Looseleaf
CXXVIII. Misdelivery
"Remember," Mello said to himself, "Matt's is dark blue, Near's is light blue. Matt is dark blue, Near is light blue." He chanted to himself as he walked up to Near's room. "Right, Near's light blue," he mumbled, holding up the two sealed Valentine's cards - or, at least only one of them was. Near's had been designed to contain profanity as well as 'I HATE YOU' in big letters.
It was childish. Not that Mello cared.
"All right, take this, you son of a-" Mello grumbled, about to put the light-colored card in the small 'mailbox'(Linda had insisted that everyone have one for Valentine's Day), when all of the sudden, he heard someone coming.
"Near, where did you say you put?" Linda called, stopping at the end of the hall to listen for the reply. "Right, in your room, under the bed! Be right back!"
Mello panicked so much that he dropped the cards. I can't let her see me, he thought, or else she'll think I'm giving Near a Valentine and that I like him! Hastily, he drew a random card, shoved it into the mailbox carelessly, and fled to the safety of his own room.
"That was close," he panted, leaning against the door. Mello didn't have time to rest very well, because Matt entered the room only two seconds after, and he looked angry.
"What the hell, Mello! You said you wanted to play hide-and-seek and then you leave me hiding in that thorn bush," Matt said angrily. "Now a handful of people think I'm an idiot for doing that, and there I was, just waiting for you to find me, and-"
"For you." Mello thrust out the blue envelope, blushing and looking down. Matt's card - Mello had spent a lot of time on it, especially on that declaration of love.
Matt's anger seemed to instantly died down. He accepted the light blue envelope and ripped it open, tugging out the Valentine that was hidden.
Mello kept quiet, cheeks burning, heart thumping in his ears; oh god, he was never going to live this down...
"...Oh." Matt exhaled loudly.
Mello glanced up shyly through his bangs.
"If that's what you think of me..." Matt shrugged.
"And?" Mello prompted softly. Matt can't just say that, especially not after he'd read the card! Mello had put the words 'I LOVE YOU' in big red and yellow letters across the top. He was beginning to say more when he saw Matt taking out a bag and stuffing his games in.
"Matt?" Mello asked, puzzled. "What are you doing?" Was this his punishment? Was Matt going to leave him and tell everyone he was a queer?
"You said you hated me," Matt said, voice devoid of any emotion. "If you really do, then no point in staying in your room, right?" He gave a little smile, as if everything was totally fine.
"What? No I didn't!" Mello grabbed the card from his fingers wildly, reading what was inside. "N-no, this isn't your card..."
Matt arched an eyebrow. "You gave someone else a Valentine?"
"Yeah, you and Near," Mello said. "And if you have the hate card, then Near has-"
To be continued in the next chapter...
Also, does anyone know whether or not Near makes a puppet version of Matt in the anime/manga?