What's Right
AN: GAH! I've been attacked by plot bunnies. For those who favorited "Marry Christmas, Near", this is your fault. I got 2 favorites withing a couple hours after I posted it and then another a few days later. That made my Monday and weekend. x3 Anywho, I wrote this a while ago but just haven't been able to type it up and post it. This is part one in a two part little bit. One is Mello's point of view and the other is Near's. So here we go. P.S. Football is Soccer.
I couldn't keep my mouth from hanging open. 99? How had I gotten a 99? I'd always gotten perfect scores! There must be a mistake. I was sure I'd gotten every question right. And that wasn't even the worst of it! I'd come in second. I've always been the top student, always the smartest, always the best. I've never been second in anything IN MY LIFE!
I quickly read who'd taken my place. Near! It was that stupid little ghost. He didn't do anything but play with puzzles and toy robots all day. How could he be smarter than me! Unbelievable!
"Heh. You beat me." I heard from my left." I guess there's a first time for everything." I turned around to see Matt. He was another boy at the orphanage and had shown me around when I first came here a couple weeks ago. He was never without a game or those stupid goggles and followed Near like a shadow, or maybe it was the other way around... Anyway, I'm pretty sure he had goggles of every color of the rainbow except for red. "Don't get too worked up about being second, though. You won't beat Near. His IQ is like, two-fifty." He said casually, not looking away from the notice board.
"That's an exaggeration!" I growled. He turned to me abruptly and held up his hands.
"It might be. I don't know, and you don't either." He pulled down his goggles, they were orange today. "Don't get angry at Near just because he's smarter than you." His usual calm voice was deep with an unspoken threat. "Work harder, don't take it out on an innocent person, or you've not learned the most important rule here." And with that he turned on his heel and walked off, leaving me confused. What rule? What did he know that I didn't.
"I wouldn't make Matt mad if I were you, Mello." What was with people sneaking up behind me. I turned around and saw a small girl with brown hair in pig-tails and a sketch pad. Her name was Linda. "Matt and Near are best friends. Matt will beat you up if you hurt Near. Here you either make friends or make enemies, Mello, and there are no better friends than Matt and Near." Then she also turned around and walked away. What was so special about this place? It was just another orphanage, but with smarter children, wasn't it?
After that I started watching Near, it almost became an obsession, and the more I watched him, the more he pissed me off. He barely did anything! He literally just sat and stacked things, or made stupid puzzles, or played with robots; all day. And, yet, he still beat me at every test, no matter how much I studied. I studied night and day, but I always came in second.
One thing I noticed was that no matter where Near was, Matt wasn't too far away and vice verse. If Matt was playing football with the other kids, Near was under a tree nearby playing with Transformers. If Near was building a stupid Lego castle, Matt was also sitting inside the castle, leaning against Near's back, playing his Gameboy.
That's when I thought about it. I started making a plan. If Near was so smart, if he wanted to take my number one spot, then I'll just take his best friend. Eye for an eye and what not. It's only right.