tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; August 6 BACKDATED
Rating; PG-13 for Matt's mouth?
Characters; Near

n473_r1v3r and Matt

[Unknown site tag]Summary; Handcuffed to each other when Near has an assignment.
Log;

Near stretched a little in--what he thought was his--bed. His eyes were shut tight from sleep and he yawned a little. To his surprise, his outstretched hand touched another human being...albeit a cold, dead feeling one.

So shocked by this, Near tried to get away from it as fast as he could, succeeding in falling off the the edge of the bed; odd, considering he always slept closest to the wall on his bed. He landed on a video game controller, the joystick digging into his side. He sat up quickly and his left hand made to move the thing, but he realized that he couldn't pull his arm quite as far as he wanted....

He sat on the floor, looking at his left wrist, which was cuffed and the chain led up onto the bed. This could only mean...

A Curse Day.

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Matt was pretty soundly asleep. He usually slept late, after all. Not any reason to wake up when you had nothing to do.

However, he was abruptly jolted awake by a series of crashing noises. He sat up in bed quickly, looking around. "The fuck?!" Could a giant mouse have gotten in, or was it an intruder?

The first thing he noticed out of place was the handcuff chain, which he yanked on rather hard.

Near's arm was yanked upwards over the side of the bed into view, dragging Near a bit with it.

Peeking over the side of the bed, he saw that it was Matt. It was almost a relief to Near. At the very very least, Matt was a familiar face. Not the most welcome one, but still a familiar one. Another bonus was that he was on Near's side when it came to the Kira case. That made things a bit less complicated.

"Please don't do that," he said monotonously.

He looked around. This was certainly not his bedroom. Judging by the video game controller, it obviously had to be Matt's.

For a moment, Matt's brain just shut down.

Near. His room. Near. Handcuffs. Near.

These things did not add up into a coherent whole. There was no way he could've gotten drunk enough to do this.

"...the fuck?" he managed.

"This must be a Curse Day," he said evenly, standing up and dusting off his white pajamas.

"I did not come here of my own accord, nor did I know where you lived in the first place."

He looked at the cuff itself. As expected, no lock. These deities that ruled the City obviously had a different sense of humor than anyone else Near has ever encountered.

"..." A Curse Day. That made sense. Not that Matt enjoyed it. Mello would kill him if he found out, curse or no curse.

"So that means we have to deal with this for an entire day, doesn't it?" Oh, God, this was going to be just delightful. He started to climb out of bed.

"Un. That's what it seems like," he replied.

He sat in his usual stance-one knee up to his chest and one hanging off to the side as he began to twirl a finger around a lock of his hair. He watches as Matt climbs out of bed.

Matt grabbed his goggles off the bedside table and slipped them on before turning on the lights. "So. Since we're spending the day together, we should lay down some ground rules. No staring at me blankly. No trying to get me to play with your puzzles. If I want to go out - I probably won't, but still - we go out, if I have to drag you or not."

Near listened to Matt ramble.

That's when he remembered. He stood up and headed towards the door, picking up the slack of the chain. When he reached the door and could go no further, he turned and looked at Matt.

"You will follow me. I have an assignment from L," he stated.

Matt glared. "Hey, I don't like being ordered around! At least tell me what the assignment is before you drag me places!" He tugged on the chain again.

Near was pulled backwards a bit.

"I asked you not to do that...It is my assignment and he did not direct me to tell anyone else about it," he said bluntly. If L had given him permission to tell Matt that was one thing...but this was quite another. Although, he was sure that Matt wouldn't be a hindrance at least.

"Seeing as I have to go with you, maybe you should tell me!" Matt glared more. He had never understood why Mello and Near obeyed L so blindly. Shouldn't they think for themselves?

"I could still tell you where we are going without disclosing the information about the assignment to you," he wondered aloud, twirling that finger in his hair yet again. He let that stew a few minutes in the air between them as the tension mounted, and not just in the chain.

"...I am going to the Underground to do some research. Now, let's go," he commanded, turning to walk out the door.

Matt found himself dragged along into the open. He wasn't even wearing shoes yet. "Hey, wait! At least let me get my stuff ready." He paused. "And think of some way to disguise the chain. I don't want Mello to see this."

Near allowed Matt to get shoes on and bring whatever the hell else he needed to bring. He, however, was nice and comfortable in his socks.

"There is no point. Most likely, he is chained too and the percentage of chance we have of coming across him is 3%. 1.5% if the person is female," he said as he watched Matt get things together.

"...Why does the percentage drop?" He raised an eyebrow as he finished holstering his gun. "Do you think he'll be too busy having sex to go outside, or what?"

He walked towards Near, still unwillingly.

Near had to admit to himself, a gun was a good idea to bring along.

"..." Near decided to ignore the second part of the question. "It drops because they can take longer to get ready. It is still rather early in the morning. Another factor is that we are heading into the Underground, a place where many females would not feel comfortable going to in the first place. Therefore, the odds of us meeting them are dropped.

"Are you ready?"

"Fine, whatever." Matt sighed and adjusted his gloves once again. This was going to be deeply unpleasant. "Let's just get going."

Near wondered why Matt was being obstinate.

He led him to what looked like a large set of stairs leading to a subway. Underneath the surface however, it was as though an entire city lay beneath the one they inhabited. It took a bit of time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but when they did, Near realized that everything around them was dingy. There were patches of light from the surface here and there, but not much. He tugged Matt in the direction of a seedy looking bar; a place where they could talk out a plan without too much fear of being overheard.

Pulling the taller boy into a corner of the dimly lit, grimy bar, he sat down in a chair like he normally does. There weren't many people in the bar though and they could see who was coming and going and who looked suspicious.

Matt took a seat at the bar, idly wondering if he could order stuff without ID. The place seemed seedy enough for that. "So, can you at least tell me what we're looking for? Does it have anything to do with Kira? And can I have booze?"

"Yes, yes and it's none of my concern unless you drink too much," he said, looking at Matt.

"We are looking for any sort of information on Light. The sorts that would associate with him dwell down here and it would be beneficial if we could overhear any information without having to ask anyone anything. It will make us seem less suspicious," he said, keeping his voice low.

Matt nodded and leaned back. "Sounds like a plan." He looked around. "Although I can't see Light coming here. I mean, his suit might get dirty or something. Always seemed a bit prissy from what I saw of him."

"Kira does not like to lose," he began, as he once again began to entwine his finger in his hair. "He will do anything and sacrifice anyone in order to get his way. He is like a child.

"You saw that he used Miss Takada. After you were killed, Mello kidnapped her. Little did Mello know that she had the Shinigami eyes and a piece of the Death Note with her. She killed him and once Light knew for a fact that he was dead, she made sure Takada killed herself and burned the evidence with her. He is ruthless."

Near gazed up at Matt. He had forgotten to tell Matt what happened after he died. The same with Mello. When he had a chance to talk, he would tell Mello everything that happened.

Matt fell silent for a long moment. He didn't like thinking about the fact that he and Mello were, from a clinical point of view, completely dead. It disturbed him to realize that he no longer had a pulse. Having Near remind him was the last thing he needed.

Finally, he spoke. "...Glad to hear that at least the bitch that killed Mello died, though."

"Neither her nor Mello's body was recovered. They were burned in the fire that ensued. Unfortunate because they both contained valuable evidence against Yagami Light. Are you aware about what happened eventually with Yagami?" he asked, just realizing that Matt might not know how everything happened. He looked into his eyes, his own cold, yet with a hint of curiosity.

Matt avoided Near's gaze, still disturbed by those blank depths. "Probably he wanted to make them burn. And no, I don't know."

Near began to explain the entire situation with the warehouse and the single door leading in and out of it and the final meeting with the Japanese Task Force.

"Though he learned all of our real names," he explained, "it did not matter since Jevanni switched out the real pages with fake ones. And so, the single name that was not in the notebook was Yagami Light's since Mikami Teru did not want to kill his 'God'. All of the evidence we needed was right there. However, before he could be brought to justice, the shinigami Ryuk, wrote his name in the Death Note and he was killed like that."

He folded his hands on the one knee against his chest and lay his chin down on them, still gazing at Matt.

"...Impressive." Matt had to admit, Near's plan was cunning. However, there was one thing he was worried about, that he had to know. He just wasn't sure he could ask - or at least, something he didn't want to ask Near.

Finally, he managed to. "...Mello and I. Did we... do anything real?"

"...Yes. You both forced Yagami Light's hand. Indirectly of course...it was more like Mikami Teru's hand. You created a distraction by which Mello could kidnap Takada. Then, Mikami heard of the kidnapping. Fearing that she would be forced to talk, Mikami took it upon himself to make a move, since Light could not. Jevanni followed him to the bank. This was highly unusual behavior, since he was a very habitual man. Going to the bank twice in two days was not normal for him. Jevanni broke into his safety deposit box and found the Death Note-the real one. Not only that, but he found Takada Kiyomi's name written into it. Until that point, I had not realized the possibility of a fake Death Note. However because of you two...it helped perfect my plan to capture the both of them, plus the Death Note," he concluded.

He knew that Matt wanted more than anything to be a part of the equation that brought down Kira and the truth of the matter was that they had both been a big help. However, though he would not say it, Mello had been the mastermind behind the plan to help, and so Near felt he deserved more of the credit. However, he could not overlook Matt's willingness to help.

"Thank you."

"That was probably Mello's idea all along." Matt sighed. "I had figured out the basics, but not the details. I'm glad it worked... we saved a world from Kira." He leaned back a little bit in his seat.

"I just hope we can do it twice."

Near closed his eyes in remembrance of first hearing that the two were killed. When he heard that Matt didn't know the entire plan though...

His eyes opened. Then, a small smile of knowing graced his lips.

"Mello trusts you as much, or possibly more than L, Matt," he said slowly.

Precisely the fact that Mello didn't tell Matt the entire plan...He had a great amount of faith in Matt's friendship and loyalty. And Matt...he was so trusting in Mello's plan that he followed almost blindly. Near had no such faith in anyone except possibly L. Though Mello and Matt both earned a little bit of respect, Near would probably still hesitate unless he knew every detail of the plan. Every angle. Every possible move. That was the way he was.

"..." Near's statement was true, certainly. Matt and Mello trusted each other with everything - Matt knew that much about the blond man. But it was strange seeing Near smile, having him make an insight about emotion. Especially so suddenly.

"What makes you think that?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

"He would have told you every detail had he not trusted you. Mello tends to be rash. Though he can create very well thought out plans, his usually end up being a do-or-die plot. They are either carried out, or they fail miserably. If he hadn't trusted you, he would have made sure that you knew exactly what to do. Instead, he trusted you to be a part of the plan; to take matters into your own hands if need be," he said, looking at Matt's questioning look.

"You forget. I've known you both for a long time."

Near remembered back at the orphanage when he would see Mello and Matt running down the halls together, talking and laughing. They always were around each other as far as he could remember.

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