Looseleaf
CLII. Mattress
Mello hated perky, overly energetic people. Especially children, even though the fifteen-year-old had been one, himself. That was why on the morning of March 24th, he found himself feeling like kicking a puppy as he faced a particular brown-haired boy.
"Hi!" the younger kid said happily - Mello remembered his name to be something like Peanut.
"Hey," Mello paused, "Peanut. Right?"
"I'm not Peanut!" The kid just kept standing there, smiling like an idiot.
Mello repressed the urge to bare his teeth at him. "Well?" he prompted. "What's your name then?"
"It's my birthday today!" Not-Peanut chirped, abruptly changing the subject.
"Cool," Mello said boredly.
"And for my birthday, I wanted to change my name..." Not-Peanut paused for dramatic effect. "...to Mattress!" he finished with a flourish.
"Mattress," Mello echoed, a smirk tugging at his lips. "You know, that reminds me of something."
Not-Peanut/Mattress blinked up at him. "What's that?" he asked.
"There's this kid named Matt," Mello said informatively. "When we're legal, I'm going to pound him into the mattress." He couldn't hold back the dark chuckle that followed.
Not-Peanut/Mattress was still smiling vacantly. "Oh...that's nice," he said. Confusion was evident in his voice, but that didn't deter him from maintaining a smile. "D'you mean, like, pound him with a balloon hammer?" he inquired curiously. "You know, the ones that squeak!"
Mello laughed. "Sure, kid." Ah, bless children and their innocence...