When You Were Young

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus


At the time Matt had no way to predict that January 10th, 2006 would be the beginning of the loneliest period of his young life. It was there, in front of the gates of the Wammy house on the snowy late-winter ground, that everything changed. At first it all seemed like an innocent event, after all, Mello was prone to getting into altercations and this one shouldn't have stood out from the rest. It was around three in the afternoon, a few minutes after the private school in the neighborhood let out its students, that it all went down. Matt and Mello had been coming back from a quick trip to the corner store and as they approached the gate to the Wammy House they crossed paths with a pack of uniformed teenagers around their age. This wasn't uncommon, the proximity to their school meant students frequently walked back and forth on their street, staring into the gates with curiosity as the Wammy kids stared back. It was hard to tell who was watching who. However, they never interacted as if an invisible barrier stood between them. Today the unspoken rule would be broken as one of these teens chose to be particularly vocal on his negative observations about the Wammy House.

"What even is this place? Is it a school? I feel like we've never had an event with them…" a tall dark-haired boy about sixteen pondered out loud.

"It's like… one of those places for crazy people, you know. Just a bunch of freaks" answered the tallest amongst them within earshot of Mello, who didn't take his wording lightly. Matt watched his best friend's rage ignite like a match, a frown settling on his face as he inhaled sharply before blurting out an offense

"Who the hell are you calling a freak, ya fucking neanderthal?" the blonde exclaimed, surprising the entire group of teenagers consisting of two boys and two girls. The tall kid snapped his head to look at Mello square in the eye, propping his posture to make his already bulky frame appear even larger. A mocking smile flashed across his handsome angular face

"Look Dan, that's one of them right there. Freaks, I tell you" he insisted. Mello's azure eyes narrowed as he strut towards the private school teen, stopping only when he was so close their chests almost touched. Matt foresaw this ending terribly but knew better than to try to stop him.

"Don't fucking test me, I swear I'll–" before the blonde could finish his sentence a fist met his face with full force, knocking him on the ground. The two girls shrieked.

Mello lost track of where he was and what he had been doing seconds prior as he lay on the snow, hearing voices all around him, but being unable to string together what they were saying. His head felt heavy and his mind was slowly coming back from disorientation.

"What the hell was that, Drew? Are you out of your mind?" he heard a panicked female voice come in clear "fuck, is he dead?"

"He's not dead" came Matt's voice in a monotone. Mello opened his eyes slowly to find a soft round face looking down at him, light brown hair showering down on him and tickling his face uncomfortably "he's breathing, I can see it from over here" sustained his best friend. Mello lifted lifted his head with some effort.

"Holy shit" said the girl kneeling over him as she used a soft light pink glove to wipe his face from below the nose down. Mello could see the blood, now soaked into her glove, and sighed with annoyance. He propped himself up onto his elbows and felt a gentle stream of warm red pour down his face. "Are you serious?" the girl said turning around and rhetorically showing the bloody glove to Drew.

"Oh come on, he came at me. What was I supposed to do?" Drew responded in defense with no avail, the girl rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You're uninvited from going to Dan's house today, I don't want to look at you right now" she stated taking off her glove, balling it up, and using it to plug Mello's bleeding nose as the blonde boy brought a hand up to his aching face.

"What?" Drew said in disbelief raising his voice "you're insane. You can't do that, you can't uninvite me from Dan's house… It's his house!" The second girl in the group, a pretty Middle Eastern face with long raven hair gathered in a ponytail, snorted a laugh. Dan took a couple steps back from the situation, making it clear he wanted no part in this argument.

"Fine, then I'm uninviting myself today, but you're forbidden from coming to Angie's party this weekend because she's my best friend and I get to have a say" the brunette stated in a raised tone.

A raven-haired girl, presumably Angie, spoke up to try to mediate. "Alright, this is too much. You two are embarrassing. Drew, you're banned from the party this weekend as punishment for being an asshole. Em, do whatever you want but I'm going to Dan's because I can't feel my legs at this point" she said with a shiver. "Now, let's go before you people cause another scene." With that, Angie turned around and continued her path, followed by her two male friends. Em pouted slightly as she watched her friend group go: the girl clearly wasn't expecting them to actually agree to leave her behind.

"You can go along, I'll take care of it from here" said Matt lighting a cigarette. Mello stood up avoiding all eye contact most likely due to embarrassment. He wasn't used to being on the losing side of fights, but hey, that kid had taken a cheap shot anyways.

"No, it's okay. It's not like I have anywhere to be" she assured with some indignation "can I have one?" She asked motioning to his pack of red Marlboro.

"Sure," Matt said handing her a cigarette and sparking the lighter for her. As the girl took a drag, Matt noticed the dried foreign blood on her bare fingers from the glove that Mello currently held up to his face. "Do you want one, Mells?" Matt offered. The blonde nodded and lit a a cigarette from the box, smoking it in silent irritation.

"So… is this a school?" Em asked to break the silence, looking at Wammy through the gates. She had seen some kids in the yard sometimes, but there didn't seem to be enough of them for it to be a school.

"Yeah it's a boarding school" Matt answered with a half-truth

"Are you guys done with class?" She continued probing.

"Uh… yeah, pretty much. We have homework and such but it's just… regular after school hours" he lied, knowing that at the Wammy house there wasn't a lot of time to be idle about learning and improving. The girl nodded and looked at the two boys, studying them. Even in their plain black winter attire, they managed to look peculiar. Matt's dark red hair, pale freckled skin, and goggles were probably easy to pick out from a crowd. Mello had a tamer look, Em thought his hair could come off as the 'California beach boy' look that was popular in teen magazines... except he was very polished and his demeanor wasn't exactly chill.

"Can I come in?" She asked catching both of the boys off guard. They looked at each other, cigarettes between their lips, not knowing how to respond. Was that even against the rules? No outside kids had been to Wammy house, but it was probably just because no one had really felt inclined to cross the gates before.

Em felt the awkward silence "I'm cold and I want to wash off, is all" she explained with simultaneous confusion and amusement, unable to understand why it seemed to be a big deal.

"No, it's not allowed, sorry" Mello said plainly, causing Matt to look at him with disbelief at his rudeness. He knew Mello had some social quirks, but this was a matter of basic human decency.

"You can come in and use the sink, just make it quick" Matt corrected, earning an eye roll from Mello.

The bitter cold helped finish their cigarettes quickly, and the three of them headed inside the gates and into the main entrance to the house. They each stomped some of the snow off their shoes, and slipped them off once inside to protect the hardwood floors from corrosion. The snow wasn't really the culprit, but the salt used to keep sidewalks dry was damaging to interiors. Matt led Em into the foyer, thinking she could use the sink in the downstairs guest bathroom, but quickly realized his mistake. On the couches in the lobby sat three Wammy kids in different positions with books in their hands, their eyes darted on the outsider that had just invaded their space. Not even Mello's bloodied appearance deterred their intense glare.

"Uh… you can use our upstairs bathroom" Matt opted, dreading how plain weird Wammy kids could be. Being the most socially adept kid in the house weighed on him sometimes. He led the girl towards the staircase at a brisk pace– thankfully their socks quieted their footsteps as they approached Matt and Mello's room.

They bathroom was shared: it had two doors on either side that each led to a different room. On one side of the bathroom was Matt and Mello's messy abode, and on the other lived Near and his roommate in a perfect state of order. This scheme was the root of several confrontations given Mello's history of animosity with Near, but for some reason no one bothered to change this arrangement. Matt walked into the bathroom, locking the door that allowed Near's room entry to make sure no one would come in and catch them sneaking a girl in. Even if it was probably expected at their age. "All yours" he said exiting into his own room and taking a seat on his bed.

Em walked over to the sink, noticing little bottles of lotion, deodorants, and other self-care products lined up against the mirror along the white counter. She slid off her backpack and dark blue winter coat, letting them drop the floor carelessly before she began to thoroughly wash her hands. The water circling down the drain turned from red, to pink, to clear. Unaware of sleeping arrangements and separation of property at the Wammy House, she reached for the nearest towel, a soft white one, to dry her hands.

"Mells? Do you want to wash your face?" she asked peeking out of the bathroom, earning a questioning look from Mello and Matt. Her eyes widened thinking she had somehow gotten it wrong, "that's your name right? He said it downstairs" she claimed pointing at Matt. The blonde boy shook his head

"Only Matt calls me that, it's actually Mello" he explained shedding his coat onto his own bed, walking over to the bathroom, turning on the faucet to a warm temperature, and tying his hair back to keep it from getting wet. Emma moved out of his way by stepping back into the bathroom.

"Oh, okay. I'm Emma by the way… I think I have some Ibuprofen in my bag, my head's been hurting here and there. I think I might need glasses… at least that's what Angie says" Emma spoke aimlessly as she kneeled down to search her pockets for the painkillers. The sound of crumpling paper and odd objects clashing inside her school bag echoed in the bathroom as she dug, finally pulling out a little white bottle rattling with pills inside. "Here take two, it works better" she set down two bright orange pills on the counter, noticing the watery red splatters on the surface "you're getting blood everywhere" the girl pointed out with a giggle Matt found particularly irritating. She used the same white hand towel and began to wipe it off. Mello lifted his head from the sink, dripping water from his chin.

"That's not mine, it someone else's towel" he stated. He reached for it and searched it trying to find the stitched initial found in every Wammy kid's towel set to make separating laundry a lot easier. An black 'N' was threaded onto the corner. Mello smirked, thinking of how neat freak Near would feel upon finding his white towel a bloody mess.

"It's an emergency, I'm sure they'll understand" said Emma confidently, taking the towel back into her control and continuing to wipe the counter and the sink. "I'm sorry about Drew by the way, he's a friend but he can be such a dick" she said with exasperation.

Mello looked into the brunette's light brown eyes and narrowed his stare. "I'm going to have to kill him" he said assertively, his stone-cold facial expression unflinching.

The wiping stopped. Emma held his stare with disbelief in her expression, but a moment after the corners of her mouth curled into a smile. "How?" she whispered, causing Mello to let out a stunted laugh, which made her laugh in return.

Matt, who was hearing this from the outside, furrowed his eyebrows at the noises coming from his bathroom's open door. He was practically the only person that had the pleasure of being exposed to Mello's silly side here and there, why was he being so jolly all of a sudden? …And then it hit him. Mello was betting on the possibility this girl would sleep with him.

"Okay but seriously, you can't kill him. He's the only worthwhile rugby player in our team. Rugby team victories means parties, and parties are the only way we can drink in peace" explained Emma. "Speaking of which, what are you doing this weekend?" The question came casually and unassumingly.

Back in the room Matt's eye widened in disbelief at what he had just heard: a girl had just asked Mello out. He replayed it in his head to make sure he hadn't just imagined it. The redhead waited patiently for his roommate's response, knowing not matter what he said he would diligently tease him about it for the next week or so. His best friend sighed as he struggled to answer

"I'll go" he said, earning a toothy smile for the brunette girl "if Matt goes." The girl peeked her head out from the bathroom door excitedly

"Matt? Do you have plans?" She asked the redhead. He winced at the question, hating the turn this had taken given today's events. He wasn't the partying type to being with, and in addition he wasn't exactly fond of Emma and her friends in particular.

"I don't know…" he started, but before he knew Emma rushed to join him on his bed

"Oh come one, it'll be fun! It's my friend Agie's birthday so it's going to be a big one" she tried to convince him "you guys have to come, I'll make sure you enjoy yourselves to make up for today" Emma promised. Matt looked at Mello, who was now standing in the bathroom doorway with his arms crossed

"Fine, we'll be there" the redhead said in defeat.


Lyrics: The Killers- When you Were Young