A/N Hello, readers~ This is MothMask, Darkwish's beta. Just wanted to say hello to everyone ^w^ Enjoy~~

Matt shook his head at the puppet on Mello's newly made bed. Maybe he'd been a bit hasty in chasing Near off. After all, the kid was just following Mello's request. But it couldn't be helped; If he hadn't made Near leave, Mello would've done the same in a much more unkind way.

Matt nodded to himself and went about setting up a few video cameras. He wanted to show Near Mello's reaction. Provided it was good and not just Mello cursing Near to hell and back.
He had just finished setting up the camcorder in one corner of the room and his webcam on his laptop in the other corner when Mello came into the room.

Mello came in, as always, like a whirlwind. He stormed to his bed, obviously intent on throwing himself on his bed in a fit of PMS-esque rage, when he stopped short. For some reason, his bed was made. His bed was never made.

As he scanned over the sheets, he noticed the finger puppet on the pillow.

"Maaatt," Mello drawled, looking over his shoulder in surprise. "Why is my bed made and who the hell put a finger puppet that looks like Near on it?"

Matt watched Mello closely. So far so good; Mello wasn't yet raging.
"Near did as you asked and made you the puppet. He dropped it off earlier. He made the bed to be sure you'd see it." Matt replied.

"Maaatt, when did I ask Near for a puppet of him?" Mello asked his voice taking on a dangerous tone.

"Hmm?" Matt asked pretending to play his handheld. "Yesterday, when you got drunk in the playroom. You asked, he said yes, you lurched back to the room to sleep off a half can of rum."

Mello was still staring at the puppet, searching his mind for any memory of the incident. After a few minutes, he began recalling bits of the conversation.

"Matt? Why did I do that?" asked Mello honestly confused.

Matt gave an internal sigh of relief and answered. "I might have pointed out Near made some really cool ones before. Then you stumbled your way over and asked for a Near puppet. I thought you wanted it as a peace token. Y'know, like you were finally going to stop fighting and just live and let live?"

Mello blinked then looked at Matt. "Are you drunk? I'm not giving up until I beat Near, and that's that."

"So what, Mello? You can compete without the drama, you know. Besides, you seemed to like him well enough when your a bit drunk, why not sober?" Matt asked.

Mello took the last few steps over to his bed and picked up the puppet, looking closely at it. "He went all out on this thing. I wonder why..." Mello murmured.

Matt rolled his eyes so hard they almost rolled away. "Because he's trying to impress you. Sheesh, Mello, your kind of slow on the uptake today."

Mello glared at Matt and turned to his nightstand, dropping the puppet into the drawer. "I am NOT 'slow on the uptake', Matt. It just doesn't make sense why he would want to impress me. He hates me, remember?" Mello said almost echoing his drunken words from the day before.

Matt sighed for real and looked up from his game. "Mello, I hate to break it to you, but Near doesn't hate you. He never has. He watches you almost as much as you watch him." Matt said.

Mello looked at Matt shocked for a moment before remembering himself and sneering. "I only watch him to try and figure out how he keeps beating me, Matt."

Matt nodded sagely. "As long as you believe that, Mello."

"Don't make me beat the crap out of you Matt! Just stop trying to make Near and I be friends, okay?" Mello snarled.

"I wasn't, but it's interesting that that was what you came up with. Mello, besides frustration over your standing compared to Near's, how do you really feel about him? Just think about it ok?" Matt said taking his game and leaving a gob smacked Mello behind.

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It wasn't until the next day that Matt was able to take down the cameras without Mello noticing.
Grinning, Matt quickly loaded the footage onto his computer, and e-mailed it to Near. After making some edits, of course...