A/N: Omg I love you people who reviewed. So much. You guys are made of win. So yeah, Rinna-Kun, Huntershivers… Thank you both so much.

Disclaimer: No (legal) owning going on here. Nope. Carry on.

Chapter 2: Behind Enemy Lines

It was a bright, warm summer day. The wind was quite gentle, only a slight breeze that was more refreshing than chilly. Almost every orphan in Wammy House had taken full advantage of the marvelous weather and dashed outside as soon as lessons were over for the day. Almost all, but not quite. Mello and Matt had remained indoors because apparently Mello was having trouble with self-analysis or something like that.

Near was also indoors, but then he rarely went outside. At the moment the pale boy was curled in his usual location of the floor of the ground-level playroom. He was serenely solving a puzzle upside-down and having about as much fun as he ever seemed to when a loud commotion just outside the playroom door caught his attention.

At first Near thought the other children must have come back, but the odds of them doing so this early weren't very good, so he concluded that Mello and Matt must have come this way for some reason and just happened to be being noisy. His suspicions were more or less confirmed as the racket grew closer and he could discern Mello's voice hollering many threatening things that probably didn't belong out of horror movies. Most of them were directed at Matt, if the constant inclusion of the red-head's name amidst the cacophony of curses and threats was any indication. Near wondered what exactly Matt had done or was doing to have so utterly infuriated Mello, who was angry at Matt a great deal less often and less voraciously then... well, everyone else.

Evidently Near was going to find out, because at that moment the door to the playroom slammed open and Matt marched in. He was dragging what appeared to be a black and yellow hurricane and had a fixed expression of determination on his face that is only acquired by those who know they are already doomed, and so they can pretty much do anything without worrying about making it worse.

"Hello Matt... Mello..." Near found himself blinking in surprise, which was new. It took a lot to phase the young prodigy, though this admittedly more than fit the bill. Mello calmed down somewhat once he realized that it was now officially too late to make a break for it, although the poisonous glare he shot Matt did have the desired affect of causing the red-head to shudder. "Was there something you wanted?" Near asked politely, returning attention to his puzzle.

"Actually, yes." Matt answered quickly, cutting off whatever negative response Mello had planned. If looks could kill, Matt would be a slightly smoking carpet-stain. Near glanced up again with a vague spark of interest in his eyes.

"Alright... what is it then?" Near inquired cautiously, his curiousity had been piqued but anything that included a raging Mello was to be handled with care. Matt, for his part, turned to Mello and made a 'well, get on with it' gesture.

"Go to Hell Matt." The response was instantaneous.

"Have it your way." Matt shrugged, then proceeded to committ suicide in the form of snagging Mello by the collar and unceremoniously tossing him onto a stunned Near. The blonde and albino collapsed in a tangled heap of shock, anger, and confusion. "Later!" Matt hauled ass for the door, making it outside just as Mello recovered enough to hurl one of Near's toy robots at a speed that dented the wooden door.

"TRAITOR!" Mello shouted, though Matt was probably halfway across the orphanage by now.

"W-what..." Near meant to ask 'what was all that about?' in a completely calm and disconnected manner. Instead he stuttered a bit and stared up with impossibly wide eyes at Mello, it having just occured to him that they were in very close proximity. Even more alarming was that the list of activities people in close proximity were usually doing was running through his mind and causing a blush to strike itself across his face. Mello looked down at him, and the part of Near's brain that was still functioning properly noted that the blonde was also blushing. Unfortunately even that part of his mind was being very unhelpful in the 'is that good or bad?' department. "Are... you going to get off?" Near questioned nervously.

"You uh... you're kind of... holding onto me." Mello pointed out, drawing Near's attention to that fact that he had indeed latched onto Mello. Probably happened when they had fallen over. Yeah... let's go with that.

"Oh... sorry." Near pulled his arms back from around Mello's chest and the blonde hurriedly rolled off. They sat up, locked eyes, and immediately looked away. The next few minutes were spent in silence as the boys attempted to carefully examine each and every thing in the room besides one another. Mello made an attempt at figuring out when and where exactly he had lost his chocolate bar, and deduced that it was probably dropped sometime when attacking Matt in the hallway. It was a good distraction to focus on... or it would have been if Near's stupid face with it's stupid adorable blush didn't keep popping into Mello's head.

Near numbly picked at the carpet, struggling to make sense of the situation. Matt and Mello had been fighting; or rather Mello had been fighting Matt who had forcibly brought Mello here... the reason for this was unknown. Matt had indicated that there was something to be said to Near by Mello, but that had been rejected by aforementioned blonde, also for reasons unknown to Near. Matt had thrown Mello on top of Near, more lack of foreseeable reasons. Then... uh... More stuff that Near couldn't really figure out reasons for. He may be a genius but he couldn't find much to work with here...

"Hey... Mello..." Near ventured.

"What." Mello stated, he did not want to talk right now, especially not to Near. What he wanted to do right now was find Matt and practice new methods of disembowlment.

"Why did... I mean, why were you and Matt fighting?" Near asked shyly. Mello raised an eyebrow at the tone and swiveled to face the younger boy.

"What's it to you?" The blonde questioned. Near didn't look up, though he stopped picking at the carpet.

"Well, with the current information I have, I can't quite figure out what exactly happened..." Near explained.

"Nothing happened, got it!?" Mello jumped to his feet. Near looked up now, confused.

"But... it did..." The albino blinked once or twice, a scenario that made sense suddenly clicking into place. Mello took notice of the dawning realization that had appeared on Near's face; and he panicked.

"It was just an argument! Matt was only messing around!" Mello growled.

"No... it wasn't that... logically Matt wouldn't have-"

"Alright, alright, I love you, okay!?" Mello waved his arms violently. "There, you happy now? Matt figured it out and apparently decided he was going to make me tell you and now it's worked. YOU HEAR THAT MATT!? ARE YOU FREAKIN' HAPPY NOW!? ARE BOTH OF YOU FREAKIN' HAPPY NOW!?" Mello slumped onto the floor and pressed his face into the carpet. He really wished he had some chocolate... That was Matt's fault too. Stupid Matt. This was all hisfault.

Near was quiet for several minutes, then a strange impulse seized the pale boy and he found himself crawling across the floor to Mello's lying form. Carefully, oh so very carefully, Near reached out and lightly ran the tips of his fingers through Mello's golden hair. The blonde stiffened, and lifted his head off the ground.

"Near, what the hell are-" Mello began. Near pressed his lips against Mello's gently, sweetly, briefly. Then he pulled back and looked into the eyes of the frozen older boy.

"I'm... happy, now." Near smiled hesitantly.

'...Alright...' Mello thought, as he sat up, 'Matt can live.'

END.

A/N: Ya that's right. It's the end. A short little story but… whatever. But the next fic is coming sooner than you can say 'Holy slash Batman!'