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On nights like this, there were no stars. Clouds covered the sky, warning of the rain coming the next day. Matt liked nights like this. The darkness made it easier for him to see his game flash on the screen, and he did not need to deal with pesky reflections.
Tonight was different, though. Sure, his gaming system was still turned on; the pinging of the 80's music in the background calming his nerves somewhat. But, he was not playing his game. Instead, he lay on his old, broken couch, smoking what felt like his 100th cigarette of the day. Though he was incredibly addicted to them, he smoked this one out of stress. He held his head in his hands, his head aching. He wanted to grab the bottle of whisky that was sitting next to the couch. However, he did not.
Instead, he stared blankly at the ceiling, tracing the patterns of the crumbling tiles. He was still doing this when he heard the room key shift in the motel door. He tried no to jump to the door, run, fling it open, and confront the person on the other side. Instead, he snuffed the cigarette and sat up on the couch, looking at the door expectantly. He chuckled to himself lightly. He looked like a disapproving parent.
The door opened.
“It’s midnight, where the hell were you?” His voice hit the person standing in his doorway. He sounded angry, but he knew that the other person could hear the fear in his voice.
“Out,” Mello said gruffly, kicking off his shoes.
“Out where?” Matt prompted, leaning forward. The room was dark; he could not see Mello’s face at all.
“Just out,” Mello barks.
“Jeez Mel, you weren’t here when I woke up, forgive me for wondering where you went. We’re partners now! You asked me to help you so I’m helping you. But you can’t just leave.”
“Partners?” Mello scoffed. “We’re not partners, you work for me. Just another goon.”
Matt threw his cigarette at Mello. “That’s bullshit.” He growled. “I don’t work for you. I’m here cause I wanna be. Cause I wanna be with you. And you know that. So stop lying to me to make yourself seem like the bad guy.” Mello didn’t say anything. Instead, he walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Matt followed him, walking up to the bathroom door.
“Mel, what the fuck is going on with you,” He asked, banging his hand on the door. Upon realizing that Mello wasn’t going to answer, he took a seat, his back pressed against the door. “Mello, I just got you back. You can’t leave again. You just can’t go missing and pretend that I won’t notice, that I won’t care.” His voice was soft, but it gradually grew in intensity, not volume. He felt Mello’s back press against the other side of the door. “You’re hurting, I get that. Please, I’ve known you since we were kids. You’ve gotta know how much I care about you. Open the door. Talk to me.”
He heard a shuttered sigh from behind the door before the door opened, and Matt fell inside. His back hit the tiled floor, and he found himself looking up at Mello. Mello was sitting at the side of the room, his knees to his chest, and his face was turned away from Matt. Matt squinted at the harsh fluorescent light in the bathroom. He sat upon the tiled floor and looked at Mello.
“Look at me, Mel,” he urged. Mello pushed his head further into his hands. Matt slid across the tiled floor until he was sitting directly in front of Mello. Gently, Matt took Mello’s hands into his own and reached out, taking hold of the part of Mello’s face that was not burned. He stared into Mello’s red, puffy eyes, boring his soul into calming his best friend.
Matt noticed that something about Mello’s face was off. The burn that was over his eye had stitches around it; they were red and swollen and rudely covered the scarred area.
“What the fuck happened to your face?” Matt’s words were harsh, but his voice was soothing. “Mello, who did this to you?” Mello shook, falling into Matt’s arms and letting out a sob.
“Matty,” he murmured, burying his face into Matt’s neck. Matt held him close, pressing his nose into Mello’s hair.
“Who did this to you?” Matt repeated, softly caressing Mello’s hair.
Mello’s words were emotionless like he didn’t even want to be talking about this. “Some guy off the street. Last night I went for a walk to clear my head and wound up at the pub. I musta drank too much cause when I woke up, I was in a makeshift hospital with this guy trying to stitch me up.”
“I’ll kill him,” Matt stated plainly. “He’s so dead.”
That woke Mello up, snapped him back into reality a little bit. In any other world, it would have been sweet almost, an admittance of loyalty. However, Mello knew that Matt was serious.
“No, Matt, you won’t,” He insisted.
“Not your choice,” Matt responded. “If I want him dead, he’s dead. We have all these guns here for a reason.”
“Matt, we have these guns for appearances and you know that. I knew I shouldn’t have dragged you into this mafia shit. Of course, it would go to your head.” Matt playfully nudged Mello.
“Heh, you’re one to talk. What’s with all the leather and skulls? What happened to the schoolboy look?”
“I always had a big head,” Mello stated. “You were normal, for the most part. I joined the Mafia for the sake of beating Near. Cause that little bastard had to go and join the FBI, I had to do the opposite.”
“I mean, Near deserves you as a rival.”
“Yeah, rival, not enemy. He and I are supposed to be brothers. Somehow I think this thing is gonna end with both of us dead. I dragged him, dragged you, down with me.” Matt shook his head.
“I dragged myself into this. We’re partners, remember? I don’t work for you, I work with you. I’m here cause I wanna be. You’re not gonna die, Mel. I just won’t let it happen.”
“I’m right, ya know?” Mello chuckled lightly, eyes showing a pain that Matt started noticing more recently. Matt shook his head in confusion. Mello elaborated. “I’m not like the way I used to be. When you used to know me. Even my fucking face isn’t the same.”
“Mello, I still know you. You’re still you. Even with the skulls and leather.” Mello pressed him away slightly so that he could look into his eyes. “And This,” he paused, caressing Mello’s scar, to which Mello winced in pain. “This doesn’t define you.”
Mello pulled him closer and hugged him again. “You’re too good Matty. I’m scared of hurting you.”
“You can’t hurt me.” Matt insisted. “Only way you could hurt me is if you disappeared again.”
“I’m so sorry, Matty,” Mello stated plainly, for the first time since they had reunited, he apologized for everything, for leaving Matt behind.
“It’s gonna be okay Mels. We’re gonna get through this together. We’re gonna beat Kira. I’m not going to forgive Kira for giving you this scar. I’m not going to forgive this man who tried to stitch you back up. But I forgive you, for leaving that is. You’re my world, all that matters is that you’re back in it.”
Mello’s eyes showed emotion that Matt couldn’t quite place.
“Can we get off the floor?” Matt asked. It was around ten minutes since they sat there, the coldness of the tiles was starting to get to him. Mello nodded. Matt took Mello’s hand in his own and helped him to stand. He moved over to the cabinet under the sink, taking out peroxide and cotton balls. “I’m gonna try and get this cleaned up. Okay?” Mello nodded again. He moved to press a disinfectant-soaked cloth to Mello’s face. Mello hissed in pain, but he didn’t look away, neither did he move. They stood there for ten minutes, Matt cleaning Mello’s scar and wiping away the blood from the area. “There,” Matt said. “Back how it should be.” The blood was gone, and the swelling was down. The stitches were still in Mello’s face, holding together dead skin that wasn’t meant to be put together in the first place. “Is this really all he did? How did you find this guy?”
“He said he’d fix me. Said he was good at his job. Said he’d do it for free. I was drunk, I didn’t think. I couldn’t say no.” Mello responded.
Matt nodded. “To fix this, I’m going to need to cut the dead skin that had attached together. It shouldn’t hurt. Once the ends of the string are cut I should be able to pull it out. Okay? I’m no surgeon but he wasn’t either.” Mello nodded.
“I trust you, Matt.”
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It took until the sun came up for Matt to remove all the stitches. The sky was still cloudy, but bits of sunlight shined through the cover of the cloud. Bits of dust in the dirty apartment glistened in the air. When the stitches were done, Matt bandaged Mello’s face. They were silent, yet they had communicated more in that night than they ever did in their entire lives.