Just to be clear, I have absolutely no experience in video games. At all. I've never even held a DS and as pathetic as it may be, it's true. I also don't know why I wrote this other than this is what happens when I get bored. (It shouldn't be all that surprising. I do all my writing when I'm bored.)
I also didn't edit this, so I'm sorry if there're typos.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. As stated above, I've never touched a DS. I don't own Death Note, either.
Matt had never in his life played a video game. He had absolutely no idea how one even went about playing one or getting into it to the point where one could play for hours. He really just didn't get it. At all. He honestly didn't think he'd like it much, either.
What made even less sense, though, was that Mello of all people got one for him—somehow. He was marking this experience as one of the Top Five Weirdest Occurrences Around Mello. He could see it already: right under that time he saw Mello fangirl over a book —which might have been one of the weirdest things ever— and above the time Mello cussed out a tree for "blocking a goal in his football game".
His roommate was weird, he'd admit, if only in the silence of his own discordant brain. If Matt liked being punched he might actually tell him that one day. It was probably a good thing Matt didn't like being punched very much, but he was known for being adaptable.
So at the moment Matt's eyes were darting from the DS in his lap to the blond child standing with his arms crossed in front of him. He kind of hoped his face betrayed how confused he felt, but knowing himself as well as he did—which, granted, wasn't too well—Matt figured if anything, he probably looked bored. Matt also wasn't sure what Mello would do if he questioned the random and out-of-the-blue gift. Matt did not like being punched. And he was only ten, he felt he should be allowed to be confused.
Then came the question of "What the fuck, Mello? Why'd you get me a video game?", which had been on his mind since Mello stomped in and threw it at his head, though he ducked and winced as it hit his pillow. He kind of felt sorry for the pillow. Of course, he'd never phrase his question like that for fear of getting punched, but if he were to say whatever came to mind, that'd probably be it.
He'd only been here six months, anyway. He didn't think anyone was actually going to consider him an alright or decent person for at least a year. Apparently he should have been more observant or he might have realized Mello actually thought they could be friends instead of just tolerating him. That, or Roger put him up to it. That seemed way more likely, but Roger hated them all, so was it really? At this point, Matt was almost willing to accept the part of his brain that was rambling about aliens and some shit like that.
"Well, are you just going stare at it, or actually do something?" Mello asked in his vaguely rude and "don't fuck with me" attitude. It always made Matt a bit nervous when he talked like that, but he'd kind of gotten used to it, though Mello had only really started talking to him for the last two and a half months.
"Um… Uhh… Yes?" Matt figured he could have done better with saying that, but had no idea what to say that wouldn't get him punched. He'd seen Mello's temper firsthand last week at dinner when he'd punched an eleven-year-old in the nose for something he'd said. Matt hadn't really been paying attention until the kid starred screaming bloody murder. It honestly reminded him of his mother. Sometimes, he thought he should probably pay more attention to things beside computers. …Ha, never mind, that was extremely unlikely. Forget it.
"…You don't know how to play, do you?" Mello sighed in what appeared to be exasperation, but Matt figured he'd been out of it enough lately and that he should stop trying to read Mello for now. Maybe he'd try again in few years. After a criminal psychology course.
"Yeah… I've never even touched a video game, much less played one or know how to work it," Matt confessed in a nervous voice. He still hadn't gotten over the quietness installed in his mind from kindergarten, where they yelled all the time. The fact that it was needed even more at home didn't help, but Mom was dead now, so what did it matter? He'd learn to be okay soon, he knew it.
"Okay, so you put this game in the slot and press buttons." Mello said in what was probably the shittiest excuse for an explanation ever. Matt just stared blandly at him.
"Right… Helpful… Thank you, so much." It took Matt about two seconds to realize that was sarcasm and Mello was probably going to punch him and leave him in the dust and never be his friend again andthat'dbejustabsolutelyhorribleandohshithe'dreallyfuckedupnow,hadn'the?Heprobablyruinedhisonlyfriendshipeverandthisreallyfuckingsu—
"Heh, yeah it was, wasn't it? Well, here ya go." The blond snorted at Matt's sarcasam, but didn't seem at all bothered. He apparently hadn't even noticed Matt's internal panic attack either and had taken the DS from his lap, popped in the game, fiddled with it for a moment and was holding it out to him expectantly. Matt took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down and slow his heart rate, though it didn't really work. Perhaps he'd have to start to expect the unexpected around Mello. Gently, he took the offered device from his maybe-friend with a small, but genuine smile.
"Thanks, Mells." He spoke softly and the blond patted his shoulder before walking out of their shared bedroom, leaving Matt to sit on his bed and stare at the DS. Eventually, he got to playing on it, and was so absorbed that he would have missed dinner if Mello hadn't reminded him. Tutorials could actually be helpful sometimes, but Matt didn't care because by the time it took for a normal beginner to get to level five, he was on level thirty-four. And, it wasn't even as boring as he'd thought it would be!
Only around 11:30 at night did he realize he never asked how Mello got the DS and that he'd called Mello Mells and the other child hadn't done anything. He'd even smiled! Maybe if he weren't so addicted to video games by then he would have decided to observe Mello more. As it turned out, the games helped him concentrate and helped as a stress reliever. He never did ask where Mello got the DS and as the years passed, it just seemed less and less important.
He never did take that criminal psychology class, either.
