One more level! Just one more…

"GAME OVER!"

Mello's arms snuck around my neck, throwing off my concentration for the first time in god knows how long. "God damn fucking bastard! How many times do I have to tell you not to bother me when I'm in the middle of my game?"

"If you weren't playing that piece of shit 24/7, we wouldn't have this problem."

"I don't play 24/7. It's more like… 23/6" he stared at me dully. "I go drinking Fridays."

He moaned loudly. " Matt, you just don't get it, do you? I don't keep you around here just for free sex! You're supposed to be helping me. Remember the cameras that I asked you to set up?"

I shrugged. "What? They are set up."

He grimaced. "Plug them the fuck in, you moron!"

"I thought you could figure that much out."

His voice rose into some bizarre, irritable sound that I ignored. "I'm going out. And Matt…"

"hm?" I replied, restating my level and not paying him a bit of attention.

"Monitor the cameras for a bit."

"Hm." I mumbled as though it qualified for an adequate answer.

Just on more…. One more… damn it, Sonic, move faster!

"YOU WIN!"

I finally beat the level! I stood to celebrate, but the moment my body was erect, the Sega was out of my hands and thrown on the floor. "What the fuck, Mello?! That's a classic!"

"Where's Misa?!"

"Who?"

"Hot chick. Model. Bad makeup. Pole dancer boots."

"How should I know?!"

He beat his head with a fist, though I doubted he needed to loose anymore brain cells. "Matt: the monitors… have you been watching them?"

Sure, I saw them…" I counted on my hand. "Twice. Yep twice."

"And where'd they go?"

"I don't know. The first time, the hot chick was changing… and second time is kind of a blur. Nothing interesting happened."

"Matt, if I lose this case to Near, so help me I'll—"

"Do what you want to me. You've destroyed three of my game systems, stolen my cigarettes, drank my booze, and bossed me around for months. Hell, anythings better then the shit you've put me through."

"I didn't call you for games, Matt! I called you because I needed your help. I thought I made that clear when I was on the phone with you."

"and I thought I made it clear that I had no desire to sit around watching some brat in a mini-skirt flaunt around her apartment. She may be cute, but damn is she ever dull to watch."

"when I called you, you were in L.A. if you didn't want to help, you didn't have to catch the plane."

I crossed my arms. "Did it ever occur to you that I might have wanted to see my best fucking friend that abandon me five years ago? Did that ever cross your mind." Yeah, take that, Goldilocks!

"I told you I was leaving."

Tears ran down my cheeks. "You left me a note! In chicken scratch. On the kitchen counter. With the fifty other kids who could have taken it before I saw it. Do you have any idea how that felt? Do you have any idea how messed up I was after that?"

"Oh, get over it that was five years ago!"

I whipped away at my false tears. "Alright, I wasn't too messed up. But honestly, would it have killed you to tell me in person."

"It might have."

"Again with the over dramatics!"

He let out an irritable sigh. "What are we supposed to do about Misa now?"

I crossed my arms. "You could give me my Sega back, for starters." He picked up the system. I cringed before it even hit the wall, knowing it was coming. The handheld fell to the ground in pieces. "Asshole."

"Help me, you bastard! This is your fault."

"Actually it's yours." He started to protest, but I cut him off. "You knew full well I wouldn't be paying attention, as you told me while I was playing my game, but you still left. It was you who so foolishly left this mission with someone with the attention span of a three year old."

He passed, dazed. "How is it my fault again?"

"And that's why you'll never beat Near."

I he sighed and placed himself beside me, crossing his arms stubbornly. "I won't lose to him."

"You mean like you have at everything since you came to Whammy's House? Sure you won't."

His jaw clenched. "The sarcasm's getting old, Matt."

"It isn't for me. I'm enjoying myself. Besides…" I grinned. "It's your fault I'm so bored I have to resort to bothering you. You're the one that broke my game."

"Get over it."

I stood. "buy me a new one."

"Fuck you!" he screamed, raising a fist.

I caught his hand as it hurled toward my face. "That isn't your job now, is it?"

He was taken aback. "Was that an insult, Matt?!"

"It was a fact."

"Who do you think you are?"

I smiled, slamming him against the wall and pressing my lips to his. "top." I answered. He cringed as I took his lips again, moving my hand to his crotch. At that, he stiffened and pushed me away.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

I crossed my arms and pouted. "Come on, Mello. It's not like its our first time or anything."

His eyes narrowed. "We did it once. When I was drunk. You raped me."

I laughed. "Someone must have spiked your drink, dude! You came onto me."

He clenched his jaw. "I'm not interested in men, and I'm sure as hell not that desperate. Besides, I'd remember that."

"unless you were in denial."

"Fuck you!"

I brushed past him. "no, fuck you. I'm going out."

"Where are you going?!"

"to find another Sega, since my bastard roommate destroyed mine." He tried to protest, but I slammed the door in his face.

The sun was so bright; it burned my eyes even through the dark goggles that constantly seemed to cover my eyes for whatever reason. Or perhaps it wasn't it's brightness as it was my desire to hide in darkness. For whatever reason, Mello always managed to break through my careless barrier; I just refused to let him see that. Mello was always so collected. The only emotions he knew were carelessness and anger. He'd never understand love. Hell, I didn't until I met up with him again after five years of abandonment.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and lowered my head to avoid as much contact with the light as possible. I cursed my terrible eyes and their lack of tolerance for such petty things.

A few blocks away was the place I bought my system, but I needed to get out for a while, so instead, I took a quick trip to a nearby bar. After a few drinks, I'd calm down.

Turns out, a few drinks never seems to work: by the time I left, I'd downed six or seven beers. Thank god they don't check I.D.s here, I thought.

I was just about to stand when a man in his early twenties sat besde me with a smile. I looked behind me, but there wasn't a girl in sight. I shrugged. Whatever: gays didn't bother me, so long as they left me alone.

"You're Mello's friend, ain't ya?"

I turned sharply. "How do you know Mello?"

He chuckled. "he and I slept around a lot."

"An old lover?"

He laughed. "Not exactly. Mello don't date, you know. We're just friends. He said I looked like a friend of his though. Called him Matt. That's you, ain't it?

"How do you know that?"

"Called the kid a freak. Said he always covered his eyes. somethin' wrong with them."

"My eyes can't withstand U.V. rays. They damage my cornea if their too exposed."

He held out a hand. "Miles Revere. Nice ta metcha, Matt."

I hesitated before shaking it. "Yeah, you too… I think."

He laughed. "Cute. I see why he likes ya so much."

I cringed. "Mello's an asshole."

He rested his head on the palm of his hand. "go on."

I hesitated before blurtng everything out. "He's always on my case about all the stupid shit he can't do right, he blames bme for my short attention span that he's known about since we mat, and he keeps breaking my fucking game systems!"

"That's it?"

I glared. "what do you mean?"

He shrugged. "he blew an entire mafia. You think he's tough on you?"

"He didn't blow them up… okay, well he kind of did, but that's different."

"oh, yeah? how is that?"

"he's got this one dude he's been clashing with since he was six, and he's been put in charge of the whole Kira thing over in Japan. Mello's jealous, so he's trying to solve the case before him single-handedly." I smiled. "he's an idiot."

He ordered some strange drink I'd never heard of, and when it came out, he pushed it toward me. "What's this?"

"Don't worry about it. but drink it slow."

I ignored him, taking it all in with one gulp. My head began spinning almost immediately. "What the hell? Did you drug me."

He smiled innocently. "Nothing like that. It's just really strong, that's all. And I'm sure it's not your first, either. Ya seemed a bit out of it when I came over here."

"You see me through the window or something?"

He tilted his head to the side. "huh? Nah, I'm gay."

"So what?"

He laughed. "You didn't know? This is a gay bar. I come in here all the time."

I lowered my head. "Shit."

"You don't pay 'lota attention to you're surroundings, do ya?"

I decided it was time to leave before this jerk got on my nerves and I wound up doing something stupid. I didn't need the cops after me again for some stupid bar fight. Not tonight. "I'm leaving." I slurred, nearly tumbling to the ground before his arms wrapped around me to steady me.

I slapped his hands away. "Don't touch me!"

He shrugged. "Just tryin' te help. If ya think you'll make it back by yourself, that's fine with me."

I gritted my teeth together, took to steps, then found myself having an unfortunate encounter with the floor. He stood beside me, arm extended and palm open. I slapped it away, but he brought it back until I finally took it.

It took me a minute to push aside my drunkenness and note we were headed in the wrong direction. Of course, by that point in time, we were walking up a flight of stairs. "Hey, I don't live here."

"Of course not. I do."

"I don't swing that way."

"Ya do with Mello, don't you?"

I pulled away, hurling my useless, alcohol-filled body into the wall. "Mello's different!"

He seemed surprised. "You really do like him?" a menacing grin crowded that normally cheerful face. "Well, now. That isn't what I expected. How sweet: Mello found himself a girlfriend."

I cringed. "Even if he did give a fuck about me, I sure as hell ain't no girlfriend."

He ignored me and stepped into the apartment. "Ya comin' in?"

I steadied myself against the wall as I found myself moving closer and closer to the door. What the hell was I thinking? I just met the bastard and I already couldn't stand him. So why the fuck did I go inside?

My phone rang. "Hello?" I asked, a bit confused. My vision was too blurred to read the caller I.D.

"Matt? Where the fuck are you?! You left hours ago."

I looked around at the apartment. "I don't know. Your friend's house, I think."

"Frie—who, Matt!"

I thought a minute. "Miles?"

"Miles?!" he started, but the phone was out of my hands and on the other side of the room before I could blink.

Miles slammed my head against the wall, enhancing the spinning sensation that already haunted me. "You fucking bastard! Don't tell him you're with me! He knows where I fucking live!"

I tried to push passed him, but he grabbed my wrists and pinned me to the wall. "Get off me, man!"

His face was hard and angry. Clearly, he'd done something that Mello didn't like, otherwise his knowing wouldn't have him so worked up.

He took both wrists in one hand and ran his fingers over my chest, lips less than an inch from my neck, hot breath burning the cool flesh. "what's so great aboyt you anyhow? The whole fucking time we're doing it, it's Matt this, Matt that. All he ever did was complain about what a loser you were: how you were weak and you'd wind up wasting your life away. How you have no goals. But he was always happy when he said all that. It pissed me off." I tried to protest but he wouldn't allow it. "Don't fucking talk! I loved him, and you're just into him because he'll let you do whatever you want to him. but I fucking loved him! You weren't even around for five years. What the hell was he chasing." I heard him chuckle. "Well, let's find out exactly what he was missing."

I tried to push him away, but my body still burned with intoxication.

"I don't get it, though. how the hell do I look like you? how does he even know what the fuck you look like? You always wear these…" I reached for my goggles, attempting to pull them off my eyes. I slapped his hand away and fumbled back into the wall. "Don't touch me!"

He hurled himself at me, pinning my arms over my head with one hand while the other traveled over my cheek, reaching between the strap and flesh. I cringed. I didn't want him to see my face. It was the only thing that was only Mello's. He'd been the only one to see my eyes since I went to Wammy's.

A gunshot was fired all too close to my face. The two of us froze, horror-stricken eyes slowly wandering to the bullet hole that lay less than an inch from my head. "Get the fuck away from him, Miles."

I pushed the man away. "Mello, you fucking moronic bastard! Aim for him, not me!"

He crossed his arms. "I just saved your ass from being raped. Do you seriously expect me to be nice about it?"

He fired again, allowing the bullet to blaze passed my head. 9i froze in shock. "Stop talking. I'll deal with you later." He turned to the other man. "do you understand the boundaries you've broken here? Matt's my property, so fuck off!"

"I'm not your fucking property!" Another shot grazed my cheek, and I cringed from the sting.

"He said you don't give a shit about him. Besides, it's his fault for getting drunk at that gay bar."

He rushed at me, throwing the barrel of the gun into my temple. "You what?!"

I held my hands up in surrender. "Didn't know. Me. idiot. Bad. Sorry."

The gun found Miles again. "What the fuck were you thinking, touching him like that? I told you before, didn't i? no one else can go near him." he laughed as his eyes met mine. "He a weak cowered with no life and no friends other than me. he dug the barrel into Mile's head. "And I fucking like him that way, got it? don't ever touch my shit again, deal?"

He nodded desperately. Clearly, I was the only one he'd pull a gun on so easily, since everyone else seemed to cower in fear. Then again, I guess I'm the only one who's become intimately involved with the thing without getting killed.he shoved the gun into it's holster and removed something from the bag he was carrying around his neck.

A new Sega fell into my hands. "What's this?"

"I broke yours, and I figured if you were out drinking, you hadn't gotten a new one." I smiled and tried to chase after him, but instead stumbled over him. he sighed and allowed me to rest my weight on his body. "You reek of alcohol. How much did you drink?"

I ignored him. "Thanks, Mello."

He smiled, but it quickly faded into that hard, careless face he loved so much. "Whatever. It's not like I felt bad or anything. I just didn't want to have to listen to you bitch anymore."

"Mello?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning. I caught his face and pressed my lips to his, taking him aback a moment.

He stared at me in shock. "I love you, Mello."

He cheeks turned red and his expressin was almost humorous as he bushed me away. "You're drunk! Get away from me!" he cried, quickening his pace. I sighed and took sweet time getting home."

His arms snaked around my uncovered waist the next morning, but I ignored him.

On more level one more….level….

Come on, baby, almost done…. I cringed in pleasure at the unexpected touch.

GAME OVER!

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck! Mello, what the hell to you think you're doing?!"

Sat up and moved himself so his bare legs hung beside mine over the edge of the bed. My lips met with his, and he did something I hadn't expected: he willing licked the roof of my mouth, causing me to forget how to breathe, and wouldn't free me until I was gasping for air.

I wiped away at the saliva that dripped from my mouth. Shit: he was good. "What was that for?"

He sighed. "I guess just because I love you."

I shrugged, though inside I was boiling with excitement. "Yeah? you too, I guess." I replied before continuing my game.

"Matt, you fucking asshole!"

"Hey, give that back, I just have one more level!"

A loud crash echoed through the house. "Mello, You bastard! That's the fourth fucking one!"