Chapter Text
It'll all be over soon, Ryuk tries not to remember.
He wouldn't be here, sneaking into the shower against Light's instructions, otherwise. He doesn't know what's going to go wrong. All he knows is that barring a miracle, Light's death will come a little less than sixteen hours from now by human reckoning - and given what Light has scheduled for tomorrow, it probably won't be pretty or painless if Ryuk lets it play out.
He hasn't yet decided if he will. He'll wait to the last moment to make that call, give Light all the chances he can to somehow slip between the closing jaws of destiny. If any human can cheat the fate written above their head, it'll be Light... and Ryuk still desperately wants to see him win. Wants another few decades to watch him and savour him and live with him like this, at Light's shoulder and in his arms, lurking in the shadows of Kira's shiny new world like a worm in the core of an apple. Ryuk's got a good thing going here, the best in a very long time, and he truly doesn't want to give it up.
But if Light can't save himself... if it all goes so wrong that he needs Ryuk's mercy at the end... then Ryuk will be there. Not to save him, never that, but at least to cut him down quick and clean. Light won't fall with only enemies around him, because Ryuk will let go when he has to but not until it's truly over.
He'd never let Light Yagami die alone.
But here and now Light isn't dying yet, Light is alive and warm and slippery in his grasp with water and soap and squirming pleasure, and so Ryuk nuzzles Light's neck and strokes his cock and looks anywhere but at the numbers over his head. Light arches blissfully into Ryuk's embrace, stifled noises escaping him as he licks around Ryuk's claws and sucks on his fingers; Ryuk shoves those fingers in deeper, and Light chokes but his cock twitches eagerly in Ryuk's other hand. He's clutching the wrist of the hand Ryuk is gagging him with, but it's the kind of grip that Ryuk knows from experience means more rather than stop.
And his slick thighs are still squeezing tight on Ryuk's cock as Ryuk thrusts between them in slow, luxurious strokes, and Light wouldn't be indulging him like that if anything about their current situation wasn't working for him. Light is picky and prideful and quick to complain when he's not having exactly the kind of fun he wants, which is not only endearing in Ryuk's opinion but makes it all the more delicious when Light does melt wholeheartedly at his touch. Some humans are so easy to satisfy that they're almost boring to play with after a while, but Ryuk doesn't think he could ever get bored of Light.
He crushes down the knowledge that if he hasn't yet, then he doesn't have time to.
Light is openly moaning around Ryuk's fingers now, low and greedy, and his hips are moving in broken little thrusts as he tries to rut into Ryuk's hand on his cock. He's not really succeeding, between Ryuk having him half-restrained and the challenges of keeping his balance in a wet shower cubicle; but the mere fact that he's desperate enough to try is making Ryuk's insides twist up with heat.
It's also making Light's thigh muscles flex in ways that are doing utterly delectable things to Ryuk's cock where it's squeezed between them, and Ryuk can't hold back a groan of pleasure. He pulls his fingers out of Light's mouth just far enough to let him speak, claws lingering at the edge of his lips, and then whispers in his ear. "Having fun, Light-o?"
"Mmmh..." Light squirms back into him, alive and electric with a glittering, shameless lust. Everything is so exquisitely slick and hot with the water pouring over and between them, every sensation amplified, every movement bliss. "Ryuk, don't stop... ah, I've missed this."
By every god that doesn't exist and doesn't care, Ryuk would give anything short of his life to keep this mortal. He pushes away the bitter knowledge that none of it would be enough. "I've got you," he promises, and it's the truth right now and that's the best he can do. The pad of his thumb slides over the tip of Light's cock; Light moans, leaning back and turning his head until his cheek is pressed against Ryuk's chest, and Ryuk slides his other hand down to hold his playmate close one final time.
And then, because Light has always liked to surprise him, he finds himself gasping as Light reaches down and grabs for his cock where its tip and the first few inches of the shaft jut out beyond the grip of Light's thighs. Light laughs delightedly at his shuddering reaction and strokes him, hard and rough and just right, and Ryuk nearly has to shove his hand over his own mouth because Light oh Light that's so good. If he's learned what works for Light over the last few years, it hasn't at all been a one-way trade. Slender mortal fingers surely shouldn't be able to exert so much ruthless force but Light is Light and he's always been so special, never settled for being less than the best at anything, and that's before Ryuk lets himself think about how many names the hand now gripping him has written in Light's various Death Notes-
-and then of course he is thinking about it to his utter ruin, can almost feel the sticky heat of all the blood that coats those pretty fingers as they squeeze him to just the right side of pain, and before he knows it he's throwing his head back and whining Light's name as he comes.
Black ichor splatters on the shower wall, thick strands drooling down and turning iridescent as the pouring water spreads them thin. Light makes a soft breathless sound of triumph, almost a laugh - I win! - and then he hits his own peak under Ryuk's still-stroking fingertips, his cock pulsing in Ryuk's careful grip. White mingles with black on the tiles and then, in the next moment, both are washed away together.
Ryuk doesn't think too hard about that. Instead he hungrily folds his arms and wings and his whole self around Light, swallowing him up in darkness, as Light goes hedonistically boneless against him and purrs with satisfaction. Light's thighs are still squeezing Ryuk's cock and Ryuk doesn't try to pull free, savouring every last bit of contact Light is willing to give him. "Okay there, Light-o?"
"Mmm." Light reaches a hand through his shroud of feathers to turn off the water; then rubs his head against Ryuk's jaw and twists in his embrace to stretch up and fondly kiss the edge of his mouth, sweet and generous now he's sated. "It seemed like you enjoyed that, Ryuk," he teases.
"Yup." He's got no use for shame - never has had, and least of all now. "Seemed like you did too. Hyuk." He wonders if Light can hear how his laughter sticks for once in his throat.
Maybe he can. Maybe he'll somehow catch the warning Ryuk can't give him out loud. Maybe...
No. Shinigami have no claim on hope, he reminds himself. It's nothing but another way to die.
"I'll enjoy it more tomorrow," Light murmurs, and Ryuk had thought his heart was already lying in the dust but it still manages to sink another inch or two further down. "After Near and the rest of them are out of my way. Tomorrow night I'm going to drag you out to a love hotel, stuff you with apples, and get so damn drunk that I'll let you do anything you like to me." He sighs, eyes half-closing as he smiles with all of Kira's divine self-assurance. "How does that sound?"
Like a dream I'll never get to taste, Light-o. "Pretty good. Hyuk hyuk."
Light laughs softly with him, conspiracy-close and a world away and more worth saving than any mortal he's ever known. And Ryuk briefly - briefly, no more - wonders if turning to dust really hurts all that much.
He won't do it. He knows himself too well to think he will. Depending on exactly how Light is fated to die, there might not even be anything he can do to intervene. But as he holds his favourite mortal tight for the few moments more that Light will allow, he thinks about apples and alcohol and Light's lithe body stretched out to welcome him on a rented bed in some neon-lit sinners' paradise, and wishes shinigami had gods to pray to.
He'd make any deal in the two worlds to get both of them out of this alive.
"I should finish up in here," Light says regretfully, attempting to pry himself free of Ryuk's arms. "I don't need to make them any more suspicious of me now. Don't come back for half an hour or so, okay?"
He doesn't want to let go. He certainly doesn't want to miss half an hour of the handful he's got left with Light. But he doesn't, can't protest. "Time to go be L again, huh?"
He mustn't have managed to sound as flippant as he meant to, because his human looks sharply up at him. Light's name and the last scraps of his lifespan gleam around his head like a bloody crown. Wet, trailing strands of copper cage his amber eyes.
"It's only for a bit longer, Ryuk," he says fondly, and his lips curve and his lashes dip for a moment in that soft, confident smile that Ryuk knows so well. "I promise. It'll all be over soon."
And he's right, it will, and there isn't a damn thing Ryuk can do about it.