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Mello was, undeniably, an asshole. Anyone that had spent at least 10 minutes with him could feel the I’m-better-than-you-and-I-know-it attitude dripping off him. He had that smirk, that way of rolling his eyes, the need to prove he was at the top that, in general, made people steer clear of getting too close.
But that wasn’t all of him. Mello cares. He really does. He loves the people around him fiercely, even though the circle was small. And in the middle of it? Matt.
Matt, his boyfriend that spent all his time looking at least two screens at once, with no other hobbies apart from playing videogames and watching movies from the 2000s. The one person that had been the closest thing to a constant in Mello’s (more than) crazy life - sticking with him throughout all of Wammy’s, coming back to save him when the explosion happened, helping him heal back to normal, no questions asked. One phone call and he got the first flight back to LA. Mello loves him; he really does. He wasn’t too good at showing it, though.
But that was okay, because Matt knew Mello loves him. At least he hopes he does. The words were difficult for the man who’d spent all his life running away from people who got too close, that could use him, break him, ruin him and-
“Mello?”
Mello turns, finding a sleepy red-haired boy leaning in the doorframe, looking at him.
“You okay? Why’re you up?” Matt mumbles.
Mello doesn’t respond. Matt takes this as an invitation to walk next to him, wrapping his arms around him. He pulls Mello close, tucking his chin on the top of Mello’s hair. Slowly, he goes from stiff and unresponsive to melting into him. Though he won’t hug back.
They stand there for a little bit, feeling the cold air of the early morning breeze around them, before Matt suggests going back to bed. Mello shakes his head.
“I need to be out here for a bit. I wanna gather my thoughts.”
“That’s okay. You want me to go or stay?” Matt presses a kiss to the top of his head.
“…Go. I’ll be back soon.”
Matt nods, squeezing Mello one last time before letting go and walking inside, closing the balcony door.
A few minutes later, the bedroom door creaks open. Mello tiptoes inside, careful to avoid the cables and piles of clothes on the floor (he really needed to get Matt to clean up) before crawling into the sheets. With his back facing Matt, he falls asleep.
/*\
Matt stretches, looking at the sleeping figure still in the bed. He probably should wake him up – after all, Mello had work to do – but after what happened last night (or a few hours ago, whichever way you wanted to look at it) he just let him sleep a little longer.
Sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, he starts his own work. Which was pretty boring today, just debugging a new software to upload and annotate CCTV footage. Most days he does simple things for the SPK (he doesn’t really understand why Near hasn’t just shut the operation down after finding Kira, but whatever, he’s being paid so he isn’t going to ask too many questions), which was okay, and it left a lot of time for personal projects.
After finishing the last parts, he switches over to his own to-do list: cheer his boyfriend up.
Before Kira, Matt wanted to be a game developer. He knew he was never going to be L’s successor, so his plan was to leave Wammy’s at 18 and start working on what he was passionate about.
But life doesn’t always work out like you want it to. Matt knew that all too well. He probably could go back to working on his childhood dream, but after all he had gone through, it just felt meaningless. Every time he thought of an idea, he dismissed it with a nah, it’s stupid. He felt like a kid playing pretend, and he was so fucking angry at the world for taking the one thing he had to look forward to.
Whatever. He wasn’t here to feel miserable at the way life had turned out. He had something to do.
After coding for literal hours, his cup of coffee going unnoticed and cold, Matt was jolted back to reality by the feeling of someone breathing into his ear.
“You didn’t wake me up.”
Matt shrugs. “I felt like you needed the morning off, y’know.”
“You don’t need to make decisions for me.”
“Yeah yeah. Want me to make you something for breakfast?”
Matt gets up from his chair, walking over to Mello and kissing him. Mello just leans into him, closing his eyes.
“It’s okay, you’re working.” Mello walks away, putting the kettle on.
“I’m not actually. I’m just working on a personal project.”
Mello raises an eyebrow, pouring himself a cup of tea. “And what is this personal project?”
Matt grins. “Secret.”
“Oh, a secret, huh?” Mello leans back on the counter, sipping on his mug. “Since when do you keep secrets about your work?”
“I mean, it isn’t going to be a secret forever. Just a surprise.” Matt winks.
“A surprise, huh,” Mello says dryly. “Can’t wait.”
“You’re going to love it.” Matt doesn’t know that for sure, though. He hopes Mello likes it. It probably is a little cheesy and most probably Mello will just do his thing where he rolls his eyes and walks away, but Matt figures giving him something is better than nothing.
“Whatever. I’ll leave you and your stupid little gadgets alone for now.” And with that, Mello walks out to his office.
Matt watches him leave with a stupid smile on his face. He really did love this guy.
Turning his attention back to his screen, he gets back to work.
His idea is simple. A little game in which Mello got to play as himself looking for his amazing, handsome boyfriend (also known as Matt) through a maze of different rooms. Each new location was themed after a moment Matt still remembers -whether it be sneaking out from Wammy’s to the beach one day, eating ramen at 3 in the morning in some sketchy restaurant, or literally anything from their batshit crazy 15 years knowing each other. Now, Mello hates games, so Matt added plenty of little hooks to keep him entertained. In every room there’s a stupid photo of Matt he could click on, and some chocolates scattered around as collectibles. The game is overall short and very pixelated (graphic design isn’t Matt’s strong suit) and at the end, there was a little icon of Matt smiling, holding out a huge chocolate bar. It was stupid and cheesy, but stupid and cheesy was something Matt loved annoying Mello with.
It was nearing midnight when Matt finishes. He closes his laptop with a sigh, then walks out of the kitchen to go find Mello.
“Do you have any other hobbies? Don’t you want to spend time with your boyfriend?” Mello lounges on the sofa, watching something on the TV.
“Shut up, I’m being paid.” Matt drops down next to him. “What are we watching?"
“Well, I’m watching some stupid soap drama. The characters are so idiotic it’s funny.”
“Oh, cool.”
“Not really. I have better things to do with my time.”
Matt sits up. “I actually have something for you to do,” he says with a huge stupid grin on his face. “Wanna see?”
Mello sighs and rolls his eyes. Matt responds by kissing him and walking away to get his computer.
“Okay, I’m going to send you a file, and you need to download it,” Matt explains.
“Are you trying to give me a virus?”
Matt laughs. “I would never. Maybe. Don’t quote me on that.”
“Great,” Mello mutters, before complying with Matt’s instructions.
The game takes a while to load. But when it finally does, Mello scoffs. “A game? Really?”
“Nothing crazy, just more of a… visual novel. You like reading, right?”
Mello sighs, probably too tired to bicker, but continues. Matt watches as he goes through each room, hiding a laugh or rolling his eyes and smiling.
While Mello was exploring, Matt fiddles with his hands. This was stupid. What the fuck were you thinking?
Matt used to make games for Mello all the time, back at Wammy’s. He wonders if Mello remembers.
At the end, Mello is silent.
“Matt, you are so fucking stupid. But you’re also fucking adorable.”