Saturday, October 25th

Mello glanced at the clock, it was about eight twenty five. That meant that in five minutes L would Skype call him. Mello and L had made a habit of video chatting every Saturday, because weekends were the only days that they could work around the time difference between Japan and England. Due to the fact that they could rarely stand being in the same room as each other, L couldn't talk to Mello and Near at the same time, so Mello was given Saturday and Near Sunday.

I have to go in a few minutes. Can you wrap this us?

He was currently loosing to Matt at one of his least favorite video games. The fact that Matt liked to be a gentleman was both a help and a hindrance. Sometimes when Matt had the opportunity to end the game he would prolong it in order to give Mello a better chance at a victory. Occasionally this would lead to Mello winning, but usually all it gave him was a higher score when he lost.

Okay! Matt replied. Give me three minutes to beat you.

You're so confident in my abilities. Mello hoped that Matt could read his text sarcasm.

Sorry, but you suck at this.

Mello knew that this was true, so he didn't bother replying with anything in his defense. True to his word, Matt easily beat Mello in three minutes. Mello said goodbye to Matt and his friend who was apparently watching their conversation over Matt's shoulder, and left the site just in time to answer L's video call.

"Morning," Mello greeted him.

"It's afternoon over here," L drawled on the other end of the conversation.

L was most likely sitting at his desk with his laptop facing the wall. Mello could see most of L's room from the angle that L had the computer. His sight range included full view of L's roommate, who was sitting on his bed and leaning against the wall it was adjacent to. L had once introduced the boy as Light Yagami, but he usually wasn't around when L talked to Mello or Near, wanting to give the family their privacy to talk about whatever they wanted. Mello made a mental note to ask why his chivalry did not extend to this video chat.

"I know," Mello shrugged in response to L's comment.

Mello heard a high pitched voice babble something in Japanese. Then a dyed-blonde Japanese girl bounced into view of the computer camera. Mello's mind repeated what he had heard her say, focussing on the level three Japanese that he had learned in school. She had asked something along the lines of "is that your little brother," but she had spoken too fast for Mello to be sure.

"Yes," L's tone was slower and calmer as usual.

"Hello!" She said in English with a thick accent, beaming at Mello. It was likely that she knew a few words in English incase she had to communicate with someone who only spoke it.

"Hello," Mell replied in Japanese, not passing off the chance to impress whoever this girl was.

"I see you're working on your Japanese," L mussed, not slipping back into their first language.

"And I guess you're not going to give up the chance to test me?" Mello inquired, also staying the the language of the country L was currently in.

"Of course," L replied. "Mello, this is Misa Amane, one of Light's friends."

"I'm your friend too, silly!" Misa chided him. "Oh! You're Mello? L talks about you all the time!"

"He does?" Mello tried not to sound horrified by this fact.

"Well," Misa drew out this word. "He mentioned you twice to me an Raito, but for him that's a lot."

"Who's Raito?" Mello asked before L could explain to Misa the reason why he didn't talk about his family to most people.

"That would be me," Light answered. "Light is the English form of my name, L is the only one who calls me by it."

"Oh," Mello made mental note to ask L what was so hard about calling his roommate by his real name.

"Misa is here to work on an assignment with Raito," L continued as if he hadn't been interrupted by their side conversation.

"Actually we finished the assignment an hour ago," Light informed Mello in English so that Misa could not understand. He regarded the girl with an attitude that Mello pinned as borderline supercilious before adding: "For some reason she won't leave and we're too polite to kick her out."

"What did you just say?" Misa asked, clearly able to tell that whatever Light had said to Mello was about her.

"I said that you're a lovely person and we're so happy to have your company today," Light smoothly replied without missing a beat.

"That's so sweet!" Misa gushed, and Light sent Mello a wink that Mello was to stunned to reply to.

"Misa shouldn't you be going?" L bluntly asked the girl.

"Never mind about the polite part," Light muttered.

"Yeah, I probably should." It was surprising that Misa agreed instead of being offended by L's comment. "I'll see you two tomorrow! Bye Mello!"

"Bye." Mello didn't think she heard his farewell, as she was already out to door as he spoke it.

"Hallelujah," Light deadpanned.

"If you wanted her to leave you should have just said something." To Mello relief, L said this in English.

"That would have been rude," Light dismissed.

"She didn't seem to think that," L pointed out.

"Coming from you it's not rude," Light tried to explain. "But coming from anyone else it is."

"He gave up learning social skills when he was a kid," Mello informed Light. "At first I thought that I was lucky to grow up in our family and have some idea how to behave in public, but now I think that he has the better deal."

"Ignorance is bliss," Light agreed, ignoring the glare that L sent him.

"Speaking of no social skills," Mello segued. "B's staying over for the week."

"Did he get expelled already?" L groaned.

"No," Mello resisted the urge to laugh at the lack of faith L had in his younger brother. "They get a fall break in America, he decided to visit home."

L nodded, looking slightly relieved to know that Beyond was still enrolled in the university that he had worked so hard to get into.

"He said that you'd say that," Mello let L know.

"It's not an unreasonable thing for me to assume," L's tone turned fractious.

"He also says that he used up all of his desire for getting kicked out of school back when the two of you lived under the same roof," Mello added.

"If he couldn't out do me in grades, he could out do me in trouble," L remembered.

"What kind of logic is that?" Light sounded appalled.

"B logic," Mello informed him.

"It ruled our house with an iron fist for years," L added.

"Remind me never to visit your house," Light remarked.

"I doubt you'll be in the neighborhood anytime soon, considering you've never been out of Japan before."

"That was a joke, L," Light rolled his eyes.

"Really?" It was unclear if L was teasing his roommate or honestly hadn't realized that Light was kidding. "It wasn't a very good one."

They talked for another hour. Mello continued to fill L in on the goings on back at the house. Mello usually did this when neither of them had anything important to talk about, partly to keep the conversation going and partly so that Neat wouldn't have any news to tell L the next day. Light listened to their conversation, and would comment every so often. Mello found this a little odd, considering it was rare for L to let anyone outside of the family hear the details of their lives. Maybe L had bonded with his roommate? If this were the case, Mello was glad. L finding a friend was not an often occasion, and it was nice to think that he had at least one person to look out for him in Japan.

When L finally told Mello that he needed to go and hung up on him, Mello found himself with nothing else to fill the rest of his day. Not fully expecting and response, he message Matt. To his surprise, Matt replied only seconds later.

Do you spend the entire weekend at your friend's house? Mello couldn't help asking.

When I don't feel welcome at mine.

Mello had not expected so serious of a answer, and was unsure what he should say back. Not wanting their to be an awkward silence after Matt had said something semi-personal, he replied with the first thing that came to mind.

You mean because you're grounded?

"Shit," Mello mutter at himself. He hadn't meant to ask another question, and it was likely that this would make it sound as if he had no idea where Matt was coming from. In reality he knew all too well what it felt like to not feel welcome at the place you were supposed to call home, fortunately being adopted into Wammy's House (he and his sibling nickname for their new home) had saved him from this feeling.

That and other stuff.

Sorry.

Why? It's not your fault.

Mello couldn't tell him Matt meant this as a joke or honestly had no idea why he was apologizing.

I know, but it still sucks that you have to go through that.

They were talking as if they actually knew each other in person. This should have made Mello uncomfortable, but for some reason it didn't. He had only been talking to Matt for two months, but if they had known each other in real life for that long it would be easy for them to become close friends. After all, they thought alike and were able to talk for hours on end without boring each other.

Thanks. Do you want to play something?

Matt's message pulled Mello out of his thoughts. He couldn't stop the dryness of it from destroying the yearning that he had been feeling seconds ago. Matt was his online friend, but it was foolish for him to imagine realities where this scenario was any different. Besides, the fact that they got along well through a keyboard and a screen didn't mean that they would in real life. The real Matt was probably nothing like the boy that he was texting, and Mello wasn't sure how true to himself he was through these conversations. It was better that they didn't actually know each other. At least that way Mello couldn't get bored of him.