A/N: Boom! Update!
Chapter 7: Senpai
When Light heard the door creak, his eyes snapped open. He jolted awake, sitting up in bed. He took in a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. According to the clock by his bed, it was 5:30 in the morning. This was at least the fifth time he had woken up tonight.
"Bad dream, Light-kun?"
Light's breath hitched. That voice… Light turned his head to find Ryuzaki staring at him.
"R-Ryuzaki." Light jumped out of bed. His mind was buzzing with so many questions that he actually felt light-headed. He couldn't believe Ryuzaki was standing right in front of him. A huge wave of relief washed over him. Ryuzaki was okay. He was okay.
The look relief must have been evident on his face because Ryuzaki smirked.
"I won't disappear again, so don't worry, Light-kun."
"I-I wasn't…" Light glanced away, feeling his face heat with a blush.
Ryuzaki's eyes widened. His gaze bore into Light as if he was studying the teen. Light shifted uncomfortably, staring down at the floor. His lie was so obvious that it was embarrassing.
Thankfully, Ryuzaki changed the subject. "Do you want my number?"
"Yeah. What is it?" Light rushed over to his desk and got his phone.
Ryuzaki told him the number while Light added his roommate to his list of contacts.
Light was still staring at his phone when Ryuzaki asked suddenly, "Do you still want to move out, Light-kun?"
Light paused for moment, thinking it over. Switching rooms would be a huge hassle. Also, there was no way in hell that he was going to counseling with Ryuzaki. Maybe staying in the same dorm wouldn't be so bad.
"Well…" Light answered slowly, "That depends on how you act."
Ryuzaki smiled happily. "I will behave better, Light-kun."
"Good." Light set his phone down and faced Ryuzaki again. "So, where were you this whole time?"
"In the library."
Light frowned. "No, you weren't."
Ryuzaki blinked in surprise. "And how would know that, Light-kun? Did you search for me?"
Light crossed his arms, refusing to answer the question.
Ryuzaki's smile widened. "You searched for me."
"Seriously, where were you?"
He shrugged. "I spent my nights in a private room in the library with the door closed. During the day, I left campus."
"Oh." Light had only searched the library during the day, not at night. "Where did you go off campus?"
"I went sightseeing. I'm a foreign exchange student after all."
Light immediately thought of the bombing in London. He felt like he should say something, but he had no idea what. There probably wasn't anything he could say that would make Ryuzaki feel better about it. Light had no idea how he'd feel if Japan had been bombed in the same manner. Still, he should say something.
"About the bombing…"
Ryuzaki studied his face and nodded. "I'm all right, Light-kun. Thank you for your concern."
His roommate knew what Light was trying to say before he even said it. Light smiled a little.
"Light-kun, the café should open soon," Ryuzaki said abruptly. "Will you accompany me?"
"Sure, Ryuzaki."
His roommate wasn't so bad.
The rest of the weekend had gone very well. L had enjoyed himself immensely.
Saturday morning, he had breakfast with Light. And in the afternoon, they played tennis and L actually won. Light had blamed his defeat on lack of sleep. Then L reminded the boy that he was far more deprived of sleep than he was. That shut Light up. Well, until their next match on Sunday. Light had gloated over that victory.
They also started playing chess together, and they ate all of their meals together. L was on cloud nine. He hadn't mentioned Light's nocturnal emission or spoke of anything sexual for the past couple of days. It clearly paid off. Light was becoming much more relaxed around him.
Perhaps I had come on too strong… L wasn't very experienced with socializing. Light was his first ever friend. He was completely fascinated with Light, and he wanted to know the teen's most private, deep thoughts. He wanted to know everything. But he was beginning to learn that he needed to move slowly with Light. If he pushed the boy too much, Light may threaten to move out again. L couldn't have that.
For right now, their innocent friendship would have to be enough. Although L definitely had other things on his mind… That would have to wait.
Being around Light made L feel things that he had never felt before. Things he didn't even know he was a capable of feeling. For the first time, he felt connected to another person. On an intellectual level, Light was the perfect match for him. And on a physical level… L was well aware of his interest in the teen. His dream of ravaging Light on a table had made that quite obvious to him.
The look on Light's face when L had returned to the dorm…had been priceless. Light had looked so happy to see him. And after Light denied being worried, his expression had quickly become flustered and embarrassed. The blush on his face was adorable. L loved seeing him like that. He wanted to see what other expressions Light could make. He wanted to see the teen come completely undone. He wanted to see Light's skin flushed and his lips parted, gasping and clinging and arching his back-
L shook that thought from his mind. He was getting ahead of himself. He needed to wait until the timing was right. The last thing he wanted was to scare Light away again.
L stared across the room at Light who was fast asleep in bed. It was Sunday night. Recently, L had acquired more leads on the criminal organization that had bombed London. He had been working on his laptop for hours while watching Light sleep peacefully.
In the morning, L needed to decide if he was going to have class or not. Since Light had skipped class on Wednesday, he was due for some kind of punishment… But L was really enjoying his peaceful time with the teen.
L continued typing on his laptop. He was busy with the bombing case anyway. He'd start class again later in the week.
Since L's class was still canceled, Light only had Calculus and English to attend to. During Calculus, Light managed to catch up on the work he had missed Friday. Then he went to English class, and Mikami sat next to him as always.
While the English professor prattled on, Mikami asked quietly, "Did you ever hear from your roommate?"
"Yeah," Light whispered. "He came back during the weekend. He's fine."
"So, where was he?"
Somehow, Light ended up telling Mikami all about Ryuzaki for the rest of class.
Once class was finally over, Mikami commented, "Well, Ryuzaki certainly sounds like an interesting guy."
"Yeah, it's hard to be bored around him," Light blurted out, before he quickly shut his mouth. W-What the hell am I saying? I don't enjoy his company that much, do I?
With his mind still in turmoil, Light gathered his belonging and headed toward the exit. Mikami walked with him down the hallway.
"You don't have any other classes today, right?" Mikami asked casually. "Do you want to get lunch?"
"Sure. Where do you want to go?"
Light had been hanging around Ryuzaki all weekend. It was about time he started socializing with other people.
In about ten minutes, Light and Mikami were eating together in the cafeteria, and they were having a nice, normal conversation. Then Light felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took out the phone and saw that he had a text from Ryuzaki.
'I'm hungry. Let's go to the café.' Sent from Ryuzaki
Light rolled his eyes and texted him back.
'I'm already eating in the cafeteria.'
His phone buzzed as a new text flashed on the screen.
'I will meet you there.' Sent from Ryuzaki
Light blinked at the message in surprise. Then he leaned back in his chair with a sigh. Great, Ryuzaki just invited himself to lunch.
"Is something wrong?" Mikami gave him a concerned look.
"No, it's just my roommate… He's-"
"Hello, Light-kun." Ryuzaki suddenly appeared and crouched on the chair next to him.
"-Here." Light finished dryly.
Mikami extended a hand across the table like he wanted to shake hands. "Hi, you must be Ryuzaki. I've heard a lot about you."
Ryuzaki glared at the hand, refusing to take it. "I've heard nothing of you."
"Uh…" Light introduced him. "Ryuzaki, this is Mikami-senpai."
Ryuzaki tilted his head to the side. "Senpai?"
"Yes, I'm a senior." Mikami lowered his hand as he explained, "I'm interviewing at different law schools right now. What about you?"
"I am also a senior," Ryuzaki announced.
"Oh, really?" Mikami asked. "What's your major?"
Ryuzaki turned toward his roommate. "Light-kun, why don't you call me senpai?"
"What?" Light furrowed his brow. "You're…my roommate."
"So?"
"I didn't even know you were a senior."
"You do now. And from now on, you shall refer to me as Ryuzaki-senpai."
"I'm not doing that." He gave Ryuzaki an irritated look before facing Mikami again. "So, do you know what law school you want to go to, Mikami-senpai?"
His classmate answered, "Oh, right now I'm still deciding between-"
Ryuzaki cut him off. "Proper etiquette dictates that you call me Ryuzaki-senpai."
"You aren't even Japanese," Light hissed at him. "Why do you care?"
"I always call you Light-kun. Clearly, I follow Japanese honorifics."
"It doesn't matter, Ryuzaki." Light gazed back at Mikami. "Sorry, what were you saying?"
Before Mikami could even open his mouth, Ryuzaki interrupted him again. "Since honorifics don't matter, perhaps I'll start calling you Light-chan."
Light bristled as an angry blush colored his cheeks. "Don't you dare."
Mikami crossed his arms. "Well, you two are awfully close."
"No, we aren't," Light snapped.
"Yes, Light-chan and I are exceedingly close," Ryuzaki declared.
"Don't call me that!"
Lunch had been a disaster. Ryuzaki had been incredibly rude to Mikami, and even now he was still adding that insulting honorific to Light's name. Light-chan. No one has ever called him Light-chan before. Not even when he was little. It was demeaning. It pissed off Light to no end. But even so, hell would freeze over before he ever called Ryuzaki senpai. It was a matter of principle now. He would never call Ryuzaki senpai.
The next day, Light woke up to the sound of his alarm beeping. He turned off the alarm as he sleepily sat up in bed. Across the room, Ryuzaki was perched on his bed with a laptop in front of him.
"Good morning, Light-chan."
Light tensed as he glared at the weird dark-haired man. "Stop calling me that."
"Calling you what, Light-chan?"
"You know what. Knock it off," Light growled as he headed toward the community bathroom.
Once Light was ready, he walked to Wedy's class with Ryuzaki following him. He sat down, then Ryuzaki perched on the seat beside him. Today Wedy gave a gratuitous, sexually-explicit lecture about homosexuality. The crazy woman even showed movie clips of men kissing. Light shifted uncomfortably in chair, looking away from the screen. Then he noticed that Ryuzaki was staring at the gay kiss scene with wide eyes…as if he was studying it.
Light shuddered and averted his gaze once again. Ryuzaki's previous accusations came to mind. "You have profiled L as a man and you dreamed about him in a sexual manner. So, according to your own logic, Light-kun, you are also a fag."
No, I'm not. That dream was a one-time fluke. Light didn't believe that crap about dreams being hidden desires. Dreams were just dreams. Nothing more. It didn't mean anything. Light instantly recalled how it felt to be pinned down by Ryuzaki. That hadn't been a dream. That was very real. Light swallowed hard, then he glanced over at Ryuzaki again. His roommate's black eyes were still transfixed on the screen.
Ryuzaki had been obsessed with Light's dream. But he hadn't mentioned it at all since he had returned. Suddenly, those black eyes blinked, then Ryuzaki turned his head to look at him. Light quickly tilted his head down toward his desk.
After the movie clip was over, Wedy passed out questionnaires for the students to fill out.
Light began circling answers, then Ryuzaki asked, "Light-chan, can I borrow a pen?"
Nearby students giggled while Light's face burned with embarrassment.
"No," he snapped.
"Why not, Light-chan?"
He turned toward Ryuzaki and hissed, "You are seriously starting to piss me off."
Ryuzaki quickly swiped a pen off his desk. "Thank you for the pen, Light-chan."
Light scowled. "I am never going to call you senpai ever."
"Why?" Ryuzaki whined.
Light ignored him as he continued filling out the questionnaire.
In chemistry class, Light took notes on professor's lecture while Ryuzaki sat perched next to him, pouting.
Ryuzaki grumbled, "You call Mikami senpai."
"Yeah, so?" Light continued jotting down notes.
"I'm a senior, too."
"I don't care."
Ryuzaki whined loudly, "That's not fair, Light-chan."
"Stop calling me that!" Light furiously snatched the collar of Ryuzaki's shirt, ready to punch him in the face.
All around them, students were watching him in shock. Light quickly released Ryuzaki and leaned back in his chair. He cleared his throat and continued taking notes like nothing had happened.
Once chemistry class was over, Light walked across campus with Ryuzaki trailing behind him. The annoying man had been following all day, calling him Light-chan whenever he got the chance. Light needed to put an end to this once and for all. If this didn't stop soon, Ryuzaki's obnoxious behavior would lead to another fistfight. Light had already come close to hitting him today.
While they walked, they passed by the tennis court. An idea stuck Light as he jerked to a halt. Ryuzaki also stopped and gave him a questioning look.
"Let's settle this, Ryuzaki. I'll play against you in a game of tennis and if I win, you can never call me Light-chan again."
"And if I win, Light-chan?"
Light sighed. "Then I'll call you senpai. Deal?"
"Deal."
Light and Ryuzaki had ran up and down the tennis court for almost an hour. It had been the most challenging game of Light's life. And the stakes were high. Defeat was not an option; his pride couldn't take it. So when Light returned the ball perfectly, spiking it into the ground, he let out a huge sigh of relief.
He had won.
Ryuzaki was less than happy.
After the game, they were both exhausted so they stopped by the café for a snack. Light ate a small bag of potato chips while Ryuzaki ordered a large, pink cupcake. The dark-haired man was crouched on his chair, frowning down at his cupcake.
Light crossed his arms. "Oh, just cheer up and eat your cupcake."
"I want Light-kun to call me senpai."
"Well, too bad. You lost."
Ryuzaki looked even sadder.
"Stop pouting already."
"Why do you call Mikami senpai?"
Light shrugged. "It's the polite thing to do. Besides, I don't know him as well as I know you."
Ryuzaki immediately perked up. "So, Light-kun doesn't use honorifics with me because of how close we are?"
Light flinched, caught off guard. "That's not what I said."
"That is exactly what Light-kun said." He smiled happily. "We are close."
Light's eyes widened slightly as his face reddened, then he glanced away. "Just eat your cupcake."
A/N: Awww Cuteness
