A/N: Yeah, first Matt fic. I had read the first two and a half books of Death Note before watching the Anime and before that, when I saw pictures of him, my immediate thoughts were: "What is Light doing with goggles and a cigarette?" But anyway, I did not realize who he was until I watched the anime and even then, I did not understand why people liked him so much because his existance lasted for only (this is exadurated) two seconds. So then I borrowed the rest of the manga from my friend and then it was like a revalation! This guy is awsome! He has but two seconds of screen time, a bit more in the manga and yet he has more fans than Near, Light, and Mello combined. Funny huh?

Discalimer: I do not own Death Note or anything else mentioned in this story aside from Zoe and Carrie. Everything else belongs to Tugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata, and the respectable owners of the lovely Game Stop store, and Ford motor company. Lucky bastards...

SOME TWIT JUST PUT AND ALERT ON THIS STORY!! THE DAMN THING IS FINISHED FOR FUCK'S SAKE! DON'T PUT ALERTS ON THIS GOD DAMN STORY!!

Chapter 1 These Hearts They Race from Self Control

Zoe Mckinsey grabbed her car keys and turned to her friend and new roommate, Carrie Thomas, who sat on their recently moved couch and attempted to set up their television set.

"Carrie, I'm going out to buy a new video game, you want to come?" Her best friend for five years looked up from her task and shook her head.

"No thanks, Zo," she answered before turning back to her work. "I'll just stay here and finish unpacking."

Zoe shrugged. "Whatever, your choice; but you won't get a say-so in what game I buy." She walked out of her UCLA dorm room into the scorching, southern California summer heat. She heard Carrie mumble a short "whatever" before the door closed and Zoe walked down from the second-story balcony to the student-housing parking lot. She took out her car remote and pressed the unlock button, slipping into the driver's seat and taking in a short, surprised breath. Her car was a sweat box! She had only just shut the door and Zoe could already feel sweat trickling out of every one of her pores.

"Holy shit, it's hot." Taking out her key, she inserted it into the ignition and turned it. As soon as she heard the engine roar to life and her stereo blast one of her favorite Godsmack CDs, she rolled down both front windows with the flip of a switch on her car door. Switching the transmission into reverse, she backed out of her parking space and turned onto the road, speeding off towards her favorite gaming store. As she drove, the warm wind that entered the cab through the open window billowed her light brown, mid-back-length hair around and she constantly had to push it back out of her eyes as she drove so she could see the street. It's better than suffering a heat stroke while driving, she thought bitterly.

She was hoping for an uneventful drive to the store but her dreams were shot down when she stopped at a stop light and a car with two, in her opinion, ugly Hispanic guys pulled up in the lane beside her. She tried not to look at them as the one in the passenger's seat motioned to the driver and pointed at Zoe. They both smiled and began cat-calling and wolf-whistling at her. Annoyed, she reached down to her stereo and turned up the volume, intentionally blotting out the two men. Mainly, her actions were so she could drown out the horrible booming of their own radio. Rap with the base turned up as loud as it could go was not something she wanted to hear, especially when one of her favorite songs just started playing; The Enemy by Godsmack.

Finally, the light turned green and she slammed on the gas pedal, trying to out-distance the guys beside her. Fortunately, Zoe's rich doctors for parents bought her a Ford Mustang for her eighteenth birthday in early January and the brilliant blue car left the men's run-down piece-of-crap 1960's convertible lying in the dust. Relieved that she was away from the two that creeped her out, she turned left at the next light and pulled into a shopping center parking lot right in front of her favorite Game Stop. Zoe pulled on the parking brake and turned off the engine, stepping out of her car; she headed into the store and locked the doors with her remote without even stopping. Now, where is that game I wanted?

She perused the aisles in search of one game; all others did not even stand out to her. Her one-track mind kept her focused in her search and she did not even stop to look at any other games that she saw and might have thought interesting on any normal day of game shopping. Finally, as she reached the back of the store, she saw it. Zoe's eyes widened with excitement when the light blue cover was caught in her sight. Running over to it, she grabbed it and held it in her hand and examined the cover with the man dressed in a white cloak armed to the teeth with every weapon known to man. Alright! She yelled in her head. The last one! Score one for Zoe!

Just as she was about to check the price on the back, a deep, obviously male, voice sounded from behind her and snapped her out of her reverie.

"Are you going to stand there and look at it or buy it?"

--

An almost burnt-out cigarette fell on the sidewalk where a heavy leather boot came down on top of it, effectively putting out the lit end. Mail Jeevas, more commonly known as Matt to everyone he met, stood outside the Game Stop in a small shopping center in Los Angeles, California. He stopped in front of a bright blue Ford Mustang parked right in front of the door to the store. Nice car, he thought. Whoever owns this must be rich. He wished he had the money for a car like that, but the job he just barely was able to keep at the local Best Buy could barely pay off his bills, let alone a nice car like the one next to him, and the money he spent on cigs did not help either. Sighing deeply, he walked away from the car and into the store to buy the game he had been meaning to buy for the past month. He knew exactly where the game was, he had seen it many times. His only hope was that there was at least one left for him to purchase.

Walking all the way to the back of the store, almost jumped for joy when he saw that there was only one left, but then he felt his heart sink when a girl walked out of the aisle next to him and grab it before he could make a move towards it. Damn, he cursed to himself. The strange girl got to it first. She certainly was strange to him. She wore her light-brown hair down and the ends reached to just past her shoulders, showing her slightly tan, bare back from the dark maroon halter top she wore. Her tight light-blue jeans had large holes all over them, showing the black and purple stripped leggings she had on underneath, including a particularly big hole in her butt where her right back pocket should have been. The end of her pant legs were torn off, showing the rest of her bare legs past the end of her stripped leggings. On her feet she wore bright magenta-colored converse shoes with either no socks, or none-showing socks.

Yeah, I'm one to talk. He was quite strange-looking himself, with a black and red stripped long-sleeve shirt and black leather gloves on in the middle of summer in southern California, orange-tinted goggles and black leather boots, he certainly was an odd sight. The only thing that seemed rather normal about him was the wallet chain connecting his wallet that resided in his back pocket to a belt loop in his blue jeans. Thank God it's too hot for my vest; otherwise she would REALLY think I was some sort of weirdo. The only reason I wear it is because it's warm and comfy.

Matt continued to stare at her, concluding that she looked rather cute even though he had not even seen her face yet. As he watched her, he noted that all she did was look at the game she was holding. Well, maybe she isn't going to buy the game after all? He shrugged. It's worth a shot anyway. Deciding to just wing it, he walked up behind the girl and said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Are you going to stand there and look at it or buy it?" Yeah, that was a nice thing to say, Matt. Smooth, real smooth. "If not, I'll buy it." Matt mentally kicked himself. Why can't I stop being so rude? Aaarg!

He had obviously ticked the woman off for the next thing she said sounded agitated and upset. "Of course I'm going to buy it," she said as she turned around to face him. "What does it look-?" She paused as soon as she laid her eyes on him. He watched as her hazel eyes looked him up and down. She really was cute, just as he thought.

--

Zoe stopped in her tracks when saw the man who had spoken to her. Red hair, orange goggles, red and black stripped shirt, blue jeans, wallet chain, black leather gloves, and black leather boots. He had to be the cutest guy she had ever seen in her life. Before she could stop herself, she opened her mouth and spoke what was on the tip of her tongue.

"Holy crap, can I have you number?" Immediately, she clapped a hand to her mouth and looked at him. He had a confused look on his face and a slight hint of red graced his cheeks after she had spoke. "Oh, I am so sorry, I didn't mean…well, I did, but…what I met to say was…oh fuck it!" She stopped for a moment. "You're really cute, okay?" Dammit! What am I saying? He probably thinks I'm a total freak right now. Oh, what to do!? She silently screamed at herself. WHY did her mouth have move faster than her brain? Why, oh WHY?

"You…you want my number?" he asked, sounding unsure of what she had said. "I'm…cute?"

By now, Zoe's face had turned tomato red from embarrassment. She averted her eyes to a rack of old GamBoy games to her left and nodded slowly. What he said next was definitely not what she had expected and she nearly choked on her own spit when she heard it.

"Well, you're cute, too, I guess." He obviously had not planned on saying what he did, then again, neither did she. Her head shop upward and she saw that his slight blush had turned a shade darker. That was…unexpected, she thought, surprise written all over her face.

"Oh, my name's Zoe," she said, holding out her hand. He took it and smiled, the game in her hand temporarily forgotten.

"Cool name. Nice to meet you, Zoe." She managed a cute, little smile before he spoke again. "I guess it would be okay for me to give you my number. I don't really have that many people to talk to anyway."

Zoe's heart nearly jumped into her throat, restricting her from talking for a few seconds. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Flipping it open, she clicked "new contact" and handed the phone to the red-head in front of her. "Here, enter your name and number and press save." He took her phone from her hand and did as she had instructed. Satisfied after a few seconds of messing with the key pad of her phone, he handed it back to her and she studied the new name on her contacts list. "Matt?" She looked up at the goggle head. "Is that your name?" Well, duh. Of course it's his name, why would he have put in my phone if it wasn't?

Matt nodded. "Yeah, that's my name." Great, he's probably regretting giving me his number now. God, I sound like an idiot!

Suddenly, she remembered the game she had in her hand and held it out to him. "Oh! You wanted this game, didn't you?" She smiled at him. "You can have it; I'll just buy something else."

Matt just shook his head. "No, that's okay, you buy it. I'll get another one somewhere else." Zoe was slightly taken aback at his words, but soon shrugged them off and continued back down the aisle to see if there was anything else she wanted to buy before heading back to her dorm where Carrie was waiting, probably with their new PS3 set up and turned on.

"So," she began, trying to start small talk in order to know him better. "Do you buy stuff from here often?"

Matt followed her and browsed the game cases with her, his hands lingering over a Jak 3 case before he answered her question. "Yes, I buy all my games and systems from here. It's cheaper that way."

Zoe nodded. "Play much?" was all she said as she pulled out a Final Fantasy game for PS2 and began reading the back.

"When I'm not working, yes. You?"

"As much as I can when I don't have school work or am going for a run."

Matt stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "You're still in school? How old are you?"

Zoe stared at him for a moment, debating whether she should tell him her age or not. After a few seconds, she made up her mind and decided it wouldn't be too bad if she told him. Turning back to the shelves and putting the Final Fantasy game back, she said: "I'm eighteen and will be attending UCLA this coming school year. What about you? You said that you work, but you look too young to have graduated college. How old are YOU?" She saw him hesitate out of her peripheral vision and smirked. That question certainly surprised him.

"Uh, I'm nineteen. Have been since the beginning of February." Zoe smiled sweetly, which made his cheeks turn pink ever-so-slightly. She turned back to the video games neatly set on the shelf side-by-side when there was a sudden shout from the front of the store that sounded like a very angry and pissed off man.

"MATT!"

--

"Uh, I'm nineteen. Have been since the beginning of February," He said in answer to her question. He had not expected her to ask him his age, but then again, he had asked her the same thing so it was only natural for her to ask his. Matt watched her sift through the game cases, her eyes concentrated hard on what she was doing. She seemed intent on finding another good game to buy, but then again, did not every real gamer want a good game and not some run-of-the-mill cheep-ass game? He saw her smile when she found a game that she had both played before and really liked, or one that she had seen before and wanted to buy. He leaned over and saw that the red letters on the side of the case spelled out Beijingai. Hm, must be Chinese, he thought when he noticed someone outside the shop, someone who looked really familiar. Oh, fuck.

It was Mello. How he had managed to track Matt down to this one store was beyond him. In a desperate attempt to get away, he tried to hide behind Zoe, who did not seem to notice. It did not work, unfortunately, seeing as she was several inches shorter than himself and it only signified Mello to his presence in the store and he walked in, yanking to door open a bit too hard for the hinges and an audible creek emanated from the metal pieces.

"MATT!" he screamed so loud that everyone in the store stopped what they were doing and turned to see what all the commotion was about. Zoe looked up, and stared at the man who had shouted out Matt's name. She seemed surprised, not expecting anyone to shout out the name of the man she had just met with such distain.

Mello stalked up to Matt, fuming, and glared at him. "What do you want, Mello?" Matt asked, sounding calm and serene, but on the inside, his mind was a whirlwind of worry-filled thoughts. He knew Mello had been trying to contact him for days. Matt's cell phone had been going off almost non-stop with the caller-ID the same every time; Mello. He did not know why Mello had been trying to contact him so eagerly, but when he did not wake up to the sound of his phone going off at five that morning, Matt hoped that he had given up; though his conscience scolded him for having such far-fetched hopes. Mister long-and-narrow-tunneled mind would never give up until he either died, or accomplished his goal.

"You should know why I'm here. I need your help with the Kira case." Matt sighed and looked at his childhood friend, just now noticing the big, ugly burn scar on the left side of his face.

Apparently, Zoe noticed it as well because she blurted out: "Holy crap, what happened to you!?"

Matt stared at her for a few seconds. She seemed completely serious and did not look like she regretted her words one bit. Unfortunately for her, if Mello decided to snap from something like this, she would learn to regret saying what she did. Tearing his eyes away from Zoe, he looked at his long-time friend and noticed a vein on his temple a bit larger than it should have been. He had obviously gone through great lengths to hide his scar but even then, it was quite noticeable. Oh God, Mello, please don't blow your top here. He did not, but it took him quite a while to cool down from her little statement.

"An accident, no need for you to know," he told her dryly before turning back to Matt. "Who is this, Matt, your new girlfriend or something?" Matt noticed Zoe blushed slightly out of the corner of his eye and turned back to the shelf of games, trying to hide the fact that she actually blushed at Mello's absurd remark.

Matt shook his head. "No, Mello, she isn't. I just met her not five minutes ago."

"Mello?" Zoe plunged ahead again. "That's a funny name." Matt noticed Mello's right eye twitch from bottled-up anger; she was definitely getting on his nerves.

"Good, you can ditch her," he stated to Matt, who tried putting up a protest.

"B-but, Mello, you can't just-."

"I just did, now get your ass moving. We got a mass murderer to catch and Near to beat." Mello grabbed Matt's shirt sleeve and proceeded to pull the poor gamer out of the shop. Matt resisted enough to stop in front of Zoe and apologize on his friend's behalf.

"Sorry about Mello, Zoe. Once he's set his mind to something, there is no stopping him."

"That's alright, have fun." She let out a chuckle when Mello gave Matt another tug on his sleeve, making the red-head lose his balance, stumble, and regain his footing several feet away from where he was.

"Call me whenever you want, Zoe!" he called as he was dragged out of the store. "I'll pick up!" Then he was out of Game Stop and shoved into the passenger's seat of a rather fancy red sports car.

--

Zoe blinked several times as she watched poor Matt getting shoved into the front seat of the red sports car parked right next to her own Mustang. The only thing she could say when the car drove away was: "Holy crap, it's like a kidnapping."

A/N: Yeah, don't scream at me but in case you haven't noticed, Zoe likes to say "Holy Crap" a lot. It's just the way her character is. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the game Zoe and Matt went to buy is called Assassin's Creed. I've never played it, but God do I want to! It's made by the same people who made Prince of Pursia so it has to be good. Plus that Israli assassin looks really cool.

Sorry, but this is only going to be three chapters. I've already finished it so you all have no say in the matter. Plus, if I made it any longer, I probably would never finish it. It was a pain just to get three chapters done when one wants to work on something else. So, yeah, get over it.

Review please! If you don't, I'll stab your eyes out with a fork! Yeah! A fork!