A/N: Yep, I was supposed to post this a few days ago, but thanks to my mother sending me to a college prep school that gives at least five hours of homework every night, I didn't get around to it. :( I had it all written out, but was I able to type it? NOOO. Anyway, enough of my rant. I'm thinking about leaving all of this in Mello's P.O.V. But I'm not sure yet. Oh well. I hope you all like it, REVIEW.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. I don't, I wish I did, but wishing gets me nowhere.

Thunder Storms

Chapter 1

Mello's P.O.V

It was hot. The air conditioning in Wammy's always broke during the hottest month of the year. I rolled over on my bet to look at Matt who was in the process of beating some new video game he'd received a few days before. "Matt," I called when I became too full of boredom to sit still anymore.

"Hm?" he responded without looking at me, I knew he wasn't paying attention and it bugged me.

"Wanna go outside?"

"No," he said simply, still not looking at me. "It's hot and there's nothing to do out there." He was lying and he knew it. There was PLENTY to do outside. There was the playground (mainly it was for the younger kids but Matt and I always enjoyed taking it over and bossing the kids around), there was a tree house with telescopes and a whole bunch of science equipment, there was also the pool. That would definitely cool us off a bit.

"Let's go to the pool," I exclaimed sitting up. I moved a bit too quickly and got a little dizzy from doing so, but the cold pool water would take care of that issue.

"I don't feel like it," he groaned, pausing in his game for a moment to look at me.

"You never feel like doing anything but twittering you thumbs." He rolled his eyes and resumed his game. "I wanna go outside." I got up and pulled on his shirt collar, dragging him off of his bed and onto the floor.

"Okay, fine. We'll go outside. Damn, Mels, you can be a real baby sometimes."

"Watch it, bastard," I growled. He stood and followed me to the door of our room which I opened enthusiastically. The orphanage was mostly empty except for a few groups of kids socializing in the common room. I was sure that everyone would be outside and I was right because as soon as we stepped outside we heard the loud talking from the pool area. "Everyone's at the pool, Matt!" I complained "maybe if you weren't so fucking lazy we'd be there too. But nooo, you don't want to leave your precious video game." I snatched the console from his hand and stuffed it in the nearby bushes.

"I want that back, I was in the middle of the last level!" he yelled. "Oh come on, Mels." he headed for the bushes but I stopped him.

"Touch those bushes and I'll bash your face in," I threatened him. He stopped and instantly frowned at me. "Now come on," I said grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him toward the basketball court. I pulled a ball off of the rack and bounced it over to him.

"Mel-lo," he whined "I don't want to play basketball!"

"Yeah, well the sooner you finish playing with me the sooner you get your dumb video game back." He obliged then, dribbling the ball a bit and bouncing it over to me. He pulled out his box of cigarettes and put one in his mouth. I was tempted to take that from him too, but I knew he would leave me outside alone if I did. He shot a few baskets and dribbled a little more, but he was never fully in to the game.

After a good fifteen minutes of standing out in the heat the first drop of rain fell. It hit the ground directly in between Matt and I and we both stared at the small black spot it left on the asphalt. "Rain?" Matt sounded shocked.

"No duh, dumb ass. Did your video games melt your brain or something?" I turned around and headed back inside and Matt followed behind me, not forgetting to get his game out of the bushed. I shook my head and made my way back to our room.

"Well," Matt said, buried in his game once more "that was short lived."

"I thought you wanted it that way?" I pulled out my half melted bar of chocolate and took a bite from it. It didn't make that comforting snapping sound because it was so soft, but the chocolate tasted good on my tongue nonetheless.

"I dunno, I guess it wasn't too bad. Didn't kill me." I pulled out my books and began to study. There was no time to waste, I had to beat Near. I had to push him from the pedestal that everyone in Wammy's House, and even L himself, had placed him on. I had gone through a whole two hours of rigorous studying when the dinner bell rang. I was extremely tempted to bring my books along with me but when Matt saw me attempt this he ordered me to leave the books behind.

"If you study too much your head would grow bigger than it already is," he said "and you're my best friend, I can't allow you to do this to yourself. What about me? How do you think it'd make me feel to be seen in public with a person that has such a gigantic head?"

"The same what it makes me feel when I'm seen in public with a red headed boy wearing goggles," I retorted, dropping the books on my bed. It would be too heavy to carry with a lunch tray, that's why I left it (not because he told me to.) "If I'm leaving these, you're leaving that." I motioned toward the game console that he had in his hand.

"No way!"

"Then I'm taking these." I picked up the books.

"Alright, but when you can no longer hold your own weight because of your big ass head, you'll remember this. I won't even be there to help you. I'll be gone because you'd be an embarrassment." This earned him a hard slap on the neck.

"You're stuck with me whether or not I have a big head." I tried to imagine life at Wammy's without Matt. Who would be my friend then? Near? I shuddered at the very thought.

"You can't keep me with you," he said rudely. It hurt a little but I didn't let it show. I walked out of he room without the books and Matt followed behind me with his game in hand. It never ceased to amaze me that he could walk in even the most crowded room and not bump into anything without looking up from his game.

It was still boiling hot and the light drizzle that started when Matt and I were outside got harder. We sat down at the usual table and waited for the line to shrink, we were a little behind so all of Wammy's got in line before us. Matt finally put his game to the side and looked at me.

"So, you left the books" he said in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Yeah, you stopped playing your game," I said in return. I didn't know why it bothered me if he had been playing it all day, maybe because he didn't spend as much time with me. But why did that matter? 'Because he's my best friend.' That had to be the reason, nothing more than friendship.

"You complain about the games all the time, you obviously have nothing else about me that you dislike," he said smiling.

"Don't flatter yourself. I complain about the goggles too." He touched his goggles defensively and pouted.

"You never hear me complain about your rosary," he said. I grasped the beads around my neck.

"It's not the same."

"It is to me."

"Whatever." I looked away then, staring out the window into the cloudy sky. The sky was a charcoal gray and the clouds rolled across the sky. There was no lightning yet but it seemed like there would be soon. "Looks like a storm is coming."

"Yeah," he said. He almost sounded afraid. If I hadn't known any better I would have accused him of being afraid of the brewing storm. I looked over to the food station and realized that the line finally disappeared. Everyone was gone except for Near.

"Let's go," I said as I stood. Matt looked at the line and hesitated.

"Maybe we should wait for Near to finish," he said, looking up at me.

"Why?"

"So you don't pester him," I was shocked. Who's side was he on?! "He's not my favorite person in the world," Matt continued "but your constant torture is getting old. If I'm getting tired of just watching you, imagine how Near feels."

"I will not." I turned toward the line but Near was already gone. I seethed as I headed forward, Matt by my side once again. He had his DS in hand but it wasn't turned on. There was something odd about Matt as he went through the line, he would steal wary glances at the storm every once in a while. "Matt, are you alright?" I as becoming even more suspicions, even more convinced that he was afraid. It was odd because there were storms all the time. What made it any different today?

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." I still wasn't convinced, but I didn't tell him that. As we took back our seats I watched him carefully. He continued to sneak glances outside when he thought I wasn't looking. We talked about pointless things, but what really sealed the deal for me was that his hands shook as he fumbled and tore up the napkin in his hands. I didn't say anything to him but the whole time I was noticing these things and observing his actions.

Matt was truly afraid. He wasn't very good at hiding it, or maybe I was examining close enough to notice it. Or maybe I knew him well enough to notice the automatic change in him. He ate slowly and picked at his food so I waited for him to finish before leaving the table. His shaking hands caused him to drop both his fork and empty cup on the ground when we were half way to the garbage disposal. I shook my head in disapproval but assisted him in picking them up. His face turned red enough to match his hair.

"Woops," he said with a timid laugh. "My bad." He looked at me and I didn't say a word. I shook my head and he looked down at the floor dejectedly. We put our empty plates into the wash pile and he turned around and ran off without me.

A/N: I'm not sure whether or not I like this chapter yet. If it sucks I'm sorry and it won't hurt me if you told me so. Anyway, REVIEW! I'll try my best to post the next chapter promptly.