This fic used to be called Some Party, but it was impossible to find so I had to rename it and all it's sequels. Thank you SO much to my BFF Spicy (SasukeXNaruto-Lover-) for helping me make new titles!! You are worshipped! I started this over a year ago, then rediscovered, finished and typed it in two days...yosh. The sequels are much better, but read and review anyways!!
Disclaimer: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata are guys...I am not.
A Party NOT To Be Remembered!
In case you didn't know, L really likes to keep things to himself. Even before he started the Kira case, you were lucky to know more than the fact that he was a gazillion times smarter than you and couldn't do anything about it. So imagine how weirded out I was when he called on a Sunday afternoon to invite me to his 24th birthday.
Me, being half-Japanese and born in Canada, spent Sundays the usual way; sitting on the couch in my pajamas, holding my blindfolded teddy Baroqueheat and a bottle of Sunny D, watching ancient reruns of CSI. The phone rang and I stared it down, daring it to interrupt my serene laziness.
Apparently, Telus is more audacious than friendly, and rang again anyway. I caught it just before the third ring. Now, my logic (or lack thereof) is that sane people don't call other sane people on Sundays, unless they're solicitors. I sighed into the phone and was about to say 'Whatever it is, I don't want it' when L, who'd heard me I guess, began in English, "Hi. Is Sera there? It's her colleague, Ryuzaki." I clamped down my open mouth. Whoops, that was close! "Konnichiwa. That'd be me." I replied in Japanese. "Great. I'm glad I caught you..." The detective continued in English. He had a confusingly normal voice.
"L, it's Sunday, where else would I be?" I commented. Some sense of time this guy had. "Do you need me for another case or something?" I had been L free for over a month. I was something of a spy or freelancer, only way less cool. I'd worked with him frequently over the years.
I sensed a nervous smile on the other line. "No, not this time. Actually, I wondering...well, I'm having a birthday party on Friday, and was wondering if you weren't too busy to come." Le SHOCK! "You have a birthday?!" "Well, everybody ages, Sera." I grinned. "Really? Cause I was beginning to think you were immortal." "Alas, it is not to be."
Gil Grissom's face embraced my television and I noticed about a million similarities.
"Sure, I'll go. I don't have anything else to do. What do you want?" I stroked Baroqueheat's fake fur, unfortunately already knowing the answer. "You're creative. I'm sure you'll think of something." I stuck out my tongue in exasperation. "Helpful. Anything else I should know?" L sniffed. "Uh, the rest of the guests are part of the Kira investigation, so you won't know them. And you can bring anything you want. I'm holding it at the hotel I usually use." Bo-ring! "Kizay-kizay! I'll see you then." "Okay, bye then." "Peace." I hung up.
L could give you a stroke from all the nervousness he seemed to induce. Definitely not a conversationalist...
By Friday night, I'd pushed every creative button in my brain. Most of them were labeled 'sadistic scenarios', 'random dances and actions', or 'wise-ass remarks'. Coincidentally, none seemed to be labeled 'creative gift for guy with terrible posture that you know barely anything about'. By Wednesday, I knew I was throwing in tons of sweets and a pair of socks as a joke. With all the dirty floors he'd walked barefoot on, I was surprised he never got sick! I wanted to get some Shinigami stuff just to piss him off, but then again, I wasn't sure he could getpissed off, or if he would even get the sock joke. Finally, on Thursday, I settled for this neat-shaped pillow I had found that would at least support his spine a little, and white shirt with some funny remark on it. To be honest, I barely glanced at the remark; I just wanted him to have one article of clothing that had some personality to it. When Friday rolled around, I loaded my Zen mp3 player with enough Lemon Demon and Antic Cafe songs to keep myself entertained around Lawliet. Shows what I expected.
I packed two ginormous containers full of my chicken curry rice and bought a bottle of Sake. Somebody was paying me back for that! I stuffed L's gifts in an ancient bag I'd saved from my 14th birthday. It was about the tackiest thing ever, but that was probably the point.
The party started at 6, and being crazy, I arrived on the dot and was the first one there. Talk about awkward! L took his gift and my food and put it somewhere I didn't care to look. He invited me to sit on his beige leather couch, and I did, stealing glances at Watari and wondering how he got his eyebrows that way. Odd.
After what seemed like hours of mindless staring, the doorbell rang. I called out "I got it!" and practically danced to the door. I swung it open to reveal a young guy with curly black hair. His hands were dug so far into his jacket pockets, I was waiting for it to rip. When he saw me, he bit his lip. "Oh sorry. Do I have the right room?" He asked nervously. "Of course you do!!" I replied with glee, pulling him inside. Even he didn't, I needed real company before I ended up taking a dive off the balcony. "Sera." I held out my hand. "Matsuda." He shook it and blushed. L materialized into the room, greeted Matsuda and put his stuff away.
The door was still ajar five minutes later when the next guest arrived. I couldn't help but give him a weird look. He was, amazingly, probably younger than L, and was dressed like a collegiate. He looked normal enough, with reddish hair and eyes, but his expression was strange, almost smug. Like he knew something no one else did. Matsuda who was sitting beside me awkwardly on the couch, saw the kid and smiled. "Light! Good to see you." Then L did the same thing, except his smile was bigger.
My eyes almost popped out my head and my right hand dropped to grab the seat in shock, taking Matsuda's arm with it. I didn't get to think about L's weirdness after that, because then I realized what I'd done and Matsuda was staring at me, open-mouthed, and had turned redder than a tomato. I snapped my hand back from his long-sleeved white shirt and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Ryuzaki doesn't smile much and it was creeping me out." Matsuda dropped his eyes. "Yeah, it's pretty rare..."
Light was now looking at me, and for a second I thought I saw his eyes glint as if I were part of some evil scheme. "I've never seen her before, Ryuzaki. Is she part of the investigation?"
"No. Her name is Seraina Mallory. She's worked with me on other cases, though." L replied in a friendly tone, calling by the name I usually used as a fake. I waved at Light like a five year old. "Nice to meet you." Nice to see you leave too.
After that, a whole bunch of older dudes I didn't know showed up. I didn't give them more than an introduction, but I stayed around Matsuda. I didn't know him much better than the others, but he was the only one I felt relatively comfortable with. We were around the same age, while almost everyone else was five, or ten, or in Watari's case a billion years older than us. Matsuda was probably taking all that the wrong way, but at that point I didn't care.
Finally gift time arrived. All the other guys gave L candy with stupid, stoic expressions that made it look like giving a detective sweets was the most serious thing ever. Creepy-Light-man (as he came to be known), who I had made sure was on the couch opposite me, gave him all three books from the Cassie Palmer Series by Karen Chance. I had read them myself and they were good books, but I didn't really think it was L's style, or creepy-light-man's. They were definitely not for the faint of heart...or the sexually frustrated.
I decided to save the best for last, and let Matsuda go before me. He revealed a delicious looking strawberry cheesecake his sister had made. Overall, I think Matsuda and I had the best gifts. Maybe Light would've made it on that list too, if he wasn't so damn scary.
Matsuda's cake had me intimidated...and hungry, so after my gift, which only generated chuckles out of us four youngsters and a grandfatherly smile out of ancient Watari and his eyebrows, I decided it was time for food. I was on my way to jump on the table and announce my feelings, when the doorbell rang. Creepy-light-man, who was closest to the door, answered it.
On the other side was a 25 year old woman with short brown hair and blue eyes. It was my best friend and colleague Eve. I had assumed she hadn't been invited. Creepy-light-man smiled at her and said, "And you are?" "Eve" She replied with a grin. "Is this Lawliet's place?"
I sprinted to the door and pushed creepy-light-man away from the open doorway. I glared hard at Eve. "No, this is Ryuzaki's place." I seethed, emphasizing the name. L had warned me specifically to only call him Ryuzaki, and I could understand it. He didn't like it when people knew more about him than he wanted, and I especially did not want creepy-light-man to know.
Eve was giving me a confused look, but I yanked her inside and shut the door before she could ruin it. "But your just in time my famous Chicken-man Curry Rice! Come on, I've made enough for at least 20 people." Sadly, it was true. I lead Eve to the table to help me and whispered hoarsely in her ear what L had told me and what I thought of creepy-light-man.
As soon we were done serving everyone else, L came up to us. "Seraina. Evangeline. Could I talk privately with you for a moment?" Eve opened her mouth. "That's not-" I clamped my hand over her mouth from behind and led her down the hall to the bedroom. L shut the door behind us.
He gestured for us to take a seat on the bed. "I'm sorry. We've been colleagues a long time, and I should have explained more." He began. I nodded in agreement and finally let go of Eve. "What do you two think of Light Yagami?" "Is he new? You seem to really like him." Eve replied immediately. "To tell the truth, L, I don't like him. He's freaky, and I'm still trying to figure whether he's evil or just a pervert." I put out plainly. "I see. Well, I brought him here for a reason. I'm sure you know more than the public eye about the Kira case...?" "Yup!" Eve grinned stupidly. "You're gonna get 'em!"
"That's just it. You see, right now Light is my strongest suspect. I was hoping he'd let himself go for a second. " I crossed my arms. "Actually, I wouldn't be surprised." "And you know, all the evil guys have red eyes." Eve added.
We gave her looks and she shut up. "So that's all. I should let you guys get back before people get suspicious."
When we got back to the living room, Matsuda was sitting on what had become our couch, with a plate and a cup of Sake on either side of him. When he noticed us, he lit up. "I already got you guys some food." We took a seat, Eve on his right and me on his left. "So..." I started, digging in. "What do you think of my Chicken-man Curry Rice?"
Matsuda blushed again. It was getting a little old. "Awesome, but my cake's gonna be better." "Duh. It's cake!" Eve put in. And the cake was awesome. L wolfed down at least three slices, which was fine since half of the other guys were too macho for cake and turned it down. I told Matsuda that his sister had to give me the recipe.
About half an hour later, the macho men slowly piled out. And then it was Watari and his comparative grandchildren sprawled on couches or chairs, watching late night CSI. Me and Eve screamed in joy every time Greg appeared, and we all laughed our asses off every time L would come up with an impressive theory seconds before Grissom said the exact same thing.
It was going great until Eve's cellphone rang. Her fiancée said it was getting late and was worried, so she reluctantly decided to leave. She took some curry rice for the road.
After that it was me, wanting to leave after creepy-light-man, Matsuda, probably wanting to leave with me, and creepy-light-man, not seeming to want to do anything until I left. Once I realized that it was almost one, I gave in and decided I wanted to get some sleep tonight. I stood up and sighed, putting my hands on my hips.
"Well, it's horribly late, so I shall take my leave. Matsuda, do you want to help carry the Chicken-man Curry Rice containers?" "Of course!"
Creepy-light-man didn't even offer to help, the bastard.
Once we started putting our jackets on, he did what I knew he would. "I should go too, before my mom's head explodes." He told L, getting up. He walked right behind me down the hall, not saying anything at all. The silence was so excruciating that I resorted to telling Matsuda all the tricks of the Chicken-man Curry Rice trade.
When we walked out of the hotel lobby, it was raining lightly. Creepy-light-man stopped just before the roof ended. "Your friend is quite the character, isn't she?" He commented. "Yeah, she's been like that since high school" Hint hint, kill her,not me you freak!
After almost a minute of silence, Light took a step forward, getting way too close for comfort. "It was nice meeting you, Ms. Seraina." "You too..." I made a lousy attempt at bowing while holding a huge container, then backed up, really wanting some breathing space. Unfortunately, I stepped right on Matsuda's foot and fell back on him. He steadied me before I knocked both us and the food over. Light just smiled and went the direction opposite the way to my car.
So glad that creepy-light-man was finally gone, I took a bunch of harried breaths as Matsuda and I headed to my Ford Focus. We put all the containers into my trunk and then Matsuda gave me the look. "Uhh...Sera..." Oh, I knew where this was going...
"I'm married."
The look on his face was priceless and he turned red. "Oh my god! I'm sorry. That was stupid of me..." I put my hand on his shoulder and broke into laughter. "I'm joking! I'm single, I'm single!" I said between laughs, waving my other hand around. "Sure, let me give you my number."
If it was possible, he turned even redder. "Oh...okay, awesome!" I took a pen out of the pocket of my trench coat. "Hold out your hand, palm up." He did and I took it and wrote down my phone number. "There, Now you better to get me that recipe." I winked. "Right. See you later."
When I got home, I stuffed the containers in my fridge and fell onto my futon, which ended badly. Halfway through my dreams, I realized that my grandpa and half my uncles had died of heart attacks...
In the next fic: A Shopping Tale of Epic Proportions!
L takes everyone shopping and shows off his kick-ass DDR skills. A not-as-fictional-as-the-characters-thought book character ruins a beautiful window, and in a hilarious slip-up, Light gets himself caught!
