It was just a soft sound that dragged him out of his dreams. Just a little shush of a sound. Lips meeting his temple, he realized.

“Where the hell have you been?”

Matt was handsome in the dark. He was all lithe and tall, and his goggles caught the outside light of a streetlamp for just a moment as he turned his head. The cigarette he lifted to his lips glowed orange at the tip as he inhaled.

“Just out,” he said, like it was no big deal.

“All day and half the fucking night? Where did you go?”

“Were you worried, or something?” There was a smile in his voice. “Didn’t really go anywhere. Just sort of… out. I needed to think.” He gave a short pause. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

“I wasn’t freaked out. Why the fuck weren’t you answering your phone?”

“Aha… It fell into a cement mixer. Kind of a long story.”

“I can’t believe you.”

“Seriously, a cement mixer. See, I was trying to get across—”

“Not that. I believe that. I mean, I can’t believe you. I can’t believe you just left like that.”

“Oh.” Matt made a face. “Let me just point out that you disappear for days and days at a stretch—without warning—all the time.”

“That’s different,” Mello hissed, glaring. “I thought you’d abandoned…” He bit his tongue. God help him, he wasn’t going to say me. “I thought you’d abandoned the case, you bastard.”

“Uh-huh. Then I’m also going to bring up the fact that you disappeared on me for four years once. Which totally counts as a devastating abandonment, and you DO deserve to be got back at for it. However—” He held up his hands, stopping Mello from arguing. “Let me assure you, I wouldn’t dream about abandoning the Kira case. I love the Kira case. It’s my raison d’etre.”

Mello knew he wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what anymore. He ended up just shaking his head. Trying not to forgive. Not just yet.

“You’re an idiot.”

“So, did the Kira case miss me while I was gone?”

After a long pause, Mello relented. He didn’t want to stay angry. Not this late at night. Not this time. “Yeah,” he said. “It did.” He reached out and took Matt’s hand, letting himself be pulled up to his feet. “And I guess I was getting sort of lonely without you, too.”