"Mello, this is Near, he'll be rooming across the hall from you."

I look down at the white haired albino boy, still getting used to the name - Mello, what kind of alias was that, really!? I hated it at first. And what's with the name Near? It sounds like a distance… - and studied him. He had a blank look on his face as he looked up at me, as if he was reading me. It made me extremely uncomfortable. He was just sitting there on the floor, toying with some completely white puzzle.

"Nice to meet you, Mello," Near said after a long pause, then went back to fiddling with the puzzle. I frowned at him. I didn't like being taken for granted, not a bit.

"What's that your playing with?" I ask, trying my best to sound friendly, but I know it sounds threatening. Near looks up at me again, his face still the same expression as before.

"Obviously, it is a puzzle, Mello," Near replied coldly. I flinch.

"I know THAT, I'm not an idiot, idiot," I snap, crossing my arms over my chest in irritation. "I just mean why is it blank? Who would want to play with a blank puzzle if all your going to get is white in the end?"

"I would." Near replies, and goes back to playing. Again, just up tossing me aside like I'm nothing. I huff angrily and look back to Roger, but he's already gone, which is annoying. I was hoping I could get another guide to show me around Wammys, but apparently not. I look back to the albino, who hasn't even stood up yet.

"You're suppose to show me to my room," I tell him, irritated. The boy doesn't reply, only putting another puzzle piece in place. I stand there for a while, waiting for him, and I see several kids throwing bewildered glances at me. I shoot glares back at them, irritated - what was wrong with this kid? "Are you going to or are you just going to sit there like an idiot?"

Near blinked, slowly, as if this was an effort, then placed the last piece on the puzzle with a long exhale. "Your room is upstairs, can you find it yourself, or are you that incompetent?" I flinch again at his jab, and wonder if it was actually an honest question or an insult, considering his monotonous voice. Incompetent? Incompetent? I was an ten year old genius, I was not INCOMPETENT. I glower at him but decide with a huff not to give him the pleasure of a reply, shoving past him and making a point of shoving my foot through his puzzle as I walk, making it come all apart again and hurry up the stairs towards my room, ignoring his monotone protests coming from behind me.

I can see people staring at me with wide eyes or frowns or judgmental stares, but I ignore them, flipping my hair over my shoulder and stalking upwards. I already hated him. In fact I already hated this entire orphanage. I hated everyone in it and everything about it. But especially Near. I hated the entire situation I was in, in fact. I hated that my parents had died, that I ended up in this stupid institution, that the person who was suppose to guide me around was an albino freak, that I was--

"Hey, you're on the wrong floor, chicka. Girl's floor's upstairs."

I whirl around at the sound of the voice, bristling. Behind me is the weirdest kid I think I'd ever met - lanky and redheaded. And I mean red, like a ruby, not like orangey-red. And he had these chunky glasses - no, goggles on his head that were orange tinted and covered his eyes. He had a wide smile on his face, which infuriated me even more - did he think I was funny!?

As soon as I turn around and death-glare him his smile vanishes, though, into a look of horror. "I'm a boy, jackass!" I growl, clenching my fists in fury and full-out ready to punch him in the nose. The redhead's eyes widen in surprise, his face burning with a blush.

"Oi'! Sorry, man!" the boy quickly apologizes, but not before I kick him in the knee, making him wince and jump back. "O-okay, okay, I deserved that," he continues, waving his hand and the smile returning. The smile catches me a little off guard and I stop my assault, but I'm still thoroughly pissed. "I just saw your hair and I figured you were a new girl, I'm sorry," he apologizes quickly, the blush deepening on his cheeks. I smirk at him, raising my eyebrows.

"Well… apology accepted I guess," I reply warily, crossing my arms over my chest. "But I'm still thoroughly pissed at you," I tell him, as an afterthought. The idiot's smile only grows even bigger.

"Eh, well, that's my fault then isn't it?" he says with a half-hearted chuckle, then to my surprise pulls something out of his back pocket, reaching it out to me. "Will this make it better?"

I stare at the bar in his hands, frozen. Was that? It was. It was chocolate. Not just any chocolate either - GODIVA chocolate. Milk variety.

"Hell yeah it will!" I cry before I can control myself, snatching it out of his hands and ripping off the wrapper with my teeth. His eyes widen as I snap off a piece immediately, sighing happily as it melts in my mouth perfectly. "Hmmm… I'm Mello, by the way."

He cocks an eyebrow and smirks. "And I'm Matt. Chocoholic or what?"

I realize I'm grinning like an idiot and tone it down, immediately embarrassed that I let myself shine through in this situation even though I'd only just met him. "Hmm, yeah," I admit despite myself, taking another bite of the wondrous chocolate. "Totally addicted. So… Matt?"

"Yeah," he replies, smiling. I suddenly wonder out of no where what color his eyes are and, without really taking a second thought, step forward and grab the goggles by their strap and pull them off, snapping them back onto his forehead. He yells out in pain and squeezes his eyes shut. I smirk before I can help myself. "What the hell?"

He opens his eyes and gives me a confused look. I freeze up.

His eyes are green.

"What was that for?" he demands, confusion in his emeralds for eyes. I smirk at him, putting one hand on my hip out of habit and tilt my head to the side, studying his eyes carefully. He frowns at me as I take another bite of chocolate, and I decide for no reason at all that, that shade of green is my favorite shade of green.

"Just wanted to know what color your eyes were," I tell him, the smirk lingering on my face. "They're green." Matt's eyebrows raise suspiciously, then he grins back at me and brushes my hair from my eyes. I flinch at the touch then relax when I realize he's only inspecting my eyes.

"And yours are blue," he says almost teasingly. I fight a smile tugging on my lips, swatting his hand away. Damn, I thought, why couldn't it be him that was suppose to show me around?

I sigh and look down the hallway at all the doors. "Which door's 666?" I ask after a pause, gear to get my bags into my room, since their weighing uncomfortably on my back. Matt blinks and frowns at me.

"That's my room."

I startle. His room? I had a roommate? He looks just as surprised as I do, but I guess nobody had bothered to tell him. That or Near did and was too lazy, I think bitterly, but swat the thought away - I had plenty of time to complain when I wasn't around cute redheads.

Err. Not cute. I didn't mean cute. I meant nice. Nice. Because I'm straight. And he's a boy. Obviously.

Matt grabs my bag off my shoulder, ignoring the protest I give him that I can do it myself - really I didn't mind, if he wanted to play good-guy-who-carries-bags then that was one less annoyance I had to deal with - and marched me off to his room, jabbering the whole way about how he had no idea he was gaining a roommate but he was glad that he was. I just follow him, munching on my little piece of Godiva heaven and following him to 666. Creepy that it was room 666 - hopefully that wasn't an omen or something. His hair WAS red - he could turn into a total maniac. Then again I've been told I'm kind of a maniac too, so…

The room is surprisingly extremely clean and nice, save for the mess of cords around the television area. "It's not usually this clean," Matt says admittedly, smiling uneasily. "I just cleaned yesterday." I nod - I'm not the cleanest person either, so whatever - and let him deposit my bags on the ground beside the bunk beds. I look up at my own bunk, which must be mind because the blankets weren't ruffled.

"So I'm up here?" I said a little uncertainly. Matt blinked at me. "Um…" I shuffle my feet, a little bit angry that I had to ask, then decide to just play it in the way that would avoid what I was really afraid of. "Can you take the top?"

Matt made a curious little smirk, then looked at the bed uncertainly. "I guess so… why's that?"

"No reason," I lie, going to smooth out the blankets that Matt had surely been sleeping in. "I just prefer bottom." Matt made a face, as if I'd just said something immensely perverted, and I glower at him. "If you make comment I'll slap you, that isn't what I meant and you know it."

"I wasn't suggesting it was," Matt said quickly, raising his hands, but I chuck the t-shirt that's sitting o the corner of the bed in his face anyway. "Oi', deserved that too… so what's the real reason?"

I sigh angrily, sitting on the bed and glowering at him. "None of your business," I say coldly, and I saw him falter. Hell, we weren't friends - he didn't need to know all my weird sleeping habits. I lied down on the bed and pulled out the chocolate bar and a book out of my bag. Ah, yes… Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I could read this all day.

Matt shrugged and climbed up the latter to the top bunk, and I felt him flop onto the bed and the twitter of video game music musing muffled from above. I smirked. Figured that he was a video games nerd with those goggles and that getup.

After a while I'm completely out of chocolate. I stare at the empty bar with a bewildered look, having nothing more to snap off, only little dusts of crumbs at the bottom. I frown and shuffle to sit up - I'd left my chocolate stash behind at my parents house. Ah. My parents. I wince as they flit through my mind, shoving them out of my head and concentrating on the chocolate problem before me.

"You out of chocolate?" I startle at Matt's voice as his head appears, peering over the edge. I raise my eyebrows as his eyes meet mine from upside-down, the goggles back on his eyes.

"Yep," I reply, giving him a pouty face, and he laughs. I smirk at him and cross my legs, waving the empty Godiva wrapper in his face. "And I need more."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Can't you get it yourself?" I pause, then glower at him - as if I knew my way around! Matt laughed again - I was growing to like his laugh already - and disappeared back onto his bunk. I was about to demand that he at least tell me where the kitchen was when he makes his way down the latter, smiling. "I'll go get it, sit tight."

I blink, almost saying 'really?' but I stop myself, smirking at him again and laying against my pillow, reopening my book. "Get me four," I call after him, my smirk growing on my face,

He rolled his eyes and headed out the door, closing it carefully as to not make a slam. I snicker at him as he waltzes out of the room. Ah, yes. This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.