Okay, so before we get started, I must inform you that I will be starting school again very, very soon after a very, very enjoyable summer vacation, and when I say I'm going back to school soon, I mean that I'm editing this chapter the night before I have to return to school. I'm not exactly looking forward to going back to school, as that means I will not have the time or energy to update as often as I did during the summer, so if I go a few months without updating, don't worry, I'm not dead and am just a bit busy.

Anyhoo, enough of my ramblings, onto the chapter! Also, I thought that since you probably don't want for me to describe an entire game of chess (and also because I don't want to write out the entire game), I decided to skip to when the game(s) of chess ended.

Chapter 7: My First Friend

"Checkmate," Light swerved his knight piece to topple over Ryuzaki's king, and with that, a click could be heard as L's chess piece fell over. A victorious, pleased-with-himself smirk graced Light's lips. Ryuzaki widened his eyes, let out a low-level yet still noticeable groan, and gritting his teeth, he took the long twig that he had been holding throughout the series of chess games they played and made a mark on the ground. So far, they'd played four games, each of them lasting at least one hour. At least. And due to the fact that it was easier to keep track of the score if you made a chart or something like that, Ryuzaki had used a stick to draw into the dirt a t-chart divided into two sections labelled "Ryuzaki" and "Light". There were tallies on both sides of the chart, both of them having two points each.

They were tied in score, and Light knew Ryuzaki didn't like it. Ryuzaki, very much like himself, wanted not only a challenge, but to win. Now, as exciting as defeat was, winning was always preferable, so approximately five, possibly six hours ago, when they played their first game and Ryuzaki had beaten Light, Light immediately jumped out of the stone bench he had been sitting in and demanded a rematch.

Light had known that for the sake of his pride, Ryuzaki wouldn't be able to refuse, thus multiple long, tedious games ensued. They kept uttering revenge for their defeats on each other, so it appeared that their ongoing game would never stop unless someone interrupted.

Light sighed. This was going to go on forever, and it would get dark soon. Even though he had missed the lunch he promised his family, he had to make it home on time for dinner. It wasn't often that he got to eat dinner with his family anymore, as he had recently moved out and got a job and everything, so he had to make it tonight. Light glanced at his wristwatch, "Six-seventeen P.M. I'll have to leave in about ten minutes if I want to make it home in time for dinner."

If he were to leave right now, though, it would undoubtedly make him look like he was chickening-out, something he most certainly didn't want to do, not even when encountered with someone as genius as Ryuzaki. Light was fully aware that he and Ryuzaki shared this mentality, which was how they found themselves stuck at the park in the freezing air, sitting on two stone benches with a table made of the same material in between, playing chess on one of the many chessboards the caretakers of the park had set up so that visitors could entertain themselves, and sticking around for who knows how long.

Seriously, Light knew the general amount of time he and Ryuzaki were here, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly how long they sat here among the cold and snow. Even through their shivering, the competition against the other was burning as bright as ever. Although, too bad the fire of competition did nothing to keep the two of them warm. It had gotten so cold that there was snow that was borderline ice, icicles were lining the benches they sat on, and the chess pieces were pretty much frozen solid. Still, they glowered at each other, their gazes heated, and the expressions they aimed at each other said in silent speech, "I am so going to defeat you."

Glares fixed and incentives as strong as ever, Ryuzaki requested, "May I have another game?"

Under other circumstances, Light would say yes. Each game with Ryuzaki was so unpredictable. Light had to account for every single move. He couldn't make a mistake or else Ryuzaki would find some sort of crazy, out-of-the box, yet brilliant way to exploit even the tiniest, most trivial wrong move, and Light's brain craved this aspect of Ryuzaki's personality. He craved to play with Ryuzaki, and after meeting him, Light didn't know how he had gone on for so long without someone as equally matched to him as Ryuzaki. But that was under normal circumstances. This circumstance, however, was not normal. The two of them had burned through four games in the span of five to six hours, it was at the point in time where most sane people would've long left the park, and Light really needed to get home before his family started getting worried.

Light looked up at the sky. It was a stunning display, the orange and fiery-red emitted from the gorgeous setting sun fading into the endless stretch of violets and indigo above and there being barely any light blue left, but the amazing sight, no matter how beautiful it was, pretty much screamed at him to hightail it out of there already and make his way to his mother and father's house.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'll have to leave soon. I don't want to be late for dinner. My family invited me over, and I don't want them to start worrying," Light gave into his desire to be punctual. The manners his family had instilled in him since he was a child weren't going anywhere anytime soon, and besides, Light was mentally exhausted from all those games of chess, as fun as they were.

"Oh, I understand, I should probably be leaving too," Ryuzaki nodded. All the while, he bit into the cookie he had purchased on the way to the park, at some random corner store. In fact, he bought an entire box of cookies, and he was polishing off the remnants of the box's contents just now. Light still cringed at how much sugar Ryuzaki was chomping down on, especially after all that sugary tea, but he said nothing about it. His facial expression gave it all away, though. Even if he tried his best to hide it, he was more than sure that Ryuzaki had picked up the slight shifts in the features on his face.

"I'm kind of hungry anyway," Ryuzaki added as he tilted the cookie box towards his mouth and dumped the remaining crumbs in. There was a twinge of disappoint in Ryuzaki's eyes, though, and the same could be said for Light. He wanted to stay longer, but the desire to be on time dominated everything else. The habit of always being on time was so ingrained into Light that he couldn't stand it when people were even a few minutes late, so naturally, it would be hypocritical for Light to be tardy himself.

"Ryuzaki's still hungry after all those cookies," Light chuckled internally, and Ryuzaki's behavior regarding the box of cookies only added to why Light thought Ryuzaki was infuriatingly adorable. Every single one of Ryuzaki's attributes screamed cute, not that Light would admit it this early into his character development, but nonetheless, it was pointless denying how downright charming and endearing Ryuzaki was.

"Oh, I don't have your number yet, and I should probably give you my number if you haven't recorded it down already; I don't want you to hack into the national database again," Light commented as he and Ryuzaki stood up from the benches they'd been sitting on.

"Oh, yes," Ryuzaki agreed. His voice was monotone, even dull, but Ryuzaki pulled out his phone just a little too quickly for it to be considered the normal speed people pulled out their phones at, indicating that he was more excited than he was letting on.

Light pulled his phone out of his pocket as well, and they switched phones to type in their numbers. Light figured that it was easier, not to mention more efficient, than both of them awkwardly trying to tell their number to the person in front of them through word of mouth, so it worked out nicely.

Uh, L had pretty much wasted the day away, but for some strange, unknown reason that not even he could comprehend, he liked it. He actually liked it! He couldn't believe himself right now, and he even got excited when Light suggested that they exchange phone numbers! Just what in the world was going on with him lately? He didn't like that his excitement showed through the swift pace he pulled out his phone, either.

Strange, that was the only word L could think about right now. "Strange, strange, strange, so, so strange. And I thought the strange things would stop happening once Watari got back from his trip, but noooo, it's been... how long? It's been over a week since Watari got back, and the strange, weird occurrences have still not stopped! Light, just what are you doing to me?!" L thought, his mind frustrated with itself. This was why he tried so hard to detach himself from emotions; they were so cumbersome, so bothersome to deal with, and he thought that he was better off without them.

Still, he had already accepted to exchange numbers, and he couldn't undo his agreement. Of course, he had several phones, and all of them were under different cellular companies so that it would be harder to track him down. He used some of his phones for business, some were for general use, there was a phone for keeping in contact with interesting people (not that he had to use that phone very often), and there was one phone strictly reserved for Watari's number and Watari's number alone.

L was currently using the phone he had for keeping in contact with interesting people. There weren't many contacts on it, so he didn't really run the risk of giving anything away about his actual identity. After exchanging phones and entering their numbers in, they gave back each other's phone, and with a final goodbye, L and Light were about to leave.

"Well, I hope to see you again soon, I had a lot of fun with you," Light grinned. L was about to say goodbye back when he looked directly at Light's face, and his heart might've missed a beat if it weren't for the fact that his heartbeat was involuntary. Unable to hide the smoldering blood rushing to his cheeks, L turned away. Embarrassed that he couldn't control this response, L's features reddened further, and he lifted his arm in front of his face in a hopeless attempt to hide his blush. What was he so expressive about his emotions with Light?! They had only known each other for all but two weeks, but L's defenses were already starting to fail.

All it took was one dazzling, amazing smile, and L was weak at the knees. He was paralyzed and helpless, all because of one damn smile. L had earlier established that most, if not all, of Light's smiles were fake, but this one... he saw how the smile reached Light's eyes. This smile was genuine, and no matter how much he denied it, L couldn't get enough.

Perhaps he should've distanced himself from Light. Maybe this was the cue for him to back off. It probably would've been best for L to stop contacting Light all together, but... he couldn't. He knew that this decision was foolish, that it was stupid to put both himself and some random person whom he barely knew in danger just because he found someone interesting for once. Yet, only the most mysterious of entities in the universe knew why L was doing this.

L wanted- no, he needed to find out why he was feeling this way. He had to get to the bottom of this, but he didn't know where to start. He didn't understand the human nature. It was the one thing he couldn't wrap his head around no matter how hard he tried. He could study it, exploit its weaknesses, even use the nature of humans in a way that best suited him, but he could never understand it. That bothered him to no end. It bothered him that the average person could comprehend human nature, but he, a genius, mind you, couldn't.

"Light... why are you making me feel this way? You make my stomach do flip-flops. You make my cheeks go red and my knees feel weak. Am I sure that I want to see what's behind your mask, your facade? Because if I were to uncover what's behind your smiling face, what's behind the lies, will I be able to take it? Or will I go weak at the knees and fall in front of you? Am I, myself, ready to take this mask of mine off, or will I hate the feeling of vulnerability?" L mused in his head.

L hated this. He hated feeling this way. It was torture, torture he'd say, torture that he had all these feelings rushing through him, but he didn't know what these feelings were. Feelings... they were a close companion, but so alien, so foreign at the same time. Feelings, to L at least, were like a shadow. Feelings were ever-present, unrelenting, wouldn't let you go, but when you turned around to face them, you could only see their dark, flat outlines. Just like how shadows only gave you a vague picture of what was casting them, it was hard to tell which feeling manifested inside of you.

"Ryuzaki? Ryuzaki? Ryuzaki?!" only when Light called out his fake name for the third time was when he re-caught L's attention.

"Oh, Light," L redirected his focus back to the man in front of him. This man... this man was such a conundrum! Well, at least to L he was, since Light might've not even realized the effect he had on L.

"I was getting kind of worried when you didn't respond, are you okay?" Light inquired. "I don't mean to be nosy, but is there anything bothering you?"

"W-what? No, of course not, I'm fine," L reassured Light, but really, he was reassuring himself more than anyone else. L just hoped that he had put on a display that was convincing enough. Both him and Light appeared to be liars, and one liar could spot another liar a mile away. And that stutter he had at the beginning of his sentence. He hated it whenever he stuttered or didn't know what to say. He didn't like to be seen as weak, to be seen as vulnerable and helpless. If people saw him as weak, what would they think? If he was anything but an unfeeling robot, what would the world make of him?

Once you stripped away that stoic expression, the deadpan he always spoke with, all his quirks and mannerisms, what did you get? L knew, but he didn't want to say. He didn't want to say because once you stripped everything away, his intellect, his odd habits, everything that made him L, you would get nothing more than a scared and lonely child who wished that he had a daddy that loved him. Sure, there was Watari, but L had only found Watari after years of agony and loneliness.

Underneath his own mask, he still had all of those odd tendencies and nervous habits, but beneath everything was a little kid who just wanted to be loved. Was that too much to ask for? Was someone who loved him too much for the universe to provide? Apparently so, it seemed. Or maybe... the universe was just waiting for the right person, and who knew if the right person was standing in front of L right now or not? L didn't know, not at this very moment, but he had this gut feeling that... he wanted to be friends with Light. Even if they would grow apart in a number of years, he still wanted for Light to be a part of his life.

Pushing aside his personal reservations, L took a deep breath and opened his mouth before he could regret his course of action. He was about to do something he considered as stupid, but he had to do it. "Light?" L started. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" Light asked.

"Well..." okay, there was no turning back now. There was a pause that lasted for a few seconds, and within those few seconds, L scolded himself, "Just spit it out, L!" More seconds passed, but just as L thought that he wouldn't be able to do it, his vocal cords started working again, "Would you like to hang out again? I... I had a fun time with you..."

"Stupid, stupid L! Why the hell are you doing this?! Why?! Why?! Why?! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did you just ask for him to hang out with you?!" L, immediately regretting his decision but refusing to show it, reprimanded himself in his thoughts.

Before he could continue berating himself, though, Light responded, "That'd be great, actually. Would you like to go to my house for dinner next week?"

L's heart dropped to his stomach. Wasn't this a bit soon to be introducing L to Light's parents?! Then again, according to Watari, L had been talking about Light ever since Watari got back from his vacation. If Watari knew this much about Light, it would only be fair for Light's parents to be able to scratch the surface on all there was to know about L.

"D-dinner?" L almost couldn't get the words out.

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'll make sure that my mom can compensate for your eating habits," Light chuckled when he mentioned the mass amounts of sugar L took in every day.

"Oh, yes, thank-you for considering that," L could only nod and pretend to smile. Now that he had suggested spending more time with Light on a whim and agreed to Light's idea of eating dinner with his family, there was no backing out. That would make L seem more suspicious than he already way, which wasn't a good thing if you were one who hated to attract attention as much as L did.

"No problem, the next time I'm over for dinner with my family, it'll be one week from now, at six-forty-five. I'll tell them you're coming, and since I have your number, I'll text you my address right now," Light texted L his address, turned to leave, and with a wave, he was off. He shouted over his shoulder as he walked, "Well, see you next week! I look forward to you coming over!"

As soon as Light left, L dug his fingers into his hair. "Ah! Why am I being so stupid?!" L would've screamed if no one else was around, but there were a few brave park-goers who still dared to venture out at this time.

Trying to regain his composure, L whipped out his phone to call Watari, "Yes, Watari? Yes, I'd like to go home now."

"I was wondering when you'd call; you've been out for six hours. Honestly, this is the most time you've spent with anyone besides me, and I'm thrilled! You finally made a friend, I'm so proud!" Watari voice filled L's ears. It was soothing and comforting, but all the while, it reminded L of his stupid decision to ask Light to go out with him again.

Then, the realization hit him. He had been out for six freaking hours?! How did he lose track of time like that?! L looked up into the sky, which was almost dark at this point. All that needed to happen was for the stars to show up and cover the sky in their scattered, glowing glory. L slapped his forehead. Now he was really behind with his work.

"L, are you alright?" Watari now sounded quite concerned, probably because L hadn't responded for a while.

"Oh, sorry, I must've spaced out," L sighed, and he saw his breath in front of him. "How long will it take for you to pick me up?"

"Only ten minutes, is that okay?" Watari replied.

"I'll be fine until then," L confirmed as he sat back down. He had wasted enough time, so ten minutes wasn't going to do much.

L closed his phone after he and Watari exchanged their see-you-later's, and L secretly thanked his insomnia. Without it, the amount of work he'd be able to do would be cut in half, which was very, very dreadful if you happen to be the world's top three detectives. At least he had a full night's worth of work he would still be able to accomplish, though Watari was likely to get rather annoyed with the constant sound of L typing at five o' clock in the morning. Even if L ran on practically no sleep, Watari's sleeping patterns were normal, so it was rather hard for their sleeping schedules to coexist.

Watari constantly told L that he needed more sleep, too, that just because he had insomnia didn't mean that he didn't need to rest, but, unfortunately for Watari, those warnings fell on deaf ears. His sleeping algorithms might catch up with him someday, but not now, so L had no concern over such a thing. He had work to do and justice to bring upon criminals, and there was no way he would let something as trivial to him as sleep interfere with that.

L waited for a time, whirling his head around every once in a while to catch more glimpses of the fresh snowfall. He started rubbing his arms to keep warm, because as the sun settled beneath the horizon, the temperature took a sharp drop. The wind picked up as well, and it sent chills through L's core as it ripped through the park.

While playing chess with Light, L hadn't really gotten the opportunity to take in his surroundings, but now, since he was alone, he turned to observing all the little details about the park to distract him from the cold. For a while, it worked. L noticed how the snow looked like powdered sugar (which made him quite hungry), how the only animals around were some fearless birds that decided to stay outside and away from their cozy, comfortable nests, and how approximately one person walked along the sidewalk that ran through the park every five minutes.

L wasn't surprised that people strolled through the park at such a low rate. It was late, cold, and most would be sitting around a table to have dinner. Perhaps Light was sitting around the table with his family at this very moment, laughing and sharing tidbits about what had been happening to him lately. Maybe Light would even mention their little meeting and how Light had invited L over for dinner next week-

Then, the implications of having dinner with Light's family sunk in. "Why did I not realize earlier?!" L's already large eyes widened to the size of saucers. Before he met up with Light today, he had done some "light" (A/N: A Light pun was inevitable) snooping around in an attempt to do some research about Light and his family. It was a weird, slightly disturbing habit, but being a secretive, antisocial shut-in who is also a detective that constantly has to hide their face out of fear of the many enemies they have tends to do that to you.

Anyway, L had done some research about Light, and he found out that Soichiro Yagami, chief of the NPA, was Light's father. That proved as a small problem, as even though no one in the NPA could see L's face, meeting Soichiro would be undeniably awkward. L was used to talking to Soichiro as L, not as Ryuzaki, so he knew he would have to adjust some of his behaviors in order to not raise any suspicions. Though, L wasn't saying that he would have to temporarily pretend that he didn't have insane, socially unacceptable quirks. You see, he was used to talking to Soichiro as a superior, as a boss, even, but at the dinner he would have with Light and his family, L had to play the part of simply being Light's friend.

That meant that he would most likely have to adjust his speech patterns, pretend that he didn't know much about Light's father or the rest of Light's family for that matter, and, to avoid making anyone at the dinner table uncomfortable, he would most likely have to refrain from talking about the recent murders that had been occurring as of late. Great. Just great. Next week, L would probably have the most awkward dinner of his entire life, and he still had a small mountain's worth of work to do when he returned to the hotel.

L pinched the bridge of his nose, and he hoped that he would be able to hold out until one week from now. "What have I gotten myself into?" he murmured, still clasping the area above his nose and in between his eyes. He used his other hand to change the position of the wool hat he wore because his mass of hair was causing for the article of clothing to slide off his head, and he turned his body around, his back leaning against the table that still had the chess pieces on it and his chin resting on his knees.

He looked past his shoulder to see the empty box of cookies that laid tipped over along with the numerous conquered chess pieces from his and Light's game, and he noticed the cookie crumbs surrounding and falling out of the box.

To entertain himself and pass the time until Watari got here, he began to debate with himself whether he should eat the crumbs or not.

"Well, I am still hungry, and those crumbs look rather good, but... would one consider it hygienic to eat the crumbs that have fallen on this table? I'd say about... mmm... I'd say about forty to fifty hands have touched the table these crumbs are laying on today, and I'd say about thirty percent of the people that touched this table played at least one game of chess, thus contaminating the table further. Also, there is a twenty percent chance that a bird has previously pooped on this table within the last few days," L took one last glace at the enticing crumbs on the table, and he sighed in defeat. "Looks like I'll have to leave the crumbs today."

Disappointed that his own logic had prevented him from enjoying the treat of a few fallen crumbs, L determined that it would be best for him to stop thinking about food for now. That would make him even hungrier, and it would also remind him that he wasn't in a hotel room, that he wasn't working to solve his current case, and that he wasn't eating the cream-puffs he said he'd eat once he got back.

"When will Watari get here?" L asked himself even though he knew he would get no answer.

Honk! Honk! Honk! The familiar sound made L perk up. Finally! Watari was here. Because of the fact that Watari couldn't fit the car into the park, L would have to walk to the street surrounding the park in order to be driven home, so L slid off the park bench and grabbed the empty box of cookies, since he hated it when people littered. He didn't know why he hated litterers, he just hated them, and throughout all of his world travels, he would almost always encounter one or two people that threw their trash on the ground. That action grated at his nerves, but, as before stated, he never knew why. He supposed he would find out why he despised litterers eventually. For now, though, that was a question and subject to ponder about for another day, and he headed towards the road.

His feet crunched through the fluffy snow, and as he walked through the paved walkway that ran through the park, he shuffled around snow with every step he took. He passed a person or two every once in a while, but other than that, this place was practically deserted.

It had gotten pretty dark, so the streetlamps that lined the sidewalks were just beginning to turn on, providing a pleasant glow that guided him safely back to Watari. He found Watari waiting for him, and he was standing at the side of the car with the door open.

"Looks like you've enjoyed yourself," Watari gave L a wink, and he added, "what have you been up to for the last six hours? You usually never stay outside of the hotel room for more than thirty minutes, much less sit around at a park for twelve-fold that amount of time."

"Well, Light is very interesting..." L sheepishly played around with a stray lock of hair. "We played a game of chess, four games, actually, and it was fun. We both won two games each."

Watari lifted his eyebrow in surprise, "I can see why you're intrigued with Light. I just didn't expect for him to match you so well."

"Nor did I," L admitted. "No one's ever beaten me in chess before. It's something new, and I suppose that I just liked the challenge so much that I didn't want to leave Light. Who knows if I'll ever come across someone like him again?"

"Maybe you won't, so it's important to maintain contact with him. He can be good for you. Maybe he can even be your first friend," Watari offered L a wrinkly smile, and L shrugged and stepped into the car. Watari closed the door for L with a soft plunk! and hopped into the driver's seat. They drove off, and they didn't speak to each other for a while, the quiet hum and rumble of the engine being the dominating sound in the car.

The car ride was going relatively smoothly. L looked out the window just in time to see the first stars of the night entering into view, and the road before him and Watari was calm and devoid of traffic. You'd expect for there to be more people out and about at this time, but surprisingly, the streets only had a few others dotted throughout.

The sky had both patches of clouds and clear openings where L observed pockets of bright, diamond-like stars. Even in his sitting position of a crouch, L's muscles gradually relaxed as the car ride continued, and he enjoyed being inside a warm, closed-off car that had heating. He hadn't noticed the cold while playing those games of chess with Light, but once Light left and there was nothing to occupy his attention for very long, the cold jabbed at him with its full force until Watari came to pick him up.

Even now, he could feel small pins and needles poking lightly into his skin, and his fingers still tingled a bit as they tried to fully regain all their dexterity. As usual, L lost himself in his mind. He thought about not only today but the past few weeks. He thought about how Light was always on his mind, about how much he enjoyed playing chess with Light, and most of all, that fuzzy feeling he got when Light smiled.

L thought there was something wrong with him, that he shouldn't have sought out companionship from Light, but he just couldn't stop. He couldn't control his desire for... for a friend. Friend. To L, that was a confusing word. Up until now, he didn't really understand why people wanted friendship. Most of the people he knew, other than Watari obviously, had only a professional relationship with him. They knew L because he was, well, L. That was the only reason L had any contacts outside of his interactions with Watari. He knew people because his job required it, not because he wanted someone by his side, but this person, this one person turned that mentality on its head. Light didn't completely change L's opinion on friendship, but he planted the seed for the eventual change.

This seed of thought that had been implanted into L's head... he didn't want to say so, but the seed of thought that was growing inside his head terrified him. It terrified him because to L, friendship was terrifying. He didn't want to think about friendship, something he deemed as useless. Sure, everyone needed friends, but not L. Right? That was what L had thought for so, so many years, and to have that assertion contradicted so forcefully, so suddenly, caused him to, for once, not know what to think.

Raising his thumb to his lips, L started chewing on the nail. He clutched his knees with his fingers, too, and he curled his toes on the edge of the seat. There were butterflies in his stomach, his heart was pounding at the speed of sound, and his abused thumbnail was non-verbally complaining for L to stop gnawing on it. Of course, even with his thumbnail's objections, he couldn't stop the nervous habit, and, having had enough of this lack of talk, L decided to stir up a conversation with Watari to divert his attention away from the odd sensations and feelings that apparently popped out of nowhere.

L broke the peaceful silence that had settled between him and Watari, and then, in a very soft, somewhat fragile voice, L spoke, "Watari?"

"Yes L? Do you need anything?" Watari questioned from the driver's seat. "We're almost back at the hotel."

"Do you really think Light could be my first friend?" L mumbled.

"I don't see why not," L couldn't see Watari's face because it was turned away from his own, but L could practically sense the smile on Watari's lips. "The both of you seem compatible enough."

"It's just that I'm new to this friendship thing, if I can even call Light my friend. I've only known him for around two weeks," L finally released his thumbnail from his mouth, but now he was twitching, presumably out of nervousness.

"So? You have to know someone for two weeks before you know them for two years," Watari said.

L sighed, not saying anything after that. He didn't need to. Whether Watari realized it or not, Watari had won this argument, and there wasn't exactly an option to back away from this friendship thing. L was too hooked on his interest in Light to let go, and Watari, well, let's just say Watari was doing nothing to stop L from seeking friendship with Light.

For the rest of the drive home, neither person in the car said anything. L didn't want to ruin the atmosphere, and Watari was busy driving, so it was just L and any thoughts swirling around in that complex brain of his.

The thunder of the engine was once again the main sound inside the car, and even when L heard someone honk their car-horn out in the distance, he paid no mind to it. He was practically alone with his thoughts, even with Watari inside the car with him, and he was glad that Watari knew him well enough to not push conversation further.

As they drove, L's mind shifted back to the case, and soon enough, L was following his usual train of thought, the train of thought concerning the murder investigation he was heading. He had Light's number, so perhaps he could call or text him in order to convince Light to share his theory regarding the investigation with the rest of the NPA.

It would all be fine, L convinced himself. He convinced himself that everything would return to normal once he got back to work again, and with Light and his opinions about the murder case still fresh on his mind, L let his thoughts drift and his musings run wild.

Light had just finished having dinner with his family, and he was sitting on a green sofa, in the living room with his mom, dad, and sister, Sayu. Nothing much was happening at the moment. There was some crappy, uninspiring Hideki Ryuga film blaring on the TV, and Sayu was watching said film, but other than that, things were relatively dull, not that Light minded that too much.

Ever since he had gotten himself a job and apartment, he caught himself spending less and less time with his family, which was rather unfortunate because he and his family were extremely close. He'd spent so many years growing up in this house with his parents and sister, but now, after moving out, he could only visit them no more than once a week. Sometimes, he would end up not seeing them for a month or so because of colliding schedules, and he was not appreciating the rift that was forming between him and his family as a byproduct of this disagreement between everyone's daily routines.

He and his father had work, where they both often had to work overtime. His mother always had some errand to do. Heck, Sayu was just starting out with college, so she was quite busy, too. All in all, Light wished he could spend more time with his loved ones, but he knew he couldn't do much about it. He probably wasn't going to have the number of hours he worked shortened anytime soon, the same situation applying to his father, his mom was perpetually stuck within a loop of rushing around town to do things and trying to make sure the household was running smoothly, and Sayu was slowly but surely learning how to fend for herself without Light being there to help her with quadratic equations.

Light sighed. He could only hope that his family wouldn't drift apart too much even with everything everyone had to do, and as that thought ran through his head, he leaned further into the couch. He was sitting on the left end, and his mother and father were sitting next to each other, Soichiro having his arm lovingly folded over his wife's shoulder and a smile on both of their faces. Light smiled at the sight; at least his mother and father's relationship was still going strong, so he could rest easy and know that a divorce wouldn't be driving the family apart anytime soon.

"So Light, has everything been okay at work?" Sachiko, Light's mother, couldn't help but ask. "I hear that you're getting promoted."

"Things are fine," Light shrugged nonchalantly. He was now resting his elbow on the couch's arm, and his head was tilted back slightly so he could see the ceiling at the corners of his vision.

"That's good to hear," Soichiro chimed in. "I've been slightly worried about the amount of work you've been taking on lately."

Light nodded, and he was about to open up his mouth to speak, but Sayu, who was perched on the large chair to Light's right, had beaten him to it. "So Light," her high-pitched, always excited-sounding voice rang through the air. Light internally chuckled at his sister and the familiar, squealing sound of her voice. It seemed kind of weird, but Sayu's voice was so familiar and comforting that it somewhat was like the vocal equivalent of a security blanket. Yes, that sounded odd, and yes, Light doubted that the other people he knew could say the same about their sisters' voices, but just hearing his family members speak brought him peace. He was used to their voices and ways of speech, so no matter what his family said, their words would always console him.

Today, though, luck didn't appear to be on his side, as what his sister said next definitely didn't console him.

"Do you have a girlfriend yet?" Sayu's curious tone was all the evidence Light needed in order to know that Sayu wasn't going to just drop the subject.

"You know I'm not that interested in dating," Light groaned. "I don't want to talk about this kind of stuff."

"But why?! Girls flocked to you in high school! I remember this one time when someone even resorted to stalking you-" Sayu was now leaning over the side of the chair she was sitting in, presumably to get closer to Light so that he could hear her better.

"Don't bring up the stalking incident," Light pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't need to be reminded of when that happened.

"Fine, fine," Sayu waved her hands defensively, and she started pouting a little. "All I'm saying is that you're not using your natural charm! There're so many people who wish that it'd be as easy for them as it is for you to get a date! People just want what they don't have, huh?" Sayu huffed before continuing, "You have to find someone eventually! It's impossible for you to not get at least one date out of all of this! I mean, have you seen how much your female coworkers flirt with you?!"

"Sayu does have a point," Soichiro intervened. "It's nice to have someone to live your life with, and your mother and I won't be here forever. We just want you to find someone who'll keep you company."

"I know," Light let out a deep, pent-up breath that he didn't realize he was holding. "I'm just not ready yet, that's all. I'm pretty sure I'll find someone if you just give it enough time."

Light didn't really get why his family was so concerned about his love-life. He could take care of it himself, and he didn't really consider himself to be someone who desperately wanted a relationship. It was odd; people were falling in love with him pretty much everywhere he went, yet he had never felt any particular attraction towards women. At first, he just thought that was because he hadn't found the right person yet, but as time wore on, Light was getting more and more convinced that the universe just didn't intend for him to fall in love. Of course, he didn't have too many problems with that. To him, relationships were rather hard to maintain, so he didn't really bother. It bothered the rest of his family, though, so in turn, that was the only reason his status as single bugged him so much.

Maybe Sayu was right. Maybe people, no matter what, always want what they don't have, and since Light already had plenty of potential partners, he didn't have a need or desire for one.

Or maybe... he was simply looking into the wrong gender...

"What...?" Light, understandably puzzled at the thought that had just rammed into him, could barely believe what was going on in his head at the moment. "Brain, what do you mean that I'm looking into the wrong gender?! I know that I've never been interested in women before. I've never even considered one cute... but..."

The thought of Ryuzaki with his cute, messy head of hair and adorable, panda-like face popped into Light's head. In fact, Ryuzaki was beyond just "cute". Now that Light thought about it, Ryuzaki was also rather attractive... His skin was pale and blemish-free, like porcelain. His hair, as wild as it was, looked soft and very enjoyable to touch. And his lips... they were thin and chapped, but nonetheless, they looked soft... like two pillows-

"Ah! What the hell am I thinking?!" Light was very unsure about why he was thinking this way, and he had even less of a clue as to why his mind somehow wandered off to thinking about Ryuzaki's lips. The more he tried to deny it, though, the more he thought Ryuzaki was alluring, even attractive.

Maybe his brain was right. Maybe the reason why he didn't find the idea of dating appealing was because-

"Light, pull yourself together," Light scolded to himself. Trying to push the thoughts out of his head, he returned his attention back to his family, who were still chatting about how Light hadn't dated anyone since high school. "Maybe I shouldn't have returned my focus back to them... thinking about how attractive Ryuzaki is seems to be much more tolerable than having your family so openly talk about how you haven't had your first kiss yet..."

"Okay, I think that's enough of an insight into what's going on with my relationship status," Light grumbled. "Give it a rest, I don't think I'll be finding anyone to date anytime soon."

Okay, so I've been trying to get my chapters to be a little shorter... that failed miserably... *sigh* Oh well, I guess it can't be helped, but do you prefer longer chapters or chapters that are a bit shorter? I personally like them to be a bit shorter because that way, there's less stuff to edit. XD As I said earlier, I'm going to be starting school again after a rather enjoyable summer vacation, so that means that I won't be able to update as frequently as I did during the summer. I hope I don't wear down your patience for taking a long time to update, but please understand that the first couple weeks of school do get quite crazy.

It'll also be my first year in high school! *gasp* Oh, I'm so nervous! For anyone who's in high school, what is it like? I'm very scared, and I need to load up on as much advice as I can get! Well, bye, and see you next chapter.