March

L was alone in his and Light's room. Since Light was missing in action, L had decided to build a very tall tower of sugar cubes on their desk. Although he was slightly put off by the fact that he had to leave campus to purchase said sugar cubes, he knew his effort would be worth it once he saw the look of pure irritation on Light's face. He was on cube number thirty-seven when his phone started ringing.

"Hello, Misa," he answered without checking the caller ID.

"Is Raito there?" the high voice on the other end of the line demanded.

"No," L answered. "Raito isn't back yet."

"But his last class was four hours ago!" He could hear worry in her voice.

"I take it you've already tried his number," L assumed.

"It went straight to voicemail," she told him. "Where the hell is he?"

"I'm sure he's fine," he said only because he believed that was what she wanted to hear.

"He wasn't fine yesterday!" she shouted into the phone.

"Do you think he left campus?" L inquired.

"I don't know," he could hear her slowly panicking. "Can you go look for him?"

"Can't you?" he asked back.

"No," she sighed as if this should have been common sense. "It's late. I don't want to get mugged or raped."

"You're over-exaggerating," he said dryly.

"No I'm not," she huffed. "There could be some pervert wandering the campus, you never know."

"If that's the case, I don't see how I'm safe," he argued.

"You could fight them off," she stated. Her voice became serious as she added: "Please go look for him."

"Fine," L complied. He knew that it would be mean of him to refuse, considering he had deemed Misa his only friend. And, maybe, he was slightly worried about Light's well being as well. Maybe…

"Thank you!" Misa squealed into the phone. "Call me when you find him!"

She hung up before he could say anything more, most likely in an attempt to prevent him from backing out. Misa was smarter than she seemed.

L wasn't sure where Light's last class was. Not that the information would be much help. If it turned out that Light had stayed in the same place for the past four hours, L would be very annoyed that he had hauled himself out of the comfort of their room to look for the boy. It was possible the Light had left the campus, but L decided to ignore this option (for he would have no clue where to look in the surrounding city).

Keeping in mind that Light was a prioritized student, L was confident that Light had spent the past few hours in a place where he could easily study. This narrowed his search to a handful of destinations, the closest of which being the school library.

He was nearing the building when he heard the goading laughter, and strangled cries of someone being hit repeatedly. In any other situation, L wasn't sure if he would run to or away from the fight. Maybe he would have called the police or tried to find help. He knew he would have wanted to help, but he rarely got into fights himself. This wasn't because he was afraid of the violence, he had some martial arts training to protect himself. He knew first hand the fighting always led to trouble, and his family had to deal with that enough from Beyond.

This time was different. L couldn't fully explain why. Nevertheless, he found his legs running toward the sound. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Light was the one being hurt.

He shouted "stop" as soon as he saw them, but it was clear that only Light had heard him. It didn't surprise him that Light's attackers were the three boys L had noticed staring at he earlier that day. Two of them were holding Light now while the third proceeded to kick Light in the face and stomach.

L could feel anger rising in his blood. In the back of his mind he remembered a day back in middle school when Beyond had come home with a bruise that completely covered his left cheek. When asked what happened, he only complained about three against one being unfair odds. L remembered being so angry that he had sought out Beyond's three classmates himself. This was the only time in L's life that he had hit another person (well, three people). It was almost humorous that L's next display of violence would be to such a similar situation.

"L?" Light's surprised and pained voice was surprised.

L dropped into a backbend and kicked the sanding boy in the back of the skull. The boy staggered forward, fumbling to stay on his feet. This was less from the force of the blow and more from him being not prepared to take it. L was able to get another kick in, this one sending him to the ground, before the two holding Light down got up to stop him.

L was fairly confident that he could hold his own in a fight against two, but once the third one was on his feet again, he was starting to doubt his abilities. L took a few hits in order to deliver more, but wasn't sure how long he could keep that strategy up. He knew that if he could get a solid kick to each other them, it would disorient them and cause enough pain for him to get Light out of there. The only problem was that L had no window of opportunity with all three attacking him.

That was when Light impressed him.

After getting an eyeful of the state that the boy was in, L hadn't thought that Light would be able to stand up on his own much less help L fight. To everyone's surprise, Light used the fact that all attention was on L as he chance to pull himself to his feet. He swung a sloppy but impacting punch at the third boy, knocking him to the ground once again. Light continued to hit him from there, keeping him from getting up. L took the shock that the other two were in as the window of opportunity he needed and delivered his blows. Knowing that they didn't have much time, L grabbed Light by the shoulder and hauled him up.

"We have to go," he stated shortly.

Light nodded.

L slung Light's arm around his own shoulders, doubting that he would be able to run anywhere on his own. Light didn't complained. He allowed L to take half of his weight as they ran to safety.

"You should go to the health department," L breathlessly told him.

"No," Light hissed. "Just get me back to our room."

L didn't argue.

It was only when their dorm building was in sight that they slowed their pace. L knew that Light was starting to get embarrassed that L was nearly carrying him. L decided to wait until they had reached the room if he was going to poke fun at that. Light making a scene while they were still out in the open was the last thing that he needed.

"Thanks," Light said softly as L kicked their door closed and deposited Light on his bed.

"You're welcome," L murmured.

"No, I mean really." Light caught hold of L's arm, forcing L to meet his eyes. "Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome," L repeated, a little louder this time.

Light face shifted into a smile. L watched him begin to laugh. Although he was far from an expert on Light's emotions, L could hear how false this laugh sounded. He listened to the metallic laughter turn into broken sobs. He watched the tears form in Light's eyes and then fall down his cheeks. Light crumpled like a paper doll; his head fell into his hands as his weeping shook his torso.

"What's wrong?" L awkwardly sat down next to him. He wasn't sure if he should touch Light or if contact would only make things worse. Light didn't answer him.

"Are we friends?" Light lifted his head only enough for his eyes to find L's face.

"I think I bruised a rib," L stated.

He watched Light's eyes take this in. Slowly, Light uncurled from the cocoon he had fallen into. Tear stains middled with the cuts a bruises on Light's cheeks and jaw, but L didn't point this out.

"What were you doing out this late anyway?" Light wondered.

"I was looking for you," L answered honestly.

"Why?"

"Misa asked me to. She was worried," L didn't brake the eye contacted. "I was a little worried as well."

"Only a little?" Light didn't sound bitter.

"Yes," L joked. "But I was more worried that you were going to ruin another one of your shirts and I'd have to listen to you complaining about it."

"I see," Light was smiling now. "Well, you were too late to prevent that."

"I'm sorry," L's tone was serious now. He still wasn't sure why he cared about the roommate he had only met a few days ago and in that time had only argued with. Yet, for some reason, he wanted Light to see this.

"You have nothing to be sorry about."

"You probably want to know why they jumped me in the first place," Light's eyes broke away from L and found the floor. "I guess you have a right to know."

"I suppose I do," L didn't argue with that statement. "But you don't have to tell me now."

"What?" Light looked back up at him. "Why?"

"Because I know you don't want to." L could tell that whatever had happened between Light and these people was the last thing that Light wanted to talk about. "You can tell me when you're ready."

"I didn't realize you were so nice," Light sounded regretful.

"Oh, I'm not." L wasn't joking, but Light gave a laugh at this.

"Then what is all this?" Light asked.

"I don't know," L shrugged half heartedly. "Maybe I realized that it's better to try to get along with the person I'm going to be stuck with for the next school year."

"Does this mean no more candy wrappers?" Light asked with a pretend hope.

"No," L dismissed. "I'll just make up for them with heroic displays."

"Alright then," Light agreed. "That seems fair."

"I'm gay too," the confession seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Oh?" Light looked mildly surprised by this. "I didn't realize."

"I just thought I should tell you," L justified.

"I know," Light said. "I'm glad you did."

Light leaned closer to L and placed his hand on his head. L sent him a questioning look as Light ruffled his hair. Light only laughed.

"Just something I wanted to try," he shrugged.

"You should clean up," L told him. He doubted Light would be pleased with his appearance in the morning if he didn't at least wash his face that night.

"You should too," Light told him as he stood up from the bed.

L got up as well, he glanced at the mirror hanging on Light's closet and saw that a bruise was forming on his forehead.

"Thank you," Light said one more time.

"You're welcome, Light-kun."

Thank you to Callicanios, Midnightkills, sohesy, LadyRaven83, Corliss Kat, and SadlyNotLawliet for the reviews!