I never mentioned it before, 'cause it's so self-explanatory, but I've nothing to say, so~

Matt, Mello, Near(coughcandiehack), Linda and no one else belongs to me. Well... Linda was based off of that brief flash of an appearance she made in the manga... aside from that, she is mostly mine... you get the point. The character concepts are Ohba-sama's, and the looks are via Obata-sama. Not me.

Love

kyo

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"C'mon, Mello!" Matt urged me out the door. "Don't walk so slow!" He whined.

"Why are you so freakin' eager anyway?" I groaned, letting him tote me through the hallway. "I don't even know what room Linda and Erity stay in!" I added, sure I had won the battle.

"Room 38." He turned to me. "Right?"

"...Um... yeah?" I paused. "I just said I didn't know!"

"... It was rhetorical anyway. I know I'm right." He looked forward again. I was going to ask how he knew, but we were already at the door and I had to go back to worrying about how much Linda likes Matt and how little Erity might. He cheerily knocked on the door and waited for an answer. There sounded like there was a great struggle from inside before the door flew open to Linda, who was looking back into the room.

"Erity! Organize those wires! I almost killed myself!" She bit, before turning to us with a big smile on her face. "Welcome to our humble abode! So glad you could make it!" She stepped aside with a mock-curtsy - since she was wearing jeans.

Matt bowed deeply. "Thank you for having us." He answered in a jokingly-serious voice. Linda giggled as I pushed Matt into the room.

"Make yourselves at home." She invited.

"I knew "studying" was a load of bullshit." I huffed.

"Nu-uh! I do want Mel's help. Erity never helps me, and who better to ask for help than the 2nd guy in all of Wammy's? After all, Near's a creep, so asking him is out of the question." She spat.

"... So you don't need Matt." I pointed out.

"Eh? Well, yeah, but he'd be lonesome sitting at your place. Besides, you never would have come if I just asked you to come over and help." She shrugged. She was right, though, and it was pretty clever.

I sighed. "Matt, you don't have to...." I trailed off. He had himself seated - on the floor - next to Erity, playing some racing game. Erity's short, black bob cut hair kept falling in her face, forcing her to move it and swerve off-course. Matt, for some reason, did just fine with goggles and his hair in his face. "Matt, can't you play games on your own?! When you visit someone else's place you just start up?!"

"Versing the computer player isn't any fun. I like real opponents sometimes." He looked back at me, his car staying on course on the screen. Erity huffed, frustrated. Matt laughed, turning his attention back to the screen. "It's fine, right? You're gonna help Linda. After all, Erity's ranked 4th, so she doesn't need help, and we have the same game interests."

"You sound like you already knew all that.... Is that why you were so eager to come, you little-!"

"Stop complaining!" Linda bit at me. "Now sit down and help me." I sighed, obeying. Linda was a mathematics person, meaning her area of expertise was closer to Near's than mine. Which also meant that I could help with most of the things that she didn't get. So we went through page after page of questions while Erity lost race after race and challenged Matt again and again. Sound like fun?

"I dunno, who cares?" I mumbled, with my cheek rested againt the cold table.

"Stop getting lazy." Linda huffed.

"I'm not lazy! I really don't know! It's a dumb question, skip it."

"No way, we haven't skipped any questions so far!" She pouted. I ignored her. She sighed. "Erity!"

"If Mello doesn't know it, I probably don't." Erity called back.

"None of us will know it! Skip it! No one memorizes that kinda crap!" I begged.

"No way! Erity! How did the African American writer J. Saunders Redding describe the arrival of a ship in North America in the year 1619?"

Erity turned with a dumbfounded expression on her face while Matt picked out his next car. I imagine he was hoping he'd find a striped one. "Mello's right, it's worthless. Just skip it, Lin."

"Sails furled, flag drooping at her rounded stern, she rode the tide in from the sea. She was a strange ship, indeed, by all accounts, a frightening ship, a ship of mystery. Whether she was a trader, privateer, or man-of-war no one knows. Through her bulwarks black-mouthed cannon yawned. The flag she flew was Dutch; her crew a motley. Her port of call, an English settlement, Jamestown, in a colony of Virginia. She came, she traded, and shortly afterwords was gone. Probably no ship in modern history has carried a more portentous freight. Her cargo? Twenty slaves.*" Matt recited. Everyone paused to stare at him. He only looked up to notice after he'd chosen his car, glancing at Erity. Then he turned to see Linda and me, met my eyes for a brief second, before flushing a deep shade of red. "O-o-or something." He stuttered. "I th-think. I-I-I-I," he ducked his head, "I'm sorry." He mummbled.

"That was awesome!" Linda burst. "How did you do that? Where did you learn it?" She questioned.

Matt rubbed his neck. "Learn? I didn't... I just... I dunno, I saw it somewhere a while ago and I...."

"Saw it? Do you have photographic memory or something?" Linda asked.

"N-no." He shook his head, still looking down.

"Are you sure 3ird is your rightful place? If you actually tried I bet you could make 1st without a sweat." She nodded.

Matt flinched. "Not really. 3ird is... I'm okay." He mumbled. "Um... how much more do you have? Can we go home? It's getting late."

"Oh... yeah. That's enough." I got to my feet, nodding. Matt hastily got up, too.

"Bye, you two!" Linda waved.

"Come race me again after I practice!" Erity added.

I left quickly, while Matt sauntered after me, closing the door quietly behind him. "I-I'm sorry Mello." He mused.

"What for?" I rolled my eyes.

"I... dunno. I feel like you're mad at me." He murmured.

I was. Somewhere deep down, I was pissed off that Matt had that information. And what Linda had said - that he could easily be number one. Was it true? Was Matt smarter than all of us, he just didn't apply himself? Had he given up? Or did he just never care to begin with? But why would he be here if he didn't want to achieve anything with it? Didn't he want to strive forward, to be the best, to be the next L? I wanted to ask him, to demand a reason from him, but I didn't feel like we had attained that level of familiarity. Maybe he had a good reason. Matt seemed to be harmless, and you'd think he'd been an open book. Like Linda said, he'd be the perfect lackey. Open, honest, blindly loyal. I felt like if I asked, he'd answer, but it would leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. Like I'd forced an answer from him, even if I hadn't. For the first time in my life I felt like someone was truly trying to distance themselves from me. I was used to people not liking my company, but it was completely different with Matt. He had no problem being with me, but I could feel him drawing back in his mind.

But it must have been my imagination. Matt was so chipper around me. It must have just been me. I wasn't used to someone like Matt - someone who'd cling to my arm without thinking, or suddenly hug me - so my mind denied it and tried to make me think that Matt was still pulling away. Still distancing. Getting farther and farther and not waiting for me to catch up.

"Mello...? Daydreaming? Come on." Matt's low voice snapped me out of my reverie. He was standing with our door open, looking back at me - who had fallen behind. I blinked, before jogging to catch up.

"Are you okay?" He murmured as we entered room 46, his hand hesitating to feel my forehead.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I turned my face away. His hand dropped back to his side as I paced to my bedroom.

"Are you mad?" He asked as I was slipping into the room. I looked back at him, his hands clenched at his sides and his expression earnestly worried about what answer he'd get.

I smiled a little. "No." I promised, watching his entire stance relax and a big smile find his lips.

"I'm glad." He mused, not even thinking about the possibility I might lie to him.

*Matt's little quote there a la A People's History of the United Statesby Howard Zinn :3 I read weird books....