Author's Note:
REPOST ON A NEW ACCOUNT :D
Before you ask: Yes, this story has songs from musicals like Sweeny Todd, Avenue Q, Tick...Tick...BOOM!, etc, etc. I changed the characters around and stuff so it's different. Some scenes are similar, some are completely different.
THE BEGINNING IS EXTREMELY OOC!
So please don't mention how L is not acting like himself. I know. I purposely did that. Read after the beginning and you'll see how L changed. Alright? Good. :)
NOTE: The song's lyrics may be changed to fit the story a bit more :D They also won't always be singing, they'll talk normally (like, 90% of the time) using the lyrics sometimes too.
WARNINGS: Implied yaoi/shounen-ai (boyxboy), implied homosexuality, and some angst and OOC-ness :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of the songs/lyrics presented in this piece. All rights go to their respective owners.
What Do You Do With a B.A. In English?
1. What a Mistake
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"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please?" Light looked up at the low, musical, monotone voice, singing in harmony with the background music playing softly behind a shabby, burgundy curtain. The boy seemed not much older than Light himself—a proud 12 years old. Light tugged on his mother's hand, lightly dragging her over to the now-forming crowd hovering by the stage set in the middle of the small marketplace. The boy on stage grinned at the amount of people that had gathered and picked up a bottle filled with a mysterious yellow liquid. He fiddled with the hat on top of his head, little black tufts of hair poking out through the sides.
Louder than before, the boy continued in his lovely voice, further stunning both Light and his mother. "Do you wake up every morning in shame and despair to discover your pillow is covered with hair—what ought not to be there?" By the persuading tones in the boy's voice, Light could sense that he was trying to sell something—particularly the bottles labeled "Wammy's Miracle Elixir" sitting innocently in the background.
Still smiling brightly, the boy bounced across the stage energetically and bent down to a few bemused, wealthy-looking gentlemen in the front. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, from now on you can waken at ease! You need never again have a worry or care!" He poured out some of the liquid contents onto his hand and promptly slapped it on a bald man's head, smearing the yellow stuff over the bald piece of skin. "I will show you a miracle, marvelous rare!" By now, Light was deeply interested and fascinated by the boy's words and harmonizing voice—and what was really inside the bottles.
Moving back to the middle of the stage, the boy continued, "Gentlemen, you are about to see what rose from the dead—on the top of my head!" Then, the boy took off his hat, revealing messy, tangled raven-black hair that looked almost impossible to tame, even for the best hairdresser in town. Laughter was heard from the crowd and Light couldn't help but crack a small smile at the young teen's antics. "Twas Wammy's Miracle Elixir! That's what did the trick, sir!" He passed a few bottles out to the crowd, still smiling happily. "True, sir, true!"
He danced back over to the man he poured the mysterious elixir's contents on earlier and bent down on one knee. "Was it quick, sir? Did it in a tick, sir, just like an elixir ought to do!" The boy seemed proud of himself as he poured more of the proclaimed miracle elixir on the poor man's head.
He went over to the middle of the stage once more and handed a different man a new bottle, opening it for him. "How about a bottle, mister? Only costs a penny, guaranteed," The man nodded and flicked two rusty coins into the raven-haired teen's hands. Pocketing the money, the singing advertiser danced over to the back of the stage, picking up a few more bottles, tossing one out in the crowd.
"Does Wammy's stimulate the growth, sir? You can have my oath, sir! 'Tis unique!" He smiled, showing off his straight, white teeth with an aura of pride hovering over him like a storm cloud.
He spotted one man in the crowd rubbing the elixir on his head a bit reluctantly. He grinned, jumping to the middle of the stage and pointing to the man seriously. "Rub a minute—stimulatin' innit? Soon, you'll have to thin it once a week!"
Eventually, one of the bottles was passed through the crowd for the people to sample and examine. Light sniffed the air curiously and then crinkled his nose in disgust. Subtly, he announced loudly, but causally to his mother,
"Pardon me, ma'am, what's that awful stench?" Sachiko, Light's mother, hid a quick smile and played along with her son's acting, surprised at both of their skills.
"Are we standing near an open trench?"
The man standing next to both of them, holding the bottle of bad-smelling elixir, looked at the glass curiously and handed it to Sachiko.
The boy on stage seemed to get a bit nervous at Light's words and picked up another bottle with fake enthusiasm, catching the crowd's attention once again. "Buy Wammy's Miracle Elixir! Anything what's slick, sir, soon sprouts curls! When they see how thick, sir, you can have your pick, sir, of the girls!" He added a sly wink to the audience, smirking to himself.
He saw another certain man in the crowd looking anxiously at the bottles being passed around, so the raven-haired teen raised the elixir in the air, acknowledging the man.
"Wanna buy a bottle, mister?"
Light cut the boy off and glanced at the bottle handed to him, sniffing it cautiously, "What is this?" Faintly, his mother echoed him. Nodding in affirmation and handing it back to his mother, he concluded, "Smells like piss."
Sachiko hesitantly smelled the contents and nearly gagged, "Smells like—eww!"
Light barely managed to contain his excited giggles at the look of disbelief on the other young boy's pale, hollow face. There was a slight tint of anger lit behind his black, empty eyes.
Studying the bottles as his mother handed it back to the dumbfounded man standing beside them, Light continued in a condescending tone, "Looks like piss,"
Sachiko leaned to the side and gave the man a pointed look, glancing briefly at the yellow elixir, "Wouldn't touch it if I was you, dear!"
Light crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air rudely and with an air of pride and mockery. "This is piss. Piss with ink,"
The boy on stage, on the verge of losing his own pride, mustered up the rest of the courage he owned and continued singing, his voice louder and higher from the effort of trying to drown out the crowds hurried whispers and awful snickers. "Let Wammy's activate your roots, sir-,"
Light, with a smug look set upon his lips, interrupted and exclaimed louder, "Keep it off your boots sir—eats right through," his voice picked up the pace as he smirked at the panicking advertiser.
"Yes, get Wammy's! Use a bottle of it! Ladies to love it-,"
"Flies do too!" The teen seemed crest-fallen at the laughter that emitted from the crowd. As the crowd dispersed, no longer interested in the scam, the boy began picking up his stuff and props, ready to leave after a failed attempt at earning money.
There was a slight feeling of guilt burrowing itself in Light's chest. He tried to reason with himself that he did something right—he saved those people from giving in to a horrible scam. Light was a smart boy, one of the greatest students in his grade, and to him it was plainly obvious that the elixir was literally piss and ink blended well together. The boy should have tried to disguise the smell or changing the color. Or, at least, that's what Light would have done.
Because Light did everything 100 percent.
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-7 Years Later-
Everything was the same. Everything was a routine. He would wake up, go to work for a few hours, head towards the library, buy a coffee, go home and say hello to his mother and sister, then stay in his room until dinner, eat that, then get ready for bed. It was such a simple routine and he hated it. He wanted something to change, something to stir up that replaying, echoing routine that controlled his life ruthlessly.
And, one day, that wish was granted and something stepped into Light Yagami's life that changed it around, messing up his monotone life.
And it's safe to say, Light Yagami enjoyed this new change
Light walked along the streets of Avenue street, his cup of coffee held carelessly in his gloved hands. The brunt of the winter wind hit him front-first in the face as he struggled to walk home. Why he didn't have a car to use during the winter, Light wasn't sure. His fingers were starting to become numb from the cold, despite the protection they were enclosed in. His teeth shatter, the noise banging in his skull, causing him to have a major headache. Attempting to sip his coffee, Light brought the cup up to his (now paling) lips and almost spit out the steaming liquid as it burnt his tongue. Grimacing at the odd feeling at the tip of his tongue, he swallowed the small amount of coffee that escaped into his mouth and continued towards his house.
That is, until he saw a figure sitting outside a closed down bakery shop, shivering and pale. The man was sitting, well, it was more like crouching, on the wall of the shop, dressed in only a thin black jacket, a white sleeved shirt, and simple denim jeans. The man didn't even have shoes for God's sake! His black hair was tangled and unruly, probably from the powerful wind blowing against the man's lean figure roughly. Light immediately felt bad for the poor fellow, but then decided it was best to leave the seemingly homeless man alone. But, despite was his mind was screaming at him to do, Light found himself walking towards the poor man and bending down, smiling shyly (since when was Yagami Light shy?).
"Hey, why don't you have a better jacket? Aren't you cold?" The man looked up from his gaze at the ground and Light was shocked to see those same, black, empty eyes he saw those years ago . . . the little boy who was trying to sell the elixir.
"I didn't think to bring one with me," The man's voice was low and monotone, his tone sounding like he didn't care and just wanted to be left alone. That wasn't at all like the boy all those years ago. Maybe he was wrong for once. Despite this, Light continued in knowing more about the man, his stomach jolted with his stomach—finding new information, particularly hard-to-get information, was always so exciting.
It's kind of sad that you have to talk to some random stranger just to fulfill your need of want. Are you so desperate as to talk to this man? He doesn't seem to like your company. You're pathetic. Just walk away right now. Walk away and forget this man and move on with the routine you've come to know and memorize. Go away right now.
Light ignored his inner-voice and sat down on the ground next to the man, offering his coffee. The raven-haired man declined with a wave of his hand and turned his gaze back to the ground. As the air grew silent and tight, Light took the chance to look at the man's features.
His skin was frighteningly pale and made his raven-black hair stand out even more so than it should have. He seemed really skin and his bones jutted out from lack of nutrition. The man didn't seem to show any emotion and had a blank look on his face—as if he had a secret he was afraid of spilling. The dark smudges under his eyes suggested he had insomnia or had an issue sleeping (maybe that had something to do with the blank look). Moving down, Light saw that the other male's hand's were just as boney and thin. He figured the rest of the man's body was malnourished as well. The man;s clothes seemed clean and washed nicely, so he figured the man was just sitting on the ground and wasn't homeless. The way the man sat was also strange. He sat on the tips of his toes and his backside was just above the ground, his boney hands resting atop his knobby knees.
Overall, Light came to the conclusion that the man wasn't ugly—no, definitely not. The other male wasn't the most beautiful creature ever either, but he was definitely attractive. Light himself was a beauty and he knew that (the girls that fawned over him and occasionally stalked him was a hint) but he worked hard for this appearance. The man didn't seem like he even had to try to achieve the same amount of beauty Light had.
And, no, Light was not jealous.
Sort of.
"May I have the honor of knowing your name?" The monotone voice startled Light out of his thoughts. He blanked for a second than coughed and rubbed his hands together to form a bit of friction to warm his slowly freezing hands.
"Raito. Yagami Raito," He stuck one hand out and shot the other male a small smile. "And you?"
The raven-haired beauty grasped Light's hand and shook it lightly once before moving his hand back to his knee. "You may call me Ryuuzaki,"
Light smirked and laughed once. "An alias? Do I seem that untrustworthy?" The man, Ryuuzaki, seemed shocked and snapped his gaze toward Light.
"Why do you think I used an alias?"
Light shrugged and looked at his coffee, uncomfortable by the piercing gaze Ryuuzaki was sending him. He shivered slightly, unsure if it was from the cold or something else, and smiled politely, to mask his discomposure, "You said, 'you may call me' instead of, 'my name is'," He shrugged and gathered up the courage to look Ryuuzaki in the eye. "Most normal people don't introduce themselves that way unless they're hiding something."
Ryuuzaki then smiled slightly and shook his head. "You seem intelligent, Yagami-kun," Yagami-kun? How did he know Light was Japanese? "Your looks, Yagami-kun, is obviously Asian," Ryuuzaki looked bored as he answered the thoughts going through Light's mind. "Your miniscule accent gives you away." Light gaped at him. That was . . . unreal! Impossible! Everyone had guessed that he was Asian, obviously by his slanted eyes and natural looks, but no one had every mentioned his accent. He thought he had mastered the American accent years ago!
Light frowned. "But . . . I don't have an acce-,"
"You mispronounced most of your R's, albeit just slightly. Your tongue still slides a little," Light was once again dumbfounded and at loss for words.
"That," he breathed in disbelief, "That's so . . . odd. How did you-," He shook his head, "Never mind."
Ryuuzaki seemed amused now and, in a spur of movement, stood up and put his hands in his pockets. "It was nice to meet you, Yagami-kun, but I must return home. I have a few young adolescents awaiting my presence," Even how the man spoke was intelligent! Light felt his heart jolt and his stomach curl when he realized that Ryuuzaki was leaving.
"Wait!" Ryuuzaki stopped walking and turned around, one eyebrow raised.
"Yes, Yagami-kun?"
Light struggled with his words. How could he make the raven-haired male stay and talk? "You're not properly dressed! You can't walk out in that weather!" His hands shook slightly and he attached them to his coffee cup that had gone cold a long while ago. "At least . . . let me walk you to my house and I'll borrow my mother's car to drive you home!" There. It was a valid argument. Or, at least, Light thought it was.
Ryuuzaki seemed to think about Light's offer for a few minutes before nodding. "Lead the way, Yagami-kun,"
Light smiled and exhaled in relief, walking past Ryuuzaki and towards his house. As he heard the footsteps follow him, his heart stopped beating so erratically and calmed down to a normal heart rate. "By the way, Ryuuzaki, you can just call me Light. No need for formalities,"
"Whatever you wish, Raito-kun,"
He even had the accent perfected.
What kind of a man was Ryuuzaki?
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Author's Note 2:
NOTE 2: Know a good musical song you recommend and want to see in the story? Say so in a review or a PM! There will be a few interludes and your song recommendation could be used :) Yay!
(EDIT): The song in the beginning was "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" from Sweeny Todd.