Mello was a paradox. A petit child with shoulder length blond hair and bright blue eyes. He was pale and looked delicate and almost feminine; his too-large black shirts were often falling off a white shoulder. At first glance, many thought him weak and girly. Their assumptions quickly vanished. From a young age Mello had a temper, contradictory to his name. The boy was like a bomb, likely to explode with little warning. Vicious and driven, Mello was often misunderstood.
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Matt was a puzzle. One of Wammy's most intelligent and yet very normal seeming. He acted like an average teenager: sullen, lazy, easily bored, and with a love of video games. Matt dressed normally, in jeans and T-shirts, although with a tendency to lean towards stripes. Yet, the boy was below only Mello and Near in grades, and could easily hack past the most advanced security systems. Even among the many strange genii Matt was strange in his normality and ability to blend in with the rest of the world.
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No one could have predicted their friendship. In fact, most felt the only reason it worked was that Matt didn't care enough about chocolate to mind when Mello took his. But that was alright, no one needed to know. The children would never confess that somehow, deep inside their souls, they had felt the presence of another misfit, and been drawn to it. Both were too proud to admit they felt like outcasts. When they were together no deep speeches were made, the simple existence of the other was comfort enough.
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When Mello gained his scar, he hated it. He felt a huge slash along his face, making him unforgettably gruesome. Matt loved Mello's scar, it changed him, but fittingly. No longer an angry man in an angelic child's mask. Mello now looked like he should, harsh and experienced at first glance, yet if one truly cared to look deeply they would see the beauty and kindness he tried so hard to hide. He had character, a battle scar and Matt liked to joke that he'd beaten Near to gaining that.
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Once Matt left Wammy's he felt less strange. Unlike every other genius from there, he blended in with normal society. No one noticed a nerdy teen buying video games. He often spoke with other video game addicts. He never truly made friends though, because despite his external appearance regular people couldn't keep up with his mind. Still, he walked around town- searching for Mello, shopping, or aimless wandering- and wasn't given a second glance. When he finally found Mello, injured and angry but alive, Matt was no longer lonely. And with his friend at his side he was finally happy.
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Not even L could have foreseen their love. That the fierce, stunning blonde and physically unremarkable red-head would date was mind-blowing. Despite this, during the day the two were inseparable and spent long minutes lost in each other's eyes, and at night, when cold and darkness sent nightmares and memories, they found solace in each other. In the warmth and movement of bodies against each other and in whispered love and sweetness, the no-longer-misfits were happily bound.
If anyone's interested since I hated Mello and Matt's deaths in canon, in this fic they helped Near catch Kira then went off the grid. They're hiding somewhere in the U.S. and plan to spend their lives together.