I do not own Death Note!

Chapter 1

I remember the first time we met…

"Hey Mello, I hear we got a new kid," A boy by the name of Clyde told me as he and his friends ran down the hallway. They ran down the halls yelling and pouncing on each other playing some new game. I really hated them.

We're supposed to be competing as L's successors and they act like they don't even care, I thought to myself. I'd been trying to find someone who could be as intelligent as me but couldn't surpass me. Like Near. Near has always been in my way. I've always been second best to that bastard.

I walked down the halls of Whammy's House to the library. Near was sitting at one of the tables putting a puzzle together. He twirled his white hair in his finger.

"Mello," He greeted as I passed by.

"Near," I replied not wanting to say anything further.

I sat in the windowsill of the library staring across the courtyard. In the midst of the green trees and dark stoned sidewalk I saw red. A boy in strange yellow goggles over his eyes stood at the entrance gate. His hair was the color of cherries. He wore a striped red and black, long sleeved shirt and dark jeans. He wore black leather gloves over his hands and I saw him clutch a small device in his hands. A woman in black with her hair tied up in a bun pushed motioned him forward. This boy made little effort to take in his surroundings, but did as he said not taking is eyes off the device in his hands. I saw him disappear into Whammy's House.

This guy acts like he could care less that he's being sent to an orphanage! I thought angrily, Does he not care that his parents are dead? He just acts all nonchalant walking into Whammy's like it's no big deal! I knew I was overanalyzing the situation, but I was young, about ten, I overanalyzed everything.

A few moments later ol' man Whammy himself appeared in the library. "Mello, come with me," He said. I followed not asking any questions.

I was kinda pissed off about the whole thing. No 'Hey Mello!' just 'Come with me.' I knew what was about to happen. I was going to have a roommate after three years of happy solitude.

As Whammy opened the door to his office the dark haired woman walked off down the hall. We entered and I saw the boy from the courtyard sitting in one of Whammy's brown leather chairs playing some kind of video game.

"Mello this will be your new roommate, Matt." He turned to the boy, "Matt…" The boy looked up after pausing his game. "Matt, this is Mello," He pushed me towards him, "he will be your new roommate and will be responsible for showing you around the orphanage."

Matt looked up at me with curiosity. His eyes sparkled through the yellow goggles. I looked at him apprehensively, "Hey Matt I'm Mello," I said trying to start a conversation in order to please ol' Whammy.

"Yes, I know," He said going back to his game. "Whammy just introduced us."

WHAT THE HELL? "Umm… yes, well…"

"Okay boys you can talk in your room now move along," Whammy said leading up out of his off down to our room. Whammy caught me by the arm before I entered my room, "Be nice."

I rolled my eyes shaking him off my arms and slamming the door in Whammy's face. I turned and saw Matt, continuing to play his game, sitting on the bed to the right- my bed. I walked over and pushed him off, "This is my bed!" I settled down on the warm sheets. Matt happily played on the floor.

I glared at him from my bed. This guy pisses me off! What's up with him? He's just playin' his stupid game. I knew I had to set ground rules.

I stood up and snatched the game from him. Matt reached up longingly. "Give it back!" I held it behind my back as he stood up to try and grab it. I didn't put it over my head because it was obvious that Matt was taller. I switched hands as he desperately tried to retrieve his game. "Give it back! Give it back! Give it back!" He yelled.

I looked at the bright screen bright, bold, red letters came across the screen:

Game Over

I chuckled as I handed it back to him. "Here you go…" Matt's face fell as he looked at the bright red letters. "Listen, I don't want any shit from you, alright. I just wanna get out of this place so I can beat Near and success L. I'm really pissed about this, so I'm just telling you straight off—"

"—Don't fuck with me," Matt's hair shadowed his face. He shook with rage letting his game fall to his feet. Matt ran towards me burying his fist into my stomach.

I gasped gripping my stomach and falling to the floor. I grit my teeth. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"Because you did this to me," Matt held up his game. "I was on the 63rd level! Do you know how long it took me to get that far into Zelda?"

"So what, it's just a stupid game! It's not like it's flesh and blood!" I sat up staring up at him. "I don't understand you at all." He looked down at me in surprise, "You're not phased one bit by coming to Whammy's, about being an orphan… And yet- and yet you break down when your stupid video game breaks, or something. I wouldn't come out of this room for three days, and yet you act all nonchalant when coming here!" I felt tears trickle down my face. Damn it now I'm crying! "How is that?"

I looked up and saw tears in Matt's eyes. Matt fell on his knees, "B-because the past is best to be forgotten… I've learned that. It hurts to remember, so it's best to forget." Matt started crying, "I never wanna go back to that scene! It hurts too much…"

I patted Matt's head, "Sorry… I- I didn't mean to—"

"—It's fine." Matt muttered swiping my hand away. He turned away to avoid my eyes. He didn't want me to see him crying. "Besides you understand what it's like. It's nothing…"

I wrapped my arms around Matt's neck. I could tell he was surprised by this. I put my face on his shoulder. I sobbed. I hated remembering all I went through. I've always hated how emotional I got when I remembered coming here. I felt Matt clutch my wrist and felt his tears fall on my arm. After we cried we laid in our beds and just talked…

"Ya' know what I hate the most?" I said.

"What," He responded deeply intrigued.

"When people talk like they understand you. They could never understand the pain of stayin' in some crummy orphanage where nobody loves you, nobody cares. And then they walk around goin' 'poor kid' or 'it must be hard'. It has been hard, but it would be a lot easier if people would just shut up and treat me normally."

"Yeah, I hate that, and really they don't care. Like that that woman from before, the social worker." Matt imitated the hard woman's voice, "'Hey Mello, I know you're having a hard time, but I've found an orphanage for you! C'mon let's go you'll have fun and you'll be taken care of.' Ms. Kaito started hating me after I just got fed up and ignored her. It pissed me off to see someone fake it."

"Yeah, especially when you know they're putting on an act." I sighed. I've never spoken to someone this long before…

Matt sat up and smiled. "Mello," he said. I sat up to let him know I was listening, "I'm glad you're my roommate."

I could feel myself blush. "Y-yeah, me too…" I heard a sound like a bell chime. My eyes got wide. It was noon. "Come with me, Matt!" I yelled jumping off my bed and grabbing his hand. We ran out of our room and I led Matt down the hall way. "My favorite time of the day!"

Matt tried to study where my enthusiasm was coming from. "Where are we going?"

"Just come with me," I smiled. We approached the dining hall. A line started forming near the lower right corner of the hall. My eyes sparkled when we joined the line. Matt stared curiously as we made our way to the beginning of the line. An old woman with tan skin and brown hair and eyes handed us a rectangular object wrapped in silver paper.

I ripped the paper as soon as it entered my hands. I bit into the rich brown piece of chocolate as we walked back to our rooms. "You get chocolate every day after lunch!" I replied licking my fingers.

Matt stared at me than looked at his still wrapped chocolate. "Here," He said handing it to me, "You'll enjoy it more than I will."

My eyes sparkled in delight. I hugged Matt, "Thank you!" I tore open the chocolate greedily shoving it into my mouth. I was done by the time we reached our rooms.

Matt and I kept that process going. I guess that one of the reasons we became best friends.

"You've never had chocolate?" I said astonished.

"Nope," He said passing me his bar of chocolate.

I opened the chocolate and tore off a piece. "Here," I said when we were in our room. I held up the chocolate.

"No thanks," Matt said.

"C'mon! If you've never tasted it how do you know if you like it?"

Matt turned his face. He wasn't going to try it. Without thinking I pushed Matt down on his bed. I tried to force his mouth open with my fingers. I slipped in one and quickly slipped the chocolate with it. I jumped up and smiled, "There you've tried it!"

Matt stared up at me. He was blushing and analyzing me with his eyes. I didn't really notice I was on top of him on his bed. Matt said nothing and smiled.