Soooooooo...My first fanfic! :) I'm not much of a gamer, so I'll apologize in advace for terrible gameing references. This is just a quick, drabbly, oneshot. I'm actually a big Mello/Matt fan, although this ficlet leans more towards Mello/Near. In any case, hope you enjoy!:D


Have you ever noticed how Mello acts around Near? I mean, it's really weird. Like, Princess Peach owning Bowser weird. He'll be fine right before Near comes in the room; eating chocolate, studying like a maniac, and handing out death threats to anyone that looks at him the wrong way- you know, the usual Mello stuff. Then as soon as our freaky albino pal strolls on by he's jumpy as a rabbit.

Despite what Mello, and most likely the entire population of Whammy's House thinks, I'm not stupid. Or ignorant. Or unobservant. I catch things that others miss, like the way Ben flinches slightly when people touch him, or the way Linda's fingers twitch when she sees something she wants to draw. I also see the looks Mello sends at Near when he thinks I'm not paying attention. Mello seems to believe that when I play my video games I'm lost to the world. He's wrong of course. Mello's wrong about a lot of things; not that I'd ever tell him that. Saying Mello's wrong is a one-way route to a punch in the face.

When Mello looks at Near his cheeks get all flushed and he gets this super focused look, like he's trying to burn a hole in Near's back, or his shoulder, or wherever Mello can stare without making it totally obvious he's staring.

Most people, knowing Mello, would assume this was a look of anger. Maybe a more observant person would see the frustration in his intense blue gaze. Only some one who knows Mello as well as I do (That's very, very well) would be able to catch the longing buried deep under all those other fiery emotions. It's funny: Mello's eyes are such a nice, cool colour, but Mello himself is such a fiery person.

If Mello is fire, then Near is ice. Total opposites, fated to conflict and destroy each other at every turn. But who knows? Maybe fire can melt ice. Unless ice overwhelms the fire, for ice far outweighs fire in this case; but wouldn't fire still melt ice? Okay, I'm totally lost. This psychology stuff in ridiculous; I can't understand why Mello likes it so much. You see what he does to me? I sound like some weirdo with, like, 20 degrees in subjects no one cares about who sits in a stuffy office and analyses every poor, messed up dude he can get his manicured hands on. I'm sticking with my technology, thank you very much.

Still, some days I wonder if fire incarnate could ever look at the insignificant moth that follows his flame the same way he looks at ice.