"I can't believe I agreed to do this."
"Cheer up Mello!"
Mello grunted. He pulled on his jacket that's hood was lined with fur and slipped on his leather gloves. Matt zipped up his red jacket and put on a white hat that hide most of his red hair.
"Ready Mello?" Matt asked, bouncing around excitedly. Mello walked out the door instead of answering. Matt ran after him, his coat flapping around him. Snow was lightly falling and Matt jumped around making holes in the untouched sheet. He had to run to catch up with Mello who had walked straight toward the gates.
"Slow down Mello!" Matt called, racing after him. Mello didn't answer or slow down. Matt almost slipped as he ran, he slid a couple feet and had to grab on to Mello's arm for balance. Mello glanced down at him "What are you doing?"
"I slipped. Matt replied, recovering his balance before he let go of Mello's arm. Mello grunted and continued walking. Matt's leg was still bothering him but it wasn't bothering him enough to keep him from racing around. He dived into a couple of snow banks and had to call for Mello once to help him.
"Mello, I'm stuck!" Matt yelled from the snow pile.
"You've got to be kidding me." Mello sighed, walking over. Matt squirmed and Mello jumped back to avoid his flailing legs.
"Sit still." Mello commanded. He grabbed the back of Matt's jacket and ripped him, none to gently, from the snow. Matt grinned, his cheeks red with cold "Thanks Mello!"
"Hn." Mello grunted, beginning to walk away. Matt skipped over to him and he walked beside Mello as they entered the town.
"Wow!" Matt breathed, staring around. Every shop was decorated with lights, ribbons, writhes, tiny Chrimtas trees, and several other things Matt couldn't even name. The store windows were full of toys and candy and signs for sales. Matt flatted his nose against a toy store's window. He could see thousands of toys, trains, jack-in-the-boxes, dolls, action figures, fake guns and much much more.
"I want to go in there!" Matt cried. He ran in without waiting for Mello to answer. It was even more magnificent inside. Children were everywhere, playing with one toy or another. Matt ran to look at a small remote controlled car.
The owner of the shop was an old, silver haired man. He kindly let Matt try out the car and Matt sent it zooming around the store. He sent it flying at Mello who sent him a glare that made him change direction at once. Next Matt looked at a collection of playing cards. He shouted with delight when spotted a Toad one. But, he didn't have any money so he regrettable put it back in the stack. Mello was still standing by the door.
"Mello, come play with me!" Matt called as he saw a foosball table. Mello shook his head so Matt ran over and grabbed his arm. He tried to drag Mello over but he didn't budge.
"Please?"
"No."
"Pleeeease?"
"No."
"PLEASE?"
Mello sighed "One game, then we're leaving."
Matt grinned and led Mello over to the foosball table. They took sides and Matt smirked "Are you ready Mello?"
Mello replied by smacking the ball at Matt's side. The game took forever, it took ten minutes just for the first point to be scored. Mello had just managed to get past Matt's goalie in a stork of what Matt called luck.
"Skill." Mello corrected smugly.
"Luck." Matt insisted.
In all it took them an hour to finish the game. It was a close- no Mello completely destroyed Matt. A small group had gathered to watch, awed by the two boys skill. Mello dragged Matt from the store and the stares. They set off down the street in search of a new shop.
"AHHH I WANT TO GO IN THERE!" Matt roared making passersby stare. He was pointing at a game store, quivering with excitement. Mello sighed and followed the red-head inside the store. Matt rushed around, he moaned in longing when he saw the newest Mario party game and almost swooned when he saw the new PSP. He was busy drooling over a new Lego Starwars game when Mello caught up with him.
"Look at all this Mello!" Matt gestured around the whole store "It's got everything!"
Matt gasped and rushed toward a glass case under the check out counter.
"I don't believe it." He breathed. Staring at the black device inside. Mello raised an eyebrow "What is it?"
"WHAT IS IT?" Matt roared, turning on Mello "IT'S THE NEW PLAYSTATION!"
Matt stared at it for five minutes before Mello dragged him out of the shop. Next they visited a wrapping paper store where Matt looked at all the brightly colored paper with fascination. They then visited a candy store where every where you looked there were free samples. Matt must had tried a dozen different kinds of fudge, three kinds of liquorices, five different kinds of chocolate, and even got a lollipop for the road. Matt laughed at Mello who was going around sampling everything that had chocolate in it.
"You must really like chocolate huh?" Matt asked, licking his lollipop. Mello ignored him and soon they were out in the cold streets again. They walked around a bit after that. Looking at all the decorations and different stands people had set up. Matt really liked the one that was selling New Years fireworks. The woman manning the store lite one for him and with a bang a bright showerof red sparks bursted from the firework.
The last place they visited was a small ice cream shop. Matt was very surprised when Mello asked if he wanted some.
"I don't have money." Matt told him. Mello shrugged "I do."
"Oh." Matt had never thought about the fact that Mello might have money. Not that Matt would have asked for any.
"Do you have a job?" Matt asked, following Mello to the serving window. Mello shook his head "You can earn money from doing chores around the orphanage but I inherited this money from my parents."
"Oh." Matt looked down at the dirt covered snow. So Mello's parents had had money, unlike his own who had spent it all on alcohol. But at least he had learned something new. He could get money by doing chores. Good to know.
Matt got caramel ice cream and Mello got chocolate. They walked away, Matt licking his quickly and happily while Mello slowly moved his tongue around his.
"Thanks Mello!" Matt said happily, ice cream all around his mouth "Are we going home now?"
"No. I thought you should see this." Mello led Matt through the darkening streets and toward the center of town.
Matt gasped.
In the center was a large Christmas tree. It was lite with thousands of twinkling lights and ornaments hung from every branch. A large glowing star sat on top of the tree's pointed top.
"Wow!" Matt explained, licking his ice cream with his eyes on the tree. Mello nodded next to him, his gaze on the star. They stood there for a while, finishing their ice cream and just staring at the tree. They leaned against a lamp post and silently watched the tree's lights twinkle and change color. Matt sighed happily and looked up at the sky above. That's when he noticed a small, berried plant above his and Mello's head.
"Hey Mello look. Mistletoe."
"I'm not going to kiss you." Mello said without looking. Matt laughed, his breathing flourishing out of his mouth in a white cloud.
"We should head back." Mello continued, pushing off the post. Matt followed and together they walked past all the lite up shops and a small group of Christmas carol singers. Matt hummed along till they were out of the town and the music could no longer be heard.
"That was fun- no amazing!" Matt exclaimed, grinning like a fool "Aren't you glad you came Mello?"
Mello shrugged but didn't answer.
"This has been the best birthday of my life!" Matt sang, spinning in a circle. Mello stopped and Matt walked right past him. He doubled back and looked at Mello questioningly.
"Today's your birthday?" Mello asked and Matt nodded "Yep! Thank you Mello! For the most wonderful birthday ever!"
"Your welcome." Mello said after a moment, walking past Matt. Matt smiled even wider and jogged after him toward the orphanage.
The next day Matt went to see Roger about the chores. Matt had to help the cooks clean up and serve meals for a week and had to scrub the boys bathroom sinks. Matt happily agreed and got right to work. He was not so happy when he saw the boy's sinks but it was all worth it. He got paid one dollar per sink per day and five dollars for each meal he helped with. Over all it was a lot of money over the week. There were three sinks in each bathroom and four bathrooms.
"See ya later!" Matt called to Mello who didn't answer as he ran out of room thirteen with a bucket and a sponge in his hand. It took him two hours to clean every sink but thinking of the reward keep him going. Thankfully no one gave him strange looks when they came in to the portal stall bathrooms.
He helped out with lunch, cooking the spaghetti the best he could then collecting and washing the dishes once everyone was finished. The cooks seemed glad for the help and gave him a slice of chocolate cake to thank him. It had been a long and muscle straining morning. When Matt got back to the room he set the cake on his bed and took a long, hot shower. He came out to see that little had changed in the room, but he did noticed a brown package that certainly hadn't been on his bed before.
"What's this?" He muttered to himself as he sat on his bed and pulled the package toward him. He grabbed a pair of scissors and cut threw the tape that held the box close. He pushed aside needless packing peanuts.
His heart nearly stopped.
It was the PlayStation.
It's black surface was smooth under Matt's fingers as he ran a hand along it. He hugged it to his chest and kissed the top of it. There was no note but who else could it have been? Who else had known it was his birthday, other than Near? Who else had known that he loved games? Mello.
Mello came in an hour later and Matt was still on his bed, grinning and hugging the PlayStation.
"OH MY GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH MELLO!" Matt roared, throwing himself off the bed. He hugged Mello tightly. Mello gasped and tried to push Matt away but he clung to him.
"Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!" Matt said, releasing the blonde and hopping back onto his bed. He picked up the cake the cooks had given to him and offered it to the blonde. Mello raised an eyebrow still not recovered from Matt's hug.
"Take it!" Matt smile and placed it on Mello's bed. Mello slowly moved the plate to the bedside table and sat down on the bed, eying Matt as he did so.
"You know," he said after a moment "There is a TV on the top shelf in the closest, it's old but I think it still works."
Matt's eyes bugged.
"R-really?" he stammered, slowly getting up. Mello nodded and Matt wanted to hug him again "THANK YOU!"
Matt ran to the closet and took the old TV down from the top shelf. He had it plugged in a matter of seconds.
"I didn't get you any games." Mello said but that did nothing to Matt's happy mood "Don't worry I'm getting money to buy them!"
Mello reached into his bag and began to work while Matt just stared happily at the TV and PlayStation.
"Heeey Mello."
"Huh?"
"Does this mean we're friends now?"
"No."
"I think we are." Matt smiled, looking over at Mello.
"You can think that all you want." Mello said without looking up. Matt smiled and went back to staring at the TV and game system.
…
Matt got paid for his three days of work so far and begged Mello to come with him to town again. Mello reluctantly agreed and once again the two entered town, bundled up against the cold. It wasn't snowing but in some places the snow was still fresh. They went to the game store and Matt bought one controller, Mario cart, and Mario party three. He only had enough left to buy his own ice cream when he and Mello visited the same shop. He got chocolate peanut butter and Mello got chocolate, again.
"Thanks for bring me again Mello." Matt grinned, licking a drop of ice cream that was running down his cone. Mello nodded, licking his own plainer ice cream. Matt began to hum a random tone.
"What are you humming?"
"The cuppycake song!"
"The what?" Mello stared at Matt who grinned "It's nothing. So anyway, what do you want for Christmas?"
"Why?"
"I want to know what I should get you!"
"Nothing."
"Come on Mello! Everyone wants a present on Christmas!" Matt sang "I know I'll just get you chocolate!"
Mello didn't answer. Matt grinned and slowed down. He bent down and scooped a clump of snow into a ball. He packed it in and launched it at Mello. It hit the blonde in the back of the head and Mello froze. Matt laughed, but a moment later he had a face full of snow. Mello calmly brushed snow from his gloves. Matt threw another snowball and Mello neatly ducked it.
"You'll have to do better than that." Mello smirked, dodging another glob of snow. Every time he dodged some snow be stepped closer to Matt.
"Wait what are you doing?" Matt cried as Mello lifted him into the air.
"No!" Matt screamed right before Mello threw him into a snow bank. He came up laughing to see Mello had turned and continued walking. Matt climbed out of the snow and catch up with Mello.
"Crap!" He muttered as he felt himself slip again. He grabbed Mello and brought him down too as the red head fell. Mello cursed and shoved some snow onto Matt who was laughing loudly.
Mello stood, brushing ice off of his coat and glared down at Matt who was carefully trying to raise without slipping. Mello moved out of the way as Matt meant to grab him for balance and Matt fell again. Matt rolled over to a lamp post and inched his way onto his feet.
Mello was smirking when Matt finally looked up from his feet. Matt stuck his tongue out at Mello.
"Let's go." Mello said with a roll of the eyes. Matt smiled and nodded, he pushed off the pole and followed Mello back toward the orphanage.
"I think you should smile once in a while." Matt said, a large smile on his own face.
"Hn."
…
(Two days later, Matt now has more money, day before Christmas and last day to go into town.)
"Hey Lily!"
Lily turned to see Matt running toward her.
"Hey Matt."
"Are you going to town?" Matt asked, looking at Lily's winter attire. Lily smiled and nodded. Matt returned the smile "Do you mind if I come with you?"
"No, but I thought you didn't want to go." Lily looked confused as she pulled her mittens on. Matt shrugged "I hear everyone talking about it and decided I wanted to see it for myself!"
"Great! I was hoping you'd warm up to the idea!" Lily sang as Matt pulled on his jacket.
Lily smiled brightly and seized Matt's hand. Together they descended the stairs and raced toward the town. They both ran, slipping countless times but laughing the whole time. Lily was odd company after Mello. They reached the town, breathless and rosy cheeked. They visited a coffee shop to get some hot chocolate and walked through the town sipping the hot liquid.
"I'll show you around." Lily said, leading Matt toward the toy store. Matt just hopped the owner wouldn't say anything. He wasn't suppose to have been here. After a quick look around Matt once again found himself looking through the card stack while Lily looked at a singing jewelry box.
"Found it!"He cried as he pulled the Toad card from the pile. Lily came over to look "Have you been looking for that one?"
"Yeah." Matt grinned "Hey Lily, what do you want for Christmas?"
Lily glanced at the jewelry box and blushed. Matt peeked over at it "Is that what you want?"
"Y-you don't have to get me anything." Lily blushed, looking at her feet. Matt walked over to the box "I want to!"
Lily smiled and followed him. They had fun looking through all the boxes. Matt made Lily laugh with the funny faces he made at the "girly" ones. Lily was particular attached to a white book with a unicorn. Matt didn't care for it but he brought it for her all the same. Lily hugged his tightly. Yep she was really different from Mello.
"Thank you so much Matt!" she cried, hugging the white box. Matt smiled "No problem."
"What do you want for Christmas?" it was Lily's turn to ask him. Matt blushed and glanced at the game store which he could just see over the sweets shop him and Mello had gone to. Lily followed his gaze but she thought me meant the sweets shop. She grinned "Got a sweet tooth huh?"
"Ha, yeah." Matt lied. Not that he didn't like sweets but he preferred games. Lily led the way into the shop and Matt decide he might as well look for Melo's chocolate. That was the whole point of the trip after all.
"What kind do you like?" Lily asked.
"Surprise me." Matt grinned and headed for the chocolate. He was stumped as he looked over all the different kinds. He knew Mello liked just regular but maybe that's because he hadn't tried others. The chocolate was relatively cheap so he brought six bars of regular chocolate, two bars of milk chocolate, two bars of dark chocolate, and one bar of a cookies and cream chocolate. He paid for it and waited by the door for Lily.
"What's that?" She asked running to meet him, carrying her own bag. Matt put a finger to his lips "It's a secret."
Lily smiled "Come on you can tell me."
Matt grinned and shook his head. Trying to make it look like a joke. Lily punched his arm as they left the shop, grinning. The last stop was of course for ice cream. Same shop.
Lily got raspberry and Matt got banana. They set out for home. It wasn't dark out yet but most of the Christmas lights were on. Matt keep an eye out for mistletoe, when he saw the small berried plant he would steer clear of it. He tried not to be to obvious as he did it but he wasn't sure if Lily noticed or not.
"This was fun," Lily licked her ice cream, a smile plastered onto her face.
"Yeah. We should do it next year!" Matt agreed. They chatted all the way to the orphanage and before Matt went into room thirteen Lily handed him the bag she had been carrying.
"Merry Christmas." They said at the same time before Matt turned and walked into room thirteen.
Mello wasn't there so Matt hide the chocolate under his own bed and popped Mario party into the PlayStation. The controller was already showing the signs of abuse that came from being used to much. The color had faded from the buttons and Matt's high score was unbelievably high, although it had been erased due to Matt's lack of a memory card. Like always he was Toad. He had named Yoshi his rival and went out of his way to make sure Yoshi didn't get a point in anything. He had offered the controller to Mello a couple of times but Mello always turned his offer down.
Matt propped the Toad playing card against the game system before he began to annihilate Yoshi.
"Hey." Matt greeted when the door opened and Mello stepped in. Mello nodded to him and began to work like usual. Matt switched to Mario cart and rammed Yoshi into a wall with an evil laugh.
"What is that?"
"ME DESTORYING YOSHI!" Matt cackled, eyes on the screen.
"No, that."
Matt paused his game and looked around to see that Mello was looking at the bag Lily had given him. Matt had completely forgotten to open it.
"Present from Lily, I guess I should open it." Matt rolled over to the bed and pulled himself onto it. Mello looked back to his work while Matt opened the bag and poured the contents onto his bed. Many different colored wrapped candies fell out.
"Let's see." Matt began picking them up one by one and reading the labels "Apple and grape flavored taffy, caramel, bubble gum, m&m, jelly beans, gummy- HOLY CRAP EXCELLENT GUMMY WORMS!"
Matt kissed the pack of worms. Mello glanced at him, eyebrow raised. Matt grinned and showed him "Hee hee I love these little suckers."
"I figured that much out on my own." Mello commented. Matt was in a little bubble of happiness when he put all the candy but the worms away. He opened the bag and resumed playing, munching on a worm now and then.
"Want one Mel?" Matt asked brandishing a worm at him.
"No- wait, what did you call me?" Mello's head snapped up. Matt grinned "Mels."
"Don't call me that."
"Mels Mels Mels Me-" A book to the face shut Matt up. He threw it back and grumbled about pain as he turned to his game. Mello smirked and packed his books into his bag.
After a while Matt remember he had to get to the kitchen and dashed away with a quick "Bye!" aimed at Mello, who ignored it. He apologized quickly as he grabbed an apron and tied it on. He began rolling out the dough for a pizza while the cooks waved his apology away. He threw the dough in the air and began adding toppings. When he had finished topping five pizzas he quickly threw them in the oven and ran to set the table. He had all the plates, cups, forks, and napkins down before the pizzas were even done. He stared at the oven, commanding the pizzas to cook.
The moment they were done he put them on platters and whisked them out onto the table. When he was finished he was panting but pleased. The cooks were smiling and talking about his enthusiasm when kids started to enter, chatting and laughing. Matt dropped into a chair next to Lily who laughed and wiped flour from his cheek.
"You look like a ghost." She smiled, wiping the last speck off his face. He grinned broadly "I guess I got a bit carried away."
"So your doing chores? I was wondering how you got the money." Lily asked, biting into a hamburger pizza. Matt had stuck with just cheese himself. He swallowed then nodded "Yeah, cleaning sinks and helping in the kitchen."
"Hmm. Delicious."
"Thanks. Matt smiled, taking a long gulp of soda that left his throat burning.
…
The rest of the day pasted quickly and before Matt knew it Christmas had arrived. Excitement woke him early. He looked over at Mello who was still sleeping. He looked like a cat, all rolled up in his blankets.
"MELLO!" Matt yelled, jumping on the lump that was Mello. Mello groaned and shoved him off the bed but Matt bounced up onto his feet and grinned down at Mello who had one eye open, glowering at him.
"It's Christmas!" Matt sang, shaking Mello then diving onto the floor to get Mello's chocolate. Mello hadn't moved when Matt jumped up. Matt shook him again and Mello scowled at him. He slowly sat up and brushed his blonde hair away from his face. Matt thrust the chocolate at his "Merry Christmas!"
"I told you I didn't want anything." Mello muttered but he opened the bag anyway much to Matt's delight. Mello turned the chocolate over in his hand before he reached under his pillow. He looked away from Matt as he held out a small black chip.
It was a memory card.
"THANK YOU MELLO!" Matt roared, hugging the blonde who pushed his away again "Quiet down."
Matt beamed
It was already turning out to be the best Christmas ever.
Best Birthday. Best Christmas. What more could Matt ask for?
Aww Christmas! One of the best holidays of the year. But this also means Matt's classes start soon and let's not forget Mello's birthday too!
Please R&R!