See, the thing was: L was making this too easy and too difficult at the same time.
On one hand, being caught right after his second murder (and before his master plan to burn himself and become the final victim of an unsolvable mystery) had technically saved his life. It had kept his name out of criminal records since L had allowed his escape.
While embarrassing at the time, the appearance of Kira had proven it a blessing in disguise.
Kira, who was killing all the worst criminals in the world. If BB had been a little more careless, if he hadn't managed to elude L's agent Misora, he would've been dead a long time ago. After all, Beyond Birthday didn't do things halfway. His murders were Kira's specialty.
That was all well and good. BB was alive and well, with his body intact…except that didn't matter because BB's pride was torn to shreds, stabbed through with a knife, resigned to shambles (damn it, they were supposed to have been impossible murders! He was supposed to have bested L, what kind of a successor was he?). B truly was Backup, and it sucked. Fuck L, he'd stolen B's will to fucking live, and for that, he would pay.
BB was steering clear of elaborate murders, though. L had proven himself better in that field. He wasn't a sore loser. As Einstein was fond of saying, "the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Or was that insanity? (If it was insanity, BB could probably resort to that. He was clinically insane).
But no. Rather than plot out a different set of murders in a different city, the world's greatest serial killer (after Kira) had resorted to waiting for his opportunity.
And a fruitful wait it was. L had used B's nickname, Ryuuzaki, while working on the Kira Taskforce, which had totally given him away. BB was able to track him, get all the info on his investigation with his prime suspect, Light Yagami. Light Yagami, a Japanese teenager the detective was said to have chained himself to until he'd finally eluded his grasp with the introduction of the proxy-Kira, Higuchi. Another obviously guilty suspect slipping from his fingers, just like B.
And how did the World's Greatest Detective respond to suspects who never got sentenced?
He bought apartments named after them, of course.
It was a peculiar pattern B had noticed, all the way back in Whammy's House. All of the buildings L constructed, bought or otherwise permanently acquired were all under names referring to his most brilliant adversaries. There was an Oliver Bradford apartment in New York, a Josef Muller apartment in Berlin, Deneuve's apartment in Paris and Rue Ryuuzaki's own apartment in London.
And now, there was one under Hikari Tsuki. Hikari, for Light, and Tsuki, for the Kanji spelling of the word. Ham-handed, in BB's humble opinion. Try harder, L. Did he really think of this habit as a harmless quirk? Did he think nobody would notice?
BB would always notice. L was his end-game. He would beat that man if it was the last thing he did. He was going to destroy him, crush him to dust, take everything that was his. And he would start with his precious new Tokyo apartment, because he knew that despite all his pretensions of austerity, L loved his apartments.
It was a new nickname, so the bastard wasn't going to be expecting anyone to connect it with the Detective L. He'd probably left something valuable in there, BB could count on that.
After this apartment, maybe he would go pay a visit to the London one, the one named after himself.
Whatever. He'd plan that out on the fly. For now, time to focus.
BB snuck into the bathroom of the landlord of the apartment, a certain lawyer fallen from grace, Mikami Teru. Poor dude, he'd been a pretty good prosecutor too. BB had watched some of the highlights of his cases in preparation for the break-in, and after that whenever he'd felt like blowing off some steam (hell hath no fury like a righteously indignant Mikami Teru).
Of course, the dude was probably going to become equally righteously indignant if he caught BB in his bathroom, so the serial killer decided to hurry up his schedule a bit.
Slowly, carefully, using all the makeup skills he'd learnt from videos online (and his own genius intellect), BB streaked a line of kohl under his eyes and smudged it with his thumb. Perfect. With his white skin and newly dyed spiky black hair, it was perfect.
BB allowed himself a little giggle of triumph. Sure, he'd fallen into a depression after his failure of a serial killing, but he could still slay as a replacement L.
Anyway, he finally exited the bathroom, tiptoeing towards the snoring landlady. He'd drugged her only a few minutes ago and it was a heavy-duty sedative. He had plenty of time.
He hefted her up in his arms in a bridal carry and hobbled all the way out of their house and into the elevator. He'd already swiped her official keycard and set of keys, so getting to L's penthouse was smooth sailing.
BB carried the unconscious woman into the apartment, surveying all of the large luxury rooms (see? He knew L liked dressing up his rooms. What a pretentious twat) and finally picking the bedroom for the scene of his crime. Fitting, since she looked kind of like a pretty, female version of his first victim (ah, the memories).
Beyond Birthday was only just laying down his second Believe Bridesmaid on the floor when he heard a key rattle into the lock of the front door.
Shit. BB rolled the unconscious woman under the bed and slid the window open, leaping out onto the jutting ledge that bordered the building. Thank fuck he'd remembered to lock the door behind him.
Who the fuck was entering L's apartment? He knew for a fact that L himself was in Germany, and he would never have finished solving that case in one day, it went against the whole purpose of flying there.
If L was back already, B was going to throw a temper tantrum.
The serial killer edged along the ledge until he got to the balcony bordering the living room, using his expert sleuthing skills to soundlessly push the picture window open and hide behind the drapes, watching for the intruder. If it was L, he was going to fucking jump off the balcony, he swore to it. He wasn't going to be foiled again, oh no. His pride wouldn't be able to take it.
He peeked inside, keeping the drapes wrapped around himself as he did.
He swallowed a gasp.
There was an extremely attractive young man inside L's apartment. About five eleven, with long legs and honey-tanned skin, perfectly styled shiny auburn hair, wearing a black button-down shirt and jeans, carrying a satchel over one shoulder. The boy sighed, the door clicking shut behind him as he hung his bag carefully over the handle of a chair before turning back towards the door and pausing.
He whipped around, his caramel eyes narrow and suspicious. "Who's there?" He called in an indignantly velvety voice, and BB was finally able to catch a good look at his face, reading the words floating above him with his Shinigami eyes and feeling his mouth curl into a wide, unrestrained grin.
Well, well, well. Looks like he wasn't the only criminal in the house.
Suddenly, in the teenager's hand was a phone he flipped open with the flick of a wrist. "I know you're still in here. Come out before I call the police."
The police?
Did this apartment belong to Yagami? (it couldn't! It went against all of his research!).
The brunet's fingers had just started to patter on the keypad of his phone when BB decided enough was enough. He threw the drapes dramatically off, a butcher's knife clutched in his hands as he stalked forward and grabbed the teenager's wrist.
He twisted it so the boy dropped his phone and, with a grunt, the serial killer slammed Light Yagami against the wall."Ow! Fuck!" The boy cursed as BB yanked the hand further behind him. "Ryuuzaki, what the fuck? Get off!"
Ryuuzaki?
"Let go, this isn't funny. Jeez, the next time you hide like that I'll get a heart attack." The teenager squirmed under him, twisting his head to glare at him with slanted amber eyes. "I'm serious, I'll fucking kill you, alright? Let go."
The apartment belonged to them both.
He lived with L.
And he thought Beyond was L.
Holy fuck.
Stunned, the murderer loosened his grip and the brunet pushed off of him, brushing off his clothes. "When did you even get home? Didn't you fucking tell me to take security seriously like two days ago? It's not a feat to use your key, you know. That's not what breaking in looks like."
Beyond struggled to regain control over his verbal abilities. "Well…the security systems are really shitty."
Light Yagami sneered at him, but it didn't feel spiteful. There was a kind of well-practiced affection in that gaze. "Yeah, that's my fault too, is it? You're the billionaire, as you're so fond of reminding me. Fix it."
The serial killer felt a grin coming on. "Oh my fucking God, you're my escort, aren't you? Has the main suspect of the Kira case fallen so far?"
Light widened his eyes. "Your escort? What're you talking about?"
"You know, escort. Prostitute. Boy-toy. The reason you're in my apartment."
The brunet crossed his arms. "Take that back or I'm moving out, I swear. Fuck you, Ryuuzaki, it's not like I don't feel insecure enough about leeching off of you until graduation."
What…? Was L sponsoring the boy's education? Was this some sort of apology to the Kira suspect? Was the guy innocent after all? It's not like BB could tell, he wasn't a Death Note holder so he could see everyone's dates of death, no bias towards the Kiras.
"Well?"
BB blinked. "Well what?"
"Aren't you going to apologise? Or something? Are you just going to stand there?" The teenager groaned, running his fingers through his soft brown hair. "You're impossible."
"Oh, um. Sorry." The black-haired man muttered. The brunet cocked his head at him, giving him a brilliantly charming smile that had his heart beat particularly loudly.
"Wow, I didn't actually expect you to apologise, but good work. Looks like you're learning some social skills." Light ambled towards the kitchen, pulling the door open. "So, we have some week-old cake you left behind when you flew to Germany. You can have that, if you want." His caramel eyes peeked out from behind the fridge door. "How long are you staying? Watari's not here, so I know you're not done with your case yet."
"I…um." BB thought for a second. "An hour, I think."
The serial killer was stuck. He had to make a decision: should BB kill Light and the woman?
Maybe he shouldn't kill the woman. Light would be enough of a blow to L. By the boy's demeanour, it seemed as if, impossible though it may seem, the two of them were in a relationship. The symbolic nature of it all would be diluted if he murdered some random woman with him.
BB drew his butcher's knife and held it in his hands, letting it gleam silver in the light. He felt a manic grin tug at his lips. Oh, it would look so nice when the silver was coated with red, so much red…
There was a clattering in the fridge and Light finally pulled out a large dish of strawberry cheesecake. The teenager smirked at the older man as he balanced it in his hands and placed it carefully on the dining table, cracking his knuckles. "There, you can have that. Syrup?"
BB stared at him. He had never had anyone outside of waiters bring him stuff to eat, and even then they never looked at him so expectantly, with that fond smile curving their candy-pink lips. "Um...yeah?"
"Sure." The brunet glided back into the kitchen. "Pick up my cellphone, you dropped it."
The serial killer eyed the phone on the ground. "You dropped it, not me."
Light laughed merrily. "There you are, you selfish asshole. I was worrying about you for a minute, you seemed depressed. I thought I was going to have to punch you back to your senses."
"Oh, just try." BB had practiced his punches with L's other successor, A, a long time ago. They'd been more than evenly matched, they'd been equals (it was after A died that BB had lost his mind).
Huh, now that he thought about it, Light did remind him a lot of A. Maybe it was the hair, A's hair had been the same. That soft, rusty-brown shade, though the Japanese boy wore it longer.
The teenager came out with a bottle of syrup, scooping his phone off the ground as he approached him and drizzled sugary liquid over the strawberry dessert. "You really want to spend your one hour visiting getting punched in the face?"
This guy was cocky as fuck. The serial killer was sure L wasn't wuss enough to be beaten by this stick of a boy. BB bent his knees, bringing up his fists. "Bring it on, Yagami. Let's put your money where your mouth is."
"Uh huh." There was a smile on Light's lips as he surveyed the older man out the corner of his eye. "Someone's feeling less than adequate today." The boy sauntered towards the murderer. "Let's put your masculinity right back in place."
And with that, the brunet swung at him. BB ducked, raising his forearm to block it and aimed a kick at Light's torso. The boy slipped out of the way, sticking his leg out to trip the murderer, who promptly fell onto his back. He grabbed the brunet's leg to pull him down with him. The teenager landed a punch into the man's stomach, making BB wheeze angrily. The blood pumped in his veins as he twisted around and sank his teeth into Light's arm.
The teenager shrieked, kicking the murderer in the jaw, snapping his head back. Light scrambled up, dragging BB up by the collar. "No biting! We didn't agree on biting, you psycho!"
Rather than bother to respond, BB pulled his leg up and knocked the boy's legs from under him, sending both of them tumbling into the ground. BB caught his balance first, sending a punch careening to the brunet's cheekbone. In response, Light flipped the two of them over in a judo move Whammy would have been proud of, leaving him pressing BB down into the ground, and the brunet bit down onto his bared shoulder. "An eye for a fucking eye." He said, releasing the killer's unbroken skin.
BB's eyes bugged out and he burst into laughter. L's trademark line, this man was using L's lines! "Oh yeah? Well, while we're using one-liners, let's try mine on for size." He winked. "I do not submit, not even to a traffic signal." He bucked and threw the boy off, leaping on top of his slender form. The brunet growled as he drew his fist back and socked the murderer's cheek. BB threw a punch of his own at the boy's pale pink lips, turning them blood-red.
The two of them rolled around on the ground, grunting and snarling until finally, they collapsed onto each other, soaked in sweat and exhausted. BB was delighted to see that he was on top, taking his final burst of energy to pin the teenager down onto the ground with his limbs. His heart pounded uncontrollably in his chest and he felt his mouth stretch into an unhinged, maniacal grin. He reached for the handle of his knife, which he had stuck into his waistband, but just before he could wrap his hand around it…
He felt a pair of lips on his.
BB's hand went slack, caught off-guard. He took a moment to assess his situation again. Light had cupped his hands around his face, pulling it forward so their noses brushed. The teenager was kissing him gently, warm lips moving against his own, sweet breath sighing into his mouth, the slight tang of blood from the lip Beyond had split a few moments ago giving the experience seasoning. The brunet drew back, a small smile on his face
"I miss you, you know?" Light Yagami traced his cool thumb along the murderer's lips. "When you're not here, I really miss you."
Despite his generally promiscuous nature, BB had never really kissed anyone, never after A.
The brunet's eyes were glimmering, a fiery honey-brown that looked aggressively beautiful with the amount of barely-disguised affection it contained for him. For L. For him.
"Your hour is almost up." The tiny smile made its way into his smooth-as-silk voice and BB could almost pretend he was talking to him. "Are you going to tell me why you came?"
BB gulped, shuttering his eyes. "No."
"Why not?" The brunet sounded ever so smug, ever so taunting. "Did you miss me too?"
Yes.
The murderer hardened his expression. "I can't tell you now." L would tell him, if he ever bothered to tell him.
Light cocked his head curiously. "You can't tell me now?"
BB shook his head. "No. I can't."
"Huh." The teenager knitted his eyebrows, and BB took the discussion to be over. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out the rubber vial he'd stuck in there for the purposes of the woman he had hidden under the bed that belonged to L's Tokyo apartment.
"But maybe someday?"
BB's wide gaze flicked to him. Light's eyes…his eyes were bright, sharp and somehow…understanding. But he couldn't understand what was happening, of course not. That would make no sense…
The teenager grinned, and he remembered the only other person who'd grinned at him like that, the only other person who had ever kissed him, the only other person he'd seen with that exact shade of hair.
BB yanked the vial out of his pocket and poured the chemical onto his handkerchief, pressing it to Light's mouth.
The boy blinked before he struggled, whipping his head side to side and staring at BB with wide eyes. BB pressed down on him, keeping his hand clamped around his mouth and nose. The brunet's cries were muffled, his arms pinned by the older man's legs.
It was a good thing that their fight had sapped out his energy because it didn't take long for his gaze to dull and glass over, for his limbs to fall limp onto the ground, for his head to tilt slightly to the side as his eyelids fell closed.
"I'm sorry." The murderer whispered into the teenager's ear, pressing his lips to the slack mouth on a whim. I'm truly sorry.
Sometimes, he wondered if the brunet knew he was there.
He hadn't had the heart to do it. He had had his knife in his hand, the grin on his face, the drive in his blood…but Light Yagami had woken up in his bed five hours later with a throbbing head and strawberry cheesecake lying untouched on the dining table. The landlady was gone, safely back in her apartment. Everything was fixed, and if BB didn't feel like messing anything up, it would be best if he left.
And yet, he would sit on the terrace of the building right next to L's Tokyo penthouse, binoculars in hand, a birdwatcher with his gaze aimed firmly at the apartment across from him.
Light Yagami had gotten into the habit of climbing out onto the ledge outside his bedroom window with a violin, playing music he had found online over and over and over until it was just perfect.
That meticulousness was going to kill him. It had killed A, and it would kill Light.
And yet, he wasn't so sure about that. There was something together in Light that he had never seen in A. Something whole, indestructible, enduring.
Sometimes, BB wondered if Light was looking at him as he played his violin, the instrument tucked under his chin and narrowed eyes trained on a spot very close to him, a small smirk curling his lips.
He knew it was ridiculous, it was dark and if he was seen at all, it would be as a smudged shadow. Besides, he wasn't dressed like L anymore, there was no way he could be recognised without the makeup.
But whenever he spotted that teasing, mocking smile,
BB wondered if maybe someday he could.
Maybe someday.