Normally I type up my A/N after I finish writing, so I can share a silly writing story like: Lols, I wrote this with no pants on, (that could be misinterpreted…okay, yes, I wrote this with pants ON) but I had to do it now so I wouldn't forget… Sonorous Serendipity (along with Stormygio's encouragement, and my other reviewers. OH, P.S. I shoved this in here after I finished. So I'm pretty much going back in time. I'm a time traveler. What do you mean my AN isn't my own personal blog? Liar. Okay, so anyways, thanks to Ratt9 for helping me puzzle out the scene between Light, L, and Matsuda and how it affected the rest of the story! Wee! She and Stormygio (there might be other people, I dunno) are like the Goddesses of LxMatsuda. Just saying. Go read them.) is the reason for this chapter. They requested I continue it, at least enough for a direct thing between L and Matsuda, so with a lot of whining and rocking back and forth on my butt, I decided to do it. This might even turn into a series of continued one-shots with L and Matsuda. I just don't know. I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, saying AAYOO, let's see where L and Matsuda GOOO~! That was far too many syllables, but I'm still funny, right?
Wrong.
I need to shut up and let you go. Don't laugh at me! x] Okay, I love you guys! Mwah~!
While the members of the investigation team were working the next day, L seemed uncharacteristically distracted. Light kept throwing him furtive looks, suggesting he had some doubts about L's "naked cake" story, but L muttered something about him being ridiculous and to keep his eyes on his own monitor because "we do have a mass murderer to convict." When Light pointed out that L wasn't working very efficiently either, L raised the percentage of his suspicions by another 5%.
Light grumbled and stared through his monitor, his thoughts still churning. Obviously Ryuzaki had something to hide. Why else would he have added another 5% to the likelihood of him being Kira for such an infantile reason? The only question was what he was lying about. Was it something pertaining to the case, or the events of last night? The latter seemed silly, but it was Ryuzaki after all. He'd lose sleep over the fact that his sweets were being threatened. And when he considered the former, he couldn't help but think Ryuzaki would've mentioned something. Even though he was the main suspect, he'd never kept anything major from him before. No – it absolutely had something to do with last night. But L's cake story did seem a bit stretched. Especially since Matsuda was the least likely to have committed such a crime. Sure, he was an idiot and liked his pranks, but why would he risk having his jaw dislocated by Ryuzaki's foot?
L chanced a sideways look at Light through his jagged bangs. Why was the young man being so nosy? His cover story last night had been perfectly sound. L had even instructed Watari to go down to the kitchen and carefully scrape away the layer of icing on each cake. It had been dreadfully tragic, but he had done it for the sake of his own dignity. Watari could have disposed of the icing in a way that ensured no one suspect foul play, but instead, L had it brought to him where he quietly snuffled it down while Light tossed on the couch.
"Hey, Matsuda."
L jumped and turned around in his chair as Light got up and walked over to Matsuda. He was forced to lean forward slightly and grip the arm of his chair so he wasn't dragged by the chain.
"Uh – Yeah, Light?" Matsuda asked, his eyebrows cinching. Light leaned over his workspace, ignoring the glances from the other members of the team.
"I need to talk to you for a moment. Is that alright?" Light said winningly, and L knew that Matsuda was sold. Any kind of attention from his superiors had Matsuda's metaphorical tail wagging. The man was like a puppy, eager for praise.
Sure enough… "Of course, Light! Er – is Ryuzaki coming?"
They both turned around to face L, who was masterfully managing to balance on just his toes with his cuffed arm fully extended to accommodate the taut chain between them. Light smirked smugly. He definitely had the upper hand in this situation. And it definitely felt nice to yank on the handcuffs and say, "Oh, yeah. He's coming."
L managed to catch himself with one leg and hop the rest of the way out of his chair, growling, "We have work to do, Light. We cannot walk off whenever we feel the need to gossip amongst coworkers."
Light ignored him, but Matsuda looked slightly uncomfortable at that. L gritted his teeth and was dragged along behind them. He shot the rest of the task force a glare to keep working before they walked up the stairs and vanished from their view.
L was just about to start protesting again when Light stopped abruptly. Matsuda walked into him then stepped back and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, apologizing. As Light turned around to face the pair, L began to feel uneasy.
Had Light somehow read between the lines of what had happened last night? He had been half asleep – he shouldn't even have remembered their conversation. Or have seen the monitor L had been looking at.
Maybe his actions had been perverse.
"Matsuda," Light started, "I saw Ryuzaki staring at the cameras in your room. When I asked him about it, he told me that you knew and had asked him to watch you because you'd been having night terrors."
Matsuda looked confused.
"Night terrors? You mean nightmares? I sometimes have nightmares about Kira, but I didn't tell anyone about it."
L resisted the urge to close his eyes briefly in dismay. Light would almost certainly catch that. Instead, he opted to scratch the side of his leg with his other foot restlessly.
"You are both being ridiculous. I told Light that was not the true reason," L said, ignoring the look Light was giving his fidgeting. "The true reason is that I was trying to catch the person who kept licking the icing off of the cakes in the kitchen. It was a serious offense and I wanted the perpetrator brought to justice."
Matsuda snickered a little bit at that, but Light looked skeptical.
"Now," L continued. "If you two don't mind, I have a serial killer to catch." He started slouching off, back towards the stairwell. "You're welcome to join me," he called back over his shoulder, even though Light was already being dragged after him.
When he returned, he resumed typing as if nothing had happened. Matsuda happily plopped back down in his seat and was going over his work with the chief. Light kept casting him looks, which L ignored.
L's eyes were on the screen, but his mind was on their conversation. Matsuda had believed him, even though Light had been visibly unconvinced. But was that really the way L wanted it? It was clear that it affected his work – there was proof enough right here. Should he really keep it a secret if it went as far as to distract him from catching Kira? The answer was clear. L was a genius, and he knew what he should do. But at the same time, he was childish. He would keep it to himself as long as he could manage. All he needed was concentration. He needed to concentrate on his work. And he needed more cake.
He sent Watari for some.
Fourteen hours and almost an entire cake later, L still found his mind wandering back to whether or not he should tell the detective about the…interest he had acquired in him.
The other team members were yawning, clearly exhausted, but no one wanted to be the first one to announce their turning in.
"Thank you for all you've done," L murmured, playing with the half-eaten slice of cake on the saucer in front of him. "You should get some sleep now."
With tired mutterings and goodnights, the team left the room, heading for their own flats within the headquarter building.
"You should also rest, Light," L said. "You've been working harder than anyone." He let that last bit drop off sarcastically, making it clear that he did not appreciate nor forgive Light for dragging him around earlier that day. Light laughed quietly and walked over to the couch. He was asleep within an hour.
L continued to stew over the problem in his mind. His secret was not good for his work. He'd hardly gotten anything done all day. The other team members had tried to look the other way, but they had noticed his clipped answers and frenzied fake typing. L sighed and bit his thumb. It was getting ridiculous. He had never had any kind of problem lying before. He did it every day. So what was it now?
Perhaps he should speak to Watari about it. He was always encouraging that L consider some form of contact, but he accepted the fact that L chose to have none. He knew that if L did have some sort of relationship, his work would be affected. But his work was being affected now. Would confessing to Matsuda relieve some of these feelings? It might make it worse. Especially if Matsuda felt the same way. He might be like Misa with Light – always demanding special attention when L should be working as the three greatest detectives in the world.
L snapped out of his ponderings to find his mouse cursor hovering over the window of cameras for Matsuda's room. Not allowing himself to think about it, he clicked and opened it, then reached over to the microphone beside the computer.
"Matsuda."
Matsuda's sleeping form stirred slightly, but didn't wake. L glanced over his shoulder to see Light still sleeping, and then spoke again. "Matsuda."
Matsuda rolled over onto his side and his eyes cracked open.
"L? Er, Ry-Ryuzaki?" he yawned. "What is it? Did you catch Kira?"
L pressed his lips together around his thumb, biting down hard.
"I require you in the observation room." Then he cut the connection short. He was afraid Matsuda would hear his odd tone of voice. But as Matsuda boosted himself out of bed, panic coursed through L. What had he done? What did he plan to say? I was watching you through the cameras because you interest me? Matsuda would feel like a specimen. And it would be L's fault. Should he tell Matsuda never mind? The naive idiot would think L had a gun to his head or something equally ridiculous and come to investigate. And L was still left with the immediate problem. Matsuda was walking across his flat, on his way to answer L's summons.
L looked around frantically. Wasn't gift-giving the customary exchange for something like this? He should've asked Watari to go and get him something more traditional. But L had refused to acknowledge the need to confront Matsuda until that moment. He was left with nothing. His cake was all gone, except –
The strawberry.
It was half squashed and covered in buttercream icing, but it was all L had. Unless he wanted to give Matsuda a pen and some paperclips. He pushed his fork to the side and seized the strawberry between two fingers and held it with his other hand cupped around it. He looked down at his offering, feeling ridiculous.
Even though L had been expecting Matsuda to show up, he still jumped violently, banging his knee on the desk. He pulled the injury in closer and cleared his face of any excited emotions.
"What is it? Oh, hey, Light," Matsuda gestured sleepily at the unconscious Light for no reason. "Is this about the nightmares?"
"No," L said, managing not to roll his eyes. "This isn't about the nightmares or the cake. I called you down here…" He stuck his thumbnail between his teeth and shoved the strawberry at Matsuda. "Here."
"Um, huh?" Matsuda hesitated a moment, but then reached forward and took the strawberry when L shook it expectantly. "Thanks…" he said.
L continued to bite his nail, feeling extremely uncomfortable. This was even more awkward than when Misa pecked him on the cheek. Which was absurd, because it was only a strawberry, not a kiss.
"…is that it?" Matsuda said, looking embarrassed. A pink tinged his cheeks. L forced himself to look away from it.
"Ah…" L mumbled from around the nail. "Well. No. You see, I wanted to say…the reason I was watching you through the cameras last night…was because…" L trailed off. Don't say interested. "Because I was intrigued by you." Damn.
"You were intrigued by me?" Matsuda said with a hint of disbelief and obvious discomfort.
"…yes."
"…oh."
"And the strawberry was a peace offering. So you knew. That I was inter – intrigued by you. It was only fair." This situation had seemed to have warped L's ability to formulate true sentence structure.
"What do you mean by 'intrigued by' me?"
Why was Matsuda able to speak correctly?
"I was watching you. And you were sleeping. And I was thinking about you. And wondering what you may have been dreaming about. Because I made that story about the nightmares up because Light was -," L cut himself off, feeling foolish.
"You were wondering what I was dreaming of?"
"Well…yes. But I was also wondering whether you were drooling. Or snoring. The likelihood that you were was 99.64%."
"I don't snore," Matsuda said blankly.
L, back on familiar ground, was getting ready to launch into factoids and statistics about the effect alcohol had on the brain when Matsuda took a bite of the strawberry he had been holding. L watched with a small amount of fascination. His gift had been a success. Matsuda finished it off in two more bites, skillfully managing to avoid dirtying his fingers with frosting or juice. Then he stepped toward L.
L sat stock still, his hands turning white against his jeans as he gripped his knees.
"I don't know what I was dreaming about," Matsuda said with a small laugh. "In fact, I don't even know whether I'm still asleep or not. So I'm going to go ahead and do this before I either wake up or change my mind." He glanced over at the couch, then leaned forward so his face was right in front of L's. L watched him through his bangs, his hands getting progressively tighter on his knees. He was utterly still, and therefore, when Matsuda clumsily darted forward and his lips landed between the corner of L's mouth and his nose, it was entirely his own fault.
"Ah!" Matsuda said, jerking back. "Sorry, I mean…"
L's lips parted in shock and he seemed to be staring straight through Matsuda. Matsuda babbled excuses aimlessly, forgetting to be quiet. Luckily, the chain of the handcuffs was still, with no stirring from the couch. L's eyes found their way back to Matsuda's.
"I don't suppose you'd like to try again?" L asked monotonously, disregarding Matsuda's embarrassment.
Matsuda stopped his frenzied pacing and gesturing and excuses.
"Huh?"
"I don't suppose Matsuda would like to try again?" L repeated. Matsuda's jaw dropped slightly and he shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"No! I mean yes! I didn't mean no when I -," he stopped. "Yes. But...shouldn't we..?" He gestured towards the couch with Light asleep on it. L frowned.
"I cannot leave the suspect. I am afraid you will have to return to your room alone."
"My room?" Matsuda said, looking shocked. "Er. Oh. Yeah. Okay. Um, goodnight L. Ryuzaki, I mean. Night."
"I will see you in the morning," L said softly as Matsuda climbed the stairs.
Matsuda stopped for a moment, smiling quietly to himself before continuing upwards.
L turned his chair towards the desk and watched Matsuda make his way back to his room. When the detective was safely back in his bed, L watched for a moment longer, then started to turn it off. He might as well get some work done. As he closed the camera, he felt a small smile pull his lips so that he mirrored Matsuda. But some part of him felt forlorn when he looked at Matsuda falling asleep alone.
He glanced back at the couch, where Light had just turned over and started to snore.
Damn you, Kira.
Oh. My. Jeevas. I actually did it. I don't mean to brag, but I like the way it turned out. I had just planned on them talking about L's "interest" but SOMEHOW Matsuda got closer. I don't know what happened. But I like it. Okay. It's 1:23am, I've got a silly smile on my face, and it's time to go to sleep. Damn you, Kira.