A/N: Gah! Sorry! I fell asleep while typing! (Imagine waking up like that though...)

I just finished the chapter though, so... YAY!

I hope you enjoy, reviews much appreciated, and I look forward to seeing you all again!

(L P.O.V)

Meeting Light's parents was a less nerve wracking than I thought. His mother was taken aback by me at first, no real shock there, but she warmed up to me in a matter of minutes. She was a nice lady with a lovely smile. Light's father, however, was a very… callous man. He seemed unimpressed with me from the moment Light introduced me. Although he didn't know it, however, I knew more about him than I let on.

Being L, I had to know who I was working with in the detective and police agencies. Soichiro Yagami was chief of police, clean record, perfect grades all throughout his school days and academy training. All while having a good, wholesome family. The man was living the dream most men desired.

But it didn't interest me too much.

I met Light before finding anything on Mr. Yagami, but I was smart enough to put two and two together. It didn't surprise me that Light knew about L at all. My guess was that his father told him more than enough stories by now.

How charming.

When his mother began ordering the pizza's, Light took me to the living room where his sister was anxiously awaiting the movie to come on. I wondered if she knew that she'd be waiting another hour and a half before it aired. But maybe it was just because she was a teen girl.

She took one look at us and smiled mischievously at Light.

"Ooh, am I locking you in the closet with him tonight!? This ought to be good!"

Light shot back. "No, but Mikami and Tamlen are coming over again and if you leave me alone I'll let you lock them in the guest bedroom this time."

"Deal." She giggled out, turning towards me. "Hi, I'm Sayu by the way! Spawn of Satan."

"The first step is admitting it." Light commented. "I'm so proud."

I huffed a bit of laughter at this. "The difference between your sister and my brothers? She admits she's a hell spawn of Satan, they admit it and don't care."

"Ooh, brothers!?" She asked excitedly. "Any my age?"

I shook my head. "Two nine year olds, no interest in girls yet." I thought for a quick second. "Well… one eight year old. But he's taller than the other one."

She looked disappointed. "Damn. Guess I'll have to keep looking."

Light scoffed. "Yeah, good luck with that. He, if you marry a Christian, do I have permission to douse you in holy water and cleanse you before you burn his skin off?"

"If I'm a spawn from hell, wouldn't that just kill me?"

He sat beside her on the couch. "I'll take that as a yes."

I stayed standing, not really sure what to do.

Light noticed my nervousness. "Ryuzaki, you should sit down and relax. The movie isn't starting for a while yet and we still have to wait for everyone to arrive."

I shivered a bit at the uncomfortable feeling of awkwardness. "Maybe I should just leave. I'm not much of a social person and I'm afraid I won't be any fun."

I bowed to him out of respect. "Excuse me." And headed for the door.

I'd just gotten my shoes on when Light stopped me. "Ryuzaki, don't go."

He spun me around to look at him and I instantly felt the odd churning in my stomach again while looking into his eyes. Why did he remind me so much of Derek? The man was as far away from me as he could be and still I managed to find him in the eyes of other men. It just wasn't right!

Light remained calm as he spoke. "Look, I know you're a bit of an introvert, so just stay for an hour and then I'll let you leave freely, alright?"

"Why do you care, Light?" I asked in all seriousness. "What does it matter to you if I leave?"

I opened the door and went to walk away when he closed the door on me forcefully. He was about to say something more, but stopped in mid-thought. I hadn't known why though.

"Why did you flinch?" He asked calmly once again.

Had I flinched? I didn't know I had. Odd… I'm usually more aware of what I'm doing around other people. It's true that I'm even aware of my sitting and eating habits. But flinching? That didn't sound right to me.

I shook my head. "I didn't flinch. Please, just let me leave."

Before he could answer a voice came from the back of the house.

"Who's up for mocking Ryuga!?"

I turned a bit and noticed a few familiar faces from science class. The green haired teen, Tamlen, and his sister Teri, plus Misa Amane and Miss Takada with Mikami trailing behind them.

I felt constricted at this point and the buildings of anxiety hit me, so I pushed Light out of my way and made a break for the outside. I didn't care if he wanted me to stay or not. It was likely he only invited me out of pity anyway so why bother. I didn't feel like being a burden that night, and I didn't need anyone's pity.

I'd made it halfway to the gate before I felt a hand on my arm and froze. It was not a rough hand, but it made me remember all the times I'd been handled by Derek. He hadn't meant to hurt me… but that's what happened.

I remembered my phone call to him the other day. I'd just wanted to talk to him, to hear his voice, but he didn't answer. Wammy noticed my behaviour about the 'important phone call', but didn't say anything more when I'd stopped worrying about it. I'd planned to call him tonight, butt Light had dragged me to his place instead.

Somehow… I knew I owed him for it.

"Please," Light said softly, turning me around, "come back inside. Believe me when I say this, but I want you here. You always hang out by yourself and never try to make friends, so I thought I'd share mine. It won't be as bad as you think."

"Light, I already told you…"

"One hour." He offered again. "After that, I'll stop bugging you. I promise."

I took a few minutes to think about this before coming to a conclusion. In the end, I had to do what was best for me.

"A half hour, and I get all the sweets you bought for me. No sharing."

He grinned at me. "One hour, and you can keep the candy, plus I'll get my mom to make us some sweets just for the two of us. Believe me, you'll make everyone jealous."

I groaned a bit before nodding. "Fine… deal."

He led me back inside and I felt my chest tighten a bit at this. Light reminded me so much of Derek it was uncanny. But unlike him, Light was soft spoken with me, not to mention anytime I looked down he still made sure that I looked him in the eye when we spoke. Derek was… not a kind man. Not when he was angry. So if Light was so much like Derek… would he be as physical when he was angry? I didn't exactly want to know.

Once inside he brought me back to the living room and all eyes were on me. I knew what they were all thinking, too. Why was he here? Why did Light invite him? What a freak! If they weren't thinking this… is was much worse.

There was silence for a few moments before Sayu giggled. "Welcome back! You're just in time to help me stuff Mikami in the guest room with Tamlen!"

The attention was shifted over to the green haired teen. "No way, you little offspring of Satan!"

"Yeah, we're not going anywhere!" Mikami defended.

"Well, it's either you two in a bedroom, or Light and Ryuzaki in the closet! And you all know one of those is happening!"

I sighed at this. "If I give you a hundred dollars, will you keep me and Light out of your satanic and utterly crazy thoughts?"

She blinked. "Sure!"

I forked over the money no problem. I then smiled at the girl. "I'll give you an extra fifty if you can get them in the bedroom before an hour passes."

She smiled deviously at the two men and they backed away from her. "Challenge accepted."

I sat down on the floor next to Light, Teri shaking her head at me. "The power of money corrupts a young fifteen year old in ways you can't understand, Ryuzaki. She'll do anything for that cash."

I scoffed a bit. "If only it were that easy with my brothers."

"They don't take bribes?" She asked.

"No, they take bribes." I clarified. "But only the one's that truly benefit them. For instance, I'll offer them a hundred dollars, and their counter offer is either a gaming device or food item, plus the money, and a week off from punishment. It's a real haggle with them… and they usually win."

"I can only imagine the haggle with the penguin." Light commented.

"No haggling." I answered. "I simply said penguin or life sentence and they gave it up pretty easily."

"I'm sorry, penguin?" Tamlen questioned.

I found the bag of sweets Light bought for me and popped a candy into my mouth as the brunette answered for me.

"His brothers stole a penguin from the zoo."

I hummed. "I think they were trying to one up me. It was a nice try, but I think I won."

Now Light was perplexed. "Win? What did you win? What are you talking about?"

I finished the candy I was chewing on and looked at him. "When I was eleven I stole a panda cub from the zoo."

The room went silent for a second before Tamlen smiled at me with glee.

"Dude!" He exclaimed. "I wanna party with your family!"

"Why, in god's name, would you steal a panda cub?" Light asked incredulously.

I shrugged. "Because he looked cuddly and I thought he looked like me. You know," I pointed to the bags under my eyes, "pale, dark around the eyes, and adorable." I faked a large smile at the brunette.

The blonde in the room, Misa, squealed at me before hugging me close. I wasn't quite comfortable with this… but I guess it's how she showed affection.

"Aww, Ryuzaki!" She squealed again, pulling back. "I didn't notice this before, but you DO look like a cuddly panda bear!"

Light held up his hands. "Wait a minute here, we're off topic!" He turned to me. "Ryuzaki… you STOLE a panda bear! HOW did you do this? There is no way you could have gotten past security with a live bear! A penguin you can hide pretty easily, but a BEAR!?"

I pried Misa's hands off me and she went back to her seat on the floor. "Light, I had a bear with me. I was virtually untouchable."

"YOU STOLE A BEAR!" He exclaimed loudly. "No sane person does that!"

"There is a fine line between genius and insanity…" I started. "I have erased this line."

He crossed his arms. "You stole that from somewhere."

I scoffed, popping more candy into my mouth. "Can't prove it."

"I have the internet…"

"…and I have a rock from Zürich."

He blinked at my answer. "Excuse me?"

I swallowed the candy. "I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about things that are completely unhelpful to you."

Unbelievably, I managed to make everyone snicker in the room. Teri seemed the most amused.

"Well, Light, looks like you met your match!"

The brunette rolled his eyes at her. "It's not an actual debate! His mind is just snarky and full of sass some days."

I actually huffed a laugh at this. "I don't think we hang out enough because I am always sassy, Yagami. If you haven't figured that out yet, you've not paid enough attention to me."

"Was there a hint of sarcasm there, or were you just being 'sassy'?"

I grinned a bit, looking in the candy bag for something to eat. "Now he's gettin' it."

Takada and Misa were giggling along with Sayu at the two of us while Teri just smiled.

"You know, you two have a cute bro-mance going on here!" She said, a hint of a snicker in her voice. "Considering the rocky start."

Tamlen laughed then. "Yeah! Didn't you trip him, Ryuzaki!? Man was Light fuming the day after that! I thought his eyes were going to freeze me they were so icy!"

I semi-giggled at this. "I did, and I have no regrets."

Light sighed. "At least you apologized."

"Half-heartedly." I added.

Misa squealed again, making me cringe. "You two are so cute together!"

I choked on a piece of candy the moment she said that. Light just blushed profusely, going silent.

Once I stopped coughing, I turned to Misa. "Please, don't say that again. Light and I are just partners for science, barely even friends."

The brunette pointed to me. "What he said."

Teri rolled her eyes. "We're just kidding guys. Don't worry."

"I'm not!" Sayu exclaimed. "Kiss him Light! Be happy with your true self!"

I blinked, turning to Light. "You grab her legs, I'll get the arms, and together we throw her into a snowbank." I spoke softly to him.

"Agreed."

We both looked at her with cheeky grins and before she started to run from us. We didn't run after her though, we simply made to look like we were going after her and once she was gone and off the couch, we stole her seat. She'd come back down eventually though.

Whether or not we threw her in the snowbank was to be decided later on.