Life as a Single Twin
October 1996,
The Yagami's didn't truly notice Heri's presence until it was gone. He had always been a fixture in the household, as he should be. Because of this, his absence was like a glaring hole in the Yagami household. It could be found in small things like a missing pair of shoes by the door or an extra fork placed at the table or an awkward silence where his sarcastic interjections would be.
For Light Yagami, everything was a reminder of his missing twin and it was like a punch in the gut. Everything was empty; An empty desk beside him in class, an empty hall when he got out of class, An empty room right beside his, usually so full of life and noise.
Everyone dealt with the hole a little differently. Soichiro threw himself into his work in the same way that Light threw himself into his academics, hellbent on winning his bet. Sayu spent more time with her friend, dragging her poor mother along with her to chaperone. Slowly, the gap receded, not closing completely but becoming less obvious. Some days though... some days were worse than others. It was on one such day that Yagami Light met Iha Masumi.
Parked at one of the small, uncomfortable desks of the maths classroom, Light pinched his nose in annoyance. The worksheet that their teacher had handed out was, as usual, painfully easy. Within fifteen minutes he had finished and looked over his work.
Releasing his nose, Light griped his pen, letting it slide over a fresh page of his notebook. Positioning the pen between two fingers, he let the pen swing like a pendulum, every pass leaving a dark line on the paper. The page slowly filled with ink scribbles and when the class was nearing its end, there was little white left.
Wrinkling his nose, Light ripped the page from his notebook and balled it up, throwing it lazily in the direction of the garbage. The crumpled page bounced off the head of a raven-haired girl in the third row before tumbling into the bottle recycling beside the trash can. With a defeated sigh, Light turned back to his paper.
An unfamiliar tingling sensation had him looking up again. The girl from the third row had turned towards him and was glaring menacingly. Light met her eyes sheepishly before nearly tumbling out of his seat.
Her eyes. Filled with anger, narrowed into slits, but most importantly green. Green, so green. Green as emeralds, green as the foliage of the trees planted around the perimeter of the schoolyard, green as everyone's favourite traffic light. Green like Heri's.
It was an unusual green, not the kind you'd expect to find in a human. And yet there it was. Light's eyes trailed over her face, taking in her features. Her dark hair was cut into a sharp bob, stopping just before the beginning of her jaw, free of any kind of restraints and her body was flat as if she had been compressed.
The girl looked like his brother. Really, she was even more masculine than her brother. This girl looked like his brother and Light was infatuated.
Noticing the glazed look in his eyes, the girl rolled her eyes and turned away to whisper to her blonde friend, clearly annoyed.
Light despaired the loss of her attention.
The bell rang and she rose slowly, still talking with her friend, now at a regular volume.
"Honestly, that boy-" He heard as she scooped her bag up from the ground, flashing a leather nametag in his direction.
Iha Masumi
Iha Masumi. Light filed her name away in his mind, swinging his own bag over his shoulder and stepping out into the hall.
While Light may be a bit naive, he did not lie to himself. He knew that there was no such thing as love at first sight. Not when the girl he was so attracted to was so similar to his brother. But what did that say about him? Pushing the thoughts from his mind, Light decided that he genuinely did not want to know.
All he knew is that he would win over Iha Masumi. Somehow.
xxx
December 24th and 25th, 1996
Christmas Eve was a tense affair for everyone. Much to Light's ire, Heri had not written a word since he'd arrived at school. They did not know what his plans were but, a sliver of hope had led them to place a few gifs under the tree for him.
The fire crackled merrily in the grate as The Yagami's sat watching a cheesy seasonal movie. Instead of fixating on the television like the rest of the family, Light stared out the window at the fluffy rain falling in the streets, his eyes tricking him into seeing dark figures in on the pavement.
Light did not even notice when the movie finished and everyone slowly started to move towards their bedrooms, he was so enthralled with the shadows outside. Slowly, he drifted off, still swaddled in blankets on the couch. The hour was getting later and later, and his hopes of Heri coming home were steadily dimming.
He jolted awake when he heard the crash. Heart beating frantically and eyes searching the room at the same pace, he slipped from his nest of blankets and padded cautiously towards the kitchen. The back door was wide open, swaying int the wind.
Pulling a frying man from the stove, Light followed the muddy footprints towards the washroom. The light was on and he could hear the tap running.
He breathed deeply, bracing himself, before kicking open the door violently, closing his eyes and swinging the frying pan around wildly. He felt it connect with something and whoever had been standing in the bathroom crumpled. They landed on the floor with a concerning crunch.
Slowly, Light toed the door open further and nearly gasped when he saw a head op red and white laying on the tiled floor.
"I-" He backed away, hands flying to his mouth. "I've killed Santa!"
The lump on the ground shifted and groaned softly. Light raced back over, pulling Santa up. He was rather small and light for a grown man but his small stature helped Light drag him to the couch and he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Finally arriving in the living room, Light draped Santa face up on the couch and got his first good look at his face.
His features were youthful, a direct contrast from the way he was usually portrayed. His hair, dark, long, and silky smooth, looked like t had been pulled straight from a shampoo commercial. Something about the image was oddly familiar.
It was not until Light removed his jacket that he realised what was truly going on. Underneath the jacket, he was wearing a strange uniform with TI embroidered on the breast.
TI. The Institute.
Light's face heated with shame. He hadn't even recognized his own brother! He paced back and forth in front of the couch, glaring at his unconscious twin. He would definitely need to get him back for breaking into the house dressed as Santa Claus. And for a moment he had even believed it! The confused ten-year-old would be berating himself for weeks because of this.
He glanced back at the tree and inspiration struck.
Leaving his unconscious and possibly comatose or concussed brother alone on the couch in a marvelling display of prepubescent idiocy, Light hunted for the roll of wrapping paper his parents had used for wrapping gifts. Finding it inside a cupboard along with some ribbon, bows, and tape, he practically ran back downstairs.
After carefully but tightly tying his hands together behind his back and binding his ankles together, Light lowered Heri onto the edge of the wrapping paper and proceeded to start rolling him. Soon enough, Heri was covered from head to toe with colourful paper. Securing the paper with ribbons and tape and plopping a green bow on Heri's head, Light moved back towards the couch and scooped up a pillow, sliding it carefully underneath his twins head.
Heri was unceremoniously shoved underneath the tree and Light wiped his hands together, congratulating himself on a job well done. He climbed the stairs, looking back only once to admire his handiwork.
'Serves him right,' He thought as he leapt over the step that creaked every single time you stepped on it, 'He didn't even write a single bloody letter'
He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and dreamt of nothing but calm darkness.
He was awoken by Sayu shaking him with all her might, screaming at him to get up. He was vastly unimpressed but unsurprised by her methods. She clearly wanted to unwrap her presents and it was a longstanding Yagami family tradition that no one was to go anywhere near the gifts or even the room where the gifts were without everyone present.
Light stumbled down the stairs, looking much like a zombie and greeted his family unenthusiastically. They were all far too loud, he decided as he swiped his father's coffee and took a long swig of the bitter brown liquid.
His father snatched it back near automatically but Light was already feeling better with some caffeine in his system.
He obediently let say guide hm and their parents towards the living room but much like them, he gasped in surprise when he entered the room.
Heri was no longer laying where he left him. Instead, he was perched on the top of the tree, completely defying the laws of physics.
The wrapping paper which nad once looked like a deformed tube had been folded and taped into some sort of toga and his uniform lay discarded in the corner of a room, along with the latter he probably used to get up there in the first place.
"Merry Christmas, ladies and gentlemen," he said with a cheeky grin, "I gift you all with my presence,"
Light's jaw dropped. He blinked, letting his eyes stay closed for a moment or two longer than usual before staring at his twin again, trying to process what in the bloody hell he was seeing.
Heri pulled a chalkboard seemingly out of his ass, taking one of the chalks attached to it and writing LIGHT 0, HERI 1 on it. He hung it around his neck like a giant necklace and winked at his twin, pulling Light from his daze.
"HERI!"
xxx
September 1997,
Light had never thought much about crossdressing which was strange since his brother seemed to do it very often (mostly for their sister's sake). He had no particular opinions on crossdressers. He was of the firm belief that people can do whatever the bloody hell they want so long as it doesn't affect him. So when he first saw the men in dresses, he hardly even noticed them.
He first saw them down the street from his house, There were three of them, all dressed in strange styles of dresses with long billowy sleeves and trains that dragged along the ground when the walked. Even with the strange attire, they clearly came from a lot of money. The fabric of their dresses shimmered in the sun, probably high-quality silk and they had decorated themselves with so much jewellery that they looked like the inside of a gold mine.
He ignored them in favour of setting off for school. Admiring three rich men in dresses was not more important than getting to class on time. At least it wasn't until they started following him.
They weren't subtle. Oh, they were clearly trying to be but they stood out like a Highlighter Yellow elephant wandering the streets in Surrey. They trailed him through streets and down alleyways and even through a few buildings in his futile attempts to lose them.
Deciding to just get to school as quickly as possible, Light slipped through a narrow alley, a well-known shortcut to get to his school. He stopped abruptly when one of the men appeared suddenly in front of him.
Light backed up only to hit another man standing behind him. Plastering himself to the wall, he looked between the two men and their third companion standing at the end of the alleyway. He was trapped.
"What do you want?" He asked them fearfully, expecting to be assaulted or kidnapped. Instead, the first man smiled menacingly and whipped a stick out of his pocket. Momentarily, Light forgot his fear as he wondered why the man was pointing a long stake at him. Did they think he was a vampire?
He snorted in amusement, deepening the second man's scowl. The stake wielding man waved his stick around, murmuring under his breath.
A sickly red light shot out and Light's body lit on fire. Outwardly, he was okay but his guts felt like molten lava, burning through bones muscle and sinew alike. Invisible knives stabbed into him, blinding him with the sheer intensity of pain. A gloved hand was shoved into his mouth to keep him from screaming and instead, he bit down.
The pain may have only really lasted a few seconds but for Light, it was an eternity and a half. He slid bonelessly down the wall, landing painfully on his tailbone. He tipped his head back, not even caring if he was baring his neck to his attackers. His world was spinning. He closed his eyes and groaned deeply, not noticing the other spell that was sent towards him or the short pulsing brown light that surrounded him like a halo.
He did, however, feel the spit that fell on his face.
"He was telling the truth," Dress Man number 1 said to his companions.
"Filthy Muggle," A rough voice said, his sneer practically audible.
"That makes our prodigy a little Mudblood," The first voice growled. A boot connected with Light's face and he fell over from his previous upright position.
"We have to get back," The first voice, clearly the ringleader, told the other two men. Footsteps came closer to Light's head. He stilled, readying himself for another kick but instead, he heard a single whispered word.
"Obliviate"
Light came to sometime later, alone in the narrow alley. The first thing he felt was the pain. A consistent ache that penetrated every inch of his body. Next, he felt the dried blood. It caked his lips and the lower part of his face, already crusty. Last, he felt panic. The all-encompassing panic caused by the position of the sun. The sun that was currently burrowing into the ground like a golden circular mole.
He'd missed school.
It was not like being late for class. Hell, it wasn't even like skipping a class. He had skipped out on an entire day of school in favour of laying bloodied in a remote alleyway.
Groaning, Light hooked his fingers into the brick of the wall behind him, painfully hauling himself up. His legs shook and had a hard time supporting his weight but with the help of a stray piece of wood he'd found lying a few metres away, he managed to stay upright.
While he adjusted, he thought back on how he had ended up there in the first place. his mind was almost suspiciously blank of any incident that could have led to his current condition. He seemed to be very beaten, despite the lack of bruises and cuts bar the ones on his face. Maybe he had hit his head? A concussion could cause memory loss, among other things. There were marks on his head that could've been from hitting the wall.
He moved his leg tentatively. It was painful but not all-consuming. so he did it again. And again. And again. It took an hour of his slow, small steps to get home. His entire body burned with exertion as he fell forwards onto the front door. The thump alerted Sayu and his mother who had stayed home while his Father searched for him with the police, that he was there.
The door swung open suddenly, nearly depositing his exhausted body on the foyer floor. Luckily, Sayu found herself directly beneath him and served as a cushion.
Light did not remember much else of that night, other than being rushed to the hospital. It was all a blur of coloured lights and uniformed men and women. He did remember the needle being stabbed into his arm, letting him drift away from his body's pain and into the blissfully dark and empty recesses of his mind.
xxx
January 1998,
The perpetrators of the "September Incident" as Sayu had deftly named it, were never caught. It irritated Light to no end but he supposed there must've been no witnesses. It seemed they hadn't touched him as they could not find even a shred of their DNA on Light and it wasn't for lack of trying. As September became October which blurred together with November and December, Light slowly healed from his assault. They had somehow managed to slightly damage his nerves and nerve damage, according to the kindly doctor, mandated bed rest.
His days in bed were anything but restful. They were boring, the same routine every day. His sense of time completely evaporated, to the point where there were only three days of the week; Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Near the end of October, they let him go back to school which was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing to escape the jarringly repetitive routine of bedrest but a curse to face the curious question of the tactless berks people called children. He was swarmed by all of their disgusting little child faces asking their stupid child questions (Light conveniently forgot at this moment, that all of these children were within at most 11 months of his age).
His life at school continued to be utterly boring. Once he'd met Aunt Tammie, he almost wished the boredom had lasted.
Tamara Rohmer was his father's foreign cousin. Also a police officer, Tamara had moved to Japan and enlisted in the police force. Like all other things she did, Aunt Tammie's cross country move had been an entirely spontaneous decision, meaning she had nowhere to stay in Japan.
All this to say that Light was sharing a house with the most chaotic person he had ever met. And he knew Heri. But perhaps the worse and maybe the funniest thing she ever did pertained to her brother's shirt.
Soichiro Yagami loved his shirt. It was the only one he kept at home, opting to leave the others in his office. It was crisp and clean and such a beautiful cream white. Never in his life had he washed his shirt. He would not condemn it to being tossed around in a pool of soapy water. Unfortunately, some late January evening, he realised that his shirt was dirty much too late to bring it to the dry cleaner's
He resignedly put his lovingly folded shirt into the laundry basket so that his wife may wash it. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, Aunt Tammie got to it first. She was clearly half asleep as she threw random clothing into the washer before starting it and wandering up to Heri's room which she was occupying for the moment.
The entire family slept soundly that night, blissfully unaware of what tomorrow would bring. However, soon enough it was morning and Light Yagami was fishing through the laundry in search of his tie.
He sighed as his fingers prodded yet another piece of damp clothing, releasing its fluids onto his hand. Grabbing at a piece of clothing that felt remotely tie like, he tugged it out of the tangle of garments, only to stare at in with horror.
It was the shirt. Samantha as they had all taken to calling it as a joke. And Samantha was pink.
Quickly and nimbly climbing the stairs, he burst open Tammie's room door.
"Aunt Tammie, we have a problem," He choked out as he laid eyes on her dishevelled, minimally clothed form.
"Yes Light, darling?"
"It's Samantha,"
She looked at him sternly but oddly proud.
"Now Light, surely you're not already sneaking girls into your room through the window." Her face landed in her hands "God, I didn't start doing that until I was 15"
Light looked at her, horrified.
"Girls? Girls are the least of our problems right now," He held up the damp pink shirt, "Samatha is dad's favourite article of clothing,"
His Aunt Tammie snickered.
"Tammie!" He cried, voice rising an octave or two, "This is not the time for laughing. He will rampage when he finds this,"
Tammie snorted a bit before finally reaching out, grabbing the shirt and inspecting it.
"I can definitely get this out with a little bit of bleach," She told him, "But he's gonna have to go a day without... Samantha,"
Light's fading panic returned at full force.
"But he doesn't have any other shirts,"
Aunt Tammie once again collapsed in a fit of laughter. "He- He- literally doesn't own- ANY OTHER SHIRTS," She howled, nearly slamming her fists into the floor like a scantily clad gorilla.
Light couldn't help but crack a small smile of his own. He could admit, despite his panic, that the situation was somewhat humourous.
He looked back at Aunt Tammie rolling around on Heri's carpet. Maybe not that humorous though.
"Aunt Tammie," He told her, exasperated, "We're against the clock here,"
It took her a couple of minutes but eventually, she straightened.
"All right, All right, squirt," His nose wrinkled at the nickname, "I've got just the thing for this situation," She rifled through the pile of yarn in the corner of the room before pulling out something short and white.
"It was supposed to be a sweater," she sighed "But I suppose your father might look better in a crop top,"
Had Light not fainted at her words, he would've been screaming.
The noise of Aunt Tammie shoving the white, yarn crop top onto his father's head pulled Light from his unconsciousness. Soichiro was now in the room, pinned down by his cousin and squirming, trying to get away from the white fluffy shirt.
When his head finally popped through the hole, he looked terrified and exhausted. His normally perfectly coiffed hair was in disarray and half of his stomach was still exposed.
"Beautiful," Aunt Tammie proclaimed, dragging him out of the room and down the stairs. The poor man did not even get a chance to drink his coffee as she shooed him out the door.
He reluctantly got into his car. Looking back at the porch, he could see his entire family waving him off with exaggerated grins on their faces.
Soichiro slumped in the driver's seat. He was never going to live this down.
xxx
May 1998,
Aunt Tammie, it seemed, was quite the asset when it came to project "Seduce the Love of My Life who Looks Exactly like my Twin Brother"
Of course, he'd had to endure relentless teasing in exchange for her help but it was a small price to pay for the attentions of the goddess Iha Masumi. He figured that the teasing would probably be a thousand times worse if Aunt Tammie had actually met Heri. The boy had conveniently evaded their crazy Aunt for an extra few months by leaving for boarding school only hours before Tammie's appearance.
She had found out about Iha Masumi when she stumbled upon his secret desk drawer filled with drawings of her.
"Damn Light, you're really smitten," She told him as she leafed through the one hundred page portfolio. "This girl looks a little familiar though. Have I met her somewhere?"
"No!" Light squeaked, "Never. You've never even been in the same building, not at all..." He trailed off laughing nervously.
She raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing.
"Right. So you two are together right?" She asked
"Together? Me with Iha Masumi? " He said her name with a little breathy sigh, "I wish,"
Aunt Tammie sighed fondly and patted his head. "We've all been there, kid,"
Light threw himself backwards onto his mattress, bouncing slightly.
"Luckily for you," His aunt continued with a mischievous smile, "I have just the thing to help you out,"
Light straightened immediately.
"That's what you said that time you turned Samantha pink with your magenta underwear," He told her suspiciously.
She just grinned widely and fled the room, leaving Light to pace anxiously. It took several hours and Aunt Tammie's trip to the postbox before he realised that a fair bit of his portfolio was missing.
He hardly slept, no less anxious now that his drawings were discovered to be missing. The entire situation reeked of Aunt Tammie. In fact, he was sure it was her because she had found the very same drawings that morning and their subsequent disappearance was immediate. the only real question is what she did with them. Closing his eyes and nearly forcing himself to sleep, Light figured he'd find out tomorrow. Aunt Tammie's plots usually played out very quickly.
Light did indeed find out the next day but it was nothing like he expected.
He was shell shocked when Iha Masumi came up to him. She was actually talking to him! He was in such a state of bliss that he didn't even register her words.
He was immediately pulled from his stupor when she showed him a picture of a framed drawing of her. His drawing of her. Framed on her wall. His jaw dropped.
Masumi had started talked again and was now holding her hand out expectantly.
"Friends?' She asked, smiling kindly.
Light grasped her hand and shook it gently. "Friends,"
xxx
June 1998,
It was the screaming for Light. He could endure the sobbing, the pleading, the absurd bumping into the wall. But the screaming was intolerable. Light threw his pillow at the wall in frustration. Heri had never had nightmares like this before.
He had absolutely no clue what could have prompted a dream like that. It sounded rather traumatic and attending a fancy private school was surely anything but. Slipping out of bed and throwing his blanket around his neck, Light padded quietly over to his brother's room.
He knocked lightly before pushing the door open to find Heri squirming around in his bed, covered in sweat with his eyes screwed tight. It was his foot flailing around wildly that had been making the thumping noise, he discovered as he approached his brother, uncertain as to whether or not to wake him.
His tear tracked face glistened slightly, illuminated by the moon as it voiced desperate pleas.
"Stop," He pleaded, "Stop, Stop, Stop. PLEA-" he interrupted his own panicked words with an ear-piercing scream. Any indecision Light may have felt melted away and he rushed over, shaking Heri awake.
His twin awoke with a sudden jolt, eyes searching the dark room wildly for an imaginary threat. They landed on Light, seeing, but not seeing him.
"I'm sorry," he cried, tears rolling down his cheeks, "I don't know what I did to you. Just stop. Stop hurting me.
Light's heart splintered as he watched his twin brother break down in front of him. He hopped into the bed, grasping a wide-eyed Heri in his arms as he struggled to free himself from the embrace.
"Stop," Heri mumbled.
Light did not stop. With no clue what to do, he improvised by holding his twin close and stroking his long hair as his frantic breaths evened out and his cries for help became quieter and quieter. Eventually, Heri stilled in his embrace, falling into what seemed like a much more peaceful sleep than before.
Trapped between his brother and the wall, Light dropped his head onto the pillow, resigning himself to the fact that he would be stuck here until morning. Sleep came easily to him but it did not leave him in peace. He dreamt of his pleading brother, chained against the wall, gashes opening seemingly magically as he begged for it to end. A striking, lightning-shaped cut had been opened upon his forehead, an unnatural shape.
"Light," The chained boy whispered.
Light gasped as he woke, sucking in air like a drowning man. As his breathing slowed down and his mind started to focus, he realised he was alone in the bed. A figure stood over him, not tall enough to be intimidating. At least until you see the expression on their face.
Heri's usually delicate face was twisted into a savage scowl, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.
"Good Morning Light, " He said in a clipped tone, flawlessly conveying his anger. "Might I ask what you were doing spooning me?"
Light's face flushed a cherry tomato red. He glanced carefully up at Heri's face, struck again by his striking resemblance to his goddess of a friend, Iha Masumi. His eyes paused as he contemplated a hair-covered part of Heri's forehead, where the lightning cut had sat in his dream.
"You had a nightmare," He said, rubbing the back of his neck somewhat guiltily, "You were screaming and crying so I came in and I ended up trapped between you and the wall,"
Upon hearing his explanation, Heri's face softened with an unrecognisable emotion. He blew out the air from his lungs as the rest of his body deflated.
"Thank you, Light," he told him with a small, grateful smile on his lips, " I'm sorry for the questioning... and I'm sorry I woke you,"
Light did not have a chance to even speak as his brother swept from the room. He was left sitting there in his nightclothes, red as a tomato. He groaned and faceplanted back into the pillow. Why did Heri have to look so much like Masumi?
Later that day, Heri left the house, insisting he had an errand to run. He returned home empty-handed yet strangely satisfied.
As of that night, Light never heard another scream, sob or plead from Heri again. Instead, the world was oddly quiet, the world outside muted to those within the house.
xxx
A/N: Hey guys, since this chapter probably wasn't what you were expecting, I figured I'd give you guys an explanation. I interact most with my readers on Ao3 because the website just makes it so much easier to do that. Because of this, I put a poll up there asking which direction they would prefer ADMT go in. The first option was that I write all of Heri's school years into this story, adding about 45 extra chapters or I could write snippets of the important parts from a different perspective and make the planned school chapters into a companion fic for ADMT. The votes were unanimous and so, school years will be told from Light's perspective, giving you hints as to what life might be like at the institute and furthering the development of Heri and Light's strange relationship. I don't plan on checking in on Heri's side of things in this particular fic since you'll be getting an entire other fic of only Heri's perspective. While I was fairly indifferent at first, the removal of the school chapters is probably beneficial for everyone because I rather think that veering away from the main plotline for that long would make ADMT unbearably boring and I feel that I probably burn out before finishing this fic if I had to write almost a hundred chapters of it. Splitting it into two different fics makes it much more manageable for me. Anyways, all that to say I appreciate you all reading, reviewing and enduring my sporadic updates.
A/N 2: So part of this chapter was missing when I uploaded it? I Don't know where it went but I've rectified the situation so now the actual entire chapter is up.
XOXO,
Caedmon