(I do not own Death Note or the characters.)

Chapter 10

When I entered the game room, I expected to find Matt sprawled out playing some game only he would find entertaining. That is, however, not what I saw. Matt was in there, no surprise, but he wasn't playing a video game. As a matter of fact, the TV wasn't even on. The redhead was just lying in the middle of the room, staring at some piece of paper. Upon hearing me enter the room, Matt looked up at me through orange tinted goggles, and hurriedly shoved the paper into his jeans pocket.

I blinked, obviously confused.

"What was that?" I asked somewhat suspiciously.

"N-nothing," Matt replied, clearly trying to avoid something.

"Okay," I shrugged, "If you don't wanna tell me, I can't force you." My voice was slow and deliberately fake-innocent. I wanted the boy to tell me what he was hiding.

"I'm not telling," came the unphased response.

"Fine," I pouted, "we're gonna be late for class. Come on."

Later that same day, I walked into the dorm room, only to see the most disgusting sight ever.

Matt and Near were sitting on the floor, poring over books. They appeared to be working on some sort of project, though I couldn't imagine what it could be for.

I slammed the door shut behind me, glaring daggers at the albino. Matt glanced up in response, but Near simply continued skimming pages of boring print.

"Dude, it is so not what you think," Matt told me, throwing his arms up, surrendering.

"Matt has not been doing well in his Literature class, so the teacher has asked me to help him do some extra credit. I agreed," Near interjected in a monotone that made me twitch.

I rounded on Matt, putting my fist on my hip not un-flamer-like.

"Matt, is that true?" I questioned angrily.

The redhead hung his head and nodded in shame.

"Well, why the fuck does he have to be the one that helps you? Couldn't I do it?" I couldn't even say Near's name out loud. It disgusted me too much.

Near answered for Matt, "The teacher specifically asked me to help Matt with his extra credit. He felt that I was most suited for the job, at least that is what he told me. He said something about having the best grades in the school." The pale boy shrugged, but I could hear the satisfactory smirk in his voice.

My hand dropped from my hip but stayed clenched in a tight fist. The urge to punch the child beneath me was so fierce, I had to force myself onto my bed, facing the wall, for it to stop.

A freaking eternity later, Near left. I rolled onto my back, my right side aching from laying on it for so long.

"Matt, what the hell?" I shot at the goggled boy.

"What?" he responded.

"Why didn't you just tell me you were having trouble in Literature? I could have helped you, and you wouldn't be stuck with that rapist twit!"

"I didn't realize my grade was that low until Mr. Ostergard pulled me aside after class to tell me about doing extra credit with Near. I didn't even have an opportunity to object. Don't worry, though, today was the only day it'll be going on," the redhead grinned then, "so he won't be around during your birthday tomorrow."

I smiled, so he'd remembered. With a memory like his, you could never know.

"So, what are you gonna do for my birthday," I asked, my smile turning mischievous.

The younger boy grinned back.

"Wouldn't you like to know," was all he said before turning out the light and going to sleep.

The next morning I opened my eyes to see the snow falling outside the window. I smiled happily to myself, rolled over, and glanced at Matt's bed.

It was empty.

I blinked and checked the time. 9:32 in the morning. Where was Matt?

I flipped onto my back again, not much caring where the redhead was at the moment. It was my birthday, and there was a beautiful snowfall outside. That's all that mattered.

There was a soft knock on the door. It yanked me rudely out of my pleasant birthday thoughts. I groaned tiredly, grabbing my boxers off the floor and slipping them on, though not bothering to throw on a shirt.

I almost slammed the door shut again when I saw who was on the other side of it. It was Near, dressed in his perfectly white outfit and clutching his plush rabbit.

"What. Do. You. Want?" I managed to get out through clenched teeth.

The child started twirling some of his white hair, glancing nonchalantly into my room.

"Is Matt here?" he asked quietly.

"No," I barked, wishing he would leave. This was not how I wanted to start off my birthday.

"Oh. Do you know when he will be back?" Near asked before explaining, "I wanted to check on his project, to make sure everything was in order."

"Well, aren't you a good Samaritan," I said, thick sarcasm lacing my tone. "I'm not sure where Matt is or when he'll be back. Even if I did I doubt I'd tell you, though. So how 'bout you take your albino ass and walk it that way," I gestured down the hall, "and out of my life!"

"Mello, is that any way to treat someone helping your boyfriend? I am an old friend too. I feel hurt," he paused. After a few moments of silence Near spoke again, "Besides, I thought people were supposed to be happy on their birthday. Perhaps I was wrong?" The albino's tone told me he was very certain he wasn't wrong.

"Near, I'm going to be blunt with you," I began, "I don't like you. As a matter of fact, I've come to absolutely loathing you. You're making me very angry, the way you shouldn't on someone's birthday. I'm having a very difficult time resisting the urge to punch you right here and now. So will you please just leave? I'm asking nicely now, but I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep that up."

Gray eyes grew daring.

"Just try it," Near said simply, yet still apathetically, making his statement sound strange.

My fist clenched and unclenched multiple times, hating the way he was mocking me and daring me to hit him.

A sudden rush of déjà vu came over me as I was shoved roughly to the floor. I heard the door close behind me and felt myself being flipped onto my stomach. I saw the a faded stuffed animal fall to the ground next to me. Cold hands wrapped around my wrists, pinning them to the carpet above my head. I stared, wide-eyed, at the room, but I didn't really see it.

Something colder than the hands were clasped around my wrists. I tilted my head up uncomfortably to check what it was and felt my stomach lurch at the sight. Where the hell had Near even gotten handcuffs?

I closed my eyes in horror and disbelief. I heard the other ends of the pairs of handcuffs be secured around God-knows-what. I tried to move my arms, but I couldn't.

The exact same thing happened to my ankles. I also attempted to move them, but, again, it didn't work. He'd tied me up well.

I silently cursed myself for not putting proper clothing on before answering the door.

Near walked in front of me and crouched down in his usual way, grabbing my chin in his hands and forcing me to look up at him.

"How does it feel? Too tight?" his apathetic tone made it difficult to tell if he was mocking me or actually curious.

I spat on him.

"Untie me," I demanded.

Right then I saw the first smirk ever touch the pale boy's lips.

"No," was all he said.

I wiggled again, trying desperately to free myself from this vulnerable position, but to no avail. I sighed, somehow defeated.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked angrily, though still curiously.

Near got up and began walking about the room, looking around as if searching for something. He ran his small, devilish hands all over everything. It might have been sexy if not for the albino sexual harasser attached.

"I do not know yet," he drawled, "I have been planning this, but I still have been unable to decide what to do with you after I had you all tied up. I have thought of so many different things; teasing, harassing, mutilating, abusing, raping, but I could not decide," he smiled sadistically and half-laughed to himself, "perhaps a bit of everything?"

I honestly felt like I was going to throw up. So this is what happens when an apathetic genius loses it, I thought to myself, completely disgusted.

Near opened one of my desk drawers, flipping the objects inside around absently.

"I doubt you will have anything that could serve abusive purposes, though," he sighed, sounding upset about it.

"Don't go through our stuff, you little freak!" I yelled at him.

The albino sneered and moved on to Matt's desk, flipping through each drawer in turn. When he opened the bottom drawer, he saw something that could his creeping eye. Reaching to the back of the drawer, he murmured to himself "What do we have here?" and pulled out a razor blade. Not just any razor, though, it was my razor. The one I had used to slice myself open so many times.

"This is not the sort of thing I would expect Matt to have," Near stated, seemingly amused.

"It's not his," I interjected, "I used to use that razor, but I gave it to Matt to help me stop."

Dark eyes looked my scarred body up and down.

"I can see that," an apathetic voice said.

A white hand flipped the razor open, and black holes watched it glisten in the light. Those dark orbs glanced abruptly up at the door, noticing it wasn't yet locked. This problem was quickly solved as Near hit the dead bolt, thus locking me into his torture chamber.

"Do you like pain, I wonder?" the child asked softly, and I cringed as he dug the blade into my back. I heard a small chuckle as the blade was dragged along the middle of my back. I tried to force myself away from the razor, but it was impossible in my tied-up position. "Hm, I will take that as a no," the child chuckled, cocking his head to the side.

I could feel the warm blood flow freely from the horizontal gash in the middle of my back. Just as soon as I was able to feel almost relaxed again, there was a sharp pain as the blade dug in between my shoulder blades and ran down the center of my back. I imagined the cuts looked like some sort of plus sign or cross, though I didn't really want to think about it.

Soon enough I couldn't distinguish between gashes as they criss-crossed and ran together. The liquid flowing from the wounds was warm and heating me up cruelly. My eyes watered, but I refused to succumb and cry at the hands of Near.

Awhile later the pain eased, but didn't stop. As a matter of fact, the only reason the pain even eased was because there was no longer a sharp object penetrating my skin. The wounds already there, however, ached mercilessly.

I heard a faint clatter as the blade fell to the floor.

"So, how does your back feel?" I was questioned by the sadistic boy above me.

"Just dandy," I replied through clench teeth and not even trying to conceal my thick sarcasm.

"Good," I heard the smile in his suddenly not-as-apathetic voice. "What should we do now?" he pondered.

"How 'bout we untie Mello and let him have a giant birthday cake?" I suggested, still being sarcastic, though half-hoping he would do as I said.

Of course he didn't.

"No, I think we should eat some chocolate," he decided, smirking again as he saw my eyes light up. "And of course by we I mean me."

The pale boy walked over to my desk and grabbed the unopened chocolate bar that lay on top of it. It was a giant Hershey's bar, just straight-up milk chocolate, my favorite. He came back in front of me (I assumed it was so I could see) and slowly, deliberately opened the Heavenly bar of goodness.

Immediately the chocolate-y smell began wafting about the room. It filled my nostrils and made my mouth water longingly. I stared just as longingly at the brown rectangle, willing it to be in my mouth.

Near stared at the chocolate for a few moments, looking almost disgusted. How dare he look at my chocolate like that, I thought, biting my lip angrily. After examining it for a few moments, Near brought the chocolate bar up to his mouth and licked it.

I wanted to scream. He had defiled my most sacred of things. He had let his disgusting white hands rub all over it and allowed his tongue to touch it. That bar was for my tongue only! How dare he defile it like that!

"Something wrong, Mello?"

"Everything's just dandy." Sarcasm.

"Good."

At that, the albino bit a fair-sized chunk off of the bar and consumed it. He sucked on it for a few moments before chewing it slowly. At last he swallowed.

The bar was broken. Near had broken it. I could hardly comprehend these thoughts, they were just so incredibly wrong.

"Would you like some?" Near mocked, holding the wonderful chocolate right in front of my face, just out of reach. "Well, aren't you going to take it?" He asked again when I made no move for it, not that I could what with being all bondaged and whatnot. "Well, I suppose if you do not want it, then I cannot force you," the albino finished and bit another huge chunk off the chocolate.

For the most part Near stopped mocking me then. He just ate his, no correction, my chocolate silently.

Upon finishing the chocolate, Near peeked at the clock. He muttered something unintelligible and threw away the chocolate wrapper. He produced a key from his pocket and began unlocking my left ankle. He paused however.

"You best not say anything about any of this to anyone," I was warned.

The child finished untying me and left the room.

"Mello!"

A door slammed, and someone was roughly shaking me awake. I opened my eyes lazily, not yet remembering what had happened.

"Mello, what happened?!" a worried voice was screaming hysterically. "Why's there so much blood?!"

Suddenly everything came rushing back to me, all the memories of what Near had done flooded back into my brain. I sat up abruptly from my position of laying on the floor, startling Matt and causing him to fall backwards. I looked over at him; he was crying. I'd never really seen him cry before.

"What happened?" he asked again, looking at the blood covering the carpet and me.

I took a deep breath.

"It's alright, Matt," I began, but stopped. Was it really alright? No, it wasn't. Near had come in here and violated me horribly. It wasn't okay.

Matt saw my expression change and asked, "Who did this to you?"

I was surprised Matt didn't accuse me of hurting myself, but I was glad he had the sense to see that I couldn't have cut my own back like that. It was physically impossible.

I was suddenly dizzy. The floor hit me hard. I rubbed my head pointlessly. Matt's worried hands were propping me up.

"Near," I croaked.

Fury shined in Matt's eyes like it never had before. He looked ready to murder the albino child. He knew there were other things to attend to first, though. He picked me up bridal style and carried me over to my bed, laying me down. He then grabbed some Neosporin, extra stength, and began rubbing it into my cut up back.

I felt pathetic. How could a tiny little thing like Near have done all this to me? I should have been able to overpower him. It was pitiful that I couldn't.

"I should kill him for this."

I looked up at Matt after he said this, I mean really looked at him. His green eyes were furious, glowing with a desire to kill. His hands were shaking as he tended to me. His breathing was ragged, like he was suppressing some horrible desire. I felt bad for him.

"I mean, it's your birthday, too," Matt continued.

"That doesn't change anything, Matt," I said quietly.

The redhead looked appalled.

"What do you mean, it doesn't change anything? Of course it does. Of all the days to pick to be an extra prick, he had to pick December 13th? It's unforgivable."

I shrugged uncomfortably, letting the matter drop.

Later that night, I was lying in bed watching TV. Matt had been more energetic and not so mopey when he left. He said he had to get something. He said it was for my birthday. I'd smiled at him, though I couldn't think of anything he could have gotten me. It didn't matter anyway. I didn't really like the whole gifts thing on birthdays anyway.

Matt entered the room then. He turned the light on and the TV off. He threw a package at me, which I caught. It was wrapped in bright green wrapping paper with a a red velvet bow on top.

I was about to rip the paper off when Matt said, "Wait. Open the card first." He tossed it to me, and I opened it.

Inside was beautifully drawn flowers and an incredibly cheesy poem:

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

You love chocolate,

And leather, too.

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

You are perfect,

Regardless of number 2.

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

You're name is Mello,

And I love you!

I smiled. I loved cheesy things. Not to mention, I was pretty sure the last stanza was a personalized version of something I saw on Barney once. I felt the tears coming, but restrained them.

"I love it, Matt," I said, voice uncovering the restrained tears.

The redhead laughed.

"Don't cry yet. You haven't even opened the present yet."

I ripped the green paper off the box, then opened the box itself. There was a monstrous bag of M&M's inside. And as we all know, M&M's are a form of chocolate, so I was very happy.

"Aw, thank you, Matty!"

"I'm glad you're happy, Mells, but you should really open the bag first."

The redhead's statement puzzled me, but I did as he suggested.

I opened the bag and picked up one of the M&M's. M&M's tend to have a little "M" on them, but these didn't. Instead, they had "MxM" on them. At first I was confused, but then I understood. "MxM", or MattxMello.

"Do you remember when you walked into the game room and I was reading something?" Matt asked randomly.

"Yeah, what of it?" I replied.

"Well, the M&M's company was having this thing where you could have M&M's personalized with whatever you wanted on them. It seemed perfect for your birthday."

I smiled as a lump grew in my chest. Previously restrained tears now overflowed and fell. Matt made me feel so special.

"Matt, thank you so much!"

I lunged off the bed and attacked him with a massive hug. My shirt was still off, and the gamer's touch was wonderful on my back as he embraced me back.

We ate the entire contents of the MxM's bag that night, laying on Matt's bed. We were falling asleep there, and I probably should have went back to my own bed. I was too lazy and comfortable though, being held by Matt. So I stayed there instead, and when I was just inches from dreamland, Matt asked softly, "So, how was your birthday, Mells?" He was tracing the vertical scratch on my back as if wanting me to say something bad about the day because of it.

Petty things like Near couldn't spoil my birthday, though.

"It was the best birthday ever, Matty, thank you."

At that I leaned up and kissed my boyfriend gently before nuzzling into his bare chest and drifting to sleep.

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Here's the Mello birthday chapter I promised! Sorry to make Near a really really sadistic asshole, but I just had to. Please tell me what you think!

-Bloodmuffins