken much to him and Near for such a long time now...

"Why don't we just go home? It would certainly be more comfortable there. We have food there, and I know you're at least half as tired as I feel, your eyes show it, so I know you could use the rest..." Matt trailed off. And though Matt couldn't pull off being innocent, he did the kicked puppy routine rather well. Mello sighed heavily, allowing his head to bow, hair falling to tickle Matt's face.

"Fine. But I have to take care of a few small things first." Matt looked dubiously at him as he relinquished his hold on Mello, but Mello gave him a grin. He honestly wouldn't be all that long. He simply had to make sure someone knew he wouldn't be there anymore.

He opened the bedroom door and strode out into the main room only to stop at the sight of Yuriy on his laptop whilst being stretched out on the small couch. He was in a different set of clothing so Mello could only assume he had gotten at least a little rest.

"You slept for a long time, usually you can only stand five or six hours." Yuriy commented as he glanced over at him. That made Mello pause. Just how long had he been asleep for? Obviously not long enough though if he still felt tired.

"Are you up for running things for a while?" he questioned. He didn't really have time for idle talk. The situation wasn't dire, like it had been before, but he still wanted to leave, if only for Matt's sake.

"Yeah. It's not like I haven't run things here before. You can keep track from home, or wherever you are taking him." Yuriy told him with a small smirk. Mello rolled his eyes. "Just don't fuck up. My patience is running thin these days."

Yuriy snorted, obviously disbelieving him with his good mood, though Mello knew Yuriy would do his damndest not to screw anything up. Mello had to wonder if he was only letting the off day happen because of all the stress the previous few had given all of them. He supposed it really didn't matter in the end.

He gathered a few things together, important documents that had been left to pile up, and placed them in a bag to take back to the apartment. His eyes scanned the room for a second before he remembered he'd taken his boots off in the room. With nothing left to get ready he was back inside with Matt, the door closed, in less than two seconds.

"That was quick." Matt mumbled. Mello noticed that his voice was heavier, his body even more relaxed, as though he had been in the first stages of falling back asleep. It actually wouldn't have surprised him. Matt would be doing a lot of that, for the next few days at the least, as his body began to recover.

"If you want to go home then you have to be dressed, so let's get on with it." Mello watched darkly as Matt grinned slightly at his comment, though he couldn't see what had been so amusing. He simply gave up and drug out a simple black t-shirt, one of the few he kept should he sleep there as leather was not comfortable, and slid down next to Matt.

Matt didn't need to be told anything to understand what was needed and he began to move, albeit very slowly, into a seat position with Mello's help. Mello felt him shake beneath his fingertips, and noticed that the redhead seemed the slightest bit paler than before. If he didn't know that Matt honestly wanted to leave the base, he would have simply told him to suck it up and that they would be staying.

He slid the shirt over Matt's arms, feeling a surprising amount of sympathy as Matt released a groan of pain, and over his head to quickly yank it over his torso. Matt leaned against him, almost boneless, and Mello simply let him have a moment to get the pain back down. He knew how much bruised ribs could hurt. Though the wounds on his back couldn't have felt all that wonderful either.

He was glad Matt was already in pants, as he was sure that wouldn't have gone over well, and simply shoved on Matt's boots and his vest over the shirt, the latter with more small exclamations of pain; though Matt had tried to keep himself quiet.

Mello eyed the redhead carefully, taking in his attire, and decided that Matt would at least be alright for the drive home; he shoved his keys into his pocket and moved over Matt. As he lifted the redhead he was once again surprised at how light he was.

"You need to eat more..." he mumbled almost silently, and though Matt hadn't appeared to have heard him, he knew he had. Mello sighed and nodded to Yuriy, after he had kicked the bedroom door open, and grabbed the bag full of papers whilst not jerking Matt too much. He silently thanked Yuriy as the older man opened the main door for him to leave. Mello stuck to the lesser used corridors and made it out with no one seeing him, though there had been a close call.

The hard part was getting Matt situated onto the bike. "Fuck!" Matt groaned as he was jostled too much and his ribs angered. Mello settled himself behind Matt and resisted the odd urge to wrap his arm around him, and instead made Matt's back rest against his chest as he grabbed the handles and started up the machine. He felt Matt instantly tense as the vibrations ran through him. As much as Mello disliked Matt being in pain, the redhead would simply have to take it if he wanted to go.

"You're going to have to deal with this unless you want to wait until I feel comfortable leaving you on your own to come back with your car." Matt smirked, turning his gaze upwards to blatantly show it, at his admission and Mello stubbornly refused to look away despite his uncomfortableness at the admission.

It was strange to him, despite having desired Matt for so long, to actually have the chance to be so... caring towards him. It was so very intimate and awkward for him, but Mello knew that it would fade with time.

His lips tugged into a small smile at the thought. He could get used to spending more time with the redhead...

Mello made sure Matt was secured in his arms before he rolled them away from base, going at a speed that for him, was like crawling. But he didn't want to hurt Matt anymore than he already was. And even though speeding would have gotten them home quicker, it also would have irritated Matt's wounds more.

It was a lose lose situation either way, one just had less to lose.

The air was cool, stinging almost, despite the brightly lit sun that hung above them;but Mello paid it no mind as he drove onwards, Matt shivering in his arms. His fur vest was fine for inside his car, but really wasn't all that great for bike rides, not with the missing sleeves it had. Matt's body had already been through so much in the past few days and Mello hated adding to it, and hoped it wouldn't cause any further problems. The straw that broke the camels back as it were.

Matt was silent for the entire ride there, and despite his hope that the redhead had perhaps fallen asleep, he knew Matt was awake by the flinch his body gave as the engine cut off in the parking space. He maneuvered Matt back into his arms, leaving his bag with the bike for a later retrieval, and hauled him up to their shared apartment with Near.

Mello honestly wondered how Near was doing, as he hadn't been in direct contact with him other than to quickly give information, or text him. He shoved the key into the door and quickly entered the disarm-code for the alarm system as the door swung inward.

"Mello, put me on the couch." Matt practically whispered and despite not liking orders being given to him, he was a Mafiya boss, he did so instinctively for the redhead; from the way Matt's arms clung close to his body, his ribs were hurting him again. It would take a few more days before he got used to the constant ache and pains of them, and what he could and couldn't do until they had healed more.

It wasn't a serious injury, but it was painful, like that of a paper cut on ones fingertip.

He gently deposited Matt onto the couch, and despite the non-verbal protest, devised him of the vest and boots before he let him lie back against the armrest. He sighed softly at Matt's closed eyes and headed into his room. Though he didn't sleep much there, his comforter was very warm and more than large enough to drape across the couch.

He tugged it from his bed and marched back out into the main room to lay it across Matt, who looked up at him with a small smile. "You stay here and be a lazy bastard while I find something to make for lunch." he told Matt as he grabbed the television remote from the table and handed it to the redhead.

"Thanks Mello." Matt yawned around his words and it occurred to him, something completely unrelated to the current situation, that Matt probably hadn't had anything to drink for quite some time. Though if his memory served correct, and he knew it was, Matt didn't drink anything that didn't come out of a can, loaded with caffeine or was sugar filled. None of which would be good for him at the moment.

Mello was already guilty of having gotten him into the situation that created his injuries, and he simply wouldn't tolerate them getting worse while on his watch. He searched through the cabinets, glowering as he picked up a can of Matt's energy drinks; one that was of a different brand than the ones he had forced Matt to get rid of. His shoulders slumped slightly as he grudgingly picked up a bottle of water and stalked, almost silently, back into the main room and presented both drinks to the channel flipping redhead.

He dangled the energy drink in front of Matt's face and watched as goggled eyes locked onto it; it was impossible to read him with the plastic in the way, as well as the green of his eyes being obscured, but they were still clearly visible at such a close range.

"You can have this, if and only if, you drink a bottle of water with it." he told Matt as he dropped the water into view. Matt grinned at him, a little sheepishly, before simply grabbing the water, albeit the movement was slow and Mello wondered if his arm had been injured, and carefully twisted the cap off, sipping it almost greedily.

Mello's features softened ever so slightly before he gently ruffled the others hair as he placed the energy drink on the floor where the redhead could reach it should he want to; he then proceeded back into the kitchen for the promised food.

And truth be told, Mello was a little more than hungry himself.

He knew that Matt should start off with something light, since his system was odd at the moment, and he quickly settled on making soup, a hearty non-greasy vegetable one, on the stovetop.

There was more than one can in there, and Mello thought to add the other one into the pot, with a small bit of tap water to make it not as thick, as well as a bit of pepper, and set it to heat up.

It wouldn't take all that long, the pot being medium sized, so he didn't stray from the burner until the steam had risen from the food and it was almost at a near boil. On the off chance that it wasn't completely heated, he stirred it and took a small taste, and once satisfied with it, he gathered three bowls and filled them with the soup. He took out a piece of bread for Near and left it beside the smallest bowl.

Near never ate all that much, and when it came to salty things, soups included, he preferred something to cleanse the pallet along with the meal. It was odd, but Mello knew they all had their own mess of quirks so he had no room to complain.

His lips twitched into a tired smirk. He wondered if he would still be as unbothered by Near had it not been for Matt and his accidental find. But Mello doubted it. If anything, that was one good thing that had come of the L problem.

And Matt, he supposed, as he set his gaze on him as he approached with the soup, was the other. Had they still been at Wammys, and unaware of L's treachery, he knew he would have been too consumed with jealousy and competition to have ever started anything with the redhead, if he would have even realized his feelings.

Because Mello was certain that no matter how their lives had ended up, so long as Matt was by his side, he would have grown to care for him as he had. It was impossible not to.

He stopped A few feet away from the couch, when he finally noticed Near, as the albino sat on the floor by Matt's head and was speaking softly to him, so softly in fact that Mello couldn't understand what was being said. He did however notice that the whispering had stopped the moment Near noticed him there. Mello narrowed his eyes, smirk gone.

"It's ok Near, it doesn't matter if he hears you, right Mello?" Matt commented tiredly, having obviously understood the reason for Near's sudden silence. He cocked his head to the side as Matt looked up at him.

"How am I supposed to know, I have no idea what the conversation is about."

Matt flushed a little and Mello cut him some slack with the concussion he still sported. "Eat this and I'll think about giving you back your cigarettes." he motioned to the soup in his other hand. The moment he placed it on the table by Matt he stole an upside down kiss from the redhead and watched as Near simply murmured 'so that's why' rather than seeming surprised.

He wondered if Matt had told Near about them but dismissed it as it didn't make sense for Near to cease talking then. Mello decided he simply didn't care, Matt had made no move to hide the conversation so it wasn't something he should be concerned over.

Mello grabbed his and Near's soup, figuring that if Near didn't want it he could simply reheat it later, and brought it to the main room, where Mello was slightly amused at watching Matt move the bowl to his stomach and use it as a table. Near accepted the bowl with the tiniest quirk of the lips and that was all Mello needed to know that the albino had been hungry.

He moved away from the two to sit at Matt's computer, which was off into hibernation mode, as Matt channel surfed and slowly ate his soup. He finally settled on some, what Mello assumed, was scifi movie and let the remote drop to the floor with a soft clatter.

He waited until Matt had stopped eating to quickly finish his own soup before he collected the empty bowls, including Near's half empty one, and left them in the sink to be washed later; he had no will to do them at the moment.

Mello made a move to sit back at the computer desk when Matt muttered his name softly. He paused by the couch and looked down. "Sit with me?" Matt asked with a lazy grin. Mello sighed and shuffled, practically stepping over Near, to the end of the couch, but Matt had other ideas as he carefully scooted further down.

Mello arched and eyebrow as Matt's feet moved into the only open cushion available, and stared at Matt for a long moment as Matt had struggled into a seated position, comforter bunched up by his waist. He hesitated, but sat where Matt's head had been and wasn't all that surprised when Matt placed his head onto his lap.

It was an odd situation, one he hadn't been in before, and he was unsure of what, if anything, was expected of him. His fingers curled and uncurled for a moment before he finally decided to move them to Matt's hair.

Matt made a small noise of contentment and closed his eyes as his scalp was gently massaged. Mello turned his attention to the movie, something about an underwater station with people mutating into monsters, and when he eventually looked down again, Matt was completely relaxed in sleep.

His lips curled into a soft smile and he carefully extracted his fingers from the red hair and moved his hand to the arm rest. He flinched as something cold brushed against his arm and he glanced down at Near, who was looking dead at him with his solitary eye. He leaned himself, as much as he could without jostling Matt, over the side of the couch.

"Mello is in a relationship with Matt." Near stated, though it was difficult to tell if it had been intended as a statement or not.

"It's a new development..." he muttered quietly to the albino, who had yet to remove his gaze.

"Is Mello simply testing the waters?"

It took him a moment to grasp what Near had meant, and his confusion melted away to anger in an instant. How dare Near imply that he was using Matt as mere entertainment- but he stopped his train of thought abruptly. Near had no way of knowing what he felt at all... he was hardly around, and it was only because Matt was persistent that they still had any bond at all, and Near was probably only concerned about Matt..

"No." he muttered as loud as he dared. Near continued to simply look at him for a few more moments before a slight nod of his head had him playing with a small robot.

"Good." was all that was uttered.

Mello assumed their conversation was over and leaned back into the couch, his back protesting at having been at the odd angle for so long. He couldn't blame Near. Because really, when had he ever showed that he cared, about either of them, since they were kids? Revenge had consumed him so completely, and the almost absurd urge to protect them, that he had almost lost them in the process.

Though perhaps... it wasn't too late to try and fix things.

"Hey Near?" he called softly. The albino gave him his undivided attention, with the exception of the slight twisting of his hair. "Do you want to play cards?" and from Near's expression, he was more than willing. They hadn't played in years...

But as Mello watched the albino unseat himself and leave to retrieve a pack of cards, he knew Near didn't mind all that much anymore. Mello knew everything between the three of them was far from perfect, but he wasn't going to let it stay that way... not anymore.

-End Home-

AN: ... I'd like to ask how many people would be interested in reading the (so far STILL untitled) mpreg (the one with summary featured on my profile) that i'll be posting? I'm still going to post it even if i only get one review (which would be depressing but w/e) but i'm curious. Some of my friends will only read it since i'm the one doing it...thats good I think, right?... XD