Matt was about to win a race in Mario Kart, but he was thrown off at the last second by a soft knock on his door. "Damn it, Peach your time will come I can promise you that," Matt growled at the screen after falling into second place, the princess looked a little too smug for his liking.

He huffed and made his way to the door to his room slightly annoyed at whoever was disturbing him. He didn't have Mello's explosive temper, but messing up his gaming was sacrilegious. He flung the door open and was ready to give a tongue lashing to the person, but he stopped in surprise when he realized it was Near standing in front of him. The smaller boy was fidgeting awkwardly and playing with the bunny he held in his hand.

"Um, what's up Near?" Matt wasn't entirely sure what to say, the white haired kid had never really gone out of his way to seek him out. "Are you looking for Mello or something?"

"No," Near responded simply.

"Then do you want to tell me why you're here?" Matt asked his annoyance starting to be phased out by confusion at the fact that Near was in front of him.

"Yes," Near nodded, but said nothing else.

"So why are you here?" Matt asked gently seeing that the boy wouldn't speak until specifically asked.

"I wanted to see if Matt wanted to go on a date?" Near's statement came out as a question as if he wasn't sure that was what he wanted.

Matt was frozen in shock, he rarely talked to Near and the pale boy had showed no actual interest in him before. Even now his face was almost entirely blank aside from a tinge of something, Matt guessed was nervousness. "Why do you want to go on a date with me of all people? Actually why do you want to go on a date at all? You don't seem like the kind of person who'd be interested in a relationship," Matt was still trying to figure out what was going on. Princess Peach's victory had left his thoughts now he was entirely focused on Near.

"Mello spoke to me in the library and after a rant his main point was that I would be alone for my entire life because I'm an emotionless robot," Near stated casually. Matt winced at the sad thought, but it still didn't entirely explain why Near was in front of him. "He proceeded to bet that I would never get anyone to go on a date with me. Though I am inclined to agree as I don't get along with most people I felt obligated to accept his challenge."

"So you decided you needed to go on a date and you chose me?" Matt repeated dumbly.

"Yes, I believe you are the most viable candidate for a date," Near nodded to himself.

"What you ran the numbers or something?" Matt joked slightly, wondering if Near actually did some calculations.

"Or something," Near confirmed. "You are one of the few people on an intellectual level similar to my own and convievably Mello's, your temperament is somewhat nice, and you don't act extremely uncomfortable around me. I also believe you're more aesthetically pleasing than most of the other people I would consider," Near's compliments were so clinical that there was no denying he was being completely honest.

Matt felt surprisingly flattered and smirked, "So you think I'm smart, cool, and sexy?"

"In less crude terms, perhaps something like that," Near shrugged, "I can offer you my allowance if you'd like incentive."

"I'm not a prostitute," Matt cocked his head at Near's offer. It was sad that he had so little faith in himself that he felt the need to offer money to someone just to get them to spend time with him.

Near blinked a few times, "I wasn't soliciting you for sex, I'm sorry if I implied that somehow."

"No, I meant that you don't need to pay me," Matt hastily back tracked holding his hands wide. "I'm pretty pissed at Mello anyway, so I'd be happy to get back at him and go on this date," Matt smiled and Near managed to respond with his own small smile.

Matt offhandedly realized Near was actually fairly cute when he wasn't staring blankly, but dismissed the thought for the time being. "Good," Near nodded almost to himself. He turned to Matt to ask, "What do you do on a date?"

"Why don't you just leave things up to me? It's not like we can actually leave the house so it won't be like a normal date," Matt had no idea what Near might plan if left to his own devices, it would probably be weird.

"We aren't normal though are we?" Near asked playing with a lock of his hair, twisting it between his fingers.

"You've got that right," Matt grinned resisting the urge to feel how soft Near's hair was.

"I'll be going now," Near mumbled and made to move, but Matt rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Alright we can have our little date tomorrow," Matt felt just how scrawny he was under his baggy pajamas. "Come by my room after classes, hopefully Mello won't be here. Actually maybe it'd be good if he is here, it'll be proof," Matt's grin didn't waver as he thought about Mello's reaction.

"I look forward to our date," Near said and without another word walked away dragging his bunny along with him.

"Me too," Matt said softly and found he wasn't really lying, it would at the very least be interesting. He's always been curious about the little albino in first place, but he always had a wall up. Only Mello was brash enough to smash through the wall to insult him and only L was actively allowed through that wall.

Almost immediately after Near left his line of sight Mello appeared from the opposite direction, "What are you smiling about?"

Matt wasn't entirely aware he had actually been smiling, "I'm going to beat Peach in Mario Kart, I'm just excited."

"Whatever," Mello shrugged him off and bit into the chocolate bar he was eating.

"Plus I have a date with Near tomorrow," Matt watched Mello almost choke on the chocolate.

"What! You're going on a date with the sheep?" Mello looked at him incredulously still coughing from the chocolate lodged in his throat.

"After your conversation with him about his inability to find anyone willing to date him, he decided to ask me out," Matt couldn't help himself from smiling at the expression on Mello's face although he was worried about Mello getting upset.

"Why you?" Mello asked the question that Matt himself had been asking himself only a minute ago. Mello growled, "He's definitely just doing this to annoy me, the stupid little sheep."

"Apparently I'm the most viable candidate, it's the closest thing to a compliment I've ever heard from him," Matt admitted already picking up his discarded controller ready to reclaim his top spot.

"You're actually going on a date with him?" Mello repeated raising an eyebrow, still clearly not quite believing Matt.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Matt smiled and this time it wasn't because of Mello's expression.

A/N

This just randomly came together and I only expect it to be a few chapters, but I felt like writing it out. I think Near is cool, but most stories written about him place him with Mello and I guess I wanted to break the trend.

I hope you enjoyed this, let me know what you think and as always thanks for reading.