Author's Note: I do not own 'Death Note'.
Matt crooked his head slightly to the side when he heard the sound of a door being slammed shut close-by. While others would have jumped at the sudden noise, he didn't even bother looking up and kept his eyes glued to the little screen in front of him and his fingers busy with pushing buttons at a ridiculous pace.
Loud, angry steps echoed through the hallway and indicated that he was getting closer.
In his head, Matt could almost see the other children carefully and silently retreating into their rooms, careful not to catch his attention. The thought made him grin.
No one wanted to cross Mello when he was in a bad mood.
When his best friend kicked the door open, Matt didn't even flinch. Yet, he had made sure to brush that treacherous smile off his face once he heard the enraged footsteps stop.
An aura of fury emitted from the teenager whose piercing blue eyes had now fixed on the red-haired boy who still sat on his bed in a pose so nonchalant as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"Matt."
Mello's wrath was a peculiar thing. Matt had witnessed its ambivalence plenty of times.
At first, his temper would erupt like a supernova.
Most people who knew Mello made sure to not be in close proximity to him when that happened. Observant people payed careful attention to the tiny indicators; a little twitch of his left eye, the contracting of his pupils, the slight shift in his posture.
Unsurprisingly, almost everyone in this house tended to be rather observant. And rather proficient when it came to disappearing into thin air. Thus, Mello rarely found a victim to wreak his anger on.
Instead, Mello resolved to a physical outlet for his rage. Slamming his fists on tables, stomping on floors, kicking down doors, or grinding his teeth if there was no chocolate bar near with which he could create the loud snapping sound that seemed to be his signature.
Unlike everyone else, Matt had never been fazed by his friend's aggressive outbursts. He knew that they were harmless. In comparison to what followed afterwards.
"Matt."
Once the flare-up was over, his friend would quickly regain his composure and his wrath would turn into cold fury.
While most people would feel grateful for having survived the supernova, they easily overlooked the fact that Mello's brain would resume working the way it usually did after all the worst emotions were let out.
Needless to say, the brain of the second smartest person in this house worked at an alarming speed. And his cognitive capacity paired with the cold anger circulating through his veins was, in Matt's humble opinion, far more dangerous than any tantrum he could throw.
Every prank that crossed a line, every cruel plan, every disastrous idea could usually be traced back to his friend being in this state.
As the one of them that wasn't driven by anger, he probably should have made an effort to keep Mello from getting into hot water. And yet he always tagged along.
"Matt."
Interestingly enough, Matt was never the target of Mello's fury. Even when he stood next to him, the supernova would never devour him in its flames, the carefully channelled hatred enhancing Mello's wickedness would never freeze him.
And whenever he accompanied Mello on one of his missions to perform whatever plan his mind had come up with, Matt always somehow managed to emerge unscathed while his friend would get into trouble.
It seemed as if his nonchalance made him invincible to both Mello and the repercussions of his actions.
"Yeah?" Matt paused the game and lazily crooked his head some more to indicate that he was listening while still looking at the device in his hands.
"We're leaving." the blond teenager stated.
The redhead saved the game and looked at the tense figure standing in his doorframe, noticing how the cold fire in his calculating eyes betrayed his otherwise expressionless face. Apparently, his friend had come up with another plan.
"Okay."
There wasn't much to say. He would always tag along.