Once again, I'm back! I hope you enjoyed the new versions of the earlier chapters. I am planning on fixing the tenses in some of the others, but I feel like going forward for now.
So, back to Wammy's!
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. I do own my OC, June.
Chapter 20
Several months passed since L had chatted with Matt and Mello about June.
All that time she had been there, they still didn't know much about her.
L was right. She really didn't talk much. Even while she was with Matt, she had gotten away with not saying much. Although that could be because Matt was always playing a video game.
In fact, the only person that was able to get more than a couple of words from her was -
"HEY! GIVE ME BACK MY CD PLAYER, YOU ASS! NOW BEFORE I BEAT YOUR SCRAWNY ASS AND THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW!"
Yep, Mello. He was the only person that got her to talk and whenever she did, she would be pissed off about something. Matt was pretty sure that the only thing Mello learned about her was what pissed her off the most. Which were stealing her CDs and/or CD player, swiping her book, insulting her in any way…..
Matt was pretty sure the list was longer, but he figured Mello was the only one to know the whole list.
She especially hated it if you stole her music from her. You had to pray that she wouldn't find you if you did that.
Like right now, she was chasing Mello down, who took off with her CD player because she had stolen some of his chocolate again.
June and Mello still got into fights, but they hadn't been fighting as often as they had before L's visit months ago. Apparently, L talked to June about the fighting and told her to knock it off as well because she instigated the fights less often.
Anyway, back to the situation that was happening now.
June was running after Mello, who had her CD player in hand. It was almost December and it was snowing outside, so June was chasing Mello inside.
Once he got to the playroom, he stumbled a bit over his own feet. By the time he recovered, June had tackled him to the ground from behind.
He landed on his stomach with the hand holding the CD player up. Before he had a chance to do anything, she snatched the CD player from him and got up.
She looked down at him, as if thinking of what to do about him, and then shrugged.
She turned around while putting on her headphones and walked away.
Mello grumbled a bit before getting up himself and trudging to his and Matt's room.
When he got there, June was lying on his bed, listening to music from her headphones.
Why did she have to hang out in their room?
Mello sat down at his desk and opened his textbook. As long as she didn't bother him, he would allow this until he wanted his bed back.
"You spend too much time studying. Why don't you have some fun once in a while?"
Damn it. He should have known better than to think that she would leave him alone.
June was only telling him her honest opinion. She had been watching and studying him and Near to see why L wasn't able to choose between the two.
She was pretty sure that she knew now. Mello was short-tempered, let his emotions control some of his decisions, and could be pretty rash sometimes. Ok, most of the time, he was rash.
He also had an inferiority complex, especially when it came to Near. He didn't like being second. He wanted to be first, to be better than her brother, even. She knew that that wouldn't happen for a long time at the rate he was going, but she would admit that she didn't like losing anymore than he did. But she also thought that he was being childish about it. Although her brother was also childish and hated to lose.
She shook her head. Even then, he simply lacked the calm, the composure, to stop and think things through with his head, not his emotions.
Although, he was willing to take action, unlike Near. Near was calm, intelligent, and used his head. She had yet to see him use any emotion whatsoever besides suspicion if that counted.
But, she didn't think he had what it took to act on something. She didn't think that, if need be, he would go out into the streets himself to solve a case if he needed to.
She knew that her brother also sat behind a computer and gave directions most of the time, but he also got out and took action to solve a case. After all, no one knew what L looked like, and she was pretty sure that no one would guess someone like him to be the world's greatest detective if they ever saw him.
She didn't think that Near could do that.
So she saw why her brother kept debating. They both had flaws that would hinder them when solving a case, but they also had strengths that were needed. In her opinion, the best option would be to have them work together, but she knew that if she brought that up, Mello would only bitch and moan and would just not cooperate with him.
"I mean, you spend almost all of your time studying. That's boring. You need to have a day off from studying once in a while."
Mello turned to glare at her.
"I don't need to take a break. I'm going to beat Near and I have to study to do that. Now leave me alone."
Matt was surprise that Mello didn't go off on her. Maybe he didn't want to fight now.
June frowned. Honestly, she thought that he was going to mentally kill himself with all of the studying he did. People needed to cut themselves some slack once in a while, so why wouldn't he cut himself some slack? It wasn't like anybody was going to inherit the title anytime soon, anyway.
"Well, if you insist, do you want some help?" She did promise L that she would help his successor. She couldn't say that Mello would succeed him, but she promised to be nicer to him and she had nothing better to do.
She knew that he didn't need help, but it couldn't hurt to ask if he wanted it. Some people appreciated help that was offered them even if they didn't need it, right?
Mello's eyes widened. She was offering to help him? Where did that come from?
He gritted his teeth. He didn't need her help. He didn't need anybody's help. He was going to beat Near on his own. He didn't need anybody to help him do that.
"I don't need your help. I can take the sheep down on my own. Now leave me alone."
Okay, he was starting to get pissed. Matt could tell. He also knew that June asked if he wanted help, not if he needed help.
Ever since their talk with L, he had been trying to listen closely to her words to hear if they had some double meaning. So far, she didn't speak enough for him to get anything. But he did hear that she said "want", not "need". There was a difference between the two words.
She probably knew that Mello didn't need help, that he was capable of doing it on his own. In that case, was she trying to be nice to him? He wondered what L told her. It was a surprise that she would offer Mello anything.
June frowned. Apparently, Mello wasn't one of those people. She knew that he didn't need help. She just asked if he wanted it. But it was his choice if he wanted to be an ass about it.
She decided to drop it and listen to her music.
….
A couple of hours later, Mello closed his book since it was almost dinner time.
It had been quiet for a while. He wondered what was up.
He turned around to see that June had fallen asleep on his bed. Great.
Now he had to wake her up. He got up and walked over to June and started shaking her.
"Hey June. Wake up. It's time for dinner."
No response.
"Hey, wake up already."
Nothing.
"Hey June! Wake up!"
Still nothing.
"Here, let me try something."
Matt turned off his game station and walked over to June. He reached over and grabbed her headphones.
The second the headphones were pulled off, her hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.
Mello made note of that in case he had to wake her up again.
She slowly opened her eyes.
"What?"
"It's almost time for dinner."
"I'm not hungry."
Matt frowned.
"But you didn't eat much today, did you? You need to come and eat with us." Someone had to make sure she didn't starve herself.
She took back her headphones, put them on, and rolled over onto her side facing away from them.
"No thanks."
Mello was getting annoyed again. He looked over at Matt. It didn't look like he was ready to give up the argument. Mello huffed.
He grabbed June by the back of her jacket and yanked her off the bed. He dragged her away with her struggling and shouting.
"What the hell, Mello? I said I wasn't hungry! Let go of me! MELLO!"
Matt watched as his friends left the room. Honestly, it was a surprise that they were able to stand each other enough to stay in the same room for as long as they did.
Oh well. Matt grabbed his handheld and followed his friends out the door.
….
A couple of days later, June noticed that Matt was carrying a chocolate bar as he made his way out of the playroom. Curiosity got the better of her, and she followed him out after giving Near back one of his puzzles. He was still suspicious of her, but he let her play with some of his puzzles and what not.
She followed Matt, but she didn't think he noticed her there.
When he opened the door to his and Mello's room, he sighed in relief when he saw that the blonde wasn't there.
"What are you doing?"
He jumped and turned around, seeing the other blonde was right behind him. When did she get there?
He pulled her into the room before Mello could come by and notice the two of them.
As he shut the door, June started questioning him.
"What was that for? Why are you trying to be sneaky? Why do you have a chocolate bar? Did you steal from Mello's stash?"
Matt looked at her as he started explaining.
"No, I didn't steal from Mello's stash. One, he would kill me. Two, I don't really like chocolate. I was trying to sneak the chocolate in here so that Mello wouldn't notice it because his birthday is coming up and I don't know what else to get him."
June blinked.
"His birthday is coming up?"
"Yeah, it's on the 13th. He's going to be eleven. I would have gotten something for you if you said when your birthday was."
"What, you never asked. Besides, I didn't mind at all as I already told you."
Yes, he remembered her saying that on her birthday. How did he know when her birthday was?
It was October 16th and June was reading in the playroom once again. Suddenly, Roger came up and handed her a gift-wrapped box.
"This is from your brother. He wanted to wish you a happy birthday."
With that, he left.
Linda, who was nearby when that happened, heard that.
"What? It's your birthday today? Why didn't you say so?"
Matt and Mello, who were passing by, heard what Linda said, as well as Near, since he was always there.
"Nobody ever asked. Besides, I didn't want to make a big deal about it."
"What are you talking about? It's your birthday! Why not make a big deal about it? Oh, now I feel bad that I didn't get you anything."
"I really don't mind. You don't have to give me anything."
"Oh, but we must do something. How old are you now?"
"Nine."
"Well, we are going to go do something special. Matt, Mello, want to come along?"
Matt was surprised that she didn't say anything about an upcoming birthday. Then again, she didn't really talk a whole lot.
Mello didn't particularly care that her birthday was today. If she didn't want to celebrate it, why bother?
"Sure." Matt was on board.
"No thanks. I have better things to do."
Linda frowned.
"That's not nice. You have to be nice to the birthday girl today!"
"Well I don't care. Later, Matt."
With that, Mello left.
Matt thought that he should have been a bit nicer, but that was just him. June looked like she expected that kind of reaction and didn't say anything.
"Well, come on! Let's go!" Linda grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off to the kitchen to make a birthday cake.
"Well, anyway, I had to make sure that Mello didn't see his birthday gift."
"Ok, but you are forgetting something. This is Mello we're talking about. He could smell the chocolate. You are going to need a good hiding place for it."
"Ok, what do you suggest?"
She looked around the room.
She then pointed out the hamper.
"Why not in the hamper? The smell of dirty clothes will throw him off and no one will think of looking in there, mainly because they won't want to go near it."
She had a point. No one will think of looking for a chocolate bar there. But she was talking about putting food in the dirty clothes pile. He was pretty sure that wasn't sanitary. In fact, it sounded more like a way to get revenge on someone.
"….No thanks."
"What? It's in a wrapper, so nothing would happen to it. But, if you insist, just wrap it in plastic and put it somewhere out of sight."
Matt kind of glared at her. He was going to put it out of sight anyway. The only difference was the plastic.
But he did it anyway. After he was done, she then started tugging on his arm.
"Now come on! Let's go outside! I want to play out in the snow."
Matt wanted to protest, but he knew that June would be stubborn and keep persisting until he caved. He figured he would go ahead with it since this was actually one of the longer conversations that they had.
"Ok."
"Awwww. You gave up early. Oh well. Get your coat and everything and meet me at the door."
She walked out, leaving Matt to stare at her leaving. She wanted him to fight back? Did she think that he wasn't stubborn enough? He didn't get her part of the time. But, he got his coat, gloves, hat, and everything and prepared to go outside with June.
Mello walked by the front entrance to see June geared up to go outside. She seemed to be waiting for something. Mello figured out what it was when Matt came by, also prepared to go outside.
Mello frowned. June had convinced him to go outside in this weather? Matt hated going outside.
Great, he was hoping to hang out with Matt, but it looked like he would have to hang out with June as well. Mello stood there for a moment, and then went to go get his coat.
June was pelting Matt with snowballs when Mello made it outside and out towards them. They actually got pretty far out. They were at the top of the hill that went down to the pond that was there. It just couldn't be seen since it was covered in snow.
June looked over and saw Mello when she heard someone walking towards them.
"Hey Mello! Interested in joining our snowball fight?"
Mello frowned and looked away.
"What makes you think that I'll play?"
"Because you're already part of the game!"
After she said that, she nailed him in the head with a snowball.
Mello growled.
"That's it! You're going down!"
"In your dreams!"
She laughed as she made another snowball.
For a half an hour, Matt, Mello, and June were going around and pelting each other with snowballs. Mello probably wouldn't admit it, but he actually was having fun with the both of them. He could tell June was having fun because she kept laughing.
Mello snuck over to another tree. He looked around to see June not too far away. She didn't see him and was too busy trying to make another snowball.
He took the chance and jumped her, causing her to fall down. He pinned her down on her back.
"Ha! I got you!"
She smiled up at him, throwing him off as she flipped him so that she was on top.
"Now I got you!" She laughed.
Mello smirked up at her. She tilted her head to the side, confused, until he pushed her off of him.
"Ha! Think again."
When he didn't hear a response, he looked over. June wasn't there. He got up to see that he had pushed her down the hill.
She was at the bottom, getting up. It didn't look like she was hurt. In fact, she was laughing.
"Oh, I'm going to get you for that!" She yelled playfully.
"June! Get out of there now!"
Mello looked over to Matt, a bit confused.
"What do you mean?"
Matt looked over to Mello, worried.
"Mello, don't you remember that there's a pond down there."
Mello's eyes widened and he froze as he heard a sound you didn't want to hear in the middle of winter: the sound of ice cracking and someone falling in the water.