Note: Hey! I have to apologize for not updating yesterday; it totally slipped my mind. To make up for the screwed up schedule and keeping you guys waiting, I'll update again tomorrow. For now, please enjoy!


It was many hours before L came back.

Light was sitting down on the bench within the prison cell, looking down at the floor in deep thought. His eyes lit up as soon as he heard the footsteps begin to echo through the hallway, and pretty soon Light came into view on the other side of the bars.

The detective walked inside and shut the door behind him, holding exactly what he said he'd bring - a bowl of soup and a slice of bread.

"Hey, Ryuzaki-"

"I'll remind you that the cameras are fully active, so you can save yourself this boring fate and admit to being Kira whenever you'd like."

Light almost visibly slouched. Almost. He was smart enough to keep a poker face, no matter how disappointed he was. "I already told you, I'm not Kira, and you have no reason to believe I am!"

L shrugged. "Your father's watching the video feed. Do you really want to lie to him anymore?"

"Ryuzaki," a voice started up over the intercom, "there's no need to be so aggressive."

L sighed. "Okay, I'll stop for now. Are you hungry, Light?"

Light nodded. "Yes, very. Hurry up and take these handcuffs off so that I can eat."

"No, I can't do that. The handcuffs will stay on," L said simply.

"Fine. If you're so determined to destroy my pride, I guess there's nothing I can do about it." Light bent his head down toward the tray in L's hands.

"You don't have to eat like a dog," the black-haired boy sighed. "I'll feed it to you."

Light tried to hide the blush on his face, to no avail. Hopefully the video feed wasn't picking it up. "U-um… Okay."

L sat down next to Light and took a spoonful of soup from the bowl. "Open, please."

Light opened his mouth slowly, a little shocked that L was doing that on camera.

L grinned a little and fed him the soup. "Do you like it? The food, I mean."

Light shrugged. "Kind of bland. But I'm starving so I'll take it. Hurry up and get me some more."

With the next spoonful, L got a little bit closer to Light's face.

"What are you doing?!" The brown-haired not whispered. "You're being too risky."

"No, it's okay." He shook his head, speaking his next sentence a bit louder. "I hope this doesn't make you too uncomfortable, Light Yagami. You know as well as anyone else that I don't exactly… Conform to social standards that other people have. I've been told this before, so I assume it to be true."

"Whatever," Light shrugged it off. "I already know you're strange so I got used to it a long time ago."

"Good. Then the distance between my face and yours doesn't bother you?"

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it, so not really."

"Good." L grabbed another spoonful of soup. "Then let's continue."

After Light was done eating, L stood back up. "I'll be back in the morning. Goodbye for now."

Light hoped to see some sort of subtle grin from L that the camera couldn't pick up, but got only a stoic face. "Well, hurry up and leave already. I want to sleep."

L nodded once and exited the cell.

-XXX-

As a month ticked by, Light began to realize that his entire life now consisted of waiting for the black-haired boy to return, day after day. It was everything. The sound of footsteps echoing down a concrete hallway was his hope.

His only happiness.

And then, as if on queue, the footsteps came into earshot. He looked up immediately, peering through the bars for the moment that L came around the corner.

For a split seconds, his explored all kinds of possibilities - what if it wasn't L and someone else was bringing his breakfast? What if L had been completely unassigned from the task and would never come again? What if it was L, but someone came with him? What if what if what if-

But then there he was. The slouched posture, the hands in his pockets, the dark eyes and the black hair that had never seen a hairbrush. All right in front of Light, and all his.

Well, with the restraint of the video cameras.

L broke out into a smile. "I know what you're thinking. Don't worry; I had them disabled. Matsuda is making sure they stay off and he said he'd give us a hint over the intercom if they're being turned back on."

Light stood up and walked right up to the bars. "There're no windows in here, Ryuzaki. I honestly can't tell if it's been hours or days."

The boy unlocked the cell door and put down the tray of food before wrapping his arms around Light, squeezing as tightly as he could. "Only hours. It's been a night since I last saw you, but it has been a month since I've been able to act normally around you."

"Why did it take so long you to get the cameras off?"

"It wasn't easy to find a time where only Matsuda and I were in the main control room," L explained.

"Where are the others?"

"Out on a mission to find more information on Kira's whereabouts. Some civilians are stepping forward, claiming to be him, and they decided it was their only lead in a while and they might as well follow it."

"So the killings have stopped?" Light asked.

L nodded. "They have."

"Then why are the agents following other leads?" Light asked confusedly.

L shook his head. "The others know my theory that there's a second Kira, so they're starting to believe it's you, but your father seems to be in a state of denial. He's taking on all kinds of ridiculous leads to find other suspects."

Light lowered his voice so that the microphones in the room wouldn't pick it up. "This is a good time for a diversion from you then, right?"

L was hesitant, like his first instinct was to reject an unjust idea like that, but he nodded nonetheless. "What do you have in mind?"

"First, you need to hear something. This will preface my plan." Light motioned with his head, ushering L closer.

The boy leaned forward and put his hands on Light's shoulders before turning his head so the boy could whisper in his ear. The cameras were off, but it was such a secret that was about to be uttered, every precaution felt necessary.

"I am Kira."