Watari Pt 2: Wammy's House

Mello looked up from his settee as his monitors whitened. He glared at the Old English text \'L\' that appeared in their midst, but sat there making no move to respond. His hand rose with chocolate in it and he licked at the exposed edge, then he returned to reading his book. The screens faded back to the security monitors, feeding back scenes from various empty rooms in their house. The only sign of life outside his study came from one of the landing cameras, which showed a light underneath the bathroom door. Faintly the beat of electronic music could be heard from there.



A moment later, Mello\'s phone beeped a text message alert, but it would only be telling him that there had been an attempt to contact him on the Watari Network. He knew. He vaguely wondered if Matt had his phone in the bathroom with him, because if so he would also be receiving the alert. Anyone trying to contact either Mello or Matt would reach them both. Mello smiled faintly and concentrated on the paragraph in front of him. It was a biography of Nikola Tesla, the other great Slavic genius, whose main attraction at the moment was his eidetic memory. He had projected his imagination so often that his sister had had to frequently be on hand to explain which bits were actually reality.



The monitors became white again. Mello glanced at the \'L\' and put his feet up on the table, crossing this ankles. Tesla was a Serb Orthodox Christian and Mello vaguely wondered if he should, as a Croatian Catholic, hate him. It was too tribal and he dismissed it. He had been out of Yugoslavia for way too long to dwell on such things, though memories of watching the war on television slashed at his emotions. There was no Yugoslavia. Nowhere to go home. The screens faded back to security cameras and Mello bit off a square of chocolate. Logically he shouldn\'t hate Serbians. He had been four years old when he had been brought to England, too young to have formed any sense of national identity. Statistics flared through his mind. The number of the dead, displaced and disappeared. It had nothing to do with Tesla nor, for that matter, the majority of Serbs.



The third time that the monitors whitened, there was a \'N\' in the middle. Mello slapped the book down onto the settee. "Are you ever going to fucking give up, Near?" He snapped at the screens. His text alert from the last attempt had only just came through. He surged forward, off the settee and towards the desk. There was a momentary hesitation, then he responded to the call. "Near."



"Mello."



"What do you want?"



"Roger has just resigned. Matt is Watari."



Mello blinked. "Then why are we having this conversation? Surely it\'s better to have it with Matt." But even as he was saying it, Mello could feel the chill. His emotions on red alert and his eyes straying towards his closed study door. Matt was not going to react well to this development. "You want me to tell him because you\'re too chicken-shit to do it yourself."



"Matt has been unwell." Near continued calmly. "Mello might appreciate the warning."



Mello shrugged. "As I understand it, Matt is not Watari. He just agreed to overseeing the hiring and installation of the person who will be."



"Nevertheless, at this moment in time, Matt is Watari." Near sounded bored. "Don\'t think that I\'m thrilled with the prospect either."



"Well, just talk Roger into staying then!" Mello growled. "Goodbye."



"Mello, you\'ve missed the point."



Mello froze, staring wildly at the screens. His mind raced through scenarios and consequences, seeking, with a frenzied intellect, anything that Near could have identified. It alluded him. There were several conflicting thoughts, but nothing that Mello believed that Near would concern himself with. He slammed his chocolate down onto the desk and bit his lip. He had only paused for a few seconds, before snapping, "I can assure you I have not."



"Then Mello agrees that this is a great opportunity." Was there a smirk in Near\'s tone? His voice was almost smug.



Mello rubbed his mouth. "What the fuck are you rattling on about now?"



"No, Mello is right. I should have the conversation with Matt. Goodnight."



The screens returned to displaying scenes from their home. They seemed darker than usual. No lights on anywhere but in that study and under the crack of the bathroom door. Matt felt too far away. He was at the other end of the landing. Mello charged across the room and yanked open the door. He raced along the shadowed gallery and hammered on the bathroom. "That fucking halfwit! The bastard motherfucker!"



Inside the splashing abruptly stopped. Matt called back, "Que?" Mello fell back against the wall, his hands over his mouth and nose. There was a whoosh of water, as Matt evidently left his bath and switched off the music. He opened the door with a towel fastened around his waist. "Mello?"



Mello smacked the wall behind him with his hand and took a deep breath. "Roger\'s resigning. You\'re Watari." There was a faint beeping along the landing, from where their twin studies stood opposite each other. "He\'s calling to tell you. The fucker!"



Matt exhaled. "Well, that was inevitable." He patted Mello\'s arm and walked away towards his study, dripping water on the landing carpet.



"No!" Mello yelled. "You don\'t get it! Near is playing mindgames! He\'s trying to make me look like an idiot, coming out with fucking crap about... crap!"



Matt glanced back and smiled, wryly. "Ignore Near, Mello." But his fists clenched as he disappeared into his room. Light flooded out from it with the flick of a switch, but he hadn\'t been quick enough to respond to the call. Mello began to stride back along the landing, but paused halfway along as he heard his husband degrade himself enough to initiate a return call. "Near, it\'s Matt. What\'s the procedure now?"



Mello turned, staring up at the stained glass. There was no sunlight and no moon behind them. The saints were not illuminated. He gripped his rosary tightly, as that oh-so-calm voice invaded their home. "Mello has told you that Roger has resigned?" Matt grunted in the affirmative. "Matt recalls that he signed a contract binding him to stepping into the breach at this moment."



Matt\'s tone was brusquely professional, "Yes, I do recall that. Though there was a condition, which was subsequentally broken. I could argue for breach of contract, which would get me off the hook now."



"I am sorry that Matt feels like that." Near replied languidly. "Even though it is understandable in the circumstances."



"My agreement was solely on the basis that Roger would never mention the Mario Clause to anyone. That feels like a bit of a joke now, as I\'m sure you\'ll agree, considering it was you who wrote it." Now Matt\'s voice sparked with indignation. Mello stepped back from the bannister and stared with mixed emotions at the doorway to the study. "Are you going to force the contract, Near?"



"Matt would not want this to go to court."



"Fuck off, there\'s not a court in the land that could try it!" Matt snapped. "At least not without exposing Wammy\'s House and requiring you to stand in a witness box."



Near sighed. "I was thinking more about the illegal activities that resulted in the Mario Clause being initiated."



Mello\'s eyes widened. Until now, he had been feeling really small, out there in the shadows, locked out of this conversation and its decision-making, but now he had to bite down his anger and coil it tightly within. It still told in his tone as he shouted, "Don\'t even think of prosecuting him! Near, you are skating on thin ice!" He had dashed forward and was now through Matt\'s door. "After you did that to him, to us! You still think you have the right to threaten him with prosecution."



"I merely wish to ascertain whether Matt is considering legal action over the matter of the contract." There was an audible clicking on the other end, as Near obviously played with something. It sounded plastic. "Mello is blowing this out of all proportion."



"No!" Mello glared. "Near is being a supercillious wanker!"



Matt raised a hand in a gesture for quiet. He removed the cigarette from his mouth with the other hand and repeated, "Are you going to force the contract, Near? That\'s all I\'m asking."



There was a pause, then Near spoke, matter-of-factly, "No, I\'m not going to force the contract."



Matt nodded and took another deep drag on his cigarette. He didn\'t look at Mello. "Then I\'ll do it." The silence on the other end of the communication was as telling as the shock on Mello\'s face. Neither of L\'s successors had foreseen that decision. "You have to understand that it is purely temporary and that I will not be moving to Wammy\'s House to do it. Roger has to work out his month\'s notice and he can oversee the daily needs of the children in that time. Have you anyone in mind to succeed Roger, Near? You will have to work closely with this person, so it makes sense to employ someone you trust."



Mello stalked to Matt\'s side, his face flushed, glaring with the same question which Near verbalised. "What is Matt up to?"



Matt smirked. "I like how you phrased that. Not \'why would Matt chose to do this?\' or even \'oh, that\'s good, what has Matt got in mind?\' No, you got straight to the point and trust me, Mello is looking at me with the same utter suspicion." He inhaled heavily on his cigarette. "The same day I discovered what the Mario Clause was, I learned that one day I would be Watari. I could decide to stay, I could be Watari for the rest of my life or I could have a say in who follows on. My plans for both becoming Watari and for the leaking of the Mario Clause formed side by side. You manipulated the situation, Nate, you deal with the consequences."



Mello looked from the monitors, with their huge \'L\' in the middle of them, back to his husband\'s beloved face. He saw coldness in the former and bitterness on the latter. It felt like war and, as much as he respected Matt\'s brilliance, he was challenging Near. A lifetime of humiliation crushed down into Mello\'s psyche. "Near, give him time to think about it. We\'ll be back in touch."



"No." Matt covered the controls with his hand. "I\'m not talking to L anymore. I\'m not talking to Mello or to Near." He moved the box further away. "I want to speak with Mihael Keehl and Nate River. My name is Mail Jeevas and I\'ve watched them fuck you up all of your lives. I am going to sort out this mess, so no other child has to be manoeuvred like a fucking puppet, or join the Mafia, or stand in a building covered in bombs, or go through what I did the other night, just to feel like they are worth something." Mello watched the fierce determination emblazon Matt\'s features. He stepped forward, but a hand grabbed his rosary and held it. Mello stared down in shock, fear pulsing even though he was sure that Matt would never pull it. "Us three brought down Kira. Working together. Just like you all did getting me out of the shit last week. Just like you and Mello did getting me out of that building this week. Just as Mello and I did getting you, Near, out of Camden, which I know scared you more than you\'ll ever admit. Just like you, I and Lauren brought Mello back from his personal abyss." Matt raised the rosary and held it at Mello\'s lips. A gloved hand rose to squeeze his hand around it until he let it go. "Do you see a pattern here? Or is that just me?"



"Manoeuvred like a puppet?" Near replied, sounding a little stunned.



"Yes, Nate. What fucking chance did you ever have?" Matt entwined his fingers between Mello\'s and held on. "What would have happened to you if you\'d lost to Mello? If he hadn\'t twice handed you the L title on a plate?"



"I did it on my own!" Near spoke crossly. "I pieced it together and then negotiated a meeting with the President of the United States. I put together the SPK. I did that in my name, not L\'s. I would have carried on doing that."



"Mihael." Matt\'s gaze turned sharply to inspect his husband. Mello had been leaning against the desk, head bowed under the belief that he was missing something fundamental, even as he listened in. He looked up at the speaking of his name and the slight tugging on his hand. Matt\'s eyes dipped and rose in obvious communication of \'you\'re gorgeous\'. "Mihael, there are so many things you could have been, still could be, but you are a detective. Moreover, you\'re both detectives in endless competition with each other. Did you never want to go and save orphans in a war-torn nation somewhere?"



Mello rasped, "I repaid my debt when we fetched Luka from Croatia."



Matt shook his head. "That\'s not what I meant." He winked. "So compassionate. A heart the size of Europe forced into killing in the name of justice, instead of targeting the causes of third world poverty. And you, Nate, why isn\'t that mathematical genius of yours focusing on expanding our understanding of the universe? You could be creating formulas to save us all when the next big asteroid threatens our planet and instead you\'re concentrating on catching serial killers. Mihael, you could be saving the lives of billions coming up with solutions for fair food distribution and the irrigation of drought-ridden lands. Nate, is the galaxy expanding or contracting? How long has this planet got? Mihael, you reckon the traffickers of blood diamonds or human slavery would stand a chance with you smirking at them? Nate, you\'re American, I can hear it in your accent, how long before the supervolcano under Yellowstone goes up? Mihael, are you positive that someone of your intellect can\'t find some resolution between Israel and Palestine? You see where I\'m going here? Why the fuck are you two detectives?"



"Matt speaks like it\'s not natural for Mello and I to want to be like our idol."



"At the risk of stating the bloody obvious, no, it\'s not natural." Matt lit another cigarette. "And yet you have to raise that point and Mello is staring at me like I\'m the insane one. I concede therefore that it\'s way too late for you pair, but not too late for the kids still in that institution."



Mello sighed. "Matt, it\'s an institution for raising detectives."



"No, it\'s not!" Matt flashed him an exasperated look. "It\'s an institution for raising children." He swallowed hard. "L refused to even look at a case unless it had ten murders attached or a bounty of one million in whatever currency...."



"No." Near replied. "Mostly he refused to look unless it interested him."



"Then get interested, Nate." Matt snapped. "Mello has taught me a lot about bank accounts in false names over the past few months. I\'ve got my money from catching Kira and I\'ve been adding to it," he paused, "with my own work. I have two million pounds in there easily. That\'s a million each if you\'d condescend to let me hire you both."



Mello frowned. "What?" He grabbed Matt\'s shoulder and turned him around to face him. "You think you need to buy me? You really think that?"



"I\'m working within the system, Mello." Matt stared back, green eyes hard, like cabochon emeralds. "I know, that\'s shocking to me too."



There was a sharp clack, clack, clack through the speakers. "Matt wants me to work for him."



Mello wasn\'t finished with his own train of thought. "I can\'t believe you think you need to buy me. That is so fucked up, Matt. You can\'t even begin to know how much. God! You can be such a short-sighted idiot at times."



Matt exhaled and brought up his cigarette to take in more calming nicotine. "So that\'s a yes from both of you then?"



"Matt wants to hire Mello and I to work out a way of re-organising Wammy\'s House and, presumably, the whole Watari system." Near\'s clacking abruptly ended, as he finished his puzzle.



"Hell no." Matt smiled. "I\'m hiring you, and Mello, to keep the fuck out of it. I\'m going to make changes that go against everything you pair have been conditioned to believe, so I need to know you\'re going to let me get on with it. One million each to trust me and to turn a blind eye. What do you say?"



"Matty." Mello sighed. "Baby, I know that Roger really hurt you, but..."



"Children provided with a safe escort to conduct them to mass on a Saturday night and the option to go to Sunday services. Alternatively, a priest to come into the House to hear their Confession and give them Communion." Matt turned his head so not to blow smoke into Mello\'s face. "If, that is, they come from a Christian background. Otherwise the same applies for other faiths."



Mello blinked, his features becoming blank. It was Near, however, who responded. "I would need to see your plans before I..."



"No, Nate." Matt countered. "It\'s all about the puppets. How about this? If a child turns out to be deaf, then every child is taught sign language. If they are traumatised by the loss of their parents, then some kind of group therapy on a drop-in basis, that teaches that all the children being in the same boat is not a basis for dismissal of feeling. If they are on the autistic spectrum, then awareness throughout the institution of what that means. No hiding it away. Let\'s teach compassion and mutual support. No more distant people pulling the strings of the puppets."



"Guapo, I trust you." Mello raised his hand to stroke wet red hair. "I do trust you, but you have this reckless streak that..."



"No decision made without the consent of the board." Matt smiled. "A separation of L and Wammy\'s, which means that it stops becoming your responsibility, Nate. Wammy\'s House is governed by an actual board, which also has power to hear appeals from the children. The children actually get a right of appeal, which extends into adulthood, because right now we have nothing. We don\'t exist, which makes it really bloody hard to claim our civil and human rights. What court would hear about my contract? This one. It would have the powers of L upholding it. If a Wammy\'s alumni needs a safe house, then it can arrange one. If we need financial help, it can vote to provide it. If we need rehab, or somewhere to report being robbed, raped, assaulted..." He leaned in to kiss Mello. "Who was counselling Luigi and Lamond?"



Near sounded very quiet, "Roger."



"Ok, who\'s doing it now?" Matt stared up into Mello\'s eyes. The blond knew that all of his sadness and indecision could be read there. "Only they can\'t sign on the NHS, because they don\'t exist, so the alternative is paying private and finding a doctor who\'ll accept their lack of medical records. Who\'s ensuring that Century is safe with Chrissie and Salvo? Because he\'s under the radar of Social Services. Please don\'t tell me that that was Roger, because he barely watched out for the children under his nose, let alone those walking out the door." Their gazes were locked and Matt smiled with so much empathic love that Mello blinked under it. "Who chases down the teenagers who just walk out, and makes sure that they aren\'t getting themselves into danger? Who tells them that it\'s ok to fail, as long as they are safe at night and that they deserve to be safe?"



Mello made a snap decision, "Near, he has my support. He always had my support."



"No decision without the board?" Near clarified.



"None."



"And where will you find a board of governors fit to make such decisions?"



Matt smirked. "The Watari Network. A whole gang of geniuses with a unique perspective on what it\'s like growing up there. They can work together. There\'s a precedent." He kissed Mello. "Imagine it, Near, everyone around you, working with you. It would almost feel like a real family."



There was silence through the speakers. Mello felt suddenly very light. It felt like hope. "Come on, Near, let\'s give him a chance. He\'s obviously thought it through. He\'s not going to make any changes without us all providing the checks and balances. But moreover, it\'s his fucking job. You called to give it to him. What do you say?"



"Keep your money, Matt." Near replied after a significant pause. "I am very interested to see what you come up with. Good luck." The screens returned to normal, displaying the house camera feeds alongside a couple of torrent sites.



Matt glanced in confusion from them to Mello. The blond smiled, "You\'ve got his support, with a subtext on, \'when did Matt suddenly become so interesting?\'" He leaned forward and kissed the redhead. "The one thing that I\'ve been years ahead on him on. It\'s all yours baby, go knock \'em dead."