End Transmission

AN: I know parts of this may seem similar to my other stuff, but if you READ it you'll see the differences immediately.

Also, Mafiya, isn't a typo. For the Russian Mafiya/Mafia it can be typed either way. Google it.

Suggested Listening: Strange Boy by Kerli

Chapter One: Answer

Matt didn't look up or even show any signs of hearing the softly murmured words. He had, naturally, paused his music when he had first thought he'd heard something, wondering if he were being spoken to for the first time since Mello had moved in nearly a month before.

But the blonde hadn't even been looking in his direction. No, he had in fact been hunched over by his own bed and slowly moving something between his fingers. It had taken Matt only a few moments of contemplation to understand that it was a rosary.

Mello was praying.

For what though, Matt didn't know.

Mello was strange. Not in a bad sense. Just strange. He did things that Matt didn't understand. Praying being one of them. In his belief, there was nothing worth praying over. God had abandoned them long ago, so why bother with someone who wasn't listening?

Then there was the constant supply of chocolate entering the blonde's mouth. It was as though he lived off of it. In fact, he couldn't remember seeing Mello eat anything other than chocolate.

And he couldn't forget the all black clothing. Though it did suit the blonde. The soft looking material was so dark in contrast to the blonde's light colored skin that it nearly shone. It also made his hair seem that much brighter and his eyes that much more blue.

Add all of that to the fact that Mello hadn't spoken a word to anyone since his arrival weeks ago.... it wasn't so farfetched that he thought the blonde a little odd. Though honestly, who was he to talk with the goggles, stripes and games.

Another thing he had noticed was that Mello seemed to make everything a silent competition. If Matt were to stay up until thee AM, then Mello had to stay up until four AM. If Matt took ten minutes in the shower, Mello would take less.

The redhead couldn't understand it.

And he tended to ignore things he didn't understand. But therein laid the problem. The blonde was near impossible to ignore. His entire demeanor, whilst silent, was imposing and he seemed to demand attention despite having never uttered a word.

All he had to do was look at one of the other children and they would immediately back away from him or bow their heads in fear. It was interesting to watch. Matt had found himself paying more attention to Mello than his games, which had lead to more than a few game overs.

But it was alright, because it was something different.

He turned most of his attention back to his game, as he wanted to finish that level before dinner, but left his music on pause so he could continue to listen to those softly spoken foreign words.

Despite the pain laced into the blonde's voice, the words were soothing. Relaxing almost. And Matt was just a little disturbed by it all.

The redhead turned his music up louder and tried to get lost in his games again, but the soft words echoed in his mind and made for terrible concentration.

He eventually went to dinner by himself, and nearly laughed at all the whispers that started the moment he walked in. He didn't know why they all expected Mello to suddenly walk in with him one night.

It wasn't as though Mello spoke to him anymore than he did them. And that was never.

Matt sat by himself in a corner of the room and ate whatever it was that dinner was that night. He supposed that it was something good, but he doubted he'd ever get used to anything other than something his mother had cooked, even after so many months without.

He finished the meal quickly, as he always did, and got back to his room, his sanctuary, and to the boy who had yet to speak.

He was always quiet upon entering so it was no real surprise that Mello hadn't heard him; but what was surprising was the fact that the blonde had adopted an expression of extreme concentration and was holding one of his handheld games.

By the looks of it, it was the Nintendo DS.

Wordlessly he walked over to Mello, who was turning the device over in his hands in an attempt to turn it on, and gently took the item from him. Mello instantly froze, an expression of surprise and slight horror etched across his features.

Matt raised an eyebrow in response as he turned on the DS and held it back out. Blue eyes narrowed suspiciously before he tentatively took the game. Matt almost laughed at the lost look on the blonde's face as he stared at the screen.

It was more than obvious that he'd never played a game in his life. Which was really sad in Matt's opinion. He moved to sit by the blonde and leaned over his shoulder. "Here, take this and move it across the screen." he picked up thestylus pen and placed it in Mello's hand.

Mello made a noise of understanding and Matt knew that he would only have to explain things once to his roommate before it was completely understood. Even if it was only concerning games, he would be happy.

For he could say that about no one else in that institute. It wasn't to say they were stupid, they were geniuses, but they weren't as smart as him. But maybe the quiet blonde was. He was already different than the rest...

"Damn..." Mello muttered softly quite a while later. Matt smiled at the unconsciously whispered word. The blonde tried so hard and yet every time he just couldn't beat his high score.

"I've been playing games for as long as I can remember. And it's really all I do, so don't feel bad if you can't beat me." he told him. Mello turned to him, as though just remembering he was next to him.

He gave Matt a weak smile.

It was small, and fragile, but it was progress. And Matt wasn't sure why, but it felt like the best achievement he'd had in such a long time.

-

He woke to the sound of a stifled scream and a choked sob. He blinked a few times in the darkness of the room before deciding that it had come from Mello, as there were no other signs of movement.

Matt knew that many of the children there mourned the loss of their families, some never fully adjusting, but he had never been faced with a roommate before and thus had never had to directly deal with it.

He tensed at the soft sniffling sound from across the room and couldn't help the answering ache in his chest. He too knew the pain of loss, but each story was different so he couldn't quite say he understood how Mello felt as he knew very little about the blonde.

Matt found himself out of bed and stepping across the no longer cluttered floor before he'd even truly thought things through. The only thing he knew was that he didn't want to hear those tears any longer.

"Mello?" he questioned softly. He heard the soft gasp and Mello nearly collided with him as he sat up.

"I'm fine." was the tear dripped response he was given. Matt rolled his eyes as only an idiot would have believed that. Instead, and even against his better judgment, he climbed onto the bed with the blonde.

"No one ever is." he commented softly. Mello sucked in a short breath and for a moment he thought he would be pushed from the bed, instead Mello scooted further over in the bed to give him more room, or perhaps to get away from him.

He wasn't sure.

"I-it's stupid..." Mello muttered, and Matt was sure that if he could fully see the blonde's expression in the dark, that it would be full of self loathing.

"Not really. It's normal. A show of strength even." he told him calmly. The spot on the pillow where he laid his head was wet with tears and he wondered just how long Mello had been awake before he'd accidentally woken him.

"How is this strong?" Mello managed to choke out. He couldn't see it, but he could feel the glare directed at him.

"Because you still go to sleep even though you know there is a chance you'll wake up like this." Mello was silent for such a long time after he'd said it that Matt almost thought the blonde was asleep. At least until the blankets were pulled over him.

"It's cold... idiot."

Matt took note of how much lighter Mello's voice sounded and smiled at him though he knew the blonde couldn't see it. "Thanks..." he thought he heard Mello whisper only a few minutes later.

"Goodnight Mello." Matt knew that despite everything, he had just made a friend, someone who was oh so very interesting. And for the first time since he'd come to Wammys.... he thought that perhaps things might get better.

-

"Matt?"

He slowly opened his eyes at the softly spoken words. Years of being used to complete silence had him wake the second his name was spoken; that and it was seemingly right next to him.

His eyes finally focused, as much as they could without his goggles. They weren't merely goggles like most thought, they were prescription, having hereditary eyes problems. But in a house full of genii it wasn't smart to let ones weakness show, so he didn't always have them on hand.

He was met with a Mello shaped blur and the longer he focused the easier it became to see the blonde's almost meek expression. Mello was curled under his own end of the blanket, which was pulled up to his chin, and staring at him. "Yeah?" he said around a yawn.

"It's almost time for classes. We missed breakfast..." Matt blinked slightly at the almost apologetic tone of voice and wondered if Mello had assumed he'd be annoyed. He yawned once more and sat up, the blanket falling to his lap.

"Then we'll just have to eat a bigger lunch." he said with a shrug. Matt wondered why it didn't feel strange to suddenly be having a conversation with his roommate who had been silent for three weeks.

He simply chalked it up to it being Mello's personality. He demanded attention and if that attention came in the form of words...

They settled into a comfortable silence as Matt slid from the bed, slightly wobbly, and continued onto his side of the room, using memory alone to guide him to his things. He placed the goggles back on first and then searched around his things for something clean to wear.

He could hear soft shuffling movements as well as the sound of paper being brushed aside on Mello's side of the room but didn't feel the need to glance over. Instead he found a black and green striped shirt and a pair of paint stained jeans to throw on.

He didn't bother with the bathroom and simply stripped and dressed where he stood. If Mello was uncomfortable he didn't have to look over.

He finished his dressing with slipping on a pair of busted up black skater shoes.

He finally looked over to see Mello, dressed in all black once more, sitting on the edge of his bed with his head bowed almost completely to his chest, and if he looked closely enough it almost appeared that he was blushing.

"Ready to go?" he questioned the blonde who's head snapped up to meet him. Mello nodded slowly and Matt wondered if he would go back to being silent. He wouldn't mind too much so long as he wasn't ignored.

Mello was just as silent in the presence of the other children and teens, not that Matt had expected differently. He suspected, that at least for a while more, Mello would only speak to him in secluded places, or at the very least where no one else would hear him, if he chose to speak again at all.

He didn't question the blonde on it as they all had their strange quarks. Though it was also possible that he was simply using the time to watch people. But from what he had gathered from the blonde, that wasn't it.

The first half of classes passed in much the same boredom it usually did, with the now added five minute time for people to ogle and gossip over the new boy, still being Mello. It usually took a few months for all the hype to die down over a new person.

However, the stranger they were the longer they would be talked about.

Matt had managed to seat himself next to the blonde with a minimal amount of effort. Both of them completed the class work in hardly any time at all and it left them free time in which to do nothing at all.

Or in their case, have a conversation through paper.

Matt learned that Mello was in fact Russian rather than German as he had first assumed. He had also been able to wheedle out the blonde's birth date, in exchange for his own, and found that Mello was a few months older.

Which had caused the blonde to smirk at him for a moment before he had seemingly remembered they were in class and his thoughtfully blank expression had slid back into place.

But now that Matt had seen the blondes' emotions he found it easier to see through the mask he put up.

By the time lunch finally rolled around, four hours after the start of classes, he had counted several different times in which Mello had been annoyed with those around him. Generally it surrounded the times when they decided it was time to either call on Mello to come to the white board to answer something or when attention was indirectly brought onto him.

So when the bell to lunch rang, which was actually church bells that they worked their schedules around, he had expected Mello to wander back to their room as he usually did. He did not expect for him to suddenly follow him, gradually working up to walking beside him, to the dining hall.

He noticed Mello stop just outside the doors for a moment and knew the blonde would be looking at the new scores that had been posted. They were generally posted once a month unless it was the times in which L gave special assignments to a select few, usually the top three, and then the scores would be posted again.

Curiously, as he wanted to know where Mello was in accordance to the chart, Matt leaned close to the blonde and peered at the list of names, scores and subsequent ranks.

Mello's back had gone ridged but he ignored it and simply moved further off to the side but still within sight of the rankings. "Huh, I got moved to second." he commented. Mello's eyes had previously been locked onto his rank, that of first place which was an achievement for someone who had only had three weeks of classes, having come into Wammys one week into the new month, but they faltered at Matt's voice.

Mello glanced at him and Matt swore he saw something skin to worry flash across his face before the mask of indifference was back. He waited a few seconds for Mello to elaborate but it became apparent that he wouldn't or simply not there.

As they sat down with their lunches the room was in an uproar of curiosity. Mello sat with him at his table which was away from everyone else. He could hear their whispers and knew it was all directed at Mello.

Because Mello was finally at lunch with them. And because Mello was sitting with him.

He noted how Mello studiously ignored them, his earlier irritation having left and instead replaced with something else, though what it was Matt honestly couldn't say. Each day they were given an hour for lunch, though you were not required to be there for the entire time.

Just the same for dinner. Breakfast however, was a mere half hour. And morning classes ran from eight till noon. Then picked back up again at two and ran until five. Mr. Wammy probably would have crammed more classes onto them if it weren't for all the work the teachers assigned them.

That, and the schedule they had now was the same one that had produced the first L. So naturally it should work for the rest of them.

After lunch, Matt paid far less attention to class, instead playing his DS in class and only participating if he were called on or told to turn his game off. The latter which he never did.

All through that time Matt had seen the subtle signs that Mello was thinking over something, not necessarily worrying, but thinking. Mello had been fine that morning and he couldn't quite pinpoint when the awkwardness had started.

Not until they were in their room and Mello sat listlessly at his desk and stared at the textbook that would usually be open for him to study from.

It all clicked then. Mello had only started acting strangely when he found out he had become the new number one. Was Mello worried about having taken his position? Was that the problem?

Mello was generally competitive, from what Matt had seen, but did Mello think he would be angry for having been knocked into second? That was ridiculous.

In fact, Matt found the entire notion absolutely hilarious and couldn't help the laughter that bubbled forth from his lips. Mello's head whipped to his direction at the sound and the blonde's confusion, borderline annoyance, only made it all the more funny.

It took him a full minute to get himself under enough control that he could explain himself before Mello though he was crazy. "I just finally figured out why you have been stranger than normal all day." Mello's eyes narrowed at him, though Matt caught the underline look of anxiety.

"Believe it or not, I've been waiting for someone to come here and make my stay interesting. I dislike the spotlight placed on me because I'm in first. It was why I played my games rather than socialize." he flopped onto his bed and stared at Mello's now upside down form.

Mello smiled at him and seemed appeased that he could be first without angering him. Matt wondered if he honestly seemed the type to anger over something like that, or if it had simply been the blondes' own paranoia or something.

"Mello... Are we friends?" he asked suddenly. He honestly couldn't even understand why'd he had asked. Mello seemed caught off guard and Matt cursed his stupidity. Mello maintained a look of curiosity for a few moments before nodding to him.

"We're friends." Mello stated.

Matt noticed the way Mello had said that, as though Matt really had no choice in the matter. He smiled. Mello certainly was interesting.

-End Almost-

AN: So how did everyone like the first chapter? When I first started writing this, I wasn't sure how long it would be, I actually thought it would be short like the fics in my WSF series and goddamn if I wasn't WRONG. This fic is already at 25 chapters and 95,000 words. Yup. I'm faaaaar ahead of what I'm posting. And I'm going to keep it that was as I'm not sure when I will finish this. ^-^