Yes, it is me, and with another chapter! I got home yesterday and slept for about twelve hours, and I have a headache and a horrible cough which make work seem very unattractive. It's too cold to even consider venturing out, so I thought it was the perfect time to write some more of this fic. There will probably be one more chapter and an epilogue, but since the next chapter is going to be an awesome one, I don't feel too bad. Enjoy, review, comment...
Light woke up at fourteen minutes past three feeling slightly as if a train had hit him. Although he would have rather liked to lay the blame entirely on L, he suspected that what may have been largely responsible was the previous evening of decorating with the Wammy's children. Although he was very thankful to whatever higher power existed that he was immensely charming and attractive, since it had won him many favours in his relatively brief life, it did not come without its downsides. The greatest of these seemed to be that girls of a certain age simply adored him. He had lifted each and every one of the nineteen pre-pubescent Wammy girls onto his shoulders so that they could drape their paper chains and lopsided angels all over the ceilings, shelves and chandeliers of the orphanage. Then there had been the cookie baking session. The only upside had been that L never derided as unmanly anything that meant he got left in peace and received delicious snowman-shaped cookies at the end of it. In fact, he had gained a lot of kudos for his efforts; apparently, L did not feel very threatened by his competition, but that was, in his words, no reason not to mark his territory. Some of the older girls, too, seemed to have no issue with this, and had even used Light's generous ladder-services as an opportunity to hang wreaths of mistletoe over L's favourite chair, L's laptop, and L's doorway. Treacherous little deviants, Light thought to himself.
The reason Light woke at this ungodly hour, though, was tapping at his keyboard, illuminated by the ghostly glow of the fairy lights wound around the screen of his laptop.
"L?" Light croaked. He was used to L sitting up at all hours, of course, but there was something excited and tense about L's posture which alerted him to the significance of this particular nighttime pursuit.
"Ah, Light-kun," L said, turning and giving Light a lopsided smile. "I apologise for waking you, but I required your advice on a certain matter."
Light frowned. Hadn't he woken of his own accord? He shifted in the bed, and immediately rolled over about seven rolled sweet wrappers. He narrowed his eyes. Trust L to pelt him with missiles to get his attention.
"You know, some people wake their boyfriends up with a kiss," he grumbled. "Or wait till morning," he added darkly.
"Light-kun shouldn't say things he doesn't mean," L remarked idly. Light rolled his eyes. L had no sense of insecurity at all.
"What did you need my help with?" Light asked, brushing the sweet wrappers off the sheets and going to crouch over L's back, peering at the screen.
"I believe I have just worked out our case," L replied, indicating the screen. Light read.
"It does seem pretty obvious," he admitted. "So why do you need my help?"
"Well, I would appreciate your input in making arrangements, but what I really wanted was your philosophical advice. Would it, do you think, be more heartless to tell Mello and Matt that they will not have to sample all the chocolate, or to allow them to consume large quantities of what is, effectively, a stimulant?"
Light considered the question seriously. It would be a crushing blow for both boys if they were banned from eating the chocolate. But Light could well imagine what the two of them might do under the influence of a drug ten times stronger than caffeine.
"Perhaps we could replace the drugged chocolate with normal ones?" he suggested faintly.
"Unfortunately, they would notice within seconds," L sighed. "Once Watari tried to give Matt hamburgers with finely grated carrot in the patties. It wasn't a pretty scene."
"Really?" Light asked interestedly. "I always thought Matt was pretty laid back."
"Not when it comes to carrots," L shuddered. "For a boy who is third in Wammy's, he can be even more fiendishly manipulative than Mello with chocolate when it comes to avoiding eating them."
"In that case," Light tried again, "perhaps we could just tell them directly."
"Do you think Mello would care?" L asked sceptically.
"Good point," Light acknowledged.
"Besides," L added, "I feel somewhat guilty for solving their case so swiftly. Perhaps we should allow them to assess the situation for themselves? After all, I was younger than them when I began to solve crimes. I believe that K will by now have discovered the properties of the drug; if we let them have this information, they can pull together the rest themselves."
"It does mean we will have more time to spend by ourselves," Light mused, clearly wavering.
"I hear there is a new sushi restaurant open in town," L hinted. "It sells sweets, too."
Light grinned.
"It's a date," he said.
"So let me set this straight," Mello said as L and Light sat with identical innocent expressions on their faces. "You're both giving up on the case?"
"Yep," Light grinned.
"We thought we should give you three a little more credit," L smiled. "You are the top three in Wammy's; you don't need us to babysit you."
"So we get to decide how to proceed?" Mello asked tentatively.
"Absolutely," Light nodded.
"And you must take full responsibility for every decision you make," L added.
Mello sat back, frowning in thought. L and Light tried to suppress their grins as the expressions flitted across his face. It was obvious what he was thinking. As long as L and Light were in charge, he could kick back and enjoy the side benefits, like eating lots of chocolate. But if he was in charge, he had to impress everyone, and work hard to solve the case. Which meant that he could not mess around and eat chocolate. But he could prove that he was number one. The conflict on his face was almost comical. Especially when he realised that he might have to give the chocolate to other people to test it. But, as L had anticipated, the power-trip won over in the end.
"Right, c'mon, Matt, we're going to see K," he commanded, and dragged Matt out of the room by his collar.
"What about you, Near?" L asked. Near looked up passively.
"I asked Matt to hack into your network last night," he replied blandly. "We both worked everything out already, but we didn't want to upset Mello."
L looked flattered.
"He's just like I was at that age," he said fondly to Light. Light considered his own childhood, and decided to send his mother a really good Christmas present this year.
Light, L and Near were engaged in a tense game of Jenga when Matt and Mello thundered back into the room.
"Hey, hey!" Mello shouted, waving his arms around. "K says that the drug in the chocolate is a stimulant which makes people all happy and relaxed!"
"Oh?" L looked up mildly. "Is that so?"
"Yeah," Mello said eagerly. "So what I think is that some guy from CFC wants to make all the people who buy CFC chocolate associate the feeling with the chocolate, so they'll go out and buy more of it! And if they like the chocolate, then they'll want to buy loads of other CFC branded products. It's a huge ploy to expand the company!"
"Where is the evidence?" L asked.
"In the chocolate!" Mello exclaimed.
"The only thing you know for certain is that there is a drug in the chocolate," Near said flatly as he put another brick on top of the teetering tower. "The rest is just a theory."
"Then we'll come up with a plan," decided Mello, not at all put off. "All we have to do is identify when and where the supply of tainted chocolate is coming from, and then storm the factory and catch them in the act. We can do that thing, like in that movie, where we force them to eat their own product until they confess."
"You should have been in the mafia," Light said, impressed despite himself. "How are you going to find out where the drugged chocolate is coming from, though?"
"Leave that to me," Mello grinned.
And obviously, since it's Mello, his plan will be sensible and conservative. Right? Please review, you'll get snowman cookies made by Light...