Time for some more M/N fun, hooray! It's taken me a while to write this chapter, as school has been keeping me rather more busy than I would like. The first week after Winter Break is always crap, no? Anyway, I couldn't leave you with that devilish cliffie any longer, so I present to you the next installment. Mmm, wish I could think of something relevant to say here, but my mood and energy are not so great. I watched a scary-ass movie last night and it caused me to stay awake until three. Not fun, you know?
Enjoy this chapter, in any case! And don't, I repeat do not, forget to REVIEEEW! I am loving the reviews I've been getting to death, and they really do make me want to write more often. So you're part of the process, you could say.
Diclaim-o—the note of death belongs not to me.
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Mello stood in the doorway, his features still twisted in an expression of shock. Near knew from experience that this wouldn't last long; in a few moments that surprise would turn to towering, impenetrable rage. Indeed, even as he watched the eyes narrowed, the lips curled, and a snarl possessed the blond's feminine face.
"Matt. Near. Explain." Even this much restraint was remarkable for Mello; Near assumed that the only reason the other boy wasn't shouting and breaking things was Matt's presence. Ever since early childhood, Matt had been the one to keep Mello's temper under tabs. Near hoped that this would still hold true, even if Matt was now one of the incriminated.
Standing up awkwardly, Near shuffled over to the lone chair occupying a corner of the floor. He sat slowly, drawing a knee up to his chest and watching the two others through a thick curtain of white hair. Matt, to his credit, now appeared entirely unruffled. His initial embarrassment at the falsely compromising position they had been found in had faded quickly; he now stood casually, facing his furious best friend.
Mello breathed heavily and stared at the two, still expecting an answer. As Matt's hand reached out and clapped down on his shoulder he flinched, eyes rolling angrily at the other boy. "Well?"
Matt snorted. "God, Mel, way to overreact."
"Overreact?" Mello half-shouted incredulously. "How the hell am I overreacting? Why are you in Near's room? He was sitting on your fucking lap. Explain that, and maybe I'll calm the hell down!" The girlish boy was obviously seconds away from a complete and utter nervous fit; his hands were balled into fists at his side and his bare feet planted on the floor. He glared at Matt, who sighed and rolled his eyes.
"First of all, Mello, Near wasn't sitting on my lap. He fell, probably because of you slamming the damn door open like that. We weren't doing any of the things that your pervy little imagination has supplied. You really think I'd be making out with Near, Mello?"
Mello glared at them both. "You fell? Yeah, right. It's pretty damn obvious that you were doing a bit more than that."
Matt snorted. "Do we look like we were? If you weren't throwing a tantrum, Mello, you'd realize that our lips aren't swollen, no one's blushing. The only thing I wanted from Near was for his bony arse to stop digging into my bloody leg. So calm the hell down, Mello."
Mello did indeed take a moment to look at the two; Matt was right. He definitely recognized the signs of a tryst when he saw them, and it seemed that Matt and Near were innocent of any clandestine affections. He breathed a small sigh of relief, then frowned again. "That still doesn't explain why you were in his room."
Matt rolled his eyes, safely hidden behind orange goggles. "I can go in Near's room if I want to, Mello. Not everyone has to wish the kid a painful death, you know."
"That's barely an explanation. Why were you really here?" Mello curled his toes, an action watched with great interest by his white-haired nemesis. Even if going barefoot was just one of Mello's passing affectations, the sight of his exposed skin was horribly enchanting.
Matt shot what seemed to be a regretful glance towards Near, who retaliated with a suspicious stare. What was the older boy planning?
"Sorry, Near," Matt said sadly. "I'm gonna have to tell him the truth, or he's going to drive us all mad for the rest of the week."
Near's breath caught. No! Matt couldn't do this, he should never have trusted the boy to aid him if this was his payment.
Mello stared with angry curiosity at Matt. "What's the big secret, Matt?" he challenged.
Matt said reluctantly, "Well, the truth is, Near needed my help for something. See, he—"
"Matt." Near interrupted quietly. "Don't."
"Look, Near, it's fine. He won't care."
Near scowled slightly, his mind in a furious uproar. Of course Mello would care, he would never stand for his rival harboring romantic feelings towards him. Maybe he would have if the plan had worked, but this way Near's attraction would just be doomed.
Matt continued before Near could interject once more. "Near wanted my help, because he kind of has a crush on someone."
Mello stared. "What?" he asked weakly, his expression alternating between horrified and curious. "On who?"
Near breathed in, ready to be painfully outed.
"He likes…Linda," Matt finished, still with an apologetic look on his face. Mello's eyes widened with disbelief.
"Matt!" Near said, quiet but startled. He shut his mouth quickly, fixing his features in a perfectly blank expression.
Matt sighed, which Near now realized was a complete act. "I'm sorry, Near…"
Mello continued to gape, affording Near a pleasing view of his full lips. Eventually, the look of shock faded and he let out a loud snort. "Linda? That creepy little slag with the sketchbook? You could at least aim a little higher, Near."
Near stayed silent, relieved that a Mello-catastrophe had been averted. The blonde boy had obviously reverted to his usual strategy of absently insulting Near for the hell of it. His secret would remain a secret for the time being. Matt, crossing his arms behind the stripes of his shirt, flashed him some sort of hand sign.
Oh, yes. The "thumbs-up." The universally recognized symbol of positivity. How very like Matt.
"Let's go, Matt. Unless you want to spend some more quality time with Near?" Mello turned and walked out, grabbing Matt by a lanky arm and pulling insistently on the gamer. Matt, having no real choice in the matter, followed. As the two boys left, Matt said loudly, "Mello, why don't we go outside for a while? You know, away from Wammy's."
Mello muttered an affirmative response, and they were gone.
Near, after a moment in thought, realized what Matt's last comment had signified. With Mello outside, this was Near's opportunity to plant the note in his room. Judging from the aggressive blonde's past behavior, he would be outside for roughly one hour and twelve minutes. This left Near with ample time to not only place the note, but procure a suitable gift of chocolate for Mello.
Unbeknownst to Mello, the Wammy kitchen staff rotated the location of all chocolate on a biweekly basis. This was in fact a preventative measure against Mello himself, who had discovered the first stash of chocolate at the age of five, and had proceeded to devour all of the stuff the orphanage stocked. Then, naturally, he had vomited up a large portion of it, five-year-old stomachs not being suited to such a massive amount of sweets.
In any case, Near knew the current chocolate supply to be stored in the sixth cardboard box from the bottom in the largest pantry. No one had ever bothered to hide the location of the chocolate from him, as he never ate the stuff.
The kitchen was just down the hall from Near's room, so it shouldn't take him an extravagant amount of time to find a suitable gift for Mello. Standing, he located the note. Matt, upon Mello's entrance, had managed to tuck it under the bed before the blonde boy noticed. Near retrieved the folded paper and tucked it into one of the overlarge pockets on the front of his shirt. He glanced a final time at the room to ensure that nothing was out of order. Contented, he left, closing the door quietly.
When he arrived at the kitchen, it was luckily quite deserted. He walked over to a particular drawer, pulled it open halfway, and dislodged the key blu-tacked to the underside. After a series of daring pantry raids, the door had been fitted with a lock and the key thoroughly hidden. But once more, Near was exempt from the secrecy, since it was widely believed that he didn't actually eat.
Near shuffled to the pantry door, slipping the key in the lock and sliding open the door. He felt around for the light switch, locating the switch and flipping it on.
Boxes and stacks of dry goods were illuminated, revealing the truly vast amount of food needed to feed an entire orphanage. Like all pantries, it smelled of stale cereal and neglected marshmallows.
The box Near was attempting to locate was on one of the higher shelves, surrounded by other, identical containers. Frowning slightly at the obstacle presented to him, Near pushed the stool in the corner over to the shelf. However, even standing on the stool with arms extended, he could barely reach the box.
He grabbed at the edges of the cardboard, hoping to slide the container out slowly and keep the others from toppling. This seemed to work admirably at first; he was a mere centimetre away from freeing the box when the ones surrounding it began to tilt alarmingly. Not entirely sure how to deal with this obstacle, he continued to doggedly pull at the box. As it came free with a scrape, the others toppled.
A box full of cocoa powder and instant oatmeal dealt a blow to his head as a veritable avalanche of powdered, flaked, and condensed products rained to the floor. Near, slightly stunned by the unfamiliar pain in his skull, stared blankly at the mess before bringing his attention back to the box in his arms.
Folding open the flaps, he surveyed the meager assortment of chocolate products. Most of the space was taken up by cheap bonbons and chocolate-coated wafers, but as he rummaged, Near saw the chocolate brand Matt had mentioned.
Retrieving the bar of dark chocolate, Near closed the box and, after debating a moment, placed it on the floor with its fallen comrades. No one would suspect him of causing the mess, so he didn't feel the need to clean it up.
Leaving the pantry and turning off the light, Near was relieved to note that the kitchen was still unoccupied. He stuck the key back on the underside of its drawer, more out of habit than anything else.
Mello's room was only a short distance away. Unsure of where to store the chocolate bar, Near tucked the coveted food up his baggy sleeve for the time being.
The journey to Mello's room was pleasingly uneventful, and Near arrived with a great amount of time to spare. Opening the door, he surveyed the messy quarters. The bed was strewn with clothes, as was the floor. A dresser stood gaping open, socks and t-shirts poking out haphazardly. The comforter was heaped on the floor, tangled up with blue bedsheets. On Mello's desk a laptop hummed, showing a screensaver of morphing polyhedrons. Unsurprisingly, the wastebasket was filled with chocolate wrappers.
Near carefully walked over to the bed, wondering where the most advantageous location for his note would be. As the pillow was one of the only clear spaces, he placed the note directly in the center, weighing it down with the chocolate bar.
His mission complete, he turned to leave. However, the opportunity to pry into Mello's life a bit was too tempting to resist, and he decided to stay for a few more minutes and have a look about.
He first went to the laptop, and swished the cordless mouse about until the screensaver disappeared. A music player was revealed, indicating that a song by Paulina Rubio had evidently been paused halfway through. As Near knew absolutely nothing about music, this wasn't of particular interest.
Next, he walked over to the dresser. Opening the top drawer silently, he was met by sight of Mello's underpants. They were much more interesting than his own, covered in patterns and bright colors. Succumbing to an embarrassing desire, he snatched up a pair of sky-blue boxers and stared at them for a moment. The urge to steal them was nigh-overpowering, but Mello was exactly the sort to catalogue his underwear and he couldn't afford the risk.
He reluctantly replaced the shorts, closing the drawer to its previous state. the next two held nothing of interest, and he crouched down to reach the last one.
This one was far more alarming. Nestled underneath an array of gloves and winter hats, Near found a sizeable stack of dirty magazines. Eyeing the musclebound young men and ridiculously augmented women decorating the covers, he suddenly felt hideously awkward. He tucked the magazines back under the hats and stood up.
It was time to leave, anyway. Mello and Matt would likely be back within twenty minutes. He shut the door to the bedroom, hoping that he had left everything in the correct order.
Ten minutes later found Near in the library, finally catching up with his Versailles puzzle. He had placed the first note. His only job now was to wait.
A/N: Well, that's that chapter done. No cliffie this time! I don't want this to really get above ten chapters, so we should start to see some action pretty soon. Hurrah! Sorry if this chapter is a bit shorter than you're used to, my brain is out of sorts as of late.
Oh, and you like Mello's music choices? If you don't know who Paulina Rubio is, go look up the video for "Y yo sigo aqui." (of course, it's better if you can actually understand the words) I love to imagine Mello listening to music like this…it's a brilliant mental picture, if not very hardcore. Well, see ya next time! As this chapter is short, I'll try to update soon with a real long one to make you joyful. Bye!