I Am Mail Jeevas

and this is my story, for those who'd care to listen

Written by ZoeticCaracal

I do not own Death Note nor do I own any character or house for gifted children that appears in Death Note. All I own is the idea for the story, and this is for pure, nonprofit fun.

Enjoy!

When I was little, I was taken to an odd house by mother.

There was an old man there with a room filled with games just for me.

I was only five years old when my mother walked me up to the front door of the house she'd explained was called 'Wammy's House for the Gifted'. At first I was curious, just like any other five-year old would be in that situation. A man who referred to himself as Watari had opened the door and welcomed us inside. We were led into a large office, and I was completely mesmerized by the sheer size of the place.

"Mail, would you like to go play with the other children?" the old man had asked kindly. I looked at mother and noticed the look she used when she wanted me to obey an order.

"Yes, thank you." I told the man hastily and turned to trot happily from the room. Instead of finding the other children, I found myself a nice quiet alcove seat in a nice quiet corner and played the handheld console that mother had recently gotten for me along with the game that came with it. It was beaten to hell and back, sure, but it still worked and still played the game, and I was thankful for the distraction.

I emerged myself into the game. After a while when no one came looking for me I managed to resurface. When we'd arrived, it was light outside. Now, however, the last streams of light were rapidly fading.

"Did you enjoy your game?" I jumped and turned away from the window. Watari was standing a few feet away, an odd expression that I recognize now as a look of amusement and pity covered his face. After a moment of processing what he'd asked me, I nodded. He smiled and I smiled back. The old man was nice. "Mail, there is something we need to discuss. Will you listen carefully?" Again, I nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Good boy, Mail. Your mother has… entrusted me and the House to be your guardians. You will be staying here for a while, but you will like it here. You will receive teachings in the learning fields you excel in and you'll be able to find your way in life." The man explained. I cocked my head, trying to soak it all in. One thing, however, was clear. Mother was gone and she'd left me here. "And from now on, to keep you safe, you will no longer go by the name of 'Mail Jeevas'. You will simply become 'Matt', understood?"

And now, my name was gone along with mother. I felt the urgency behind his words, however, and knew that his request was important. I nodded my head. "Yes, sir." I murmured.

"You will tell no one about your real name, and over time hopefully it will fade away." Watari finished with an attempt at reassurance. It only made me feel worse, to be perfectly honest. "Now, Matt, would you like to come see your new room? It will be all yours and we've already added some things to occupy you in there. More games for the little device you have there, too." The mention of more games piqued my interest and I finally stood from the alcove bench to follow the man.

At my old house with mother, my room in our little three roomed shack only had enough space for me and a measly pile of blankets on the floor that I called my bed. In contrast, the bedroom that the old man led me into here was large enough to fit a twin bed complete with a mattress and pretty matching sheets and blankets; a TV with three different consoles hooked up to it; and two little racks neatly stockpiled with a variety of games for the consoles. I was beside myself with glee.

"All of this… is for me?" I asked, my voice laced with awe. I was almost certain he was going to say it was a trick, but he didn't.

"Yes, all of it is for you, Matt. I hope you enjoy everything here. We will take excellent care of you."

But I barely registered the words as I'd already made a mad dash to the bean bag chair in front of the TV and the gaming systems it offered. The old man chuckled before he turned and left the room.

I felt at home in the little house for gifted children.

Even when all of the older children became jealous of me.

Looking back at all of it, I can say with certainty that I barely missed mother. Even as the years passed and I received no words from her. She'd been a crack addict, I later learned, and had apparently agreed to sign guardianship over to Watari in exchange for a lump sum of money. Some mother, huh?

But now, this is where it gets interesting. Why was Watari interested in having me at Wammy's House for the Gifted? The simple and true reason was that I had unrivaled skills when it came to technology. Plus, I'm a whiz at gaming. You know those puzzles that'd usually take a gamer a few hours to figure out? I managed to complete all of those that I came across within a few minutes if not less. But the people who'd recruited me were more interested in the technology part. I mean, I could hack into super computers with some of the best security software available in the world with little to no effort.

So, I guess in a sense I belonged at Wammy's House. The place was a utopia for gifted children, which I apparently was, and it was the place where children with raw talent for their skill were molded into little Einsteins and Mozarts and Da Vinci's. Our ages ranged from the youngest, a pseudo-albino boy named Near, who was about three years old when I arrived; to the oldest, a sixteen year-old chess champion who left a few days after I arrived.

In my eyes, however, all the other gifted children were odd, and it took me a long time to get used to them. That being said, however, I put zero to no effort into trying to befriend any of them. No one was interesting enough, in my opinion, and most of them had the sense of humor of potatoes I was way more interested in my ever-growing gaming addiction that the kids who thought that they were smarter than most of the planet's population. Well, they probably were, but a little modesty never hurt anyone.

Eventually, and nearly effortlessly, I managed to become the second ranked in the entire house. All of the children were ranked together on the charts, and I was only about nine years old when I finally achieved my ranking. All of the older kids were extremely miffed, especially since I acted like I didn't care. Which I honestly didn't.

The kid who got first place, however, miffed them even more than me. It was the little pseudo-albino boy named Near. The kid who'd been at the house since he was three years old. He earned his ranking when he was six years old, and he was even more anti-social than I was. Plus he'd effortlessly inched his way into the top slot just like I'd done with the second slot.

Little did I know then that I was about to be kicked into third place by a chocolate addicted demon with hair as bright as the sun.

Author's Note

Hello everyone! I'm ZoeticCaracal, and this is my first fanfiction for a different fandom than Pokémon in a loooong time. I finished reading the Death Note manga a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved it, especially Mello and Matt. So, I decided to write a fic that stars the two of them.

But since Matt doesn't nearly get enough love or screen time in the manga (or anime) I decided to make this from his point of view. This is basically just my headcanon for him, and forgive me if I screw any of the details up ;w;

Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it! Drop a review or maybe follow/favorite if you really liked it! It'd be much appreciated!

~Zoetic