Yet another Mello x Near fic... Again, it was supposed to be a one-shot turned into something else.
Well, read and enjoy!
Near checked the speedometer and glanced at the road, everything clear. He glanced over his shoulder nervously, he was going a bit too slow and was worried that someone might be driving behind him.
The young white haired boy was teaching himself to drive, he'd seen his parents do it plenty of times but they couldn't teach him. Well, his mother was paralyzed from the neck down and watching his younger sibling, and his father was dead. So he had to teach himself, and a lot later than usual. He was seventeen years old, though most kids in his neighborhood who went to the nearby school all knew how to at age sixteen. Near didn't socialize with them though; too busy taking care of his family. That, and he was a home-school student.
Near hardly made a good father figure... The boy was too childish, and had experience in teaching his younger sister zip. He was very intelligent but had trouble in the life department. Driving wasn't something he had a lot of knowledge with. But hey, how hard can it be?
He ripped his gaze away from the empty street behind him and to the front, but saw a blonde man right in front of him. He screamed and slammed his foot on the brake, but the man went down along with a metallic THUD, no longer visible.
He gasped and clawed at the car door lock, trying to get out. Once he pushed open the door he ran around the front of the car and stared at the crumbled man on the asphalt.
"Sir!"
"Nngg..." The man groaned painfully from his crooked spot on the ground.
"Sir, are you alright? Sir!" The white haired teen knelt next to the man. He was blonde with a black leather jacket covering his upper torso while tight black leather jeans clung to elongated legs, black combat boots laced all the way up to his knees. His leg was bent at an odd angle and his head rested on his right arm, he was facing away from the car.
"Aughh. Yeah... I'm fine."
"C-Can you stand?" Near gently tugged his hair, staring at the man nervously.
"Yeah..." There was a loud grunt as the man's body shook violently.
Near rushed around to face the man, grabbing his arms, and tried to pull him up. The man was too heavy for him, but the blonde head slowly lifted and Near met beautiful blue orbs.
Fair skin fit a perfectly delicate facial frame, long golden eyelashes brushed soft cheekbones. The man was perhaps around nineteen or twenty. But despite the beautiful face, there was a jagged shaped scar melted on the left side of his face.
Near gasped, staring at the pockmark, gray eyes wide.
"Augh." He clung to Near's arms head lolling back down to his chest, "It appears as though I can't stand..."
"Oh no..." Near mumbled under his breath... And damn did he mean it...
"Listen kid," The man huffed, "in my front pants pocket underneath me, is my phone. Retrieve it and press two, then dial. Then hold the phone up to my ear, okay?"
"Ah-Alright..." He gently pushed the man over, but no amount of gentleness could stop the pain the man received.
"Fuck..." The man groaned, his teeth grinding.
Near poked around in the front leather pocket and procured a sleek black cell phone, flipping it open he pressed two, then the TALK button. He held it to the man's left ear.
"Matt?" He growled into the phone, "I just got hit by a car..."
"What?" Cried an incredulous voice, "Are you alright?"
"No you shithead... Listen, I want you to meet me at the hospital... … Hey there's a bunny..."
"Ohhh! Okay yeah I'll be there!" Click!
"A bunny?" Near asked as he shut the phone, holding it tightly to his chest, staring at the man.
"Mhm, call 9-1-1."
Near quickly did as he was told, he honestly hoped the man wasn't in any serious health condition. His family couldn't afford to be sued...
Within a few minutes there was an ambulance there, quickly loading Mello onto the stretcher. As Near watched the ambulance pull away two police officers approached him, one was a small petite blonde woman, and the other a tall handsome African-American man.
He spoke with a heavy gruff voice, "Alright kid, we'll need your information."
"I-I understand." Near grumbled.
Near knew how this lawsuit stuff worked, police took your info, gave it to the victim's lawyer, victim sues, you lose everything... Great.
"I'm going to ask for your driver's license."
Near almost groaned out loud... He glanced at his feet, not doing anything, not saying a word.
"Young man," The woman stepped forward, "he asked for your driver's license."
"I don't have one."
The two sighed and the man stepped forward, the soft clinging of cuffs clacked together, "Then I'm going to have to take you in."
Near nodded and turned around, placing his hands behind his back quietly accepting his arrest.
Once in the police cruiser the woman asked Near all sorts of questions, name, his age, parents, residence, and school.
Near answered truthfully, Nate River, seventeen, dad, Anthony River was dead, mother, Lillian River is a paraplegic, 4232 Tervan Avenue, and home schooled.
The woman and man in the front exchanged nervous glances. This kid was all kinds of fucked up.
Once he made it to Juvenile Hall, he got the one phone call, immediately calling home.
"Hello?" It was his little sister Abby.
"Abby! It's Near." He felt reassured by his little sister's high pitched voice. Even if she was annoying and stole all his toys...
"Near! Where are you?" She gasped.
"May I talk to mom?"
"Yeah sure! Hang on... MOM! MOMMMAAA!" There was a loud crashing sound and very labored breathing coming from Abby, she was probably running around the house and had knocked over the old baby gate.
"Near? Near! Where are you?" It was his mother.
"Mom... I'm in Juvenile Hall. I... I took the car out and I accidentally hit a man." He bit his lip and waited for the disturbingly long silence on the other end.
"I'm going to have Mrs. Valentino come get you..." She grumbled.
"Oooh mom's angry!" Abby giggled then hung up.
"M-Mom?" He just stared at the phone as the dead dial tone came up.
"Alright, kid. Come on."
Near was led away and into a lone cell closest to the entrance, he sat on the hard bench and stared at the cell in front of him, occupied by two younger boys.
"What are you in for?" One of them asked, a dark evil looking boy. He was around fifteen, with shaggy black hair.
"I hit someone with a car."
"That's not your fault?" The other one raised a brown eyebrow, he had short sandy hair and a strange looking nose ring hanging from in between his two nostrils. Resembling some sort of bull, he was probably Near's own age.
"I didn't have my driver's license."
"Ah bummer." The raven chuckled, leaning back against the wall, lacing his fingers together and resting his head in makeshift pillow.
"Indeed." Near nodded quietly.
The sandy haired one eyed him curiously, "How long are you going to be in here?"
"My mother sent our neighbor to get me." Near answered, letting the boy estimate that time himself.
His lip slid out in a pout, "Oh man... I thought I'd get to chill with you. You're a cute one. Maybe a squealer..."
Near tugged on his hair, staring at the other in horror.
"Don't mind him. He's a real gay one..." The black haired one snorted, smirking at the other.
The 'gay one' grinned at Near for quite sometime, until one of the officers came to his cell unlocking it.
"Nate River, someone is here for you."
Near walked past the two cellmates and shuddered when the one called out seductively, "Bye Nate."
"Goodbye." He muttered before speeding up to the officer, as if that would protect him from leering brown eyes.
He came out into the police station lobby and was greeted with his angry looking neighbor, Mrs. Valentino.
"Near!" She called, the soft trilling purr at the end of her R's comforted him immediately.
Viola Valentino was a tall beautiful Italian woman, long black hair swept in long curls around her waist, bright white teeth stood out against darkly tanned skin. She was middle-aged, but aging had done wonders to her, laugh lines made up a lovely wise face.
She had one child, Zeal, Abby's best friend, the two nine-year olds did everything together. Grew up with each other. Like sisters except Abby was small, pale, with fine straight white blonde hair and gray eyes, while Zeal had a bronze tan, with messy curly black locks and wild brown eyes. The two were both the spitting image of their mothers.
"I cannot believe you! Darling Near is a criminal!" She threw her arms around his neck anyways. She was like an aunt to him, someone to care for him when his mother is unable to.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Valentino." Near muttered into her shoulder.
"Come, let us go home."
"Wait just a moment ma'am." An officer quickly intersected them, blocking the path to the exit.
Vicious brown eyes narrowed, "What is it?" She grit her teeth, "Can't you see he has suffered enough for today? We will pay charges later."
"No. The man he hit wants to be paid a visit. He asked to see Nate."
Near gulped down a harsh lump lodged in his throat.
"What? We have no business with that man until he's out of the hospital!" Viola Valentino was very a argumentative lady. Italian blood, perhaps?
"Nate has no choice but to go see him. He's threatening to raise charges if he doesn't get to talk to him."
"I don't have a choice, Mrs. Valentino." Near said quietly, gently pulling his hair, thinking about the horrors he'd have to face.
"Then I will come." Mrs. Valentino nodded fiercely
"I'm not sure I can allow that..." The police officer grumbled, "But I'm sure you can sit outside the room."
"That's fine." She nodded agreeably.
Near knew Mrs. Valentino was lying. As soon as she got up to that room, she'd probably barge right in and start bitching about how the man should be more careful concerning car vs pedestrian safety.
But it was better than being alone.
"Which hospital?"
"Sacred Medical." The man said gruffly.
Sacred Medical was a hospital not even five minutes away, it was the large hospital where Abby was born.
"Alright, come Near." She took his hand and led him around the officer and into the parking curb, quickly hopping into her stylish red Miata, unlocking the passenger door for Near.
"Okay," She started as she pulled off of the curb, driving towards the Sacred Medical hospital, "When you get in. I want you to apologize sincerely, they are going to want to press charges, but considering your family's economic condition you can't afford that. So I think the best thing to do is to..." She glanced at him, "move out of town and act like you never existed. Leave your family behind because they can't afford your problems. And it would be mighty selfish to-"
"Mrs. Valentino!" Near cried, "I can't just drop everything and move out of state... My mother paid everything to get me into that college and I can't leave..."
The reason Near's family was so poor was because number one, their mother couldn't have a job due to her medical condition, and two, because she gave up the rest of her money so Near could get into the country's best college. His loving mother knew his genius abilities could stretch farther than their tiny town's colleges, and go to something big. And so she gave everything for him.
It pained him, but yet, he was glad someone cared so much about his dreams.
"Oh... yeah." They pulled into the parking lot of Sacred Medical, and hitched a ride on one of those hospital golfcarts.
"Well then I don't know what to tell you, Near." She said quietly, brown eyes sad, she glanced at her perfectly manicured hands, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." He said assuredly. But it wasn't okay... Nothing was okay. They hardly got by on just one can of ravioli each night, now how would they manage?
They reached the clean interior of the hospital, the ice cold air-conditioning wasn't helping the rancid smell of cleaning supplies, and sick people.
You'd think sick people didn't have a smell... But they do. The smell of uncontrolled excrement on their bodies was as blatant as a slap in the face. Most of them couldn't get up to use the restroom. The smell of germs... Hospitals horrified every little inch of Near. He wished badly to run out and gulp in the fresh air of the outside world. Much better than a scary hospital.
"Yes, we're looking for a man who came in today who got hit by a car?" Mrs. Valentino slammed her hands on the large round desk that was planted in the middle of the lobby, and stared into the dead eyes of the secretary.
"Ah yes, fourth floor, room 407. Are you relatives?"
"No, but he asked for us." Mrs. Valentino nodded her head in Near's direction.
"Carry on." She turned back to a sexy bikini magazine, smacking her gum loudly.
"Idiot." Mrs. Valentino grouched as she punched the elevator button, "Lucky for us, she was too lazy to do any sort of background check..."
Near listened to her talk and talk, the Hispanic accent of her voice he found very comforting, and by the time the elevator doors swooshed open he had completely forgot he was in a hospital.
Then he stepped out of the elevator and was immediately hit by a wall of the 'Power of Pine-sol baby'. He was almost gagging by the time he reached room 407.
Mrs. Valentino's tan manicured hand reached up to tap at the door.
No answer...
She shoved open the door and barged right in, glowering at the man lying on the white hospital bed.
He had a cast on his right leg and another cast on his right arm, the left side of his body almost completely untouched, apart from a broken thumb. He had a few bandages on his head, but despite his painful appearance, his face seemed smoothed over, as if he were asleep.
A doctor walked in right behind the two visitors and glared at Mrs. Valentino, "Who are you?"
"My name is Viola Valentino, this is Near. He hit this man with a car today."
The man nodded, staring at Near approvingly. Strangely warm green eyes peered out from orange tinted goggles, though in a doctor's uniform, he didn't look anything like a doctor. A very outlandish intern maybe... He was far too young to be any sort of doctor. Perhaps nineteen, maybe even twenty. No older than that. A mop of red hair plopped messily on his head. Not anything like a Doctor...
"You're a doctor?" Near asked, disbelievingly, gray eyes scrutinizing the 'doctor' before him.
"Yes, Doctor Matt. Mello is asleep right now, so please have a seat, he should be up in a little bit. He turned to Mrs. Valentino, "Ms. I'm gong to have to ask you to leave."
Doctor Matt... Where had Near heard of a Matt before?
"It's Mrs... And I'm going to stay here with Near." She plopped down in the chair closest to this Mello man, glaring at him.
"Near... Is that your name?" He smiled, cocking his head.
"It's a nickname, Doctor."
"Your real name?"
"Nate." He answered.
"Nate." He purred, "Well, I'll leave now. Mrs. Valentino, if my patient asks you to leave, then you need to do so." He turned towards the door, "Bye Nate."
The two waited quietly by the man's bedside for about ten minutes, when he slowly awoke.
Blue eyes opened to stare straight at Near.
"Hey, you're that guy..." Mello grumbled, watching warily as Near stood up to approach him.
"Yes, sir. And I'm so sorry about what happened. I was trying to teach myself to drive and I was looking over my shoulder, and when I looked back I-"
"YOU SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL WHEN CROSSING THE ROAD!" Mrs. Valentino jumped up, arms thrown out wide.
The man named Mello's eyes narrowed into two blue slits, "Who is this?" A growl hummed angrily from somewhere deep within his throat.
"This is-"
Mrs. Valentino interrupted, "My name is Mrs. Viola Victoria Valentino! And YOU Sir have probably just ruined this young man's life because of your lack of safety knowledge! Do you know his mother is a paraplegic, and his father died serving your country in war? This is Nate River, he goes by the name Near, and you will address him as such. Furthermore, this young boy simply cannot afford your bills, for YOUR simple mistake! So we will not be here another minute!" She grabbed Near's hand, "Come Near. Let's go home and take care of your mother and sister."
"Wait just a moment Mrs. Viola Victoria Valentino." Mello snapped from his bed, "If this careless driver wasn't driving around without any proper knowledge on how to work a vehicle, I wouldn't be tied down to this bed now would I? And just so you know, because of your bitchy outburst, you can expect a call from my lawyer verrry soon. Now, I do take apologies, but it isn't going to make your punishment any less." He smiled at Near, thin lips pulling back in a fierce smirk.
"Sir please don't make any hasty decisions..." Near stepped forward, brushing past a very incredulous looking Mrs. Valentino.
"Oh?" The blonde cocked his head, waiting for Near's proposal, "And what do you have to offer? Other than a bitchy comment?"
"I..." Near glanced around the room, looking for any way out of this, "I must ask that you don't sue. But I'll do anything to make it up to you. Just please don't sue."
The man grinned lips peeling back to reveal a perfect row of dazzling white teeth, "You'll work for me. How does that sound? Help me get back on my feet and then some. And I won't sue."
"Yes. Yes that's fine. Thank you."
"I live on 4562 Patriot Lane. You should know where that is."
Near bobbed his head, white curls bouncing in agreement, "Yes, I'm just a few blocks down."
"Good. I get out of this wretched hospital tomorrow at 11:00 in the morning. Be here and we'll get a cab to drive us back to my house, because I certainly won't be having you drive us."
Near grimaced but nodded once more.
"From there, you'll stay with me until 8:00 and then we repeat the next day except you come over at the crack of dawn. Understand?"
"Yes sir."
Mrs. Valentino didn't seem willing, "What? For how long?"
"Until I recover and then some." Mello repeated.
"Thank you sir. I'll be here at 11:00. Have a good day." Near took Mrs. Valentino out of the room, bumping into Doctor Matt on the way.
"Goodbye Nate, Mrs. Valentino..." He stepped in the room, shutting the door behind him.
Once Near and Mrs. Valentino stepped inside of the elevator she turned to him, brown eyes wide, "You're actually going to work for that scumbag?"
"Yes. It's better than being sued."
"But God knows how long he'll take to recover!" She argued.
"Mrs. Valentino, this is the only option, apart from being sued. If there's any way I can help my family, I will do so."
She didn't say anything, just shook her head in disbelief, "Well I'll just make sure you get home okay... Let you talk to your family about this. Maybe you can bring your sister along..."
"Maybe..." He sighed, twirling his hair around a long white finger, thinking of how tomorrow might go over.
If he was lucky, the man wouldn't put him up to anything super hard... Near didn't do well with hard labor.
There were probably a few mistakes, but I only had time to proofread it twice. The computer is getting fixed so I don't want anything lost.
Next chapter coming soon... This one is going to blow by real fast.