Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, Ide or Matsuda. Or a gym membership.
Note: Hope this is clear. I think caffeine is bad for your heart? Oh, caffeine's bad for everything so it's a safe bet. Another chapter in which Matsuda has deeply-rooted psychological problems.
If I'd worked on the Kira case, I swear to God I would never eat cheese again and I'd get a heart check up every single week.
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Constriction
Prompt: 30. Stripped
On the nights when Matsuda does not dream about shooting beautiful boys with mud in their veins, he dreams about a horrible, crushing pressure in his chest, and he's never had a heart attack but the Chief described it to him once, and he knows this is what it would feel like. And just when he thinks the vessel must be about to burst from all the strain and he's screaming in agony, there's a face above him, as angelic and as cruel as always.
He wonders how many others - Raye Penber, Ryuzaki - went through this same thing, only with reality and mortality pounding in their years.
When he wakes up, he logs onto the internet and checks the page he's bookmarked - 'Help Your Heart' - and fixes himself a cholesterol-free breakfast. He digs out the membership card for the gym he joined and gets into the office early, to see if Ide wants to join him. A lot of the time he declines, but some mornings, when there are dark circles under his eyes and his coffee is switched to decaf, Ide takes up his offer, and mutely, they fight their respective demons.
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Incidentally NINETY EIGHT REVIEWS. Two more for a hundred OH MY GOD YAY. I was going to offer the hundredth reviewer a chance to name my firstborn child, but Dattebayo Girl suggested it might be better to let them request a one-shot or something. So yeah, Datte-chan, I'mma go with that (though suggestions for the as-yet-unconceived child's name welcome)