Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.
It was infinitely strange, being off the case. Off The Case. Off the case. Even the words were oddly difficult to digest. It wasn't sitting right with Light. It had been a huge part of his everyday life for so long, and now it was just over, and he didn't know what to do with his meager free time. He hung out with A a bit, but A was sad. It seemed like he was always sad. Sometimes, Light could get him to laugh or crack a smile, but it never lasted very long, and A tended to scurry away afterwards, ostensibly to go study.
So, Light had spent several days just floating around, going to class, studying, and being polite to people. He visited Sayu, took her around for a few hours and doted on her to appear to be a loving big brother. He was ranked first that week, engaged in some obligatory face-rubbing with L, who had seemed unaffected.
L had been quiet. Unless he was being snarky, L was usually quiet, but now he was quiet all the time. In fact, Light hadn't heard him say a word in several days. He didn't volunteer answers in class, didn't correct people, and didn't have comebacks for Light when Light tried to pick fights with him.
And, always, on both of their minds was the idea that it was possible, that it wasn't beyond the realm of things that could happen, that it answered a lot of questions really, that it was logical that maybe, possibly, Wammy had killed B's family, as he'd taken L away from his.
The situations were different, so as always Light pushed these thoughts out of his mind. Kidnapping and murder were drastically different, for one thing. For another, there was no evidence that the Birthdays had mistreated B, until L and his parents. B was much older, while L had been two years old. Aside from the gas and potential motive, there was no reason to believe that Wammy had done it.
But that gas.
It didn't look like L was having the same luck banishing the thoughts. Everyone respected Wammy (except E, but E was rather strange and hated everyone but Light, anyway), but it was common knowledge that L was his biggest fan. Though L was never loud about it, his feelings towards Wammy were very much like that of a child to his father. Light knew that L trusted Wammy, and only Wammy, implicitly. As reluctant as Light was to empathize or attach any human characteristics to L, he understood that having Wammy implemented must be difficult for L, especially as he was the one doing the implementing.
Light was still suspicious of B. He kept as much space between them as possible, which unfortunately was not, often, very much space at all. It turned out that this day, two weeks exactly after Light's removal from the case, was one of them.
Light had been walking to class. He was actually with A, for once, so he was happy, chatting away and trying to get A to contribute a few words now and then, as well. He was just loosening up a bit when a small commotion was heard from behind them.
Gossip spread deliciously quickly in Wammy's House due to the size and no one ever wanted to be the last to know something. Light grinned at A and they hurried over to the source of the noise, entirely abandoning the idea of getting to class on time (even A!).
The scene had already attracted a good-sized crowd and, unsurprisingly, B and C were two of the main players. C was bright red, all the way to the tips of his ears, and a few feet away stood B, pinning a teenage girl Light didn't recognize to the wall with his forearm. His eyes were locked on hers and cold as death. She was cowering and in tears, but she seemed incapable of looking away from B's eyes.
"I- I'm sorry. I didn't know. Really, I... I didn't..."
B's eyes narrowed and he pressed her harder into the wall. She sobbed, trying to put more space between them but utterly prevented. B said nothing.
C's eyes were, as always, on B, and while he was still red as a beet and looked petrified, he was gazing at B as if he were the resurrected Christ.
Light sidled in next to someone. "What's going on?" he asked as the girl started apologizing again.
The student leaned his head towards him without looking away from the little drama. "That's a girl from the other orphanage, the normal kids. I heard her name is Sally. She kissed C!"
Light glanced over at A who was wide-eyed, then back at the embarrassed C, the furious B, and the terrified Sally. "In front of B?"
"Well they're never apart. I saw them go to the bathroom together last week. Like, together. I guess Sally thought they were just friends..."
Light looked at A again. They should probably do something, maybe intervene. Light had a reputation as the defender of justice to uphold, after all. He could- and should- go over there and tell B to leave her alone, maybe pull him off. He should calm Sally down and then have her explain herself more clearly. It wouldn't work, but it would make Light look really good.
He should do that.
His feet, though, were glued to the floor, and it wasn't an option. He knew B would make him regret it, if he did.
It turned out he didn't have to.
"B," C said in a low, heated voice.
B turned his head to look at him.
C's eyes never left B's for a second, and when he spoke again his voice was thick with arousal. "Come here."
B stared at him for a moment longer, then he dropped the girl. So fast that Light entirely missed the movement, C threw himself across the small distance between them and B caught him, slamming their lips together instantly, C's hands twisting into B's hair so hard it must have hurt. Sally used the opportunity to run like hell.
Several members of the crowd took a few steps back. Light was so used to this sight that it almost didn't register with him, and while no one had not seen them snog, only Light had ever seen quite this level of it. Everyone dispersed, including the gaping and blushing A, and hurried off to class.
B and C were not in class.
Light didn't even bother trying to go back to his room that night.
So now, L was quiet, A was sad (also traumatized), C's throat was nearly uniformly covered with little red marks, and B was pissed. The circle of people Light had the most interaction with were all very tense (except for C), and B was more possessive than ever, and Light was pretty sure that something was going to happen, and soon.
That Thursday at 'family dinner,' he was proven right.
Light was sitting next to A. He sighed as the other boy fidgeted. "You can stop studying for half an hour, you know," he reminded him. "Everyone does, so you're not falling behind."
A forced a smile. "Yeah, but I just feel like..." His sentence faded off and his eyes went wide, fixed entirely on one area behind Light's shoulder.
Slowly, slightly afraid of what he would find, Light turned around and followed A's gaze to see...
Well, the polite way to phrase it was "C on his knees," but since C and B weren't exactly being polite at the moment Light felt comfortable calling it "C sucking B off in the middle of family dinner."
By now, everyone had noticed, and the room was hushed outside of the occasional wet slurping sounds and small noises of encouragement from B.
Light had seen this before, of course, but not in the cafeteria, and not sitting next to A, and not—
"Roger," a very little kid asked in the silence. "What is C doing to B?"
L, apparently unaffected, explained, "C is performing oral sex on B."
This broke the silence. In moments, Wammy and Roger were on their feet and to B and C, Roger grabbing C by the collar (there was an audible 'pop') and Wammy grabbing B practically by the neck. When each began dragging one boy in the opposite direction, B began to fight like a tiger, all teeth and nails and cursing and growling and flailing and squirming to the point that Wammy was struggling to hold him. He and Roger, who was holding a weeping C— not crying, Light noted, actually weeping- exchanged quick looks, then Roger nodded.
Wammy's sleeves were torn, now, and visibly a bit bloody with at least one steadily-dripping bite that was deeper than the others. To his credit, he didn't show a sign of this on his face. The instant he began to drag B in the direction of C and Roger, B stopped fighting. C's anguished cries, previously comparable to a mother who had lost her child, slowed considerably.
Now that C wasn't screaming and B wasn't trying to skin Wammy alive with his teeth, the room was again dead silent.
Without a word, Wammy and Roger shifted their grips to each child's upper arm, and when the four of them were near each other at the door, they dragged the boys out and away.
But together.
For a second, the silence was absolute. Then Light said, "I'll do it," and there was a chorus of agreement, followed immediately by an explosion of discussion.
Light leapt up to follow, and was annoyed to see L doing the same. He couldn't start anything, though, not in front of everyone and not once they were in the hallway for fear of alerting Roger and Wammy. So, besides giving him a glare, Light didn't complain.
Together, Light and L crept down the halls, silent, going where they hoped Roger and Wammy had taken B and C— Wammy's office.
They were right. The door was thick, but when they pressed their ears against it they could hear enough to piece it together.
First, Wammy's deep, calm voice, tightened by anger.
"If neither of you will start, I will," he said firmly. "Why," heavily, "did you do that."
He must have been glaring at C, because Light heard the extremely-familiar voice next.
"He asked me to."
Light felt like he could see C's shrug.
A pause during which Wammy probably exhaled slowly.
"B," Roger's voice came through, a little nasally. "Why did you ask C to do that?"
"Because it is an enjoyable activity," B said.
"Yes, it is, aren't you clever?" Roger snapped, voice rising. "Why did you ask C to do that in the cafeteria?!"
No response, at least not verbal, because the next person to speak was Wammy.
"Never again," he said, voice cold as ice. "I don't care if you do things like this in private. But if you ever do this again in front of the other children, especially the young children, I will take it upon myself to bring about consequences you cannot, at the moment, imagine." His tone left absolutely no doubt that this was the truth.
"Okay," C said after a beat. Light couldn't see his face to know if he meant it or not.
"And you?" Wammy said, presumably indicating B.
"Very well," B replied immediately, voice calm.
"Good," Roger cut in. "Now go. Don't return to dinner."
Light and L glanced at each other and quickly bolted for the cafeteria before the door could be opened. L, apparently uninterested in sharing the gossip in the traditional way, turned in the direction of his bedroom. Light, however, knew his duty, and arrived at the still-full cafeteria with, he calculated, two minutes to report the news, before Roger and Wammy would return.