Rating: M for strong and suggestive language and mature themes

Warnings: BL/yaoi/slash/whatever else you prefer to call writers forcing two male characters into rampant homosexual frolicking.

Summary: Yagami Light is a young man of multiple secrets, and thanks to the newly born actress Amane Misa, L receives one more for the uncovering. But can a detective claim to be doing any real sleuthing when his main suspect is actually anxious to reveal all? LxLight, MisaxLight and LightxOther

A/N: My first (posted) Death Note fic, and it's been a very long time since I posted anything at all here. Please be gentle, and review.

Idol Worshipping

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For a young man of such reserved disposition, Yagami Light was being excessively…chatty.

It really was the only appropriate word for describing Light's current situation. He spoke of largely trivial things through almost every moment of his and L's traditional nightly sleep preparation rituals; even the part where he showered, which L happened to know was his preferred unwinding time. L wasn't convinced that Light was even aware of speaking – his true thoughts seemed to be miles away from his unusual conversationalism, having abandoned his body to autopilot with his mouth left wandering aimlessly.

It wasn't that it bothered L to simply listen to him in neutral objectivity – it cost him little effort when Light was already expecting minimal response, if he cared for or noticed receiving any at all, and he might even gain new insight into Kira from it – but the younger man was only prone to such behavior in moments of increased mental agitation. When there was simply too much happening in that mind. L had marked the manifestation of the uncharacteristic behavior before. Therefore, though he was disinclined to dig for it, the detective was very curious about the cause of the agitation that left the real Light retreating into himself and the automaton at the surface.

Currently Light was temporarily handcuffed to the bedpost, having already changed into his sleepwear, so that L could strip out of his daywear. He was sitting quite sedately, staring around without appearing to see anything in particular and absently fingering two thick squares of paper. He was taking care, however, even in his absentness, not to smudge the glossy paper finish or crease the pristinely crisp edges or otherwise rumple them in any way.

" – and my father is passably competent with handling computers – he's received work related training in them, of course, when their usage became more prevalent – but he doesn't really understand the full potential," Light was saying as L dropped his jeans and shirt into the laundry hamper, where they landed on top of Light's painstakingly folded garments.

"The reason for the draw escapes him. He might run a few programs for work purposes, but you won't find him anywhere near a processor when he's off duty – "

Even though they were prepared for bed, L could easily remain awake for many more hours. He was accustomed to running off of a combination of sugar and caffeine and actually enjoyed working on projects in the early hours of the morning, but Light needed more sleep than that to function optimally. So it wasn't that L was irritated by the chattering, or exactly bored by it, or even weary of making occasional nods or vague humming noises in placation that was the reason he decided Light should really resolve his mental dilemma. It was purely so Light could obtain the necessary amount of sleep.

" – Sayu's actually quite talented in that area, which you have to admit is strictly more artistic than – "

"Light-kun," said L while he went about reattaching the handcuff to his own bare wrist, cool metal against his flesh sliding into place with a satisfying click. He gazed steadily at the younger man.

Light appeared both surprised and unsurprised at being so solemnly interrupted. His eyes flickered with the first spark of true awareness that L had seen in several hours. At least some part of him was paying attention.

"You should be resting to regain your energy so as not to be exhausted tomorrow. That is to say, go to sleep. Do you want to throw those away before you do?"

L pointed to the papers Light held. Upon hearing them acknowledged, Light drew them closer to his body in an involuntarily covetous gesture that struck L as very curious.

They had already had a discussion about them once that day, which was when Amane Misa presented them in the early afternoon. She had made a special trip back to L's headquarters in between a meeting and a commercial shoot just to deliver them.

"Misa brought these for Light because she can get as many as she wants for free because she is an actress in the movie. Light has never been to see Misa at work, but Misa knows he must be proud of her anyway because he's her boyfriend, so she was sure that he would want to see the first movie she was in," the idol had declared as she flashed two special showing tickets and a broad smile before the eyes of the investigation team before placing the papers in Light's unresisting hands.

"They're for the fancy premiere night that all of the actors will be presenting at," she continued.

"Light could come as Misa's date, but Matsui manager already told Misa that Ryuuzaki probably wouldn't agree to let Light out of his sight, even for her special movie" – her expression darkened to a pout – " and Misa can't have two dates because it would look weird."

"And Misa wouldn't want anyone to learn that Ryuuzaki thinks her wonderful boyfriend is some bad murderer. But" – she brightened again – "that doesn't mean Light can't attend anonymously like everyone else just to support her, right?"

She beamed with pride at having made this conclusion and gave Light an exaggeratedly messy kiss on the cheek that later caused him several minutes of scrubbing off "Pink in the Limo" lipcolor with the back of his hand. Then she took off for her commercial, disappearing around the door only after calling back, "Think about it, Light and convince Ryuuzaki!"

Misa's first movie was by a popular director who had her co-staring with the sensational Ryuga Hideki, the actor whose name Ryuuzaki had stolen for his alias at To-Oh. With a teenage sister in the house, Light was probably very accustomed to hearing about him, L had heard the name tossed around on several occasions just during the few days that he observed the Yagami household; Yagami Sayu seemed to be a young girl with a passion for him.

The movie itself was called Earth Angel and was about a young female angel, delicate from the traumatizing death she'd experienced before earning her wings, that fell to Earth in a bizarre mishap and lost all of her memory. Luckily she was discovered by a devastatingly handsome doctor (Ryuga Hideki), jaded enough to believe that he would never find love at the ancient age of twenty-seven, or at least a woman who didn't want him just for his money, who made it his duty to protect her from corrupt government agencies and ruthless rare treasure collectors. It was a ridiculous plot with predictably boring characters and, as far as L could tell from listening to Misa's past babblings about it, poorly scripted and cheaply produced. It would make millions in the box office from the combined force of MisaMisa and Ryuga's fans.

It was not the sort of thing that an intelligent young man like Light would usually have the slightest interest in, unless the young man was forced into the necessity of accompanying an adoring girlfriend. It had already been made inescapably clear that there was no possible way for Light to accompany one of the movie's stars, as it would put the investigation in an uncomfortably public place, so L would think that there would be no further need for him to concern himself with it. But Light, defying all logical explanation, had not immediately discarded the pair of tickets. Instead, he pocketed them with care and removed them only upon preparing for bed, so that they weren't sent through the laundry with his clothes.

L could tell now that there was something about the tickets that Light really did want to discuss, but for whatever reason, probably out of embarrassment, couldn't bring himself to bring up.

"Or does Light-kun actually desire to see Amane-san with wings?" L continued when Light suddenly seemed to have lost his voice.

"That really would be quite a sight, but if Light-kun only wants something to remind himself of Misa at certain times, pictures last longer, and I'm sure Misa could provide him with many good still frame shots so that he wouldn't actually have to go see the movie – "

"Ryuuzaki," Light interrupted, his tone indicating that he was purposefully ignoring the detective's baiting, which could often get him quite riled.

"I want to see Misa's movie. I know we're busy with the investigations into Yotsuba, but would you please consider being lenient enough to give us this one evening off?"

Light made his request very solemnly, but with averted eyes. His cheeks were tinged a delicate pink, giving unintentional support to L's embarrassment theory.

L paused to consider the young man's admission, pushing his thumb against his lower lip.

Light seemed completely serious. The desire and request delivered with his usual accuracy and precision. But if Light really wanted this, his approach to acquiring his desire was completely contradictory to how he usually went about achieving his goals. The Light that L had known at To-Oh was a born manipulator who knew how to use people according to their strengths and weaknesses. If that Light had wanted to attend this showing of Earth Angel, he would have openly declared that it was the very last thing he wanted to do and invented multiple flimsy excuses about how and why he couldn't possibly make it all the while counting on L easily puncturing those same excuses and gleefully deciding that he ought to push Light into playing the role of the dedicated boyfriend for his own sadistic amusement. He would count on L to drag him into it just to be contrary to the disinterest he expressed.

But this Light was simply asking. L was unsure if this was because he was trying the tactic of genuinity or because he was trying to manipulate L into refusing by making L think that this would make him truly miserable when it would really make him happy. Yagami Light was an embodied headache.

"Light wants me to…take him to the movies? This is a very couples oriented occupation. Of course, Light is going so he can watch his girlfriend, so I'm not sure what this leaves me feeling…."

"Ryuuzaki!"

Light's blush had increased dramatically as he made his protestation. He appeared scandalized as much as mortified and affronted by L's lack of social tact, and L offered him a lopsided smile that he only rarely displayed. Genuinity he decided.

"Very well, Light-kun," said L, "I will make you a deal."

He waited until Light raised his head hopefully and then continued, "If you give me your honest reason for wanting to go, I will take you. And don't lie, because I'll know. Also, in the interest of saving time, as you might think of trying several lies, I'll give you just a single chance at this."

Pride and desire warred across the younger man's features. One of his fists clenched and unclenched in his lap. L could see his mental process like he was doing his consideration aloud. Should he break down and confess a humiliating truth or try to feed the detective a believable lie? Would L really be able to tell if he lied about a movie? Probably, yes, it was L. So it was all a matter of how much Light really wanted to see it that would force a confession out of him.

"I – I want," said Light. "I want to see Ryuga Hideki."

A/N: This was born from one too many Death Note marathon viewings when my warped little mind went wandering and fixed itself on Yagami Sayu's idol obsession and thought, "Damn, wouldn't Light and that Ryuga Hideki guy look hot together?" And you thought this was going to be an LxLight fic? (Well, actually, you're right). Review, please.