"Inside my heart, there is a space. It twists and turns, it bleeds and aches. Inside my heart, there's an empty room. It's waiting for lightning. It's waiting for you." - Jewel Kilcher, "Absence of Fear"

*Warning: Some swearing in this chapter *

Matt walked past the doorway to the sitting room, in which he could see Near sitting. How fitting.

"Damn you, Near," he whispered. Damn you, why does Linda have to like you so much? How can she even like you? You're a boring, dumb little twit who does nothing but play with toys. Even though you're not dumb. Hey, if I had a say in things, you would be, though!

Matt angrily shoved his fists in his pockets and fantasized about how much it would pain Near if he woke up the next morning to discover all his toys' decapitated carcasses. He actually got a little laugh out of this cynical thought.

Perhaps Near sensed a disturbance in the Force, for when Matt walked past the room grumbling angrily and thinking evil thoughts, he looked up to observe Matt's actions.

What could make him so mad? He thought, just to seem normal in case any mind-readers happened to be using their powers on him at the moment. He knew exactly what could have made Matt so angry. He knows Linda doesn't return his feelings, and that she instead projects those feelings towards me, he thought, deciding it was really rather boring to play dumb. How juvenile of him. Being one year younger than Matt, he was naturally an expert on what being mature was like, it seems.

What are the odds that Matt will try to engage me in some sort of physical fight due to his anger? Hm, I would say there's only about a twelve percent chance of that happening, as Matt is neither a very aggressive person nor is he upset enough to do such a thing. That's good. I doubt I am strong enough to take him on, anyway, without coming out severely injured. Perhaps I should exercise more...? No, I doubt I will ever need to use a large amount of physical strength. Near's motto was not "Better safe than sorry," but that would never be something he regretted.

In the kitchen, Linda sat, dumbfounded as to why Matt had stormed out of the kitchen after she told him that she would be painting a portrait of Near. Well, to take a quote from her diary, the people who had determined her to be a child prodigy "might've made a mistake when they said I was supposed to be here. All I can do good well is art stuff." Her grammar may have improved over the years, but she was still unsure she was fit to be there.

"Damn it! Mello, I know exactly how you feel," Matt said as he flopped himself down on his bed.

Mello looked up from his essay at Matt. "What do you mean?"

"That fucking little twerp Near! Now I'm competing with the little loser, too. And, damn, I don't stand a chance!" Matt nearly yelled.

"This about Linda?" Mello asked, his voice bored.

"Damn right, it is! She – ah, she likes Near, Mello, Near!" Matt was transitioning out of the "angry" phase and into the "depressed" phase.

"Let's make this quick. I'm kinda busy, so I don't have time to contradict everything you say. Everybody knows that Linda likes Near, the same way everybody knows that you like Linda, and, look, everybody knows everything there is to know in this place, okay? It seems that you – and probably that airhead you're infatuated with – are the only one who doesn't see this stuff. You want Linda to like you? Okay, go do something about it." Mello's tone gradually increased in aggravation as he explained to Matt.

Matt was silent for a few moments after Mello said this, contemplating on what he had just heard and how best to react. He finally decided the most appropriate response would be: "Shiiiiiit. You mean everybody knows. And is everybody included in that 'everybody'?"

"There's me and all the other people who actually notice what's going on, so yeah, that's everybody 'sides you and Linda," Mello said passively; he was trying to focus on his essay.

"That includes Near, then?" Matt, being oblivious to Mello's shut-up-and-let-me-word tone of voice, asked.

"Yeah, that includes Near! Now, shut up, and let me work!"

"Oh..." Then I guess I'm prepared to put myself into a little predicament. Matt, having heard confirmation from his best friend that Near did in fact know what he'd hoped no one other than himself and Mello knew, decided it was time to concoct a plan. And that plan would have a name. And that name would be "Operation: Near Is a Loser, And I Must Somehow Convince Linda That I Am Not." It may as well have been called "Mission: Impossible."

A/N: I know this one was kind of short. Okay, it was about two and a half pages shorter than is my norm. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am probably going to updating like crazy so that I can get this story done without putting it off for a year. I have the rest of the story planned out, though, so I can (maybe, possibly, I might bet against it) finish it quickly.