Hey guys!

Yes, I have published yet another story...*sigh* I'm really pushing my own limits aren't I? But I couldn't stop this one as soon as I started!

I know sometimes the characters may seem OOC but you know, we're only on the first chapter, there are reasons...

And yes, I swear, I shall update all of my other stories before this one, because I have to finish quite a few of them.

Read it, comment (plz) and most of all love it!

An impressive metropolis had began construction on the middle of the recreation room, as a small, fragile looking boy slowly stacked dice here and there, making skyscrapers almost taller than himself, twirling a lock of snow white hair between his fingers as he progressed.

Children entered the room and stared at him weirdly, never admitting to themselves that they truly were blown away by the boys' creations. They slowly stepped between the little streets and headed for the opposite door so they could play outside, only stopping to mutter 'freak' behind his back, never stopping to tell him he was intelligent, creative, or something along those lines.

He never minded though, the moment Near had so much as stepped into Wammys everyone immediately avoided him, not even bothering to show him round. He was always alone, no matter who it was, even his deceased family had hated him, but for reasons that were oblivious to him. Yes, it hurt, but like Near was going to show his emotions, last time he did he screwed up big time and like hell he would let that ever happen again.

He continued stacking the dice, his dark grey eyes shifting around for another little die when he heard the thumping of those all too familiar boots as a certain blonde threw the door to the room open knocking over the nearest tower, the sound of dice falling onto the ground filled the room as tower after tower fell down.

"Hello Mello." Near said in his usual monotone voice, ignoring the fact that his creation was falling to pieces around him.

"What the fuck is all this shit?" Mello commented, taking no notice of Nears previous greeting.

"Obviously, they were towers of dice, until you knocked them down." Near replied, fully knowing that Mello was stating rhetorical question.

Mello stormed over to Near, letting his anger fume for no particular reason, as he grabbed the smaller boy by the collar of his shirt, "You calling me stupid you little dipshit?" Mello hissed.

"I never mentioned Mello being stupid." Near stated simply, in his usual third person talk.

Mello pushed Near to the ground, his piercing blue eyes trying to penetrate Nears cold emotionless ones, searching for any sign of weakness or fear. Greatly to his disappointment there was none, as always, which pissed Mello off even more, he was sick of the little twit acting higher than everyone, no, he was sick of him in general.

"Is Mello going to stare at me all day or does he wish to do something else?" Near commented after a long silence.

Mello whipped back around, his hair flying after him as he walked away from the boy, pissed that he couldn't muster a comeback and annoyed that somehow he was beginning to lose himself in those deep grey eyes of Nears, but he would never admit to that, it was fucked up, he hated Near and that's all there was to it.

Once he was outside he grabbed his chocolate bar and snapped at it, his eyes searching for someone who would just dare to come near him. Apparently though, Matt was a taker as he walked up to his best friend, game in hand, goggles sitting around his neck.

"Something's got your knickers in a twist." He stated sitting next to the blonde, when he merely grunted 'fucking test scores' Matt changed his statement so it was more appropriate for the situation, "Sorry, someone's got your knickers in a twist and I really absolutely have no clue as to who it might be because it definitely couldn't be Near."

"Shut the fuck up Matt." Mello huffed.

"Aw, was wittle Merro beaten again?" Matt teased, knowing that it'd earn him a broken rib, a bruise if he was lucky.

He waited for the impact of Mellos fist against his stomach but none came, "Mello?"

"What? I'm not that mean to you…am I?" Mello asked in curiosity, turning his head so he could look Matt in the face.

Matt's heart skipped a beat as he felt his face heat up, he hated this, not being able to look at his best friend without his heart speeding up or going red, it wasn't right. They were friends, still are friends and always will be friends.

"I think I just friend-zoned myself…" Matt whispered to himself.

"What?" Mello asked.

"Nothing!" Matt said rather hastily as he pulled his goggles over his eyes. Thank god he had these things, they worked miracles when Mello looked at him, they made it so much easier for him to look back and know his eyes couldn't be seen.

"Why do you always wear those things? It makes it hard for me to see your eyes." Mello stated, a frown on his face.

Matt nearly had a heart attack, this was getting so hard for him to control, what did Mello mean by that? Does he like his eyes? God he was sounding like an obsessive teenage girl right now…

"Why do you need to see my eyes?" Matt said it in the most casual way possible, which was hard, seeing as his breathing was having trouble with catching up to his heart rate, just how fast could it possibly go?

"No reason." Mello shrugged.

Of course this hurt Matt, it always felt like a thousand bricks had hit him in the face every time his hope went up only to come crashing down again.

….And again.

Mello stood up, "I'm turning in, it's getting cold, you going to come?"

"Uh, nah, I'm fine, I'll be there soon." Matt replied, who was now trying to get his heart to speed up from its let down.

Mello left for the door and Matt sighed to himself, annoyed that his feelings were getting more wild and harder to control, annoyed that his hopes would rise sky high only to come crashing thousands of feet back down to the earth.

"Well…he could have been at least a little more persistent…" He grumbled, "Shit Matt, why the hell are you talking to yourself? Why the fuck are you answering now?" He face-palmed, "I've lost it."

Mello re-entered the recreation room, phew, no Near and no dice to trip over. He made his way across the room and over to the old stair case that lead to the dorm floors. He darted up the stairs and made a straight bee-line for his and Matts room, leaping onto his bed as soon as the door had closed behind him.

A soft knock tapped its way into Mellos ears just as he was about to drift off, "Come in." He grumbled, annoyed that he was so close to getting sleep for once.

"Mello dropped this on his way out." The all too recognisable monotone of Near entered his ears.

"What…?" He got up and stared at Nears outstretched hand, his crucifix laid in the very palm of his small little hand.

"Does Mello wish for me to leave the cross on the table of give it to him?" Near asked, feeling his heart thump a little as those blue eyes stared at him.

"Just leave it on the table, you little sheep." Mello said, though his words didn't come out as harshly as they were intended, instead his words were soft.

"Okay." Near walked across the room and placed the little cross down, talking a second to look at the delicate necklace before heading for the door.

"Wait!" Mello said, immediately regretting his words, he was letting his guard down way too much today, "Uh, thanks." He mumbled in shame, wondering whether hell had finally had a cold day or not.

"I do not understand Mello." Near said.

"Don't understand what?" Mellos heart leapt, had he actually finally beaten him?

"Why Mello isn't taken advantage of the situation to beat me up." Near asked, a little dreamily, as if he was fantasizing about what -in his eyes- should have been happening right now.

Mello had never seen that far off look in Nears eyes before, it was so different, actually the way he was seeing Near now was completely different. Looking at him now he didn't want to beat him up, he just looked so fragile and delicate.

"Mello?" He must have been staring, because he noticed that Near had the slightest bit of colour in his cheeks.

…Wait, Near, Near was blushing?

"Are you blushing Near?" Mello said, a smirk covering his face, this was interesting….

"I don't know what you're talking about." Near replied, but the change from third person to second person showed that he was nervous.

Near must have noticed this and he was really confused, why couldn't he keep his calm? Why did Mello always make him feel so…up-tight but relaxed? Shit, the dude bullied him every other day, so why this?

Mello stalked up to him and purred seductively in his ear, "Lost for words?" He was enjoying watching the confusion grow more and more apparent on Nears face as his blush deepened.

Mello went behind him and wrapped his arms around the smaller boys waist and rocked side to side slowly waiting silently for a reaction, but also knowing the secretly he was enjoying this himself too much.

"U-um, I h-have to go n-now…" Near trailed off, this rocking motion was all too familiar and it brought back memories.

Dark memories.

He fought back tears as he remembered the last time someone held him like this, and hiccupped from the immense pressure to stop himself from losing his control again. Mello noticed this and realised that Near was on the verge of crying, he never thought he'd break this easily, but something wasn't quite right, he loosened his arms.

Near felt Mellos arms loosening and took his chance, he scrambled out of his grip and dashed for the door, desperately trying to recuperate as he felt the first few tears fly down his cheeks. He escaped the room and crashed into someone.

"Near?!" Matts voice was alarmed, Near was crying. Crying! And he was running out from Mellos room, what the fuck had happened?

The little boy couldn't care less about bumping into Matt and run straight past him, murmuring a slight 'sorry' before disappearing from the red heads sight.

Matt stood there shocked, did he really just see Near crying? Or was this some fucked up dream? This was out of whack, crazy shit. There's just no way Near could cry…right?

He opened the door to find Mello lying on his bed, probably dozing. If Mello was dozing, then he definitely needed to stop whatever shit he was doing…for the better. Actually, he didn't ever remember taking anything….

He sighed and laid on his bed, this was one shitty ass of a day….

Mello heard Matt come in the room, but pretended to sleep, he really didn't feel like talking right now, his head, feelings, heart…everything was in a mess right now and he needed to sort it out. For one, he had actually broken Near, gotten the robot to cry, so why wasn't he happy? Why wasn't he jumping for joy like he had so previously imagined? In fact, if anything, he felt sad, he hadn't really wanted to make Near cry…well, he did want him to but…urgh, this was too confusing!

The blonde frantically tried to conclude his sadness, but all his theories either wouldn't work or came to the same conclusion…

…after all it was a very thin line between hate and love.