[THREAD] And i've seen your flag on the marble arch...

[abet_kami]

WHO: Light and Teru
WHEN: Friday afternoon
WHERE: Light's house.
WHAT: Everyone has their breaking point.
WARNINGS: PG-15; Teen Violence :[

There was no turning back now.

Teru has waited, sitting across the street behind the bushes of some house where no one was home. He's watched as Light's mother left. He knew Light's father was at work, and that only

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[to_a_dark_place]

Light stopped in the foyer at the sound of the knocking, sighing. Carefully, he set down the glass of water he had just poured himself on the small table next to the door, and then pulled it open, expecting to see Sayu there, returning to retrieve a forgotten item.

Unexpectedly, though, it was Teru.

Light didn't his surprise on his face; instead, he smiled politely. "Hey, Teru!" he said. "Didn't expect you to drop by. Come in." He stepped aside. "Is there a particular reason for the visit, or was it just a random decision...?"

In truth, Light was curious -- usually, people called ahead before they stopped by, and Teru in particular didn't seem like the type for an unannounced visit.

[abet_kami]

Teru didn't look at Light as he walked past him in to his house. The hand inside his jacket shook around the metal in it.

There was no turning back now.

He needed to get it over with though. There could be no room for hesitation. But he was shaking so bad, and before he knew it, he was withdrawing his hand from inside his jacket.

It rattled in his hand as he held it up, whole arm shaking a bit as he did.

"...c-close the door, Light..." he muttered, staring at Light's shoes.

He couldn't look at Light; couldn't look at the gun pointed at Light.

[to_a_dark_place]

It seemed to happen, like a lot of earth-shattering things do, very, very quickly. Light blinked, registering the gun, and thought vaguely that only a moment ago he had been setting down his water...

"Okay," he said quietly, and for lack of anything better to do, he closed the door. It felt surreal, like any moment now he would shake his head and be standing on the stairs again, his glass cool against his palm and fingers. Then, abruptly, Light frowned, looking away from Teru. This wouldn't do, he thought, and he took a deep breath and snapped himself together.

It came into clarity, focus, and his mind started to race. He turned to face the other boy, face carefully blank.

"What's going on? Or will I not get an answer to that?"

[abet_kami]

Teru stared blankly at the floor, eyes wide; he couldn't trust himself to look at Light.

"I trusted you, Light... And it was all..."

Teru swallowed, trying to control his shaking hand.

"I don't know what you're planning, but I won't just sit by and let it happen!" He shouted, getting bolder; holding the gun steadier.

But he still didn't look up.

[to_a_dark_place]

Teru's demeanour and unwillingness to look up didn't escape Light. He watched the other boy carefully, reaching out slowly and locking the door. "I'm still in the dark," he said eventually. "Maybe that's my failing. I can't understand what I'm supposed to have done." His voice was pitched low, not necessarily quiet but soft around the edges. He spoke slowly, intoning carefully, treating each word gently.

A few things were evident: this was about emotions, messy emotions in the heat of the moment, not a coldly calculated gain. That was, Light thought, good. He had a better chance of turning the situation to his favour -- it was easier to manipulate emotions than it would be to, say, convince someone that it wouldn't bring him monetary gain if they harmed or killed them if it did.

Get him to talk. Keep him talking. Understand it. Twist it.

Light wasn't afraid, and that puzzled him on a vague level. Shouldn't he be afraid? But at the moment, it didn't matter.

[abet_kami]

Why wasn't he just shooting Light already? He had gone over this a thousand times in his head the night before. He would get in, shoot the bastard, and get right back out.

So why couldn't he just shoot Light?

"Why did you ever even talk to me?!" He asked sharply, "Were you and your best friend Matt just bored, Light?!"

He could shoot him and kill him now; any time...but he wanted to hear what Light had to say.

[to_a_dark_place]

"My... my what?"

And at that, Light just barely stopped himself from bursting into laughter. He stared at Teru, expression utterly shocked and baffled. He kept his behaviour carefully serious, though, despite the fact that in any other situation that claim would be ludicrous enough to be comedic.

"Teru," he said, "I have nothing but distaste and dislike for Matt. Where on earth do you get the idea that he and I are friends? I just... I don't understand."

[abet_kami]

"Stop lying!" He snapped, "I know that you told him everything, and then...he told me what you did, with Mello...How else would he know?!"

Teru didn't want to listen to Light lying anymore, hadn't he done enough of that yet? Why did Light insist on continuing to hurt him, even now?

[to_a_dark_place]

Teru's statements, Light thought, were pushing the edge into rendering him speechless, and that wasn't an easy thing to do. "Maybe he found out about me and Mello," he suggested, "... from Mello? It's a ludicrous idea, I know, that he should be told something by the boy who lives with him and actually has some sort of a relationship with him, than by the one who frequently likes to just ignore his existence." Despite the sarcasm inherent in the words, they were delivered in the same even, slow, almost soothing tone

[abet_kami]

"I do respect you! Don't you understand that?! I looked up to you like a god! I would have done anything you told me too, but it's too late for that."

He reached up with his free hand to grab his other wrist, trying to steady his shaking hand. Teru just couldn't believe what Light was telling him...

"People don't respect me. It's been the same forever and it's never going to change unless I change it! People that hurt others don't deserve to live!"

[to_a_dark_place]

There. The limit was broken, the edge had been reached and trespassed, and Light stared at Teru, speechless.

Finally he took in a deep breath and mustered his thoughts. "All right," he said. "Why is it too late? If you respected me so much, looked up to me so much, then why are you so fast to assume I betrayed you somehow?" Light already thought he knew the answer, though. Now the question was just how to address it.

"How much will this change, Teru?" Light's jaw clenched, and he looked away for a moment, cursing himself as he felt a stab of something he refused to name beneath his breastbone. There's no time to-- He couldn't understand, he thought blankly. He couldn't even begin to fathom what could twist a person like this, shatter them -- oh, weakness was inherent in humans and Light knew that, which was why he refuted it so strongly in himself. But to manifest itself so strongly, to run so deep, it was like life had taken the cracks and shoved a chisel into them. People aren't born like this, he thought. He could

[abet_kami]

Finally, Teru looked up at Light, eyes wide. What he said clicked something in his brain. This wasn't right. If he shot Light; what was that proving? It wouldn't make him feel better... He just wanted to make Light hurt. But if he shot him, who else would that hurt? Sayu, His mother, his father... all of Light's friends...and then Teru would be no better than any of them.

His hand was shaking more than ever now as he drew his arm back to himself. "I'm sorry..." He was trying so hard not to cry as he raised the weapon up to the side of his own head. "I-I...I'm so-orry...sorry..."

[to_a_dark_place]

At first, all Light could think was oh, now we're back to this again.

Then he properly registered what Teru was doing. There was, interestingly enough, an urge to scream and bang his head against the wall, which he suppressed with little difficulty. Instead, Light stepped forward, reaching out his hand slowly to close it over Teru's own -- the one holding the gun. There was the thought of panicking, of screaming, but what would be the point of indulging in shock and horror by this point? He could do other things, better things.

"Please," said Light quietly, voice barely more than a whisper, "don't. Teru, please."

[abet_kami]

"I...no..." He flinched when he saw Light step forward and raise his hand. And then it touched him, and he wrenched back.

"I-it's better if I...if I do th-this..." Teru looked away from Light, eyes squeezed shut tight as his head turned down to look at the floor. It wasn't right for him to keep living. All he was doing was causing problems for people. His grandmother could go back to Japan like she wanted, no one would have to bother with him anymore.

"N-no one will miss me....so i-it's oka-ay..."

[to_a_dark_place]

As Teru pulled away, Light's eyes narrowed. "No-one will miss you?" he demanded. "How do you know that? May Lee would miss you. I'd miss you." I would. I'd make myself. I'd make it true.

"Don't think I'm going to give in and tell you, oh, yeah, go ahead and shoot yourself in my foyer, it wouldn't matter at all," Light said, voice hard. "I'm not just going to agree with you that yes, you should throw all your--" He broke off, made an angry noise. "You're intelligent. You're creative -- you write, right? The world is so full of dull, stupid, talentless people, and you're just going to... to give up? Because in your head, everyone hates you and thinks you're worthless?"

Once again, Light fell silent. "Think of the broader picture," he continued eventually, sadly now. "So few people do. You're hurt right now, and you just... you want to get away from that. Want to just... leave it behind, end it. And this is the simplest way. But it's not the right way. Do you want to die miserable, unsatisfied? When you could live

[abet_kami]

Teru finally, slowly, let his arm down. It hung freely at his side, gripping the gun tightly still. That's right, if he killed himself here that would cause trouble for Light... and at least Light was pretending to care. That was nice. He couldn't do this here.

"Sorry...I-" He shook his head, hiding his face with a hand, "I'll just go home...I'm sorry...I-I don't expect you to ever talk to me again...How could you? I...I'm sorry..."