L woke him up early, determined to get him to school on time, and Light groaned, but allowed himself to be dragged out of bed, much more refreshed after the sleep. The two ate breakfast together, and L kissed him goodbye and the whole thing felt strangely domestic, but in a good way. Light was driven by Watari to school where he spent each class locating and sending heated looks at L's cameras. At lunch, L appeared outside his classroom, and pulled him away, ignoring all the curious looks they got.

"Where would Light-kun like to go to lunch? I think his German is good enough for a quick trip." Light laughed, and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe we should stay on campus. There's a café." L looked unconvinced.

"We wouldn't be allowed to see each other if we ran off to another country. They have really good pastries." Finally, L followed Light to the café. He ordered every pastry they had, and began to stack them on the table, eating one occasionally. He pulled a few out to make a window, and tried to read Light's expression through it.

"I've never seen the café this crowded. Half the class probably followed us here."

"Why would they do that?"

"I was already pretty well-known. Then I vanished for months, and as soon as I came back, Mello, Near, Matt, Wedy, and you were suddenly showing up and kidnapping me every few days. I am definitely the most interesting subject at school, currently." The uninjured thumb caught L's lips.

"Does it bother you that we might be found out?" Light considered the question seriously. L was certainly very odd-looking, and revealing him as Light's boyfriend would not look good for him. However, Light had come to realize how misplaced much of his pride was, and the irony in trying to impress people he believed himself to be above associating with was not lost on him. Most of the class probably suspects our relationship after yesterday's fiasco, and it is inconvenient to continue trying to explain these events away.

"No. I am proud of you. However, it might be kind of a pain, at first, while people get used to it. Let everything else die down a bit."L ate his way steadily through the pastries, and Light only took one with his coffee, smiling at L as they talked about nothing. Highly intelligent nothing that nobody else could understand, but it was nice, just passing time with L. Too soon, lunch was almost over, and Light walked with L down to the limo. Watari got out to open the door for L, clearly in butler mode, and L was about to enter the car, when they both heard a too-loud whisper coming from a table nearby.

"Do you think he pays Light to hang out with him? He must be loaded!" Light was reminded, suddenly of the day they had switched identities, and the girls who believed L must be paid to spend any time with him. Angrily, he very deliberately pulled L closer, and kissed him full on the lips. L smiled into the kiss and threaded a finger through Light's hair. He pulled back as the bell rang and said,

"Tch. So impulsive." In his maddeningly emotionless voice, but he drew an L on Light's chest with his finger before he got into the car. Watari glared at Light briefly, knowing the cameras couldn't catch him here, and then reentered the car and drove away. It was impulsive. I literally just decided outing our relationship like that would be stupid, but I did it anyways. A familiar but unwelcome voice buzzed at the back of his head. You are losing your credibility and your position. Each time you give up pride for this foolish romance, you only slip farther away from the perfection you could have been. Why are you throwing your pride away? You have so much to be proud of. We have so much to be proud of! Light brushed away the voice. You are a leftover remnant of what could have been. Together, L and I can surpass you.

Not for long.

What do you mean? But the voice was gone, and would not answer, no matter how many times Light asked. Dammit! The day finished quickly, and Light managed to successfully avoid any questions about his love life before L appeared in the car and whisked him away. The moment they got back to headquarters, Light pulled L aside and said,

"I think Kira is planning something. We need to talk." He sat down on the bed. Suddenly, exhaustion swept over him, and he settled into the pillows more comfortably. "Actually, let's talk in the morning. I'm still pretty tired from yesterday." Quickly, he fell asleep.

L looked at the prone form in front of him. He pulled the handcuffs out from under the bed- he'd been hoping to use them more creatively- and slipped them into a pocket. Suddenly, Kira's red eyes snapped open and he sat up.

"I see you've managed to corrupt our reputation already."

"Light-kun initiated everything."

"You should never have shown up. You're an ugly little freak, and he's a prince. It is no wonder he felt guilty for making others see how lesser you are in comparison and did what he did." L didn't show on his face the quiver of doubt he felt inside. Light only kissed me after he heard that girl.

"You did not seem so worried about corruption yesterday."

"That was Light."

"I know the difference."

"Then you know it was me when I fucked you into the ground."

"I knew it was not Light until it got good. Sex is not one of your many talents, Kira-kun. You should stick to mass-murdering."

"You are not worthy to speak to us. Everything you have done with Light is a blessing from a benevolent God."

"Dealing with you is a curse. Your pride will be your downfall, Kira. In a way, it already is. Light will shake free of you."

"You are as foolish as he is. Neither of you realize how trapped you are." The eyes closed again, and Light woke up. He yawned. He smiled, and immediately caught L's expression.

"Sorry, I'm not trying to avoid our night together. I know it is your turn. I'm honestly just that tired. I've been sleeping a lot more at my house." L's eyes widened.

"On average, how many hours of sleep has Light-kun been getting?"

"Maybe 10-14? Life is pretty boring without you."

"Then why did he come to me looking like he hadn't slept in days?"

"Ryu, what are you talking about? You look panicked. Calm down." L grabbed Light's arms and handcuffed him to the bed. "This again? What's wrong?"

"You weren't asleep just now, Light. You were Kira, talking to me, making cryptic threats about some plans he's laid out. Plans that he has had at least 10 hours a night for the last 9 days to lay out. Probably more."

Light sunk back into the pillows.

"This is bad." He said weakly.

"That is an understatement." L said dryly. "I think it is best we refrain from excessive contact during the time you spend here. I will keep you restrained, and try to find medication that can help keep Kira in submission. Meanwhile, you try to figure out what he has planned, and I will enroll in your school. It is too dangerous for you to be without surveillance at any time. Soichiro will not be pleased, so it is best we keep this from him for the moment. I will allow you to come up with the story we tell your classmates and teachers about me. I will probably be accepted based on my test scores and willingness to pay my tuition in full, but we will need a convincing cover. It complicates things that I've shown up as both your professor and your boyfriend. Each was an impulsive move on one of our parts, and Kira will no doubt take any slip-up as a weakness. Do you have any objections?"

"Refrain from excessive contact?"

"I believe it would be for the best." Light couldn't believe he was pushing the issue of L topping, but sex was sex.

"Even tonight?" L sighed.

"Light-kun is no less eager than me, believe me, however it is safest if he is not allowed near me when I am vulnerable. There is an extremely large chance he would use such a position against me. When we were together yesterday, Kira emerged at the very beginning and almost hurt me. The likelihood of a repeat incident is extremely high. Unless Light-kun would like to be restrained and fucked." He used deliberately crude wording to show Light what he thought of that, but the brunette was still caught up by the first part of his speech. Light remembered being just a little too forceful and wondering why, later.

Watari knocked on the door and wheeled in the bed with the restraints, and as the two fastened him to it, he wondered if L had been serious about his sexual offer. It sounded…interesting, more so than he would admit. A part of Light that was very, very much not red-eyed liked the idea of L moving above him, the two secretly conquering Kira, who would be tied to the bed, immobile and losing all of his precious pride, thrust by thrust. But when Watari left the room, L curled up next to him, seemingly with the intention of falling asleep, and Light sighed. It would be best if their first time had a little more trust in it than that. So he brushed the fantasy away and fell asleep.

82 hours…

What?

That's how many hours I was in control last week. Full control, so complete you weren't even aware I was there. And you wondered why you were so tired all the time.

What have you done? What are you planning?

You think you can charm that information out of me, or force it? Fool, the part of you that can do that is me. I am the part of you that can make anyone do anything for you. The part of you that made everything work out so well. The part of you that your classmates sighed about, wondering why Light Yagami could be so perfect. I am the part of you that found the strength to believe in a better world and then do something about it. There is nothing you can hope to do against Me.

You are only the part of me that festered under the influence of the notebook. I am all parts of me, I am complete without you, and I will not make any pathetic attempts to integrate you into myself; I will cut you off like the cancer you are. I am completely Light Yagami without you, and Light Yagami does not allow this kind of control.

You lost any control you had when you gave yourself up to L like the pathetic, love struck human you are. You even lost control when you fucked him, and he still managed to keep himself while you allowed him to do what he wanted. Did you think you were seme because you were penetrating? You are like a child in the way you see the world. You believe you can know everything based on a weak understanding of black and white, and a thousand shades of gray will drown you while you look for truth. Truth doesn't exist. No, I am truth! Believe in me, if you look for something to follow blindly.

I will not succumb to you, Kira.

You are me.

I am not.

If you truly believe that, you are more foolish than even I believed.

Then why?

Why?

Why do you love L too?

I feel no such thing for him. He is as pathetically human as you are.

You are me Kira, enough that you cannot lie to me. What do you feel for him?

I feel victory when I conquer him. I do not love him, but I love his weakness when he worships me.

Fool. You are weaker even, than me, if you cannot read yourself, or if you cannot face what you feel.

This is why he must die. He causes confusion, even when he is no longer a threat.

That is not confusion, it is love.

Idiot, all you believe you see is your own feelings, projected onto me. I feel no love for the detective.

If you truly believe that, you are more foolish than even I believed.

Light screamed himself awake, but as soon as he woke up, his eyes faded to brown, and he stopped. L hovered worriedly by him.

"I tried to wake you-"

"I was not asleep. I was being trapped in a conversation."

"What was that?"

Light smiled, tiredly.

"That was a temper tantrum. I won."

"Did you figure out what he is planning?"

"No. I'm tired, L. Kiss me." L did, softly. "I'm going to sleep. Hold me." L wrapped his arms around the bound boy. "I won't let him hurt you. I will win." L saw the determination in Light's eyes, and wanted too badly to believe, but he felt the situation spinning out of control. Being reassured by a boy tied to a bed was not excessively reassuring.

What goes on in your head?

In class the next day, Light twirled his pen idly, and wondered which would happen first, the interrogations from his classmates, or L's transferral into his school. The former was the easier choice, but L was surprisingly efficient at everything he did. As Light's thoughts wandered, he found himself thinking about the Death Note. It had been too long since he'd held it. His eyes turned red. Ryuk floated up from the floor.

"I was waiting for you to come out. You owe me extra apples for last time. I had to phase through someone really gross for the lame you to not see me. Hyuk Hyuk."

"Ryuk, we will have to move quickly. L is transferring into my classes. I don't even have the nights alone anymore."

"If I do this, no more of this apple a favor thing."

"If you do this, the world will be mine. You may have all the apples in it, if you wish."

"Deal." Said Ryuk, and phased back through the floor.

Excellent. Kira smiled.