Chapter 33: Mistake
Chapter summary: For those who would prefer to skip over explicit sections, the summary is that Ryuzaki has an erotic dream about Rui, is comforted by her, and then they have a double date with the Kiras. As part of a plan for interrogation, the Kiras get drunk, and Rui does too, in order to destress. Ryuzaki carries her back to her room but they have an adult moment.
Notes:
1. Warnings: erotic dream on L's part, male masturbation, dubious consent, fingering. This is an M fic for reasons, even if those reasons are slow to come.
2. Explicit sections marked out with:
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
3. Thanks for the kudos, comments and subscriptions!
4. Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, Jujutsu Kaisen nor any alcohol companies. I only own Rui and Bancroft.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
With one hand, he was holding down a pair of slender wrists to the bed. He took a moment to marvel at how dainty they were as they squirmed about above her head, reminding him of the desperate flapping of a butterfly's wings as it was pinned down.
He would have questioned this scene a little more, but his mind did not have the capacity for rationality at the moment. He was aching badly and she was right where he needed her.
Instead, he tightened his hold, smoothing his thumb in small circular motions against the soft, sensitive skin of her wrist. The quickening beat of her radial pulse under his sensitive fingertips excited him, too, and his free hand gripped her hip involuntarily.
There were a number of delicate blue veins at her wrist. With his tongue, he traced one up her arm, noting the way it thickened the closer they got to her inner elbow, and enjoying the way she shivered beneath him as he began to nibble experimentally at the soft skin of her tricep.
She let out a small whimper that was quickly stifled, but it caught his notice anyway. He pulled back a little, just to appreciate the alluring picture she made.
Her long dark hair lay in shiny, smooth sheets beneath them, their cinnamon peach scent intoxicating his senses. Her obsidian eyes, usually so clear and placid, were, for once, heavy-lidded and uncharacteristically clouded, gazing fervently at him in need and desire.
He exhaled softly.
That look, a far cry from how she usually was, suited her very much, indeed.
She herself was very much like a ripe, juicy peach, flushed, swollen, and dripping wet at the apex of her thighs, all for him. Perhaps he would taste her, later. They had only barely started.
He understood, though. His dick ached pleasurably, full and heavy, within the confines of his jeans. Almost as if to tease himself, he rubbed his clothed front against her inner thigh, making her gasp as his eyes briefly closed at the sharp spike of sensation arising from that friction. It had been quite a while for him.
Pressing a thigh between her legs, he pressed a hungry, open-mouthed kiss against her parted, dewy lips, swallowing her pleasured gasps as his tongue entered the warm, soft heat of her mouth, and relishing in the sweet, tart taste of their intermingling saliva. His free hand stroked up her side, tracing the dip of her waist and then the swell of her left breast, playing with its weight as goosebumps rose up on the skin beneath his fingertips.
He squeezed it gently, thrilling at the way she arched up against him, as if to demand more.
His thumb ghosted over the rosy nipple. It tightened sweetly, and he began to roll it between his thumb and forefinger, enjoying the way she was moaning into his mouth. Wantonly, she rubbed up against his leg, the slick from her arousal soaking into his clothed thigh.
She whined delightfully as he finally broke their kiss. A long thin string of fluid still connected their lips, but it soon broke and spilled down her chin.
As she giggled, her furry, prehensile tail wrapped around his wrist, jerking him sideways.
Ryuzaki shot up in his chair with a jolt, limbs flailing, to the stale dimness of his and Light's shared room. Immediately adopting his customary crouch, he took stock, noting with some surprise that he was drenched in perspiration and rock-hard. The details of the dream faded rapidly with every second he was awake, but he could surmise its gist and nature.
Under the dull glow of his monitor, he could see Light in the throes of a nightmare, fists swinging wildly about as he thrashed in the tangle of his covers, causing the chain between them to jerk violently towards him every now and then. That explained his smarting wrist.
Ryuzaki moved away from the wriggling teen, swinging his legs onto the ground as he got to his feet awkwardly. He paused, waiting for the pins-and-needles sensation to subside from the lower half of his body. It was a small price to pay for the many benefits of his favoured resting posture.
While they were on that subject, it had been a long time since his body had required sexual relief; six years, two months, and thirteen days, to be more precise.
Decisively, Ryuzaki released himself from his self-imposed ball and chain and secured the handcuff around the bedpost. Even he, equipped with a lesser sense of shame than most, required privacy for this, much as he liked to pretend he was above such trivialities. He made doubly sure the bathroom door between him and Light was locked before he plopped down onto the closed lavatory lid.
Curiously, he stuck a hand down his front, finding that it came away wet. Absently, he stared at the slimy, clear substance coating his fingers. Pre-ejaculate , his mind supplied. Funny, his body had never done that before.
Nevertheless, it would be absurd to attach any significance to a mere physiological reaction. Elevated levels of testosterone, exacerbated by the increased amount of exercise he had been getting, possible neurotransmitter imbalances, increased stress levels... Any and all of these biological causes could apply, and he would simply have to work around them.
He usually just willed his erections away, but he supposed he was too far along, now. He certainly did not wish to risk epididymal hypertension(1).
Discarding his clothes on the floor, Ryuzaki stepped resignedly into the shower. With but a moment's deliberation, he turned the shower knob, letting warm water cascade down his face and back.
Depriving himself was a fruitless endeavour, and one he found unnecessary, anyway. If not relieved, his body's needs could and would come back to haunt him at the most inconvenient of times.
Ryuzaki hissed at the contact of his cold hand against his overheated, throbbing flesh. His head spun as he gave himself a hard squeeze, as if in punishment for the inconvenience, and closed his eyes, forearm supporting his weight against the wall before him.
He ran a thumb over his slit, spreading the wetness around the head of his cock, and up the shaft. As he gripped himself, a familiar electric thrill bloomed in the base of his stomach, tensing the muscles in his stomach in anticipation. This would not take long.
Intending to finish quickly, he stroked himself briskly, focusing solely on the waves of pleasure that built with every movement of his hand and lanced up his spine, the heat rushing through his ribs and curling in his stomach. A moan threatened to rise up; he bit it back instead, clenching his jaw more tightly.
The moment he accidentally loosened the tight reins of his self-control, distracted by the blissful sensations he was eliciting in himself, she was there, unbidden and unwelcome, emblazoned in the red dimness of his closed lids. His breath hitched at the unwanted, irresistible flashes of memory that began resurfacing in sharp detail: the hungry, wanton look she had once borne when he had woken her up the morning of her cycle; the vulnerable curve of her flushed throat offered up to him; her rosy, full lips closing around a straw; the sliver of creamy skin between her small breasts; and most recently, the feel of her perky breasts against his face as she pulled him into a headlock. She had not been wearing a brassiere, and all that playful contact had caused her nipples to harden. One had brushed the corner of his mouth, and he remembered noticing that all he had had to do was turn his head just so, and he would have been able to open his mouth, flick his tongue and suck on it through the fabric of her sleepwear.
It was not much; Ryuzaki had certainly seen far less on (and done) people with far more, but there was a taboo aspect to it all that he ached to discover, tantalising peeks into a more sensual side of Rui that she tried very hard to hide. It was very much present, though, Ryuzaki knew, calling to him from just beneath the prim, restrained veneer she had painstakingly cultivated. He wanted to break apart that innocent, neat exterior, and for her to cry out in ecstasy as he did it.
He could see those plump lips wrapped around his cock, her gazing up at him from below with that filthy look in her eyes, taste the silky, creamy skin around her breasts. He had not seen her naked, of course, even he would not go that far. Still, he had seen her in a sports bra and short shorts. He could guess at what she looked like from the way she felt.
What kind of sounds would she make if he were to rip into her wet heat, over and over and over and over? Perhaps the most he would get was harsh breathing. She could surprise him at times, though. Perhaps she might moan every now and then, or even scream. Yes, perhaps he might even be able to get her to scream his name as she peaked and finally squeezed around his cock. What might her expression be like?
Panting harshly, he groaned, sliding faster and harder against his grip, unable to hold back anymore as he chased the irresistible build up of tension, getting closer and closer with every thrust into his fist. He could already tell that it was likely to be an intense climax, unsurprising considering the long dry spell he had had.
Abruptly, his mind went blissfully blank. He grit his teeth against the sharp pleasure that consumed him, vaguely registering warm cum spilling all over his hand and stomach. He continued to stroke himself, riding out the series of pulses and surges from deep within that continued for a few more searing heartbeats.
Finally, he slumped forward almost bonelessly, his knees and hands still trembling as he rested his forehead against the shower tiles. Panting and waiting for his elevated heart rate to drop back down to baseline, he looked on blankly as the viscous whiteness of his release flowed down into the drain, washed away by the warm water still beating down on his exhausted form. He felt strangely cold.
It did the job. His mind was clear again. But it was like having bits of meringue when he really needed croquembouche.
Ryuzaki had no hang-ups about sex per se, although he eventually decided that intercourse with others involved too much effort for too little. The endorphin release that resulted from sexual relief was temporary, its inevitable subsidence leaving him oddly bereft. Sex had a way of consuming who he thought he was, reducing him to something much baser, at the mercy of his senses, only to inevitably spit him back out, spent and discombobulated.
How dandy. He now had to contend with the soreness of having accidentally bitten the side of his tongue, to boot.
The content of his fantasies was a little concerning. Recalling them brought on a bad taste in his mouth, even as a fresh wave of arousal dizzied him.
Guilt , his mind supplied. Why?
He already knew he was sexually attracted to her. That was normal.
Though she did not try as hard to appear so, there was a certain je ne sais quoi that some, including him, would find attractive. Misora Naomi, Wedy, Amane Misa... Yagami Light and Aiber. Rui was not the only attractive person around. Ryuzaki was used to attractive people.
Sexual attraction was the result of a complex interplay of factors, including aesthetic taste, differences in HLA types and immunologic compatibility. It meant very little in the grand scheme of things.
But he still felt guilty. This was not how he wanted to be thinking of Rui, especially without her consent. She was not someone to be used, physically or otherwise. Nor should anyone else treat her that way, for that matter.
That last thought surprised him for only a moment. Contrary to what anyone else believed, the lives of those working under his command were a responsibility he took seriously. It was no wonder he would be protective of her, a civilian still learning to protect herself.
If he had to rank everyone around him on a completely subjective, personal scale, Rui and Yagami Soichiro would occupy the same tier. What he was now experiencing was but an insignificant, harmless attachment to someone decent.
It was negligible, really. Time would soon fade it into oblivion.
A series of gentle taps sounded, causing him to startle and hit the back of his hand against the showerhead.
He stared, wide-eyed, at the closed bathroom door adjoining Rui's room.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Aug 15, 2004; 04 00
Rui had been awoken by the sound of the shower running. It had to be Ryuzaki, seeing as he was the only one with access to that bathroom who would be up so late, but that was so uncharacteristic of him. He usually used the human washing machine.
She had rolled over and drifted back into sleep, but soon snapped awake again due to the noise. She wasn't sure how long he was in there, but it was longer than she expected Ryuzaki to take. Why was he showering so late, anyway?
A nightmare?
Putting her ear right up against the door, Rui wondered what she should do. The sound of the running water almost obscured any other sound, but she seemed to have heard something strange, like a groan.
Was Ryuzaki in pain?
She frowned, dithering outside the bathroom indecisively. I suppose I could-
She startled, abandoning the thought. For a moment she thought she had heard her name, and she listened hard again.
Huh. There was only the sound of the water running. Perhaps she had misheard. Come to think of it, she was acting rather like a creep, wasn't she, skulking around and eavesdropping on someone showering? She must've been hearing things, else he would've called again.
The linen closet had remained untouched, meaning that Ryuzaki had not taken a towel in. He had probably forgotten fresh clothes, too.
Dutifully, she fetched them, still hesitating when the shower stopped running. Ryuzaki must have been done with his long shower, but she could not hear any further movement from within.
Had he... hit his head and passed out?
A prickle of unease trickled down her spine.
Taking a deep breath, she tapped on the door with her knuckles. There was a weird sound, like he'd dropped something. "Ryuzaki?" she called. "It's you in there, yes? Are you alright?"
No response.
" Ryuzaki ?"
Was it not him? Perhaps it was Light. Whoever it was, they could be in dan-
Thankfully, he cleared his throat just as she was about to barge in, propriety be damned.
Well.
"You forgot your towel and clothes. I'm going to open the door just a little, and place them on the sink, okay? I'm not going to come in." Ryuzaki never bothered to lock the bathroom door that led to her room; it wasn't like she was going to peep, and it made it easier to do her job whenever she had to.
Gingerly, she opened the door, just a crack, and slid her arm into the small gap, just enough to leave the articles of clothing on the dry countertop.
"If you need assistance, just call out, okay?"
"Thank you, Rui," Ryuzaki finally replied. He sounded like he'd just completed a marathon, and there was an atypical but not unpleasant rough husk to the usually-silky tone of his voice that made her heart skip a beat, for some reason.
She furrowed her brows. Had he fallen ill?
He cleared his throat again, and she hurriedly shut the door, planting herself outside to wait for her shilly-shallying charge.
It had been twenty minutes, the motion-detected bathroom light had just turned off, but Ryuzaki did not seem to have left the bathroom as there was no sound. What the devil was he doing? Was Ryuzaki... wanking off ?
It wasn't as if Rui was unfamiliar with the hormonal needs of the opposite sex. Rui had lived with an adolescent younger brother in a small house, after all, and it wasn't a big deal. You just closed the door, gave them their space, and forgot about it.
Did Ryuzaki... grab his dick with two fingers as well? Rui sniggered to herself at the ridiculous thought. Or maybe he-
The bathroom door swung open rather unceremoniously, cutting off her irreverent speculation at Ryuzaki's expense. Reflexively, her heart began to race at the sight of her crush.
Rui had given up on trying to deny that fact to herself. She liked Ryuzaki a lot. Far too much for her own good, really, but who said anyone had to know? Just because you had a crush didn't mean you had to act on it, because really, what could she offer him, when she might be able to return back to her world one day? Who was to say that he would even want it, even if she really had something to offer him?
Prima facie, Ryuzaki looked as he usually did, hunched over with one hand shoved in the pocket of his baggy jeans and the other at his lips. His buggy eyes were widened innocently, peering up at her through that waterlogged rat's nest that passed for hair, ebony strands weighed down and plastered to his face. He was dripping water everywhere despite the towel carelessly flung atop his head.
Rui rolled her eyes with exasperated fondness, moving forward to grab the towel and help dry him up. Dude is, what, twenty-five plus, and still cannot dry his own hair properly. How is he even my crush?
Ryuzaki was surprisingly docile, bowing his head and submitting to her rough ministrations with nary a sound nor protest.
"What, did you have a nightmare again?" she asked, more to make conversation than anything, for he made her nervous. The soft whir of the washing machine in the background did nothing to cover up the strangely awkward silence.
"No."
"Had a good wank, did you?" Rui snickered. She had not meant to say that, but the nerves got her. Well, if she was going to say something stupid, might as well own it and go all the way.
"...No."
"Or perhaps you were taking a shit ?" She was openly laughing now. Hey, she never claimed to be mature. Besides, he deserved all those digs for ignoring her throughout the day. Why did he do that, anyway?
"No."
Huh. He usually at least reacted to this kind of idiocy. If Matsuda had attempted to say something like this, he would've been thrown out of the task force building after the first sentence. Yet, right now, his voice was completely flat. She drew back, studying him in concern.
Ryuzaki looked... dead on his feet. His eyes were now downcast, and he did not look up despite the tense set to his shoulders that indicated him knowing she was actively scrutinising him. This was not like him at all.
As she looked on, he continued slouching there, one foot scratching the top of the other.
"Ryuzaki?" She softened her tone. "Is something wrong?"
His hunched shoulders drew in even more, and he said nothing.
Rui frowned and waited a few more moments, but Ryuzaki seemed content to remain silent. He looked the way he did in that one anime scene where he stood at the doorway to Watari's room.
She could be wrong but he looked... lonely , almost. Lost, maybe. Unwilling or unable to ask for succor. It looked like even he didn't know what was wrong.
The way Rui's heart clenched almost painfully at the thought, robbing her of breath for a moment, surprised even herself.
It took one to recognise another, after all.
"What, you wanna sleep with me tonight or something?" Rui teased, giggling at her own joke even though it wasn't particularly funny. Without waiting for a response, she took hold of his sleeve and dragged him towards one of the two armchairs at the far corner of her room. "Too bad. You don't get the bed, lucky strike. But you can stay as long as you like. I'm scared of the dark and I need a heeeero~"
Rui retrieved the electric kettle. "You want some chamomile tea?"
No response. He was doing marginally better, though. His gaze flickered sideways to meet hers before he looked straight ahead again, resuming its vacant stare.
"That's a yes, then."
Rui put on some music, lowering the volume as she waited for the kettle to fill up. She had burned a CD with popular 2000s music that she was brushing up on in preparation for the karaoke 'date', and she started humming along to the music.
By now, Rui was a self-proclaimed expert in making chamomile tea. Six heaping tablespoons of wildflower honey in the mug for Ryuzaki, a vigorous stir, and they were done. He stared into the mug for a moment, dazed, before taking it from her.
Ryuzaki took a long sip, and Rui noticed that his fingers around the mug were... twitching. Rui's first impulse was to open her mouth to ask after him again, but she quashed it, knowing he wouldn't respond. Did he just need company?
Her eyes lit on his tense shoulders, and she got an idea.
"Ryuzaki, you want a shoulder massage? It's my turn to reciprocate!"
He flinched a little at the feel of her hands against his shoulders. They were so warm, even through the fabric of his shirt, but pleasantly so. Rui waited two counts for any protest on his part, but he had none, so she continued.
"I'm pretty good at massages too, if I do say so myself!" she boasted, getting to work.
Does that skill extend to other types of massages? The thought surfaced before Ryuzaki could keep a lid on it, and he inhaled slowly.
That was a mistake. The sweet smell of her flesh almost made his head spin, and his crotch twitched. It would be so easy to turn around and-
That would not do. That was not what either of them wanted. He needed Rui to talk.
"You seem to keep a lot of pictures of men in your phone gallery, Rui," he began. "Who might this 'Gojo Satoru' be?"
Rui squealed excitedly, a girlish reaction he had never seen from her before. "He's a beautiful specimen of a man, is who Gojo is!"
Ryuzaki's lips turned down at the corners behind his thumb. He supposed he could see that. The man had silver hair, an undoubtedly unique feature, and remarkable sky blue eyes. Even he could admit that this... Gojo was likely to be attractive in person.
"He has drip, and swag, and sexiness, and he's powerful, too! He's bombastic, funny, and just overall, an untameable wild card who nevertheless shows character growth from how he was as a youngster!"
He was almost willing to bet that Rui had metaphorical hearts in her eyes. Come to think of it, there was an unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ryuzaki wondered if the cookies he had eaten had been expired. He would need to get Rui to check later.
"He's from another series, Jujutsu Kaisen, that I was watching before I got transported here," Rui prattled on, happy to share another one of her interests with Ryuzaki. "It's kind of generic, in that shonen anime way, but I liked the female protag. I guess I just like the balance of horror elements, fight scenes and comedy, you know?"
"Is this... Gojo... your favourite character?" Ryuzaki asked, carefully keeping his monotone.
"I like them all, else they wouldn't be in my phone," Rui replied truthfully, then paused at the shift in the room, her brows knitting. For all intents and purposes, Ryuzaki betrayed no outward reaction- No, he seemed to be sulking. Why the devil was he sulking?
Well, it wouldn't hurt to backtrack a little and tease him to lighten the mood.
"Gojo isn't my favourite, Ryuzaki," she purred, fluttering her eyelashes at him exaggeratedly and trying not to laugh. "Right at this moment, you are."
There was a moment where he blinked up at her, raccoon-like, before he took control of their dynamic.
"Is that so, Rui?" he drawled.
Unprepared for the weirdly intense stare he leveled at her, Rui's smile froze on her face. Her heart lodged itself somewhere in her throat before she recovered, surreptitiously clearing her throat and clicking her tongue at him playfully, complete with finger guns. Shame on her. He hadn't even said anything particularly provocative.
Ryuzaki knew that Rui was merely sweet-talking him; if he had been a more expressive person, he would have rolled his eyes at her antics. Yet, the odd emptiness he had been contending with was promptly replaced by the same infernal warm flutter he had noticed earlier.
"Rui, please arrange for a physician first thing later. I would like a full health examination."
Aug 15, 2004; 19 00
Thankfully, the doctor pronounced Ryuzaki 'largely healthy'. He did have an ulcer on his tongue, and mild Vitamin D and iron deficiencies, but Rui supposed she would just have to try and sneak more supplements into his food. That reminded her, was there a way she could try and bake something healthier for Ryuzaki? She had half a mind to ask Mogi for advice; after all, that man had proven to be a good cook for Misa later in the series.
In any case, as discussed with Ryuzaki, the karaoke date had been postponed to the next date. The current date was a rooftop picnic dinner - Rui had carefully laid down a couple of large picnic mats, weighted down by cushions that they could all sit on, and a portable radio. She had expected the night breezes, and so they were using weighty glassware, cutlery and china.
Watari had had to help her lug the heavy picnic baskets up to the rooftop. She opened them up now, mentally ticking off the items: napkins, at least three different types of dessert, each with portions for at least eight people, normal food for everyone excluding Ryuzaki, water, and of course, lots and lots of alcohol.
Well, the alcohol was meant for Misa and Light, and maybe Ryuzaki too, if he wanted it. She was sticking to umeshu and chuhai, the sweet stuff she had always wanted to try in Japan. They ranged from 3-9% ABV, and she was planning on giving those with higher alcohol content to the others.
"Here, Light, here's a drink with your name on it," Rui said with a straight face, handing him a can of Asahi(TM) Light beer, which he accepted on reflex, looking nonplussed. She had it in the stronger variation too, should he prefer it.
She winked playfully at Ryuzaki, since he had been the one to set up the joke with his choice of false last names for the task force, then handed him a can of peach chuhai and a bottle of Akadama(TM) sweet wine, unsure of his preferences. He took both with only a moment's hesitation and she handed Misa another can of Asahi(TM) Light and a bottle of red wine, which was accepted with much more eagerness.
"Rui-san? I'm afraid the legal drinking age in Japan is 20," Light told her, trying to politely refuse. Oh, right. Light was underage. She looked to Ryuzaki - after all, he was in on the plan, too. Well, technically he was the only one on the plan. Rui's 'plan' was simply for a low-effort date: ply the three of them with drink, so that they would get too inebriated to bother with her. She deserved this break.
"No need to be so serious, Light," the detective chimed in. "We are in a controlled, safe environment. While underage drinking and purchase of alcohol is illegal for those under 20 within Japan, there is no specified punishment for violating these laws. Besides, statistics show that more than half of high school students already have some experience with alcohol. You would hardly be in the minority."
As if to emphasise his point, Ryuzaki toasted Light, Misa, and Rui, and the girls cheerfully toasted him back. Seeing that Light was still glaring at him indignantly, he then took a sip of his chuhai, keeping his eyes on Light almost in silent challenge.
A look of irritation flickered over Light's beautiful face. He looked to Rui, who waved her own opened can of umeshu, and then Misa, though he quickly looked away. He sighed, wiping away any outward expression of ire, and opening the can with a pop. "Then, a toast, Ryuzaki, to solving the case."
Rui lounged lazily a short distance apart from the other three who clinked their cans, instead sipping calmly on her own umeshu through a straw under her mask. At least this was delicious. If she ever returned home, she was buying at least half a suitcase's worth of this. She wasn't exactly sure of the alcohol content for umeshu, but it couldn't be that high, right? It didn't taste like alcohol to her.
Rui congratulated herself on having selected a beautiful location for a date, even if it was rather unconventional. A kaleidoscope of city lights shimmered below them, stretching out as far as the eye could see, and the building was too tall for any street noise to reach them from below. To aid visibility, Rui had also placed a ton of battery-operated electric candles all about the rooftop that she felt added to the romantic ambiance (if one didn't look too closely).
It was pleasantly windy, though Misa did not seem to be enjoying it as much, with the wind mussing up her hairdo, causing strands of hair to stick to her lip gloss, and lifting her skirt every five minutes. Hadn't Misa been listening to her when she'd told her about the date plans?
Neither of the two men seemed very inclined to help the model. Light was sipping at his can of beer and talking to Ryuzaki, clearly trying to ignore her, and Ryuzaki... well, he was mostly engaging Light and wolfing down his macarons, the can of chuhai abandoned somewhere, but Rui wouldn't put it past him to be, uh, enjoying the view.
Rui sighed. Time for big sister to step up to the plate. She shrugged out of her blazer, handing it to Misa to tie around her waist.
"Shall I help you with your hair, Misa?" As the girl nodded, Rui got to work, smoothing out the younger girl's hair. Rui's own hair was in a sensible French braid, but she supposed Misa might prefer something cuter for Light, so twin tails it was.
Light and Ryuzaki were supposed to be presenting them with the date gifts at around this time. Rui shot them a Look. Ryuzaki saw it first, but looked to Light instead. The boy's eyes widened before a scowl threatened to spread across his features. He pressed the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.
"Misa," he sighed. There was nothing he could say that Misa wouldn't conveniently misinterpret to her wishes, Rui supposed, so he opted not to. "Here."
He dropped the small package into Misa's lap and turned to Ryuzaki, not even looking at her reaction as she cheered and quickly opened it. "What about yours, Ryuzaki?" he asked. Rui supposed even Light could be petty, sometimes. If he had to do it, Ryuzaki had to do it, too.
Ryuzaki, too, was looking rather insultingly reluctant. He straightened up for a moment, fishing in one of his jeans pockets as everyone else looked on. Just how deep were his pockets? Literally, in this case.
Finally, he dug out the small package Rui had handed to him, depositing it in her lap with his trademark pincer grip. It had been, what, at most two days since she had passed it to him. How was it already looking the worse for wear?
Rui's brow raised as she picked up the package. It looked the same, but it was heavier than she remembered. And rather more clumsily wrapped.
Dare she open it now, or wait till later? The curiosity was killing her, but... she took a cautious gander round.
Misa had opened her present and was making a fuss at Light, trying to get him to put the crescent pendant necklace on her. When she got into this state, she had eyes for Light and Light alone.
Good. No one was paying any mind to her.
Rui tore apart the wrapping paper impatiently, finding the same flimsy, cheapass box the original necklace had come in. For a moment, she had the thought that she might've been overthinking this, but it was soon dispelled when she lifted the lid.
There were two identical black velvet pouches nestled in the box. Pulse raising in anticipation, Rui tipped the contents of one into her palm.
At first, Rui wasn't sure what she was looking at. It was made of silvery metal, with a good weight to it. Along the flat side, there was the same kind of compass star pattern as the cheap pendant necklace she had bought.
And then the penny dropped.
A knuckle duster? Ryuzaki gave me a set of knuckle dusters? Rui resisted the urge to laugh. This was too awesome! It almost didn't even matter whether it had been Watari's or Ryuzaki's idea. These were beautiful .
Rui hadn't ever seen knuckle dusters in real life, but she had seen videos on them. These were smaller than normal, made for a woman's grip or a small man's, and her fingers slid into them perfectly. The knuckle guard sat around the middle phalanxes, just before the second joint of the fingers. They were more comfortable to grip than she had expected. Beautiful and functional gifts were the best kind, although Rui doubted that she'd be punching anyone anytime soon.
She admired the glint of the metal in the light, and the artistry of the design. Watari sure knew a lot of artisan businesses.
Oh, right. She should be thanking Ryuzaki. After all, no matter whose idea the gift had been, Ryuzaki had probably paid for it. Briefly, she wondered where the original gift was.
The detective in question seemed to be needling the two Kiras into drinking more and more, for they were matching him can by can even as he engaged them in conversation.
With great care, Rui tucked the knuckle duster back into the pouch and into the box, stowing it in her back pocket. A feeling of fondness for the detective welled up in her as she watched him do his thing, enjoying her drink.
Huh. Had she been drinking that umeshu this quickly? The can was empty. Was this her first or second can? She vaguely remembered opening another can, but it could've been for someone else. It was starting to get pretty warm, and Rui's head felt like it was floating.
Rui stared stupidly at the can in her hand for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Eventually, she decided that it didn't quite matter how many cans of umeshu she'd already had, it was time for a change in drink.
There was some reason she should be reaching for chuhai flavours packed on the left side of the picnic basket instead of the right, but she couldn't recall it. It probably wasn't important, and the flavours of the other chuhai cans seemed more interesting anyway.
Rui popped open a can of mixed fruit chuhai this time, watching Misa's repeated attempts to cuddle up to Light, who was shaking her off at least once every minute. The model was clearly not listening to anything Rui had said about not coming on too strong, and for a moment, she found herself pitying the clearly-uncomfortable teen.
In commiseration, she handed him and Misa another can of alcoholic drink. It might've been another Asahi Light, or it might've been her own can of chuhai. Rui found herself disinclined to sweat the details.
Instead, she picked up a conveniently-opened can of peach chuhai.
Hey, this was pretty good. Wait, isn't this Ryuzaki's?
Probably feeling her looking at him again, his eyes slid to her. She couldn't remember why she should look away from his gaze, and he was looking rather attractive as always, so she continued staring back. Beauty needed to be appreciated, after all.
Oh, his drink!
Attempting to be helpful, Rui opened up a fresh can of strawberry chuhai, handing it to Ryuzaki. As he took the can from her, she let her fingers lightly brush his, smiling up at him before she retreated again to finish her own can. She really did like him.
No, wait, Misa and Light were out of drink. The bottle of red wine was now empty. Huh. There were also a number of opened cans of drink around them. These naughty litterbugs. She clucked her tongue in annoyance at having to get up, fishing out the second bottle of wine she'd packed in the picnic basket.
Try as she might, she could not get the cork out, though, and eventually she gave up, placing the bottle down gently on its side. She had apparently missed some of the action, for now Light and Misa were seeming rather friendly.
Light was apparently a friendly/flirty drunk. He was looking attractively mussed, and talking amiably to Misa. The model in question seemed to be a talkative and dramatic drunk, because she was running her mouth a million miles a minute or something, waving her arms about in heavy emphasis of whatever she deemed important to convey at that point in time. Light laughed again. It sounded genuine and made him look ten times more attractive.
Rui said so out loud, and the other three turned to look at her.
"Ahh, for even Rui to say that... I appreciate the compliment," Light rubbed the back of his neck and laughed charmingly and a little self-deprecatingly. Damn, his rum-coloured eyes were sparkling like-like uh, like rum.
"Right, Rui-nee? You think so too, right?" Misa chirped. "Misa loves Light most in this world and the next! And the next and the next and-! Misa loves Light thiiiis much!" She held out her arms as wide as they would go, spinning about until she tripped and fell on her bum, giggling.
"Oh my, Misa!" Rui exclaimed worriedly, rushing over to her. "Here, take my hand!"
Instead of pulling Misa up, she overbalanced and landed on the other girl. The world was looking strange. Where was up and where was down? If up was actually down and down was actually... down, then...? What was she thinking about? She almost had the thought down.
"Ryuzaki?" she called, at her wits' end. He was smart. He would know what's up.
Ryuzaki heaved a sigh internally. He had half a mind to leave these drunkards alone. Instead, he shuffled forward, intending to pull Rui away.
"Ryuzaki?!" Rui called again, before he reached her. She listlessly flopped about, still half on top of a giggling Amane Misa.
He supposed this session had been rather successful at first. There was hardly anyone in Headquarters, just Matsuda, Watari and them. Aizawa and Chief Yagami had returned back to their homes for the night, and no one was there to stop them.
At Rui's suggestion, the 'date' after this one could function as an enkai(2) to somewhat pacify the rest of the task force members and normalise the consumption of alcohol, particularly after Yagami Light's memories returned. The plans for karaoke could function as a nijikai.
The effects of alcohol were well-known - reduced inhibition, mental confusion, impaired judgment - and possibly useful in interrogation attempts towards the two Kiras. If nothing else, it would aid him in understanding them better by introducing a new variable in their interactions with him.
He had managed to goad Yagami Light and Amane Misa into matching him drink for drink, except that most of the time, he was spitting his mouthfuls of chuhai into empty cans and wine bottles while pretending to be taking more sips.
That was, surprisingly enough, a bit of a struggle considering his prior negative experience with alcohol, which was limited to a single curious sip from Watari's customary nightcap of aged cognac. It had been the worst thing he had ever tasted. Well, to be fair, it had smelled tolerable, underneath the burn of the alcohol vapors. But then he tasted it, and the strength of the alcohol had overpowered everything else the cognac was supposed to taste like. Ryuzaki had sworn off alcohol after that.
Until now. The chuhai was cloyingly sweet, with just a hint of telltale bitterness. It was not any worse than the coffee he usually drank, and suited his tastes very much. Briefly, he wondered if the umeshu Rui seemed to enjoy was any better.
In any case, he had drunk an estimated two cans worth of chuhai in total while the two Kiras had drunk more than thrice that amount. He was most definitely still largely in control of his mental faculties, although his head spun a little.
He could not say the same about Rui. He adjusted his hold on her, forcing himself to ignore the warm weight of her head resting against his collarbone. Why had she even allowed herself to get this drunk?
Her surgical mask had hiked up a little, exposing the bottom of her chin. Reflexively, he grasped hold of the errant fabric with two fingers, delicately tugging it down until it fitted her face the way it ought to. His thumb accidentally brushed the top of her throat; at the same moment he became aware of it and started to move his hand away, Rui's chin moved forward, prolonging the contact until it rested against his chest.
Evidently, the alcohol had still been a little too much for his untrained tolerance, if his elevated heart rate was anything to go by.
She smiled up at him dreamily. "Wow, Ryuzaki, your lashes are really rather charming. How have I never noticed how long they are?"
Ryuzaki blinked, pulling his awareness away from the way his skin tingled. The way her chin moved against his chest as she spoke was a little distracting, not to mention her unblinking stare which seemed to burn a hole in his head.
The subject of his eyelashes and their length was not one that had crossed Ryuzaki's awareness until this moment.
"I've never seen eyes like yours, Ryuzaki. I've always thought they reminded me of black diamonds."
He stared hard at Rui, who was still staring back at him as if she were looking at Adonis himself. Her clear gaze was steady with no hint of duplicity.
Intoxication seemed to have stripped the opacity from her expressions, doing away with the blank, glasslike look that usually veiled her thoughts and emotions. She looked... alive, somehow, like a more genuine version of herself. It made it very difficult to dismiss anything she was doing or saying, especially since she had dropped the joking tone she usually used when trying to flatter him.
To be fair, Rui had explicitly expressed a desire to get herself drunk on this occasion, and he had acceded. He supposed he had no leg to stand on with regard to getting annoyed at her.
"Why are you staring at me like that, L?" Rui asked, tilting her head to peer at him coyly from under her lashes. "When you do that, it makes me think of... things."
Ryuzaki understood the insinuation. It was not the first time someone had tried seducing or at least, flirting, with him. Unlike previous encounters, however, her ulterior motive for attempting this was yet unclear, leaning towards non-existent.
Knowing how unsettling his gaze could be, he tended to reserve it for those he was interrogating or attempting to understand. Rui seemed to be enjoying him looking at her purely for its sake, a strange reaction indeed.
Come to think of it, he had never noticed the small red beauty mark at the outer corner of her eye, partially hidden by her bottom lashes.
A major factor in seduction was convincing the target that the seducer was enjoying whatever they were doing or having done to them, and Rui was succeeding.
Disquieted, Ryuzaki pressed the thumb of his free hand against his bottom lip. Drunk Rui seemed to have no filter for her words, nor any self-consciousness despite the cheesy words she was spewing here, there, and everywhere. He should not be putting any weight to her actions.
Ryuzaki looked away when Rui's eyes dropped to where he had been stroking his bottom lip, and stilled the motion of his thumb.
"You're drunk." It was stating the obvious, but Ryuzaki felt it necessary to inform Rui of this, seeing as her self-awareness seemed to have vanished. "And you seem to have forgotten to call me Ryuzaki."
Instead of retreating or apologising, as she would have when sober, drunk Rui only smirked. Ryuzaki tracked the curve of her eyes before he caught himself. "Drunk on you, I suppose," she purred, looking completely confident and comfortable with herself. It was rather attractive.
The moment he thought that, Ryuzaki pressed two fingers against Rui's forehead to push her face away. Undeterred, she squirmed against him, trying to snuggle closer. He held firm, inquiring at the amount of alcohol she had imbibed to get a sense of her level of intoxication.
In reply, Rui carelessly turned her head to look at the cans around her, still resting the rest of her body weight against him. "One, two, three, four..." she mumbled, pausing.
She suddenly perked up. "Five, six, seven..." she sang, swaying her hips and bumping into him every now and then. "You make me feel like eleven!"
She did not at all appear deterred by his deadpan gaze, instead winking at him flirtatiously. Ryuzaki was stuck between being unsettled and wanting to laugh at the almost surreal scene they were in - Rui posing with a victory sign over her head even while her forehead was still being held back by him.
It was high time the 'date' ended.
Rui was no longer making any sense. The Kiras, too, were babbling nonsense at each other, Light chuckling at something Misa was saying. It seemed to be the term 'bakodo jin'(3) repeated over and over.
Besides, his arm was tired.
The moment he put down his arm, Rui's arms snaked around his midsection and she cuddled against him, making him flinch. Ryuzaki was not quite sure what to do with his arm, which was still stuck uselessly in the air, and eventually he settled on resting it lightly against her back.
"Mmm~" she sighed, breathing in deeply and relaxing against him as he deliberated on whether to push her away or leave her be. The former option was clearly the right one, but as Rui began to rub her forehead against his collarbone, doing her best impression of an adoring, overgrown kitten, Ryuzaki tightened the arm he had around her instead.
He fished about in his back pocket for his phone, stoically bearing her affectionate ministrations.
He had Watari on speed dial. Matsuda, too, was in his call log.
Watari showed up under five minutes, raising an eyebrow at Rui's antics. Ryuzaki headed that off with a flat gaze of his own, gesturing to a mumbling Yagami Light.
Matsuda took longer, but that was to be expected from one such as him. He took one look at what Rui was doing, waggled his eyebrows and opened his mouth to say something. Ryuzaki headed that off with another flat stare, and Matsuda instead started complaining about not being invited to the 'booze party'.
Ryuzaki picked a stumbling Amane Misa up by the arm and handed her over. He would have handed Rui to him as well, but the man was looking far too intrigued at the prospect of Rui being drunk. He had no doubt that Matsuda would be trying to get a peek of Rui's face the moment he had a chance.
It made more sense for Rui to stick with him, Ryuzaki decided, attempting to shuffle along with her arm around his shoulders before he grew impatient with the lack of efficiency. The sooner they got Rui back to her room, the sooner he could be left in peace to mull over what Yagami Light had divulged.
"Do excuse me," he mumbled, perfunctorily, before slinging Rui across his shoulders in a fireman's carry. That was much better, he thought, stepping into the waiting lift.
He jerked forwards as he felt a hand slide down his back to his rear. He slapped her questing hand away before pressing the button for the correct floor in the lift. "What are you doing, Rui?" She was really testing his patience, or so he told himself. And his grip on her wrist was reminding him uncomfortably of the dream he had had.
"I honestly thought you had a pancake ass, L, but you're actually packing something," the errant woman replied, grinning sweetly at him and making it difficult for him to take offense at what she had done. Pancake ass? Packing... something?
He could see her image in the reflective doors of the elevator, and she responded to his confusion with another mischievous wink and thumbs up. "Nice~" She seemed to mean it.
Ryuzaki lurched forward again as he felt her gently poke his rear, making an approving sound and giggling.
Truthfully, he was not quite sure how to react to a situation like this. Nobody had ever seemed inclined to do anything like this to him before, and even on the off chance they had been, he would sooner have beat them up, if need be; he was more than capable of that. But as he looked back at those sparkling eyes full of mirth and playfulness, he could not detect any negative intent. In fact, he might be a little amused, or even flattered, dare he say, at Rui's attention. The artlessness and earnestness of her attentions rather reminded him of an overly-adoring kitten. That alone stopped him from just dropping her on the ground and taking his leave, despite the liberties she was taking with his person.
Thankfully, she stopped there, and he shuffled the rest of the way to her bedroom relatively uneventfully, placing the pad of his forefinger against the finger scanner to unlock her bedroom door.
He supposed he was... intrigued. Rui had never seemed the sort, he mused, bending his knees in a half-squat position to tip her off his shoulders onto her bed with some relief.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
She had been, for lack of a better term, nuzzling against the side of his neck, and it was doing strange things to him. He stared down at her, biting viciously at his thumb and contemplating if he should at least remove her shoes for her to be more comfortable. Valiantly, he tried not to let his eyes linger on the milky, exposed skin of her throat, the delicate sharpness of her collarbones, partially hidden under her collar, and the way the top two buttons of her thin silk blouse seemed to have come undone.
"You're really beautiful, L," a surprisingly lucid voice startled him from his thoughts, and he guiltily pulled his eyes away to meet hers. Her gaze was watery and half-lidded, but somehow sharper and more present, focused primarily on him. As she pulled her mask off, he could see her smile, slow and crooked, and he found himself reflexively looking away.
L did not look away from others; others looked away from him. So he turned back to her.
Ryuzaki rarely thought about his appearance, and he avoided looking into mirrors as much as he could. Besides, that was hardly relevant, seeing as it made no difference in his chosen profession. He said as much, feeling a little foolish at his attempt to converse with a drunk.
"I like intelligent men," Rui continued, seemingly out of the blue. Ryuzaki blinked. She did? He supposed that was good to know, though he had not asked. Had she not been lying down just a moment ago?
Rui's eyes took on a conspiratorial look. "Wanna hear a secret?" she whispered, leaning forward. Ryuzaki had not been around many drunks, even if he had observed several during his cases. Always at a distance, however. Rui's changing topics of conversation were almost giving him whiplash. Intrigued, nevertheless, he decided to go along with her, and waited.
"Sometimes I think of you, and I get wet, and then I touch myself on this bed," Rui recounted happily, giving him a huge shock, even as her innocent demeanor remained at complete odds with what she was saying.
"Betcha didn't know that, did you?" she giggled, intertwining her fingers with his.
A thrill shot down his spine.
"Such lovely fingers you have. Under the blanket, I imagine those long, thin fingers of yours entering me, and it feels really good."
She had leaned forward to whisper that last bit against his ear, and Ryuzaki's eyes widened as he accidentally chewed too hard at his thumb and drew blood. Rui laughed, then gently pulled his wrist towards her and closed her mouth around it, sucking slowly as she held his gaze.
Arousal lanced through him, and Ryuzaki made no move to extricate himself. Perhaps he wasn't thinking very clearly, for the mouthwatering scent of cinnamon peaches, mixed with the underlying sweet, warm musk of her skin, hung thick in the air around them. Absently, he registered the unprecedented rapid rate of his pulse. "During those times, all I can think about is your body on mine."
That hit too close to home for him, and he finally jerked away, turning to face her. She took that opportunity to devour his lips, using her mouth distractingly in a way that made him feel lightheaded, then pulled him down onto the bed with her. She flicked her tongue against one corner of his mouth, causing him to groan and part his lips involuntarily.
She tasted slightly bitter, slightly sweet and sour, and mostly like water. By all accounts he should have been repelled by the smell of alcohol on her breath, and she was being rather sloppy, but just the sensation of her tongue stroking his was making him shiver. She did not seem to mind the clumsiness with which he responded.
Instead, her fingers slowly carded through his hair, scratching lightly against his scalp in a way that felt exceptionally good. As she sucked the middle of his lip, her fingers scraped down the nape of his neck, causing goosebumps to rise in anticipation. It took Ryuzaki some time to register that he had, in fact, been moaning with her, though he could not quite bring himself to care.
Finally, Rui pulled back, not without an involuntary grunt of protest from Ryuzaki, who leaned forward to try to rejoin their lips without thinking, before he caught himself. Her lips remained a couple of inches from his own, a thin string of saliva still connecting them, like a physical representation of his sentiment.
Sentiment? L did not have sentiments. L did not get himself into compromising situations like these, either.
Ryuzaki inched back, away from her, but his back soon hit the headboard.
Rui had other ideas.
Licking her lips, she pressed her palms on his lap for balance and hoisted herself up onto his legs. Teasingly, she scooted forward, closer and closer, until she was in his lap and his torso was flush between her parted thighs. She smiled innocently, then began to slowly rub her hot centre against his hardened flesh. When had he gotten aroused for her?
His hands were on her hips, steadying her, and he could not stop himself from grinding up against her, the clothes between them simultaneously a frustrating barrier and a source of gratifying friction against specific parts of their anatomies. Intense shocks of pleasure radiated from where she rubbed against him, short-circuiting almost all thought processes and causing him to cry out every so often when she did something he particularly enjoyed. He might have been close to finishing had she not paused to catch her breath.
Instead, it gave Ryuzaki the chance to gather himself, enough to summon the presence of mind to lift her off of him.
"You're drunk," he told her sternly, trying to keep his voice steady and devoid of emotion the way it usually was, though it came out breathless, between heavy panting that he tried to pretend had not come from him.
"I am, but I know what I'm doing, L," Rui retorted. "The liquor simply gave me the courage to be more truthful."
Rui leaned forward again.
"I'm wet," she whispered slowly, clearly enunciating each syllable in a manner that captivated him. "Wet for you."
She held his gaze with half-lidded, lusty eyes that were, nevertheless, more lucid than they had any right to be, holding him singularly in their gaze. The burn in his lower belly intensified. "I want you so much, L."
Perhaps it was the way she looked at him, or the way she pronounced his name. It could have just been the heady scent of her, or the wonderful way she was rubbing against him. Maybe it was the rare sight of her, so debauched and flushed and needy when she usually never was, at least never in front of anyone. She could not be more appealing than she was in that moment, and L found himself wanting to touch her, to satisfy her.
He swallowed the lump that had arisen in his throat. It had been a long time since he had done anything of the sort, but if he were allowed to… "Would you like me to finger you?"
Those were words he never thought would ever leave his mouth. Then again, he never thought he would ever find himself in such a position, either, not with Rui, at least.
Rui might have thought to be more surprised had she the presence of mind. As it was, L was all she could think about. She stared at him for only a moment before smiling at him encouragingly. "Yes, please!" she chirped.
He searched her face for signs of reluctance but found only eagerness and need. That was such an endearing expression on her, for Rui never needed anything. She certainly did not need him for this, either. Nevertheless, he wanted to do this for her.
L licked his fingers, coating them, then unbuttoned her trousers and gently slipped his hand down the damp gusset of her underwear. This was for Rui. She wanted this. If he did not actively take pleasure from her, it was alright for him to do this, wasn't it? This was for Rui alone.
She was telling the truth, and being able to feel that excited him more. Even her clitoris was slick, and he began tracing lazy circles around the area as he bent down to kiss her greedily again. It pleased him greatly to feel that little, sensitive part of her hardening. Still, he wanted to draw this out a little, so he took his time exploring her folds, then her entrance, anywhere but the places that would lead to her orgasm.
He watched her face carefully, and when pleasure turned to impatience, and then frustration, he slowly stroked at her slick centre, easily slipping in a finger and crooking it up to find her sweet spot. Then he began to move it in and out, first slowly, then intensifying the speed and pressure, until she was crying out his name. At the same time, his thumb stroked at her swollen, aching clitoris, enhancing her pleasure.
He could tell that she hadn't yet been with anyone in that most intimate way, and a part of him wanted to feel guilty at what he was doing. Instead, he redirected his focus to her warm wetness clenching around his finger, to her breathless sighs, her fluttering eyelids and smiling, half-open mouth, and only grew harder. He shifted around a little, trying to readjust himself, but not wanting to stop, not when she was so close. Leaning forward, he pressed open-mouthed kisses against the side of her flushed neck, lapping up the sweetness of her perspiration.
Finally, he felt her squeeze around his finger, and he continued moving, drawing out her orgasm for as long as he could.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Suddenly, he noticed that Rui had passed out, and he gently extricated his finger, staring down at the glistening slickness that remained.
He had thought that it would have been enough to sate him once and for all, to quiet the simmering desire for her that he forced himself to bury, day after day. Instead, he found himself wondering how she would taste.
Wondering how Rui would feel, once she was sober enough to come to terms with what he had done to her.
L was a machine, a perfect paragon of pure logic and efficiency, free of the troublesome construct of morality and bias. Lawliet, on the other hand, was flawed, fallible, and had not been thinking.
He had made a mistake.
Notes:
Footnotes:
(1) Epididymal hypertension = Blue Balls.
(2) Enkai: Japanese office dinner and drinks party. Nijikai would be like the afterparty, usually karaoke and/or more drinking, and rowdier. Why? Because I wanted to see the task force bond lol
(3) バーコード人 (bākōdō jin): 'Barcode men', referring to men with comb-overs that look bad, like barcodes ;o;
Soooo. A rather unhinged AN:
a. Just a reminder, it's a Jack-and-Jill bathroom, meaning it has two doors, with one connected to L and Light's room, and the other, to Rui's room.
b. L also has a Venus in Scorpio, so that's the description I based this angle of writing on.
c. L often doesn't get lonely in canon, because he always has something else to focus on and never lets himself. Even in the Yotsuba arc, he's always analysing Light's reactions etc. But here, he kind of already knows what's what (at least for now) and it's kind of a waiting game, freeing up brain space for a new variable that's forcing him to take notice of something that's missing in his life.
d. Misa might look cute in twin ponytails! I can't find any fanart on this, though. On a side note, I always thought pigtails = twin braids but apparently it can be used to refer to twintails too. Sure, whatever. Confusing af. I never end up with equal amounts of hair on each side so I generally don't wear styles like this.
e. Lol umeshu has a higher alcohol content than chuhai (10-15% ABV). If you get the right brand it's not bad (I can't and therefore don't drink alcohol often, but I really liked this the last time I visited the country. YMMV tho). I think CHOYA umeshu is pretty popular, but Rui here drinks the cheap canned kind from the convenience store, so perhaps the alcohol content is lower?
f. Karma exists in this fic. L gets his ass groped after he goosed Misa lol. That part came about when I was looking for reasons as to why someone would find L attractive (I mean as a man, not as a character) and came across a funny post on Wattpad. Whoever Des is, bless them for noticing the all-important detail that L's booty gets flatter with the progression of the story both in anime and manga (joking). Me being me, here's my in-universe explanation for this: L loses weight easily, particularly when stressed, which the Kira case progressively did to him. #Lbootyrights
g. I feel like that last part might've come out OOC, but that was how it came out, so... Maybe I'll revise it again.
