Unloading the car of the groceries and small appliances, Light glanced up towards Beyond with an appreciative smile as the raven unlocked the door to his house. Light lifted the new blender and walked inside. He chuckled as he watched Beyond drop kick his old toaster out the back door.

Walking into the kitchen, Light set the new appliance down as Beyond checked his watch. "Can I shower here? I'll be late if I try to fuss with my shower at home."

Light smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Of course."

"Great. I have to start getting ready for work. You don't mind unloading the rest, right?" The brunette shook his head and smiled at Beyond as he paced up the stairs quickly, skipping some steps in a hurry.

Light continued to unload the car and smiled bitterly at the Christmas lights as he set them on the table inside the house. Walking from the kitchen into the living room he sighed at Beyond who'd stopped at the door, checking his watch, his hair still wet. "Can we continue tomorrow? Uh, my shift doesn't end until eleven, so I might just crash at my place and be back tomorrow. I can bring the deed and my own shower stuff." He gave a halfhearted smile.

"Uh. Yeah." Light lowered his eyes to the floor. "Would it be too much to ask you to miss a day?"

Beyond chuckled as he put his hand on the door. "If I'm going to play hookie on either of my jobs it would have been the diner." His crimson eyes drifted up towards Light's downcast eyes, sighing out at the obvious disappointment, Beyond continued. "If you can get ready fast, and not die on your way back down the stairs, I'll take you to this job. Then I guess, we can come back here after." Light looked up and flashed a disarming smile as he bolted up the stairs to get ready.

Beyond waited in the car while lighting a cigarette, his eyes lifted from the embered cherry of the cylinder as Light locked the door hastily and jogged over to the car. Beyond chuckled as Light hopped in the car and grinned widely, causing Beyond to chuckle once again. "I've never met anyone so excited to go to someone else's work."

Light sighed happily as he seatbelted himself into the seat. "Well, I'm excited to be out of the house and not alone." The raven smirked as they backed out of the driveway.

-x-

They stopped in front of a two story building and got out of the car. Light stared up at the neon sign. 'Rouge Salon and Parlor'. Beyond glanced at his watch and dropped into a dead sprint, yelling. "Fuck! I'm about to be late!" Light happily jogged behind him giggling.

The door flew open, the snow on the bottom of Beyond's shoes caused him to slip on the tiled floor. "Shit!" The raven shouted as he landed on his bottom before flopping backwards onto the floor with a quiet squish sound. A heavily tattooed woman with bright blue hair and shaved sides laughed loudly. "Found him, Julie!"

A middle aged woman with long blonde hair and tattoos covering both of her arms whipped around the corner from the back room. "Where have you been!? You're normally here an hour early for potential walk-ins! I was so worried, I went up to your flat and you weren't home! I thought you were dead in a ditch!"

Beyond smirked at the owner's concern from his flat position on the floor. "You do care!" The door opened as Light entered the building. He glanced at Beyond on the floor while snickering and reaching his hand out to help him up. Beyond grabbed his hand and was hoisted up. He nodded to Light before chuckling. "Julie, Maddy, this is Light. It's his fault."

Golden eyes widened as the two women giggled lightheartedly. "Ah. So this is the one you've been working overtime for."

Beyond removed his coat and hung it on a coat hanger. "Don't say it like that, it makes me seem creepy."

Maddy, the other tattoo artist, snorted while laughing. "But, you are creepy."

Julie popped the back of Maddy's head playfully. "Be nice. Your appointment should be here in ten." Beyond started preparing his station with fresh needles and other assortments that were needed as Julie approached Light. "Well, come on in. Just because we look like we bite doesn't mean we do." Light chuckled at her joke. "So, you're the coma kid, huh?"

Light shifted an awkward stare in her direction. "Uh, yeah, I guess." Julie led Light over to an empty booth next to Beyond.

The blonde smiled matronly at Light. "Nice to put a face to a name." The door flew open as another heavily tattooed man ran into the building. "What is it with my boys cutting it close today?"

The young man laughed loudly as he ruffled his messy green hair up. "Had a hot date." His eyes lifted to see Light. "Apparently, so did Beyond."

Light blushed brightly and shook his head. "N-no, it isn't like that."

He shrugged as he wrote on his whiteboard outside of his small cubicle. "That's a shame, you're his type."

A sharpie flew across the room and smacked the other man directly in the forehead as he turned around. "Shut up, Gio!"

Julie smiled and patted Light on the back. "Boys, right?" Light gave a nervous chuckle in response. "How about you sweetie, I'm hiring, any experience?"

Beyond groaned at her inquiry. "Juulliiieeee." The blonde chuckled and raised her hands.

Light smiled at the perceived closeness of everyone before speaking. "No, no experience. I don't even have a tattoo."

The entire room fell into silence as three sets of greedy eyes landed on the brunette. Beyond glanced up dully from his task of filling his inks before speaking monotonously. "Light. Run."

"Huh!? To where!?"

The brunette flinched when two hands landed on his shoulders as Julie leaned in close. "No tattoos? Reeeaalllllllyy. Beyond! How could you be so cruel!"

Beyond spun in his chair as he readied his cleaning solutions. "He didn't ask. I certainly wasn't going to."

Julie checked the clock. "Your appointment isn't supposed to be here for another forty-five minutes, we could do a small one, on the house."

Beyond rolled his eyes as he rolled back over to his handheld machine. "If that's what he wants, but, dibs. He's my friend." Maddy and Gio both groaned in disappointment as they slinked back to their stations.

Julie smiled at Light in anticipation. "Beyond is our best designer, he does beautiful traditional, new age, realism and nature styles."

"Just don't ask me to do portraits. Teeth and eyes freak me out." The other artists erupted in laughter. "Gio is the portrait god." The other man flexed both of his arms from his booth.

Julie led Light into Beyond's booth. "Have you ever considered getting a tattoo?" Light shook his head timidly. Julie placed her hand over her heart. "What about something small? Like a little heart!"

Light smiled briefly but swallowed coarsely. Beyond glanced over to Light who seemed to be shaking. "Julie, don't pressure him. If he doesn't want one, he doesn't need one. He only came because he didn't want to be alone at his house." Julie raised her eyebrows and grinned evilly. "Knock it off, it isn't like that, he's literally my dead brother's fiancé. Happy? Should I flirt with him a couple of weeks after waking up? Hmm? Oh, or better yet, why not force him to get something that is literally forever that he doesn't seem to be entirely interested in." Beyond shot Julie an angry stare as she slowly backed out of his booth with her hands up.

"Oh. Shit, I'm so sorry. I had no clue. I just… I'm sorry, Light. I didn't mean anything by it."

The brunette gave Beyond a disheartened stare. "It's okay. I do want one. And, I like Julie's idea. And, if I were to get a tattoo, obviously, it'd have to be you, Beyond, who'd do the first one. And… if anyone was going to flirt with me, I'd prefer it to be you."

Beyond sighed heavily while hanging his head. "You're difficult. Sit. Where do you want it?"

Light sat in the chair across from Beyond and sighed in thought. "Well, I'd want it where I can see it easily. So, if I do get lonely, I can just look at it and think of you."

Maddy coughed on her iced tea from her booth. "Sweet Mother! He's so fucking pure!"

Light laughed quietly. "But, I suppose it has to be somewhere somewhat easy to hide." Light lifted his left hand and placed it into Beyond's. "I suppose a finger is easy to hide a small tattoo on. Maybe my ring finger because it's a heart."

Beyond eyed Light suspiciously. "You want a tattoo on your finger… one of the more painful places to get one…" Light nodded enthusiastically. Beyond released a deep sigh. "Okay. Fine. Where?" Light pointed at a section on the top of his ring finger. "The middle phalanx? You sure?"

"No one would ever suspect a bandaid." Light smirked at Beyond rolling his eyes.

"Alright. Just remember, when it hurts, I warned you. I'll do the outline of one." The raven clicked the small machine on which buzzed loudly. Light shut his eyes and braced for it to be painful. He peeked one eye open when a soft pressure squeezed his finger.

"Don't hold your breath, you need to breathe and relax." Light nodded and did as he was told. "Deep breath in…" Beyond readied the needle over the chosen start point. "And release slowly." As Light slowly released the breath, the needle made contact. As the needle moved to create the shape, a breathy moan escaped the brunette causing everyone in the room to pause. Scarlet eyes lifted to meet a honeyed stare of surprise. "Light?" Light gave a shaky hum in response. "Are you a masochist?" The brunette blushed brightly causing Beyond to chuckle as he continued.

Light felt a faint internal heat run through his body at the feeling of Beyond's warm hand holding his, while focused crimson eyes fixated on the task at hand.

From the empty booth next to Beyond's, Maddy bit the straw to her iced tea, while leaning on the small half wall as the heart finished. "A match made in heaven. The masochist and the tattoo artist." She cackled loudly as her client came in and she left to greet them.

Beyond gave the retreating figure of Maddy a dirty look while applying antibacterial ointment to the new tattoo. "I'm so sorry. They're eager for me to be in a relationship. I had a nasty break up, and for some reason, they seem to think that I need someone."

Light admired the new inked design on his finger with a small appreciative smile. "Well, if you're still single when I entertain the idea of dating again, I'd definitely date you, you're a sweet guy." As the mindless words left Light's lips, both men blushed and looked away from each other.

Beyond started cleaning his tools and readied more fresh needles for his appointment client, keeping his face hidden behind his ashen hair. "Right, well, um, if you want, you can hang out in the booth next to mine and watch, if the client is cool with it."

Julie perked up from the front counter. "Oh! If not, he can come work with me for a while, I won't be weird, I promise!" Light smiled at Julie and nodded quickly as he hastily removed himself from the close quarters.

Light stood awkwardly next to Julie still admiring the small heart on his finger. Beyond stood up and stretched. "I'm going to go smoke before my client gets here." Julie gave the raven a smile and a thumbs up.

Julie leaned in towards Light and held her hand up to her mouth and whispered. "I love seeing him flustered. You should come around more often, he's normally pretty calm and collected." She let out a lighthearted giggle. "If you want, I can train you on the cash register and appointment system, so if you ever want something to do, or don't want to be alone at home, you can come in and earn some money."

Light smiled brightly at her. "I'd like that."

-x-

Maddy clicked the light off in her booth and erased the whiteboard in front of her booth. Giving a long stretch she sighed happily. "Man, I love my job." She opened one of the lockers on the back wall and retrieved her duffel bag. "Oi! Light! Are we going to see more of you around? It'd be pretty cool."

The brunette looked up from his leaning position on the front counter and away from his magazine. "Yeah. This has been a better use of my time than just sitting at home bored."

Julie smiled from her position while tending to the piercing she had just given a customer. "I'm glad! You picked the system up really fast! Next time you come in, bring your bank account information so I can pay you, no point in working for free!"

Gio finished up his clean up, clicked his light off, and erased his whiteboard as Maddy headed for the door. "Hey, Maddog, wait up, we'll head out together."

Maddy stopped and waited for Gio to collect his belongings. "Alright. Hey, Beyond?" Her stare seemed to form into concern. "Don't stay too late, okay, bud?" Receiving a concentrated grunt from the raven she rolled her eyes as Gio walked up next to her. She smiled at Light and held her fist out. "Take care of that bastard, he's more stubborn than he looks." Light happily bumped fists with Maddy as he nodded. Maddy leaned over the half wall of Beyond's booth. "Bye, grumpy!"

"Later." Beyond half mumbled as he finished the shading on a yin yang made of koi fish. He wiped the excess ink from the clients skin and gestured towards the mirror. "Probably going to want to give your skin a resting period before we continue. White is next, and white hurts. Please don't ask me why it hurts more than other colors. I can't say that's been my experience, but it's what clients tell me."

The excited customer high fived Beyond before leaving the booth and talking to Light to book out his next appointment. After finishing up with the customer, Light's eyes drifted towards Beyond who seemed to slump tiredly in his booth's seat before snapping upwards and cleaning up his area. Julie sighed and folded her arms while watching the raven with Light. "Almost painful to watch. Artists get paid fair, and they keep all of their tips, whatever he's paying off must be heavy or damned worth it."

Light tore his eyes away from a seemingly exhausted Beyond and sighed sadly. "Yeah… hopefully it's worth it."

Julie smiled motherly towards Light and slapped him on the back firmly. "Great work today, remember what I said about your account information!" She winked at him prying a smile from the small frown that had begun to form.

Light glanced his eyes back over towards Beyond to see he'd already finished cleaning up and was grabbing his coat. "Ready? We can grab that paperwork and some other shit and we can leave."

Light grabbed his coat from behind the counter and lightly jogged up to Beyond from around the counter. "Is your apartment close?"

The raven chuckled as they exited while waving to Julie. "It's literally upstairs." Light followed Beyond up a fire exit towards the second floor. "Elevator's broken, she's working on getting someone to fix it, but, you know how contractors are. If I was more confident with electrical stuff I'd just fix it, but I mean, a faulty bulb socket isn't exactly on the same level of difficulty as a lift."

Light curiously darted his eyes around as they entered the second story of the building, a bland but well kept apartment hall came into view, standard cream walls and brass apartment numbers on the wooden doors. "It's pretty cool you live right above your shop though. Why'd you take the diner position, it's kind of out of the way?"

Beyond slid his key into the lock and glanced down before chuckling and entering the small apartment. "It isn't obvious? So I could crash in your house, go to work in the morning, come back to my place, sleep for a few more hours and go downstairs. Leave from the shop then fix something else at your house; rinse and repeat for the last four months." Light shot a worried stare towards Beyond as opened a kitchen drawer while yawning. "Not sure I have it in me to fix the rail today though, staying up through the afternoon kind of kicked my ass."

Timidly stepping into the studio apartment, Light sighed softly. "I wish you wouldn't push so hard." His eyes fell onto a neon lit room with gray carpet and standard white walls. A singular television on an oak entertainment stand, a small matching coffee table in front of a full sized bed dressed in dark blue blankets against the wall.

The brunette took a couple small steps towards the living room, focused on a singular photo on the coffee table. Squinting his eyes to make out the two figures in the photo from the darkened room. Beyond gathered a couple things from the small kitchen before walking past Light towards the bathroom. Light glanced at the raven over his shoulder before taking a couple more steps and grabbing the photo from the table and lifting it.

Turning the photo towards the light from the kitchen, to illuminate the photograph. Light felt as if the wind had been knocked from him. It was of two young boys perched in a large armchair, both wearing huge smiles with a Christmas tree in the background. One boy's hair as dark as night, elated scarlet eyes with a stuffed horse clutched in his left arm, the other arm over the other child. The other boy beamed brightly, silver hair and dark eyes which barely focused on the camera. Both arms wrapped tightly around the older boy, an abandoned toy robot behind him in the chair.

Light felt a shuddered breath exit his lungs. "Beyond? Whose this?"

The raven stopped next to Light and lifted the framed photo from Light's hands. "My brother from another mother. That's Nate on his fourth Christmas. Jeez, I think that makes me seven in that picture."

"Did Nate have any other siblings… he's my brother in law and I barely know him."

"No."

Light snapped his eyes back towards Beyond with a minor gasp. "It must have been you then. He always talked about how great his brother was, and how lucky he was to have him. But… Beyond… he thinks you're dead."

A momentary flicker of pain went through the raven's eyes. "Probably better that way."

Beyond handed the photo back to Light and tiredly jerked his head towards the door. The brunette clutched the photo with a small amount of pressure. "I don't think we should leave. You're tired."

"Light, we need-"

Furrowing his brow in frustration. "No! You're tired. I don't know why you think I'm so incapable of caring for myself or helping you!"

The raven sighed loudly, rolled his neck and placed a hand on Light's shoulder. "I never said that. I think you're perfectly capable, I… I just wanted to help."

Light placed a tender hand on top of Beyond's hand. "Slow down. You don't need to race anything. That, and, if you get everything taken care of, would I ever get to see you again?"

Deciding he didn't have the energy to argue with Light, Beyond sighed. "You're right. I'm very tired. Maybe, I can take tomorrow off, I'm sure Julie would understand, and I don't have to work at the diner tomorrow." Beyond lifted his cellphone and tapped on the screen a couple of times. "Seems like the only food that's open is take out. And I don't have anything worth making, I haven't spent a lot of time here for a couple months."

Light smiled and placed himself on the edge of the bed. "That's fine. It's been forever since I've had take out, what kind?"

Beyond shrugged as he opened the online menu. "Chinese."

After the order was placed, Beyond scratched the back of his neck. "So, sleeping arrangements… You can see what I'm working with here." He chuckled nervously.

The brunette shifted his eyes around the apartment and shrugged happily. "It's just a smaller bed. Neither one of us are creeps."

The raven smirked as he walked into the kitchen. "Well, I'm not. You, though, you're a cuddler." Light blushed brightly and turned away from the bar that separated the kitchen from the living space. "It's fine. I'm just giving you shit. I, uh… I didn't hate it." Feeling a little guilty, Beyond pulled a couple of sodas from the refrigerator.

Light jumped slightly at the sensation of a cold can against the tip of his ear. Golden eyes flicked towards the raven who had a cheeky smile. "Seriously, I'm a cuddler too, it's fine." He plopped next to Light and sighed happily as he cracked the can open. "I'll tell you, what sucks is being someone who likes cuddles, and being in a relationship with someone who doesn't."

Light looked down to the can sadly before opening it. "Yeah. Tell me about it. I almost married one."

Beyond choked on his drink. "Ugh. Seriously? Though, I suppose it doesn't surprise me, L was never the warm cuddly type growing up, it should be no surprise he was like that as an adult. It happens when your parents don't hug you enough." He set his soda down on the coffee table, Beyond stretched his arms and legs out while yawning. Light smirked while setting his can on the table as well and flopping backwards. "So. How is this going to work without being weird? If we're both people who like cuddling."

The raven shrugged and turned the television on. "One of us sleeps on the floor or we just deal with it. Look, as long as you don't thrash in your sleep it'll be fine." Glancing at his watch, Beyond stood and tossed the remote at Light. "I have every streaming channel, pick something for us to watch and I'll grab our food."

"Wait! What do you want to watch? What do you even like?"

Beyond chuckled as he was grabbing his keys and resting his hand on the door handle. "I literally have no preference, I'm probably going to eat and crash."

Light smirked at the retreating raven as he flipped through the different channels. After a few minutes of channel scrolling, Light finally settled on a movie. He smirked at the movie title. "Let's see how he feels about horror."

The door reopened as Beyond clumsily made his way into the apartment. His eyes landed Light and then onto the television screen. He smirked as he placed the food on the counters in the kitchen while grabbing silverware. "Nice, Japanese horror. Hey, quick, weird question… Can we watch it with subtitles in the original language? I've been trying to learn Japanese, and it'll be a good test of what I've learned."

Light raised an eyebrow in interest while watching Beyond from his seated position. "Why are you trying to learn Japanese?"

Beyond carried some of the food containers over to the coffee table and set them down in front of them. "There's this old guy who hangs around the park across the street in the warmer months and plays chess by himself. So, last year, I played with him, but he only speaks Japanese, so his daughter will translate what he's saying when she isn't distracted by her phone. And, I wanted to talk to him myself instead of a half-hearted translator."

Light felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth while looking at the food, trying to avoid staring at the raven. "So… you want to talk to him?"

Beyond nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! He has a bunch of pins on his jacket, and whenever I want to ask about them his daughter is usually distracted, which leads to, kind of a disappointing interaction, or her rolling her eyes and giving me a halfassed explanation."

Light chuckled and made sure the settings were set right on the movie. "And to think, Maddy made fun of me for being pure." Shifting his amber eyes towards Beyond, Light felt another small smile tug on his features. Starting the movie with his smile slowly growing more. "L would never watch horror movies with me… or really any kind of fiction."

"Gross. So, he became a rock. And, not the good kind you find, you know, that is kind of sparkly; the boring kind."

Light choked on his food slightly and chuckled. "Yeah. I guess."

"How'd a boulder like him get lucky enough to find someone like you?" Beyond set his food down and lightly jogged towards the kitchen. "Hey, since I don't work tomorrow, do you want anything? Cause, I'm going to drink." He chuckled as he grabbed a couple of beers. "It's been forever since I had a day off at either job. That does remind me, I should text Julie."

The brunette stared into his food, lost in thought, as the room seemed to fade away from his senses. Beyond's question was meant to be playful, but the more Light analyzed his and L's relationship, he could understand why Beyond constantly questions its validity, even if meant in a joking manner. He'd been so preoccupied with his thoughts he hadn't noticed Beyond had already returned until he'd sat down. Amber eyes drifted up to Beyond's whimsical smile while engrossed in the movie; the raven patted the table looking for his food without taking his eyes from the screen. Drifting his eyes back towards his food, Light contentedly sighed quietly. "You know… I still speak fluent Japanese, I could help you."

Both of the brunette's shoulders were snagged as the raven shook him gently. "Seriously!? That'd be awesome! I'd really appreciate it!"

Light smiled while being jerked back and forth, a small blush forming over his cheeks. "Of course. And, it'd be nice to talk to someone other than Sayu in Japanese. Maybe, I can meet the old man, too."

Beyond chuckled and released Light's shoulders. "That would be fun." The raven's attention was quickly snagged back to the television.

Light studied the focused stare Beyond was giving the movie, he could feel his blush deepening when scarlet eyes darted towards him followed by a quick brilliant smile. Light felt his smile fade as a daunting realization came to his mind. 'Oh shit. I think I like him.'