The Little Things Give You Away

By AishiExcel

Hey! Sorry about the long wait… but it's holiday season, so I hope I'm excused. I won't dawdle around this time, so let's get straight to it. Here's Little Things!

What surprised Light the most was that L was so easy to forgive.

Even more so, that Light didn't find himself holding a grudge.

Oh, he continued playing like he was mad the rest of the night (especially after that weird "I love you" crack), but Light had several moments where he had to hide his face to keep Ryuzaki from realizing he was grinning. It had taken Light a little while to figure out, but he'd had an epiphany about Ryuzaki.

You had to take everything the oddball said with a grain of salt. If you took him too seriously, you'd end up having WTF moments left and right, and you wouldn't be able to pick your jaw up from the floor long enough to speak. But if you assumed that 97 percent of everything he said was a joke or a lie (it was hard to tell with that deadpan of his) then you would be okay. Knowing that actually made him easier to get along with. By the end of the night, Light was thinking he might actually make it through the two-week trial period after all. (Although he was still iffy about keeping Ryuzaki any longer than that.)

After watching lame TV shows most of the night, Light went to bed feeling reasonable and actually woke up in a decent mood. This morning, he didn't accidentally almost-walk-in-on-slash-eavesdrop on Ryuzaki, and he even got to work without much incident. There was no Mello at the studio- a big happiness booster for Light. In fact, his day was looking great.

He didn't have long, however, before his phone rang. That usually never ended well. Light flipped it open with a deep breath, preparing for the worst.

"Yello?"

"Yellow is a color, not a greeting, Light-kun."

He let out the breath. "Ryuzaki."

"That is I."

"What do you want? Didn't I tell you not to call me after work?"

"This is doctor business, actually."

Light raised his eyebrows. "Oh? So you're calling me as Doctor L and not as Roommate Ryuzaki?"

"That depends. Which one would you take to dinner tonight?"

Light spluttered. "Ryuzaki. It sounds like you're asking me on a freaking DATE!"

"Does it? I wasn't aware. But as your roommate and your doctor, I have to ensure that you eat properly… and that I eat, so…"

Light rubbed his temples. Oh yeah. Ryuzaki was incapable of feeding himself. Light hadn't even thought to bring him anything home yesterday (well, he'd been too mad to feed him.) Had Ryuzaki even eaten since then?

"Ryuzaki, did you eat yesterday?"

"Yes. I had Watari bring me something from a café. But as the doctor, I should be asking that question."

"Yes, I ate," Light hastily declared. "So no lapsing into doctor mode on me."

"Very well. Then all that is left to discuss is dinner tonight. I have no knowledge of the eating facilities in this town, so I shall leave that to Light-kun…"

"Alright, alright. I'll pick you up after I get off work and we'll grab a bite. But after tonight I'm teaching you how to get food for yourself."

"I am prepared to learn. I shall see you later, Light-kun."

"Yeah. See you later, Ryuzaki."

Light had barely hung up the phone when he was assaulted by a blur of Goth-Lolita. Oh, lawrdy. It was his girlfriend.

"My liiiiiight!" she squealed. "I found you! Misa-Misa has been looking for you to tell you that Mogi fixed her schedule and she can go to dinner tonight!"

Light's heart sank. Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

He'd promised Misa YESTERDAY that he'd take her out to dinner. But he'd just promised Ryuzaki they'd go out to eat tonight. If he didn't take Misa out, that squirmy little rat Mello would probably squirm in and offer to take her out himself. And if he didn't take Ryuzaki out to eat, who knows what the oddball would blow up in his microwave.

Shit.

He couldn't cancel on either one of them.

Which meant he had to take them BOTH out.

TOGETHER.

Oh, hell in a handbag. Things could never go right for him, could they?

The day flew by too fast for Light's liking. He tried to prolong and delay things as long as he could, furiously calculating some way he could get out of this, but the idea of standing Ryuzaki up made Light feel ridiculously guilty, and he simply couldn't afford to do anything that could cause Misa not to adore him right now. Damn it. Why did this smell like disaster already?

"Misa," he asked tentatively, "is it okay if someone comes along to eat with us tonight? My friend is here from out of town… and I would want it to just be the two of us, for a romantic dinner, but… I can't leave him hanging."

Misa pouted for a second, but quickly brightened up. "Sure! Misa doesn't mind, she'll arrange for a date for him and it can be a cute little double-date!"

A date. For Ryuzaki. Light winced thinking about the therapy the poor girl would need.

"Who were you thinking about inviting?"

"Well, Misa could invite Kiyomi." The blonde grinned evilly. As far as the tabloids knew, Misa Amane and Kiyomi Takada were close friends, but in reality their relationship was more like a rivalry. Whereas Kiyomi had chosen the more 'serious' job of journalist, Misa was 'wasting her life' as a teen idol. They acted like the best of buddies, but their actual feelings towards each other kind of scared Light. It also didn't help that Kiyomi had a massive crush on Light.

"Her…?"

"Sure. It would be great fun setting her up with someone else, that way she could stay away from my Light. Plus, I'm sure she'd LOVE to see how well Light and I are doing."

She looked tiny and sweet, but Light made a mental note that Misa could be a scary, evil demon when she wanted to. "Oh. …Okay then. But I should warn you… my friend is a little… odd. He may not be her type…"

"Even better!" cheered Misa and skipped off to debate for an hour on what dress to wear for their date tonight. Light shuddered and hoped he'd never get on her bad side.

Clearing things with Ryuzaki was even easier. Light called him up after Misa left and announced that he'd be bringing Misa to dinner with him.

Ryuzaki's voice sounded strange and dreamy when he responded. "Misa Amane…? That is fine, fine…"

"Ryuzaki? You have to be on your best behavior. This is my girlfriend we're talking about."

"Yes, yes. Misa Amane…"

Light raised his eyebrows. "She'll be bringing a friend. As a date for you."

"My first real date… Oh, my…"

"So you have to try not to be awkward, Ryuzaki… that's really important… Your date is a classy kind of girl."

"I have no idea what Light-kun is talking about. I would never be awkward in front of Misa Amane…"

Light raised his eyebrows. "She's MY date, Ryuzaki…"

"Of course, of course…" The oddball trailed off and there was a full minute of silence before Light cleared his throat.

"Okay. Well. I'm going to go, and I'll be home soon to pick you up and we'll meet Misa at the Thai restaurant. Okay?"

"Mm hmm…" Ryuzaki seemed to be daydreaming, and probably didn't even notice as Light hung up the phone.

Light sped home, argued with Ryuzaki for a half hour and barely managed to convince him to swap his bland jeans and sweater for an outfit of Light's, and then rushed to keep Misa from waiting. They arrived at the restaurant five minutes after the girls, and Misa was pouting as Light stepped out of the vehicle.

"Misa-Misa was worried you wouldn't show, Light!"

"Oh, Misa, you know I'd never stand you up," Light purred at her, pulling her into a hug and quickly pecking her on the lips. "You know that."

Kiyomi's eyes were locked on Light during the whole show, and Light bet that Misa knew it. She cleared her throat after Light finished speaking and stuck out her hand.

"Light. I haven't seen you since I did that interview for Entertainment Tonight. How are you?"

Light shook her hand. "Kiyomi. I've been okay. I hear you may be going to work for CNN."

"Oh, that." She waved one hand delicately. "Those are just rumors. Nothing is confirmed yet."

At this point, Ryuzaki barged in peered at Misa. Oh, no. It was starting.

"Misa Amane…" the oddball muttered, still staring. "So she IS as pretty in person."

Misa giggled and blushed. "Light! I had no idea your friend was a fan."

Light nudged Ryuzaki rather hard in the ribs with one elbow. Getting the hint, the faux-doctor quickly averted his gaze.

"Yes… ah…. Misa, Kiyomi, I would like you to meet my friend, Ryuu-"

"Ryuga Hideki," Ryuzaki mumbled. "Just like the pop star. Isn't it funny?"

Light raised his eyebrows sharply. Why on earth was he using a fake name? Did L think sharing a name with the singer would make the girls think he was cool?

"Pleasure to meet you, Ryuga," Kiyomi said as politely as possible, holding her hand out for him to shake. Ryuzaki stared at it as though unsure what to do.

"Ah… come on. Our table is waiting," Light quickly interrupted, nudging Ryuzaki in the ribs again.

They weren't even inside the restaurant yet. Why was it that Light's life was as dramatic as Ryuzaki's lame soap operas lately?

Hello again guys! I'm sorry if this chapter isn't particularly exciting or anything… lately it seems like all my writing has gone downhill… I'm even getting irritated with Little Things. I'm trying my hardest to keep it fresh and funny, but… until I can get to the major plot stuff it seems like it's just dragging on…. Help me out, guys; tell me if it's boring you, neh?

Anyways. In small news, I'm 18 now! Which means I'm eligible to buy all those yaoi doujin… fu haha… And also, I can shop off infomercials!

But wait, there's more! Nikkiacat also made the coolest discovery the other day. I- and probably all of you- have a Wikipedia! I got to mine by googling my pen name, and if you do the same I wouldn't mind if you wanted to edit my Wiki. SO LONG AS YOU DON'T ERASE MY HISTORY OR ANYTHING. If you do that, I'll never reply to another review.

And last, but definitely not least, my friend discovered another manga by Ohba and Obata the other day! It's probably old news to most of you, but to those not in the loop, it's called Bakuman. It's not action-packed or anything, but it has really lovable characters and almost seems as though it's about our favorite manga creators themselves… if they were middle school boys. And if you're anything like me, you'll absolutely adore the really weird child prodigy who makes his own sound effects, Nizuma Eiji.

And that's all I have to say. I hope to write faster than this next time… and I hope you liked ^^ Ja ne!