A/N: Wow! It's not even dark out and I'm updating! How shocking! Well, it is summer and I have nothing better to do… Anyways, I don't know what to say about this chapter. Please enjoy it~!

Matt nodded stiffly, eyes narrowed.

"Sure." He picked up Near's food, which he had set on the bed. He gave the food to Near, and sat back down on the bed to eat his own meal. "Enjoy."

"Thank you, Matt," Near said in a quiet voice, though he didn't even touch the food. While Near had no problems eating in public while people were around, it was quite a different story when it was just him and Matt, and the only thing Matt had to look at was Near. "Matt, I want you to go get your game and pay attention to that instead of paying attention to me."

Matt looked up at Near. Why was Near so worried about being looked at by Matt?

"I was eating my food, Near," he replied quietly.

"I realize that, but what I meant was later go get your game. I already told you it's unnerving when you stare at me with goggles on." Near began eating his food slowly, dipping his toast into the eggs.

"Wait, but I-" Matt paused. "Oh, ok." He nodded. "I'll… go get that game now." The games seemed much more inviting than they ever did now, something Matt never even knew was possible. Though, Matt also didn't want to get on Near's bad side, since they were both pretty much in the same boat and Matt didn't want to know what Near was like when he wanted revenge or got mad.

He stood up, and walked outside, into Mello's and his room. The room was blatantly empty and quiet. Matt's game lay on his bed, and he picked it up, cradling it in his hands.

"Aaaaah, my video games. How I love you, o' precious Pokemon." Matt smiled as he spoke. He dragged out a long sigh, and moved to walk out of the room. The atmosphere seemed so much calmer in here than in Near's room, but he needed to get back soon enough.

"Alright, let's go." He muttered, walking outside. Matt noticed his goggles on the ground, and put them on. He paused outside the door, and took a deep breath before walking inside.

"I'm back. Miss me?"

"Not particularly," Near replied, half finished with his breakfast. He was eating with his right hand and holding a toy dinosaur with his left hand.

Matt nodded.

"Okay," he replied, sitting down on the bed once again. He turned on the DS, and began to play. The noises and button-pressing calmed him somewhat.

Near didn't know how long he'd been playing with his toys, as he didn't bother keeping track, but he did know he had finished his breakfast a while ago. The sounds from Matt's game were a little annoying, but they served as white noise as his imagination took over his dinosaur and his attention.

The nameless dinosaur was walking through the lego city Near had fixed up. All humans had hidden from it, though it had no malicious motives. The dinosaur was simply misunderstood, and didn't know how to convey that it wasn't evil other than not destroying the buildings. A Lego stood before him, unafraid of the beast. The dinosaur smiled, as it thought it had found someone who understood him. The next thing the dinosaur knew, there was a gun pointed at it. Even after the dinosaur had grown to like the Lego man, and even though the Lego man seemed to return its feelings, he was pointing his gun at the dinosaur with a sick smile upon his face.

This scenario brought Near back to reality when he thought how similar he felt to how the dinosaur must have felt. The Lego man shot the dinosaur, and the dinosaur fell over. The Lego man just killed the dinosaur, and Near thought of Matt's hurtful comments.

"Matt, you killed me," Near said to Matt, looking over his shoulder to stare at the redhead.

Matt looked over from his battle to look at Near with a curious expression on his face.

"…What?" He glanced at the city. "What, do you mean in your city or something?" he asked.

"Never mind… It isn't important…" With a frown, Near turned back to his city to continue the story, but after a moment he stopped. "It's not like you'd care, anyways," he added, then continued his story as the Lego man was celebrated as the savior. The Lego man had no interest in the celebration, and went back to the life where he was serving his abusive best friend, whom was a stegosaurus that everyone else feared.

Near's remark made Matt even more curious about what Near actually meant, but Matt had a feeling that Near wouldn't tell him. Matt watched as Near played with the toys for a while, trying to understand what was going on.

"…Near, what are you doing with those?" He asked, trying to see if the faint suspicion he had was true. As far as he knew, a guy killed a dinosaur and then got hitched with another dinosaur. At least, that's what looked like. 'You killed me.' The words echoed through Matt's head. 'So… is that supposed to mean that I'm the guy that killed the T-Rex, which is apparently Near? What the heck? And then I go off and get all buddy-buddy with some other dinosaur, which nobody else seems to li- Oh, you have got to be kidding me.'

"Near, are you suggesting something?" Matt asked, hoping Near would understand what he was asking. 'Though, why are those two dinosaurs? At first, you'd think that I'm the only normal one, but then again, so is everyone else. So what's so special about Near and Mello that would make them so much different than me and the rest of us?' Matt continued to think, his game forgotten as he stared at Near.

"I'm not really suggesting anything," Near replied without looking at Matt. He took the dinosaur, the T-rex Matt had killed, and painted the word 'Soul' on it with a small container of white touch-up paint, then painted white tears dripping from its eyes. He placed the T-rex beside the Lego man and the stegosaurus. The stegosaurus then pushed the Lego man over, and stepped on him, stalking away shortly thereafter, leaving the Lego man and the crying T-rex behind. The T-rex tried to pick the Lego man up again, but its arms were too short to reach, and if it bent over, it would crush the Lego man.

Matt nodded, watching with a bored expression as he watched Near play. Not that what Near was doing was boring, but it wasn't incredibly interesting. Besides, he was trying to decipher what Near was probably expressing. Matt assumed that Near was the T-rex, he was the Lego man, and Mello was probably the stegosaurus. Matt watched with a deadpan silence as Near painted over the toy version of himself. Matt wondered why the T-rex was crying. What could be so bad that even Near would cry? Matt felt a bit of sympathy for the Near-dino, how it couldn't pick up the Lego-Matt. That's when another thought struck him.

"Near, why are you trying to pick me up?"

"If you are referring to the T-rex, which is not me, it is trying to pick the Lego man, who is not you, up so that he isn't lying on the floor. The T-rex is merely helping someone it once thought to be an ally. Regardless of how the T-rex feels betrayed, it still doesn't want the Lego man to be forgotten and left behind by the one he follows," Near explained, finally looking at Matt, a frown on his face.

Matt sighed.

"…For your information, whether you realize it or not, the T-rex is you, and I am the man. I don't know why you feel betrayed, but I can assure that I have done nothing to purposely hurt you." He pointed out lightly, his gaze narrowing.

"You called me big-headed," Near said after a moment of thought. "It made me sad."

Matt blinked, surprised.

"Oh." His eyes widened slightly. "That." Matt silently cursed himself for saying that. Mello wasn't any better when it came to his pride. Heck, even Matt was a bit stuck-up sometimes. The more Matt thought about, the more Matt regretted saying it. At the time, Matt had let his feelings get the better of him and he'd said something he shouldn't have.

"Tch. Damn it." Matt stood up, leaving the DS on the bed as he walked over to Near, a small frown creasing his face. Matt really didn't want to do what he was going to do, but he probably needed to, in order to compensate for his actions and words.

So, with a final gulp, Matt crouched down to Near, and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug.

"S-sorry."

Near's eyes widened as his heart rate sped up. This was the first time Matt showed any kind of affection towards Near on purpose. The hug, while it was still a kind gesture, felt completely awkward. Near wasn't used to the softness or the warmth of another person.

"Why does Matt even care that he made me feel bad?" he wondered, leaning into Matt without exactly hugging back.

Matt frowned, one of his hands twitching slightly.

"I'm only human, Near. Aren't I allowed to feel regret?" he answered simply. He was glad that Near wasn't pushing him away, but the situation was rather odd, though Near was unexpectedly warm. Matt wondered if Near had ever hugged anyone else before. Matt had a feeling he hadn't.

"Yes, of course. I only meant that Matt hat-- strongly dislikes me." Near couldn't bring himself to say 'hate' because the thought made Near's stomach feel hollow. He tried inconspicuously snuggling more into Matt's embrace. At the moment, he didn't want to consider the reason for it, but he would go over that in his head later.

Matt looked over at the back of Near's head.

"Since when have I strongly disliked you?" he asked. Sure, they had their spats, but then again, doesn't everybody? "Everyone fights every now and then. We just fight more often than other people." Matt had almost called Near his friend- Matt knew that they weren't friends, but Matt hoped that someday, Near would gain enough trust in him to call him that. He responded to Near's cuddliness by patting his back softly and tightening his grip somewhat. To hell with awkwardness. It felt… nice.

Near couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips, though he wasn't quite sure why the awkwardness had suddenly vanished. "Matt, would you believe me if I told you I've never been hugged by anyone before? It really is a nice sensation, and now I feel as if I've been missing out all these years. However, even if I had known how nice it felt, I doubt anyone would've wanted to hug me anyways…" His voice trailed off and he wrapped his arms around Matt, increasing the niceness tenfold.

Matt couldn't help but smile a bit at Near's reaction, and his eyes drooped closed for the moment. They just felt heavy all of a sudden.

"Well, you're warm," Matt muttered, his recently tense muscles relaxing as the two shared the hug. "And I believe you," he added. "Today must be a handful of firsts for you."

"Yes, it is. I would even consider you the first friend I've ever had." Near couldn't keep his smile from growing larger. "If I may call you my friend, that is…," he added thoughtfully. Then, in response, he said, "If you wish to fall asleep right now, I won't stop you."

Matt blinked in surprise. Near already considered him a friend?

"Yeah, of course you can," he replied, trying not to reply too quickly. His smile twitched a bit as he chuckled, his breath ruffling a few stands of white hair. "And Near, I woke up not that long ago. I don't sleep that much." He laughed. "Although you would make a nice pillow." He pointed out.

A slight shiver ran down Near's spin when Matt's breath unsettled some of his hair. "Actually, Matt, it's been quite a few hours that you've been up. If you'd care to look at the clock, it's 2:33PM." Then as an afterthought he added, "if you do use me as a pillow, my only request is that you not drool on me."

Matt let out a soft hum.

"Hm? I guess I lost track of time," he muttered. Something in his gut shifted, and he tensed. What the hell was he doing? Reluctantly, Matt stood up.

"Well then… if it's that late, I'll go get myself some lunch," he continued, his gaze averting to the floor. He fought back the warmth that threatened to creep onto his face. Matt walked over to the door, and paused to look back at Near.

"Sorry." With that, he hurriedly open and closed the door, the blush spilling from his barriers as he did it.

Near's smile disappeared as Matt left. Already, he craved Matt's warmth. However, now that Matt was gone for a little while, he could think over the reasons of his strange behavior and feelings. Possibilities ran wild throughout Near's mind, but all of them were futile because Near already had an idea about what it was, and he wasn't about to beat around the bush with it. He knew it would simply be easier if he embraced it without trying to deny it.

Near had a crush on Matt, and he had probably had it for a long time. The only reason he hadn't known it before was probably because he had never been forced into a situation where he had to actually interact with Matt more than usual. Perhaps that was the reason Near had hoped Matt would protect him against Mello when Near was punched. The realization of all of this left a frown on Near's face.

What would he do now? He certainly couldn't tell anyone about it, especially not Matt or Mello. The best option he had would be to try to hide it, though he wasn't sure if he'd have success with it. He'd never tried to hide a crush from anyone before because he'd never had a crush before. More realizations came over Near as he started making connections from everything that had happened within the last 48 hours. He was sad when Matt insulted him, happy when Matt was nice to him, and worried about getting Matt in trouble with Mello. Near desperately hoped he would hide his feelings well enough.

A/N: Well, not much to say… Um, hurray for Near for not being the idiot who denies he has a crush? Well, I guess if I say it like that, it makes Matt the idiot XD

Anyways, please review, alert, or fave! The feedback is what keeps me from waking up screaming in the middle of the night! And stay tuned until next week, or maybe seriously until Thursday this time, for the next exciting chapter of Gummy Bears!