AN: All right then, this is my very first fic. While most people I have seen are always saying, "Please be gentle" for their reviews, I am telling you to not hold back in your thoughts. I want you to be brutally honest on your reviews for this fic. Flames will be used to charbroil Barbie dolls. If you do like Barbies, refrain from flaming.

This will turn into a Near/Mello fic later on, with seme Near, because it's so hard to find such good stories of that sort. And I apologize now if someone has used this idea before. I truly would have no idea-I've never seen it used before, and decided to go with it.

Warnings Include: Yaoi/shonen-ai in later chapters, body switching, swearing, OOCness in all three children (because it is unavoidable) and an OC or two to play some of the other orphans at Wammy's, and Mello and Near's real names.

Timeframe: One year before Episode 27 of the anime. The episode called 'Abduction'.

Disclaimer: Alas and alack, their copyrights I do lack, oh…um…crap?

One in For the Other
By Seiren Sekito

Chapter One

Mello woke up at 3:00am. He looked around his room and noticed that it wasn't his own room...

Where the hell am I? he thought, looking at the posters of various Transformers and other such robots lining the walls, and a small desk that had an uncompleted white puzzle sitting on its smooth surface.

He groaned, and checked the clock.

3:00 in the morning? And I'm in Near's room...? What the hell happened last night? he thought, scratching his aching head, cursing Matt for sneaking him too much vodka last night, but he didn't feel a thin black glove rubbing his itch, but rather a sensation of nails digging into his scalp.

He got up to go to the bathroom, but something was strange. When he sat up, his neck felt incredibly cold. His eyes widened in shock, and he went to touch the nape of his neck to confirm what had happened to his hair, but stopped.

I hope to God it isn't what I'm thinking it may be... he thought.

He slowly got up, and crept to the bathroom.

When he was in, he ran to the mirror, not to find his creamy face staring back at him, but Near's pallid one. He almost screamed, but managed to cover his mouth with a bare hand, and muffle the noise before it woke everyone.

He stared at himself in the mirror, and Near stared back, his facial features contorted into what looked like the 'Scream'.

This has to be a dream... This has to be a dream... This has to be a goddamn dream... Mello thought, pinching his arm.

"OW!" he cried out, and his socked feet slipped and he suddenly found himself spread eagled on the floor.

This is... real? Damn it! It's not a dream! he cried in his head, when he heard a yell coming from his room.

He stared at the closed bathroom door, when it suddenly burst open.

"Oh my god! What the hell happened?" Mello (who is actually Near) shouted, seeing the real Mello standing in front of the mirror.

"You are…me?" Near asked, looking at Mello, who was staring at Near.

"I hope you didn't wake anyone," Mello said, waving his pale hand at the door to indicate the rest of the house.

"What is going on?" Near whispered furiously, pointing to himself.

"Well... I don't know... I woke up, and I was you... I guess the same thing happened to you... except you're me..."

"I don't want to be you!" Near nearly shouted, but controlled himself at the last moment.

"Well I don't want to be you," Mello stated with the same emphasis as Near.

"What do we do...? This is really very strange... We have switched bodies, Mello... How do you think that happened?" Near asked, hoping Mello would know. He reached up and began to play with a lock of blond hair.

"Don't touch my hair like that!" Mello hissed, before addressing Near's question. "How would I know? I just woke up with a massive hangover! I can't even see straight, let alone think straight!"

"Well, should we tell Roger?"

"He won't believe us! He'd think we'd gone crazy... I don't need that. It'd give him an excuse to really think I've flipped my lid!" Mello said, as he waved his arms, not caring how un-Near like it was.

"And how the hell do you live with these?" he said, pointing at his pure white socked feet as he stood, slipped, and fell down again.

"OW!" he cried, as a sharp pain ran through his body.

"Don't hurt me! I don't want to switch back to my own body to find that I've been all bruised and battered!" Near cried, as Mello rubbed the elbow he had banged.

"Sorry! I keep forgetting that I'm not barefoot!" he replied, as his mind reeled with randomness of the situation.

"Let's just go back to sleep and hope it's fixed by morning," Near said, hoping that it would all just be a very vivid dream.

"Fine, but if it doesn't... What the hell are we going to do?" Mello asked, carefully standing.

"We'll just have to pretend," Near said, twirling a lock of golden hair, in a very Near-like manner.

"I don't do that, so... If you're going to be me, then you'd better try harder," Mello said, his brain still not fully comprehending the situation they where in. "And develop a liking for chocolate."

"Let's go... I wish for this nightmare to be over," Near said, turning and leaving the bathroom.

Mello followed, and they both went to their rooms.

"Mmm… Mello? I think we should switch rooms, don't you?" Near asked, his voice louder than he was used to.

"Yeah... I guess so," Mello said, walking over to Near, and entering his room.

Near went to Mello's room, and both slept very fitfully until morning.