College AU! - Small Group RP - Closed

“Mmm,” Orpheus replied quietly, running a hand through L’s hair as he listened to him speak. He gave a tiny smile, working the hair into a braid and listening carefully to every word. “Then the fact that I feel that you’re the best person in the universe is true.” He knew that he couldn’t say L was the best person in the universe, merely because he hadn’t met every person in the universe, but he still felt that it was probably true. And his feeling wasn’t wrong, so maybe the statement itself was true as well. But that was just semantics, and he didn’t want to tie himself in knots over wording. All he knew was that he loved L and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. He wanted to hear him ramble and go on tangents as he often did, and he wanted to make quiet comments that would encourage L to keep going. Before he had gotten to college, he hadn’t known what to expect. He had fallen in love in high school, and it had ended… well, it still made him cry when he thought about it too hard. But he had never expected to find L. He had never expected to feel as blissfully happy as he did right now.
He only expected that happiness to increase if L decided to join him at school. There were so many possibilities… would L be willing to take music classes with Orpheus? Of course, Orpheus still had several general education requirements to fulfill, so it might be easier to do those with L so they could both get them out of the way and then have upper division classes apart. Or Orpheus could pick up a second major to match whatever it was L decided to study, assuming it was something he had interest in as well…
“You should give it some thought, then,” Orpheus murmured, leaning his chin on L’s shoulder so his breath tickled the side of L’s cheek. “You’re lucky that you’ve already got a job in the thing you’re skilled at. I know a lot about music, but I still have to study it because people won’t believe I know a lot unless I have a degree. But I pretty much know everything they teach us in classes… I think the bigger part of it is getting to know the professors and having friends in the industry, I guess. Networking… which isn’t as fun as it sounds.” He shrugged, letting his eyes close briefly as he listened to L again.
“Mm,” he repeated, thinking that over. “It’s not impolite to argue in college, I don’t think. Except with some professors… but a lot of them enjoy talking about things as long as you don’t… actively question their intelligence and act like them being wrong means they have nothing to add to the conversation. But you don’t do that. I think… I think a lot of professors would like you, especially if you challenge them on things they aren’t sure about. Just… tell them at the beginning that you’re blunt but you don’t mean disrespect?”

Orpheus welcomed the moment of silence, though he did love listening to L talk. Perhaps he just loved every minute spent in L’s presence. Yes… that seemed likely. A tiny smile appeared at the corner of his lips, and he let his weight lean a little against L even as he continued tracing patterns down his back. It was this, these moments of existing in the same space, not worrying about anything in particular, that Orpheus loved. Perhaps he loved everything else, too. This was what being in love did, apparently. It made even the tiniest moments seem magic. It made you look at every moment and say it was your favorite, even though they couldn’t possibly all be favorites.
“Would you want to major in music?” Orpheus asked, turning so he could see L just a little bit better. “I think you’d do fantastic in it, if that was what you wanted, but I don’t want you choosing to take time to study something just because I’m doing it. But… the music program here is really good, and there are a lot of options. Lots of different instruments you could choose, or you could learn how to compose, or you could be a popular music writing and performance major, like me.” A tiny smile appeared on his face at that. Studying with L, learning songs, helping him figure out how to write them… it sounded fun, but only if L truly wanted it.
“I would be more than okay if you did,” he added, just to be perfectly clear. “I would… like it very much, actually. It’s my passion, but what is a passion if it’s not worth sharing? You share your passion with me all the time when you give me things I can do to help your cases. It’s not the detective work that you do, but a lot of the things that I find are things that you could find, too… but you don’t mind it when the things that I find help crack the case. I wouldn’t mind the ability to duet with you. I think… two heads working together is always going to be better than just one.”
Orpheus hummed softly in agreement as L continued speaking. He could probably move forward without a degree, but it was complicated. If you wanted to go without a degree, you needed to be discovered, and that seemed… complicated. It also meant you got taken advantage of a lot more than was acceptable. Orpheus wanted to be the best he could be, and he wanted to be able to protect himself from people who thought they could take advantage of him. There were a number of reasons he was at college.
“I’m not really sure if college teaches things as well as experience does,” Orpheus admitted with a shrug. “I mean… you can learn a lot of things on a job if someone is there to show you how it works. I think there are only a few jobs that really should require a college degree, but… I guess that’s not the world we live in.” It was a bit of a grim thought, and Orpheus wasn’t used to the taste of cynicism. It was too bitter.
“Shoes,” Orpheus hummed thoughtfully, casting a glance at their feet, legs intertwined together at the end of the bed. “I mean… if you’re one of the performance majors there are dress codes for presentations and recitals, but other than that… I’ve seen people come to class in frankly shocking things. I don’t think anyone is going to comment if you come without shoes. And if the professor gives you a hard time, remind him that you’re paying thousands of dollars to be here, and there’s no dress code. It’s not like high school where they have to be able to control every part of you.”

The Squad | The Camping Trip | strider

Varian really felt like he didn’t need to be here, and more than that, he was probably making it harder somehow. He wasn’t good at saying the right things, even at the best of times, unless he was explaining something he was passionate about...he didn’t do well with this sort of thing.
He was fine with assuming best intentions, really. It would probably be for the best for him, too. He didn’t have any doubt that he’d need it at some point.
“You guys, uh...think they’ll be back soon?” He asked hopefully after a moment, looking between the taller boys. Maybe if they could all finish apologizing, they’d be fine again. He hoped so. They’d been having fun before this had gone down. He considered ducking back into the tent, but he figured he should probably stick around until the others were finished with whatever they were going to do.

“Oh, yes!” Juuzou replied brightly, nodding as Noah pointed. He understood the concept, he thought, and Noah was probably right. This was going to work. He could be terrifying when he wanted to be.
He wasn’t going to have any trouble whatsoever with the climbing. He took the tree in quickly, then kicked off his slippers and began to spider his way up it, fingers finding holds in the bark and bare feet catching even the smallest branches. He was up in seconds, perched higher than was probably wise and peering down at Noah with his head tilted.
“Ready,” he replied, though it was probably a little bit late for that. “You should probably climb yours now so they don’t see you when they come back.”
He didn’t seem concerned that he was near bone breaking height. He leaned dangerously backwards and forwards, swinging his legs like he was sitting on a dock over a pond, not in a tree high off the ground.

Fireworks were really the one thing that Ronan had any confidence whatsoever would fix this. He really didn’t care if it was illegal - street racing was also illegal, and he thought he’d heard somewhere that owning a raven without a permit wasn’t legal - and he was pretty sure they could handle being thrown out of college, having just started. He thought of Touka’s 180 when he’d mentioned being mad at the RAs again. He couldn’t seem to get it out of his head for some reason, even though he was pretty sure he couldn’t care less what some random freshman thought of him. He hadn’t been interested in being friends anyway. Did all college interactions end in virtual bloodshed?
To be fair, a good percentage of interactions with Ronan Lynch in general ended in some variety of bloodshed.
He watched Newt pull out his phone, then turned and poked at a flowery watering can that looked both expensive and highly breakable, both of which would have annoyed Adam for different reasons. He could almost hear his boyfriend’s exasperated Is it useful? What if it breaks?
Then it f(oops)ing breaks.
It’s twelve dollars, Lynch.
Must be a pretty great watering can if it’s worth more than you, Parrish.
It was truly incredible that Richard Gansey the III had the power to stop even an imaginary conversation from getting out of hand.
He accepted the phone.
“I can get us there in time,” he said after a moment, checking both the closing time and the current one. There wasn’t very many minutes between the two, but his gaze was determined as he met Newt’s eyes. “But we gotta go now.”

This seemed to be going decently well so far. At least, Nico and Varian didn’t seem particularly upset about it, and Zuko was apologizing for real, and no one had gotten reoffended. So...not bad.
He did have to wonder why Ronan and Newt had left. He wanted to believe they had just needed a little space, but truthfully, he didn’t know that for sure. They might not plan to come back, and who could make them?
At least Nico had gotten here a different way, and there was the motorcycle. They weren’t completely stranded without the car. Just mostly.
“Maybe I should text them?” He suggested finally, glancing between the others. He thought he should probably suggest it, at least.
“They left their stuff, so they’ll probably be back, but it might be good to know when. And where they are.”
If he was honest, Newt being gone too made him feel a little better. Ronan had struck him as far more likely to do something like ditch them all, except maybe Noah...if Noah and Ronan had been gone, he would have been far more worried, he decided. Newt didn’t seem like he would just leave.

Juuzou didn’t know Noah was dead. He didn’t know the boy climbing the tree near his couldn’t be hurt by falling. He didn’t know Noah at all, he didn’t know anything about him, really. And yet he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, because he seemed nice. He had been willing to stay and talk to Juuzou, he had been willing to be friendly...yes, he liked Noah already.
He was as far from a coward as it was possible to be. He was overly reckless, he feared nothing and didn’t care what others thought of him or saw him as. Oh, he had fears, and nightmares, and things he didn’t like the think about. But he hardly considered them real fears at all. They didn’t plague him, he just avoided them as best he could.
“What kind of game?” He asked with interest, leaning forward a little to hear Noah better. He was pretty sure there weren’t many games that could be played in a tree, at least not ones that two people could play. But he could have been wrong.
He swung his legs, back and forth, back and forth. It was easy enough to keep his balance, even on the thin branch he was perched on. He liked heights anyway...they always made him feel better when he was upset. Not that he was upset now. But he liked them anyway.

Ronan wasn’t worried about whether they would be allowed to purchase fireworks. He didn’t think they could really be stopped, all things considered. Underage or not, it was just fireworks. He didn’t think they were allowed to deny service like that.
There was no way they were going to be able to salvage this without something very loud, anyway, and he didn’t think music was going to cut it. Sparklers were all well and good, but anything that could be safely and legally given to a five year old wasn’t going to cut it, not now.
He wasn’t upset. He didn’t care what Zuko had said. His was a bitter and harsh language, his was a fierce and unforgiving way of life, and he cared for no one’s opinion, least of all a stranger’s. He’d have been here anyway, he told himself. He’d have been where he was now even if nothing had happened. He didn’t care.
Newt’s words tore him from his thoughts and he looked at the other boy just as he took off.
Ronan was running before he’d made the conscious decision to race, his feet pounding the hard ground, all other thoughts flying away from him. Newt was fast, he realized belatedly as the other boy pulled ahead quickly. He hadn’t even needed the head start.
“Damn, what do you do in your spare time, run laps?” He demanded as soon as he reached the car, slowing. He almost said more, but he didn’t, instead letting Newt check his phone.
“Damn,” he repeated, for a different reason entirely. “Of course he did. Yeah. Or ignore him. Whatever.”
Which wasn’t entirely fair, especially since Sal had technically been the defendant in the discussion, but Ronan had already turned the music up, gotten in the car, and shut the door.

The Squad | The Camping Trip | strider

“I’ve never played either of those. What are they?” Juuzou questioned, leaning forwards a little in his tree. He hadn’t really played games as a kid, and it showed. He didn’t know what was meant by a lot of the ones everyone seemed to assume was general knowledge. And to be fair, it really was general knowledge, it was just that Juuzou didn’t have it.
He wasn’t worried about it being not fun. It was going to be fun. He just didn’t know how much fun it was going to be yet, since he hadn’t really surprised anyone before. He wasn’t afraid of falling out of the tree, and he wasn’t afraid of jumping out, either. Noah didn’t seem afraid, either...maybe he knew how to control fear, the way Juuzou did.
“Well, which game do you like the most?” He added, leaning back again. “We can play that one.”
He would probably like whatever Noah liked. They seemed to have a lot in common. He didn’t know for sure how he felt about Noah, but he thought they could probably be friends...so far, anyway, Noah had been fun to be around.

Ronan was all for the fireworks idea. He knew first hand how therapeutic some explosions could be, and he was impressed that Newt understood this concept, too.
He didn’t care if it was stupid. He didn’t care if they could probably get in trouble for it. He just wanted to do something, and this was something.
They would probably be allowed to get them. Ronan was difficult to say no to.
“Of course you are,” he agreed as Newt joined him, glancing over at the other boy. It didn’t surprise him, somehow. Ronan didn’t like to run on a track. That didn’t mean he didn’t like to run at all, but he wasn’t interested in running for no reason...he wanted to be going somewhere when he ran.
He was aware that they could easily have abandoned everyone else. It would have been very rude. They’d probably have texted him several times and called him several names he’d certainly been called before and certainly would be called again. Noah was dead, but it wasn’t like he could have just abandoned them all and gone home in whatever ghostly way he had available to him. Not unless he wanted questions, which he didn’t.
“Hour,” Ronan repeated under his breath, though it was hard to say whether he was just repeating the time limit or making fun of it.
He turned the car out of the parking lot and hit the gas. Newt was buckled in, which was probably a good thing, since in order to get there, Ronan was probably going to have to break several more rules than he usually did. The conversation was over, but they existed pleasantly together. Ronan didn’t mind Newt’s existence as much as he had expected.

Juuzo listened intently, interest in his eyes as Noah explained. 20 questions sounded...fun, he decided. Like something he’d have figured out how to do on his own, maybe, though a method didn’t come to mind. He’d think about that later.
Thinking wasn’t his forte. He didn’t tend to consider things that way, he just...acted. Not the way Zuko seemed to, though. He made plans, he considered things, but overthinking was not a flaw of his.
And he was very good at doing it fast enough to outmaneuver enemies.
“Anything?” He replied, leaning forward to see Noah better. “Anything at all? Wow...okay. I’d like to play.”
He considered a moment longer, trying to think of something that would be hard to guess. He wasn’t sure if there were any rules, but he wasn’t too worried...if there were, Noah would tell him.
“Do you want to go first, or should I?” He added, tapping his lip with one hand. It probably wasn’t the safest thing, letting go like that, but he wasn’t thinking about that. He was thinking of things to choose, in case Noah wanted him to go first.

The thing about Ronan Lynch was that he was an asshole.
He didn’t pretend not to be. He wasn’t pretending to be an asshole, either. For all intents and purposes, he supposed he shouldn’t have friends at all, especially not friends who were decidedly not assholes.
The thing about Ronan Lynch was that he was broken, and he knew it. He was rough, he was fierce, he wasn’t gentle. The soft parts of him were choked down, shoved back, as far as he could take them. It was like once you were burned, you flinched before you touched the fire, not after.
And then there was Noah. Noah, who was probably the best thing to ever happen to him. Noah, who not only tolerated him, but was genuinely his friend, who wanted what was best for him, who cared. If they were in a bubble, it was because they knew each other completely. If they were untouchable, it was because they were as close as anyone who was dating, as close as anyone could be,
The thing about Ronan was that he didn’t have middle ground. He was angry or he wasn’t. He was dangerous or harmless. And he loved or he didn’t. He didn’t have casual friends. You were family, or you were out. And Noah was family.
“Maybe I do,” he replied, speeding up as Newt spoke, a wild grin coming over his face. “You think I can’t?”
It was a challenge, and he knew it. It was dangerous. There was some chance it would kill them, though that had never stopped Ronan before. The car was a part of him, the car was an extension of his body, the car was going faster than any large metal object should.
It was the sort of thing Noah might have said. Maybe that was what warmed him to Newt, just a little.
“Better hold on,” he added, flashing the other boy a fierce smile as he changed lanes. “Weill be there in ten and back with time to spare.”

Juuzou stood helplessly for a long moment, eyeing the place Myrnin had indicated. On the one hand, that seemed like a good way to get bitten again. And he felt fine. But he also didn’t think Myrnin was going to hurt him, somehow. He didn’t know why but he wanted to trust that instinct.
So he moved forward and sat down with a small sigh.
“I’m not mad at you,” he replied honestly, pulling his legs up so his feet rested on the edge of the bed and his arms wrapped around his knees. “Or scared of you.”

Noah was used to fear. It was a constant companion – not one he had learned to manage, but one he had learned to live with. He had less reason to be afraid than most people did. He couldn’t die, at least not anymore. But once you had died once, the world became far more confusing. Once you had died twice and been brought back by a friend who had created you only from memories he wasn’t supposed to have… well, there was nobody who could guide Noah through how to navigate things now. He thought he had a valid reason to be afraid.
“Hm,” he mused, focusing on Juuzou’s question and rocking back and forth a little bit on his branch. He thought for a long moment, picturing the object in his mind. Juuzou had started off with a complicated question, one that didn't really have a straightforward answer. Or, if it did, it wasn't one Noah knew of. “Probably,” he decided after a moment, eyes flicking open to meet Juuzou’s. It probably wasn’t the answer Juuzou had been hoping for, but it was the best Noah could do.

Newt hadn’t ever been in a car driven that fast. It was a mixture of feeling like they could die careening of the road at any minute and knowing they were perfectly safe, because Ronan wouldn’t go that fast without knowing what he was doing. Besides, the car seemed pretty safe, even if it was the sort of car that matched who Ronan was. They both smiled like sharks, they both cut through the air without caring what they hit or who would hear them. There was a lot to respect about a person like that… just as there were plenty of people who would pay a lot for a car with the same features. Ronan was a wild thing, and he was controlling the machine like it was just a part of who he was. Newt wasn’t going to say anything about that, even as he felt his heart shoot into his throat.
In most other circumstances, Newt may have been clinging white-knuckled to the door, heart pounding loudly enough that it might just leave his body entirely and start a band all by itself. Tonight, though… well, this felt different. Newt was a daredevil, at times. He took risks he didn’t need to take and he did things that were technically dangerous because sometimes feeling alive was worth the danger that went with it. This was one of those moments, when the world had been loud enough that he didn’t want to listen to it anymore, when it would just be easier to leave behind the person he was supposed to be, the polite and well-mannered guy who was on top of everything. He didn’t want to be on top of everything. He wanted to be in a car that was racing so fast it may as well have broken the sound barrier.
A wide smile crossed his face as Ronan turned, their speed feeling even more exhilarating as the car skidded around the corner, landing in the parking lot of the fireplace shop.
“Damn,” he said after a moment, unable to wipe the smile from his face. “You sure proved me wrong.” There was a little bit of irony in the second comment, but it was mostly genuine. He had believed Ronan could do it, deep down. He just didn’t believe he would until he had been told he couldn’t. They were feeding off each other’s energy, Newt knew. It was dangerous, but Newt was okay being dangerous for one night in his life. It was the sort of night that called for it. The sort of night that had already gone off the rails, so what was the point in trying to get it back on without letting yourself take a breath away from it, first?
“Shall we head in?”

Xichen nodded as Orpheus pondered. He could see where Orpheus was coming from. Xichen was quick to try to help out others, and he could see how that was overbearing at times. He was naturally cheerful, and he could see how it could be grating. "Right. And plus, RA is just one part of our jobs here. We're still students too. I've got a music theory course that's going to kick my ass." He laughed, mostly joking about the course and not dreading it too much. "Oh- we should check our schedules later to see if we have any classes overlapping. Or if you're taking any music courses I took last year- I might have some notes and such left over."

"Yeah." Xichen agreed, shifting the box in his hands to nudge the car door closed with his shoulder. "Are you going to get a fish or anything like that?"

He started back up towards the building as he talked.

L Lawliet | Room 4C | strider

L could agree that this was magic, in some sense of the word. It certainly felt that way, as though the world were aligned, and things could maybe be okay. He didn’t get enough of this. But then…it would never have been enough.
He couldn’t have said what memory was his favorite. He loved Orpheus. Every moment together was his favorite.
“I think…perhaps I would like to,” he mused, tilting his head to meet Orpheus’ eyes. He didn’t know for sure that it had nothing to do with Orpheus (okay, it probably had something to do with Orpheus) but that was the reason he was going to college, anyway. He’d probably never have seriously considered it otherwise.
“I’d be out of my depth at it,” he added thoughtfully. “That would be interesting. I’m used to being the best at what I do.”
He smiled a little as Orpheus continued and snuggled closer, breathing out softly. So Orpheus was alright with it. That meant it was probably a very good idea, because he wanted it, too. When they agreed on things, L tended to trust them more as a general rule.
“Duet…” he added softly. “I would like that, I think. I’d lie that very much,”
He relaxed a little bit. “High school is bad,” he said seriously. “I think if college was like high school, I’d be morally obligated to at least investigate it, and maybe have it arrested on charges of being stupid. It’s bad enough that high school exists, we certainly don’t need two of them.”
He sighed a little. “I only mean…I think I’ll do it. Come to college with you, I mean. I’m supposed to do things that aren’t cases now and then, anyway. And classes sound fun.”

“Only do it if you really want to, of course,” Orpheus breathed, letting his eyes close as he felt the familiar weight of L against him. It was odd, he thought, how comfortable you could feel with someone so close against you, how you felt like you may never need to move again. How your brain automatically froze the moment in time so you could relish it for as long as possible. Living was poetry just as surely as song was. Loving, being loved, being held… that was poetry, too. A poetry that words couldn’t capture, no matter how hard Orpheus tried. That didn’t, of course, mean he was going to give up trying to capture it. He sighed softly, returning his full attention to the moment at hand.
“I’m sure you’d catch up pretty quickly. You’re a genius, after all… you’d understand the theory really quickly, I think, it would just be getting your body used to playing an instrument. Once you’ve got the muscle memory and the timing down… you’d be unstoppable.” Orpheus thought L would be far more than capable of playing an instrument. His hands were nice enough for it – his fingers long and slender (perfect for holding), but also quite useful for a variety of instruments. Whatever L wanted to choose. “If you choose an instrument I don’t play,” Orpheus began softly, gaze flicking up to meet L’s, “We could learn together. I mean… I’ve played most instruments by now, but there are some that I’m really not good at. Brasses, for one… woodwinds…” Orpheus bit his lip, realizing he might be getting a little bit ahead of himself.
Orpheus stifled a laugh at L’s comment about high school. He didn’t know if it was meant to be humorous or not, but it was funny in an accurate way. “College makes a lot more sense than high school. You get a lot more freedom and people are busy minding their own business instead of bullying people for no reason. It’s better, I promise.”

L had never been particularly poetic. He said what he wanted to say, most of the time. He used metaphors sometimes, yes, but they were usually very clear ones, and he didn’t put much effort into finding the perfect one. He just used whatever worked. But something about Orpheus brought it out in him. Something about being deeply in love with one of the most poetic people in the world seemed to give him a sense of it. Or maybe he had just been around him long enough for it to rub off on him…he wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t complaining. He would never, ever be anywhere near as poetic as Orpheus was, and that was perfectly okay with him.
“Mm,” he mused, tilting his head so far to the side his whole head went sideways as he considered it. “I see what you mean. You’d have the natural musical intelligence, and I’d have the ability to learn most things quickly. So, we would probably learn at about the same speed.” That sounded pleasant. He considered what sort of instrument Orpheus didn’t play yet. The poet seemed to gravitate towards stringed instruments a good bit of the time…L couldn’t decide whether he could see Orpheus happily playing the drums, or never touching them.
He let himself consider college instead. There would be a lot of logistics, naturally, but he thought they could probably be worked out without much issue. Actually managing to make it through college itself, he wasn’t worried about. It was just learning things. He was good at learning.
He turned his head back to look at Orpheus again at he stifled laugh. Somerhing about it, the genuine humor, masked a little bit in case it was taken the wrong way, but still very much out there…it was so very much Orpheus, it made L melt a little bit more inside. He breathed out, nodding. “I’ve decided. I’ll do it. I want to.”

Orpheus let a lazy hand run through L’s hair, careful not to pull when he caught on a tangle. It had been fun before, imagining a future where he got to spend more time with L, but usually that future involved having to travel around with L and Watari wherever they went, making a living playing in street corners as L solved cases all over the world. He knew he would have to be careful in that situation – if anyone managed to correlate Orpheus’ presence with the places L was solving crimes, then they could both be severely hurt. They had both given a lot of thought to that future, trying to figure out how to do it safely. How to make sure they both survived living together when Orpheus being tracked in public was such a big risk. The moment he was connected with the world-famous L, it was all over.
This was a much easier solution. They would have to figure out the living together issue when they both graduated, but for now… L didn’t have to travel that much, he could do most of his work over the computer. And they could take classes together. They could learn an instrument together, and it would be no more dangerous than two normal students attending college. Nobody was going to think that the best detective in the world was attending a barely known college for music, of all things.
“I’ve always thought it would be interesting to learn flute,” Orpheus commented, shifting so he could make eye contact with L. “Maybe I’m a little biased because we’d have a built-in tutor for my roommate, but… it’s such a pretty instrument. And I don’t have a clue how to play it.”
Orpheus caught L’s eye, and he felt (not for the first time) that he never wanted to look away. That he could get lost in those eyes, in that expression, in everything that seemed to be going on behind it. L’s brain moved faster than Orpheus’ ever would, and he couldn’t get enough of it.
“We can go tomorrow to get you registered. If you want to start this semester, I mean.”

L Lawliet | Room 4C | strider

L didn’t want to inconvenience Orpheus with his work, though he understood that it was entirely possible that he would, at some point. It was a very time consuming career to have, in more ways than one.
Orpheus’ presence being correlated to the cases L solved was…a terrifying thought. He knew that was what they risked, if they lived together. But he lived with Watari safely, so he didn’t believe it wasn’t possible to pull off. And, really, if Orpheus could be closer, that was enough of an incentive to make L try his absolute hardest to make it work.
L couldn’t help wishing his life was simpler, now and then. If he didn’t have people trying to find him, if he didn’t have one of the most hazardous jobs in the entire world, if he was just a normal person…well. He imagined things would be easier to manage.
Not that he resented his work. He cared about it deeply. But he did resent that he couldn’t just move in with Orpheus and not have to worry about being murdered any more than usual.
“A flute,” he repeated, considering what he knew about flutes, which was…not much. They were blown into, and they made music. The specifics were unknown. He liked the sound they made though. He wasn’t an expert on music, so he was inclined to take Orpheus’ word for it.
“Then let’s do a flute,” he agreed, nodding a little. “Wait..,do you mean that your roommate is a tutor himself, or he had a tutor?”
That was an important distraction. He was a lot more willing to give Orpheus’ friend and roommate the benefit of the doubt than he was some random tutor he didn’t know.
When Orpheus caught his eye, he want still, looking at him. Quietly watching the expression behind his eyes shift, and grow into something new…he loved watching Orpheus think and process things, and he loved seeing this passion in his eyes, more than anything.
“I want to, this semester,” he agreed softly, still looking at Orpheus. He felt caught in those eyes, but this time, he was perfectly alright with being ensnared.