All You Need Is Me. (Yaoi.)

Chapter Two.

As soon as Lyric heard the word, 'dodgeball', he snapped his head up. ~Oh, no... Anything but that...~ He watched as the gym teacher started counting off teams of two. Lyric watched anxiously as the teacher walked over to him. "Hey, Shorty, team one. Left side," He said, walking off to the other kids.

Lyric scowled at that. ~To be constantly reminded that you're shorter than everyone else...~ He thought bitterly and then hesitantly pushed himself off of the wall and walked over to the left side as instructed. He nervously looked at his team. He noticed the boy from earlier and bit his lip. Most of the stronger people seemed to be on Lyric's team so he decided that would be a good thing. At least then, he'd be at a lower risk of getting hit. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he backed up a bit, using a few others as a shield.

"Ready! Three, two, one-" The teacher counted down and then he blew the whistle.

The people in front of him took off for the middle where there were ten balls set in a line. Lyric watched as the other team grabbed most of the red balls, while his team grabbed at least three. ~Not good...~ He thought.

A loud smack echoed through his ears as he saw a guy on his team stumble back, clutching his arm. "Ow!" He groaned, trudging to the sidelines.

Lyric picked up the ball and backed away. He couldn't throw, but he could use this to deflect the other teams' balls. He watched in shock as the people from his team were hit again, and again. There were only a few people other than him. A tall girl, a muscled guy, a shorter and more scrawny girl, and the boy he'd locked eyes with. He hesitantly walked over to the taller guy who was empty handed. He didn't speak, holding up the ball in his hand.

The guy looked down. "Oh, hey, little man!" He smirked. It was the guy from the locker room. He took the ball from Lyric and sent the ball flying into a girl on the other side. She sighed as she walked to the sidelines.

Lyric didn't reply, he just walked away. He didn't have any reason to talk to anyone, so he walked to his spot. As he turned around to face the other team, he was hit hard with a ball in his stomach, sending him back onto his butt. He squeezed his eyes shut, clutching onto his stomach. ~Damn...that hurt...~ He then stood to his feet, glancing up, only to lock eyes with the boy again.

Vance's eyes were a mix of shock, and possibly concern. His lips were parted slightly and he watched Lyric. Lyric turned his dark eyes away from Vance, walking to the sidelines and leaning against the wall. ~Who even hit me?~ He looked over at the other team, the only person who was empty handed was a tall, tanned guy with blonde hair and green eyes. He seemed to be staring at Lyric with a smirk on his face and Lyric sent him an ice cold glare, looking back down at the floor.

Vance looked over at the guy who'd hit Lyric. It was Akemir Onizaki. Vance never liked him all that well. He found him incredibly arrogant -worse than Ryu, Gintoki, and himself combined- and stuck up. Akemir was a total douche bag, in Vance's opinion. But he'd always tolerated him because they ran in the same social circle. He watched as Akemir smirked at Lyric, not even the slightest bit remorseful for the hard hit he'd given to Lyric. For some odd reason, it angered Vance. Without thinking, Vance hurled his ball straight for Akemir's face.

Akemir was able to somewhat dodge it, but it hit his cheek with a light smack. He glared at Vance who seemed to become aware of what he'd done. "Hey, Vance," Akemir said, his tone seemingly light hearted, but filled with a bit of forming anger. "Watch it."

Vance could only bite down hard on the inside of his cheek. ~Yeah. Of course. Whatever you want, douche bag. Because we're all just going to listen and do what you say.~ He thought, clenching his fists. "Yeah...sorry," Vance said, trying to give an apologetic smile. "My bad..."

Akemir's shoulders relaxed slightly as he nodded, accepting the apology.

Lyric had watched the two intently. Usually, he wouldn't care, but when Vance threw that ball, it was almost as if it were some kind of retaliation. His eyes drifted to the boy from the other team. He was now grinning like an idiot as he sent another ball towards the girl on Lyric's team. ~Where's that shady guy who knows everything about everyone when you need him?~

The sound of a whistle echoed through the gym as the other team cheered with victory. Lyric's team members mirrored looks of failure, disappointment, and just plain anger. Lyric even found himself a bit upset by their loss. ~Too bad...and the team I was on looked like it had a chance...~

"One more game and then you can all go get changed!" The gym teacher yelled.

Everyone started back for their spots, while a few set the ten balls back in a line. When everyone was back in order, the whistle blew again and everyone took off, grabbing for the balls. Lyric watched them anxiously. He locked eyes with the guy who'd hit him last time and he glared, watching as the boy raised a ball, bringing it back and sending flying forward...straight for Lyric.

~Oh, no!~ The ball hit him in the stomach again, harder this time. ~Ow...Damn it!~ He thought, groaning. He'd fallen again onto his butt, the ball rolling forward, out of sight. He fixed his glasses, slowly standing and trudging to the sidelines. He glared icily at the ground, angered because of the boy who he'd yet to learn the name of.

Akemir only watched Lyric walk away, a smirk on his face. "Too fucking easy..." He chuckled, catching another ball and hurling it at some random chick.

Vance had watched Lyric get hit again and he almost dropped the ball, watching him walk to the sidelines. Lyric seemed totally unfazed by the two hits. He was basically walking just fine, one hand lightly placed on his stomach as his cold, glaring, blue eyes burned imaginary holes into the ground. Vance then snapped his gaze back to Akemir. Sure, the whole point of the game was to hit people and get them out of the game, but Vance wanted to believe that somehow Akemir was in the wrong. The fact that he watched, almost as if he were pleased, as Lyric trudged off, should have been enough. He thought better of throwing the ball again and he hurled it at some random guy across from him.

~ ~ ~

Lyric was almost pleased when lunch rolled around as he walked down the hall toward the cafeteria. His shoulders were slumped, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. His walk was stiff as he glared at nothing in particular. He pushed the door open, walking silently towards an empty table near the back of the room. He wasn't hungry and he didn't want to waste food. He opened a book up and began to read, shutting out the chatter of the lunchroom.

~ ~ ~

Vance, Ryu, and Gintoki had just walked into the cafeteria, talking about something hilarious from their last class period. "Oh, man! That was hysterical!" Gintoki grinned.

"Did you see his face? So funny!" Ryu laughed.

Vance laughed. "True that. I thought for sure he was gonna-" He stopped and locked eyes with Lyric. Lyric was the first to break contact, glaring coldly down at his book. Vance still watched him.

"Dude, Vance!" Ryu snapped his fingers in front of his face.

Vance shook his head, blinking up at Ryu. "Hm?" He asked.

Ryu watched him for a moment before saying, "What's with you today? You're so out of it."

Vance thought of an excuse, laughing nervously, "Hehe...uh, I'm just kind of tired," He said.

"If you say so,"Ryu rolled his eyes.

"Hey, guys, check it out," Gintoki pointed across the room. "It's the newbie."

Ryu looked over and a smirk appeared on his face. "Hmm...who's ready for some fun?"

Vance almost shook his head, but he bit his lip, keeping himself quiet. Vance and the others did this every time they had a newbie, but something about Lyric to him was different.

"Well, boys, what are you waiting for? This way!" He smirked and started to Lyric's table.

Vance followed the two. ~This won't end well...~ He thought to himself.