I Can't Hide My Loneliness From You

Hey guys!!! This is my first death note story that doesn't involve any oc's YAY!!!! Anyway, please let me know if I should keep working on the rest of this story and posting up in honor of my favorite Wammy Boys XD Anyway, I unfortunately do not own death note or any of its characaters. I hope you enjoy this anyway!!!

Random Numbers, Creepy Pedos, and Freaking Big Orphanages

Walking up the long drive, Mello felt, though he'd never admit it, nervous. This would be his new home and even though it looked nice-enough, it was just so damn BIG. In all his life, Mello had never realized how big an orphanage could get. Biting off another chunk of chocolate from the bar held in his hand, the tall blonde continued up towards the front door. Finally reaching the door, Mello slung his black bag more securely over his shoulder, and taking a deep breath, knocked on the big, stained-glass door. After what seemed like a million years, the door slowly swung inward and an old man came to the door. He had a tuft of grey hair on top of his head, a large, round nose, and glasses. He wore a simple sweater and slacks with too-polished brown shoes. "You must be Mello." said the man in a voice that was stronger than he looked. "I'm Roger, one of the men who help run Wammy's House." Not sure what to say, Mello stayed silent. "Uh…..why don't you come inside; is that all you came with?" Roger asked awkwardly, looking at Mello's relatively small duffle.

"Yep." Was all Mello could say.

"Well then, let's go. Follow me into my office please." Mello walked over the threshold into Wammy's House for Gifted Children, shut the door behind him, and followed Roger through the halls to a large oak door that he unlocked before ushering Mello inside. "Now then," Roger said, placing his chin on his hands and staring intently at Mello, "here at Wammy's you will be working individually and with your peers to prepare yourself for possibly becoming L's next heir. While you're here we will not tolerate violence, foul language-"

As Roger continued to babble on and on about this rule and that rule and what you could and couldn't do at Wammy's, Mello's mind drifted and he found himself not paying attention at all. Instead, his mind fixated the reflection he saw in the large mirror behind Roger's desk. In its reflection, he could watch the different children passing by outside the door. One boy in particular caught Mello's eye. He was tall and lean, with bright red locks that fell nicely around his face, putting a curtain between him and the outside world. He seemed to have large eyes, but color was impossible to tell because of the bright orange goggles that covered them. He wore a black and white striped shirt, cargo pants, and boots. He seemed to be walked through the halls only by memory because his face was bent over a Game Boy. For some reason, watching this boy made Mello smile and feel happier than he had in a long, long time.

"Alright, it seems that we're all set then, glad to see you understand everything!" Roger said, pulling Mello out of his thoughts. "Here's your key, the room number's on it. Now I suppose you want to go and meet you new roommate?" Roger asked chuckling in a rather creepy way. "Well then, off you go Mello!"

Standing quickly, Mello grabbed the key from the old man's hand and practically ran from the office. Creepy pedophile. He thought as he sped up the stairs, not paying attention to where he was going; only wanting to get away from the scary old man down below. Ten minutes later, Mello stopped and looked down at the key held tightly in his fist. The number said 509. "Shit, maybe I should have actually been listening to Roger…" Mello muttered to himself looking around and seeing a large 287 painted on a door. The door next to that had 003 painted on it. After turning around in a complete circle, Mello set off down the hall, looking at each door in turn and hoping to find the right one. Half an hour later, Mello had gone up three flights of stairs, had gone through seven chocolate bars, and had almost run into thirty different kids running down the halls as he passed. Each one had stared at the disgruntled blonde dressed all in leather and munching on chocolate; but they all ran away, leaving Mello even more alone and confused than before. Turning a corner, Mello ran smack into a boy in white pajamas who was carrying a box of dominos. Both boys fell to the ground with an audible "Off!"

"I'm terribly sorry," the pale boy said looking up at Mello with large, brown eyes, "I should have been paying more attention to where I was going. You must be Mello, the other possible successor of L."

"How did you know that?!" Mello asked incredulously, staring down at the boy.

"Roger told me you would be coming. I'm Near, the other possible successor of L. I suppose we're competing now. Are you looking for you're room?"

Mello nodded, biting off another chunk of chocolate.

"Have you figured out the pattern yet?" Near asked in an interested voice, looking up at Mello with a nervous expression on his young face.

Feeling rather irritated and tired, Mello thought about all the doors he'd passed in the last half hour and their numbers. After thinking for a minute he almost screamed, "There IS no pattern, the room numbers are in random orders!!!!!"

"Very good, I can see why you'd be recommended to succeed L." Near said, looking rather scared as he clutched his dominos to his chest. "Would you like help finding you room?"

Mello hated getting help from anyone. Ever since his parents had abandoned him when he was a small child, he had promised himself that he would always be strong and look out for himself; so being offered help by a small kid he'd be competing against did nothing to improve his already questionable mood.

"NO I DO NOT NEED YOUR HELP!!!" he screamed at a rather frightened Near. "ALL I NEED IS TO GO UPSTAIRS AND FIND MY FUCKING ROOM BY MYSELF, I DON'T NEED ANYONE'S HELP!!!" And without looking back at Near frozen in shock on the floor, Mello stormed up tow more flights of stairs and finally found the large, red door marked 509. Without even bothering to knock, Mello swung the door opened and walked inside.

The room was large and spacious, with a large window in the far corner accompanied by a comfortable-looking window seat. There were two beds on either side of the room, two dressers, and a large beaten-looking leather couch that sat in the center of the room, looking very welcoming. Too bad it was already occupied. Sitting with this nose a few inches from his Game Boy, the red-haired boy Mello had seem before was curled up on the couch, his fingers racing across the different buttons. He looked up, startled, when Mello came through the door and the two boys stood (or sat in the boy's case) starring at each other.

"H-hello," the red-haired boy said in a shy voice, "you must be Mello."

"Call me Mel. You must be…"

"Matt." The red-haired boy said uncertainly, tugging at his striped shirt.

Mello looked around. This was awkward. Finally, he settled on walking over to his bed and began unpacking. Matt, shrunk even further into the cushions of the couch and began to play his game again. This is what he liked best, when people ignored him and left him alone. He preferred to remain invisible, it was just the way he was, attention never did anything good for him and he avoided it as much as possible. Suddenly, Matt felt the couch cushions move slightly, and looking up, he saw Mello sitting cross-legged on the couch, facing him with an expression of curiosity on his face. Matt felt a blush creep up his cheeks, he didn't like the way the blonde was staring at him, almost as if he were sizing him up, learning things about him from just looking at him.

"So, how long did it take you to find this room?" Mello asked suddenly, a piece of chocolate was hanging from his mouth and his head was cocked to the side in a puppy-like fashion.

"Ummmm-what?!" Matt asked, felling rather confused. He pushed his goggles up off of his face, reveling large, bright green eyes that stared at the boy across from him.

"How long did it take you to first find this room?" Mello repeated. As an afterthought he added, "Don't look so worried; I don't bite!"

"Oh, uh, yeah, right, I know" Matt said quickly, his blush deepening to a darker red. "Well, when I first came here, Roger showed me my room so it didn't take long at all. We're on the highest floor of the orphanage so the views nice. What about you?"

"Well, no one helped me, so it took about forty minutes," Mello said, making a face. "Then I ran into this kid named Near, who looks way too young and innocent to be a possible candidate as L's successor. He wanted to help me and I got mad-I yelled and stormed off and here we are!" Mello said finishing with a wave of his hands.

"Near's a pretty cute kid," Matt said timidly, "why-um-didn't you want any help?"

"Because I didn't need his fucking help!" Mello yelled, suddenly looking angry, "I don't need anyone's help!"

Matt cringed back into the arm of the sofa as if he'd been smacked. His beautiful eyes filled with tears and he whimpered softly.

"Matt," Mello said softly, feeling horrible for reasons he couldn't explain even to himself, "I'm sorry, I've just had a really bad day. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, you didn't do anything at all, in fact you're the nicest person I've met here all day."

Matt sniffled and looked at Mello in a strangely hopeful way, "R-really, Mel?"

Mello nodded, "Uh-huh, hey Matt, is Roger a total pedophile, or is it just me?"

Matt laughed shakily and slowly sat up, leaning in towards Mello ever-so-slightly. "Yeah, he really is." Both boys laughed and spent the rest of the day talking, and they know without even having to say it out loud that each of them had made their first friend.