#my perception may be kinda skewed on that front

[bluberimufim]

I just discovered that there's a biblical figure named Seth who has absolutely nothing to do with the Seth that I named my protagonist, Seth, after

[feverhalo]

I wrote a deathnote fic-ish thing (1403 words? thats kinda short but not as short n sweet as i wanted) cause I got back into it after going to rewatch the anime.

Lots of words but doesnt rly go anywhere and nowhere near edited. I just wanted a dorky little feverish thing

I might rework it later, but heres something. Y’all are so patient with my slow creating ass.

working title is “Like a Bedtime Story”, but I don’t want to really title it until I rework it to what I want it to be 100% (or at least 70%)

——————————————-

“Mmm, Light, would you pass that to me?” Ryuzaki rattled the linking chain as he shifted in his seat.

“I’m sorry, what did you need?” Light slid his headset down, looking away from the screen as he paused it.

“That,” Light looked to where Ryuzaki was pointing as he continued to mumble around the nail he was biting, “My charge is low, and I’m at a critical point of analysis.”

“Really, Ryuzaki?” Light teased as he picked up the correct end of the cable and dropped it to L’s hand. He took the extra second to plug the other end into the power bar properly as well. “There, better?”

“Mm,” Light shook his head and turned to his own laptop again after Ryuzaki replied in what he could only assume was an affirmative.

Ryuzaki shifted again. And again. This new venue was uncomfortable. His knees ached. The case was still at a disconcerting stand still as well. No. No, it wasn’t the case. His head felt fogged and he had been more tempted to sleep as of late. It could be a continued spiral out because of the despair of being proven wrong, but-

“Ryuzaki?” L had stood abruptly and dragged his feet across to the main desk, skewing some paperwork with the long chain dragging behind him. Light stared after him as Ryuzaki lifted things here and there on the desk until he found what he was looking for.

Just as abruptly, he popped the cap on a pill bottle and dropped to a crouch where his last cup of tea had been left to go cold. Light turned back to his computer, but kept watching Ryuzaki from the corner of his eye. He took two pills from the container, and downed the abandoned tea before climbing back onto the far end of the couch. He looked to the laptop he had thunked onto the coffee table for a moment, before deigning to poke and prod at it from where he was instead of bringing it close again.

“I mean no distraction,” his slender fingers tapped at the keys and with a few quick strokes had brought up a news feed. Satisfied, it seemed, Ryuzaki lifted his hand to pick and prod at his lip again.

Silence fell for a few minutes longer.

“Did that help at all?” Light asked, driven to distraction himself by the deviation of the pattern he had come to know as Ryuzaki’s. It looked to be regular ibuprofen, but why.

“Yes,” Ryuzaki replied slowly, “It seems to have started to help. Though, I can’t say my focus has been helped at all. Tell me about what you’re working on.”

Light watched as Ryuzaki frowned at the news feed he had up. With a few taps he re-opened his previous screens and the frown seemed to deepen a fraction before smoothing out when he looked sidelong at Light.

“If I’m destined to be distracted, it might as well be useful somehow.”

“If you’ve got a headache, you should give your eyes a break from the screen for a while.” Light looked back to his and started typing again.

“Not a headache.”

“Ah,” Ryuzaki wasn’t in the habit of taking pills. Though, Light could guess if he did how it could be hidden from everyone. Even so, “Well, I’m just looking at some of those online forums. Trying to see if anyone is leaving a trail or hint. It looks like its mostly just people who want to throw their opinions in, and don’t really care for securing their data much. There’s a few definitely hidden though vpn services, but not anywhere near in-depth enough to hint that Kira may be frequenting it.”

“Still with that, hm?” Light nodded and continued. Ryuzaki shifted again. “Even I’m insulted you think Kira would slip like that.”

“Its more to see if any of the ones who have taken precautions have any other possible contact. The second Kira, or- What are you doing?”

“Keep talking.” Ryuzaki had shifted again, he was cross-legged on the sofa and listing towards Light by this point. His face seemed paler and the bags under his eyes more pronounced than even a few minutes ago when he got up.

“You really should give your eyes a break, I’ll read out what I’ve found, just close your screen for now. And try not to look at mine, really, a proper break would help more.”

“Do you need a break?” Ryuzaki had straightened some, and seemed to be easing back into his regular posture with some difficulty.

“I’m not opposed to a walk around, we have been sitting for a while.”

“I’d rather stay here,” he waved a hand and let himself slump further. “Continue, at any rate.”

“Right… Well, um,” Light was unsure where to continue. It was straightforward as he had said before. Really it was mindless busy work; something to keep him from rusting up and to check for any holes he was missing on either side.

In the end, he opted to just detail what he had already gone over. Ryuzaki stretched now and then, and eventually ended up laying on his back with his feet propped on the arm of the couch tilting his head to watch Light.

“This is entirely pointless,” He mumbled. It really was, they both knew it. But the boring chatter and repetition of facts helped him relax, and with the medicine from earlier, his body ached less though his head still felt useless.

“Yeah, I said that before. I’m just as lost as you on how to proceed,” Light looked down to Ryuzaki’s face only to see the man with his eyes shut and looking particularly miserable. He looked drained of color, and greasy.

“Look, Ryuzaki,” Light went to speak, but he was cut off.

“There’s no need to call Watari. Its fine. What was your next avenue to look into?” He dragged his eyelids open and stared for a moment as the room focused, bringing the two variations of Light together in front of him. The room stayed still, but his perceptions still told him it was spinning and tilting ever so slightly, so he let his eyes shut again.

“I guess to look over the notes from earlier today. Ideally, I’d want to talk it over with everyone some more, see if we can bounce any more ideas around, but its late.” Light shut his own laptop and moved it to the table, “The best I can think to do is to look at it all from the start again, but we’ve gone over it countless times.”

Ryuzaki began to hum in response, but startled when Light put a hand to his cheek. He rolled his head away and pushed himself to his side and up to stare at Light.

“Sorry. You’re pretty warm though,” Light pulled his hand back, “and you took some pain medicine for aches, right? That should have done something for a temperature too. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Ryuzaki let himself fall back to his previous position. He took a moment to respond, more to let his body catch up and recover from the movement.

“I did, I asked you to pick up the charging cable so I could remain still. Outside of that what else could I say that would matter?”

“I could have gotten the pills for you- “

“No thanks,” Ryuzaki was derailed from his thought with a moment of intense brain fog.

“Right, because I’m still potentially Kira in your mind. I can understand that, but you’re really warm, Ryuzaki.”

“I’ll be alright. If you’re correct in saying I’ve got a temperature, it’ll fade in time. It could be residual heat from the computer as well, they tend to get hot. But, yes, it is likely I’ve got a temperature. All the same, I’d like you to go over the case again- like you said. Starting from the beginning and running though everything. I’ll listen and see if I can find what we’ve missed.”

“Like a story, sure.” Ryuzaki felt the beginnings of agitation and indignation at that comment, but Light started reciting the timeline of events and their findings.

As irritating as it was, that was his intent. A story, a distraction- something to let his mind drift to while he ached and felt ill and grimy with sweat he was too exhausted to do anything about.