AN: It took me forever to type this…I get lazy during the summer. Anyway I got this idea while studying for finals. My nonexistent motivation (and my urge to finish FFX, which I did finally) reminded me of Matt, so that's how this started. I wrote it in small bits throughout final week, and…well it's short but I thought I should finally type it up. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: As I always say, if I owned DN Matt and Mello wouldn't have died, and they'd have an entire 200 episode series dedicated to them.
/…/…/…/…/
'If I use Stamina Tablets I can increase everyone's HP high enough to easily withstand his overdrives,' Matt contemplated. 'After I use my Aeons to take the brunt of the damage.'
"Matt stop daydreaming about your game and study!"
'Damn it.'
It was the day before both boys psychology test, and while Mello was dutifully studying, Matt was having a much harder time focusing.
'Mello's just being paranoid, trying to beat Near. We don't even need to study, that obsessive-'
"Stop insulting me in your head Matt."
"Stop reading my mind Mello!" Matt snapped, turning on his bed to face the blond at the desk. Matt preferred to be comfortable, another reason Mello said he had a hard time focusing on studying.
"Seriously Matt, just read the material."
"It's psychology, I'm sure I can make something up," Matt replied airily.
Mello glared, so Matt lowered his head back to his textbook and began to start reading the first sentence of a paragraph for the fifth time in the past twenty minutes. He managed to get halfway through the eight sentence passage before his mind began to drift again. 'I wonder if he'll give me a break if I get him chocolate.'
Mello was murmuring Freud's personality theory silently to himself, bent determinedly over his book. His hair fell gently in front of his face, blocking Matt's view of his friends' expressions as he read. He started, realizing he had been staring, giving his head a small shake before retuning to his book. What had he been studying again? Psychology, right. 'Okay Matt focus. Must pass the test. Alright what chapter was I reading?' Matt groaned internally. 'This is so boring. I mean I half listened to this once, isn't that enough?!'
The sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating Mello in a golden light. He reached his hand up to push his hair behind his ear and Matt could see his face again. Those eyes, sparkling with determination and passion, his skin seeming to glow softly in the light. Matt had the sudden urge to gently run his fingers through Mello's hair, to see how soft it really was.
'He's beautiful.'
This thought was not new to him. Mello had been beautiful when they met, and had only grown more beautiful as they got closer. Now he was absolutely radiant, greater than the very sun illuminating him right now.
But he had no right to these thoughts, these feelings. Mello was too great, too perfect for him. Too perfect to be different like Matt was, although Matt wasn't sure of his orientation completely himself, since all men and woman dimmed in comparison to Mello.
Oh how those casual touches tortured and exhilarated him. Every shoulder bump in the hall, every fight (real or play) on the floor of their room, every nudge in class. Such casual touches between friends for Mello, but something so much more for him.
"You're still not studying are you?" Mello's voice shot through him and he jumped guiltily.
"I'm not getting far," he admitted, ashamed only because it bothered Mello that he wasn't trying hard enough.
Mello sighed and stood, stretching before he came towards Matt's bed. "Move over." Matt did, scooting across the bed until Mello could lie on his stomach beside him, arms and legs resting lightly against the gamers.
'Just a casual touch between friends.'
"Okay," Mello said, glancing at the chapter. "Adolescence. This chapter is mostly about parents and peers influence on ones personality."
'His skin feels so warm.'
"There are three type of parenting styles-"
'Strands of his hair on my shoulder-'
"Four if you include uninvolved-"
'Turning the page, breath hitting my neck-'
"Hm. Maybe we should start fresh on a new chapter," Mello muttered distractedly, turning the pages until he found another chapter they were being tested on. "Okay stress. Are very low levels of stress healthy?"
Matt managed to bring himself back to the real world in time to hear the question. "Um…no. If there is no challenge a person can become depressed, bored, and desperate, making poor choices just to make life interesting."
"See? You know this!" Mello smiled at him, a real smile. It was possibly the most breathtaking thing Matt had ever seen.
'I have it bad.'
Mello continued to go over the chapter with Matt, but once they reached types of personality, Matt busted out laughing.
"What?" Mello asked.
Matt, still chuckling, pointed to the section. "These three types of personality fit us top three. Look-
Type B is obviously me. Emotions usually fit the situation. And emotions are moderate, not over the top or detached.
Type C is Near. They appear emotionless and detached from the world emotion wise. They reject their emotions and usually have the longest life spans.
You Mello, are textbook type A. Type A people are active and need control. They react emotionally and quickly, and always feel stressed. Not only that but they're bad-tempered, aggressive and hostile. And that's an extreme type A!" Matt chuckled again. "Ouch. Also susceptible to heart attacks at a young age. That chocolate probably doesn't help. Sucks to be you."
Mello growled and made to roll off the bed. "No wait!" Matt exclaimed, hand latching to the blonds' wrist. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean it in a bad way or anything." The friends were close together now; Matt had leaned forward to stop Mello and was now leaning over him. Mello stared at their close proximity and Matt felt himself start to grow red, hastily dropping Mello's wrist and scurrying backwards.
"Um anyway," Matt murmured, absently turning the page. "I don't know sources of stress very well. There's conflict situations, life changes, work stressors-"
"Relationships."
"What?!" Matt managed, flushing again slightly.
"Family, friendships, romantic interests."
Matt turned redder at the last one. "Oh! Yeah."
Mello was studying him now. "Trying to decide the status of a relationship can be hard. Deciding how to approach these feelings can be harder."
"Um, yes…of course, d-deciding if one should, should pursue a relationship with their-um with someone close to them desp-well can be stressful."
'Hm. I wonder,' Mello thought to himself and leaned closer.
Mello was getting closer, causing Matt to flush more, and he should back away because Mello was sure to notice. But now something was connecting with Matt's lips, Mello's lips to be specific. Matt's eyes widened. Mello's lips were warm and surprisingly gentle despite the cockiness behind the kiss- and Matt belatedly realized he should be kissing back. He didn't really know what he was doing and awkwardly tried kissing back, sloppy and inexperienced. Mello broke away and chuckled lightly before capturing Matt's lips more forcefully this time, wrapping an arm around Matt to keep him steady as he silently guided Matt through the kiss.
They broke apart, Matt staring dazedly to his blond friend. "Mel…"
Mello smirked. "You're awful at hiding things when questioned."
"Well that helped in this situation…right?" Matt asked nervously.
Mello rolled his eyes. "I suppose."
They sat in silence a few moments before Matt broke it. "You know, it's stressful to not know a relationship status," Matt said, slightly awkward.
Mello sighed and leaned in to place a quick kiss on Matt's cheek. "We're together. Now come on, you still have to study."
Both boys moved back to their previous positions, but Matt didn't know how he was supposed to focus when he was so happy and excited. He settled for taking Mello's hand. Mello rolled his eyes again but gave Matt's hand an affectionate squeeze before retuning to the book. "Come on, after we finish I'll show you off to everyone so they'll know what they'll never have."
So with the promise of public romantic attention, Matt buckled down to pay attention…for a while at least. Having your attractive, new boyfriend next to you was exciting after all, and Matt couldn't resist leaning over to kiss the blond again.
Mello didn't seem to mind THAT distraction at all.
/…/…/…/
AN: I hope I didn't make Matt TOO obsessed…haha.
All the psychology info is real. It's all stuff I learned in psychology class second semester. There's the main Death Note reference Matt points out to Mello, but kudos if you can connect anything else to other characters. One is more obvious, another isn't a reference unless you relate it to Whammy's I suppose…but in class I could always make Death Note connections so I thought it would be fun to slip a few of them in here! Please review and tell me what you thought!