A Red Rose A Day (Lights/Beau) - For DeathNoteOwner

[AdrianMarx]

DeathNoteOwner: I've seen people call you Deathy. Is that...is that a thing I can call you or is that like a close friend sort of thing I have no idea? Anyway, I hope this is what you were looking for. I did my best!

-

There were few things Lights loved more than strumming out new chord progressions absently while sitting cross-legged at the foot of her bed. She never bothered to write them down, simply played them over and over again until they stuck in her muscle memory. She’d always been a great believer in nurturing an idea in her mind before releasing it. Writing it down seemed only to soil the sanctity of something pure and so she actively tried to avoid making notes until she was certain it could be tweaked on paper.

Songs were never meant for paper; they were meant for musicians.

It was as she sat strumming G through B minor through G minor that Beau poked his head round the door with a goofy grin. Her eyes crinkled into a smile as he produced a single red rose from behind his back with what would have been a flourish had he not gotten a thorn caught on his jacket. She grinned, setting her guitar aside and getting up to pluck the flower from his hand carefully. With a shake of her head, she kissed him softly.

“You’re an idiot,” she informed him with a chuckle, turning the rose over in her fingers and admiring its delicate petals.

He rolled his eyes. “Happy anniversary to you too,”

“That’s today?” She put her hand on her heart in mock surprise. “I’d never have guessed,”

She looked pointedly at the anniversary banner pinned clumsily onto the wall opposite their bed. Beau smiled and kissed her again.

“One rose for one year,” he smiled when he’d pulled back, taking an exaggerated breath in through his nose and releasing it with a loud, “Ahh. Smells like rainbows,”

Lights rolled her eyes, tossing her loose fishtail plait over her shoulder in what she had to admit was a movement which lacked grace entirely. “Why don’t you get started on lunch and I will prepare the horse and carriage?” She grinned, shooing him out of the room. She might not have a horse and carriage but she did have something planned.

“That would be splendid!” Beau said loudly in a - rather awful - English accent before disappearing downstairs. Lights couldn’t suppress a fond smile for him and looked down at the flower in her hand, sniffing it once before setting it down on the windowsill. Hm, it did smell nice. She’d have to find a vase for it later.

It didn’t take long for the tickle to flare up. She scrunched up her nose in vague annoyance, burrowing under the bed to find the present she’d bought for him months ago. She’d been living in constant fear he’d find it. But the tickle suddenly intensified and she drew in a gasping breath without warning, hitting her head on the wooden slats. For a moment, the pain seemed to banish the tickle, perhaps out of shock, but it burst out of her so unexpectedly that she couldn’t even stifle it.

“Heh-tshuh!”

Surprised, she rubbed the palm over her hand over her nose, blinking away the tears which appeared to have been brought on by the sneeze. Shaking her head once as though to obliterate the moment, she shuffled further under and pushed the many forgotten hoodies aside until she found the box. With a triumphant smile, she dragged it back out into the light after her.

Her eyes were still watering and her nose itching slightly at the back, near her eyes. She put it down to the dust, snatching a tissue from the “emergency” box, she wiped at her eyes and uncharacteristically runny nose quickly.

A blink of her eyes and the whole thing was forgotten, the tickle the only reminder that anything had happened at all. With the rose in one hand and the little box in the other, she padded downstairs in her bare feet and found Beau halfway through setting up a mock romantic dinner with a tall glass in the middle half full of water. Light smiled and deposited the rose in the glass and sidled up to Beau with a smirk.

It would probably have been sexier if she didn’t have to turn away to sneeze.

“Heh-ischu! Hpschu!”

When she looked back, she saw Beau with one eyebrow raised and a smile playing on his lips.

“Tickle?” He asked, amused. She nodded, rubbing at her septum with the back of her index finger.

“Yeah. Got some dust up my nose or something,” she shrugged, placing the box into his hands and messing up his hair before darting out of the way into the kitchen before he could swat at her. She found two plates sitting waiting laden with sandwiches and crackers and little cocktail sausages. Perhaps not a five star romantic dinner but packed lunches on plates were always welcome. Indoor picnics were the best kind of picnics - no rain.

Setting them both on the table, she caught him smiling down at the digital voice recorder in his hands.

“So you don’t do that annoying thing,” she said playfully. He looked at her questioningly. “Where you think of something while you’re out and then can’t remember by the time you get here. And you moan. A lot,”

Beau grinned and slid his arms around her waist, the recorder abandoned on the table. And, again, it might have been sexy if it weren’t for-

“Heh-itchu! Hehtchu! Heh...hihh...he-itsch!”

“Did you breathe in a whole dust bunny or something?” Beau smiled, tapping the tip of her nose gently. Bad idea.

“Hi-tisch-tsch!”

She thought maybe she saw a flicker of concern in his gaze.

“Hungry?” She asked eventually, taking a seat at the table before he could ask questions she couldn’t answer. Somewhat grudgingly, he followed her lead.

~

Lunch had been underway for some time when Lights finally could not hold back the fit any longer, excusing herself to run to the bathroom and smother her nose in mounds of toilet paper.

“Hi-tschoo! Hh-impsh! Hi-tsch! Hahh-”

Beau appeared in the doorway not too long later, his sandwich still in hand his but forgotten. Unsure of what to do, he watched her body convulse helplessly with sneeze after sneeze, listened to her breath hitching desperately as she fought to suppress another.

“Hah-itchu! Itschu! Hi-tschh!”

One more…

“Aitschoo!”

With one final, large sneeze, she was reduced to just sniffling and wiping her runny nose periodically. That fit had taken quite a bit out of her, she realised, as she perched on the edge of the bath, chest heaving with effort. She could barely see for the tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes itching agonisingly though she was too exhausted to bother tending to them. It seemed Beau was ready to do so for her as he brushed away her tears and ghosted a small clump of damp, wrung-out toilet roll over her closed eyelids. She let out a sigh.

“Never seen you like that before,” Beau muttered as he worked, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead quickly as a precaution though he suspected something else. “Quite the fit you had there,”

With no way to deny it, Lights simply agreed with a weary nod of her head. It was true – she’d never had a fit like that before.

“Allergies?” He asked gently but she shook her head.

“Do’t have allergieds,” she muttered stuffily, massaging her tickly nose angrily. The itch was too faint to come to anything but still just as annoying, if not more so.

Without another word, Beau shuffled back to the table where he promptly took up the rose and returned, twirling it between his fingers.

“Ndo way,” she shook her head firmly. “I’mb ndot,”

With a sceptical raise of his eyebrows, Beau thrust the flower beneath her nose, watching as it began to immediately tremble with the force of the oncoming sneeze.

“Ehh-“ she breathed desperately, pushing Beau’s hands away but it was too little, too late. “Tsch! Tsch! Tsch! Tsch! Tsch…hi-imptch!”

Beau tossed the flower carelessly into the hallway, beginning to dab at her freshly streaming eyes again.

“Well, scratch that plan to buy you a million roses someday,” he grinned while she gave a grimace.

“Thank God you didn’t go all out this year,”

She didn’t stop sniffling for the rest of the afternoon, even once the offending flower had been buried in the bin outside. It’d be nice if Beau stuck to guitar strings from now on.

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

DeathNoteOwner: I've seen people call you Deathy. Is that...is that a thing I can call you or is that like a close friend sort of thing I have no idea? Anyway, I hope this is what you were looking for. I did my best!

Yeh you can call me Deathy . It works. naw it's not just a close friend thing.

Well this fic is just perfection, a million thank yous <3

Agh

so much perfect <3

uhm can you make Beau sneeze? He's quite hot.

part 2? Beau sneezes? please?

cat allergies?

*begs*

[AdrianMarx]

Yeh you can call me Deathy . It works. naw it's not just a close friend thing.

Well this fic is just perfection, a million thank yous <3

Agh

so much perfect <3

uhm can you make Beau sneeze? He's quite hot.

part 2? Beau sneezes? please?

cat allergies?

*begs*

aw yay ^-^

ahh i am glad you liked it you're most welcome <3

hm sure i think so

i have to go out in a couple of hours though so idk if i'll get it done in time but i'll give it my best shot c:

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Yeh you can call me Deathy . It works. naw it's not just a close friend thing.

Well this fic is just perfection, a million thank yous <3

Agh

so much perfect <3

uhm can you make Beau sneeze? He's quite hot.

part 2? Beau sneezes? please?

cat allergies?

*begs*

aw yay ^-^

ahh i am glad you liked it you're most welcome <3

hm sure i think so

i have to go out in a couple of hours though so idk if i'll get it done in time but i'll give it my best shot c:

Alright then Goodluck

[AdrianMarx]

Alright then Goodluck

It took me a million years but I'm finished at long last. I hope it was worth the wait. Probably not sighs.

Before Lights, walking for the sake of walking had always seemed boring to Beau. He’d never been one to do anything “just because;” there had to be some kind of motivation behind it. A destination or an end result. Walking was just - walking.

But walking with somebody was better. Namely, walking with Lights. At first, it had been tolerable but, the more they’d done it, the more he’d grown to love it. Just existing hand in hand and letting their legs take them along familiar paths until the sun got too low in the sky. If the weather was perfect, the walk was the same.

Today was one such perfect walking day; cool but not cold with shards of sunshine peeking through the skyscrapers. Yes, a perfect day. Or, it was definitely a perfect day until Lights dropped his hand and he turned to find her crouching down in front of an alleyway to his left. Intrigued, he went to crouch beside her and peered into the dim light. The contrast from the sunlit open streets was astounding.

Eventually, when his eyes were adjusted, he saw it. A blue-grey kitten nuzzling cautiously against Lights' hand. He held his breath automatically as she scooped the creature up and informed him knowledgably that it was a boy. Beau simply nodded. He knew very little about cats aside from his hatred for them. It wasn't even just the allergies. They were sneaky and cunning. He could never tell what was going through their heads but they always looked like they were caught somewhere between planning their next murder and setting off a domino effect of lamps and books which he would ultimately have to clean up.

"Isn't he adorable?" She giggled, nuzzling her nose in his soft fur. After a moment, she stopped and looked around. "I wonder where his mother is,"

Beau grimaced. He could already see where this is headed. Sure enough, after a minute or so of gazing around and pondering, Lights said, "We should take him home!"

Beau swallowed. "Shouldn't we take him to an animal shelter? He might be hurt," he reasoned. Maybe it was his imagination but he could already feel the beginnings of the irritation in his eyes and nose.

"But they'll put him down if nobody wants him," she pouted, cuddling the kitten closer and kissing the top of its head to which it purred lightly in response. Beau sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. He should probably just tell her but, if he did that now, she'd probably think he was just looking for reasons not to keep him. Well, he was. But this was the actual reason.

He sighed. "Oh, alright then," he tried to sound grudging but couldn't resist a smile when her face crinkled into a joyful smile. And then they were off, taking a record-breaking six minutes to arrive outside their front door, at which point Lights thrust the cat into his arms and said, "You take him inside. I'll go buy some cat food and things,"

Before he could protest, she was gone, and Beau was left with a cat in his arms which was smiling up at him amiably like it wasn't the cause of the itch in his sinuses. Muttering something about "damn cats," he let himself in and shut the door tightly behind him before he put the kitten down and let out an itchy double.

"Hehtchssshoo! Ah...Hi-etshhhoooo!"

Great. It was getting to him already and he'd only been holding it for, at most, thirty seconds. He groaned and stepped over the kitten's tiny form on his way into the bedroom where he promptly popped two allergy pills from where he kept them hidden at the back of his drawer of cables-he-wasn't-sure-they-needed-but-didn't-want-to-throw-out.

When he reached the living room, the cat was doing its best to clamber up onto the sofa. Beau scooped it up in his hands and quickly exiled it to the kitchen, holding it at arm’s length like it was an unexploded bomb. Really, the unexploded bomb was on his face and it itched like crazy. The kitten squirmed in his hands relentlessly and tried to make its escape the second he put it down but he put down a bowl of milk for it and it seemed happy enough to sit and lap it up. With the kitten distracted, he washed his hands and grabbed some paper towels to take with him when he headed out to watch television.

For a while, he found it difficult to concentrate, continually glancing at the kitchen door and awaiting the kitten's arrival. But it never came and so he settled him down and got lost in the program. His nose and eyes still tingled and he'd often have to sniffle and blow his runny nose into the paper towels which were quickly running out. Without warning, the tickle intensified and he was thrown forward, sneezing into his cupped hands.

"Heh-atschoooo! Heshoooo! Ah-eschoo!"

Still bent over onto his thighs, head hanging over the edge of his knees towards the ground, he gave a huge sniffle as he pushed himself up to sit properly again. Halfway there, he realised this to be a mistake.

"Oh...oh G-Go...Hurachoo! Nchoo! Hi....Hih...Hashooo! Ishoompch!"

Breathing heavily, he sunk back again the sofa, wiping half-heartedly at his tickly nose. He could feel the tears spilling over from his eyes but knew better than to rub them. He wished there was a version of blowing your eyes which would get rid of the irritant more quickly.

He felt a scratching on his legs and looked down with a groan. Well, that would explain the small fit. God, he hated cats. But this particular cat was looking at him with big green eyes, its tiny claws barely managing to cling to his jeans. He had to admit; it was kind of adorable. When it gave a soft little meow, he knew he couldn’t resist anymore and lifted the kitten up onto the sofa. He placed it down as close to the end as possible and sat down at the other, wiping again at his tearing eyes with the paper towel.

And things were kind of okay. For a whole minute and twenty three seconds, the tickle in Beau’s nose was actually bearable. Of course, it couldn’t last with a cat in the house, even a tiny little kitten.

He turned the television off, unable to concentrate when the tickle got so bad that he had to close his eyes and put his head back. The congestion in his nose only worsened at the position but he didn’t trust the air in the room not to rush up his nose and pack more allergens in there. He took a careful breath in through his mouth, feeling the tingle flare up in his chest too.

“Ehh….”

His nose tickled and itched, his nostrils quivering. What the hell was keeping Lights? In an attempt to free the sneeze, he rubbed his finger against the tip of his nose. But it seemed only to worsen the tickle without any further effect.

“Heh…hh…hih….” Beau sniffled angrily, causing his breath to hitch and catch, His final thought was, “Fucking cats,” before the sneeze pushed its way out.

“HUH-ISSSHOOO!”

Only one damn sneeze after all the work? Beau cursed silently under his breath and willed Lights to hurry up.

When he turned his head, the kitten was watching him with its head tilted to the left, looking very much like it was sporting a smug smile. Beau stuck his tongue out at it and stifled another sneeze (“Huh-khxt!”) into his hand.

“Do you see what you’re doing to me?” Beau said stuffily, rubbing at his nose with the back of his hand. “Why can’t you keep your fur to yourself?”

The kitten yawned as though bored and Beau seriously considered putting it into the kitchen again and shutting the door this time. But, really, it was actually very cute. The way it curled its little tail around its feet when it sits there looking at him is adorable and the little crinkle of its nose reminds him very much of the way his own is trembling with allergy tickles.

“We should probably let Lights name you,” Beau mumbled and the kitten took a step closer. He held out a hand to stop it but it rubbed its head against his hand instead. Beau held his breath. It didn’t change things. The itch plagued him regardless so he didn’t bother. “But I’m gonna call you Al until she gets here because you’re setting off my allergies something awful,”

The kitten pounced on his hand then, licking and scraping its little teeth off the skin. Beau smiled, turning away to let out some of the itchier sneezes which sounded bad but brought little to no actual relief.

“Eh-tssschuhh! T-tickles…heh…ehhh…ATSHHHOOO!” Beau wrinkled his allergic nose, hating the liquid sound it made when he rubbed at it with his makeshift tissue. Here came another one… “Itschhhuuh!”

The kitten, as is always the way, came closer still. Beau tried to move further away but was trapped by the arm of the sofa. Really, he should have just gotten up and removed himself from the situation but he had one small problem – a sucker for puppy dog eyes. Or, in this case, begging kitten eyes. Seemingly unconcerned by Beau’s merciless allergies, the kitten pawed at his thighs through his jeans, testing out the area before jumping up into his lap.

The teasing tickle returned almost immediately. He could almost feel the dander and hair swirling around inside his nostrils, teasing him into the fit. And it would be a fit. There was no denying it. Honestly, shoving a feather in there would probably tickle less at this rate. Breathing through his nose became impossible and yet he tried. Al’s front paws were on his chest now, its tongue just managing to lick at his chin. He couldn’t breathe. But he couldn’t sneeze either. He wanted to – God, he wanted to – but it wouldn’t come out.

Hoping to unleash the sneezes, Beau tried patting the kitten’s back but didn’t see any cloud of fur which is what he’d expected. Maybe his eyes were to tearful to see. Either way, he took a breath in through his nose - as deep as he could, given the congestion.

“Hah….eh….Ca-can’t….ahhh….” Beau sniffled, desperately trying to force a sneeze out through his tortured nose. This was physically painful. If the bloody cat could make him sneeze from the other end of the couch, it could sure as hell make him sneeze when it was this close to him.

Perhaps it was the desperation or maybe he was just being stupid but, in one last attempt to just fucking sneeze, he scooped up the kitten and buried his nose in its fluffy back, sniffing deeply. Well, stupidity is something Beau has always been prone too and he practically drops the cat back onto the sofa in his hurry to reach the backroom but it’s in vain. He doubles over in the middle of the living room and he just can’t stop.

“HEH-ISHHOOO! AHHCHUUHH! ANGUHHCHOO! HURACHUHH! HEH-TSSHHHUUH! AHTSSHHHOO! HAHCHOOO!”

Amid the fit, he heard the door open and glanced up as Lights pulled the door open, looking down at her phone. “Sorry I took so long. What is it with shops not being open on Sun-“

“HNGCHT!”

“Beau?”

Shit.

With Lights there, Beau automatically tried to stifle his ferocious fit.

“KHXT! L-Lights, I…AH-KNMCH!” Beau took a deep, shuddering breath. “ITSCHOO!”

Still with tears brimming in his eyes, Beau looked up to find Lights still staring at him, her bag abandoned at her feet. Before long, he had a tissue pressed into his hand and couldn’t suppress a smile. At this rate, he was going to need a bed sheet. Though, thankfully, the fit was starting to die down.

“S-sorry, I’m just re-hhh-really all-er-g-iTSCH! snff allergic,”

Lights frowned and disappeared into the kitchen with the kitten, shutting the door again on her way out. She ignored the scratching at the wood with some difficulty and turned her attention to her sniffling husband. “You never mentioned that before,” she said sadly, using a fresh tissue to wipe away his allergic tears.

“It never came up,” Beau defended himself and Lights rolled her eyes, ushering him into the shower.

~

With the kitten safely settled with one of their friends and the house vacuumed thoroughly, Beau’s breath returned to him. While they lay on the sofa watching reruns of soaps, Lights fiddled with Beau’s hair absently. Eventually, she said, “Thank you for agreeing to the kitten, even though you knew what would happen,”

Beau smiled and pecked the top of her head. “How could I say no to you when you look at me like that?”

She laughed. “I’m totally going to call you “kitten” from now on,”

“Don’t you dare,” Beau scolds playfully. Lights gives a sleepy sigh and they decide silently that they’ll just sleep out here tonight.

Just as he’s falling asleep, he hears, “Night, kitten,” but he’s too far gone to care.

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Calling Beau "Kitten" I might have just chuckled and had the worst coughing fit in the world. But uhm anyways this was really good Awh how did you know kitten allergies were my favorite? . Awh Beau letting the kitten stay just to make his lady happy, Awh thank you so much for writing this Adrian, I'm so thankful

[AdrianMarx]

Whoops sorry

Ahh thank you! Hehe you mentioned it once so I thought I'd have a little kitten. Also, they're my favourite too

You're most welcome. Thank you for reading it. I had a lot of fun c:

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Whoops sorry

Ahh thank you! Hehe you mentioned it once so I thought I'd have a little kitten. Also, they're my favourite too

You're most welcome. Thank you for reading it. I had a lot of fun c:

. I almost feel like begging you for another part with sneezy Beau but yah know it's probly too much to ask . . thanks

[AdrianMarx]

I almost feel like begging you for another part with sneezy Beau but yah know it's probly too much to ask . . thanks

Not at all! But it might take a while due to a current lack of inspiration. I hope that's okay?

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

I almost feel like begging you for another part with sneezy Beau but yah know it's probly too much to ask . . thanks

Not at all! But it might take a while due to a current lack of inspiration. I hope that's okay?

. That's completely okay ! thanks c:

[Grasper]

I can't believe I only just noticed this amazing fic!

I love Lights and Beau and you are really good at writing

[AdrianMarx]

I can't believe I only just noticed this amazing fic!

I love Lights and Beau and you are really good at writing

Gosh, thank you!!