Mello's POV

For what was I think the first time since we'd started living together, Matt had woken up before me. He was lying next to me—close enough so we were touching—playing his PSP. I looked at the digital alarm clock beside me. The bright red numbers seemed to laugh at me. Nine A.M. I'd slept in.

I was mad at Matt—he knew I hated sleeping in late—but, I had to admit, I did enjoy relaxing and being with him yesterday. I know I didn't deserve it, but it was… nice.

Before I could think any more meaningless thoughts, I jumped out of bed and went to get dressed. "Finally up, huh?" Matt asked, not looking up from his game. I could have yelled at him, and on a normal day I would have, but I had too much to do today. Not only did I have to look good, but I had to make sure I studied enough so I'd be able to be around Near without looking like a complete idiot. Near, Matt and I, and perhaps a few others, were invited to a meeting with L. I didn't want to go, but Matt said we had to.

I didn't see what the point was. We were all just a bunch of losers who didn't really want to see each other. At least, I didn't want to see them.

I thought more about the reason behind this gathering while I changed clothes. Last night, I'd slept in my clothes, but I'd had the same outfit hanging in my closet, so I had clean clothes for today. I was wearing my vest and my leather pants as usual, as well as my jacket. If L didn't like that, then he'd just have to not invite me again. I wasn't going to dress up for anybody.

While Matt stayed in bed, I read—and reread—some more case notes I'd gathered. I was hoping Near hadn't picked up the case yet. That way, when I brought it up tonight, I'd already be ahead of him…and with any luck, L, too.

After a while, my head started to hurt and I wasn't able to think, and then realized that I hadn't been checking the time and now we'd be late to meet L. I looked past Matt, who still hadn't budged, and saw that only an hour had passed. Had my mind really started to fail me after only a mere hour? I groaned, and threw all the papers I had been reviewing on the floor. "Matt!" I shouted, not bothering to quell my anger. "Get dressed! We have to leave in a half hour! You're driving!" I stomped out of the room, my bare feet kicking more than a few things on the way to the kitchen. I grabbed a chocolate bar off the table and ripped the paper off, not caring where it landed.

Matt came out of the bedroom a few minutes later, his PSP still in hand, but turned off. "Are you ready to go?" He asked, his eyes not meeting mine, and I felt a little bad for screaming at him, but didn't apologize.

"Yeah. Here." I tossed him the keys, and surprisingly, he caught them. We walked out to the car in silence. Matt started the engine and rolled down his window while I sat with my arms crossed, pouting like a child. I still didn't see why we had to go. I understood that we were invited by L, and he was supposedly the world's best detective and he was amazingly smart and blah, blah, blah… but so what? He wasn't God. I could turn him down.

"Mello?"

"Huh?" Matt had caught me off guard.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For… for making you mad." He said slowly, and I doubted he even knew what he was apologizing for.

"Don't worry about it."

The rest of our long journey was silent, and although no silence between us had ever been painful before, this one was. We finally arrived at the hotel L had specified a few towns away, and walked side-by-side to the entrance. Although it wasn't something I normally did, I reached out and grabbed Matt's hand, holding it in mine. He looked confused for a split second, but then smiled.

L had told us to ask for a woman named Miriam when we got to the front desk. We were then supposed to tell Miriam that we were here for the "meeting"—L had never specified what kind of meeting, so I was assuming Miriam knew what we were talking about—and she would then give us L's room number and a key. To be honest, I had expected something much more complicated from L.

Both L and Near were waiting for us when we arrived. I awkwardly stood before the two, not wanting to sit down. Matt was already lying on the floor, playing his PSP. He wasn't exactly invited, but I—rather, he—had talked L into letting him tag along with me.

"Glad you could make it. I'm L." The slouching man extending his hand, which I shook. He then asked me to sit down. "Would you like anything to eat or drink?" He asked Near and I both, and we both declined. "That's a shame. It won't bother you if I have cake, will it?" I doubt he really cared whether it bothered us or not; he'd already been eating when I'd arrived. "I've invited you both here to talk about a case with you. Recently, there has been a series of murders in Europe." He handed us each a manila envelope. I opened mine right away, and scanned some of the information quickly, while Near waited for L to finish speaking.

As soon as Near looked at the first page of data, he returned the entire stack of papers to the envelope. "I'm already aware of this case, and I've been looking into it for a while, but I'm not sure whether or not I want to pick it up." Near had already studied the case? That brat was always one step ahead of me, wasn't he?

"I see. What about you, Mello?"

"I'm aware of this, too."

"And your thoughts?"

"My… thoughts?"

"Are you going to take the case or not?"

"I don't know."

"Oh." He seemed slightly disappointed. He hadn't gotten a "yes" answer from neither Near nor I. "I haven't looked into the case too much, myself, but I'd like to do more with it soon. If either of you do decide to investigate, please let me know. Both of you working together could be a great help to me."

"We're not working together." I stated. Near didn't say anything to this, he just continued twirling his hair.

"I see." He chewed his thumbnail for a moment, pondering what to do next. "Well… if neither of you want to me help me with that case, how about another one?" He told us details about another case—this one in Australia—that I hadn't even heard of yet, but of course, that stupid brat Near was already fully aware of. I could punch that little albino….

"I'm thinking that this isn't thought out enough to be conducted by a large organization," Near stated after L had rambled for a good five minutes.

"Is that so? I had been thinking the same thing," L remarked. I remained silent, not really knowing what to say.

"I also think it's a mostly-spontaneous thing."

"Yes, I agree. There are just too many clues left around for it to be planned to far in advance."

I finally snapped. "If there are so many clues, how come you can't figure it out? Huh, L?" I shouted.

"I'm sorry, Mello, I didn't realize you knew anything about this. Please tell me your thoughts on all of this. I'd love to know."

"I…." Was he being sarcastic or was he actually serious? "God dammit." I cursed under my breath as I stood up. I dropped my head to avoid seeing Near or L's reaction, but I could feel their cold, emotionless eyes watching me. Matt didn't look up until I grabbed his striped sleeve and pulled him up from his chair. He paused the game he was playing before asking if the meeting was over.

The redhead must have figured out what had happened—or at least that something happened—because he apologized as he followed me out of the room. I didn't bother to shut the door. If keeping his identity a secret was so important to L, he could shut the damn door himself.

Matt was silent until we reached the car. He followed me to my side of the car and stopped there, before I realized I was still clutching his sleeve. I let go, and Matt walked around the car before getting in. "Mells, what hap—" He said before starting the car. I cut him off.

"Just drive."

Ooooo cliffhanger! Kind of… a little bit… not really.