Guitar Heroes

It wasn't anything new to Matt: Mello was fighting against Near in what seemed to be the war of their lives. At least, that's what he thought, judging from the crazed look on Mello's face.

You're fighting a hopeless battle, thought Matt in passive amusement, as he watched his blond friend mutter curses to himself and wipe anxious beads of sweat forming on his brow in frustration. It was such a rapid motion that his hand looked like a sharp, white blur, similar to a knife.

But, what could Matt do? He knew that he was capable of winning the battle, but he shouldn't meddle in things like these. Turning his eyes away from the colourful screen, he raised his fist and said, "Go, Mello! You can do this!"

"Shut up, Matt! You're distracting—aaaaaaargh…" Mello winced. An excruciating pain seized his fingers, and his grip on his controller weakened.

And just like that, his hopes for winning were demolished. The song ended, and from his bean-bag on the floor, Matt marveled at the scores. The song wasTrippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart, mode was expert. Mello scored 90, which was in itself quite impressive, but Near scored 97. Turning to the players-in-question, he watched the inevitable unfold before him, in a familiar fashion: Mello struggled angrily out of his plastic guitar, while Near remained on the floor, one hand on the fake fretboard of his plastic guitar, and the other on the side of his head, carelessly fingering a stray strand of silver hair.

"You lose, Mello," said the winner monotonously. He held out his hand to him.

Mello glared at him before stuffing his hand deep in his pockets, muttering curses in a foreign language all the way. From this act he produced a chocolate bar and put it rudely on Near's hand.

Near stared at it and frowned. "The bet was I get to choose from one of your graphic novels," he said.

"Too bad, white boy. If you complain, I'll tell Roger we were placing bets here," his bitter opponent snarled. "And you know he's not partial towards gambling. Or for that matter, Whammy's number one L candidate reading comic books."

The white-haired boy only blinked passively, but neatly put his spoils at the breast pocket of his white pyjamas. This inert reaction to Mello's outburst was in itself a rather large insult. Mello grit his teeth in sheer pissage. "I so fucking hate you," he said with all the anger in his heart, since he was quite an honest boy when it comes to burning feelings like that.

Matt could only laugh at this scene. He didn't particularly like it when Near won at anything against anyone because, dammit, that boy is just too smug. But Matt couldn't help but enjoy himself when Mello lost. Anybody else would be scared of Mello and his psychotic rampages, but Matt knew that ultimately his friend, under normal circumstances, wouldn't harm a fly… even if that fly were white and made of pure evil.

That particular fly was now pressing the buttons on his fake guitar and browsing through the songs. "I still want to play, Mello. Would you be interested in a rematch? This time, no bets," he said.

"Hell no? I was playing with Matt thirty minutes before you came in and challenged me. We've been playing five songs in a row. My hand's a cramped-up mess now." He presented his hand, now spider-like because of the ordeal it went through, in a way that one would flash a middle finger to someone he despised.

Anyway, I shouldn't let Near get away with this so cleanly. It would be hard sleeping in the same room as Mello later, Matt thought. He stood up from his bean-bag and took Mello's discarded guitar while saying, "Heck, Near. I challenge you to a face-off."

The white-haired boy looked at him and said, "Okay." Even though he said this with all neutrality, Matt heard some form of apprehension loaded in his voice.

He smirked. He knew two things that caused the subtle shake in Near's voice. First was the fact that despite his dull approach to competition, Near hated losing. It was the foremost reason why he worked hard to get the Number One title in the orphanage. Second was the reputation that preceded Matt: his devilish talent when it comes to any sort of video games, including Guitar Hero II. So with all of Near's talent in this game, Number One knew that beating Matt will not be so easy.

Yeah, white boy. I'm glad you understand what you're about to go through, thought Matt as he chose his character (Judy Nails, because she's really really cute) and guitar (a rather plain Gibson SG, because he's not really much into guitars).

Without consulting Matt, Near started sifting through the long list of songs. Matt concluded rightly that his opponent will not choose an easy song, and so thought that he would choose the so-called finale, which was Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd: a 9 minute song with multiple killer solos that will surely kill any untrained set of fingers. But to his surprise, Near picked All That Remains' Six.

"Hah." The two of them turned to the scoffing boy. Mello was seated on a sofa while munching on a chocolate bar, which he held between tired, crooked fingers. "Watch out, Matt. I know he's been practicing on that song for some time now," he said.

Matt grinned. "I've been doing the same thing, for a couple of days. I guess it helped that I knew the song before I heard it on the game," he said.

He looked to his side and saw that, to a very small extent, Near stiffened. He smiled again to himself, this time in satisfaction.

The PS2 finished loading, and the song started.

Matt discovered that Mello was right. He heard the mechanical tapping of Near's fingers on the fretbuttons, and his shadow seemed to not move in intense concentration. And up until the chorus, Near didn't miss a single note.

"Not bad, Near, but you've gotta do better than that!" said Matt. And as he said it, Near made a mistake, making him fall behind score-wise. He would have liked it if Near cursed, but the boy remained silent as always.

Long story short, Near lost because he missed a short series of notes when he tried turning his guitar upright for star power. The final tabulation: 95 for Matt, 92 for Near.

Mello was yawning in boredom during the face-off itself, but his eyes lit up in malicious satisfaction when he saw the final results. He jumped up from his chair and high-fived Matt. "Burn!" he cheered.

Matt grinned. Any one of Near's losses seemed to be a victory for his friend.

Near, not showing any change of emotion, was staring at his fingers. They shook slightly from the strain of the game. Without a word, he stood up, looked at Matt in the face, and left the room.

Matt stared at the boy as he left, uttering a rather awkward "Nice game" which remained unnoticed by him.

"Ah, leave that kid alone. Let's play another game. How about Marvel VS Capcom?" asked Mello, rummaging through a messy stack of PS2 games.

"Sure, if you can muster up enough energy to press the buttons. Haha," said Matt as he unplugged the guitars from the PS2.

Moments later, they were struggling to beat each other on Marvel VS Capcom 2, with Mello using Gambit and Matt using Morrigan Aensland (owing to his weakness for cute girls). Unsurprisingly, Matt was winning the game, when something unexpected outside their little battle happened…

Near walked in the room again, slouched and disinterested, as always. However, he came in with all sorts of equipment, which made him look smaller than he already was. An amplifier was carried by his right hand, a guitar bag hung from his back like a backpack, a crunch box was on his left, and all sorts of cables were draped on his shoulders like vines.

Matt and Mello stared at him in awe—Matt even dropped his controller in shock. Near ignored them and began meticulously setting up his equipment. After a minute or two of this, he was already wearing his guitar (a rather ordinary-looking Fender Stratocaster) and was twisting some knobs on his distortion pedal.

He stood up, stepped on his pedal, and without warning began shredding. Matt and Mello could only drop their jaws in amazement as they watched Near's fingers fly on the fretboard. Because of the speed and precision, they both imagined an extra finger grow from his hand.

After a couple of minutes of this, Near ended his melody and stared at them.

The two boys only blinked. Mello closed his mouth after realizing that his teeth were dry already from all the jaw-droppage.

Without a word, Near began fixing his equipment again, meticulously arranging the cables in neat circles, packing his guitar and pick in their respective cases, and unplugging any other electronic device from the sockets. And as simply as he came in, he went out of the room, the straps of the bag making a noise as he shuffled.

"… that show-off. He's just sore that you beat him," muttered Mello as soon as his rival was out of the room. But his voice didn't hold as much disgust as he wanted. As a stray afterthought, he added softly, "Think Roger'd allow us to start a band?"

Matt's eyes were wide underneath his goggles. "I dunno, but that's metal for you. And as Jack Black said, no-one can defeat the metal," he said to Mello before picking up his controller and effortlessly KO-ing Gambit with an aerial combo. "I win."

- end -

Author's notes:Guitar Hero is a guilty pleasure of mine, although I am not so ashamed to admit it to the public. Please disregard the inconsistency that GH2's release date (sometime in 2006, I think) provides to this little story of mine—I realize that any peaceful and brainless interaction between Near, Mello and Matt in Whammy's House cannot happen beyond November 2004.

I love these boys and I wanted a nothing sort of innocent slice-of-life story featuring them. Even though I made him lose, Near is my absolute favourite. I don't know why I find him so cute. Haha.

Comments are welcome! Thanks for reading :)