A/N: Okay! I'll let this speak for itself. If you see any mistakes or especially confusing parts, let me know and I'll try and clear it up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. Sob story, yeah. I do own cookies though, so I'mma go eat those. .

"Maaaaatt, I don't want to!"

Rena was already in a bad mood, Matt knew, but he wasn't about to give in to his little sister.

"Your dad left me in charge, remember? And we're going whether or not you want to. Besides, Mello is waiting for us, so hurry up, will you?"

He grabbed Rena's hand and dragged her across the busy street, dodging a gaggle of tourists and lamp posts on the sidewalk. Of course, Rena, being fourteen, didn't like this one bit and wrenched her hand out of his grip. She dropped her whiny premise and started looking around the square.

"Matt... Come on. There are so many better things to do. I mean, we're in Charleston! There's history all around us!" This was the teacher's-pet-mode Rena.

"Look, Rena, I left my freaking DS behind so you would come. And if you wanted to look at history, why haven't you bothered for the last twelve years?"

But Rena was distracted, waving at an attractive boy in a cafe down the street. Matt shook his head disapprovingly. Fourteen or not, this was his little sister, and he did not want anyone looking at her like... well, like that.

After spending seven minutes absolutely engrossed in a conversation that was no doubt highly intelligent and profoundly deep, Rena became bored with her tween boy toy and returned to Matt, who had taken up sitting quietly on a bench, people-watching from behind his orange goggles.

"Hey, Matt, I thought we were going to be late, huh? Now who's lounging around?" Matt grinned at her and said, "I wasn't the one leading on yet another helpless eighth grader, now was I?"

Rena's popularity with the other sex gave her hell sometimes.

"Now let's go."

The two picked their way through throngs of people, turning on to progressively less crowded streets until only the occasional tour group wandered past. Both, though especially Matt, knew the city like the back of their hands. Matt had been living here ever since he left Wammy's house and found his closest relative: Rena, his sister, turned away from the home for geniuses and taken in by some family he never bothered to get to know. Neither had ever known their genetic parents, being orphaned at an early age in England. Rena been adopted and found her way across the pond much earlier than he had, as Matt had left Wammy's at nearly fifteen and had been living on his own ever since. Well, almost on his own.

"Mello!" Matt called enthusiastically, having spotted his best - more than best - friend's scarred face working his way towards them. Both were nineteen or so, Mello being slightly older than the redhead but just as alone in the world. They knew each other better than anyone else, being roommates since Matt had first arrived at Wammy's house. For a moment Mello's face lit up just as Matt's was, but after a split second his pride got the better of him and by the time they found each other through a particularly large group of tourists, his face was a mask of indifference. Matt's arms wrapped around him anyway, pulling Mello towards his body by the waist. Rena was otherwise occupied by an especially interesting patch of sidewalk.

After a pause, Mello gave in and embraced Matt as well, his hands clasping at the small of Matt's back, holding him closer. Mello finally let go, wanting it to last longer, why did Matt have to bring his damn sister? and the trio continued down the street.

"So, Mels, what'cha doing wandering around like that, anyways?" Rena poked her head inbetween the two boy's shoulders, disrupting about the only intimate part of walking. Mello looked at her rather with distaste, but answered anyway, since it wasn't really her fault she was so young and innocent.

"I got tired of waiting at the diner so I came to meet you guys," he lied smoothly. "Really, you were taking so damn long I was starting to worry." He finished with an arrogant flip of his hair.

"You liar," Matt called his bluff almost instantly. "You were effing lost, weren't you?"

Mello had been wandering the same streets for quite a while, totally and completely lost with no sense of direction to speak of.

"Of course not!" Mello scoffed. He knew Matt was only humoring him - having known Mello so long, one could almost read the blond's mind through his icy blue eyes.

"Whatever you say, Mello." Matt slipped his hand playfully into the chocolate addict's. He could feel every line on Mello's palm despite the gloves he was wearing, Matt could feel the pulse of Mello's blood from inches away, so attuned that their every move was known to the other almost before it happened. At the touch, they fell in to step, perfectly synchronized. Rena was feeling rather left out and dropped back to walk a couple yards behind the happy couple, trying not to associate herself with them.

At this they got even closer, and more distracted with every step, Rena glaring at the concrete below her feet, until when she finally looked up and realized she had no idea where they were.

"Er, Matt? Sorry to interrupt the love and all, but where the hell are we?" Matt reluctantly looked away from Mello, back to his sister standing awkwardly in the shade of a particularly large house that he realized, with a twinge of unease, he had never seen before. He was, however, still irritated that she had interrupted them. Even though he had invited her along, begged her to come have fun, he had forgotten just how seductive Mello could be,

"Rena, how am I supposed to know? Anyway, it's fine, we'll just walk straight back until we get to where we were before." He and Mello turned and began walking back the way they had come.

"Matt, that won't work." Rena was trying not to piss Matt off anymore than she already had, but her attitude had another idea. "You took effing turns, you know, smartass."

"What?" Matt actually looked at her now, paying attention. He was confused now, there hadn't been any... turns, had there? "Where?"

"I don't know!" Rena was almost actually mad now. "I was trying not to pay attention to your little adoration extravaganza, I just followed!"

Matt muttered "Damn," trying to think, where were they? Mello was totally unconcerned, having found a chocolate bar in a pocket that required more attention than such a trivial thing as being lost.

"I thought you two knew your way around?" Mello managed inbetween bites of chocolate. "I mean, come on, you live here."

"You 'live here' too, Mello, remember?" Rena shot him an icy glare, somewhat jealous he could solicit so much attention from her brother.

"So?"

Rena rolled her eyes and turned back to Matt, trying to ignore the crunching of the leather-clad blonde behind her. Matt's deep blue eyes were closed, his goggles around his neck, trying to mentally review the streets of Charleston, but how was he supposed to know where he was when he had no idea where they'd gone? The only information he had to work with was where they had started from, but with no idea when they'd veered from the correct path, that wouldn't even help much. He didn't even know how far they'd walked, he had been so damn distracted.

"Well," he breathed, "We're lost. No big deal. After all, Mello was lost, and he found us, didn't he?" Mello just scowled. Matt was trying not to let on how worried he was, and, hands in pockets, began to stroll back down the road, the way (he hoped) they had come.

A/N: Yes. AU backstory is confusing, deal with it. It won't matter much in this story anyway, though, so we're good. :3 I went back and actually re-edited this a bit (7/7/10) so let me know what you think? Constructive criticism is really appreciated. I apologize for the shortness, but I really can't fix that much now, sorry.

Reviews make me ecstatic for the rest of the day. Just sayin'. :)