Dropped

Back at the hostel, the same crowd of teenagers are lounging around the front steps, all smoking and looking bored. Matt and Near look at each other nervously, before approaching the steps. Matt readjusts his goggles, and Near puts his hands in his pockets.



“Hey,” says one of the guys there, immediately, “wait a sec.”



“Near, I’ll be up in a minute,” says Matt, propelling him up the steps and through the door, and stopping. Thus, simultaneously doing as he says and getting Near well out of harm’s way.



“’sup?” Christ, Matt wishes he were more on top of current Japanese slang.



“Wow,” says the guy, “you’re really protective of him, huh? He your brother? You two don’t look alike at all.”



Matt shrugs, and fixes his goggles.



“Foster brother.”



The atmosphere changes. These are the unwanted children of this place, he realizes, who live here because it’s better than home. Who hang out here because home isn’t home. Matt is a foster-care kid, and now it is like being one of them. It simultaneously gives them the right to be a lot harder on him, and guarantees that he won’t have any bones broken. At least, not on purpose.



“Smoke?” One of the others offers him a cigarette. He takes it, instead of saying no, and lets one of them light it for him. They all wait expectantly as he takes the first drag. Then, of course, they all get to laugh at him when he starts choking and sputtering wildly. As he knew he probably would. He doesn\'t smoke.



“Wow,” gasps Matt, “that was so much less cool than it could have been.”



“Don’t worry,” says a girl on the bottom step, pulling her short skirt down a little, “everyone coughs the first time. You’ll get used to it.”



“Thanks,” says Matt, eyes watering. Once he can breathe again, he looks up at the boy who seems to be the proverbial ringleader of the pack. These power dynamics are even easier to tell among people his age than they are among adults... though technically, Matt is probably younger than anyone here.



“I’m Hong.” Hong\'s family is Chinese. He doesn\'t tell Matt this, but they moved here when his parents heard of the \'good\' Kira was doing. Hong\'s little sister was killed by an armed robber during a bank hold up, you see. To people who have been through what his family have, the concept of Kira is a little different. It doesn\'t come up, but if it had, Matt would have thought that fate worked in funny ways.



“Matt. I’ve got to go make sure Near’s okay, but...”



Hong shrugs, and opens the door for him with a grin. “Later, hey?”



Matt nods. “Later.”



Near is sitting on the foot of the bed, and he looks glad when Matt comes in. As though he’d been worried for him, which is nice of him.



“I can take care of myself, you know.” Matt chides, frowning at him. Near looks nonplussed.



“I know.”



“You don’t need to worry about me.”



“I know.”



“Or about those guys, they seem pretty cool.”



“Really?”



“Yeah.”



Matt toes off his shoes. Near is already back in his pyjama pants, probably changed the minute he went through the door.



“Hey, Near.”



“Yes Matt?”



“If you wake up and I’m not here tonight, don’t panic.”



Near blinks at him, and it’s a question he doesn\'t bother attaching words to. Absently, he reaches out and touches the whitewashed brick wall next to his bed, scratching at a place where a bit of the paint has chipped off.



“I might go sit with Mello for a bit. He gets kind of nuts when he’s bored, you know?”



A faint smile. Of course Near knows.



“Are you alright to stay on your own?”



Near worries his bottom lip between his teeth, and nods. Still silent.



“You know where to find us if you need anything. And... if you’re in big trouble, there’s the woman in the office at the front, and the head of the pack on the steps is named Hong, and if you did need anything...”



“Matt.”



Matt shuts up. Near smiles at him.



“You are not my mother.”



Brat. Matt starts snickering, and stands.



“Well, no. But I’m... not actually the oldest. But.”



Near smiles at him, and whispers, “And thank you. Now, rest a bit and then go keep Mello from lighting anything on fire, please.”



‘Now I lay me down to sleep,’ thinks Matt, and rests back against the pillows, wondering if Mello prays before he goes to bed.



Determined practice has given him the (valuable) ability to wake himself up in a certain amount of time, so even though he’s tired, his eyes open at about half past midnight, and he pulls himself upright, stifling a groan, so as not to wake Near. Who most definitely needs his sleep. Okay, maybe he is acting like a mother a little more than usual, but he tells himself that that\'s just to be expected.



The crowd of teens has dispersed from the steps when he comes out, and the streets are empty, but for a few cars. He walks to the batcave with his hands in his pockets, looking around carefully, aware that he’s out late. No one even looks at him funny.



This is probably because of Kira. Matt is suddenly practically drowning in the irony of it. He is only able to be here, trying to stop the man, because of the steps he has already taken. Otherwise, someone his age wandering through this part of town at one in the morning would never be a good idea. Otherwise, they would never have left Mello on his own to sit and watch the doors. He’s still laughing, when Mello saunters out of the alleyway and slides an arm around his neck from behind.



“Give me all your money or you’re dead,” comes the whisper, and Matt rolls his eyes and sags back into him, comfortably.



“I know it’s you, dumbass.”



“You smell like cigarettes.”



Mello’s nose is practically in his ear. He finds himself propped back up on his feet.



“I was smoking,” admits Matt. Admitting nothing.



“Right. Ew.” Mello rubs his nose, and settles back down on their bench. “Well, no one’s made a single move.”



Matt shrugs. Neither of them expected them to. It would be a break with the pattern. No one comes in or out this late at night.



There’s a long moment of silence, as Matt joins Mello on the bench. He draws his knees up to his chest, like L would, without thinking about it.



Takes a deep breath.



And says,



“I think I can get us in there.”