I don't own Death Note, or the R & J quotes. ;D
As he took his first step into the stark room filled with machinery, he was not surprised to find L there. But he was surprised to find him alone.
The supposed greatest detective in the world was sitting, in his usual strange position that Light had never really understood, at the table amongst various computers and devices that inhabited the Kira Task Force Headquarters. He was dangling the book at eye level and was in the middle of consuming a piece of vanilla cake. The one thing that Light noticed, however, was not the strange way that he held the book, or how he was constantly eating one sweet thing or another, because he was more than used to L's strange habits. Light noticed the title of the book.
"Romeo and Juliet?"
L glanced up at him then, even though he had obviously noted Light's presence sooner. Light had never once questioned L's tendencies to overload on the black eyeliner as well, but at this moment he didn't so much question it as notice it. It magnified the detective's big round eyes, making him look almost cute. Cute? Light concluded that the long hours working with the Kira Task Force, not to mention deceiving them all the while, were getting to him.
"That is what the title says, yes." He looked at Light intently. "I do not get much time to read, but when I can, it's the classics that I am interested in," he added, answering Light's unspoken question. "82 percent of the books in the world are next to meaningless words for me, not making me think." His voice grew quiet at the last syllables, possibly thinking that he had shared too much.
Light smirked. So typical, L was using percentages again. "I see. Although I never pictured you as a Shakespeare fanatic. But soft, what light from yonder window breaks?"
L put the book down on the table, careful to mark his place first. "Not fanatic, but I cannot help but appreciate good literature. It also helps to keep up my English." He glanced out the window at the city below them before turning back to Light. "For stony limits cannot hold love out, and what love can do that dares love attempts." He said it while deep in thought. For once, emotion wasn't the only thing that his voice seemed to convey that he was missing. There was something else there too, but Light couldn't put his finger on it.
Before he could say anything about it, L fixed him with a stare so penetrating it felt as though everything he knew was laid out before him. His identity and intentions as Kira, god and ruler of the New World, his use of the deadly Death Note, and... the strange, frightening and new thoughts he had when he saw L staring at him from the computer beside his after a long day of work.
"I still think that you may be Kira, Light-kun."
After everything he was doing to clear his name, L still thought that. Light didn't want to kill L, now that he had gotten past his strange exterior. Kira thought of L as an enemy, but Light thought of Ryuzaki as a friend. All through his school life, he had never found anyone that possessed an intelligence level that could even begin to rival his. When he had met L, Light knew he had found that person, for better or for worse. But even after all this time, Light was still one of L's prime suspects. And a part of him felt so ashamed for betraying his first real friend.
But Light also could not stand to lose. And when it felt like he was going to, he couldn't help but become enraged.
"But why, Ryuzaki? That is one thought process of yours that I cannot understand." He kept his voice level, knowing if he got out of hand he would betray himself, but inside his anger was mounting. "Kira is only a name. What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." He couldn't stop himself. All this uncertainty was building, like a dam that would soon break under pressure. I have to show him that he can trust me. But he can't! And why do I care in the first place? L is just another person, a person I have every right to hate. But did he truly hate him?
"There lies more peril in thine eye than twenty of their swords," L countered, noticing Light's anger that even he hid so well. "Why are you so angry if it is only a name?"
Light took a few steps towards L. I mustn't let my anger get the better of me! "I do protest, I never injured thee! You had ideas before, but now should know that they are not the truth!" He now stood directly in front of L, who was still seated at the table. They stared at each other across the table, one in anger, one in silent and unheard longing. L turned his head suddenly, fixing his gaze on the table top.
"So go on!" Light continued, "arrest me! Or bid me go into a new-made grave,
and hide me with a dead man in his shroud!" He reached a hand out and grabbed L's chin, thought a bit more gently than he had meant to. "Look at me, damn it!"
L had no choice but to stare into Light's angry golden orbs now; and Light was momentarily amazed at the emotion that was displayed in L's endless black eyes. He doesn't want it to be like this, but he brought it upon himself. I was his first friend as well. We could have been great friends. More than friends. What am I talking about? What did his subconscious mean by more than friends?
L took his hand off his fork and grabbed onto Light's wrist. Not to pull his hand off, but almost to reassure it of its place there. "Light-kun... These violent delights have violent ends... But..."
When Light felt the shock wave of electricity that L's hand on him had inspired, he could no longer lie to himself about anything. He knew what he wanted. Ruling the New World was now, in an instant, only second to his first desire. So alike, so in harmony, that they knew each other's thoughts. How could they both not have seen it, until this point? Or maybe, possibly, one of them actually had? If that is the case, I could die happy.
"Ryuzaki..." Light trailed off, all anger gone post-revelation. There was only a huge, weighing uncertainty now. A fear of rejection. "L..."
"Why... why that name?" L asked, noticing that Light's hand on his chin was shaking. He had thought it before, yes. A desire that clouded his reason, his ability to solve the Kira case. So he had dismissed it, which was very easy to say and almost impossible to do. In the end, he couldn't. But was it necessary, now? If Light's eyes had been open at that moment, he would have been able to see the spark of hope in L's.
L was suddenly on his feet. "There's no trust, no faith, no honesty in men. Light-kun..." and then he said both the hardest, and the easiest thing that he could have ever uttered in his life.
"I don't care."
And Light, knowing that he meant not the feeling, but the identity L was quite certain Light held, felt like yelling, crying with joy. He stepped around the table at the same moment as L, and they met in the middle. Light did not stop there, and took a few more steps forward, forcing L up against the bare wall of the room.
"Light-kun, I hope that meant as much to you as it did to me, but I believe you are forcing me up against a wall."
Light smiled, and it could only be described as devilish. "That I am, Ryuzaki... do you have any problems with that?"
L's mouth turned up at the corners. Just a little, but it was a smile that made Light want him even more.
"What would I say, Light-kun? That it is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden? I know that would break your heart. And..." he was shy now, with no experience of this sort whatsoever.
"There is a 96 percent chance that it would break mine as well, I think."
Both could not take it any longer, but it was Light who acted first. His lips crashed down on L's with a force that had been pent up so long, it was bliss itself just to give it. L responded by wrapping his arms around Light's back and opening his mouth ever so slightly. Just a little, but it was enough. Light invaded the detective's warm mouth, savouring the unique flavour blend of vanilla cake and something that was all his own. They put unspoken words and blind, misplaced trust into that first kiss.
When air was vital for the two to stay alive, they broke apart and stared; panting, lost in each other's eyes. L broke the silence.
"My only love, sprung from my only hate."
Light smiled.
"Too early seen unknown, and known too late."
Decided yesterday that I had to write a short little fanfic about my favourite Death Note couple. I know a lot of fanfics are out there about them, so I tried to make this one a little different. All the quotes are real! Please tell me if you like it! :)