A/N: Eh…short and drabbly. Popped into my head at 2 am and I polished it up a bit. It's a little OOC (and lame) but it was kind of fun anyway. Hope you enjoy it!
"You're so readable," Mello told Near one day as they sat in the playroom, Near meticulously putting together a model airplane, Mello sprawled on the floor watching him.
One eyebrow dipped a hair, the other arched by the same increment.
"You are," Mello insisted.
Near's eyes flicked to a group of children playing on the other side of the room, to Mello, and back down.
"That's because they don't pay attention," Mello said scornfully. "If they watched instead of just sitting there expecting you to tell them what you think, you'd be an open book."
The corner of his mouth twitched, the head cocked a degree to one side.
"True," said Mello. "But even if they don't pay attention, I do."
The eyes narrowed, looking sideways at Mello.
Mello laughed. "You shouldn't be so obvious, Near. But don't worry." He lowered his voice. "I promise I'll only use your openness to my own advantage. I won't tell anyone else how easy you are to read."
Near's eyes relaxed and dropped back to his plane, giving the tiniest shrug.
Mello scowled. "Maybe you don't care now," he said. "But you should. Someday it'll give me an advantage over you."
Again the cocked brow.
"Because I know that even if you know I'm watching, you can't help being completely readable," said Mello smugly.
Near turned his face to look at Mello, the corner of his mouth tipping into a little smile. "I don't mind, Mello," he said softly. "I like talking to you."
Mello's eyes widened slightly, then narrowed in a frown.
"Well, you can decide that yourself," Near said. "But whether I was faking before or now, you were still the only one who was able to tell I was talking at all."
