A/N: This fic is dedicated to my beloved CANDY chan who is being nice enough to give several of my favourite characters Joker Immunity™ in exchange for it. This chapter is for Hidan from Naruto.

As part of the conditions set out before I began writing: this fic will have only minor angst which will be countered with immediate fluffiness.

Also, I must include certain things throughout the fic, I shall include a list of these things covered in each chapter in the author's notes. In this chapter we have #) 2- Yokobue

Please enjoy and thank you to CANDY for betaing and Jenny-onni for re-beta-ing

I would also like to add that from this chapter forth Near is going to be getting so much adoration from me because he deserves it after CANDY's latest fic, Rhymes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of the songs included in this fic. This chapter will be including I Saw It On Your Keyboard by Hellogoodbye. And the title is from the webcomic "Cyanide and Happiness" which is highly recommended by CANDY and will probably be done so by myself once I have gotten around to reading it. A word of warning though, before you go and look it up, it is a very funny comic but in a dark, sick and twisted way.

Rated for language and very very slight angst.

Chapter Seven: Operation: Escape Back to England Begins!

Matt yawned and stretched as he exited the plane just outside of New York. "So this is what America's like huh?" he asked no one in particular as he made his way to baggage collection with Mello and Near.

Roger had told them that as part of their schooling, they were to travel to America by themselves. They would be driven to the airport, helped to check in and then they were on their own.

Neither of the others said anything so Matt shrugged and got his beloved DS from his worn backpack. Turning it on, he noted with dismay that he would have very little time on it before the charge ran out.

Sighing, he returned the device known to him as Betsey to his bag and took out instead Yokobue, his MP3 player.

Turning her on, he put the earphones in his ears and pressed play, content to listen to the last song he had playing.

~"There exists a melody that, just might change your mind"~ he sang softly, ignoring the people around him, ~"oh if only I knew the key to sing to make you mine. And then I saw it on your keyboard, you saw it on my sleeve, oh I never knew a heart existed outside of make-believe, then I saw it on your keyboard I knew at least that I might have a chance to catch a shooting star"~

Near stared at the red haired gamer in shock.

He hadn't known that Matt could sing at all let alone this well. And to sing like that in public, obviously not caring who saw him. Near shook his head and sighed silently, there was no way he'd ever be able to match the gamer, this, along with everything else, was just one more piece of evidence that Matt was far out of the small, pale child's league.

Mello's face softened as he heard his longtime roommate and friend sing, confident at last that things could go back to normal between them.

He didn't know what had come over him, that made him kiss Matt that time except that he knew he couldn't stand to see Near, that stupid little sheep who somehow managed to beat him in everything else, take the gamer away from him too.

Of everything Near had taken from him, Matt was the one who made Mello snap, to shatter the barrier Mello had created oh so many years ago to hide behind, to prevent anyone getting too close to him, or close to him at all, but most importantly, to stop him getting hurt anymore.

Mello had never been an easy child. His parents had enrolled him in karate, judo and tae kwon do at an early age in an attempt to calm him down somewhat, figuring that all that exercise and discipline would wear him down a little and make him easier to manage. Which it did.

Those few years were some of the best for the blond. The control he felt when he perfectly executed a punch or a kick calmed him. That's why he wanted to be the best. Because when he came to Wammy's, there was no karate, no judo and no tae kwon do. There was no more rigid discipline and no control. His very existence, like so many others at Wammy's, was completely focussed on the ranking system. On being number one. That was the only way he could have control over anything anymore. His rankings were the only things he allowed himself to fix upon, to allow to become routine. Because he never knew when another disaster would strike, like it had that time when his house had burned down, his parents still trapped inside.

Matt had been the one to change that. Matt, with his too wide eyes and shy mannerisms. Matt, with his love for Natalie Cole and his obsession for Hellogoodbye. Matt, who still cried at night when he thought Mello was safely asleep. Matt, who was too trusting back then, too innocent but had slowly become more cynical over the years. Matt, with his video games and too good to be true hacking skills. Matt, with his kind works and smile that never quite reached his eyes. Matt who stole chocolate from the kitchens for him after the blond's stash was confiscated for some reason or another. Matt, who glanced at the instruments in the rec-room with wistful eyes when he thought no one was looking. Matt, who never complained when Mello did anything totally unreasonable. Matt, who never lectured and only ranted about some computer or video game related subjects. Matt, who saw past the mood swings and the fierce exterior. Matt, who had dived straight in and cracked his barrier with the first glimpse of his frightened eyes. Matt, who hadn't pushed him away after he kissed him.

Matt, who Mello was slowly beginning to understand he liked more then a friend, more than he probably should. More than was safe.

Matt sighed in relief and collapsed onto his bed in the room he would be sharing with Near and Mello.

The tour of their new school had taken longer than he'd expected, the school grounds themselves being nearly as big as the grounds back at Wammy's, only these were filled with more buildings and many, many more people. People who looked at them strangely as they had walked past.

"We should come up with a plan of escape," Mello said as he began setting up his desk in that particular way of his.

Matt groaned, "Escape? Mells, we just got here. Think of it as a break."

Mello shot Matt a look that he didn't catch, having his eyes closed. But Near did. It was a look filled with empathy and compassion with an undercurrent of longing.

"Matt is right." Near spoke up to save the blond having to respond to that, "We should stay here a little while, after all, if we are going to escape we would need to work together, something I am not prepared to do at the present time given the circumstances."

Mello's eyes narrowed at the pale child but he nodded stiffly none the less, "So what would you propose, Princess?"

Near made no comment about the nickname, Mello had been calling him such things for years now. "We should prove to Roger and to L how well we can do by ourselves" he said instead, "We should take over this school as we did Wammy's."

Matt sat up, leaning against the wall his bed was pushed against, "That's actually a good idea Near, everyone back at Wammy's holds out to hear a word from one or another of us three, we could have this school wired in a matter of months, maybe weeks! Think about it Mells, if we've got the entire school on our side, escape will be just that much easier. Not to mention if we get some of the teachers on our side they can cover our escape for a while… And then there's the fact that it'll be just fun."

Mello nodded slowly at his friend's words, "So how will we be doing this then? And Matty, we should really be starting to use the cover names Roger arranged for us"

"Whatever you say Miles" Matt said grinning, "but he's right, how exactly can we do this?"

"Simple" Near said, "We will all split up, that way we can cover the main cliques, once we have them under our thumbs so to speak, we can plot out the rest of our escape. I, as Number One, shall belong with the nerds."

"Shotty the skaters" Matt said grinning and fiddling with the shades he now wore in place of his goggles, not being prepared to risk them being lost or damaged while on foreign soil.

"Which leaves you with the 'It' crowd, I suppose." Near concluded, looking at Mello with no expression on his small, childlike face.

Mello smirked, "I'm fine with that." he said, "So we'll begin phase one of Operation: Escape back to England at dinner shall we?"

Near nodded, "The sooner the better" he said.

"Well then we should get changed into our uniforms Dominik" Mello smirked.

Near said nothing but nodded simply, unfolding his new school uniform and getting changed silently.

Matt groaned again, "Why do we have to start school tomorrow anyway? I'm still jetlagged from the flight and probably will be for weeks"

"Don't worry Max, you'll fit right in with the skaters who'll probably all be on something." Mello smirked at his friend who grinned back at him.

"I'm more worried about how pretty little M will fit in with the It crowd with purple bags under his eyes" Matt responded easily.

Mello's smirk widened as he pulled out a little tube of something, "This, my dear Maxwell, is known as concealer." he said smugly, walking into the bathroom attached to their room to apply it. When he came out, you couldn't tell that he had just been on an 8 and a half hour flight from Britton and then a tour of a large school without rest.

Matt whistled, "Looking good M." he said, looking up from his laptop and giving his friend the once over.

"Maxwell, you have to get changed for dinner" Near said quietly.

Matt grinned easily at him, "all in good time Nik, all in good time" he said, returning to his computer.

"What are you doing?" Mello asked him, leaning over him to look at the screen.

"Hacking into the student data bases and emails so we can get to know a bit more about them." Matt said, "Now shift," he grinned, poking his friend, "You're blocking my light"

Mello rolled his eyes but moved none the less, "You have ten minutes before you really need to get changed so we can get to dinner on time" he said to his friend as he continued to fiddle with the objects on his desk, trying to get them just right.

"Yes sir" Matt mock saluted, "I'm just setting up a program that will check the data base and email system for anything interesting without getting caught while we're at dinner. I'll pull an all-nighter tonight I think. I'm behind with a program some one's paying me to do."

"Whoa wait what?" Mello said, "Matt! You can't just make up programs for anyone. You have a responsibility at Wammys as one of the top five-"

"Mells" Matt said seriously, looking at his friend from over the top of his laptop lid, "We're not going to be in the top five when we get back. We will be on the bottom"

"What?"

"Matt's right" Near said, "We are not participating in the weekly tests therefore we will get zero on them until we manage to get back."

Mello's face darkened, "can you rig the computer system at Wammy's?" he asked Matt seriously.

"Of course I can" Matt said, "but it won't do you any good, Roger does everything by hand these days remember? Nothing I do will make any difference."

Mello scowled, "We are going to show them just what the top three from Wammy's House can do" he growled.

Matt grinned and Near nodded once, all of them eager to take up any challenges presented to them on their way.

A/N: And that was chapter six, Hidan hath thus been saved.

Next up will be Sirius Black from Harry Potter.

In the next chapter we have dinner and fangirls.

Reviews = love. Love for me and love for the people I am saving through writing this (you may request people to be saved but remember, I am limited to one character per chapter and will only save characters I believe should be saved. if you request someone who a) has already been granted Joker Immunity™ or b) is already in the waiting list I will let you know via PM.)

And thus I would like to thank CANDY chan for her love.

Thanks for reading!