The Little Things Give You Away
By AishiExcel
Don't own anything. Half credit goes to Nikkiacat.
Can you believe it? Seven whole chapters! I'm going to give everyone a special reward when I hit chapter ten. I'm going to draw a picture for you!
Actually…. The picture is already on my Myspace, and if you want to see it, you can just go there XD You can even get a little sneak peek into way ahead in Little Things and see my doodles in the margins. I (hopefully) took my profile off private, so you should be able to get there now (coughcoughincywincy… I'm sorrycoughcough) from a link on my profile.
All right. With that said, here's chapter seven!!
You're awful, I love you...
Ryuzaki didn't lie. It was EXACTLY ten minutes, not a second over, when there was a knock on Light's door. He wasn't even sure how Ryuzaki knew which condo was his. Light stumbled over the couch and nearly fell on his face trying to reach the door. In the background, the TV still blared.
He opened the door with his heart thumping in his chest. (Why was he so nervous?) "Uh-hello?"
Without so much as a word of greeting, Ryuzaki stuck his hand out and smacked it into Light's forehead.
"Gah-wha- WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Light snapped, stepping back from the doorway. Even he wasn't able to maintain his perfect composure after being ASSAULTED like that!
"Temperature- normal," Ryuzaki muttered to himself. He then proceeded to draw closer to light and grope his chest- or that's what it seemed.
"A 'hello' would be nice," Light continued. "Or a 'Hello, Light, I'm going to take your temperature now.' Not, WHACK, smack in the forehead!"
"Heart rate slightly elevated," Ryuzaki murmured to himself, seemingly not hearing a single word that the enraged TV star said.
If anyone had assaulted Kira like this, he'd have chopped his or her head off with a flaming sword. It was times like these that Light wished he really did have supernatural powers.
Corporate and cold, gushing for gold-leave me alone.
"You seem perfectly healthy," Ryuzaki said, finally looking up to address Light. "How have you been feeling?"
"Oh, NOW you bother with the common courtesies," hissed the brunette in anger. "For your information, I've been rather pissed off."
"That's no good for your blood pressure," Ryuzaki said, nodding in a rather self-assured way. "If Light doesn't control his anger, he's dooming himself to death of stroke or heart attack."
Light sighed and beckoned Ryuzaki in, closing the door behind him. It was no good causing a scene in the hallway. He could yell at the oddball once they were safely inside.
Ryuzaki promptly made a beeline for the couch and crouched on it in that odd way of his. "Light-kun has a very nice place. Did he decorate this himself?"
"No," Light murmured, "my mom and sister helped me. My mom's pretty heavily into interior- you just made yourself at home, didn't you?"
Ryuzaki truly had. He'd already picked up the remote and flipped from the music channel where Light had it to the Discovery channel and was intently watching some program about wildebeests.
"Oh, pardon my rudeness," Ryuzaki mumbled without looking away from the TV. "Is it alright if I watch your television set, Light-kun? This is a rather fascinating show."
"Uh…. Sure." Light was almost speechless. Almost. He found his 'good host' autopilot switching on. "Do you want some coffee or something?"
"That would be lovely," Ryuzaki said blandly. "Six sugars, please."
"… What?"
"Six."
And Ryuzaki called himself a doctor? Surely he was joking. "How about I just bring the sugar out and let you put it in yourself?" Light hissed with a saccharine smile. This weirdo- he was the most- RUDE, the- the FOULEST, the CRAZIEST-
You suck so passionately
You're a parasitic, psycho, filthy creatureFinger-bangin' my heart.
You call me up drunk, does the fun ever start?
You're hideous...and sexy!
- The most positively surprising person Light had ever met.
He poured two cups of coffee and, along with coasters, saucers, cream, and sugar, set them on the coffee table. If he'd learned anything from his Japanese parents, it was how to be a good host. And proper table manners.
Neither of which Ryuzaki seemed to have the slightest knowledge of. He loaded his coffee with- count them- one, two, three, four, five, SIX spoonfuls of sugar and slurped at it loudly.
A few seconds ticked by in which Light sat, in stunned silence, and listened to the maybe-fake-doctor sip at his drink. What did he say now? Did he explode at the weirdo? Ask him what exactly he wanted? Confront him with Light's theories about his employment?
In the end, he settled with asking, "Why so much sugar?"
"I like my coffee sweet," was all Ryuzaki answered with. He didn't meet Light's eyes as he said this- his vision was still trained onto the screen before him. "So Light tells me he has been angry? What on earth could be the cause of this?"
YOU COULD! Light wanted to scream, but he restrained himself. "It's the stress of work," he said as calmly as he could. "I've gotten a bit of competition lately, and it seems as though I have a rival."
"Oh? That could indeed cause stress," Ryuzaki said, nodding again. "Is it another actor who seeks to destroy your reputation? Or perhaps a rival for Misa Amane's heart?"
"It's somebody who wants to break into the acting industry and steal my spot as up-and-coming new talent," Light muttered, brushing his hair back. "In my opinion, they have no place trying to be an actor. Musicians should stick to music, and actors should stick to acting. When they try to cross over you end up with god-awful abominations like Miley Cyrus and Hilary Duff."
"Don't forget Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton."
"They're just sluts," Light murmured. "Paris was famous even before she tried acting or singing. All she had to do was release a sex tape."
"Light-kun doesn't have a sex tape floating around there anywhere, does he?" Ryuzaki said, finally tearing his attention from the Discovery channel to stare. His eyes were horribly wide and dark.
"No!" sputtered the teen star. "I, thankfully, have a clean reputation."
"That's good," the faux-doctor mumbled, sounding slightly disappointed. What was WITH this guy?
"So why the sudden interest in my personal life?" Light asked, sipping gracefully at his coffee. (It only had TWO-sugars. He was quite normal, thank you.)
"No reason. I thought friends talked about things like that."
Oh, that's right. He had agreed the other day in the hospital that he would be friends with the medical wonder. How or why he had agreed was a mystery to him now. He must have been temporarily insane, and he was now greatly regretting the decision.
You've got the mark of the beast.
You're born of a jackal! You're beautiful!
"Oh. Yeah, I…. I suppose they do. Very well. Tell me about YOUR life."That was more like it- the teen star had turned the conversation in Ryuzaki's direction. Now he could find out if his theories were correct.
"Boring enough," Ryuzaki murmured. "The most exciting case was a girl who thought her hair as falling out because she had a curse on her. In actuality, her roommate was just mad and put Nair in her shampoo."
"Ew," Light wrinkled his nose. "So… what exactly do you do? I mean, are you just a general family doctor, or an allergist, or a radiologist, or a neurology expert, or-?"
"Light-kun seems rather up-to-date on his medical fields," Ryuzaki said with a half-smile.
"Yeah, well… I watch ER. And House. And Scrubs, although that won't tell you much about actual medicine."
"I presumed Light would have too busy a social life to watch so much TV."
Damn it, he had turned the topic right back around to Light, successfully avoiding answering his question. He was good.
"Well… aside from Misa, I don't meet with too many people outside of work. I take some time off to meet my family, but…"
"Oh, really? Light seems like such a social butterfly, though."
"Eh. Best to keep to yourself out of the media spotlight. It generally assures a healthier career. I guess that's only for actors, though. Doctors might have a whole different set of pressures on them."
The conversation was like a game of tennis, back and forth, and Light had sent the ball back to Ryuzaki's side. Was he going to bounce it back or miss?
"Different, but perhaps equally trying," The presumed-doctor shrugged. "We don't have the paparazzi to hound us like you do."
Evidently, he was going to bounce it back. Well, two could play at that.
"But surely it's harder to hold life in your hands each and every day, and have people counting on you?"
"But a doctor mustn't keep up appearances like an actor. Once the doctor goes home, he leaves his job behind, but a celebrity is constantly reminded what he is."
"Surely it's not that easy to escape for you. I mean, you must have some work to take home with you. Charts? Case files?"
"Light-kun must be watching too much House. It's really just a job."
Light sighed. He was as evasive as the day was long, and he was good at it, too. He wasn't going to get anything out of Ryuzaki like this. Time to try a new direction.
"I guess you're right. But an actor doesn't have to do as much school. I went to an art school, which has to be considerably more laid-back than medical school. Was it hard? Was there a lot of pressure?'
"Oh, enormous pressure," Ryuzaki said, sounding totally unconvincing. "But at least I didn't have to spend my time surrounded by drama kids. I hear they're known for their oddities. And… homosexuality."
Light flinched. "Don't believe everything you hear. Not all theatre kids are gay."
Ryuzaki almost smiled. "Oh, of course. So very rude of me, to generalize like that."
They sat in silence for a few more seconds. Light took another sip of his coffee. This was it. It was now or never.
"Ryuzaki," he asked, carefully setting his cup down, "you're not really a doctor, are you?"
Ryuzaki's expression didn't even change. "Why, what a question, Light-kun. Why would you ask that?"
"Don't beat around the bush, just tell me."
Ryuzaki's dark eyes turned to look at Light. "Okay, fine. The truth is…"
Aaaaand she ends it without telling you XD Do you hate me now? I'd like to hear what everyone thinks, ha.
My green hair is fading. It makes me sad. And I had to go get a physical today for this art school I'm going to, so my arm hurts where they stabbed me with the needle. Yes, just like Light, I'm going to be spending all my time around drama kids XD The art school kids around here really do have a reputation for being strange…. Bu I think they're just my type of people XD Besides, I happen to know that many an anime and manga fan lives there. I'm hoping my roommates will like Deathnote… :3 Anyways, enough about me. Does anyone know this chapter's song? It's relatively new. I think, somehow, it fits their strange relationship perfectly… he's so disgusted with Ryuzaki, but so attracted to him… and Light isn't perfect, either….
Anyways, review! Please! If you do, I'll love you forever. And remember, I drew pictures for you! So you better make me feel you deserve it XD