Check yes Juliet
Are you with me?
Rain is falling down on the sidewalk
I won't go until you come outside

Check yes Juliet
Kill the limbo
I'll keep tossing rocks at your window
There's no turning back for us tonight

Tap. Tap. Tap. The tapping grew louder on the window panes as I threw the pebbles harder. All I wanted was for Matt to open his window and look out. I hurled one last pebble before the curtains were drawn back, the window was opened, and Matt looked out curiously.

"Matt!" I called, trying to keep my voice low. "Matt! Come down!" Matt looked down and our eyes met.

"Mel?" He said sleepily. "What is it? It's the middle of the night… why are you outside?" He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and leaned further out to make sure it was really me.

"Come down here and I'll tell you!" I hissed, gesturing wildly for him to join me. He was there in moments.

"What?" He asked, his hands on his hips, looking pouty. He was so adorable, standing there in his now wet pajamas, his hair getting matted down by the rain and his eyes bare foot tapping impatiently against the blacktop. Looking at him like that gave me all the more courage to say what I had to.

"I'm leaving this place. I can't stay here. I just can't." I said shortly, locking my gaze with his. He looked at me incredulously.

"You're running away?" He cried, his mouth hanging open. "You can't! Please, Mel… please. I'll miss you too much." I looked at him with a sympathetic smile on my face. I held my arms open and he rushed towards me, letting me envelope him in a warm embrace.

"I won't be leaving you." I muttered into his hair. "You're coming with me." His head shot up, almost colliding with my chin, and he looked at me like I was crazy.

"What?!"

"I want you to come with me." I repeated simply. "So you're going to come." He looked at me skeptically, shaking his head and sighing.

"Mello, I can't just drop everything and leave with you."

"Why not?"

"Because… because I have a future here." I looked at him cynically upon hearing this remark.

"Oh really. Do you now? Because I don't have a future here, and I'm higher up in their rankings than you are." I said. Matt looked hurt, but I just turned my head so I wouldn't have to see the look on his face. "You know I'm right." I finished. I heard Matt sigh and shift 

on his feet. I looked back at him and smiled reassuringly.

"Come on." I said. "Even if you won't have them," I said, gesturing back to the orphanage. "You'll always have me." He looked at me and smiled slightly. I took him by the hand and repeated,

"You'll always have me."

Run, baby, run
Don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart
If you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart
Don't say we're not meant to be
Run, baby, run
Forever we'll be
You and me

We ran away from that orphanage with our hands locked together and our eyes on the horizon. Rain pelted at our faces and bodies and soaked our clothes through, but we didn't care, because we knew that wherever we were going, it was a better place than where we came from. We went down unfamiliar streets and past unfamiliar places, but we never stopped because we always felt like Roger might be two feet behind us, trying to catch us and bring us back down from our euphoria. At times I felt that if I ran just a bit faster, my feet would leave the ground and I'd be flying, spiraling towards the heavens and away from everything bad that had ever happened. But the best part was that I knew that the hand clasped with mine was Matt's and he felt the same way I did. We didn't know where we were going, but we were going there together, and that was all that mattered.

--

Check yes Juliet
I'll be waiting
Wishing, wanting
Yours for the taking
Just sneak out
And don't tell a soul goodbye

Check yes Juliet
Here's the countdown
3... 2... 1... Now fall in my arms
Now they can change the locks
Don't let them change your mind

Mello fell through the door wearily, tired and broken from another day in the mafia. He did this every day, and it scared me.

"Mello," I said softly, holding out my hand for him to take. "You don't need to do this." He glared at me through glazed eyes, but it only looked like sadness, however much he tried to hide it.

"Shut up, Matt. I do need to do this." He slurred, exhausted and irritated. I sighed at the mere fact that he knew exactly what I was talking about. That meant he knew that the mafia was doing this to him.

"Don't say that. You can leave. You can run away and start doing something new. Don't even tell anyone that you're leaving." He seemed unconvinced. "It won't be the first time you've run away." He looked at me sadly, a bit of love showing in his normally cold eyes.

"Running away from the mafia is different than running away from an orphanage, Matt." He mumbled and fell into my arms, fatigued beyond reason. I laid him down on the couch and sat on the armrest by his head.

"We can talk later, Mel. You can rest now." I watched him drift into sleep with a warmth in my eyes. He deserved so much more than what he got.

--

"Matt?" Mello said wearily, still hazy from sleep. "Matt, what time is it?" I looked at the clock on my cell phone and responded.

"1:30 am."

"Don't make me go to sleep so early anymore. Jesus, Matt. I thought you had more common sense than to do that." Mel groaned, rolling off the couch and onto his feet.

"Apparently not." I said shortly. "Now, getting back to our earlier conversation…" Mello looked at me, exasperation evident on his face.

"You've got to be kidding me, Matt. We don't even have to talk about this. I can't leave! There! That's it!" he said, his voice steadily escalating to a yell. I remembered when we were kids, how he had talked me into running away with him. I remembered what he had said.

"Come on." I said, trying to repeat Mello's words from that day. "Even if you won't have them," I said. "You'll always have me." He looked at me with a grin.

"You still remember that, huh?" He said, bemused. I nodded.

"No matter what you leave behind or who you make enemies with, you'll always have me." I said, smiling.

Run, baby, run
Don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart
If you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart
Don't say we're not meant to be
Run baby run


Forever we'll be
You and me

I sat on the back of his motorcycle, my arms wrapped tightly around his waist as we sped off into the city. Everything we owned was in the little trunk in the back and everything we wanted was lying ahead. His hair whipped against my face in the wind and my cigarette blew from my mouth, but I didn't care. Mello was finally doing it. He was finally leaving. We were going to move far from where they could ever find us and start over. I could imagine the reaction of the others in the mafia when they found out Mello was gone. They'd be angry, for sure. It would only be natural to assume he was going to rat them out to the police. But it didn't matter, because we were going to be long gone by then. We were free.

We're flying through the night
We're flying through the night
Way up high,
The view from here is getting better with
You by my side

Matt was still holding my hand when we stopped for some food at a small restaurant a couple miles away from the orphanage. We were breathless and tired, and my lungs burned like fire, but I didn't care. Matt had held on to my hand through miles of rain and biting cold. Matt had held onto my hand through the breathlessness and the ache of our entire bodies. Matt had held on through hell, and now it was time for heaven. We were going to live our dreams.

--

Mello hit the brakes outside of a small, run-down apartment building.

"Here looks good." He said, and took the box of our things off of the back of his bike. I happily followed him inside, because I knew that wherever we were, even if it was the middle of the slums in an unfamiliar city, if we were together, we were home.

Run baby run
Don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart
If you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart
Don't say we're not meant to be
Run baby run
Forever we'll be
You and me