All-nighter

IN THE WEEK following the revelation of the surveillance footage, the mood amongst the Task Force was one of cautious optimism. Although they were still several steps away from flipping down the final, proverbial Guess Who cards which would lead them to Kira's identity, the progress that had been made so far was significant. Light, much like the other detectives, felt spurred on to begin investigating their eight new suspects. But there were, as ever, less desirable elements to the job. L's pointed remarks towards him had not entirely ceased for one, and there were still occasions where the tension between the two bubbled to a boiling point.

The night after viewing the footage was the first occasion that Light had slept soundly since he had been placed under voluntary arrest. He fell quickly into a deep, dreamless sleep, perhaps reassured by his conviction that the spotlight was now pointing to another suspect. This knowledge had somewhat unravelled Light's internal knot of anxiety. It was not, unfortunately, enough to eliminate every stress-inducing factor in his life.

"Mm… huh?" As Light opened his eyes the next morning, he had the horrid sensation that a hand was touching his face. Then, as he sat up, the slight pressure upon his skin lifted. Light watched as a number of coloured gummy bears tumbled down from his head and shoulders onto the bedclothes. On the edge of his bed L sat cross-legged for a change, a packet of sweets in his hand. The two men regarded one another warily.

"I'm not doing this because I want to. It helps me to think."

Light seized a handful of the bears and threw them before L could roll out of his line of fire.

The other source of Light's consternation was Misa. She seemed to haunt him even more relentlessly than usual in the week following her visit to Yotsuba, emerging with almost uncanny timing at the mention of the word "bathroom." It was on one of these occasions that Misa tailed Light and L up to their shared rooms. As she flung the door open into unoccupied space, the model stood for a moment in confusion. Then she called out.

"Lii-iight...? I kinda need to talk to you!"

"In here," proclaimed a voice from behind the bathroom door.

"Ew, gross!" Misa cried. She came to a halt before the door, reluctant to advance any further. "Why do you both have to be in there? Are you watching my boyfriend pee?"

"Believe me, I don't want to watch what's happening in here, but he is still under suspicion of being the Original Kira so…"

"And you think he kills people while he's in the bathroom?" Misa retorted flatly. From within, Light spoke in an uneven voice.

"Can you both stop shouting through the door...?"

"Yes, please stop Misa," L added, "You're making it harder for him to-"

"Shut up, Ryuzaki!" Light snarled. There came the sound of running water and then the door flew open. The former student stood with one hand upon the door's frame, his skin slightly flushed.

"What is it?"

"I just wanted to see you… alone?" Misa answered in a small voice. She chanced a look over Light's shoulder where a head of untidy, black hair had emerged.

"Anything you want to say to Light can be said in front of me." The two young men walked back into the bedroom to stand before Misa. Light moved a little awkwardly towards the wall; L slouched against the desk, watching Misa with mild interest.

"This is private, Ryuzaki." Misa's hands were on her hips; a fierce, determined gaze levelled at the detective. "You do know that you're not part of this relationship, right?"

"Well, if dating can constitute staying in, ordering take-out and not engaging in any physical contact, then I am as much your boyfriend as Light is."

"Ugh!" Misa recoiled in horror. For the briefest of moments, there was a flicker of wounded pride in L's eyes. No sooner had the expression registered, than it passed. He glanced between Light and Misa, his mouth set in a wry smile.

"Or perhaps this is something that you don't want me to overhear for a different reason…?"

"No it…" Misa was rigid; open-mouthed. "It... was... about t-tonight. That's all! I just wanted to know where we were going for our date, Light?" Grimacing, Light reluctantly peeled himself from the wallpaper he was attempting to merge into.

"...because there's so many options?" he remarked scornfully. Light ran a hand through his fringe tiredly and uttered an audible sigh. "Look, we're actually pretty busy with the case right now-" He broke off, sensing a fault, for it was Misa's turn to look injured.

"But," Light continued smoothly, "we'll come by your apartment after we've finished work for the day, okay?"

"Yay! Let's do another movie night!" Misa punched the air as though she had rightfully seized the spoils of victory, quite oblivious to Light's pained expression. She waved a remonstrating finger at the two of them. "But you both have to promise not to spoil this one. We only got two minutes into the last film and then you both blabbed the ending!"

"It's only because the films you like are so painfully predictable," L muttered quietly. Hardly missing a beat, Misa turned on him.

"But Catch Me if You Can was interesting until you ruined it!"

"Actually, it's loosely based on Aiber's life," L commented dryly.

"Yeah, the trouble is that most movie plots tend to be a little obvious," Light explained, gesturing in much the same way as whenever he offered a hypothesis. "Now you take something like The Departed which is a great film..."

"Great film," L agreed. Swinging his arm out like a gun, he continued in a voice quite unlike his own. "Are you a cop?"

"Are you a cop?" Light countered, pointing back at him in mock accusation.

"Wow…" Misa widened her eyes at the ceiling. "...geez, maybe you two should just date each other!"

Light's smile froze.

"Hmm, two aggressive tops in a relationship?" L's thumb was at his lower lip as the detective glanced thoughtfully upwards. "No. Until someone decided to roll over, that simply wouldn't work." Over by the wall, Light uttered a choking sound.

"Exactly Light! See, we don't have that issue because he and I are the perfect team." Misa broke into a wide smile as she threw her arms around Light's shoulders. The student was forced to steady his footing with a muffled groan. "With us it's all totally mutual."

"Yes, the way you feel about Light and…" L paused to look pointedly at Light, who was now feigning an expression of calm composure, "certainly, the way he feels about you, is very obvious. The two of you really deserve one another."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" Misa gasped, beaming at L in delight. She reached out and clutched the detective's arm affectionately. L's eyes widened a little in shock; his gaze lingering where her hand rested.

"It's not," Light added quietly. He, too, looked towards L but his expression was quite the reverse of Misa's. "Remind me to explain why later."

"You know, for that Ryuzaki, I'll let you choose what we do for our date for this evening!" Misa continued, quite deaf to Light's words. Frowning slightly, L pressed his thumb more firmly to his mouth in deep meditation.

"So now I'm planning a date…" he spoke, almost as though reasoning a theory aloud. Misa gave a firm nod.

"Sure! You're going to be there anyway, so why not?"

"Then... I propose that I try to best you both in some form of competitive or fighting sport," L concluded.

Misa released her grip on Light; the pair of them stood staring wordlessly at the detective.

"...fine, we'll have coffee and I'll coerce you into helping me with my case then. Those are the only two moves I know."

x-x-x

The hours which followed were punctuated by several noteworthy events. At L's request, Wedy had been preparing to place more of the seemingly endless supply of cameras and wiretaps within the respective homes of the eight suspects. The mission being an extensive one, Aiber was accompanying the thief-for-hire. The conman had already established regular contact with Shimura, made a sizable sum from his many bogus consultation charges and had started to lay the groundwork concerning L's identity. Far from revealing anything of significance he had simply invented a few minor scandals to appease the Yotsuba businessmen, including the detective's lifetime ban from Ice Cream City. Aiber had chuckled at his own whimsy, only for L to stammer in stunned silence.

"Ai-Aiber, we said false information only!"

Soichiro, Light and L were to remain at headquarters gathering intel on their suspects. Their research had been interrupted by Misa's jubilant announcement that the company had indeed hired her to endorse them. As she waved her arms in a wide arc, Light stared at her open phone warily.

"I guess I didn't derail the investigation after all, huh Ryuzaki?" she finished smugly, flashing a v-sign with her free hand at the detectives.

"Hello? Miss Amane?" came a distant voice from the receiver.

"Hang - up - first!" Light mouthed in horror.

As afternoon drifted into evening, L and Light made their customary, weekly visit to Misa's apartment. The model had once again attempted to transform her sitting room into a dimly-lit and sensually ambient parlour. Flickering candlelight patterned the walls while slow rock music reverberated softly in the background. A pot of steaming coffee stood upon the sideboard with two cups and saucers.

Misa jumped up in excitement as the door opened, only for her habitual expression of disappointment upon seeing L to fall further to a look of pure frustration as Matsuda appeared behind them.

"Why?" is all the model managed.

"You are the only two who have met these men," L explained as he loped straight over to the coffee pot. "Try to think of this as a double date." Matsuda appeared startled at such a suggestion. His eyes moved tentatively from Light to L and then, as though in private realisation, he smiled warmly in Misa's direction.

"Works for me!"

Once Misa had begrudgingly retrieved two more cups, the four of them sat around the coffee table. L promptly removed a Sharpie pen from the pocket of his jeans and began scrawling on the table's glass top. Misa cried out in protest.

"Hey, that's new! Or don't you remember destroying my last table?"

"That was unavoidable, given that I was thrown into it." L tilted his head towards Light who sat beside him with one leg crossed casually over the other. Misa slumped back against the sofa, her arms folded.

"Of the eight suspects, we need to determine who - and how many - possesses Kira's power," L continued, completing the eighth name with a flourish (an onlooker might have thought he had done so to further provoke Misa's indignation). "Based on our initial findings and, soon, any evidence we can gather from surveillance, we should have our answer. In the meantime, I need you to tell me what you made of these men..." He looked up at Misa and Matsuda who both shifted nervously under his expectant gaze. Then, at last, Matsuda volunteered.

"Well… when I was in Shimura's office, I got the impression that he was kind of a neat freak," Matsuda began. "He plans out literally every second of his life. He kinda seems like the type of guy who would have a breakdown if they discontinued his favourite ply of office paper, you know?" L hesitated, pen raised over the table's glass.

"That's oddly specific."

"I don't think that someone like him could handle having Kira's power," Light spoke, his eyes closed in concentration. "Or, if he could, I think he would be much more careful about how he used it. We know that this Kira can be a little reckless, even sloppy." He slowly opened his eyes; lids lowered in disdain. "He's pathetic really. Like a budget brand Kira."

"I agree with Ki- Light. In fact, I wanted to rule him out almost immediately after coming to exactly the same conclusion." L did just that, drawing a black line through Shimura's name. "I actually only asked you all out of politeness."

"I also had a few thoughts on… Namikawa was it?" Light continued, ignoring L and folding his arms across his lap. "I noticed during the meeting that he spoke about the ways the company was profiting from their collaboration with Kira. He seems like a shrewd guy; the kind of person who wouldn't allow himself to be implicated in a case like this. But, likewise, if he knew he had to share a boardroom table with Kira he would probably make a PowerPoint with coloured pie charts of his killings to appease him."

"He was the most normal one there!" Matsuda added. "The rest gave me major 'Evil Executive' vibes or 'I Murdered My Boss' vibes."

"Or 'I Harass The Female Staff' vibes," Misa continued "You're right Matsu, Namikawa was different! And his hair was kind of beautiful."

"Oh God, even I wanted to brush it," Matsuda eagerly turned to her.

"Beautiful hair aside, I also am inclined to think that he probably isn't Kira. He's too clever; too calculating. Why would he need to surround himself with seven other people if he had that power...? No, he's just there to bring the sex appeal," L reasoned, taking his Sharpie and scrawling over yet another name. "So now that leaves us with..."

Coffee flowed and their talk continued into the night. Eventually Takeshi Ooi too, was ruled out as someone more likely to hand out red pills and herald a prophetic figure like Kira, than to actually be The One. Likewise Kida, a man who had so far received relatively little screen time, was only briefly considered before being dismissed. Matsuda had based his assumption on the businessman's possession of 'the eyes' - a comment which had caused L, for the second time in recent months, to plummet from the sofa.

"You've got to stop being so dramatic," Light scowled, pulling back on the handcuffs' chain to prevent himself too from tumbling over. "You know, one of these days you're gonna collapse in your chair for real and no one will even react until you're dead on the floor." L, who was still sitting with his legs sprawled upon the carpet, stared up at him wildly.

"Was that another threat?" he asked in a low voice.

"Sorry! It's my fault Ryuzaki!" Matsuda continued sheepishly, "I… I only meant Kida had those cold, dead, serial killer eyes. You know?" L's gaze remained fixed upon Light's face.

"...let's just say I'm familiar with the concept."

Eventually night merged into the beginnings of dawn. Matsuda was dozing, his head lolling upon his chest. Light drained his fifth coffee; what with his earlier sugar intake, he was seized with the uncontrollable urge to grab everyone by the hands and run in a wide circle. Firmly resisting the impulse, he simply sat grinding his teeth. Misa was describing her brief encounter with Shingo Mido, whilst L had fallen to writing upon the table in barely-legible scrawl.

"That guy was so creepy. He kept asking to see that fetish video I was in!" Misa leaned forward in an attempt to read L's untidy notes.

"I told you before, that wasn't a fetish video," L spoke without lifting his head. Misa threw herself back against the sofa cushions.

"Oh please, being strapped down was totally a kink. And I was practically naked."

"It was… necessary." L lifted the Sharpie to his mouth and bit down in deep contemplation. "It was… for the case..."

Matsuda's gentle snores had been steadily growing louder throughout their conversation; amplifying to a particularly loud rumble, the former police detective awoke himself with a snort. He rubbed at his pinkened face dazedly as he scrambled to sit up in a straighter position.

"Mmm? Whassat?"

L was now laying down his pen with a satisfied nod, whilst Light's foot tapped an urgent rhythm against the coffee table's leg. Misa seemed withdrawn, hugging a cushion to her chest as she looked down anxiously at the writing across the glass.

"Thank you for your input, Matsuda," L quipped (Matsuda's pink cheeks grew even redder), "we have narrowed down our potential suspects to these three. Now, while we can't be certain that one of these three men is Kira, these individuals are more likely to operate in the way we have witnessed so far, compared with their associates."

Matsuda leaned forward to read Higuchi(asswipe)?, Hatori(monkeys)?, and Takahashi(bearded dude)?. The others had simply been ruled out, save for Namikawa which was covered in heart doodles.

"We'll have Aizawa, Mogi and Mr Yagami tail them." L turned to look coldly at Matsuda. "I would have used you too but you've already compromised yourself with your terrible Shimura impression."

"But- but I found out about the secret meetings!" Matsuda insisted, smoothing down his crumpled tie.

"Yes, you also sent round a bunch of memos to Yotsuba personnel for whatever a 'Caviar Report' is, and provoked the office managers into a manhunt for someone of your description."

Light couldn't quite suppress a small chuckle at this. He stretched his arms up over his head, shivering slightly. His whole body suddenly tensed as his eye caught Misa's. The model had shifted forwards in her seat to stare earnestly at him. She glanced down at the names on the table, gave a small nod, then looked up at Light once more.

"Huh?"

Misa repeated the gesture carefully, concluding her routine by staring at Light. Fortunately, Matsuda and L were too preoccupied in a debate over whether or not the former's special Task Force belt should have been confiscated, to notice. Light watched Misa's movements once more, before a look of dawning comprehension materialised upon his face.

"Oh Light, you know exactly how to read me…..." Misa sighed in contentment as he blinked coolly back at her.

"You're... going to get a snack?" Light asked, prompting Misa's smile to falter.

"What? No, I don't want a snack!"

"Who said it was for you?" Light snapped irritably. Upon hearing this, L promptly concluded his argument with Mastuda. The eccentric young man sat poised, attentive as a housecat who had just heard rumour of treats.

"I suppose we are done here. Hey, do you want to get some ice cream?"

Misa looked around her in sudden panic as the three men stood, yawning and stretching tiredly.

"Wait, wait! Er… surely that's not how you would really end a date, is it L?" she tried, glancing over to Light again meaningfully.

"Pretty much," L considered, "not that I have experience really." He raised his arm to point at Light who still appeared faintly nauseated at the suggestion of yet more sweet food.

"You see, the very few attractive people I have met in my life all tend to look at me like that. From there it's either a proclamation of 'creep,' or 'pervert'... occasionally I'm kicked down a flight of stairs or punched in the face..."

For the first time, Misa regarded the detective sadly. Neither Light nor Matsuda spoke; the former looked down at his hand in reminiscence, flexing his fingers.

"I'm so sorry I called you a pervert, Ryuzaki..." Misa's voice came out timid and meek. The detective placed his hands in his pockets and began to stroll towards the door quite calmly, forcing Light to unclench his fist and follow.

"It's fine. I suppose I've found other loves - justice, cake, bikini shots. Predominantly, in that precise order."

"Ugh... I take it back." Misa wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Sweetie, you are a little creepy."