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Boom! The sound of another thunderclap echoed in the huge , empty building . Near jolted for the nth time that night . " You okay ?" asked the blond man beside him , clad in a black t-shirt and lower that he usually wore late into the night , just in case he wanted to sleep, which of course he rarely did . The lights were dim and the white- light from the computer shone on his face , beautifully carving his features. Although his lips were bent in a frown , His blue eyes and voice showed his concern to the white albino beside him.Today Near had been unusually on edge and , Mello probably knew the reason why. January 26, 2010 . The day he lost his precious and , dare I say, the only true friend Mello ever had , Matt . Today was also the day he too "died". Mello's body was actually never found and everyone just thought that he was burnt to ashes by the fire. But Mello had survived . Although he never actually meant to , but he and Near crossed paths once again , nine months after his death and the end of the case , and they started working together. Even though it was just seemingly nine months , both of them knew how extremely lonely, exhausting and depressing those nine months were. Mello had to deal with the loss of his best friend and successor all the while trying to survive without being found. Near had to struggle with similar things as he also had to learn how to take care of himself as the SPK members disbanded after the case and no-one was there to take care of him. But what hurted the most was Mello's death. He never thought he was even capable to get attached to somebody , albeit, to get attached so much that he would cry himself to sleep in the depth of the gloomy nights. So , when they reunited , both of them were plagued by nightmares of losing the other which led them to sleeping in the same bed . Which , to mello right now was looking like a necessity as for the week Near had been getting lesser sleep than usual . He had caught him just staring at him when he was asleep and when he was asked about it , Near just complimented his face . He looked at the albino beside him , whose one leg was drawn up to his chest while his hand rested on his knee as he fidgeted with his curly hair. Boom! Another thunderclap roared as a jotling Near again got pulled out of his trance. "Yeah , okay , I've had enough of this bullshit , tell me whats wrong already " despite Mello's harsh way of putting it , he was now very much worried. " I have no idea what you're talking about." Near lied as , he clearly knew why he had been acting this way but he just didn't wanted to admit it out loud. The truth was Near was actually having flashbacks of the previous year's traumatic news again and again , of the news of Takada's kidnapping, of the building burning . And to make matters worse , there was currently a thunderstorm that drove him even more to the edge . Mello sighed at the half - hearted reply. " Look , if you don't want to tell me anything , it's alright , but I think we should sleep now. It's late anyways and this case could wait until tomorrow , you know " Mello said . Near just replied with a soft "okay" and then got up . Mello was taken aback at how easily Near obliged , as he had expected him to protest a little more like he usually did.He quickly followed him after shutting down his own PC.
Mello woke up to a loud sobbing coming from the opposite side of the bed. When his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness , he saw a sight he never expected to see. On the side , Near laid , his hands clutching at the bedsheet tightly while tears flowed down his flushed face. His face was contorted into a pained expression that broke Mello's heart . But his eyes were shut tight and his body was squirming as if he was having a nightmare. He was also mumbling in his sleep , something like " Mello , No , No , don't go there , Mello , No listen Mello" . He then shook Near gently to wake him up , to no avail. He then tried again and again , shaking Near harder than the previous shake, and then Near finally jolted awake . "M-M-Mello , I- I thought you were dead , I thought I lost you I-". "Near" Mello said in a firm yet gentle voice as to get his attention . " It's okay . I'm right here , alive and safe, k?" Mello said as he took Near's hand into his and brought it to cup his own cheek and prove to that he's real. He looked right into those grey eyes and he could swear that he could see the conflict in his mind through his eyes. He then pulled Near into his embrace ad he laid both of them down into the mattress. "Let's try to sleep now , K?" Mello said as he held Near tight in his arms . Near didn't say anything but nodded as he nuzzled into Mello's crook of the neck. Both of them had a peaceful slumber afterwards.