Mello lay in bed, wide awake. Everyone else at Wammy's was long since fast asleep but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't seem to get comfortable. Just when he had managed to get into a good position when he was overcome with a fit of coughing and was forced to sit up so he didn't choke, trying in vain to cough quietly so as not to wake up his best friend and roommate Matt who was sleeping soundly in the bunk below. Mello began to shiver and covered his mouth with a pillow to muffle another harsh coughing fit. 'What's wrong with me?' Mello wondered in annoyance. Surely he wasn't sick, he never got sick and he couldn't possibly miss any lessons or he would fall even further behind his rival, Near. The coughing eventually subsided and Mello once again laid down and tried to sleep, but to no avail, and after another hour of fitful, half conscious tossing and turning, he decided to give up on sleep altogether and watch TV for the rest of the night.

The following morning, Matt woke up to find Mello passed out on the sofa in their room, TV blaring. Cautiously, he shook the younger boy's shoulder, fully aware of how Mello normally acted in the morning, especially when he was woken up against his will. Just as Matt was about to give up and get Roger, Mello's eyes fluttered open and he groaned tiredly.
'Morning Mels, you okay?' Matt asked. 'How come you're on the sofa?'
'I'm fine,' Mello said, somewhat harshly, 'I must've stayed up too late last night and fallen asleep while watching TV.'
'Are you sure, you look kind of pale?'
'Yes. I'm fine, leave me alone.' Mello snapped angrily, before bending over coughing. Matt held his arm to stop him from falling over completely.

'Come on just admit you're sick.' The redhead teased.

'No!' Mello retorted adamantly. 'For the last time I'm perfectly fine.' Even as he said this Mello was beginning to feel nauseous, and his stomach was aching badly, but he refused to let the pain show on his face.
'Fine, come on then, get dressed.' Matt said, too tired to argue anymore. Mello quickly pulled off his shirt and replaced it with a clean one, leaving on the jeans he hadn't bothered to take off last night. The two boys then quickly exited the room together, already having missed breakfast, heading straight to class.

By the time their third lesson was over, and it was lunch, Mello felt like shit, his head was killing him, he couldn't stop coughing, he was sure he was going to throw up any minute, and his stomach hurt like hell. It was all he could do not to double up in agony. As they were walking to the lunchroom, Mello suddenly became dizzy and had to grab hold of Matt' to steady himself.

'You okay Mels?' The younger boy asked worriedly. Mello nodded, then gasped and clasped his hand over his mouth, sprinting off in the direction of the toilets. Matt ran after him, only to find him knelt in front of the toilet, his longish blond hair hanging over his face and puking his guts out. Unphased, Matt went over to the sick boy and pulled his hair away from his face, rubbing his back at the same time.

'Leave me alo...' Mello began to protest, cutting himself off as he retched painfully.

'I won't leave you like this Mel.' Matt replied, ignoring his friends wishes. He knew Mello hated to be seen when he was weak or vulnerable, but there really was no other way around it and Mello needed looking after or he'd only get worse. When he had finally finished throwing up, Matt helped Mello to his feet.

'Come on you need to go see the nurse.' Matt suggested.

'No way.' Mello replied hoarsely. 'I'm going back to class.'
'Oh no you're not.'
'But I can't fall behind on my studies or Near will beat me in becoming L's successor.'

'Forget about that for now, you're sick, you won't be able to concentrate anyway and you can catch up later, so if you won't see the nurse, at least come back to our room and let me look after you.'

'Fine...'

After their brief argument, the two boys returned to their room, Mello blatantly refusing any help from Matt. As they walked through the door, Mello groaned and clutched his stomach, doubling over in pain. Matt caught him before he hit the floor, easily scooping him up an carrying him across the bedroom, gently placing his fragile form on the bottom bunk. Upon being put down, Mello curled up into a ball, still holding his stomach and moaning, sweat pouring down his face. Matt placed his hand on Mello's forehead, it was clammy to the touch and his temperature seemed well over what it should be.

'Shit Mels how long have you been feeling like this?' Matt asked.

'A few days.' Was the weak reply.

'You should've said something.' Mello shook his head then immediately regretted it as his headache increased.

'I thought it would pass quickly.'

'Idiot.' Matt said, but not unkindly.

'Ugh my stomach kills.' Mello complained, rolling around on the bed.

'One second, I'll get you some painkillers.' Matt replied, disappearing from the room for a moment and returning with a glass of water and two tablets.

'Here you go, these should help.' Mello took the medication gratefully and gulped down the whole glass of water, but a few moments later rushed over to the bin and threw up again, getting rid of all the water and medicine. After he'd finished, he collapsed to the floor and brought his knees up to his chest, hugging himself. Matt went and sat next to him.

'Don't worry mate, you'll be okay, it's probably just a twenty four hour thing.' He reassured the blond boy, who looked close to tears. 'It just hurts so fucking much.' Mello replied, his voice cracking.

'What if it's something bigger, what if I die?' Matt was taken aback to see that the usually so strong boy was actually crying, he must be in more pain that Matt had first thought. The redhead put his arm around his best friend and allowed him to cry into his shoulder.