DN -- Puzzles
Title: Puzzles
Collection: The Margins
Fandom: Death Note
Characters: Near, Matt
Rating: G
Word Count: 497
Warnings: none
Summary: Sock-muted footsteps cross the threshold and pause.
Author's Note: Aw, dey so cute. :3
PUZZLES
Absently, Near shifts a mottled piece by nudging it with a fingernail, opening a different side to the small cluster he’s arranged. He’s getting tired of puzzles. Maybe trains next. He hasn’t played with the new one much, and maybe he can set up the track to go under the bed and come back out-
Sock-muted footsteps cross the threshold and pause. Near looks up disinterestedly to find Matt.
He blinks. “Is Mello busy?”
Matt’s hands are in his pockets, and he shrugs. “I dunno. Just wondered what you were up to.”
Near thinks this may be an elaborate ploy of some sort, designed to lull him into a false sense of secur-
“Can I play?” Matt asks, nodding to the half-finished puzzle.
Near wants to say No, but that’s not nice. Not polite. Not Wammy-approved.
Matt’ll probably get bored in five minutes anyway.
“If you want,” he concedes.
Matt lies down facing the perpendicular side of the puzzle, considers it for a moment, and then starts plucking unused pieces from the heap and turning them, his eyes moving constantly back and forth. The puzzle part of Near’s brain lights up, and he sees the piece in Matt’s hands, sees the base, and aligns the two.
“There,” he says, pointing to the place where the edges align.
Matt sets it there, snaps it in, and smiles. “Good call,” he decides amiably.
Or maybe he’s pretending to be amiable. Maybe this is all some intricate ru-
Matt picks up another piece and goes back to work, calmly and patiently.
Near works from his own little pile for a few minutes, and then he stops and looks shrewdly at the redhead not far away-not far away enough.
“You actually like me, don’t you?” he asks, sounding more accusatory than he means to.
Matt smiles again. “Yeah,” he responds. “Why not?”
Near hears the echoes of a dozen taunts and a thousand whispers. It almost hurts more when they don’t say it to your face. When you know they mock you but can’t even retaliate. “Because I’m smart,” he paraphrases, “and weird.”
Matt’s smile widens into a grin. “Everybody here is,” he counters. “It just depends how much.”
Near lowers his eyes and adds a piece of sky. In agreeable silence, Matt returns his attention to the puzzle as well.
When they’re done, Matt admires the completed picture. It’s an idyllic rural scene, a panorama of rolling green hills dotted with sheep, a broad blue sky above, a smattering of tulips below, the whole thing framed protectively by a pair of stretching maple trees.
Matt’s hands are folded under his chin. He disentangles one in order to push his slipping goggles further up his forehead.
“You want to play a video game?” he asks.
Near wants to say No, but-
On second thought… maybe he doesn’t.
“What kind of game is it?” he prompts hesitantly.
“This one I just got,” Matt answers, “where you’re driving a train.”
Near smiles.
Collection: The Margins
Fandom: Death Note
Characters: Near, Matt
Rating: G
Word Count: 497
Warnings: none
Summary: Sock-muted footsteps cross the threshold and pause.
Author's Note: Aw, dey so cute. :3
PUZZLES
Absently, Near shifts a mottled piece by nudging it with a fingernail, opening a different side to the small cluster he’s arranged. He’s getting tired of puzzles. Maybe trains next. He hasn’t played with the new one much, and maybe he can set up the track to go under the bed and come back out-
Sock-muted footsteps cross the threshold and pause. Near looks up disinterestedly to find Matt.
He blinks. “Is Mello busy?”
Matt’s hands are in his pockets, and he shrugs. “I dunno. Just wondered what you were up to.”
Near thinks this may be an elaborate ploy of some sort, designed to lull him into a false sense of secur-
“Can I play?” Matt asks, nodding to the half-finished puzzle.
Near wants to say No, but that’s not nice. Not polite. Not Wammy-approved.
Matt’ll probably get bored in five minutes anyway.
“If you want,” he concedes.
Matt lies down facing the perpendicular side of the puzzle, considers it for a moment, and then starts plucking unused pieces from the heap and turning them, his eyes moving constantly back and forth. The puzzle part of Near’s brain lights up, and he sees the piece in Matt’s hands, sees the base, and aligns the two.
“There,” he says, pointing to the place where the edges align.
Matt sets it there, snaps it in, and smiles. “Good call,” he decides amiably.
Or maybe he’s pretending to be amiable. Maybe this is all some intricate ru-
Matt picks up another piece and goes back to work, calmly and patiently.
Near works from his own little pile for a few minutes, and then he stops and looks shrewdly at the redhead not far away-not far away enough.
“You actually like me, don’t you?” he asks, sounding more accusatory than he means to.
Matt smiles again. “Yeah,” he responds. “Why not?”
Near hears the echoes of a dozen taunts and a thousand whispers. It almost hurts more when they don’t say it to your face. When you know they mock you but can’t even retaliate. “Because I’m smart,” he paraphrases, “and weird.”
Matt’s smile widens into a grin. “Everybody here is,” he counters. “It just depends how much.”
Near lowers his eyes and adds a piece of sky. In agreeable silence, Matt returns his attention to the puzzle as well.
When they’re done, Matt admires the completed picture. It’s an idyllic rural scene, a panorama of rolling green hills dotted with sheep, a broad blue sky above, a smattering of tulips below, the whole thing framed protectively by a pair of stretching maple trees.
Matt’s hands are folded under his chin. He disentangles one in order to push his slipping goggles further up his forehead.
“You want to play a video game?” he asks.
Near wants to say No, but-
On second thought… maybe he doesn’t.
“What kind of game is it?” he prompts hesitantly.
“This one I just got,” Matt answers, “where you’re driving a train.”
Near smiles.