Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.

A/N: A hug for anyone who picked up the Sherlock Holmes reference in the last chapter. :)

I'm sorry this updates so slow! BUT here is a new chapter, late Christmas present?

Light did not, in fact, make it back to the room before any 'events' occurred, but thankfully neither did he return during any. Also happily, although they were more naked than Light would have liked, B and C were at least no longer conscious so he was able to creep into his bed with minimal trauma.

C must have accepted that he would never again be one of the first ranked at Wammy's— he wasn't studying and it was Thursday night. He probably wouldn't even be fourth anymore. When B took the Aptitude Test and got his initial rank...

Light knew— without proof, he knew— that B would be third that Saturday. There wasn't a doubt in his mind. He was extraordinarily worried about how they were going to keep his own crime scene away from him, and even more worried about how A was going to take it.

Love you too, man.

Light huffed and rolled over onto his side. He felt completely absurd, of course. Obviously, A meant nothing at all by his statement, so why had it made him so ridiculously happy? Was this what it was like when he convinced various girls that he loved them? Did they see through him after all but simply not care?

No, Light was certain his acting skills were better than that. Besides, women had a way of spreading information amongst themselves, so if someone knew he was lying, they'd all know.

He sighed again, burying his face in his pillow. He should study for the tests the next day, but his mind was in too many different places. Fear that B and C would wake up and go at it again, worry about C, fear of B, a sick feeling of dread about A... all wrapped up in some strange, warmish glow that resided in his stomach whenever he thought of what A had said.

No, he wasn't collected enough to study. He'd just let L have it, this week.

That Saturday, Light stood with the crowd of rank-viewers as Wammy calmly strode into the room, posted the piece of paper, and then dived the hell out of the way. Light didn't feel compelled to look at the list, electing instead to watch A's face, and to watch the exact moment in which his eyes stopped scanning the page, widened, relaxed, then went blank.

The older boy turned around sharply and struggled his way through the cluster of students, many of whom were looking at him with some mixture of pity, surprise, and annoyance. Light apologized to anyone they wacked or stepped on, trailing behind his friend until they were free, using the added space to catch up and walk beside him.

A's shoulders were tense. He was walking like a robot, so quickly that Light had to trot to keep up. By the set of his face, Light wasn't convinced that A was actually in at the moment, so he didn't bother trying to speak until the other boy had shoved open the door of his bedroom and crossed directly to his bed, sitting down on it as if his legs would have given out at that moment either way.

Hesitantly, Light sat down next to him. He just had enough time to notice that A's roommate had wisely chosen to be elsewhere before the only stimuli in his entire world was A's head where it came down upon his shoulder.

A quick intake of air through his nose was the only sign of surprise Light allowed himself. Inside, though, he was high as a kite. A had his head on his shoulder. A had his head on his shoulder, and he smelled good. Like shampoo and maybe some kind of hair product. Light was... Light was tingly.

No, he was absolutely not tingly. Feelings for A aside, Light did not get tingly and he was not tingly now, and he definitely remained distinctly not tingly, dammit when A scooted in closer to him, searching for comfort and contact.

It wasn't Light's area, but in this case he thought he might try. Carefully, Light twisted around until he could wrap his arms around A, pulling him closer.

A didn't resist. Now, in addition to tingles (no! no tingles!), he felt a wet warmth on the skin of his shoulder where it seeped through his clothes, and knew of nothing to do but tighten his arms.

After quite a while of this, A finally pulled back, and Light's breath caught in his throat at the sight of A in tears. He was beautiful like this, Light decided at once. The wetness of his eyes made his irises greener than Light could ever remember them being before, the blank, broken expression he wore, beyond exquisite. He looked hopeless, exhausted, and even the snot where it dripped from his...

Okay, yes, Light was turning into a giant girl.

"You need to talk to L and figure out a way to get Wammy to keep B away from the case," A said blankly, looking at Light dispassionately.

Doing his best not to sound breathless, Light replied, "Okay."

"You need to do it tonight."

"Alright."

"You need to get over yourself and deal with the fact that L is an ass."

Light was pretty sure it was proof of his love that he agreed without throwing a fit.

A nodded, smiled weakly, and rubbed at his eyes.

"I'm a mess, aren't I."

It wasn't really a question, but Light still responded, shaking his head mutely.

"Yes I am. I'm crying over my grades. I'm a trivial train wreck."

"Neither," Light said gravely, firmly. "You're neither."

A sighed and shook his head, but there was a hint of a smile there. "And in the class," he said as if Light hadn't spoken, "You need to act natural. I know you're a good actor so that shouldn't be too hard."

Light nodded.

A inhaled and exhaled slowly, once. "Okay," he said firmly. "Go talk to L."

Light stood in front of L's door, glaring at it, and wondered why he had agreed to this.

Surely A was the better man for the job. He hated L nearly (nearly being the operative word) as much as Light did, of course, but he was better at hiding it. Not that one's ability to hide things mattered when it came to L. The kid was better than the MEG scan they had in the lab.

It was probably the freckles. A had damn cute freckles.

Gritting his teeth at himself, Light made a fist and knocked on L's door a bit harder than necessary. Moments later, the boy in question appeared, looking at him blankly. "Yes, K-kun?" he asked innocently.

How was he gonna tell him this? Just announce that B was the murderer and that he believed this with no proof at all but he was certain? L would laugh him out of the room.

There wasn't much else for it.

"B is ranked third," Light informed him, as if he didn't know.

L stared at him blankly and for a wild moment Light wondered if L really didn't pay attention to anything but first and second. Maybe third was so far beneath him that he didn't bother.

"I know," he droned finally, when he evidently decided that Light wasn't going to speak again. "Did you come here to tell me that or is there something interesting?"

Accept that L was ass, A had said. Accept he was an ass.

In a rush, Light said, "He's third, which means he's now in the class, which means he's working on his own murder."

L waited for more.

"That's it."

L raised a brow. "I don't understand the problem."

Light stared at him, disbelief written all over his face. "L, he's going to be working on his own murder. Also, why aren't you alarmed that I just told you he's a murderer with no proof?"

"I didn't know you had no proof," L pointed out. Light nearly slammed L's own door in L's face. "But I also think he killed those three people. I just don't see a problem with him working on his own case. In fact, I think it's a fascinating idea."

"You're useless," Light informed him flatly, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm going to tell Wammy to give us a different case for any weeks that B makes it to the top three."

Light only made it a few feet away from L's room when he noticed the set of familiar shuffling footsteps following him. Without turning around, he said, loftily, "What do you want, L."

"Hm?" the other boy replied, as if this question was a total surprise. He jammed his hands into his pockets and said without blinking once, "To see you try to convince Mr. Wammy of anything with no proof."

Light seethed but it was what he was on his way to do. He said nothing and marched to the old man's office.

He would have hesitated at the door but L was there, hovering around behind him and yet still managing to seem disinterested, so instead he knocked smartly and waited for a response.

"Come in."

Light glanced back at L and raised an eyebrow. L followed him inside.

The room hadn't changed much in all the time Light had lived here. The grandfather clock was there, the shelves upon shelves of books were there, the same rug, the same chairs, the same heavy desk. The same trapdoor. The only real change was an update in technology— Wammy always had a state-of-the-art computer. The modern, mechanical whirring was out of place in such an old-fashioned room.

Wammy stopped whatever he was doing on the computer in order to smile at his wards and rest his forearms on the desk, hands folded.

He looked at Light, then L. If he was surprised to see them together he showed no sign of it. "What can I do for you?"

"I need to talk to you," Light said.

L said nothing, but his shuffling gait was distinctly cheerful as he went to one of the big red chairs and perched on it, drawing his knees up to him and wriggling his toes in delight at the show he was about to witness.

Wammy shot him a puzzled look but then refocused on Light. "Is everything alright, boys?"

Light sat down too, trying not to make it obvious when he scooted the chair a bit further away from L. It was always good when he could put a few extra inches between them. He didn't know how else to begin this conversation, so he simply bit the bullet. "I think B killed his parents."

Mr. Wammy blinked at him. "I..." he stuttered, "Why? Why do you think that?"

"I don't have any real proof," Light admitted. "But I'm certain of it."

"Okay, so you have no proof," Wammy said. Light could tell that he was fighting to keep his voice from holding any condescension or disbelief. "Then what are you basing this certainty on?"

"He isn't right," Light said, hating the words as they came out of his mouth. "There's something off about him, and sometimes the way he says things..."

"B is a highly disturbed young man," Wammy pointed out. "Idiosyncrasy is to be expected."

"It goes beyond idiosyncrasy," Light insisted, keeping himself polite. "He is just..."

"It's true that we have no proof," L spoke up suddenly, startling Light badly. "But we are both trained fairly extensively in the practice of attending to one's instincts. Not blindly, of course, but you have always taught us to investigate what they suggest. I have the same instinct about B as K-kun, which I formed entirely separately of him."

Light looked at L but L was watching Wammy, patient and expectant.

Wammy shook his head and sighed. "Alright. Obviously I can't expel him based on your instincts, but you'd both know that, so what did you come for?"

"We would like an alternative case to work on for any weeks in which B scores within the top three," Light answered, his faculties returning to him as he got past the worst part.

Wammy rarely needed a moment to think things over, but this time he let this idea percolate in his brain for a few seconds. "That's acceptable," he said after his beat of silence. "There's no harm in that, especially if you two maintain your work on the current case in the free time I know you have. Together." His eyes started to drift back to his computer where evidently he was doing something important. Then he appeared to hear what he had just said, and added, "Assuming you both continue to earn your places in the class."

"I wouldn't worry about that," L replied, his voice a perfect monotone at the same time Light said, "Yes, Mr. Wammy."

His eyes were already heading towards his monitor again. "At the very least, he shouldn't be working on the case about his parent's murder," Wammy said. He forced his eyes away and to them. "Is there anything else?"

When they informed him there wasn't, he politely told them he was busy and they made their way out.

They walked in silence in the direction of the dormitories. It was just gone one o'clock so the hallways were as busy as they ever got, and Light took it as a measure of his success that no one gave him any funny looks for walking with L— they knew they weren't friends, of course, but evidently no one knew the extent to which Light hated him.

A passing student, U, banged into L's shoulder in a way Light could instantly tell was intentional. He couldn't believe his luck.

"Hey!" Light exclaimed, hoping he was able to keep the glee out of his voice and sound suitably affronted.

U turned around, cocking his head and already looking a little guilty. "What?" he said.

"What was that for?" Light demanded, walking over to him and crossing his arms pointedly, giving U his best glare.

Nervous, U replied, "What was what for?"

"You rammed into L on purpose."

"It was an accident."

"You mumbled 'cheater' as you did," Light pointed out.

"I—"

"L is not a cheater," Light said loudly, firmly, taking another step into U's personal space. He saw that he was starting to draw a crowd and that L was standing on the sidelines, watching with the blank face that Light envied.

"But I heard—"

"You shouldn't listen to rumors," he spat. "Just because L is ranked first so often, and just because it seems easy for him, does not mean he gets there by cheating!"

U gaped at him.

"Now apologize to L," Light ordered.

The gape turned into a look that very clearly implied he believed him to be mad. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"Who died and made you king?" U demanded, finally starting to get angry.

As U heated up, Light changed his tone to cold. "I like to see justice done," he said, voice like ice, gaze possibly colder. "Apologize."

U stared at him for a few moments, seething, but there was no graceful way out of the situation. Without taking his glare off of Light, he said, "Sorry, L."

Light glanced at L, who was still watching with detached interest and who certainly didn't reply, not that Light had expected him to. Then back to U.

He could push it further, of course he could. He could make U go over there, explain exactly why he was sorry, actually look L in the eye as he did it. With a few more minutes, Light could probably get him to do it in song. This was enough for now, though, he decided. A few people nearby who had stopped to watch were tittering amongst themselves, shooting Light admiring glances, and he knew news would spread quickly of this incident.

So, instead of making an even bigger scene, Light nodded at U. "Thank you," he said, making his posture go relaxed and his voice sound pleased. The last part was easy, because he was pleased.

U scowled at him and sulked away.

This incident had probably hurt Light's standing with him, but he wouldn't have too much trouble winning him back over. U essentially liked him, and anyway the boost it would give him otherwise was more than worth it.

For the finishing touch:

"You should stand up for yourself, L," Light said with a perfect imitation of a genuine smile, infallible to anyone's scrutiny but L's. He crossed over to L and put a hand on his shoulder, pretending he didn't even know there were four students watching. "We all know you wouldn't cheat. Would you?" He grinned.

L gave him a long, hard, steady look, his black eyes ever expressionless. Then he turned and shuffled away.

As Light went back to his room, he began to hear people speaking of what he'd just done, and whispered speculations about why L had walked away without a word.