A/N: Yaaay my second MN fic! It actually starts out somewhat similarly to my first... I have an addiction to writing them in their orphanage days. And random Matt appearances. Whatever... This is a one-shot, because... it just is. Although I might consider lengthening it if people like it enough. Maybe.
Disclaimer: I don't own DeathNote. But I might own a DeathNote! You'd never be able to tell for sure! Mwahahaha... No but I don't. -sigh-
Summary: The Wammy house is full of brilliant and perceptive children. The most intelligent (not to mention competitive) of these are Near and Mello. Mind you, genius or no they are still young, petulant, and amusing as hell. MelloxNear One-Shot
Title: Cry Me a River
It was three o'clock in the afternoon at the Wammy's House Orphanage. The sun was nowhere to be seen, rain poured down outdoors, but indoors it was cozy and warm. The various inhabitants of the facility had managed to find suitable indoor activities to partake of and the world was, for the moment, in a shaky but definite state of peace.
Mello was not; to use a phrase so badly outdated your parents won't even remember its origins, a happy camper.
Logically, this made no sense. He had a bar of chocolate in one hand, a book of advanced physics in the other, and was situated on the comfiest sofa in the orphanage next to his best friend Matt. Matt was even being gracious enough to have turned the sound off on his videogame so as not to disturb the often volatile Mello. So, logically, Mello should have been perfectly happy.
But he wasn't.
Instead he was viciously devouring the chocolate at a rate that rivaled pregnant women, and sulkily flipping through the book's pages. He pretty much knew everything in the book anyway, but that wasn't really what was bothering him. What was really bothering him was albino, approximately four feet high, utterly monotone, and actually nowhere in view at the moment. Yes, it had reached that critical point where Near didn't even have to be in Mello's presence to piss the blonde off.
Mello sighed heavily, and waited. Precisely twenty-seven seconds later he heaved an even larger, more dramatic sigh. Precisely thirty-three seconds after that, the blonde snapped his book shut loudly and heaved a sigh that was actually more reminiscent of an about-to-charge bull than anything else. Matt reluctantly looked up from his game.
"Is there some sort of reason you're acting like a love-sick teenage girl? Or are you still getting revenge for when I sneezed on you at lunch today?" The red-head questioned, Matt hadn't been thinking clearly, and he immediately realized his mistake. Exasperation was something Mello could have forgiven, he expressed it himself often enough and Matt was his faithful sidekick. But if there was one thing Mello could not stand above all others (well... apart from Near, people trying to steal/eat his chocolate, and Near again) it was being compared to or accused of being in any way, shape, or form, a girl.
To say that the blonde went ballistic would be a mild understatement.
After having suitably punished Matt with tearing a new hole in his jeans, restarting his game, and a few vehement tugs of rust-colored hair, Mello settled down enough to accept an apology. The apology was forthcoming since Matt managed to save the game before Mello restarted it and had already beaten that game four times anyway. Plus his jeans inevitably obtained more holes than the wall firing-squad victims stood in front of, so he was used to that too.
"Sorry man. That wasn't what I meant." Matt rubbed at his sore head a little.
"Damn right you're sorry." Mello sniffed.
"Totally." Matt acquiesced. He then waited patiently for Mello to decide he forgave him and just get on with whatever he had wanted to say.
"Fine. You're forgiven. This time." Mello conceded. Matt nodded; wondering if a response was required or if that would be considered interrupting. "Anyway, like I was trying to say," evidently no response needed. Yet. "That little midget's been bothering me more than usual lately. Speaking of which, where was Near this morning?" Mello questioned not-so-surreptitiously. Matt dead-panned.
"Uh... I think it was the second floor playroom this time... that's what Jada was saying anyway." He recalled.
"Forget Jada. She's dumb. Can't even do calculus." Mello waved a hand flippantly.
"...She's eight." Matt observed.
"Exactly." Mello smirked.
"I'm sure she's still intelligent enough to know whether or not she saw Near in the second floor playroom. Even if she doesn't know calculus." Matt fought the urge to roll his eyes.
"I'm going to overlook your sarcasm. Because I'm nice." Mello raised an eyebrow, daring Matt to disagree.
Silence.
"Right, see you later then." Mello grinned and bounced off the sofa, leaving his book behind but snatching a fresh supply of chocolate from the stash in the desk by the door.
"What are you going to do?" Matt didn't really care; he was already reaching for his game again.
"Nooooo-thing... Much." The door slammed behind Mello. Matt turned on the sound effects, giving a slight mental sigh at his friend.
Mello darted down the hallway. His and Matt's room being located on the first floor meant he had to run up a flight of stairs; because the elevator was only for emergencies, unless you were an adult. But Mello supposed that everything was an emergency when you were an adult. He took a noisy bite of his chocolate bar, and considered his plan of action.
Near hadn't done anything overly aggravating recently, but Mello felt the urge to strike anyway. Mello wasn't very good at resisting his urges, he didn't see any reason he should, hence the chocolate addiction.
Mello decided plans were for catching criminals and that for preemptive strikes against one's vertically-challenged rival, it was better to just improvise. He hustled up the stairs to the second floor, padded down the hallway and selected the third door on the right. Gently pushing open the door, Mello was alerted to Near's presence by the soft clacking of legos before even completely entering the room.
"Hello Near." Mello drew out the name as long as he could, and was pleasantly and largely surprised to see a slight shiver briefly jolt the shoulders of his diminutive nemesis.
"...Mello..." Near's voice showed no reaction.
"Whatcha doing?" Again Mello milked the syllables for all they were worth. No shiver this time, although Near did seem to pause for the swiftest of seconds mid-construction.
"I should think that would be obvious... what do you want?" Near ventured an inquiry. He wasn't sure what to think, precisely, Mello could be quite unpredictable at times. Also, Near hadn't had a truly civil conversation with the older boy pretty much since they'd met.
"That looks dumb." Mello wasn't even just trying to be mean, the thing Near was putting together with legos seemingly chosen at random didn't appear to have shape, purpose, or meaning. So yeah, it actually did look dumb.
"How eloquent." Near retorted blandly, although had the two been facing one another Mello would have noticed a light streak of pink manifest itself across Near's face. "But surely you didn't come merely to remark on the aesthetic value of legos."
"Nah, I came to bug you."
"May I ask why?"
"Sure, go ahead."
That almost annoyed Near. Almost.
"Alright. Why?" The white-haired boy asked.
"Why what?" Mello was obviously enjoying himself. Improvisation ruled.
"Mello." Ok, Near had been annoyed that time, an admirable feat in and of itself.
"Ye-es?" Mello laid himself out on the floor, taking another bite of his chocolate bar and stretching languidly.
"Why have you come to bother me?" Near sighed, deciding that the quickest route back to being Mello-free was to simply humor the blonde.
"Because you bother me. It's only fair." Mello said.
"I don't bother you on purpose though..." Near pointed out, his brow furrowing a little.
"That's hardly the point."
"I fail to see that there is a point." Near added another block to his... whatever it was. That statement gave Mello pause for a moment.
"You're so annoying." The older boy huffed.
"...Alright, that may have been on purpose." Near found he couldn't help but retort. Mello scowled, and proceeded to roll over and begin hastily and efficiently dismantling Near's construction. Near watched on in silence. When the entire work was in pieces, Near found his voice again. "...Why did you do that?"
"Because I hate you. No need to get all mopey, it looked dumb anyway." Mello chomped on what was left of his chocolate.
"You... hate me?" Near felt like he was in some sort of daze, staring at the legos that he really hadn't meant to build anything in particular with. It shouldn't matter to him, then, since it really hadn't had a design... but still.
"Geeze and you're supposed to be smart?" Mello drawled. The blonde pulled himself to his feet and straightened out his clothes with an air of disdain. Near felt his fists clench, and something strange was going on with his eyes. Mello could hardly believe it when he heard the pale boy's breathing pattern turn ragged.
"Oh what, you're gonna cry now or something'?" Mello's tone had changed to utter disbelief. Near never showed emotion.
"No. I'm fine." Near said, and his voice was steady. Something slipped down his cheek.
"No you're not." Mello's voice sounded horrified. Deep inside of Near, something snapped. He buried his face in his knee, tears streaming out abundantly. Near desperately tried to choke down the sobs coming up his throat, but he was too shocked and confused, and sad.
Before he knew what he was doing, Mello was kneeling next to Near. Instinctively, the blonde reached out and pulled Near's head into his shoulder.
"Stop it… C'mon they're just legos… You can rebuild them. Knock it off." Mello's uncharacteristically gentle voice made up for his obvious inexperience with comforting phrases. Unfortunately the effect, like with most comforting, was only to cause Near to sob harder.
"I-it's not the s-stupid legos." Near forced out, the words were stuttery from his sobs and muffled by Mello's shirt, but the blonde understood them.
"Well what is it then?" Mello asked, raising an eyebrow although Near couldn't see it from his current position.
"You hate me…" The words came out even though Near hadn't known that was the problem until they did.
"Don't be stupid, I don't hate you." Mello admitted angrily. Near leaned back and stared at Mello with wide eyes.
"But you said-"
"I know what I said, ok!? But obviously it wasn't true; otherwise I just would've left when you started blubbering. So I don't hate you and you can stop crying now." Mello explained.
"…Ok." Near sniffed, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.
"Good. Now don't you ever do that again." Mello closed the distance between them, placing a kiss on the smaller boy's lips that was full of emotions that just about had Near disobey and begin sobbing again. Mello stood up, gave Near's hair an affectionate tousle and headed for the door. "If you ever tell anyone about this…" Mello trailed off and left.
Near nodded, even though Mello was already gone, and placed his fingers lightly over his mouth. Well… that had been… interesting…
…
Mello came back into his and Matt's bedroom with the oddest look on his face. Matt barely spared him a glance though, writing it off as some side effect from pestering Near, not knowing how right he was. The redhead didn't bother turning the sound down since Mello looked too out-of-it to notice anyway.
Mello came over and plopped back down on the couch, picking up his book and a new chocolate bar. It was only when Mello took up his usual habit of using Matt as a backrest that Matt's attention was drawn away from his game.
"Hey Mel?"
"Yeah Matt?"
"…Why is your shirt all wet?"
END.
A/N: That is all... now do please review. Pretty please! With sugar and whipped cream and strawberries on top!