{A/N: OK, so obviously it's AU, cause they're all in high school… So, for the purposes of this fic, L and Light are eighteen, and Matt, Mello, Near and Sayu are sixteen. There is no Death Note or Kira. The original idea was to have "Kira" be a protestor or something…but it just didn't work for me. But I got caught up in the whole high school setting, so I decided to continue it, just taking out the Kira parts. But if anyone would like to use that idea, they're totally welcome to. =]
This first chapter will be in Light's POV, but it might switch between characters. Mostly L, Light, Matt and Mello probably. We'll see.
Also, I might put Ryuk in there somewhere, in some shape or form, so look out for 'im!
Me thinks that is all for now, so ENJOY! =D}
Disclaimer: I own Death Note! …OK, OK, I lied! But it was…uh…Kira made me do it!! Yeah…
Warnings: There will eventually be boyxboy/yaoi, that is LxLight and MattxMello (both in no particular order), and… I don't think there will be many spoilers, but if there are, I will make sure I warn before hand! :3 I might make Near go with someone, cause he deserves to be happy!
Might be some sexual references, but I think anybody reading this should be able to handle it. Plus there will be more than references in future chapters…if you get my meaning. ;) So, uh yeah obviously rating will be M later.
1. Misfits
Light Yagami.
Brilliant. Gorgeous. Popular. Respectable.
…Lonely.
Not many people would use the last one to describe me, but it's probably the most accurate. Sure, all the others are quite true, but they really say nothing about the type of person I am. But it doesn't really matter right now, because what people see on the outside, how I am generally perceived by others, is relevant to my little story.
As well as all the above, I'm well-behaved, I have great grades, and I have connections with the police. Teachers adore me just in general.
And that's why it was so surprising when a teacher gave me a detention one ordinary, uneventful Tuesday. I hate Tuesdays.
So this is exactly what happened:
I was sitting quietly at my desk in Literature, reading, minding my own business. OK, granted the novel wasn't what we were studying, but I was bored out of my wits, and I'd already read the set text twice, and the teacher was just droning on about the characters and their backgrounds. Obviously, this didn't exactly endear me to the teacher in question, Mr. Ohba. So, he decided to try and catch me out.
"Light Yagami. Could you please tell me what Blanche implies about her ex-lover when she speaks of him?" he said, sneering a little.
"That he was gay, and she eventually caught him with a man," I said with contempt. Too easy.
He sighed, obviously disappointed.
"That the best you've got, sir?"
I honestly don't know where that came from. It just slipped out. Usually I respect the teachers, I don't talk back, and I answer whatever they ask. But I was in a pretty bad mood that day. I don't know why. It was kind of like I was PMS-ing… Scratch that. I was acting like my sister when she had PMS. I don't PMS… It was probably just that it was Tuesday. Good enough reason, I think.
Now, personally I think he overreacted. I never usually do that kind of thing, and he knew that!
"You think you're so smart, don't you Yagami?" He practically spat, glaring at me a little.
"Smarter than you," I mumbled, not thinking he would hear.
He didn't, but the stupid girl at the desk beside me obviously did and giggled loudly into her hand (and, no I don't just look down on everyone in general. Like I said, I'm popular. But this girl proved her worthlessness). When Mr. Ohba turned his glare to her and she was asked to repeat what was so funny, she told him, straight up, what I'd said.
Thanks, I thought, incredibly peeved.
"Right, that's it. I've had enough of your attitude, Mr. Yagami. You will sit out in the corridor for the rest of the lesson, and you will have detention after school every day for the rest of the week. And next week too." He nodded to himself, sounding clichéd. Definitely overreacted.
And that's why I'm standing outside the door to room 2, waiting for the teacher to come for detention. I leant against the wall, closing my eyes. But I promptly opened them again when I heard voices from inside the room. But…I was positive the teacher hadn't arrived yet, so how could there be anyone in there already? All the doors were locked after school ended, weren't they?
I tried the handle, and felt a little stupid for not doing so earlier.
It was unlocked.
Have I mentioned that I'm often called a genius?
Pushing the door open, the voices got louder, but as soon as I was inside, they stopped and I saw four sets of eyes turn to stare at me. Together, they were the weirdest group of people I had ever seen, or was ever likely to.
There was one sitting on the floor, with one leg drawn up to his chin, holding what looked like a toy robot. He was small, with messy white hair, fathomless black eyes, pale skin, and clad in white pyjama-like clothing. He looked way too young for high school in my opinion, but I could see his eyes were deep and calculating as he watched me close the door.
Not far behind him, two boys, about sixteen, sat back to back on a desk. One had astonishingly red hair, wore a striped shirt, fur-lined vest, gloves, dark jeans and boots, with weird orange-coloured goggles over his eyes. He had a cigarette hanging from his mouth, and a DS in his hand. Unlike the others, he looked back to his game almost immediately after I walked in, obviously not caring that there was a new guy.
The guy behind him on the other hand glared at me with unrestrained, inexplicable hatred. This one had shoulder length blonde hair, icy blue eyes and wore all leather. Seriously. It was black. Tight pants, tight sleeveless shirt, gloves, a beaded rosary, and heavy-looking black boots. Would have been terrifying to anyone else.
The last of them was probably the most curious. He looked to be about my age, with crazy black hair that stood up at all angles, and incredibly fair skin, wearing a plain white shirt, dark jeans and…uh, he was barefoot, actually. Strange. The way he sat was also strange; feet up on the chair, hands resting on his knees.
But the most peculiar thing was definitely his eyes. They were almost the same as the white-haired boys, but these were almost completely void of emotion, blank – It was chilling. He looked vaguely familiar actually, but I couldn't think where I'd seen him before.
When I walked over and sat a little in front of them, I heard someone scoff. Looking around I saw it was the blonde kid. Seems he'd thought his glare would scare me off.
But that wasn't what bothered me. It was the older raven-haired guy staring at me. Still.
I wonder what his deal is.
I turned back to the front as the teacher walked in. It was Mr. Obata, my art teacher, looking sullen, obviously unhappy about having to supervise detention. Or maybe he hates Tuesdays too. Quite plausible.
He sat down at the teacher's desk at the front, placing his things in front of him, sighing heavily in exasperation. This was accompanied by a small gasp when he saw me.
I smiled at him kindly. He was a pretty good teacher, even if art wasn't exactly my thing, and seemed to have a soft spot for my friends and I. Might have something to do with us actually listening in class, not just bludging like everyone else.
"Light Yagami?! I never thought I'd see the day when you were in detention with the regulars here," he said gesturing to the other four. The blonde snickered. I think I heard him say something along the lines of 'arrogant prick', but I can't be sure.
Regulars, huh? I suppose it shouldn't have been a surprise, looking at them. They just screamed TROUBLE.
I just shrugged and sighed a little. I got out the book I'd been reading in Lit, settling down for the long haul. A whole two hours with these misfits… Great.
They just continued talking, playing and…staring.
҉
After about ten minutes, Mr Obata abruptly stood and said he had to go out for a while, leaving me in charge.
I think his exact words were, "Light, I'm sure you can handle these trouble-makers while I'm gone. Thanks." He made his escape, not even waiting for my answer, and left me with the 'trouble-makers'. Seems we thought along the same lines.
"Great," I said.
"Wonderful," the blonde said at the same time. I turned round in my seat.
"Fantastic," the red-head soon joined in.
"Sweet," the dark-haired guy said pleasantly.
We all looked to the white-haired boy, who slowly lifted his head, looking each of us uninterestedly in the eyes for a moment. Then he just went on playing with the robot, pulling out a small bear from his pocket.
"Spoil sport." It was the blonde kid again. He must really like to talk.
There was short silence before the strange one spoke.
"Would you like to play poker, Mello?" He pulled a pack of cards from a black messenger bag beside his desk.
"Sure. Matt?" he asked the boy behind him.
"Nah," he replied, holding up his DS as an indication that he had better things to do.
"Suit yourself." The blonde looked at the little one on the floor, but must have thought it a lost cause. "Looks like it's just you and me, L."
"Yes. Unless…?" he said, turning to me questioningly.
"Uh, no thank you, I just thought I'd– "
"What the fuck you asking pretty boy for? I bet he's never gambled once in his entire rich-ass life," the blonde interrupted. I can't say I was surprised by the curse, but I hadn't really expected such a strong response to simply turning down a game. I raised my eyebrows.
"Mello, don't be so rude. Not that Light Yagami isn't pretty, rich and inexperienced in gambling. But you obviously meant it as an insult, and you don't know the first thing about him. Please be more considerate next time you address him."
I stared at the guy with the dark hair, L. He had a pretty good vocabulary, obviously, and he seemed to like showing it off. And he'd said that I was pretty. 'Kay…
"You know what? I will play," I said, putting down my book and moving towards them.
"You sure you know how?" Mello smirked.
"Yes, I do. Contrary to apparently popular belief I have played before. More than once," I retorted, grimacing.
L was looking at me almost warily. I looked back.
"What?"
"Oh…nothing, nothing. I just… to steal a line from Mr. Obata, I never thought I'd see the day when you hung out with us." He gestured to the rest of them.
"Well…For one, I don't really constitute this as 'hanging out', I am merely taking advantage of a bad situation. And two, what do you mean by 'us'? How are you people I would never hang out with?"
Mello made a choking sound, looking exasperated. "We are the so-called 'misfits', 'trouble-makers', 'losers', 'unpopular kids', and other such labels. And you would never be caught dead with us." I raised my eyebrow.
"Oh yeah? I don't label people like that. The only reason I wouldn't hang out with any of you would be because I've never met any of you before."
At this, I saw L and the white-haired one exchange glances.
"What?"
"Actually, Light, I have five out of six of my classes with you. And my brother, Near," L gestured to the boy on the floor, "I believe, is friends with your younger sister, Sayu. He is over at your house quite regularly."
"Oh. Well… I've never actually had a conversation with any of you, have I?"
"No, of course not, you idiot. Weren't you listening? You would never talk to us, outside of a situation like this, purely because we aren't like you." Mello again.
"No, I've never talked to you because I don't know you. We aren't friends, and I've never had a reason to talk to you."
"Whatever. Can you honestly say that you would talk to us outside of this room? If we came up to you at lunch?"
"I think that's enough, Mello," L said calmly.
"No, I want to hear his answer."
"My answer? Yeah, I would. If you had something interesting to say. Otherwise, no," I told him, resenting his view of me. We glared at each other furiously.
"OK, you have your answer now. Could we please just play?" L pleaded. OK, maybe not quite pleaded, but close to. I think maybe he was worried we would break into a fight or something. Not that I wasn't exactly open to the idea.
҉
Twenty minutes in, I was winning. And by the looks of him, Mello wasn't happy. I very nearly laughed at the face he was pulling – like he was sucking on a warhead lolly – but decided that that would be sinking to his level, which I most definitely didn't want to do.
Matt had ditched his game a little while in, watching the three-way battle instead, but Near continued to sit on the floor, playing. Only, by now he had gotten a set of blocks from his bag and was building what looked like the empire state building. Huh. Smart kid.
Only two minutes later, by some miracle, L was winning. Amazing, I thought, looking at his concentrated face.
It took me a moment to realise I'd whispered it out loud. L gave a small smile, looking me dead in the eyes. I felt a blush creep up onto my face uncharacteristically as we stared at each other. Seriously, I never blush. I swear!
It was silent for a few moments before Mello decided to break it.
"OK, enough with the staring. Geez! As if there isn't enough sexual tension in the room with Matt and I. Now we have to deal with the two of you as well!"
"What?!" L and I both yelled at the same time.
"We weren't – there wasn't…" L choked out.
"I wasn't – but it…" I spluttered.
Mello and Matt looked at each other and burst out laughing. It escalated until they had both fallen off the desk, rolling on the floor cackling.
L and I stood to get a better look at the maniacs and exchanged a look that basically said 'What the fuck?!' Then a thought seemed to strike him, as he looked confused.
"Wait, there's sexual tension between the two of you?" he inquired of the two boys, still in hysterics on the floor. I noticed L had his head tilted to side as he asked. It was kinda…cute?
The laughter slowly died down and Mello sat up.
"Uh, sure, if you want. It was really just part of riling you guys up."
"Yeah, we're mates, right?" Matt asked Mello, grinning. It was the most he'd said the whole time.
"Course we are, moron. The best!" Mello nudged him in the side then linked arms with him, grinning back. They looked like a truly dynamic duo. Or was that a disorderly duo? "Together, we're unstoppable! Wahaha!"
With this, they started giggling manically, falling back onto the floor.
"We'll just leave them to it, shall we?" L asked pleasantly, facing me.
"Yeah…they'll be alright, won't they?" I asked doubtfully, not entirely sure they would be.
"Oh, yes. Happens all the time," he said smiling, a twinkle in his eyes. I couldn't tell if that was a lie or not.
"Right…" I looked back at the cards. "Well, seeing as we probably won't be playing for a little longer, would you perhaps like to play a game of chess?"
"Uh…I have two questions. One…is Light sure I am a worthy opponent for him? I hear he is at the top of all his classes."
"Second, actually. Aside from one class. I'm not entirely sure who is higher than myself. Either way, if your poker skills are anything to go by, L, I would say you are more than worthy." I smiled at him, growing fond of the guy, strange though he may be.
"Thank you." L blushed a little, looking up at me. It was then that I noticed that he had a hunched back. Curiouser and curiouser each minute. But definitely intelligent. More so than I'd originally thought.
I looked back at his face, his lips still twisted in a sweet little smile. He was actually pretty good looking if I thought about it. Just in a different way to me and most others. His pale skin contrasted nicely with his dark hair and eyes. And, oh those eyes… They sparkled brightly in the afternoon light, and I found myself begin to blush as well, as I became lost in his eyes. They were actually a very dark silver colour, when seen in the light, not the black I had originally believed them to be. Beautiful…
Wait – what?!
"Uh…so how–how about that…chess game, then?" I stuttered out, feeling lost, trying to regain my normally flawless composure.
L blinked. "Oh, yes. Of course," he mumbled, sitting down at a desk beside the poker table.
"Oh…you said you had two questions? What was the second? You never said." I was glad to be almost back to normal. I'd have to watch this guy more carefully.
…Not like that! Just…to see if he does anything else to me, somehow. Yeah…
"Oh, I just wondered where we would get the chess board and pieces from."
"I carry a mini chess set with me at all times, of course!" I said jokingly. Actually, only half jokingly. I really did take it with me most places. But L didn't need to know that.
I got a small laugh from that remark, and enjoyed the funny sound as we sat down and began to play.
҉
Unsurprisingly, L won. He was a master of strategy, and a gracious winner to boot. He had simply nodded his acknowledgement after I had muttered a short 'wow'.
After that it got weird. Mr. Obata came back in and L stood and went to sit on the floor beside Near, leaving me sitting there, facing nothing. I looked over, but he had his back to me. I saw Matt and Mello whispering to each other, then Mello looked right at me and smirked, as if to say 'told you so'. Not sure exactly what he was supposedly…'telling me so', but still.
Feeling irked, I went back to my original seat and continued to read for the rest of the torture, stealing glances at L every now and then, wondering what had caused him to ignore me so suddenly. I was actually getting quite annoyed. We'd been getting along, hadn't we? I'd certainly thought so. Then he just…ditched me.
When it was finally time to escape, L stood up fairly quickly, Near following close behind, and was out the door when I was just putting my bag on my shoulder. I sighed.
Making my way out, Mello came up beside me in the doorway, and bashed into my shoulder, quite obviously on purpose.
What the hell did that guy have against me?! I pretended to take no notice as he grinned over his shoulder at me. He and Matt, hand in hand, caught up to the other two and they began walking towards the front entrance to the school.
Unfortunately for me, I was headed the same way. I stayed a good five metres behind the whole way out though, and when they went through the arching entrance way I stopped to see which way they would go. They all went left. Same as me. Great.
I kept my distance as we all continued the same way, turning down exactly the same streets. If they knew I was behind them, they didn't show it, simply carrying on their way, talking and laughing naturally enough. About ten minutes later, I reached my house, the second one on the right side of the street we were in. Number 4 Holland street.
I walked gratefully through the front gate, but couldn't help but look to see where the misfits would go. I poked my head around the corner slowly, half expecting to find someone there waiting to chop my head off… Strange fantasies I have.
I watched curiously as Matt entered a house about four down from mine, waving goodbye to the other three as they crossed to the other side. Mello entered the house directly opposite Matt's, and L and Near went into the one next to it. Well, that explained how they all knew each other, despite their age differences.
As I walked in the front door I was almost knocked to the ground by something crashing into me. It was my little sister, Sayu, running up to me head on, for what seemed to be a hug, but resembled more of an angry bear attack. Maybe it was a bear hug…?
"Light-chan! Where were you? You never usually come home this late. I tried to call you on your mobile, but you didn't answer," she babbled. She was smiling sweetly and it just made me think of when she was younger, so cute and innocent. I felt a surge of brotherly love for her, also partly because of her worry for me. I hugged her warmly, smiling softly.
"I had detention, Sayu-chan." I laughed at her shocked expression. "Yeah, I know, right? Me?" I rolled my eyes. Then I realised something.
"You said you tried to call me? Was there something important, or were you just worried?"
"Well, I was worried, but I also wanted to tell you something," she said. I looked at her expectantly when she didn't continue.
"Oh! Right, uh…Dad's coming home early tonight! We can eat dinner together," Sayu sounded so excited, and not without good reason. It wasn't very often that our father could come home so early, what with the long hours his job demanded. He was a detective with the NPA, a chief no less. And, as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. In my opinion, it should go, with great power comes a great shitload of time working hard to keep it.
I nodded happily, then something suddenly occurred to me.
"Hey, Sayu? Do you know someone named Near? He's small, has white hair…?" I asked, remembering what L had said earlier about them being friends. I couldn't really imagine my sister being friends with somebody like him, but I was curious to know.
"Oh, yeah! He's my friend, actually. He comes over sometimes, after school. He lives just down the street. You must have seen him…"
Damn, he was right. But then why had I never seen the kid before?
"Hmm, actually, you probably wouldn't have. He leaves before dinner each time, and you're always up in your room."
Ha! That's why I'd never seen him. Perfectly good reason.
I gave Sayu another hug, laughing softly, then made my way to the kitchen, saying hello to my mother, hugging her as well. I was in a strangely good mood, all things considered. I mean, it was a Tuesday, for crying out loud!
Both Sayu and Mum picked up on my good mood though, and asked about it. I found I couldn't give them a straight answer. Instead, I simply shrugged and smiled, making my way upstairs to my room, doing some homework before dinner.
But after about fifteen minutes of doing chemistry work, I found my mind wandering back to that detention room and those odd people. As I sat there, I began formulating a plan for the next day. I would prove them wrong.
҉
{A/N: Quite obviously, I don't really know how to play either poker or chess. But that doesn't mean my dear little puppets can't enjoy the wonders of said games! XD Who am I to deny them?
Oh, and I actually don't know what the Empire State Building looks like, I just randomly chose it because it sounds impressive… I am sadly uneducated.
Also, I warn you, dear reader (if you read this, that is), that I am quite slow to update. I have started the next chapter, but it's best not to rush me, cause then you'll just have a half-assed slab of words that are no good to anybody. My excuse is that I'm in year 12 (last year of high school in Australia) and I'm trying to stop writing/reading fanfiction so much. I do, however, have a little MattxMello yaoi one shot that's almost finished that I'll post soon-ish.
Anyway, tell me what you thought of the first chapter! Any thoughts, compliments, insults, ideas, or just random words are welcome!! Now go review my pretties!
Please and thank you! :D (And sorry for long A/N's.)
NightRoseK x
-;--- }
