"You have to be able to defend me," the blonde boy shouted, pounding one fist into his open palm. He looked up, determination in his green eyes. "Ya hear?"
"Yeah, I hear."
"You aren't even paying attention, are you?" Frustrated, he snatched the GameBoy straight out of his friend's hands and threw it across the room.
Matt choked, looking pale. "How would I have answered you if I wasn't listening, idiot?! Why'd you go and do that?"
Mello looked away. "Because you're always playing that damn thing. You care about it more than life. Matt, you have to start caring more about your schoolwork, so you and I can be First and Second. So you and I can work together when we get out of here." He peered at Matt. "Near can't beat either of us, got it?"
"Yeah."
"Because if he does," the boy continued, standing and looking down at Matt, "then you and I won't be together anymore. And you won't be able to work for me. Neither of us want that, right?"
"Yeah."
"Right. So, as long as we're talking about the future, I have to know that you're willing to protect me. Chances are, I'll be in a lot of danger." He nodded to himself. "Because that's what true friends do, they help each other when they're in danger. Isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"I'm going to take you with me, Matt, when I leave. I don't care if you're still Third, I'm taking you. We'll bring justice. Together. As a team. I'll have your back, and you'll have mine. That's how we'll work, nobody else. Just the two of us. That shit-filled, cock-sucking fucker Near won't be able to come within a mile of either of us, okay?"
"Yeah."
Anger, or something much like it, sparked in Mello's eyes. He leaned on the wall against which Matt was sitting.
"Mello… I'd walk through fire for you," Matt said softly, resting his head against his friend's leg.
"Would you?" he asked, sounding a bit impressed.
Matt shrugged. "We are best friends, aren't we?" he asked rhetorically, stating the obvious.
"So you'll help me when we leave? You promise?"
The redhead smiled, pulling his goggles over his eyes and nodding seriously. "I'll help you, Mello. I don't care how stupid it is, I'll help you. Even if it ends up getting me killed."
"I wouldn't have you do something that would make you die, moron." Mello rolled his eyes at the blank ceiling. "Neither of us are ever gonna die."
Matt knew better than to argue against Mello, and instead nodded, determined. "Of course not, you're right." Immortality was something Mello talked about a lot. Or, he didn't know he did, but he did. He talked about it almost more than chocolate or Near's ugly hair, and he liked to talk about both nearly nonstop.
"See? Now you've got it," he told Matt, nudging him with his leg. "We'll make a good team."
Matt thought for a while. Mello was the first person to ever befriend him, to ever talk to him outside of his own family. But they were all gone now. So maybe the two orphans actually would make a good team. Maybe all this rambling Matt put up with every day was true, and they would still be the best of friends in the future. A huge part of him hoped that Mello would have stopped sneaking into Matt's room at night and falling asleep on his bed by then, but nothing was really up to either of them, eh?
Smiling to himself, Matt tugged lightly on Mello's untied shoelace and nodded. "Yeah. We'll make the best team, Mello."