Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DEATH NOTE!

Mello paced in front of the windows in the library of Whammy House. He was bored out of his mind. He and Near had spent the last month being trained first hand by L and now that it was over and L was gone Mello didn't know what to do with himself.

Sighing in frustration, Mello threw himself onto his stomach on the floor. Near looked up at him from behind a tower of dice he was building. He didn't understand Mello's frustration. There were plenty of things to do, like the ever growing pile of toys and puzzles against the back wall that Near had collected. If Mello asked he would let him play with them. But the blonde haired teen would probably never ask.

Twisting a strand of his white hair around his finger, Near turned his eyes back to his dice. "Mello. You can play with one of my toys if you are so bored."

Mello snorted in disgust and rolled over on his side, watching as Near placed another dice on the tower and turned it so the numbers were all lined up. "Why would I want to play with your toys? I'm too old for toys."

"You are only two years older then I am. But if that's what you want then I wont suggest it again. Maybe Matt will let you play a game with him."

"Yeah, right. The last time he let me play with him he bitched at me the whole time because I was playing to slow and making him lose the game." He sighed again in frustration and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "I wonder when L will be back."

"He will be back when he decides to come back." Near placed another dice and then put his hands in his lap, watching Mello as he ran his fingers idly over his bare stomach. Near didn't remember seeing him pull his shirt up.

"Hey, Near. Those exercises L makes us do. Do you think we could come up with some on our own?"

Near blinked, pulling himself out of the hypnosis caused by watching Mello's hand. "I don't see the point. If we make them then how are we testing ourselves if we know the outcome?"

"I meant like, you make something to test me and I'll make one for you." Mello wasn't actually thinking about doing tests. He was slowly relaxing as he ran his fingers over the smooth skin of his stomach. He danced his fingers over the waist of his jeans and contemplated going to his room for a while.

"I still don't think it would work." Near felt a warmth growing in his stomach. He noticed that the front of Mello's jeans seemed to be getting tighter as his fingers played at his waistband. "Mello, what are you doing?"

Mello jerked out of his thoughts and sat up quickly, wincing when his jeans cut sharply into his erection. "N-nothing. Why were you watching me?"

A slight blush crept into Near's cheeks and he twisted the strand of hair tighter around his finger. "I was curious. Why were you doing that?"

Mello sighed and laid back down, bending his knees to hide himself. "Because it feels good and relaxes me."

"But it was making you aroused. Do you do that on purpose?" Near was honestly curious about the other boys behavior. He knew all about a the effect hormones had on a boys body after puberty and about sex. But he wanted to know why Mello was acting in such a way.

Mello blushed and looked at Near again. "It's none of your damn business. That's to much of a personal question for you to ask me, Near."

Near nodded slightly. "I apologize." Near hung his head, one hand in his hair, the other picking up another dice. "I just thought that maybe you could answer a question I have. I cant find the answer in any of the books here and none of our teachers will answer it. They say I'm too young."

Mello raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like Near to admit that he couldn't find the answer to something and had thought to ask Mello. "Ask. If I can answer it I will."

Near fidgeted and set the dice in his place on his tower. "I've read the books in here on puberty, but they don't really describe the things that happen to a boys body."

Mello frowned. "What things? There are quite a few."

"Most of them I understand. What I don't understand is the process of arousal. The books say that it happens when one thinks about sex. But I don't think about it at all. Sometimes I wake up at night and I will be aroused and I don't know why." Near looked into his lap and blushed darker. "Or what to do about it."

"I don't think you really need to think about sex. I wasn't thinking about anything really just then and it still happened. As for what to do, if you have read the puberty book then you read about masturbation right?"

Near nodded. "Yes but I don't understand about that. It says that the point of masturbation is ejaculation. Why would I do that if I wake up at night and I am aroused?"

Mello laughed. "Have you ever done it?"

"No. I have no reason too."

"Near, you become aroused because your body is telling you it needs release. Sexual release. Which means you have to masturbate."

"That doesn't make sense. It that were so why would the books not say that and make things less confusing?"

"Because those books are only supposed to describe the physical changes caused by puberty. Not the natural body functions that come with it." Mello stood up and sat on the other side of Neal's tower.

"Do you do it?" Near asked the question so seriously that Mello knew he wasn't playing with him.

"Of course I do. So does every other male on the planet that has reached puberty, done it once to relieve the ache, and found out it feels good."

"But I still do not understand why. Ejaculation if a means of expelling sperm during intercourse with a woman in hope of conceiving a child. What is the point of doing it anytime you get aroused?"

Mello sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, tucking it behind his ears as he tried to think of a way to describe what the boy was asking him. "Tell you what. The next time you wake up like that, just do it and you will know what I mean."

"I could do it now."

Mello went wide-eyed at that. Trying to decide if Near was serious or not. "Why would you do it now?"

"Because I am aroused right now." Near looked up at Mello again as he pulled roughly at the hair wrapped around his finger.

"W-why are you aroused right now?" Mello swallowed loudly. His own erection, which had been deflating during the conversation, was beginning to press painfully against the zipper of his jeans again.

"I was watching you and it happened. I do not know why." Near wrapped his free arm around his knees and pulled them to his chest.

Mello stood quickly and held his hand out to Near. "Come with me."