Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

A/N: Ha, this sucks. Oh well.


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Chapter Two:

Reverse Vengeance

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The next morning, Matt rolled out of bed tiredly, not having slept at all in fear. He had not wanted to be asleep and helpless when the vengeful Mello woke up, but now he realized that his sleepiness would probably slow his mental acuity and reaction time to the point where it was almost worse.

He went to take a shower, turning the temperature way down at first in hopes of waking himself up. He ended up standing there under the water, half-asleep, for a very long time, and realized when he got out that it hadn't worked. His vision was still bleary and he needed coffee.

He was glad that the bedroom was empty of pretty blonde roommates upon his return, so he would be able to dress in peace. He spent about half an hour groping around in his and Mello's dresser drawers looking for his clothes before he realized they weren't there. And so it began.

Mello had started his revenge already, and Matt would have to go wandering the hallways in his towel until he found something else to put on, having already dropped his pajamas through the laundry chute.

Matt decided to freak Mello out by pretending it didn't bother him. He headed down to the cafeteria, clutching his towel very tightly at his hip. When he got there, most of the kids in the room turned to look at him and laughed.

Matt kept his expression carefully nonchalant, as if he had simply decided he didn't feel like going to the trouble of getting dressed that morning. He looked for Mello and saw a lone figure in a red hoodie with the hood pulled over enough to obscure his face, but it was obviously Mello because of the variety of chocolate-related foods that were on his tray.

Matt wondered if Mello was hiding from him or from all the people who had seen his poetry reading. He decided that Mello would have made more of an effort if it were the former, so he got his food and sat across from the blonde, who didn't look up from his chocolate pudding.

"Good morning Mello!" Matt exclaimed loudly in order to draw the attention to Mello instead of his towel-clad self. Mello still ignored him, but the kids at the surrounding tables immediately perked up even more, not having had much of a chance to make fun of Mello yet.

The extreme competitiveness of Wammy House had given birth to a sort of culture of cruelty among the children, in which kindness and tolerance were simply not valued the way they might have been elsewhere. As such, the prejudices common to kids their age were magnified within the school, and bullying was unchecked and frequent.

If Matt played this right, he could make it look like he was wearing the towel in order to tease Mello about the poem, which the other kids still thought Mello had written, and there would be no backlash against Matt for being mean to his friend.

"So, how do you like my outfit?" Matt said, smirking. Mello finally glanced up and then immediately looked back down at the table.

"You're wearing a towel." Mello stated, obviously wanting to be anywhere else as he realized Matt's plan of attack.

"Yeah, I did it as a gift to you! I thought you might appreciate it, since I heard your poem last night." Matt said, drawing widespread laughter from the audience. Mello pursed his lips and waited for the laughter to die down before speaking.

"You're a sick freak. You wrote that poem and you know it!" Mello said, but this would hardly derail Matt's plans at all. Matt laughed the comment off without addressing it, thus dismissing it as ridiculous.

"Oh, Mello; there's no point in denying how you feel about me. We all know you're gay now." Matt said. Mello looked up at him again, his eyes filled with some combination of confusion and betrayal, and then got up and left the cafeteria without a word, to be followed by more of the insults and laughter that he had experienced as he'd fled the poetry classroom the night before.

Matt was disturbed by the look that had been on Mello's face as he'd left, so he finished his food and coffee quickly in order to search for him. He found him outside on the otherwise empty playground. He was sitting on a swing and staring despondently at the ground. Matt went and sat on the swing next to him.

"You do recognize the irony of what you said in there." Mello stated. Matt did indeed, but he was slightly surprised to hear Mello admit it. After all, Mello had spent the better part of two years pretending to think Matt was straight, even after Matt came out to him and when Matt continually commented on the attractiveness of various boys.

The incident in the cafeteria had actually given Matt an interesting glimpse into one of the possible outcomes he'd considered when he first thought of coming out to Mello. He decided he actually would have preferred that reaction to the denial that Mello had slipped into. The lies had chafed at Matt somehow.

The poem he'd written was part of his ingenious plan: Mello either had to acknowledge Matt's feelings by admitting that Matt had written the poem, or he had to go through life at Wammy House with everyone thinking he was gay.

Ah, poetic justice. Still, he hadn't been planning on becoming the leader of the homophobic bullies himself, and he felt a bit stupid about it, as it would only come back to bite him on the ass later.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Mello asked him. Matt frowned; hadn't it been the obvious counter to Mello's response.

"You took my clothes." He finally said. Mello didn't look at him.

"So?" Mello said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"So you should have expected this." Matt said.

"It was the appropriate payback for the poem, and then you had to go and make it backfire. Now I have to get even more vengeance." Mello said calmly, jumping off the swing and walking inside. Matt went after him, following him back to their room.

"But you don't even know why I did the poem thing in the first place!" Matt told him.

"Oh, you had a reason? What was it, pray tell? Were you mad at me for not letting you fuck me or something?" Mello said viciously. Matt paled. He felt the uncomfortable sensation of his rationalizations melting away. He realized that deep down, that was the reason he was angry at Mello, and that anger was hidden at the core of his reasoning. He still wouldn't admit that to Mello.

"No! Um…it was so you would, um…know that I'm gay…" Matt said, knowing how weak it sounded. He realized that he didn't really know how to articulate his problem with Mello. Mello gave him a look of disbelief.

"What?" Mello said confusedly.

"Yeah, I know I already told you, but you keep pretending I'm not! You're always ignoring me when I comment on it, and you keep telling me about girls you like…" Matt said, remembering how he had justified his anger previously. Mello suddenly looked angry.

"Okay, Matt! You're gay and you're in love with me or whatever! Excuse me for avoiding a subject that can only cause you pain! What exactly do you want me to do?" Mello shouted. Matt stared at the floor and didn't answer. He just wanted Mello to like him back, and Mello knew that, but saying it out loud would make it into an unsolveable problem in their friendship.

Mello looked at Matt with a dangerous thoughtful gleam in his eyes.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go plan some more vengeance." He said in a calm voice before leaving the room.

Matt continued to stare at the floor for a while after Mello was gone.

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A/N: Please review!