Near sat alone on his bed thinking furiously

Near sat alone on his bed thinking furiously. He was surrounded by his comforting

teddy bears (he kept the robots on the floor…not fun to roll over onto in the

night). He held a solitary sheet of notebook paper and a pencil. He face scrunched

in concentration as he chewed on the eraser of the pencil in his fist. It was rare,

moments like these, but when the occurred they passed quickly and it was very

rare for him to think hard for any length of time. With a small gasp he scribbled a

few words onto the page and set it down, with a mixture of relief and

accomplishment on his face. It was only then that he noticed Mello in the doorway,

silently watching. He blinked when Near gave an angry "What do you want?" Near

did not like showing his only weakness to his competitor. Mello turned, ignoring

the remark, and set something on the dresser. He then disappeared as silently as

he had arrived. After a moment of shocked silence Near reached out and grabbed

the object. It was a small white box held closed with a black ribbon. Near turned it

over, searching for anything unusual, not that the parcel itself wasn't strange.

When he found nothing he shook the box slightly, producing a heavy rattle. After a

thorough inspection Near cautiously opened the box careful not to break the

ribbon. Inside was a slip of paper and a toy that near was familiar with but did

not, in fact actually own. It was a rubix cube. Near glanced at the new toy

questioningly before unfolding the note. It read, simply:

Happy Birthday Near.