AN- Ohhh I forgot to mention this, but there will be spoilers for everybody's real names etc but to be honest, if you don't know their names by now, you might as well learn 'em. And there might be other spoilers but I can't think of anything in particular right now, so I'll leave it at that.

Yayyy chapter three :) Sorry for the delay, enjoy!


Matt stares at the doors dumbly for a long moment before mentally kicking himself and pushing them open. The room's occupants glance up briefly, making the gamer's breath catch, fully expecting them to start firing questions all over the place.

They don't. Light turns back to L to continue his conversation about whatever case they're on to now, and Mello simply takes a chunk out of his chocolate with a snap. Matt is understandably shocked, but tries not to let it show in his face. He heads towards the sofas where Mello is, knowing he's acting like a loyal puppy returning to its owner but not caring, because it's how he's always been. Besides, his PSP is on the sofa.

The redhead carefully scoops up his PSP and takes a seat opposite the blond, who has yet to speak. His heart is beating because he doesn't know what to expect, and he really should because this is Mello and he prides himself in being one of the few who can truly read him.

He's beaten this game twice already, so there isn't much to distract him from conjuring up crazy ideas about how slowly the chocolate addict can kill him. The gamer reaches 'ways to die via spork' when Mello eventually speaks, making his train of thought abruptly stop. "What in the name of God are you wearing?"

Matt has to force himself not to glance up at the blond, but he can't help the way his thumbs freeze for a second, making his character on screen cry out as an enemy attacks him. What…? His clothes… Oh.

As the clogs in his brain slowly start to move again, he manages to formulate a reply. "My other clothes are messed up. I didn't pay attention to what I grabbed… Why, do I look bad?" He asks sounding distracted when really his whole attention is on the blond across from him.

Mello hums and takes another bite out of his chocolate, "I wouldn't say bad, exactly. You just look fucking weird, I didn't know you owned anything that looked like it belongs in Light's closet." Something about the blonde's tone sounds off, so Matt glances up at him behind his goggles. Mello isn't looking at him, he's staring up at the ceiling with his brow furrowed in thought.

He whips his gaze back to his game when blue eyes turn to look at him, "Why are you wearing the goggles anyway? They don't go with anything you're wearing. They look stupid." The redhead visibly starts at the question.

"…I like them." He replies weakly. "I never knew you are such a fashion queen, Mel." He's trying to change the subject, to get Mello to snap at him, but the blond ignores the jab.

"I can't tell what you're thinking with them on. It's annoying, take them off." The blond demands, putting his feet up on the table between them and narrowing his eyes dangerously.

Matt has found himself at a crossroads. What the hell can he do? To disobey Mello wouldn't be his normal reaction, especially over something as stupid as his goggles. But if he takes them off, his black eye…

He has to make a decision, and fast too. He knows he should be able to talk himself out of this, but his mind is in too much of a mess right now to form anything coherent. With his heart beating a mile a minute, the gamer reluctantly shuts off his game, because the screen has been flashing a Game Over for over a minute now, and throws it beside him on the couch.

He plasters a fake smile on his face as he moves to take off the accessory, "We both know what's under here, it's obvious by the way you're acting. And I know whatever I say won't be believed by you, but I honestly did fall y' know." The goggles are gone now, and Mello silently stares at his face, so the gamer throws his goggles over to the blondes couch. He's itching once again for a cigarette, but refuses to move under the gaze of the older.

"Nice shiner. There's fags on the tray by the way." The blond is still staring at him, and Matt gets a sinking feeling that without his goggles protecting his eyes, he's like an open book to the older teen. "I'm going to work. Are you going there today? Even after your 'fall' I mean."

The gamer leans over to snatch the packet from the trolley Watari must have fetched, glad the conversation has turned to safer topics. Well… sort of. "Yeah, I said I would didn't I? I'll head over in a bit, just need to make sure I've wrapped up stuff here." He smiles, taking a fag from the box.

"I have told Matt before not to smoke in here." L states, not even looking up from his computer. Matt pouts at the hunched over back, but nonetheless he doesn't light up, clicking his lighter and putting it back in his pants pocket.

"I don't see how that's fair. You addicts get to have your fix, yet you deny me of my own? That's harsh." He whines, internally beaming that no one has mentioned his black eye or interrogated him. Light turns to smirk smugly at L,

"See? I'm not the only one who knows you guys need some serious help. I for one, have no such annoying addiction." L turns blankly to the brunet.

"Light talks as if he has no flaws to speak of. Would he like a list? I could write one out if he wishes, and because of his OCD tendencies, I'll even use alphabetical order." Matt blinked. Was L smirking? And… bantering?

"Mello. It's Armageddon, or a conspiracy. The world's greatest detective has been replaced with an alien double that knows how to smile." He deadpans, earning a smirk from the blond. The gamer's heart flutters at the expression, but he puts it down to being happy Mello is apparently no longer mad at him. L's smirk is gone, but the traces of it are still there, and he actually looks surprised the other two are watching them intently.

"I believe Matt has other places to be. And Mello needs to stop slacking and help."

"Yeah right. That case's easy, you don't need my input, you know who's done it, and you're just getting the evidence that'll hold in court." The blond drawls, getting himself a new chocolate bar. Matt moves from his place on the sofa over to the computer he had been working at hours before beside Light.

The window he had been on is still up, glowing faintly at him. He had been the one compiling evidence against the suspect, and apparently no one has bothered getting it from his system. They seem to be under the impression that he'll hurt them if they touch his technology – and he probably would have, but that's not the point.

He sends the files to Light's computer beside him, while the man watches him. With that done, Matt starts to shut down all his other files and sign out, when Light decides to make small talk. "How is he anyway?" He leans on his elbow beside the gamer.

"Good." He replies, "Interested in you, actually." The brunet makes a noise of acknowledgement, so Matt continues. "He said he wouldn't mind meeting the 'person of equal standing as L'."

"That I may be, intellectually. But socially we aren't of equal standing at all." Surprisingly, this isn't said angrily as Matt expected. Just like Light was… resigned to the fact he will never be the famous 'great detective'. The redhead raises an eyebrow at the older man, knowing the brunet will take it as the silent 'what the fuck' that it was. Light ignores him though, turning back to his computer to read through his new evidence files.

"Well, I'm off then. Mind if I take your limo L?" He asks, standing from his computer.

"Feel free to use it. Matt would have anyway, despite my answer." Big black eyes turn to look at him briefly before returning to his work, "Watari should be down there already. Give my regards."

Matt nods and starts towards the doors, before changing his mind and making a detour to the trolley. He grabs the bottle of fizzy pop there, since he hasn't eaten or drank anything for hours now. Mello has yet to move from the sofas, and now he watches the redhead intently.

"You sure you don't want to come Mel?" He asks, although they both already know the answer.

"Not today. Cases to solve, shit-heads to catch, you know the drill. I don't have the free time to go skipping off whenever I feel like it, unfortunately." He says as he gets up and finally goes back to his place on the other side of L. Matt takes the jab in his stride, used to Mello wanting to flaunt how busy and important he is at any given movement.

"Ok, see you later." He mutters. And with that, he leaves the room, taking his bottle with him. He practically skips down the hallways, just on the off chance Mello sees him on the ca… the redhead come to a stop in front of the elevator.

Cameras. Mello might see him on the… cameras. He frowns at the metal doors, making no move to press the button to board them. Why does something feel important…? Unconsciously, acid green eyes wander up to the nearest camera, one in the corner to the right of the elevator.

Camera… His eyes go glazed over in thought, but he's not coming up with anything important about cameras. Did he need to fix any? No. Was he supposed to hack in to surveillance somewhere? Not that he knew of…

After a few more seconds of coming up blank, Matt shrugs and jams his thumb into the down button. It can't be too important if he can't remember it, right? Right. After descending, he confidently strolls out the elevator and towards the front of the building, where Watari is waiting.

"Thanks, you know you don't have to do that. It's weird." He says awkwardly when the old man opens the door for him. It just feels strange to have the man who technically brought him in and previously paid for all expenses concerning his upbringing open a car door for him like a butler.

Watari just smiles like he isn't a millionaire/billionaire (no one can be certain nowadays) and closes the door on him. Matt realises with a groan that he doesn't have any games consoles with him to fight boredom, so he whips out his unlit fag from the box and lights it with a flick of his wrist, since Watari has never expressed a dislike of him smoking in the limo.

The drive is pretty silent, and the redhead can tell that Watari is trying to respect his privacy and not ask as to where he's been. He's glad for that, but at the same time… he could almost picture himself spilling out all the nasty truths if the kindly old man coaxes him. Well, it's probably a good thing that the Englishman hasn't then, he muses to himself.

The building they are driving up to now isn't overly large, height-wise. It's pure white and only has about 5 or 6 stories on it, but Matt knows from experience that it stretches quite far backwards.

They pull up in front of the doors of the hospital and Watari moves to open his door again, but Matt beats him to it before he can even get out of the limo. "Stop it. Please."

The old man looks a bit shocked, and Matt figures it must be because he's so used to handling the black haired detective that he did all these things on reflex now, since L defiantly didn't bother doing anything too straining. Then he smiles and speaks, "Ok Matt. You know… if anything is bothering you –anything at all – you can talk to me, I'm just a phone call away." His honest concern makes a lump form in the gamer's throat, because even though he knows the others are concerned too… Watari just has this grandfatherly aura about him that makes you want to sit down with him in front of a fire on old furniture and confide all your secrets. Something the orphans at Wammy's never actually got to have.

It is, to say the least, a bit disconcerting. He nods jerkily, "Thanks. Erm, I'm not sure how long I'll be, so…" The sentence trails off.

"Ring me when you need picking up, I won't be less than five minutes." Watari responds. Matt grins at him and slams the door, waving as the sleek limo pulls away and disappears down the road. He finishes his cigarette and stomps it out on the ground.

The redhead turns and enters the front door of the hospital, to be greeted by stark white cleanliness all around. Quite a few people are sitting in the seats to the right of the door, but he bypasses them without so much as a glance. At the desk straight ahead of him, a pretty young girl with her brunet hair pulled up in a bun is typing at the computer and talking on the phone simultaneously. She glances up at his approach and breaks out into a smile, waving at him in a gesture his guesses translates that he's to wait a minute while she wraps up whatever she's doing.

"Ok…ok, yes that's fine. I have to go now… ok thank you, we'll have that done as soon as possible. Bye." She finishes up and puts the phone back in the receiver, stopping her typing to turn her attention to the waiting teen. "Matty! Long time no see kiddo, how you been?" She beams.

Matt smiles at the nickname, leaning slightly on the countertop, "Hey, Suuki (1). I'm fine. You know, same old, same old." He lies, "How about you? Doing good with that new fitness program?" She laughs at the mention,

"I sure am! It's really fun you know - healthy too. You should try it out with me sometime Matty, we could have a right laugh!" The gamer gives his own small laugh.

"I'll hold you to that one Suu. Anyway, enough of this small talk, you letting me in or what?" He grins as she turns to type a few things into the computer to administer the teen. "Thanks."

She waves her hand dismissively, handing him a visitor's pass to hang around his neck. Brown eyes narrow as they inspect his face for a moment, before widening in realisation, "Where are your goggles? I've never seen you without them. And what happened to your face? AND WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?"

He winces at the mention of the black eye, hand reaching up to poke it again idly. He had forgotten that he isn't wearing his goggles, having thrown them beside Mello without thinking. Oops. "I accidentally left them at home. My clothes fell in a pile of mud. And…" Matt does something stupid. Matt says the first thing that pops into his head. "… Mello hit me."

Both pairs of eyes widened in shock at what he said. Mello hit me? What the FUCK Matt? Why is your brain not WORKING today? Shit. Fix it.

"I mean - he didn't hit me, exactly." Worried eyes bore into his, expecting an explanation, and fast. "We were having a… wrestle. And he accidentally… elbowed me in the face. Don't worry though! I kicked him in the balls, so we're even. He's limping everywhere, but then he got me back… and I'm… limping… too?" He trails off, as something seems to click in the young secretaries mind, making her leer.

"Mmhmm, 'wrestling'," she makes quotation marks with her fingers, "was it? Hey, isn't Mello that blond with the leather?" Her eyes gleam when he nods, "thought so. He should come by more often; you guys are a right pair. He seemed the kind to like it rough. Wrestling I mean."

Ok, now he's confused. She bought that? His confusion must show on his face, because Suuki giggles and shakes her head at him, "Anyway, you need to get your butt out of here and let me work, go it?"

"Uh, right ok. Later, Suu." He says, giving a weak wave before hauling his arse down the corridor. He slows to a stop on an empty hallway, letting himself lean against one of the whitewashed walls. He honestly needs to get it together! It might not seem like he's acting much different than usual, especially to people that he doesn't know amazingly well, like Suuki. But to the people closest to him, will he be acting normally? Will he hell. They noticed slightly at headquarters, he's sure. And…

Yeah. He'll notice. The redhead sighs and continues his trip, cursing the fact everyone he knows are too smart for their own good. He passes few people on the way to the correct room, but he pays them no mind as they do the same.

He finally arrives at the private room, pushing the door open without a second thought. The room is just as white as the rest of the hospital, but there are a few posters the inhabitant has put up to make it just that bit more personal.

Said inhabitant is sitting up on the bed placed in the middle of the left wall, one leg has been pulled to his chest and the white sheets are pooled at the end of the bed. The boy looks younger than he is in his oversized white shirt and pants and with his big black eyes that are eerily similar to that of the greatest detective on earth. One hand is idly twirling a piece of pure white curls atop the teen's head, while the other is working on the puzzle board on the bed in front of him.

Matt smiles when the boy pauses in what he's doing and turns his gaze to the newcomer. "What's up Near?" He asks as he moves into the room and to the chair on the other side of the bed.

Near just watches him, confusing the redhead. "What is it?" He asks, feeling uneasy at the other's examination. A slender hand moves away from his puzzle to point directly at Matt's left eye, making the gamer blink. Oh great, is this going to happen every time he sees a new person? "Ah, my eye." Near nods and tilts his head to the side.

"Is that why you are late today?" He asks in a soft voice. Matt just nods because he really doesn't want to think about it right now, and he needs a distraction. Near seems to sense his reluctance to talk about his eye, and stomps down on any niggling curiosity, nodding back.

Good old Near. He respects Matt's privacy in a weird way.

Conversation dissolves fairly quickly, mostly due to Matt's answers being painfully short and forcibly cheery. He's trying his best, but his thoughts keep cutting off in the middle of his sentences. It is better to keep silent than to talk when he has no idea what he is talking about.

"Hey, I spoke to Light about meeting you," the redhead remembers, "I think he'd be as interested in you as you are in him. I'll try and bribe L into letting him visit. Controlling bastard." Near doesn't particularly like anyone talking down about L, but he's strangely indulgent of Matt's loose tongue.

"You think so?" The albino seems to brighten at the mention of visitors, "but I would have nothing to talk to Yagami-san about." The younger male is one of the only people Matt knows that bothers with the honorific. It must have rubbed off on him from being in Japan for so long.

Not that the gamer doesn't use an honorific for strangers. But this is Light. After all, even L doesn't bother with it anymore. That thought makes him freeze for a second, wondering when exactly the detective did stop using 'Light-kun', but he stops the train of thought before it can develop. He'll think about it later.

"Near stop being an idiot. There's plenty you and Light can talk about, the guy can't get enough of his own voice for Christ's sake! Oh and if he does come, be sure you don't have any mirrors about; he simply adores his own face." He tries to keep his voice light (2) to combat Near's worry. Anyone else probably wouldn't see anything different about the albino's appearance, but Matt spends enough time here now to notice the subtle ways Near lets his emotions through.

"Besides, if you run out of things to talk about – which you won't – just let him come up with something. He's a little social butterfly, is our Light. And it's not like he gets out much anymore, not without L within a 5-foot radius, anyway." Matt punches Near lightly in the arm, "cheer up fluff ball."

The albino's small smile is equivalent to one of Mello's face-splitting grins. "I see your point. Would you please ask L if they could come down for a visit someday? As long as their work isn't interrupted."

"Work? Oh please. Hobby is a more appropriate word for what they do." Both teens laugh at this, "Hell, even the Great Mello-sama is digging around for a challenging case." He adds as an afterthought.

"And what about you Matt? You're number two after all. From what I've managed to gather, you and Mello don't have a huge gap in intelligence." It still feels kind of weird to be called second. Mello never gets sick of being titled first though.

"I guess… I don't really know. I just do what they tell me and offer my opinion when asked." He shrugs. "I've never been in this race for any reason other than Mello." He gives a sheepish grin at his own words.

It's not exactly common knowledge that Matt only worked to achieve being third at Wammy's so Mello would give him the time of day. He suspects L knows, because he knows everything. On that note, Light might know too.

Mello is questionable. Matt can't tell if the blond knows, or if he just takes Matt for granted and underestimates him. It doesn't matter either way – the gamer would never dream of trying to best the older teen.

Black eyes study him silently, reminding the redhead of L again. "Definitely a unique relationship you two share. Makes me feel strangely jealous." After speaking, Near turns back to his puzzle blankly.

Matt digests this for a minute, unthinkingly turning his gaze to the puzzle as well. Both teens sit deep in their thoughts for a few minutes, neither speaking.

It's when a nurse enters that they both break out of it. She has a tray of food for the patient, making Matt wonder wildly what time it is. How long has been here? He doesn't even know what time it was when he arrived. He asks the nurse if she knows the time and she informs him it's 6pm.

"That late?!" He exclaims, jumping up. "Oh god, Watari is still out somewhere in the car. I can't believe I left him this long." The redhead turns to Near as he continues, "I really should get back, there has been enough worry over me today." He points absently at his eye in explanation, grimacing. "I'll talk to L when I get back, later Near."

"Thank you." He smiles slightly as his visitor walks around his bed and to the door, "I hope to see you soon. Remember you're just as capable as any of the others."

"Yeah, yeah." He says as he leaves the room. "You used to be too…" He mumbles to himself, certain the other can't hear.

The genius makes his way down the corridors to the main entrance, sliding out of the way of patients and doctors as he goes. It's only when he gets outside and flips open his phone that Matt remembers his battery died and he has no money on him. The mere thought of walking back in the semi-darkness alone is enough to send the gamer straight back through the glass doors.

Ok, ok – no need to hyperventilate now Matty. He thinks, walking back up to the front desk, where Suuki is apparently getting ready to leave her shift. The redhead forces an apologetic smile onto his face when she glances up and notices him.

"Hey Suu. Would you mind if I borrowed your phone for like, a second? I'm fresh out of money and without a ride." He pats his pockets in emphasis of his lack of money.

She grins in reply, "Go for it, my replacement won't be here for a few more minutes anyway." She hands him the receiver and twists the phone so he can punch in Watari's number. He makes a mental note to delete the phone records later.

Right now though, he really wants a cheeseburger. Surely Watari won't mind stopping somewhere on the way…


(1) Random made up OC ftw? Well, I couldn't picture anyone else with the job, so you get Suuki.

(2) Pun not intended. Seriously.

Ok, I'll end it here for this chapter. It was going to go on longer but I'm about to pass out from lack of sleep and this chapter is sort of late anyway. I have no excuse, only that it's the Christmas holidays and I am extremely lazy. I only managed to get this chapter done because I'm avoiding homework. Again.

I'd love you forever if you give me some feedback XDDDD

Near was weird to write because I don't like him. I like my Near kinda, but I can't tell if I've made him too OOC. Not that it really matters, since I have an explanation for everything, but I'm curious. And Matt's an emotional roller coaster isn't he :) Awww sorry Matt, you'll stabilise in your own little way soon enough.