Living With You

First of all, thanks to the people who support this fanfiction, especially to the ones who reviewed, it's much appreciated!

Disclaimer: No know the drill. Death Note's not mine. Goes for all the chapter so I won't have to repeat myself anymore, right?

It was the most awkward shower Light had ever taken. On the one hand he felt incredibly uncomfortable knowing that L had the chance to observe him as he had unintentionally done before. But then again he didn't want to point it out in case the detective had failed to notice the kind of revealing curtain.

When he stepped out, bad-tempered because he didn't get to enjoy the only time he could spend away from that nutcase, L waited for him with a towel in his outstretched hand, thankfully with his face turned away (but only because Light had threatened to hide his candy otherwise).

"Wearing a constant scowl as you do will only blemish your pretty face, Yagami-kun. It won't chase away my suspicion regarding your identity as Kira", L informed him with that half-hearted and yet taunting smile that drove him up the wall.

"I did not know that my appearance was any of your concerns, Ryuzaki", Light retorted while running his fingers through his auburn hair and following the detective into their sleeping room. What was this comment about his pretty face? If he didn't know better, he would assume that L was trying to hit on him. Fortunately, he did know better because by just looking at him even a fool could see that L must have lost his sexuality somewhere between the infinite amout of candy he consumed daily and late hours he spent working in utter darkness.

"It indeed is, because there's a high chance that you will get ill-tempered the next morning should the image you see in the mirror not live up to your expectations, which could in turn obstruct the investigation."

I might not be Kira, but I wouldn't be aversed to see you go down with a heart attack right now! Although he should be careful what to wish for as L dying while no one but Light was around might not be the best possible way to prove his innocence.

"Let's just go to bed already", he decided, unsure of what to respond to L's badly hidden accusation to be superficial and internally cringing at how wrong it sounded to say these words to this lunatic, of all people. Hopefully he wouldn't get used to it...

As Light slipped under the covers, clad in a dark red and striped pyjamas, he watched as L sat on the edge of the bed in his usual crouch, delicately opening his laptop with two fingers as if it was about to bite his spidery hand off. Honestly, Light wasn't sure whether to be amused or exasperated upon learning that he wore exact same outfit for bed that he wore day after day during work.

When the light was turned off, the illuminated windows outside seemed to shine even brighter, hunting the shadows of the night. Despite his fatigue Light marveled at Tokyo's beauty for a while. He had grown up in the outskirts of Japan's capital and since he wasn't the type of guy to go out at the weekends, he appreciated the view with heavy eyelids.

Until L caught his eye. That beanpole was biting his thumb as if he was gnawing on a piece of excellent toffee instead of his own flesh. He always needed something in his mouth, didn't he?

His stomach churned at that very ambiguous thought, so he determindely concentrated on L's other facial features. The artificial light of the screen cast a gloomy glow onto his face, underlining his hollow cheeks and the unhealthily pale hue of his skin. Even without knowing him one could see that the detective spent all of his time inside in front of a computer. The jet-black hair that stood up on all ends became one with the dark surroundings, making his already bizarre exterior look even more supernatural. Light quickly became hypnotised by the long fleeting fingers, giving the impression of white dancing spiders, never resting just like the ever-watchful detective himself.

With a cold shiver running down his spine, he noticed that those two black holes in L's skull that he seemed to consider his eyes were resting on him. "Is something the matter, Yagami-kun? If I recall correctly – and I'll take the liberty of assuming I do – you were the one who requested to go to bed earlier. It was beyond my knowledge that this activity included staring at me."

"You must be conceited if you believe that I was staring at you", Light snorted in the most condescending tone he could muster. "When you turned your head I was by pure chance looking in your direction, that is all there is to it."

"My ability to see even the smallest movement in my peripheral vision is outstanding, Yagami-kun. I realized your acting skills are not less excellent, but you needn't lie to me reagarding this matter."

It was for the very first time that Light consciously noticed how of all the people he had met so far in his life, this inconspicuous freak was the only one that was really on a par with him, seeing through each and every of his deceits as if his mind was an open book. And to his annoyment he had to admit that – as much as he loathed living with L – he enjoyed the mental challenge neither school nor college afterwards could provide him with.

"No wonder you don't have a girlfriend", he muttered under his breath and turned so that he was facing away from the unpleasant light of the screen and the constant tapping on the keyboard that resumed soon after. The detective either hadn't heard his remark or decided that it was not worth a reply.

Light fell asleep to the entertaining thought of how L might act around a girl he liked, not at all surprised when all that came to his mind was some awkward courtship dance for strawberry cheese cake.

When he awoke he felt a warmth surrounding him he wasn't used to. His alarm clock would go off soon for sure, telling him that it was time to get up and ready for college. A quiet sigh left his mouth. Dealing with the same boring courses and dull people again would be tiresome, so he decided to bury his head a little deeper into the warmth underneath him and keep dozing for as long as he could.

"I don't mean to disrupt your beauty sleep nor do I want to make fun of your weight, but you're getting kind of heavy", a stifled voice that sounded way too close for his taste notified him. With a startle Light opened his eyes wide and belatedly noticed that the coziness he had felt didn't originated from his pillow or comforter as he had thougth but a scrawny body he hugged so tightly that a bomb might have gone off and he would still be clinging to L as if for dear life.

In shock, his eyes wandered to said detective's face. His eyes stuck to every of his moves, the index finger positioned at the side of his mouth in a curious gesture that made Light even more aware of his current situation. Both of his arms were wrapped around the other male's midriff and his legs awkwardly entangled with L's long limbs in a manner that could only be described as a suggestive position. The white shirt he wore had ridden up because of Light's unintentional show of affection and revealed the flat yet firm stomach that his cheek rested against. All in all he felt like hugging an oversized and extraordinarily repulsive teddy bear.

Flinching away he could feel how his horrified face took on the color of an overripe tomatoe. "Why the hell didn't you wake me earlier?!", he spluttered indignantly.

A mischievous smile spread on L's face. "But you acted in such an affectionate way, how could I have denied you?", he teased.

"I was fast asleep! It's not as if I wanted to...to..." Helplessly he waved around with his arms, furious that he was reduced to this speechless and blushing self around him more and more. "Despite, haven't you told me that you would rarely ever sleep in this bed?"

"I wanted to lay down for a short while; I believe I have informed you about this part of my sleeping habits as well. Had I known that you would attack me, I might have refrained from doing so." He still made no effort to sit up or at least straighten that freaking shirt and cover his abdomen. Instead his stupid grin just broadened when he added: "You're an incredibly active sleeper, Light-kun."

"I still don't see why you didn't just..." Woah, wait! Had L just adressed him by his first name? He couldn't remember him doing it ever before and it was even harder to figure out the reason for this sudden change in behavior. Is this some new method to get on my nerves? Does he want to test whether he can get a reaction from me? Well, that's not going to happen, master detective!

"Has it ever crossed your mind that I couldn't sleep soundly because a monster was sitting on the edge of the bed? Besides, you didn't seem to fend me off that vigorously", he reminded him smugly.

"That is because I thought it would seem rude if I kicked an attractive man out of bed", L argued, idly scratching his partly exposed stomach as he calmly met Light's gaze whose superior expression had been wiped off his face. Could he trust his ears anymore? He felt ricidulous even considering it but – what if his roommate was in fact trying to make advances to him? Had L even any inkling of what flirting meant and that what he was saying could be interpreted as a double entendre?

There it was again! This unwanted shiver that took posession of his whole body and made his hair stand on end. And for some reason his eyes were drawn to the spot right above the other's hip bone...

"Would you just cover yourself already!", he exclaimed, grasping the hem of the garment and pulling it down aggressively. The look the detective cast him was similar to that of a child who had just been scolded for being disobedient. "Light-kun..."

Ignoring L's confusion and the prodding that began soon after, accompanied by a questioning "Light-kun" from time to time, he closed his eyes again and pretented to be a dead or some inanimate object that could not react.

Working with the freak for a whole day had been hard enough already. But if this was what living with him meant, then Light wasn't sure what would happen first: The investigation team catching Kira and bringing the mass murderer to justice or him dying a cruel death before the night was even over.