A/N: Hello, I forgot to do one of these last chapter, well thank you to everyone who has read or reviewed or both (!) so far. I didn't think I was going to update so soon but I finished this chapter and thought I might as well. I'm not sure I understand how to reply to reviews, so if someone could let me know if I'm doing it right... Apart from that, please tell me if you think I got the characterization right. I'm not sure if Matt is a little too wimpy. Anyway, enjoy!

Eventually the room was almost tidy. True to his word, Mello had lain on his bed, studying German literature or something, while Matt tidied up. Honestly it did look better when the floor was visible, and it would come in useful having all his games in one place, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel a bit resentful towards the other boy for forcing him to do it.

Exhausted Matt slumped on the floor in front of the television and turned the PS2 on. Time for a change of pace; he grabbed one of the Grand Theft Autos and stuck it in the console, then settled down to some serious gaming.

Hours passed as he steadily worked his way through the game. He'd already completed it; this time round he was just trying to beat his time record in some of the races and unlock all the cars.

After a few hours Mello went to turn the light on, Matt spared a glance only to discover the older boy was still studying. Boring. After another hour Matt paused the game and went over to the food cupboard in an alcove of the room and rifled through absently. Pocky sticks, chili crisps, pretzels… Matt frowned, chocolate? He didn't remember stocking up on that. Oh well, he shrugged and grabbed a bar.

Back in front of the TV he ripped off the wrapper and bit off a large chunk, un-pausing the game and chewing mechanically. He wasn't overly fond of chocolate to be truthful, but it did give him a bit of a sugar rush, and increase his reaction time by a certain amount.

Over on the other bed Mello was forcing his weary brain to focus on the math's problems in front of him. Focus damn it, he yelled inwardly, glaring at the page of complicated logarithm questions. He hated the subject, and typically Near excelled at it. Near excelled in every subject. Mello's methods of solving problems lay more in his intuition and ability to think laterally, forming connections between seemingly unrelated facts, but it was hammered into him how it wasn't enough to be simply right, you had to show the method, have the proof… Mello wasn't poor at this – he couldn't be bad and still be number two in the rankings – he simply wasn't as meticulously logical and through as Near.

Sighing, he closed his eyes for a brief second, allowing his mind some brief respite. How he wanted to just chuck the book, lie on his bed and savor a bar of creamy chocolate…. He could almost taste the rich sweetness, smell its warm, decadent fragrance… His eyes snapped open. He was not imagining that smell.

"Choc-oh-lahttttte…." His voice was distorted with an almost bestial desire, and a sort of snarling anger. Silently he got to his feet, and advanced towards the unsuspecting figure of his red-haired roommate, who was innocuously consuming more of the precious substance.

Moving fluidly, he gave no warning before throwing himself with a snarl onto the boy, who cried out in shock and fear.

"Mineeee." He hissed, slamming Matt forcefully into the rough carpet, pinioning the boy under his own body weight, and then tearing the confectionery from his slack grasp.

Inspecting the chocolate Mello groaned aloud. Almost two lines of his coveted sweet were gone, consumed thoughtlessly as if it were a mere snack by the thoughtless idiot he was sitting on.

"Ow." The aforementioned idiot whimpered, struggling weakly. Mello turned an angry (and slightly insane) glare upon him.

"Keep your paws off my stuff." He reinforced the message by yanking a lock of the blood red hair viciously.

"Ow! Get off you freak, I didn't know it was yours, and there was no need to go mental was there!" Matt yelled angrily, flailing his limbs in a misguided attempt to displace Mello from his stomach. He wriggled, and craned his neck, then groaned as he saw the TV screen, "Now I need to restart the whole mission."

Rolling his eyes, Mello took a mouthful of chocolate to calm himself slightly, and helped the healing progress by kicking Matt non too gently in the ribs, "Frankly, I don't give a crap." he said in his most bored tones, before moving back to his bed again.

Grumbling, Matt rubbed his stomach gingerly, checking his kidneys hadn't been totally pulverized, then started sifting through the piles of games in search of one that would help him vent his feelings in this situation. Mortal Kombat? He certainly felt like breaking someone's spine in half and force-feeding them their own intestines right now.

He was musing on the pros and cons of Mortal Kombat in comparison to Soul Caliber, when his new roommate broke into his thoughts.

"Is that all you do? Play stupid video games?"

"No…" Matt tried to think of his other hobbies, "I do computer programming too, and…" he trailed off. What else did he do? Nothing really. He didn't hang out with anyone at Wammy, his old roommate had always been out, and he didn't see the point in studying when he did well enough from what he picked up on in class. It suddenly struck him how empty his life was.

"Lame." Mello seemed to echo his thoughts.

"Well do you do anything other than study?" he heard himself asking.

The blond boy stared at him blankly, as though he'd asked a stupid question. "I want to be number one, I can't waste time messing around with stupid kids games. Don't you want to be number one?"

Matt shrugged, "Not really."

"Why the hell not? Are you retarded or something?"

"No…" Matt glared at the blond. "I just don't see the point."

"What ranking are you?"

"Huh?"

"Are you sure you're not brain-dead?" Mello enunciated his words slowly and clearly, "What position did you get in testing?"

"Oh right. Fourteenth I think?" Matt scratched his nose thoughtfully, he was pretty sure he'd scored somewhere in the top twenty anyway.

"You think?" Mello could feel himself getting mad at the way this boy acted like it didn't matter what ranking he held. He clenched his fists, "Well, are you happy being fourteenth out of about forty?"

"It's not bad." Matt replied, feeling suddenly defensive under that icy blue glare.

"It's pathetic," sneered Mello, "Do you know my ranking?" He paused, waiting, then shook his head in disbelief, "I'm second all right? Second! Christ!"

"That's very good." Matt said soothingly, wondering if the other boy would go crazy if he put Mortal Kombat on.

Quick as thought Mello was up and invading Matt's personal space. "You think that's good, do ya?" One hand closed like an iron manacle around Matt's forearm. Hesitantly he nodded. Before he could flinch or break away a hand smashed into his face.

"What the –"

'You see," Mello continued quietly, almost serenely except for the fanatical glint in his eyes, "It really doesn't matter how good you are, if you're not first you're worthless. And if you don't even try you're less even than that." Releasing Matt's arm, he shoved the shorter boy away. "I can't respect someone who doesn't care."

Calmly as if he hadn't just whacked Matt in the face and cut him apart with his accurate but cruel analysis, Mello picked up his book again and laid back on his bed, leaving Matt standing numbly, one cheek red with the clear outline of a hand emblazoned across it, the other cheek flushed pink from embarrassment and anger. What should he do? Hit Mello back? The time for that had passed. He couldn't even think of anything witty to say. Damn but he needed a smoke.

Shakily he rummaged around his desk until he found a crumpled, half full carton and a plastic lighter. He pulled out a cigarette and walked over to the window, flicking his lighter automatically as he walked.

"No smoking in here."

"What?" Matt couldn't believe his ears as he turned and glared at the other.

Mello was coolly scratching at a piece of paper with a pen, eyes focused on the math's questions. He didn't even bother looking up. "I said, no smoking. You might not care that you're killing yourself but I have better things to do than inhale second hand smoke." Matt opened his mouth to argue but Mello cut him off before he could. "And before you get all territorial-like, you better believe I will turn you in to Roger, and he will kick your arse for endangering your precious mind." Mello laughed harshly, "Not sure he needs to be worried about that anyway."

Matt narrowed his eyes, then without comment opened his chest of drawers and pulled out his coat, before going to the door.

"Shower before you come back Game-Boy, you smell like shit." Mello called cheerily over his shoulder, taking another bite of chocolate.

His only reply was the sound of the door slamming.

Smirking Mello rolled over onto his back, knocking his exercise book and questions to the floor. He stretched feline-like, blue eyes wide and deceptively innocent, focused on the white ceiling above. Smiling a mean smile he snickered softly to himself, "'Bye Matt."