[[A/N: Hello, all the chapter kind of stops abruptly, as you can see. I'm debating putting up some more of this fic later, but I'm not sure yet. If I do, it'll only be one or two more chapters, anyway. And for those of you who are thinking I'm pairing L and Matt… I'm not. It's purely MxM for me, thank you So don't stop reading if that's what you think it is.
Read and review, please?
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Hunched over on that leather rip-off of a chair, he put his finger to his lip. Most of the children were unaware of who he was, of what he was doing. This made L smile.
He turned his head to the side, feeling someone place his hand on his shoulder. "See anyone here, L? This is only the first recess, and there are two more…" the voice informed the crouching man, whom nodded. "This is the younger bunch, also,"
The raven-haired boy shrugged, speaking in a hushed tone. "No, Watari. Everyone here seems normal."
Normal wasn't what L, the greatest genius of all time, was looking for.
The old man smiled, showing wrinkles across his pale white skin. "Alright, well, the next group is coming out next…"
The man, possibly twenty or twenty-one, watched all of the younger children run into the building. He was unusually mature for his age, and extremely intellectual; the world's top detective could barely be called "old". Outside, he saw the new group come out, the window overlooking the entire property served as a great spying point.
One child caught his eye. He was wearing bright red and black stripes, with loose pants. For some reason, L found this child interesting.
"…Watari?" L asked, nibbling on his finger. "Who is that…?"
The old man leaned over L, looking through the glass window. "Which one, L?"
The black haired boy pointed crookedly towards the tree that this boy was under. "Him."
Watari strained his eyes to see what L was looking at. "…Matt? Oh, yes, he's quite young, and traumatized, if you ask me. He was abused before he came here. Right now, he's having a hard time making friends." He informed the crouching man, adding on, "I can get him, if you'd like."
L nodded, and Watari left the room.
--
"Aha! Look at the freak!" the children yelled, a few throwing rocks. Matt sunk down, trying to hide his face away from the others. A few laughed, and the redhead winced. He felt someone kick his leg, and a few people sent out some insults at him. He felt like crying, and held onto his stuffed Pikachu he had gotten a while back. It was dirty, obviously hadn't been washed in a while.
He felt something hard hit his stomach, therefore he released the Pokemon and grabbed onto where he'd been hit. It hurt, real bad. Feeling tears begin to fall down his face, he squeezed his eyelids closed, trying to stop them from running more.
"What's the matter, crybaby? Hanging onto your Pikachu? You have no friends, you have to make up some?" the boy who'd hit Matt's stomach jeered, picking up the abandoned stuffed toy.
Matt tried to look up, seeing the outline of an older boy, dark brown hair and crooked teeth. He mumbled something, wincing in pain when he felt something hit his chest again, again, and again. After the first few contacts with his stomach, he could feel the pain move down his body, making him feel like vomiting. As soon as it had started, it ended. He felt someone pick him up, but dared not to open his eyes. He also felt whoever his savior was give him his Pikachu back, which he squeezed. Before he knew it, he felt himself being carried off, probably back into the orphanage.
He dared to open his eyes, just for a moment, seeing through blurred vision an older man with a bristly mustache cradling him. Matt was a weak child, and unusually tall for his age. He winced a bit when he was placed down on a couch of some sort; he could exactly tell were he was, but wasn't going to attempt to escape. It just wasn't his nature.
"Mail Jeevas?" a voice called out, soft, but somehow strange, an intellectual sound emitting from these two simple words which just happened to be Matt's real name.
Matt looked up, wiping his eyes as to be able to see better. He let out a weak "...Yes?"
L turned his head to the side, studying the redhead's moves. "My name is L. It is nice to meet you."
Matt smiled. This boy, only seven or so years older than him seemed nice. He hugged onto his Pikachu, saying "I have to be called Matt. They told me not to tell my real name to anyone." He sunk back a little, as if embarrassed by saying this to a stranger. "…I don't want to get into trouble, sir…"
L noted this boy's embarrassment, and nodded. "Oh, ok. I'll just call you Matt then. I don't want you to get into trouble." He reached forward, grabbing for a cupcake. "I'm not allowed to say my real name, either. You know why?" he asked, dark eyes staring directly at Matt's light green ones.
The redhead tugged on one of one of Pikachu's ears. "U-um… you'll get in trouble, too. R-right? They told you not to tell anyone your name, because it's dangerous…" he asked, shyly hiding behind Pikachu's head.
"Yes, Matt. You're right. You're very smart for someone so young." He informed the boy, munching on the cupcake.
Matt blushed. He'd been called lots of things before, but none of them were smart. "Mr. L? Do you really think I'm smart..?" he asked meekly, peeking out from behind his Pokemon body guard. This made L chuckle, and feel a little bad for this child. He almost reminded him of himself at that age.
"Do you like sweets?" L asked, grabbing a cupcake and extending an arm. "It's good." He coaxed, trying to gain someone's trust was difficult, especially for L, who never had any friends as a child.
Matt reached out his hand, grabbing for the cupcake. "Thank you, Mr. L, sir," he began to nibble on the end of it, licking off the frosting, and L let out a chuckle. This boy; he had to be his successor.
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"Mello."
The blonde turned at his name, frowning. So what if he'd just beat up that kid? The albino son-of-a-bitch deserved it.
"Mello, you need to apologize to Near." Roger scolded, crossing his arms. Mello had only been here a few days and already disrupted the entire atmosphere of Wammy's.
"No." The blonde replied, crossing his arms as Roger just did. "He was being a jerk-face."
Roger rolled his eyes. This new child was a menace. Had Watari not hand-picked him to be brought to Wammy's, Roger would insist that he be sent back to that reform school.
"Mello! You need to head down to the infirmirary right now and apologize!" Roger scolded, turning red in the face. "I'll check back after with Miss Johnson and make sure you actually came," he told the blonde, but Mello already headed half-way down the hall. Sighing and cursing under his breath, the old man headed back to his office to set up a time for a detention for this blonde-haired monster that roamed Wammy's halls.
--
Matt headed up the long staircase towards where he met with L every Saturday, right after class. He had to admit; these visits were a nice change from being pelted with rocks. L seemed to care about Matt, and Matt definitely cared about L. He smiled, dragging his Pikachu behind him as he opened the door. "L…?"
"Oh, yes, hello Matt. I'm glad you've come back this week." L smiled, sitting in his normal- well, normal for L – position on the chair.
Matt giggled childishly. Of course he came back! He always did, didn't he? He took his seat on the comfortable couch, letting his legs kick in air. He was tall; but not enough to touch the floor.
L noticed this, and placed his finger on his lip to study Matt's moves. He was an interesting child, no doubt about that. "So how is school, Matt? Have you made any new friends?" L asked, partly for the reason that he wanted to study Matt's reaction, and partly because he was genuinely worried about the child.
Matt sat there, silently, clinging to his beloved Pikachu. "…no, Mr. L," he admitted, feeling embarrassed about this fact. He was a social outcast; no one liked him at all.
L frowned, picking up a cookie and reaching over the coffee table that separated the two to hand it to Matt. "Here. Have a cookie."
Matt knew this was L did when he felt bad for him, but wouldn't say anything. He'd caught on quite quickly for someone his age, knowing exactly when L was thinking by how his posture was, and when he was happy, sad, and even lonely. Matt was very familiar with the latter two.
The redhead accepted this with a smile, graciously nibbling on the end. He looked at L with great big eyes, which softened the raven-haired boy's heart. Reaching behind his crouched position, he grabbed for a blue and red box, staring at it quizzically, and then put it on the table.
Matt turned his head at an angle. "…what's that?"
L smiled. "Open it."
Matt frowned. He reached forward and grabbed it, peeling off the tape from the edges of the box. Peeking inside, he saw another two smaller boxes. "…L? What do I do with these two inside…?"
"Open them," L said in a hushed tone, glancing around and reached for a cupcake. He studied Matt's reaction to his order, which was un-readable.
The redhead pulled the two boxes out, opening the larger one first. His green eyes grew wider as he pulled out a bright red game boy. "L!" he squealed, giggling over with laughter. Hurriedly he reached for the other, opening it and seeing a Pokemon gold game.
L smiled at himself, feeling quite happy that he'd given Matt a chance to be happy. Before he knew it, there was a giggling mass hugging him and squeezing him all over, which also made L laugh. "…do you like it, Matt-kun?"
"Yes! Thank you L! Thank you!" Matt said, squeezing the older boy's leg. He released the genius after a few more moments of giggling and hopped up and down, torn between wanting to start the battle of the Pokemons and continuing to talk to L.
The older boy noticed this, and suggested something, "Why don't you hurry off to your dorm room, Matt, play your game, and come back tomorrow?"
Matt jumped up and down excitedly and ran out the door, not before screaming a "Thank You!" several more times.
Watari moved to the center of the room, getting up from where he had sat to watch this whole thing happen. "L? That was very nice of you to do that. But where did you get the money? All of it is in your savings…"
L turned his head and smiled. "I've been saving that extra money you gave me for the past few years, and finally spent it on the right thing."
Watari smiled, patted L on the shoulder before sitting across from him on the seat Matt was previously occupying.
--
The redhead hopped down the stairs, smiling to himself while he turned the game on. He chose the name for his Pokemon master; L.
His fingers happily pressed buttons, to which the game made noises such as 'blip blip blip', etcetera. This happiness soon died out when he felt a hard hit to the back of his head. The redhead fumbled and fell, not being coordinated and such, falling face first on the cement, feeling his nose crush and bleed. He winced a bit at this; but held on for dear life to his gameboy and Pikachu. Above him, he could hear the sound of laughter, not friendly laughter, but angry, evil laughter. Matt knew exactly where it was coming from; Tom, the kid that had beaten him up outside a few weeks ago, the day he met L.
"Aha! Matty-boy! You got something you want to give me?" the boy sneered, kicking the younger's leg repeatedly. Matt cringed into a small ball, feeling the boy suddenly stop and figured an adult figure had come to his rescue, again.
Holding onto his nose to try and stop it from bleeding, he heard the horrible sound of a scream and pounding of flesh against flesh. No, an adult figure wouldn't resort to violence, so that would mean…?
"Hey! Tom! You figure hurting little kids will help you feel better about yourself?! Well lay off, he didn't do anything to you!" A voice rang out, and Matt felt some hurtling mass fall besides him. Looking up, he could see it was Tom.
Matt's head began to hurt. He felt someone touch his shoulder, but couldn't look up to see who it was. His eyes slowly closed as he passed out.
--
Matt moved around a little, feeling a sharp pain in his stomach as he did so. Opening his eyes, he could see he was in the infirmirary, white bed sheets covering his body. Looking directly out of the giant window ahead of him, he could tell it was eleven or so, that was just common sense.
The redhead tried to move to get himself more comfortable, but couldn't. He turned his head to the side and saw a boy; perhaps eleven or so, collapsed next to him. The child's blonde hair was messy, and Matt could see him breathe up and down peacefully. The gamer turned his head to the side, trying to make out exactly who it was, but couldn't. He didn't want to disturb the boy, even though he was extremely curious. With the morning soon to come, Matt closed his eyes and put an arm over the mysterious child that had fallen asleep next to him.
--
"Uwah…?" Mello opened his eyes, feeling quite groggy and overtired. He had forgotten why he was in the infirmirary, and then realized that he'd called for help, and Mrs. Johnson came and took the kid… this weird, redhead kid… away. Mello, on instinct, followed, despite the fact that there was nothing in it for him.
He cautiously moved about, seeing the kid next to him, sleeping still. Looking all around he noted there was no one in the room, spare himself and this kid. Wait; hadn't Mrs. Johnson said his name…? Something like… Matt? Yeah, it was Matt.
Mello had just come to remember his name when he felt the other boy sit up with a start. The blonde turned his head, and smiled, it was a toothy grin, since eleven was that odd age where every other tooth was missing. "Hey… um… my name's Mello…" he said awkwardly, not sure what exactly to say.
Matt smiled, stretching his arms out. "I'm Matt. When did you get here?" he asked shyly, blushing a little at the current situation. Mello grinned at him, moving towards the end of the bad so that the redhead had some room.
"That guy, Tom, he was bothering you, right? I got your game boy back." Mello handed the game boy, equipped with game, to the younger. He smiled again, watching the boy turn on the game, just to make sure it wasn't broken.
"..thank-you, Mello."
Mello shrugged, "It's nothing, really. Well, I better get going. I was pretty tired, that's why I fell asleep here." The blonde started to get up, and then stopped. "See you around, 'kay?"
Matt frowned. "Where do you have to go?" he rubbed the back of his head, not wanting to ask the blonde to stay, but wanting him to, nonetheless. This made the blonde smile; he knew exactly what he was thinking. Mello had a way with emotions, and knowing what a person was thinking and such.
"Yeah, I have to go talk to Roger about where my new room is. I was put in with some albino freak named Near. The kid's a total freak, thinking he can be better than me and become L's successor…" Mello shuddered. "I'll be L's successor. Just you wait, Near…"
Matt frowned, listening to him talk about L. L was looking for a successor? That was news to him…
"W-wait, Mello?" the redhead frowned, grabbing the end of the other's sleeve. "Um, I need a roommate, the kids… they don't like me at all…" he smiled sadly, green eyes staring into the other's deep blue ones.
"Hey, can I be your roommate?" Mello asked, knowing that that was what the redhead was getting at, but for the purpose of being polite, didn't point that small fact out.
The younger's face grew bright at the offer. "Y-yeah! I… thank you, Mello…"
The blonde smiled, sitting back down. "Hey, what are friends for?"
--
Mello frowned at the ground. Sure, he'd done wrong, hurting Near, but the jerk deserved it. He sat there for a few more moments before hearing the door open and seeing Roger pop out and give him a… smile? "Mello, I have someone who would like to meet you!" the old man said, looking back in the room and waving for someone to come over. This caught the blonde's attention; he stood and peeked in the door to see a young man slouching and eating what seemed to be a cupcake. Mello frowned in confusion, tilting his head to the side.
"Hello, Mello-kun. My name is L," the man spoke, smiling.
Mello's eyes opened wide. "L…?" he questioned aloud, his heart beating faster. L? The one that everyone wanted to be like, the L that he himself aspired to be when he was older?
"M-mello…" Mello answered, nodding his head up and down in nervousness while the other laughed and invited him in.
--
"And then, then we were talking, Matt! He asked me all sorts of stuff about myself, and he told me I was smart… and then he asked me if I'd like to have a private tutoring with him! S-see? I can beat Near!" Mello hopped on the one bed opposite of the redhead's, smiling triumphantly.
"Yeah?" Matt pretended for a moment or two to be surprised, for the sake of his newfound friend. He actually knew that this was all going to happen in the first place, anyway. "…is L cool?"
"Uh, yeah! L is the greatest! You know, he really likes sweets, he told me that sugar helps run the brain better. He gave me chocolate… you know how good chocolate is?!" Mello asked, smiling like crazy. "It's delicious! I-I love it!"
"R-really? I haven't had any since my mother-" Matt stopped, hugging onto his Pikachu as he buried his face in the plushie.
Mello stopped, feeling sympathy towards the other. "Y'ok?" he asked, seeing as it was difficult for any orphan to talk about their parents. "It's ok; we can talk about something else…"
"N-no! That's not it…" Matt squeezed his eyes closed, so that no tears would escape them, though a few stray ones did. "M-my mom didn't love me…"
Mello turned his head to the side. Hey, didn't that sound familiar? "…Matt? Y'know, you don't have to talk about it, I'm -"
"No! No! No! Mello! Stop it!" Matt winced, sinking down behind the Pikachu. Mello stood, slowly walking over to the crying child and began to put a hand on his shoulder. "No! Don't hit me! Stop it!"
Mello took his hand off the crying boy's shoulder. "W-what? Matt? I'm not going to hit you! Stop being ridiculous!"
Matt whimpered a bit, opening his eyes to meet Mello's blue ones. "…please don't leave me! All the other kids… they… they hate me! I'm a freak! No one loves me at all! D-don't leave me, Mello…"
Mello frowned, wrapping his arms around the younger's body. "…I'm not going anywhere, Matt. Calm down…"
"She… she used to hit me, she told me I was a freak. She told me that I should never have been born because she didn't love me!" Matt sobbed, his head ontop of Mello's shoulder. "…they all think I'm a freak, Mello. I know you think I'm a freak, too. She told me it was my fault Daddy died. It was my fault! Mine, Mello!" Matt released the Pikachu and started pulling his hair, letting out a low winding scream in the process.
Mello grabbed Matt's hands, trying to get him to stop hurting himself. "H-hey! My mom killed herself, ok? I know how you feel! I wasn't good enough for my Dad to keep around after she died, and he kept my sister and sent me off here! My dad is still out there somewhere…!" Mello released Matt's hands and to both of their surprise, hugged the redhead. "Listen to me, you don't need them. If she didn't love you, then that means someone else will. J-just… stop crying. I don't like it when you cry…"
Matt stopped and wiped his eyes. "Y-yes… Mello…"
Mello smiled. "Good. Now, I'm tired. Let's go to sleep…"
"Mello?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you stay here, next to me, just for tonight?"
"…sure, Matt."
--
Matt woke up the next morning, his cheek ontop of Mello's, who groaned when he moved. Matt rubbed his eyes and then realized that he was hugging the older boy, who he immediately released, flushing a bit in the face. He sat up completely and realized it was Saturday, which made him let out a little giggle. He poked Mello's head, and the blonde let out a snore and turned over, which in turn made the boy giggle again. Nothing could go wrong, right?
He grabbed his Pikachu, and slid ontop of the covers, his shirt still the one he wore yesterday. The redhead shuffled over to the door and opened it, heading out into the hallway to get some breakfast. Mello could get some later, or he'd sneak it back out and give it to his friend later.
Aha! His friend! His first, real friend. Matt grinned as he walked down the hallway and bumped into an old familiar face; L.
"L?" He asked, looking up to the incredibly tall man in front of him. "Hello, L. I'm going to get some breakfast now."
L chuckled and bent down to the child's eyes level. "Is that so, Matt-kun?"
Matt nodded, squeezing the Pikachu under one arm. "Mello's still sleeping. Roger made him my new roommate because he didn't get along with Near. They were saying something about being your successor…?" he questioned, turning his head to the side.
"Near? Huh, well, he must be intelligent for Mello to hate him. I'll have to meet him later…" L said to himself, then back to Matt. "That was very kind of you, to do that, Matt. You gave up your time with me tutoring you so that your friend could have an opportunity."
"Thank-you, L." Matt smiled; he had to keep his new found friend somehow, right? So, making the blonde happy made Matt happy, then he'd do it. Besides, he wasn't too much into competition, only when it came to games.
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[[A/N: Read and review, please . '. I won't put up another chapter unless I'm told to.