Time ticked slowly towards the late hours of the night, perhaps early hours of the morning.
A blue glow lit the room, softly emanating from a laptop. A detective sat, bathed in that blue light, his dark eyes expressionless as they sorted, memorized, and sent information to his incredible (if socially challenged) mind.
More criminals dead, and he was 89.7% the boy sitting next to him was behind it. But... it didn't compute. How was he still killing?
Light was tired, even thought he hated to admit it. He was tired of staying up night after night, fueled by the eccentric L's insomnia. He was almost sick of this investigation, if only because he missed getting a few hours of sleep every once in a while.
But it wasn't the investigation or the puzzle of the indvidual behind the deaths who was to blame for his lack of sleep, was it?
It was the spiky-haired, worn out detective, Ryuzaki, with his blank, staring eyes and his constant annoying habits.
He was fascinating to watch, like a free and constant freak show riddled with dangerous intelligence. He seemed to have forgotten all normal social behaviors and substituted his own- he sat, ate, moved, dressed, so differently from those around him.
While all of this intrigued Light, the insomnia did not. He yawned again, trying to provoke the normal response- when you yawn, other people tend to yawn along with you.
But Ryuzaki wasn't people. He shot Light a careful, cold look of irritation and continued typing away at his laptop with a bit of spiteful vigour. Damn.
"You could go to bed, Light-kun. It's not as if I would prevent you from doing so." L droned, eyes still trained on the computer and blanked by the digital light.
"You've said that before, yes, and no, you're not stopping me, but the handcuff chain is." Light snapped, giving the chain a testy jerk.
"It's necessary." L shrugged.
"It's making me claustrophobic- look, it's nothing against you, Ryuzaki."
"M-hhm, I am sure it isn't." He wasn't paying any attention at all, clearly unconcerned about the source of Light's irritation.
Light bit his lip, keeping himself from saying something foolhardy and upping his Kira percentage.
But it was too much.
"...you know what? It is something against you. You're a freak. You're sicky pale, you've got the eyes of- of a dead thing, all you eat is sugar and yet you're rail thin, which doesn't make sense...You're disturbing to be around, and I think... I think you've got some sort of bondage fetish. You've exposed yourself to possible considerable harm by handcuffing us together when you suspect me of being Kira, and yet you don't seem to care. What, does this-" He yanked the chain hard- "Turn you on? You're sick."
L had watched this tirade with detached amusement until he'd brought up the handcuffs. Now, he turned back towards the screen, his sleep-deprived eyes blank once again.
"No, it does not." He said, in a tone so clipped that Light sensed, for a moment, a human being behind the mask of insanity.
"Then what does?" Light asked, irritated even further by the lack of reaction to his insults.
"You're human, aren't you? What does it for you, Ryuzaki? This?"
He grabbed the surprised detective's jaw and kissed him, crushing his lips aggressively, keeping him still with another hand on the back of his neck. His skin was suprisingly warm... not at all the way he'd imagined touching that pale body would feel.
Not, of course, that he had imagined this. He was simply proving a point.
L shoved him. Hard, backwards, both hands on his shoulders, surprisingly forceful despite his apparent sickly demeanor.
Having cleared some space between their bodies, he shoved him with one unnaturally outstretched leg, as far away as possible, given the handcuffs.
Light watched him draw one sleeve-covered wrist over his mouth, his eyes hidden in shadow, disgust evident in his gesture.
The silence was long and painful, but L's ragged breathing finally calmed, and when he looked at Light again, his eyes were shockingly... hurt.
"You..." He didn't seem to be able to make eye contact, and for a moment, Light felt his heart hammer in his chest...
"...Have upped your chances of being kira by at least 3.1%."
Okay, okay, so I already have another Death Note fic up- that one's probably much more one-sided, anyways! And, erm, they're sorta my favorite pairing ever, so I couldn't stop myself! Review/comment, if you please. Reviews are half the reason I write and the only reason I publish! I'll be continuing this one, 'but the M rating is ambitious xD -Owl