Title: Only if you get Caught

Word Count: 902

Setting: I am thinking sometime in volume 10.

Mello spun the open cell phone in one hand. In the other, he stared at the number he had written on a scrap of paper.

The twirling cell phone suddenly reminded him of the way Near would twist his hair, and Mello dropped the cell phone in disgust. Instead of a satisfactory clatter, there was only a soft thump when it landed in the overgrown grass next to the metal park bench he was sitting on. The bench was chained to a cement block.

The town was small, as rundown as he felt at the moment. Mello let his head fall back, and pulled the plain black leather jacket closer. He had dressed down in a white t-shirt and dark jeans, knowing there was no need to call attention to himself. Though even if anyone unsavory came close, he felt the scars on his face would be enough of a deterrent.

...

Mello had had just the slightest amount of contact with Matt since leaving the orphanage. He could not think of a reason that Matt would just agree to work with him.

Near and Mello had exchanged just enough information, and even with the little extra supplied by Hal, Near still had the advantage of people working with him. Mello knew he could not do much of anything alone.

...

He flattened out the paper, not remembering when he had crunched it into a tight ball. Retrieving the phone, he dialed without giving himself a chance to change his mind.

A female voice answered, "Hello?"

"Can I speak to…Matt?"

"Who's this?" she said, her voice curt.

"Tell him it's an old friend."

"Are you the old friend he occasionally mentions, the one who wears leather?" Her hostile voice gone, she purred, "I like leather."

"Uh huh. I'm sure you do." Mello did not feel like he had the mental capacity to flirt today. "Please put Matt on."

She made a soft hmph sound, and he heard the phone being passed.

"Hel-lo," Matt said. In the background, Mello could hear blips and beeps of some electronic device.

"Your girlfriend just hit on me."

"She's not my girlfriend, she's my roommate's…" Matt's voice trailed off. "Wait, who is this?"

"Didn't she tell you it was an old friend?"

"Mello?"

There was a crash, causing Mello to hold the phone away from his head. It sounded like the phone and whatever Matt had been playing with had been dropped.

"You told some random girl I wear leather?" Mello asked when the phone was picked up again.

"It was the first trait I could think of...how did you get this number? It's not even mine."

"I don't remember," Mello said.

"You've gotten pretty good at lying through your teeth."

"If I was any good, you would not have known I was lying."

Mello heard Matt pull away from the phone, saying to someone – presumably the not-girlfriend – that he was going outside for a smoke.

"Okay, I'm alone," Matt said. "You can tell me why in the world you are calling."

"I wanted to know if you would work a job with me."

"And that will consist of…?"

"Spying, kidnapping – the usual."

"Sounds illegal."

"Only if you get caught."

There was silence, as if Matt had realized that Mello was serious.

Matt said cautiously, "I think I'm going to pass this time. I'm pretty happy with what I'm currently doing, so I-"

"I understand," Mello said, cutting him off, "You don't want your name smeared with mine."

Mello hung up.

...

The phone chimed softly. Mello waited a moment before he answered it. No need to act desperate.

"Yeah."

"Are you in town?" Matt asked.

"I'm in the park," Mello said.

"At this hour? That place is dangerous after dark."

"It's not dark yet."

"It's pretty dangerous in the daylight hours too."

"I worked for the Mafia, Matt. My sense of danger has gone down."

"You never had a sense of danger," Matt muttered. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

...

Mello sat, chin in hand, letting the fringe of blonde hair cover his face. He heard someone approaching and knew he'd have to look up.

When he did, he saw just Matt, who had not changed much in the last four years.

Matt stopped dead, seeing a stranger instead of someone who had been a brother to him. Matt took off his goggles and peered at the scars on Mello's face. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I lost a round," Mello said.

"You make it sound like it was a game of chess."

Mello shrugged. "This town is a dump."

"Did you have a doctor look at it?" Matt said, not allowing Mello to change the subject.

"Any enemy I had made was waiting for me to show up in a hospital, Matt."

"I'll take that as a no." Matt made an exaggerated sigh and sat down next to Mello. "So, spying?"

Mello nodded without glancing at him.

"Like when we spied on the girls' dorms at Wammy's House."

Mello smiled slightly. "Roger could never quite pin that on us."

"Kidnapping," Matt mused. "Like when we took Near's teddy bear and stuffed it up one of the unused chimneys."

"I asked him whatever happened to that bear a few years later. He gave me a dirty look."

"All right. Life has gotten dull," Matt said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "I'll trust you to liven it up."