MothMask speaking: As is evidenced by her A/N grammar. Or lack thereof. *shakes head sadly*
Near sat on his bed with his open laptop. Mat had stopped him in the hall earlier, telling him to check his email. Near carefully typed in his password and sifted through his email. A few were from various websites he subscribed to, there was an ad that had slipped through his spam blocker, and... aha! There was the one he wanted.
Near clicked it open and saw it had a video attachment. He started the video and watched as Mello stormed into the room and saw the puppet. As the video played, all of Near's focus narrowed to the screen before him.
As soon as the video finished, Near sat back and began twirling his hair in thought. Mello's reaction was quite unexpected. He didn't get angry or break the puppet. He actually put it in his drawer.
"What does it mean?" Near wondered aloud. He was somewhat annoyed that he didn't understand what Mello's actions meant, but he realized well enough that social situations were his weak suit.
Perhaps Mello didn't hate him after all... He could simply be frustrated with his class standing, and didn't know how to express it.
Near nodded to himself. "I'll... I'll try to be... friendly?" he asked himself. "No, Mello would think I'd lost my mind. I'll just... try hard to not provoke him. Yes, I think that would work..."
Near was working on a puzzle in the playroom when Mello strolled in. Near noted that Matt was, for once, absent from Mello's side.
Mello sat down on "his" sofa and unwrapped a chocolate bar. He was pretending to ignore Near in favor of the chocolate. Near watched out of the corner of his eye for a few moments, before deciding to put his "be nicer to Mello but not too nice" plan into action.
Near looked up from his puzzle and tried to catch Mello's eye. When their eyes finally met, Near gave a small smile. Mello jerked back as if he had been smacked, and gazed warily at the unfazed Near.
Near nodded slightly, then went back to his puzzle. As he put two pieces together, he heard Mello mutter "Not enough rum in the world", before walking out of the playroom. Near hid a small smirk as he watched Mello's retreating form.