Okay! First Fanfiction. Yay. I've loved Mello and Near for all eternity, and the thought of them as a couple has long since planted itself in my writer's brain. So viola! This story. Yes, it's also on deviantArt. (TheRubyAlchemist) That's also me. I hope to only upload this story on here soon enough, as soon as I get settled in. (might now happen for a while considering I'm uh sorta stuuupid xD) But yeah. I hope you like it! Please Read and Review :D

Oh yeah.

I owe Death Note. That's why Mello and Near make out in every scene. (SARCASM HUN)

I enjoy puzzles. I consider myself quiet good at them as well. There is seldom a jigzaw I am unable to complete. Of course, being the 1st sucessor of L, the world's greatest detective, I should be able to solve such puzzles.

I would be the best puzzle-solver in Wammy's House... were it not for Mello.

Mello. Blonde. Goth. Catholic. Firey. Tempramental. Violent. And nearly as good at mystery-solving as I am.

I'm sure under differant conditions we could have been good freinds. That is, if he didn't hate me as he did. Or does, rather. Even now, as I sit in the corner of the common room stacking legos into a tower, he glares at me from behind his math textbook. He holds the book by the spine with his left hand, a foil-wrapped chocolate bar clutched in his right. Every few minutes he would raise his hand and snap off a chunk with his teeth, making the chocolate produce a large cracking sound that I can hear even from across the room. Even as he cracks off a bite, I can feel his peicing saphire gaze on my face.

I keep my eyes down, still carefully stacking legos onto my steadily rising tower , only daring to glance up when I hear a page turn. By experience I know that this is when he actually reads; it takes him about a minute to read a page, no matter the content. After finnishing the page, he glares over at me for another 2, most likely solving an equation in his head while proving his hatred in the meantime. I have a minute to stare back over him, a minute to take in his feminine form garbed in tight leather, his silky blonde hair that was never out of place, his feirce blue eyes that were always narrowed, either in frustration, concentration, or loathing. As I gazed thoughtfully into his eyes, I couldn't help but wonder what made him so angry all the time. I was very differant; calm, blank, some may say emotionless, and I'm in the same position as he. Pondering further, I thought that perhaps his ceaseless anger resulted from his nature rather than from his nurture. Yes, that made sense. After all, most of the children here had been raised much the same as us, but their personalities widely varried, cheerful, somber, shy, oblivious...

I flinched as something hard stuck me in the chest.

"Hey, sheep!"

I was pulled from my train of thought by a deep voice calling out. Blinking, I realized that I had been staring at Mello as I thought, and still.

He'd caught me looking, and by his expression, he wasn't too thrilled about it.

I hurriedly returned my attention to my tower, my black expression not changing. I heard a snort, and a low grunt as Mello heaved himself to his feet. I continued stacking my legos even as I heard him aprouching. When he was close enough, he stoped, raising one foot to kick off the very top of my tower. The peices flew into my face and then onto the floor with a small clatter.

"Don't ignore me, you albino freak."

Resisting the urge to ignore him, as was my habit for most people, I sighed and raised my gray eyes to him. "Yes, Mello?"

"Why the hell were you staring at me?" He demanded, his already narrowed eyes narowing further. I felt a faint blush creep across my cheeks, and I ducked my head to hide it, pretending to be looking for a particular block while I searched for a rebutle. Why had I been staring at him? I didn't really know myself. Habit, I supposed. But that didn't seem like it would suite Mello's inguriries. I decided to switch to offensive.

"I could ask you the same question." I responded picking up a red block and rolling it bewteen my thumb and index, hoping that it would detract him.

It worked. I could almost hear Mello's anger rise . "What is that supposed to mean?" His tone was defensive and irked.

Placing the block on top of my tower in the place of one Mello had kicked off. "You were staring-well, glaring, rather- at me from across the room as well." I cursed inwardly, aware that I had just admitted to staring at him. "You seemed to be thinking very hard about something. I was curious." Was that it? I wondered. Was I just curious about him? I stiffened, raising a finger to twist it around a strand of hair, as was my habit.

Mello snorted and snaped off a peice of chocolate, making me twirl my hair a bit faster; a response I'd deveolped when I was annoyed.

"So, you were curious about why I was glaring at you."

Not really a question, but I nodded.

"Well, I was glaring because I was wondering-" His tone grew harsher, mocking. "What went wrong at your birth to make you such a reclusive narcisist." At that he kicked the tower at it's base, knocking it down, where it his my head and shattered. I fell back, landing in a pile of blocks, with the remains of my tower on my chest.

I grunted quietly; my back and head hurt from the fall and my hands had dousens of sharp lego edges digging into them, but I wasn't about to show Mello any weakness. I waited until he walked away, chuckling, before I sat upright and dusted myself off.

I blinked at the remains of my tower before glancing over to the hallway that Mello had disapeared into.

I felt my eyes prick familiarly as they longed to shed tears from the pain Mello inflicted on my body and the hurt his harsh words had inflicted on my mind. Reclusive Narcisist... I inhaled deeply, then sighed. When had I ever acted like a narcisist? I couldn't recall ever bragging to my peers in any way or acting in any way to make them feel inferior. I kep to myself, yes, but more so out of social insecurity than arogence. I simply didn't know how to socailize with other children. With the exeption of Mello, I never talked to anyone if I could help it. I always wanted to talk to Mello... the one person who might be able to understand me, yet he always crushed my hopes with his harsh words.

I sighed again, clearing my mind of these needless distractions. They would bring me nothing but trouble. Repeating that over in my mind, I scoped up the legos and deposited them into the apropriete container before starting down the halway to my room for the night. I prayed that I wouldn't run into Mello; ironicly, his room was directly across from mine.

I checked the way before crossing; noone there. I sighed in releif, walking into my plain room. I felt much better once I was inside it's walls, felt like I belonged within my white sanctuary. It was past curfew time, so I didn't have to worry about Mello charging in. I was safe for with this knowledge, I took a shower and changed into my white silk pajamas, which looked very much like my everyday apearal, and slipped into bed.

I found myself unable to sleep. Something was bothering me, pricking in the back of my mind like a splinter. I stared at the ceiling for a while, trying to pinpoint the cause of my ansomnia. Could I have eaten too much? No. I'd eaten only a quarter of my chowder. Maybe I'd forgotten to do something? But my schoolwork checklist had been complete.

Frustrated, I sat up in bed and glanced at my clock. An hour had passed as I lay there, deep in thought.

"No good," I mumbled, getting out of bed. "I need to be able to focus."

So I set out for the kitchen in search of a glass of water, though it was forbidden to exit one's room after curfew. I hoped that if I was quiet enough, nobody would bug me about it.

After sucessfully obtaining my beverage, I tip-toed back down the hallway, my glass in my hands. I turned to head down my hallway, then paused upon seeing the door to Mello's room.

I could almost hear the click in my mind as I figured out what the "splinter" was. I was still upset about what he'd done earlier. This knowledge stunned me; that I was hurt over the opinion of another. Why should his words, above any others, affect me this much? I didn't like it. I narrowed my eyes at his door, showing my version of a scowl. Of course, that was as close as I'd ever get to actually scowling at Mello.

As I aprouched my door I heard his doorknob turn behind me and I froze; had he heard me out here? Recovering, I managed to slip inside my room as he was exiting his, closing my door with only a quiet "thunk" that even I didn't notice. Though I was certian he hadn't seen or heard me, adreinaline was pumping hard thought my veins, enhancing my hearing tenfold. I cautiously pressed an ear to the door, straining my ears, listening for his obnoxious footsteps that always announced his arival.

They didn't come. I leaned into the door the tinest bit, as if it would help me any.

There! I'd heard something, though it wasn't the thuding I was expecting. It was a quiet pat pat pat across the hall, as if he was pacing restlessly, yet didn't want anyone to know. I glanced over at my degital wall clock; it read 1:32am. What was he doing at this hour?

I wasn't given time to ponder this; the pats paused.

Running on illogical panic, I rushed by tip-toe over to my bed and slipped under the covers silently. I pulled them up to my cheek, as if hiding, and curled up the way I normally sleep. It was redicules; like I was a child trying to hide from a parent when caught doing something wrong. Why did Mello scare me so much?

Through my inhanced hearing, even from my bed I was able to hear the pats resume again, but coming closer. He was heading for my door! I ducked my head a bit below my sheet and closed my eyes, taking deep breaths, both to calm myself and apear to be sleeping.

The door creaked open slowly, and a tiny ribon of light fell on the bottom of my bed, where my covered feet were. I cracked one eye open a tiny bit to watch as the blonde slipped into the small opening and quietly shut the door behind him.

I expected him to flick on the lights and yell at me to get up, but instead he just stood by my door, in the total darkness. He was in all-black pajamas, a balck long-sleeved tee and tight black sweats; I wouldn't be able to tell his form apart from the darkness, if not for his saphire eyes which seemed to glow feircely.

He just stood there, his eyes locked on my "sleeping" form. His eyes were so intent, so ultrafocused. What did he want?

Suddenly, he took a step forward, then another, and another, until he was standing over my bed, looking down on me. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to be "alseep". I concentrated on keeping my breaths even and regular.

After a moment, I heard a quiet, almost mournful-sounding sigh.

"You stupid sheep," Mello murmured, his voice the gentlest I'd ever heard it. I would've thought that he was using an affectionate tone, if I hadn't known better. That was impossible. Then I felt the lightest of fingers tug the covers away from my face, pulling them down to my shoulder. "This is the only time I get to see you look human, see you look normal." The same fingers stroked my hair away from my face. "Don't cover your face up." I almost stopped breathing. He was being affectionate. But... why? Didn't he hate me? Why would he be in my room, watching me sleep, when I disgusted him so much?

I was pulled by my confusion by Mello's light hand, which was resting gently on the top of my head, running his fingers through my white locks.

I forced myself to focus, to think of a something reasonable that would justify his actions.

Was he apologizing for bullying me so much, maybe? Or was he having problems sleeping and using me to help calm himself? ...Or could it be that he didn't actually hate me as he said he did?

No. Impossible. Through all his actions, words, implications, one thing was clear; he loathed my exsistance from the bottom of his heart. So him being here tonight must mean one thing; he's only trying to unsettle me. Yes, that's it. He's only looking for a new way to bully me. Nothing more.

My heart thudded painfully at this realization. It hurt to think that the one person that I may be understood by hated me in such a way. It also hurt to realize that he had some power over me, after all...

I sighed, and Mello's hand froze. I waited for him to finally lift his hand from me and leave, but he didn't. Instead, he unexpectedly reached down to brush my cheek with his other hand. This time it was me that froze, his touch set butterflies wild in my stomach, and my heart started thudding a bit faster.

But then he did remove his hands, stepping away from my bed. That felt wrong; I felt cold without him beside me. I wanted to tell him to stay, but then I'd be blowing my cover.

So I stayed put, silently listening as he left me alone.

Even when he was gone, I didn't have the nerve to open my eyes. I lay in bed, listening to the sound of my own heartbeat, until I faded into slumber.

The next day I awoke to the sound of many people cheering. I opened my eyes drosily, trying to sort out where the sound was coming from. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up in bed. I glanced at my window, hidden behind thick white drapes. The cheers seemed to be coming from outside.

I dressed quickly and ambled to the window, pulling the drapes aside. I sheilded my eyes from the peircing light that streamed in, looking down at the street.

It seemed that all the Wammy's children were gathered in the courtyard, all waving wildly.

Behind me, my door flew open and slammed into the wall. "Near!" Called the child who's room was next to mine, West. "Didn't you hear?" He asked, his eyes alight as he bounced in excitment. "Watari's coming! And he's got a message from L!"

I was awake immidiately. "I'll be down in a moment," I told West, who nodded and tore out of my room. I pulled on my socks quickly and brushed my hair out a bit before following him.

L! The excitment of seeing him almost completely negated the adverce affects of Mello's visit last night. I wondered what his message was; had he found any significant leads on the BB case? Had he solved it already? I wouldn't be surprised if he had. After all, he was the world's greatest detective.

I squeazed outside, trying to find gaps in the mass of children to get through. The sun was shinning harshly down on us, and it hurt my eyes. Normally I couldn't be bribed to come outside; my albinism made it painful to be in direct sunlight, but if it was L, I could stand it for a while. I pushed my way to the front of the crowd, where I could get a good veiw of Watari's car as it pulled in. Most of the children let me through; I was number one here, they recognized that and respected me. But others shoved into me, most likely jealous or agry...like Mello was.

As I aprouched the front of the crowd, the section right before the road, I scanned the mass for Mello. I found him a few children away from me, next to his gamer freind, Matt, whose attention was, as usual, directed at his portable gaming device. I focused on Mello; his blue eyes were wide, alert, and his blonde locks shone briliantly in the sun. He glanced over at me, his eyes narowing into a scowl before looking away.

I looked down, sighing, as I remembered his expression last night; nothing like it was now. Could I have been imagining all that?

"It's him! It's him! Here he comes!" The children around me squealed, and I looked up to see Watari's black car come zooming down the drive.

The crowd burst into more cheers, waving wildly. I tried to space myself from the more wild ones, butI kept getting jostled. Around me, kids were pushing to get to the front, to be able to see better. My head was staring to spin, from the sun and the constant jarring. I tried to plant my feet, refusing to be moved, but instead got shoved roughly from behind.

I fell onto the road on my back, managing a glimpse of my pusher's face- curly red hair and a face full of freckles- before I heard the squeal of brakes and the crowd burst into squeals of horor.

Somehting smashed into my side, and I screamed as I felt my ribs crack. The same force threw me down the road, scraping my arms and legs on the concrete. I bounced roughly on my right elbow, and I screamed again as it sent a sharp stab of pain throughout my arm. I finally stopped rolling, landing on my knees and good elbow, a good thirty yards from where I'd been struck. My head spun sickeningly; I must've hit it as well. I had just enough time to process that I'd been hit by Watari's car before my vision blacked out and I colapsed onto my side, my whole body in agony.

I could hear everyone screaming, "Near!" "Oh my god, Near!" "Is he okay?" "Call 911!" "Somebody get Roger!"

But even with all that nonsense, I was able to hear one voice in particular. It was a beautiful voice, deep, and as paniced as everyone elses, but somehow more lovely.

"Near! Near, come on, stay with me! Near, Near!" The voice sounded close to being sobbs...

I managed to open my eyes a sliver. Anxious, terrified saphire eyes gazed down at me from where I lay, wraped in strong arms. A ghost of a smile formed on my lips. "Mel...llo..."

Then I went under.

I was floating. That was my first concious thought. I was floating on air, hoving in a place with no pain. Was this what people called Heaven? The afterlife? Was I dead? I hoped so. I hoped that death was this calm, this painless, this quiet. I drifted in my silent heaven for a while, contentedly contimplating harmless things.

"Near!"

Well. That was strange. My heaven was supposed to be silent.

"Near. Wake up!"

I frowned to myself. I didn't like this noise. I wanted it to be quiet again.

"Come on Near, wake up!"

The voice broke through my cloud of comotose, forcing me into conciousness. I opened my eyes a tiny bit. I saw a white tiled ceiling and a bag of clear liquid. Where...?

"Oh, thank goodness."

My eyes drfited over to the sorce of the voice; a white haired man with a mustache and black suit on. I finally realized what'd happened.

"Watari!" I croaked, hurring to sit up. Bad choice; my head spun nausiating and every bone in my body protested violently. I fell back down, groaning.

"Easy!" The man said, a releived smile on his face. He stood, coming to rest his hand very lightly on my shoulder. I flinched, though he'd barely touched me it sent a wave of pain though me. He noticed and hurriedly retracted his arm. "How are you feeling?

"I'm sorry, Watari," I groaned, ignoring his question; it should be obvious how I was feeling. "I... shouldn't have been so close to the road..." I squirmed as more feeling returned to my limbs.

"Shh," He told me, seeing my discomfort. "You rest up. I'll still be at Wammy's when you feel better." He leaned over to press a button on the wall. "More pain-killers, please." He said into a speaker.

Oh, I thought. Morphine...

My eyes looked up to the bad of liquid. IV. I looked down at my right hand; my entire right arm was incased in plaster. My left was covered in gauze and a needle was taped into my wrist. My stomch churned. I hated needles.

I started when a nurse entered the room with another bag of liquid.

She hurriedly conected it to the tube atached to my wrist. Almost immidiately I felt my mind blur. I wanted to sleep more...

"Wait!" I called weakly to Watari as he prepared to leave. He glanced back.

"Yes, Near?"

"Mello," I mumbled, incoherantly. "Where's Mello? I need Mello..." I wasn't sure where this was coming from, all of a sudden I just needed him at my side.

Watari turned away - surely he hadn't heard me - and gestured to someone outside of the room, meanwhile I still rambled drunkenly,

"Mello... I need Mello... Where... Mello...?"

My eyes closed in a long blink and when I opened them again I saw a blonde, black-garbed angel by my side. "Mel...llo..."

"Near?" The blonde asked, his forehead creased with worry as he kneeled by my left side, my less damaged side.

I smiled upon hearing his voice, my mind far gone. "Mello. You're... here..."

"Yeah." He smiled grimly. His eyes swept over my broken form, tightening at what they saw. "You're pretty banged up, huh?" He whispered. He seemed to be trying to keep his voice light.

I ignored his words, focusing on his face instead. It was so close to me, yet so far. I raised my good hand slowly, reaching for him. He was too far away, and it was hard to move...

"Easy, Near," Mello gasped, seeing my struggle. I didn't move my arm down, and I kept my eyes fixed on his. After a moment, Mello seemed to realize what I wanted; he hestantly leaned closer so that I could place my pale, scaped-up hand on his cheek.

Through the haze in my mind I was surprised that a faint, pink blush spred across his face as I did so.

"Yellow hair... Blue eyes... pink cheeks..." I mumbled, my eyes slipping closed again. "So... pretty..."

I felt Mello press his hand against the one I'd laid on his face.

This made me smile again, and I sighed.

Before slipping under again, I thought I could feel Mello press his lips gently to my palm...

The next time I awoke, I was much more coherant; the pain had gone from sharp and throbbing to dull and aching. Much better. I glanced around at my suroundings. I was back in my room, back at Wammy's house. Roger must've moved me while I was alseep. I tried to sit up, but then realized that It was impossible on my own; my right arm was in a full cast, my right leg in an ankle cast, my right leg in a large brace, and my torso covered in bandages. The only part of me that wasn't completely broken was my left arm, and even there I could see many shallow scrapes.

I glanced at the clock. 6:23am. It would probably at least an hour before someone check on me. To fill time, I toook inventory of my wounds.

"Broken humorus. Broken ankle. Broken fibula." I ticked them off on my left hand as I continued. "Several broken ribs, probably. Many cuts and bruises. Concusion? Possible."

"Definately possible."

My head snapped over to the door, where Mello was standing, a sneer on his face.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty" He greeted me wryly. "Enjoy your nap?"

Now I was annoyed. Hate me or don't hate me, pick a side already! I rubbed my head with my good arm. "I did not espeically enjoy it." I responded, blank as I ever was with him. I din't care that my tone made his eyes narrow. If he was gong to act like last night'd never happened, or that he hadn't been in my room a few nights ago, then I was too.

Mello snorted. "Not even broken limbs fazes you. Even now, it's as if you have control of everything, the whole situation. I wouldn't be surprised if you planned to be hit."

"Of course not, Mello." I almost snapped back. "It's not as if I jumped in front of the car. I was pushed."

To my surprise, Mello's head snapped up. "By who-"

He was interupted by a knock at the door. "Mello? Is Near awake yet?"

Mello pulled a chocolate from his pocket and began unwrapping it. "Yeah."

The door opened and Roger entered, followed by Watari.

"I'm so glad," Roger sighed, seeing me awake and coherant. "You looked as if you'd never wake up."

"Told you, you old geezer," Mello muttered under his breath. "He's fine."

Roger silenced him with a glance before returning his gaze to me. "Needless to say, you won't be leaving your room for a few weeks."

I nodded. "When will I be able to attend classes again?" I asked, concerned. I couldn't let these injuries bring my grades down.

Mello rolled his eyes.

"You'll be able to use the walking cast in about three weeks, but there's no rush," Roger assured me. "You can wait until you're out of the casts completely." He glanced at Mello. "In the meantime, Mello can teach you your lessons."

Mello's eyes widened, and he dropped the peice of chocolate that he'd snapped off. I frowned. That would without a doubt leave a stain on my carpet.

"I can do what now?" He asked incrediously. He glared at me. "Who said I wanted to teach the sheep while he's handicaped?"

"Mello," Roger said flatly. "If I recall corectly, you did."

Mello froze. "When was that?" He asked though his teeth.

"At the hospital, you clearly asked what you could do to help. I told you that I'd let you know if there was something."

Mello had said that? He'd wanted to help me? Then he really did care about me...? I watched Mello's face carefully. A very, very faint pink spred across his cheeks. I was astonished. Just like in the hospital...

"Fine." Mello said curtly. "I'll help him." This shocked me even more. He was willing to help? I expected him to put up a decent fight.

A half-grin formed on his face. "I'll be nice, me the teacher, him the student, for once."

Oh. He just wanted to be better than me. As usual.

Roger nodded, clearly pleased. "Very good."

And he left, Watari trailing him.

I waited for Mello to follow suite, but he didn't. He only moved to shut the door behind them.

I tensed when he turned around; was he planning on hurting me in vengence for having to teach me?

"Relax." Mello snorted, rolling his eyes at my aprehensive expression. "I'm not gonna kick a sheep when he's already down." He walked over to my bed, examining my many casts and bandages. "Looks like I'll be teaching you for a while."

I nodded hestantly.

Mello started to ask something, then seemed to think better of it.

"What was that?"

He glanced up to look me in the eyes, his were intent yet somehow shy. "Who pushed you into the road?"

I narrowed my eyes, confused. "Why do you ask?"

Suddenly Mello slamed a fist down on the bed next to me, his eyes feirce and containing what I swore was murdurious intent. "Damn it, just tell me who is was, Near!"

"I-I don't know his name," I stammered, frightened a bit by Mello's sudden agression.

"His apearance then." Mello pressed, clenching his fist around the poor chocolate in his hand.

I hesitated a moment before telling him, recalling. "Curly red hair," I said, nodding to myself. "Very freckly. Taller than me. Green eyes."

Mello's eyes narrowed and I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head; going over all the children who fitted that discription. For a second, I feared for that child's life. I knew very well what Mello was capable of.

"Mello," I said suddenly. "Why did you come with Roger and Watari to the hospital?"

My question made Mello freeze, he stopped strngling his chocolate, causing many dark chunks to fall to the floor -more stains.

"What do you mean?" He asked, though I was sure he knew what I meant.

"Did any other children come with you?"

"...No. I was the only one."

"Why was that?" I pressed.

The faint pink that had apeared earlier became much more viasble.

"I... asked to come." He finally muttered suddenly intent on eating every little bit of his crumbled chocolate. I waited for him to continue.

He swallowed, looking down."...You were hurt really badly. I thought you wouldn't make it."

"You thought I would die," I stated flatly. Mello nodded. This baffled me. "Wouldn't my death be a releif to you, Mello?" I asked, and for once, my voice showed my confusion. Mello's eyes narrowed dangerously. I ignored this, continuing, "I would have assumed that you'd be glad to not have to see my face again. That you'd finally be number one-"

"Shut up!" Mello snapped, jumping forward to slap me across the face. My head snapped to the side and my cheek stung; tears formed in my eyes.

I glanced up at Mello, my confusion growing.

He glared at me more heatedly than he ever had before, yet somehow there was less hatred and more frustration and defiance. He stepped closer and leaned down to my eye level.

"Do you really think so low of me?" He shouted into my face. "You think I'm such a rotten, dispicable person that I would be happy that you're dead? Is that what you think?"

He didn't give me time to respond. "Well damn it, you're wrong about me! I wouldn't love it if you were dead- I would HATE it! I wouldn't want to acept the number-one position! It would mean nothing to me! Not if you weren't there!"

My eyes grew very wide uppon hearing his speach; what on earth was he saying? A second after he finnished talking, Mello's eyes widened as well, as if he'd just realized what he'd said. The pink on his cheeks switched to bright red and he hurried to elaborate.

"I-I mean that victory isn't worth anything unless it's deserved! And winning by your death is like winning by default - and that's just as bad as losing!"

His tough words were contridicted by the flaming blush that was now spreding to his ears.

I just stared at him, my face blank with surprise instead of emotionlessness. "Really." I said incrediously.

"Yes, really, you albino, judgemental, narcisitic freak." He pulled back and turned on his heels, then stomped out the door, slamming it, and leaving a trail of chocolate crumbs behind him.

I stared after him, mystified. Did he really care about me in some way? Or was he just more compassionate than I gave him credit for? It's true, many people would feel sorry for someone who's been hit by a car, but if it was only pity than why had he been blushing like he'd been?

"Mello," I muttered to myself. "You seem to be the only puzzle I can't solve."

What do you think so far? Please tell me if something's unrealistic, or if anyone seems OCC to you - that's my worst nightmare. I don't want to write a MelloxNear fic if it's not REALLY Mello and REALLY Near :D