"I love you too, Mello," Near replied, wrapping his arms around the blonde and pulling him into a gentle hug.

Mello winced a little as more weight was put down on his bad leg before he crawled onto the bed beside Near and held the boy close. He leaned in face into Near's hair and breathed in his scent deeply.

Near leaned his head against Mello's chest and listened to the blonde's heartbeat, closing his eyes and letting the sound soothe him.

--Scene Change--

"He'll be alright," K assured the group in the hallway. "Mello is in with him. He... recovered quickly. Much quicker then I..." She frowned and shook her head. "Well... I am surprised that anything shocks me anymore..."

"Amen," Linda muttered, before heading back toward Zero's room with tense shoulders.

Next looked over at Naveen, before he glanced at Matt. After a moment he said, "...Why don't we get something to eat?"

"That sounds good," Naveen whispered. "I feel like I haven't eaten in a year..."

"...I wonder why," Next muttered, sarcastically.

"I don't know if I can eat." Matt admitted numbly as he was led off by Next. "I can't...I can't even wrap my head around...Next I heard something happened to you."

Next stopped and turned to frown at Matt. He spared a glance at Naveen before sighing and tugging his love into a spare, empty room.

Motioning for Naveen to enter as well, Next closed the door, before turning to Matt.

"Naveen, help me with my shirt?" He asked and the dark-haired boy slowly nodded. It was only as Near's twin was lifting up the back of Next's shirt that Matt realized the albino was wearing something different from his usual maroon top.

To his surprise, Next had a pair of white wings tattooed onto his back... the ink almost seemed to glow against his pale skin. Matt couldn't remember him ever having that tattoo before and it didn't look as if it had just been done within the last twenty four hours.

Matt stared at the little wing tattoos- almost a glowing white against Next's porcelain skin. He reached out slowly and put his hands on the smaller boy- feeling the tattoos warm against his palms- pulsing slowly- warming and cooling.

Next watched him for a moment before he stepped away and motioned for Naveen to move. Naveen slipped forward a little bit and grabbed Matt to pull him back a few feet.

As Matt was about to ask what was going on, Next shifted and the redhead watched in awe as the inked wings began to move.

The ink actually crawled out of Next's back and began to form long feathers. They suddenly shot out with a flash of bright light.

"Ah!" Matt covered his goggles with his arms and stumbled back.

After a few moments the light died down and Next stood there with his back to Matt, a pair of white wings folding themselves around him.

Matt blinked and let his vision clear before he stared at the wings in total shock.

"...What the hell?" Matt breathed before he reached out cautiously.

He hesitated a moment before he touched some of the warm, soft feathers.

To his surprise, they felt like silk under his fingertips. Next actually shuttered and turned toward him... his eyes full of tears.

"I didn't know-!" He sobbed, dropping his head into his hands. "I'm so sorry... I had no idea!"

"...That you had wings!?" Matt burst- not in anger, but still surprise. "You...how?"

Matt looked at Naveen.

"Um, well..." Naveen laughed a little. "I guess that..." He glanced at Next.

The white-haired boy sighed slowly, lowering his face. "I... I'm an angel..."

"...But...you're not Catholic." Matt blinked. "Or Christian."

"Neither are Gods of Death," Naveen pointed out. "But they exist... they have notebooks that kill people and Next... well..." He glanced at the white-haired boy. "He can bring back the lost loved ones of anyone who saves his life."

"He's a genie!?" Matt burst.

Next sighed, while Naveen slapped a hand to his forehead.

"No, Matt," Next whispered. "I'm... a God of Life."

"A life god?" Matt blinked. "A reverse Shinigami?"

"I guess," Next whispered, looking down. "So that's... how Naveen came back to life..."

"Mello was thinking of me when he saved Next's life," Naveen informed, his cheeks turning a little pink as he looked away.

"...Naveen...do you know?" Matt asked.

Naveen's eyes lifted to Matt and he frowned. "...Know what?"

Matt shuffled nervously- his face pained before he spot again.

"...About...Mello...and Near." Matt said.

Naveen winced a little bit, closing his eyes. "Getting married? Of course I know... they were before I... before M..." He fell silent.

"...Naveen...I'm sorry." Matt offered- moving closer to Next and keeping his eyes on Naveen. "I don't know what else to say."

"I'll be alright," Naveen assured with a sad smile, but it seemed sincere. "I could always tell how Mello felt about Near, so I wasn't surprised when he told me that he and Near had been together for some time and were going to get married..."

"...Wait a second," Next whispered, frowning. "Mello was... with both of you... at the same time?"

"Quite a while?" Matt frowned. "It was New York."

Naveen looked between the two of them, obviously surprised. "Mello and... my brother... they were together long before New York. It was purely sexual before that, but... from what I understand, Near fell hard for him and asked him for his hand. Mello realized his own feelings and accepted..."

"I think things are getting lost in translation," Next whispered with a sigh. The white wings suddenly burst into dust, returning to their tattooed form on his back.

"But...but...they...they were having SEX!?" Matt blinked.

He looked down at Next.

"...I am pretty sure Near did propose though." Matt shrugged. "Mello probably doesn't want anyone to know that one."

"That's... what he told me," Naveen whispered, frowning for a moment before he shook his head. "Well... regardless of what went on between us... Mello is married to my brother now and I will not even think about coming between them."

"But what about you Naveen?" Matt asked. "...You're alive...there's so much to catch up on, right?"

Naveen gave a nod before smiling. "Like you guys! I see one of you finally worked up enough nerve to tell the other how you feel!"

"It took some pretty drastic measures." Matt laughed nervously- putting an arm around Next.

"So why haven't you gotten married, then?" Naveen asked, taking a seat.

Next's face turned pink and he looked at Matt.

Matt's cheeks were going a little dark now too as he laughed- nervously again.

"Well, with all that's been going on lately...a mean...the New York thing was huge." Matt said.

"But it was a year ago, wasn't it?" Naveen asked and Next looked at him in surprise. "Well... its winter again. Its snowing... I don't know exactly what day, but I'd say its around Mello's birthday. And the calendar on the wall said 'December 2010', so..."

"We get it." Matt sighed. "But Naveen, it's not like we're avoiding it or something."

Naveen only gave a soft hum, before asking; "So... how are the others?"

--Scene Change--

Zero gently pet Trick's hair as the little boy sat quietly in his lap, watching some cartoon on the small TV.

Treat was sitting in the chair beside the bed- trying not to nod off every few minutes. His head kept falling with his eyelids, but before he drifted off completely he would snap back up- only to repeat it all again. Why was it so warm in this room? If it was this warm, he had not chance of staying awake.

Zero was yawning as well, idly running his fingers through Trick's curls as the boy fell asleep against his chest.

Treat nestled down in his seat and looked up at his brother and Zero with his sleepy eyes. He pushed the blanket off and slipped out of the chair- climbing up into the bed.