Testing day was tomorrow.

As was tradition every six months when the exams to determine the ranks of the students across the orphanage rolled around, the students in first, second, and third places of the previous semester received the honor of delivering a speech to the entire student body.

It was an event that was taken to its full advantage from all parties involved, whether they wanted to be there or not. Very rarely had the administration ever interrupted one of the kids' speeches in hopes that their spontaneous rambling would actually go somewhere and meet up with some point. Of course, the moment Matt found this out when he was only eleven years old, he took the opportunity to ramble on about Legend of Zelda for almost ten minutes before coming to the conclusion, "So when in doubt, go with the blue tunic." It was taken as an analogy to building a strong defense through studying, and the gamer got away with it, smirking as he stowed his GameBoy he'd been playing beneath the podium in the pocket of his furry cream vest.

This year, however, was going a bit differently.

After Near rambled on for his allotted amount of time about trying his best and blah blah blah, Mello took the stage and began. "Fellow students of Wammy's House for Extraordinary Children," he smiled, enjoying his place above and before the other kids—Near included, crouching on a chair in the front row. Matt sat beside him, thumbing away at his DS, barely paying attention. "I know I've been up here for the last six years straight, which even I am surprised at this point. Near and I share the sometimes insufferable trait of unyielding tenacity, maintaining a tight grip on our places for years and years. My only issue with that is the obvious: I don't get any higher.

"I know it sounds conceited, and I'll fully admit that I'm borderline narcissistic when it comes to things like this. But you've all got to understand the frustration being the constant runner-up is, especially to this kid," Mello paused, waving to the white-haired boy. "It's absolutely infuriating!"

Wandering out from behind the podium, his animated hands dropped to his sides for a moment as he looked over the students. If anything else, every student, and even the staff at Wammy's had to admire Mello's unparalleled public speaking skills. "I'd just like to say that though I was second this last semester, and I was second every semester before that since I've been here…" He took a dramatic pause. "That won't be so after tomorrow."

A collective eyeroll-slash-sigh speckled the students in the auditorium. Though he was good at speaking, he wasn't particularly good with varying content. They had all heard his spiel about finally taking first place each semester for the last two years. Many let it slide though, considering it as his own way of psyching himself up for the upcoming exam.

"So everyone out there, I'm sorry if you're hoping to place in the top slot this year. That place is reserved for Mello," he grinned, pointing at himself. Matt, snorting under his breath, rolled his eyes. Egomaniac.

"Try your best, I dare you. Let's all push ourselves and aim to move at least one rank up in the scoreboard." He beamed, standing center stage. Matt could have sworn that if he wasn't too busy studying and being an egotistical asshole, Mello probably would have been the star of the drama club. "In short: good luck!"

As Mello jumped off of the stage, each child and every teacher in the auditorium began to clap, not necessarily because it was good, but because that's what was socially acceptable. But the blonde saw nothing faux about it and walked off with his head held high, plopping down beside Matt before the redhead could rapidly finish that level and save his game. As he stood, Mello flashed an icy glare at Near, now that the seat between them was vacated.

With his head still bent down at the screen displaying Professor Layton, Matt stepped up onto the stage and hovered behind the podium. Somebody in the crowd coughed after a few moments and he finally snapped his Nintendo DS closed after quickly scrawling his answer in the box. He looked up at the somewhat intent crowd through orange-tinted goggles. He smirked, remembering the subject of his speech.

Inhaling deeply and dropping his hands onto the podium lazily, he spoke. "You all know I never plan a speech ahead of time for this. To be completely honest, if I wanted to take the energy to not do a couple more papers every now and then, I would probably drop to fourth place, just so I don't have to stand up here and talk. But that's too much like effort," Matt sighed, shrugging.

"I know it's surprising, but I actually kind of thought about my speech this year."

Ka…

"As you all know, Mello's been my roommate my entire life here. He's been one of those constants along with his second place and my third and Near's first and so on," He waved his hand dismissively, as if talking conversationally to someone between classes. "Well, I've come to know him pretty well in these past five and a half years."

…me…

"We all know from living with our own roommates how much we can influence each other. I truly think that completely applies to Mello and me. We've adapted to each other's schedules so much so that he's taken to plugging his headphones in when I'm watching Scrubs, and I've learned to keep my game muted or also use headphones when playing video games. It works so we don't bug each other while he's trying to study or I'm trying to kick back and relax."

…ha…

Matt fiddled with his DS in his pocket as he came away from the podium, instead standing at the edge of the short stage. "It's an informal agreement, I guess. We just sort of started doing that. But in between all of his studying, and my gaming and Scrubs watching, we talk about the actual important things in life." Finally, he glanced at Mello, whose attention was firmly pinned to Matt's pale, freckled face.

…me…

"Over the years, we've admitted a lot of things to each other. We've exchanged stories of our pasts, our parents and any siblings we might have had. We talk about how freaking annoying certain people can be—" Mello gave Near a pointed look "—and about things like what we're supposed to be talking about in this speech right now."

Matt paused, eyebrows scrunching together beneath his mess of red hair. "We've learned a lot about each other in the past few years," He stood up, hands still stuffed in his pocket. "I think the thing I like best that I've learned about my best friend…"

…HAAAAAAAA!

"...is that he's gay."

The bright blue-white beam Matt had been mentally conjuring up blasted through the image of the sliding wooden door of their closet in his head. Mello was bent over the edge of the beam, flying through the back wall of the closet and out into the open.

Kamehameha'd out of the closet, Matt couldn't help but smirk at his mental image.

Matt leaped off the stage and attempted to press his lips against his roommate's shocked senseless face. The auditorium erupted with laughter as Matt succeeded, if only for a moment, before fist and leg came at him simultaneously.

X

"Matt, you shouldn't have, ah, outed Mello against his wishes in that fashion." Matt only shrugged at Roger, holding the icepack over his eye, his leg up on a chair before him.

"And Mello, you shouldn't have physically assaulted Matt like that." Mello only crossed his arms and scowled, staring into the corner of the room. Matt tried to grin at him, but Mello only stood and brushed by him, pushing the chair he was sitting in out of his way.

"I'm sorry, Mel."

After a moment or two of extra scolding from Roger pertaining to the day's adventures, Matt stood and hobbled back to his room, gingerly placing weight on his severely bruised shin. It hurt, but he'd live, he decided. When Matt finally made it back to the room, he turned around, slowly and quietly closing the door before he took a look around the room to look for Mello.

He didn't get a chance to.

Before he could turn around on his own, hands grabbed the hacker by the shoulders and flipped him, slamming his back against the door. Suddenly, Mello's angry, clear-skinned face was right in front of him. "Don't you fucking dare try to put something like that ever again." His upper lip twitched intimidatingly.

Matt stared at his roommate with wide goggled eyes. "Okay."

Without warning, Mello's arms were around the redhead's torso, pulling his roommate into himself tightly, pushing their lips together. He pulled back from the kiss. "At least, not without my permission."

Mello dived in for another kiss and Matt could only smirk through it. His ice pack dropped from his hands. The gamer could only think one single sentence as he realized that this meant his relationship with his roommate was open for the entire orphanage to know.

I'm a fucking Super Saiyan.

A/N: Happy Monday! :D Hopefully this one update a day thing should keep on going throughout the month of November. :3I like this! :D

For the record, I don't own Death Note or Dragon Ball Z. :)

Now, I've gotta run to the bus. ;D

Hope you enjoyed, and I love hearing from you guys! 16 reviews in three chapters? I'm so touched! Truly incurable happiness these last couple days. :3 Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!

~Rachel