I used to hate AU's, but now I think they're quite fun, so I've started a high school one. Matt and Mello are 16, starting junior year. Yes, there is an OC, but she is not involved in a romantical-type way with any Death Note characters. Because boy love is the way to go.

So because I'm very into music, I decided to write a fic involving it, but not with any songfics. There will just be mention or involvement of a song or two in every chapter, and I think it would be best if you wonderful readers listened to the songs while or before reading unless you already know them. But that's your choice.

This chapter's song is:

Dashboard by Modest Mouse

"I heard there's a new student coming today," Kana said, sparking up some sort of conversation to clear away the thought that she had nothing better to do so she was actually early to first hour.

"Really? It's already the third day, though." Matt wanted to assist in this distraction. When Kana came in he'd already been there for ten minutes plugged into both his iPod and his DS. It really didn't take him long to get ready for school in the morning, so his choice was either to get sucked into a game at home and be late, or get sucked into a game at school and be ridiculously early. The latter appealed more; it didn't get him into any unnecessary trouble.

"Yep. Must've been out of town or something and couldn't make it the first few days."

"Boy or girl?" Matt inquired, honestly not all that interested.

"Well…it's…I'm not really sure."

"Ah, the mystery kid. Won't that be fun," Matt mumbled along.

"No, it's not that nobody told me. I've definitely heard some things." Other students began filing into the classroom, a few morning-persons chattering excitedly, causing an overtired, jittery Mr. Matsuda to glance up now and then.

"What do you mean, you've heard…" Matt's voice trailed off, seeing as he didn't need to ask anymore. Well, he still felt the need to ask; he just knew Kana couldn't provide him with an answer.

A slim figure glided in. Blond hair cut in a shaggy bob, eyes with icy azure irises and dangerously dark pupils. And clad entirely in leather. Leather.

"Kana, he's a boy," Matt declared in a hushed tone after a moment of speculation.

"How do you know?"

"He's just…I can just tell." The redheaded geek was quite sure of himself. However, this didn't count for much because according to the fragmented whispers, the rest of the class didn't agree with him.

The blond looked up, serious as anything, and said, "Male."

The students silenced themselves.

Mr. Matsuda stepped to the front of the room in an attempt to rid the room of the suddenly tense atmosphere. "Well…um…yes, then. Right. We have a new student joining us. This is Mello." The nervous teacher, afraid that his third day on the job had already gone horribly awry, gestured weakly towards the blond boy making his way to an empty seat. "Mello, why don't you take that seat between Alexander and…" A look of distaste flickered across the teacher's face briefly as he tried to continue. "And Matt." Matsuda's usual light disposition returned. "Alexander can help you get adjusted to the school and the curriculum."

Mello followed his new teacher's gaze to a bespectacled boy sitting unnaturally straight in his chair, staring intently at him through foot-thick lenses. Unfortunately, the new student was forced to comply with Matsuda's request. Somehow, in those eight seconds when he wasn't looking, all the other seats had ever-so-conveniently filled themselves up. The blonde reluctantly thumped down in the plastic chair and took the opportunity to socialize while the teacher nervoused the hell out of himself.

"Who is this square?" Mello, who had turned sideways in his chair to lazily face the boy on his other side, jerked his head slightly towards Alexander.

"Hm? Oh, him. Yeah, little tip for you. If he tries to show you his favorite 'collection,' or really, any 'collection,' say no. By any means. At any cost." Matt threw in a joking smile. The new kid was kind of cute. Wait, no. He was not cute. NO. He was not cute; he was not attractive. He was a him.

See, Matt's main, or only, insecurity was that he was bisexual, if not entirely homosexual, and he was the only one who didn't know it.

"Heh, thanks." He winked. Quite confident for someone who was the only topic of whisper in the room. "Really, how does this nervous wreck, ridiculous excuse for an educator expect this ridiculous excuse for a teenager to help me 'adjust'? Hilarious."

Matt was already absorbed back into his game to get the blond on his right off his mind. Once he glanced at Kana to see her smiling and mumbling (probably plotting) to herself in that very Kana way that made most people think she had a real problem. That's why she and Matt were friends. He was so socially awkward that he didn't really notice when Kana didn't make sense half the time she said something. For all he cared, she was just as normal as everyone else, just generally friendlier (and maybe a teeny, tiny bit, miniscule quantity really, quirkier).

"Well it would've been, could've been, worse than you would ever know…"

Mello turned his attention to the redhead beside him, half-connected to his music (and therefore only half aware), drumming his fingers lightly and obliviously rocking out.

"…Well the windshield was broken but I love the fresh air you know. Oh it should've been, could've been worse than you would ever know-oh-oh-oh-oh…Oh we talked about nothing which was more than I wanted you to know-oh-oh-OH." Matt stopped abruptly and blushed furiously as he realized he had been singing aloud (quietly, really, but there was sound) and Mello had seen. And now that leather clad blonde was smirking a smirk to beat all other smirks over the head with a club. It melted into something friendly as the blonde turned back to the blackboard, which was littered with chicken-scratch and useless information. To Mello it seemed a projection of the inside of Matsuda's head.

The bell rang shrilly and the students poured out into the hall.

"He's cute. You should go out with him."

"What? Why? Why are you always saying things like this? 'Go out with him.' 'Ooh, isn't he a nice looking one; TAP THAT.' Come on, Kana stop being so…so you, dammit."

"Oh Matty, relax." The lightly freckled brunette ruffled her friend's burgundy (somewhere between red and dark pink) hair. "Maybe if you'd just listen to me instead of freak out all the time, you'd be getting somewhere with your love life."

Matt couldn't contain his awkwardness and edged away with a last (failed) attempted look of nonchalance to his next class…where Mello was slouched in a chair, legs crossed up on the desk. The blond flicked his hand to beckon the redhead to the seat beside him.

"I want another concert. You could be on a top idol show or something." There was that smirk. Matt had a feeling that was something he'd be seeing a lot. "It's good to see Alexander isn't here…maybe I can avoid that collection you talked about after all."

"Yeah, sure…" Matt preferred mashing buttons with his good friend Mario over talking to Mello and trying to force Kana's comments out of his head.

Riiiiing.

"Well then, students…" And the despicably nasal droning began.

A tiny, folded piece of paper landed on Matt's desk. He unfolded it and read, What do you have third hour?

He wrote back.

Passing notes? Wow…well it's AP Physics.

Ok, mine's different. So find me at lunch. I'll be outside in the back.

"Class dismissed."

Matt was thoroughly distracted throughout third hour worrying about not being an awkward turtle whilst talking with Mello.

"Maatt! Hey, wanna eat outside today? I know you're not the biggest fan of being outside, but it's suuuper pretty out."

"Sorry Kana, I'm…busy, just today."

"Busy at lunch?"

"I'm…meeting Mello."

Kana squealed. Despite her trying to stifle it, it was quite loud and piercing. "So you listened to me this time? Do you get it now?"

"No, Kana, I don't! Anyway he asked me to find him. We're not even really friends. It's nothing. I'm not going out with him. He just seems sort of friendly."

Kana laughed. "Friendly? Matt, I've seen him in the halls, that kid is…Well, friendly isn't exactly how I would describe him. Maybe socially apt; you're just not used to it. Ooh, speaking of. There he is. Go get 'em, tiger." Matt hated how that phrase always applied to him, what with his striped shirts and all.

"I'll just go get lunch and meet him in a few minutes." Matt excused himself, dodging Kana's constant prodding. Lunch wound up being an apple with a large side of Zelda.

"Hey Mello," Matt said, crunching away on—sorry, playing, his DS.

"Hey. Have a seat." Mello casually nudged the grass with his boot to point his new acquaintance to his preferred place. "So tell me about this place."

"It sucks."

"Yeah, I know that, I'm not an idiot."

It was Matt's turn to smirk, just for fun. "I dunno…it's nothing special. Only a few important things, I guess. First off, stay out of the second floor bathroom. This weird white haired kid sits on the sinks in there for hours and plays with toys…it's creepy. And yet he remains at the top of his class…Anyway you'll also find it of interest to know that if you want to meet anyone worth talking to you'll have to look, or just wait. The people who'll be starting to talk to you right now are, for the most part, nosy airheads. Except Kana. She's just psychotic. I mean strange. I mean a bit out of the ordinary. An exception. Yes, that. And all the teachers hate me. I thought I could just throw that in."

"But you're so…I don't know, passive in class. Some might say unobtrusive…"

"Ah, see, you look over see a kid being quiet and playing an inoffensive videogame. They look over and see a kid being obnoxiously quiet and obnoxiously playing an obnoxiously inoffensive videogame…obnoxiously."

"Got it. Well, I'm off." With that, Mello stood and made his way across the yard and began socializing a group of antisocials, to Matt's great amusement.

Brushing off the fact that he was ditched for a bunch of kids that were entirely indifferent to each other but spent all their time "together," the goggled redhead wandered around in search of Kana to kill the boredom of lunch, having beaten Zelda for the sixth time that month.

"Hey, what happened to meeting with Mello?"

"We unmet. He's over there." Matt waved his hand at the small clump of students, their lives crumbling into personal social catastrophe as a certain blonde chatted away, forcing them into group conversation. Kana made a pitying face, but laughed nonetheless.

- - -

A slim figure stepped forward, face shadowed, wearing only a pair of leather gloves. Only. And then those gloves came off, carelessly discarded on the floor. The figure had pretty, feminine hands. The hands knotted into Matt's hair for a brief moment, then slipped down his bare chest slowly, gently brushing fingers across the skin. The hands explored down to the waist of Matt's jeans and unbuttoned them. Then the zipper…the figure brought its head down and put its mouth against the redhead's neck before looking up, blond hair bouncing slightly. Mello winked.

"HOLYSHITWHATTHEFUCK!!" Matt bolted up straight in his bed panting, realizing in horror that he wasn't exactly the only thing perpendicular to the mattress.

Well that was pretty fun. It was just sort of a test chapter to see the reaction.

Should I continue? I'd really like to hear your thoughts, criticism, and/or suggestions/requests for songs to throw in. If I get a lot of song requests I might do a super-mega-lightning chapter with a whole bunch of songs.

For the record, I have nothing against antisocial people. Sometimes I am one.

And if you were wondering, if this continues, the rating will go up. In a very sexy manner…if you didn't catch on. It'll strip of all its clothes, do a little dance, and magically be an M instead of a T. That's my sick mind for you all.