Beyond tapped his forefinger to his thumb, then his middle, then his ring, then his pinkie, and finally restarted the process with his forefinger. He repeated the process over and over again. It was a habit that A had gotten him into in order to soothe his anger and right now Beyond Birthday was furious.

Lawliet had upset A. Beyond didn't quite know how yet but he had and that crime was unforgivable. Beyond was this close to decking Lawliet in the face right then and there; if only A wasn't resting his head on his shoulder.

A's head had lulled onto Beyond's shoulder about ten minutes ago. He was down for the count and Beyond just couldn't bring himself to wake him up. His messy brown hair brushed up against the exposed skin of his collarbone. A's hair was always disheveled, no matter how hard he tried his hair would always stick up in the back. It was damn near adorable.

A normally didn't nod off in class, that was normally his brother's thing. As of recent though, A's been having more and more of a hard time staying awake. He says he perfectly fine but it's well documented that A is the worst liar alive.

Beyond wondered idly about what was keeping him up at night. Could it have been the studying? No that wasn't it, or at least not in its entirety. A had always over stressed about school but a rule had been instated that prevented A from staying up past a certain time to complete projects and A never broke that rule for fear of death by Beyond.

Was he simply not able to sleep anymore? Beyond went through that phase at one point in his life and he was sure that everyone else had a similar experience. If this was A's insomnia phase then so be it. Still it was a little unbecoming for B's best friend was having a problem and Beyond didn't know what was causing it.

So Beyond started formulating a plan. First, he'd need an excuse to stay overnight at A's house. Thankfully A had provided him with an excuse in more ways than one. Beyond hastily began scribbling notes on the lecture as quickly as he could. It hadn't been a particularly strenuous lesson so Beyond was able to pick up the slack in no time. Now all he needed was for the class to end.

When it finally did, Beyond had to wait for the other students to leave. One of them, a boy with auburn hair and an obnoxiously formal sense of dress gave him an evil eye like he was making a very earnest attempt to choke him with his mind. Beyond even went as far as to do an impersonation of somebody being strangled. The boy left with an indignant huff. Beyond's resulting laughter woke A up.

"BB, what are you doing?"

"I… am… being… an asshole." Beyond said through fits of laughter. A just stared at him.

"BB, what am I going to do with you?"

"You could punish me…" Beyond grinned toothily and clicked the back of his teeth with his tongue.

A only rolled his eyes at Beyond's attempt at being smooth. "I'm serious though, how long was I out for?"

"The entire period"

"And you didn't bother to wake me!"

"You looked so cute and just couldn't wake you."

A's mouth opened and closed in both embarrassment and annoyance. He shook his hand in a vain attempt to clear his mind. "Yeah but now I've missed a lesson-"

"I took some notes for you." Beyond interjected a little too quickly.

"Yes but if I take your notes then you won't have any for yourself."

"Well…" Beyond had A right where he wanted him. "We could go back to your house and copy the notes there." Beyond gave A his best innocent look, it didn't look all that innocent.

A sighed. "Alright, but you better behave yourself. I don't want to have to go to the ER. Understand me."

"Yes sir!" Beyond did an extravagant salute. A just stood up and pulled his bag over his shoulder and left with Beyond giggling behind him like a Tickle Me Elmo with dying batteries. A tugged at the sleeves of his windbreaker nervously. Beyond stopped immediately. L was standing by the exit to the school.

As they passed Beyond's adopted nemesis, Beyond made unblinking eye contact as he wrapped an arm around A. Daring him to suggest he put his hand anywhere else. When Beyond had seen L, he'd gotten that bitter taste in his mouth that always came with looking at something repulsive.

Oh sure, Beyond got on well enough with L. They even occasionally shared a laugh about the obvious sexual tension between Mello and Matt. When the subject of him and A was brought up however, Beyond started tasting metal. L was always medaling in his life. Trying to insist that A go to a hospital, that Beyond take his meds again, that Beyond and A's relationship was self-destructive. What the hell did he know? L Lawliet had never had to take medication or go into a hospital in his life. Nor did he have to go two weeks without being able to see his best literal reason for living. L didn't know shit.

"BB are you okay?"

Beyond looked over at A's concerned face and forgot why he was so angry. A's face was full of deep concern. The bright light was reflecting off his thick framed glasses in such a way that you couldn't see his big brown eyes anymore. Beyond was damn near tempted to steal Mello's gun and attempt to shoot out the sun just to see them. Though that would most likely end with several dead birds and another charge on his rap sheet.

"I'm fine, just a bit distracted— and for god's sake A either take the jacket off or leave it alone!"

A was picking at his windbreaker indecisively. It was red and grey and was a little big for him. No matter how hot it was outside, A could be counted on to be wearing it. Between the overly large coat and thick glasses, A looked like a complete dork.

When he took them off however, it revealed that he had a body you could bounce marbles off of.

A finally conceded in taking off the jacket and exposed a white shirt that in stark contrast to the coat was a little tighter than necessary. Beyond would freely admit that A was supremely attractive to everyone else in the world; granted he did find most people repulsive but the hell with it.

A's house was only a few blocks away from the school so it didn't really take them long to get home. A's parents weren't home a lot so it wasn't much of a surprise to see that they were alone in the house. Beyond had been to A's house several times, so much so that it felt more like his home than his actual house.

A's house was clean, almost immaculately so. The many books on the shelf were perfectly in place and the carpets were clean and pristine. Beyond could easily picture A cleaning the house when he couldn't sleep at night. Maybe that's what he does instead of sleep.

Then Beyond got a look at A's room.

A was the more scatter brained of the two of them and as such would leave his things strewn haphazardly all over the room. It drove Beyond nuts!

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna copy my notes while I clean your bedroom because this is a disaster area."

"It is not!" A stamped his foot indignantly.

"A darling, it looks like somebody Hiroshima bombed this place, it's a mess in here." Beyond put his hands on A's shoulders.

"Beyond, if you touch a single thing in this room, I will castrate you." A put his hands on either side of Beyond's face.

"Hmm, kinky." Came the voice of A's brother in the doorway.

"Matt, go away."

Matt cracked a sly grin from the doorway. The red head still had his bag over his shoulder so he'd just gotten in.

"What do you want Matt?" A asked, taking his hands off of Beyond's face and stuffing them into his pants pockets.

"Just seeing what the two of you were up to but I can see now that I'm not wanted." Matt laughed bitterly before walking out of the room. Beyond heard him plop his bag hit the carpet. He also heard the metal clink of a cigarette lighter.

So did A. "Matt! That better not be a cigarette your smoking!"

"No, I'm just smoking crack you asshole. Yes it's a cigarette, what of it?"

"Mail!" A got up and ran after his brother and Beyond followed, cackling like a mad man.

Beyond stopped as A went into the living room. Beyond had stubbed his toe on Matt's school bag. A devious thought crossed his mind. Beyond crouched down low and opened Matt's bag. Inside were several notebooks, a spare videogame cartridge, and Matt's laptop. Jackpot!

Beyond slipped Matt's laptop onto his knees and began pulling off one of his stupid stunts. He pulled up some particularly vile pornographic imagery and set it as Matt's desktop background. Yes, he was acting like a child, and he loved it.

He had just finished sliding the computer back into the bag and leaned himself up against the wall when Matt came in and wrenched the bag away from Beyond.

"I'm gonna go have a drag with Mello! Don't wait up!" Matt shouted back at A.

"Use protection!" Beyond supplied.

"Eat shit and die!" Matt threw back as he stepped out of the door.

A looked about ready to cry. He always was a bit of a crier when he was upset and now was no exception. "Oh why does he make me have to yell at him?"

A lifted up his specs and wiped the beginnings of tears out of his eyes. Beyond came over and wrapped his arms around A's wrists.

"A, calm down. Let's clear out minds, step away from the situation, and focus on something else." Beyond dragged A over to the couch and sat him down on the couch. He pulled out his own copy of the notes and several pieces of notebook paper. A looked determinately at the papers and the second Beyond's hands were out of the way, he got to work.

Beyond pulled out his own computer and began working on a paper of his own. They fell into an easy silence. While it was nice to study with Near on occasion, both would whole heartedly agree that they were each other's perfect study buddy. There was this synchronicity between A's breathing and the gentle tap of the key strokes that gave the room a sense of captivating quiet. It was utterly blissful.

They would have stayed like that for hours had A not finished his notes. He stretched idly and Beyond couldn't help but watch the muscles tense and relax as he stretched. A leaned back onto the sofa.

"Did you intentionally write these notes as long windily as possible just so it would take me longer?"

"Maybe… what are gonna do about it?" Beyond gave him his best 'innocent' smile. A hit him over the head with a sofa cession. Beyond only laughed.

"BB, you're so weird." A laughed, curling up and leaning against his shoulder.

"Understatement of the fucking century, sweetheart," Beyond lay his head on top of A's. He let his eyes close and just enjoyed the peace and quiet. He would have stayed like that forever if he could; breathing in the subtle scent of A's shampoo.

Unfortunately, Matt had to ruin the moment, again.

A's phone went off with a deafening cry. A uncurled himself from his position on Beyond's shoulder and answered it.

"Hello, Matt what is it?"

"Where's your boyfriend? Go on put him on." A pressed the speaker button.

"Matt just tell me what's wrong." A sounded worried.

"Your sweet sweet BB replaced my epic desktop background with some 'Vor porn." Matt sounded pissed but Beyond could hear Mello howling with laughter. Fantastic!

A looked at Beyond with a look that could only mean 'why the fuck would you do that'. "BB, why would you do something like this?"

"What, I thought he might find it helpful. Lord knows that's not the worst thing he's got on there."

Matt was about to cut in, but A cut him off. "Look, Matt, I will try and talk to him about it. For now, just make sure he didn't leave you anymore presents." A hung up the phone and just stared at Beyond with exasperation.

Beyond was absolutely shaking with ruckus laughter.

"