Sweet Dreams
Groggily, Raito pushed himself up, blinking slowly in the darkness. He cocked his head to his right to look at the digital clock on his bedside table. Three-thirty in the morning. He groaned slightly and let his head fall back on his pillow.
Two hours.
It had been three days since it was confirmed that Higuchi Kyosuke of the Yotsuba Corp was Kira. Those three days had been particularly difficult as the pressure was on to trap the 'third Kira'. Although he was glad that by tomorrow, he would be unchained from the detective and free of suspicion, he still wanted to prove to L that he was dedicated in capturing Kira. And ever since the pursuit began, this was the first time he was able to convince L to stop and catch some sleep.
And now something woke him, interrupting his much needed rest. Damn.
Speaking of which, what had woken him in the first place?
A movement on his left answered him. "Raito-kun?"
"Hn?"
Raito didn't bother turning to face L. He was too busy trying to reclaim the sleep that he missed for the past three days. Facing the detective would effectively wake him up, as L's mind games tend to irritate the hell out of him.
"Did I wake you up?"
"Apparently."
A pause. Another movement.
If Raito didn't know any better, it seemed as if the detective was actually lying down and was restlessly turning in his place. That would be a first, since Raito always fell asleep first while the detective still worked on his laptop, and woke to find L's unnerving wide eyes studying him carefully.
"Sorry I seem to find trouble sleeping."
Raito had to glance at L. "You actually sleep?"
L was indeed lying down on his side, a thumb caught between his teeth. His owlish eyes seemed to glow in the dark room, making it look even wider.
"Contrary to the popular belief, I do sleep," L replied, his free hand pulling the comforter closer to him. "It is necessary for the proper functioning human body after all. I just find it waste of good time, when one can spend it solving cases and eating sweets."
Yawning, Raito turned his back from the other man and closed his eyes. "Yeah, well fun as it is to discuss your sleeping habits, Ryuuzaki, I'd really like to sleep now. You should too. We need all our energy for the chase tomorrow Good night."
Silence followed. Raito, satisfied that L had actually gone to sleep, relaxed. It would be a long day ahead at daybreak, and he was determined to get as much sleep as he could.
Slowly, Raito drifted off to sleep. Or so he thought.
"Too loud they're too loud "
The voice was definitely not loud enough to wake him. On the contrary, the voice was soft, almost whispering. But strangely, it made Raito drift back to consciousness. The sudden rattle of the chain effectively startled him to complete wakefulness.
"W-what? What's loud?" he mumbled hoarsely, blearily looking around him.
"Make them stop, Watari don't want to hear them "
Raito sat up, rubbing his eyes, while looking around. L was curled on his side with his back at Raito. He couldn't see if the detective was asleep or not, but he was certain it was the detective who muttered those words.
"Loud...too loud..."
"Ryuuzaki?" Raito leaned over the hunched form, shaking L's shoulder lightly. "What's loud?"
L pulled himself tighter into a ball, still muttering, "Bells... Make them stop..."
Sighing, Raito stood and rounded to L's side of the bed. Flicking the table lamp open, he crouched in front of L's curled form, intending to wake him up only to find a thoroughly disconcerting sight.
L had his hands covering both of his ears, while his hair was damp with sweat, making them stick in the detective's pale face. His dark eyes were open, but didn't seem to see Raito as he hovered above. In fact, L had a very distressed look in his face, a far cry from the usually detached expression the detective usually wore.
Raito quickly shook L. "Ryuuzaki! Ryuuzaki, wake up."
L blinked at his touch. His eyes lifted to meet Raito's, and though the younger man could see the distress had not left L's eyes, he seemed to finally recognize Raito.
"I am awake, Raito-kun."
Raito released him, glaring. "I noticed," he said, watching as the detective shakily pulled himself into his usual sitting position. L didn't lose the haunted look, even when he started gnawing on his thumb with more ferocity than was usual.
Raito waited.
L owed him an explanation for that weird behavior. Several moments passed, and when it became obvious the detective wasn't planning on explaining himself, Raito decided to help him out.
"Well, what the hell was that, Ryuuzaki?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "You wake me up, acting like someone threatened to eat all your sugar-laced 'food' and put you on a vegetable diet. I deserve some explanation at least."
"I merely had a nightmare, Raito-kun. I am entitled to have one, once in a while, like any other human being," replied L, not meeting the brunette's eyes.
That action, of course, confirmed Raito's suspicion that L was lying. "You're lying. You're just trying to avoid the subject."
"I am not lying. I did have a nightmare and am entitled to one," said L cynically, an arm snaking around his curved legs, pulling them closer to his chest. "...Although, I *am* trying to avoid the topic. This is not the time to discuss something as trivial as a nightmare." Finally glancing at Raito with that hollow look of his, L gestured to the bed. "After all, we need all our energy for the chase tomorrow "
Crossing his arms, Raito stood unmoving. "I heard that before."
"You did have a point in that statement, Raito-kun. I suggest you follow your own counsel and forget about this."
"No."
" You are being stubborn, Raito-kun," L said, after a pregnant pause. Then, the detective slid down to the bed and tossed the covers over his skinny form. "If you want to stand there for the rest of the night, suit yourself. Good night."
Raito never wanted anything more than to slip under the warm covers and sleep until daybreak. But something about L's distressed look bothered Raito. It wasn't as if he was worried for the impossibly irritating and incredibly weird detective. Rather, he was curious.
What could possibly distress the world's greatest detective enough to make him lose his composure?
Shaking his head, Raito said, "Fine then. But could we get a glass of milk down the kitchen? I'll find trouble sleeping after that display. You should get one too; it can help calm you."
L blinked at him and stood up, shoving his hands in his pajama pockets. "If you say so, Raito-kun."
They quietly made their way down the empty corridors to the kitchen. They walked in companionable silence, one of the rare ones when they weren't engaged in their usual mind games. When they reached the kitchen, Raito fixed himself a warm mug of milk.
Seeing as L just stood there, watching his toes as he wriggled them with that same haunted look, Raito sighed and began fixing one for the detective as well. L was vaguely surprised when Raito pushed the steaming mug in front of him.
At L's questioning look, Raito slid into a chair, bringing his mug to his lips, and shrugged. "I've put in nine sugar cubes."
"You counted?"
"We've been chained for months now, Ryuuzaki. And it is the 15th of October."
L's lips quirked upwards. "That's quite observant of you."
"That was quite a compliment."
"It is."
"I was being sarcastic."
"I wasn't," said L, picking up a teaspoon with his fingertips and stirring the mug. "Even Watari had taken years to notice that I put in nine sugar cubes every second, fifth, ninth, fifteenth and twenty-second every even-numbered month, while for the rest of the time I put in seven."
"Is there any particular reason for that insanely strange habit?'
"No. I just felt like it."
"Hn. I thought so."
They lapsed into another silence, broken only by sips from their warm mugs. The silence was so comfortable that even Raito was compelled to think that he and L were actually friends, sharing a late night drink.
Raito was certain that if they met under different circumstances, he and L would actually be friends. Best friends, even. They were so alike, not physically perhaps, but the drive, the interests, the view of the world, and the passion for justice. It was almost impossible for them *not* to be friends.
But then, Kira existed.
Kira was the one solid wall that kept them from being friends.
L suspected him to be Kira. Though the detective had told Raito that he was his first friend, Raito honestly doesn't believe him. It was simply a trick to test if Raito was indeed Kira. Everything the detective did or said always were baits for the brunette to admit something self-incriminating, thus preventing Raito to trust L completely.
It was a fact that he and L would never be friends as long as Kira existed.
Friendship cannot exist where there is no trust.
Raito found himself wondering if part of the reason why he wanted to catch Kira so bad was not only to prove his innocence, but to also gain L's trust
"You said something about bells."
L, who had been playing with a stack of sugar cubes, dropped the one he was holding, making the stack collapse into countless crystalline particles. The detective didn't answer but gazed thoughtfully at him.
"You said something about them being too loud," Raito persisted.
"..."
"I heard nothing."
Wordlessly, L slid a finger across the sugary mess before putting it in his lips, sucking it delicately. He continued on like that for some time, and just when Raito began to think he would never answer, L's finger froze in the table. Looking up, Raito found the detective with his head bowed; his dark bangs shielding his eyes from view.
"I can hear them It's been a while since, but when it's too quiet, they they seem to be deafening in my ears," L said, raising his head.
Raito could vaguely see the conflict in L's eyes, unsure whether it was a mistake to talk about it. The detective sighed, apparently deciding to continue.
"I was raised in an orphanage. There were bells I hated it when they rang," he said, beginning to stack sugar cubes once more. "Even if you are Kira, it is safe to tell you that. Records of an orphan's personal information and whereabouts are strictly off-limits to the public, so you can get no information about me there."
Raito scowled. "I thought we established that Higuchi was Kira."
"Third Kira. I still believe that you are the original Kira," corrected the detective. His hand paused on top of the stack, hesitant. "...I really hated those bells to me, they signify death."
L's last statement hung heavily in the air.
The two geniuses stared as the final cube was placed. The tower stood stiffly for a minute or two but then, it trembled and came crashing down.
Raito stared at the ruined stack thoughtfully. He was so lost in thought that when L stood up, he gave a start. L ignored his reaction and instead began to move towards their quarters.
"We really should get some rest now, Raito-kun. You can't expect me to haul you around tomorrow when you begin to sleepwalk."
Raito, having to keep up with the detective, frowned. "I don't sleepwalk."
"How would you know that? You're asleep. I always needed to sit on you to keep you from getting up from the bed."
"Hn," grunted Raito, unsure whether to believe L's account. "At least I don't pass gas when I sleep."
L froze. "Do I?"
"You eat nothing but cakes, donuts and pastry. Too much yeast."
Raito was about to open the door to their room when he heard a strange sound. He glanced back and saw L was actually chuckling, and then a few moments later, he burst out in a full-throated laughter.
It was completely and absolutely creepy seeing the eccentric detective laughing like that, but maybe that was why it was so contagious. Raito soon found himself chuckling along and soon joined in laughter. It was the kind of laugh that he hadn't done for a long time now, the kind of laugh that had the eyes watering in mirth.
Eventually, they stopped laughing to catch their breaths, both winded out from laughing too hard.
"That was a good one, Raito-kun. I actually had no comeback for that," L admitted, stepping inside the room.
"You're quite generous with your compliments today, Ryuuzaki."
"No, it was quite due," assured L, climbing on the bed and curling up as he usually did. He paused, waiting for Raito to settle on his side of the bed before continuing quietly, all humor gone from his voice. "You did me a lot of good today, Raito-kun. I thought I ought to thank you for it."
Raito wanted to ask what those good are, but decided against it. If L would ask the same thing, he probably wouldn't want to answer too. Instead, he said nonchalantly, "It's nothing really. Just wanted to get a glass of milk."
He felt L slid down beneath his blankets and lay completely still.
Silence descended upon the room. Ten minutes had passed. The digital clock announced it was four-fifteen. Exactly two hours and fifteen minutes until the insomniac detective shake him awake for the day.
And Raito, to his frustration, had never felt so awake in his life.
"Ryuuzaki?"
Silence.
"Yes, Raito-kun?"
Silence.
He couldn't simply blurt it out, could he?
"...Thank you," he paused. He never thought saying his gratefulness could be so hard. "For telling."
He felt, rather than saw the detective's small smile when he spoke a minute later. "Good night, Raito-kun."
He smirked as he closed his eyes. "Sweet dreams, Ryuuzaki."
A/N: Hm.. What can I say? I love L/Raito friendship moments And FF is definitely short on them.. I sort of want to remedy that, but I can only hope I was doing a good job out of it (-.-)
Please tell me what you think of this story.. Thanks a lot for reading!
EDITED.