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.

The rain fell, tapping against glass and walls rhythmically. It was Christmas morning and only Santa Claus was awake. Well, Santa Claus, a couple of drunk teenagers singing Christmas carols as they waddled home from a club or bar, and Yagami Raito.

He had woken up so early that it was almost still late, having only slept for a few hours. L, to his surprise, had still been sleeping and he had carefully untangled himself before changing his clothes and tip-toeing out of the bedroom. He made his way into the kitchen, trying to make as little noise as possible, and sat down on a chair by the kitchen table. On it was a small poinsettia, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. So this was Christmas? Red flowers, fire and lung cancer. Just lovely. Picking up the lighter, Raito played with it for a little while, allowing his mind to wander. Well, wander back to a quite specific place in time, that was. Christmas five years ago.

They had been working on a case and thus, there had been no holidays that year. Instead, some people had decided to make their office cosy and Christmas-y. Raito didn't quite get it, but assumed some things well better off if you didn't question them.

He sighed, putting the lighter down on the table and poked it around for a bit. It hadn't only been the year they spent Christmas at the office. It was also the year that L kissed him under the mistletoe. Raito had never liked the mistletoe concept. Germs and herpes for everyone! But L was different, he supposed. The man surely didn't date much, as far as he knew, and somehow, he couldn't help but feeling a bit guilty about it, like it was his fault. Well, it was his fault.

They were close friends, but L was clearly attracted to him in a way that people who were 'just friends' never were. He'd never told Raito, but it was fairly obvious. Everyone knew. And people teased him about it. Well, they had done until Raito had snapped one day and punched a poor guy called Gerald in the face. He'd knocked him out completely. Maybe Gerald didn't deserve it, but Raito couldn't stand people talking about it. As long as no one says anything, you can pretend it's not real. But if you allow yourself to think about it, you find yourself not being able to think about anything else.

"Interrupting anything?"

Raito looked up to see a sleepy looking Keith standing in the doorway.

"No, not really."

"Alright." Keith walked in and poured some water into the kettle. "Tea?"

Raito nodded. "Thanks."

"Milk? Sugar?"

"No thanks"

"Thought I was the only one awake." Someone was heard shouting outside. "Well, me and the scallies."

"Scallies?"

"The rude little fuckers outside that disturb your sleep."

"Oh."

A steaming mug of tea was put down in front of him and Keith sat down at the table as well. "Not in the Christmas mood, I see."

Raito tried a smile. "It's like… four in the morning."

"True that."

They sipped their tea in silence. Raito liked Keith, he decided. The man was quiet, but not shy. Maybe he wasn't even gay. It didn't seem like it. Then again, he was friends with Angel. Gay by association.

"Is Angel your boyfriend?"

"No." Keith held up his hand, pointing at a golden ring. "I'm married."

Yes, finally, a kindred spirit!

"Me too. You're not celebration Christmas with your wife?"

Somehow, Keith's eyebrow rose, as if that would have been a strange question.

"No, Ratio. My husband is visiting his family in France so I'm celebrating with my friends this year."

Raito's jaw dropped. "You're married to a man?"

"Five years now."

Keith smiled to himself, the expression in his eyes changing as if he was thinking about someone he really cared for. Maybe even someone that he loved. But men didn't love other men; it was just a sexual thing, right? At least that was all Raito had seen. Gay men were promiscuous sluts. They didn't love each other, did they?

"Oh." Was all Raito could muster.

"You look surprised?" Keith got up, putting his mug in the sink.

"Yeah, it's just… isn't it all about sex, though?"

"What?"

"Being… you know… gay."

"I'll excuse the general ignorance this time and no, it's not. We do love, you know. We're human just like everyone else."

Raito blushed. Way to go. Insult everyone around you, why don't you? "Sorry."

Keith didn't seem to take it too hard, though. "It's alright."

"I guess… I've just never seen a man who loves another man, you know."

"Oh you have."

"I have?"

An enigmatic smile appeared on Keith's face, as if he knew something Raito should know but was too dumb to figure out. "Goodnight, Raito." He winked and left the kitchen, leaving Raito alone with his thoughts and cold tea.

"Merry Christmas!!!"

The happy cheering caused Raito to sit up straight in his chair before letting out groan. Fuck, his back hurt. Randomly falling asleep while sitting at a table was definitely not one of his best ideas. It probably ranked number two, closely following coming here in the first place. This had been a bag full of bad ideas, actually.

"Are you in pain, honey?" Angel, who had woken him up, was by his side within fractions of a second.

"I'm fine. Bad position to fall asleep in. I don't recommend it."

"Oh honey, I know all about bad positions."

Completely missing the innuendo, Raito tried to get up from the chair, but was quickly stopped by Angel's hands on his shoulders.

"Don't move missy, I'll sort your back out for you."

"No, it's fine."

"Are you questioning my talents as a masseuse?"

"Uhm. No?"

"Good. Then be a good boy and sit down."

Deciding to be the good boy that Angel suggested, Raito nodded and shut his eyes as the other man's hand started to work on his back. It felt good. Damn good.

"So Raito, you're from Japan, right?"

"Mhmmm…" This was heaven.

"I'm a total rice queen, myself. Always running after the Asian boys."

"Hmm?"

"And Keith always takes the piss. But he shouldn't talk. He's a total mashed potato, see what I mean?"

Rice? Mashed Potato? What? "Umm…No?"

"He's never dipped it in any soy sauce, if you catch my drift."

"Uhh…" Raito didn't catch his drift at all. But then again, he was only half-listening.

"Mhmm, and my other friend Josh – total chicken, by the way – thinks of it as some kind of perversion. You know, like twinks and all that, but it's totally not. I'd never fuck him, for example. Well, he's all about the chocolate, anyway. Like, hello? Such a fucking size queen. But don't worry, honey, I'm not."

"Not a what?"

"Size queen. I do have size myself though, don't worry."

"Angel… Are you coming onto me?"

"Yes."

"Well don't." Honestly, he wasn't that annoyed. There was something about Angel that was very disarming and non-threatening. Raito was almost one hundred percent sure he could both enjoy the massage and have his arse intact without doing anything in particular.

Angel sighed. "Fiiine. But I've got a serious case of blueballs here and it's all your fault."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine sweetheart. Don't worry about it. Anyway…"

As Angel went into telling an anecdote of sorts including a lot of 'rosebuds' and 'cookies', Raito drifted off into semi-sleep. L liked cookies, though probably not the same kind that Angel was talking about. Then again, he probably liked that kind too, whatever it was. And then it hit him. Cookies! That was what L had tasted like when he had kissed him that Christmas. Cinnamon cookies. Raito had never had one of those ever since that event. And thinking about it, he'd never seen L eaten one of those since then, either. He always used to. Raito sighed. He could even smell them now. He had no idea a memory could be so vivid. Then again it probably wasn't just his memory, because…

"My cookies!!!"

Angel's hands disappeared from his back as the young man rushed towards the oven, tearing it open; the smell of cinnamon and sugar now filling the whole kitchen. Raito could hear Angel rummaging around the kitchen and soon, a cookie was put on a plate before him.

"Here you go!" Angel grinned. "I managed to save them before they burnt to death, now eat up or break my heart."

Raito stared at the cookie and finally decided that just tasting it wouldn't do him any harm. It was just a cookie and actually, it was quite tasty. Looking up, he could see the other three entering the kitchen.

"Merry Christmas!" Angel cheered, offering cookies to everyone.

Raito's stomach sank at the sight of L. The dark-haired man was holding his cookie with slightly shaky hands and as he looked up, he offered Raito a sad smile.

"Merry Christmas, Raito." He bit into the cookie.

wooo. the plot thickens.

there's quite a lot of slang in this chapter and though i think a lot of you might know some of it, i'll explain the ones that aren't that obvious, because i'm kind, like that. Not really important to the story as most of it is pure bullshit (like most of this story haha) but it might be fun to know.

Scallies - Young teenagers who are pretty rowdy, stupid and tend to crash parties and steal my things!!
Rice Queen - non-asian gay man who likes dem asians :D
Mashed potato - white guy who likes white guys exclusively
chicken/twink - a piece of sweet-ass lamb meat. chicken being less of a nice term, naturally.
rosebud/cookie - arse. simple as that. if you read the last bit, thinking that cookie means arse, it's kinda funny haha.

i like reviews!

Seeya in the next chapter!