Tsukiraven: -formal bow- Hello, all. Let me introduce myself:

My name is Raven; feel free to call me pretty much anything. Except Dumbass. And douche bag. Yeah... not too fond of those two.

Light: Stop talking; no one cares.

Tsukiraven: Th-they don't?

Light: No. No one here could care less.

Tsukiraven: -sobsniffle-

L: -spears cake on a fork- They're waiting for you to start the fanfiction, Miss Authoress Raven.

Tsukiraven: B-But I always write these notes! Didn't they read 'I'll Cover You'? These were a hit there! –flails-

Light: -stares with contempt- Different fandom, different readers.

Tsukiraven: Oh... well, shit.

Since you all probably didn't read I'll Cover You, lemme fill you in on a few good things.

Le uno: I have quite a mouth on me. I'm vulgar. I'm a pervert. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Le dos: I love Yaoi. This story is yaoi. I won't stand for bull about how I didn't warn you. I'm warning you now, okay? –waves arms- Warning over here people! Yo? Hi, okay.

Le tres: I LOVE music. If any of you read ICU, the whole thing was quasi-RENT based.

I'm using a My Chemical Romance theme for this one: Chappie titles and story name an' all. –nodnod- Cookies to whomever can get the song title to match the quotes.

Le cuatro: This is an AU story- alternate universe. The characters are OOC- I know. Hey, there are two boys having sex on a leather couch! - I'm well aware, this is my story and I put them there.

Mello: Nice touch with the rhyming.

Light: -rolls eyes-

Tsukiraven: And this, dearest readers, is a fanfic for the ever elusive pairing of MattNear! Yay! Inspired by Ice Puppet's fabulous fic "Stripes" and a role-play of sorts that I'm involved in on Gaia.

All right... I think that's everything! –whistles non-chalantley-

Near: -frowns- Forgetting something?

Tsukiraven: Oh, whatever do you mean? –sparkles-

Near: -curls hair around finger- The disclaimer.

Tsukiraven: I... don't own it. My fondest dream is that I may one day own Death Note. But I don't. –whines- Can we move ooon! This subject is hard to discuuuuss!

Matt: -lights cigarette- And we're moving on in three... two... one, action.

Demolition Lovers

Chapter o1: Well, it rains and it pours when you're out on your own.

It wasn't that the rain really bothered Matt. It didn't piss him off. The purely logical facts were there, lying neatly in front of him: water was falling from the sky. Feeding crops. Whoopdee-fucking-doo.

The clouds didn't bother him. Even though Matt was never one to look at them and imagine them as animals or some other such bull as a child, he could always appreciate them; so carefree.

No, it wasn't even the thunder.

The power was out. And no power meant no Play Station. No Nintendo. No X-Box. No nothing. Matt groaned in frustration, reaching around in the pitch black of the empty observation room for his handheld game for a good ten minutes before remembering that Mello had taken it from him earlier that day for not doing his job.

Matt sighed, hanging his head dejectedly. Well... Goddamn.

---

Near's fingers twitched as he stacked die upon die in the SPK's new hideout. "Please close the curtains, Hal Lidner." He stated in a monotonous voice. "It's raining out." But Hal didn't move and rain continued to poor through the open windows, soaking everything in its way.

Near looked up, his colourless eyes peering over his stacks of dice. He was alone- there was no one watching the computers, the security videos. No one was trying to decipher anything, decode anything; no one was even there. Near blinked. How unusual.

"Hal?" He called out, stepping carelessly over his dice, "Gevanni? Commander Rester? ...Hello?" Curious, Near ambled towards an adjoining room: No one. The hallway: nothing. Even a small cupboard off the kitchen had no signs, no traces, of anything at all. The three elder members of the SPK were all just gone.

As Near was contemplating the events surrounding the disappearances of his fellow detectives- it was fascinating really; another large, blank puzzle to be solved- an ear shattering scream caught his attention. 'Outside... A female's voice... Hal Lidner?'

"Oh God, someone help!" The same voice called out desperately.

"Suicide?" Another- this one male.

"Homicide!"

"... Kira?"

"Somebody," the first voice screeched again and Near was instantly positive that the origin of this voice was not Hal Lidner, "call an ambulance! Get them help!" Near frowned, making his way to the street door.

"An ambulance won't help!" A man's panicky voice yelled out. Near cautiously peered outside, his eyes widening when he saw the three bodies piled in a bloody heap in the center of a stopped-up street.

"They're already dead! An ambulance won't help!"

---

Matt glared venomously at the light up screen of his laptop. "Don't you dare..." he threatened, cigarette smoke seeping from his barely opened mouth. "Don't you die on me, you shitty piece of shit--" The screen on his laptop flickered briefly and died altogether, leaving a very pissed off Matt alone in a very dark room.

"Damn," the redhead muttered, snapping the dead computer shut. Rain was pouring relentlessly on the roof of his and Mello's apartment, mocking him. Goddamn rain- mocking him!

Grumbling, Matt flipped his coat pocket open to discover- low and behold! - that he was also out of cigarettes.

Perfect.

Groaning dejectedly the boy laid back, his head landing against the carpeted floor with a soft thunk. He chose to ignore the noise; no need for the floor to mock him too.

'Maybe I can sleep through the entire storm,' Matt thought, 'and when I wake up it will be sunny and Mello will be here to give me back my portable with a big ass apologetic grin on his face. And then a week's paid vacation. Oh, and then Kira can ring our doorbell and turn himself in. Har har. Behold the power of positive thinking.'

Matt sighed, closing his eyes tiredly. Sleep... he could do sleep.

Ding!

Or not. Matt opened one eye lazily, glaring at the door. A small spot of barely-there light filtered through the peep hole, moving in and out of focus in response to someone's shadow covering the small hole on the other side of the door.

Matt rolled over, ignoring the door. The only person who'd ever visit this dump of an apartment was Mello, and he had his own key. And screw him to hell if he lost it.

Ding!

Ding!

Matt groaned, sitting up. It was obvious that whoever was at his door was not going to leave. After a few moments of careful deliberation (Let the poor bastard in or let him rot), the redhead stood and quickly made his way to the door.

Ding!

"Shut up," Matt sighed, turning the doorknob, "I'm coming... Near?" A small, white haired boy stood on the threshold of the apartment, his body soaked. White, sopping wet pajamas clung to his prone form, his mop of curly hair was plastered to his head with rainwater. As Matt watched, the albino boy lifted a single hand to curl his fingers around the tangled and wet mass.

"Matt." Near greeted solemnly, his lifeless gray eyes peering up at the shocked smoker.

"Er, yo." Matt leaned against the doorframe, observing the smaller boy. "What are you--"

"Doing here?" Near cut him off swiftly, cradling a toy robot to his chest.

"Yeah."

"Aside from myself, all of the members of the SPK have been eliminated," Near stated dully. "I have no where else to go. Kira supporters, even Kira himself, may be watching the SPK headquarters. I have reason to believe that he may even know my name." He paused, letting the severity of that statement rest on Matt's shoulders.

Near's name. Aside from the late L, Near had probably done the best job of hiding his name and face. Where Mello tended to leap into the public eye and demand attention, Near preferred to hang back and play with his toys. The young albino had ever destroyed every picture and written record involving himself, his birth and his name. How could anyone have learned Near's real name?

"... in?"

Matt blinked, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "Sorry. Say again?"

"Could I come in?"

Matt sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Mello lives here too."

Near nodded. "I know. That's how I found this place- I tracked his cell phone almost a month ago. That coupled with eyewitness reports of a 'mysterious and scary looking blond man with a scarred face' having been seen in the area two times within the last week, I assumed that Mello would still be here, and by extension you would to."

Matt nodded. Made sense. "What would you have done if we hadn't been living here?"

Near blinked. "I..." he paused to think, twisting his hair ruthlessly. "I would probably be in the hands of Kira or a Kira supporter right now. Possibly even dead.

"May I come in?"

Matt sighed, shrugging. "Yeah. Come on in."

---

Tsukiraven: That was hard. Why was that so hard?

L: You haven't written a fanfiction in ages and you're out of practice.

Near: You have difficulty writing for my character.

Light: You're retarded.

Mello: There was not enough me in this chapter.

Matt: -plays game-

Tsukiraven: All of the above?

... Except Light's.

Well, readers dear, sorry that this chappie kind of sucked the big wazoo. True, I haven't written anything that's not original in a while- I'm trying to get back on this fanfic-writing-love train!

And yeah, this chapter was pretty much Near and Matt exclusive. But they're in love, so it's okay.

Near: -blink- In love?

Tsukiraven: -waves hand impatiently- So anyway, yeah. First chappie done. Please, please review! I love them li'l reviews!

Near: What do you mean 'in love'?

Tsukiraven: And that about wraps it up for this chappie. So peace out! Until next time, ya'll!