Title: My Love

Pairing: Matt/Mello

Summary: They love each other. That's that.

Notes: I own nothing.

Matt's fingers trembled as he tapped out a cigarette and raised it to his lips. He sat in a hard plastic lawn chair he had dragged to Mello's bedside, not trusting himself to sit on the edge of the bed without hurting the prone figure laying unconscious under the sheets. It was a hard sight to see, the man he loved so much covered in bruises and bandages that covered salve-covered burns reaching across a quarter of his body.

It was a miracle Matt had found him when he did. He had kept track of the blonde's movements with the mafia, and when he found out Mello's hideout had exploded after a confrontation with the police, he had rushed over before any clean-up crews could arrive and comb the area for clues. He tossed still smouldering rubble aside and called out for Mello, his voice thick with smoke and fear. Then he heard a noise, and with a few more pieces of wall thrown to the side he was greeted with the sight of a barely conscious Mello dragging himself towards the sunlight, his face an angry mess of shredded skin and torched flesh, his hair singed and almost completely brown from the dirt.

A hospital was out of the question, so the man now lay in Matt's apartment. He bribed a doctor to treat him the best he could and keep it secret, so now Matt was left with his insecure worry that maybe Mello wouldn't wake up.

He whipped out his lighter and nervously flicked it until a flame appeared at the end, which he used to light the cigarette dangling from his lips. He vaguely wondered whether or not he should smoke in a room where there wasn't an injured person. Mello never had a problem with him smoking before, and he knew members of the mafia he had joined smoked in his presence, but he had already gotten enough smoke in his lungs from the explosion. He rubbed his sweaty palms against his jeans and stood up, puffing out a small trickle of smoke as he made his way to the door.

"Matt..." Mello's voice groaned weakly from the bed. Matt spun around and rushed back to the bedside, hastily rubbing his cigarette out on the ashtray next to the bed. He hesitated to touch Mello, though all he wanted was to wrap his arms around the other man, squeezing him close to his chest and kissing his face and whispering reassurances in his ear.

But the red skin peeking out from under the bandages stopped him, so he just gave a watery smile and lightly touched Mello's right hand. `"Hey," he said, looking into Mello's uncovered eye cracked open and blinking blearily at him. "How're you doing?"

"Did I say you could walk away?" Mello grumbled, trying for a bossy tone, but his weak state made it sound childish. Matt smiled and rubbed his thumb over the blonde's uncovered knuckles.

"You never said I couldn't," he pointed out, and Mello made a growling sound, then coughed. Matt grabbed a bottle of water from the bedside table and raised it gently to Mello's lips. He saw the other man roll his eyes, but Mello drank greedily, clearing out his throat and breathing deeply when Matt took the bottle away. They exchanged looks for a moment, then Mello shifted to the side, grimacing slightly.

"Get in here," he ordered, gaining enough of his strength that he sounded almost like his old self.

"There's not enough room."

"It's a double bed. There's enough fucking room."

"You're injured."

"If it hurts, I'll kick you off. Now get your fidgeting ass over here."

Matt sighed with a smile and relented. He toed off his sneakers and crawled into the bed, turning onto his side to take up less space. Mello huffed and tugged him closer, twining their fingers together. Matt smiled and placed a gentle kiss against the blonde's lips, testing the pain sensitivity there. Mello pressed against his mouth, just a little harder, and they lay there on the bed, kissing and stroking fingers. Mello breathed a little too heavily for Matt to feel comfortable doing anything more, and while Mello rolled his eyes and called him a sentimental fool, he relaxed into Matt's chest and lay there quietly, listening to Matt whisper about how it'll all be okay, Mello will get better, they'll redouble their efforts to catch Kira, they'll beat Near together.

He listened for a while, until he felt the edges of sleep catching up to him. Then he let out a deep breath, kissed Matt's cheek and told him he loved him. Matt smiled and buried his nose in a tuft of Mello's hair, sighing deeply and pressing a kiss near a burned patch of flesh.

"Love you too."