Mello was hot. No denying, he simply was and that drove Near mad. Near had been keeping up his wallssfor so long he thought it wasn't even a mask anymore, but part of him. He had learned to not stare at Mello while he spoke, refer to him in third person and, of course, keep his distance from the angry adolescent. Some things weren't meant to be and Near and Mello were one of them. Little did he know Mello had just the way to remove his pretty, blank mask.

Near noticed that he could kept his heartbeat in a strict and patterned rythm until he heard Mello coming in or going out of the room he was, that he would only need to blink once every minute and a half until he saw the boy's pretty blond hair and that his body temperature wouldn't vary unless his nose caught the smell ofl the dark chocolate that was always in Mello's mouth. The lovely chocolate always in between Mello's lips. Those God blessed, beautiful lips. Whenever such things were noted by the white genius his face would heat up, his focusing ability would weaken and he would become extremly exposed to his feelings and that was new. New things were the only things to make Near hesitate and that meant Mello was a threat to his rank as top Wammy without even knowing.

When he first took note of his symptoms; his heart beating faster and his cheeks puffing up he had gone to L for advice. The older man had told him that liking your rival was usual and the younger detective had no't in fact been found out by Kira. Near listened carefully as his mentor explained that liking something or someone a lot wasn' the best of ideas, especially when you're at the top because that could be your downfall and the Wammy House couldn't bare to lose another genius. "Do we have a problem?" The raven haired man had asked and Near had shook his head and closed the door to L's room promising he wouldn't sacrafice his position at the top for "a lack of hormone control", but then again, Near had never liked L much and wasns't famous for giving up on things because he promised them.

"Near!" Mello's voice cut through his thinking making him shake in suprise and nearly knock down the match tower he was working on. The albino boy sighed in defeat as his hormones danced at the pit of his stomach just from hearing Mellos's voice.
"What does Mello want?" He didn't look up, instead he took out his building blocks and started stacking them, the risk of these collapse being far minor to matches. Silence reigned and Near's heartbeat lowered at the thought that maybe the blue eyed boy had left already "Mello?" He whispered. He wasn't a fool, in fact, that's why he was at the top position, he was the best of the best, heir to L's throne. He knew Mello was still beehind him. He could smell the chocolate bar in his mouth and- A book fell open in front of him taking down with it the rest of the dice and block tower and with that his little confidence.

"You heard Mr Wammy. We have to finish this case. It's due tomorrow." Mello snapped and Near felt the blonde's legs brush agains his white pyjamas as the smaller teen leaned slightly over Near to look at the book as well.

"I can finish it by myself." Near stated grabbing a toy and pretending to be facinated with it. Near's body temperature was a rather constant cool, he wasn't used to sweating and there he was, putting his toy robot down because of how warm his hand had become. It was as if he was melting.

"Oh no, you don't." Mello bit off his chocolate bar making some crumbs fall over Near's hair. Near looked straightly at the book in embarassment as the angry boy continued his rant. He hadn't meant to offend Mello, but then again, he hadn't meant to fall in love with the guy either. "No way I'm letting you say I didn't do anything." Near held down the urge to frown. Near would never do that! He wasn't up for a beating and he wasn't about to ruin his love's reputation

"Ok." Near said in false calmity and kept down a squeak as he felt Mello sit down behind. What was he doing? The albino was about to slide the book to his side so both of them could read when the answer came. Mello placed his chest against his back and chin on his shoulder and huffed. Who should be huffing was Near! Mello knew he hated people touching and had deliberately gone out of his way to make him uncomfortable. Jerk. Why couldn't he like Matt or Linda? Sport a crush on L? Why did it have to be to the rude and unconstant bastard that was Mello?

"You should cut your hair, I can't see." Mello said pulling on Near's hair, making the younger boy sigh in annoyance, but not move away from those warm hands.

"Then perhaps Mello should move?" Near offered and felt himself shrink as Mello's tongue clicked.

"No, you should cut your hair." Mello got up and offered the smaller genius a time to ponder on the last time Mello had actually done that. Near shuddered, was he going to do it again? He waited for the sounds of scissors clipping, but that sound never came. Instead Mello tangled his fingers in his hair which caused the boy to bit his lip. "Near, your hair's so gross, it doesn't even feel like real hair. Is this colour even natural?" Near looked at the floor, he had had white hair since he could remember and surely Mello knew that too. "Please stop." He whispered.

"Stop?" He didn't need to look back to know Mello was smirking. "Really, now? Why?"

"I feel uncomfortable." Near mumbled.

"Oh..." Mello dropped down onto his knees behind Near again. "So you don't like people touching your hair?"

"Precisely." Near nodded, but Mello's fingers were still in his hair and the young detective wondered how much of a jerk Mello could be,

"Oh, what else don't you like? I didn't really know you felt something about anything."

"Can Mello focus on the homework and get his fingers out of my hair?

"You know what I think, Near? I think you're " Near felt Mello's hands leave his hair to wrap around his waist and pull him onto his lap. Near instinctively dug his nails into Mello's thighs in an attempt to make him let go and was about to scream for help when he felt Mello gently press his face against his hair. "Calm down, Near. I'll let you go in a minute, it's just-" Near felt his cheeks turn red at how soft Mello's voice had become "Your hair smells like chocolate..." The pause made Near close his eyes and focus on breathing properly "I wonder if..." The feeling of something different than Mello's fingers came up and Near curled up against the older boy.

"Mello?!"

"Your hair tastes like chocolate as well, sick." Near tried to turn his head and glare at the boy since he clearly lost all sense and didn't rembember why he was here in the first place, but Mello kept him in place by cupping his cheek with one hand, so he would keep looking forward and siding a hand around his stomach. The albino detective slowly melted into the contact and hummed at how warm and soft Mello felt as the blonde searched for chocolate crumbs in his hair. He wasn't sure of how long they stayed like this, but it wasn't like Near to lose track of time. Maybe this was sacrificing his position as best Wammy? It didn't matter. He prefered Mello to some throne L had sat on with his feet. "Hey, Near?"

"Hm?" Near glanced up at him as Mello let go of him, but didn't push the smaller boy off his lap. Near wasn't an expert but by the way Mello simply kept playing with his hair without any excuse to do so anymore, he too, perhaps, had lost track of time.

"Where else do you taste like chocolate?" Mello asked bluntly and Near gasped. L didn't know what he was missing.