Chapter 12: Concussion

"Look, Ryuuzaki, I have a lot of questions, but let's start with this one: is that a Hello Kitty t-shirt?"

L sighed, aggravated, as they bundled back into Mello's car. Near had ditched them a long time ago, preferring to walk home rather than spend another minute in the hedonistic wasteland that was Misa-Misa's residence and Mello had refused to leave straight off the bat, so it was Matt, L and Light sitting inside the bright yellow convertible backing out of the driveway.

Hearing Matt's question Light groaned, making L immediately tighten his embrace around the human. "I'm sorry. This is so embarrassing. I'm so sorry."

L stroked the boy's auburn hair. "I should be apologising, Light, and you know that. Don't be embarrassed."

"I vomited all over you, Ryuuzaki. I didn't even flinch. I'm a rotten human being."

Despite everything, L laughed. "Is that what qualifies a rotten human being to you, Raito-kun?"

The teenager rested his head on L's shoulder. "…I think I have a concussion. Somehow. I'm such a paper doll. Fucking Misa-Misa is stronger than I am. When did I become such a loser?"

L frowned. "Light, you're not a paper doll. I…I was a…rugby player back in London. It's not your fault, it's entirely mine."

The brunet winced at the orange streetlights flashing past them. "You better be taking me home."

L curled his arm around his friend (was he still just a friend?) and pulled him closer to his body. The human was a furnace, warm and so delightfully alive, his every breath sending a jolt through the detective's heart. L took in a deep breath of his sugar-and-cookies scent. "I thought it more prudent to get you checked at the doctor's first."

"No." The smooth voice was suddenly sharper than a knife. "No, I am not going to a doctor for this. Take me home."

L blinked. "But Raito-kun, we must get it checked somewhere."

"I can sleep it off, Ryuuzaki. I know about concussions, this one isn't serious."

Matt snorted. "Macho boyfriend you've got there, Ryuuzaki."

The detective felt Light bristle, but his head was kept firmly on the vampire's bony shoulder. "Fuck yourself, Matt. Or better yet, throw yourself into a wall, see how that works out for you."

Matt paused for a second and burst out laughing. "You're so cute when you're irritable! I might decide to pursue you myself."

"What's that supposed to mean? Why is everyone saying things like that? It's so fucking annoying." Light muttered into L's pink sleeve. "I hate all of you, just take me home."

L held in an amused smile. "Does it hurt, Raito-kun?"

"Stop asking me if it fucking hurts!" He snapped, clinging to L's arm and pressing his forehead resolutely against it. He waited a minute before breathing again. "No, but I feel really dizzy."

L pursed his lips. "But you won't go to a doctor about it?"

"No. I'm not a damsel in distress. It doesn't feel serious, alright?" Without warning, Light's head slipped from the detective's shoulder to his lap. He sighed, wriggling as he tried to make himself comfortable on the bony, cold surface of L's thighs, folding his legs onto the car seat. "Please, just a little while."

L stiffened. "Y-yes, okay."

Light let out a soft sigh. "Wake me when I get home."

L sat as still as he could as he felt the boy relax into him. What did Light think they were to each other right now? Fuck, he needed that 40% extra deductive reasoning to puzzle out his relationship to this teenager. When was Light going to get off of him? …Not that L wanted him to get off of him, this was actually really nice, just having the boy so close, lying on him as if he trusted him wholly and completely, but damn it L needed to sit with his feet under him right now!

"Uh, Ryuuzaki?"

L looked down, realising that his fingers were tracing the line of the Light's jaw but unable to stop himself. "Yes, Raito-kun?"

"You can apologise by…taking me to the movies this weekend." A sleepy grin stretched on the boy's lips. "Stop making that face. It's not a great big mystery, I'm asking you out. Feel free to decline if you want." His eyes slipped shut and he drifted off.

Matt chuckled from the front. "He's really helping you out here, L."

L shushed him. "My name is Ryuuzaki."

"Whatever. So, we going back to his place?"

L grimaced, staring out of the window at the surroundings flashing past, a blur of blue and orange. "No. Whatever he may think, he is still human. We'll take him to Watari."

Matt glanced at the detective in the rear view mirror. "Watari? Watari can treat humans?"

L nodded. "Watari can do anything."

Matt shrugged, swerving into the opposite lane. "You know he's something if L says that about him."

"Matt. My name is Ryuuzaki."


Light had often heard that falling asleep with a concussion was a bad idea…but it felt so damn good, especially when he was lying on Ryuuzaki's bony lap, snuggling into icy coldness and dreaming about nothing.

His skin really was cold, though. As icy as Misa's, and certainly as rigid. If he had discovered this before he identified Misa as his stalker…who knew? Maybe he would have suspected Ryuuzaki of all people of climbing into his room and watching him sleep (the thought itself was ridiculous).

The car jerked to a stop, waking Light from his half-slumber. He felt the older man gently lift his head from his lap and place it down on the leather seat in order to step outside. Light stirred, propping himself up on his elbows. "Was that a detour or-hey!"

Ryuuzaki's hands slipped under him and scooped him easily up in a bridal carry as if he weighed nothing. Light's head fell back, his long legs dangling into nothing. His eyes flew open in a panic. "What the fuck, put me down!" He clutched at the pink nightshirt they had stolen from Misa, lifting his head up. His voice was shrill, alarmed. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Ryuuzaki carried him swiftly up a flight of stairs. Light looked around, stone walls and curving banisters, this was definitely not his home. "Ryuuzaki! Where am I? What am I doing here?"

"Raito-kun." His deep monotone was strangely soothing. "Don't worry, it won't take long. I only brought you over here since the symptoms you showed were not altogether reassuring."

Light snapped indignantly. "I told you I don't want to go to a doctor! Put me down, you fucking bastard! I'm never taking a ride with you again!" He tried to pry the man's fingers from under his waist, eliciting a sigh from his captor.

"Please, Raito-kun, take a breath. I have not brought you to the hospital. I am having you examined by my adoptive guardian, Watari. He is very professional, it won't take long and it was on the way. I have thought this through. Trust me."

Light tightened his grip on the man's shirt. "Trust you? I specifically told you to drop me home, you fucking kidnapper!"

Ryuuzaki loosened his hold on Light, almost sending the brunet tumbling to the ground. "Kidnapper?"

"I'm sorry I puked on you, okay? Now take me back!"

The dark-haired man's eyebrows drew down low over his gleaming black eyes. "What do you think I'm doing? All I am about to do is have Watari make sure you are alright before I take you home."

Light narrowed his eyes. "You're a creep. I take it back, I'm not going out anywhere with you ever again." He gritted his teeth. "Put me down before I fucking pound you into the ground, rugby or no rugby."

Ryuuzaki sighed, jostling him slightly as he adjusted his arms under Light's knees and waist. "I thought you were more reasonable than this. I truly hope this is the effect of your injury, else I may have had a completely different opinion of you."

Light's face coloured as his mouth dropped open. "Did you just insult me, you asshole?"

L did not deign to reply, swinging open a nearby door and hefting Light inside with him. It was a simple room, painted all white with slippery-looking tiles and heavy drapes covering the windows. An elderly man met them at the door, smiling amusedly as he polished his glasses with a cloth. "This is the famous young man, then?" He asked with a thicker British accent than Ryuuzaki's, his words halting. He strode back with a dignified air. "Hello, Yagami Raito. Are you unable to walk or is Ryuuzaki displaying his acute disregard for personal space?"

Light glared at the pale man holding him. "He's kidnapping me and bringing me here against my will."

"Raito-kun, I will take you home right after this, I have no ill intentions towards you!"

Watari chuckled. "Well, as long as you are here, Ryuuzaki mentioned a head injury you somehow acquired?"

Ryuuzaki shuffled over to the bed in the middle of the room and placed Light on top of the covers. The brunet swung his legs down and sat up straight. "Yeah, Ryuuzaki shoved me into a wall."

The pale man flushed. "I didn't mean to, I swear it. I would never."

Watari surveyed the two of them from under his spectacles, lips pursed in disapproval. "Ryuuzaki, I must ask you to wait outside."

The dark-haired man looked incredulously from Watari to Light and back. With a sulky grimace, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Light winced at the noise and Watari hummed, pacing over to him and tilting his head down, probing the back of his skull with cold fingers (why did everyone have such cold skin? Was Light running a fever?).

"Headache? Dizziness? Nausea?"

Light smiled dryly. "Two out of three. The nausea's mostly gone. I'm just a bit dizzy."

"That's a good sign." There was suddenly a pen-light in the old man's hand. He chucked Light's chin with his thumb and shone the light into his eyes.

Light flinched, but Watari smiled pleasantly. "No dilation of the pupils, coherent speech, no headaches, your injury is not severe. Can you walk?"

Light got carefully to his feet, taking two steps forward and wobbling dangerously, but mostly due to the dull pain along his back. Watari came over, touching him gently at the shoulder but too obviously refusing to come closer than that. The brunet gave him a doubtful look, taking another step.

The old man nodded approvingly. "It's not serious. You'll be fine after a couple days of bed-rest, maybe take some medicine for a headache if one crops up. You do appear to have a lot of bruising, though, that would probably take longer to heal. Come, Light, lie down until Ryuuzaki comes back inside."

Light's steps walking back were a bit steadier. "That's what I said from the beginning." He dipped hesitantly back on the bed and laid his head on the pillow. The relief caught him by surprise, as did his sudden drowsiness.

Watari pulled his glasses off and polished them yet again. Light started wondering if it was a nervous tic. "I shall get him but before that, I would like you to tell me why Ryuuzaki shoved you into a wall."

Light yawned. "Mm, well, it's a long story."

There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere as the calm, collected old man clasped his hands together. "Did he, perhaps, hurt you in any other way? Did he hurt someone else?"

The brunet blinked. "Why?" His treatment of Misa came to mind, how he dived at her, threw her to the ground, caught her in a headlock and pulled up her head by the hair. How he snarled at her, taunted her. "Does he do that often?"

The British gentleman lowered his eyes. "No, no. That wasn't what I meant. You see, my son doesn't know his strength. All of my sons, actually. I have unfortunately taught them that they can go to any lengths as long as their intentions are good. This is usually a positive thing, but it sometimes results in people getting hurt. Quite unintentionally, to be sure."

Light looked up at the perfectly white ceiling. "I understand. No, he shoved me by accident, he was fighting this other girl because she made lewd comments about me."

"As expected." Watari's lips turned up as Light gave him a suspicious glance. "Don't be too hard on him, Mr. Yagami. His feelings for you are deeper than he's used to."

"Huh." Light tried to hide his surprise. Ryuuzaki talked to his adoptive father about having feelings for him? Well, that was one hell of a plot twist. And to think the brunet had assumed Ryuuzaki wasn't even interested.

Watari bowed his head. "I'll go fetch him now. Try to get some rest."

The door clicked gently shut behind him, and Light felt his eyes slide closed.


The brunet was spinning off into space, sightless and breathless. There was a crack in the horizon, and he directed himself towards it.

He could feel the warmth of a heavy blanket over his form, smell the sharp tang of car-seat leather, hear the whirring of an air conditioner. His head was laid onto a lap, his hands buried inside the blanket, his nose cold from where it was brushing the skin of the man holding him.

There was a constant murmur, somewhere in the distance or right there in the car, murmuring that burrowed deep into his skin and brought him closer to that world.

"So you just let her take responsibility for your actions? Have I taught you anything, L?" An elderly man chastised self-righteously in English.

A younger man sniffed, his voice hushed. "Please not here, Watari, not now. And it isn't as if she is an innocent party."

"Justice, you are supposed to be justice. Why should I ever give you your title back?"

The younger man was aggravated. "Watari, you are no innocent either. You did not inform us of Misa's existence. We were entirely unprepared. If she had been just a little bit stronger, I would not have been able to intimidate her. Even now, I am not certain she will not attack in the future."

"Our fellowmen are not enemies, L, and you must stop viewing them that way."

"They are enemies as long as they attack the people I love." A hand touched the brunet's face, colder than ice, tracing a line along his cheekbone.

A deep sigh. "Love? It is an infatuation you feel, and it is only as strong as it is because of how inexperienced you are."

An indignant growl, and the lap Light's head rested on tilted forward. "I may be a dunce at these things, but I know myself. Do you have no respect for my judgement? I do not play games, Watari, I simply know what I feel."

"Your judgement of yourself may be fine, but I have seen enough to know your future with this boy cannot be as rosy as you'd like, not if you lie to him about everything."

The voice was now louder than a whisper, the English more accented. "But what else can I do, Watari? There is nothing else I can do, how can I possibly tell him the truth and expect him to be willing to stay with me?"

Light strained to hear more, but the blackness wrapped around him like a shroud, his friend's voice fading until it was only a murmur in the horizon.

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A/N: L lifting Light in his arms has always been a personal favourite of mine XD review me!