[Relief noted. They've been Bonded for such a short time, and L wants to push him off on someone else. It's not his mentor's fault that this takes Mello back to a childhood which existed before The House, one where English was foreign and the life he lived was the only one he knew. Rejection, disdain. He won't re-live it. He refuses.]

I trust her.

[And that's the most he'll speak of a potential Bond. If this is Bonding? Mello wants no more of it. Wants nothing to do with what he already has. When he planned it, he thought he'd have L. They'd work together; they'd be so close that nothing could break them.]

[But it's become the opposite, hasn't it? He finally does go for that slice of bacon, though whether or not he'll end up eating it is up for grabs.]

Bonding is a possibility, but I've no need for it right now.

[Bullshit. Someone needs to put Mello's growing powers in check. A monster, specifically. His 'practices' have become all-out destruction, and sometimes he wakes feeling as though his chest is going to rip open and explode.]

[He doesn't think about those things, though.]

I can feel your loss. [Blunt as he can be.] It's disgusting; that's why I'm drowning it out with this. [He tips the glass towards L.] You've a hole inside you, and it's making me sick.

[Unblinking stare.]

It's worse than I thought dissolving a Bond would be. [And in a moment of true idiocy:]

Did you love him?