Note: I have now revised this for any grammatical errors I could find, and added in a few extra things that I either helped with transitioning (something I am very bad at :P) or I thought were kind of fun. I will probably be doing revisions for most Chapters, sort of like Kuro-Hana vs. Animanda fansubs. The first copy will be fast, and cranked out like a row of bubbles on standardized tests when you realize you only have ten minutes left for the whole damn section. The second will be any revisions for grammatical errors as well as extra crud I throw into to (I think?) make the story flow better. :)
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'Look at him; he's squirming like a caterpillar. It's a little cute…kind of turned on. Ugh! Fuck! Stupid hormones. I don't even swing that wa—'
"What are you doing to Near?!" A girl around my age with light brown hair in pigtails was standing at the threshold of Near's bedroom door, which neither me nor Matt had thought to close behind us. The ball and jacks that she had been holding in her hand dropped to the ground; the ball bounced a few times before rolling off to the side.
'Shit,' was the only word that was running through my brain. My body was doing a much better job of expressing itself in regards to the arrival of Near's only friend, a protective and concerned girl named Linda. Before I could turn away, I threw up directly onto the white haired boy underneath me…it was something that my stomach had been telling me to do for a while, thanks to all that chocolate liquor I drank, but if it weren't for the girl I think I could have kept it in. He let out a quiet surprised squeak, turning his head up so that his chin was level to the floor. I couldn't really see the expression on his face since I was still on top of him, but I'm guessing it wasn't full of sunshine and rainbows.
"Oh god…" she muttered to herself, looking sick before yelling at the top of her lungs, "ROGER! Mello tried to hurt Near and he just threw up all over him! Near could get sick! Help!" The girl sprinted down the hall towards Roger's large imposing office.
Finally, Near jerked out from underneath me, skidding across the floor before picking himself up again and making a panicked gait for the closest bathroom he could find. I rolled away from the tiny bits of whatever I had eaten that still remained on the hard wooden floor, and sat up stunned, realizing for the first time just how much I was in for it. Matt too.
The redhead was pacing around the room now, getting out the lighter that he said his dad gave him just before he died, and flicking it on just for the sake of watching it burn. He only took out the lighter when he needed to relax and forget about something; I guess whatever momentary high the alcohol had held for him was wearing off just as mine was. With the comfort he seems to find in his lighter, I wouldn't be surprised if he took up smoking later in his life just as an excuse to use it.
He stopped his pacing. There was a long, apprehensive silence between us.
"What were you thinking Mello, suggesting that we go into the teacher's room like that?" His voice was controlled, but every now and then you could hear the fear bubble up into his voice. He was really upset. So was I.
"It was your idea just as much as mine! It's not like you're any less responsible for this than I am. Hell, you drank a lot more than I did. Don't give me this shit!" I was angry with him, but I was even angrier with myself. Linda was not a particularly observant person; she probably wouldn't have noticed that anything was going on if I hadn't been lying on top of Near. And for all the gods' mercy why in the hell did I start licking him?
Of course I knew why. In my drunken thoughts, I recalled a video they had shown in one of our growth and development classes about rape. Like most teaching materials for health classes that were meant to scare children, it included a chaste dramatization, blacking out right before anything really happened. But, before it blacked out I saw the man push the woman against the wall and do what I had just done to my frail, emotionless rival. He had taken the innocent woman's neck as his first target.
I know this is really sick, but the effect rape had on its victims kind of fascinated me, and when I was watching it I thought of Near. I don't want to rape him or anything, that'd make me a psycho. But, I did want to make him scared of me, get a sick feeling in his heart whenever he saw me. I figured that's what rapists do; it's a terrible but effective way to have power over someone. Unlike just beating someone up, rape also has a psychological effect advantageous to the perpetrator; it makes the victim feel as though they are responsible, and therefore they are less likely to reveal the criminal even if it's someone they know and can easily identify.
"Mello, Matt, and Near, please report to Roger's office," I heard a neutral voice over the intercom. For now I was still cool with the other guys; they didn't know what I'd done yet. Since we were the top three students most likely to succeed L, nearly everyone probably thought Roger was calling us in to test our various abilities when they heard the announcement. Except, knowing Linda, she was probably telling the whole story to all the other girls, and exaggerating when she felt it was appropriate.
Matt pocketed his lighter and looked towards me. Left with no other option, we both set out from the once-unsoiled bedroom to meet whatever punishment Roger had in store for us.
While I was walking, I saw Near coming out from the bathroom. He had exchanged his sullied white cotton clothes for a cleaner replica, but had not had time to wash his hair. Even though he had resumed his typical icy expression, he couldn't help but look sheepish with my regurgitated food nestled in his white curls, keeping a slower pace specifically to distance himself between us.
"Judging from Linda's brief account of what she saw, it is quite certain that it was you two, Mello and Matt, who unrightfully entered the teachers' lounge and consumed a large quantity of the alcohol that remained from a New Year's party held the previous night. You both know that such conduct is not only forbidden by the rules of the Wammy House, it is forbidden by national law. Matt, you will be given a month's worth of detention, and both of you will be forbidden to participate in any school activities outside of the premises. Matt, you are dismissed. Please return to your room."
"Yes, sir," my friend tilted his head in shame, and left the office slowly to try and hear what Roger told me.
"Mello, your clear resentment of Near is an extremely serious matter that cannot be ignored. Now, you have compromised his health, and have sexually harassed him to a degree so disgusting I can hardly believe it," Roger was turning red and his brows were furrowed. My knees began to shake and give out from under me, "under normal circumstances, I would create a situation in which both of you would be kept as far apart as possible. However, due to your respective positions in becoming L's successor, it is crucial that you are able to learn from one another to reach your full potentials. I am proposing that you two meet every day for two hours. One hour will be spent with a teacher to mediate your discussions, the second hour the teacher will leave and the two of you will be left to your own devises. This is what you will be doing in place of detention Mello, if I receive approval from Near."
The white haired boy answered quickly, looking up from where he had chosen to sit. The answer, at the time, seemed more damning to me than a lifetime of detentions.
"Yes Roger, it is fine with me."
