The two boys kneel over an iPad, sketching out plans to ruin the life of that disgusting sheep, Near. Their last attempt had landed them in detention. Mello had to say, it wasn't too bad. Given, there wasn't much room under the table, but enough to make it where no one could see the forbidden technology, so all in all, he could stand it. They both look at each other for a moment, and then thought of what they would do next.
Mello turns to look at the half open window
"You alright?" Matt asks worriedly
"I'm fine." Mello replies reassuringly, but Matt still kept a bit of worry inside.
Later that day, the two still in their dorm room Matt staring blankly at the ground. He rubs his eyes, fighting to remain upright. Finally, Matt stands up, stretches and looks over at the clock. It reads "12:20"
"I think its time we go to sleep." Matt mumbles, eyes half open.
"Yeah...You go on, I'll stay up a little longer.."
"Okay..."
Matt walks slowly and off balances to his room. Mello sits and looks up at the clock as well. He won't tell Matt this, since it would only make him worry (and you know, because he's Mello), but he has been having night terrors lately, and he fears they will come again if he lays down. It was possible Matt had heard him, three nights back, when Mello had woken up with only his thick pillows muffling his screams. The only solution is not to sleep at all, which is proving difficult. He yawns widely, and shivers go up his spine just imagining the horrors that would greet him lest he fall asleep tonight.
Since there is nothing but boredom in Mello's mind, he decides to look through some of Matt's games. He crawls over to Matt's shelves full of new and old games in order from A to Z. Mello is careful not to get them out of order, but is interrupted; the first game he takes out had a small piece of paper fall onto the ground, it reads only numbers.
"Must be a code.." Mello mutters sleepily. His eyes tell him to close, but his mind races with fear, he somehow forces himself to stand up, and looks over to the clock which now reads "12:50"
"Time sure fly by."
Mello leans back on the ground and his mind slowly starts to fade into a heavy sleep.
Mello wakes up in a cold sweat. He hears a piercing scream dying away, but it takes him a second to realize that it is he who had screamed. Matt wanders into the den on full alert.
"Mello, what happened?" Mello just shakes his head. He won't tell Matt this embarrassing secret. Matt, however, seems to guess what had happened. Resting a hand on his friend's back, he says, "You know, sugar before bed can cause nightmares. Not saying that's what happened, but maybe it would be easier if you set a time limit for your nighttime candy eating. There's all kinds of psychological explanations, but I don't think any of them apply here."
Mello says nothing, he looks in the opposite direction, not even noticing Matt's hand on his back showing a friendly comfort. Mello stands up for a moment. It's silent for moment till suddenly Matt says
"Mello, I'm-"
"Thanks" Mello interrupts.
"For what?"
Mello, again, says nothing, He just takes in a deep breath and walks to his room without any more words
Matt sits in the dining room and thinks for a while, then comes back to reality he looks over at the time "3:14"
Matt gets up and thinks "I should go back to bed" and walks slowly back to his room. After taking a last look at Mello, sitting up in bed, arms around his knees, Matt lays back and somehow manages to go to sleep.
The following morning, Matt finds himself awake at dawn. Instead of dawdling about per usual and playing video games, he heats up the stove and cooks some pancakes for breakfast. Mello stumbles in about half an hour later, rubbing his eyes blearily. Matt can't help but grin at his friend's tired expression and frizzy hair.
"Whatcha- lookin' at?" Mello yawns.
"Breakfast on the table, get it while it's hot."
"Pancakes? Oh, awesome. Chocolate chip." Mello dives into the meal. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until now. All tiredness gone, Mello turns to his friend.
"Thanks a bunch, Matt. These are good." Matt smiles slightly at the rare compliment.
"I can't walk back with you after school today. Roger is forcing me to go to a counselor about my smoking problem."
Mello says nothing, he just stuffs spork after spork full of pancakes. Matt turns back into the kitchen and starts on making the chocolate milk.
Mello stares at his half eaten pancake and starts to feel a bit of disappointment. He enjoyed walking home and making jokes. Mello sighs.
"Not hungry?" Matt places a full glass of chocolate milk on the table.
"Yeah, that must be it.." Mello gulps down the milk, gets up, and walks to the fridge, opens up a drawer filled with chocolate bars. He takes a few and stuffs them in his jacket pocket's.
"I'm going to class a bit early today."
"That's new, you usually groan and mutter about how much you hate classes." Matt takes a seat
"Well, I have an assignment I need to take care of." Mello lies; he just needs an excuse to get away from the memory of what happened last night.
"I'll see you in class."
Mello makes his way out of the door. He can't help but remember the warm, worried look on Matt's face. Matt may seem cold and detached to others, but to Mello, he is kind and sweet and fun to talk to. Mello isn't really sure why he is an exception, but he won't say anything about it. The two boys have over time learned to respect each others' boundaries, so Mello isn't about to pry. Matt will tell him when he is ready.
Matt lays his head down on the table and thinks for a moment, then slowly sits up.
He has a bit of a sad look in his eyes, then mellows out once he opens up his DS and starts playing a very addictive game. Then remembering about class, he gets up, and starts to make his way to his room.
Mello is also walking quickly to his class, and starts to act a little like the opposite of his own name,
thinking about how he reacted to Matt's comfort and kindness last night. Mello was just too caught up in his own thoughts, he never really thought about Matt.
"It doesn't matter." Mello thinks. He starts to remember Matt and his worried look again.
"I'm sorry Matt." He starts to think if maybe Matt is still worried. It was a side Mello hadn't really seen from Matt
it makes him feel a bit safer knowing there was some one there by his side when he will need comfort, he is glad to have Matt as a friend.
When Mello opens the door to his class room, some students stare in shock at how early he is, but most don't even notice. He stuffs his hand in his pockets and, remembering the Hershey bars, he takes one out and starts to eat it slowly. He smiles to himself.
...
That afternoon, Mello walks home alone, spacing out because he has nothing else to do since Matt had to stay after school. He frowns to himself and wishes Matt was here. Matt would make him laugh instead of just walking home dejectedly. Oh well. He supposed that Matt had better things to do. Mello smiles to himself, picturing Matt walking home late after it had gotten dark with the light from his DS illuminating his face while he played some game, paying no attention to the other people who pass by. But he is snapped out of his daze by the sound of a group of other teens across the street. They seem to be messing with a younger girl with a look of panic on her face. Mello just looks down and keeps walking, not wanting to draw any attention.
When he arrives home, he quickly closes the door and peers into the unlit room. It feels so utterly empty. He sits down at the desk and reaches to open Matt's laptop. He has to look up the extra credit project for... well, the class is called Social Studies, but it might as well be called Spy Class. Everything was about currencies, exchange rates, and fake passports. But, when he opened the computer, loud music blared out. He jumped back in shock. Then, he listened to the words. What? Minecraft parodies? How geeky. Then again, that's Matt for you.
After listening to the words "Make a bed its not to late, three wool and three wooden planks," Mello gently closes the computer and walks to his room laying his head on his pillow. He suddenly feels exhausted. When Matt comes home, he will probably just assume that it had been he who had left the computer on by mistake.
Mello's mind just wonders, about the nightmars, his past, even the sheep comes to mind at one point but what pops in his head the most is Matt.
The next morning Matt wakes up, obviously groggy he had stayed up late studying for the up coming test, he was starting to feel bad about last night and not being able to walk home with Mello, especially with everything that's been going on the past few nights. He sits up and looks over to see that Mello is not there, which isn't at all like him. Matt is worried for a moment but shrugs it off and leaves to go make pancakes with, of course, extra chocolate chips and glazed with warm, melty dark chocolate. He should come back some time for breakfast, so Matt starts to make the food. But even when he was done cooking and eating, Mello still wan't here.
Mello is wandering the streets, or to be more precise, the back alleys. He doesn't care where he's going, as long as it will distract him from the nightmares, he barely slept at all the night before. He wonders what Matt will will think when he wakes up to find his roommate gone, but he assumes that it won't be an issue. He keeps walking down an empty path, just thinking about things. First he thinks about how his grades are, but then he realizes that there should be no need to think about that. He is almost the smartest kid in the whole school, if only there wasn't a certain sheep standing in his way. Then he remembers about the nightmares and wonders what he will do tonight, and, of course, he thinks about how he is going to tell Matt... well, if he ever does... but then the topic in his mind changed when he suddenly thought of Matt. He is so kind, always worrying about me. Even the slightest little thing. Mello remembered when they were kids and when he sneezed, Matt had rushed down to the store. He came back with arms full of boxes of tissues. Mello starts to laugh as he remembered those moments.
Suddenly, he didn't feel so alone anymore. The nightmare from the night before vanished when he thought of Matt. Somehow, Matt was always the solution to all of his problems. Thinking about it, Mello realizes that he shouldn't be worried about what Matt will think. In fact, that might just be the best thing for Mello. If anyone can help Mello forget the awful nightmares that plagued him, it's Matt. With that, Mello finds himself rushing back to his dorm, to finally vent out all of those horrifying feelings, but once he gets back to his dorm, he sees nothing but a plate full of his favorite pancakes and a note which reads
"Mello, you weren't here but I made you your favorite for breakfast. When you have finished eating, come meet me at the school entrance. ~ Matt"
Mello smiles to himself, snatching up a fork and digging in to his delicious breakfast. I'm coming Matt, he thinks. As soon as the plate is clean, Mello is on his feet. He slings his backpack over his shoulder and takes off, sprinting, down the hall. Once he gets there, he has to stop for a moment and watch Matt, back leaning up against the school's brick wall, enjoying a cigarette, but Mello has to laugh a little when he sees someone complain to him about smoking on school property. Matt puts it away calmly, but when the complainer's back's turned, Matt sticks up a rude finger. Then he is alone again and without anymore waiting, Mello walks over. This is it. You'll finally know how I've really been. Mello just hopes it doesn't come off to weird, it was a side of him Matt probably thinks he doesn't have, and even if he did he would never open up, but Matt is about to learn who this Hershey obsessed Mello really is.
When Mello finally reaches Matt and opens his mouth to speak, everything comes out in a rush. With a slightly wild, panicked look in his eyes, he tells Matt everything about the nightmares. When he is finished, Matt looks deeply concerned. Then, suddenly the silence is cut off into a hugs. Mello is taken by surprise, but not in a bad way. He immediately relaxes, the panic ebb away, as if it were never there.
"Thank you," he whispers to Matt. "Thank you for making me feel safe." Matt doesn't reply he just closes his eyes and stays holding Mello close, comforting him. Matt starts to feel warm, warm in a way he had never felt before. Suddenly, it's as if he were the one being comforted. The hug starts to linger, but Matt can tell just by the way his arms wrap around he doesn't want to let go either. They feel everything around them become a blur, as if they where the only ones left in this big world. Finally, Mello steps back and looks down to the ground.
"I think we should head back to the dorm." Matt doesn't reply. He just turns away and starts to head back to the dorm. Mello follows behind him. He keeps about five paces back for a good part of the way home, but he runs to catch up as they turn onto the street where the dorm building is. He is in an unusually good mood, and a bit of a reckless one at that. When he catches up to his best friend, he asks, "Guess what?"
"What?" Matt replies.
"This." He kisses Matt on the cheek, then runs the rest of the way back to the dorms. Matt freezes for a second and starts to blush. He needs a second to take it in. He just stands and watches Mello make his way back to their dorm. Waiting until there is a good distance between them before he starts to walk again. When he arrives at home, Mello is sitting on the couch, looking up at Matt anxiously. It is such an unusual sight that Matt just stares for a moment, then he comes back to his senses.
"Mells, calm down. It's okay. I... I like you, okay?" Mello nods silently, but he still looks so nervous and pathetic that Matt laughs and has to hug his best friend. Mello had started to think about all the things Matt had done for him earlier in the week. And he hadn't realized how he really felt about his best friend until that morning. Now, he couldn't quite think of the right words to say back, so he just sits there while Matt hugs him, enjoying the happy and secure sensation. Even after Matt let go, all Mello could do was sit there and smile goofily. Matt laughs, standing up.
"Come on Cocoa Puff. It's lunch time." He helped Mello to his feet and they walked into the kitchen together.
"So, what do you want for lunch?"
"Chocolate."
"Let me rephrase the question. What do you want for lunch that is of nutritional value?" Mello didn't answer. He just sat there silently like a stubborn child. Eventually, Matt gave in.
"Fine. Chocolate it is." Mello smirked. Matt just rolled his eyes at his friend, while he pulls out two chocolate bars knowing Mello he would usually eat three, but knowing health, two should be fine for him.
Mello sits in his chair waiting patiently and Matt lays the two chocolate bars on the table for him.
Mello sits there snapping away at the chocolate bars while Matt snacks on some real food. At first its silent, then Mello looks Matt right in the eye and says, "Did you just call me Cocoa Puff?"