As I began this one, I had my outline and I knew it'd be pretty jam-packed with stuff...but I never expected to make it this long. XD It's not a bad thing, though. Another outing, but there are things in store for L and Light. Reviewers make my day. :)
I don't own Death Note.
December 7
Cotton Candy Day
"Let's go to the circus, Light-kun."
At that very moment, Light had been in the process of drinking a particularly hot cup of coffee at the kitchen table. Upon hearing L's suggestion, he nearly choked to death upon the said coffee. Oh, and L didn't go out of his way to help, heavens no. He merely looked at Light while he flailed for a moment, looking slightly bored. Once he managed to get his body back under control, he shot a glare at the detective.
L rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry you still haven't mastered drinking. Anyway-"
"You could have at least tried to look concerned! Shit, I could've died and you sat there and looked like an envelope without an address!"
"Nice retort."
"…excuse me?"
"I wasn't being sarcastic. It's not often people put thought into an insult. I'm touched."
The detective opened up a box of chocolate covered cherries, popping a few into his mouth. Light could merely hold his head in his hands. He'd wait for him to take his sweet time with his candies. What had started all this, anyway? He couldn't rightly remembered, since he'd practically just seen his life flash before his eyes. Well…perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, but still. It was traumatizing.
"As I was saying, Light-kun." He chewed on another, swallowing. "We should go to the circus today. Watari purchased two tickets."
Oh, right. That was it. Why the hell would he want to go to a place like that? More importantly, why was he just thinking his and not verbalizing it?
"Pardon me, Ryuuzaki, but if you don't mind by me asking…why the hell would you want to go to a circus?"
L set the box down and started to toy with the sleeves of his shirt. "Well, it mostly has to do with today's holiday."
Light sighed in exasperation, feeling the urge to bury his hands in his face again. "You know that we can just go to a store and buy some, right?"
"Light-kun seems to have something against circuses. Do you not enjoy fun?"
"…have you even been to a circus?"
"…" His owl eyes only blinked. No wonder…
"Okay, okay… How exactly did you go through childhood without going to a circus with family or friends? Not that you missed out or anything…" Oh, how Light absolutely loathed circuses. Just thinking about them made his skin crawl.
L shrugged. "That is not of importance. The question is why you don't like circuses. From what I've researched, they seem like very entertaining events with lots of snacks and sweets…"
"Do you realize how filthy those places are? And, the sketchy people that always hang around?"
A soft knock was heard at the front door. L completely disregarded Light's comments and went to the door in his unhurried pace. The younger man, still bound to him by the chain, could do little else but follow. He carefully drank the rest of the coffee within his cup, trying to shake off his weariness. Light had struggled to get sleep the previous night since L had insisted to work on his laptop, which happened to have a blindingly bright screen, while lounging on the large bed. Not only was the screen an issue, but L would fidget constantly, thus making the bed move as well. Light was not blessed with the qualities of a heavy sleeper, and he was stuck with an insomniac.
L peered through the peephole on the door, then quickly undid the lock and opened it. Watari stood on the other side, dressed in his black winter coat and cap with two tickets in his hand. Two tickets that had some animals commonly found in circuses on them, in fact.
"Thank you very much, Watari. We'll be down in precisely ten minutes."
Light balked. Ten minutes? He was still in his pajamas!
L looked at him with a raised eyebrow, seeming to have read his mind. "Are appearances truly that important to you, Light-kun? It's not as if we're having tea with the Queen of England."
"Why are you even so insistent that we go out again in the first place? I thought you preferred to not be out in public." Light crossed his arms. Answer that one.
The other began toying with his bottom lip a bit. "Draw your own conclusions."
Doing his very best to contain his frustration, Light stalked to the bedroom to change into more presentable clothes. He muttered under his breath while pulling on a pair of jeans, "You just want to put me through hell…"
He could've sworn he heard a snicker.
L's eyes were the size of saucers when they had stepped foot into the enormous tent. Not only were there countless people, but there were all sorts of different lights, sounds, colors, smells… Ugh, most definitely smells. Underneath the stench of animals and the animals' defecation, there was the sweet scent of snacks, but it was heavily overpowered by the more dominant odor. His mind was in overdrive, analyzing everything he could see. He must've been standing there dumbly for quite some time, because he felt Light tug on his arm and drag him elsewhere. Watari had removed the chain upon their arrival at the circus, thus making such actions necessary.
"Will you pay attention? Some weirdo could have stolen your wallet or knocked you out to harvest your kidneys."
"There are two substantial flaws in your predictions, Light-kun." L couldn't help but stare at the vendor selling funnel cakes. They were making his mouth water. Light tugged at his arm again, the detective then deciding to elaborate. "One, I'm not carrying a wallet. I don't wish to keep identification on me, due to the likelihood of Kira's continued search for me and the imperativeness of my anonymity. Two, I doubt anyone could properly attack me, as I was fully aware of my surroundings."
"Really now?" Light shoved past a group of particularly slow families. "Then why didn't you evade me when I went for your arm?"
There was a brief pause before L made a reply. "Well, sometimes I tend to tune you out…"
Now that did wonders for Light's self-esteem. He highly doubted L chose to tell the truth, however, as he knew that the detective was watching his every move. What sort of reaction was he trying to incite from him? Perhaps by leaving him to his own devices and appearing not to mind what he did, L was gaining insight to how Light acted when he wasn't in his presence. It was possible that he wanted to see if Light would stray from him, then allowing him to raise his "Light has a (insert number here) percent chance of being Kira" count. It was all just an elaborate test that Light was painfully aware of.
They'd managed to reach their seats relatively quickly after getting past the largest horde. Watari had purchased front row seats, to Light's displeasure. He did not look forward to a face full of elephant stink. L still watched everything around him, eyes widened in rapt amazement.
"It seems you were right, to a degree…" L said softly. Light almost didn't hear him due to the din of conversation behind them.
"Excuse me?"
L's shoes were neatly set on the ground in front of him and his legs drawn to his chest, as he normally did. He glanced over to Light briefly before scanning the masses once more. "There are precisely twenty-two convicted criminals within the audience tonight. However, this is less than one percent of the total amount of people. The likelihood that they would target us is very slim."
"And how do you figure that they're criminals?"
"A variety of things…" L still spoke in a slightly distracted manner. Or was that an act? "Body language and mannerisms set them apart. I also remember them from police records."
Light turned to look at the detective fully. "You're telling me that you know all of their identities?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Never mind…" What kind of a memory did that man have, anyway?
It was only moments later when the lights on the audience dimmed, a quiet settling among the masses. L stopped toying with his bottom lip, seeming to be frozen in anticipation. Spotlights focused on one of the entryways of the performance area. Light fully expected the ringmaster to emerge, greet everyone, and announce the beginning of the night's events, but the ringmaster was not to arrive first. In his place came a dozen brightly colored clowns. Little kids were practically wanting to pour into the performance area to get to them but they were kept subdued by parents. The painted individuals jumped and tumbled, made balloon animals and pulled pranks, and did all sorts of generally amusing things. Bored, Light glanced over to L…
…who held the most contorted face of panic he'd ever seen on him since the Second Kira's second tape. L, the world's greatest detective, was terrified of clowns. Oh, Light almost wanted to die of dark amusement.
As the clowns neared their general area, L began squirming in his seat. His back was pressed more fully on the back of the chair, trying to create distance between him and the dreaded creatures. Sadly, all of his efforts would be in vain. A clown with a wild blue wig practically flew over the rail and landed right in front of them. Oh, the kids seated behind them were having a grand time as that clown tooted a little hand-horn. L, on the other hand, was practically hyperventilating. The clown then suddenly pulled L onto his feet, pulled out a long green balloon, then proceeded to start blowing it up with air. Light managed to catch L's gaze for a short moment, and those eyes were just begging for rescue. The clown, however, quickly fashioned a giraffe and shoved it into L's immobile arms, going about their merry way to the next group of innocent bystanders.
Shaking, L plopped back down into his seat. He didn't even bring up his legs as he customarily did. Light wasn't sure if he wanted to pity or mock the man. After difficult deliberation, he settled for the former.
"Ryuuzaki, are you all right?" he asked cautiously. That balloon animal looked like it was going to burst with the pressure that it was being subjected to.
L blinked rapidly, trying to gather some of his senses. "Perfectly…fine. I'm fine."
POP!
After releasing a not too terribly manly shriek, L promptly looked away from Light's incredulous expression. He felt his cheeks grow warm.
The two had to endure ten more minutes of the clowns' shenanigans, but far less horrifying displays occurred thereafter. First elephants, then the tightrope walker, big cat tamer, escape artist, contortionists, and so on and so forth. L seemed to perk up considerably when the large predatory cats performed their tricks. For such enormous felines, they could certain jump inconceivable heights. L was entranced.
There was one thing that tore his attention away from the act, however. Coming down the stairs to their general area was none other than the cotton candy vendor. L leapt out of his seat with agility almost like that of the big cats' in his haste to reach the unsuspecting vendor. The detective pulled out an enormous lump of cash from his pocket and stared into the man's eyes.
"I'll take everything you've got, please."
It was at that moment Light knew his fate was sealed.
Twelve. L had purchased twelve enormous amounts of cotton candy. Eight were pink and four were blue. He consumed seven of the twelve by the end of the performance. Light shuddered at how much sugar now rested in the man's stomach. The remaining five L nibbled on as they began to exit the tent, Light looking away in revulsion. Watching him was enough to make him sick. Several clumps of the stuff had been stuffed into his mouth upon their purchase, and that had been enough.
Instead of going directly to L's limousine, the detective suddenly veered off course. Sighing, Light followed after the detective. The raven-haired man had stopped in front of a booth that happened to sell countless stuffed animals and other sorts of children's merchandise, but it had drawn L in like a magnet. His pale hands reach out to grab a stuffed white Bengal tiger. He set it down and quickly passed some more of his never-ending cash supply to the vendor. With the tiger and cotton candy in his arms, he turned around to face Light.
"Yes, Light-kun?" Nibble, nibble…
"Could we please get back? I don't want to linger here for more than necessary."
L took a few more bites before speaking. "I suppose. Could you please hold my cotton candy on the way to our transportation? I want to focus my attention on Julia."
"Who?" Now what was he blathering about?
The detective looked at him strangely and held out the tiger in front of his face. "Julia."
Oh, for the love of... "Fine. I don't really care. Let's just go."
To his shock earlier, L had actually decided to wear a coat. There was nothing fancy about it, it was just a plain black coat, but still. He had donned it once more after they'd gotten up from their seats, and he pulled it around himself tighter as they stepped out into the biting cold. Light adjusted his scarf appropriately, or as appropriately as he could with five giant balls of cotton candy in his hands. The parts that L had nibbled on were starting to harden.
They both kept about the same walking pace going through the parking lot, roughly walking side by side. L snuggled the tiger, or rather "Julia," close to his chest while his eyes scanned all around them. They got to the second row of cars when he stopped abruptly.
"Please, just leave us alone!" A woman's desperate voice rang out to their right. L immediately began in that direction, furtively going in between still-parked cars. Instinctively Light followed, following suit in his approach methods. Soon the pair caught sight of the scene.
A young woman wearing a white winter cap held her child to her side, both pressed against a van. Two men stood before them, brandishing knives. They seemed to eye the woman's purse and perhaps something else. One was astoundingly tall and the other of average height, both clad in dirtied clothes. Their backs were to L and Light who were still unnoticed.
"Listen lady, give us your handbag and you can leave with your kid," the taller said. "You won't get a scratch on your pretty little face."
The child whimpered in fear, burying himself in his mother's side.
"Hmmm…" L turned to Light and spoke softly, "This is quite a horrible act. I wonder if Kira would be here to stop it? It does look like they want more than just a purse."
Light stared into L's giant black eyes, momentarily speechless. He was right; the man was always waiting for him to slip up, and it only needed to happen once. Even if Light was so bold as to have the criminals killed, he would be proven guilty by L almost instantaneously. They were the only ones bearing witness to the act. Light put on a face of repulsion.
He hissed silently, "How could you even suggest something like that now?"
L bit his bottom lip, searching Light's face for a bit. Once satisfied, he began to go around the car and move toward the two muggers. Light, at a loss, simply watched the detective's actions. Julia somehow was set on Light's shoulder, off of the dirty ground.
The woman's eyes darted to L's approaching figure. "Oh god, please help us!"
Confused, the taller man turned to face the direction of her gaze. He frowned at the sight of the raven-haired man.
"Hey, look at this shrimp. What do you think you're going to do, huh?" He turned his knife toward L who still steadily advanced.
Once within ten feet of the muggers, L halted and finally met their gaze. He scratched the back of his head slightly. "I'll give you guys fifteen seconds to leave the woman and her child, starting now."
The men simply looked at each other. The shorted one chuckled, speaking to his cohort, "Do you hear that? He's giving us a warning."
"I'm sorry, pal, but it doesn't look like you've got anything to defend yourself with. You're a twig, on top of that. Leave us alone and we'll consider not snapping you like one, got it?"
Light set the things down on the roof of an SUV. He wasn't feeling too terribly good about the situation. If something were to happen to L, he'd definitely get the blame. This was starting to become too sketchy… L was going to go up against two guys, and one was a giant. They took notice of his approach almost at once.
"Well, if it isn't his cute little boyfriend. Come to save him from getting sent to the hospital?" the taller said, smirking.
He felt anger start to build up within him, despite his efforts to remain emotionally detached from the situation. "Why you-"
"Light," L spoke suddenly. "I can handle this. Stay there."
The woman slowly began to inch away with the muggers distracted. One noticed the movement and began to react, but L's voice rang out. He still seemed as calm as ever.
"You have five seconds still."
"Yama, you deal with this weirdo and his boyfriend. I'll make sure we get the lady's cash," the taller remarked. His friend was about to comply, but his path was cut short by a strong kick to his ribcage. Neither had even seen the hunched-over man move.
Yama, now having a name, fell to the ground at once and wrapped his arms around his chest in pain. He struggled to get breath back into his lungs. Light's eyes were wide in shock. He had heard a distinctive snap upon L's feet making contact with the mugger. A few of his ribs had been snapped, and only from a single kick. Clearly, the giant of a man had not really heard it, as he went towards the detective with boiling anger. His knife was raised high and ready to descend on L, but he quickly dropped down to sweep his legs under his assailant. The mugger fell down like a wall of bricks. It wasn't that the man hadn't the reflexes to react to the maneuver, but L had moved with the speed of a seasoned fighter. Light could only watch the display, now doubting that he would even have to step in at all.
L threw the knife away, grabbing one of the man's arms to twist it in a terribly painful position. He cried out in pain, still lying on his back. L's gaze quickly switched to the woman and child.
"Go now."
The woman took her child in her arms at once and bolted from the scene, allowing L to turn his attention more fully on the man under him.
"I am not Kira, so you both will keep your lives tonight. However, to discourage you from following my friend and I and preying upon people in the future, I wish to give you something."
The tall man's eyes widened and another sickening snap was heard. He released a great scream of agony into the air, L quickly drawing away. The man reached for his broken arm but dared not to touch it as waves of pain played across his face. Brushing off his clothes, L went past Light to get his things back.
"Ohhhh!" he whined seconds later, clearly upset about his discovery.
Light snapped back to his senses after witnessing the display, turning to face where L was. He had the tiger in his arms again, but he looked down at the pavement. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that the cotton candy had managed to roll off into a pile of dirty black snow.
L sighed, then grabbed Light's arm. "Come on. Watari has probably been waiting on us for some time now."
He followed the detective as he wove through cars once more. "What exactly was that…?"
L looked to him strangely. "What was what?"
He drew in a breath to speak again, but he closed his mouth. It wasn't worth it. They found the limousine seconds afterward and L stared out at buildings on their way back, Julia sitting on his lap. Light did, however, reach one conclusion: he still absolutely hated the circus.