A/N: Oh, nothing from the ground is good enough!
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Escort to Happiness.
Twelve.
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The days were growing cooler in the upcoming October. The leaves that were once green reddened and were gilded as they fell to the ground. Gutters were clogging in the rain and the clouds blocked out the sun; L looked out from his office window and felt slightly trapped in the building, the day winding down to a boring three o' clock and he sighed.
"Oh, don't be so down, huh?" Raito said with some sort of exhalation, as if he shouldn't have to cheer L up. "You act as if you're miserable to be back here with me."
L swiveled around to see the brunet lounging on the corner of the desk. "It is not that at all… rain depresses me."
"I see. Then what can we do to enliven you?"
There was a shrug and L directed his gaze towards his cell phone laying on the hardwood desk amidst a jumble of papers. Raito followed that gaze and slid off of the desk, facing L with hands planted firmly on hips. "What? You want Mello to call you? You gave him that cell phone, surely you have its number. Just call the brat."
"No, no, I want to give him his space. He knows he can call me when he needs me," L said, standing from the chair.
Raito sputtered, caught off guard, "G-Give him his space? What're you saying? You're not his lover, there's no need for talks of space!"
"Oh?" L looked over his shoulder at Raito with the beginnings of a smirk.
"Don't oh me!" A blush suffused his face with color and he turned his back to L. But as always, he could practically feel L's emotions like radiation on his skin; he rolled his eyes at the light snickering coming from the window. "Listen here, L, your vacation is over, so just get used to it! There's so much work to be done! Speaking of which, I suggest you take a look at these. Near came to pester me one night with them, and he seemed desperate for you to get your hands on them…" Raito eyed the stack of paper he had brought in and laid on L's desk.
L raised an eyebrow and reached for them. After a second of flipping through them, he murmured, "Near did all this?"
"He did. And I think all his hard work deserves some recognition, even if its useless."
"I have a hard time believing that you heard him out on this proposal," L hummed distractedly.
"I didn't. But it's no secret he cared about this job and didn't want to see the company loose its footing and fall in with Oak Group. Just look at it," Raito said, waving a hand flippantly, and walked for the door.
"Thank you, Raito, I'll do that."
Raito shut the door behind him and exhaled as he relaxed back onto the jamb. The office was filled with the eternal soundtrack of swift fingers on keyboards and the soft drone of casual chit-chat. Having been at the company for nearly six years, Raito knew these sounds well and coexisted with them without qualm. But to someone whose ear was so trained, the soundtrack seemed to be skipping lately, the absence of Near's shuffle against the gray carpet.
And for some reason, Raito was craving coffee a little.
-
"Fucking hell, Near! Can't you go somewhere?"
"I was here first."
"Stay on your side then!"
"You really are a child."
"You know, I've had it up to here with your-"
"Mello, Mello," Rosie rebuked the blond for his temper as she was gently watering the flowers. She sighed as she did so and continued to hum to herself, keeping an eye on the two. The thought never crossed her mind that the new employee would cause Mello so much grief or vice versa but she made a promise to L before his departure that she would keep the little tyke safe from harm. But it wasn't easy; Mello and Near got into it every five minutes and over the most miniscule things.
Presently, Mello was occupying one side of the counter while Near was standing next to him and the white-haired boy was obviously too close for comfort. The two of them were like kids in the back seat of a minivan and restless, agitated, because of the long trip ahead. Rosie sighed audibly when Mello started up with Near again and couldn't believe it had only been three days since Near began working here. It seemed an eternity. An eternity of calling Mello's name in an attempt to tame him and occasionally jumping in between a broom-and-binder battle.
Once, Mello went out on lunch break and Rosie asked Near to sweep around the flowers for her. He obliged and in a few minutes, Rosie heard Mello's foul sailor mouth in the front room. She popped her head in and Mello was giving Near what-for for using 'his' broom. But not everything was Mello-provoked, as Rosie had found out the day before around noon. In the back room in one of the corners, there was a small refrigerator that Rosie usually put drinks and left-over Chinese inside. Near was using it that day for his sandwich and seemed to be keeping a close eye on it. When Mello came into the back and opened the fridge door, Near loudly accused him of attempting to sample the sandwich.
The accused responded by spitting on Near's shoe and there began another entanglement.
Things like this just weren't expected but it was a small store and she could hardly try to separate them. The best thing Rosie could do, she felt, was just to hose them down when things got too fired up. Which she had done, a few times, only with the spray bottle and not a hose.
The bell rang above the door, shaking Rosie from her thoughts. A middle-aged man walked in, closing his umbrella as he did so. Rosie had failed to notice when it began to pour. She smiled and greeted, "Hello, sir! Awful weather, huh?"
"Oh yes," he hummed and approached the counter. Mello and Near ceased their bickering long enough for him to say, "Hello, I'm looking for some azaleas. Just half a dozen, please."
"Of course," Near said, ringing him up. "That will be fourteen-eleven. Mello, please gather his package."
"I'm not your slave boy, go get it yourself!" Mello snapped.
The customer blinked widely.
"Mello," Rosie chastised him but it seemed to have no affect and Near shook his head pityingly.
"It is all right, Mrs. Fontello. Mello is simply taking out his frustrations on me. Frustrations that cumulate steadily because L has yet to pay him any attention since leaving," Near said, gray eyes as stormy as the clouds above.
"You fucking liar! Who did L drop off here like an aborted baby in a dumpster?" Mello asked sharply, a fist balled and slammed to the counter.
"It was my decision to relieve L of this lowlife position."
"Lowlife?" Rosie questioned, scratching the back of her head.
"That comment was not directed at you, Mrs. Fontello."
"Oh, okay."
Mello growled, narrowing his eyes. "If you don't want to be here, then leave! Fucking leave! No one's asking you to stay!"
"L is," Near replied with some stability.
"It's only because he doesn't want you!"
"Well then he must not want you either." Near folded his arms.
The man in front of the counter looked at his watch.
Rosie groaned loudly, running over with the spray bottle in hand and both boys shrank away from her. She blinked and put the bottle down, shaking her head tiredly. "Boys! Please, stop this, all this bickering is bad for business!"
"Rosie, fire him," Mello nearly begged, turning to her. "Come on, you said it yourself: he's bad for business!"
"I will do no such thing, Mello, and I said both of your arguing is-"
"Well, I've got a train to catch…" the man said, walking hurriedly for the door. "I bid you all good day."
"Oh no! Please wait," Rosie called but the bell had rung and he was on the street under his umbrella. She cried out in grief and looked back at her two employees, presently with expressions like two young pups who had just wet the carpet. "All right, now your squabbles have just driven a customer away. What have you got to say for yourselves?"
"It was him," they echoed and looked at each other.
Rosie sighed. "Listen, I think I've got an idea, okay?" She hummed to herself and tapped at her temple with a forefinger. "Yep! How about some coworker bonding time?"
"Bonding?" Mello shrieked.
Near's mouth scrunched up tightly.
"Not anything like a work cruise," Rosie said thoughtfully. "I don't have the money for that. Rather, let's have a nice dinner together! My house! I'll do all the cooking and preparation, all right? Mello, I can make your favorite foods," she teased, pinching at Mello's cheek.
Mello considered this and his mouth began to water at the thought. L couldn't buy him food anymore but he had no sort of agreement like that with Rosie. He nodded and pointed towards Near. "Is he coming too?"
Near glared at the finger.
"Of course," Rosie trilled, "you'll come, won't you, Near? I can make anything you like!"
"Please, do not trouble yourself."
"It's no trouble at all! My assistant is ready and willing to help me out in the kitchen."
"… Assistant?"
"My husband!"
"I see." Near sighed, thinking it over. Finally: "Yes, I will attend. Thank you for the invitation."
"Yay," she cheered, convinced that this was the answer to Mello and Near's deep hate towards one another. "Good times, good times. Please show up tomorrow at seven, all right? We'll close the shop early just for the occasion!"
"Hey, Rosie, can we bring friends?" Mello asked, his hand in his pocket.
Rosie smiled. "Sure. You too, Near."
Near nodded silently.
Mello barked laughter. "He doesn't have any friends, Rosie!"
"Mello!"
-
That night, it was around eleven and the shop had been closed up hours ago and Mello was sitting on the floor in his bare living room, holding the only new thing he owned: his cell phone. He'd been procrastinating for the past two hours since arriving home. Folding clothes; taking out the trash; propping up the three-legged chair with pillows and other activities, trying to ignore the fact that he wanted to invite L to Rosie's dinner.
But now the chores were all done and he was full of rice and there was nothing on television besides infomercials promising bigger tits. Mello flipped the phone open and closed. Then open again. He groaned aloud and shouted, "Dammit, L! Why won't you call me?"
"Hey! Stop that cursing," a muffled voice demanded from downstairs. Followed by banging on Mello's floor - probably from the blunt end of a broom. A new neighbor had just moved in below him a few days prior: an old woman, lonely, and listening to Mello's every outcry.
"Fucking hell…" Mello sighed and, with whatever last-resort determination he found inside himself, he pressed the call button. The ringing began and he slowly moved it up to his ear.
One.
Two.
Thr-
"Hello, Mello."
"L!" Mello called and immediately rebuked his own excitement. He cleared his throat and said calmly, "I haven't talked to you in a while, you asshole; what have you been doing?"
"Waiting for your call, of course," he responded.
Mello blushed, scratching at the back of his head nervously. If Matt ever saw Mello like this, so choked and unsure, he would have surely done flips in his grave. "W-Well. You said I'd see you."
"Yes, I can be wherever you need me to be. But how has Near been working out over there?"
"Horrible."
"That's not good."
"L," Mello stressed, standing from the floor, "you left me with that brat and expected me to be okay with it! Near's just a freak; he accuses me of biting into his sandwiches and is always staring at me! Plus, I think he's jealous that I have your phone number," Mello said smoothly, quite pleased with himself.
L chuckled. "He has no reason to be jealous; you rarely use it."
"I use it when I have to!" Mello countered.
"And why have you used it today, Mello?"
"Uh… right. Well, once again, it's because of Near. He's been starting arguments with me and a customer walked out today on us. So, Rosie said that we needed to bond together as workers. She's making dinner for us tomorrow at her house and said we could bring guests… would you wanna come?" He mumbled, looking around.
"Of course. Thank you for the invitation."
"Whatever…"
"So, Near has been starting fights, huh?"
"That's right. Little bitch. You know what he said to me today?"
"What's that?"
"He called me a lowlife for working at the flower shop! And he said you don't pay me any attention!"
"… Hm. And you said nothing to provoke him?"
"Nope."
"I see."
"You don't believe me!"
"Oh, I do. I just have never known Near to speak without prompt."
"Well, he's an ass."
"I'm sorry."
"Hmph."
"Well, if our phone conversation is over-"
"Wait a minute! Who said I was done talking?"
"All right. What would you like to talk about?"
"… Hell if I know."
-
Near sat on his bed in his apartment, sulking to himself. His closet was opened before him and all the clothes that had once been in place were now strewn all across the floor and the bed. He had not found one suitable thing for a casual dinner party. Everything in his wardrobe was useful only for work settings: ties and blazers and shiny shoes.
In his hand was a red tie from Brooks Brothers, one which he had been given when he was very small and it was the only thing of loud color he owned. It was rather slim and sleek and felt of silk but wasn't real silk. There were giraffes on the front, lining the tie with their bright yellow colors and mixing in with the red - truly, it was a ghastly piece of neckwear. But his mother had liked it and he was supposed to wear it to his first day of working at IDM. He never did.
He couldn't get over the embarrassment of coming to such a prestigious business wearing giraffes.
So it had been locked away in his closet and everyday when he dressed, the giraffes stared at him, glared at him, like: traitor. Near shook his head at it and wondered if the thing could be worn to a casual party. He had been demoted, as it seemed, from office intern to flower shop proprietor. He didn't even have any coffee to deliver. Rosie said she didn't drink it and Mello hardly needed anything caffeinated. And even if he did want coffee, Near would sooner throw it on the barbarian's massacred face than serve it to him.
But Near had a strong feeling that Mello would invite L to the dinner the next night.
"Hey, Rosie, can we bring friends?"
Yes, that was probably his plan. And knowing L, how admirably - and sickeningly - devoted he was to making that ruffian happy, he would come. But while the prospect of seeing L was riveting - and all the more reason not to wear giraffes on his tie - he couldn't help but feel a little sick, a bit of bile rise up in him. He imagined L coming with the intentions of pleasing Mello and catering to Mello and not at all to perhaps say hello to Near.
It was just a bit much. Just all a little bit too quick coming upon someone who had never really had friends before or felt that he needed them. And then all of a sudden, he finds someone with potential.
"We're friends, so you're permitted to call me L."
Finds a need.
Near rose off of his bed with an odd expression - the hybrid of a frown and grimace. Well, certainly, he would not loose his friend and would not be outdone by Mello, either. He held the red tie in his left hand and picked up the phone with his right, speed dialing.
One.
Tw-
"What is it, Near?"
-
L showed up at Mello's apartment around six the next evening and, when Mello opened the door, he groaned in dismay.
"What's the matter?" L asked, head tilted.
"That," Mello said, pointing at the bottle of Chardonnay that L cradled in his arms.
L walked past Mello with a small smirk, leaving the bottle for Mello to hold. "You said it was a dinner party, right? I just thought I'd bring a gift. I'm sure Rosie wouldn't mind."
Mello shook his head, subtly trying to find a price tag.
L was quiet for a second and studied Mello when the blond didn't think he was looking. "You look nice, by the way," L said and smiled when Mello fumbled the Chardonnay bottle.
"Oh, yeah?" Mello mumbled, glancing down at himself. He would have rather been wearing his expensive leather outfit but it was dirty and he couldn't let L see him in the same thing twice. He was in jeans, wrinkled and torn at the hem, and a white t-shirt that had an old ketchup stain on the chest. His hoodie was over his shoulder, half wet from his still-drying hair from the shower. But L seemed sincere in his compliment and it gave Mello some pride in his grungy attire.
"Well, let's get going then, Mr. Rich Man." Mello walked for the door. He stopped and turned to look at L with an enticing smirk. "Unless people like you like being fashionably late."
L followed him, saying, "Oh, will you tease me now, because I am not an ex-janitor?"
"That's right."
Despite Mello's suggestion that they walk to Rosie's house - only a few blocks away - L coerced Mello into his car. Mello settled into the leather seats and played with the air conditioning vents and the radio and harassed L about not having anything worth playing. When they arrived, it was a comforting old brownstone building that Mello had only seen pictures of - when Rosie and her husband had that bad ant infestation and she showed her court pictures around.
The sun had already set and was sending streamers of light pink and orange into the vastly cobalt sky. The stars were in the east and Mello knocked on the door, leaving the Chardonnay with L.
"Hello, Mello," Rosie cried as she flung open the door. Neither Mello nor L was surprised at her bright greeting and didn't even mind her hugging the two of them as they entered. "Oh, L, it's you! Mello, you naughty thing, I didn't know you had been keeping company with L outside the workplace," she teased, pinching Mello's arm.
"What?" Mello frowned, narrowing an eye at her.
"Oh, don't make such a fuss! Come in, come in! L, what's this?" she asked, being handed the wine.
"It's for you. This is quite a kind thing you're doing for them - bonding." He looked around thoughtfully and then, interrupting the next thing Rosie would say, was a loud clank in the kitchen that lay beyond the dining room.
Rosie whipped her head around. "Oh, Albert! Are you alright in there?"
"I-I'm okay," answered a sheepish voice and out of the threshold popped an aging bald head with clouds of white hair like a wreath above his ears. The man was bigger than Rosie, stretching his white and blue polo shirt, but had kind eyes and greeted both Mello and L with warm handshakes. "Hello, boys, Rosie's told me so much about you." He looked towards L and said, "Are you Near?"
Rosie whispered to him, "Dear, that's L! Near's a tiny thing."
"Oh, that's right! Well, where is he then?"
Mello rolled his eyes towards L. "He's probably scared. He seems really unsocial."
"I don't think Near would hide," L observed.
Then, as if right on cue, there was a timid knock at the door and Rosie ran past everyone for the door. She threw it open and greeted, "Oh, Near! You look so cute! You've brought a guest!"
Mello gasped and rubbernecked from the living area but he still couldn't see Near or his guest. Rosie turned and lead the way into the living room and was holding a bottle of Pinot Noir, grinning widely. "Gee, are we sure going to party! Look at this, Albert!"
Mello raised an eyebrow. "So, you decided to show up - what the fuck?" he yelled, wide-eyed, as Raito came walking in behind Near.
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To be continued.
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A/N: Thank you all for reading. Comments, questions, hit me.