Tuesday, December 23rd
"L's bring his boyfriend," Near informed Mello in his usual monotone.
It was the second official day of winter break, the first being the Monday before. They were currently eating breakfast, and waiting for Wammy to pick up L from the airport. B had been unable to attend this holiday. His excuse had been that he was too busy studying, Mello heard the unspoken subtext of this fact. Beyond wasn't the type to waist two weeks off reading, so he must be trying to obtain shining grades in a last attempt to not be expelled from his university. It was probably for the better that they wouldn't have L and B home that the same time anyway.
"He told you this?" Mello eyed his brother skeptically. Slightly jealous that Near had been given more information that himself.
Near nodded.
"And I'm guessing you know who his mysterious boyfriend is as well," Mello phrased the question as a statement.
"Well he didn't tell me that part," Near started. "But it was easy enough to conclude."
"Oh," Mello's voice hit a distasteful note.
"So you don't know who it is." Near's face took on a slight smile, that Mello would never admit had the capability to give him nightmares for a week.
"You don't either," Mello told him. "You have an idea, but no conformation, and for all you know L's trying to make you think the wrong thing."
Near shrugged, obviously not convinced, but dropped the subject. Mello agreed with his brother's silent reasoning that they would postpone the conversation until L arrived with or without a guest. This wait did not end up lasting very long, and in a few minutes L was walking through the front door with Light Yagami trailing behind (in a slightly awkward air).
"Told you," Near said dryly to Mello.
"He's your mysterious boyfriend?" Mello's tone was borderline demanding.
"Hello to you too," L said.
"Hello L," Near look up from his breakfast in a disinterested manner.
"Stop being so neutral," Mello instructed him, then directed his attention back to L. "Why didn't you tell me your were bringing him?"
"It was a last minute decision," L shrugged Mello off. "I told Near to tell you."
"You didn't tell Near, or me, that you're dating your roommate," Mello saltily added.
"True," L considered this, then turned his attention so that he was now addressing both Near and Mello. "I'm dating me roommate. Now I am going to put our bags in our room. Is that a thorough enough update on my life for you?"
"You're annoying," Mello told him.
"I have jet lag," L used as an excuse.
L now walked past Mello and into the living room. Mello followed, wanting to bicker a little more before L and his new boy toy retreated into L's room.
"You don't sleep anyway," Mello said. "When were you going to tell me?"
"Showing is better than telling," L answered back.
"And that makes me sound like an object," Yagami muttered.
"If I told you I was dating my roommate, would you have believed me in first place?" L asked Mello.
"Maybe," Mello considered this. "I mean you to did seem a litte flirtatious when I was Skyping you, but I thought that was just his personality."
"I saw it coming," Near announced, he had apparently abandoned his food to follow them into the room.
"That was Light's fault," L decided.
"By the way," Mello said to L. "I think B might have gone in your room when he visited a couple months ago."
"We decided not to enter after that," Near put in. "Incase the traps are anything like the last ones he put up. Remember the time when you an Mello went camping and B and I stayed home?"
L's neutral expression dropped to one of utmost seriousness. He sighed and dropped the suitcase he had been carrying.
"Light, stay here," he instructed his boyfriend. "If I'm not back in twenty minutes send Mello after me."
"Why me?" Mello joking whined.
"You're complaining? I thought you'd be happy that I view you as the most likely to survive B's torture traps," L mused.
Mello considered this.
"I'm flattered, but not even I have that high of an opinion of myself," he told his brother with a smirk.
"Very well," L shrugged. "If I don't come back begin the funeral arrangements."
"Are you kidding?" Light Yagami seemed truly uncertain.
"Not in the slightest," L informed him. "Make sure to serve cake at my reception. Near's in charge of the eulogy."
With that L exited the room.
"I'll check on him after fifteen minutes," Mello decided.
"If you want the rubber gloves, they're in my room," Near offered.
"I think I'll just go with the umbrella," Mello decided.
"That's also in my room," Near stated.
"You stole my umbrella?" Mello shot him a loathing glare.
"I thought it was going to rain yesterday," Near shrugged taking a seat on the couch.
"Maybe you guys are as crazy as he made you out to be," Light sounded like he was talking more to himself than to Near or Mello.
"We are," Mello answered anyway. "Now sit down, we're going to threaten you."
"What?"
"Well, B's not here to do it, and you need to know the price of messing with our brother." Mello sat down with crossed arms next to Near.
"I'm not messing with him—" Light tried to say, but Near cut him off.
"Keep in mind that everything you say can and will be used against you," the albino informed him.
"Am I in court now?" Light asked with a hint of exasperation.
"No, we don't give you any rights," Mello said with a wide smirk.
"Fine," Light sat down. "You're going to tell me that if I ever hurt him my dead body will never be found."
"No, we'd use it as an example for the next one," Mello corrected. "But you're on the right track."
"Look," Light's voice was slightly patronizing and Mello hated that. "It's great that you two want to watch out for him, but you don't have to worry."
"Sure."
"I'm being serious," Light went on. "I care about him more than I've cared about any one I've been with before. I don't intend to leave him, and even if I did I would do everything I could not to hurt him in the process."
Light then launched into a lengthy speech detailing his feels and intentions. Honestly Mello had only meant to put him on edge a little, but his efforts to scare L's boyfriend were rewarded with an excerpt from a young adult romance novel.
"Okay, we get it," Mello interrupted with an irritated tone. "We won't kill you for now."
He took this opportunity to leave the room.
Mello was sitting on his bed and attempting to convince himself that he wasn't jealous that L had brought his boyfriend to spend the holidays with them. Despite his initial vexation , he hadn't had a problem with this. Yes, Light was an odd pick, but Mello was glad that L had found someone especially after the incident with his last boyfriend. Mello hadn't once compared L's love life to his own, and didn't see the point in him envying his older brother. His crush on Mail was a completely different situation, and he wasn't jealous of what Light and L had. That is, he hadn't been jealous until Light had started talking about his stupid, mushy feelings.
The first thing that Mello had felt while listening to Light's monologue was a wave of nausea, because, as a younger sibling, part of his job was to be grossed out at anything involving his older brother and love. The next thing he felt was relief that Light did in fact care about L that deeply and it was unlikely that he would do anything to purposely hurt L. Then Mello's green-eyed monster took charge. The more Light talked about how much he thought that he and L understood each other, the more Mello thought about how he and Mail understood each other; and the more that Light talked about how he was in love with L, the more Mello thought about how Mail wasn't in love with him. Why would Mail never think of him like this? Because he was fixated on an online stranger wearing a mask and a leather jacket that he couldn't put together was actually Mello.
Mello's brooding thought's were interrupted when his phone rang. Glancing to where the device sat next to him, he sighed. Of course Mail had to call him while he was in the middle of a pining session. Taking a second to slip into his 'I'm not in love with you' act, Mello answered the phone.
"Hi, what's up?" He asked neutrally.
"Mihael?" Mail choked out on the other end of the line.
"What's wrong?" Mello's irritation had evaporated. "Are you alright?"
"No," Mail let out a sound that seemed combination between a laugh and a sob.
"What happened?" Mello's concern shaped into a demanding form.
"My parents took my lap top," Mail stammered through what Mello assumed were tears. "Found out about Mello…Dad started yelling, so I ran out of the house."
"Where are you now?" Mello needed to know.
"At a bus stop three blocks from my house," Mail answered. "I don't have any money for when the bus comes. Not that I know where to go anyway. What do I do?"
"Just stay there," Mello told him. "I'll come pick you up."
"Thank you," Mail's voice was still shaking.
"I'm going to hang up now, but I'll call you back when I'm on my way, okay?"
"Okay," Mail whispered before Mello ended the call.
He was on his feet in seconds and running to the nearest person who knew how to drive a car. When Mello bolted into the living room the only people there were Light and Near. Light was reading a book written in Japanese and Near was building the worlds biggest card house (which Mello doubted would last ten minutes upon completion).
"Have you seen L?" He asked both of them.
"He and Wammy went to the grocery store," Light didn't look up from his reading as he answered. "They should be back in fifteen minutes."
Mello couldn't wait fifteen minutes, he needed to be at Mail's bus stop that very second.
"Light you have a license, right?" Mello asked. The only silverzlining to this situation was that they family owned two cars.
"Not in this country."
"Yeah, but you can drive a car?" Mello didn't care about legality anymore, he just needed to get to Mail before he decided to walk back to his messed up family.
"No," Light closed his book and gave Mello a stern glare. "I'm not driving you anywhere."
"Come on," Mello could hardly believe he was pleading with this person. "You won't get pulled over as long as you drive carefully."
"Can't you just wait fifteen minutes for L to drive you?" Light suggested.
"It can't wait," Mello peremptorily said through gritted teeth.
He stopped himself before expressing his frustration any further, anger wasn't the right approach when he was asking for help.
"Look," Mello started in a more controlled tone. "My best friend is stranded at a bus stop, because his homophobic parents found out about his online boyfriend and yelled at him until he ran out of his house. He's freaking out, I need to pick him up now."
Mello took the conflicted look on Light's face as a good sign.
"Please?" he added with less reluctance than was usually attached to him saying the word.
"Fine," Light rose from his chair. "Just this once, and only because he's in that much trouble."
"You're my favorite of L's boyfriends," Mello told him as the swiftly walked to the car.
"Like I wasn't already," Light muttered. "Just don't tell on me."
"I won't," Mello promised. "Near might, though."
"I'll worry about that later," Light dismissed as he started the car. "You have to give me directions."
"Turn right at the end of the road," Mello started.
He pulled out his cellphone, remembering that he had told Mail he would call him back when he was on his way. Before dialing the number, a thought occurred to him.
"Can you not use my nickname in front of my friend?" Mello asked Light.
"Okay, why?"
"It's a family thing," Mello wasn't technically lying. "People outside of the family don't know about it."
"So you want me to call you Mihael?" Light clarified.
"When Mail's around," Mello answered. "Just pretend that's what you normally call me."
"If it's such a secret why did L always refer to you by your nickname?"
He knows something's up, Mello thought bitterly. He didn't have time to explain the situation to Light, and frankly didn't want anyone else to know. Not long ago he had confided to L, but he knew that L could keep the secret and wouldn't judge the situation.
"I guess he really likes you," Mello answered, keeping tension from his voice.
"He does." Light didn't push the subject, but Mello was fairly sure that he wasn't letting it go. Still, at the moment that didn't matter.
Mello hastily dialed Mail's number, pressing the phone to his ear while stilling keeping his eyes on the road to better direct Light. It took seconds for Mail to answer.
"Hey," Mail said on the other line. To Mello's relief he sounded calmer than he had when he first called.
"We're on our way," Mello told him. "Should be there in a few minutes."
"Okay."
"Do you want to talk more about what happened?" Mello asked hesitantly, not sure what else to say.
"No," Mail answered.
"Okay, I understand."
"I mean, not right now," Mail quickly corrected himself. "Maybe when you get here."
Mello tried to tell himself that he was hallucinating the flicker of hope that he heard in his friend's voice.
"Alright," he said to him.
"Alright." Mello silently prayed that Mail was smiling as he said this.
It didn't take much longer for Mello and Light to arrive at the bus stop Mail was stranded at. Mello jumped from the car the moment that it stopped, deciding that he didn't care if L's boyfriend was witnessing his jumpiness. He could tell immediately that Mail had spent the past few minutes sobbing, but thought it was better to pretend he didn't notice he boy's red-eyed appearance. Without thinking about it, he pulled Mail into a tight hug.
"Thanks for coming," Mail whispered.
"No problem," Mello replied. "Are you okay?"
"No."
"Sorry, stupid question," Mello mentally hit himself.
"Yeah," Mail chuckled.
"Come on," Mello broke the embrace and gestured toward the car. "I told the chauffeur that we'd be home before he gets arrested."
"I heard that," Light called.
"You were supposed to," Mello informed him.
Thankfully they made it back to the house before L and Watari, escaping the 'why was Light driving' conversation. Light went back to the book he had been reading before Mello had needed his help, while Mello sat on the couch with Mail, simultaneously thinking up a believable reason to why and how Mail was at their house and trying to distract Mail from everything that had just happened.
"How many meters are in a kilometer?" Mello asked.
"You're quizzing me now?" Mail's expression was a cross from exasperation and confusion.
"How many meters are in a kilometer?" Mello repeated.
"One thousand," Mail answered after a slight hesitation.
"Good," Mello searched his rather sharp memory of chemistry to think up the next piece of trivia. "Boiling point of water?"
"On hundred degrees Celsius," Mail stated.
"In Kelvin?"
"I don't even remember what that is," Mail exclaimed.
"It's 373.15," Mello had to add.
"Again, don't know what it is," Mail told him with a wan, but genuine, smile.
"You're going to fail Chemistry," Mello told him.
"Yeah, I am," Mail shrugged. "But next time you want to distract me, can you think of something less academic?"
"No," Mello replied. "How many decimeters in a meter?"
"I don't know," Mail rolled his eyes.
"Ten," Mello answered.
"You're such a nerd."
"I know."
"I'm still probably going to fail," Mail informed him.
"At least your tried," Mello shrugged.
"Yeah," Mail sighed.
Mello watched as his friend's gaze begin to cloud with the unpleasant thoughts that Mello had been trying keep him away from.
"We have a guest room," Mello heard himself blurt.
"What?"
"If you don't want to go back home tonight," Mello attempted to clarify. "You could stay the whole holiday, if you want."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Mello shrugged in an attempt to make the matter seem casual.
"Thank you."
"It's no problem," Mello said for the second time that day.
"No, really." The look on Mail's face displayed how completely open he felt, and Mello could only smile and hope that was the appropriate reaction. "You're the best friend I've ever had."
Friend. Until he had met Mail, Mello hadn't realized that it was possible to both love and loath a word.
"Better than Linda?" He asked to lighten the mood.
"Better than Linda." Mail couldn't help adding: "Just don't tell her I said that."
"My lips are sealed," he said with a wink.
They're sealed about everything.
Thank you to Bummer, Ern Estine 13624, Guest (who turned out to be Corliss Kat), Carottal, and Guest for reviewing!
Guest (who is not Corliss Kat), I don't speak any other languages, but I'm learning Latin in school and know a few phrases in Japanese because I watch too much Anime subbed. I know a few greetings and insults in Elvish. Thank you for thinking I am interesting!