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1.
Light had perfected a lot of things. Test scores, family relationships, the ambidextrous-ness needed to write criminal names and solve math questions at the same time (and maybe eat an occasional potato chip, while he was at it). But one thing he could not perfect was keeping a comfortable pillowcase throughout the night.
Even in winter months, he’d wake up at 3am to the frustrating thing warm against his face. Not even sweat covered. Not even hot. Just, the fact it was warm instead of refreshingly cool. That was it. That’s what woke him.
He tried telling his parents. His mom said she had the same issue, and he must’ve gotten her light sleeping. She bought him a special pillowcase that she said worked for her.
This pillow case was better. It didn’t make him sweat in the summer. But it still lost its coolness and ultimately woke Light at 3am, forcing him to flip it over to get the coolness he desired. Fortunately, he fell asleep as soon as he nestled his face against the cool side, but he would like to perfect his sleep.
That’s why, when Light woke up one morning to the bright light streaming through his window, without first waking at 3am, he felt like a miracle must’ve occurred. His first night of uninterrupted sleep in remembered history. It took him another moment to realize he wasn’t lying on his pillow.
His face was nestled into Ryuk’s cool, leather-covered shoulder, cushioned by the luxuriously soft feathers stitched to it. He pushed himself up to look at the shinigami. Asleep? Ryuk never slept. Perhaps he was still exhausted from the day before? He had spent literal hours crawling around, searching for bugs and cameras. He had a vague memory of Ryuk in the bed already when Light had gone to lie down. He must’ve rolled over onto him in the night.
But, thinking of bugs and cameras— did that mean Light’s head was floating on camera? Surely they would dismiss it as a trick of camera angle and darkness. He hoped he didn’t have to worry about something so absurd.
He would much rather enjoy this rare opportunity. He pressed his face back into Ryuk’s shoulder, the coolness inviting him to rest for a little longer. Eyes drifting shut, Light quickly dozed off.
…
“Light? Hey, Light. Light-o.”
Light blinked awake, feeling rejuvenated for once. Soft feathers caressed his face, tempting him back to the land of dreams; not because he needed the rest, but because he desired more of this rare experience.
“I want to get up. But I don’t know if it’ll look weird to those cameras.”
Light looked up at Ryuk, raising a brow. Considerate of him. But Ryuk was mistaken if he thought he was escaping pillow duty that easily. Light made a point of burying his face in the feathers.
“…Light-o?”
“Get up in five minutes,” he said, trying to mumble it like he was talking to himself.
“You can have more than that, if you want. I didn’t know you enjoyed it?” More of a question than a statement.
Light stayed in bed so long, he was late to class.
2.
Light woke to unpleasant warmth, opening his eyes to 3am darkness. He huffed, lifting his head and quickly flipping his pillow. He flopped back down into it, the coolness cradling his face. Better. If only it could stay that way.
“Light-o, I never asked you before, but why do you always wake up at the same time to flip your pillow? I thought you maybe liked to take a look around or something for safety reasons, but you slept through the night last night.”
He waited for Ryuk to remember.
“…oh right. Cameras and bugs.”
3.
Light finished brushing his teeth, heading back to his room to climb into his bed for yet another interrupted night. In his peripheral, he was surprised to see Ryuk also climb into the bed. Fortunately the shinigami had the sense to keep his weight from affecting it, the bed and blanket not so much as creasing from his presence.
“Why don’t you put your head on me again, Light-o?”
Light couldn’t help but look at Ryuk now. Wouldn’t being trapped beneath Light’s head for 6 to 8 hours be the most boring night of Ryuk’s life?
Red eyes glimmered despite the darkness of the room. “You slept better, didn’t you?”
He did, but why did Ryuk care? He couldn’t ask, though, and he did really appreciate Ryuk offering himself up as a pillow. Light crawled closer to the shinigami, carefully lowering his head into the dark shoulder feathers, the leather beneath refreshing in its coolness.
…
Light woke to the delightful sensation of soft feathers and cool leather, taking a moment to nuzzle his face against the coolness. So much better than the offputting warmth his pillowcase always took on. Maybe being late to school twice in one week wasn’t so bad. An exchange in perfect school attendance for a perfect sleeping arrangement.
4.
The first night without cameras or bugs, Light wasn’t sure if Ryuk would still be his pillow. His working theory was that Ryuk was so attention and apple deprived, he settled for passive physical contact with Light’s boring unconscious body.
But Ryuk still climbed into bed with him, as he had for the past week. Light sat next to Ryuk, an idea suddenly coming to him. “Ryuk.”
“Yes, Light-o?”
Was it weird to ask? Well, this was Ryuk. Ryuk didn’t know weird when confronted with it. “Could you let your wings out tonight?”
Wordlessly, Ryuk pushed himself up, and with a loud crack his wings unfurled from his back. Light reached out to feel along dark feathers, in awe of the six-foot wingspan. They held the same softness as the ones stitched to his shoulders, perhaps slightly colder. “Did you stitch your own feathers to your outfit?”
“I did. Makes it last longer.”
Light supposed that made sense. “Makes a perfect pillow, too.”
Ryuk chuckled, settling back in the bed. His wings took up a big portion of the remaining space.
Was it really ok to lay on them? Ryuk is a death god, not a delicate animal. It was silly to worry, surely. Light carefully lowered himself into his new favorite sleeping position, his face nestled into Ryuk’s shoulder. He also laid across Ryuk’s left wing, the feather and muscle padded bone like a blanket. He tentatively draped an arm over Ryuk’s waist. When he got no complaints, he leaned comfortably into the shinigami’s side.
Just as he had hoped, soft feathers wrapped over his upper body, adding to the blanket-like feel of the wing. The feathers soothed him, brushing over his neck and jaw, his lower lip. He inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled, enjoying the wing’s embrace. Sleep swiftly drew him to equally serene dreams.
…
Light awoke to cloud-like coziness. He sighed with satisfaction, his body a languid puddle of contentment.
“You know, Light-o,” Ryuk said, voice somewhere among the cuddling clouds, “you look pretty cute like this.”
Light's face warmed at Ryuk's words. He hid his face in feathers, focusing on the fluffy luxury.
“Kind of like a cat.”
It took Light a moment to place a new sensation against his scalp as Ryuk’s claws, running through his hair and gently scratching. “That’s-” He had opened his mouth to complain, but a soft sigh of pleasure escaped instead. He realized he didn’t want Ryuk to stop. “-really nice.”
Somehow, Ryuk managed the perfect pressure. Just enough drag of his claws to entice Light to push his head against it for more, Ryuk pausing occasionally to wrap Light’s hair around long fingers, the coolness of the pads of his finger tips against Light’s scalp a treat.
“Hey Ryuk,” Light said, softly.
“What is it, Light-o?”
Long fingers tangled in his hair, lightly tugging. Light might as well upgrade himself from a languid puddle to a peaceful lake, with how tranquil he felt. “Feel free to do this whenever.” It felt like he was being worshiped.
“You mean touch your hair?”
“Touch my hair, wrap me in your wings. Any of this. You’re the perfect massage and pillow combination."
“Hyuk hyuk. You’re like a heat generator covered in softness.”
Was that a bad thing? Good thing? Light opened his eyes to peer at Ryuk’s face. He wasn’t familiar with the expression Ryuk was wearing; it took him time to learn most of them, since they tended to either be ridiculously subtle or without human equivalent.
“Very pleasant,” Ryuk added, perhaps detecting Light’s confusion. “Like a personal pet.”
Light’s cheeks burned at the comment. “You’re the pet, Ryuk.”
“Definitely a cat with that attitude.” Ryuk’s free wing curled over his own body towards Light, until the feathery tips reached his flushed face.
If being compared to a cat got him the perfect night of sleep, with the perfect pillow, and the perfect scalp massage, every day for the rest of his life… he could tolerate the comparison. “Fine, but I’m still not a pet. I get to be like those cats from Ancient Egypt.”
Ryuk went back to laughing at him. “Sure, Light-o. You're a real cat god. I look forward to seeing how you plan to eliminate the evil cats.”
Light did his best to hide his own laughter in Ryuk’s shoulder, lest he encourage another nickname.