fastforward

by whizz

There's something aching and bone-crushing fluttering in the pit of his stomach every time their hands accidentally brush together; fifty-one one-sentence fics, each one based on a different prompt. L/Light, Matt/Mello

anime/manga; Death Note
pairings; L/Light, Matt/Mello, one-sided Misa/Light and umm yeah i think that's it.
characters; L, Light, Matt, Mello, Near, Misa, Sayu, Soichiro, B
warnings; shonen-ai (boy/boy), language
disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or the characters used.

^- .oo1; Once

It was a slip-up he was never supposed to make, but the very first time he laid eyes upon L he could've sworn that the ground he stood on crumbled ever-so-slightly.

^- .oo2; Time

It slowly passes, no matter how much they want it to speed up, no matter how hard they wish for it to just stop.

^- .oo3; Dawn

Near will make sure that it comes, regardless of how dark the night is.

^- .oo4; Dusk

He stays up late, propping toffee after toffee into his mouth and downright refuses to sleep until his fingers ache and eyes sting and he is at least ninety-four point seven percent sure that he will be exhausted enough to just fall right asleep without twisting and turning and bothering to think about the fatal nightmares waiting just around the corner.

^- .oo5; Heaven

Rosary beads clutched tightly in one hand, crucifix necklace resting against the ribcage hiding his throbbing heart; every prayer Mello's ever known roll off his lips - the rest is up to God.

^- .oo6; Hell

The inescapable taste of bittersweet sin mixed with L's strawberry shortcake in the back of his mouth, invisible flames licking along the lines of their entangled bodies and Light gasps for air that burns when it soars through his dry throat, "I guess I'll see you there."

^- .oo7; Truth

They lay spent and tired and far over the line they were never meant to cross, sweat-slicked skin and utter silence and Mello reaches for his unfinished chocolate bar by the bedside table; "I'll never love you, you know."

^- .oo8; Lies

"I'm not Kira, dammit, L, you have to believe me- you just have to-"

^- .oo9; Clouds

There is excitement coursing through his veins as Mello pulls him down onto the open field in the middle of god-knows-where, sending them both tumbling on the ground until they land on their backs, sides pressed intimately together and Mello frowns just like always but he doesn't object when Matt entwines their limp hands and kisses each and every one of those long fingers for every white fluffy cloud that sails past them.

^- .o1o; Rainbow

Ivory-white skin that glows in the gentle brush of moonlight, ebony-colored hair that gingerly falls into his jet-black pools of eyes, peach-pink lips swollen and parted, rose-tinted cheeks burning beneath his hand; L's features are like beautiful poetry, and Light could go on forever.

^- .o11; Stargazing

He doesn't need a telescope to count the stars that are reflected in L's seemingly bottomless eyes mere moments before they flicker once, twice and then turn completely monotonous.

^- .o12; Dreams

They were raised not to have any; their only purpose was, after all, to become just like L - the world's best detective three times over, no matter if they wanted to or not.

^- .o13; Impossible

Misa knows it, and it just gets stronger with every smile she fakes - he'll never love her the way she wants him to.

^- .o14; Invisible

He can still feel the chain attaching him to the spidery detective, digging into the skin of his wrist even now when the cuff has been removed; the tingling feeling and the mark that has faded since long serve as a reminder.

^- .o15; Imaginary

At least she can pretend he means it when he kisses her like she's the most precious thing on earth (before asking her to use her Shinigami-eyes for his, entirely his, benefit).

^- .o16; Shakespeare

It was almost like some dark, twisted love tale - except for the fact that L was unfitting as any kind of prince charming, least of all Romeo, and Light would rather drop dead than play the part of a damsel in distress - sure, his legs were gorgeous and all, but he just got the feeling that a dress wouldn't be so becoming on him.

^- .o17; Science

"There's no logic behind chemistry, y'know?" Matt announces, shifting just that much closer to the other, completely invading his personal space and then just stilling his motions as if to prove that Mello won't be able to last a heartbeat over five seconds before jumping him.

^- .o18; School

His intelligence was one-hundred percent impeccable, and yet he found no logically based reason to why his heart suddenly decided to do flip-flops as soon as Light Yagami did something so insignificant as smiling.

^- .o19; Midnight

Near always holds his breath when the clock strikes twelve as if he was still seven years old and afraid of the ghosts that were said to stalk out from the shadows at this particular and perhaps-magical hour, even though he knows better; now, there are monsters and ghosts and darkness everywhere he looks, every hour of the day.

^- .o2o; Kiss

Kira is unmistakably laughing on the inside while Light presses his lips more firmly to the skinny insomniac's and thinks I'm sorry.

^- .o21; Picnic

They used to have one every other Sunday in the big park that was a quick walk away from their house with white fences, when Light didn't study for his exams and when Soichiro wasn't practically bathing in unfinished work and when her mother smiled and meant it, placing plastic plates decorated with sun flowers on the checked blanket and oh but Sayu misses those times.

^- .o22; Thorns

He is always on his guard, ready to pierce any obstacle that would dare come his way with the precision of a needle - but such is his nature, and maybe that is why it causes hot raging pain to shoot up throughout his very being when they tell him he's not good enough as he is, tell him he needs to change and attain a part that he definitely lacks but Near has plenty of.

^- .o23; Flowers

He didn't classify as a rose, breathtakingly beautiful but equipped with sharp prickles - nor did he remind Mello of a lilac, soft and pure and pretty - he was simply one of a kind with his own scent and pattern and color, and that suited Mello just fine.

^- .o24; Paint

Humans are vain and greedy and selfish and sinful and their mortality is like growing stains of vivid red and unmerciful black, spreading like a disease, and it makes Light sick in the stomach.

^- .o25; Mother

The nice ladies at the orphanage had told him he had inherited his pitch black hair and alabaster skin from her.

^- .o26; Father

Soichiro Yagami has, more often than not, days when he feels like a really lousy cop; mostly because of the fact that he keeps looking at the case from a father's eyes instead of with the indifference a professional detective would.

^- .o27; Ocean

He could try eternally, but he would never distinguish Mello's true eye color - they shifted from pitiless black to wine-tinted brown to ocean-blue.

^- .o28; Mermaid

"Tell me a story, please - the one about Ariel", Sayu mumbles, sleep already heavily obvious in her high-pitched voice, and Soichiro does because he wants to protect her bubble of innocence for as long as he can.

^- .o29; Werewolf

"Yes", Light agreed, absent-minded, a tired smile stretching across his lips despite his nearly-unconscious state (due to working for no less than twelve hours straight - his usual sleeping habits be damned), "the full moon looks lovely tonight."

^- .o3o; Silver

Not the purest gold nor the finest silver could compare to Mello's shining teeth when he flashed that true smile that only snuck out every three years or so.

^- .o31; Witch

Light found it entirely ridiculous and stood by his opinion in L deserving the square-eyed punch he'd received when the insomniac gingerly scooped up his hand, traced the lines wrinkling Light's flawless skin and said with a smile that gave his scheming intentions away, "I am quite skilled in fortune-telling, Light-kun, and here, for example, you can clearly see that within the next hour Light-kun is going to admit being a brutal murderer.."

^- .o32; Crystal

She finally saw it, clear as day - Kira's crimson eyes seemingly ablaze and drained of all pity as they stared her down from Light's otherwise caramel-colored, to-die-for orbs and she knew that if she'd ever considered leaving his side it was just another thing to check off on her list of impossibilities.

^- .o33; Past

L always murmurs that he doesn't want to talk about it.

^- .o34; Future

They don't have one, and they never will, but Matt can still dream and hope for a small little house painted in pearl-white and pale pink, by the foot of a calm community where there will always be chocolate brownies in storage and maybe, just maybe, he'll even give up on smoking.

^- .o35; Snow

His eyes have grown tired and dreary and his hair has gotten longer, cheekbones all sunken in, a mere shadow of the grace and elegance that once identified him, really - but here, away from the city's frantic traffic and people that are always moving in groups (like ants begging to be crushed under the weight of his shoe) he finds himself surrendering to serenity, letting the fresh air invade his senses and the white layers of crispy clearness cover all that is dead.

^- .o36; Sleep

It's ironic that he sleeps like a baby in the arms of the spidery, sugar-loving human (although that is arguable) that he is supposed to hate.

^- .o37; Forget

He wishes he could, especially in those few moments when they're not working until their eyelids drop by their own gravity, when Matt smiles like that and leans in, the tangy smell of cigarettes completely blocking his own, safe chocolate-scent out; maybe they won't even be alive tomorrow.

^- .o38; Remember

He's always been a good actor, and despite the fact that he is caught up with figuring the detective out (in every way imaginable; lips and hands and who would guess?) the inevitable countdown echoes in his head like a mantra; tick tock tick tock.

^- .o39; Wish

Curled up against the ever-cold, rigid, and for once, sleeping body; it's late at night and Light keeps his eyes stubbornly shut while he makes a wish.

^- .o4o; Star

She's supposed to be the happy and ever-optimistic little sister who does her homework and helps out at home and cheers her poor, poor mother up when times gets hard as the good little girl she is, but at night she cries because her brother just might be a ruthless killer and it's threatening to split the image of her once-perfect family into a million pieces; Sayu crushes her bony fingers against each other and waits by her bedroom window for the falling spurt of glitter.

^- .o41; Story

Matt replies with a lopsided grin, cigarette dangling from his thin lips, "They'll be writing books about us, babe".

^- .o42; Fairytale

Misa loves the dainty skirts made out of the finest cotton and lace, loves the sweet fragrance of exclusive perfume clouding the air, loves the glittering tiaras and the exquisite dresses of once-upon-a-time's, but she knows that if she were a princess and Light was her prince on a white stallion, this tale would have a happy ending.

^- .o43; Mystery

"I'm no one", B answers with a smile fit for a psychopathic murderer in those late-night scary movies.

^- .o44; Romance

L dismisses it as nonsense while Light claims it to be, quote, surprisingly refreshing, which immediately makes L pick up his monologue about how Light's answer one way or another associates him with Kira, but, "Ryuzaki, this is about taste - see, there is nothing romantic about handcuffing me to bed and licking fudge off of my body".

^- .o45; Drama

And there's lots of it, too, Matsuda thinks grumpily while rolling his eyes.

^- .o46; Tragedy

The whatever-it-is that their relationship is built on was never supposed to last; Matt knows this, and yet he still traces the scarred side of Mello's face with a gentleness he doesn't really possess, hoping for salvation.

^- .o47; Life

He's aware of the thrill that causes his fingers to shake every time he puts the pen that might as well be sprouting blood instead of ink to that godforsaken paper and watches as he takes something so precious and overrated merely by a stroke of the pen.

^- .o48; Happily

Mello is almost more terrifying when he is beaming and laughing, eyes widened to the point where they threaten to pop out of their sockets and smile balancing on the knife-sharp edge between insanity and sincerity.

^- .o49; Ever

"And even more", L promises, and Light gets the feeling that he is talking about something much greater than made-up percentages or the recipe for cheesecake.

^- .o5o; After

The intoxicating smell of cigarettes is still poking at the shield Mello uses to protect himself from the world when he turns the TV on only to find out that someone has been shot to death by the police in a car chase, and he is not fucking crying, dammit!

^- .o51; Love

There's something aching and bone-crushing fluttering in the pit of his stomach every time Light accidentally brushes their hands together and L doesn't know what it is or what it means but he doesn't like it one bit, so there.

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A/N; so, I found these 50 one-sentence prompts over at Tierfallen's livejournal and it seemed like fun (read as: a time killer) so I decided to DO IT, EY. apparently the prompts are from Eltea if I'm not mistaken, so yeah, credit to both of them. (might I also add, Tierfallen pwned with her 50 sentences).

I added the last one, though, if you're all like "whaddaya mean 50 prompts, don't you know how to count properly?"

yeeah.. so I hope ya like it or whatever, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. some of them i definitely like, others.. well. I'm kinda going "WTF was I thinking?" but I was tired and it was late, so.

I'd love to hear your opinions though!