A/N: Good morning everybodayyyy! Except it's only morning for me, so...yeah. :)

Ughh, FF's deleting all my line breaks, and it's really annoying me. -_- I've tried to put them all back in, but if there's a sudden scene change and you have no idea what's going on, that's what happened. Blame the internet, not me. XD

So, here we have the continuation of the Jouka Case! Woobledoo! (And , as I said before, I honestly have no idea how detective systems work or whatever, so if you happen to be MI5 or police or CIA or FBI or whatever, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. :)

Amazingsauce (I made it up. You know what that's called? A neologism. So proud.) response to last chapter, guys, thank you sooo much! You spoil me. :P Please continue to do so! Thank you to:

VampirePrinssess

CatatonicVanity

mxmsupporter, who actually reviewed TWICE, because they weren't sure their other review got through. Thank you so much, hun, you're the best!

Lotta Devon

Carottal

Rainbow Fruit Loop

and isHannahish! Woobles! Eight reviews, I think that's a new record! (I really have no clue) :) Keep up the ego-stroking guys, and make bets on exactly how big my head will swell up!

Disclaimer: Not mine. I decided to ditch the massive long one I usually use. Because I'm growing lazy in my adolescent old age. :)

Chapter 8: Hypnophobia

Matt woke up with a start, his heart leaping into his throat.

Freezing momentarily at the still-unfamiliar surrounding, he lay stiff and still before the knowledge of where he was sank in.

Great, work again today: being woken up at two by a nightmare wasn't going to help his productivity.

Matt sat up, still jittery from his dream, and tried to recall the scenario he'd been graced with that night. He had nightmares fairly often, but could never seem to remember exactly what they were about, which annoyed him. He remembered something to do with oatmeal in the last one he'd had, but that wasn't very enlightening.

His dreams weren't even that scary, to be honest, just disturbing. A strange mixture of flashbacks and, well, dreams. What really irritated Matt was the fact that whatever dream he had, no matter how disturbing it was, he always knew what was going to happen before it did. It completely took the thrill of the dream away, but left his horror intact.

Even my subconscious is a sadistic bastard, Matt thought morosely, thinking again of his dream a few minutes earlier. He honestly couldn't remember anything about this one, frustratingly. Just the emotions it left him with.

He was startled by the soft sound of his bedroom door being opened. Whipping his head around, he saw Mello standing in the dim opening.

"Matt?" the blond whispered, though for what reason the redhead was unsure: they were completely alone, after all.

"Yeah?" he answered, pushing his duvet off his legs so he could kneel on the mattress. "What is it?"

"Why are you awake? It's still early, we don't have work for a while."

"I know," Matt replied wearily, "Had a dream." He was loath to say 'nightmare', as that would imply he was scared of it, which he wasn't. Just disturbed.

Mello seemed to infer the meaning behind his words anyway. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, padding softly over to Matt's bedside.

Matt stared at the bare, athletic torso illuminated by the weak moonlight coming in from his window before answering, "Nah, I can't even remember it."

He couldn't look away from the undeniable subject of an oil painting in front of him.

Mello didn't seem to notice Matt's gazing, choosing instead to fix his eyes on Matt's hair, unkempt and messy from sleep, and unrestricted by his usual goggles.

"Your hair's so pretty in the moonlight, you know?" the blond murmured.

Like he can talk, Matt scoffed inwardly.

Mello distractedly ran a gentle hand through the russet locks, caressing Matt's face in a way that made his heart ache.

"My room's on the other side of the floor," Mello said softly, hand still buried in Matt's hair.

Matt failed to understand the significance of the tidbit of information. "And?" he prompted, equally quietly.

"And so I couldn't possibly have known you were awake," Mello told him.

Matt blinked. Mello was right. "So how...?"

Mello looked away, seeming to hesitate or a second. Then, he extracted his finger from Matt's hair and clambered onto the bed, lying down and pulling Matt with him. They were so close their breaths mingled with each other, Matt noticed, blushing a light pink that was indiscernible in the gloom.

Mello pulled the blankets around them, swaddling them both in their warmth. He closed his eyes.

"I want to sleep with you for a bit," he muttered, shifting slightly closer to the redhead.

Matt smiled warmly, the hint Mello was giving him finally sinking in.

It seemed neither of them were free from their nightly demons.

"I have come to a decision," L announced when they came down for work at eight. The strange man didn't look like he'd slept at all the night before, and if Light's haggard expression was anything to go by, the teenager hadn't either.

"What's the decision?" Mello asked, looking slightly more eager than Matt appreciated.

Near looked up too, prompting L to continue.

"I have decided to narrow the investigation down to three companies only," L stated, taking a bite out of his piece of chocolate cake.

"Huh?" Matt was lost. "Why?"

L elucidated. "Light-kun and I worked through the night, and have discovered that these particular three companies have connections to all the families the children were taken from."

Mello's eyes widened. "Which three?"

"Four-Field, Palm and Glo." L told him.

Mello grimaced at the mention of his former gang, digging a bar of chocolate out of his jacket pocket and snapping a bite off. It seemed the scent of L's cake had set off his cravings.

"What connection do the companies have to the victims?" Near inquired.

L looked at Light, prompting the exhausted-looking teenager to explain and allowing L to concentrate on a sickly-looking lollipop.

"Four-Field's more legal face is a company that sells magic props and equipment, clearly linking it to the reference to 'sleight of hand' in the note. However, it has additionally been connected to cases of fraud. Also, it has a branch shop near the residence of every child taken so far. Palm is involved with the selling of illegal weapons, and it appears pretty much all of the victims were in possession of some sort of armament traceable back to Palm. And Glo is not linked to the children specifically, but most of the families involved in the case have previously hired one of the electricians Glo provides. However, Glo is a major company, despite there being some previous issues in other countries with child exploitation, so this lead isn't as strong as the others," Light finished, making an effort to keep his eyes open after he'd finished talking.

Matt spoke up. "So, wait. If Four-Field's 'more legal' face is magic stuff, then what's its less legal face?"

"Drug dealing," Mello answered before Light could. The blond looked pissier thaon normal today, though whether due to the current topic or lack of sleep the night before, Matt was not sure. Maybe a combination of both.

"Does Mello know exactly what drugs Four-Field deal with?" Near asked, twisting a lock of his hair around and around his finger.

Mello scowled at him. "I'm not certain, but I'm fairly sure they trade opium a lot. That and heroin."

Near nodded. "I see."

"This is all highly useful information," L said, "Opium can be used as a sedative, can it not? It puts the user in a state of limbo between sleep and lucidity, am I right?"

Mello nodded curtly.

"So it could have been used to drug the kids and make them quieter!" Matt concluded, probably years after the rest of them, but proud of it anyway.

Light wrinkled his nose. "But those children would develop both a psychological and physiological dependence on the drug; it would ruin their lives."

"Which is why we must stop this crime before it gets too out of hand," L announced decisively. "So: Four-Field is our most probable suspect, with a likelihood of fifty-two percent to be the culprit. Palm is second, with forty-one, and Glo is very unlikely indeed at four percent. I think it would be prudent to drop that particular investigation in favour of the other two. Are we all agreed?"

They nodded silently.

"Excellent. Let's get to work."

Even though they had only known each other for a relatively short period of time, Matt and Light had very quickly become good friends. For Matt, who had never really had a true friend in all his life, it was an incredible breakthrough, and he was both grateful and admiring towards Light. The youth seemed to have such a charisma to him, a natural gravity that drew anyone and everyone towards him. You just couldn't not like him.

However, despite the gratitude, Matt was also worried about the young brunet. Though outwardly he appeared to be a young adult in his last few teenage years, Light was...old. There was no other word to describe it. His eyes told of stories that few eighty-year-olds had ever been unfortunate enough to see, and his mentality was one of almost painful maturity. It was obvious to anyone that Yagami Light had grown up far too much, far too quickly.

Matt specifically noticed this when he managed to catch Light gazing at L, when the brunet thought no one else was looking. When he looked at the curious insomniac, Light's eyes would hold a pain, an anger and a resentment almost beyond Matt's comprehension. But it was not only that: his eyes also told of care, respect, and, if Matt's suspicions were right, love. And if they were right, and Light had fallen for the psychologist...Matt could only imagine the pain those feelings would cause. L was definitely straight and proper, if not asexual, and would almost certainly not acquiesce to becoming intimate with a minor, no matter if the odd man were in love with them himself or not: L had an unyielding sense of justice, and homosexual paedophilia probably didn't harmonise with it.

So, as Light's new (if tentative) friend, Matt vowed to try and help the brunet out of the pit of depression he was digging himself into. Matt knew only too well how it drained one to be trapped in what felt like one's own grave, with no ladder out. He would be Light's ladder, he decided. They were both fucked up, and fucked up people needed to help each other clamber out of the shithole they'd fallen into.

But before he tried to help Light with whatever complications the boy had with L, Matt first needed to know exactly what he was getting into.

So, in the signature way of the socially-inept redhead, Matt started out subtly. "What are your feelings towards L?"

Light's hands stuttered over the keyboard as the youth jerked violently in response to the question. The brunet turned to stare at Matt as if he was a dangerous animal. "What do you mean?" he asked warily.

Matt noted down the reaction for later analysis. "Nothing serious, just stuff like what you see him as."

Light inclined his head in a way which perfectly conveyed the fact that he had no clue what the hacker was on about.

"Do you see him as a friend? A parental figure?" Matt prompted, abandoning his work in favour of his new-founded, much more riveting pastime.

Light hesitated. "I...I'm not sure. I respect him, greatly. L has a brilliant mind and always manages to see through people like water; though, granted, that can be a little trying at times." Light chuckled lightly, an expression of tranquil happiness coming over his face as he thought about the psychologist. "He also doesn't care what people think of him at all, he just does whatever he wants to do. In a way, I envy that: I've always been horribly self-conscious, and it'd be nice to just be able to...let go of the worry of what people think of me. And I don't see him as a parental figure at all, but he is...authoritative. He doesn't often become strict, but he always seems to be able to snap me out of my moods, when I'm trapped in the past with my late girlfriend, in ways that I don't quite understand. He always calls on my pride, or my self-consciousness," Light laughed.

Matt nodded pensively. "So you like him?"

Light clicked his tongue. "Well...yes, I do like him, but...it's not as pure as my like for other people. I hate some parts of him so much I can hardly bear it."

"What parts?"

"Well, he kept me away from my family, for a start. Still keeps me away from them. I haven't seen them in months, and I know they're worried about me, but L won't let me even talk to them on the phone! I hate the part of him that's so controlling, that always has to be in charge. It antagonises me, I suppose because I like to be in charge as well," the youth admitted sheepishly. "Not to even mention those bloody handcuffs! And another part of L that I hate is that he doesn't trust me at all. Ever. He barely lets me out of his sight for more than two minutes; I was beyond surprised when he requested I work with you. You must have earned his respect so quickly," Light sounded almost resentful. "L sees me as a child, a sulky infant with anger management issues. And even ignoring the fact that it annoys me beyond belief, because I'm not a child, it...it hurts." The last words barely come out as a whisper.

Matt regarded him softly, with sympathy, but not pity. Sympathy was good, it helped. Pity was bad, and Light had evidently had enough of being patronised.

"I can't say I understand, but I do get most of what you're saying," Matt told the brunet, leaning back in his chair.

"You feel basically the same towards Mello-san, am I right?" Light looked Matt directly in the eyes.

Matt nearly fell out of his chair. The kid was sharp!

But then he'd have to be, to be labelled a genius, Matt mentally 'duh'ed himself.

The serious look on Light's face morphed into one of gentle humour. "You possibly feel something else towards Mello-san, no?"

Matt flushed red. "Don't tease," he half-begged.

Light chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't. It's cute, which probably sounds ridiculous coming from someone two years younger than you, but it is."

Matt grimaced at being called 'cute'. "Whatever. It's hopeless as well, no matter how cute you think it is."

"No." Light shook his head. "No, I don't think it's hopeless. Remember, individuals are blind to half the things revolving around themselves that others can see plain as day."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Sure, kid. I'll have a chance with Mello when the Sun goes supernova."

Light smiled. "You'll see," he said smugly, before returning to his work.

Matt did the same, putting Light's convictions out of mind.

But the seed of hope had been planted.

A/N: Light is relationship-counselling! Yayy! And Matt's sticking his nose into everyone else's business, as per usual. :) And who else thinks Matt's cute? Because I reckon Light's almost always right, and this time wasn't an exception. XD

Again, please please please review and tii-chan17 shall bestow upon you much love even though she actually has no idea who you are and it would probably be really creepy and sociopathic. :)