Summary: AU; Light isn't Kira. "There," The teen said tersely. "You wanna prove I'm Kira so badly? Fine. Sit there and prove it. And don't say a fucking word until you do." L thought that maybe, this time, he had a gone a little too far.
Light slammed his spoon on the table, and stood up with a growl. His chair screeched against the floor and fell over with the force of his movements. L thought that maybe, this time, he had a gone a little too far. He shrugged the thought off and made to reach for another bite of cake.
He didn't get it, however, as in that moment, Light tugged harshly on the chain, causing L to stumble into a standing position or risk going the same way as Light's chair.
"You know," Light bit out in a low voice, "sometimes you make me wish I was Kira."
"Light-kun, what-" L started to protest as Light continued to drag him out the room. He tried in vain to tug on the chain himself and stop the teens' movements, but to his chagrin, Light was stronger.
"L. Shut up. Just shut up."
L fell silent as Light stalked briskly to the room the task force worked in. L was unsurprised that it was empty, given that the others were having a day off. He yelped as Light forced him into a chair in front of a computer.
"There," The teen said tersely. "You wanna prove I'm Kira so badly? Fine. Sit there and prove it. And don't say a fucking word until you do."
L chanced a peek at Light as the teen dropped into the chair beside him with a huff. It was then that L noticed he was holding a new-looking book. The title read 'CHERUB: The Recruit' by Robert Muchamore. "Light-kun-" He tried to speak again, but Light was having none of it. L suppressed a flinch at the teens' glare.
"What did I just say?"
L paused, only for a moment, before deciding on a (wrong, he knew, and he was going to regret it) course of action. "Why do you have that book?"
"Because I plan on reading it."
"But-"
"L, I am going to read, and you are going to work. Now, work."
"But-"
Light slammed his hands on the table for the second time that morning. "DO AS I SAY!" He roared, and L jumped, eyes wide. Light rubbed his palms on his pants to ease his tingling nerves, before picking up his book and opening it to a dog-eared page. "I am going to read, and you are going to work." He repeated. "And I don't want to hear a word. Got it?" He didn't look up from the pages as he said it.
For the first time in a long time, L decided that this was a verbal sparring match he wouldn't win.
"Okay," was his meek reply.
Over the next few hours, L silently tried to focus on the notes in front of him, but his ears seemed to still be ringing from Light's earlier screaming. L had made Light angry. Genuinely furious. And not the kind of defensive fury brought on by the stress of keeping up a lie ("I am not Kira!"), it was the kind of fury one felt when they had put up with a petulant child for far too long.
L had recognised the tone in Light's voice. It was the tone L had heard from Watari a scarce few times when he was younger, when he had made the old man so angry he was afraid he would explode. And so it was, a few hours later…
"… Light-kun?"
"What?"
L breathed a quiet sigh of relief that Light hadn't screamed again. Now onto phase two. L bit his lip, forcing himself to get the words out.
"I'm sorry."
Light's head snapped up from his book, and he turned to face the detective. L inwardly cringed, bracing himself for a tirade of angry words, but they didn't come. Light stared at him in contemplation for a few seconds before he nodded once and turned back to his book.
"You're forgiven."
They sat for another hour more, the silence only broken by the tapping of keys and the rustle of pages. L was feeling jittery, low on sugar and acutely aware that, despite Light's earlier words, the teen was still somewhat angry. L was thinking about how badly he wanted strawberry ice cream, when Light stood up.
"Let's go get some lunch." He said.
Ordinarily, L would grumble at having to leave his work to get food, but ordinarily, he had a slice of cake or a bag of sweets to keep him from getting hungry. Besides, L found himself not too keen at the prospect of sitting in the uncomfortable silence that had permeated the morning. So he nodded and stood up, allowing Light to guide him back to their shared apartment on the top floor of the building.
When they got to the kitchen, Light fished out a pot from the cupboard and put it on the stove, and put a packet of frozen vegetables from the freezer in the microwave. L waited until Light moved close enough to the fridge so he could reach in a grab a slice of cake. He didn't want to fuel the teens' mood by tugging on the chain, even if it was gently, and even if it was only for a few seconds. Light had always been careful in the past to not limit or force L's movements via the chain, despite the detective never showing the teen the same courtesy. Today had been the first time L had been dragged along in a such a manner, and now, knowing what it felt like, L felt… Guilty for having regularly put the teen through that.
He rubbed his chained wrist absentmindedly and put his plate of cake on the counter. Suddenly he wasn't as hungry as he was a moment ago.
Light seemed to notice his hesitance, and poked his side with a chopstick. He was currently boiling noodles on the stove. "L, you need to eat."
"I'm not hungry." He mumbled.
"You haven't had anything sweet since breakfast a little over four hours ago." Light pointed his chopstick at the cake. "Eat."
L sighed, but grabbed a fork and dug into the chocolatey slice. It tasted as heavenly as ever, but his enjoyment was marred by the growing guilt he felt in regard to his behaviour towards Light. The teen had been tolerant of him, kind even, and L did little but consistently antagonise him. Yes, there was a chance that Light was Kira, but did his desire to keep an eye on the teen really justify his… Cruelty?
He watched Light scoop the noodles and vegetables into two bowls, and drizzle a garlic-smelling dressing over the food. Light took the plate of mostly-ignored cake out of L's hands and replaced it with the smaller of the two bowls. He then picked up his own bowl in his cake-less hand and walked towards the table.
L noticed that Watari must have been in and cleaned while they were working, as the table was clear, and Light's chair had been replaced in its' upright position.
"I don't expect you to eat all of it," Light said, gesturing to L's bowl as he sat down, "but try to finish at least half." L nodded and, forgoing the chopsticks Light had given him, grabbed the fork sitting by his cake that Light had set down next to him.
Light had been doing this for almost a week now. He would let L eat cake, ice cream, or whatever the detective wished at lunch and dinner without complaint, but only if L made an attempt to eat the healthy meal Light cooked for him first. 'He's compromising with my shitty habits in an attempt to keep me healthy, and I still behave like an asshole.' L thought with a frown as he twirled some noodles around his fork and stabbed a piece of carrot. He brought the food to his mouth, and chewed slowly. It wasn't sweet, by any means – certainly not what he would eat were he alone – but it wasn't awful.
"—estigation going?" He tuned in to hear the end of Light's sentence, and looked up, mildly startled.
"What?"
"I asked, how's the investigation going? Anything interesting come up?"
"Oh. No, nothing new or interesting." L took another bite and swallowed. The food really wasn't bad at all, and he noticed Light smiling slightly in amusement. L lowered his eyes back to his bowl.
"L? Are you okay?" Without looking up, L knew that Light would be looking at him in concern. Still concerned about him, despite the fact that L had done nothing to warrant his concern. Nothing to warrant his kindness. L just accused him and berated him and belittled him and annoyed him on the daily. Light, for the most part, took it in stride.
'Until today.'
"L?"
"Yes, Light-kun, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." So his voice cracked a little on the word. That meant nothing.
But it meant something to Light, clearly, as the teen put down his chopsticks and made his way around the table. He sat on the chair next to L and put a hand to the detective's forehead.
"Are you feeling ill?"
"No, Light-kun."
"Dizzy?"
"No. I'm fine, Light-kun. I just… I…"
Light lowered his hand to his side and watched the subdued older man for a moment. He sighed. "… Thinking about this morning?"
L's next exhale came out shaky, and he nodded.
"Listen, L. I'm sorry I shouted, okay? I overreacted-"
"You didn't."
"—and besides, I'm not angry anymore. So let's just move on."
"You told me not to talk again until I had proof you were Kira."
"Yeah, well…" Light trailed off, looking uncomfortable. "That was stupid of me. If you'd listened, you'd never speak again. I can't ask you to find something that doesn't exist."
The two lapsed into an awkward silence. Soon, though, Light groaned and did something that startled both of them. He pulled L into a hug.
"L-light-kun?"
"Shush," was all Light said.
The only other person L could recall ever hugging him was Watari… And Mello that one time. L wasn't entirely sure what to do, but he hesitantly wrapped his arms around Light's torso and returned the hug. L wasn't sure how long they stayed like that for, but eventually Light loosened his arms, and L followed suit.
"We should finish out lunch before it gets cold." Light said.
"… Can I have my cake?"
Light smiled.
-o0o-
Light smiled, glad that some of the sad, melancholy expression was disappearing from L's face. Light did feel bad for yelling, but he hoped the experience would lessen the likelihood of L saying something so hurtful and rage-inducing in future.
Light knew the detective wasn't the most adept in the social skills department, and he admired the man's drive to catch Kira, but he was looking in the wrong direction, and it pissed Light off that sometimes it seemed like L wanted him to be Kira. He knew that wasn't the case, of course. They were both getting tired of getting nowhere in the investigation, and L was stressed trying to keep everyone focussed despite the deceasing morale. Hence the day off he had given them.
"Three more forkfuls, then sure."
L grumbled, but complied. Light noticed that while the detective seemed fine going for the carrots, he steadfastly ignored the broccoli. Light decided he would take that vegetable off the menu in future.
Three forkfuls later and L was reaching for the cake with significantly more eagerness than he had earlier, and Light was thankful that they were moving on from the events of the morning.
Light chuckled as L devoured the cake in less than a minute. The detective looked at Light, eyes asking for more.
"You can take another piece back to the investigation room with us." He responded to the unasked query, and chuckled again at L's happy grin.
"Can we go back now?"
Light made short work of the rest of his noodles before standing. "Let's go."
A/N – Edited for errors 04.04.19.