Chapter Text
Papers rustle and pens drop to the ground as the brown haired boy writes in a rather stressed manner. He's been studying for hours in his bedroom, with no clear intention of stopping.
He sits at the desk, hunched over, reading the same line over and over again. He's finished the whole book already; he understands the material. But he's distracted. Zoned out even. He's been reading that same line in the textbook for about 5 minutes now, completely lost in thought.
He's suddenly brought to his senses by the chilly breeze that flows in through the open window on his left, it makes some pages flip on their own as the wind travels into his room, the smell of fresh air contrasting with the determined attitude of the boy.
He sits on the chair with his head back, staring blankly at the ceiling. He is a very good student. One of the best even. But he's beaten by that lanky black haired boy. L Lawliet. Oh how he hates him. He hates how he does everything with such ease. Solving every problem he's given like it's nothing. He's been like that ever since he was a child. In elementary school, middle school, and now high school.
"...Wouldn't be surprised if he was like this since kindergarten too...or even in the damn womb," He mutters to himself, more focused on competition instead of actually learning. "Ugh..."
They've been in the same school together since elementary. Every time they would change schools for whatever reason, the other always seemed to be there. They recognize each other, though no interaction is ever made. A few glances are exchanged sometimes. Some jealous, some curious. But that's about it. No conversations, no friendly waves. Nothing. And that's how he likes it. Just thinking about him makes his blood boil, he wouldn't be able to stand talking to him.
He glances at the time on his computer. 10:32 p.m. It's late—for him at least. He should go to bed now if he wants to get his precious 8 hours of sleep. Surely then, he'll be able to beat that strange prodigy.
Meanwhile, the boy he despises so much, is sitting awkwardly, spinning on a chair while eating an excessive amount of sweets. He stares at the food he holds, analyzing every inch of it to see where the next bite should be.
In the background, his butler can be seen preparing, yet another, dish for him. He walks through a luxurious looking kitchen that smells like it's been recently cleaned, though the soft scent of sugar and tea remains in the air.
"Watari.” He spins around on the chair to face him. “Don't add that chocolate." He watches as the man prepares the food while he eats a strawberry off the plate he already has. He's studied the whole day non-stop. Not because he needs to, but because he wants to. He finds it fun to solve the problems given to him. Sometimes, he even makes up his own, not that they're any harder to him though.
He spins on the chair he's on, moving just a tad because of the wheels.
Watari places the dish down in front of him, not saying a word.
“Thank you, Watari.”
Monday, 7:38 a.m.
Light opens his eyes merely 2 minutes before his alarm sounds, which annoys him slightly. He runs his hands through his hair as he sits on the edge of his bed for a moment.
He looks at the desk where he studied last night and he notices he forgot to put away the stuff—which is not something he does. The alarm suddenly rings loudly throughout the room, startling him out of his trance-like state. Was he really sitting there for two whole minutes? It sure didn't feel like it. He turns it off almost immediately, getting up in the process.
He gets dressed, and as he splashes water on his face, he looks at himself in the mirror. He stares, and stares, and stares. He stands there for what feels like an eternity before snapping back to reality due to the knocking on the door. It's his sister Sayu. He should hurry up.
He heads out the door, school bag on his shoulder. He walks at a relatively moderate pace, despite the increasing anxiety of being late to school. He has no reason to worry, even if he walks a lot slower he'll still get there on time, but he picks up the pace just to be sure.
He arrives, and sure enough, there's the boy he hates so much. L Lawliet. He's near the entrance of the building, and luckily, he hasn't spotted Light just yet. He probably wouldn't say anything to him, but he'd prefer to not even look at his face.
L goes over to a nearby bench outside the school and sits down in the peculiar way he always does, taking off his shoes and leaving them in front of him. Not even a minute passes before an obnoxious sounding voice is heard nearby. An ordinary yet enthusiastic looking boy makes his way towards L, almost bumping into other people as he does so.
“Hey L! It's been a while since I've seen you! Well, I guess it hasn't been that long. But still, why didn't you come on Friday? Did you fall asleep again? Or did you just not want to?”
“I-” He's not even given the chance to speak before getting interrupted by the other boy.
“Did you forget there was school on Friday? Or maybe you got a girlfriend! No, that's not like you…”
“Matsuda-”
“So then why didn't you come to school? I missed you, y'know? I guess I could've hung out with other people, but it's not the same without you!”
“Matsuda.”
The other boy remains silent, realizing that he interrupted him more than once.
“I can assure you I am not involved in any romantic relationships. I simply didn't come because I was sleeping. I stayed awake studying, and I needed more time to rest.”
“Oh yeah, that makes sense. But, did you really sleep the whole day?”
“17 hours.”
“Really? I only sleep like 5 every night! Sometimes even less if I stay awake watching TV.” He laughs as he says it, the difference between their personalities being painfully obvious.
The melodious bell rings throughout the school, indicating that class is about to start. The students walk to their respective classrooms and sit in their seats.
The teacher enters and begins to give the class, rambling on and on the whole 50 minutes.
Unfortunately, Light and L are in the same classroom. This isn’t usually a problem, given that the both of them don't really interact with each other, and also Light goes out of his way to deliberately avoid the other boy.
But the teachers have been assigning a lot of group projects lately. Like, a lot of them. The good thing is that they haven't been paired together in any of them, but he gets nervous every time, silently praying that he doesn’t have to be in the same team as him.
They get through the classes, Light being attentive and participative, and L being quiet yet writing down everything of importance.
Break time comes around, and all the students go out with whatever friends they have. Light goes over with a group he’s gotten to know, though he has no interest in actually having any strong friendships with them. He eats and chats with them, his mind constantly wandering.
L however, sits alone on the same bench he was on in the morning. He eats his excessively sweet lunch, consisting of nothing more than a slice of strawberry short cake and a small bag of candy. He’s happy being alone but, alas, here comes Matsuda, awkward and loud as always.
“L! Want me to sit with you? You look real lonely there all by yourself, y’know?”
“I would rather you don’t, thank you.”
Matsuda sits next to him anyway, ignoring his rejection. “So, did you understand the stuff the teacher said? You probably did, didn't you? I wanna understand it, but I just don't get it. Maybe you could tutor me!”
“I'm not going to tutor you, Matsuda.”
“Why not? I'll pay you!”
“I have no need for your money, I simply do not wish to spend any more time with you than the time spent here.”
“Aw, c'mon, L. Tutor me won't you?”
“I'm not going to tutor you, Matsuda.”
They continue with their one-sided conversation for the rest of the break, before returning to the remaining classes.
The three boys sit in the same classroom, the teacher reexplaining a topic they've known about since way before the professor introduced it.
He ends the class by leaving a relatively simple assignment, though like the other teachers, he makes it a group project.
And sure enough, Light and L are paired together. Just the two of them.