Every sniff you take can and will be used against you (Death Note) Light M

[PetalsAndThorns]

Hi all!

So, I way trying to see if I had it in my to continue my old Death Note fic, Overcoming Stress, and that one wasn't really going anywhere. But it did result in this new little one shot!

If you are so interested, I hope you will enjoy!

(Also, yes, I have been reading a lot of Garnet's amazing work, and am shamelessly making an attempt to emulate parts of their style. I strongly and highly recommend checking out Garnet's work if you haven't already.)

Every sniff you take can and will be used against you

“Cchhnn!” L’s typing fingers came to a pause, and his eyes glanced up automatically at the soft whisper of a sound came into the silence of the room. Outside the window, the sky was black. The monitors the only thing in the room aside from L’s laptop to shed light. Aizawa had gone home some hours ago to his family, as had Mogi. Matsuda, who had vowed to hold the same hours as L with a steadfast resolution to rival that of an ox, had long since fallen asleep in his chair, his head lolled onto one shoulder.

On the monitor, L could see Yagami senior, lying in a perfect line on the thin mattress of his bed. Misa sat, strapped to her chair, her head sagging forward, whether in sleep or despair, L could not be positive. He did know that he had seen her cry, and neither her breath rate, nor her posture was consistent with that hypothesis.

Finally, his eyes fell on the third block of screen.

From the moment he’d been put in his cell, Light seemed to have forsaken the use of his bed on principle, and taken instead to curling up directly on the hard floor. A gesture that seemed to scream self-sacrifice and martyr. Exactly the role that Kira would place upon his own head, in this sort of situation…

At the moment, though, he was tucked up on the floor, his back against the railing of his bed, his head bowed forward over his chest, chestnut hair spilling over his brow and concealing his eyes.

L couldn’t see his face, but he could see as Light’s shoulder’s swelled-once, twice- and then pitched forward with the same, hardly audible. “Chhnnn! …Chhnnxx!” L touched the volume switch, clicking it up a few notches just in time to catch a soft, wet sniff. He kept watch for another minute or so, but Light seemed to have returned to sitting still, and quietly.

L tried to turn his attention back to his laptop, but found that his focus would not hold. His eyes kept darting over the side to catch glimpses of the screen. His heart leaping slightly every time he saw Light rubbing his nose against his legs once more, or blinking hard with his nostrils flared. Finally L gave up all hope of focus, and resigned himself as captor to an entirely different screen.

He had clicked up the volume again another few notches, and that meant that this time he caught the sound of Light’s breath drawn in wavering hitches.

“…hhahhh-uhhhh…” The boy shook his head, hair scattering in his face, as his expression drifted between alert, and vacant. He crinkled his nose against the flaring of his nostrils. But once again, his breath died back down, and he was left with an unsatisfied grimace.

Light gave his head another, steadying shake, and leaned slowly down, shifting around so that he was lying with his body twisted so that his head could be facing directly up toward the cell light. The length of his torso tugged at the hem of his shirt, and the stretch of his body opened up a window of skin at his hip, just above the hem of his pants.

Light lay there, his breath coming in long, shallow breathes for what must have been minutes before his breathing began to pick up speed. His nose crinkled once more. His chest was expanding- once, twice, thrice-

“Hhhuhhh—hahhhh—uhhhh-hhuhh…” Light paused torturously on the very edge, his brow furrowed and torn, his eyes fluttering to stay open, his lips parted in a quivering o.

And then he was drawing in a final high-pitched, desperate breath.

“Hahhh---ttcCHHeeuuu!!” The sneeze burst from his lungs, shaking his head as it released. Matsuda gave a sleeping start behind L as the sound echoed from the speakers through the room, and L quickly hammered the volume button back down. Even as he did, he could still hear Light gearing up for his next shot. “Ahhh—haahhh—ttcchnnnnnxxxx!Hahhh---tttccchhxxx! Hhhahhh---ahhhh-hhhahhh—pttCHHhheeu!” Light’s body shuddered with the release, and then he fell back to the solid ground with another tiny moan. Whatever had been bothering him seemed to have released its hold, because he let his eyes fall shut, and his breathing return to normal, though exclusively through his mouth.

“Bless you, Yagami-kun,” came L’s voice echoed over the loud speaker. Light’s eyes snapped open and he turned a vibrant shade of red. L’s volume was just high enough for him to make out the mumbled “thanks” before Light rolled over and hid his face against the side of his bed.

~*~*~

The door just beyond the steel bars of Light’s cell opened with a click, and a pair of footsteps made their way in.

“Good morning, Yagami-kun.” Light drew his head up from his knees, to peer out at the figure standing on the other side of the bars.

“Ryuzaki.” His voice hadn’t been called into work in over a day, and it still hadn’t fully committed to being back in the office. Light cleared his through with a small cough.

“Usually I only get Watari, or Matsuda.”

L knelt down, setting the tray of food in his hands on the floor. Light watched his motions with attentive eyes.

“…This is either good news, or very bad news…”

“It’s not news. It just is. Come over and eat.”

“What’s happening? Have the killings—”

“The killings have still stopped. Careful, Yagami-kun, or I’ll take that disappointed look as indication that you wanted them to continue.”

“I don’t-!”

“I know. Come over and eat.”

“It’s okay. I’m not really… hungry at the moment.” Light paused midway through his sentence to press his nose against the knee of his pants before continuing.

“Still irritated?”

“Hm? About what?”

“Your nose.”

“Irritated about… Oh! No- well, a bit.” Light sighed and leaned his head back, with a small sniff. “It’s been giving me false starts for a while now.”

“I know.”

“Right…”

They trailed off into an awkward silence.

Light had his head tilted up, his hair falling back from his face to reveal a nose already tinted with the red of roughly surprised sneezes, and watery, brown eyes, blinking in the yellow light of his lamp. This time, when Light’s nose began to twitch, L could see it clearly, without the distortion of too few pixels of a too small screen. Light gave another wet sniff, and his nose crinkled and uncrinkled, as his breath began to slow, and deepen. L watched his chest expand, his lips part in the desperate beginning of tentative, stuttering gasps. His eyes began to flutter as his nostrils flared…

And he remained frozen that way, breath caught on the verge of a build up, eyes torn between watering and slipping shut, and his lips wavering as they parted.

Eventually Light let out a quiet groan, and buried his face in his knees, rubbing his nose hard against his jeans.

“You’re too rough.” Light looked up in surprise to see L still sitting on the other side of the bars, watching him.

“I’m sorry?” he asked.

“Come here.” L reached out a hand of long, pale fingers and beckoned Light over. Light hesitated for a moment, and then pushed himself up. His legs hadn’t had so much use in days, and they wavered as he made his way to the bars of his cell. Once he’d reached the bars he allowed them to sink back into a crouch again. L beckoned him still closer, and Light scotched forward until the tip of his nose was level with the glinting metal bars.

“May I?” L gestured vaguely at Light’s nose.

“I… okay?” Light had absolutely no idea what L was proposing to do.

L reached a hand through the bars, and caught Light’s nose between forefinger and thumb. Light was stunned for a moment, trying to figure out what on earth L thought he was doing. And then L began to work small, slow circles against the wings of Light’s nostrils.

“How is it?” L asked after a few moments had passed.

“Surprisingly helpful.” Light’s reply was carried out on a breathy laugh. The rigidity in his spine sagged slowly, and he rested his forehead against the bars of the cage, tilting his head lightly to the side so that more pressure fell on his right nostril. There was a point in every prisoner’s life when they had to just submit to the strangeness and stop caring. Light estimated that he had hit it a week ago.

“Do you do this for all your prisoners?”

“Only the ones who need it.”

Light’s head nudged lightly forward into L’s touch, and increased the pressure slightly.

“How often is that?”

“Yagami-kun would be the first.”

“What an honor.”

L’s fingers paused, and moved for a moment as if to draw away. Almost immediately Light’s nose crinkled back up, and he nudged his nose into L’s hand like an oversized cat.

“Please don’t stop.”

L resumed his motion again, and Light’s features relaxed once more.

“…Thanks…”

“Of course…”

Light considered asking after his father, but somehow he just felt… uncomfortable bringing his father into the conversation at the moment, so he stayed silent and tried not to think about that fact that everything he did at the moment was ending up on videotape.

L let his fingers fall, so that only his thumb was left, massaging the left side of Light’s nose. Light tilted his head to the side to give him a better angle. L’s finger explored the different divots and curves of Light’s nostril, Light tilting him toward the correct spots, like a cat receiving pets.

Light stopped tilting and pressed into L’s touch suddenly. His eyes had begun to haze over and his breath pick up. L focused intently on the spot he had found, continuing to press careful circles against it. Light’s eyelids were beginning to flutter now, his nose flaring, and he wrenched he head away in an instant, breath rising in a desperate gasp.

“Huhhh—uhhh—Hahh-TCCHHHuu!” Whether it was just a factor of it not being stifled, or the pent up energy of a day of false starts, when the sneeze came, it erupted from Light. He had hardly released it when his shoulders were swelling with the onset of a second. Light tried to turn away, but didn’t have enough time.

“Hhhuhh—hhuuhh—hhhhh—tttCHHHUuu!”

“Bless you.”

Light would have laughed at the assumption that he was done, if he’d had the freedom to. He sat back on his haunches, and tilted his head up toward the light once more. Yellow light reflected on the moisture in his eyes as his face crumpled, eyelashes fluttering, and pitched forward once more.

“Hhhuhhh—hhhh—pttTCCHHEUuu!” Light’s frame shuddered, and then drooped limply forward against the bars of his cell with a small groan. He was shortly greeting by the feeling of a napkin pressed to his nose.

“Blow,” L instructed. No matter how many invitations he gave, Light wasn’t about to be able to bring himself to do that. So he sniffed wetly and nudged his nose against the folds of the napkin. Seeing the futility, L resumed his massage through the layer of paper.

“Should I expect to see the manner in which I receive a nasal massage to appear on the transcript against me?”

“Every sniff you take can and will be used against you.”

Light laughed, full from his chest. Slowly, L’s fingers lightened, and then stopped. They trailed up the bridge of Light’s nose, over his glabella, and pressed flat against his forehead.

“I’ll have Watari send some medicine down with your food.”

“No. I’m okay.” Light shifted against L's hand, but didn't draw away.

“Is there something else that would make you comfortable? Without removing the cuffs of releasing you, of course.”

Light shrugged. “Catching Kira would be nice.”

“I’ll get back on it then.”

Edited April 27, 2015 by PetalsAndThorns

[Arty]

My babies!!!!!!!! The characterization was just yes!!!!!!

[Melody]

Omg I absolutely despise light but I loved this!!! Thats how you know it's good And my baby L <3

[facet]

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Edited October 30, 2019 by facet
Removed by user.

[SterlingSilver]

I've never seen Death Note, but I really love the premise of this situation. Very inventive, and just overall a fun time~ Those sneeze spellings were amazing too <3. Well done, and thank you for sharing!

[Vongola Undicesimo]

It's been so long since I read a Death Note fic, but this was everything I didn't know I wanted. I recently came to terms with that even though I despise Light, I love seeing him in these positions and even find him kinda sexy in an evil way? Regardless, this was adorable in every aspect!

[Ignis]

I've never seen past episode 1 of Death Note and I've never read past Volume 2, but let me tell you. This was sO PERFECT ON SO MANY LEVELS. I loved it aaaa I don't care for Light much but I adore L and their interactions were the cutest in this!! Great job!!

//also those spellings were incredibly hot wowowowowowow

[feverprince]

I havent actually read anything Death Note related in months but this was really sexy.

thank you so much for writing this! amazing job!