650 words
Takes place post-timeskip
Read on AO3 or Dreamwidth
Content notes: (strong) implications of domestic abuse
He buys her roses for her birthday and that’s how she knows he loves her. Six of them, tied up with a pink bow — her favourite colour — and she didn’t even have to ask. He tosses them on the table on his way out the door and says here, Misa, these are for you, and I’ll bring back takeout, or something.
There is no one but Light to remember her birthday but that doesn’t matter because he always does. It’s how she wants it, actually. Misa and Light, Light and Misa; she has no one else and neither does he and so they’re tied together by a chain as thick as an artery. If she takes away his eyes, which are also her eyes, he will die. If he leaves she’ll be all alone forever. If there was one person on earth she had to share a circulatory system with she’s glad it was Light, who loves her. Her god with eyes all golden and a sweet soft smile which she rarely sees but which is all the better for it, a rare thing, a flash of white teeth glittering just for her.
She unties the ribbon to put in her box of things Light has given her, then finds her sharp knife to cut the base of the stems. She slits them, then puts them in a glass vase with water. Light didn’t bring back the packet of powder that often comes with them so she adds a spoonful of sugar to make them last. Then, satisfied, she puts the glass on the counter and sits down to look.
A petal is hanging loose. She plucks it and presses it between her fingers.
There are so many ways she knows he loves her. He doesn’t speak much but when he does it’s always to her. He tells her slivers of his plans and says we need to fix the caulking around the sink and the air conditioner is making a stupid noise and one time her fingers slipped making breakfast and she sliced her arm with her sharp, sharp knife and he placed a bandage on her skin with hands so tender, his face a little pale which means he was sick just for her, and he laid a hand on her temple and said there, you’re fine, so don’t worry. He said it just like her mother used to do before that man slit her up and Kira killed him for her. Light said, you didn’t even cry. He’s never hit her, not once, even though she can tell sometimes he wants to. He gets close, his body large and his breath sucked through his teeth; he’s so much bigger than her, with arms that could wrap around her and a shadow that covers her up and when she can’t move the furniture he does it for her, it’s nothing to him, if he wanted her could take her by the wrist but he doesn’t. He calls her an idiot but he’s never called her a bitch.
They are creatures of their own. The rules don’t apply. When he scares her she knows just how to soothe him.
The petal is wet beneath her skin. She looks down. It’s bled red over her, crushed dark pigment. It doesn’t look a thing like blood. She takes one of the roses out. With six, there are enough to waste. She can press them between the pages of a book and they won’t die like all the rest and so she’ll have them forever, just for her, evidence Light gave her of his love.
One by one, she plucks the petals off. It’s easy. She’s careful not to tear. Then she lays them all out in front of her in a near little row and she and looks and looks and looks.
Inspired by the scene in Relight 2: L's Successors where Light has a majority of the SPK killed. Near calls him and sits in tense silence (and a pool of blood).