Screwed

LIGHT YAGAMI FOUND himself alone on the twenty third floor, listening as rain pummelled rhythmically against the roof. He looked up at the sloping skylight into nothing but looming darkness. The door which led out onto the terrace was unlocked but the student had only briefly considered the folly of walking into a gathering storm. Instead, he had propped open the door, savouring the cool spray against his exhausted face. It was the sound of an unexpected voice which stirred him from his brooding.

"What are you doing up here, Light?"

L was approaching the top of the staircase. Whether it was the accusatory tone or aloofness of his manner, Light had the inexplicable urge to apologise for his presence. Instead, he offered a shrug.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Then I retract the question," L answered coldly. The detective advanced onto the corridor, coming to a rest against the steel bannister. There he slouched, hands in the pockets of his jeans. Together, the two young men contemplated the ceaseless rain.

"I mean, I won't stop you if you want to go out there..." Light spoke with a vague sweep of his hand. He glanced at L who had lapsed into his own quiet reverie, subdued by the bleak horizon.

"Here's as good a place as any..." the detective spoke slowly without lifting his head. "The truth is, I'm not doing anything in particular. It's just... I've found myself distracted lately." Light shifted his weight apprehensively and glanced about the corridor, wondering if anyone else had thought to pass by their way.

"...by what?" he finally gave in. L turned to look directly at him. As Light caught the detective's eye, an uncomfortable prickling sensation crawled along his neck. His sense of mounting dread intensified as the detective hunched his shoulders coyly. When L spoke again, with eyes still upon him, his voice became as soft and faraway as one describing a dream.

"It's been on my mind non-stop…"

Light took an inadvertent step towards the stairwell that L had just ascended. "Uh… maybe we should head back down, Ryuzaki?"

But now L's gaze had travelled to the high ceiling above, its skylights no more than rectangles of grey. "I'm sorry... I'm not making any sense. Just ignore me."

"I always do," Light returned quickly. Despite the night's tumultuous turn of events and the burden of dread he had been shouldering ever since Misa's departure, his face cracked into a small smile. "So, nothing's changed there."

"Really? You don't feel anything has changed...?"

From outside, the steady drumming of rain was offset against the patter upon the windows. Together, the mismatched rhythms rolled into a crescendo of noise.

"I-" Light's arms tensed at his sides. He looked at the stairwell once more and then back at L as he selected his words carefully. "I guess we have a new Kira... if that's what you mean? But otherwise… no. Things don't seem all that different to me." Light's pronouncement left L to stare down at the hall floor morosely.

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that..." the detective sighed as faintly as though speaking to himself.

"Well… yeah." Light reached to the back of his neck where, underneath his overgrown hair, his skin felt damp. There was something so pitiful about the detective's manner that Light sought for a means to let him down gently. He heaved a small sigh, forcing his tone to remain level as he continued.

"We've worked well together during the investigation... and I wouldn't want anything to happen that could change that." As though to punctuate the statement, he gave a satisfied nod.

"I could say the same as you…" L's lips barely moved as he muttered. "...and yet here we are, not acknowledging what's right in front of us..."

"What?" Light demanded, all calm forgotten, "what do you mean? There's nothing going on here..." A weakness was creeping up his legs.

"Light, from the moment you were born, has there ever been a point where you've actually told the truth?"

L's dark eyes bored into his own, leaving Light's body rigid. The steadily-building deluge outside was softened to silence. It was with pronounced effort that Light managed to form words. Far from articulating himself clearly, his muddled reply fell from his mouth like a string of absurdities.

"Look Ryuzaki, I don't know where all this is coming from tonight but I just think of you as a friend, okay? I know we have a lot in common and that we spend excessive amounts of time wondering what the other is doing, or thinking... or at least I do anyway. And, sure, I guess I miss you when you're not around…" He waved an open hand as he continued, much to L's astonishment. "Even so, we're just friends who work together and who sometimes play intense games of tennis. I... certainly wouldn't want to do anything that could ruin that."

L was visibly bewildered by such an explanation. Light, meanwhile, found himself airless. It was slowly dawning upon the honours student that his response may not, in fact, have been a perfect fit for L's question.

"Well, Light, I suppose there's more than one way to ruin a friendship..." the detective mused sadly. He began to walk back the way he had come. "Let's go back downstairs."

"Y-yeah…"

The pair spoke little during their long descent. As they reached the third floor and with little more than a muttered 'goodnight,' Light began to cross from the elevator over to his room. L was reaching for the button when a shrill noise sounded, both far off and persistent.

"Ryuzaki-" Light turned. "Did you just hear-?"

"...the sound of the bell." L's eyes seemed overlarge and haunted. Trance-like, he slowly trailed through the doors and out into the hallway. In the distance, the ringing sound amplified as it began to travel down the floors.

"Is that a…?" The next second, the trilling was resounding out of every room in the building. Something burst above Light's head, sending a shower of cold water over him.

"...fire alarm?" Light finished bitterly, plunging his watch-clad wrist into his pocket whilst his other hand sheltered his eyes. "That's just perfect."

"There's a chance that this isn't simply a fault," L cautioned, making no visible effort to shield himself from the water as it drenched him from head to foot.

"Look, we'll be drowned long before we're burned to death!" Light choked through sheets of water whilst ineffectively wiping at his eyes with his free hand. "I'm just grabbing a towel. Do you want one?" In answer, L followed Light through the open door.

Inside his suite, Light pushed open the door to the bathroom. He took down two white hand towels, passing one to L. As suddenly as it had begun, the fire alarm ceased, leaving a residual clanging in Light's ears.

"That was certainly unexpected," L commented, "although I suppose that proves it was a false alarm." He flopped the white towel across his head and stood, his expression vacant, as rivulets of water continued to run down to his shoulders.

Light's shoes squelched unpleasantly as he walked. Sitting on the edge of the bath, he pulled them off and dropped each upon the floor. Lifting his own towel, Light quickly dried his hands and face. He was just rubbing the towel across the back of his neck when a strange thrill ran up the inside of his foot.

"What are you doing?" Light gasped, for suddenly L was upon the bathroom floor, his towel wrapped around Light's toes.

"I was just trying to help…" the detective began lamely.

"Why do you have to make everything weird?" Light raged, despite his foot remaining elevated, "if anyone walked by right now they would wonder what the hell we were doing!"

"It's okay, Light. It's the least I can do to atone for my sins." L spoke as calmly as if he were offering nothing more than a word of prayer.

"And in what biblical passage did the disciples give out massages?" He watched with growing apprehension as L took his foot in the folds of white material. Light swallowed hard as L's thumbs kneaded his sole. His eyes closed, flashes of their earlier conversation moving though his mind. "No. It can't be both. It's never both. You're either pretending to be religious or... this is the sort of thing that's been on your mind… Mmmgh..." With a small pang of shock, Light struggled to register the unfamiliar sound which had escaped him. He bit down hard on his lip.

"You'll get used to it..." L assured him as his touch intensified. "...unless you want me to stop?"

"I… I didn't say that…" Light looked nervously over to the door, conscious that his mouth had filled with saliva. As L lifted up Light's other foot a cold droplet of water trickled from his hair, chilling Light's skin.

"Your hair… it's..."

Light apologised as though the effect of the building's overly efficient sprinkler system was his own fault. He brought his towel to L's hair, wiping a few dark strands away from the detective's face. L slowly lifted his head, wet hair sticking up unevenly on one side. Hand within the towel, Light tucked a strand down behind his ear. He stroked the towel against L's jawline, and gently brought it under his chin. There, Light held L's face in his palm, his thumb smoothing away the wetness of his cheek. He was close enough for Light to notice each bead of moisture upon his brow.

"...wet."

L released Light's foot and shifted upon his knees, palms sliding up Light's legs to rest upon his thighs. Now L was close enough for Light to count each droplet clinging to his eyelashes.

A chirping ringtone broke the silence. Light jerked backwards, heart hammering in his chest. L removed his cell phone from his pocket, holding it suspended between thumb and forefinger as it continued to ring shrilly. Outside, barely audible over the echoing tone, the rain beat against the square bathroom window with renewed malice.

"...aren't you going to get that?" Light, at long last, found his voice. But L was not looking at the ringing device.

"Do you want me to get it?" the detective asked uncomfortably. Light contemplated his knee, and the hand upon it, as the chirping ringtone continued to reverberate around the bathroom tiles. Neither one moved. Light could feel the heat from L's palm through the material, as though it was searing an imprint onto his own skin.

"Do you want me to want you to get it?" Light breathed.

"Do you?"

"I-" Light drew out the syllable hoarsely. He stared back into L's dark grey eyes, their inexplicable ferocity rendering him temporarily speechless. The detective's mouth was pressed into a firm line. All at once, the ringing ceased, plunging the room into silence. Only the endless drum of rain pummelled the windowpane.

"I…"

Light inched closer as though afraid he might be overheard by some unknown presence. L reached out a hand to steady himself.

"...don't know," Light admitted. He drew nearer, his breath coming in shallow gasps as their noses touched. With a hesitant motion, L's thumb experimentally traced Light's jawline. Suddenly there came a piercing bell chime, nearly causing Light to topple backwards into the bath.

"Ah, it was Watari," L announced, turning his phone screen around to show him. "He's left a voicemail."

"Shut up, L!"

"Sorry," the detective muttered apologetically, head bent over the cellphone, "I suppose it did rather ruin the moment."

"Moment?" Light managed in an uncharacteristically high voice. He sat upright, hands firmly clasping the rim of the bath, knees pressed together. "There was no moment!"

"Fine… poor choice of word I suppose." L pressed a button on the phone and brought the device up to his ear. Light watched the detective warily.

"Anyway, you're the one who started it, remember?" Light continued, his tone as indignant as if L had challenged him. "I'm not- I have a girlfriend... I... just don't want you to get the wrong idea about me!"

"Of course not Light," L replied tiredly, "neither am I." He considered the damp towel enclosed in his hand as he listened. Light, too, strained to hear. His heart was still thundering with such intensity that it engulfed the tinny recording and the roar of wind outside. He slid forward in a concerted effort to listen but L turned away, his free hand settled on Light's shirt.

"What did Watari say?" Light carefully prised L's fingers away from his chest, fearful that the frantic rhythm of his heart would give him away, but L had already pocketed his cellphone. He shrugged off Light's advance and stood, regarding the white tiles sobrely.

"It looks like it's all worked out."

"Huh?" Light watched from the edge of the bath, perplexed. With a wordless half-smile, L thrust his hand into the pocket of his jeans and strolled from the bathroom.

"L!" Light leapt up and pursued the detective to his door. Catching him at last by his shirt sleeve, Light pulled at the material, forcing L around so that both stood face to face. In the corridor beyond, all was quiet. Light could hardly explain what it was that had enraged him so suddenly; he had only known that preventing L's departure would ease it. Embarrassed, he let go. L was still clinging to the damp hand towel.

"What was that just now?" The question burst from Light before he had even thought of it. As though to make his meaning clear, he gestured awkwardly down at his bare feet.

"Light..." L sighed bleakly into the still surroundings. He gave no signs of resistance as Light clutched his arm again, drawing him insistently closer.

"Why did you literally attach yourself to me twenty-four-seven, only to treat me like a burden for staying at headquarters with you ever since…?"

L raised his head, enough for one grey eye to peer through his sodden mane of black hair. Mutely, he followed in the direction of Light's gentle tug, until they were standing hardly an inch apart, Light's hand still clasping his arm.

"Light! Hey Light, are you in there?" There came a spirited knocking upon the door. Light's body tensed. All life in the corridor belonged to a separate universe, along with Matsuda's ill-timed interruption. For all Light could have known, he and L were the only familiar constants now. The unwelcome foreignness of Matsuda's voice made his chest tighten. Without so much as a mouthed word of communication, the two men remained frozen in silence.

"Light? Are you in there? I could have sworn I heard you…" Matsuda was tiring now. Light kept his eyes resolutely on the door in a feigned effort to listen to their intruder. He could feel L watching him with strange intensity. Inwardly, he willed him to look away. The air was too thick and warm. Light focused every fibre of his concentration upon a knot which blossomed darkly upon the door's wooden surface. L, stop looking at me like that. Please.

Light's hand felt stiff and unnatural, grasping L's forearm. And yet, of their own accord, his fingertips were reaching, probing… pressing themselves into the exposed skin above L's wrist.

"He must have gone down!" Matsuda called to someone unseen, his shrinking voice accompanied by footsteps. On the other side of the door, the two men waited. The sounds were too distant now to distinguish one individual from another; there only came the faint rattle of elevator doors.

As the background blur of noise faded, Light came back to himself. He was breathing as hard as if he had sprinted the twenty floors down from the roof. His eyes moved slowly from L's arm up to his face. L met his gaze with a small, sad smile.

"Forget it..." he suggested quietly.

As he reached for the door handle, Light looked away. Before he could move, Light felt a damp strand of black hair sweep his cheek. The familiar, prickling sensation made his skin flare.

"Unless..." With one hand pushing down the handle, L turned awkwardly. Within the confined space, his arm inadvertently brushed Light's elbow. The latter inhaled sharply at his touch; his flesh burned as though L had extended a flaming torch to him. Light shook his head, the thumping of his own pulse roaring in his ears.

L's hand grazed against Light's own. "Unless… is this what you want…?"

Light's mouth was dry. In answer, and with sudden daring, he lifted his head by a fraction as though to divulge a dreadful secret. Lids lowered, Light offered the faintest brush of his lips against L's. Then, gently, he withdrew. Through half-opened eyes, Light peered at him guardedly.

"I… ah…" L's voice caught in his throat. "I… actually meant this…" Light glanced down to the white towel which was still balled in L's fist.

"Wait-" Light panicked. "That… that was an accident! I'm not- I- I have a girlfriend…"

"It's okay, Light," L spoke with amusement. Light was baffled by his renewed composure. "Perhaps I didn't mean the towel at all."

"You… you didn't?"

"Who knows." This time, L leaned into him with a muffled, grateful sound. The white towel flumped to the floor. Light's fingers were entangled in dark tufts of hair. The warmth of L's body made his head swim. A satisfied mmmm escaped L as his hands tightened on the collar of Light's shirt. The increased pressure against the door handle forced Light to gasp. A familiar, agonising ache was stirring; despite all his protests, Light's body was betraying him.

"Ah… You sure don't mess around…" he managed as L's hands worked away swiftly at the buttons of Light's shirt. "You ever heard of… warming up?"

It was as though a spell had been broken; L paused, hands in Light's grip, his fingers prising open the material.

"Foreplay...?" the detective gazed pensively up at the ceiling as he tested the word. Then he leaned in, pressing his face against Light's cheek, and kissed him on the neck. Light's breath quickened as L's mouth moved, running his tongue over his skin.

"I-" Light uttered a small moan as he felt L's teeth graze his earlobe. His drenched back slipped down against the door. As he flung out a hand to steady himself, his foot slid into L's ankle, forcing the pair to stumble backwards. L clasped Light by the elbows, treading blindly backwards. Light's shirt hung from his shoulders as he feverishly kissed L again and again, savouring each press of his lips.

L collapsed upon the bedspread, Light sprawled across him.

"So Light… was that also an accident?"

"Guess not…" Light's hands were moving under L's shirt, his mouth on his pale throat. "...there's a few other things I could do on purpose too…" He gave a grunt as L's foot slammed into his collar bone. The former made to advance, but L pressed his foot further into Light's shoulder.

"No-" he heaved. -"I have - never - once been submissive…"

"Oh yeah…? That makes two of us…."

With that, Light swept L's foot aside and lunged forward to take him by the forearms. His nose grazed the tip of L's as the detective twisted his head. His body writhed beneath him, Light's grip tightening as his lap flooded with heat. He jolted as the detective's hands clutched at his own, palms brought together with L's knuckles resting against the bedcovers. There came the sickening click of bones as L grasped even harder. Light struggled against him, his face beaded with sweat. He wrenched himself into an upright position, dragging L upwards so that he was astride him.

Breathlessly, Light brought L's shirt up and over his head. His arms wrapped themselves tightly around L's narrow waist, pulling him close enough to feel the heat of his skin; to feel his heart thudding against his own heaving chest.

"You look like you're going to eat me..." L breathed, his forehead pressed against Light's. His arms, which had been draped loosely over Light's shoulders, ran along the sleeves of Light's partially-discarded shirt until he was clasping his hands.

"Yeah? Maybe I will…" As he drew back, his teeth sank into L's lower lip, leaving the taste of salt and metal.

There was the sound of a clink. Light wrestled against an invisible force. He attempted to raise his arms from around L, but found himself trapped by handcuffs tightly binding his wrists.

"Misa was right! Do you seriously carry these around with you everywhere?" Light half-heartedly tried again to lift his arms from behind L's back. He surrendered, leaving them wrapped around his body; his head nestled against L's neck.

"That... isn't relevant right now…" L closed his eyes as Light's damp hair brushed his neck and chin. When he spoke, Light's lips were muffled against L's warm skin.

"You haven't done this before… have you...?"

"As I told you, with most skills it's about intuition ...and I've looked at some videos."

"Ah... I knew you were a pervert…" But now L was studying the items on Light's bedside table, in particular a large box which had been left behind after Misa's visit. The heady excitement which had swept over Light was sobered by sudden apprehension. "Hey… don't you think we should at least have a safe word…?"

L considered this, a foil packet held delicately between his thumb and forefinger. "How about 'I Am Kira'...?"

"L, please…"

Oh hi! Well, this took me ages to write... it was so hard to keep it exciting/romantic, funny and somehow keep them both in character. I can only hope I managed to deliver. The final gag at the end was inspired by artwork by Digital Replicant (DeviantArt).

Anyways... I'm gonna go drown myself in holy water now - it's what I deserve. X'D