Chapter 2
The revitalizing smell of fresh coffee sneaks inside Raito's nostrils and brings him back from the sleeping dead. He cannot recall the last time he has rested so well. He is completely refreshed. As expected, there is the sound of silver spoon stirring at expensive bone china. Watari must have entered the bedroom not more than 5 minutes ago and had left quietly, as always. At least it takes that long for the aroma to saturate the room.
The air conditioning from the vents is blowing on the curtains next to the full wall windows, making the fabrics shift and letting in hints of sunlight. Other than that, the room is shrouded in shadows. Of course it is daylight and no lighting is necessary to be able to see things. A sipping sound can be heard.
"Ah Raito-kun. I hope you had rested well last night?" L asks, but not out of real concern. Otherwise, why keep him under a chain? He continues, "You must take good care of yourself. None of us on the team wants you to fall ill, at a time like this."
Right, as if he gives a fuck. L doesn't make small talk and that makes Raito uneasy. He cannot fathom where L is coming from this time. The infamous detective is difficult to read. He mumbles a good morning then flings off the blanket without a second thought.
"Be careful, you may catch a cold." L adds. Raito is mortified. He has probably felt the cool air a split second before L's sentence registered. He forgot about his pajama bottoms and his morning wood is in full sight. He realizes a leg of the pajama was on top of the blanket and it was too possible that L knew he was naked from the waist down before he even woke up.
Stay calm. Stay calm. Raito tries to hypnotize himself with these two words. Avoiding L's direction, he puts on the garment at a leisurely pace, sans underpants. He cannot tolerate unclean clothing.
"Accidents happen. I had to take them off." Raito is being half truthful, if only for the latter part. It was no accident. L continues to sip his coffee. Apparently, he has closed the subject. Raito is grateful for that.
The usual routine goes on. Clean up, get dressed. There is a problem though. Raito stops dead in his tracks, in front of the wardrobe. There is a funny smell emitting from the row of drawers. The carpeting underneath is damp. Raito pulls his drawer open and his heart sinks. Everything is gone. The smell is stronger and it resembles vaguely of a combination of disinfectant and sewage. The interior of the drawer is also damp and some parts of the wood have wrinkled.
"Yes, the pipes in the bathroom had leaked, possibly for the past few days. The wall behind this closet is soaked. Watari has taken care of the piping problem for the moment. All your clothing in the drawer had been taken away for proper disinfecting and washing. It may take some time." L explains in his flat tone, though there is a trace of a dancing light in his eyes. "I believe you still have some inside the wardrobe that are not damaged."
"You're right, I do. But I put all my undergarments and socks in that drawer." Raito is starting to comprehend the magnitude of the situation. He hopes it is not one of L's strange tests. He cannot believe he slept through all these activities. Disinfectant should have a sharper odor and yet he only woke up to the smell of coffee. Besides, if it has been an ongoing process for a few days, how could he fail to notice the signs? Seeing that L's drawer also suffered the same damage has convinced him that it is an accident, but only barely.
"Accidents happen." L uses the same line, in chord with Raito's train of thoughts. "I cannot help you with the socks but I can lend you my underwear for the day, if it will be more convenient for you."
Raito frowns in displeasure. No, I do not just want convenience, you sick bastard. He would rather ask his father for his loincloths than to touch anything that L has worn intimately. He rummages through the few pieces of clothing he has. Mostly jeans and shirts. There are some sweaters and pullovers. Let's see, some soft cotton pants without zippers. No zippers for today, thank you.
L watches with interest. Raito finally settles on a black pair of cotton pants and a gray pullover with a striped V neck. He changes into his pullover swiftly, minimizing the exposure of his lithe body in open sight, now that he is aware of L's interest in him. He has yet to drop his pajama bottoms.
"Do you mind? I need some privacy." Raito is being straightforward. There is no use in being delicate since L is very adept at leading people in circles. He will probably think of something to make it perfectly reasonable that Raito should drop his pants right now, if not going further by helping him to change into new ones.
"Raito-kun, I have seen countless number of naked men in the past so why should you be any different?" L omits the fact that those naked men were corpses, if not body parts. Raito is one of the few that he has seen up close and alive. The only one that is young and attractive.
Just as he thought. That is pure BS from a genius. Perhaps he hasn't had his cake yet. Raito keeps his back to L while he changes. As soon as he steps in one leg, he knows he has made a mistake. This pair of pants has been at the bottom of his selection and it must have been over a year since he has worn them last. They fit, in a snug way. Well, Raito is not about to stand there with his bare ass out in the air while he finds another pair. It's just for the day. Just for the day.
Raito turns around. At least L has the courtesy to look somewhere, or had he predicted the time that he would turn around? L seems to be testing the edge of the damp spot at the carpeting with his toes.
"Raito-kun, your breakfast break has been cut short while you were dressing up. Meeting starts in 6 minutes." L takes note of the time at the notebook screensaver. Raito is not hungry anyway. The strange scenario this morning has taken Raito's appetite away.
"You are welcome to share my breakfast though. You may eat while I talk." L presumes too much. Raito's annoyance grows.
They need to get to the main room soon. Raito's jaws clench as the soft seams of his pants make sinful contact with his privates in every movement. It is too late to go back. He focuses his thoughts to the meeting ahead, hopefully to reduce the sensations he can feel. The hallway seems especially long this morning. By the time they reach the main room, Raito has developed a semi erection.
The room is empty. L and Raito both take their seat at the sofa. L eyes the pastry selections with indecision while sitting with his knees drawn up. Raito finally takes on L's offer and has some tea, no sugar added.
L waves around with his fork. "How could there be an insect flying around inside this room? It doesn't make sense."
Raito has come to distinguish between real questions and rhetoric ones since his earlier years. He remains silent and continues to drink his tea. When he is half done, he starts to return the cup to the table. At this very moment, L's elbow collides with his forearm and the tea is spilled onto his lap. What? Another accident?
"I apologize, Raito-kun. Are you alright?"
Though the liquid is not scalding, the temperature is still high enough to cause possible burns on sensitive skin. The thin fabric soaks it up too well. Raito yelps and stands up immediately, setting down the quarter full cup at once. Somehow, L produces a napkin out of nowhere and volunteers to blot up the damp spot. For the first few seconds, Raito freezes. L is literally rubbing at him on the excuse of offering his assistance. He seizes the napkin from L with disgust and continues the job, at the brink of his tolerance.
"Though it may not be apparent at the moment, I suggest that you run some cold water over the area to reduce the aftereffects of the burn. Cool running water is the universal contingency solution to minimize damages from chemical burns before the victims can be administered with proper treatments. The tea is only water, therefore the harm is even less."
L's logic seems out of place at this point. So that makes it acceptable to spill hot tea in my lap? Infuriated, Raito begins to walk out of the room, pulling L with him. He notices the clock at the wall reads 8:29, just now. They are early for the 9am meeting. Yet L said they only had 6 minutes left. What has gotten into L? Being at the receiving end of practical jokes, Raito feels humiliated and he plans to retaliate.
-I'm bad at making up conversations. That explains why there's not much talking going on right now. I'll try my best though for the coming chapters. Comments are welcome.