Disclaimer: Death Note and all the situations and characters therein are the property of Obha and Obata.

AN: This is less of a narrative story than an introspective. From Light's point of view, it seems.

Relationships

The delicacy of their relationship always coiled hard in Light's stomach. If one was to overhear or read a conversation between them, it could swing anywhere between the best of friends to the worst of enemies. Light wasn't sure which it was, to be honest. The odd little detective had chained himself to the teenager, so he could watch him day and night, as well as then go over the security camera footage, in case there was anything he had missed. He had Misa to watch, too, of course, but he always seemed to re-watch the footage that he actually appeared in, so if Light had somehow managed to indulge in a little casual serial killing that L had somehow managed to miss whilst he was standing there staring at him, it would be clear on tape. Of course, L was a magnificently intelligent individual, and it was no huge task for him to keep a diligent eye on both Light and Misa, but it sometimes seemed to Light that L would split every hair he could, just to enunciate his role of jailer over Light.

But…to hear them speak, it was often clear that L respected Light more than almost anyone else on the taskforce, except, perhaps, Light's father, who, whilst he might not have been as brilliant as his son, showed enviable amounts of good grace and principles. Also, the man was a senior and that had to elicit some sort of respect from even a young man as lacking in social propriety as L was. Aizawa and Mogi were clearly considered merely satisfactorily competent, whereas Matsuda…was almost like some sort of annoying pet. Ludicrous as that sounded, Light would not have been surprised if L did think of the junior police officer as a small, floppy eared puppy to be mostly tolerated. Albeit, a puppy that had opposable thumbs and the cognitive ability to get coffee.

Light….Light he came to, first. Light, he shared his thoughts and suspicions with directly, often just letting the others overhear. Anyone who missed the length of chains and odd muttered percentage might consider them peers; two impossibly intelligent young men who had found an equal in only each other. Poignant, if you really hadn't noticed the rampant suspicion.

But, then, some people might consider them be proven enemies. The veneer of their supposed alliance could easily be slipped aside in order to see the rampant need for one-upmanship. The best case scenario for two such people meeting was indeed friendship, but the fact of the matter was that meeting someone who did have the means to outwit you was grounds for suspicion and defence. Even if L had not been the detective looking for the serial killer than he suspected Light to be, the very basis of the relationship would very possible breed contempt in and of itself.

Perhaps. It was the grudging relationship of detective and prime suspect, with the latter forced to civilly accommodate the former, only to build up a strange sort of antagonistic bond. Or, it really was a friendship, in spite of everything, based on mutual brilliance and a possible exasperation that they are really not like anyone else, because there is always comfort in finding somebody like you. It could never be completely disregarded, though, that the relationship could be that of a mastermind and his prey (and which man is which is up to the spectator), but hidden as only those such as they could.

Maybe Light wasn't quite sure, but he did know that he'd never met anyone quite like L, and suspected that L felt largely the same way.