Happy Ending (MattxMello)

11. Happy

Matt
I take him out to coffee two days after he came back from the hospital. We need to talk about so many things and I find myself at a loss for words so I just kinda... Stare at him hoping he'll catch through my eyes what my mouth won't say. "I know, you don't have to keep looking at me like that. I owe you an explanation Matt and I'm going to give you one. What do you want to know?" He says before I can even open my mouth. "Oh, well... I guess we could start with... Where have you been?" It comes out clearly hesitant. He's not shy, "Well, I guess you wouldn't know because I never answered your letters but... Yeah. I was with them."
"Oh, okay. Sorry."
"For?"
"Sending so many... I guess I just, well, I guess I just really wanted to know that you were okay."
"Oh, yeah. No problem."

Mello
I won't tell him, but his weekly letters were really the only thing keeping me going. I kept every single one and actually slept with them under my pillow when I missed him too much. When they stopped coming I feared the worst, considering so many times just sending a reply but... I never did. I was just so afraid of the truth. After stirring my coffee absentmindedly for a while I finally broke the silence, "Anything else?"
"What uh... What happened, you know?" I lift my hand up to my still bandaged left side and look down. I tell him about the NPA and the SPK and the explosion and once again let silence fall. "Sorry Mells, I didn't mean..."
"No, it's okay. I was going to tell you anyway. What did you do?" His face changes to an expression I can't really read, kind of a mix between sad, desperate and horrified. My heart sinks. "Oh, me? Nothing really. Just waited for you to come back I guess..."
"Yeah? Sorry about that."
"No, no, it's fine really. I just missed you I guess... We should go." He seems nervous and he's speaking too fast but I won't ask him any more. I have a feeling he's got just as many things that he'd like to hide as I do and I don't think he wants to talk about it. He's already standing and looks just about ready to run out of the little shop if given a chance. "Yeah. Let's go."

Matt
We go out to coffee every day now, lacking anything better to do. I also change his bandages every day like the doctor said and I can see that his burns are starting to heal. I make him close his eyes when I change them, knowing that he'd freak seeing the angry red skin stretching across the left side of his face, his arm and chest. I know he'll see it eventually and it'll be hard for him but... I don't know. I guess I just want him to be happy with me for as long as he can.

I take him to the coffee shop the day before his bandages are supposed to come off, wanting this last day to be the best it could be. I also have something to ask him, something important. "You know I love you right?" I say to him as I stir my coffee. "Umm... Yeah. Love you too, I guess." I laugh at his awkward confusion and look him in his bright blue eyes, admiring the way they look just like the sky on a clear summer day. "So, I was thinking that... You know, I was thinking we should..." I'm nervous beyond belief and my voice is trembling. "Come on Jeevas, spit it out already." He says, a smile on his face as he takes a sip of his coffee. "Well... I was thinking..." I gain some confidence finally.

Mello
"We should get married." I choke on my lukewarm coffee as he says this, "What?"
"You heard me."
"Yeah, but..."
"No buts Mells. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you." He says it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and I'm the only one who didn't know. We're sitting in the little coffee shop around the corner from our apartment, we've made it a habit of going back there at least once a week, just like we used to. My mouth is still half open when he pulls out a necklace with a golden ring on it and puts it in my trembling hands. "It's nothing official or anything but I'd just like to know that you know how much I love you and that I never wanna be with anyone else. Cause, I do. I love you Mello." He pauses and looks up at me nervously, "So...?"
"Y-yeah. Okay. Sure." The words come tumbling out of my mouth as I accept the chain. I look up slowly just to see a huge, goofy grin on his freckled face, "Awesome." He stands up and takes the chain from my hands, putting it around my neck to hang with the rosary my mother gave me so long ago. Right over my heart. He sits back down and pulls the glove off of his left hand to show me his matching ring, "See, I got one too!" A huge smile breaks out on my face too once the shock dies down a bit, "God, I love you Matt. You're such a dork." I reach across the table and grab his hand, while my other hand clutches the ring. I don't think I've ever been this genuinely happy.