Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.
A/N: GASP a prompt chapter. Since I just posted one yesterday I figure I can be forgiven for again having a slightly shorter post. Hopefully?
Light made excellent use of his birthday present. He enjoyed it very much, spread it everywhere. He devoted a whole weekend to it, actually, and everyone knew about it.
The paint, anyway.
And, well, he hadn't already done it. He was planning on doing it the very next weekend, and now it was the very next weekend and he had to actually do it.
He'd changed into his "dirties" (though honestly very few people in the school full of detective geniuses would be able to tell the difference between them and his normal clothes) and put a hat on to protect his hair. Scooting all the furniture to the center of the room had been fine, though tiring. Putting the tarps over everything had also been fine. The taping had required him to run around the house looking for a stepladder, though, and after dragging it all the way back to his room he was already getting sick of painting and he hadn't even cracked open a can yet.
It was, however, too late to bail out, so with determination he climbed up his ladder and started taping the edges of the room. The ceiling, around the window, then around the baseboards.
His door opened, startling him so badly that he nearly tripped over his tarp-covered futon, which he'd been reaching around to tape the wall.
L shuffled over to him. "Is K-kun alright?" he asked, sounding almost close to concerned.
Light grumbled something in response as he corrected himself, adjusting his hat. He noticed L's eyes checking him over, probably looking for something Light couldn't fathom.
"Don't you want assistance?" L asked, frowning. "I believe I implied before that I would be happy to help you. This will take a long time, alone."
"Where were you before when I was doing all the hard parts?" Light snarked, going to their door and opening it for ventilation, going to their window and doing the same.
"…Unaware and uninformed that you were beginning?"
Light huffed and ignored how that was a perfectly reasonable answer, as he had at no time informed L that he was planning on painting today. "Well you can help me now," he informed him. "Go open the primer.
L did, obediently prying the can open with an alacrity that would have bewildered Light if he hadn't known that L had learned it in Tools 3 last year. "K-kun," L said, examining the can. He poked the smooth surface of the primer then wiped his finger on his jeans. "Where are we sleeping tonight?"
Light opened his mouth.
Light closed his mouth.
"Because you realize the paint will have to dry…"
"Yes of course I know that," Light snapped, thrusting a paint brush into L's hand. "Now do the edges. Of course I have a plan, do you think I'm an idiot?"
L said nothing.
Light elbowed him. "Paint!"
"Okay!" He delicately dipped the paintbrush into the primer and squatted down to begin tracing along the edges of the tape.
Light watched for a moment to make sure he actually seemed to know what he was doing, then turned to his own corner to begin doing the same.
"So where will we be sleeping, then?" L asked in what Light suspected was a deliberately innocent voice.
"The library," Light invented. Kids fell asleep there sometimes though he was pretty sure they weren't supposed to intentionally camp out…
L shrugged, finishing up a section of wall. "Alright."
"I put blankets and things there already," Light lied.
"Odd," L replied neutrally. "I was there all day and I didn't see you."
"I saw you."
"Then why didn't you tell me to help you paint?"
Light opened and closed his mouth again.
He was smarter than this. He really was, he knew he was. He'd convinced everyone else in the house that he was a nice guy who cared about justice. Even Wammy! But for some reason around L he became a moron. Ugh.
He didn't admit it because he knew L knew anyway. He simply kept painting.
It didn't take terribly long. There were two of them and it was a small room and, as Light had said, the difficult part was already done. When they'd finished, Light sat down on a clean bit of tarp to examine their work. "The can says we have to wait three hours before we can paint," he said.
L nodded and sat down next to him. Light gave him a look.
"There's nowhere else clean," L said calmly, bringing his legs up to himself.
Light sighed and rested against what he believed was the wrapped-up desk. "What do we do with the next three hours?"
"Lunch," L suggested immediately. "Then we can set up our temporary bedroom in the library, since you clearly haven't done so."
Light looked at him sidelong. "It's cake day, hm?"
L smiled genuinely, confirming this. It was cute… No of course it wasn't.
"Shall we?" Light asked, quickly getting to his feet, taking off his hat and placing it somewhere safe.
L hopped up too, though probably more because of the cake than anything else. "Certainly."
They went to lunch. It didn't occur to Light not to eat with L, that normally he'd like having three hours in which to have a break from L. Today, though, it made sense to eat with him. They were painting together, after all.
"Light-kun has hat hair," L informed him.
Light didn't even flinch. "No I don't." He'd never had hat hair in his life. His hair was so well-conditioned that the moment it was free it flowed right back into perfect position.
"You do."
"I don't," Light said simply. It was as much a fact as the sky being blue.
"You are so obstinate," L sighed. "And you do have hat hair." He reached out and, without asking, ruffled Light's hair.
Light screeched and twisted away. "What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, dropping his fork and touching his hair frantically to see what L had done. "You don't just grab people by the hair, L!"
"My apologies, K-kun, it won't happen again," L said, pulling away completely and in fact scooting his chair back. He started shoveling in his cake, not looking up.
Light watched him as he patted his hair, but… it felt perfect now. Come to think of it, it had felt a little flat before.
Was it possible that this strange creature in front of him (who was still shoveling in cake) actually had a sense of aesthetics? What, and chose to dress like that and have his hair like that anyway?
Eventually they finished, and L accompanied Light back to their room. It was a bit difficult to maneuver around the used tarp, but they managed to lift it carefully and collect the things they'd need for a night away, including blankets, pillows, pajamas, toiletries (for Light at least, unless a toothbrush counted), and clothes for the next day.
So burdened, they proceeded to the library which was still quite full of children. Light greeted everyone warmly and L ignored everyone as they passed.
"How about here?" Light said, gesturing with his chin at a corner.
"Roger will see us there," L said. "They don't check the library thoroughly but at that location we'd be easily seen from the window. We'll want to sleep around this corner."
"Do a lot of camping in the library?" Light asked as he went to where L indicated, dropping his stuff.
"Yes," he replied. "My former roommate would often have girls over and I chose not to be present for their amorous activities."
"I've been there," Light said with feeling. "Except it was B and C and it was every night."
L looked at him with interest as he spread his blanket out, tucked in an out-of-the-way shelf. He pushed aside some of the books and stuck their toiletries on his newly-made nook. "Every night? I knew it was often but…"
"Usually more than once," Light said glumly, spreading out his blanket too, keeping space between his spot and L's.
"And yet I never saw you sleeping in the library."
"Well," Light said, a bit uncomfortable, "I just sort of got used to it."
L blinked at him. "So you're saying they did it after you fell asleep and you slept through it."
"Well…"
L laughed. It was loud and strange and startled Light very badly because for a moment he thought it was a shout. He'd heard L chuckle or speak with an amused tone but he couldn't recall ever hearing L laugh.
"You." He couldn't even finish. "You. Really got used to it. You. Just stayed there when they-"
"I was usually tired!" Light said defensively, though he felt his lips turning up as well at L's utterly delighted expression. "What was I supposed to do!"
"Sleep over with A or me or… l-literally everyone in the House loves you!" He actually snorted laughing, clutching his guts. "I'm dying…"
Light wacked him. "Don't make fun of my trauma. Besides, every night?"
L made some sort of gesture and finally his laughter began to fade. "I have a vivid image of you sitting on your bed reading a book, while B and C have aggressive sex in the well-lit room."
Light made a face that didn't deny that had happened.
He laughed again but this time it was more of a chuckle. "Rest easy in the knowledge that you'll never have that experience again."
"I don't know, the way R looks at you she might want to," Light teased.
L grimaced. "You are not funny."
"You know that I am," Light said airily, standing up. "Let's do the paint now."
L nodded and got up after him, following him to their room.