24

L and Misa stared at each other for a moment, wide eyed and a bit shocked at what just happened.

"Why, did you…"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know what's gotten in to me" Misa's face was bright red. "I just thought that…I just wanted to…"

"That kiss was out of nowhere, Misa-san"

"Yeah, I know. But, look! I didn't really know what happened too." Misa scrambled for answers. "All I know is that you kept talking with that language in a very deep voice, and I…I'm sorry, okay! It won't happen again."

The aforementioned kiss happened randomly, and unfortunately, in front of everyone. L finally got a hold of a representative of a foreign country who was willing to participate in his experiment. He was talking in the foreign language and was getting into the details of what should happen when all of a sudden, Misa kissed him. It was so unexpected that Mogi, who was there at that time, just had his mouth wide opened and turned away as soon as he realised what just happened. L was too shocked to comprehend what happened, that he hung up the phone in the middle of their dealings. He looked at Misa, who surprisingly was just as shocked, and looked like she didn't know what made her do it.

"I….I was hypnotized by your voice, Ryuuzaki…"

"That is a bit too much for me to handle, Misa-san" L said as he finally regained his bearings. "I have to remind you that I am actually gay, if that was not so obvious from our conversation"

"I know! And I'm sorry! It won't happen again!" Misa said apologetically.

L didn't say anything else. He just sighed and dropped everything he was doing.

"Where are you going Ryuuzaki?"

"Somewhere" he vaguely said as he left the room to a confused looking Misa and an equally embarrassed Mogi.

L actually didn't know where he was going, but he just went on climbing the stairs in a daze. Although he can believe that Misa wasn't really thinking when she did it, he still felt betrayed. He thought that he can actually trust Misa enough to make the investigation room safer for him, and that he can actually just be himself around her, but now he didn't know what to do.

For one, he felt nothing about the kiss. Only that it felt wet, and that it didn't feel good. He unconsciously started having negative feelings about it. He was really confused. It wasn't his first kiss, so why was he being so frustrated like this?

He finally reached the top of the building, and only noticed that he was sweating and panting as he opened the door and a strong breeze made him feel cold. The last time he went here he was with Light, and he thought that he was about to solve the case that took too much investment from him. It all felt so distant now. He was nowhere close to solving any case, not with the current situation. He didn't know if that even mattered right now. All he knew was that he was starting to get dizzy, and slowly he felt like his whole world was falling.

….

Light felt a bit calm now, when the airplane finally took off and they were on the way to America. He was thankful that at least his seatmate was kind to him, and offered to take his hand when he was having a panic attack. He was very patient with him, that even though he was really feeling embarrassed the man just assured him that it was normal to feel this way, especially when you are travelling alone.

"Do you speak Japanese? Do you speak more comfortably with that?" Teru asked him, and Light nodded. The man smiled as he started talking to him in his native language.

"I'm just back from a holiday, myself. I work in such a stressful environment that I see this happen to people frequently" Teru tried making conversation. "And I find the one thing that makes me calm is thinking of things that I like"

Light tried to try out the man's suggestion and thought of things he liked. The only problem was, he didn't know what he liked. He thought that thinking of food in this situation would only make it worse, and to be honest, he felt really sick to be thinking of anything at all. He though about L for a moment. He thought he liked him, but then he just saw that picture of him and Misa. Mello might be right in saying that it might really be just an accident, but he just couldn't help but keep thinking about it. L must have moved on, and was starting to continue his life without him. Misa seemed to be doing well. They were comfortable with each other. Did L feel that way when he was around him? Did he even matter to him? Thinking about it, L never really told him outright that he loved him, but to be fair he also never did. Maybe it was okay to just leave it at that. At least L was doing better than him, who is now on a plane with just the bare minimum to survive, his future still uncertain. Maybe he is getting sick from all of this anxiety, and maybe it has nothing to do with L.

He tried calming down, and realised that he was gripping the man's hand too tightly, and was looking at him with concern.

"If I may ask, is there anywhere you are planning to stay in America?"

Light was taken aback by the question.

"Why are you asking this?"

"Oh…nothing, I was just wondering what was making you so anxious. Do you have friends or relatives there?"

Light looked down.

"I don't have a place to stay yet. I'm planning to find work and start saving so that I can get to college"

The man looked at him with understanding. It appears that he was right. To him, Light looked like someone who just escaped from something he didn't want to do, and was putting all his hopes on getting a better future somewhere foreign. He should know, as that was exactly what he did three years ago, when he left Japan to begin a career in law.

Looking back it took a lot of work from him, and he felt like he was like Light back then. Sure, he was already a University graduate by then, and already had an employer to work for, but being alone in a foreign country was still hard. Not to mention the language barrier was so brutal. Now he was on a better place, and they finally accept him. He could only imagine just how worse it is for this teen, who barely looked like an adult, with nowhere to go and no definite future to look forward to.

"You know, our firm is always looking for legal assistants. You don't even need a degree you only need to be good at paper work." He suddenly suggested. "You can work under me if you want, since I have a lot of paper work to do after this whole vacation"

Light didn't say anything, but considered the offer.

"And you can stay at my place if you want. I have a spare room I don't use, so I wouldn't mind you using it for the meantime until you can find somewhere to stay"

A wave of relief filled Light as he was suddenly assured of a place to stay and work. Maybe he can trust this guy for now, considering that he even let him hold his hand throughout Light's panic attack.

"Thank you for your offer." Light said genuinely. "You're very kind"

Teru's face lightened up. He managed to gain the young man's trust.

"That settles it." He said in relief. "Well, if we are going to be roommates we need to know each other a little. I don't think I have introduced myself yet. I'm Teru Mikami."

Light paused for a moment, remembering what Mello told him.

"I'm Lucas Frey" he smiled.

Teru smiled back, and tried his best to keep himself from blushing. It must be because they were holding hands for such a long time but he was starting to find the young man cute.

"Are you hungry? We can order wine or something…" he mumbled. "To celebrate our friendship"

"No, thanks. I don't drink" Light said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But maybe something to calm the nerves? Like a hot chocolate?"

Light smiled again.

"Sure, that would be nice. Thanks, Teru"

It was at that point that Teru realised that he was willing to move mountains just to make this person happy. He immediately called the flight attendant and ordered food.

Light gladly took it, feeling relieved as he took a sip on his hot chocolate, completely oblivious to what the other man was thinking about, and to the fact that he was about to face another problem just after he left one.