Pairing: Light/Near, implied Light/L
Note: If you haven’t read Coexistence is Boredom I highly rec you do as this is directly inspired by it. Buuuut, if you haven’t I suppose you can still follow. Just know I made no conscious effort to accommodate lack of backstory.
“Kiyoshi-“
“It’s Light.”
Near met the brunet’s stare.
He supposed it was dumb to think the other would remain oblivious to his whereabouts that night forever. Near may have had a few choice words to describe Wammy’s newest resident, but airhead wasn’t one of them (no, that was a word best suited for his blonde companion). Near only imagined, once caught, the brunet would be angrier with him, or at the very least annoyed.
Instead, he merely looked disinterested in ignoring the elephant in the room and sustaining false delusions when they both knew the truth.
Fine, then, because Near wasn’t interested in entertaining false delusions either.
“Light,” he offhandedly corrected and immediately wished he hadn’t, the brunet’s mouth slowly pulling at both ends. He spoke first before Light could make any unseemly remark, “How long have you planned to dethrone L?”
“Dethrone?” Light’s brows arched almost comically. He closed his eyes, shoulders beginning to tremble the slightest bit from partially contained laughter. “What I’m after has nothing to do with L.” He shook his head before looking back at Near, hazel hues piercing in their undivided attention. “Don’t think everything I do is centered around him. That’s you all’s purpose in life.” He made a lazy sweep of his hand.
The man was as arrogant as he was full of it, but Near would play along.
“No? So dropping out of the running for successor to establish a name for yourself, such as L, has nothing to do with him?”
“No.” Light smiled, voice pitching an octave higher and Near felt a wave of disdain wash over him. “Whether I end up ‘stealing his thunder’ with my own capabilities is merely a possibility.” A certainty, Near thought, in Light’s narcissistic brain. “Not a goal I’ve set out for.”
Bullshit.
“Then what is your goal, pray tell?”
“My, so many questions, Near.” Light announced, leaning back against the kitchen counter top. He propped himself up by his elbows and fixated Near a leveled look. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s rude to take, but never give?”
“Like you would know.”
“Oh, but I do.” Near’s brows furrowed, surveying Light’s expression turned dark all of a sudden, his voice lowered to something short of a growl. “I’ve given up more than you could ever imagine...”
...
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Near messed with a lock of hair behind his ear, considering his option of issuing his confusion, but the brunet’s perceived content with staring at his face was starting to unnerve Near and he decided (filing away the subject in his head for a later date) staying on topic was the best course of action.
“What do you want to know?”
“Mmm,” Light hummed, his mouth pressing into a thin line and glancing up at the ceiling. “...Nothing.”
Near couldn’t help his face from portraying his surprise. “Nothing?”
Light shrugged. “There’s nothing you know that I already don’t or can’t obtain for myself, so yes, Near. Nothing.”
Near’s muscles tensed trying to read the genius in front of him. Surely, he wanted something. He paraded around the manor like he owned the place, and Near supposed, in a way, he did, possessing some strange hold over the reason behind the estate’s existence. Someone with clutches that tight in L should have little to no problems finding out anything they needed to know.
Though, Light didn’t seem to have total power in influencing L. Recalling how they interacted during their last meeting, the brunet had gotten pretty haughty when asked to detail his own shortcomings. If Light’s influence on L wasn't absolute then that would mean he had to do some digging on his own, unbeknownst to L. He knew Light had to be the curious type (most geniuses were), but more accurately ones who didn’t relent until they were satisfied, until they obtained everything they sought after and then some.
Light was that sort of person.
Near’d been hoping the sociopath already had a list of inquires in mind to ask him. Now Near had to dig into his own brain to pull something that might prove of interest to the boy. How annoying.
“But,” Light started, pushing himself off the counter with all the grace of the inhuman he was. Near took an involuntary step back, his personal space suddenly invaded. “If you were to ask me what I wanted, I might have an answer for that,” he purred not too far from Near’s ear.
Near hadn’t yet decided whether Light’s inappropriate behavior towards him was provoked whenever he’d gotten closer to uncovering the truth, Light wanted him to go away, or if the brunet was just a whore willing to fuck whomever he thought appealing. Near hadn’t decided, mostly, because he never gave these times any thought outside of them currently happening, the advances always sending him turning on his heel without another word and filing them under his mental ‘we never discuss this, ever’ folder.
“I really liked it when you said my name, you know.”
This time proved no different.
Near didn’t waste a minute longer stepping to move pass the psychopath and swore he would wear boxer shorts from that day forward when he misplaced his footing on his too-long-for-his-legs pajama pants.
He instinctively reached out to grip the cotton sleeve, his chest met with a sturdy arm, before realizing what just happened. He yanked his hand back as if Light were on fire, straightening his posture and fixating the boy a glare.
“I didn’t peg you as a klutz, Near. Are you nervous?”
He never had much sense of action like Mello or many of the other Wammy children possessed to punch someone, but Near supposed it wouldn’t be difficult to summon the desire when involving Yagami Light.
“Don’t touch me.”
A chuckle filled the air. “I’ll be sure to let you face-plant next time, then.”
“At least the floor is clean.”
Near inwardly smiled when Light’s face twisted. Piece of shit wasn’t the only one who knew how to push buttons.
As if aware of his mistake, Light’s controlled demeanor snapped back into place. “Cute.” He commented through a tight smile.
Another thing you know nothing about, Near mused, despite himself. What his predecessor saw in this man, he didn’t know. If puberty meant developing affections for pretentious dickbags, the universe could keep his.
He moved again, albeit slower this time and paying careful attention to his legs as he made his way across the floor. Fortunate enough, the brunet said nothing more as Near exited the room.
The meeting proved a bit of a failure for him. He’d have to re-think his approach for Yagami Light. One that required less direct involvement.
For a moment he pondered, ‘What would L do?’, but after recalling what his ears were forced to listen to some nights ago, he shuttered.
The question rang out of nowhere, cutting the silence that presented itself inside the childlike space for the better part of a half hour, albeit a comfortable one.
If the boy was disgruntled by the interruption, he didn’t show it, Near’s line of vision downcast to a toy he’d been eyeing for what seemed an eternity and he replied, the same dull tone he uttered most his sentences, “Nothing.”
Light rolled over onto his back, the mattress dipping slightly under his shifting weight and he reached his arms out behind his head, touching Near’s face. “You and I both know you’re never thinking of just ‘nothing’.”
“Nothing direly important.” Near’s attention remained on the figure in his lap even as his cheeks were being mashed by wandering hands.
Light exhaled a breath, moving to sit up and he stared audaciously.
It was no longer careful planning for Light to wear Near down by openly checking him out, or a pastime he dabbled in purely to draw a reaction, for his own entertainment. In the beginning it was. Successful at that as Near always ended up walking away first while Light tried to suppress his laughter, but since the passing years - and, well, Light wasn’t the most patient person in the world - he learned not to grow flustered over absent acknowledgement as Near learned not to react to him at all.
No, now things were different on both sides. His gazes at the younger boy were brazen and unabashed, still, but lacked any bullying intent and Near allowed them to persist without so much of a ‘what do you want?’.
What did he want?
The skin underneath his fingertips was warm - soft - Light thought idly at the same time he wondered when his touch gravitated towards Near again. It trailed from the boy’s temple to the curls behind his ear and he noted with mild interest the boy quiver if ever so slightly.
“What are you thinking about now?” Light asked dreamily.
“Don’t stop.”
He paused, his ministrations freezing for a moment - ironically, exactly what he was told not to do - before snorting a chuckle. Light moved his hand so his nails grazed Near’s scalp, listening intently for the soft inhale he’d elicit from the boy, and he got his wish.
Likely, Near didn’t register the implication his statement had; how suggestive it sounded out of context. That, or he didn’t care.
It amazed Light how someone so straightforward and unfond of mincing words, could still leave Light scratching his head in puzzlement time and again. He stared at Near often because, yes, he thought the boy attractive and Father Time only blessed that allure further, but also (mostly?) because Light couldn’t figure him out. What’s he thinking? he wondered constantly.
L was easier to read. He and L were more alike than Light could stand to dwell on sometimes. It was suffocating. Thoughts of soulmates and two people created for one another when no one else in the world was suitable. They were equals in mind, body and soul.
Light didn’t share that same closeness with Near -
Breakfast often started around the same time for them, later than everyone else. Light suspected Near didn’t want to be bothered by the morning crowd and Light simply wasn’t willing to rise out of bed at 5 AM for food. It almost came as a stroke to Light’s ego when Near responded to his idle chit-chat with more than five words.
Almost.
Though it was quite the feet compared to Near’s interactions with most, Light could never get the boy’s attention enough for Near to actually meet his eyes, the patterns swirling in his cereal bowl always proving more interesting than Light’s leering face.
Fucking look at me.
In the library, when Light would stumble upon the boy, he’d take a seat close by and Near would lay on the ground for hours, lost in an imaginary world Light could only ponder what consisted of and only vaguely noted what a piss-poor acting job he performed in reading the upside down book in his hand.
There were things that annoyed him about Near, his bluntness and indolence, but Light didn’t hate him. He wanted little to do with Mello and couldn’t care less about the other kids, but he actually liked Near. He told him that, and Near didn’t so much entertain him a reaction.
Did he think he was joking?
- so instead it left Light with curiosity, fascination and obsession.
A playfully accusing smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “So that constitutes as ‘direly important’, but what you were thinking earlier doesn’t?”
He wasn’t sure if Near’s hum was in response to his query or his touch.
Light gave a moderate tug of the colorless mane and just slightly felt bad when Near winced.
“What are you doing?” He scowled.
“...I want to wash your hair. Let’s get in the shower.”
The rosy hue was impossible to miss staining porcelain skin. Light would’ve mused cute if his mind wasn’t lingering on the oddity of it. He found Near a lot more... direct in the bedroom than he'd shown in the beginnings of their physical relationship. It was possible Light’s own assertiveness still managed to throw him off-guard every once and awhile.
Light’s lips curled, despite themselves. He scooted closer. “Yes. We haven’t in awhile. Not together, anyway. Besides you like it when I play with your hair.”
Near’s eyes trailed to the side. His hand raised to twist in his hair, strange since Light’s own hand was already there, but the habit was as much as a nervous gesture as it was a plan old habit. He figured Near was feeling the prior.
“I suppose.”
Light laughed. “Look, Near. I’m not making you do anything you don’t want to.”
“As if you could.” Near’s eyes challenged him. “I’m answering your question. Yes.”
“Good,” Light purred and found his body tempted forward a second time, his mouth pressing to Near’s. He traced the curvature of supple lips, slipping in his tongue and stroking the roof of Near’s mouth until Light felt two hands pushing against his shoulders.
“Are we getting in the shower or not?”
Perhaps Light’s pride would’ve been wounded, the small rejection, if the eyes staring back at him weren’t so impossibly dark, so impossibly telling and reflecting as if they’d already undressed and fucked Light several times over.
Light’s mouth felt dry. “L-Let’s go.” And if his voice came out hoarse, it was Near’s fault. If he allowed himself to be taken by the arm, pulled into the bathroom despite it being his idea, it was Near’s fault. If his hands clawed at the wall, scrambling to find a grip and screams coming out obscenely loud, falling asleep that night without ever having squeezed one drop of shampoo to anyone’s head, that was Near’s fault too.
Okay so my plan to write this fic is the following: first write the episodes then write the actual fic. My goals for this fic are the following: A Let’s Watch Fanfic that is both completed and has a plot
