Disclaimer: Nah, Death Note's not mine.
Summary: Matt thinks Linda is a priggish. Linda thinks Matt is a liar. MattXLinda one-shot.
Paintbrushes and Goggles
Linda loved to read.
Matt loved to game.
Linda enjoyed sunshine.
Matt detested alfresco.
Linda was like a young 'mom' in the orphanage, always available to comfort the smaller children and story-tell them on certain nights. She treasured the beaming faces the children would give her at the fairy-tales she told them; they would all gather around her to listen enthusiastically and later on thank her. But the pleasure came from their smiles.
Matt was always grinning with a clueless expression in front of people and made them laugh, taking blames mindlessly for Mello. But if people took notice, they'd realize the silent rebel he was fighting in himself; which he hid well with his casual shrugs and grins, only seen when he killed every character he needed to save in the video games he played.
Their disdain for one another – although the reason was unclear – was not a secret in Wammy's.
To Matt, Linda was a priggish; too many rules and properness. He noticed how she was the only one who never ceased trying to involve Near in the outdoor activities with the other children; she thought Near was a bit too isolated and wanted him to feel fit in. He also noticed the drawing of all Wammy's children holding hands together that she'd painted. She was artistic, so the drawing was beautiful, and he thought guiltily; just like her. But Matt also decided she was painfully naïve. He'd never find that kind of girl even for just a one night stand. And, well, he knew she wasn't the type anyway.
To Linda, Matt was a liar; because from the corner of her eye when she sat in the play-room working on her homework, she noticed how he killed every character in the video games he played; lying on his stomach looking casual and as clueless as always, yet keen, as always. Besides, Linda knew he wasn't any clueless, but as sharp as a blade. Wasn't his position right behind Mello and Near in succeeding L even when he always slept in the class an evident? He was just a liar, hiding behind a mask of oblivion.
When they came across one another in the corridor, Matt was wrapping one arm around a fuming Mello's shoulder, laughing at the blond's expression, while Linda's arms were laden with books, smiling and chatting animatedly with her friend.
They didn't look at each other; probably never would. But Matt would brush only lightly against her shoulder while he walked pass, and Linda wouldn't seem the slightest surprised, because it was just normality; the faintest brush no one cared about.
But in silence, they both felt a sharp tingle of electricity.
Linda would have to grip on her books a little more tightly.
Matt would fix his goggles and flashed Mello another idiotic grin.
Truthfully, they felt such strike; a sudden jolt of excitement soaring throughout them, electrifying. Like they just had to turn around and face each other and let anything at all that should or shouldn't, happen.
But they never did.
Somehow along with the tempting sensation, they saw a line of boundary, drawn only faintly but vivid enough to their minds; that it shouldn't be crossed.
Besides, Matt still remembered how Linda had painted his goggles green with her paintbrushes after he kissed her on a Dare.
Author's Note: Don't you think they need some spotlight? :)