#48 Disturbed

Near sighed deeply as he lay among his plastic robots. Irritated, he picked one up and pulled its arm off.

He was frustrated. He hadn't been able to make an advance in the Kira case for two days now. Mello was probably gaining on him, and that annoyed him no end. He enjoyed the competition between him and Mello right up to the point where Mello started winning. Then it wasn't fun anymore.

He rolled onto his stomach and knocked over another sentry-bot, then pressed a few keys on his own personal laptop.

His screen flashed up the symbol of a gothic M, flanked by its lower-case partner. Mello and Matt.

He listened to the ringing noises on the end of the line for a few moments, before a voice crackled through any amount of changer technology.

"What the hell do you want, cue-tip?"

Near barely raised an eyebrow at the disguised voice of Mello. He was used to Mello throwing a little personal abuse his way with every conversation. If he were frank, he'd be worried if he didn't call him names.

"I wish to enquire about your investigations, Mello."

There was a pause and Near swore he heard frantic muttering in the background.

"None of your goddamn business." Mello finally replied. "Now piss off, I'm-"

"Mello please don't." Near blurted out all at once. He cursed himself for that lilt of vulnerability in his voice.

Truthfully, he was lonely. Hal was out following Takada, Gevanni was still tailing Mikami and Rester was on one of the other floors of the building, sorting through lists of names.

Mello's smirk was audible. "What was that? Haha, was that the great number one begging for someone to talk to? You little homo Near."

Near bit his lip, if he listened closely he could hear an odd noise in the background, sort of like slurping, but in a rythem, "Considering that my bedroom was next to yours and Matt's back at the house, I would be very careful about whom I accused of homosexual behaviour."

Mello growled down the line. "You shut up, what Me and Matt do is nothing to do with you."

There was a slick, hot sound in the background and Mello clearly covered the microphone to snap something at his companion.

Near frowned, puzzled, "What are you two doing anyway? I keep hearing wet sounds… is your residence leaking?"

"No our- AH!! Ow!!! Matt you stupid… I told you to watch your teeth!!"

A second disguised voice rang down the line, shaking with laughter, "I'm sorry Mells… just how innocent this kid is…"

Near's papery skin flushed red as he realised what those noises had been. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um… Matt…what were you…?"

Matt's ever-cheerful voice chipped in again, "Heh, you're too young to know what we were just doing, but suffice to say you kind of caught us in the middle of something."

Near clenched his eyes shut and squeaked, "I don't want to know!!" before disconnecting the line and scurrying off to shower for several hours under cold water.

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"You know, that was mean even by my standards." Mello commented, nipping a corner from his chocolate bar.

Matt grinned across at Mello and lapped the length of the ice-lolly in his hand. He laughed mock innocence, "Why? What do you think he thought we were doing?"