note: my first death note fic wao... i’m super excited about it though and hope you enjoy it i you read it!!
[also on AO3]
The flowers begin to wilt just hours after L and Watari die.
It’s just Matsuda in the room when Light comes in, his eyes puffy and tear stained. Light isn’t particularly surprised; the man had barely been able to keep himself together as they carried L and Watari’s bodies to a cold room and then double and triple checked the base and fortifying everything, just in case; even if Light knew everything was fine (off plan, but finally, finally progressing). Matsuda has a notepad in one hand, a pen in the other, and a book of flowers to the side of him. L’s body is uncovered, the white sheet more than halfway draped over the floor and his usual white shirt pulled up just above his heart. Somehow his skin is paler in death than it already was in life.
Soon, the flowers will expel from the bodies, petals wilting and vines slipping through the skin, limp and dead. Over the years, it’s become tradition, to list all the various flowers and herbs that grew from the bodies and to plant them in the ground at their grave sites. It was a sign of respect for those dearly departed that deserved respect. Light doubts that L would even want them planted. L didn’t even like his flowers, or so he had claimed.
Perhaps in part because they were surprisingly colorful, whereas the man tried to be as monotone as he possibly could. Had tried. Had. Light has to remind himself, with a pounding heart, that L was dead. He had finally won, after nearly an entire year of the nonstop intellectual battle. No one would even be considered a challenge to him anymore; the battle was won and the wilting flowers were proof of Light’s divine victory.
Light can’t help but know all of L’s flowers by heart, though. The time they had spent together, both at the university and handcuffed to one another, had ensured this.
He was not ignorant as to just how odd it was that they shared multiple flowers. That it was odd that most, if not all, of the flowers, began to bloom after he met L for the first time.
Light remembers when the white roses had begun to grow in; their thorns had pierced his arms before the roses had even finished blooming, tangled with sage and hollyhock. Now, he can see the same roses that wrap around L’s chest and arms begin to wilt; yellowing when they had once been a brilliant bright white. There are amaryllis and purple columbine, coltsfoot, red Japanese camellias, and gaudy yellow chrysanthemums that Light has been trying to ignore in particular for months now.
There are, of course, plants that L has that Light does not; rudbeckia sprout from his throat, thyme from his chest, galega tangled with the roses, out of place passion flower, and almost too many to name, along with the buds that had never gotten to bloom before Rem had made the ultimate sacrifice. Light had spent sleepless nights having to listen to L attempt the dissect just what Light’s flowers meant that he had decided to retaliate and analyze L right back; the fight that had followed after the first time hadn't been pretty. He could almost hear L now, talking about how the hyssop, different colored geraniums, and the - perhaps incriminating -bright red rhododendron, sunny tansy, and small, nearly unnoticeable deadly sprouts of hemlock that grew from his heart painted quite the interesting picture of Light for L.
But he’s won now, he’ll never have to sit through another argument like that again. He’ll never have to deal with L on his tail again, insisting that he was Kira and always, always being half a step behind Light.
He doesn’t realize that he’s somewhat… disappointed by this for another few weeks, after the funeral and after bright zinnias have bloomed over his back, tangled together with the geraniums and hemlock. By the beginning of the year, when Light has begun to make real progress with the Death Note once again, the white roses wilt and asphodel follows.
He doesn’t feel much of anything anymore.
BONUS: flower meanings.
Light and L’s:
White roses: I am worthy of you.
Amaryllis: pride, splendid beauty
Purple columbine: resolve to win
Coltsfoot: justice shall be done
Red Japanese camellias (or camellia japonica): unpretending excellent; “my destiny is in your hands.”
Yellow Chrysanthemums: slighted love
L:
Rudbeckia (or black-eyed susan’s): justice
Thyme: courage
Galega: reason
Passion flowers: belief; faith
Light’s:
Hyssop: sacrifice
Different types of Geraniums: Ingenuity, envy, melancholy, disappointed expectation, an unexpected meeting, true friendship.
Notes: I posted this on ao3 approximately a month ago, but hey, better late then never to post it here aye! If you like this, maybe consider checking out my ko-fi?
Pairings: OT4 (Kanda/Lenalee/Lavi/Allen), eventually others.
Kanda is desperately trying to shake off his so-called significant others before they reach their shared apartment when they hear the scream.
It’s high-pitched and sounds terrified – nothing that wouldn’t be out of place in a shitty low budget horror flick, much like the one Kanda had just paid 13 fucking dollars on because of Lavi’s stupid ideas, like a good number of the things the three of them did together. (Though, Kanda has to admit the petting zoo last month had been pretty sick.)
Kanda, Lavi, and Lenalee all freeze at once when they’re in between apartment 14A and 14B and, as one, they all look at 14B, where muffled sounds and thumps now follow.
“Did… Did we just hear someone get murdered?” Lavi asks Kanda and Lenalee, looking both bewildered and intrigued.
From the thumps coming from the room, they can tell that someone is still alive in the apartment.
“You guys can figure that out if you want to, see ya.” Kanda yawns and starts walking down the hallways. Just as he reaches 14B, the door opens and Kanda is nearly bowled over by a shorter body that comes bursting from the door. Instinctively, Kanda holds his arms out and catches the body that collides into him.
The person that bursts from the door is a teenager who can’t be any older than 17. Or, in Kanda’s opinion, 13. The most noticeable thing about him is that his long hair is bleached white. The second most noticeable thing is the jagged scar over his left eye and enough freckles on his face to rival Lavi. The third is the fact that he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and leather gloves when it was the middle of July and nearly 90 degrees outside.
“Oh, I’m so sorry! Are you alright?” The youth says as he tries to recover his footing. They can also see that this boy is unusually pretty.
Lenalee and Lavi look at one another as the teen speaks and mouth ‘British?’ and ‘He’s a Brit!’ to one another excitedly. Kanda, however, can give less of a shit.
“Watch where the fuck you’re going!” Kanda barks, his disposition as bright and sunny as always.
“Oh, well excuse me!” the platinum blond teen exclaims, clearly taken off guard as he looks up at Kanda, “I didn’t expect anybody to be outside of my apartment and I already apologized!”
“I’m sorry about Kanda, he never knows how to shut his mouth. Like, ever,” Lenalee mediates before a fight can break out, physically bumping Kanda out of the way with her hip. And he doesn’t even bark at her, just merely sends her a halfhearted glare. What a sweetheart. “I haven’t seen you around here, though! I’m Lenalee and this is Lavi.”
“Ah, it’s nice to meet you.” The boy congenially says, extending a gloved hand to Lenalee and then Lavi. “I’m Allen and I just moved in... last Tuesday, I believe?”
“You have a really killer accent, man. Are you here from England?” Lavi asks, leaning against the wall casually.
“Technically, I was born and raised in Manchester for a while, yes."
“Okay, fuckin’ yippee, so why the fuck did you just run into me?” Kanda interrupts, clearly ignoring the fact that he had just ruined what could have turned into a nice conversion.
“If you must know, there’s a spider in my kitchen.” Allen says matter-of-factly, suddenly losing a bit of his previous calm demeanor and gaining a rather panicked look in his eye at the reminder of his own personal eight-legged nightmare.
“You ran away from your apartment because of a fucking spider?”
“Yes, because spiders are actually demons from hell,” He says this so convincingly that all three of them almost want to believe him. Almost.
“Okay, but I don’t a shit about spiders. Go get your mother to kill it for you and don’t run into me next time, squirt.”
‘My mother?’ Allen mouths to himself before turning back to the brute in front of him, eyebrows creased. “In case you haven’t noticed, this is my apartment. I’m an adult.”
“Yeah right kid, every 13-year-old likes to think they’re an adult. Tell that to me when you’re over than five feet tall.”
“Excuse you,” Allen blurts out, affronted. “I’m 19!”
“Whoa, really? I thought you were 16,” Lavi cuts in, looking quite impressed.
“19, my ass. He’s gotta be 13, at most.”
“You guys are being so rude right now!” Lenalee chides before turning to Allen with a kind, pretty smile. “I thought you were at least 17. Do you need any help with the spider?”
Allen sighs, both at a loss and relieved at once. “Yes, please.”
“I suppose this is my cue then, isn’t it?” Lavi flourishes and takes the time to act like he’s rolling up his sleeves, despite the fact that it was only a spider and he was wearing a crop top with short sleeves anyways. “Just lead the way. C’mon Yuu, I’m gonna need backup.”
“Don’t call me that,” Kanda huffs out for what is probably the billionth time, “Why do I have to help, this shit is none of my business.”
“Hm, you didn’t strike me as the type to be afraid of spiders.”
“What the fuck?” Kanda balks, staring at the shorter ‘adult’ in front of him. “You ran out of your fuckin’ apartment because of a spider, squirt. Who the hell are you to talk shit about me for being afraid of spiders, which I’m not .”
The young British man shrugs carelessly. “I have no problems admitting my fear of spiders. But acting all cranky because you don’t like spiders and talking bad about my fear is a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”
“Holy shit, that’s such a reach but he’s not even wrong.” Lavi stage whispers to his girlfriend, who merely nods, not wanting to miss what happens next.
Kanda sends his significant others a dirty look before turning back to the dark skinned man, who looks extremely unimpressed. "This is just how I act, kid. I'll kill the spider and prove I'm not afraid of them."
"Whoa, I don't condone the spider killing!" Lavi announces, "but, you can be my lovely assistant, if you do so please."
"Go jump out the window." Kanda answers composed, barging his way past Allen and into his apartment, ignoring the shorter boy's protest.
"I love it when Yuu talks dirty to me." Lavi sighs at Lenalee and Allen, following his boyfriend.
"...What?" Allen asks, clearly stumped by the atrocious grammar as he follows the two into his apartment.
"Kanda's first name is Yuu." Lenalee clarifies, closing the door behind her. "...Don't call him that though. Lavi just likes pushing his buttons."
Allen's apartment is similar to theirs, though perhaps a few square feet smaller. Even then, it was probably a bit too big for one person. It's clear that he's in the middle of moving still from all of the half empty boxes riddle the floor and how unlived in it looks. There is, however, something particularly large and eye catching in the room.
“Nice piano, man. How long have you been playing?” Lavi says, whistling at the pure white piano taking up a bit of space in the living room.
“A few years, give or take.”
“Oh wow!” Lenalee says, looking in awe. “That’s awesome, Allen! None of us really know how to play any instruments.”
“Speak for yourself, Lenalee.” Kanda says, following Lavi into the kitchen, looking awfully tense.
“Is he ok?” Allen whispers when they’re out of hearing range.
Lenalee grins and waves her hand, “Yeah it’s fine, Kanda really doesn’t like spiders, he’s just trying to look tough.”
A clear, “What the hell, Lenalee?!” is heard from the kitchen. The Chinese woman sends Allen a pointed look that clearly says, ‘ see what I mean .’
“I thought that was just him being unpleasant.”
“…Maybe that too, but hey, we have Lavi to deal with all of our spider needs! He thinks they’re too interesting and cool to kill.”
“What the fuck is that?!” Kanda barks with obvious surprise.
“Whoa, this thing is huge!” Lavi’s voice exclaims from the other room. “Do you have anything I can catch it in to release outside.”
“There’s tupperware in the cupboard above the sink.” Allen calls out, before turning his head back to Lenalee. “I definitely see what you mean. How long have you guys known each other?”
“God... It’s been years. I met Kanda when I was around... nine and Lavi transferred into our high school like five years after that.”
“Oh, how time has flown by!” Lavi melodramatically laments as he strolls back into the front room, a tupperware container in his hands.
“Not fast enough, dork.” Kanda huffs, leaning on the wall with easy confidence as if he owned the place. Which he did not, Allen would like to point out.
“Chill out, Yuu.” Lavi says as he nearly struts across the room, briefly taunting Allen and Lenalee by gently thrusting the sealed tupperware container back and forth in their direction as he passes, making Allen jump and and accidentally collide into Lenalee.
“Lavi!” Lenalee protests, her voice stern as she helps right Allen. “Don’t you ever do that again!”
“Whoa, Lenalady, chill. It’s not like it’s going to get out.”
“You better make sure it doesn’t, Lavi.”
“Absolutely not! And if it does, I’ll just catch it again. But, I'll go take care of our fuzzy friend here.” Lavi chimes, enjoying the shudders he gets from Lenalee and Allen. The redhead doesn’t make it too far though, stopping once he reaches the door and turning back to look at the two. “Oh hey, new pal, you wanna come to Jerry’s with us later?”
“Oh, that’s a great idea! What do you think, Kanda?”
“Whatever.” The Japanese man says, yawning again as he makes his way to the door. Today was way too chaotic for his liking and he can see a nap in his near future even though it was almost three o’clock. “I don’t give a shit.”
“Good, because I would have invited him even if you said no.”
“What’s Jerry’s?”
“One of the best places in town. It’s run by my brother’s best friend and he’s a really great chef! Plus, I work there so we get discounts. You can totally come with us for dinner, if you want to.” Lenalee explains, a sweet, enthusiastic smile on her face.
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