A/N: AAAAHH! MY MICROSOFT WORD IS DEAD! IT'S NOT LETTING ME OPEN IT!
so bear with me for spelling mistakes; I'm doing this on WordPAD. But yuo shouldn't, that's what a Beta's for xD
Thought I was dropping this baby, didn't ya? No way. :DD
Chapter Two: Hello
Never in my life did I think this scenario was possible. I didn't even think this was a probable equation, so I didn't even care about what I could have done. Heck, I didn't really care what I should have done. I just did.
Well, at least he didn't break curfew.
"Where did you even get the car?"
He shrugged. "Stole it," he responded easily.
"Honestly, Matt! You're third in line to be the next L, and you steal a car."
"… Your point is?"
I sighed. "You'd think with the things you've learned about the law, you wouldn't steal things." This boy was terribly hard to get a word of logic through to his less-than willing mind.
"… Yet again, your point?" Did I say terrible? I meant bloody impossible.
"Matt, you do not steal things. You go to jail for that."
"But… I'm a genius, and putting me in jail would only harm the feds, so… I'm Scott free." He had a point.
Sighing, I sank into my armchair, glancing at the brown haired blue eyed girl sitting next to the auto-theft.
"And your name would be, Miss?" I asked, more politely than I would have treated Matt.
"Kate, sir," she said cheerily, holding out her hand, and I stood up and reached over my desk to shake it. "Kate Alley, if you must know my last name," she grinned.
"Well, hello, Kate. I assume you've… uh, gotten a word in with Matt?" She nodded. "So, what do you know?" I was a little apprehensive of how much the red-head had told this girl. If she was as smart as he said she was at the door…
"I know he's a complete… nice way to put this…" she coughed. "Idiot," she hid it in her cough, and sniffled afterwards. Ah, so she shared my sentiments about the third smartest genius in the world. We'd get along smashingly.
"Yes, I agree," I said, glaring at the pouting thirteen year old. "What else?"
"He steals cars, apparently. And he was in a hospital parking lot, for whatever reason. But it's safe to say he's not a complete screw up. What's this orphanage called again?"
"Wammy's House, my dear child," I answered. "Is that all? He didn't tell you anything of… significance?" Could it really be true? Matt hadn't told her about the 'genius facility' as he called it? She was clueless as to what the orphanage's purposes were?
"No, he didn't, other than the fact that if I touched his friend's chocolates, I would be kicked into next Thursday. But you did say something that I'm curious about." I sighed in relief.
"What would that be, my dear?" We wouldn't have to explain anything unnecessary.
"What or whom is L?" she asked. I blinked. How… Matt!
I glared accusingly at the red head. He put up his arms defensively. "Hey, you're the one who said I was third in line!"
Oh, that's right. I was so caught up in annoyance at the young adolescent that I forgot there was another person in the room. Great.
"Oh, I guess I did. I apologize, Miss, but I can't tell you that." She nodded, blinking. Well, she didn't press me, so I could tell she knew when to say when.
"Aw, lighten up, Roger!" Matt sat up straight in his chair, planting his feet on the ground firmly. "Hey, kid, do that… analysis thing you did with me. She broke down my life story from hearing a few sentences come out of my mouth, the kid's genius!" I looked at Kate.
"Is this true?" I asked.
She nodded. "Right now, I know your name, thanks to Matty here, and I can tell you about yourself. Probably more than you know about yourself, actually. But you probably don't want to hear," she shrugged.
I blinked, raising my eyebrows. She seemed so sure. I looked at Matt, and he nodded enthusiastically. "Go on," I encouraged her.
"Fine. You're patient, reliable…" she tilted her head. "Hmmm… You're persistent, determined, you have a love for security…" I shifted in my seat. "You need it, actually. It makes you feel safer. It's like the baby and the security blanket, it doesn't matter what it is, so long as it promises your safety, you feel better." Matt was right, she was good at this!
I looked at the teen, who was now smirking. She went on.
"You are very warmhearted, Roger. I like that. You can be resentful and inflexible though. That leads to jealousy, and eventually greed and possessiveness. Don't shrink away like that; I'm just reading you for who you are," she said indifferently, for I had reeled back a fraction of an inch from how much she… knew. It's like she could read my mind.
"R-right…" I nodded.
"Right then. You won't be driven by anybody, but you'd be more than willing to follow a strong, trustworthy leader. Again with the safety thing. You love the outdoors, and you hate to be rushed. You like being captivated with something to do, and natural, stable things. You enjoy having time to think, and take comfort in doing so." She tilted her head, her curly hair falling over her shoulder. "Am I right? You look shaken. Are you okay?" she sat up; her blue eyes were alit with worry. She glanced at Matt, who rolled his eyes, but said nothing.
"Yes, child, I'm alright." I looked at Matt. "A word, my boy?" He nodded, and complied, standing up and heading into the hall.
I made sure the door was shut tight before turning to him.
"Amazing, right?" he asked, leaning against the wall, a satisfactory grin on his face. I nodded.
"You took the words out of my mouth. But… Tell me again how she got here?"
He sighed. "I was snooping around in the St. Francis parking garage for cars that were abandoned. I leave my Chevy alone for five minutes, find nothing but a broken down Chug Bug, come back, get halfway down the road, and hear a beep. I of course thought of a bomb, what with how you guys have our brains wired to think that there are enemies lurking around every corner. I pulled into the shoulder, look in the back seat, and there's a little…" he was strangling something invisibly in the air with his hands in front of him before finally settling on clasping his hands together before he could do serious damage to the imaginary victim. "Bundle. Right there, in my back seat." He sounded like he was on the verge of hysteria.
"I… see. But that doesn't settle the matter. How old is she?" I asked.
"Why do you wanna know?" he eyed me suspiciously.
"Just answer the question, Matt. How old is Kate?"
"She's ten, almost eleven. I assume you'd want her birthday?"
"Not at the moment, Matt," I said. "Go find Mello. If I find that her current home is unsuitable, you'll be having a protégée. Go now," I said when he was about to interrupt. He stared at me before shaking his head and stalking down the stairs, mumbling something about a 'ridiculous old man'. I chose not to take offense to that.
Roger sat me down with a peanut butter jelly sandwich and some milk. I happily bit into the sweet breaded goodness that was a sandwich, and answered the many questions he asked me. They were all normal questions; what my favorite color was, which was army green, if my hair was naturally so curly, and it was, if I had any 'security blankets', so to speak, which I did… my jacket. I need long sleeves, or something on my wrist, or I get super anxious for some reason. If I had many friends, and the answer to that was a big fat no, he also asked what my life was like at home.
"Ah, usual, I guess," I answered honestly. "Mommy could care less what we do, so that means Travis, my older brother, and I are usually out in town. We know almost every person who's a market regular." He suddenly seemed engrossed in my story, so I continued. "Daddy's a fun guy, when he's not… um… drunk," I said flatly. "But it's nothing new; it's not like they beat us or anything. They just choose not to acknowledge us." I shrugged, bringing my lips to the milk glass. He stared at me for a minute, before smiling and blinking.
He stood up and took my empty plate. I wondered aloud to myself why everybody was gone. It was an orphanage, after all. Roger heard my wondering, and turned his head toward me.
"It's just a nice day out; you'll find most of the kids out by the lake. Although, I'm sure you'll find a certain handful of kids inside…" he shook his head like he didn't want to talk about it anymore so I nodded.
I stood up, brushing the crumbs off my jacket. "Where's Matt?" I asked. He looked up from the newspaper that materialized onto the table.
"Matt?" he made sure he heard me correctly. I nodded. "Probably in his room melting his brain with Mario Bros. Second floor, fourth room on the left." He turned back to the paper and took a sip of his coffee. I nodded. This Roger guy was more of a fatherly figure to me than my real dad, and since I'd known him for maybe an hour, that was saying something.
I walked up the stairs, my sneakers clunking against the wood. I got to the door Roger had specified, which was littered with bumper sticker décor. I could have spent hours reading them all.
There were plates like "I'm a few screws short of a bucket of bolts. Don't trust my driving," and "I'm on the highway to Hell, wanna come along?" I grinned.
"Matt, open up, it's me." I knocked. I heard mini gunshots coming through the door. Mario? I doubted it. More like a shoot 'em up game.
"Just a second," he called. I heard buttons furiously clicking. A Gameboy, or maybe a Nintendo? Possibly an Xbox. I rolled my eyes and pushed open the door.
He was sitting on the floor playing some video game or other on a TV. I decided to have a little fun.
Sitting behind him, watching him play, I said "I've gotta see how long you've been lost in this game. What year is it?"
"2004," he answered promptly, his eyes not leaving the screen.
"Good boy," I patted his back. I then smacked the back of his head. Hard.
"What the heck?" he asked, pausing his game.
"You're under eighteen; you smoked in a stolen car with a kidnapped ten year old asthmatic. Nothing wrong with that picture at all. I'm not concerned with the rest of it, but you smoked in a small area with an asthmatic. I could have passed out. Then what?" I stood up and walked over to sit on his lap, which would have been weird if not for the fact that he was maybe five, four years older than me. He blinked, shoving me off.
"Then what, you ask? I'd have taken you back to the hospital and left you there for your brother to find you. He'd assume whatever he would and I'd be rid of you. I'm thankful you're going home soon."
"So… You like red?" He must. The curtains, the bedspread, the rugs, his clothes… red, red, and more red. Aside from his goggles; those were black and orange. He looked around, shrugged, and gave me an "I guess" look before turning back to his video game. I sighed.
"You got two controllers?" I asked.
"Why?"
"Why do you think? I wanna play."
"You? A ten year old? Playing Call of Duty?"
"Depends. Which one?"
"United Offensive."
"Then I'm in. Gimme the controller." I grinned.
We played Call of Duty for what felt like two minutes, but it was more like two hours.
"Oh, hey Mels," Matt said suddenly, pausing the game and turning his head toward the door. I looked up.
There was another teenage boy with a neat blonde bob. He had a perfect complexion, ice blue eyes, and a leather jacket. I noticed he was holding a half-eaten chocolate bar.
"Hey, Matt." He walked over to the couch behind us (we were sitting on the floor) and looked over our shoulders. "Call of Duty?" he looked at me. "You sure she should be playing this?"
"Hey, my kill streak is his squared," I jabbed a thumb in his direction. "Travis got me hooked on this game."
"Oh... okay, then." He blinked and poked Matt's shoulder. "Get off your game console for five minutes and answer me. Who's the new kid?"
Matt sighed and just turned off the game. Obviously this boy wouldn't let him play it when he was in the room. I smirked.
"New?" he asked. "Oh... Kate. She's not new. Uh, she's a..." he looked at me.
I rolled my eyes. "Unwanted cargo. He accidentally kidnapped me." The blond boy widened his eyes and looked at Matt, raising his eyebrows. Matt just nodded.
"Little stowaway got into the back of the Chevy." He shook his head, tossing the controller onto his bed and mumbling a swear I was sure I wasn't supposed to hear.
"Tough break," he chuckled. Then he held his gloved hand out to me. "I'm Mello. You planning on staying?"
"Uh... staying?" I tilted my head. "I don't think so. Sweet name, by the way."
"Thanks, it's an alias. We all have one. We never tell our real names, so I'd think of telling everybody a fake name if I were you; you never know if Roger's gonna suck you into this place." He stretched. "Nice day out," he commented. I nodded, and stood up.
"I think I'm going to go talk to Roger about maybe staying. The only aspect that wouldn't be appealing is missing my bro," I trailed off. Matt high-fived his approval.
"Oh! Wait! Before you go-"
"I won't analize Mello."
"Aww."
YES! I got it done :D *happy dance* I've had this thing saved for like... a month, but I never got to finish. Matt's so cute with his new toy xD
Hopefully, I'll introduce Near, BB, and A in the next chappie...
Reviews! Since I'm too lazy to PM everybody, I'll just respond here.
Skylarkz: Haha... I find it extremely comical that everybody assumes Matt's already living with Mello... And yes, I believe there is a reason for that x3 although, I'm pretty sure he was 5th until A and BB left :D
That leaves Mels 4th... and BUN BUN BUNNNN... NEAR's 3RD! not first, which must be pretty satisfactory to Mello xDDD
Metaknight1234: Well now you know :3
Dawnleapord: Yes, I do feel quite sorry for him. Kate's an annoying little bugger x3
Deepoblivion99: ... completely different fanfic... WHY WOULD ROSE BE IN THIS ONE? O.o
DarkSeaRain: Yet again, everybody assumes he's gonna go back home to Mello.. xD Yes, it would be so much smarter... He was just SO exasperated. You know when you're so annoyed you can't do ANYTHING right? Well, Matt screws up enough as it is, so... this iced the cake xDDD
Thank you for not giving up on me~~ :D