Forever and a Week Chapter 3: Of Sweet Honey and Angry Itching, a death note fanfic

Disclaimer: Do you think Tsugumi Ohba would sue me if I forgot to put a disclaimer? Doesn't he have enough money already?

Rating: T for some language now. May go to M in later chapters.

Pairings: L/Light, possible hints of Matt/Mello in further chapters.

Summary: If there was one thing Light Yagami hated more than kids messing with his shampoo, kids nearly chocking on Lego pieces and let's not forget kids exploding the whole TV set, it was nineteen years old sweet-loving kids with a severe case of chicken pox that loved to stare at him while he slept.

A/N: HA! I actually made it in two weeks! Okay, two weeks and three days, but what's three days between friends, right? *runs away from sharp draggers*

I apologize for the time it took me to update, but math's a bitch DX No, really. My class teacher just goes on and on with assignments on the last weeks and I barely have time for anything else T_T The good news is I'm officially in vacation! Yahooo! So you can be sure updates will be a lot quicker now. I'm thinking once a week or even sooner, if I can keep up the pace XD

Thank you to everyone who reviewed (responses at end of chapter)! Each of you gets a BIG chocolate chip cookie from me :)

Now I'll stop babbling and let you get on with the darn story XD

Forever and a Week

Chapter 3

Of Sweet Honey and Angry Itching

"Get inside, the four of you!"

Light Yagami was not happy. Not at all.

It had taken him twenty minutes to convince the old neighbour that he'd pay for all the damages – unwillingly omitting the fact that the Rues' car had suffered much more damage than the man's sideway. All this time neither of the children or Lawliet had come to his aid.

Light might have actually been grateful for the fact if Matt hadn't gotten out of the car and started cleaning the trash off the wind screen.

With his bare hands.

The kid was currently reeking of yesterday's spoilt dinner and constantly wondering what he did wrong.

Mello stood as far away from the redhead as possible, waving a hand in front of his nose as if to clear the air. The stuck-up little bastard. But, then again, Light was not that far away from doing the same. The kid now possessed the personal hygiene of a pig.

The brunet glared draggers at the four troublemakers that entered the house after him, each carrying their respective bags. They unconsciously lined themselves in front of Light as if expecting orders. And very well they did, noticing the foul mood he was in and deeming him dangerous enough not to mess with.

"You," he started, pointing his index finger at Matt, "are taking a long bath," He didn't stop when the child started whining about how he didn't need such thing, "You," this time he pointed at Mello "will search through his bags for a clean outfit by the time he finishes," he didn't pay any attention to the much louder objection from the blond either, "And you two," he searched through his mind for anything he could tell Lawliet and Near to do to get them out of his hair; finding nothing of the sorts, he continued, "can do whatever the hell you want. Dismissed."

Light turned of his heels, heading for the bathroom to search for some strong head meds. Just as he put his hand on the door handle, Lawliet – of course, who else?! – interrupted him.

"Raito-kun, I believe it is not a wise move to cuss like that in front of the children and, as Raito-kun is the parent figure for the time, I think – "

"Drop it. They already know much more than I do, so there's no use censoring myself." Light stated, ignoring Mello's screeches of "I'm not a child!" and, after a few seconds, continued in a much rougher tone, "And stop scratching, for God's sake! I could probably hear you from the other side of the house!"

The raven, who had been continuously scratching his lower back, stopped suddenly, as if just then realising what he had been doing. Satisfied with the result, Light opened the door and disappeared into the bathroom.

Finally having some privacy, he sighed, enjoying the silence that surrounded the room. This was probably the only room where he'd have peace and quiet the following week. And his room. Light vaguely remembered he had not yet seen his room. He made a mental note to do so and also unpack after taking the pills.

He opened the cabinet, examining delicately each little bottle for medicine, searching for some strong migraine pills. Upon finding nothing to suit his needs he growled out loud. Were these people so happy that they didn't need pills like all the other mortals?!

Sighing overdramatically, he grabbed a bottle of weak painkillers, making a mental note to take at least half a dozen for his unearthly headache.

He exited the bathroom, glad that both the children and the luggage were missing from the hall. Maybe, if he was careful, he could actually control them with time. He quickly dismissed the thought, finding it highly improbable to happen, given the extreme personalities of his charges.

Upon entering the kitchen in search for a glass of water, to brunet was not even remotely surprised to find Lawliet sitting at the table in that little odd way of his, happily eating cake. The pile of now spoilt whipped cream had yet to be cleaned from its place near the fridge door. This angered Light immensely.

"You do know you'll have to clean that sooner or later, don't you?" he muttered to the raven, not even sparing him a glance as he headed to the cupboard, rummaging through it for a glass.

"Whatever does Raito-kun mean?" Lawliet asked innocently. Much too innocently to actually be innocent. Light suddenly turned to glare at the other youth.

"I mean the pile of junk you dropped on the floor earlier. That one over there." he said, voice full of maliciousness, shrugging his head into the direction of the mess.

"Oh, but I have told Raito-kun that I shall not clean it, as it was ultimately Raito-kun's fault it ended up on the floor. Therefore it is Raito-kun who must clean it." the man blinked again innocently.

Light had had more than enough fake innocence for one day. He decided to take action.

Without another word, he took Lawliet's plate of cake from the raven and put it back in the fridge before the man could object. He was actually pleased about the kicked-puppy-look Lawliet developed when stripped of his sugary bliss.

"You won't be getting any close to this fridge until you decide to take responsibility for what you do! Now go to your room and do whatever the hell you want until dinner!"

Lawliet blinked once before standing up and leaving the kitchen. Light was surprised. More than surprised. He was downright shocked. Why did Lawliet leave so willingly when Light knew he felt no remorse for his actions? It would have been expected for the odd youth to argue with Light, or even try to take back his cake. But he just left. The situation reeked suspiciousness.

"You do know he owns a full-stocked fridge in his room, don't you?"

Light turned, startled by the sudden appearance of Near in the same room as him. What was it about the kid never leaving his room?! Light knew it was too good to be true.

Just then the boy's words sunk in. Of course. That's why Lawliet left so willingly. And that also explained the otherwise low possibility of the man having tons of maple-syrup at hand. The bastard. Light would have to de-stock that fridge soon. Just to give the man a lesson.

"Can I have another glass of water?" The white-haired kid suddenly asked. What was it with this little guy and water?! And why couldn't he get it for himself?

Sighing, Light filled the glass he had gotten for himself with water and handed it to Near. Deciding the time it took for him to fill another one would be too much, he simply swallowed three of the pills without further aid and headed for his room for a long session of mopping.

He blatantly ignored Near's request for yet another glass of water.

Matt rubbed the towel energetically through his hair while examining the room Mello had claimed for the both of them.

He didn't want to question the weird blond's reasons for deciding to be Matt's roommate, in fear that said blond might bite his head off.

The room was fairly big. It hosted a nice king-sized bed, which Matt absolutely loved. In one corner there was a big wooden wardrobe (unfortunately somebody else had beaten them to it and had hanged all their clothes there) and in the other there was a bookcase holding a massive number of books. Matt could barely read some of the titles on them. In the other side of the room there were a bunch of ugly paintings and a couple of potted plants. Ugh. Matt hated plants. They were just a waste of space and money.

The first thing the redhead had noticed upon entering was the TV. Or lack there of. He had never been able to understand how a person could live without a television in their room. It was like not having enough air to breathe and knowing that soon you will asphyxiate. Good thing Matt had guessed that such a situation might arise and had taken precautions.

His hot-headed roommate was currently examining the bookcase, taking a random book every now and then, reading the title out loud, opening it and proceeding to sniff the pages. Matt found it highly disturbing.

Matt found it funny that he had no idea what the other boy's name was. The babysitter – Raito was his name, right? – had never addressed either of them with anything else besides 'you'. He decided it was high time he found out something about this person.

"Do you think it's alright to stay in this room?" he asked the boy. Matt had not had any say in the choosing of the room. When he had exited the first-floor bathroom, clad in a simply huge towel, this blond was waiting for him, holding a pile of his clothes. After he had dressed up, the other boy had wordlessly leaded him into this room.

Although Matt felt a little weirded-out at having a complete stranger rummaging through his stuff, he supposed he would address the matter later.

"Of course it's okay! It's the only free room on the floor. If pretty boy was expecting us to sleep on the couch then I'll kick him in the nuts! Besides, L said it was okay so it must be okay!"

Matt found the blond's obsession with the older man just plain weird. There wasn't much to the guy, in Matt's opinion. He had regular black hair that needed a haircut, big black un-Japanese looking eyes and was sickly pale. He also spoke weirdly and stared too much. Not to mention he was going to send Raito over the edge with that scratching.

"If you say so... er, what's your name?" Matt asked in what he thought was subtlety.

"Mello." the blond answered simply, not taking his gaze from a particularly huge tomb he could barely hold. "You're Matt." he stated.

"Yes."

Unable to find any other conversation topic, the redhead decided to drop it and started unpacking the urgent necessities.

He first headed to one of the smaller bags and opened it. With much care, he extracted an slightly outdated laptop – already one year old – complete with mouse and external hard-drive, a playstation and a couple of old gameboys.

After placing the laptop and playstation on the nearby end table – after getting rid of the hideous potted plant on it – he noticed Mello staring at him, his mouth agape.

"What?" Matt asked defensively, not noticing what the problem was.

"Man, are you serious?" the blond continued, pointing funnily in Matt's direction.

"I... think so. What about?"

"You mean I broke my back carrying your stupid playstation?!"

"Hey, it's not stupid!"

"It is if you bring it all the way from wherever with you! And if you make me carry it!"

"I didn't ask you to carry it!" Matt yelled this time, not caring that the other might hear him and that Raito might come here and throw a fit. He had never ever met such a bastard!

"Well..." the blond stammered, searching for a reply. His face had turned red from anger and yelling. "... well you would have!"

Unable to find any retort to the blond's stupidity, Matt simply yelled, louder than before: "Fuck you!", fully expecting a "Fuck you, too!". He was disappointed, as Mello simply kicked his bag – the one containing clothes, thankfully – and went back to checking books, visibly mopping.

Deciding he needed something to calm his nerves, Matt connected the PlayStation's cable to the nearby plug, turned on the machine, and started playing a violent fighting game.

He knew Mello was staring at him. But he'd be darned if he turned. In the short break the game needed to start another round, Matt could hear the blond rustling something in the vague direction of the bed. Once again he chose to ignore the bastard.

He had completely forgotten his bags were placed in the middle of said bed.

"What the hell's this?" the half disgusted half interested tone of the blond unwillingly attracted Matt's attention from the game.

Noticing the little snobbish bastard was searching through his bags made him drop the came control and be KN'ed by the bulky adversary of his player.

"Hey, you can't just search through that!" he yelled, making his way to the bed.

"Why? Do you have something to hide?" Mello grinned mischievously, daring Matt to get closer. He suddenly lifted a transparent plastic bag filled with a thick black liquid and regarded it curiously. "What's this shit?"

"Black paint." Matt had now sat down right next to Mello, watching his every move carefully. "I want to dye my car here, since dad doesn't let me do it at home. Says I'll dirty the whole house and/or lawn.

"Oh. Wait, what car?"

Matt sighed and decided he might as well tell this exorbitant blond the whole truth. He fished a small black remote control from his baggy pants and clicked a few buttons.

"This car!"

Suddenly a small red remote-controlled car jumped like mad from the same bag that had contained the laptop and PlayStation and started running laps around the room at Matt's command.

The redhead felt surprisingly proud when he saw the excited look on Mello's face.

By the time said boy yelled "Awesome!" Matt was already grinning along with the blond.

Maybe, just maybe, Mello wasn't that bad.

Twenty-one.

Twenty-two.

Twenty – wait, those're two! Twenty-four.

Twenty –

Just how many black points were there on that ceiling?

Light jumped off the bed, deciding for a walk.

Those darn painkillers surely weren't doing their job. It had nearly been three hours and his head still hurt like hell. The brunet had even spent the last hour lying in bed, reading one of the books he had brought from home, just in hopes that the headache might pass. Sure, it didn't help that those kids – plus Lawliet; let's never forget Lawliet, that bastard! – were constantly on his mind. He was practically expecting the whole house to explode, with so many calamities inhabiting it.

It had taken him roughly two hours to unpack. Sure, it might have been less, had he not fussed over every little thing and contemplated for a long time its perfect place. It was only because he was anticipating his moves so he wouldn't have to move everything later. He called this art.

Even with his personal touches, the room seemed... Blank. Empty. Like nobody had lived in it for a very long time. And not to mention darn small. It could barely fit a single-person bed decorated with boring, grey sheets, a small, formerly empty dresser and a wooden desk with a chair. Oh, and the usual cheap pieces of art and a potted plant on the desk.

It was nowhere near Light's expectations. But, then again, he should be glad he didn't have to sleep on the couch for the entire week.

Noticing it was nearing six in the evening, Light decided he should make an appearance and possibly start cooking dinner for his charges and himself. He also needed to dust the attic and arrange the old bed there so Matt and Mello had a place to sleep for the night. Not that he would have minded the two little living disasters sleeping on the floor a night or two...

Speaking of which, they must be in Lawliet's room, considering Mello's disturbing affection for the man. Light sincerely hoped they ate all the sweets from that secret fridge of his.

Upon opening the door, the first thing Light heard was music. Loud, cheap, pop music. Sure it wasn't loud enough to alert the entire house, cue why Light had not heard it earlier, but still... Lawliet had an audio system? And listened to pop music? In the middle of the evening?

That man was getting weirder and weirder.

Deciding to further annoy the bastard – he was the boss, Lawliet himself had said it – Light made his way up the stairs. It was more than surprising to find out that the music was coming not from Lawliet's room, as he had originally expected, but from the Rue couple's bedroom.

Taking a deep breath, the brunet opened the door, not sure what to expect.

It certainly wasn't a couple of four-foot devils who tended to be called children, surrounded by and impressive collection of electronics, playing a racing game on a PlayStation and listening to music at a simply huge boom-box.

It seemed they certainly weren't expecting him either.

"YOU!" he yelled, suddenly filled with blind rage once again. "OUT!"

"Wha – ?" Matt squeaked, dropping his control. "I thought... I... Mello said that L said... I..." his stammering stopped once Mello hit him behind the head, muttering under his breath.

But it was too late.

Really, that kid was never going to be able to work with the FBI or CIA or any other job that implied keeping secrets. Marriage was also out of the question for him...

Light quickly directed his death glare towards Mello, ready to devour the poor soul.

"You. What makes you think for even one second that you precious 'L' has any idea what he's talking about?! I'm in charge here and I didn't give any of you permission to enter this room! Now... GET OUT OF HERE!"

As the two children were shutting down their electronics Light vaguely heard a door slam behind him. He knew who that room belonged to. And he knew why it had been shut. It seemed Lawliet was capable of much more emotion than Light had originally thought.

Well, let him mop then in his precious little room with his precious little fridge.

Mello seemed livid. Of course, it was to be expected, as Light has insulted his model in life. The brunet actually considered he had done the kid a favour.

When he felt he had calmed himself enough, Light added. "Don't you two worry. As much as I would have liked it, Mrs. Rue had made sure you won't be sleeping on the floor. After dinner I'll have to clean the attic and make it liveable for you. With your help, of course." he added, mentally grinning at the twin groans. "Now scoot!"

Proud of himself, Light descended the stairs, making his way towards the kitchen. Once there, he started searching the cupboards for anything useful in his dinner-making.

Hm... He could make rice and he found some soy sauce and the fridge had to host some meat for –

The brunet's thoughts were interrupted by the devilish duo of Matt and Mello entering the kitchen. Great. Just marvellous. He had really missed those two (please note sarcasm).

"What do you want?" Light grabbed a frying pan from the cupboard, examining it thoroughly.

"We're hungry." Mello stated. He had his arms crossed, lips twisted in a pout and eyes glaring draggers. Just the epitome of a spoiled brat.

"So?" the brunet mocked.

"What do you mean 'so'? You're responsible for us so you have to feed us!" It was funny how the kid could go from mildly irritable to completely berserk in a matter of seconds with a single well placed word.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, you'll be 'fed'. In time."

Light had to turn back to hide his smirk. Mello's face now closely resembled a tomato. Just a few more seconds and he will explode.

Unfortunately, Lawliet chose that moment to enter the kitchen himself and headed for the fridge, blatantly ignoring everyone else.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!"

Lacking a better weapon, Light decided a frying pan would have to suffice in his mission. Without a hint of remorse, he hit the piece of metal on the other man's back, right between his shoulder-blades. When the raven did not stop, he grabbed Lawliet's sleeve and pulled him back, just before the man could touch the fridge's door.

"I told you you're not getting anything from there! You'll just have to wait for dinner like the rest."

Lawliet, still not acknowledging anyone, pulled his sleeve from Light's gasp, turned around and sat at the table. Anyone could see that he was still mopping. Light was ready to lecture him on how to sit properly at the table but decided against it. He had more important things to do...

"Stop scratching! I swear I'm not treating the infection you're going to have!"

"Don't criticize L anymore! He's smarter than you'll ever be!" Mello yelled angrily, kicking Light's shin.

The brunet yelped in surprise and started skipping in one leg, hand rubbing his poor, abused calf pitifully. He was sure he was the current laughing matter.

In a matter of seconds he released his leg and grabbed Mello's forearm. He bent down just enough so that his face was barely inches from the boy's.

"Listen, kid," Light started, his teeth grinding, "if your L was so smart, he'd be the one taking care of you and I wouldn't be in this mess! As it is, I'm the boss in this house this week and you will do as I say!" he released the kid and headed for the fridge, deciding he might as well get some work done while she wiped the floor with Mello.

"No, you're not! And you can't tell me what to do!" Mello fought bravely, trying to land a healthy kick on Light's shin again, but the twelve year old didn't stand a chance to do so when Light was expecting him.

"Oh, but I can and I will! And if you disobey me one more timeeeEEE – AAAAAH!" Light's interminable monologue was suddenly interrupted as he accidentally slipped on the spoilt piece of cake on the floor, still unattended.

He tried his best to grab the fridge handle and stabilise himself before a tragedy happened but, unfortunately, luck wasn't on his side. He gracelessly fell on his backside, covering his precious pants in whipped cream.

Fuck, my back hurts! I'll kill Lawliet for this one!

Matt and Mello (especially Mello) were laughing like mad, Lawliet was still staring into space and, to top it all, the doorbell started ringing.

He quickly got up, trying to maintain the little dignity he still had and headed for the front door, trying his best to ignore le laughs. He was more than a little surprised to see a pizza boy holding a whole stack of pizzas and a huge piece of cake to-go, ready to receive his pay.

"Um, hello. How may I help you?" the brunet tried, hoping for Lawliet's sake that the pizza boy had simply mistaken the address.

"Hello, sir. Here's your order: Four pepperoni pizzas and a triple piece of strawberry cake. That'll be five thousand six hundred yen*, sir, tip included." the goy gave another shit-eating grin, extending one hand for the cash.

"Err... just a moment." Light muttered, resisting the urge to just strangle the annoying boy, barely a year or two older than he himself, and re-entered the house, slamming the door loudly in the poor guy's face. "RYUUZAKI! Move it here!"

The called raven exited the kitchen, not paying Light any attention, still visibly sulking. Oh, for the love of...

"Raito-kun, I don't appreciate being called 'Ryuuzaki' by you. Only Reika-san and Masahiro-san call me that and they themselves are well enough." Oh, so the guy was touchy even about his first name now?!

"Well, I don't appreciate being called 'Raito-kun' either and still –" the brunet stopped mid-rant, remembering the task at hand. "Did you order pizza?" A nod. "May I enquire why?" A shrug. Why, the nerve... "I hope you know that you won't be having this luxury every day. Your parents didn't leave me emergency money to buy you pizza, you know."

"Due to a shortage of cake in my personal stock and Raito-kun's refusal to grant me pass to this fridge I have decided to take matters into my own hands." the man answered proudly – or what would have seemed proudly, if he wasn't trying desperately to scratch his calf with his other foot.

"Figures." Light muttered, just loud enough for Lawliet to hear.

He re-opened the front door, paid the still grinning delivery boy his money – absolutely no tip – and slammed the door again, just for good measure. Holding the stack of pizzas, the brunet entered the kitchen, placed the food on the table and took a box for himself. He blatantly ignored the disturbing look of utter adoration Matt was throwing the food.

"Make sure Near doesn't starve." he muttered to no one in particular, not really caring if the albino boy did starve or not.

Without another word, Light exited the kitchen and locked himself in his temporary room.

Again.

Mello was angry. He was goddamn fuming.

He had been humiliated by the single person he hated most – at least at the moment. The cake-tripping incident, although hilarious, didn't even count as it had been L's doing. Pretty Boy was never ever going to boss him around. And Mello had to give him a tough lesson, just to be sure.

And to top it all, the cheese in his pizza tasted funny. He had never been one for pizza. It was just a load of cheese and tomato sauce with a bunch of random stuff thrown together on a slice of bread. Practically a sandwich, only circular.

But it seemed Matt didn't mind the icky cheese at all. The boy had long since finished a whole pizza and was currently eying Mello's share hungrily. He had tomato sauce and mozzarella smeared across his mouth and looked very much like a little puppy eying his master. Simply degrading, the blond thought, taking another bite from his slice of pizza.

L had taken a box of pizza up to N's room and had come back down to eat his cake. He was now close to finishing it and had yet to snap out of it. Mello knew it was because Pretty Boy had both insulted L's intelligence and called him by the name he hated most. Simply unforgivable.

Mello had to do something about this. He had to avenge L, no matter what.

The blond glanced at Matt, whom had stolen a slice off of Mello's place and was chewing happily. Well, two heads thought better than one. Okay, two and a half heads, since Mello was far too intelligent to have one single head (his father always told him that). But, then again, he doubted Matt had one whole head so in the end it still rounded up to two heads. Whatever.

"We have to avenge L!" Mello suddenly whispered, trying to not be heard by the raven haired man.

"Wha – ? Why?" Matt asked, the subtlety of whispering completely lost on him. He had a big speck of ketchup on his right cheek. Mello barely resisted the urge to get a paper towel and wipe the slob-ish boy clean. It was only because he liked things impeccable, his mind added quickly.

"Quiet!" he elbowed the other boy.

"Oh." Matt finally caught up and started whispering himself. "What do you mean 'avenge'?"

"I mean teach Pretty Boy a lesson! Show him not to mess with us!"

"But this Raito guy isn't that bad. He'd be really cool if he shut up once in a while." Matt had said the unforgivable. It was unwise to further let him in with the plan if he was fraternizing with the enemy.

"Whatever." Mello muttered, half sulking, and pushed his box of pizza out of Matt's reach. Serves the bastard right for being against him.

"Hey!" the redhead stared pitifully at the now out of reach pizza. "I never said I wouldn't help you!"

Mello smirked. Just as planned.

Now to find a good way to humiliate Pretty Boy.

The blond had already been thinking intently for a couple of minutes when he noticed L getting up from the table. The black-haired man headed to one of the cupboards and opened it – all the while scratching his buttocks – grabbing a big jar of honey.

Honey.

Honey.

Mello suddenly grinned evilly.

This was going to be fun.

There was certainly something funny with this pizza.

For the past ten minutes Light had even contemplated sewing the firm. He quickly dismissed the thought soon after as he was too tired for such nonsense.

He had been locked in his room for a couple of hours already, wallowing in self pity. That Mello brat had to be the Devil himself! Light couldn't imagine spending a whole week in the kid's company. Not to mention there was also Matt, Near and, of course, Lawliet!

Light took a deep breath to calm himself. He had been doing that constantly in the past hour, as murderous thoughts related to his charges constantly invaded his mind. Not that he found them unwelcome but Masahiro was sure to have his head if he slaughtered his kids and nephews.

Takada had called half of hour ago to update him with his homework. Well, that among telling him every bit of unwanted gossip she remembered. Honestly, women were a menace.

Deciding on a long and relaxing shower, Light grabbed a towel and a spare change of clothes. He contemplated a second searching for his shampoo, but dismissed the thought, remembering that there was a bottle of shampoo and one of conditioner in the bathroom next to his room.

All ears for any suspicious child voices, the brunet genius exited his temporary room. Glad that those little monsters had decided to scoot upstairs, he entered the bathroom. He turned on the water, testing it to see if it was hot enough and started undressing.

I can survive those little bastards one week, he thought to himself, they're just kids! Yeah, I've just got carried away for a while, but there's no need to turn this into a tragedy. I'm a genius. A frigging genius! I can take care of a bunch of kids and a lunatic!

Feeling a bit better due to his self-assurance, Light stepped into the shower, letting the hot water wash over his tense muscles. A long shower was all the needed. After he finished he would just go and get the lot of them and clean the attic as planned. He had everything under control.

He extended his hand for the bottle of shampoo and poured a bit in his palm. He vaguely noticed the pleasant sweet smell of the potion. Figures they'd have sweet smelling shampoo, with Lawliet lurking about.

He gently massaged the shampoo into his scalp, eyes closing in relaxation. Now that was life. He might actually have to ask the Rue couple where they procured this shampoo from, it gave a very relaxing feel.

Light continued to massage the shampoo for a few minutes, before he realised that no suds were produced. He removed his hands from his hair and gazed at them. Nope, no suds there either. Gently, as if afraid of what he might find out, he brought one hand to his nose, smelling it.

It smelled like...

Honey.

Light barely contained a scream of frustration as he threw the whole bottle against the opposite wall.

They were SO dead.

Light finished his last math equation with an exaggerated move of his hand and closed his notebook.

It was half past one at night. Just the hour to put his plans into action.

He had blatantly lied to his father when the man had called, claiming that absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had happened in the Rue household. It seemed his parents were already worried about him and Sayu had even asked if she could come and visit him the next day. Light, of course, had denied the request, mentally reminding himself that he had to give those brats a lesson first.

It had taken the teen prodigy nearly an hour to get the honey out of his hair. Well, most of it. His once brilliant chestnut hair now looked greasy and darkened. Light was more than appalled by the matter. Just the more reason to take care of those little devils.

Deciding that everybody else must have gone to sleep, he exited his room, mentally laughing evilly. He could already picture the look on the face of his unlucky victim. And that made the situation all the more funny.

He entered the kitchen and started searching through a random cupboard. He could swear he had seen a jar of garlic paste somewhere around there. Despite knowing that no one was awake at this hour, he didn't make any noise. He couldn't be caught wandering about at this hour or his plan would be ruined.

Just as if his thoughts were heard – or maybe simply because someone up there hated him – a door opened loudly on the upper level and steps could be heard descending the stairs. Mentally cussing colourfully, Light closed the cupboard and wanted to exit the kitchen. He stopped mid-step, realising that he would be caught immediately and took hiding.

Unfortunately, the first place he found safe was under the table.

Light silently swore some more, trying to hide himself behind the long table-cloth.

He felt his blood starting to boil when he noticed that the person who entered the kitchen was... Lawliet. The raven was still wearing his day clothes and didn't look like he had gotten the least bit of sleep yet. Not to mention he was eagerly scratching his backside, thinking nobody could see him. Light cringed at the man's lack of manners.

Lawliet headed for the fridge, opened it – of course, why else would he be here? – and took the last few cookies left. He stuffed them in his mouth one by one as he left the kitchen. Light could hear his steps on the upper level and his door shutting just as loudly.

Phew, that was close, Light thought as he got out from under the table. Now to solve more important matters.

Nearly hitting his head against the table, the brunet got out from his hiding and proceeded to search the cupboards. A few minutes later, his hand found a medium sized jar filled with a fawn coloured substance.

The label read Garlic Pasta.

Bingo.

Light stiffened a yawn as he got into bed.

He had just changed into his comfortable flannel pyjamas and finished preparing his schoolbag for the next day. Good thing Lawliet was driving him to school; he had time to sleep in a bit.

He set his alarm clock, placed it next to his bed and closed his eyes, ready for a few hours of well deserved rest.

Unfortunately for him, fate had other ideas.

The brunet jumped a mile in the air when a foreign telephone-like sound awoke him. It took him a few seconds to snap out of his sleepy state and notice the vague direction of the ring. He moodily got out of bed and headed for the far end of the room, where the sound was coming from.

He immediately recognized what it was. Another one of those weird radio-stations he had seen in the kitchen. With and over-exaggerated sigh he picked up the receiver and answered.

"Yes?"

It better not be Near asking for another glass of water or I swear I'll –

"Raito-kun." it was Lawliet. "Could you please come to my room?"

"Ryuuzaki, why're you up at this hour? Can't it wait until morning?" Light answered in mock sleepiness. He didn't even realise he used Lawliet's other name until the man at the other end went silent for a few seconds.

"Lawliet?" Light tried again, this time correcting himself. It was too late in the night for this kind of stuff.

"I do not think it can wait, Raito-kun. I'm afraid I might have a fever."

Just what I needed.

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute."

Light put the receiver back and barely resisted the urge to scream out all his frustrations. Again. Just when he could have gotten nearly five hours of sleep this bastard had to go and get a fever!

The brunet shut the door loudly behind himself, not caring if he might wake up the entire household – that is, of course, if any of them were actually sleeping. He ascended the steps forcefully and knocked loudly on the door. When he heard a low voice saying "Enter." he did so, making sure his face was perfectly contortioned in a scowl.

His mask nearly slipped for a second as he took in his surroundings. The room looked like a freaking junk museum. The walls were nearly completely filled with bookcases, overstuffed with thick tombs. In the few free spaces were: an old dresser, a desk – full of collage papers, notebooks, pens and electronic parts – and, in the corner farthest from the door, a white full sized fridge, probably stuffed with sweets – at least Near hasn't lied about that. The floor was nearly completely covered with clothes, papers and candy wrappers.

Directly opposite the door lay a queen-sized bed, covered in dark sheets and Lawliet. The man, who was in the middle of said bed, lay in his favourite position, knees close to his chest, one thumb between his lips and the other hand typing away at an outdated silver laptop. The gadget was out of Light's seeing range, but the brunet sincerely hoped Lawliet wasn't searching porn sites.

"Good morning, Raito-kun," the raven greeted monotonously, not even raising his gaze from the laptop, reminding Light once again how late in the night it was.

"Whatever. Where do you keep the thermometer?" Light didn't have time for pleasantries. He needed to get back to his room and get some well deserved sleep.

Lawliet pointed towards his nightstand, never taking his eyes off of the computer, and Light went to it and opened the first drawer. He found a bag of multi-coloured candies, a bunch of papers on advanced chemistry, a bottle of strong painkillers – Light really needed to borrow some of those – another few bottles of medicaments and a small carton box which contained a thermometer. Bingo!

He grabbed the thermometer and, without further ado, stuffed it halfway into Lawliet's mouth, nearly chocking the man. Lawliet merely adjusted the thermometer and continued to work at the computer.

Light wasn't a curious person by nature. It usually came with the fact that he was a genius and already knew close to everything. But whatever Lawliet was doing at that computer was probably one of the many mysteries of the world. He sat down on the edge of the bed, close to the ruffled young man – but not too close! – and discreetly glanced at the computer screen.

Now, it had to be mentioned that he hadn't considered Lawliet smart for one second since he had met him. Quite the contrary, as the other man looked like he didn't know what planet his lived on. So it came on as quite a shock seeing the incredibly complicated diagram on human anatomy the raven was working on. And Lawliet didn't seem to even blink as he wrote the complex medical denominations onto the diagram, making all the necessary translations in Latin.

There were things there even Light himself had never heard of.

He was ready to ask about a particularly funny sounding word when something caught his attention. Lawliet's hand had stopped typing and started scratching the other forearm. Light had had quite enough of this scratching business for one day!

"Stop that!" he reached and grabbed Lawliet's hand, startling the other youth. The man had probably already forgotten he was not alone in the room. "Why are you always scratching?"

Lawliet turned his gaze from the computer and examined Light for a second. He looked even weirder with the thermometer hanging from between his lips. He simply answered "It itches." and turned back to the laptop.

"What an excuse. Let me see that." Light grabbed the other man's arm and raised the sleeve up to his elbow.

The smooth, pale, hairless skin of Lawliet's forearm was marked by three angry red spots.

Mosquitoes?

Light raised the sleeve a little more and noticed another two spots close to Lawliet's elbow.

Don't tell me –

Already panicking, the brunet got closer to Lawliet and brushed away some of the man's overgrown hair from his neck. He counted another four spots gracing the raven's slender neck.

No way! This can't be!

Lawliet was already looking questioningly at him. Light ignored him, crawled behind the man and shamelessly raised his blouse, uncovering half of Lawliet's back.

The brunet tried not to get distracted by the soft-looking pale skin, or the way every vertebra seemed to stick out on the man's back, or even the little beauty-mark close to Lawliet's left shoulder blade. Not that he wanted to look at all those. Nope, not a chance.

In any case, his gaze was immediately drawn to the multitude of angry red spots that covered the entirety of the raven's back.

Light mentally swore, dropping the shirt's edge.

"Shit." he muttered, mimicking his thoughts.

He crawled back to Lawliet's front, pushing the now forgotten laptop out of the way and grabbed the young man's face between his hands, examining it thoroughly.

"If Raito-kun wanted to have sex with me, Raito-kun should have merely said so." Lawliet said, eyes wide, obvious to the current situation.

The teen felt his face burn at the inappropriate comment, but trained his features in an angry scowl. "Shut up, bastard."

Light angrily brushed Lawliet's fringe away from his' forehead and blatantly glared at the multitude of red marks that covered Lawliet's forehead and cheeks. How could he have not noticed this?!

He released the raven haired man and sat down on the edge of the bed, face covered by his hand, exhausted.

"Tell me, Lawliet," his voice was slightly muffled by his hand, "have you ever had chicken pox?"

Lawliet shook his head, eyes still wide.

"Well, you have now." Light sighed deeply. How come everything bad had to happen to him in one day?!

"Oh." the other youth didn't seem too affected by the matter. "Has Raito-kun had chicken pox?"

"Yeah." he didn't even bother to look at Lawliet.

"Ah, so I must have gotten it from Raito-kun."

"Eight. Years. Ago." Light clarified, teeth grinding. He finally turned to look at Lawliet again. "Do you have some sort of ointment or salve around here?"

"Bathroom."

Muttering to himself, Light got up from the bed and entered the first floor bathroom, which seemed a faithful replica of the one near his room, the only difference being the presence of a bathtub instead of a shower cabin. He quickly grabbed the easily noticeable tube of ointment form the cabinet and went back to Lawliet's room.

He was deeply glad of the lack of noise from the other rooms.

As soon as he got into hand length range of Lawliet, he brutally grabbed the thermometer from the man's mouth, glaring ruthlessly at the number it indicated. One hundred two**. Well over normal. Great. Just great.

"Okay, take your shirt off." he muttered at the raven, still glaring at the thermometer. Lawliet simply stared at him, hand frozen above the keyboard and blinked. Twice, just for emphasis. "Don't look at me like that! Your back's a mess and in desperate need of ointment!" he vaguely wondered why he felt the need to explain himself.

The teen waited impatiently for Lawliet to remove his long-sleeved shirt and resume his previous position, once again typing away at the computer. Rolling his eyes overdramatically, Light climbed back in the bed, positioning himself behind Lawliet and began applying the salve on the man's back in light, smooth stokes.

He didn't comment either verbally or mentally at the softness of his companion's skin.

"Is that thing for collage?" Light tried to make conversation. He was not interested in Lawliet's answer in the slightest, but found the constant silence annoying.

"No. I have accepted a company's request for this diagram for a significant recompense." Huh. Figures, even To-Oh didn't give projects that complicated.

Light suddenly remembered another incredibly important fact.

"So, you're not going to class for a while now, right?" Of course he was not interested in Lawliet's classes! But he had to be more subtle about his question.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to drive Raito-kun to school this week." Darn. He saw through it.

Light remained silent for a while. He simply applied the salve onto Lawliet's skin, finishing the back and starting with the left arm.

He was unable to stiffen a yawn. Okay, two.

"Raito-kun should go to sleep. He has school tomorrow."

"Shut up." Yawn. "I'm not sleepy."

"If Raito-kun says so." Lawliet paused typing to scratch his forearm.

"I– Stop that!" He slapped the other youth's hand away. Lawliet looked slightly offended. "If you scratch you'll get scars. From now on if I catch you scratching I'll tie you down –" realising his improper formulating, he coughed loudly, glad the other man couldn't notice his blush in the dim light, "– or something. Got that?" A nod. "Good, now take off your pants." He felt simply idiotic at the innuendo of the last statement.

"Raito-kun, I think – "

"You don't think well. Now –"

"I refuse to –"

"I said take them off!"

"No!"

"RYUUZAKI –"

A knock at the door. "Hey, you two!" A brutal bash. "Some people are trying to –" Bash, " –sleep–" Bash, " –here! Keep it quiet, will you?"

Mello re-entered the Rue couple's room, slamming the door loudly after him. Light glared draggers at the door for a few seconds, before turning his evil eye on Lawliet.

"This is all your fault." He felt infinitely childish saying this, but it was very true. If Lawliet had not acted so childish this commotion would not have been caused.

The raven did not say anything, but simply grabbed his white shirt and put it back on. The ointment would probably smear onto the material within seconds, but he did not seem to care.

He was extending his hand to grab the laptop once again, when Light stopped him.

"I don't care when that thing is due, but you're getting some sleep." The brunet placed the machine on the little available space on Lawliet's desk, careful not to mess up any of the stray papers.

"I am not sleepy. Raito-kun is the one in need of sleep."

"And I will sleep. As soon as I knock you out."

"That isn't very polite."

"That's the reason I said it. Now go to sleep already!"

Lawliet made himself comfortable in bed, covering himself in blankets up to his neck, ready to sleep. Or not so much, as his eyes were wide as saucers, staring at Light's every move.

"Alright." Light said, annoyed to no end, "Okay, then!" He laid himself on his back in the free space next to Lawliet, resting his hands under his head, glaring at the ceiling. "Then I'll stay here until you decide to fall asleep."

Lawliet didn't answer, but continued to stare at the teen. Unnerved, Light turned, his back now facing the weird raven haired man.

He waited. And waited. And waited some more. But, no matter how much time passed, he could still feel Lawliet's awkward stare on the back of his head. Just as he was getting sleepy himself, he tried to strike a conversation once again.

"So, why do you hate being called Ryuuzaki?" It was extremely easy for a person as Light to notice the way Lawliet seemed to flinch every time someone – specifically Light – called him that.

If the other youth was surprised at Light's question, he definitely did not show it. "It is not my native name. Only Reika-san calls me that nowadays. One cannot tell one's mother not to call one by the name one's mother had given to one."

Light chuckled, feeling his eyes start to close.

"Using 'one' that many times gets annoying." he said in a low tone, barely stiffening a yawn.

"That may be so."

Another yawn.

"Are you ready to do to sleep now?"

"No."

"Very well, then I'll just wait for you to fall asleep, even if it takes me all night." Light smirked to himself. It's not like he's too sleepy anyway.

He couldn't stiffen the next yawn.

After a few minutes of listening to the other's breathing and his own, Light decided to close his eyes for a minute. Just a minute, no more.

The darkness behind his eyelids was very welcoming. It was understandable to feel tired. He had had the worst day of his life and the next day didn't promise anything much better.

But, then again, there was still the prank. Oh, he'll show those little midgets that he's not to be messed with. He was a respectable A++ student. He shouldn't be stuck with a bunch of midgets who –

And, slowly, his mental rant drifted away and soon he lost all conscious thought.

L permitted himself a small smile as he heard Light Yagami's breathing slowing. The teen had finally fallen asleep.

Light Yagami was truly a very curious person, the raven thought as he scratched an itchy part on his arm.

* I have no idea if this is correct. I have used an online converter to convert from dollars to yen.

* I use Celsius degrees so, again, I'm not sure if it's well converted.

I think Light's well on his way to OOC land... Why can I write canon personalities? T_T

There it is. Like it? Hate it? Confused like hell by it? Please let me know XD Every reviewer gets a... let me think... a strawberry shortcake from me XD The kind L loves in the anime :)

Now for the responses:

LoquaciousLycanthropic: Thank you very much! I hope the wait was worth it :)

anime-fushigi: Aww your review made me smile ^_^ Unfortunately for poor L, he doesn't have a rash, but something better (or worse, depends how you see it XD). Yes, there probably will be some Matt/Mello stuff, but just hints. Let's not forget they're just kids! Even I would feel bad tainting them... too much. Thank you so much for your review and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well ^_^

Poog: Thank you :) Hope you enjoy further reading :)

StandardSpork: The snakes part really made me laugh XD Don't worry about rambling, we all have it in us XD Thank you for reading so far and I hope the next parts will be just as enjoyable :)

Hentai-Otaku: He sure will probably end up as a teenaged girl with male genitals if I don't start writing him in character anytime soon XD Thank you for reviewing :)

Timely-Exit: If now you feel sorry for Light, you'll probably deem me as a sadist after the next few chapter XD And don't worry about L, he's having the fun of his life XD

Zena Silverwing: Awww, how can you hate Near? Okay, he's not my favourite character either, actually quite annoying at times... but he's so darn CUTE I'll let him get away with it XD And I hope I haven't made Matt too much of an idiot... just a little out of sorts with reality XD I needed him to be somewhat of a slob and obvious so he'll contrast with Mello's snobbishness and hot-temper... that'll guarantee quite some annoying on our favourite blond's part XD Thank you for reviewing and hope you like this chapter too! :)

Black-Dranzer-1119: Don't be XD It's not like he isn't a bastard too XD Thanks for reviewing! :)

nateriver88: Thank you for the review and the praise :) Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

blueberry-90: And here's the update you were wondering about :) Hope you like it :)

NX-Loveless-XN: And you have yet to see anything really bad, my friend XD Thanks for reviewing!

emenin001928: Here's the update :) I'm glad you enjoy it so much XD

xINFRAxREDx: Thank you for your praise :) I'm actually pretty worried about the portrayals... well, at least Light's T_T Hope you like this chapter too :)

.Heart: You're right, we certainly are all perverts... it's just that some of us are better at showing it XD I'm glad you like Matt, he's kind of missing substance at the moment, but I hope he'll get a personality soon XD I enjoy MelloxNear too but I find that, as long as Matt's involved, he has to end up with Mello XD And hold your horses! They're barely 10-11-12 years! Isn't it a little to early to think of threesomes? XD Thanks so much for your review, it made me smile XD

rion: Thank you for the review :) And don't pity Light. Consider it payback for killing L XD I'm having the fun of my life getting revenge on him XD

LAST Note: For everyone who pitied Light... Is that all you can take? XD Don't worry, the fun's just beginning XD *evil laugh*