Hey there, world! So, I'm totally supposed to be doing a chemistry packet right now, but I decided to procrastinate and write this instead :) I really, really liked that brief moment in Death Note where L and Misa were friends and running around in a circle of happiness (I block out Light's face whenever I picture the scene). I think their relationship depicted in those short moments scattered around in the series is really sweet, so I thought I'd write about it. Also, I firmly like to believe that Misa is not as dumb as people think. Sooo, this little story is going to be ten chapters long in which L finds out something about Misa that people didn't know about. Pretty neat, huh? Maybe? Almost? Anyways, enjoy the fic!
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. Or Tetris. You'll see...
Misa sighed as she stared out of her rain soaked window into the night. The pouring droplets pelted the rooftop of the investigations headquarters, shrouding the outside world from Misa's honey eyes in a sheet of rain. Her ears picked up the faint rumble thunder off in the distance. She rubbed her arms as a slight draft entered the room.
The red numbers of her digital clock read 2:43 am, the only real light in her otherwise dark, spacious room. The idol dropped her chin into her hand and sighed again into her palm as her elbow rested on her window sill. Well, at least it would be, if her window didn't stretch the entire length of her wall, floor to ceiling. As it was, her elbow instead sat upon her upturned knee, her opposite leg stretched out before her.
The young idol had lost track of how long she had been sitting in this position, staring out into the rain, but it was enough to make her back crick when she moved. Misa was honest enough to admit that she wasn't the most pensive person in the world, and it wasn't like she was scared of thunderstorms or anything. That would be cliché. She just found it so difficult to fall asleep with all the noise.
Crack.
Her eyes caught a short glimpse of lightning piercing jaggedly through the rain, before disappearing out of sight. Another round of deep thunder soon followed in its wake, before rumbling away into a low, faint murmur.
A poorly stifled yawn escaped from her mouth as Misa stretched her arms out in front of her. Her body was wading around the brink of sleep, but her mind was refusing to go sweetly under. It didn't help that Light was off doing some special mission and Rem had drifted off to her own devices (probably tailing Light), leaving Misa all alone at the headquarters. She didn't realize just how quiet things were without Rem to keep her company.
Misa felt her eyelids droop, but she frowned when her mind refused to rest. This wouldn't do. Models needed their beauty sleep. If not, Misa could wind up with panda eyes like Ryuzaki. The idol smirked as her thoughts turned to the detective, who was probably still up staring at his monitors somewhere, popping sugar cubes into his mouth now and again.
"Ugh, Ryuzaki-san is so weird." Misa didn't even realize that she had said this sentiment aloud. Usually, she would start with an eep when Rem gave a reply. However, seeing that the shinigami was nowhere in sight, the room remained quiet, sans for the dull pitter patter of the rain.
On an impulse, Misa grasped her cellphone lying beside her, checking to see if Light had sent her any new messages. She squinted against the sudden brightness of the screen. When her eyes had adjusted she sighed again, re-encasing herself in darkness as she flipped it shut. Of course he wouldn't have messaged her; it was nearly three in the morning. But still…
Tap tap tap.
Misa's head tipped up, her ears quirking in the darkness. The outside storm fell heavily against the late night streets, but just above that, the idol could have sworn she heard a faint, rhythmic noise. Curious, Misa soundlessly rose from the plushly carpeted floor and carefully stepped through the darkness. Successfully avoiding bumping her shin against her queen sized bed, Misa guided herself with one hand stretched out into the darkness, following the soft, faint resonance.
The rain was beating down just as loud as before when Misa stepped into the unlit hallway, her brows furrowing when the dim sound seemed to be coming from the other end of the corridor.
"That's weird," Misa said, once again not realizing she had spoken. Her fingers gingerly felt along the wall as she proceeded down the long hallway. "Ryuzaki-san said I had this entire floor to myself."
Her feet stopped before a door at the end of the hall. She hadn't noticed this before. Brightness seeped through the cracks of the entry, throwing a deep shadow behind the model's slim frame. Misa leaned in, her head turned to the side to listen more closely at the rhythmic tapping emitting from the other side. It almost sounded like fingers on a keyboard.
She gingerly pressed the pads of her fingers against the smooth plaster for support and leaned her ear in closer. The fast, metallic tapping sound continued with lightning speed, before stopping abruptly. Misa's brow quirked and she leaned in until her ear was fully pressed against the door, trying to catch where the sound had hidden. The handle suddenly turned with a click and a small yelp left her lips in surprise. The solid material abruptly swung open, revealing a dark, slouching silhouette standing in its frame.
Ryuzaki!
The lanky detective raised a brow as he stared down at the young, heavily breathing model. "Hello, Misa-san." The idol couldn't help but gawk as the detective actually twittered his fingers in greeting, her heart still threatening to punch through her chest at his unexpected appearance.
"Don't hello, me! Just what do you think you're doing here?" she yelled, having quickly recovered. She was briefly embarrassed when her voice sounded louder than she expected compared to the silence before it, but the feeling quickly passed. Out of all the sudden inquiries she could have made, this one sounded perfectly legitimate in her mind, since the floor was supposed to belong solely to her. The fact that Ryuzaki owned the entire building did not cross her mind.
The detective didn't seem at all phased at the girl's outburst, his hands casually stuffing in his pockets.
"I thought I heard a noise and naturally went to see what it was. Though, I honestly didn't expect to see you standing in my doorway, Misa-san." The model bristled a bit and felt the heat flood her face as the detective peered curiously down at her.
"So, tell me, Misa-san, what brings you here?" Ryuzaki asked casually, like it wasn't three in the morning or anything and like she wasn't one of the top most beautiful models in Japan.
"Well, Ryuzaki-san," Misa said a bit caustically, her thin arms coming to cross against her chest. "I thought I heard a noise and-"
"Naturally," the detective inserted.
"-went to see what it was." She finished, her tawny eyes glaring at him for his interruption.
Ryuzaki nodded, his thumb coming to press against the corner of his mouth.
"My apologies, Misa-san." He said, almost like an afterthought beforehand. "I know I stated before that this floor would be solely in your possession, but seeing how you're usually gone and only use about a fifth of the space, I figured you wouldn't mind if I borrowed this one room as a small shut-away for my own purposes."
Own purposes? Her lips parted, fully intent on calling Ryuzaki a pervert, but he quickly intercepted, as if reading her thoughts.
"However," the detective continued, dark bangs falling over his eyes as he tilted his head in thought. "I must admit, your visit is quite surprising. I had calculated that the chances of you actually being awakened by my activities were only a slim eight percent."
Misa's blonde brows furrowed at this last statement. Eight percent? Did he just make that up?
"I assure you, I did not."
She jumped a bit at his unexpected reply. Eh? Did I say that out loud? No, no, I'm sure I didn't.
"Misa-san, are you all right?" Ryuzaki asked politely, that odd little smile of his at his lips.
"Perfect," the model replied without thinking. Can this guy read minds or something? That wouldn't be surprising, what with his big, scary, super-brain…
She shook her head a bit, clearing away these thoughts. Misa peered over Ryuzaki's thin shoulder, curious to see just what detectives do at three in the morning. The bright light behind his back was an obvious indicator that he had been using a computer. She laughed at the thought of finding Tetris on his screen.
Inside, the room was surprisingly cluttered for a "small shut-away." Folders and newspapers were scattered across the hardwood floor in messy disarray. Books and papers were literally piled upon each other to create little pillars of knowledge around the room, a few plates of sweets teetering at the tops. In the middle of it all, laid a sophisticated looking laptop. Misa didn't recognize the language on the page which the screen projected.
The words left her mouth before she had a chance to process them. "What exactly do you do in here?" Misa couldn't imagine that he was actually solving more cases on the side of the Kira investigation. Then again, a jewel heist in Belgium and a mysterious political kidnapping in Argentina probably seemed like small fish in a pond to the world's greatest detective. She almost wished he was playing Tetris.
"I'm afraid if I were to tell you I would be revealing classified information, Misa-san." He replied, his face cautious in the minimal, artificial light.
Misa rolled her eyes at his response. Political kidnapping it is. Sometimes, she felt like his eyes were analyzing her when she wasn't looking, dissecting her every feature, looking for signs that she was the Second Kira. Misa had always vehemently denied any of Ryuzaki's accusations, but she could almost feel that he was still holding onto that small .02 percent, or whatever his arbitrary calculation was by now.
Without asking permission, Misa strolled past Ryuzaki into his/her room. He had promised her that every room on the floor belonged to her during her temporary residence. Besides, her mind was just as restless as when she started this little expedition. Might as well have a little fun.
Ryuzaki eyed her as the idol walked around the room. She occasionally leaned over to look at a stray document or open text book, but quickly became bored when she realized only about a sixth of the things in the room were in Japanese. How could the detective even stand to volley between French, Russian, and German the way he did?
"Misa-san, please don't touch that."
Misa's hand had been poised above Ryuzaki's keyboard, a tiny grin playing at her lips from eliciting a response from him.
She clasped one of her wrists behind her back with an air of angelic innocence. "Ryuzaki-saaan, Misa-Misa is bored."
"Sleep will alleviate that quickly."
"If Misa could sleep, she wouldn't be here."
"Perhaps some cake would help you fall asleep."
"What?" she replied, horrified. "Ryuzaki-san, that didn't even make sense! And besides, I can't eat sweets. I'm a model!"
"On the contrary, Misa-san, I conducted a study several years ago that showed a promising correlation between certain types of cake and satisfactory levels of sleep."
A pause went by.
"…You're making that up."
"Say what you wish. Last chance for cake."
Misa scowled as Ryuzaki plucked a plate of red velvet cheese cake from atop a stack of books, his legs moving to retrieve a fork from another pile across the room. She noticed that the room smelled deliciously sweet from all the cakes and cookies scattered about. Such temptations were dangerous for a model of her standards.
"Ryuzaki-san, you're going to get fat if you eat all that cake."
"Have you forgotten what I said about the brain having the ability to burn calories, Misa-san?"
Ugh, there he goes calling me stupid again!
"Fine! Eating all those sweets will give you nightmares then." She snapped back.
"I don't sleep." Ryuzaki said, his fork scraping up the last bits of frosting left from his now eaten cheesecake.
As if anyone could tell, Misa thought, her eyes settling on the dark outlines beneath his own. By now, he was sitting–or, rather, crouching– on the floor in front of his computer, the bright screen illuminating his slouching features. Misa hesitated, a long moment passing by, before finally coming to sit cross-legged beside him. Ryuzaki stiffened a bit at their sudden closeness, but only for a moment shorter than her own. In another bout of impulsiveness, Misa moved to scrape the tiniest bit of white, buttercream frosting from his plate onto the tip of her perfectly manicured finger. The girl could have wept at the small, but blissful burst of sweetness that spread over her tongue. Sugar, oh, how I've missed you. Misa quickly resolved to run an extra two miles in the morning for this little indulgence. Well, later in the morning, that is.
Misa looked over from her saccharine-induced bliss to find Ryuzaki's dark eyes staring intently at her. She swallowed, suddenly feeling nervous under his intense gaze.
"What?" she asked defensively.
Ryuzaki continued to stare, before blinking slowly. "I was trying to remember any magazines in which Misa-san smiled the way she did just now."
"O-oh?" she replied. What a weird guy. "Misa-Misa always smiles pretty for the camera."
He nodded as if knowing and dismissing this. "Yes, but Misa-san's smile just now was much more genuine."
Misa crossed her arms again. "Are you saying Misa's smiles aren't genuine?" She demanded as sudden indignation swelled in her breast.
Ryuzaki remained perfectly calm as he answered, his thumb rising to press against his lips. "Of course not, Misa-san. All I'm saying is that you were exceptionally pretty just now."
Her face felt warm as the anger was quickly replaced with embarrassment. "Really?" she asked, her honey eyes melting to nectar.
Ryuzaki nodded. "And I have concluded that you have not yet blessed any cameras with that particular smile, too. At least, none that I know of."
Misa wasn't sure how to reply. Despite being a super model, she still wasn't quite used to compliments like that.
"Ryuzaki-san is surprisingly sweet." Her cheeks were rosy as she simpered. Her smile was a softer version of the one before, but wasn't lacking in beauty in the slightest.
"Hey, um," Misa felt like she had to say something more, but her usually impeccable articulacy was failing her. "Um, do you want to play…Tetris?"
She mentally kicked herself. Stupid, stupid!
Misa hesitantly looked up to see Ryuzaki's expression. Instead of the condescending remark she was expecting, Ryuzaki was busy focused on a plate of zeppole.
Eh? When did he…?
"I apologize, Misa-san," the detective said. Misa cringed at the powdered sugar he was dripping over his shirt. The white flecks blended in with the similar color of his shirt, so she guessed they weren't too noticeable…, "but I feel as though I would have an unfair advantage, seeing how I am already the online, reigning champion."
Eh?
Ryuzaki offered his plate of pastries towards the gaping model. "Would you like one, Misa-san? It's almost like a doughnut."
She winced when he stretched the plate of sweets before her. Wow, they look like a professional, Italian pastry chef made them…No! Must…resist…
Misa noticed when Ryuzaki's panda eyes suddenly blinked, his dark hair falling into his eyes as his head tilted. "It seems the rain has stopped."
Blond brows furrowed over topaz eyes, until Misa also realized that the sound of droplets hitting the world had ceased. Ryuzaki gingerly placed his plate beside his computer as his hands returned to poise above the keyboards.
"I suppose you'll be going now, right, Misa-san?" He said without looking towards her.
"W-what?" she asked. Her face returned to one of indignation, if only to hide the small, miniscule, barely-there twinge of hurt she felt at his callous words. "Are you saying you don't want Misa here?"
"No." Ryuzaki said. His face didn't leave the screen as his hands began to type, but Misa noted with mixed emotions how he had answered without the slightest hesitance. Either he actually liked having her for a friend, or he was a better actor than even she. "I assumed you came here because you don't enjoy thunder storms. Now that it is over, I assumed you would naturally wish to return to your room."
The detective still wouldn't look at her as he said this. Misa crossed her arms, a sudden smile tugging her lips.
"What makes Ryuzaki-san think Misa-Misa is afraid of thunderstorms? That's a bit cliché, don't you think?"
Knowing that calling a woman clichéd usually did not blow over well–despite his grain-sized social competence–Ryuzaki's typing fingers stopped as he turned his head to peer over at his smiling companion. His eyes looked to be gauging her intentions. Despite the weird punch of nervousness in her stomach, Misa refused to break eye contact. Now that she had his attention, she didn't plan on letting it go. The detective seemed to have reached a conclusion.
Misa could practically see the tension dissipate from Ryuzaki's frame as he plucked another Italian pastry between his fingers.
"Would you like me to show you the secret of winning Tetris in three seconds, Misa-san?" he asked. Before she could answer, Ryuzaki had hit a key on his keyboard that replaced the complex looking, foreign document on the screen, with what looked to be a half-finished game of Tetris on pause.
"Only if you don't offer Misa any more sweets. I can feel the calories from that frosting curling in my thighs."
At this, the detective's eyes naturally began to roam down to the aforementioned area, which was followed by a rather loud accusation from Misa. At the bottom right of the screen— past the colored blocks that fell like snow to the sound of the detective's calm instructions and the model's bell-esque laughter– tiny numbers proclaimed the time to be 4:18 a.m.
1. Misa-Misa never liked cliches
Sooo, did you like it? I know I did, especially when writing the little back and forth exchange between L and Misa :) I'm able to admit that dialogue is not my strong suit, so this was a nice exercise in that criteria for me.
I'm pretty busy with school and all, but I'm confident that this fic will eventually be complete with all ten chapters and secrets. Thooough, reviews certainly help speed the process along *hint hint*
This might be a stretch, but how about this: ten reviews and I'll work on writing the second chapter. Deal?
P.S. I've never played Tetris in my life, but I thought it'd be funny if L turned out to be a total boss at it :)