In the Eye of the Storm Part One
Title: In the Eye of the Storm
Fandom: Death Note
Rating: NC-17 to be safe
Genre: I'm not sure ...
Pairing: Mello/Near eventually
Summary: Rum, Kissing games, Rain, and Revelation
They are at a party. Well there's no music or snacks but Mello has managed to break into Ms. Luchez's secret liquor stash and Matt has managed to blab about it to all the other kids in their year. So here they are crammed into Matt and Mello's room sitting Indian style on the floor. Matt is at Mello's right of course, his bony knew pressing against Mello's. There's a seat to the left of Mello saved for Linda for whom Matt is waiting; he's too proud to admit he's anxious to see her though. Ever since Linda started to sprout mosquito bite boobies Matt's been tripping over himself trying to get her attention. Mello finds it amusing that Matt thinks he's being sly when he says, "Save a seat for Linda, she'll bite your head off if you don't, but I don't really care, it's whatever."
Yeah, sure, whatever. There's six people total: Mello, Matt, Ashley A., Ashley B., and Scott. At this moment Mello hates all of them and resents having to share his liquor. He knows that if he doesn't share they will tell Roger on him; so he allows this farce of a party to go on in his room, when he could be spending his time drinking alone while he studies. He has found that when he does assignments, particularly essays, while slightly buzzed he actually performs a little bit better. He's even scored higher than Near a few times due to working under the influence. He doesn't understand why this happens. Perhaps when he's sober he tries too hard and over thinks things? But how can you over think something? Isn't thinking more than the average idiot a good -
"So, what should we start with?" It's Ashley A., the bossy Ashley. Scott shrugs his shoulders, eyes glittering with excitement. Mello can tell he's never drank before.
Ashley A. declares that they will start with the mango flavored rum. Mello ignores her and reaches for the orange flavored rum. He unscrews the cap and takes a long swig, enjoying the burn as the citrus flavor glides down his throat. It settles as a pool of warmth in his belly. Matt follows his lead and they all laugh at the face Matt makes as he swallows.
"Burns!" Matt gasps as he thrusts the bottle to Scott.
"Pussy" Mello accuses. Pretty soon the bottle has been passed around several times and their fourteen year old minds are buzzing pleasantly.
"Let's hear some music," Ashley A. demands. Ashley B. gets up and stumbles over to the radio in the corner of the room. She turns on a rock station and Mello is pleased.
He let's his eyes drift shut as the moody and ragged melody rumbles in his head. He loves hard rock and roll. He not only hears the music but feels it in his body, in his veins. The bass is strong and thrums in time with his heart. He's in love. He lets the music and the liquor work on his nerves until he is almost completely relaxed.
Someone knocks. Mello feels a tingle in his spine and knows Near is at the door even though it is Linda who pokes here head in.
"Hey guys," she says in a tentative tone.
"Hi" the Ashleys and Scott chorus together. Matt on the other hand jumps up and runs over to her before he can stop himself.
"Hey Linda, where you been? I mean, Mello was wondering where you were."
What the fuck? Mello makes a mental note to jap-slap Matt at his earliest convenience.
"Um, well, Near's been helping me with homework, and with the storm and everything, you know, I didn't want to leave him alone." Linda pauses and in that moment Mello knows that she and Matt are thinking of him even as they avoid looking in his direction.
"It's okay with me," Matt says and Mello snorts. Matt would be okay with castration if it was Linda wielding the knife.
Linda finally looks at Mello and Mello nods almost imperceptibly but she catches it. She comes into the room closely followed by a white puff ball that the faculty and students at Wammy's call Near. He looks the same as usual: short, scrawny, clad in white pajamas and expressionless. Weirdo Mello thinks.
"He's afraid of storms," Matt offers unprompted when he plops down beside Mello again.
Mello is taken aback because he hadn't noticed it was storming until that moment. But now that it's been brought to his attention he's almost hyper aware of the electric charge in the air, of the soft sound of rain falling outside, and the threatening rumbles of thunder that seem to be coming closer and closer to their location. He's also a little shocked by the idea of Near being afraid of anything let alone a mother fucking weather condition.
Near sits apart from the group. He's sitting by the radio staring at nothing in particular and twisting a lock of his hair; pretty much being an irritating asshole, in Mello's opinion. Mello gets up ... slowly so as not to wobble and look like a drunken fool. He picks up the bottle of rum and zeroes in on the white puff ball in the corner. Near doesn't look up when he approaches and Mello bristles. What is Near's problem anyway? He thinks he can ignore Mello? No one can ignore Mello, and Mello knows it. He crouches down in front of Near and offers him the bottle.
"No," Near says simply and then as an afterthought, "Thank you."
"It's a drinking party, Near." Near levels him with a 'so what?' look but Mello is not deterred.
"It will help you forget the storm." Near narrows his eyes at the jab then grabs the bottle with two hands. He takes a conservative sip from the bottle.
"You need more than that," Mello scoffs.
"If I drink more will you leave me alone?" Mello pretends to consider for a moment before he grins crazily. "Maybe."
Near's left eyebrow twitches slightly and Mello knows he is pissed. The mood passes quickly, the small wave of irritation rising and retreating far too easily for Mello's taste. Mello wants to get this boy to react and feel. Mello knows that he is a slave to his emotions and he wants Near to feel something too, God damn it; Near's lack of emotionality gives him unfair advantage in the race toward becoming L. It's just not right!
Probably eager to get Mello off his back Near takes a longer swig of the rum. Mello feels a tug of pleasure in his chest when the puff ball coughs and sputters. He feels compelled to touch the boy and he doesn't know why, doesn't analyze it. He just pats Near on the back and lets his fingers linger on the bony shoulder. Near's eyes go wide and he asks, "What are you doing?" in a rushed statement so it sounds like one word instead of four.
"Nothing," Mello says innocently as he strokes his thumb along Near's throat, slipping under the wing of his collar to brush the tender skin there. Near gasps and Mello cheers internally. Before Near can say or do anything else Mello gets up and sits by the other kids again. He sits with his back to Near and tries not to think about the thrill that rushed through him when he touched the puff ball's bare skin.
Matt is sitting next to Linda now and blushing from that alone. Mello notices that their knees are touching. Prolly has a raging hard-on Mello thinks as he studies Matt.
"What?" Matt is staring at him incredulously. Oh. Mello hadn't intended to laugh out loud but Matt could be so lame. Mello would never let a piece of tail get him that flustered and worked up.
They all continue to pass around the liquor. The Ashleys are in their own world giggling about some dumb shit. Scott is drunk-texting someone with a goofy lop-sided grin on his face. Matt makes googly eyes at Linda while she talks about her latest art project and how her other homework interferes with her inspiration vibes or whatever. Truthfully, Linda looks kind of embarrassed. Ah ... so she knows, but isn't interested. That sucks for Matt.
As the storm grows more violent outside and the atmosphere inside becomes one charged with alcohol and hormone induced anxiety, Linda looks over at Near with genuine concern. What the hell? Could it be that she ... ? Matt follows her line of sight when he notices she has ceased her yammering. His eyes land on Near. The puff ball is still in the corner, ignoring the bottle of liquor sitting in front of him.
"Quit hogging the rum," Matt says pathetically. The poor kid isn't so dumb after all. He's figured it out. Mello wonders how this little love triangle type thing will play out in the future.
"I'm not hogging it," Near says slowly and stares at the bottle as if he just noticed it was there. And did Mello hear a slur in the midst of all that toneless-ness?
"If you're not hogging it then bring it here, Munch!" Mello snaps. Near is just so annoying!
Near shuffles over in his little socked feet and drops the bottle in front of Matt and Linda, bypassing Mello entirely-ignoring him. Suddenly Mello thrusts his leg to the side and Near goes down in a pale pathetic heap. The Ashleys and Scott double up in laughter. Mello can tell Matt wants to laugh; the red-head knows Linda wouldn't like it so he takes a swig of rum instead. Near lies sprawled out on his belly so Mello can only see the back of his fluffy white head. He wishes he could see the expression on the little ingrate's face. Linda is all righteous indignation and mother hen. "Mello-you-YOU SUCK! Picking on people smaller than you." She moves as if to help Near up but the boy stops her with a calm word.
"It's fine, Linda." The boy sits up, dusts off his pajamas and to Mello's extreme irritation, settles himself right next to him.
"What. The Fuck. Are you doing?"
The room is like electrically charged now. Mello has that affect on his surroundings. When he's happy, every body's happy. When he's unhappy-nobody's happy. It's like the mood thermostat of any environment is aligned with Mello's emotions. And right now Mello is about to fly off the handle simply because Near has taken him off guard, and everyone in the room can feel the outburst coming on like the approach of a hurricane. Matt tries to diffuse the situation, "Leave him alone, M. Hey I know, we should play a game -"
"Fuck you Matt! I am not -"
"Spin the bottle!" Ashley A. demands and Ashley B. giggles her agreement. Scott looks interested. Matt looks at Linda like a starving man would ogle a pork chop.
"How immature," Linda declares. Matt deflates.
"Let's take a vote!" Scott suggests and the Ashleys second the notion.
"Fine," Linda huffs, "Who is against the stupid and immature game of spin the bottle?"
Linda stretches her hand in the air and looks around expectantly. Matt follows her lead immediately. Near slowly raises his hand making Mello's vote the deciding one. And yeah, Mello is petty. He knows this about himself and he's fine with it. Near doesn't want to play spin the bottle? Well in that case ...
"Spin the bottle it is then" Mello says, "Somebody give me an empty bottle."
"Why are you yelling?" Ashley B. asks.
"I'm not!" But he is. He always gets loud when he gets drunk. He'd have to slow down with the rum. The only good thing about sharing liquor is watching the other kids get plastered and act stupid. He can't let himself get too wasted or he'll end up doing something stupid himself. Mello grabs the rum from Matt and shoves it at Near. There are about two shots left in the bottle. "Finish it. We need the bottle for the game." Near makes no move to take the bottle but rolls his dark eyes to the side until they are focused on Mello. Finally Mello thinks and then urges Near to drink with an impatient, "Go on".
"No".
"Then get the fuck out," Mello says with a feigned air of nonchalance. At that very moment a flash of lighting illuminates the room in a brief wash of electric blue light. It's soon followed by a peal of thunder. The storm is practically on top of them now.
Mello only notices Near's reaction because their legs are touching. The boy's muscles freeze up and do not unclench again. His eyes never waver from Mello's face and on the outside he appears to be as calm and emotionless as ever. Only Mello knows the fear festering behind those cold gray eyes. "Just finish it, Munch, it will take the edge off. Make you feel all warm and fuzzy." Mello's not lying to the kid because frankly he's starting to feel warm and fuzzy himself. Near finally gives in without further comment.
Mello watches as he slowly lifts the bottle to his lips, gripping it with both of his tiny pale hands. He wraps his lips around the opening and tips the bottle back. Mello watches as his Adam's apple bobs in time with his swallows.
"Yeah Near! Take it to the head!" Scott encourages. Mello thinks Scott has been listening to too much rap music because there is no way he knows anything about "taking it to the head".
Linda is not happy and she glares daggers at Mello as Near finishes and coughs. Despite the coughing Mello notices that the boy does relax a little. His muscles unclench and he starts to get comfortable in his space next to Mello. Mello won't have any of that so he pats Near on the back under the pretense of helping him through the coughing spell. He let's his hand linger on the boy's back, smoothing his hand down the bony ridges of his spine. "You okay?" Mello asks with fake concern.
Instead of reacting to the touch with an angry outburst Near just smirks-actually smirks-then places his hand on Mello's thigh. Squeezing Mello's leg half-way between his knee and hip, Near replies, "I'm fine, M, thank you for your concern." Mello stops himself from gasping out loud just in time as Near strokes his hand up the inside of Mello's thigh. The movement is sly and quick so the rest of the group doesn't notice. And before Mello can really register that he has been molested Near has pulled away and is placing the bottle in the center of the circle. Son of a-
Matt opens a fresh bottle of rum and takes a swig and convinces Linda to do the same. Good thing too because Mello is getting tired of her uptight attitude.
"I'll spin first!" Ashley A. declares and she sets the bottle in motion. Around and around. Everyone's eyes are fixed on the bottle. When the bottle stops spinning it's pointing at Linda. "Whoo! Girl on Girl!" Scott croons. Linda clearly hasn't had enough do drink because she just scoffs and crosses her arms. "She's not kissing me."
"Come on", Ashley A. admonishes, "It's just gonna be a peck."
Matt must think he's all knight in shining armor as he interjects, "Linda, if you don't want to do it, I understand. I mean, I know how you are so-"
"How I am?"
"Well, that came out wrong," Matt splutters, "It's just that everyone knows you're kind of ... oh, I don't know." Mello can't help it, he's drunk, so he just bursts out laughing in Matt's face. It's just so novel to see Matt trying so hard at anything. God it's just too much Mello thinks as he wipes a tear from his eye. Mello is amused but Linda is pissed. "So you think I'm lame and a goody two shoes. I know what everyone says about me. Well, I'll show you, I'll show all of you!" Linda takes a generous swig of the booze and Mello has to admit that he is impressed with her impulsive behavior.
Linda grabs Ashley and they press their mouths together for the required three seconds and it's all a bit anti-climatic really. Linda spins and Matt crosses his fingers behind his back while affecting a bored expression. When the bottle lands on him Mello can see his eyes widen in anticipation and nervousness. Linda, light weight that she is, is starting to feel the rum. She leans into Matt sloppily, flinging her arms around him. Matt grabs her by the waist and kisses her fast as if afraid that the moment will slip away from him.
Their kiss is more exciting. Mello doesn't know if it's the rum or the fact that Matt is a guy but Linda is far more into it than she was with Ashley. This kiss is much longer than the required three seconds. Their mouths are open and Mello sees Matt slip her the tongue before both pull away blushing.
"Wow" Ashley A. says, "I want to kiss Matt! Hurry and spin hot stuff!" Matt chuckles and glances at Linda shyly before he spins the bottle. It lands on Near. Interesting.