a/n: I know I published this before, but I never got the chance to update it so I took it off. BUTBUTBUT it's back! Second chance at keeping a story going. I would make a point of saying that the plot has been revised (kind of...I haven't quite finished the actual revising of it...), but there would be no point as I only ever got one chapter up. P
Still my first attempt at any kind of fanfic, so feel free to say I'm shit at writing if you want.
Disclaimer (woops nearly forgot...): I don't own it, I don't make money from it, and even if I tried to sell no one would buy my crappy rendition.
The Bells Ring
L tilted his head towards the thickly blanketed sky. Each raindrop acted as a tiny bullet, shooting at his stinging, wide black eyes. His usually wild, dark hair, hung limply on his forehead. Several soaking strands shifted across his eyes, dripping onto his pale cheeks, and one drop drawing a smooth line down to his chin, then falling silently onto his already soaking white shirt. The long sleeves which usually protected him from the cold, now clung to his scrawny arms, making him shiver uncontrollably. He was standing motionless on the rooftop of his investigation building, bare feet nudging at the rippled puddle in front of him. It was as dark as night allowed it to be, which was light enough to see, but not light enough to penetrate the cold, misty aura L constantly shrouded himself in. He put it there to protect his thoughts and precious memories from intruders, and ironically, Light. However, there was a flaw in this shield. If enough Light shone on it, Light could seep through his carefully wrought defenses.
The bells were deafening today. They shut out all the remedial noises crowding his overloaded senses. Every painful moment that had occurred recently, which had built into a tumbling avalanche of hurtful feelings and general chaos in L's orderly mind, were now denied attention. The bells came first. The bells gave L the spark to light the fire in his melancholy eyes, filling his body with warmth that came with the memories of his favorite place. A place he may never see again. Whammy's orphanage was far from where he was now, and his life was surely reaching it's peak. The fire went out with a thud as heaviness slammed into his heart. The last ring sounded, and the pattering o raindrops started to crescendo in his ears.
Loud angry foot falls could be heard behind L, accelerating with each angry splash on the ground, and soon enough, two large hands grasped L's shoulders. L's descending mind jumped back to attention as he was spun violently around. He now faced his companion with a blank expression on his stoic face. Light appeared to be livid, yet equally concerned.
"What the hell are you doing up here in the pouring rain?" Light tugged his arm and tried to guide L to the door leading inside. He made it two steps before L forcefully reclaimed his arm and snapped his gaze upwards, averting his attention back to the dark clouds.
"I could ask you the same Light-kun."
Light gazed at the detective with a sad expression on his face. L's apparent misery was affecting him, it seemed.
"L, please come inside. You could get ill." Light stated the obvious, as there was really nothing else he could do. L's eyes swiveled slowly to stare at Light. There was no emotion in his eyes, but the burning sensation in his throat surely made up for that?
"That hardly matters now, Light-kun."
"W-what do you mean it hardly matters? Of course it matters you imbecile, if you're ill what happens to the case?" Light was simply astounded by L's newfound inability to care.
"The case? I assumed I wouldn't be around to finish it. I have already asked Watari to prepare my replacement." Light looked to the ground, his now sopping hair covering his eyes.
"L, you will not die. If you die, I will personally avenge you." His voice shook at the end of his statement. L simply stared at him with his piercing black eyes.
"Kira would avenge those he killed? Please, don't deny it. Whether you are Kira or not doesn't matter to me right now. Kira will kill me whether it is you or someone else." L lowered himself to the ground and sat in the center of the same puddle he was just dipping his toes in, and stared into the distance.
"I don't want you to die." Light's voice was low and wavered on each syllable. When L didn't reply, Light slowly fell to his knees a few feet away from L, his shoulders shaking. He violently shook his head, water flying off his hair, while sobbing incoherently, "I don't want you to die!"
L couldn't stand to see Light so pitiable. He stood, letting the rainwater flow off his feet, and walked slowly towards Light. The rain pounded against his back as he bent over and offered his pale hand to Light. Light was utterly pathetic right then. Shivering, shaking, and sobbing, he grasped the hand which then pulled him up into an awkwardly intimate embrace. As a man, Light was pathetic. But he didn't feel like a man right then, nor did he want to be. Light's head was nestled in L's neck, shoulders shaking in defeat as his sobs were poured mercilessly into L's unprepared heart. L's tears mingled with the raindrops streaming down his face, and somewhere in his mind, he knew that he didn't want to leave. Somehow, he had become too attached to his life, a feat he had never reached before. Light's hand clutched the back of L's shirt, an action that caused L to focus all his attention him. It had seemed almost like a cry for help.
L didn't notice when the rain stopped. He didn't notice the man stood smiling in the doorway leading out to the roof. Their mutually loud crying was the only thing either of them could comprehend. Matsuda looked on in shock at the two men on the roof. His face had frozen on the smile that had crept onto it. He had been asked by the investigation team to look for Light, who had previously gone in search of L. Matsuda tiptoed back to the stairs, then ran back to the others. He wasn't going to be the one to interrupt that no matter what anyone told him.
A few minutes later, they had both calmed down, but Light stayed with his arms wrapped comfortably around the other, until realization dawned on him exactly who he was hugging. He abruptly let go and looked at the door.
"Will you come inside now, or do I have to force you?" L stared at him, lost in his own thoughts. Then slowly he nodded, and made his way to the door, Light following closely behind him.
Once inside, Light sat down and began to dry himself off with the towel from the bathroom which had been laid just inside the door. L stood beside him, his blank eyes gazing at him, and then he stooped down and started rubbing Light's feet dry. However, his attempts were in vain, as his hair only dripped onto Light's feet again once they were dry. Light looked at L sadly and held his hand to L's hair, ceasing the steady drips from falling. After a short while, they both stood and proceeded to the investigation room, knowing they had been missed. Sure enough, upon entering the investigation room they were confronted by a very angry Soichirou Yagami.
"Light! Where have you been? We sent you over half an hour ago!" Light looked at him, perplexed.
"I'm sorry, Yagami-san. He came to get me like you told him to, but I distracted him. Entirely my fault of course." L waved away the question and sat down by a computer, motioning for Light to do the same. Soichirou stayed standing, looking flustered, and on the brink of retorting, but then his anger seemed to deflate and he sat down in defeat. Light simply got to work, ignoring the stares he and L were getting. He could clearly hear his father muttering angrily to himself about missing people and work, and couldn't help but find it rather amusing. There was one stare that unnerved him though, as it was so unlike the other bemused glances. Matsuda was grinning at him.
"Matsuda?" Matsuda jumped and averted his gaze while blushing profusely. "Why are you staring at me like that?" Matsuda's gaze slowly ricocheted back and forth between L and Light, and the grin formed once again on his childish face.
"N-no reason." Light started getting rather annoyed.
"Then could you kindly get back to work rather than focusing all you attention on distracting me from mine?" Light glared at his screen and scrolled down forcefully, only to jerk his hand back when he felt another on top of it.
"L? W-what?" Light stuttered and felt heat rising to his face. L was looking at Light while absently chewing on his thumb, the other hand now resting on the desk.
"Light, could you come with me for a minute?" Light nodded uncertainly, and stood with L who told the team they would be back shortly. Light ignored Matsuda's obscene smiling as he walked past him. The minute the door closed softly behind the two, Matsuda giggled childishly.
"What is wrong with you Matsuda?" Aizawa looked bemused. "You've been acting like this since you left the room twenty minutes ago."
Matsuda flashed a devious grin at Aizawa and started to chant in a sing song voice. "I know something you don't know!"
This only managed to infuriate Soichirou, who lashed out at Matsuda. "Would you please either tell us what you know, or get back to work? Imbeciles like you shouldn't flaunt their lack of responsibility!"
Matsuda frowned and crossed his arms across his chest. "Fine, if you don't want to know…" He sat down sulkily and started clacking loudly and deliberately on the typewriter keys. The silence dragged on and all that could be heard in the room was the angry punches being thrown at the keyboard with Matsuda's fingers. Mogi nearly shouted at him to stop, lest he break it, but only sat in silence, not wanting to be anymore involved in the conversation than he already was.
This lasted two minutes before Aizawa lost his patience. "Fine!" He sighed wearily. "Matsuda, please tell us what you know."
Matsuda grinned and swiveled around in his chair to face the two investigators who were listening, aware of Mogi, Ukita and Ide on the other side of the room. "L and Light like each other."
Aizawa's eyes hardened and he looked at Soichirou. "We already knew that…I mean, they're friends aren't they?"
Soichirou nodded, but Matsuda shook his head wildly, "No! I mean, they like, like each other."
Soichirou stood abruptly, supremely shocked. "What do you mean?! Light's not, he's not g-gay!" Soichirou spluttered.
Aizawa merely shook his head disbelievingly and the other three shifted uncomfortably in their seats, acting like they hadn't heard. "Do you have any proof of this? Otherwise I'm afraid I simply can't believe you."
Matsuda frowned slightly. "Well, it's obvious isn't it? They are constantly touching each other…like just before when L put his hand on Light's, and they are definitely conscious of one another…and where do you think they went just now?" He refrained from telling them of the incident on the roof, it had seemed too personal.
Soichirou sank weakly into his chair. "I imagine they just went to…get a drink or something…they're just friends!" Aizawa nodded in agreement.
Matsuda looked discouraged as he observed the others' disbelieving faces. "Fine, I'll prove it to you…I'm willing to bet they went for more than just a drink…anyone want to bet with me?" His eyes flashed deviously again, and the other two bet their money.
"Ok!" Matsuda exclaimed excitedly, "Let's go!"
Aizawa looked confused. "Why don't we just ask them where they went when they get back?"
"Well they're hardly going to tell us the truth, are they?"
Soichirou and Aizawa exchanged glances and they followed reluctantly. Matsuda led the two down the hallway and stopped when he heard voices coming the unused room to the left. He motioned for the other two to look through the keyhole. Aizawa leant over hesitantly and peered through. Inside, Light and L could be seen standing in the middle of the room talking; L still chewing his thumb and staring at Light while Light looked embarrassed and flustered. L was speaking quietly so they couldn't hear, and was obviously talking about something which made Light uncomfortable.
"Soichirou, look at this!" Aizawa moved to let the older man squint through the little hole. He saw what Aizawa had seen, but then gasped when he witnessed L moving tentatively towards Light, and Light step back awkwardly so that he stood with his back against the wall, gazing into L's eyes. Then Light's voice could be heard clearly through the door, "L, I'm not…I'm not gay!" Soichirou stood suddenly, not wanting to see anymore. He leant with his back against the wall and closed his eyes. Aizawa was shocked and stood frozen, staring at the door. Matsuda however, leapt down towards the keyhole, to see what was happening.
L was now close to Light, their faces only inches apart. L was saying something, and Light licked his lips nervously, fear apparent in his wide brown eyes. Then suddenly, at the same time both heads dipped forwards, lips meeting in the middle.
Matsuda's smile widened, and he looked at the other two expectantly. They both sighed and handed him the money. Aizawa shook his head slowly.
"You win, Matsuda."
a/n: woooo, finished! Now I have to type up chapter 2. So...come again!