A/N v.2: I am forever in debt to Chibi-sensei for this chapter. She basically wrote the entire second half of the second scene in this chapter, and I pretty much just rewrote it in my style. Thanks to everyone who reviews. I reply to all reviews, except those posted as an anon, or from people who don't have the PM feature enabled. The disclaimer from last chapter applies to the entire fic. Happy reading! :)


Chapter 2

Matt left England a week later and arrived in New York the next day, having gotten a nonstop flight. As he was checking into his hotel, he heard someone yelling.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO CHOCOLATE? I DON'T CARE! GET ME SOME F***ING CHOCOLATE, DAMMIT!"

Turning away from the uncomfortable registrar with his room key in his hand, Matt scanned the room to find the source of the unnatural yelling. His eyes alighted upon an angry-looking girl – wait, no. It was a guy with a girlish haircut. 'Weird,' thought Matt. The guy, who looked to be about Matt's age, was yelling at a bigger, burlier man who, as far as Matt could tell, had failed to procure a chocolate bar when asked. Matt shook his head. 'There sure are some strange people out there…' he thought, completely ignoring the fact that he was one of them, and walked off into his room.


The next day, Matt was driving around the city on his rented motorcycle, just generally looking around, until he found himself at a strip mall. Because he had nothing better to do, he parked his bike and got off, leaving his helmet on the handlebars. He was decked in his usual ensemble of fur vest, striped shirt, skinny jeans, and orange goggles. He walked inside the building, ignoring the strange looks he got with such ease it was almost like he got this every day (which, now that he thought about it, he did).

Matt didn't really need or want anything, so he just wandered around the stores, looking at the clothes in this one, trying on the shoes in that one. It was approaching noon and Matt was hungry, so he started walking towards the food court. Then he realized he only had a couple dollars, so found the nearest vending machine and bought a chocolate bar, a bag of chips, and a bottle of soda. 'It's as good a meal as any,' he thought with a shrug, and opened the chocolate bar.

But just as he was about to take a bite of the chocolate, it was grabbed from his hand. "I'll take that," said a familiar voice, and Matt turned around to see the same girlish teen from last night running away from him with his chocolate bar in his hand.

"What the hell?" Matt screamed. "Give that back, you thief!" And so the chase began.

The blonde led Matt on such a convoluted route that Matt had to wonder how he was still even following the thief. But slowly, slowly, ever so slowly, Matt sensed that he was gaining. Eventually, Matt got close enough to nab the blonde.

"Give me back the chocolate!" Matt demanded, but the blonde just laughed.

"I ate it all. While you were still running after me, I ate the whole thing. You wasted your time for nothing!" the blonde snickered.

Matt just stared in shock. Then he started laughing, too. "It wasn't a waste of time, actually," he said when he was finally able to stop, completely ignoring the creepy look he was getting from the blonde. "It's the most fun I've had in a while. It gets boring in…" Matt stopped himself just before he was about to say in Wammy's. 'Who is he,' Matt thought, 'that I'm able to relax so much with?' He couldn't tell anybody about Wammy's, not when the Mafia still wanted him. "Anyways, I'm Matt. Nice to meet you. I'm staying at your hotel." He held out his hand.

"Mello," said the blonde, looking disdainfully at Matt's hand. Noticing this, Matt awkwardly pulled his hand back and scratched his neck.

"So," said Matt awkwardly, following Mello as he started to walk away. "Why are you here in New York?"

"And you want to know because?" Mello asked in response, smirking at the uncomfortable look Matt now sported. "Just messing with you. I'm here because I live here, actually. Well, here and England, but I hated England and left as soon as I could with no plans to go back, so that doesn't really count. But my girlfriend kicked me out a week or so ago, so I'm staying in a hotel until I find a place to settle down."

Matt's eyes widened. "England? Wow, that's where I'm from, too. Where in England?"

"Winchester. It was a horrible place, where I lived, with nothing but a bunch of f***ing idiots. I left a year or so ago," Mello said distastefully.

'Winchester?' Matt thought. 'But that's where Wammy's is! Could this be who Near was talking about? He says he just left, too. But he says he hated it there. Does that mean he hated Near, too? But if he hated Near, how could they be friends? Or maybe they weren't friends and I'm just looking too deep into this, and this is really just a coincidence.' Matt mentally shook his head to clear it of the confusing thoughts. "So, when do you want to go back to the hotel?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't really know, to tell the truth. Whenever I get bored of all the idiots surrounding me everywhere I go, I guess. You?" Mello replied.

"I don't really know either. But I figure I may as well do some sightseeing now that I'm out here. You want to come with? I'm actually here because I won a gaming tournament back at home, so it's all expenses paid," Matt offered.

Mello thought for a second. "Eh, sure. Why not. What do you want to do first?"

Matt and Mello spent the rest of the day sightseeing. They saw the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Duffy Square, and a whole lot more. To Matt's surprise, he found himself giving more details of his life to Mello than he had ever given to anyone, even Near. He told Mello his likes, his dislikes, his pet peeves, things he admired in other people, even letting slip the fact that his parents were dead. However, he said he was living with relatives, not at Wammy's.

They returned to the hotel around 9:00, but neither boy wanted to part ways. They reached Matt's room first and stood awkwardly outside the door. There was the usual hemming and hawing and "Look at the time!"-ing that grownups do at parties when they really don't want to leave, but eventually Matt said, "Well, I really do need to get to sleep. Maybe we can meet up tomorrow?"

Mello nodded. "Yeah. I'll see you at breakfast. And bring chocolate! My incompetent… 'friends,' shall we say, stole all mine from my suitcase." He looked ready to kill someone.

A little nervous, Matt responded, "Uh, yeah, I'll do that. G'night." And he went inside.

As Matt fell on the bed, he wondered to himself, 'How is it that this one, girlish guy with a chocolate fetish could get me to loosen up so much? I've spent two years pushing back those painful memories, and he just pulls them up with a few words. Who is he? How does he do this?'

Sometime in the middle of these thoughts, Matt spiraled into an anguished sleep, filled with dreams of his parents and past life.