A/N: I know that, from the preview, it seemed like this was going to be a Mello POV chapter, with a completely different title. And it was, but the problem was, Mello refused to be anything other than incredibly serious and mildly whiny, thanks to the last chapter. So, we ended up with Matt. I promise Mello will get his own chapter later, so don't worry.
Mello and Matt are possibly some of my favorite characters in Death Note, though, behind only Mikami and Raito himself. I hope I can do them justice – especially Matt. (I might do some serious stuff about them later, by the way, so let me know if you like how I write them.)
And, once again, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 7: Support You Don't Want
Mello was staring at the phone, Matt noticed, and had been for quite some time now. He did a quick calculation... It took him about five minutes to beat a level in this game (Unreal Tournament Xtreme Deluxe or something, Matt forgot), and he had beaten three levels, so it had been at least fifteen minutes. He should probably do something – at least feed Mello some chocolate until he started smirking at things instead.
He stood up, brushing the crumbs of multiple bags of chips off his shirt, and walked over until he was behind the blond man. "Hey, Mello, everything OK?" he asked. "I know Near's beating you in this entire Kira thing, but you're still doing great!"
That had been the wrong thing to say in a million ways, and usually Mello would've snapped at him, but this time the man just made a noncommittal noise. Something was wrong here, if Mello wasn't angry at the mere mention of Near.
"Mello?" Matt asked, increasingly concerned. "What's up?"
Mello paused for a long, long moment. He seemed to have forgotten that he was holding chocolate. This was bad.
Finally, he spoke. "...L just called."
Matt was, understandably, confused. "You mean the fake one, right? Lighto or whatever his name is?"
Mello shook his head furiously. "This is the phone the real L had me carry, Matt. The one that only he knew the number to. He knew my real name. He acted like L. The only real difference was..." He paused again.
"Yes?" Matt prompted.
"...He sounded like a girl." Mello's voice contained a clear, fully understandable note of doubt. "A young one. And the name that showed up on the tracer you designed was Maya Fey, which is no pseudonym I remember him using."
Matt was beginning to think that Mello had been driven insane from a chocolate overdose – L was a teenage girl named Maya? - but he decided to try to convince the other man for a little while longer. If he absolutely had to, he could have the nice men with white coats here in minutes. God bless the cellphone age. "The fake L might've hacked the phone line, Mello. He did know your real name from that entire building incident with the old guy."
Mello winced and touched his scar at the mention of the incident, but then shook his head. "No, no. Our systems are all secure, thanks to your jury-rigging, aren't they?"
Matt paused to think. A lot rode on how well he had done with security, and he was fairly confident in his systems. This did seem odd. "True. I made sure even a mouse couldn't hack this place – not that mice can hack, which makes that a rather terrible metaphor now that I think about it..."
"So it was L." Mello grinned slightly. "I'm sure of it."
The red-haired boy raised an eyebrow. It was a big leap of faith from 'it's hard to hack our phones' to 'L has returned from the dead as a teenage girl'. "Listen, Mello, I doubt it's the original L. I mean, the original L, is to put it bluntly, rotting somewhere." Another wince from Mello. "At best, this is some successor that we didn't know he had."
"...That might be. What matters now is that we go help him... her... whichever." Mello pushed himself to a stand, taking a bite off his chocolate bar. "We'll have to tell Near."
Matt paused for a second. How to let Mello down easy here? "...Listen, Mello. I'm glad you seem to have been contacted by L, but... I'd rather keep doing what I've done here. I can help out from here, if you need me to, but this seems like a trap, and if you get caught... In that case, I can hopefully bust you out, and the worst case scenario there is that you get killed and I can go on working without you. It's blunt, I know, but both of us going seems... not very bright."
Mello looked at him for a long moment, and for an instant Matt was worried that the blond man was going to flip out as he often did and slap him or something. Finally, though, he nodded. "Makes sense. I'll call you when I need you. But I do need to call Near."
Matt nodded, relieved. "Alright. I'll set up the maskers to make sure the call can't be traced."
---
A few minutes later, with all Matt's equipment in place, Mello dialed Near's number. After a few moments, Near apparently picked up, because Mello started talking. Matt lit a cigarette and listened to the conversation with some interest.
"Near? L contacted me... No, the real one... Yes, yes, I know as well as you do... He knew my real name, and he acted just like him... Sounded kinda like a girl... Yes, I know the fake L knows my real name... Yes, I know about his girlfriend, and this wasn't her voice... I spied on her, OK?... No, Near, I'm not going insane... I don't need to lay off the chocolate... Fine, whatever, fuck you." He closed the phone, looking pissed off.
"Wouldn't believe you?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow and taking another drag off of his cigarette.
"I guess not. Seems like I'm going into this alone." Mello sighed.
"Hey, I'll be supporting you from the shadows," Matt reminded him. "I wouldn't let you fall into a trap without some sort of rope!"
"Yes, but your rope is made from gaming controllers," Mello pointed out. "With nicotine-filled smoke holding it together."
"Actually, my latest project was made from two coconuts and Ginger's bikini." Matt grinned. "But don't worry. I've gotten you out of a lot of shit in the past, and if I need to, I'll do it again."
Mello's expression softened just a little. "...Thanks, Matt. It's good to have someone like you."
Matt continued to grin. "Hey, us runners-up for the position of L have to stick together."
He had meant to provoke Mello, and it worked. The man glared at him. "I am not a runner-up, I am going to be L, as the fact he called me pro-"
Matt cut him off, laughing slightly. "There we go! You were getting sappy on me." He grinned once again. "I like you better angry."
Matt raised an eyebrow. "You're strange, Matt." With that, he turned away and began to walk out.
"Love you too!" Matt called after him, then went to go play more of whichever shooter he was playing today, taking another long drag off the cigarette.
---
The next day, the phone rang, and Matt flipped it open, swallowing a mouthful of chips. "You've reached Matt! For game tips, press one. If you're a cute girl, press two. If you're a loud, pissy, scarred man with no manners, start shouting now, and we'll connect you to someone who can get work done as soon as we find one!"
"That seems a bit harsh, Matt," a young, feminine voice commented.
Matt nearly choked on his now-absent chips, but he managed to calm himself. "I just like getting a rise out of Mello. I assume this is the L he was talking about?"
"The very same," the girl replied. The voice sounded like L's – calm and polite, with just the slightest hint of... it wasn't really rudeness, but more abruptness. He said just what he... she... it wanted to, in the simplest terms possible. "We need you to come help us prepare for court tomorrow. How soon can you be here?"
"So you didn't lure Mello into a trap with your feminine wiles?" Matt asked.
The voice remained calm. "I don't really know what you're talking about. Will you come?"
"Sure, sure, where to?" Matt sat up, preparing to type the address into his laptop.
An hour later, he was on a plane to Japan.
A/N: The 'two coconuts and Ginger's bikini' thing, while a reference to Gilligan's Island, was more directly stolen by Matt (and the author) from Seanbaby, the hilarious EGM columnist. Thank you, Seanbaby.
So, chapter preview time! Let's hope I don't nearly entirely lie again like I did last time... (It's not my fault that Matt inspired me!)
The first day of the trial begins! Phoenix is still without evidence and without his trusty legal assistant, but Mikami seems to be aiding him – until the surprise witness testifies. What have Mello and L uncovered? Will either the prosecution or the defense be able to find a contradiction? Will people shout "Objection!" and point dramatically? All this and more will be revealed in Chapter Eight, Turnabout Note!
