Chapter Text
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Light hadn’t ever been on a motorcycle before.
It was odd; the things your mind focused on while distressed. A single detail, to drown out the constant flood of panic. Fear. Anxiety. Upset, upset, upset, upset-because he’d screwed up. What’d he just do? What’d he just do? What’d he just-
Ryuk’s boney spine was a decent place to bury his face, his eyes suspiciously burning. Nestling into the pitch-black leather jacket, listening to the whistling of wind as it blew past. Their entire world blurred.
All it came back to, was them. Together.
A mechanical purring, a constant vibration between their legs. His arms encircling that familiar, lanky form, and the roaring as an engine revved at every streetlight. Carrying Light away from his childhood home faster than anything else might’ve.
Not even his cacophony of thoughts could survive this turn of events.
Ryuk...was human? He felt human. He felt shinigami-normal; no body heat emanated from the skinny frame before him. And whenever the roaring would quiet, whenever they’d momentarily paused at a red light, a gloved hand brushed over the prodigy’s knuckles. Making him squeeze tighter.
Trusting.
Trusting that Ryuk would truly take care of him, just as he’d promised. Before Father had gotten so angry-so loud. Spitting, grabbing, scaring-
It honestly had hurt; Light’s ‘honorable’ father had hurt him. For ‘disgracing’ the Yagami family. For ‘failing’. Assuming that he’d turned to drugs? Maybe...without Ryuk he might’ve.
But instead he’d become a worldwide serial killer, worshipped by billions.
Not any longer though.
Now, the broken human was nothing more than that; a broken human. Clutching to his personal god, entrusting his entire life to the Shinigami. Allowing the chilly ‘man’ to take him wherever he pleased. Allowing him to do anything-have everything of Light’s.
He’d happily give it up, because the caged mortal was finally freed. And Ryuk was the one that had forged him a key.
And then there was a resounding click, and the purring motorbike went completely silent. Those constant vibrations stilled, leaving Light’s thighs tingling. Still, his ears rang. Buzzing. From emotions, and the previous roars.
They’d stopped.
Thin, twig-like arms were suddenly reaching back to gently push him back. Forcing them to disentangle, his embrace falling from smoothed leather. Blinking rapidly as his sight became something other than the darkened blackness. Something other than Ryuk’s hunched spine.
And he was gazing in surprise at an unknown building.
A concrete structure, built in a neighborhood that he didn’t recognize; from a mere glance, he knew that with certainty. This wasn’t his usual territory. This was...some sort of shop? With metallic shutters covering its entrance, and surrounded by a foreboding chain-link fence.
The similar, concrete buildings surrounding it were lightless. Its precious few windows were unlit, like visible blackholes. When paired with the latening hour? The faint golden-shades of the sky, already fading into lavenders and indigos?
Forget foreboding, it was likeable to the stillness of a graveyard.
Yet, it was insanely comfortable.
Light felt as though he could finally breathe without a weight slowly lowering upon his chest, and he sucked in a free gust of air. For the first time...in a long while.
In the fading din, there was one other thing which caught the mortal’s eye.
The shop’s official sign, over its metallic shudders. Appearing darker; newer. As though freshly painted. Making it easier to discern that crimson...and coal-colored lettering...
‘Malus Apple’s’ Motorcycles’.
“Do you like it?” Again, it was Ryuk’s edged voice. Gentled, just for Light. Solely for him. Nobody else-never anyone else, “This is what I’ve been working on. You’ll be safe here.”
Confusion washed through the protected human, but when he turned towards that knife-like tone-
He rather quickly forgot his confusion.
Because that shaded helmet had apparently been removed, revealing Ryuk’s very, very human face. His tall cheekbones, his ghastly pallor, his spiky hair; ruffled from the sweaty containment it’d been in. And those eyes-!
Those heterochromic eyes. The left; a bloody scarlet which almost matched Light’s. The right; an impossible golden shade. Glinting in the final rays of sunset, this-this man, standing beside where the confounded child still sat upon that motorcycle’s cushion.
Lost.
Well and truly, lost.
And never happier.
“Ryuk?” A watery wobble entered his voice. A childish undertone, the scalding within his eyes growing stronger. The ‘human’s’ image wavering in a wash of wetness. Tears. Tears, gathering along Light’s lids against permission.
Because...just what was happening? What had he done? What were they planning to do?!
“Calm down.”
...And...the emotional boy did. Hearing that achingly familiar voice again settled something within his chest, something that granted stability. If only for a moment. It made him gasp in another freed breath, his hands trembling as he clutched onto his uniform’s pants.
He just needed to trust his God.
“That’s right, there’s my favorite human,” and a leather-gloved hand extended towards him. Chilly. Practically an icepack as it brushed spindly fingers along Light’s cheek. A brush that was nothing short of tender, absorbing more of the panic whilst those wetted lashes fluttered shut-
A tear slipped past-
Only to be immediately brushed away by those arctic-cold digits.
“I promised, didn’t I? Actually-” That edged voice dropped lower, throaty. Husky, in a way that the comforted mortal could always trust. The way that his God would always talk whilst telling him those ancient stories, “Consider it a deal.”
“And Shinigamis don’t break deals, do they?”
Of course not.
“I’m going to take care of you, my little Light. Leave everything to me.”
Happily.
Please, take care of him, Ryuk.