Chapter 12 - Action and Inaction
The next few days passed mostly without incident. Matt returned to sharing his room with Mello who came back from the library that night to find Matt's computers set up, his DS charging by his bed and the red-head sat on the floor writing a rough draft of an essay that he was meant to have handed in the day after he disappeared. Neither said anything about his sudden reappearance but Mello had to suppress the butterflies he was feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Matt's reappearance in his classes however, did not go as unnoticed. Their first class the next morning, English Literature was so disrupted the teacher finally gave up and gave them a free period to get everything out of their systems. Matt had responded by putting in his headphones and completely ignoring everyone, choosing instead to finish his essay.
Soon, most, if not all, the students at Wammy's had realised that Matt simply wasn't going to talk to anyone about what had occurred and why he had left or why he had come back. This obviously lead to a lot of whispering behind the redhead's back and whenever Mello heard someone contemplating some wild theory he had to try very hard not to laugh.
All in all, Matt had become a lot more reserved since his return to Wammy's House and Mello couldn't help but notice the change yet he felt powerless as to what to do. In the end, he decided that the best course of action would be to allow Matt to return to his old self in his own time, and if he needed Mello, then he would be there.
But Matt didn't seem to need Mello. He didn't seem to need anybody. And after a while, Mello wasn't the only one who had noticed a change. Matt had never been very social, he talked to people and he knew people but he had never been close to anyone in all his time at Wammy's, but now it seemed he deliberately went out of his way to avoid people. At meal times, he would have only a bag of chips or a slice of pizza and after quickly throwing it down his throat would leave only to go to his room where the only person he would bump into would be Mello. He never answered if someone knocked the door, preferring for them to think no one was in or to let Mello answer and he wore his goggles and headphones constantly when not in class, and even then only the latter would be removed. He had even stopped smoking to the extent of only having one or two early in the morning when everyone else was still in bed. Roger had noticed the sudden change in Matt and was contemplating what to do when Mello had come to see him.
"Something's wrong with him," Mello said as he barged into Roger's office and sat down on the sofa against the wall.
"I assume you're referring to Matt?" Roger replied, not looking up from his paperwork and making it quite clear to Mello that he was not to just let himself into Roger's office.
"No, the damn toothfairy. Of course Matt, who else would I be talking about?" Mello replied angrily.
"Mello, I understand your concern..."
"My concern?" Mello repeated. "I'm not concerned, that would imply just a slight worry. I'm fucking terrified. What the hell happened to him?"
"There is nothing to worry about," Roger replied. "This is simply Matt's way of making sure he stays out of trouble."
"Yeah? Well, I don't buy it." Mello stood up and headed towards the door, pulling it open. "And if you aren't going to help him I will."
[[A/N Wow... this story pretty much hit the water didn't it. Well, here's an update. My muses are visiting, and I persuaded them to stop by for tea while I wrote this. Honestly I don't know what to think of it. It just sort of came out. Reviews are welcome, as always =] and thank you for bearing with me, it has been a very turbulent 3 years.]]