A/N: Uber lateness. Projects, work. High school. Future boyfriend. Blah.
It's here, it's late, enjoy it Dx
Near's eyes widened a fraction of an inch. While it wasn't every day that he got kissed by Mello, his actions weren't very surprising. Mello had been acting strange lately. This was the answer. Mello had a crush on Near. Honestly, Near didn't know what to think of the situation. It was emotionally confusing for poor emotionally challenged Near.
"I don't know what to make of this situation, Mello," he admitted, "so I'd like to pretend that didn't happen."
Mello grinned. "Alright then. I think I can live with that." He laughed, giving Near two thumbs up.
"Though I have to say that your kissing is rather pitiful." He commented, sighing. "What on earth makes Matt find you so irresistible?" He asked, crossing his arms.
"Mello, it makes a difference when I actually kiss back, you know. What just happened was similar to you kissing a wall." Near rolled his eyes. He thought he just told Mello that they should forget about the kiss. Mello appeared to be deaf today.
Mello frowned. "A wall would probably taste better than you…" He muttered under his breath.
"Speaking of him, where did you leave Matt? I want to go soon." He hastily changed the subject.
"The taste of my lips might be the result of not brushing my teeth." Near changed the subject back. "And I believe you were told numerous times already that Matt is staying here!" Near was beginning to get annoyed with Mello's lack of hearing.
Mello sighed. "Numerous? More like once." He countered. "And that was right before- god, is it impossible to not talk about it?" He groaned, raking a hand through his hair. "And why don't you brush your teeth? Do you have no sense of personal hygiene, or are you just lazy?" He prompted.
"Try three times, Mello," Near scoffed, "and I only brought it up again because you did. I offered to let you pretend it did not happen, but you rejected my offer by talking about it again. So now I will make you suffer by talking about it. Also, it was merely laziness."
Mello raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Laziness?" he echoed, "Are you serious? I highly doubt that you are lazy. And if you want to talk about it, then fine. I can make your life hell too if I want." He pointed out.
Near shrugged. "I'm not lazy with most things. However, personal hygiene is mundane and seems unnecessary most of the time. My teeth won't rot in a single day." Then Near switched subjects, "If you make my life hell, I will tell Matt you kissed me and then both of us will make your life hell, and I doubt that's what you want."
Mello glared at Near. "I don't have a choice in the subject, do I?" He asked, his shoulders sagging. He hated losing, and he had just failed to win against Near. Again.
"Yes, and thank you for dropping April while you were screaming at Matt, by the way. Now let's go. I wish to get this over with quickly and painlessly," Near said.
Mello's eyes widened, and he snatched April away from Near, holding her close in his cradled arms as a blush dusted his face.
"Oh. Thanks for getting it." He began to walk forward, only turning back to say, "You coming?"
"My, my, you are quite the dedicated father," Near mused, slightly sarcastic.
The two exited Wammy's, both slightly on their toes. They weren't normally aloud outside of the Wammy property, but they had the okay for today. However, even with that okay, it still felt like they were breaking the rules. They slowly walked into town to attempt to find a clothing store.
Near had never been outside of Wammy's House, so he honestly had no idea where they were going. He took note of everything they passed, however.
Mello had more experience with the town. He'd snuck out a few times before and come to the town to relax for a day. He grinned as he led Near through the city. Finally there was something he knew better than Near. It was only too bad they'd never be tested on how well they knew the town, though.
Mello ended up leading Near to a large mall. Together, they entered and searched for a baby's clothing store on one of the mall directories. When they finally entered one, Near got a bad feeling in his stomach. He felt extremely out of place here.
Mello looked around, April's arms draped around his neck and he held her by her lower back. They had only just got in there, and almost everyone had stopped to look at them.
"Our mom wants us to find some clothes for this thing. It's our little sister's birthday, and this is her favorite toy." He lied smoothly. A couple people muttered between themselves, but for the most part, the lie was believable. It seemed rather plausible, especially with the irritated look on his face. He just hope Near wasn't looking fascinated or anything…
He looked over at Near cautiously.
Oh good. He looked rather nervous. Perfect!
Mello grinned.
"Come on little brother." He muttered, jabbing Near in the side. "Let's go find some clothes for this thing before it starts a commotion."
Near didn't reply. In fact, he didn't even move.
"You can lead the way, Mello," he said.
Mello sighed, then grabbed Near's hand and pulled him ahead. "Alright, alright." He sighed. "Come on, scaredy cat." He chuckled, stopping in front of one of the sections of the wall. This particular one was dedicated solely to shirts. The one to the right was pants, and to the left were dresses. Behind them were hats, socks, shoes, and other accessories of the like; and that was only the girls section.
"So, shirts and pants or do you want to go with a dress?" He asked, his hand still gripping Near's.
Near was fine with Mello simply tugging him along by his hand, but now that he was just standing there looking at the wall of clothing, Near glared at the blond for not letting go of his hand. Did Mello even realize what he was doing?
"Let's go with a dress just to make this easy. Also, release my hand," Near solemnly demanded.
Mello complied immediately, his gaze shifting to the floor for a half-second before moving to the dresses as he walked in front of the respective section. "Well… pick one."
"You can choose it, I just want to get out of here."
Mello grabbed a plain pale yellow dress with small green and blue flowers on the bottom before heading over to the cashier. "That'll be… 11 euros, please." Mello gave the man the respective money, and walked out of the store.
"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"
"I suppose not," Near admitted. Before he could say anything else, his stomach began to speak for him, growling loudly. Near brought a hand to his tummy and wondered if Mello heard his stomach growl, too.
Mello looked at Near with amusement. "Someone's hungry. Want to grab a bite to eat, or do you want to wait until we get back?" He asked.
"There's no reason not to eat here, is there?" Near asked.
Mello shook his head. "No. Come on, the food court is this way." Mello pointed to the left.
Near followed Mello to the food court a bit anxiously. It looked like today would be the day when they found out how good, or bad, Wammy's food really was. He was also anxious because people kept giving him weird stares. When they got to the food court, Near looked around at all the choices. He had no idea what he wanted.
"What would you like to eat, Mello?" Near asked, hiding all emotions behind an expressionless mask. "I'm fine with whatever you want."
Mello nodded, and walked over to the nearest pizza vendor. "Alrighty then… I'll have a small cheese pizza, some bread sticks, and two bottles of water, thanks… oh, and one of those Hershey bars would be great too… thanks!" He grabbed his change, and when the food was ready, and brought it over to the table Near had chosen.
"Well, I must say I am surprised that you didn't order the pizza with M&M's on it." Near grinned. He took a slice of the pizza and eyed it carefully. "I suppose this is it… Down the hatch…" His voice trailed off as he bit into the pizza carefully. He took a small bite, and immediately regretted it. It scalded his tongue a little bit, and he swallowed it quickly. He grabbed at the water bottle and drank a bit of it. Although it wasn't much, the cool liquid soothed his burnt mouth more than words could describe.
Mello looked over at Near from his own slice, tilting his head to the side. "Too hot? I'm sure the bread sticks would be much less painful to eat…" He offered hesitantly.
'Damn it, this is like a freaking date!'
"I'll give them a try," Near said as he slid one out of the bag they came in. It felt considerably cooler on his fingers. With a gulp, he bit into it and chewed it slowly, trying to get the entire flavor of it. He decided it tasted okay. Wammy's breadsticks were much better, as this one only tasted as if it had been dipped in oily butter and had cheese bits sprinkled frivolously on it.
Mello looked over at Near. "… Are they good?" He asked, grabbing one for himself and biting into it. The bread felt almost like butter in his mouth, and his tongue tingled, nearly stinging, with the flavor of garlic. The cheese on top did ease the tingling, and all the flavors seemed to harmonize right there on his tongue.
Surely Near liked it; how could he not? Of course, the bread was probably soft because of the oil soaking into it, the flavor masked by butter, so there was a good chance Near wouldn't like it because of that.
"If anyone enjoyed this bread more than simply writing it off as "okay," I would say that have a very low standard when it comes to food, or at least breadsticks," Near answered easily. If he was ever asked in the future if he'd like to have these again, Near would say no.
Near wouldn't be surprised if Mello thought it was good. For some reason, Near could just see Mello as trailer trash eating these while sitting in front of a TV with bent antennae wearing a sweaty, white muscle shirt while drinking a beer. Near chuckled at the mental image and grinned.
Mello frowned. Near really did have high standards for his food, didn't he? And why was he grinning and chuckling?
"What?" He asked, leaning closer to Near. "What're you laughing about?"
Near couldn't help but laugh a little harder when Mello spoke. He shook his head slowly and let out some more chuckles.
Mello sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Jeez, you don't like explaining these things to me, do you?" he asked, laughing a bit himself.
"You really shouldn't be laughing, since I'm actually laughing at you. I simply thought the possibility of you becoming trailer trash was funny." Near grinned. "And just now, when you spoke, I imagined you with an accent suited to a country bumpkin."
Mello frowned, crossing his arms. "Well, in case you didn't notice, laughter can be quite contagious. And really? Trailer trash?" Mello slid his face into one hand, shaking his head slightly. "Do you really think that lowly of me?"
"My laughter has never been contagious. Especially for you," Near mused. "And before I answer your question, you have to answer my question: Do think think the breadsticks taste good?"
Mello released his head and rolled his eyes. "There's a first time for everything. And yes, I do, thank you very much. There is a bit too much oil and butter, but it tastes good none-the-less. I happen to like garlic, so this is quite a nice meal," he replied.
Near began laughing some more, though this time a bit harder. "I don't have a low opinion of you. I merely based my imagined image off of your low standard in regards of food. This has got to be the worse food I've ever had. Granted, that's only true because Wammy's always serves wonderful food."
Mello's frown deepened a bit, and the old, almost unused gears in his mind began churning as he thought of a good come-back. Usually, these things came naturally to him, but here and there he would think of a really good one. Sometimes they ended up being lame, and sometimes they would be epic. Mello hoped that this would be one of the epic times. "You just need to get out more." Okay, maybe it wasn't the best come-back he'd ever made, but it worked… right?
"I'm not the one who needs to raise his standards," Near said. "We had better get back to Wammy's… I'm starting to miss Matt."
Mello had to control himself to keep from starting a scene then and there. Frankly, that final statement was more than just irritating him. There was a burning sensation he'd been feeling quite often recently, and his head began to ache slightly. What was he feeling? Anger seemed the most likely, but it didn't seem to fit quite right; like a puzzle piece that was just off. In fact, there weren't really any emotions that seemed to fit the bill. Until he found the answer; another perfect piece to the puzzle in his mind.
It was jealousy.
"... Right." The words were almost choked out, and Mello was sure that Near would hear the upset in his voice.
A/N: Yeah, yeah. Mello finally realizes he was jealous all along, whoop-de-doo, sorry for being a failure. Tickets are non refundable, and thank you for riding the So This is War train. Get your crap and leave.
SORRY JUST KIDDING!! I LOVE YOU ALL BUT MY BRAIN IS DEAD AND MY LEGS HURT AND I'LL TRY TO BE ON TIME NEXT WEEK!!!
ANNOUNCEMENT: So This is War may have to be updated once every two weeks due to the lack of time Steve and I have to write. We are running out of material saved up to post, and the writing isn't going too well as we figure out our schedules and stuff.
Please review, fave, and alert!
