Choices

AN: This chapter actually gave me a little trouble.... and yet I feel it flowed better than last chapter... go figure.

As for the past/present tense thing, I so didn’t notice I was doing that. Epic fail. But I fixed it. ^-^

Suggested Listening: Living in the Sky With Diamonds by Cobra Starship; Don't Stop by Innerpartysystem (there are 2 versions of this, one of them is slower and really sucks and the other is awesome...)

Chapter 4: Third

Mello exited the shower just as Matt discovered the nearly dead battery on his PSP. Despite having discovered that he would be bored until the battery recharged, Matt's attention immediately turned to his roommate.

Mello looked much better than the previous day; the bags under his eyes having lessoned and his color having returned to normal. It was then that he noticed Mello was already completely dressed and ready to leave by the look of it.

Mello, having noticed Matt’s questioning gaze, turned to him with a roll of his eyes. “Rankings.” and with that Mello was gone, shutting the door behind him.

Matt couldn’t help but think that they placed too much importance upon the rankings.

Matt took his time in getting ready, opting for a quick shower to help properly wake him. He opted to wear a rather odd shirt; or odd by his standards. Dark blue with red stripes. Matt was just happy there was nothing pink in his new wardrobe.

Not that he would have worn it.

Finally feeling awake, despite not having had a cigarette yet, he headed to breakfast fully intending to eat quickly and have a smoke afterwards. As he was heading inside he stopped for a moment when he spotted something on the wall.

It was the rankings sheet.

Shrugging his shoulder he took a quick look and merely blinked when he saw that he had come in third. Mello was second with Near being first. Well wasn't that interesting?

He would definitely have to be careful around them.

However something seemed off to him as he entered the dining hall, and it was only as he was seating himself did he notice what it was. Mello wasn't at the table. Matt glanced around until he caught sight of black and yellow.

Or rather leather and Mello.

He sat a few tables over with a scowl firmly fixed on his face and his eyes narrowed and trained directly on Matt. Matt had no idea what brought this on, but figured he'd find out about it later as it didn't seem Mello's style to keep silent.

Then again, how much did he actually know about the blonde? Not much truth be told.

He could also feel Near's eyes on him, though he did not look back at the boy. “Matt will be in our classes now.” Matt noted the odd way Near had of speaking, not for the first time, and wondered why he did it.

But Matt supposed that either way, Near was Correct. He would, at some point before Monday, have to go and 'speak' with Rodger. Wouldn't that be fun?

Right now though, Matt just wanted to eat his food. Without distractions. Also known as: Near and Mello. At least he didn’t normally mind Mello. Near was just plain weird. And yeah, he would appreciate it if the strange little albino moved to another table, permanently.

But Matt didn’t want to talk to him, not even to ask him to go away. Though Matt figured he could just move to a new table instead. But that wasn't the point. This was his table... and Near would probably just follow him if he moved anyway.

Really... HQ seemed a much nicer place at the moment. And that was just plain sad.

Matt got up before the other children did, having finally gotten used to how long each meal generally was, and left. Whatever Mello was having a fit over, would best be dealt with in their room.

However he was stopped the moment he left the dining hall.

“Matt. Good, I was hoping I wouldn't have to wait. Come with me.” Matt did allow a sigh this time because, honestly, could Rodger possibly have worse timing? Well... Matt supposed he could have been in his room changing or something.

Matt's face heated up suddenly at the reminder of seeing Mello naked the night before. What was it about Mello that had that affect on him? Was it the leather? The blue eyes or his figure? Really he was beginning to wonder what the hell was going on with himself; it wasn't as though he hadn't seen other guys naked before.

Matt furiously pushed all those thoughts to the back of his mind as he entered Rodger's office, because he simply did not wish to think anything like that anywhere near Rodger. Ever.

“I assume that you know that you are ranked third?” Matt nodded. Why waste words when he didn't have to speak? Besides, it seemed to irritate Rodger. Maybe he would speak to someone while around Rodger and then refuse to talk to him? Matt almost grinned at the thought.

“Due to your high scores, it was decided that your classes would be changed to accommodate your obvious intelligence.” the way Rodger says this suggested that he still didn't believe Matt actually achieved whatever score he got.

Matt hadn’t looked at the score, only his rank.

Rodger held out a slip of paper, that Matt assumed was the new schedule, and Matt took it. Though all he actually did with it was shove it in his pocket.

“I'm curious though; if things were too easy for you, why not say something sooner?” Matt just looked at him and shrugged. Rodger appeared even more annoyed and let him know, with a swish of his hand, that he could leave.

Matt had absolutely no problem following that instruction.

Mello wasn't in their room when he got there, much to Matt’s disappointment, but he couldn't worry about that at the moment. He had reports to finish, and a new one to start. Light would definitely want to know that he placed third.

That meant that he may have a chance at speaking with L, or that L would come there since he had just taken the third spot away. He was now ranked as one of L's successors, and Matt was rather amused by that little dose of irony.

He hadn't been aiming for anything that high, just a score that would get him harder work.

Grabbing his laptop he exited the room. It was cold outside, but he could smoke. And he didn't want to interrupt his work every five minutes because he got a craving.

Matt was suddenly very glad for his goggles as he stepped outside. It was windy and cold, not ideal conditions in the least. He shivered and walked down the main steps until he reached the last one, where he sat down.

The cement was cold, but the ground would have been far colder and sucked all the warmth from him.

As he typed the reports, Matt wished that he had taken more time to write up reports before this as he seemed to have forgotten what was and was not acceptable in Light's terms. Though in his opinion it was unfair that he even had to write them in the first place.

“He just likes to make work for me...” Matt grumbled around his cigarette and wished his gloves actually kept his fingers warm.

Despite himself, Matt found his mind beginning to wander. He was rather bored, now that he didn't have classes to complain over, or Mello to subtly distract him from work.

He wondered how, after only a week, the blonde had managed to steal away that much of his attention. It was odd. He had never been interested in people in general, as many of them were fake.

Fake smiles, fake stories, fake emotions. Fake.

Was that why Mello was so interesting, because everything about him was raw and completely real? The blonde was ruled by his emotions and it seemed that they took control before his mind at times.

Though the last was merely a one time observation on Matt's part.

Matt shook his head slightly to get his thoughts back in order; he had stopped typing and this stuff really needed to get done. He stayed outside, smoking about half a pack of cigarettes, until he was finished.

Flexing his chilled fingers he gathered everything and stiffly headed inside, where it was much warmer. Almost too warm. Though Matt had a feeling that he was just too cold so the difference in temperature messed with him.

He brought the laptop to lunch with him, despite having no need for it at the moment. He didn’t see Mello at lunch or in the room when he returned. That was why he didn't get involved in relationships of any form, too may variables and emotions for him to deal with.

Whatever issue Mello was dealing with was apparently cause for his disappearance.

And Matt didn't want to get in the middle of it. Though he had a feeling he was in the middle, completely and unwillingly, stuck in the middle. Instead of dwelling on it, as he found that it never helped things, he took out the now fully charged PSP and loaded a brain teaser game.

It was something interesting to pass the time; he couldn't exactly get his camera work done in the daylight, now could he?

He played until dinner, having attempted to beat all of his new high scores three times over, and slipped the sleek handheld into his pocket. Mello still hadn't returned and if Matt went by the days recent events, would do so anytime soon, so he headed for the bathroom and carefully removed his things from the air vent.

Making sure he had everything, he slipped them underneath the mattress and hoped Mello didn't suddenly decide to do a swan dive onto his bed. Or have another fit and throw his bed.

Matt couldn’t understand why, as he entered the dining hall, Mello was suddenly content with sitting halfway across the room. Halfway across the room and continually glaring at anything that moved, but mainly Matt. Though it could have been Near, unlikely and surprising as that was.

So Matt ignored the brooding blonde. Mello was pissed at him over something and would probably get over it in a few days. Or sooner if it looked like Mello was back to the petty revenge tactics. Because Matt would not have his smokes being taken away again.

But nothing happened as Mello pulled his disappearing act once more and didn’t reappear until eleven when he promptly turned off his light and went to bed. Matt shut off the PSP and waited until Mello’s breathing had slowed to a normal sleeping rate, rather that the forced and faked one it had been earlier.

Carefully, as he still wasn't sure what could wake Mello up, he gathered his techs and shuffled quietly out of the room. He set things up in the common room first, and made sure that there was no way for it to be spotted.

He put it some place high, where there was little to no chance of it being knocked over or found during cleaning. Though there were no fingerprints on it, as he always wore his gloves when handling them, he would be under suspicion if it were found as Whammy and Rodger know of his liking to electronics and technology.

He then headed down to Rodgers office, where things were a bit more difficult. He wasn't sure what the nighttime rounds were, if there were any, so there was a small chance of him being discovered.

But then again, Matt had always liked a little danger. Maybe he was an adrenaline junkie?

Rodger's office was locked, as he suspected it would be. The lock was old and Matt managed to pick it in record time. Really, living with thieves, spies, assassins and con artists had its perks. Matt shut the door behind him but didn’t dare turn on the light as it would be a dead giveaway that someone was up to no good.

Especially if Rodger were the one to find out, seeing as it was his office.

Matt sat down in Rodger's chair and slowly spun around, surveying the room as much as he could in the dark. Where should he put it? If L were in here, and suspected there was a bug, where would he look?

In the obvious places? Or in the more obscure? These were designed by Light so even a detector couldn't find them, so he didn't have to worry about that. But L was the world's greatest detective, that had to count for something.

So where to put it....

That was when he decided it was better to place two of them in there, in case one was found. It wouldn't do to have to replace it should one be found; there would definitely be more security after something like that.

So Matt placed one low, close to the ground but at an angle where it would still capture anyone’s face as they entered the room; and one higher up by the bookcase.

Satisfied, he quickly left after returning everything to their set positions. He quietly locked the door and took off down the hallway. As Matt passed by the main entrance he decided to set up a camera facing the doors, it couldn't hurt to record every face that entered or exited.

He also decided to place a microphone in the dining hall, though he wasn't sure why he felt the need.

Matt had no way of knowing just how long he had been out, but he couldn't chance it, so he headed back to his room with the remaining techs. He would have to do the rest tomorrow after he made sure the ones placed tonight were working properly.

Thankfully Mello was still sleeping as he crept back inside, though that wasn't to say he hadn't woken up earlier. It would have been easier if he'd been given a single room with no roommate... but even as he thought it he dismissed it as stupid.

He shook his head at his blonde roommate, who even in sleep, was unknowingly causing problems for him. Matt stifled a yawn, despite it being early compared with his normal hours. He striped his jeans and crawled into bed, not even wanting to play his PSP.

-

Mello was so quiet in the morning that Matt almost didn’t hear him. “Mello?” he yawned, and wanted nothing more to go back to sleep as he saw the time. 7:53am. Far too early on a Sunday to be awake.

The slight noise had stopped and Matt watched, almost with a frown, as Mello ignored him and walked out the door. What was up with him lately? Given his personality, if it was a small infraction, Mello should have been at the yelling and throwing things stage.

Now it seemed he'd done a one eighty and was completely ignoring him. Matt honestly wasn’t sure which one was worse. With a quiet groan he slid out of bed and seeing as Mello wasn't in the room, changed out in the open.

He viewed the time again, as he was placing his dirty clothes in the laundry bin, but really wasn't in the mood to eat. He didn't even want a cigarette, and that was a little strange. But Matt didn't question it. He knew that his body would eventually crave one and he would have to go outside into the cold, but for now at least he could stay warm.

He sat at his desk and booted up the laptop. It was time to set everything up. Just because he only had some of his techs set up didn't mean there wasn’t still a ton of work to do. He first checked to see that everything was properly transmitting either picture or sound.

Finding nothing wrong he went on to set everything up to his systems so that it would record everything even if he was watching it. He made sure to use the correct settings so that the raw video and audio files would be compressed as far as they could to take up as little space as possible.

At least until he could send them to Light during the first transmission. He wasn't sure if Light would be the one he was contacting every time, but he had said it would be him for the initial test.

By lunch, he still hadn't had a cigarette, and wasn’t even the slightest bit hungry or thirsty. In fact, he felt a bit off. Had been for the past little while.

Standing from the desk he stretched and sighed contentedly as sore muscles were relieved and his joints cracked. Grabbing the laptop he set it on top of his bed and laid down. He finally pulled up the video feeds and chose the dining hall as the one to listen to.

He retrieved his headphones, one of the only things he'd brought with him, and plugged it into the laptop to listen. He laid his head on a pillow and watched with little interest as nothing particularly interesting happened.

Matt didn't worry about anyone seeing any of this footage should he fall asleep. He had it set so that if he didn't move the curser at least once every seven minutes it exited the program and shut the laptop off.

And even if someone knew about the programs and footage, they would need his passwords in order to view them. And he doubted even L could crack them. But just in case there ever were a breach all the files would delete themselves if opened without the correct passwords.

With such sensitive material he needed those safeguards.

Matt didn't know how long he'd been at it so far, but he started to feel himself slipping. His eyelids fluttered closed a few times and he propped himself up onto one elbow in an attempt to stay awake, as he should not be tired so early in the afternoon.

He ultimately failed as when he finally opened his eyes again his laptop had shut down. According to the clock, whose digital numbers were slightly blurred, he'd slept for just over an hour. As his mind slowly got to a more awakened state he realized that he was cold, shivering even.

His neck was sore and every muscle felt stiff. The very act of sitting up left him feeling dizzy and tired. Matt couldn’t help but think that this was punishment for working outside the day before... with no jacket.

Despite all this he forced himself from the bed and into the bathroom, hoping that a hot shower might make him feel better. He really couldn't afford to get sick, Light would not be happy.

Not in the least, as it would have been his own fault. Lovely.

Matt set the temperature as hot as he could handle and merely stood under the spray, not moving and not thinking. It seemed to make him feel the slightest bit better, at least until he had to turn the water off.

Then, as if to spite him for his feeble attempt, his head began to throb. He toweled dry and dressed quickly, the chills returning as the water dried and cooled on his body. Feeling worse than when he had gone in Matt stepped out from the bathroom and paused for a moment as he spotted Mello; who was currently at his own desk, text book open, as he munched on chocolate.

Matt doubted that even if he attempted to talk to him he would get a response, Mello would simply ignore him. Despite taking a break earlier, as much as watching video feeds, falling asleep and waking up a wreck was resting; Matt still had things left to do.

Matt went back to his laptop, putting the ear buds back in, and opened the surveillance program. It was time to set key words for his program to lock onto. He should have done it earlier but it seemed to have slipped his mind; not surprising seeing as he had been out of sorts all day.

The key words, once spoken by anyone being recorded, would then have flags left by the dates and times in which those topics, or something like it was discussed.

He couldn't watch the feeds twenty-four seven so it was the best way to go over things.

As he was working, his headache began to distract him, far worse than having no cigarettes ever could. He closed his eyes in irritation as he pressed the heal of his palm to his forehead. It looked as though he would have to wait until tomorrow or possibly even Tuesday to place the other camera.

He wouldn't have a screw up just because he got sick. Besides the fact that this was one thing he could not afford to screw up, at all. If he did, and L became aware of the fact that Kira was watching him very intently, Matt may as well just shoot himself compared to what Light would have waiting for him.

Matt tried to do more work, but everything became blurry and only made his head hurt worse.

The clock on his computer told him that it was only five minutes until dinner, and thought he really didn't want to go, he knew he had to. He needed something in his system, though at this point he wasn't sure what would happen if he chose to eat.

It would be rather embarrassing for him to be eating and then suddenly puking all over the floor. He would have to see if they had something light and very non-greasy to eat. His lip curled into a grimace at the thought of food.

This was going to be a fun dinner. On the plus side, he would probably be concentrating too much on himself to pay much attention to the rather awkward atmosphere that hung around him. As in Near and Mello.

He still couldn't figure out why Near had chosen to bother with him. From what he had seen from the surveillance today, Near didn't talk to anyone and just played with toys and puzzles.

He shut the laptop down and got off the bed just as Mello was getting up but didn't pay him any mind and headed out the door. He felt about a hundred rather than just his sixteen years. He had better be feeling better by tomorrow...

Most of the food he eyed made his stomach churn at the thought of even putting it on his plate, though he did find stuffed bread and some salad to eat. He wasn’t even sure if he could finish all that.

Matt tried to appear normal throughout dinner, though the fact that he kept shuddering with every large chill kind of killed the act. But Matt hardly noticed, too absorbed in his own thoughts to really care.

He finished as much as he could, which really wasn’t much, and almost lazily took his leave. It was odd for anyone to leave dinner early, not disallowed, just odd. So him walking out was noticed; he felt the eyes on him the entire way out the door.

Once in the hallway he leaned heavily against the wall and rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment, trying to ease the pressure. Somehow, because even he wasn’t sure how, he got himself back into their room and into his own bed.

He didn't bother doing much more than yanking his boots off and tossing his jeans into a corner. He was so incredibly tired, feeling like he was run over by something, and yet even after he turned his lights off he couldn’t seem to sleep.

He groaned softly into his pillow but only managed to irritate his pounding headache. “Damn.” at least at HQ he could down half a bottle of medicine and sleep his sickness away. Here, he would have to haul himself to the infirmary; or have Mello help.

Both were equally as unlikely to occur.

So it seemed, despite his earlier fatigue, he was in for a sleepless night. Filled with shivering aching and the general feeling of awfulness.

Great.

-End Third-

AN: I have just added up the total words I have written for this so far, and DAMN! I’ll just say it’s a lot, more than any of my fics so far. (and its not even halfway through… T^T)