Note: This is the oneshot Kyoko Keehl won by guessing who was next on the killing list od my fic Death Nuts! The topic was Matt and Mello first meeting at Wammy's and when they realise they love each other.
Miss Kyoko, I hope you like it!
The bedroom door opened, but the ten years old redhead sat on the floor didn't even avert his eyes from the tv screen he was focused on.
"Matt, stop your game and welcome your new room mate." Roger knew it was useless. Nothing could distract the young boy from his games. He sighed and pushed the other boy inside.
"Mello, this is Matt. Your bed is the one on the right. Put your belongings away and be quiet. Matt will lead you to the dining room when it's time. Until then, do as you please as long as you don't go out of your room."
On these words, the old man left.
Mello glared at Matt, who was still concentrated on beating whatever boss was on the screen. He quickly put the content of his bag in the closet situated next to his bed, then ripped a chocolate bar open, and stood next to the window, staring outside.
The dinner bell rang an hour later. Matt paused his game reluctantly and stood up.
"Mello, are you coming?" the redhead asked.
The blond was surprised that Matt had registered his name through his heavy concentration on his game, but he didn't let it show.
Mello didn't reply, ignoring the redhead.
"Ok, as you wish." Matt left the room, leaving Mello alone.
When Mello was sure there was no one around anymore, he stirred the small red crucifix from under his shirt and, softly fingering it, he murmured: "Vater unser, der Du bist in dem Himmel geheiligt werde Dein Name, Dein Reich komme, Dein Wille geschehe wie im Himmel so auf Erden..."
When Matt came back from the dining room, he found Mello still standing next to the window. The blond quickly hid the small cross under his shirt, but except that, didn't move.
"I brought you something, in case you feel hungry later..." Matt said, depositing a folded paper towel containing some chocolate cake on Mello's bedside table.
The blond looked at him, then back at the sight by the window. It was dark, and Matt knew Mello couldn't see anything. Understanding the silence, Matt resumed playing his game.
Mello left the window late in the night, and after a quick passage by the bathroom, he went to bed.
Matt lit his game off in the middle of a stage and went to brush his teeth, before going to sleep too.
In the dark, he stared at Mello's blond hair on which the moonlight reflected, wondering if he was asleep. Himself couldn't sleep, he never got to bed so early.
Soon, the blond's even breathing told him he was sleeping. Matt was unable to sleep that night. Everyone here always had nightmares and cried during the first nights. The walls were thin, and he could tell how many nights children here had cried themselves to sleep before finally being able to forget and move on.
Himself hadn't cried when he had arrived. You don't cry when you are finally free from abusive parents. You just finally breathe and live, like a newborn.
Matt showered quickly before breakfast. Mello followed a little later, and stood by the window again, slowly eating the chocolate cake Matt had brought him the evening before.
"Don't you prefer having breakfast downstairs?" the redhead asked.
Mello made a 'no' with his head.
Matt left, sighing.
Later in the morning, Mello sat beside Matt in class. He came back in their shared bedroom for lunch. Matt didn't ask him if he was coming, this time, but he brought him a sandwich that he deposited on the bedside table again.
The afternoon passed quickly, Mello still sat beside Matt in class, and heading for the bedroom once the last lesson was over. Matt went out for a smoke, and when he came back, the sandwich had disappeared, and Mello hid something under his shirt again.
Little by little, Mello became a bully to the children of the orphanage. All except Matt. The redhead seemed to be invisible to the blond's eyes.
Mello hardly came in the dining room, and Matt kept on bringing him food.
Mello always went to bed early, and Matt would always shut his games off and go to sleep too.
Mello would stand for hours in front of the window, fingering something Matt never identified, and hiding it whenever someone approached.
Matt hardly ever heard Mello's voice. Mello was the silent kind, he didn't participate in class, always clenched his teeth when fighting and never replied to Roger when he was called in his office.
They lived in the same room, side by side in two different bubbles.
Years passed, similar and uneventful. The boys were now fifteen.
Mello slammed the door shut as he entered the room. Matt started. The blond gazed at him, his eyes softening immediately, and the redhead focused back on his game, smiling.
Mello's temper was out of hand most of the time, but he would always have an apologetic look whenever his actions scratched his room mate's personal bubble.
Matt was sat in his usual position, playing his latest game. He suddenly paused and looked at the window, or more precisely, at a certain spot in front of the window. The spot was empty although it was already nine in the evening.
He stood up and looked by the window. It was raining. But more than that, a blond was standing under the rain, in the courtyard.
Matt ran downstairs, grabbing an umbrella on the way.
He opened it as he exited the building, and approached Mello while calling his name softly.
"Mello? What are you doing here? You're all soaked!"
Mello turned to face him. In his hand, hung to a golden chain, he was holding the tiny red cross Matt had never seen, and this time, he just kept it in his hand, pressing it on his chest, as he watched the redhead coming to him.
Matt finally reached him, and held the umbrella above them both, although the blond was already drenched.
Matt suddenly used his free hand to unfold Mello's fingers, and look at what he was holding. He stroked the crucifix resting on the blond's palm with the tip of his finger.
"It is important for you, isn't it?" Matt asked softly.
Mello nodded, his eyes focused on Matt's fingers. He closed his hand, capturing Matt's, and looked at him.
"I heard you pray at night many times, you know... I understand german..." Matt began, "Tell me... you never had nightmares, I never heard you cry... everyone always cries when they arrive here... but you are always thanking God. Why? I heard your parents got killed by the Mafia... you should be sad, but you thank God..."
"I am sad... and today, it's been five years that I arrived here, I remember, it rained too, that day..." Mello whispered, eyes still locked with Matt's, "And that day, when I was in Roger's car, when he drove me here from the airport, I wanted to die, because God had taken my parents, and I loved them... I was wondering why he inflicted that to me, why he didn't want me to be happy..."
Mello paused, but his eyes were intense, and he squeezed Matt's hand tighter.
"But when I saw you... you just... cared. And I remember, when you brought me that chocolate cake, when you showed me for the first time that you cared, it stopped raining, at the same time... I know it's stupid, but for me, it was like if sorrow had stopped raining on me..."
"That's why you never bullied me like you did with the other kids?" Matt asked, squeezing Mello's hand back, imperceptibly pulling him closer to him.
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't, because there's nothing about you I hate... I can't find anything to attack you for..." the blond added.
"You didn't reply to my question." Matt reminded him gently.
"I thank God because no matter what I thought at that time, he made me happy again..." Mello smiled.
Matt's face lit up: "That's the first time I see you smile, and probably the first time I hear so much of your voice..."
Mello's smile grew wider: "And would you mind if that was also the first time I kiss you?"
Matt blushed as his eyes opened wide. He threw the umbrella behind and threw his arms around Mello's neck.
"As long as it's not the last." Matt replied, grinning widely as his hair began to stick to his face with dampness.
Mello snaked his arms around Matt's waist and, forehead against forehead, they drank each other's features, eyes eager of the other's traits.
And they kissed, softly, the crucifix hanging between their chests, like a bridge that Mello's faith in God used to cross a river of sorrow, and fall in the arms of a faith in another person on the other side.
Sometimes, bubbles explode and disappear.
And sometimes, if you treat them carefully, separate bubbles stick together to form another bigger and stronger bubble...