"Of course I would, you idiot," Nate mumbled, looking hurt. "But you have a life... you have stuff to move on with. You can take care of Near or something, I don't know... you brought him here, right? He must trust you..."

He rubbed his arm a bit, looking away.

"I don't want you to think of the bad when you see me," He whispered.

"...What I'm just going replace you?" Mail frowned. "Is that it? That I have a life to go back to and you never did...even with me, if I mean so much to you for you to say something like that. That after you vanish and I finally get you back, you tell me that I'm only going to lose you again and this time forever and all you can say is, 'I have a life'?"

"I want you to have one," Nate sighed. "I want you to move on. I... wanted to believe that you two didn't care enough to look for me... because I didn't want to hurt you."

"Well unfortunately you're wrong and wishing it were any other way isn't gonna change that." Mail replied. "I'm not just gonna move on and pick up someone else...you meant more to me than that, you fucking brat. And thinking that I could ever have just brushed you off...when in our history together have I ever done that?"

Mail opened the bedroom door then.

"Mihael ran off." Mail said. "I don't know if you care enough to really notice, but he's probably not going to just 'move on' either."

Nate let out a slow breath and sat back down, feeling very weak all of the sudden.

"...If he's anything like me, he's never going to shake you off." Mail said softly- his tone sad. "I don't know anyone who could...that's the person you are, whether you want to be or not."

Mail turned and left the room- leaving the door wide open as he went.

Nate remained quiet on the bed, dropping his head into his hands as he felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.

--

"...Where's Nate?" Mello asked as Mail came back downstairs.

"He's up in the bedroom." Mail replied. "I'm gonna crash out in the car."

He slipped outside- leaving Matt and Mello to look at each other in confusion.

"That doesn't sound good," Missy commented, frowning after Mail.

"Maybe I should go talk to him." Matt offered.

"No, I will." Lawliet said suddenly- nodding to Missy. "Go find Mihael."

She gave a small nod, before looking at Mello and Matt. "You two should probably check on Nate. He was always really torn up when they fought when we knew him."

With that said she headed outside.

"Damage control." Matt sighed as he headed up the stairs with Mello moving up right behind him.

They found Nate curled up on his bed, a pillow hugged against his chest.

"...Oh crap." Matt sighed before he moved over to the bed and sat down- placing a hand on Nate's head. "Nate? Nate what happened?"

"Shit." Mello stepped in and closed the door. "What did I tell you Nate...what did you say?"

"I didn't even get to explain to him why," Nate muttered. "He just... got up and wanted to leave. Mihael listened with a blank face but Mail... he didn't want to hear. Then he told me he was sad now, every time he looked at me... and like an idiot I told him not to think about me anymore."

Mello stood by the door before he walked over to join them on the bed. Matt gently pulled the ivory-haired boy upright so he and Mello could both wrap their arms around him and hold him gently.

"...You know they care...enough to be hurt by this, bu they're idiots." Mello said.

"We're only strong together...three links in a chain, right?" Matt said softly. "Me and Mels aren't going anywhere. We're in to the very end and I'm sure Mail and Mihael are too...they're just really sad right now."

"Is it so wrong for me to wish they didn't care?" Nate whimpered, curling up against them. "To want to spare them the pain of watching this?"

"...That's something you can do." Mello said. "They want to be here...no matter what it means...because they care about you."

"How do you think me and Mels will feel?" Matt asked as he leaned his face into Nate's hair. "I can only imagine what those two are going through."

"You two are closer then I ever was with them," Nate snorted. "And its possible you'll have to lose Near too..." He cleared his throat. "But I can't imagine what they're going through, either."

"We have Near back...and now that you get the people you've been waiting for for eight years, you have to lose them all over again." Matt said softly. "Don't worry about us."

Mello kissed the top of Nate's head.

Nate sighed. "I love you guys like brothers, but you can't deny it... if traveling in time is causing my body to fail... then it will likely do the same for him."

"Why not all of us then?" Matt asked solemnly. "We're all traveling through time...this new timeline we made together...why do we always get left behind?"

He looked up at Nate sadly- Mello's face sad, but not as openly.

Nate leaned against Matt and sighed heavily. "Let's just hope that it isn't the time travel that did it, or that Near is somehow immune..."

Mello squeezed Nate gently- he'd always been so careful since they'd found out- like Nate was made of glass or something and might break.

Nate gave a small noise and closed his eyes, before he smiled a little. "So Near thought we were together, huh, Mels?"

"It was cute...I can kinda see why he might think it but...I wouldn't risk hurting anything at this point." Mello sighed. "I'm not fourteen anymore. It's different now, you know."

Matt chuckled.

"Shut up." Mello mumbled.

"I should hope its different," Nate snorted. "You have Near back now. Although still young and obviously scared... but he still has feelings for you. Both of you."

"...Near always had a heart...he just hides it because he gets scared." Matt murmured.

"He was worried...is worried...that things were different because he's still a little kid...I never even thought of it like that before." Mello said.

"I didn't think about Mihael and Mail still being children either," Nate admitted. "Then again, I always thought they wouldn't care. That's why I tried like hell to make it work with you both and with One. But some things just aren't meant to be, I guess."

"Well...how did you expect Mello to react when it was all of us at once?" Matt asked.

"Shut the fuck up, Matt." Mello frowned.

"Hey!" Nate whined. "You guys knew about each other... it was just One that was a surprise!"

"For him too." Matt laughed. "Jesus, that was almost a brawl, thank God there were more people close by."

"Yeah, well... I didn't know he was that possessive," Nate sighed, flopping back on the bed. "Sorry..."

"I'm not fighting anyone like that again." Mello warned. "So try not to fall in with guys that tough and then break their hearts...he wasn't so bad, if you'd been Near, he'd have killed someone."

"He figured out he was in love with Oliver anyway," Nate pointed out. "And I told him I was in love with someone I couldn't have."

"Why couldn't you?" Matt frowned.

"Thanks for tipping Oliver off, otherwise he'd have never grown the balls to pitch the idea." Mello sighed.

"Because Mail and Mihael don't want me," Nate informed. "And I think both of you should be talking to Near. At least let him know that you're not fighting over him anymore."

"What do you mean, they don't want you?" Mello blinked. "Are you kidding?"

"Well, we're not actually fighting anymore in a literal sense." Matt laughed nervously.

"Y'all fought over him at first," Nate snorted. "I remember fists flying over who got to have first dibs when you got him back."

"Again, I was fourteen and Matt was thirteen." Mello muttered.

"It was kinda fun." Matt smiled and squeezed Nate. "But that was...being boys...now you got your 'men' back."