Information about the sequel is posted at the end.

Suggested Listening: "Feel It in My Bones" - Tiësto feat. Tegan and Sara

Feel It in My Bones

~Feel You in My Bones~

The sunset was stunningly beautiful on the day that we were all meeting up to bury the time capsule. The sun had been just casually flirting with the horizon when I had gotten into the car to leave, but by the time I was halfway to the hill, the sight of the dying sun setting the sky awash with oranges and reds had caught my eye in the rear view.

It was like the standard scene in historical dramas where the sun sets over a city in ruins. Sure, it represents the ending of a civilization that got its ass handed to it by the principles of Darwinism – but if you want a more metaphorical way of looking at it, it also represents the ending of an era.

That's what this sunset that I was seeing now kind of made me feel.

But just like how the sun sets only to rise again, I know that whatever comes to an end tonight will only lay the path for a new beginning – as cheesy as that sounds.

Speaking of romantic language that stinks like the fumes of expensive fromage (yes, I'm being facetious), I am severely lacking in it when it comes to what I plan to say to Mello. But that's actually a good thing. That's not to say that I won't spew out possibly the sappiest things I have ever said in my life when it comes time; it's just that I haven't worried about it. I'm planning to just take things as they come and speak from the heart.

Which is well and dandy except for the fact that I have no guarantee that he's even going to show up.

As I got out of the car, I caught sight of Misa running towards me, waving energetically.

"Matty! You came!" She reached me just as she finished speaking, and she threw her arms around my neck, causing me to emit a surprised grunt at the strength of her grip.

I smiled, wheezing, "I did say that I would."

Misa giggled and loosened her grip – if only slightly. "See? This is why I say you're kind of like my boyfriend. Misa-Misa can always count on Matt!"

I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could say anything, a voice sounded out from behind me. "Hey, Matt."

Misa froze at the intrusion and pulled away completely. Now that I was free, I turned around to see who was there; my smile did not waver as I caught sight of them. Misa looked between us with apparent confusion.

"Hi," I said.

Wedy glanced at the look on Misa's face before saying to me, "We've already got all the food set up, but the fire's not started yet. Care to lend a hand?"

I rubbed my hands together. "My expertise is at your service."

Wedy snorted. "'Nothing like a caveman to start a fire." She flashed me a cheeky grin.

"Yeah, yeah." I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Lead the way."

As we continued on our way up the hill, I looked back over my shoulder to see Misa still standing there, looking as nonplussed as a newborn kitten. I just shrugged as if to say that I didn't understand it either. After all, it's true. I have no idea how I had managed to patch up our relationship; though, I have the feeling that it had more to do with Wedy's determination not to lose face more than anything that I had said.

We reached the lookout point not too much later. As Wedy had said, all of the food was set out on the metal picnic table and a cooler was parked beside it. There was already a fire pit all ready to be used since someone had made one out of a rusty wheel well eons ago, and sitting right beside it was the bag of firewood that we would be using. As I looked around the site (most often used by the horny teenagers of our town as a make-out spot), I had the feeling that our party probably wouldn't be broken up by the police even if this spot was designated as a family-friendly scenic lookout more appropriate to picnics than drunken shenanigans. I guess when the party's in honour of the police chief's son and the grandson of the man that makes the biggest donation to public works, you don't run into much resistance.

I turned to Wedy. "Where's everyone else?"

"I have no clue where Light and L went off to; they were just here a minute ago." She put her hands on her hips and looked around. "Linda's on her way to pick up Near, Kiyomi went for a walk, and Misa's standing down where there's cellphone reception so she can nag the people who haven't gotten here yet. And Halle is–"

"Right here!"

The shout came from right behind me, and I nearly jumped right out of my skin. I spun around to face Halle, only to see that she was doubled over in laughter, holding her sides.

"That was so worth it!" she hooted, wiping away fake tears.

"Just you wait, Lidner," I growled without any real malice, "I'm going to get you back for that."

"Oh, I'm so scared!"

"Whatever," I said, shaking my head. I couldn't keep the grin off of my face all the same as I turned back to Wedy. "Anyways, we'll need kindling before we can get the fire going. While I arrange the firewood, do you mind collecting some?"

"Sure."

"Try to get the driest stuff. Maybe even something with some dried-out moss on it, if you can; that burns the best."

Wedy nodded and went off into the bushes. I kneeled down beside the fire pit and split open the bag of firewood with my pocket knife. As I set to work placing the logs in the pit, I heard the crunch of gravel and then Halle sat down on a stump next to me. We stayed like that in silence for a while, just her watching me while I worked.

After some time, I cleared my throat and looked up at her meekly. "Any word from Mello?"

She rested her chin on her two hands, framing her smile. "Maybe one or two."

"Well… um… What did he say?"

She sighed. "He's afraid."

I blinked up at her. Like hell Mello was afraid; that just did not compute. "Of what?"

"You."

"Me?" Even more unlikely.

"Of course. You've got him by the heart, boy."

I just stared at her.

"Like a child," she muttered, shaking her head. Then she said, "See, whenever someone challenges Mello physically, he just gives them his grr-face and they pretty much back down. But you know all his cards, have already called his bluff, and he's scared because you've made him vulnerable in way that no-one else has before. Like I said, you have him by the heart," – she sniggered – "and probably the balls, too."

Making a face at her, I got up and dusted off my hands. "Very funny."

"I thought so." She got up and followed me as I walked away. "Don't you see, Matt? It's your move."

I nibbled on my lip, looking out over the town below us. We could just barely see the sun now as it was swallowed up by the hills on the other side of the valley, but its light still reached us just fine.

"I know."

Halle slung an arm around my shoulder. "So do something about it!"

I frowned. "But… I'm afraid, too. He's always the one that makes all the moves, and I just respond. I wouldn't even know where to start."

"Driving over there's a good start."

I thought about this for a few moments before shaking my head. "No. I'll wait until awhile after dark, and then if he's still not here, I'll go to get him. I know he wouldn't miss out on saying goodbye to L."

Halle pulled her arm away and just looked at me squarely for what seemed like a long time, but was really only a few seconds. The determined set of her chin was so similar to the way that Mello looked sometimes that it caught me off guard.

"Fine," she said at last. "You do what you feel is best."

I watched her as she walked away, feeling uncertain if I even knew what that was.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

It was now quite some time after dark, and still I had not made my decision. As far as I knew, everyone that had been invited was here now – all except for Mello. Every time the thought popped into my mind that I should really go and get him, an excuse popped up just as readily as to why I shouldn't. He could already be on his way over, and if I drove there now, I would miss him; yes, Misa, he hasn't answered your calls, but maybe his phone just died; no, Near, I am not reverting to my role of the panting golden retriever waiting at his master's beck and call; and goddammit, Halle, stop looking at me like that!

Blah blah blah… The award for the biggest chicken shit goes to me.

At one point, I was sitting around the fire and talking with Linda and Near. When the conversation came to its natural end, they shared a look with each other and got up to go somewhere together. Left without a distraction, I went over to the food table. I wasn't even particularly hungry (especially not when my stomach twisted uncomfortably at the sight of food as I got closer), but it was different than sitting around the fire with everyone else, all too aware of the person that was missing.

Kiyomi Takada was standing by the table when I got there, preparing a bun for the hot dog that she'd just cooked. We said hello to each other, but little else. Yet another person that I spent a lot of time around, but knew barely anything about…

Suddenly, I heard Kiyomi scoff, and I looked over. "Would you look at that," she muttered with a dark look on her face. "I wonder when she's going to wise up."

I followed her gaze and was met with a scene that did nothing to abate my confusion. Over by the fire, Misa, Light, and L were all sitting next to each other. Misa was snuggled up to Light's side, content as can be. The only problem was, Light didn't even seem to notice or care about her existence; he was too involved in talking animatedly to L. Just then, the marshmallow that Light was cooking caught fire. L leaned over to blow it out without anything having to be said, and then Light grabbed the marshmallow between two graham crackers. He passed the S'more to L with a strangely tender smile. L took it, and I couldn't tell if it was the firelight that made his face look so red or something else. Light licked the sticky remains of the marshmallow off of his own fingers with a smirk and L's gaze snapped back to the fire.

Realization dawned as I watched this interplay, seeing what I had never bothered to notice before.

"Oh."

"I am so glad I got out of that when I did." Kiyomi was shaking her head.

I looked back over at her. "Really? Um… no offence, but… I kind of thought you were jealous of Misa."

Her eyes widened. "Me? No way. Light's a prick."

"Well, yeah." I laughed. "I knew that much."

Kiyomi smiled at me, her dark eyes becoming much warmer. "If I had a choice, I wouldn't be hanging around my ex. We always just ran in the same circles: debate team, student council – you name it. Even though we both graduated two years ago, we have all the same friends, so I'm still stuck with him." She paused before saying, "Wedy told me about you guys breaking up. I think it's nice that you can still get along so well."

"Did she tell you what happened?"

Kiyomi shook her head no, and we went quiet for a bit. I looked back over at L and Light and remembered what Halle had said about Mello and I's problem not being as bad as theirs. Without even thinking about it, I started talking.

"I'm gay – but I bet you knew that."

I looked back over at Kiyomi to see that she was just staring at me with wide eyes. "No, actually…" she said. "I've never given it that much thought."

I flushed with embarrassment and laughed nervously. "I'm sorry. It's just that when I've told other people, they've all said that they already knew."

Kiyomi smiled again and, seeming to give it a moment's thought, she put a hand on my shoulder. "Well, I try not to jump to conclusions. Maybe it's the investigative journalist in me, but I prefer cold, hard facts to speculation."

"Good to know," I said, returning her smile.

Just then, Halle and Wedy walked up and we both looked over. Halle had that big, bright grin and that rosy complexion that she always got when she'd been hitting the booze hard. On the other hand, I could tell that Wedy had had hardly anything. In fact, I don't think that I'd even seen her smoke all night. She looked pretty relaxed, to tell the truth.

"Matty-boy," Halle slurred, "it's almost eleven and Cinderella's late for the ball. As much as I love playing Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming needs to get his ass in gear and fix this on his own – or else I'll be forced to turn you both into pumpkins."

"Sorry to disappoint you," I deadpanned, "but you don't have that power."

This didn't deter Halle in the slightest. "No – but after a few beers, I'll believe I do, and that's good enough for me." She slid past Kiyomi on her way to the cooler. "Excuse me," she sing-songed.

Kiyomi shared an amused look with Wedy and me before going back over to the fire pit.

I said to Wedy, "You wouldn't mind if I went and got him, would you?"

She put her hands up in front of her as if warding me off. "Hey. I already gave you my blessing, therefore washing my hands of this issue. If that's all that's holding you back, then I think you're stupid."

"Yeah, seriously," Halle chimed in. "I told you to take some time for yourself, but I didn't mean a million years."

I sighed. "It just… never seemed like the right time."

"You guys have had thirteen years of 'not the right time'," Halle said. "It's time to seize the day."

Wedy crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at me. "Carpe Diem, Matt."

"Amen to that!" Halle shook up the beer in her hand, cracked it open, and quickly pressed it to her mouth. She downed the whole thing, foam and all, and let out a whoop. "Man… Why do I have a feeling that if I get drunk enough tonight, I'm going to end up with those two words tattooed on my ass?"

"Keep that to yourself, Lidner," Light remarked snootily as he walked up to the table.

"Oh, c'mon, Mr. Straight-laced…" Halle slinked around the table and pressed herself up against his side. She cooed in his ear just loud enough for us to hear, "Loosen up."

Light jerked away from her with a look of disgust, and Halle exploded into giggles.

Over by the fire pit, Misa stood up with her hands on her hips. "Hey! You better not be hitting on my boyfriend, Halle!"

"Oh, I wasn't," Halle said. "Light was just telling me about this tattoo he was thinking of getting: a W on each ass cheek. And when he bends over…" She looked over at Wedy and they exclaimed in unison, "Wow!"

Light's face cycled between a wide range of colours before settling on an unhealthy shade of puce. "I did not!" he squawked in a most undignified manner.

By that point, everyone was laughing. What caught my attention, however, was L; he wasn't laughing the hardest or the loudest, but his laugh was distinct enough that it cut through the rest of the noise.

Light's glare made it apparent that he had noticed, too. "You would find that funny, wouldn't you?"

"L is such a pervert," Misa sniffed.

Unbothered by this comment, L went on leering at Light, biting the end of his thumb. Light took only a few seconds of this before he huffed, crossed his arms, and turned away from him.

Chuckling, I made sure that my car keys were in my pocket before saying, "Yeah… I think I'm gonna go now."

Halle clapped her hands, grinning. "Good luck!"

Light looked up from his task of putting food on his plate and raised an eyebrow at me. "Good luck with what? Where are you going?"

"To go claim his pretty, pretty princess," Halle said.

Light popped a chip in his mouth, the sound of it a perfect rendition of that crunch that you only ever hear in chip commercials. If there was anything that I could give Light credit for, it would be his perfect hair and his ability to eat chips like a boss. I don't know how far these qualities will get him in life, but apparently far enough if his admission to that program is anything to go by.

"Oh, that," he said. "'Don't care." With that, he walked back to his spot (more like throne) by the fire with his plate of low-fat, magnificently crunchy chips.

Another wave of anxiety threatened to overtake me and I looked over at Wedy. "Are you absolutely sure?"

Wedy groaned. "Yes, Matt. For Christ's sake… Quit stalling, or else I'll drive you over there myself. Won't that make for the most awkward confession ever?"

It only took imagining the pissed look on Mello's face if he saw Wedy sitting in the driver's seat to convince me. "… Right. 'See you."

I turned on my heel and set out at a brisk pace back down the side of the hill. As I got halfway down the path, I heard Misa yell to me, "Don't forget the chocolate!" I gave her a thumbs up and kept on going.

When I reached my car, I happened to look out towards the clearing, and I saw Linda and Near standing together. Their faces were both turned up towards the stars. One of them must have said something, because they were suddenly looking at each other. Linda reached up and lightly touched one of Near's white curls, and he closed his hand over hers. Then, he leaned in and kissed her.

I couldn't help but grin as I got into the car and started up the engine.

If he can do it, then I can, too.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Parking in Mello's driveway, my heart must have been going a hundred miles an hour. After turning off the engine, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I told myself over and over, "You can do this. You can do this." I don't know if I really believed me, but I stepped out of the car either way.

As I made my way up the front walk, a terrible crash behind me rent the air and I whipped around. From what I could see in the light from the streetlamp, something had knocked over the Keehls and their neighbour's garbage cans. I saw a shadow darting across the lawn towards me, and then whatever it was winded itself around my legs, purring loud enough to wake the whole neighbourhood.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Goddammit, Jazz," I muttered, leaning down to pet the tabby.

Jazz tolerated this treatment for a good thirty seconds, tilting his chin up so I could give him the love that he thought was his by birthright, before he turned his claws on me. Experience taught me that this was coming, and I pulled my hand back just in time.

"Little fucker," I said. There was an almost affectionate tone to my words. Hell, I have to admit it.

I even missed his cat.

Jazz trotted away towards the garage, his tail held high. Just before he turned the corner, he looked back at me over his shoulder, his eyes flashing eerily as the light glinted off of them. As he went around the edge of the house, he flicked his tail once as if to beckon me.

Oh, what the hell.

I followed.

The tabby stopped dead in his tracks in front of the gate to the backyard. I knew that the cat was more than capable of scaling the fence, but he seemed to have no intention of doing so. Instead, he sat down, wrapped his tail primly around his paws, tilted his head back, and made the most obnoxious sound that I have ever heard come from a living thing.

Panicking, I quickly reached over the top of the gate and undid the latch. Jazz immediately ceased yowling and padded through the open gate. He spared me one last long look before slipping in through his kitty door on the side patio door.

I stood still for one excruciatingly long minute, waiting to see if anyone had stirred in response to the cat's racket. I couldn't hear a thing.

Apparently, everyone living at the Keehl residence is just used to Jazz being a pampered little nuisance.

At the other end of the backyard, I could see the lights from their pool casting a soft glow over their lawn. In the corner was the tree house, the 'No Girls Allowed' sign still hanging limply from the window like a relic of a not-too-distant past. I chewed on my lip, feeling angry with myself.

C'mon, Matt. Do you really need a cat to tell you not to be a pussy?

That decided it. I walked into their backyard with big, determined strides, letting the gate swing shut under its own power.

Light spilled out from his bedroom window and onto the lawn. The curtains were open and shadows fell across the grass as someone moved about inside. Picking up a sizable pebble, I chucked it at his window. It made a satisfying ding as it bounced off.

I stayed in the shadows, waiting with bated breath, until finally I saw a figure appear in the window. The artificial light behind them framed their silhouette like a halo, and I let the air rush out of my lungs. The window opened slowly – too slow, I thought in my apprehensive state – and I took the opportunity to step out into the light.

Mello leaned out the window, a quizzical look on his face as he peered into the darkness. His expression quickly changed to one of surprise when he saw me before finally being schooled into indifference.

"What the fuck do you want, Jeevas?" To anyone else, the words would have sounded biting, but I could hear the underlying hint of curiosity in his tone.

"Why don't you come down and find out?" I called up to him. I bit my lip nervously as soon as the words came out; I was in no place to be making demands.

Then, a voice piped up from the background. "Who are you talking to?"

Mello whipped his head around, his blond hair catching the light with the action. "Fuck off, short stop. This doesn't concern you."

Even from where I was standing in the backyard, I could hear Rosette scoff and I imagined her placing her hands on her hips in indignation. I made out something that sounded vaguely like, "What's in it for me?"

"Five bucks if you scram right now," Mello hissed.

Rosette must have left because Mello was facing me once more. My hands were starting to feel clammy as I felt him staring me down with his sharp, intelligent eyes, and I rubbed the sweat off on my jeans.

I have to do this – no matter what.

The blond quirked an eyebrow. "Well?"

"Well," I started and then faltered. "Well, I suppose I could sing to you. We both agree that my singing voice is pretty bad, but it's the thought that counts – right? I kind of came right here from Greybrook Hill, so I didn't really have time to grab a boom box… That's what they do in all the movies, anyways: hold it above their heads and stand there looking like dorks. At least I have the latter part down… I don't know. I didn't really think this through–"

There was confusion written all over his face as he blinked rapidly. "Matt. What the hell are you talking about?"

Great. I just had to have a case of word vomit at the worst of all moments, and now I was about to make a complete ass of myself.

I took a shuddery breath. "What I'm trying to say is – I'm completely messed up over you. I can't sleep, I can't eat, and my thoughts are running in circles. It's like my body's gone into withdrawal, and my head's finally getting the message that my heart's been screaming this entire time."

His face was bright red – brighter than perhaps even my hair – but I had to say it.

"Mello, I love you."

Silence. My heart felt like it was going to hammer its way out of my chest and just lay there pumping my supply of blood out onto their freshly cut grass. At least that would be acutely less uncomfortable than waiting for his response.

"You stupid fuck," he finally ground out. I shut my eyes as a sense of dread washed over me, resigning myself to the verbal abuse I was about to endure. "You come here after you completely rejected me; rubbed salt in my wounds by trying to apologize, but still managing to insult me in the process; and now you're trying to re-enact some cliché out of every bad '80s movie in existence. On top of it all, you're treating me like I'm a fucking chick. I should come down there and punch you just for that alone."

I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of my grinning lips. As strange as it sounds, considering the circumstances, that was as close to a you're forgiven from Mello as possible. It didn't mean that he wasn't still angry (I'd been a bit thick-headed, after all); it just meant that he was willing to give me another chance.

I was elated.

"Does that mean you will come down, then?" I asked, smiling up at him.

He returned my smile with one of his own, laced with exasperation. "Yes, you idiot."

Only a few seconds passed as I waited for him to come outside, but it felt like an eternity. I heard the sound of the gate opening at the side of the house and then heard rapid footsteps. I caught sight of Mello right before he rammed into me. We fell back into the grass together, and I was sure that he was going to kick my ass – when he suddenly kissed me.

The ground underneath us was cold and hard, but he was melting into me, and his fingers were twining in my hair, and his mouth tasted like chocolate in a way that I knew I would always find endearing. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and when I pulled him closer, I could feel his heartbeat against my chest.

It just felt right.

He pulled back gasping, his hair hanging around our faces like a curtain. "I hate you," he whispered. "I hate your stupid hair, and your stupid goggles, and your stupid freckles that only show up in a certain light. I hate how oblivious you are, and how you poke your tongue out the side of your mouth when you're thinking about something. I hate how you have such a big heart, and how you care too much about freaking everything, and how your whole face lights up when you smile. I really hate your eyes."

In an uncharacteristically tender manner, he brushed my bangs out of the way and gazed into my eyes.

"I hate how stupidly happy you make me."

"I love you, too," I responded, fervent. My voice might have wavered a little, but I didn't care.

I leaned up and kissed him again, and this time our desperation simmered down into a slow boil that lay a warm feeling over us like a blanket. So far, this was my fourth time kissing Mello. This one was different, however, because unlike the other times where we were practically trying to devour each other like a man who had been lost in the desert for so long when he finally finds water – we knew we could take our time with it. This kiss was a promise of the many others to come.

Eventually, we disentangled and picked ourselves up off of the ground. It was probably the first time ever that I didn't hear Mello complain about grass stains. I told him that everyone was still waiting for us if he wanted to come with me and bury the time capsule, and he agreed. We walked towards the gate, close enough that our hands brushed but neither of us made the move to connect them yet.

As I turned, I caught sight of Rosette standing in the kitchen window, grinning from ear to ear and giving me the thumbs up.

Smiling to myself, finally, I laced my fingers with Mello's and started off for the car.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

We were perhaps halfway across town when Mello suddenly cleared his throat. He'd been abnormally quiet for the entirety of the ride so far. I immediately looked over at him.

He opened his mouth, seemed to think better of it, and then closed it while averting his eyes. I could clearly pick out the individual emotions as they crossed his face. True to form, he eventually settled on muscling through whatever doubts he had, because he jutted out his chin and opened his mouth to speak again.

"You look good without your goggles," he stated matter-of-factly.

I smiled, biting my lip to stop myself from laughing. "Thanks."

I already suspected that that wasn't what he really wanted to say, and he only confirmed it when he sighed and glared out the window. I put all of my focus into my driving for the next while, letting him decide whether he would say whatever it was he had on his mind.

I didn't have to wait long.

"I'm sorry," he blurted.

I blinked. "For what?"

"For… for being such an asshole." Mello scowled. "I know I acted like this whole thing was your fault, but it wasn't. I just… was really jealous. It was wrong, but I felt like we belonged to each other or something. Just me and you against the world, you know? So when Wedy came along, I felt threatened – like I had to do everything in my power to secure my place." He exhaled loudly and ran his fingers through his hair in an impulsive motion. "I threw myself at you, for Christ's sake.

"So that's why I acted so cold towards you. I was mortified by what I had done and terrified that you wouldn't want to have anything else to do with me anymore. The only way to make myself feel better was to be angry. I know it's irrational, and stupid, and a number of other adjectives that I don't give two shits about naming at the moment – but that's what I did. And I ended up hurting you because of it. That's why I'm sorry.

"The worst part is, if you hadn't shown up at my house tonight, I would have come out there anyways and made a complete fool of myself. So, this is kind of a half-assed apology all the same since at the beginning of the night, I was still resolved to act like a slut just to get your attention. You're not an object, I know that, and don't think that I think I can just get you to do what I want all the time either. Shit… 'Cause seriously, I don't know what I'd do without you."

By this point, we'd reached the turn-off just before the hill, and I pulled off to the side some ways away from the intersection and parked. I looked up to see that he had been watching me, a distinctly anxious look in his eyes.

"It's okay, Mells," I told him, trying to soften my tone as much as possible.

He brought up a hand once more to run it through his hair, and I saw that his nail polish was chipped like he'd been picking at it this entire time. "No, it's not."

"Mell–"

"No!" he snapped. Then, looking embarrassed by his outburst, he carried on at a much quieter volume. "I'm sorry – again. I should have just told you how I felt when I realized it. I still haven't said it. I've implied it, but a damn lot of good that's ever done us."

I couldn't help it; I laughed. His eyes flitted up to meet my own.

"You won't believe how many times I've told myself that," I said, "but I've finally come to realize that it doesn't do any good to fret over the things you haven't done. You can only rectify it in the present. Do you think we were ready to admit how we felt when we were fourteen? I sure as hell wasn't. I mean, c'mon, I didn't even admit to myself that it was strange that I liked how you looked in leather," – Mello smirked – "when I was supposedly straight, until L's party just after graduation."

He looked back down at his lap where he was indeed picking at his nails, but I could see the corner of his lips tilt up.

He chuckled. "This is weird; I'm not used to you being the philosophical one. You're usually such an idiot about these kinds of things."

I grinned from ear to ear. "'Just doing my job."

Mello laughed then, and I rejoiced that I'd been able to cheer him up. Just as suddenly, he stopped and looked straight at me. I was disconcerted by the seemingly bipolar shift to sobriety, but I was determined to hold his gaze, anyways. It seemed that he had decided something of utmost importance.

His eyes softened a little bit, only slightly, but they had all the same. "I love you."

"I know," I told him with the same measure of solemnity.

The effect was immediate; his face brightened up and the tension in his shoulders melted away. He stopped picking at his nails.

"Good." Then, kicking up his legs to rest his feet on the dashboard, he asked, "So, when are we going to get moving again?"

My response was to stick my tongue out at him, put the car back into drive, and then accelerate so fast that he made a startled sound that morphed into peals of laughter halfway through.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

When we got out of the car, no-one was there to greet us. All we could hear was the tremendous chorus of frogs in the nearby pond, and beyond that, the voices of our friends. I grinned, feeling like I was walking through a dream right now. I started for the path, but stopped when I realized that Mello wasn't following me. I looked back to see that he was still standing by the car with his arms wrapped tightly around himself.

"What's wrong?" I asked him when I reached his side.

He didn't even look at me; he just continued staring wide-eyed into the darkness. "This all happened so fast…"

I grinned and put my hands on his shoulders, putting myself directly in front of him until I was sure that he was meeting my eyes. "I know. But that's good, right?"

"Yeah…" he said, and he pursed his lips thoughtfully. "It's just… I don't know how to act; I don't what to say. For so long I told myself this would never happen and now…" He trailed off, looking sombrely into my eyes.

"Well, that's okay–"

I was cut off by him wheeling me around and slamming me against the car.

"Mells?" I squeaked, eyes wide.

"Just shut up for a second."

I did.

He was looking into my eyes again, and then his gaze travelled over every feature of my face. I stood still, saying nothing. At last, he fisted his hand in my hair and crushed his lips against mine in a bruising kiss. By the end of it, my lungs were screaming for oxygen.

When he pulled back at last, his eyes were clear again. He smiled at me. "Okay. You're real. Let's go."

I expected him to start walking, and then I would fall in line just like always – but instead, he grabbed for my hand and we walked up the hill together. As we got closer to the top, the indistinct jumble of voices took on meaning.

"Thirty-six bottles of beer on the wall, thirty-six bottles of beer! Everybody! Take one down, pass it around, thirty-five bottles of beer on the waaaaall!"

Someone yelled, "Light, you drink!"

"If Light drinks, then Misa-Misa drinks, too!"

It took a while for anyone to notice us standing there. After Misa and Light had both taken a drink, they had decided it was perfectly logical to make out. Meanwhile, L was crouched next to them, popping Skittles into his mouth and grinding them between his teeth like he had a personal vendetta against them. Occasionally, Misa would accidentally kick him in all of her excitement, and his eye would twitch. With that going on, everyone's attention was pretty much accounted for.

That is, until Halle stood up and shouted, "Holy shit, you guys! They're back!"

We held up our interlocked hands and waved with our other free ones.

Near cleared his throat. "Light, when you are done devouring Misa's face, you owe me five dollars."

Mello smirked and I laughed. "Thanks for the confidence, Near," I said.

"Not a problem. I got your back, bro," Near intoned with an entirely straight face. This caused Linda to burst into a giggle fit, and she would have fallen out of her seat had Near not steadied her.

I shared a look with Mello, who was mirroring my incredulous expression. "Um… what?"

Near shook his head. "I believe I am a bit tipsy right now. Please disregard anything I say from this point forward."

Mello snickered. "What a surprise; Near is just as boring when he's drunk as when he's sober."

"That depends on your definition of boring," I replied, grinning.

"Well, well. Look who it is."

Mello dropped my hand and whipped around. Knowing exactly who it was, I turned a little more slowly, and with a hell of a lot less hostility.

Wedy was sitting on the edge of the snack table, drinking from a water bottle. I gave her a wave, and she hopped off and started towards us. Mello shot me a glance before turning the full intensity of his gaze on her. They sized each other up, and I was reminded of that day in midsummer when they done a similar thing in my garage.

Mello was the first to speak. "I am not going to say that I'm sorry, because it would be a lie."

"Good," Wedy said. "I wouldn't want to hear it anyway."

Mello nodded, narrowing his eyes.

Then, looking over at me for a moment before setting her eyes back on him, Wedy smiled. "The next time we race bikes on the highway, I am going to make you eat my dust."

Mello's eyes flashed at this. It took him a few seconds before his expression changed, his lips curling up into a wolfish grin. "We'll see about that."

Wedy walked back to the fire pit, then, and Mello turned to me.

"She's not so bad," was all he said before he too went over to join everyone.

I smiled.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

When we finally got around to burying the time capsule, it was very late. Most of the people threw their objects in with no introduction, and it was so dark that you couldn't always tell what other people were putting in. When it got to my turn, however, I felt words burning at my lips and I knew I had to say them.

"To endings and beginnings," I said, pulling my cracked pair of goggles out of my back pocket. I looked around at everyone's faces. "And damn good friends."

"Damn good friends!" everyone chorused, grinning.

I set the goggles in the box, not even feeling a twinge. What's most important are the people with me now, not the illusions that I used to hang onto. All of these people had shown me that I was important to them in some way, and come what may, I would always have a place for them in my heart.

Even fucking Light Yagami. God knows the town won't be the same without him prissing it up.

I was the last person who'd brought something (or so I thought), and so I was surprised when Mello stepped forward unexpectedly, removing his rosary from his neck. He clutched it in his hand and raised it to his mouth.

"Dors bien, Grand-mère," he whispered, pressing his lips to his fist. His eyes were like the depths of the ocean, staring off into someplace no-one else could see, and I felt like I could drown in them. The firelight glinted off of the rosary beads; the metal crucifix was held tight in his white-knuckled grip.

He placed the rosary into the box and turned away.

I followed him back to the fire pit and sat down beside him.

"You didn't have to do that," I told him.

In answer, he grabbed my hand and squeezed it lightly. We stared ahead into the fire, neither of us caring to let go.

There was nothing else to say.

Mello's grandmother had given him that rosary before I had met him. I'd never met her, but when we were younger, Mello would always tell me how she made the best chocolate in the world. He would sit with her in her kitchen, watching her toil away, and they would talk for hours. He would tell me about the fairy tales she would tell him – "Not the ones for pansies," he would insist. "The good ones; the ones with blood and magic and evil pixies" – and how they would play games of pretend. Mello would brag that he was her favourite, the only one she told all her secrets to.

She died when he was nine, and he never talked about her after that.

"Grandma would have loved you," Mello said suddenly, so quiet that I almost missed it.

I didn't know what to say to that, so I gave his hand another squeeze and kissed his temple.

Halle came right over to us then, and without warning, buried her head in Mello's lap and started bawling. Even more surprising was that Mello seemed to be completely underwhelmed by this, almost as if he had expected it to happen. He patted her head without even looking away from the fire.

"Everything's changing!" Halle sobbed. "And you guys are so beautiful… You have no idea how happy I am for you!"

Wedy and Kiyomi rushed over and got Halle back to her feet. Wedy propped her up while Kiyomi chastised, "You have had more than enough tonight, hon. We are cutting you off."

Halle just sniffed and nodded.

Wedy sighed. "C'mon. Let's go get you cleaned up."

As we watched them walk away, Mello smirked.

"Damn good friends," he said with more than a little humour.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The fire had long since smoldered down to ashes by the time we got into the car. We weren't the only ones thinking of heading home; Light had headed off with Misa and L (the latter, I noticed, looking peevish towards their drunken behaviour), Linda had offered to take Near back to his apartment (to which Mello had pointedly gagged and I had laughed), and Wedy was currently trying to coax a yawning Kiyomi to let her drive her home. Despite the fact that the party was most certainly over, Halle was still dancing around the dying fire as if the night were still young.

I watched as Mello got his seat belt on, smiling. He looked up then, catching the expression on my face, and he stuck his tongue out at me. I leaned over and kissed him.

When I pulled back, he blinked. "What was that for?" he asked, his voice sounding huskier than usual.

"Kiss me quick, but don't slobber, right?" I answered with a grin and then kissed him again. This time, it was just because I could; it was awesome to know that I could kiss him whenever like that. Also, I'd decided in that moment that he looks pretty damn cute when he's confused.

Suddenly, I remembered the box of chocolates I'd bought for him yesterday and I ripped away from him, practically lunging over the divider as I reached into the backseat.

"If you're throwing up right now," Mello growled, "I'm going to kick your ass."

"No! I'm just grabbing something."

"Oh. Well, alright then," he said, after which he followed typical Mello-logic when it comes to appropriate responses in social situations and smacked my ass.

This elicited an offended gasp and a glare from me. He just smirked, looking particularly proud of himself. "Don't stick it in my face if you don't like the consequences."

"That's what she said," I muttered under my breath. Just then, I finally found the chocolates under the unbelievable amount of crap that had accumulated in the backseat in the past day (thankfully, the box was in excellent condition still), and I settled back down in my seat.

"Here," I said, placing the box on his lap. As I refastened my seatbelt, I tried to gauge his reaction.

He looked… disappointed?

I frowned, feeling my heart sink in my chest. "What? Did I get the wrong kind?"

Mello glanced at the backseat and then back at the box again, and I still couldn't place the look on his face. "No, it's not that at all… I'm just a little… Never mind. I love it." At once, the hard line that his lips had pressed into softened, and he granted me a warm smile.

Still worried that I had let him down in some way, I persisted.

"Seriously, Mells, what is it? Is it because it was sitting under stuff in the backseat? 'Cause I swear, it was only back there for a short amount of ti–"

Without a word, he covered my mouth with his hand. 'Didn't even look at me as he tore into the box. It was only when he caught sight of the chocolate that he removed his hand. "Oh, hells yes."

The deliberation phase didn't last long. He picked what looked to be the largest one, popped it in his mouth, closed his eyes, and moaned.

I stared at him in disbelief, feeling a bit squirmy all of a sudden. "It can't be that good."

Apparently he took that as a challenge.

Mello's eyes slid open to half-mast as he grabbed another chocolate, staring me down. He raised the sweet to his mouth and took a slow, deliberate swipe over it with his tongue. He paused a moment to lick whatever he'd missed off of his lips, and then popped what remained of the chocolate into his mouth. As soon as it hit his tongue, he made a show of tossing back his head and making the most exaggerated moan I have ever heard in my life.

Do I even have to state that I was blushing by this point?

He licked the remnants off of his fingers gleefully. With his fair hair, blue eyes, and tranquil smile, he looked practically angelic right then.

Lucifer was an angel, too, after all.

"Thank you," he simpered once he was finished putting on his little show.

"Yeah, sure," I replied, all the while thinking of dying puppies and wrinkly, old people to calm myself down.

After closing it up, he tossed the box into the back for later and got settled in for the drive back home. He sighed, giving me a tired smile. "Man, what a crazy night."

"Yeah, I know." I laughed, still not believing the events that had passed tonight. "So – you said if I hadn't come to your house earlier, you would have come out here on your own. What were you planning to do?"

Mello wrinkled his nose and shrugged. "I don't know."

"Oh, come on. You always know; you're the man with the plan."

He snorted at this before looking up at the roof of the car, as if he expected his response to be printed there for him. "Well," he said, "since we're in the habit of acting out scenes from old movies tonight… Maybe I would have gotten tarted up, shown up here smoking a cigarette to show you I approve of your bad-boy demeanor," – here it was my turn to snort – "and then we would all jump into a performance of 'You're the One that I Want' from the movie Grease, during which I would completely and utterly seduce you.

He looked over at me. "How does that sound for a plan?"

I regarded him very seriously – for about two seconds.

Then I burst out laughing.

He smirked. "I hope you like that mental image I just provided – because it is never going to happen."

Turning my eyes on him, I unleashed my best puppy-dog pout. Yes, I was beginning to see the advantages of having my eyes uncovered…

The response that completely dashed all my hopes was a mere shake of his head.

"You're a cruel, cruel person, Mells," I said, throwing him a mock-glare as I put the car into gear.

He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Tell me about it, stud."

With that – and some more blushing on my part – we drove off into the darkness. Sure – the car wasn't levitating, there wasn't a dance number, and I don't think any amount of pleading I could muster up would ever persuade Mello to sing that song… But I was happy.

Hell, I was the happiest I'd been since… ever.

All in all, I think everything worked out just fine in the end.

Carpe Diem, indeed.

And there it is! Thank you all so much for reading all the way to the end! For those who reviewed, a special thank you to you, as well. I regret that I don't always have time to respond, but just know that I appreciated each and every comment. They helped me to know what I am already doing well and what things I need to improve upon. With this information, I will continue to grow as a writer and work to provide you guys with good stories.

Alright. Next order of business! There will be a sequel, titled "Take Your Time", and it will be in Mello's point of view. I won't start posting it until after summer, however, because I have exams and the due date for my art portfolio coming up, and I will need some time after that to just relax and feel like I am free of deadlines. I will continue to write during that time, though; in fact, I'm planning on getting as much done as possible so that, when I do post, you guys won't have to wait too long for updates. Beyond that, I have a few one-shots that I might post during that time, so keep an eye out for those, too, if you like. :)

'Til next time!

~PenguinxHero