"Glad that's over!" Matt sighed as he collapsed on his good old bed in room thirteen "No more Near!"

"It's not like you spent much time in his room." Mello snapped a chuck off of his chocolate bar. A sound that Matt had dearly missed in the short hours he had been stuck in the albino's room. The rest of the week had pasted without incident with the expectation of Matt having a wild arm wrestling match with Percy. Matt won, only barely. And yes, of course, there was some cheating involved, but let's not get into details.

"Yeah but still. I'm glad to be back in thirteen! Which is kinda ironic, you know? Because thirteen is usually an unlucky number." Matt smiled and sat up, pulling off his goggles as he did so. Mello shrugged "I don't believe in such superstitions."

"Hmm," Matt opened a bag of chips he had stole from the kitchen and popped a chip into his mouth "I like myths and stuff."

"You seem the type that would." Mello commented, crumbling up his wrapper and lopping it neatly into the nearly full trash can. Matt tilted his head "What's that suppose to mean?"

"It just seems to me you'd like supernatural stuff. Fantasy and folktales." Mello replied, sharpening his almost dead pencil with the stubbiest eraser you would ever see. Matt smiled "I use to read fiction all the time at my old school. It was kinda nice to escape reality."

"I bet. Reading was the only thing that stopped me from murdering my sister." Mello muttered, flipping through the pages of his chemistry book while Matt laughed. The red-head flopped down on his bed and threw his pillow repeatedly into the air, catching it with his feet "I think we should go outside!"

"There's the door."

"Come on Mels! Come with me!"

"No and stop calling me that."

"But it's a beautiful day!"

"You start singing and you will have your own foot shoved down your throat faster than you can swallow."

"I can swallow pretty fast. I once won a contest!"

"I'm not going."

Matt puffed out a breath and stood "Fine fine, I'll go alone."

"You do that."

"Here I go."

"Bye"

"Almost out the door!"

"Bye."

"The door is almost closed!"

"Bye."

Matt sighed.

…

Okay readers, let's take a walk down memory lane. What happened to Matt the last time he went for a walk alone? If you remember correctly he got beaten almost to death by Mich. Now the world just loves to mess with Matt so the same thing couldn't happen to him this time.

Everyone take a guess at where Matt is right now.

I'll give you some hints.

He's in something tall and leafy.

It's brown and green but still missing several leaf bunches.

For those who guessed the center of the earth I worry about you...

But if you guessed he's in a tree your spot on. So here's the best part! He's been up there for about two hours! Stuck! ^-^

"CRAP! MEEELLLO!" Matt yelled for about the hundred time. He had almost reached the top when a branch further down had broken off, trapping him. He had resumed his climb so he could be seen before he started screaming for help.

"Why does this always happen to me!" Matt wined "MELLO!"

"Matt?"

It was Lily. Matt waved down at her, a smile forming on his face "Hi!"

"Hi," She replied, craning her neck so she could see him "Are you alright?"

"Not really."

"You stuck?"

"Yep."

Lily frowned "I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch you. I'll go get Roger!"

"No Lils! Get Mello." Matt regretted the words the moment they left his lips. A scowl formed on Lily's lips and ting of fear appeared in her eyes "I refuse to talk to him!"

"Come on Lily, Mels-I mean Mello isn't that bad!" Matt argued.

"Yes he is!"

That was when the branch Matt was perched on gave an ominous crack.

Crap.

He tried to lower one foot down onto the branch below but that caused the branch to crackle even louder. Matt cursed before he looked back down at Lily through the thick branches "Lily can we argue about this later-"

"I refuse to do it Matt! I refuse!"

"Lily the-"

"No Matt! I'm not getting Mello!"

"Okay but-"

"I absolutely refuse-"

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" Matt shouted as the beginning of a crack appeared on the branch "YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET MELLO BUT THE BRANCH IS BREAKING!"

Lily glared up at him, she didn't seem to have heard anything past: Shut up.

She turned on her heel and stacked away, leaving Matt to stare after her, mouth open.

"OH COME ON!" Matt yelled at the sky. That got him a bit of bird poop on the shoulder.

"Thanks." He muttered, glaring at the white mess "Thanks a ton."

"MELLO!" Matt cried again as the branch began to dip down dangerously "THIS IS RIDICULOUS! WHY! WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME?"

Then the branch broke.

Matt swore as he hurtled toward the ground.

"CRAP CRAP CRAP!" Matt closed his eyes and curled his arms over his head to protect it. He broke several branches as he fell. The air pushed against him but it did nothing to slow his fall and soon Matt was approaching the soiled ground faster than ever.

"Mello!" He yelled once more before he clenched his teeth and prepared to land. He felt something slam into him right before he hit the ground. It was warm and human shaped. Matt hit the ground and the landing was a lot softer than he thought it would be. He and whatever had grabbed him rolled together till friction brought them to a halt. Matt moaned, soft as the impact had been he was sure he would have some kind of bruise. He felt something stir under him and his eyes flashed open. The something turn out to be a groaning Mello.

"Mello." Matt breathed. The blonde had his arms wrapped around Matt which explained Matt's softer landing.

"dsfds" Mello replied. Matt blinked "What?"

"Gesfd ofds."

"Um, once more."

"Get off." Mello managed get out through the pain in his head.

"Oh sorry!" Matt rolled off the blonde and pushed himself onto his knees "You okay?"

"I'll be fine but you owe me big time." The chocoholic slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and rubbed the back of his head. Matt laughed "Yeah I guess I do. Does this mean you heard me yelling? Is that why you came?"

"Sorta."

"What do you mean sorta?"

"Well one does tend to notice the absents of annoying comments. You've been gone for a while."

"So you were worried!" Matt beamed. Mello glared at him but didn't answer. Matt's smile widened "You were! Aww Mello!"

Matt hugged the blonde and Mello let out a sharp hiss and winced.

"Oh sorry!" Matt repeated and retracted his arms at once at Mello's sign of pain. The blonde didn't reply instead the blonde pushed himself up. Matt followed his lead, his arms hurt and he felt pain in his back but he was in better condition then Mello who hadn't had any protection.

"Do you need a doctor or anything? The infirmary-" Matt started but Mello cut him off "No, Song is there and she's the last thing I need right now."

Matt smiled and followed the blonde as he walked toward the orphanage. The red-head stayed close to Mello as the blonde showed small signs of trouble.

"I require some space Matt." The blonde sighed and the gamer took a step away "Sorry but you look like your going to fall over!"

"I'll be fine."

Matt could see through Mello's tough guy act however. He could see that Mello's leg was bothering him and his head was hurting. The signs of struggle became less noticeable as they entered the orphanage and other people were around. Matt noticed the stares they were receiving. He stared right back till his opponent looked away and continued down the hall. They reached room thirteen and Matt pushed open the door for Mello. He ran off to get some ice and returned to see that Mello was on his back in bed.

The blonde flinched as Matt placed the ice on his leg.

"Cold." Mello muttered, slowly relaxing back onto his pillow. Matt chuckled and jumped onto his own bed, bouncing a bit before he pulled out his DS "It seems saving me is becoming a chore!"

"Yes and not a fun one." Mello started flicking small piece of leaf and twig out of his blonde tangle. Matt grinned "You look like a tree yourself."

"And who's fault is that?"

"..."

"Exactly."

"I did mean to!" Matt wined, trying to deleaf his own head "The stupid branch broke!"

"I saw Lily on my way out." Mello muttered to Matt's surprise "She didn't look happy."

"Yeah! She found me in the tree, I was trying to tell her the freaking branch was breaking but she wouldn't listen! She was going on and on about how she wouldn't go get you. Honestly!" Matt scoffed with a scowl. Mello however didn't look surprised at all, to Matt's shock the blonde was actually nodding.

"You agree with her?"

"Not about leaving you in tree but I can understand her fear."

"Did you do something to her?"

Mello coughed, almost guilty "Well, she um... took some of my chocolate a while back. Without asking."

"Ohh..."

"Yeah..."

"Well, um, moving on," Matt continued quickly "At least you realize I was gone when you did. A moment later and I would have broken... everything."

Mello chuckled and Matt smiled "Do you find my pain funny?"

"Obviously not if I saved you." Mello replied with a subconscious smile. Matt blinked, then stared at Mello who's smile had slipped away like he hadn't meant to say the words aloud. They stared at each other for a long moment.

Emotions raced through Matt. He wasn't sure how he felt about Mello's words. Happy? Embarrassed? None of the emotions were unpleasant. He settled on a confused kind of gratitude.

"Aww! Thanks Mels!" Matt grinned and air punched the blonde's shoulder. Mello didn't reply but his gaze rose to the ceiling. Matt was smiling when he unpaused his game. Mello's words were racing through his head. It was practically Mello confessing he cared. Huh. That widened the grin on Matt's face. Victory was his.

That thought made him laugh out loud. Victory was his? What had he been playing? And against who? It was pretty sad to win a game against yourself...

…

Matt wasn't speaking to Lily.

Lily wasn't speaking to Matt.

Matt was waiting for Lily to get over herself.

Lily was waiting for Mello to drop off the planet.

Neither was going to happen anytime soon.

Matt didn't say a word to the Mello hating blonde as she took the seat next to him at breakfast. He concentrated solely on his bacon and eggs that the cooks had arranged into a smiley face. The strawberries that had made up the nose of the happy plate had already been inhaled by the red-head and only a small pool of red juice gave away the fact anything had ever been there.

Lily ate quickly beside him. Her eggs were soon gone and chased down with a gulp of orange juice. Matt could feel flicks of food hitting his face as Lily wolfed down her breakfast.

"Lily!"

"Gah!" Lily groaned as a bright bubbly voice sounded from behind her. Matt peeked around to see her freckle covered roommate was waiting behind Lily, paint brushes in hand.

"I already told you I wanted to practice face art!"

"And I told YOU that I didn't want to do it!" Lily wined. Matt tried not to smile as he scooped up some of his eggs. The roommate noticed his movements and threw him a glance. Her eyes widened.

"Your that kid!" She gasped, pointing her paint brush at him "You tripped me in the hall!"

"I don't know what your talking about." Matt denied, forcing down a laugh. The ginger-haired girl scowled and whacked him on the head with her art supplies "Yes you do! You were on crutches."

"Why would I trip you? I don't even know your name!" Matt replied half honestly. He had no idea what the girl's name was.

"It's Linda." The girl sniffed hotly "And you did trip me!"

"Ridiculous," Matt claimed, tossing the last stripe of bacon into his mouth "why would I possibly trip you?"

"I don't know but I know you did it!"

"Hmm, let's see. You knocked me down." Matt smirked, turning to face her fully. Linda's face grew red with anger "So you did trip me!"

"An eye for an eye." Matt grinned.

Lily had been completely forgotten, which in this case she prefer. The blonde tried to slip away unnoticed but she made the mistake of looking back at Matt. Her hair brushed Linda's shoulder and the ginger was on her like a cat on a mouse.

"Where do you think your going?" Linda demanded, grabbing her roommates arm. Lily let out a squeal and was carted off while Linda yelled over her shoulder "This isn't over ginger!"

"Cracked." Matt muttered to himself "Insane. Mental."

"Matt."

For the third time, Matt jumped as Near's soft voice sounded in his ear. Matt wordlessly strangled the air before he turned to the pale boy "WHAT?"

"Roger would like to see you."

Matt was about to say that Roger could suck it but Near had already turned away. So the irradiated red-head finished off his eggs quickly and sprinted after the albino.

"Stupid Near." Matt muttered under his breath.

"I can hear you."

"No you can't!"

"..."

"That's right smarty banana, you stay quiet."

"...Smarty banana?"

"What are you talking about?"Matt blinked.

"What you said."

"Smarty bananas? I never said that."

"..."

"Mello!" Matt smirk, grad to miss a conversation about smart bananas. Although he was not so glad when he saw the long nailed, slender form of Song following Mello down the hall. Matt did get some satisfaction however when Song paled at the sight of him.

That's right, fear the Matt.

Matt skipped over to them and grinned at Mello who was carrying a large stack of books.

"Hi Matt." Mello greeted, peering around the books to look at Matt. His eyes flicked over to Near who had paused and was watching them.

"Near." Mello greeted stiffly.

"Hello Mello." Near replied, curling a strand of hair around a pale finger "Matt, Roger."

"I know, I know, god you are like his official messenger." Matt glared once at Song before he smiled at Mello "Bye Mels!"

"Bye Matt."

Matt blinked, his smile widening. Mello had let him say Mels. Maybe because Song was there? For whatever reason it made Matt feel lighter then air when Song scowled and stuck her nose into the air. Near didn't say anything as he turned to continue walking.

Banana talk evaded!

Matt followed Near, turning to walk backwards so he could see Mello and Song as they walked away. He saw Mello glanced back once unlike Song who gave Matt four to five looks.

"Ah, Matt. Thank you for coming." Roger smiled "Sit please."

"Yeah, like I had a choice" Matt thought, sitting down in the chair and raising his eyebrows at the old man.
"No need to be nervous this is just a little thing." Roger shuffled through a stack of papers and pulled out a yellow colored piece of paper and handed it to Matt "Take a look at that."

"...my schedule?"

"See anything different."

Matt did.

"Art?"

"Yes. One year of Art is required."

"Let me guess. There's only one art class."

"Correct."

So Matt would be stuck with Linda.

Fabulous.

Author's Note: It's seen sooooooo long since I updated. I'm sorry _. With school and other things I haven't had much time. Thank you reviewers! Always love reviews! I will try to update soon but I can't promise anything!

Please R&R!