Twenty-First kiss- Mello x Halle

Theme "Embarrassment"

"You're alive?"

They were the only words that crossed Halle's lips at that moment; any other speech proved impossible as she stared in surprise at the disheveled blond standing before her, his burned face a souvenir of the horrific explosion the day before. The intensity of the green eyes that bored into her across the small expanse of the bedroom threatened to set the place on fire, and she found herself taking a step back from the man she had come to trust so deeply.

"Of course," Mello's voice had more of a cutting quality to it than she remembered, and it took a moment for her to gather her bearings and stop acting like a some kind of idiot just standing there wrapped only in a towel and gaping at him. She slowly slid back into her normal state, reason overtaking emotion as she stepped toward him, clutching the towel tightly against her as she moved. "You didn't think I'd die that easily, did you?" he lowered the gun in his hand slowly, and hall was relieved to see it go.

"It's good to see you…" the trivial words hung loosely in the air, though Mello didn't acknowledge them. He just pulled a chocolate bar out of the pocket of his coat and pulled back the wrapper As he roughly bit off a chunk, the small crack echoed through the bedroom, much louder than it should have been. Halle waited for him to speak for a moment, and then let it go. Mello wasn't one to get sentimental, which was something this situation could possibly call for. She didn't count on an answer and he didn't give one. The two had an unspoken understanding to this extend. Halle didn't demand any more from Mello than he was willing to give, and Mello didn't resent her for working so closely with Near. It was a mutual understanding.

"So, how long has it been?" Mello asked finally, moving toward her as he slowly raised his eyes to meet her face. He stopped about a foot away from her and took another bite of his candy bar. It was only then that Halle realized that he was shorter than she, and smirked internally at the fact that probably most of Mello's forced masculinity came from trying to overcompensate for the fact that he stood not a fraction over 5'6".

"Too long," she answered with a slight nod, several strands of pale blonde hair sliding into her face. In a sudden, uncharacteristic gesture of tenderness, Mello lifted one hand and brushed them away, tucking them carefully behind her ear. The light brush of fingertips against Halle's skin was pleasant. Despite her attempts to stay professional with him, a small smile crossed her lips. She leaned down and placed an affectionate kiss on his cheek, and she could feel the skin heat up beneath her lips before she pulled away. Mello made a desperate attempt to appear unaffected, but a tiny bit of telltale blush lingered on his cheeks as he turned away and nibbled furiously on his chocolate bar.

"Whatever," he muttered in a faint approximation of apathy, keeping his eyes averted as he worked on the chocolate. He seemed embarrassed at showing vulnerability, and kept those fierce green eyes focused on the floor. Mello was, as always, fiendishly attractive-- even more so with the newly acquired scar-- and though Halle liked to believe this wasn't part of the reason why she enjoyed his company, she knew she was kidding herself. He was particularly attractive with this new sense of exposure about him, and she couldn't help but stare. She was more than a little embarrassed when those eyes flicked upward and caught her red handed. Their eyes locked for a brief moment, and Halle could have sworn she saw a spark in those emerald depths.

"You were staring."

"Guilty." the pause that followed was inappropriately long, and Halle felt herself growing almost awkward, something it was not in her nature to do. She could feel Mello's eyes on her, boring into her and violating her with their intensity as they always did. But this time there was something else there, something that by all rights shouldn't have been. The young man's eyes held a fire that seemed to have nothing to do with his passion for solving the case.

"Hey, Lidner," there was a kind of deliberation in Mello's voice as he spoke.

"What?"

"You know I like to think you're just an information source to me, but you and I both know that's not the case, don't we?"

"What do you mean?" for reasons Halle couldn't fully comprehend, she was slightly apprehensive. She felt silly in this, since this meeting was all business, after all. Everything was all business with Mello. So why was he coming closer? And why did he have that peculiar look in his eyes as he leaned in?

"I mean this," the kiss that he pressed into her lips then was raw, unexpected, and none too gentle. Halle had half a mind to push him away and scold him for being ridiculous. But the other half reminded her that she was at this moment being kissed by an extremely attractive, possibly underage male (who might be criminally insane for all she knew, but what did it matter when he was nibbling her bottom lip?)… one that was far better at kissing than he should have been.

And so, while her more rational side did its best to win the battle, for the first time in ages her impulsive side won out and she kissed him back with full force, something that she never would have allowed if her better judgment had not flown out the window at the sudden contact between their lips. The inside of Mello's mouth tasted of the chocolate he had been eating, and it only took a few seconds for Halle to completely lose all rational thought at the feeling of that wet, talented tongue ransacking the interior of her mouth. By the time Mello pulled away she was almost trembling, and it was slightly embarrassing for her to discover that she was so affected by a simple kiss.

Mello, on the contrary, looked utterly unaffected-- save for the smear of red lipstick around his mouth and the softness in his eyes that was normally there-- as he stood and took a fresh bite of his candy. But then the hardness of his expression gave way to a slight smile just before he turned away. He walked with his usual feline saunter, and as he reached the door he looked over his shoulder at the still starstruck Halle standing where he had left her.

"Come on, let's go. You're going to take me to the SPK's headquarters. And you might want to fix your ensemble, by the way," he offered before disappearing with a swoop of golden hair. Confused, Halle looked down, and discovered the source of Mello's comment; her towel was lying in a pool around her ankles. Slightly embarrassed, Halle made a grab for the towel and sighed.

Now she was almost glad she had neglected to mention the smears of lipstick that still decorated Mello's face.

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Poor Mello…

Now we know what really happened between the time when it showed Mello in Halle's apartment and when they arrived at the SPK headquarters XD ZOMG het!

I adore Halle :3

I'll update soon! I've got a pretty interesting pairing planned…