So sorry it's been so long since I was on here. Just been busy with school and such, going into year 12 next year and gotta be ready. But please, Enjoy!

It was Christmas day. I had just woken up, once my eyes had focused I found the room completely clean and there was no trace of Matt. After a while, I finally found the strength to get myself out of bed, I was exhausted from finishing up part of the plan last night. I had a long, warm shower and quickly got dressed, it was going to be a busy day. As I was leaving the room, Near was walking towards me wearing a slight smile on his face and his hands behind his back.

"Good morning Mello, I hope you're feeling better."

"Yeah…I'm feeling a lot better, thanks for making that soup for me the other night, it really helped." Near was a lot more caring towards me now, other orphans had gotten used to us being together so he wasn't afraid to show more emotion.

"That's good to hear, listen, this is for you." He brought his hands to the front, holding a white box neatly wrapped with a black ribbon.

I gently took the box from his soft hands "…Thanks Near." I looked up from the box back to Near, his adorable eyes were eagerly waiting for me to unwrap the gift, my cheeks were hot. I looked back down and began to unravel the delicate ribbon, then slowly lifted off the boxes lid. My mouth dropped.

My eyes stared at the glistening gold plate that had the words "I'm Sorry, I Love You- Near" carved into it.

"Matt told me that the reason you created that fire was because you saw the gold plate in the common room. I-I'm sorry, Mello. I didn't mea-"

I wrapped my arms around Near and held him close. "Why are you apologising Near? You didn't do anything wrong…Thank you, I love your gift...and I-I…"

I let go of Near, for a moment I looked at him, he was trying to keep the big grin to a minimum but it was obvious it wasn't going to work. As much as I wanted to say it, I couldn't do it now, I needed to go downstairs and get things ready.

"…I have to go now. I'll see you later okay?"

The smile had vanished from his face and he looked down to the ground.

"Oh…Okay"

I guess he wanted to know I loved him just as he did to me. I'll get the chance to tell him later.

Near pulled my arm back as I started walking away. "Wait, what are you doing later?"

"I-I'm busy, sorry, bye." I nudged nears hand off my arm and walked away quickly before he could say anything else.

Once I got downstairs, some of the decorations were already set up.

"Hey, Mello!"

I turned my head to where the call was from, Matt was walking towards me, his face was full of sparkles. Before I could comment on the sparkles he gave me a big, squeezy hug.

"Merry Christmas man!"

"Yeah, Merry Christmas, uhh…how long have you been down here?" I tried to dust of the sparkles that had fallen onto me.

"Around 2 hours, hey, I'm sorry I haven't gotten you anything for Christmas…I wasn't sure what to get"

"It's okay, thanks for helping set up" I began getting other decorations set up and started rearranging the furniture, we had a few hours before it need to be finished.

After a while I noticed something was missing.

"Shit! Where is it?" I was beginning to stress out, I need that, I worked so hard on it.

"Matt! where is it!" I grasped onto Matts shoulders and shook him.

"Mello, calm down, I wrapped everything up for you, it's all over there" He pointed to where the left corner of the room, where the Christmas tree was.

"Oh…thanks, again." I released my grasped and let out a sigh. It was time.

I walked to the bottom stair and looked around the room making sure everything was right. There were the musicians on the right, including a pianist and three violinists, the dinner table close by, a large area as a dance floor, the Christmas tree and presents on the left and star lights dangling from the ceiling. I now stood in the middle of the room, admiring what Matt and I had created.

Before I could do anything else, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, no one else was supposed to know about this part of the building except Matt and I, when we were in trouble when we were younger, this was our hideout. I turned around and looked up the stairs to see who was coming down the stairs.

"Near!" I sprinted up a couple of steps to try and block his view of the room but it was too late.

"…Wh-what's going on down here?"

I began getting nervous, I felt butterflies in my stomach. "I…uhh…we were just…um…this is for you…"

"You did all of this for me?" Nears cheeks turned a slight rosy pink.

"Well, Yeah Matt and I did it, this is my way of apologising for that whole fire incident, and everything before that. I'm truly sorry Near."

I made my way back downstairs, Near followed down, excitingly looking around the room.

"Wow…this is incredible." Near wore a huge grin on his face, I couldn't help to smile either. Matt stood against the wall, giving me a thumbs up before he snuck up the stairs.

"That's not all Near, look over there." I pointed to the giant Christmas tree, with the pile of boxes all around it.

"W-what's that?" I watched Near as he walked towards all the boxes.

"I used all my chocolate money to buy every single puzzle I burnt…except one..." I followed Near to the Christmas tree.

"My favourite one…" His tone had changed again, he wasn't excited anymore.

I snuck around the tree for a second, and brought out a black box with a white ribbon wrapped around it.

"I may not have been able to buy it, but I made it myself." As proud as I was for it, I didn't want to seem too cocky. I handed over the gift to Near, his hands carefully took a hold of the box.

"You…made it?" I wasn't sure if he was happy about it, or if he was sad, maybe it wouldn't turn out how he wanted it. I was beginning to get worried, what if he didn't think it was good?

He began to unravel the ribbon, he lifted the boxes lid. His mouth dropped. Now I knew what I looked like earlier today.

"Oh…my..." Is all that managed to come from Nears mouth.

"Well…does it look okay? Do you like it?" Is what managed to come from my mouth.

Near gently put the box down and quickly wrapped his arms around me.

"It's perfect! I love it!" I felt so much relief and wrapped my arms around Nears waist. My chin rested against his head and I closed my eyes. It felt nice hugging Near without any tension between us.

"How did you make it?" Nears arms wrapped around tighter.

"I bought a blank puzzle set, and painted it from what I remembered, it's probably not exactly the same but I couldn't remember every detail"

I lifted my chin of Near, stretched my arms out while still holding his waist. This way I could still hold him but also talk to his face.

"No, you didn't get all the details….but I think it's even better than the old one."

He looked up at me with his wide eyes and gave me a gentle smile. It felt natural to return one too.

"Thanks Near…Oh, right! Matt cooked dinner for us."

"Matt can cook?"

"Yeah, cooking mama helped him." I removed my hands off Nears waist and held his hand, we walked over to the dinner table. This time we were going to eat an actual meal, I had been eating proper meals since I couldn't eat chocolate. There was mashed potato, steak and…broccoli? Why did Matt cook broccoli…I hate broccoli. I had to keep calm, I'd get Matt later.

Matt came back down the stairs to check how our plan was going, he walked over to the musicians and instructed them to start playing. The musicians began to play beautiful music while I pulled out Nears chair for him and pushed it forward once he sat down.

I began a conversation while we ate, asking Near how he knew I was down here.

"Well, around lunch time Matt came up those stairs while playing his ds and I asked him what was down here and he said all of Mello's hard work…"

"Oh..." I gave a slight smile, and continued to eat.

We kept chatting while we ate dinner. Near only had a small serve but ate everything without a complaint. The meal was great except for that stupid broccoli, I was struggling to swallow it down but I didn't want Near to think I was fussy.

After we finished the meal, Matt brought out dessert, we each had three scoops of ice cream placed in a row with chocolate sauce spread across, with two wafers on the each end ice cream. I didn't give Matt as much credit he deserved, it looked amazing. By the time I was finished Near was only on his second ice cream and couldn't finish it, so I had to eat some of his too. Matt finished his part so he went upstairs.

We relaxed for a bit, then I stood up and walked over to Near. I gave out my hand and asked him if he would like to dance, those butterflies in my stomach were flying around crazy right now. Nears cheeks turned red as he delicately placed his hand on mine without saying a word. I pulled him out of his chair and walked over to the dance floor.

I placed my other hand on Nears hip while he lifted his other hand onto my shoulder. I had practised my dancing beforehand so I would look like an expert, but Near dragged his feet along.

"Umm...I'm sorry, I don't know how to dance…" Near avoided eye contact and his cheeks looked as red as cherries. I could sense a slight bit of embarrassment, it was adorable.

"That's okay, I'll teach you." I couldn't help but to give Near a big smile, I tugged on his hands at certain times to lead him. He looked down at my feet, trying to follow them. After a while, he got the hung of it, so did I and it seemed to be natural now, figuring which way to turn and where to step.

We danced for a long time, I didn't realise until I looked at the clock on the wall. We spent an hour and a half of dancing. It started off as an excuse to hold Near close to me, but I think I actually enjoy this dancing.

"Near, you do know that I am truly sorry, and I will never do anything else again to hurt you." I stopped swaying, Near lowered his arm off my shoulder and held onto my other hand.

"I know Mello, you don't have to keep saying it…I know." Near gave me another kind smile

"I'm also going to promise you that I'll always be by your side, no matter who or what gets in the way…because I…I love you."

That was one of the hardest things for me to say, I had never actually said it in my life. Not to my parents, not to anyone.

After I said it this urge came over me, I leaned towards Near, my eyes were set on his lips, his eyes were set on mine. I closed my eyes and felt my lips lock onto his, we let the kiss linger for a few moments before parting.

Later that night while I lay in my bed, I thought of everything that happened throughout the day. Matt told me he was sorry he didn't get me anything for Christmas, but he had done more than enough to help me build my relationship with Near. Matt has no idea how much he's really done for me, I had already told him that I needed to repay him somehow.

He told me he had a plan…