Jul 2000, Wammy’s House (they’re both 10 years old)

CONTEXT Mello likes to climb things, testing out boundaries and getting a good overview. Matt is afraid of heights. They’re slowly becoming friends. Mello started involving Matt in his projects a while ago and drags him to whatever he’s up to.

Mello is scheming something; maybe he wants to spy on some other kid’s project through the windows or something and you have a good view to the room from one of the trees in the yard (cherry). Mello is already halfway up while Matt is just watching him climb that tree like it’s nothing, they start shouting over the distance and Mello goes “Yo, you need an invitation first, or…?”

“Uhhh I’m just gonna stay down here!”

“No you ain’t?? Get your butt up here!”

Matt nervously shuffles around - he never climbed a tree and doesn't want to present as a loser in front of Mello, so he makes up some bullshit excuses. Something like

“I’m uhhh highly allergic to tree sap ya know” "I’m trying out this new thing called ‘ground appreciation.’” "I prefer to keep my feet on the ground where they belong, thank you very much.” Idk those are still pretty weak.

“Uuh I don’t have my climbing shoes on right now” “Matt, you have ONE pair of shoes and you’re wearing them right now”

Mello climbs back down and looks at Matt with the biggest “ಠ_ಠ are you serious” face, arms crossed.

“… you telling me you never climbed a tree before?”

“Pff what yeah no I totally did, uh COUNTLESS times, I was practically born in a tree, my dad just fed me bark until I was 5, lemme just uhh…”

Matt talks his head off, slowly approaching the tree, looking up, the nervousness eating him alive, he fiddles awkwardly with some low growing branches, all the while Mello watching him >_> struggle before he pulls him away and starts explaining.

“Okay look, first thing you need to do is find a good spot to put your feet. See these big knots and branches? Use them like steps."

Mello demonstrates and walks Matt through the whole climbing a tree process and Matt cautiously follows Mellos instructions, climbing higher with each careful step. Though Matt is really clumsy, hanging over a branch like a wet towel, while Mello maneuvers back and forth between the branches with complete confidence.

"Like this?"

"Yeah, exactly! Now, pull yourself up and look for the next spot. Always make sure you have a good grip before you move."

They finally got up high enough to get a good look into one of the windows and Mello starts rumbling about what’s in there while Matt is just trying to process his situation. Face red and shiny, tightly holding onto a larger branch with one hand and the other hand digging into Mello’s T-Shirt, trying to keep his balance. He breathes, looks around and for a couple moments admires the view over the yard - maybe he can even see the rooftops of the surrounding neighborhood, just a whole new perspective and everything seems so small and he feels a liberating wave of being able to conquer the world- “-hey, you listening?” Mello kicks him out of his daydream and back to reality. They bicker about what they’re here in the first place for a while, Matt has another tiny nervous breakdown as to how they’re gonna get back down, Mello demonatrates again, Matt follows. “Runter kommse alle” oder “Matt, Im Notfall: Schwerkraft regelt!” “DAS HILFT NICHT” When Matt’s feet finally hit the ground again, he takes a deep breather, his hands are so sweaty, Mello pats him and goes “See, that wasn’t so bad :)”

“Yeah no, totally, no big deal, all cool”

As they’re walking away, Matt looks back up at the tree smiling and feels SO proud.