Happy Valentine's Day!
The annual Champagne Petals update is today! It takes place very shortly after the last chapter. It's just a teaser for Femslash February and the holiday, but I'll try to finish the chapter by the end of March.
* * *
- Chapter Eight Teaser -
* * *
Light wakes up before the sun rises, groping for her phone, and doesn't bother to check who's calling before she answers.
"Ryuu-chan," she murmurs, sweet and groggy, letting the endearment slide out like an accident, like a sleepy fumble, and yawns as she stretches, to give L the most appealing mental image that she can. "Any updates?"
"You wanted to talk," says L-called-Ryuuga-called-Ryuuzaki, wide-awake and clear as ever despite the early hour, "So I'm talking."
"I'm sleeping," Light says, though she is doing nothing of the sort, already sitting up and sliding a hand through her hair to work out any tangles that have snuck in over the course of the night.
"No you're not," Ryuuga replies, and Light smiles up at Ryuk on her ceiling, serene with affection, gesturing for him to stay silent. The last thing she needs is a distraction when L is calling, especially since she's this tired.
Deliberate, that, and she likes the way L has twisted her request, likes the way that she's paying attention again, as she should be.
"No, I'm not," Light agrees, and closes her eyes and yawns again while Ryuuga chuckles and calls her a liar.
Of course she is, and of course she isn't, but since L already knows the truth, it can't be a lie at all.
"Ryuu-chan," she says again, this time more clearly, so L will know that it's purely deliberate and that she wants her to notice--though she'd do that anyway, so maybe it's just because Light likes saying it, likes the sweetness of the sound and the taste of it on her tongue, words she's never said before and will never say to anyone else--"stop being a hypocrite and tell me if you bribed the nurses to let mom stay with my dad in the hospital last night."
The answer makes her laugh, and she keeps the phone tucked between her shoulder and her cheek as she rises, keeps it close by in the bathroom while she scrubs the sleep from her eyes, and places it on her desk while she eyes her closet critically.
"I'll make breakfast for Sayu and then bring her to the hospital so mom can come home," she says, frowning thoughtfully as she debates the merit of skirts versus pants for a day like today. "Will you have time for me then?"
Ryuuga hums a little in consideration. "Perhaps. Is it wise for you to avoid your family so soon after he collapsed?"
"Probably not," Light sighs, shoving Ryuk's feet out of her way as she decides on a blouse, "but I want to see you. If I come home with mom and make sure she gets to bed..."
"That's very irresponsible of you, Light-kun."
Light breathes out a soft huff of laughter, shaking her head. "My father just had a heart attack, and I'm already talking to the best person to ensure that it doesn't happen again. The sooner you give me access to the investigation, the sooner I can take on some of his responsibilities, and the less stressed he'll be."
Ryuuga hums a bit louder. "He won't like that."
Light shrugs, though L can't see her, and contemplates the difference between charcoal gray and navy blue, of a skirt that falls to the knees or to just above them. "He doesn't like any of it, but it's your investigation, not his."
"None of them will like it," Ryuuga says, dry as dust, and Light bites her lip to stifle a smile.
Her voice is a bit lighter than it should be when she replies, but they both know what they're doing, and Light's never tried to hide her fascination with L's power, so different from her own. "It's my choice to get involved and your choice to let me. I'm old enough to want to protect my family, aren't I?"
"Wanting to protect your family can be a dangerous thing," Ryuuga replies, soft and sharp, "as your father has so clearly demonstrated."
Light rolls her eyes and picks the charcoal skirt, giving her shinigami a dark glare and a gesture that sends him fleeing through the ceiling so she can get dressed. "My father has clearly demonstrated that years in a highly-stressful, dangerous position, coupled with a lack of sleep and years of poor eating habits, has a detrimental effect on one's health. Or that Kira's getting sloppy, but we both know better than that."
"You're taking this very well for someone who claimed to be upset just a few hours ago," L says, and Light stills, skirt in hand, and counts off heartbeats as she lets the silence linger.
"...it's one of the things that's wrong with me," Light says after a suitable amount of time has passed, eyes down, fingers clenched. Body language comes through in tone, and it's easier this way to shape her voice to suit her character, when her eyes are half-lidded and she's staring at her toes. She should file the nails down, given Ryuuga's penchant for bare feet, maybe apply a clear gloss to establish similarity and difference, to invite touch. "I know you know that. I know you do."
"I do," says L, calm agreement and a razor edge, and Light has to close her eyes for a moment, close them and just breathe, like she would if it were real.
It is real. It's the only thing that ever has been.
"I need to see you," she says eventually, the words exhaled on a sigh, delicately cracked and shaken. "Ryuu-chan, I need to see you."
"I'll pick you up once your mother is asleep," L says, abrupt, and hangs up without a goodbye.
Bargain negotiated and sealed, and Light puts her phone on the desk, inhales deeply, and turns her attention to smoothing out the skirt that she's creased.
She hadn't realized she was clutching the fabric so tightly, but she's not surprised by it, either, and it will work with what she's trying to do, so she won't bother with the iron.
The charcoal skirt will look good with the top that she's chosen, and the shade of her blouse will match Ryuuga's jeans almost perfectly, and no one but L will understand, or even realize that they notice.
She's counting on it.
* * *
"It's important that my father and everyone else start thinking of us as a single unit as soon as possible," she explains to Ryuk later, after she's called through Sayu's door that it's morning and she should wake up if she wants breakfast, as she finishes brushing out her hair. "The last thing we need is for them to treat me the way that they're going to want to, so we need to establish early on that I'm acting on her full authority."
"Aren't you only seeing your dad today? What's the point?" Ryuk asks from over her shoulder. He's weirdly fascinated by Light's beauty routines, even though he should be used to them by now, and Light's long since gotten over being disconcerted by looking into a mirror and seeing him looming behind her.
It really makes no sense that she can see his reflection. It would be fun, she thinks, to try and puzzle out the physics of it all with L, one day, in another world, another perfect world where they would be together forever.
This world is such a useless waste.
Light frowns thoughtfully at herself, tucking a stray lock behind her ear. Pat it down with gel, or--no, not for what she's trying to convey. "My dad and her chauffeur, I think. But since dad's going to resist it, even though he's managed to rationalize it to himself so far--he's the one we've really got to convince. Once he makes a decision, whether or not he realizes it, the others will fall in line accordingly."
"And he'll get all of that from the color of your shirt."
"He'll get all of that from what starts with the color of my shirt," Light corrects, and straightens up, setting the brush back down and giving herself a final once-over.
Blue blouse a touch darker than L's faded jeans, charcoal skirt with a faint hint of creasing around the waistband, hair brushed out but not styled, no makeup, and a hint of shadow under her eyes speaking of emotional strain and a lack of sleep.
Perfect.
* * *
- TBC -
* * *
- Chapter Eight Teaser -
* * *
Light wakes up before the sun rises, groping for her phone, and doesn't bother to check who's calling before she answers.
"Ryuu-chan," she murmurs, sweet and groggy, letting the endearment slide out like an accident, like a sleepy fumble, and yawns as she stretches, to give L the most appealing mental image that she can. "Any updates?"
"You wanted to talk," says L-called-Ryuuga-called-Ryuuzaki, wide-awake and clear as ever despite the early hour, "So I'm talking."
"I'm sleeping," Light says, though she is doing nothing of the sort, already sitting up and sliding a hand through her hair to work out any tangles that have snuck in over the course of the night.
"No you're not," Ryuuga replies, and Light smiles up at Ryuk on her ceiling, serene with affection, gesturing for him to stay silent. The last thing she needs is a distraction when L is calling, especially since she's this tired.
Deliberate, that, and she likes the way L has twisted her request, likes the way that she's paying attention again, as she should be.
"No, I'm not," Light agrees, and closes her eyes and yawns again while Ryuuga chuckles and calls her a liar.
Of course she is, and of course she isn't, but since L already knows the truth, it can't be a lie at all.
"Ryuu-chan," she says again, this time more clearly, so L will know that it's purely deliberate and that she wants her to notice--though she'd do that anyway, so maybe it's just because Light likes saying it, likes the sweetness of the sound and the taste of it on her tongue, words she's never said before and will never say to anyone else--"stop being a hypocrite and tell me if you bribed the nurses to let mom stay with my dad in the hospital last night."
The answer makes her laugh, and she keeps the phone tucked between her shoulder and her cheek as she rises, keeps it close by in the bathroom while she scrubs the sleep from her eyes, and places it on her desk while she eyes her closet critically.
"I'll make breakfast for Sayu and then bring her to the hospital so mom can come home," she says, frowning thoughtfully as she debates the merit of skirts versus pants for a day like today. "Will you have time for me then?"
Ryuuga hums a little in consideration. "Perhaps. Is it wise for you to avoid your family so soon after he collapsed?"
"Probably not," Light sighs, shoving Ryuk's feet out of her way as she decides on a blouse, "but I want to see you. If I come home with mom and make sure she gets to bed..."
"That's very irresponsible of you, Light-kun."
Light breathes out a soft huff of laughter, shaking her head. "My father just had a heart attack, and I'm already talking to the best person to ensure that it doesn't happen again. The sooner you give me access to the investigation, the sooner I can take on some of his responsibilities, and the less stressed he'll be."
Ryuuga hums a bit louder. "He won't like that."
Light shrugs, though L can't see her, and contemplates the difference between charcoal gray and navy blue, of a skirt that falls to the knees or to just above them. "He doesn't like any of it, but it's your investigation, not his."
"None of them will like it," Ryuuga says, dry as dust, and Light bites her lip to stifle a smile.
Her voice is a bit lighter than it should be when she replies, but they both know what they're doing, and Light's never tried to hide her fascination with L's power, so different from her own. "It's my choice to get involved and your choice to let me. I'm old enough to want to protect my family, aren't I?"
"Wanting to protect your family can be a dangerous thing," Ryuuga replies, soft and sharp, "as your father has so clearly demonstrated."
Light rolls her eyes and picks the charcoal skirt, giving her shinigami a dark glare and a gesture that sends him fleeing through the ceiling so she can get dressed. "My father has clearly demonstrated that years in a highly-stressful, dangerous position, coupled with a lack of sleep and years of poor eating habits, has a detrimental effect on one's health. Or that Kira's getting sloppy, but we both know better than that."
"You're taking this very well for someone who claimed to be upset just a few hours ago," L says, and Light stills, skirt in hand, and counts off heartbeats as she lets the silence linger.
"...it's one of the things that's wrong with me," Light says after a suitable amount of time has passed, eyes down, fingers clenched. Body language comes through in tone, and it's easier this way to shape her voice to suit her character, when her eyes are half-lidded and she's staring at her toes. She should file the nails down, given Ryuuga's penchant for bare feet, maybe apply a clear gloss to establish similarity and difference, to invite touch. "I know you know that. I know you do."
"I do," says L, calm agreement and a razor edge, and Light has to close her eyes for a moment, close them and just breathe, like she would if it were real.
It is real. It's the only thing that ever has been.
"I need to see you," she says eventually, the words exhaled on a sigh, delicately cracked and shaken. "Ryuu-chan, I need to see you."
"I'll pick you up once your mother is asleep," L says, abrupt, and hangs up without a goodbye.
Bargain negotiated and sealed, and Light puts her phone on the desk, inhales deeply, and turns her attention to smoothing out the skirt that she's creased.
She hadn't realized she was clutching the fabric so tightly, but she's not surprised by it, either, and it will work with what she's trying to do, so she won't bother with the iron.
The charcoal skirt will look good with the top that she's chosen, and the shade of her blouse will match Ryuuga's jeans almost perfectly, and no one but L will understand, or even realize that they notice.
She's counting on it.
* * *
"It's important that my father and everyone else start thinking of us as a single unit as soon as possible," she explains to Ryuk later, after she's called through Sayu's door that it's morning and she should wake up if she wants breakfast, as she finishes brushing out her hair. "The last thing we need is for them to treat me the way that they're going to want to, so we need to establish early on that I'm acting on her full authority."
"Aren't you only seeing your dad today? What's the point?" Ryuk asks from over her shoulder. He's weirdly fascinated by Light's beauty routines, even though he should be used to them by now, and Light's long since gotten over being disconcerted by looking into a mirror and seeing him looming behind her.
It really makes no sense that she can see his reflection. It would be fun, she thinks, to try and puzzle out the physics of it all with L, one day, in another world, another perfect world where they would be together forever.
This world is such a useless waste.
Light frowns thoughtfully at herself, tucking a stray lock behind her ear. Pat it down with gel, or--no, not for what she's trying to convey. "My dad and her chauffeur, I think. But since dad's going to resist it, even though he's managed to rationalize it to himself so far--he's the one we've really got to convince. Once he makes a decision, whether or not he realizes it, the others will fall in line accordingly."
"And he'll get all of that from the color of your shirt."
"He'll get all of that from what starts with the color of my shirt," Light corrects, and straightens up, setting the brush back down and giving herself a final once-over.
Blue blouse a touch darker than L's faded jeans, charcoal skirt with a faint hint of creasing around the waistband, hair brushed out but not styled, no makeup, and a hint of shadow under her eyes speaking of emotional strain and a lack of sleep.
Perfect.
* * *
- TBC -