This is a oneshot I started a long time ago and never finished. But today I got a new idea to go with it, so I changed it a bit to fit =) I hope it fits together well, because of the changes, and it was finished in a bit of a rush... ;; But it's more small fanfiction to keep you all entertained until "Der zweite Sommer" is finally finished =D
I Like Ice-Cream
Mello had been sitting in the common room of the orphanage, staring absentmindedly and uninterested out the window at the boys playing outside. He never had any desire to join them, and relished in the comfy, air-conditioned indoors. His thoughts wandered to meaningless things, daydreaming and then occasionally drifting back to reality. He munched a chocolate bar, licking his lips with every bite of the delicacy. He didn't think there could be anything sweeter than chocolate.
It was then that a pair of very loud, quite obnoxious voices reached his ears.
"NO!! No, get back here!! Don't tell him, don't!! PLEASE!!"
Raising an eyebrow, the blond turned his gaze from the window to see Linda walking towards him, trying to shake off Matt – who was clinging to her sweatshirt and pleading something awful.
"No, please, I'm begging you!! Don't tell him, don't!!" he wailed desperately, trying -and failing- to pull her away from the blond on the window-seat.
"What do you want?" Mello sighed exasperatedly, annoyed that they had bothered him for something that was probably trivial; it was always trivial when it involved Matt. Probably something about video games, or Mario, or...something else Mello really didn't give a damn about.
Linda giggled, and leaned forward to whisper in Mello's ear -while Matt stared at her in mixed horror and grief, "Matt has a secret."
This was news. Matt never had any secrets – at least, none that he didn't share with Mello – or rather, none that the blond didn't forcibly pry out of the other boy by threatening to break his Nintendo 64. So it was quite surprising to find that there was indeed something Matt hadn't shared with him, and something he was obviously so desperate to keep a secret.
"Well? What is it?" Mello asked.
"It's nothing!" Matt said quickly, jumping up from his desolate position on the floor, and covering Linda's mouth frantically as she started to say something. "Linda has nothing to say! There's no secret!! Nothing!!"
"Oh really?" Mello raised another eyebrow, knowing that he would probably succeed in forcing it out of Matt later. "Fine, whatever." He pretended not to care, knowing this would probably bother the boy more than if he had actually persisted in wanting to know said secret.
However, Matt looked relieved, giving a sigh and slumping back down on the floor. Linda looked disappointed that she hadn't been able to give it away, and now that Mello appeared uninterested, all reasons to tell him were useless. It was never fun to tell a secret unless someone wanted to hear it. She eventually walked away, sulking.
Mello nonchalantly returned to looking out the window, though watching Matt out of the corner of his eye. The other boy didn't move, but Mello knew he was watching him; he could tell. "Well? You wanna tell me?" He finally prompted, turning to look at the redhead once more.
The other boy immediately jumped up, blushing. "Um, uh... it was nothing, really! All I told her was uh – 'I like ice cream!' Seriously, that's all it was!" And he promptly turned and ran out of the common room. Mello's brow creased, puzzled, as to what Matt could possibly not want him to know. Maybe he'd broken something in Mello's room and was afraid of being punished; that would be good reason for him to fear the blond knowing. Giving a sigh, Mello stood up and headed out of the common room, with the slight idea to go in his room and see if anything was missing or broken. At least then he might have some idea of what Matt was keeping from him.
When he arrived at his room, however, everything was just as he'd left it. This puzzled Mello more than anything, and he went over and sprawled out on his bed, munching another chocolate bar while he mulled over the situation. He didn't want to be curious, he didn't want to absolutely burn with the desire to know Matt's secret. It was probably nothing important; it never was. Yet Mello still wanted to know it, more so for the fact that it tortured him to know that someone was deliberately keeping something from him. Mello hated being kept in the dark. Whatever Matt's secret was, he was going to find out.
He caught Linda after classes that afternoon, pulling her aside as the students filed out. When she found herself pinned against the wall, alone with Mello, she opened her mouth to scream.
Giving an exasperated roll of his eyes, the blond quickly placed his hand to her mouth, hissing in her ear: "I'm not going to hurt you, geez..."
"Then what do you want!?" she demanded, her voice trembling. Mello suddenly resented all the fights he'd gotten into around the orphanage, which had given him a not-so-great reputation.
"I just want to know..." he began slowly. "...what Matt's secret is."
At this, her eyes lit up and she smiled slyly. "Oh, I see. So Mello is curious..."
Mello rolled his eyes again. "I just wanna know, okay?"
"What makes you think I have to tell you?" she said smartly.
Mello raised an eyebrow, amused at the challenge. "Well, if you refuse, perhaps I'll tell Roger who really stole the candy from his office...."
Linda's eyes immediately widened, and then she glared at him. "Fine!" she sighed, and then the school-girl giggling returned, and Mello knew she was absolutely dying to tell him. "...Matt likes someone!" she finally blurted out, giving a high-pitched giggle at the end.
The blond's mouth fell open. "....what?" he found himself saying, staring wide-eyed at the girl before him.
"Matt likes someone," she repeated, smiling.
"Wha-wha-WHO!?" Mello demanded immediately. This -more than the secret itself- was news. Matt had never liked anyone as far as Mello knew, and for him to not even tell Mello....
"I'm not telling," she said teasingly, swaying her hips slightly.
Mello glared, grinding his teeth. "Tell me!" he ordered forcefully.
"I can't..." she whined, pouting. "Matt will be mad at me! He made me promise not to tell Mello."
"Why?!" Mello wanted to know. "Why doesn't he want me to know!?"
Linda giggled again. "I'm not telling!" she said, and -taking advantage of Mello's shocked state- promptly skipped past him and down the hallway.
The blond glared after her, absolutely seething. Matt couldn't like someone, it was too unfathomable.... His life revolved completely around video games, and...video games. The idea that he actually liked someone...well, well it was just unheard of. More so, he specifically didn't want Mello to know who it was. This -more than anything- severely pissed the blond off. Matt told Mello everything – why was this kept a secret? Then again, Mello wasn't the greatest confidant when it came to telling secrets. Anytime Matt told him anything, Mello usually teased the redhead about it for weeks. It was obvious why Matt didn't want him to know; not only would Mello laugh him out of the orphanage, but he would probably tell that person too.
"Who is it?"
"Who's what?" Matt asked curiously, looking up at the blond from his place on the floor of his bedroom, where he sat playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo.
Mello rolled his eyes. "You know what!" he said. "Who you like!"
He could tell this startled Matt, for the next second, his character's cart careened off the path and crashed into a cluster of mushrooms. He didn't bother turning it around, but instead dropped the controller and turned to look at Mello. "Wh-what do you mean who I like?"
"I know that you like someone! Now tell me who it is!" Mello said, and as he advanced towards the other boy, Matt stood up and backed away.
"I don't!" he protested, but Mello could easily see through the lie. "I really don't like anyone! Linda was lying!!"
"No she wasn't! Now who is it?!" Mello repeated.
"I...I..." Matt stammered.
"Tell me, or Mario goes byebye!" the blond threatened, hovering his foot dangerously close to the precious Nintendo 64.
"Okay, okay!!" the redhead screeched, and Mello could see tears stinging in his eyes.
"Well?" he prompted impatiently.
"Um..." Matt began, staring down at the floor.
"Come on, just tell me!" Mello said, and then sighed and rolled his eyes. "I promise I won't laugh at you."
"Yes you will..." Matt protested in a childish voice.
"No, I promise. All my chocolate."
Matt looked up at him hopefully. "All your chocolate?"
Mello nodded, his expression serious. "All of it."
Still looking unsure, Matt nodded. "Alright... I...um...." He found that he still couldn't say it, and Mello -thoroughly annoyed- grabbed the front of the other boy's striped sweatshirt and pulled him close.
"Tell me! Is it Linda!?" he guessed.
"No, of course not!!"
Mello guessed a few other girl's names, all to which Matt said "no". Then, finally, the other boy's voice came out -tiny- almost a whisper: "...it's not a girl."
It took the blond a moment to comprehend just what Matt had said, and the meaning behind it. When he did, he found his grasp on the other boy's shirt loosen. "...What?" he said, dumbstruck.
"I said it's not a girl!" Matt repeated, a little more forcefully, trying to hold back tears.
"Well..." Mello searched for a response, anything to cover up his shock. Then, finally, his face contorted with distaste. "...it's not Near, is it?" he asked.
"No," Matt said, his voice becoming smaller with each reply. Mello eventually backed him into a corner, placing both his hands on either side of Matt to trap him.
"Then who is it?"
"It should be OBVIOUS!" Matt suddenly cried. "You're so stupid!!"
Mello stared at him in shock. "WHAT?! What did you call me?!"
"I said you're stupid!" the other boy repeated. "It should be obvious who I like, yet you're too dumb to notice!"
"Well maybe I am too stupid! In that case, tell me who it is!" Mello retorted.
Glaring at the blond, Matt grabbed a piece of paper laying on the bedside table, furiously scrawling down something before handing it to Mello. "There!" he said angrily, stalking out of the room.
Stunned, Mello looked at the paper. It only had two words: "Je t'aime".
If Mello had known French at all, he would've realized it was three words.
"Je t'aime" wasn't anyone's name, at least...Mello hoped not, otherwise he felt terribly sorry for whoever it was. He gave a frustrated sigh; why couldn't Matt just have told him, instead of screwing with his mind? The blond stalked out of the room, and down to the common room. There was only one person he knew who could possibly decipher such a thing, and as much as he hated to admit it, as much as he loathed every being of the boy, Mello knew the only person on whom he could count to both translate, and keep secret, the note...was Near.
He gave a grudging sigh, and approached the pale boy sitting in the corner. "Near..." he began, his voice strangled.
"Yes, Mello?" Near replied calmly, nonchalantly placing yet another puzzle piece into place on his board; Mello suspected the boy had solved the puzzle forty times or more already.
"I...need you to do me a favour."
"A favour?" Near repeated softly. "And what is this favour that Mello requests?"
The blond rolled his eyes, brandishing the note in Near's face. "Tell me what it says," he ordered.
Near -rather used to Mello's demanding nature – silently took the note and read it a few times over, wordlessly, before finally saying: "It's French."
"Alright, that's great and all – but I want to know what the fuck it says," Mello replied irritably.
The pale boy simply shrugged his shoulders. "It says 'I love you'."
"Wh...what?" Mello said, his eyes widening.
"It says 'I love you'," Near repeated, in the same tone as before. "That's all."
"Oh...I see." Mello took the note back and stood frozen in place for a minute. So the person that Matt liked was.....
The redhead was sitting outside under a tree when Mello found him. He had his head bent over his Gameboy, seemingly oblivious to all that was going on around him. His head bent over so, his reddish-brown hair fell to shield his face from view.
"Hey." Mello sat down beside the other boy, watching -though not really paying attention to- the screen of the Gameboy.
"Hey," Matt replied quietly. "Do you...need something?" he asked, glancing at Mello.
"I just...wanted to say..." Mello began, taking a deep breath. "...I like ice-cream too."
-END-
I thought the "I like ice cream" thing was cute, so I put it in here. I think it was a very cute, subtle way of Mello saying "I love you too" X3 Because it was obvious Matt was "substituting" the "I like you" when he said "I like ice cream". So it just...orz, you understand hopefully? ;
Random and cute fluff.