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Light sighed at the sound of chains clanking together. Adjusting to being handcuffed to someone else would be difficult on its own but it’s even worse when that person suspects you of being a mass murderer. That being said, it wasn’t as bad as Light had initially expected it to be.
Despite being his main suspect, L still respected his privacy. They took turns using the shower and the bed they shared was big enough for them to sleep comfortably, even though Light was the only one sleeping most of the time.
Light watched Ryuzaki plop sugar cube after sugar cube into his porcelain tea cup. L caught his stare and raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Light gestured to the dark-haired man’s mountain of sugar cubes, “Do you like sugar with your coffee? Or do you want some coffee with your cup of sugar?”
L shrugged, “Sweets and caffeine are a great combination.”
“Yeah, if you want to go three days without sleep maybe. Honestly, it’s a miracle you get any sleep at all.”
“Maybe you just sleep too much. Your hair is always a mess in the morning.”
“Yeah, it’s called a bed head. You should know that better than anyone, seeing as you have a permanent one.”
“Well, at least I don’t put a lethal amount of hair gel into my luscious black locks-”
Light was about to say something in retaliation but was cut off by the sudden wave of constriction consuming his throat. The will to control his coughing had caved in as Light began to wheeze violently.
The detective’s expression changed to one of concern, “Are you alright? Has all that hair gel clogged your throat?”
“Haha very funny,” Light rolled his eyes once his coughing fit had passed.
_____
Light thought it was just a common cold.
..Until the next morning where he sat next to L in the common space room, drinking tea and eating cake as he idly chatted with the man he was attached to. His coughing had persisted into the following day, which had earned him several light slaps on the back from L who was busily typing away beside him. When Watari had delivered Ryuzaki’s daily dose of sweets the following morning, Light had requested for something warm to help soothe his throat. He returned with a clear teapot filled with gold tinted liquid and a juice carton.
“Fresh honey chrysanthemum tea for you Light,” Watari started, gently placing the pot onto the table, “...and a carton of chrysanthemum tea for you, Ryuzaki,” he murmured before tossing the box directly into L’s awaiting hands.
“Thank you, Watari,” Light spoke aloud as L announced his gratitude too, taking a bite of a whipped cream covered strawberry in the process. A smear of white foam smothered the corner of L’s mouth, which caused Light to chuckle.
“What is it, Light?” L questioned, making direct eye contact with him.
Light simply laughed at him upon staring at his lips again. “You simply are unhinged when it comes to sweets, Ryuzaki.”
“Okay, listen here,” L objected, “you have no right to say that with your crusty voice, old fart. I thought you were supposed to be younger than Watari.”
“What was that about me, boys?” Watari interjected, tea cup in hand as he placed it in front of Light.
“Nothing,” both said in unison, with L overting the topic by taking the straw attached to his drink and stabbing it into the carton. Light, definitely very totally parched as well, offered to take a sip from his cup after Watari finished pouring a glass for him.
Light noticed that Watari had placed a delicate little chrysanthemum into his cup, with strands of fluffy honey petals emerging from the base of its stem.
He was in the midst of taking another sip when L suddenly asked, “So Light. What’s your taste in men?”
Light instantly started choking with that same unpleasant feeling from yesterday, along with the added benefit of inhaling in his drink. For obvious reasons, he spat his tea back into the cup and covered his mouth with the palm of his hand.
“Aw man, I really thought I could get you to spit it out like in those movies,” L commented.
Light cleared his throat in an appropriate fashion before shouting “You’re an ass,” to Ryuzaki. He stood up to get a tissue to clear the spit from his hand, only to see a yellow petal glistening in his palm. He quickly disposed of it and returned to his seat.
Upon reaching to take a gulp of his tea to cleanse his mouth, he recoiled in disgust and realization for two different reasons. One, he was reaching back to drink the tea that he himself had spat in. The second reason was the simple fact that he, Light Yagami, had undoubtedly coughed out a petal of the same variety as the flower that was in his tea.
_____
A few days had passed and the coughing only seemed to increase in variety, frequency, and intensity. In that time, Light had seen more and more petals being coughed up than there are flowers in a flower shop. He kept this to himself of course. He didn’t want to worry any of the other members of the task force, least of all his father. But it’s hard to hide something from someone who is with you around the clock.
Because of this, he’d keep a handkerchief with him at all times and if he felt a violent coughing fit coming on, he would excuse himself to go use the restroom. He knew L could hear him wheezing through the bathroom door, but hey, at least he couldn’t see the bloody mess of flower petals.
Light wasn’t that knowledgeable about flowers but still could identify what the one he was coughing up was called. It was a yellow chrysanthemum. After doing a bit of research, he found the meaning behind the flower. Unrequited love or a love filled with sorrows.
But that couldn’t be true. Light had never given romance a second glance. It was only a distraction from his studies and a thing that ruined people. Only people who have romantic feelings for another person could cough up flowers. So why was this happening to him? The only girl he was at all close to other than his mom and sister was Misa.
Misa was nice and all but wasn’t his type in the slightest. What would he want in a significant other anyway? He had never really thought about it before. Probably someone as intelligent as he was. Someone who he could have deep conversations with and respected his boundaries. That definitely wasn’t Misa. Only one person seemed to come to mind.
Nope. Absolutely not. No way in hell. Light was L’s main suspect in a murder case for god’s sake. If it wasn’t for that, they never would have met. They weren’t even really friends, were they? Could what they have be considered friendship?
And even if he did have feelings for L, and that’s a big if, it's not like anything would come of it. If anything, Ryuzaki would think he was more likely to be Kira or something.
No, it was stupid that he even considered it. Light tried to ignore his throat and get back to work.
However, one night when he was alone in the bathroom, trying his best to keep his coughing to a minimum, he coughed up more than a few pedals. Light wasn’t sure when he had closed his eyes but when he opened them, he let out a gasp of surprise.
A beautiful pink camellia laid on the tiled floor of the bathroom surrounded by glistening petals. Little bits of blood decorated the flower and the stray petals, tainting their beauty.
This had to be some kind of sick joke. He was Light Fucking Yagami, the son of the chief of police, the number one student in Japan. Why was something like this happening to him?
“Shit,” he mumbled, throwing the mess away.
A light knock came from the door, “Light? Are you alright in there?”
It was L. He must have heard him or something. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.” Light quickly washed his hands and opened the bathroom door, avoiding Ryuzaki’s eyes.
A pink camellia…wait. Didn’t those flowers mean longing? No, that’s ridiculous.
“Are you sure you’re ok? You seem a bit out of it.”
Light nodded, feeling empty. There was no way this was real. It had to be some cruel joke. How could he possibly live like this? Ryuzaki was going to notice sooner or later. How would he react? Would he hate him if he knew the way Light felt? Or... did L already hate him? Surely not. Even though he didn’t really believe that the detective would hate him, the thought wouldn’t get out of his head.
Ryuzaki squinted at him, “I don’t believe you.”
“Huh?”
“You clearly are not ok.”
Light let out a sigh. “Yeah whatever. Can we just go to bed?” Light rubbed his eyes, feeling exhausted.
L decided to drop the topic and instead said, “Sure.”
_____
A few days pass but things seem to just get worse and worse.
“Light, I really think you should see a doctor.”
“This again? Ryuzaki, I already told you I’m not going to see a doctor.”
“Why not? Your cough is really intense and it’s not getting better.”
“I’m fine-”
“Don’t you dare lie to me.”
Light buries his face in his hands, “I’m not going to see a doctor, alright? Please stop asking me to.”
“But Light-”
“Please,” Light practically begged.
L let out a sigh, “..ok.”
The detective’s concern only grew. He knew what Light was suffering from but it didn’t make any sense to him. Why hadn’t he just confessed to Misa already? It was Misa he had feelings for, right? It was painfully obvious she was in love with him so what’s the problem? Why is he forcing himself to suffer so much?
Watching Light hurting like this and not being able to do anything about it was torture. Why couldn’t Light just listen to him for once? If it didn’t stop soon, Light might die. That thought scared him. Light was his first and only friend after all. He didn’t want to lose him.
_____
Light was trying not to cough with all his might in the dark bedroom the two men shared. Ryuzaki was actually asleep for once and he really didn’t want to wake him. He knew he was going to start coughing up flowers any minute now so he quietly slipped off the bed so he was sitting on the carpeted floor. If L did wake up, he wouldn’t see the flowers anyway.
Coughs ripped through his throat as literal bouquets of flowers began to litter the floor. He couldn’t breathe. Oh god he couldn’t breathe. He desperately tried to get some air but couldn’t escape the black roses speckled with blood. The flowers of death wouldn’t stop filling his lungs. It felt like he was drowning. He was going to die.
“Light..?”
The brunet looked up at L through teary eyes.
Light began to panic. He tried to hide the bloody flowers but it was too late. Bleeding heart flowers slowly replaced the black roses. A flower that represents heartbreak? That was somehow worse than the flowers of death. “S-shit I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to wake you up. I didn’t w-want you to see this,” he managed to get out between coughs. He had never seen the detective so distressed before.
“Light.. Light please just tell Misa how you feel already. If this keeps up-”
“T-this isn’t because of Misa you idiot.”
“Then whoever it is, you need to hurry up and tell them already!” Ryuzaki grabbed him by the shoulders, “With you by my side, the task force has a 17% higher chance of catching Kira-”
“R-really? Is that all you think of me? A percentage?” Tears started to slip down Light’s cheeks as he became increasingly lightheaded. “How could I have f-fallen for someone who only sees me as an analytic?”
His body fell limp in L’s grasp. As everything began to fade to black, one all consuming thought took over his mind: this is how I die.