I Write Sins, Not Tragedies
ChipsAhoypup
Warning: Boy love. Don't like, don't read.
A/N "Yes! They used to tie you up." "It's a living." "I didn't recognize you without the handcuffs." ~Light My Candle by RENT.
Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. Credit for plot bunnies of the story go to Nikkacatmeki.
Roger had taken the As and Bs to the grocery shop, leaving only four of the six friends. Mello was eating a chocolate bar, and L was polishing off the rest of the ice cream. Matt was playing Pokemon, and Near was playing with his toy cars.
Needless to say, it was fairly quiet.
"We should do something," Mello suggested after he had swallowed a piece of his chocolate.
"Like what?" Near glanced up from his cars.
"Like…" Mello tapped the half-eaten chocolate bar against his chin. "I don't know." He sighed dejectedly.
"We could do something active," L spoke up. Near and Mello stared at L as if he had two heads. Matt snorted, but didn't bother looking up from his video game. "I'm serious! All we do is sit around playing video games and eating."
"I don't do either of those as excessively as you guys," Near mumbled.
"No, but you sit around and play with toys. Why don't we play a sport?"
"What kind of sport?" Matt was suddenly paying attention.
"I don't know. What do you guys think?" L asked.
"Soccer!"
"Basketball!"
"Baseball!"
The three shouted their suggestions in unison, then glared at each other upon discovering that they didn't agree.
"What about… tennis?" L tilted his head to the side quizzically.
"…Okay," The other three sighed reluctantly. They put down the objects they were holding and went outside to play tennis.
L and Near won, and Mello wouldn't stop cursing Matt out for "making them lose." All in all, it had been a nice, active day.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The car ride home was full of silence. Mello and Matt were sulking due to the fact that they didn't get to listen to music, and L and Light preferred to keep quiet.
When they finally got back to the orphanage, Mello and Matt instantly sprang out of the car and raced in to avoid carrying any of the groceries in. The two remaining boys sighed and reluctantly helped Roger carry the food inside the orphanage.
"Thanks again, boys," Roger praised the two, patting their heads once more. This seemed to remind the brunette about his earlier anger over the fact that he had not gotten a prize.
"Can we go play now?" Light asked, making his eyes as wide as possible; the puppy-dog face had always worked on his mother.
"…Sure. You two helped enough." Before Roger could thank them again, the two scrambled off. They didn't need any more pats on the head.
They immediately stormed over to Matt and Mello's room. Light pushed L aside rather roughly and began knocking on the door. As hard as possible. He was P.O.'d.
"Whoooo iiissss iiitttt?" Mello called in a high-pitched, sing-song voice. From the sound of it, he was standing right at the door.
"It's God. I've come to give you the heart that I'd forgotten to put in you when I first created you," Light replied snidely. L snickered.
There was a moment of silence from the other side of the door. Then Matt called, "Hey, God, did you run out of brains when Light was being created?"
Said brunette twitched in irritation as the two Ms erupted into laughter.
"No, but I can't say the same about you," L stated calmly, walking closer to the door so that Matt and Mello could hear them. The laughter abruptly cut off.
"…Well… you're stupid," Mello snapped.
"And you're intelligent," L said. Light stared at him. "Oh. I'm sorry, I thought we were having a lying contest." Light burst out laughing and high-fived L.
This left Mello and Matt at a loss. The door creaked open a bit, enough so only Mello's eye was visible. "So what did you really want?"
"…Give me all your money." Light held up his hand in a way that imitated a gun. L quickly held up his hand in the same fashion. Mello's eye narrowed.
"Hang on a sec," He growled, shutting the door. Light and L kept their hands up in the "gun" position, waiting.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and water gushed against the two helpless boys. The geyser didn't cease for a good fifty seconds. When it finally did stop, L and Light were dripping wet. They spluttered, wiping water out of their eyes.
"We just beat you at your own game," Snickered Mello, stroking his water gun. Matt held his steadily on his shoulder, looking bored.
"Can we just finish our Kirby Air-Ride race?" The redhead sighed exasperatedly.
"Sure, Matt. Whatever floats your boat." Mello squirt Light one more time, right in the face. As the brunette gasped for air, the blonde smirked and turned back towards the door. He coolly trotted back into his and Matt's room, and the gamer was quick to follow. The door slammed shut behind them.
"You okay?" L asked, staring at Light in concern.
"Y-yeah," Light panted, wiping his face off with his sleeve. "Bastards…"
"Let's get some towels," L suggested, grabbing a hold of Light's wrist. He practically dragged the boy through the hallway, towards the bathroom. As they entered, L released his grip on Light. He shut the bathroom door, then padded over to the towel rack. The raven-haired child took two cotton towels off the rack, carelessly tossing one towards Light, who was able to catch it with ease.
"Stupid… idiotic… morons…" Light muttered under his breath. He dried his hair carefully, making sure not to rub it the wrong way. L stared emotionlessly, placing the towel on top of his ebony locks. He ruffled the towel against his hair in all directions, not seeming to care about his hair's appearance. "Why is your hair always so messy?" Light asked, pulling the towel off of his head. He began to brush the towel against his arms.
"Because I simply don't care enough to brush it." L left the towel draping over his head. He nibbled on his thumbnail, staring at Light owlishly. "Why is your hair always so perfect?"
"Well… because I brush it every day."
"Why?"
"Because…" Light blinked. "Um… I want my hair to look nice?"
"Huh," L grunted, crouching down on the tiled floor. He leaned slightly against the metal beam that supported the towel rack. "And why do you want your hair to look nice?"
"…Why don't you want your hair to look nice?" Light shot back.
"Because if I sat and tended to my hair, I'd just be wasting my time. What's the point in that?" L turned his gaze upwards, towards the ceiling.
"The point is so that you won't be a laughingstock in public." Light was presently working on getting the water off of his legs.
"So? Why should I care about what others think about me?" L slid the towel off of his head. He peeled his sopping, see-through white shirt off. The child held it out in front of him, twisting it sharply. Droplets of water gently splattered against the tile floor, quickly creating a small puddle.
"But… how can you not care? Aren't you afraid of getting made fun of?" Light quickly mimicked L; he stripped off his black polyester shirt and wrung it out.
"No. Their opinions shouldn't matter. Besides, most of what they say are just lies anyway. Put-downs that make themselves feel better." L carefully folded his still-damp shirt, placing it in his lap. Although that wasn't a good idea, since his jeans were even more soaked than his shirt had been. But he didn't seem to mind.
"Yeah, but they can physically hurt you too," Light pointed out, trembling slightly. Whether it was from the cold atmosphere in the bathroom or from terrifying memories from the past, L couldn't tell.
"To an extent," L replied with a small shrug. Light stared, seeming puzzled. "What I'm saying is, they can't hurt you too badly, because you could sue—"
"Suing doesn't resolve anything. Money doesn't heal the injuries. They're always there. You can't take away what you'd done," Light argued, his eyes glazed over, as if he was in a whole other world.
"…No, if you have a physical injury, money could pay for the surgery. Therefore, it would resolve alo—" L began, but Light hastily interrupted:
"What about mental injuries?! What about someone literally killing another person?! What about your dad killing your mom in front of your very own eyes, then getting sent to prison, while you get sent to an orphanage?! What about that?!" Light shrilled. L's eyes widened as Light almost robotically stamped over to the raven.
"What are you—?" L began, but Light answered his question with an action. The auburn snatched the folded shirt out of L's lap. "Hey!" L complained, quickly clutching the sleeve.
"Give it to me," Light ordered, his eyes still glazed over. L felt a shiver go down his back. The look in Light's eyes was purely frightening.
"No! Let! Go!" L shouted, pulling on the sleeve. The two began playing a violent, unfriendly game of tug-of-war.
"If you don't give it to me, I'll—" Light threatened.
"You'll what? Kill me? Isn't that a little hypocritical?" L cut in. Light stared, seeming to be paralyzed by those words. L quickly yanked backwards on the sleeve, causing Light to loose his balance. He collapsed forward, onto the raven. "Ow!"
"S-sorry," Light whimpered, staring at L. Tears were welling up in his wide, sepia eyes. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to… did I hurt you?"
"No. I'm fine." L smiled softly, glad that the more innocent side of Light was back. "But… why did you suddenly go all maniacal on me?"
"I… I don't know. Oh! The, er, men at the clinic gave me special medications for that. I guess I forgot to take them," Light said sheepishly.
"Medications…? Is it a disease or something?" L inquired.
"N… not really. But they it is a real diagnosis. Post… Post-Trau…. Post-Trauma…" Light attempted to pronounce it. He paused, staring into space for a moment, thinking. "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder!" He finally declared, seeming triumphant at the fact that he remembered. Although the triumphant expression was odd when combined with the fact that he was wiping his tears off on his bare arm.
"Post-Traumatic…?" L looked lost.
"Yeah. They didn't really tell me what it is. But they gave me medications for it." There was an awkward silence.
"Could you please get off of me now?" L asked, breaking the silence. The way Light's bare chest was on his… it actually felt kind of good actually. The brunette was warm.
Before Light could even move, the bathroom door burst open, and two nosy boys collapsed onto the tile floor. Mello sat up, eyes wide. He stared at Light and L, and his surprised expression gave way to a smug one. "So, Light's the seme? I always thought L would be the one on top."
L and Light looked confused. "Maybe they switch, like us," Matt spoke up, sitting up and straightening his goggles atop his head.
"No, L sounded pretty reluctant. Didn't you hear him shouting 'Let go'?" Mello stood and held out a hand towards Matt, who gratefully took it and pulled himself up.
"I'm still here. And I have no idea what you're talking about. For once." L was very uncomfortable in this position. He was laying flat on the ground, his head turned towards the right so that he could see Mello and Matt. And Light was still laying on him.
"You wouldn't know," Mello said, rolling his eyes and scoffing.
"Yes they would. They were obviously doing it," Matt argued.
"That's true. But I bet they don't know what 'seme' and 'uke' means." Mello smirked slightly.
"…Seme and… uke…?" L asked slowly, clearly clueless.
"Yup. By the looks of it, you're uke, which, I have to admit, completely surprises me."
Light was the first to partially process the concept of what Mello was saying. "What ever it is you think we were doing… we weren't."
"Of course you weren't," Mello said sarcastically. "Look, it's obvious you were having se—"
"Mello!" Matt clapped a hand over the blonde's mouth. "That's not for virgin ears."
Light now knew exactly what they were talking about. L, however, was still puzzled. "You… thought… we…" Light slowly growled.
"Yes," Matt interjected.
"We didn't," Light said exasperatedly.
"Denial," Mello and Matt sang together.
"We heard you from outside the door… because we just happened to be walking by," Mello mused.
"And you just so happened to be screaming things such as 'give it to me' and 'let go,'" Matt continued.
"So we just had to listen in," Mello finished, with a confirming nod.
"Do you want to know what really happened?" Light asked, his gaze filled with irritation and wariness combined into one.
"Yes," Mello and Matt cheered in unison.
Light took a deep breath, and began to explain what had happened.
A/N Laziness = a cliffhanger.