IV. Some nights, I wish they'd just fall off

"What's in a name?

That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

Light read the verses in a barely audible whisper as if he was casting a spell. It almost had the (un)desidered effect to draw L's attention away from the reports he was carefully analysing and turn his deep-set black eyes towards the younger male besides him. The other members of the task-force had retired to their rooms few hours ago and even Matsuda had given in around three o' clock in the morning, failing his weak attempt to prove his worth. The Kira Investigation had drained everybody's strength after months spent acting on every new possible evidence came to light, but deaths kept happening right under the police's nose and the mass media never missed the opportunity to highlight the defeat in the justice's wall. L seemed to be the only one deaf to the provocation, along with Light who's faith in catching Kira was as strong as his will to prove he wasn't the mass murderer.
They were both sat in bed, the chain between them separating their own personal space. "Do you enjoy reading Shakespeare now, Light-kun?" The detective asked, guessing the author's name and title's book hid by Light's fingers spread across the cover. "I never took you for Romeo and Juliet."
"Honestly I am not." Light affirmed in a rather naïve tone. Misa would be a fan of romance with no doubt, you could already hear her clicking the tongue in delight and clapping her hands enacting the struggle of young lovers to surmount some difficulty, bursting into tears if the couple ends up getting married or embraced by death -she believed in fact in the holy feeling hidden in the sentence till death do you part. "But I admit this quotation is a very profound one."
"So..." L rocked on his back, tip-toes curled up and the thumb stuck between his teeth. "Do you believe names have no value?"
"I believe that a name is simply a label to distinguish something from another. It doesn't create worth nor does it create true meaning." Names were a delicate subject since they were Kira's first weapon... Hard to tell something as brittle and meaningless as a name held enough information to kill a person, didn't it? Light had thought about it for a while, without reaching a positive conclusion. The reason was the man he was handcuffed with. "Consider what stated in the verses. A rose, if called something entirely different, would still smell as sweetly as it does with the name rose. Name is just a label decided by humankind, it shouldn't have a true power -but it does. The family name is the reason why Juliet and Romeo can't love each other, but that name doesn't define their feelings, either them as human beings."
The blast of thunder cut off Light's train of thoughts, followed by the heavy beating of rain against the window. The forecast had announced an early rainy season and in fact it was storming non-stop for two days; Light would know that even without glancing at the window, because Misa called him to sadly announce she couldn't leave home because of a typhoon warning and made him promise to not go outside as well. As if he could.
The flash of a lightening broke through the curtains and cast a glow over L's profile. It looked like he'd never moved from his position, but Light could easily tell his shoulders had tensed after fifty-three nights spent together -and thirty-four nights of a growing intimacy after the first (and only one) kiss.
"So... If I called you Light or Kira, it wouldn't make a difference because a name doesn't define the man you are. Am I right?" L tilted the head aside, the bangs slightly covering his deep-set eyes but not the provocation in his tone. Despite the awareness it was another of those spiteful psychological tests and that he was always, always, always being observed and judged for each actions he took and each word he spoke, Light couldn't hold back anger anymore. Did L never get enough of those silly games? Didn't he get enough evidences after almost two months?
His fingers trembled to the point he closed the book with a sudden movement of the wrists. "You're implying I'm a murderer. Again." Light forced himself to sound calm, but his voice came harsh and even worse, he knew from the beginning his words would convict him again.
"I simply said that it wouldn't make a difference if I called you by another name. Kira is just a name, after all." The detective offered a small smile, coming back to his work. "I put into practice what you said, I don't understand why you-"
The paperworks L was examining flew away from his grip and danced mid-air like delicate feathers before falling all over the blankets. Even the copy of Romeo and Juliet had fallen during the scuffle, ended with Light towering above L, both hands firmly grabbing the detective's shirt. "Don't play with me. This is not a game, Ryuzaki, and I'm ti-"
Appearances aside, L was extremely strong. In the twinkling of an eye he flipped over the positions and pinned the student under his weight, preventing Light futile struggling by firmly grabbing his wrists. "This is not a game, Light." Shadows stressed the heavy bags under L's eyes, while the curve of his shoulders and the way the messy black hair fell over his face revealed all the weight he'd carried in spite of his young age. "People's dying because of someone who thinks to be a God. You're right, names don't necessary define the value of a man, but their existence in society. Exactly what Kira needs to kill."
The handcuff cut in his flesh under the strength of L's deadly grip, but Light completely ignored the pain and kept challenging the detective with eyes full of rage. He wasn't in the mood for a lecture just because L didn't know how to vent out his own frustration. They were all tired to get nowhere, even the three greatest detective had his own limits. They were all humans. "Hideki Ryuuga, Ryuzaki, L." Light listed all the alias used by the detective. "I could call you by any name you want, but what defines you as the man you are in the end?"
Light dry swallowed as he tried to calm down his breath. He stopped fighting but L's grip didn't loosen up and he could only stare at the silence falling grave between them, broken just by the sound of rain. Light was ready to be punched straight in the face because this was what usually happened when they teased each other -but it didn't. What followed next, drowned in the glow of a new lightening, was the (incomplete) answer to Light's previous conclusion.
L healed the rift between them placing his lips against Light's. They softly brushed until Yagami gave in to the taste of sugar lingering over the detective's lips and licked off the corner of his mouth the remains of a chocolate cake. It was extremely too sweet for his taste, sickening to the point to being addictive -such a contradictory, but his lips seemed to follow a different logic and kept deepening the kiss, allowing the detective to violate what even Misa never tasted for real. The hold around his wrists loosened at some point and Light was free to cup Ryuzaki's cheeks and guide his clumsy attempts to a more breathless kiss, eyes closed shut to enjoy the moment and skin flushing in the warmth of the act. L's slithered fingers slipped under Yagami's shirt, drawing circles till the exposed skin burnt and a small moan broke the kiss. Hands clutched around the detective's neck and only the coolness of the metal linking them to reality, they both caught their breaths -Light staring at something behind Ryuzaki with half-lidded eyes and the other absently-mindedly caressing his abdomen. A sudden shudder shook the student's body when the detective's hands begun to stimulate his nipples with a hint of curiosity, as if it was just another test... Yes, they were testing the implication of their forced cohabitation after all, didn't they? The consequence of an intimacy made of logic and fights and minds that looked for someone to keep up with their high standards, and there they found themselves, hunter and prey in a tight embrace and lips devouring words that if whispered would reveal everything about their own nature. The Kira investigation had been put aside to let them free to intertwine their fingers and dancing in the mild limbo of instincts, letting their true humanity coming to the surface. Just for one night -and other hundreds of times would follow.
Light's mind spun like a wheel and his back arched in response at the feather-like kisses L was leaving on his body. Driven by growing passion and annihilated judgement, his hands sunk in the messy bundle of L's hair, clutching at the strands to suffocate his need to let out any sound. It was almost humiliating to succumb to those sugary lips and strong hands that already seemed to know his body better than him... Somehow exciting, he had to admit. Since the night they first kissed Light had failed to convince himself it had been just a mistake; his subconscious had wanted it and still craved for those lips, while his rationality desperately tried to unravel the knot of his emotions.
"Unh...!" A burst of heat suddenly radiated from his groin, where L's cuffed hand had inadvertently placed while pulling back. Light's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, aware of the peak his excitement has reached without a warn. It'd never happened with anyone else, with any other girl he spent time with, and now his body completely failed him and he could see in those black eyes the reflection of a boy he had never been, no no no, that mess of sweat and lewdness wasn't the image of perfection everybody knew!
"Ryu-" The urgency in Light's voice was silenced by a slithered pale finger pressed on the teen's lips. "Don't." The detective ordered and that word expressed all Light needed to know. Names didn't exist, they were just entities, free of all the labels imposed by society, free of their roles of suspect and detective, free to expose themselves as individuals to each other.

L felt vulnerable under the trace of wet kisses Light tenderly placed on his Adam's apple and a sudden shiver crossed along his spine, curving his shoulders towards the teen beneath him, as if in the act to engulf that beauty in his prime. He hadn't ever cared about his look, indeed, the displayed carelessness was somehow a constant in his several aliases. Quite the opposite, Light was beautiful and still his gestures were full of grace despite the embarrassment painting his cheeks. His lips were soft and hot against his skin, giving him goosebumps at each kiss or simple brushing of flesh constrained in tight clothes. All those feelings were overwhelming.
The silver glint of the chain wove their fingers and that was all L saw before his hand sunk in unexplored lands, conquering a (obscene) moan in response. Light bent forward, toes curling and fingers scratching the detective's back, giving his consent with a hectic breath suffocated in the crook of L's neck. Inebriated by the scent of the man clung to him, L moved his hand up and down Light's groin, trying to sync the friction with the urgency his other hand worked on himself. They both came together in one trembling spasm after L whispered in Light's ear Juliet's verses.

"What's in a name?
That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

The fifty-third night ended with unspoken names carved in the bruises left by the chains. L had fallen exhausted onto Light, face hidden in the pillow and hands resting on his sides. Yagami decided he would fix his mask of perfection the next morning, when society would require him to be back as the model student and hero he was known for, but for the rest of the night he would let his imperfect humanity to take over him -and hoped L did the same. So, face still red and messy brown hair stuck to his forehead, he tapped on L's back. A low sigh came from the bundle of black hair and, very slowly as if it required more strength than usual, L turned towards Light. With half-lidded eyes, lips swollen and a soft pink colouring his pale cheeks. An unusual, vulnerable sight of the man of justice.
After fifty-three nights it was Light's turn to cradle Ryuzaki in his arms and rub his hair until they both fell asleep.

If names had no values, they would stand in the sun and share those moments forever. But their fate was as cruel as Romeo's and Juliet's.

Nda

It was a hard chapter to write because in the end I included a lot of thoughts and things and Shakespear likes to bring up memories of tragedies. But still this is my favorite chapter ever. Hope you like it and please make me know what you think about it 3