Summary: Raito never regained his memory of the death note and 8 years later, L and him are still working together. But as Light finds out that even though L was raised at an orphanage, he's not an orphan. And when he is introduced to L's mother, everything is thrown for a loop.
Disclaimer: I do not own death note. Neither do I own the cities of London and Manchester, though that goes without saying.
To sum things up, Raito had been drugged by L's mother and was enjoying himself immensely. He'd even decided to stop being such a boring twat, and had danced to some songs, trying to avoid Angel's groping hands. Panting a little, he sat down next to L, trying to regain his breath.
"Is it all over my face…" He hummed along to the song that was playing. "I'm in love dancing."
"You do know what this song is about, right?" L chuckled and Raito could feel the man's fingers combing through his hair. Suddenly he felt like a child, and nuzzled L's neck. He closed his eyes.
"Love and dancing?"
"Uhm. No."
"Awww bless!" Angel squealed (yes, he squealed) and pointed at the couple on the couch. He turned to Esther with a pout. "If you had told me, maybe I wouldn't have been so persistent."
Keith turned the volume down and the two men seated themselves back on the other couch in a happy, post-dance mood. Esther went to get refreshments.
Raito looked up, his head still resting on L's shoulder. "Told you what?"
"That you were together, duh"
Raito looked puzzled. "We're not."
"Sure looks like it."
Oh no. "Where's your bathroom?"
"Upstairs, first door to the left." L offered, and Raito was gone before anyone could even blink.
As he hurried up the stairs, he could hear Angel rapping along with the song. "And if I want it, I get it; I'll eat that ass like a cannibal."
Too much. It was too much.
He hurried into the bathroom, leaned over the toilet and wretched.
I'm not gay. He stared at his own reflection. I'm not fucking gay!
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and let it out. He couldn't deny that it had felt kind of good dancing that close to Angel. He couldn't deny that Keith looked very alluring in his suit. He couldn't deny that sitting close to L felt right.
"It was supposed to go away" He hissed, staring at himself again. "You were supposed to grow up."
The door opened and Raito cursed at himself for not locking it.
"You alright there sonny?" Esther shut and locked the door behind her. Putting the toilet seat down, she sat on it and looked up at Raito, who looked ready to cry.
"Yeah, yeah I'm alright. It's just… stuff."
Raito took a seat on the floor as Esther lit a cigarette. Flicking the ash into the sink, she pulled her legs up. Raito couldn't help but smiling. At least L got something from this woman.
"So married, eh? Who's the lucky lady?"
Raito twisted the ring on his finger. "Misa. She's Japanese."
"Of course."
"Of course?"
"Traditional, I assume. Conservative upbringing?"
"Not more so than anyone else."
"So do your parents have high expectations of you, Ratio?"
He shrugged. "No."
"Do you?"
Raito looked up, confusion written all over his face. "I don't know. Yes. Maybe"
Esther nodded and took a deep drag of her cigarette, making a point not to blow smoke in Raito's face. "Do you know when I knew my Lawliet was bent?"
"Bent?"
"Gay."
"Oh. No."
"When he was five."
"Five?!"
"Yeah. He didn't bother telling me until he was way past 20 though, the little rascal, but I knew." She tapped her forehead. "Good intuition."
Raito didn't like it. He was sure she meant something by it. Not wanting to talk about it anymore, he decided to change the subject. "How come he was raised in an orphanage?"
Esther laughed. "Got pregnant when I was just a kid, didn't I? Don't worry, didn't give him away or anything, but I had no place to live and they took me in. Offered us a place to live and food if I did some work. Hated it at first, but haven't been able to do any other work ever since. I'm good with kids."
"I bet." Raito chuckled. "I think I'm going to bed."
She nodded, got up from her seat and threw the cigarette butt in the toilet. "Well hurry out, then." She grinned. "Gotta piss."
Laughing, Raito got up and walked out. Apparently, Esther didn't bother to lock the door after him, because just as he was walking towards the guest room she had been pointing at before closing the door, he heard Angel's terrified scream and Esther laughing like there was no tomorrow.
He barely had the time to close the door behind him before he crashed onto the bed. Yes the bed. There was only one, Raito noticed, but didn't give it much thought before he drifted off into peaceful slumber.
It was only later that he could hear someone coming into the room and the bed shifted. L was combing through his hair briefly before sighing and turning away from him. Moving closer to the warmth, Raito decided to wrap his arms around the other man, snuggling up against his back.
"Raito?" L's voice was tentative.
"Shh." Raito murmured. "Go to sleep."
And just like that, L did.
Short chapter, I know. but at least there is some semi-lovin going on.
And yeah, in this story, Raito is apparently totally familliar with the manc accent which even I have a difficulty to understand sometimes, but hey, small details :D
post a comment if you like! i love 'em.