Hey! Sorry I haven't been able to update the story recently, I've been REALLY scarily busy lately XP But anyway I wanted to thank all the people that posted comments on my story, I'll make sure to start answering them individually but I just wanted to thank all of you because your feedback really made me smile (cheesy but true) and helped me get back to continue this story! Just for an FYI, I do not own any of Death Note or any its characters!

Announcements, Roofs, and Cold Floors

Mello rolled over in bed and slowly began to gain consciousness. Morning sunlight was slanting through the windows and the warm air coming from the radiator in the corner steamed up all the windows. The blonde groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes and prolonging the moment before he would be forced to place his bare feet on the ice-cold floor. Even with the sufficient heating given at Wammy's House, the top floor was far from warm. Stretching and looking around, Mello saw a head of tousled red hair barely poking its way out of the mound of blankets and quilts that were haphazardly strewn on top of his roommate's bed. Good, Matt was still asleep. Taking one last tentative look at the bed a few feet away from his own, Mello reached under his pillow and pulled out a photograph.

Mello carefully smoothed the edges that were slightly creased from being handled so much. In the photo was a younger version of himself and Matt sitting on the steps outside of Wammy's together. In the picture, Mello was ruffling Matt's hair and both boys were laughing together as Linda took their picture. She had wanted it for a new drawing idea or something like that. The usually energetic blonde smiled fondly down at the figures in the photo, gently tracing the contours of his best friend's face, hands, neck, and hair. He carefully lifted the picture to his lips, kissed the smiling redhead's face before slipping the photo back under his pillow. Mello couldn't believe how much shorter he and Matt had been only a year and a half ago. Time had passed so fast, the young chocoholic couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that it was almost Christmas. The bell rang, signaling breakfast, and the sound of hundreds of stampeding feet came from below as the other children at the orphanage made their way to the dining hall.

Sighing, Mello got up and walked over to Matt's bed, wincing at how cold the floor actually was on his toes. He shook the almost-hidden figure in the other bed and said, resisting the urge to jump under the covers with his roommate and warm his toes in the quilted covers, "Hey Matt, time for breakfast lets go."

Matt groaned, but otherwise said nothing. Rolling his eyes, Mello shook his best friend harder. "Come on Matty, up and at `em! The bell's already rung and Roger had donuts made last night; they'll be all gone if you don't hurry the hell up and get ready!"

Matt rolled over and buried deeper under the covers. Mello was starting to loose his patience. "What the fuck Matt! I got out of bed and froze my damn toes off just to try and get your ungrateful ass out of bed and you go and fucking ignore me?! FUCK YOU!!!!!"

Without waiting for a reply, Mello pushed Matt off the bed and stormed off to the bathroom, leaving the confused and groggy redhead lying on the floor. Twenty minutes and a whole lot of swearing later, Matt and Mello took their usual seats at the end of one of the large tables in the dining hall; Matt with his usual cup of coffee, Mello with a large mug of hot chocolate in front of him. Even though they were late, breakfast hadn't started. Roger had been making his "Weekly Announcements" that morning and had taken up an awful lot of time reminding the children about picking up after themselves in the common room and asking for volunteers to help decorate the orphanage for the upcoming holidays.

"And finally, I would like to remind you all that our annual Winter Ball is coming up!" Roger called to the assembled group in front of him. This statement was met with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Many of the girls giggled and looked around at the boys, who were groaning and shaking their heads unhappily. "This is an important event for socializing with your peers and having some holiday fun." Roger continued, unfazed by the many reactions his words were creating. "I would like you and your partners to spend the evening talking with your friends and fellow classmates and dancing. Everyone is to attend; no excuses. Enjoy your meal!"

Everyone began filling their plates with donuts and sausages as they started talking about the upcoming dance and who would be asking who to go as their date. Mello sighed and rolled his eyes as he dunked a bar of chocolate into his mug and transferred the melting treat to his mouth, savoring the sweet sensation only melting chocolate at 7:30 am could bring. A ball huh? And they had to bring partners…this could be the opportunity he had been waiting for.

"So, we have to bring partners?" Matt asked looking at his best friend from over top of his donut.

"Yeah, and we have to dance!" Mello winced. This ball might help him achieve his goal, but other than that he felt if was going to be the worst night of his life.

"Well, I'm not going to buy a tux if that's what Roger wants!" Matt said shaking his head in disgust and glancing up at the adult table at the end of the hall where Roger was half talking to Watari and half staring at poor Linda as she finished her breakfast; unaware of the pedophile watching her every move.

"We can probably dress how we normally do, we stand out anyway so it doesn't really matter," Mello said as a bunch of preppy-looking girls slid further down the bench, the better to get away from the two odd boys.

"I guess you're right," Matt said, taking another bite of his treat, "it's no secret that we're pretty damn far from normal around here." He laughed and shook his head. "So, what do you think we should do for partners?"

Mello tensed in his seat. This was what he'd been waiting for. All he had to do was open his mouth and say it, it wasn't all that hard. Just a few simple words, and then it would all be over and he could see how Matt reacted…

"Ummm, well…" he began haltingly, hating how unsure he sounded, even to himself, "I was thinking that maybe you'd like to…"

"Mel," Matt said, leaning across the table towards the blonde, his large, green eyes open and innocent behind his goggles, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, Matty I'm fine." Mello lied, his courage slipping away with every passing second. "I, uh, need to go ask Near for some help, I'll talk to you later."

And with that, the feisty blonde jumped up from the table and raced out of the hall, leaving Matt feeling very confused for many reasons. Why was Mel suddenly asking Near for help? The pale boy had been avoiding them like the plague ever since they had played video games together and he and Mel had formed a rivalry that grown to rather epic proportions. But then again, Matt reasoned taking another bite of donut, that was Mel, going forward and taking things to the extreme, it was what made him so much fun to be around and part of what made him so sexy. Just like how his eyes got all big whenever he was worried about Matt or was thinking really hard, then he was just plain adorable… 'Wait,' Matt thought shaking himself out of his reverie 'what was THAT?!' If he didn't know any better, he would assume that he was falling for his best friend…but that couldn't be.

He only thought about Mel so much because they were best friends and did everything together. And he only felt that funny swooping feeling in his stomach when the blonde looked right at him and smiled, maybe even laughing. He liked seeing Mel laugh, he never did it enough and when he did, it was like the sun was coming out after a huge rainstorm….oh jeez. Matt hit his head against the table with a thunk; he really was falling in love with his best friend. The only question now was…what to do now?

Mello ran up the stairs two at a time until he reached the top floor. Hurtling around the hallway corners at dangerous speeds, he reached his and Matt's room and wrenched the door open. He quickly slammed the door behind him and dashed to the window seat at the other side of the room. Flipping the locks at the top, the chocoholic swung the double-door windows outwards and climbed out onto the landing. Ignoring the cold wind and the dark clouds that were threatening snow, he sat down on the roof ledge and stared out over Wammy's enormous lawns, thinking.

He had been so close to asking Matt to be his "date" for the winter ball, but how could he? It could ruin their friendship and Mello didn't know if he could survive without Matt around to make life fun and enjoyable. He had noticed his attraction to the redhead a few months before. At first he had dismissed the idea. There was no way he could actually be falling in love with his best friend. But then he realized it was the small things that pointed to his feelings for the game-addict. The way he curled up into a small ball in the corner of their couch when he played his games. The way his read hair fell in soft, almost spiky tendrils around his face and over his eyes. How green his eyes were and how his orange goggles fit his face perfectly. How when Matt laughed, the whole world seemed happy and no one was hurting or sad. Or how when he looked back on how shy and timid Matt had been when they first met, how Mello's heart swelled with pleasure as he compared that Matt to the outgoing and happy Matt he knew and loved today.

When Mello had realized his affection for his friend, he became nervous and tried his best to hide his feelings. But that was hard when he spent just about every minute of everyday around Matt. He had done well so far, but Matt wasn't stupid and he was bound to notice something, whether it was the slight flushing of his cheeks when they bumped into each other, or if he caught Mello staring at him for apparently no reason whatsoever. Things could get tricky. So, Mello had decided to talk to Matt about his feelings soon. The dance had seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. Maybe tonight if he could talk to Matt while they were alone…

No longer able to feel his fingers and shivering violently, Mello climbed back in through the window, and with fumbling fingers, opened a new bar of chocolate. Biting off a piece the blonde made up his mind. He would confess his feelings tonight and ask Matt to go with him to the dance. For better or for worse he couldn't hide this anymore, friends didn't do that to each other. Nodding his head, Mello walked out of his and Matt's room to go find his friend; a plan formulating in his mind…

A few floors down, Matt finished his breakfast and got up, feeling slightly nervous and excited. He didn't know how Mel would react to what he was going to say, but he had to do it. He had to tell Mel that he was in love with him and ask him to go with him to the Winter Ball as his "date." Mel might be angry or reject him, but it couldn't be worse than this feeling of not saying anything at all. The young boy began climbing the stairs, hoping to find his best friend in their room. He had just rounded a corner on the third floor when Mello came hurtling out of no where and ran smack into him.

Both boys fell to the ground, completely bewildered as to what had just happened.

"Oh, Mel…I uh…was looking for you. I…uh…need to talk to you…"

"Me too." Mello said, panic constricting his chest. He had to do this, it was all or nothing.

"Oh, uh….you can go first." Matt looked very pale and nervous, unable to meet his roommate's eyes.

"Oh, no you can go first." Maybe that would help him re-figure out what to say. It had made perfect sense a minute ago dammit!!! Why couldn't it make sense now?!

"Well, uh ok." Matt took a deep breath. "Listen, I know this might be hard for you to hear or understand but ummm, I think I like you Mel. I really, really like you. I guess I've liked you for awhile, but I realize it until now and I wanted to tell you before I lost the nerve." Matt paused to take a huge breath; he seemed a bit less pale now that he had gotten out the main bit of what he had wanted to say. "And I wanted to ask you Mel, if you would go to the Winter Ball with me….please?"

It ended in a whispered question that made Mello's heart clench. Wow…this was really unexpected. Amazingly, Matt had beaten him to the job of asking to be his date and Mello was…speechless. The feisty blonde felt like his heart was going to inflate to the size of Texas and lift him right off the ground. This was good, this was fantastic, and incredible, and…bad. This was very, very bad. I mean, when what if something went wrong and they couldn't be friends anymore? And then he and Matt couldn't be in the same room together and he have to move in with Near?! And if that happened, who would Mel spend time and have fun with during the day? Would Matty stop talking to him, would they never be able to laugh the way they did now? Would everything just disintegrate before his eyes? No, he needed Matt. Friend or boyfriend, he needed Matt in his life. Living without the redhead was…impossible. And here was Matt. Little, cute Matty, staring up at him hopefully with those huge, adorable eyes waiting for him to say something. Shit.

"Well Matty…uh….well I uh…you see, the thing is…" and with that enlightening statement having been said, Mello turned and ran down the stairs as fast as he could, tripping over Roger's stupid rug on the way down.

Dun, dun, DUN *suspenseful music*!!!! Will Matt and Mello work it out (that sounded cheesy)?! Cliffhangers XD Anyway…..I guess we'll all have to wait and see what pops out of my messed-up head and find out when I update next XD I hope you like this chapter anyways and PLEASE let me know what you think and give suggestions! I'm TOTALLY open to any comments at all! *tackle glomps* THANKS!!!! Subi