Chapter 10

A/N- Hey guys I have bad news for you- no lemon! I got 4 reviews and the deal was 5 so I'll do it again tonight, if I get 5 or more reviews overnight, you guys get a lemon or possibly a lime then a lemon tomorrow. Sound fair? Anyway, enjoy chapter 10 :)

'Welcome to the uhh... Apartment Zoo!' Mello roared as the couple entered, looking quite aghast.

'I hope you remembered your wallet because this is gonna cost ya!'

Light smiled, looked at an L and upon the reception of an approving nod, pulled out his wallet.

'How much?'

'All the chocolate and sweets you have, plus all spare change.' The blonde had a cheeky glint in his eye, grinning and his pupils dilating as he noticed L pull out 3 giant bars of Hersheys chocolate from his jeans. Man they must be baggy! L took his time removing all his sweets from his person, resulting in a fairly large pile, before emptying out his wallet and tipping a handful of silver onto the desk. Light was unlucky, he had a fistful of 1 and 2 pound coins, which he handed over reluctantly.

'All profit goes to a good cause!' Mello winked at them and opened the makeshift gate.

The two of them stared in awe as they took in their surroundings, especially taken back by the presence of live animals. Light paled slightly, but swallowed and carried on, for L's sake. They each picked up a map and make their way to the first exhibit.

The first exhibit they came to was the kittens. Tiny, mewling, sweet kittens. They purred at L, making adorable faces and rubbing themselves against his hand, but one glance at Light and all hell broke loose. Within seconds, poor Light had a kitten attached to his face, hissing and spitting.

'Get it off, get it off!' He yelled, walking around blindly. Yet this demonic kitten still wouldn't let go, if it was going to, it was intent on taking Light's face with it. It was a honey colour with streaks of brown and black running down its back. Almost looking like a tiger. With a hefty pull, L tore the cat from his boyfriend's face and let the cat attack him instead. Light had claw marks up and down his beautiful face, a face which contorted with fury when he saw what his boyfriend had done. L was sitting quite calmly on the bed, wincing and flinching here and there as the kitten ripped up his face. Light stormed over, removed the kitten, which he pretty much threw back in its enclosure and sat down in from of L, his eyes stony cold.

'Don't you ever do that again. Not only did you hurt yourself in the process, but you also hurt me. Your beautiful face is covered with scratches, look, you're bleeding.' The man ran his thumb down the detective's face, coming back into view red and dripping. 'I would much rather be hurt the see you hurt. I'm always going to take the bullet for you, but you're not going to take it for me.' Light's voice was stern, but had emotion flooding through it. After moments of silence, he pulled the detective into a tight hug. When he pulled back, he grimaced, both of then were all bloody and scratched. 'I recommend that we go and clean up before we carry on looking through the zoo.' L replied, sounding slightly amused. Matt and Mello stood at the doorway absolutely gobsmacked, this was not meant to have happened! Matt didn't even get to introduce himself as the tourguide! The couple walked to the bathroom, finding Near tending to some sparring penguins.

'Ah hello- What happened to you?!' The emotionless Near actually sounded alarmed.

'Demon kitten,' Light stated flatly before grabbing a wash cloth and wetting it with cold water.

'Come here,' he told L, and smothered the raven haired man with the wet cloth.

'Argh! Stop it! It stings!' He wailed, trying to make Light take the cloth off his now throbbing face.

'That means it's being cleaned. It'll stop stinging soon, don't worry.' Sure enough, the pain ebbed away, leaving the scratches feeling exposed and raw. 'Don't touch them.' Light instructed, before tending to himself. He suddenly grimaced, taking in his surroundings. His honey eyes expanded in horror as a penguin waddled up to his leg and squawked at him indignantly. 'Penguins...' He muttered, edging away. Those things had been giving him nightmares from the day they were first let loose in his room, and had now came back to haunt him a second time.

'They're ok, they won't hurt you,' Near informed, looking across at L and smirking. 'If you don't like them, then take a look in the other exhibit.'

At this point, Matt sped into the room and assumed his position. 'Welcome to Apartment Zoo! We apologise for the earlier incident but are sorry to say that we do not give refunds and you are not legible to sue us. I am your tourguide for today, and will be taking you around the exhibits.'

L and Light smiled, they really had thought of everything. 'Near is our animal expert, he's looking after them whilst they're in our care. I'm sure you've already seen the penguins,so let's move onto the next exhibit.'

L physically drooped, and put the penguin that he had in his hands down reluctantly, casting one last longing gaze at it. Matt had led them to the bathtub, which was filled with water and *cringe* fish. Light was horrified once again there were a dozen fish swimming about in his bathtub. The bathtub which he'd never use again. Not that he needed to, the communal baths were great. 'Here,we have an assortment of household fish, such as koi, goldfish and even a few guppies.' The detective was intrigued by them, and muttered passively to Light. 'These would look great in our fish tank, don't you think?' Light couldn't help but smile, his boyfriend could be so cute sometimes! Matt lead them through to the kitchenette, where L burst out laughing, staring at the panda that sat in the middle of the room, obviously escaped from the enclosure and was eating L's secret cookie stash. Matt called for Near, who came in and ushered the panda back into the exhibit, but not before L could have a hug from the furry bear. Matt insisted they see the tiger first. The couple thought he was joking, a tiger, really? They were taken aback when they saw a little furry creature pacing the ground, orange fur looking like it was on fire. Surprisingly, it wasn't aggressive, and enjoyed the attention given to them by the 5 guys (Mello got bored and decided to tag along). They then turned to the panda, who had yet again escaped from the exhibit and was raiding L's cookies again. Mello cheered and yelled, 'So that's where you keep them!'. He'd spent many years tediously searching the kitchenette for L's secret stash only to be beaten by a hungry panda. After much wrestling and hassle, the panda was finally back in the exhibit and asleep. 'On that cheerful note, let's go and see the final exhibit!' Matt beamed and pretty much skipped into the bedroom. Damn, he was a good actor, there was no way Matt could be this happy. Unless... Matt's voice interrupted L's train of thought.

'The final exhibit is the chickens, who have, uhh, appeared to have made a mess involving an egg and a fat chicken. Nevertheless, a great sight to see!' His voice was filled with general happiness.

'And that concludes your tour of the zoo, if you would allow it, we would like to shut it for the hour so it can undergo maintenance and be cleaned up.' The 5 of them exited the room, and Watari entered, cleaning products and animal cages in tow. So Watari knew... L certainly didn't know that! 'Now if you don't mind, we'd like to change out of these ridiculous outfits, I feel quite uncomfortable.' Near stated with his usual enthusiasm. The three boys walked into their room and immediately, Near saw why Matt was so happy.

*flashback*

'Mello, what are you doing here?' Matt asked surprised that Mello had come back into the room when he was meant to be in town.

'I came to talk to you, why else would I come back?' Mello retorted, lacking his usual sarcasm, which concerned Matt. He turned his game off and turned to Mello, giving him full attention.

'What's up?'

'I uhh... I heard you talking to Near last night.' He confessed, looking at the ground.

Matt coloured and hid behind his hair. 'Oh... You did?'

'You could have told me, we're bros, remember? Me and you against the world.'

'And Near,' Matt added.

'Yeah, him too. Why didn't you tell me?' Mello brushed away the thought of Near and went for the kill.

'I didn't think you'd understand...' The gamer looked down, realising he was wrong. 'I'm sorry-'

'Which one of us do you like?' Mello cut in, his eyes serious.

'I haven't decided yet...'

Mello's lips crashed against Matt's, tasting like danger and chocolate. Matt's eyes shot open in surprise, and a blush flooded across his face. When Mello withdrew, a similar blush streaking his feminine face, his eyes asked his questions for him.

'Which one of us do you like?' Mello repeated.

'Mello a kiss isn't going to make me make my mind up...' Matt looked broken, he was trying to decide between his two dearest friends.

'Matt, this is hard for you, I understand. I like you. I uhh... Like like you. A lot. It would mean a lot to me if you'd be mine.' Mello spoke, the softest he had in years.

Matt didn't know whether to laugh or cry, one of his most coveted dreams had just came true, almost word by word. He simply nodded, lost for words, and let Mello hold him in his arms.

*flashback over*

Light lay on the bed hours later, gazing up at L.

'You excited for tomorrow?' He asked for the 2nd time that day.

'Indeed I am.' Was L's reply. 'So what are you planning to do tomorrow?'

'Its a surprise.'

'Oh come on, please? ' L pleaded, awash with curiosity.

'Goodnight love,' Light purred and turned on his side.

Hi guys I hope you enjoyed this, I apologise for the lack of lemon in here because I got my 5th review 1600 words into this chapter. I can guarantee a lime at least tomorrow, and depending on the reviews I get tonight, you might also get a lemon too ;) Thankyou so much for all of the reviews, I love you guys! By the way reviews will not count into my daily review tally for lemon/limes if submitted after 6pm, because I start writing about then, so you know,it makes it hard for me. I really hope you enjoyed this,please review!

~HelixLawliet