For my amazing and brilliant girlfriend, Ratt9. Happy early birthday! :D
Disclaimer: If I owned Death Note, I'd be ruler of the world. Do you see scrolls flying from airplanes shouting my rule? No. You do not.
Nor do I own 'We Are Young'. I needed a song and that was the first to appear on the radio, so...
"R-Ryuuzaki? What are you doing here?" Walking into the monitoring room, Matsuda jumped in surprise as the younger man turned to face him, almost spilling his just-gotten coffee onto his shirt. It was the middle of the night, so one would expect the detective and his suspect to be….wait, what? "Where's Light?" L blinked owlishly at him.
"Light-kun and I have come to an agreement that once a month he will be allowed to be observed via monitor, so as to give us both a break from each other." Matsuda looked up, finally noticing Light's sleeping form on the many displays. L turned away from him, focusing back on the computer screen in front of him. The sounds of typing filled the room.
"Um, why?" Why would L willingly let Light out of his sight, even though he could still technically see him, it was just…it didn't make any sense. Or maybe his brain was too tired to figure it out.
"It allows both of us work to our fullest ability. We're quite apt at mentally exhausting one another." He paused. "Also, it allows me to get more work done, as I do not have Light-kun threatening to violently rid the world of my laptop unless I stop typing." Matsuda coughed to cover a tired giggle. God, he was exhausted. Yawning, he set his coffee down at his computer and plunked down in his seat. Scanning over something that could, possibly, be considered information involving something that could, possibly, be a lead, Matsuda found himself having a hard time focusing. A few minutes passed.
"Why is Matsuda-san up so late?" Aforementioned shot up, startled out of his near-unconscious state.
"O-oh, me? I'm just-," A yawn broke his train of speech, "I'm just searching up on some stuff that might be part of a lead…"
"I see." The detective deadpanned. Matsuda quickly took a gulp of his lukewarm magical stay-awake elixir, before focusing on the screen in front of him. Or two screens. It looked like two, at any rate…Clicking a link, a burst of deafening music started to shout from a set of speakers, as 'We Are Young' began to play and a virus attempted to infect his computer. A large happy face popped in and out of his screen, with high-pitched laughter singing along with the music in the background. L glanced over, surprised by the sudden noise.
"What the hell? Ah, no, the blue screen of death…Crap…" Well, he was certainly awake now, if he hadn't been before.
"Matsuda-san." An odd disjointed sensation of losing his balance and almost falling over came over Matsuda, who blearily tried to grab onto something to stop the strange feeling as his eyes began to flicker open. "Matsuda-!" He felt himself falling for real, now, as he landed on something bony, not the floor. Looking up, he found two slightly narrowed black eyes staring down at him.
"Hnn?"
"It would be appreciated if Matsuda-san would wake up and get off me." It took a moment for him to get his bearings, by which time L had pushed him onto the floor and was getting up himself. Sitting up, the world swam in the older man's view.
"Wh-what happened?" L didn't spare Matsuda a glance.
"You started talking to yourself before passing out with your head in your hands. It's 3:00. I imagined you would wish to actually go to bed, so I attempted to wake you." 3:00…so he'd only been asleep for an hour and a half? Staring up at L blankly, Matsuda was surprised to hear the detective heave a slight sigh, before offering his hand to help him off his rear.
"T-thanks." The older man stuttered, grabbing the detective's hand—before accidentally pulling him down, on top of himself. "Ah!" L froze, awkwardly positioned on top of Matsuda. Matsuda had frozen as well, before starting to hastily apologize. "S-sorry, sorry!" L seemed to mentally shake himself, before rolling off. He stood up, not offering any assistance to the other man, having learned his lesson the first time. Matsuda got up, a little shaky. "Sorry…"
"It's fine." L replied shortly. "Matsuda-san should get to bed."
"Um…Yeah." By this time, L had already turned around and was heading back to his computer. "Wait, Ryuuzaki, shouldn't you get to bed too?"
"I am perfectly fine."
Matsuda paused. It just didn't seem right. Everybody needed sleep, and L had been working harder than anyone, except maybe Light. Maybe. He stumbled over to the younger man's computer, exhaustion making it difficult to walk straight.
"Ryuuzaki. You should go to bed."
"I told Matsuda-san. I am fine."
"Ryuuzaki, you need sleep too." Hesitating for a moment, Matsuda stubbornly continued. "You can't stay up on sugar and caffeine forever…" L sighed quietly, again.
"…Very well. If Matsuda-san will leave sleep, and me alone, I will. I am almost finished, as it is." A few minutes passed, with L continuing to type. Eventually, after what had seemed like an eternity to Matsuda, L shut off his computer and stood up, lollipop in hand. He walked past Matsuda, not waiting for the man to follow him.
"Um, Ryuuzaki, what about Light?" The older an asked, looking back at the screens on the wall, just remembering the Kira suspect.
"I will be returning to Light-kun and I's room. It doesn't appear as though he will wake up in the five minutes it takes me to get there. In case he does, this is all being recorded, so I can simply view the footage later today."
"O-oh." The two walked in silence, until Matsuda reached his door. Turning to bid the detective goodnight, he found him already strolling away, having not bothered to stop in the first place.
"Wait, Ryuuzaki?" L stopped.
"…What is it?" He looked over his shoulder, sounding as though he had been tempted to just ignore Matsuda and continue on his to his room. Matsuda took a step closer, hesitantly.
"Uh…I just wanted to say good night. And, um…thanks for waking me up."
"Of course." L turned to leave, and it was then Matsuda made his decision. He took another step forward and hugged the detective quickly, before letting go and taking several steps back. L had become as stiff as a board, as the older man retreated to his room, biting his lip and wondering if he really should have done that. But…had L ever been hugged good night before? Maybe he shouldn't have, if he really hadn't been hugged before; that was what his reaction said…or maybe he was just surprised? Matsuda couldn't figure it out. He was too exhausted.
"G-good night." Matsuda repeated, closing the door to his room while L stayed where he stood, almost seeming to be a petrified statue. So quiet, almost to the point where he wasn't sure if he imagined it or not, L replied.
"…Good night, Matsuda-san."
Not a very good attempt at fluff, I know, but I tried. I haven't written in a long time...or had access to a laptop. xD Leave a review? I'll give you this un-burnt virtual muffin I made!
-Stormy
