I don't own death note, but if I did... there still probably wouldn't be any Cluedo. This applies to all three chapters of this fic.
Matsuda rubbed his hands together with glee and surveyed his handiwork, doing a kind of Sound-of-Music spin while no-one was looking. He had been busy since 4am, having cleverly concealed himself at an undisclosed location somewhere in the room when the rest of the task force left last night, waiting until L and Light went to bed to emerge and set about the place like an extra good-natured Christmas elf. That's right – it was Christmas! And Matsuda was determined to make it a good one, for everyone. Well, except maybe Kira. Although, the crime rate HAD fallen by 70 percent... Matsuda shook his head and filled his heart with Christmassy thoughts.
The usually sparse and cold Task Force HQ office was fully decked out in tinsel and holly, and, after witnessing Ryuuzaki and Light's secret little makeout session last night, he had rushed out to buy some mistletoe as well. (It wasn't like he was a voyeur or anything – they'd relocated to the bedroom before things got serious.) Matsuda was so happy. Spreading cheer was what he liked to do best. He hoped Ryuuzaki and Light would like it. Matsuda wasn't sure if Ryuuzaki even knew about Christmas, but he knew he could inject seasonal spirit into the genius, justice-obsessed heart of L, even if it killed him!
Matsuda lovingly set the last presents under the star-topped tree then scurried away back to his pad so he could arrive inconspicuously at a normal time and pretend this was all Father Christmas's doing.
And not a moment too soon. L and Light both entered the room at the same instant, looked at each other and said: "Matsuda." Then L's attention was caught by the massive pile of Christmas sweets surrounding his workstation and with a sudden urgency he propelled himself forward, pulling Light behind him and almost making him trip and knock over one of the smaller Christmas trees that were dotted around the place (the office contained 15 trees in total). Light opened his mouth to reprimand L, but saw that it would fall on deaf ears; L was staring in rapt awe at the assortment of Christmassy goods, just wanting to taste them, stack them, make complex structures out of them – where to start? And there was still the pile of unopened presents – maybe there would be food in there too! L started towards the tree and was about to rip the paper off two presents simultaneously when Light pounced on him.
"Ryuuzaki! You can't go opening presents before everyone is here. Besides, they're probably not even your presents. God, Ryuuzaki, don't be such a Grinch!" L looked like he was about to protest, but then satisfied himself with grumbling a bit and sampling some eggnog. His eyes widened. He'd never tasted anything like this before! He downed the rest of his current glass and poured himself some more, then settled down to arranging teams of gingerbread men in strategic battle formation.
By the time the rest of the task force members had arrived, L had successfully re-enacted the battle of Stalingrad in gingerbread form and had subsequently moved on to making a Christmas tree out of red and green gummy bears. Next to him, Light was actually working.
As expected, Matsuda burst into song the second he was in the door, blasting out "O Come, All Ye Faithful" in a rich baritone for all to hear. He was ignored. Then he remembered to be surprised, and looked about him in wonder.
"You guys know what this means, right? Father Christmas has been!"
He bounded over to where L and Light were sitting. "Wow Ryuuzaki, look at all these sweets he's brought you! He knows you too well, like he knows all of his children!" L decided not to point out to Matsuda that Father Christmas had nothing to do with monotheistic creationism.
"Yes, I don't quite know how to thank you for all these Matsuda," said L through a mouthful of Christmas pudding, with uncharacteristic sincerity.
Matsuda's eyes widened. "Don't thank me, thank – " "OK Matsuda." Slurred L, snuggling into his chair.
Matsuda got a warm Christmassy feeling inside. He had never seen Ryuuzaki snuggle into anything before (except Light last night). This must mean he was really experiencing Christmas spirit!
As Light glanced concernedly at L, Matsuda was only getting started. "OK, it's time for PRESENTS!"
Light jumped. He sighed discreetly – thank God Misa was spending Christmas in bed with the flu. Matsuda was bad enough on his own.
Light followed the rest of the task force towards the base of the unbelievably massive Christmas tree, only to feel a tug on his wrist as L failed to follow him. Light gently pulled on his hand and L half-slid off his chair and kind of floated across the room after Light. He didn't seem very... lucid.
They sat down and Matsuda started to hand out presents, inexplicably knowing whose was whose. As the task force members opened their presents one at a time, as insisted on by Matsuda, Light inspected L's condition. His wide-eyed stare was considerably more vague than usual, and he was sitting very close to Light and kept trying to lean on him. Light had a pretty good idea of what had happened.
"Hey, L," he murmered. L turned his head towards him and Light caught the faint scent of brandy on his breath. He rolled his eyes. For Christ's sake... L must not have known what alcohol tasted like when he decided to knock back a load of brandy-laced eggnog and was only now feeling the effects.
L had indeed realised the situation as Light had, but he couldn't bring himself to be particularly bothered about it at the moment... now he knew the taste of alcohol, he wouldn't be making the same mistake again (strange that he hadn't thought to taste it before as a precautionary measure), and besides, he had to admit, he felt... nice. He felt very warm and calm, and irrationally inclined to snuggle up to Light, no matter that everyone would be watching.
Light whispered in his ear; "Go easy on the eggnog".
"Mmmm." L smiled sleepily in response and leaned his face into Light's neck, mumbling something incoherent that sounded suspiciously like sweet nothings. Luckily for them, Matsuda was the only one who noticed this as everyone else was looking the other way in awe at Aizawa playing the electric guitar. Matsuda may have been incompetent in a lot of his doings, but no way was he incompetent at Christmas.
Light received a ribbed sweater to add to his totally awesome ribbed sweater collection. This pleased him.
When L's turn came around Light nudged him and he did his best to sit normally (for L) and look alive. His was rectangular; generally box shaped, and quite light. Mmm, Light. L wondered if it was a tin of biscuits. He tore the paper off. It was not.
But it was something nearly as good – it was a challenge in board-game form, a chance to prove himself as the greatest detective in the world, a test of wits against Light. And there was the extra obstacle of tipsiness! L could hardly wait.
It was CLUEDO.
