Chapter Text
I took a quick look at the survey the Orientation Counselor had passed. It was all generics, so I filled it out as quickly as possible.
Name? Mail Jeevas
Major? Computer Science and Engineering
Year? Freshman
Was this institution your first choice? If not, please state why: Declined to state
Interested in Community Service? Uh, hell no.
Are you now or were you ever a Veteran? What the fuck? Who the hell makes these questions?
The overly excited O.C. handed us some schedules that I glanced at before tuning her out completely…She was babbling something about school pride. I didn't catch much until I felt a dozen pairs of eyes on me. She pointed to a sign that read ‘No smoking within 20 ft of this sign.’
Damn, this was going to be a long day indeed…
Alright...so I glanced at the damn schedule they handed us.
Zero Week Freshman Activities—Day 1
8 AM: Arrival and Orientation speech with counselors
10 AM-12 PM: Registration and Commencement
12 PM: LUNCH
1:30 - 3 PM: Club Rush Fair
5 - 10 PM: Move-in, Dinner, Activities
10 PM - 1 AM: Special Guest Presentation
Table 1, 1:41 PM, Info Desk for Chi Zeta Rho (A social fraternity…a little too social)
"Hi. I'm looking for the ga—"
"Are you a virgin?"
I simply stared at the boy in front of me, "Excuse me?"
"They won't let you in if you're still a virgin." He looked back down at his paperwork, stapling a few packets together.
I gaped at him. Well, yeah, I am a virgin, but who the hell did this guy think he was to ask so bluntly? And what kind of greeting was that anyway? Wasn't he supposed to be recruiting people?
He handed me the packet, "Our frat house is at the end of Weston Lane, you can't miss it. Be sure to pop a few cherries before you drop by. Next."
Most awkward 3 minutes. Ever.
Table 14, 2:11 PM, Recruitment Desk for Grace 2 U Campus Choir (or some crap like that)
"I bet you have a great singing voice!" squeaked the little brunette behind her 3-inch-thick glasses.
I didn't even look twice before I said, "Sorry, not interested. I'm looking for the gaming club, is it around—"
She pushed some pamphlets at me.
"Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster," I said, throwing her the Vulcan salute," Um, actually, I'm just looking for—"
"We go on retreats and sing to raise money to send Christmas presents to little orphans in Paraguay."
I frowned. CFSM usually gets them. Persistent little mouse, eh?
"Listen, honey, unless you wanna hear my personal rendition of 'Hell is for Children', save your goodie-two-shoes shit for someone who gives a fuck. Now, where're the gaming clubs?"
With wide eyes, she pointed far across the soccer stadium to the edge, past the LGBT club that was giving out free condoms and anti-AIDS pamphlets. I smiled and walked in that direction. But in an entire field full of clubs and organizations, half an hour of walking still wouldn't have gotten me to my destination.
Table 49, Student Services Association, Delta Justice (the 12th Greek Organization I'd passed today)
It wasn't like the place was so damn big that I couldn't find my way around, but yeah, I'd gotten lost again. But, eh, I'm a Freshman, so shove it. There was another Greek organization to my left. The little albino kid at the table seemed safe to ask directions from, so I ventured to stop. That's when I noticed what he had in his hands.
"Oh. My. God! I thought they discontinued the Nobel models! Where did you get that Gundam?" I indicated the distinctly female robot figure in his fingers.
The boy looked up at me with blank eyes and seemed about to answer when a voice came from behind me.
"Nate! What are you doing manning our booth? No one's going to want to join if you're on recruitment duty. Where the hell is Light? I need to ask him if the preparations are all ready for my performance tonight."
I turned around and found myself facing a rather prissy-looking hippie. Giant psychedelic sunglasses covered the majority of his blond head. And oh my mushrooms, he was wearing purple skinny jeans! I had to bite rather hard not to burst out laughing.
"Light and L are working on the preparations, Mihael," said the slightly annoyed boy who was apparently Nate. " I believe as Vice-President, I am quite qualified for this task."
"Co Vice-pres, dumbass." Corrected the flamboyant fairy-boy, "Don't think for one minute our shared title makes you any better than me. And you, Goggles, what's that smirk for?"
"N-nothing.'" I said, in a failed attempt to sound innocent. "I've just never seen anyone advertise their homosexuality so…openly." I indicated the rainbow set of bangles hanging from both his arms.
"Oh, you wish you could fuck this," he purred, removing the sunglasses to reveal a rather stunning set of blue eyes. "Sorry to disappoint you, though, I'm not gay."
What the fuck? Saying this guy wasn't gay was like saying George Bush Jr. was a good President, or that Gary Coleman's life didn't suck. Who was he trying to fool? He was a walking rainbow.
"Well, Nate, just don't screw up too badly or L will be pissed. I'm off to find Light. Later bitches."
Well, he was a character, that's for sure.
"So was he like on his period or something?" I asked the guy left at the table.
"Oh, Mihael's always like that before a show. You see, our Fraternity is assisting with the special presentation for all the Freshmen tonight, and he has a rather big part to play in the display."
"I see…so what exactly does this whole 'student services' thing entail? That's a pretty vague calling for a fraternity." I shrugged at Nate.
"Delta Justice is a network of students devoted to improving the quality of campus life. We organize a lot of the social activities as well as manage the largest Tearoom on campus."
"Tearoom?" I raised an eyebrow. "What? You guys sit around tables sipping Earl Grey with your pinkies in the air and knitting doilies?"
He actually laughed at that, which, to be honest, it hadn't looked like the little guy had it in him to smile, much less laugh.
"Here," he said, scribbling something on a paper and handing it to me," is the location. I won't tell you what goes on there, but let's just say it's an integral part of the college experience. We won't be operational for about two weeks, but make sure you stop by soon."
A little confused, I pocketed the paper. This school was fucking weird, I swear…
12:30 AM, Auditorium
"All right, wow, wasn't that just great, guys. Let's give them a big hand, everyone. It takes some real talent to make condom jewelry!" said the Counselor, whose name I think was Roy, "Now I'd like you all to give it up for Delta Justice, our Student Services Fraternity. They have a rather special presentation for all of you."
I was already expecting Mihael to walk onto the stage. What was utterly surprising, however, was that he'd replaced his rainbow with black leather. Skin-tight leather. On every inch of him. It hid none of his perfectly sculpted physique. Several girls squealed at the sight…which, yeah, when added to the way he cat-walked, it was downright hot.
The dude with the microphone, Roy or whatever, smiled and turned to the leather-clad blond, pointing the microphone towards him. "And what will you be doing for us tonight, Mihael Keehl?"
He threw his head back and slid his fingers through some slightly tousled blond strands, "I'm going to do what I do every time I walk into a room. I'm going to make everyone hot and bothered."
With the snap of his fingers, Michael Sembello began to play from the speakers. And Mihael began to dance. Maniac was the exact appropriate song for this guy—he owned it. His body was simply fluid and in perfect sync with the rhythm. I was watching in rapt attention, just like everyone else. Mihael, however, didn't seem to think he'd excited the audience enough, because he abruptly stopped.
Everyone was a little confused until he reached the zipper on his vest. He tugged agonizingly slowly. Then he let it slip right off his arms, revealing his perfect abs. He continued dancing, more frantic than his earlier fluidity, but damn. Simply damn. He began to touch himself rather inappropriately, causing more squeals from the girls in the audience. I was growing rather uncomfortable with how much I was enjoying the display.
I couldn't be the only guy who went hard when his fingers slid to the lacings on his crotch.
He turned around, giving us a perfect view of his ass as he undid his pants. Someone from offstage threw a top hat towards him, and he caught it in his left hand as he swirled around to greet us. I held my breath when he slid the hat over his crotch and slowly kicked the pants down… sooo wasn't helping the tent in my jeans …
When the black fabric was resting on his ankles, he reached down with one hand to yank them off completely, and still swaying to the motion of the song, he threw them into the audience.I know I was sitting ten rows from the stage, and I'm sure the probability of it was like super slim, but I'm not fucking kidding you—they landed in my face…
Notes:
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed yourself. Comments are always welcome <3
Chapter 2: DDR (MATT POV)
Notes:
AN: I have 12 chapters of this story that are being edited through, and they will be posted probably once a week or so.
The Prologue and Chapter 1 are both from MATT POV, but starting after this, they do switch off, so the next chapter is MELLO POV etc...
The song at the beginning is the song danced to in the DDR battle, if you'd like to give it a listen.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
Click. I hit the button on my phone alarm, effectively trouncing the annoying little beeps it kept throwing at me.
"Aw fuck it. Is it 9 already?" I groaned to no one in particular.
I rubbed at my sleepy eyes and slid slowly up, my sheet half draped across my naked legs. I'd tacked a calendar on the wall adjacent to my bed; it served as my "planner." Tch. Like, I really wanted to be organized. 17 little x's marked the days since I'd moved in. Today was…Oh shit! My first day of work was today! Crap crap crap crap….
I threw my sheets to the ground, not really caring about the haphazard lump they formed against my bedpost, and threw open the door to my wardrobe. Oh Jeezum Crow! My foot made contact with the corner of a forgotten pizza box, sending a light throb down my heel and causing me to hop about stupidly.
Leaning onto the bed for support, I slipped into my lucky jeans—I don't care what my mother says about luck being all in your head and crap because I've never lost a Mario Kart tournament with these babies on! The only thing cooler than my lucky jeans are my kick-ass goggles. That's right, bitches, I wear goggles even cooler than anime characters, and I fuckin' rock them. I nodded once more to the doppelganger in the mirror before pulling my backpack out from the wardrobe's corner. Stupid piece of crap was caught on something, so I bent into the space, lighting up the darkness with my cell phone.
One of the straps had become entangled in a long length of shiny black fabric. I pulled it out carefully and let the pants rest on the small mattress of my bed. Just looking at them brought heat flushing to my cheeks. That…that guy. Mihael Keehl…
I've never been so singularly turned on in my life. Girl or guy. Well, I guess that's the first time I've ever looked at a dude that way—not that I'm closed-minded about my sexuality. My reaction was just a little…unexpected, is all.
I let my fingers run down the length of the leather. Holy Zelda …where did he fit it all in these? I've seen girl jeans at double zero with more hip space than these.
I still had that slip of paper that the albino kid gave me. Maybe I'd check out that Tearoom or whatever it was, you know, to return these pants…and get another look at their sexy owner…In went the pants to a small pouch on the end of my backpack.
Before stepping out, I took one last look at my dorm room—which wasn't saying much. Twelve thousand dollars a year for a tiny space that barely fits my desk, wardrobe, and bed. Twin-sized bed too! I mean, you couldn't even fit two people on it if you wanted to—er…not that I'd be needing enough room for two people or anything…No, I am not imagining a certain blond lying naked against my sheets. Shut up or I will pwn your ass at Halo! Don't even try me; my trigger finger's already twitching.
"Yo Matusuda!" I called out as I tapped on the glass to 'Game On!' Ha …I'd squirted apple juice from my nose last week when I'd opened my e-mail notification from the Work-Study Program. I mean, seriously, with all the cashier jobs on campus, it was a pretty good stroke of luck to be assigned to arcade detail.
A tall, gangly guy came and unlocked the glass double doors to let me in. A wave of AC hit my face as I walked into the vacuum seal of electronic paradise. Eight rows of computers, big screen televisions, and gaming consoles arranged themselves around this room. This room was where Matsuda would work, charging students by the hour for unlimited play on all the current-most RPGs and pretty much anything you could buy (or hack… hell yeah, Wii emulators! ). I could already imagine the ghostly screams from a future showdown on Fatal Frame 4…
"Hey Jeevas. Ah, you can put your backpack in one of the employee lockers over there." He pointed to a small row of gray cubbies at the far side of the room, behind the counter. I grinned and shoved my stuff in an empty one.
"So, are you ready to go get started?"
"Sure thing, Matsuda. "
I was already familiar with the adjacent room, where I'd rule as the designated techie. It was full of the old school arcade classics: Pac-Man, Pong, and even a pinball machine. Every Tuesday and Friday for 3 hours, my kingdom would be the wires and plips of excited customers feeding their quarters to the arcade craze.
We welcomed a few customers, but not too many people came to the play this early. The morning progressed pretty much without incident until somewhere near the end of our shift, when Matsuda decided to take a piss break and asked me to man his counter. A pair of girls had just walked in, so I smiled at the blonde chick who sauntered up to the counter. Hello! Fishnets and lace …man, they know where to hit a guy where it hurts! I had trouble looking away from the two smooth scoops of vanilla that poked out of her corset-like top.
But my eyes stopped on the dark-haired girl next to her. She was also a petite Asian, and she flashed me a quirky little grin as they approached the desk. These were definitely not the typical customers. Heh…nerdy girls don't dress like that. Mmm spaghetti straps. Ah…is that even a skirt? It doesn't cover much… O crap, she saw me staring.
"Say, I was wondering if you were game enough to take me on at DDR. Misa," she turned back towards the blond, flipping a few black strands out of her dark eyes," doesn't really like to play."
DDR? Please. Have I told you, no one beats me at games? I stepped out from the counter, since, ya know, using the systems is an, ahem, integral part of keeping up their functionality and uh…maintenance and uh… aww hell, I wanted to play too, okay?
"Well, I guess that's Misa's loss, now, isn't it?" I winked at the blond girl, "Just give me a minute for the other guy to come back, and I'll join you in the other room."
When he came back, I pointed in the direction of the other room, letting his eyes follow the invisible trail of my finger. Matsuda's jaw actually slacked a little when he caught sight of the delicious pair. I left him to his post, smiling to myself. This was going to be fun.
She slid up easily to the platform, depositing her change casually in the slots before turning to me and winking once more, "Alright…Mail," she noted from the nametag on my shirt, "Why don't you pick the song?"
Lions. Tigers. And Bears…Oh my …this kid was making it way too easy. I scrolled down the playlist, picking out an obscure track that I was sure she'd never heard of, "So what's your name?"
"Sayu. Sayu Yagami."
I didn't have time to respond as the music began to engulf us, demanding all of our attention.
Nintendo Power Glove,
Locked and loaded with my finger on the trigger.
And you'll notice that a fuck is what I give 'er.
Click-Click-Bang,
It's the zapper gun game,
If you're with it come hang,
If you're not then you're lame.
Oh yeah. I'm totally in my element. Down Up Up Up Sidestep Left and lift on the handles. Poor kid didn't know who she was challenging. Oh well. I decided to slow my pace a little bit to glance at her, I mean, it couldn't hurt to indulge her a little by pretending she might have a fighting chance at beating m...me… O_O haaah? …I could totally see her panties when she bends over… Awww shit! My arrows shrank! Focus Mail! Focus! Right Up Left Combo!
D-Duck, D-Duck Season,
Wh-What, Wh-What Heathen,
Give up for no reason?
Man, we make the party go.
Go!
Collect dimes like Super Mario.
As the song picked up beat, mixing hip-hop with disco tempo, we increased our speed. I could feel the light beads of perspiration on my forehead. I tried not to look at her, but from what I caught out of the corner of my eye…This Sayu girl packed some mad skills. Like off the wizzang.
You know I like the way you play the arcade,
You know you like the way I'm running the game,
I'm sure you're always gonna want some, always gonna want some more.
I know you really want to beat my, really want to beat my score.
Ha. Did she think that spinning combo was going to…fuckin' shit! Up Up Combo Right Left Left NOOOO! Where in the name of all that is Metroid did that damned shrink box come from? Oh, let's play rough. Yeah, baby, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Left Right Left Up Left Down Down Down Down Down Up Sidestep Doooooooooown. That's right bitches, this is my domain!
Segatron Genesis. Call me the wizard.
I'm number one on the list.
Click-Click-Bang.
The highest score, I'm the legend of the arcade.
Speeding up your heart rate.
Beatin' like a hard game.
No fuckin' way? Whoa…I'm losing…I'm actually losing….Must concentrate…Must not look at her perfectly round butt… Left. Left. Dow—aww shit.
Wait!
Stop.
Drop it down to 8 bits.
Bouncing like Donkey Kong.
I'm going Ape Shit!
The song was nearing its climax…and so were my legs. I was already at my limit, but I'd been challenged by the freakin' Energizer Bunny! She just kept going and going and going and…long legs that kept going and going…and glistening…and…
You know I like the way you play the arcade,
You know you like the way I'm running the game,
I'm sure you're always gonna want some, always gonna want some more.
I know you really want to beat my, really want to beat my score.
You know how in Phantom Hourglass, Link can freeze time and shit to kill the enemy? Yeah, I was having one of those moments…Only I wasn't Link.
She smirked at me again and hopped off the bars, extending a hand, "Wow, you went for a really long time. But sorry, nobody beats me at DDR! I'm a dance major after all."
I kind of just stood there, blankly. Staring…dust collecting on my tongue. The girls walked out giggling enough to send a new wave of blushing across Matsuda's face.
Matsuda turned to me, his face the perfect shade of my hair as he squeaked, "Ah. So cute! Oh, mommy, save me! I think I just lost my heart…"
I kind of just looked at him. You can imagine my surprise when he elbowed me in the gut and said, "You sly dog, Mail. Letting her win like that. You're such a flirt."
Umn…yeah. Letting her win… Riiiiight. "All part of the plan."
"I could never be that forward…I'm too shy, I think." He grabbed me by my shoulders roughly, with a slight, crazed, desperate gleam in his dark eyes. "Would you…Could you? Do you think you could get her number for me?"
Yeah. More dust gathering on my tongue. Dude, are you for real? "Uhh…"
"Oh, c'mon! Please. You're the one who talked to her. It'll just be weird if I do it."
"I guess…"
He looked so utterly happy when I closed the glass double doors and walked into the third-floor hallway of Keller Union. I scanned past the other stores and fast food restaurants that lined this floor, looking for a hint of blond or black hair, when I heard…
"Stop! Thief! Thief!"
A ragged-looking older man rushed passed me, nearly knocking me to the ground as he swept by with a small coin purse clutched in his grip. I whipped around to see him exit on the west side of the building, nearly knocking down a few more students in his wake. This building is on the side of a hill, so there is actually a ground-floor exit on the first 3 floors.
"Help! Oh my God, Sayu!"
I turned back in the direction of the voice and sprinted down the hallway, ending at the stairs. Sure enough, the two girls from earlier were there, Misa grumbling at a cell phone. Sayu, however, was crumpled on the ground, about 10 steps down on a small landing, and she looked in pain.
"Raito! Why won't Misa's Raito answer?" The girl began texting rapidly on her cell phone.
"Are you guys okay? Is everything alright?" I looked between them.
"When that dirty old man pushed by us, Sayu tripped down the steps and twisted her leg. I've been trying to call her brother, but Raito won't answer Misa's phone calls!" She huffed the phone at me and ended with, "Here, you answer if he calls back. Misa is going to get help!"
She ran off without even waiting for me to tell her if I was willing to stay or not. I walked over to the dark-haired girl who was crying helplessly into her arms… oh damn, that leg did look kind of swollen.
I was about to try comforting her when the device in my hand began to vibrate violently.
"Hello?" I spoke tentatively into the…phone? There were more charms and pink stickers on it than actually functioning buttons.
"Misa. What's so urgent that you had to text me during a meeting?" huffed the voice.
"Ah, sorry, no. Misa ran off to find help. My name is Mail and I'm here with uh…Sayu Yagami in the Keller Union. I think she hurt her ankle pretty badly…and possibly she may have also been robbed."
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other side, and after a brief pause, "What happened? Please let me talk to my sister."
"Of course!" I handed the phone to the girl as she was crumpled on the floor.
"Light! I fell down the stairs! Yes, a homeless bum pushed me and took my purse. No. No." She whimpered, "My ankle. It hurts a lot. Yes, please come! I'm on the stairs between the second and third floor of Keller Union. Please hurry!"
She handed the phone to me, tears in the corners of her eyes, "Please don't leave me alone."
I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile and nodded. The silence was a little awkward. A few people who weren't lazy enough to take the elevator came trudging through the stairway, but most of them passed us by without comment. What? Are there no more good Samaritans? Okay, so like for normal people, maybe I'd have ignored the scene too if I were them, but hello? Cute girl in distress! I'm not an idiot, thank you; I can have a chivalrous side when it's convenient.
Maybe ten minutes into waiting, a tall brunette rushed towards us through the landing, a briefcase swaying in his perfectly manicured hand. I didn't miss the preppy sway in his step as he approached Sayu, kneeling enough to be eye-level with her but not enough to touch the tweed fabric of his pantsuit to the dirty floor. Uh… Metrosexual much? Seriously…I wouldn't doubt it if he had a hairdresser and a personal tailor.
"Sayu." He said simply, hugging her slightly.
"Light." She smiled weakly. "And Mihael, you came too."
I hadn't noticed that a slender blond had followed "Preppy Boy", soundlessly stepping towards us. Yet, there he was, my every morning fantasy for the past two weeks, staring past me like I was utterly invisible. Oh...right. Cute injured chick on the floor…mental facepalm. I momentarily turned back towards her.
She clutched at her knee, pulling it back and at the same time revealing bits of her panties between flashes of the inner thighs. No way … They had strawberries on them just like the girl from that one manga…
I wasn't the only one to notice, though, because I saw Mihael's face contort into a scowl as his eyes trailed down the same path mine had. Wordlessly, he removed his jacket and draped it across Sayu's lap, reclaiming any sense of modesty that seemed to slip away in her moments of pain. Light nodded to him in approval, smoothing a teardrop from his sister's face.
"Light. It hurts…I don't think I can stand on it." Sayu let her eyes rest on the blond, "Mihael…"
"It's okay, Sayu." He answered simply, but his expression was blank and unreadable. "It'll be okay."
She didn't really meet his eyes but rather seemed to respond by squeezing her brother's hand.
Sayu was still clutching her brother's hand when the campus medic team lifted her onto a stretcher. You'd think they would have responded immediately to a thing like this, but that Misa girl was apparently spazzy enough to give them wrong directions. Yep, blonde and showing it.
The two blonds and I watched them take her away, Light of course making up the rear of the party. I handed Misa's…ah, phone, if it could be called that, back to her.
"Misa is thankful for all your help." She said.
I just nodded, "It was nothing."
"Light will want to thank you properly when he is less preoccupied with his sister's injury." Said Mihael.
I looked into his eyes…they were so deeply blue, intangible like the never-ending sky. One of his brows furrowed as he sized me up, eyes lingering on my goggles. "Have we met somewhere…?"
Inwardly, I cringed. He didn't remember me. But reason took the better hold of me. "Yeah, um, briefly during the club rush."
"Goggles…I think I remember you." He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled some things on it.
"What time are you done for the day?"
"My last class ends at four."
"When you're done, drop by. This is our fraternity address. Show this slip of paper to the guy at the door, and he'll take care of you."
I barely had time to glance at the paper before he began sprinting out of the stairwell, muttering something about still having 20 minutes of studio time left. At the mention of the time, I glanced at my watch. OH crap…my shift ended already…Matsuda had probably left.
I nodded apologetically towards Misa and walked back in the direction of the arcade, past the Taco Bell, beyond the Jamba Juice…Matsuda, surprisingly, was waiting for me inside.
"You sure took forever, Jeevas! So did you get it? Did you get her number?"
Not wanting to crush the look of anticipation on his face, I said, "Well…not exactly."
And I motioned for him to follow me outside, as I'd much prefer to tell the story after taking a long drag on a cigarette.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! Comments are always welcome <3
Chapter Text
"Sayu's what?" Her eyes widened instantly in mock concern…yeah right, like you really give a fuck, you fake-ass bitch. I tried not to grit my teeth as I politely repeated myself.
"She's fractured her ankle, and it'll take too long to heal for her to make the competition."
I shifted all my weight to my left leg and let my arm balance across my hip as I frowned at her. I didn't particularly like asking favors from Halle; she often called the return debt in the form of a date…not quite my cup of tea. I mean, seriously…
I like casual sex as much as the next guy, but she was a complete whore.
She slid her long fingers through the sharp edges of her bangs before throwing a smile my way, "So you're going to need a new dance partner for the competition, right? And with such a short time to prepare, you need someone you can rely on. Ergo, me? Alright. I accept."
I didn't like the bemused twinkle in her eyes, or the way she batted her eyelashes with predatory lust. She was beautifully built for a dancer, and she liked to throw her hips around. Men melted for her, and she'd twist their minds around her little finger. But Manipulative women are not my type, and too hard to work with. Having the body to dance doesn't equate to beautiful art form anyway. Ugh! I was seriously fucked that Sayu was no longer able to be my partner. Sayu, now there was a girl who could conform to any movement, her body molded with the chords of the music, and she followed my lead at the lightest prodding. In essence, she was the most perfect partner I could ever hope for. Everything that Halle wasn't.
I first saw Sayu during my freshman year, when Light's family came by to visit. Nate and I were vying for spots in the Delta Justice Fraternity, and the entire Yagami household had come to visit from Japan; the way to clinch our spot in the frat house was to make them feel welcomed in the cross-cultural atmosphere. I was surprised to find the youngest Yagami child was not only very interested in dance, but that she held a lot of talent for it. After some persuasion with the parents and some hefty research, we found a capable instructor back in Tokyo, and she's been studying hard ever since. Now that she was finally university-age, she'd enrolled with her brother Light at UCLA and was my go-to competition partner.
It was the perfect arrangement, really. Well, except for the whole now-I'm-screwed thing. Fuck I needed chocolate…wonderful, beautiful, luscious, tantalizing cocoa goodness. I mean, damn, after a long day of stretching my muscles and listening to all the crap that I get from Nate and Light…and his annoying-ass fan club—that Mikami guy gives a whole new meaning to the word 'stalker.' I swear that movie…what's it called? Paranormal Activity? Some shit like that…anyways, they fucking modeled it after him, I swear. Fuck, after dealing with all the idiots and the deadbeats that force their presence on me, who would deny me a little chocolate? It's my one guilty pleasure, and truth be told…as a stress-reliever, it's even better than sex.
Damn that Nate. He fucking watches everything I eat, like a good little manager should. Every fucking little calorie. I can only eat foods that make my muscles lean and give me plenty of long-lasting energy. Fucking rabbit food…Oh, guess what he says I absolutely can't eat? Chocolate! Motherfucker…thinks he's my goddamn mother sometimes…
"Earth to Mihael…" the blonde in front of me suddenly broke me out of my reverie. She eyed me curiously, her eyes running down the length of my chest and stopping on my nether regions. Ugh…and they say men have one-track minds?
"You really haven't moved on from Nate, have you?" she asked.
No. Oh hell no. Bitch did not just go there!
"The fuck, Halle?" I spat. She'd better catch the fucking venom in my tone.
Seriously, just…no. No. NO! You do not just fucking bring up my ex out of nowhere! He has no fucking relevance to the conversation. I mean, yeah…maybe she had a point. I mean, I had plenty of one-night stands before I dated Nate, so maybe it was a little weird that after we broke up, I haven't really dated anyone new, okay, fine…I haven't even knocked boots in over a year, but seriously, where the hell did she get the gumption to just start—
"I'll take your silence as a no, then."
What the fuck? She interrupted my internal rant! You got a death wish, blondie?
I gritted my teeth, "What's your point, Halle?"
With light, practiced steps, she narrowed the proximity between our bodies, sliding the tip of her jazz flats against my ankles. The fringe of her bangs sharply accentuating the mischief in her face, she leaned into herself a little and gave me her deadliest attempt at bedroom eyes. I've seen professors break from the intensity of that gaze.
Little trivia fact here, want a five-letter word for slut? H-A-L-L-E
"I'm not interested." I vented, and none too gently, when she ran a finger against my chest. "Give the game up, Halle. What do you really want?"
"You said you wanted to dance. I'm just trying to get used to my new partner's movements. C'mon, babe, you know how this works." The way she said babe was so fucking gross. I am not a goddamn object, thank you. I know I look good, but I have standards.
I mean, I could understand her wanting sex if we were dancing tango—tango is all about the intimacy between partners, that was part of the appeal for both dancer and audience—but I'm entering a national ballroom dancing competition. This…blatant seduction was completely unnecessary…
I sighed and closed my eyes. They say sex is like pizza: you'll always crave a slice, even if it's the cheap shit. But I really wasn't in the mood. At least not for her.
"Will you shut up if I humor you?"
The corner of her lips curled in triumph as I slid the zipper down on my jeans…I wondered briefly if I'd need to double wrap my dick for it…
"Nate!" The door to our shared bedroom shook violently as I shoved it open farther than the hinges should allow.
"I'm right here, Mihael. Would you kindly lower your voice a few decibels? It is not necessary to shout when one is indoors."
Bastard.
I threw myself on my side of the room, letting the foam topper of my mattress mould around the curves of my body, casting a perfect shell of my curves just beneath my sheets.
"I'm fucking screwed, Nate." My voice muffled slightly as I screamed lightly into my pillow.
"Yes, I am already aware of the situation," his voice traveled up to me, and I turned my head to find him seated on the floor, painting another one of his stupid Gundam Models.
I. Hate. Robots.
As if he could feel my eyes on him, he dropped his gaze from the toy and met mine. His expression immediately softened. "What would you like me to do about it?"
"I asked Halle to step in as alternate," I breathed out, letting all my emotions well up in my eyes. Nate and I don't get along, and hell, we hardly even like each other, but we have amazing ESP when it comes to each other's emotions.
"Oh." Was the simple response. "Did you enjoy yourself?"
Hey, I said he had ESP, not empathy.
"No, I did not enjoy myself, you asshole. You're so fucking insensitive, you know that? And that bitch had the gall to say I'm fucking hung up on you. Fucking bullshit!" I spat as much sarcasm as I could, "How the fuck did we ever end up a couple, anyway?"
I cast my gaze on the ceiling. The fan seemed to revolve so painfully slowly.
He spoke suddenly, and his voice sounded pained. "Convenience sex, when it was anything at all. It's not like we even went out on dates. And we were both miserable the whole time."
We never talk about our past attempt at romance, so I don't know why I was letting it get to me like this out of nowhere. I guess it just bothered me that Halle had brought it up earlier. Nate and I don't get along…we haven't since we were children…yet we found ourselves in a relationship some time ago. It hadn't ended prettily. I still remember his fucking dead blank stare when he told me that, really, he could only get it up for me when imagining Megan Fox. Fucking hate Transformers. Fucking robots. He could go choke on one. As if she could be hotter than me! He was right, though; it wasn't for love or anything close to that. Hell, neither of us is even gay. I don't even know why we tried…just stupid kids grasping at things they don't fully understand, I guess…And yet, Halle was right in a sense. It's been over a year, and I still haven't tried to find someone new. It was like the rejection, being on the receiving end of the break up, just kind of closed me off to wanting any kind of connection with others.
And fucking Halle felt just as bad as getting dumped by Nate.
It was so messed up. Sex is supposed to be fun.
Fuuuuuuuuck my life…I wonder what my mother would say if she were still alive…
"Nate. Do something for my nerves, please."
Hesitantly, his hands lifted all the delicate plastic pieces of his model figurine. He placed them aside, treated them like glass, like precious treasures. I've been around the guy long enough to know he was speaking to me with his body. The softness from how his fingers touched his model seemed to speak out, 'I don't want to remember right now'.
"Play our song, Nate."
"It's not our song….it's their song." He looked up at me blankly, or at least he tried to. I may bottle my many emotions, but Nate simply ignores his, tries to manipulate them until he can pretend they no longer exist.
"It will always be their song." It barely came out as a whisper this time. "We can't take it from them."
"You're such an asshole. I come home for a little comfort, and all you can do is remind me how fucked it is that the only thing I have in this world to remind me of my childhood is you."
"Where you find comfort in remembrance, it simply hurts me, Mihael."
"We are the only two people alive who know that song, Nate. If things had been different…maybe they'd be famous now. We'd still be able to watch them smile together. Both of our mothers….are you just going to let our memories die?"
"I…I will play for a while."
"Thank you."
The boy stood, dragging his white socks against the rough blue blue-speckled carpet that covered the floor of our room. His steps were heavy as he made his way past his bed and nightstand and reached the closet on the far side. He pulled a small case out from the corner and coaxed the zipper down before pulling the instrument out.
Sitting on the floor, bow in hand and violin on chin, Nate began to play.
And I began to weep.
Because suddenly, I wasn't in our room anymore. The white walls of our bedroom, the hallways of our frat house, the sounds of our housemates…even the stupid ceiling fan all melted away.
All I could see were flames…
The chords that flowed from that violin…simply engulfed me. I could remember every detail of that day…that last day when we saw them alive.
Our Mothers.
Our mothers were friends…back home. Back home in Hungary, my mother was a composer, and Nate's was a music teacher. This song was my mother's greatest masterpiece: The Lullaby Tango. Until she wrote it to paper, she'd hum it to me as a young boy. Then she taught it to Nate's mother, and they'd play it together. Nate tried to learn it, since he's gifted in music…but he never learned the ending…
And he'll never get a chance to…since fate is a bitch and all.
The building where his mom taught was rather old and not quite equipped with good fire escapes or anything like that. They were playing in there like they usually did on Thursday mornings, as we watched them. Suddenly, my mom wanted some music sheets that she'd left in an office on a lower floor. Nate and I went to get them…that's when we heard the shouting outside.
In the natural curiosity that characterizes boys of such a tender age, we walked out to catch the gossip in the street. The moment we stepped outside, we could smell the smoke. A fire had broken out next door, on one of the upper floors. They were evacuating the people from the building as the fire was quickly spreading…even across clotheslines and connecting wires between buildings. I watched in horror as bits of orange and red began to lick their way onto the tiles of the place we'd just exited. It hit Nate a second before I wrapped my mind around it; the room our mothers were in…had no windows. They wouldn't be able to see smoke or smell it.
I've always been stronger and more athletic than him, so when a man grabbed us from behind, trying to stop us from going back inside, I was able to wiggle away while Nate was stuck in the man's grasp. I took the stairs three at a time, trying to reach the level where the women were.
When I had reached the top of the landing, the door was locked, and the handle was too hot to force open.
I was nine the last time I saw my mother's face…
"Nate…" the song was coming to an end…or the end of what Nate knew anyway.
I tried to look at him through the tears that kept falling from my eyes. His eyes were closed, but I know he was thinking about the same things I was…
ESP, I tell you.
Rap. Tap. Rap. Tap.
The door opened. I blinked the moisture out of my eyes as I deep obsidian eyes stared back at me. The man at our doorway was hunched over a bit, his shoulders dragging forward and away from the messy black tresses of his hair.
"Mihael, Nate, I hope I am not interrupting anything," L said as he shuffled his bare toes from his left foot against the toes on his other foot.
"Come in," my roommate replied, not slowing the movements from the bow of his violin, but his eyes were out of focus.
"Mihael, please come downstairs with me. We have some business to attend to."
He stepped aside a bit, and for the first time, I noticed that he wasn't standing there alone, but I couldn't really see the other person in the hallway. Great…company.
"Sure thing, L."
My transformation was immediate. I may have just been reveling in a moment of sentiment, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm a damn attention whore and I like to display confidence with everyone I come in contact with. I wiped the last bit of tears from my eyes and flicked my hair back, letting my 'mask' fall in place.
I was surprised to find myself staring, for the second time today, into a pair of goggles, half-hidden by a shock of messy red hair. I could see him staring back, his gaze a little intense, and I wondered briefly if he fancied me or something, until I remembered that I was the one who had invited him to the frat house after he'd helped out Sayu earlier.
But even after a moment, he was still kind of eyeing me up and down. Yeah. I knew that look. Well, after a shitty day, maybe I could have a little fun at his expense, exploiting that.
"Followed me home, stud? Don't tell me you're obsessed with me now. We've had like one conversation." I blew a kiss at him as I strode past, not turning to know that both men would be following down the staircase.
But a touch to my shoulder gave me cause for pause, and I whipped around, nearly colliding with the redhead behind me. I blinked up at him in surprise, raising an eyebrow to silently ask him why he had touched me.
He looked a little confused, but he spoke after a slight moment of awkward silence.
"Are you okay?"
Umn…what? I frowned.
"Are you okay?" He repeated at my silence. "Your eyes are all red and puffy, like you've been crying."
His voice was surprisingly soft, laced with a concern that, intriguingly, seemed genuine. I mean, he just kind of looked at me. I don't know, it was kind of weird. You could see honest concern just light up across his features, and suddenly, I felt bad for teasing him. It dawned on me that he'd been looking me over to ensure I wasn't injured somewhere, not checking me out. Well, what do you know, genuinely nice people actually exist outside of fairy tales…
I decided such a genuine display of concern should be met with an equally genuine response.
"Has music ever moved you?" I asked quietly, turning away, quickly putting distance between us by taking the stairs with my dancer's pace.
I waited at the bottom of the stairs, L coming down with the redhead trailing him. L strode into the adjacent kitchen and waved at us to follow him. We sat down in two of the empty chairs at the dining table, the wood scraping against the unattractive linoleum.
"What do you mean but that? Like, does music make me want to dance or something?"
I turned to the boy who sat across from me, not even hiding the incredulity from my expression. "No, I mean, emotionally. Have you ever been moved by listening to music?"
I didn't think he'd even heard me ask the question. I mean, talk about delayed reactions. He took like two minutes to answer!
"No," he answered, looking at me with that odd goggled stare of his. "I usually let my mind dictate the emotions. I don't like to think that a song could brainwash me."
I. Fucking. Stared.
Maybe I'd read the redhead all wrong, because I suddenly felt like I'd been slapped hard in the face.
Notes:
Yeah, Near/Mello was a thing in this story's past, but it isn't a thing anymore.
xxbeyondxbirthdayxx on Chapter 1 Thu 21 Aug 2025 08:22AM UTC
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Guns_N_Poses on Chapter 1 Thu 21 Aug 2025 08:32AM UTC
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xxbeyondxbirthdayxx on Chapter 2 Thu 21 Aug 2025 08:28AM UTC
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Guns_N_Poses on Chapter 2 Thu 21 Aug 2025 08:33AM UTC
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xxbeyondxbirthdayxx on Chapter 3 Wed 27 Aug 2025 09:21AM UTC
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Guns_N_Poses on Chapter 3 Wed 27 Aug 2025 09:43AM UTC
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