A/N: I just missed doing oneshots… Please review!
-
Mello and Near were aware that they were orphans.
That's what Wammy's was for after all. Most of them felt like little lost babies that had no home or family or love. Wammy's was a big place for them to come and try to feel loved - even though it really never worked - and to try to feel wanted - even though it was just some silly contest - and to try to feel beautiful.
Mello tried to never think about the fact that it was all just a huge waste of time. Sure, he was smart, a genius even, but what did that really mean? Why would someone want him just for that? It sure didn't seem like a big deal.
Oh, sure, Mello supposed he loved Matt well enough - more than anyone else at the orphanage anyway. Matt was cool and always up for anything but he wasn't family. Mello had no family, no matter how hard he tried. He knew that.
And Near - oh, special, wonderful, brilliant Near - he knew he had no family.
What would Near do with a family? He was like his toys, all cold and metal and glassy-eyed.
And despite being first in line for succeeding L, the two boys didn't feel close to each other. Mello didn't love Near and Mello didn't make Near feel wanted or beautiful.
But sometimes…
Sometimes they did feel like family.
Connected through L.
When L would stop by for visits on random days - spring, summer, fall, whenever - and bring Mello some sweet dark chocolate and Near a new toy that was never big but always meant the world. The famous detective would greet all the children and then go off with Near and Mello…
(Mello always said, "Later, Matt," and Matt would stand somewhere in the hallways and be lost.)
… and they would sit on the back porch and listen to the cicadas whining in the trees behind the building and eat watermelon or something sweet.
Mello and Near felt close, looking at L and never each other.
L would tell them things that they could never learn from teachers and he would sometimes play kissing games with their cheeks and Near would blush and Mello would grin.
The juice from the fruit would be all over L's fingertips and lips and he allowed the boys to suckle it off like they once suckled from their mothers.
And way after a while, they began to feel like little lost babies too.