Disclaimer: If I owned Death Note I wouldn't need to wrire cheesy high-school AU fanfic, now would I?

Friday, October 24th

Mello was in the zone. Maybe studying for a biology test was a pathetic thing to be 'in the zone' for, but Mello had definitely found his knack for pouring over his text book. It was possible that he was over doing it. He knew for a fact that the majority of his classmates had only looked over their notes once before going to sleep at an early hour, and here he was rereading everything that he knew on the subject at one in the morning.

In his defense, he had a good reason behind his motivation. Biology was the only class that he and Near shared (the school had managed to keep them separated for all other subjects), and Mello had yet to achieve the same test score as Near. This time, however, he was determined to blow his adopted brother out of the water. The only way that Mello could be certain that he would end up in first place was to sacrifice his sleep and free time.

That was when a notification on his computer swiftly demolished his focus. Mello knew that he should have turned off his laptop, or at least shut down his email so that he wouldn't be told the moment someone on the website he had found two months ago messaged him. To be fare, only one person on the website had the power to completely distract Mello from his work, but the second that he knew Matt was also online Mello was sure that he wouldn't be able to return to biology terms.

Hey, Mello! Are you still awake?

Matt liked to overuse exclamation points. Mello often wondered if Matt talked this energetically in person. There were many things that Mello wondered about how Matt behaved in person, since the two of them had never actually met. He doubted that Matt was even the other boy's real name, and, since they were both careful online, they still had no idea what each other looked like. No one outside of his family called him Mello, so he had thought that it would be safe to use this nickname as his profile name on the gaming website where he had met Matt.

Shh, I'm studying.

Mello typed in this reply only because he doubted that Matt would listen to him and stop messaging.

This early?! I knew you were in uni…

Guessing each other's ages was a never ending game between the two of them. Mello was fairly confident that Matt was also in secondary school, and, after a few intimations, he was pretty sure that Matt thought the same about him. However, this was something that neither of them were comfortable revealing to someone that they had met on the internet. Although, they ended up telling each other that what time zone that they were in, purely because it made finding times to chat easier.

Or I'm the rare breed of dedicated high school student.

Um… that doesn't exist.

Mello smirked at Matt's reply, imagining what Matt would think if he met his family.

Why are you awake then?

I was playing a game before bed… and then I didn't stop.

Figures.

Yep. You want to play something?

Before connecting with Matt, Mello hadn't been much of a gamer. He had only found the site that they were now chatting on because he had been bored. Matt on the other had was a video game addict, and, after talking to him for about a week, Mello couldn't help but let his new friend suck him into the pixelated world. Of course, Matt would beat him at almost everything that they played, and Mello often found himself wondering why Matt still wanted to play with him if he could win so easily.

What part of 'Shh, I'm studying' did you not understand?

All of it.

Mello glanced forlornly at his text book. He knew that he could spend the rest of his night playing video games and still ace the test, but if he stopped now Near's score would trump his for sure. Debating the matter for a few more seconds, Mello replied to Matt.

Fine. What do you want to play?

It wasn't like he was going to beat Near anyway.

Mello resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he was the score written in red ink at the top of his scantron.

98.5%

A quick glance at the disappointed faces that surrounded him told him that he had the second best score in the class. Bracing himself for irritation, he glared across the room the where Near was sitting. The two of them were not aloud to sit within three desks of each other after an incident a few years before. His albino sort-of-brother met his gaze. Mello raised an eyebrow and Near held up his sheet for Mello (and the rest of the class) to see.

100%

Git, Mello thought bitterly. Outwardly he gave Near a shallow grin, which he was sure Near took to mean "I'll get you next time." To this Near nodded, not letting any of his (most likely nonexistent) emotions show on his face.

Yes, they probably took there academic rivalry a tad bit too far. The reason to this was merely that the both of them spent most of the day in the deep pit of boredom. At least, Mello was pretty sure that Near was bored, and if Near was capable of feeling anything it would certainly be boredom. For Mello only achieving the victorious feeling of success could pull him out of boredom.

Okay, that wasn't entirely true. Recently talking to Matt had done a pretty good job of distracting him. However, he couldn't be online during the school day, and with school came the constant feeling that he was smarter than everyone around him and no one was worth his time of day. As much as he hated being around Near, their silent conversations across the classroom were better than him not communicating with anyone at all.

All of this had been a lot easier to manage before L had decided to study abroad in Japan. Of all the universities that Mello's favorite family member could have gone to, he just had to pick To-Oh. Mello loathed only being able to talk to the brother that he idolized when their schedules and an eight hour time difference allowed. The fact that L rarely slept often came in handy for this communication, but video chatting and long distance phone calls were not the same had having him there. Truthfully, lately Mello spent more of his time talking to Matt than he did talking to his brother.

The bell signaling the end of class rang two minutes after Mello and his classmates had received their test scores. Hastily shoving his scantron into his backpack, Mello joined his classmates as they quickly filed out of the room. The next period was lunch, the only time of the school day that Mello was completely left alone.

Since he was only in tenth-grade, he was not aloud to leave campus (although, occasionally he tried). Fortunately, this did not mean that the school forced him to eat in the lunch hall. Students were aloud to eat where ever pleased, but most preferred to eat where they could buy food. Mello packed his own lunch, therefore he had the entire forty-minutes to spend in solitude.

Some would say that hiding in and empty hall at the top floor of a school building was a pathetic way to spend your lunch period, but Mello felt no shame in being a loner. Eating by himself in front of others made him uncomfortable, especially since his lunch comprised of a small sandwich and two chocolate bars. On an average day Mello consumed four bars of chocolate, two at lunch, one when he arrived home, and another after dinner. The excessive amount of sugar may have been bad for his cholesterol, but he was of the firm opinion that it was good for his mental health. He had proof of this, since he was prone to less angry outbursts when there was chocolate in his system.

After eating his sandwich and the first chocolate bar, Mello pulled out his cell phone to check his email. After the first month of messaging Matt, Mello had developed a habit of checking his email (which notified him whenever someone on the gaming site messaged him) every second that he could. Nowadays he was able to restrain himself to only checking three times during the school day, and lunch was one of these times.

A grin spread across his face when he saw that Matt had sent him a message only five minutes ago. Since the site was blocked on the school wifi, Mello had to use his cellphone's data to reply. This he didn't mind, since he rarely was chided at home for using to much of it. The only inconvenience was that he had to type out what he wanted to say on his phone's tiny keyboard. Mello was a slow texter, but a fast typer. Matt was both, and, whenever they talked while Mello was at school, Matt always had more to say.

Hey! You online? Matt had asked.

Now I am. Mello replied shortly.

Cool! How's your day going?

Fine. Yours?

Matt usually only bothered with small talk to be polite before he launched into a story or rant of something terrible or wonderful that had happened to him. Although they didn't know each other personally, neither of them had a problem talking about their personal lives as long as they kept things vague and omitted names. Mello wasn't wrong in thinking that Matt had something to say, and within seconds he was reading a long string of texts.

Not so good. A teacher confiscated my phone. This is the third time that I got caught playing a game in class, so I got sent to the dean. I said I was sorry and everything but they still called my parents and want to meet with them after school.

That sucks. Mello had the time to respond.

IKR! Ugh! I'm definitely going to be grounded when I get home. That means no computer time for at least a week!

Mello couldn't help but be upset by this. If Matt didn't have access to his computer or phone, Mello had no way to talk to him.

Wait. Realization dawned on Mello. If you don't have your phone how are you messaging me?

Computer. My school blocks this site, but I hacked in.

Wow. That's impressive.

Matt had told Mello that he was good with computers, but Mello didn't know that he was good enough to hack into his school's wifi. He also hadn't known that Matt was brave enough to take the risk of getting caught and grounded for an even longer time. Actually, if Matt's school was as strict as Mello's, he could easily get expelled for doing that.

They have a crappy system.

And you don't think you'll get caught?

Mello couldn't help asking this. He wasn't paranoid, but Mello wouldn't take this much of a risk just to play a few games and have a short conversation. That isn't to say that Mello wouldn't do something that risky at all, he would just want a larger reward should he succeed.

Nah. They have a really crappy system.

The conversation continued until Mello happened to glance at the time at the top of his phone, and realized that he was about to be late for his next class.

I have to go. He quickly told Matt.

Crap! Me too! I'll message you later if I still have my computer!

Mello's next class was P.E., or, as he liked to call it, The Death Of All Joy. It wasn't that Mello didn't like exercise, because he did enjoy working out. The problem was that his P.E. teacher didn't understand that running laps around a gym that was desperately in need of a good fan was not the only form of exercise. Running was the bane of Mello's existence, therefore he and his P.E. teacher were not friends.

After ending his conversation with Matt, Mello dashed to the gym and changed into his t-shirt and shorts. Not for the first time, he found himself detesting whomever decided on his school's P.E. uniform. All the clothes seemed to do was highlight his skinny and almost feminine frame. This combined with his long blonde hair more than motivated his classmates to call him a girl both to his face and behind his back. Over the years he had learned to ignore this, but it was still difficult to keep it from pissing him off. L had once suggested that Mello don a more masculine hair style, but Mello liked the way his long hair looked on him.

"You're late, Mihael," Halle informed him when he entered the gym.

"Did he take roll yet?" Mello asked.

"No," Halle admitted. "But you're still late. Were you talking to your boyfriend at lunch again?"

Halle Linder was Mello's only school friend. Although the two of them rarely spent time together off of campus, they had shared at least one class ever since Mello first transferred to the school. Halle often invited Mello to eat lunch with her and some of her friends, and Mello usually used that fact that Near normally sat near her group as an excuse. He wasn't good at politely explaining to people why he liked to spend that time alone, and the fact that Halle knew he recently spent most of that time messaging Matt wouldn't help his explanation.

"He's not my boyfriend." Mello didn't need to tell her this, and he doubted that him saying it now would stop Halle from referring to Matt as such in the future. "I don't even know what he looks like."

"I think some people would say that's what makes it romantic," Halle mused.

"And you're one of those people?" Mello made a disgusted face.

"No," Halle laughed a little. "Those people are idiots."

"It's nice to know you think so highly of the every other girl your age," Mello deadpanned.

To this Halle just rolled her eyes, not having the chance to give a retort as class started.

When the school day finally ended, Mello left his last class in a hurry. Beyond had agreed to pick him and Near up from school and the last time that Mello had been late getting out of the building they left without him. Granted, that last time had been over a year ago. Beyond didn't visit much, and when he did he wasn't the type to enjoy helping out with transporting his younger, license and car lacking, brothers.

Now that Mello thought about Beyond driving, he almost wanted to be left behind. Beyond rarely heeded any traffic signal, and it was a miracle that he had not gotten into a an accident yet. Deciding that he would rather endure a terrifying half an hour than have the walk all the way home, Mello continued to speed walk to the entrance of his school. At least if he died Near would as well, and that had to count for something, right?

When Mello rushed pasted the office and to the school gates, he realized the importance of looking where he was going. In his haste, he bulldozed into redheaded boy who looked about his age. Thanks to his relatively good sense of balance, Mello did not end up flailing backward. Unfortunately, the redhead did not share this trait and nearly toppled backward. Ignoring his limited education on personal space, Mello grabbed hold of the other boy's shoulder to steady him.

"Sorry," Mello said as sincerely as he could as he released the boy's shoulder.

"No problem," the boy beamed. "I wasn't looking where I was going either."

Mello smiled apologetically before continuing his dash out of the school. As he successfully reached the car before Near, Mello wondered if he had seen the friendly kid that he had nearly knocked over before. He didn't look familiar, but Mello didn't know half of the other students in his grade anyway. Shrugging off the matter, Mello's thoughts went to wondering if he would be able to message Matt when he got home.

Hello Fanfiction, it's been a while! This is my first fic that centers Mello and Matt as the main pairing. It's impossible for me to write for Death Note and not have some LxLight, so they will denifetly show up in later chapaters, but will be a side ship.

Thanks for reading thie first chapter! What do you think? Am I in character for Mello? Does the fact that I make him hide at school refelct on how much of a loner I am? Am I trying too hard to get you to review?