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The first time Mello saw the color of Matt’s eyes without that horrible orange tint they had both been sitting in the one of the three rec rooms at Wammy’s house. It was crowded, but the couch where Mello read and Matt was sitting flipping through channels (his games had been taken away for a week because he had hacked into Wammy’s servers…again) was empty, the inhabitance of Wammy’s House too scared of Mello’s moods to test his patience. Which was good, because he was too interested in his book to really have time to kick the shit out of the other orphans.
With that thought in mind he shifted his knees under him, his bare feet brushing the side of Matt’s thigh. He wiggled his toes, looking at Matt out of the corner of his eye to see if this annoyed his friend. He frowned when Matt gave no reaction to the pressure on his leg. Which, honestly, had a lot more to do with his goggles than anything Matt was trying to hide. The ten year old had never been that good at a poker face. Rolling his eyes Mello went back to his book, an old Russian fairytale that his mother had used to read to him. It was the original copy that had been given to him on his fourth birthday. Matt had tried to read it once, but his Russian was passable at best and he could only read a few words before he was lost. Turning his attention back to his reading and away from Matt, Mello lost himself in the story once more. That was, until something exploded on the TV and Mello jumped, his eyes flashing up to the source of the noise. Realizing that it was just some stupid show, he went back to his book….or tried to.
Five minutes later he was sighing and setting the book aside, his mind wandering far too much to read at the moment. What he really wanted was chocolate, but all of his stash was upstairs in a wooden box under his bed and he really didn’t want to move. Instead, he focused on the TV, half watching some show about ninja turtles that Matt always watched when he was using the TV. Which turned out to be only slightly more entertaining than watching grass grow. The one saving grace was that it was almost over, which meant that something else had to come on that was better. Or, at least, he thought so before the announcement came on for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles marathon. Mello’s head fell backwards onto the couch with a muffled thump.
“Why do you have to watch this Matt?” asked the blonde, his eyes still fixed on the TV screen watching Donatello get his ass kicked by Shredder. And really, don’t ask how he knew any of their names. Fucking Matt… Fucking turtles… And, as Matt fidgeted with his goggles to clean the smudges off of the orange tinted glass, Mello had the strange, fleeting thought ‘Fucking goggles…’. Feeling his face heat, Mello turned his attention back to the TV. Another episode passed before Matt started fidgeting with his goggles again. He was shoving a corner of his shirt under them trying to wipe away what looked like a fingerprint, but there was no way in hell he was going to get to it off without taking them off. Which couldn’t happen because if light hit Matt’s eyes he would have a headache for the rest of the day day. Normally he was in his and Mello’s room where the lights were kept low so he could just clean them, but the rec room was well lit.
Mello sighed and rolled his eyes. If the redhead was too stubborn to ask for help then Mello would let him suffer. Or, at least, that’s what he wanted to do before Matt’s finger slipped into his eye and he cried out. Before he really had time to think about it, Mello stood up off the couch and walked behind Matt, leaning down so that he was eyelevel with the back of that messy red head. He let Matt struggle for a minute more before the redhead dropped his hands in frustration.
“If you need help, you should just ask, you know.” said Mello, his mouth right next to Matt’s ear. The redhead jumped, looking up at the blonde, shock written all over his face.
“Mello, what the…” before Matt could say anything else, Mello had grabbed the nose piece of his goggles and pulled them up. And that was when Mello caught a flash of stunning blue/green with shining gold flecks. Time seemed to stand still, with nearly electric blue meeting eyes that looked like spring personified. Mello’s face heated again, his heart speeding up just the smallest amount. And then the moment was gone, those beautiful eyes closing, leaving thinly veined eyelids in the wake of stunning, breathtakingly blue eyes. Mello sucked in a breath and ducked his head, pulling the goggles the rest of the way off and wiping them clean on his baggy black shirt. The minute they were clean he slipped them back over Matt’s head, trapping his slightly too long bangs under the padding. Despite all of this, Matt smiled, sliding his hair to the sides.
“Thanks Mels. You’re the best.” Once more, Mello blushed, and all he could do was hope that Matt didn’t see.
“Yeah, whatever.” He said, and then stalked off to finally get that chocolate. He definitely needed it now. Maybe it would help settle that weird, fluttering feeling that he got sometimes. Not that it had before, but there was always a first time for everything. He had reached the stairs by the time Matt caught up with him, slipping slightly on the hardwood in his striped fuzzy socks.
“Wait up! Where are you going?” he asked, panting a little as he hit the first step. Mello raised his eyebrow.
“The room. I want my chocolate.” Matt’s face split into a winning smile.
“Can I have some?” Mello smirked. It was an old question, and one that would always have the same answer.
“Yeah, you can, Mattie. If Roger wants to get you some.” And then he took off up the stairs, running flat out to their room. It took Matt only a second to give chase, and as they sprinted through the halls, a flash of blue/green rippled through Mello’s vision, but he pushed it out of his mind. For now, he had a redhead to beat the crap out of, and a bar of chocolate with his name on it.
Fin