March
"Raito Yagami, what the hell is wrong with you?" Misa's voice resembled a shriek as she slammed her palms on the cafeteria table Raito was eating at.
"Calm down," he glanced around to gage how many people were staring at them.
"No," She huffed as she sat down in the seat across from him. "We've been in school three days!"
"I didn't start this one," he argued.
"That's what you said that last time," she reminded him. "But you still threw the first punch."
"They attacked me," Raito told her. "I told them the get lost, but they wouldn't listen. You know that I'm not going to run away from any of them."
"It happened last year," Misa complained, switching her annoyance from Raito to his attackers. "Why can't everyone just let it go?"
"Because they need an outlet for their own anger and stress," Raito rationalized. "I made one mistakes that only effected you, Kiyomi, and myself. Still, as long as people talk about it, they're are going to hate me for it."
"I also effected Mi—"
"Yeah, I know," Raito cut her off.
"I can tell you're wearing makeup," Misa tried to force a humored tone.
"I have a black eye," he explained. "Now it just looks like I'm going through a beauty products phase—not like that would make the assholes from our high school leave me alone. If anything it'll just remind them of my gayness, which will remind them of the incident."
"I didn't know Light-kun was gay," the most irritating voice in the world said from behind him.
"Go away, L," Raito said rudely.
"When you say that it only makes me want to bother you more," L informed as he sat down a seat down from him. "Continue talking about your sexuality."
"Actually we were talking about his make up," Misa said to L.
"I see," L preceded to stare at Raito's face. "It's not very good."
"At least I try to keep my eyes from looking like death," Raito retorted. "I was punched in the face yesterday, what's your excuse for those black eyes?"
"Insomnia," L answered.
"That was a rhetorical question," Raito had to laugh at the serious expression on L's face.
"Oh, I thought it was an insult," L directed his gaze away from Raito and to Misa. "Did he tell you who beat him up?"
"No one beat me up!" Raito interjected.
"It's personal," Misa said in an almost alluring tone that Raito hoped to God she had not intended.
"Interesting," L murmured.
"Thanks for telling her, by the way," Raito's voice was laced with sarcasm.
"You're welcome," L beamed (Raito wasn't completely sure if this was also sarcasm).
"Yeah, thank you L," Misa crossed her arms and glared at Raito. "I would like to think that my best friend would tell me something this serious himself."
"I was going to!" Raito exclaimed. "He beat me to it."
"I was honestly trying to help," L muttered.
"Sure," Raito rolled his eyes. "You just wanted to know what happened, so you turned to the most likely person to gossip about people she cares about."
"Hey," Misa looked offended for only a second. "Okay, that's kinda true…"
Raito chuckled, and he watched L stifle a smile out of the corner of his eye.
Raito felt the three pairs of eyes on him from the moment he walked into Psychology class. It wasn't that he hadn't expected this, although, if anything, he should be to one glaring not them. Knowing that it would only cause him more trouble if he acknowledged the attention his was receiving, Raito kept his gaze in front of him.
Listening to the lesson was impossible. Raito hadn't felt this distracted in months. He refused to look the slightest bit nervous, knowing that the more anxious he seemed the more likely it was that they'd try to jump him again. He scanned the room for something to focus on, his eyes landed on the back of L's head.
Had L always been in his Psych with him? Raito let himself ponder this question. Usually he didn't pay much heed to his classmates, but L was the type that called attention to himself unintentionally. L sat with his back hunched and his legs pulled between his torso and his desk. He couldn't tell from his angle, but if the boy was taking notes Raito was sure that he was holding his pencil with only two fingers.
What a weirdo, Raito couldn't help smirking as he thought this.
Raito hadn't noticed how long L's hair was before. It wouldn't surprise him if he was told that L never brushed it. Yet, it's messy state was oddly appealing. Raito wasn't sure why, but he felt compelled to touch it. He wondered if L would let him get away with that.
Because fate loved to spite Raito, it was at this exact moment that L turned his head to face the back of the classroom. Their eyes met instantly, and Raito knew that L could tell he had been staring at him. As if to confirm this, L raised and eyebrow. Raito rolled his eyes, trying to give off the impression of indifference.
He wasn't sure if L understood this or not, but he was sure that the next thing L saw was the three people who Raito knew were still glaring at him. Raito watched L's eyes travel to the corner of the room they were sitting in. L's expression changed slightly, and Raito wished he could know what his crazy roommate was thinking. L look back at Raito again for a fraction of a second before turning back around.
Raito spent the rest of class imagining what L's hair would feel like.
After Raito's last class ended his plan was to get from his current point on the campus to his room as quickly as possible. Since his string of awful luck was no where near over, this plan was disrupted by an all too familiar voice calling his name.
"Raito, can I talk to you for a moment?" Kiyomi Takada asked as she quickly approached him.
Great, he thought bitterly. You talking to me in a crowded always full of people who idolize you, and used to idolize but now despise me is not going to give the wrong impression at all. Thanks for considering my personal well being, Kiyomi. You're really too kind.
"What is it?" was what he actually voiced. Although his tone wasn't very different from the one he would have spoke his mind with.
"I just wanted to apologize," she sheepishly tucked a strand of her short dark hair behind her ear. "I heard what happened and I—"
"You know, Kiyomi," Raito cut her off. He no longer cared how many people were listening in on their little chat, or how he had spent the past few months trying to act composed and polite around her. "I think it'd be better for the both of us if you just stayed away from me."
With this he curtly turned and began to walk away.
"Raito!" he heard her call from behind him. Her voice was closer to melancholy than anger.
Raito reminded himself that he was done paying for a mistake he had made nearly a year ago. In the back of his mind he realized that her clearly bruised feelings was only going to rally more people against him. He wasn't sure if it was paranoia or if everyone he pasted in the halls were silently watching them. Why couldn't they just mind their own goddamn business?
Raito nearly stopped when his eyes locked with those of someone he knew. This person was definitely staring, but Raito supposed he shouldn't have expected any different. He watched said person turned ever so slightly red, whether this was out of anger or embarrassment was unknown to him. Putting on a cool air, Raito broke the eye contact, acting as if it hadn't happened. He calmly continued walking.
He could feel Teru Mikami's eyes follow his back.
"My life is turning into a soap opera," Raito muttered to himself when he was sure that he was out of earshot.
Due to his plan of getting to his room before anyone could see him being jeopardized, Raito made a detour to the school library. When he found his way there, he wasn't one hundred percent sure that he was being followed, but didn't think that he could make it all the way back to the dorm building without this being a reality. So instead he decided to wait out anyone dead-set on bothering him. It was easy to find a table close the the check out desk where he could do his homework. To his delight, no one bothered him.
By the time he packed up his things and headed home it was nearly night. After checking out the mystery novel he had picked up after he finished the homework due the next day, Raito began his speed walk to his and L's room. Foolishly, he had thought that no one would have waited this long to bother him.
He heard the same three from the day before approaching him before he saw them. Panic began to rise in his chest, but he forced it down. Desperately, he tried to tell himself that he wasn't afraid of these people. Raito's pride had always outweighed his sense of safety, and never in his life had he run from a fight. He was sure as hell not going to start today.
"Leave me alone," he told them without looking behind him.
"Are you giving us orders now?" one of them laughed.
"Yes," Raito said with forced ease. "Sorry, I have a bad habit of doing that to the unintelligent."
The first punch knocked him off of his feet. He quickly shrugged off his heavy book bag and sprang back up.
"I'm sure ganging up on me really makes you feel better about your lives," he continued.
The second punch gave him a bloody jaw, but he was still standing. He threw one back and was pleased when it hit it's mark. Unfortunately that was the only blow he was able to deliver. Before he could dodge them, two of his attackers had him pinned to the ground. The other towered over him, but Raito refused to be intimidated.
"Tell me," he tasted blood as he spoke. "Is it my sexuality that upsets you or the fact that the gay guy can easily get the girls that refuse to even talk to you?"
The third punch made his vision blur. Numbly he wondered if his attackers would stop should he pass out. He doubted they would have the decency to drop his body outside of a hospital.
Vainly he struggled to get free of the two holding him down. He heard laughing, but couldn't register which one of them it was. Maybe it was all three, and his foggy mind couldn't sort out the different sets of laughter.
These questions were cut short when he heard a shout that was clearly not coming from one of the three. Hoping against all odds that the person shouting would stop them, Raito began to struggle harder. He managed to kick the third boy in the kneecap. That was when he saw the white blur running towards them.
"L?"
Thank you to sohesy, Cyinamas, Callicanios, and Corliss Kat for the reviews!