Wipeout - Ryuk and Light Gen Drabble
Light half-heartedly punched Ryuk in the side of his giant ribcage out of sheer annoyance, moving slightly from a cross-legged position next to the death god on cozy floor cushions they'd set up in front of his Nintendo 64. Ryuk had been trying to distract him during the sudden death round of their tie in Mario Golf after they'd reached an 18-hole stalemate. Waiting for his turn, he had taken out his Death Note to draw a picture of his avatar, Wario, beating Light's avatar, Mario, about the head with a golf club while Bowser, Peach, and Yoshi clapped and hooted appreciatively in the background.
Light handily finished his shot at the tie-breaker hole three under par, which was pretty good considering the little ghost character Boo was flickering around in the corner of the screen, indicating some sort of unnatural wind speed. Still, Ryuk chuckled because he was in his element here. He'd played this game nearly every day during the countless hours Light spent at his insufferably boring job. Ryuk's normal stroke count on this hole was always on par.
Ryuk set up the final putt successfully as usual. "YES! Hahaha! Who is grand champion of Mario Golf? Wario! Okay? It'sa Wario." He grinned wickedly in celebration. "Hand over the bunny apples you've been hoarding Light-o."
Light coughed into a closed fist, masking annoyance. He passed Ryuk the china plate his mother had brought up—six precious-looking apple slices with bunny ears made from skin and perfectly shaped indentations for eyes, facing each other in a pow-wow on a paper doily. Ryuk picked up the delicate plate seeming ready to dump them all into his open mouth at once, including the lacy bit of paper underneath.
"Hey!" Light snatched the dessert plate back. "I said winner gets these. You distracted me, so you only get half."
Ryuk took the few apple slices that were rightfully his and looked at Light with eerily glowing eyes while he bit the head off his first victim. "Okay big shot, you pick the next game," he offered while crunching the snack loudly. Did cutting them up into shapes like that somehow make them more delicious? These were freaking incredible. He wanted all the rest, but Light had a point about fairness, he supposed.
"Mario Kart next, then. You won't be able to beat me—I grew up playing it."
Ryuk nodded with a grating laugh. He supposed losers got to choose the next game when the winner had kind of cheated? He was accustomed to operating under strange rules. Anyway, sure, it might be true he'd never beaten Light at Mario Kart before. But when Sachiko's adorable apple-bunnies were on the line, this meant war.
Light switched cartridges. Choosing Toad for maneuverability, while Ryuk chose Bowser because he liked how steadily the character could take turns on his big-wheeled go-kart. Also, yeah, he identified with the big lizard practically pouring out of his too-small cart. Two rounds passed by swiftly. Ryuk surprised Light by placing first in the second go-round on the track. Laps later they were tied. A third race could break it, and they were neck and neck on the track now. Ryuk glanced over to Light, whose brow furrowed in deep concentration to keep his small lead over Ryuk as he knocked an encroaching Luigi NPC off the rainbow track. He sucked in a breath when Ryuk's vehicle started to gain on his own. That's what he got for favoring being petty over keeping his eyes on the prize.
"Ryuk, you're getting too close—I'll knock you on your ass if you try. Then I'd have to summon you back in a demon circle using the Mario Golf cartridge and apples you love just so I can do it again!"
Ryuk glanced away from his screen to Light, who was speaking with passion but he had never taken his eyes off his avatar. Did he even know what he was saying? "No one dies in this game, Light-o. Shouldn't talk about summoning demons in jest, Light. They're as real as I am. You could accidentally summon one wrong. They'd turn you into a lamp as a play on your name or a..." He trained his eyes back on the screen. "WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE?"
Blue shells.
It was too late. Light was laughing maniacally under his breath. The missile shell traps were too well timed. He'd dodged the first shell as it hurtled toward his Bowser, but the second shell was coming for him as if it had anticipated his path. His avatar flew in a disgraceful somersault into the starry void outside of Rainbow Road. Soon the horns that indicated Light had placed first sounded.
Ryuk scowled as a Koopa fished his cart out of the sky and he brought an embarrassed Bowser trailing in ninth place to the finish line. Light wiped away a couple of tears of mirth. "Knew you wouldn't pass up a good chance to warn me about the dangers of the afterworld." He munched his apple bunny almost daintily. "As promised. Doomed to eat my dust, reaper."
Ryuk's jaw dropped—he'd been utterly trounced. This human was unbelievable. Well, he'd kick his ass next time, and he wouldn't be falling for that ploy of distracting, unrelated topics again.
"Want to try playing this one with me next?" Light was showing Ryuk a cartridge of a Final Fantasy game where they could play together to beat bosses.
"Boring. Not into collaborative stuff, Light-o. PVP is all I'll play with you."
"That' narrow-minded, shinigami. Let's have fun together, you know?" He suspected Ryuk was looking to brag to him about how great he was when he'd had more time to practice. "Or are you too selfish to enjoy it when others beat you?"
"Light..." As though he were one to talk about what was selfish. Always taking his shot at a daily moralistic speech. He wasn't really talking about their nintendo games anymore. Light was using games as a metaphor for their... hm, friendship. Ryuk smiled his shark smile and replied, "I do enjoy it when you win."
"So what's the problem with playing an RPG where we could team up?"
Ryuk muttered under his breath, "I'm on nobody's team ever. Even in a fantasy. Would never get into it."
And then he watched his human grow uncomfortable, realizing on some level that games for Ryuk might only about winning and temporary thrill. So much so that Light stood up, slightly overwhelmed but not wanting to put that on display in front of the god. "That's enough for tonight, then. I should write my French essay."
"Sure thing, Light-o. I'll be up on the roof, watching trains toodle by. If you aren't gonna finish those..." He chuckled and held out his huge clawed hand expectantly.
"Not happening. I don't eat quickly. You can't enjoy things when you inhale them. Look..." Light trailed off, seeming to stop short of saying more. He was not one to beg. Light nibbled his bunny apple and gathered the pillows from the floor into the closet, the night wrapping up as if they'd never been there.
"Goodnight," Ryuk said to his back, feeling the shift to a cold atmosphere in the room. "Nice playing against you, Kid."
Light didn't reply. He sat down to his French textbook only mildly flustered. Sheesh, the human needed to get over it. Ryuk had until next weekend to practice dodging blue shells.