#91 Bible

(a/n: apologies for any mistakes I make here, I've got a bad cold D: also this has religious themes, I freely admit I'm pretty ignorant of religious stuff, so if you think you might be offended by lack of knowledge, don't read this chapter. )

Mello hated being ill. He hated the solitude more than anything, the throwing up and headaches at least gave him an excuse to not be thinking of Near and how to beat him all the time, but the solitude was awful.

Wammy's house had a strict policy on sickly children. If it was catching, you were quarantined. Minimised the risk of a hundred little genius' coming down with the flu at an awkward moment.

So Mello was usually left alone in his double room. They even removed his roommate and best friend, kicking and screaming, because Matt's oxytocin deficiency, the reason he needed those silly goggles, also meant that he craved the companionship of someone he trusted implicitly. And in this hyper-competitive environment, the only person he could trust like that was Mello.

They'd been put together as an afterthought, when one too many orphans arrived at once and the only option was to turn one of the rooms into a twin. Mello and Matt had been five and four years old, respectively. Mello had been the same angry child he was today, but more unfocused, and Matt hadn't spoken a word except to complain that he was cold, something that was to be expected, after leaving his sunny homeland.

Watari and Roger had never expected the two to latch together as they did. And now, nine years later, you couldn't get the twin 'M's apart with a crowbar.

Really, Roger should have known that Matt, being third, was smart enough to sneak his way back into Mello's room without leaving a trace, and certainly he adored Mello enough to do so at every opportunity.

They'd play Matt's videogames together, watch movies and make fun of the inaccuracies, and when that got boring, played endless games of tic-tac-toe and other paper games. Mello refused to even touch board games, associating them too much with his hated albino rival.

Sometimes, if Mello was in the right mood, he let Matt read to him. They got through the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy during one particularly bad bout of chicken pox.

Mello would never admit that he found Matt's voice very soothing and comforting, a very light tenor, only just broken from pre-pubescent squeaking. And there was something so peaceful about the act of laying in his bed and knowing that someone was sat beside him, reading him stories that he already knew, but loved all the same.

He joked once that it was almost motherly, especially when Matt would reach across just as he was nodding off, and ruffle his hair very gently. Sometimes he even rearranged the blankets over his blonde friend.

Matt, for his part, would just smile very gently and nod.

It was during one long, dull, illness, when the pair had exhausted even the furthest corners of Wammy's library that Mello had nodded to his own copy of the Bible.

"Read that to me."

Matt had made a face, "Mello… come on, it's not exactly reading material, you'll only yell at me when I mispronounce things."

Mello gave a little groan, snuggling against his pillow, knowing exactly how to twist Matt around his little finger. "Please, Matty?" he cooed helplessly. "It'll make me feel so much better."

Matt sighed helplessly, unable to resist those heavily lidded blue eyes, "Ok, ok… from the bookmark?"

Mello smiled slightly. "No, that's there to remind me of my prayers… go from where the page corner's turned down."

The hours ticked by slowly. Matt bit his lip as he told stories of God and his chosen, of what was good and what was sinful.

But when it came to the story about what God did to the sodomites, the red-haired boy snapped the bible shut.

Mello opened one eye, halfway into dreamland and in no mood to stop. "Mh?"

"Mello, do you really believe all that?" the red-haired boy squeaked. Then shook his head, "Stupid question, of course you do. I mean, do you think that gay people deserve all that?"

Mello frowned slightly and sat up. His blonde hair stuck out like a dandelion clock. "Well… it's complicated, but it's right there so-"

Matt's eyes narrowed. "But you know there's plenty of research that says it's not a choice, its genetic, so it's okay to persecute people for something they can't help?"

Mello rubbed his muzzy head, wishing Matt hadn't brought this up now, when his capacity to argue was at an all time low. "Matty, it's not like that, it-"

Matt stood up, his face flushing pink and voice tight with anger. "Besides, God created everything, so he created gay people too, and he created love as well, and that's about the closest thing there is to the opposite of a sin, right?"

Mello grumbled slightly, "…I guess."

Matt's anger subsided slightly, Mello could almost see it draining out of him. He wondered privately why this issue had got him so wound up in the first place. "So then… it's not a sin to love another guy?"

Mello coughed weakly. He was too tired to debate. "When you put it like that, Matt, no It's not."

Matt smiled, and leant down close to ruffle Mello's long blonde hair, and plant a single kiss on his forehead. He stood up, replacing the bible carefully, and headed for the door.

He glanced back and winked playfully, "It's just the bible anyway, it's not like it's gospel." He chirped, without any apparent sense of irony, and hurried out into the corridor.

Mello shook his head to himself and tried to sleep.

(A/N: Oxytocin deficiency is a real thing, Wikipedia it. Not sure quite how it works but doesn't it make sense for Matt?)