#lawlightfic

L sat across from Light before Watari came in with a tray of sweets.

L took a fork and started to pick at the slice of cake. “So Light…” He started with a bite in his mouth. “You don’t have any idea what-”

“Of course I don't! I’ve been doing everything you say!” Light yelled, throwing his hands out at the detective.

“Your statement about privacy… wasn’t 100% correct.” L started. “I let you change by yourself in the bathroom, unsupervised. For all I know, you could be using that time to kill your next victims.”

“L that’s ridiculous!” Light scoffed sitting back in his chair.

“It’s Ryuzaki.” L corrected. “I’ve been conducting an experiment with you, Light Yagami. You see, I thought if I made myself vulnerable in front of you, you would take the chance to show interest in me romantically, and therefore, your end goal would be to gain my trust, achieve knowing my real name, and killing me.” L stated whilst he ate his cake.

Light sat in disbelief, not knowing which raging response to say first.

L kept on going.

“At first I had to deduce if this would work by finding out your sexual preference. I noticed your disinterest in Miss Amane.”

“You WHAT?!” Light yelled, his face screwed up in anger. “That is NONE of your business! And Misa has nothing to do with my preference for women! She’s annoying-”

“But Light, that's where you’re wrong.” L said with a small smirk in success. “You’re whole life, girls would throw themselves at you, and you would shut every, single, one of them down. Then, a model and popstar, Misa Amane, came along and she was surely attractive enough for Light Yagami.” L finished off the slice of cake, licking the frosting off of the fork.

“But no, Amane wasn’t enough! So I took the assumption Light was homosexual, and my plan would be effective.” L said, pride and success in his voice.

“I made myself vulnerable, tangling the brush in my hair, asking for your assistance, and only to find out that I want Light to touch me to help me sleep, which you obliged with little to no convincing.” L looked into Light’s furious eyes. “I didn’t sleep a second, I knew that you could take that opportunity to kill me while I was so close to you. But you took the bait and ended up cradling me in your sleep, as if it was an instinct. And to back up my claim, your search history-”

“That’s enough Ryuzaki!” Light slammed his fist on the table and rose from his chair. “I can’t believe you would invade my privacy like that! World’s greatest detective my ass! Your deductions come from a straight invasion of privacy! You’re not a detective at all! You’re just a pervert with way too much access to people’s information!” Light was fuming, he could basically feel the heat coming off of his skin.

“And… and last night! I was just trying to help! God forbid me for trying to be a good friend and it turns out it means I’m a killer!”

Light was hurt.

He was so stupid to fall for this trap.

He should have seen this coming, instead, he let his rival take control of his thoughts and lead him right into his hands.

Light paused, catching his breath. He couldn’t even look at Ryuzaki, he was so furious with him.

“Light?” L said in the same monotone voice. “You didn’t deny the allegations that you’re gay.” “Shut up!” Light yelled, jumping over the table and punching L across the face, making him fall out of his chair.

“I hate you! You bastard, I hate you!” Light yelled as he climbed on top of L and started landing punches in his face.

L let a couple of his punches land, feeling that yeah, maybe he deserved a couple.

Then, L grabbed the chain inches away from Light’s wrist and pulled him off and onto his back.

L quickly got the upper hand, rolling on top of Light and pinning his hands above his head.

Light thrashed, trying to get out from underneath his rival.

They both caught their breath, Light especially breathing hard.

L recollected what he told Light.

Yes, he was in fact awake all night, but he can’t deny the rest.

He wasn’t pretending to be vulnerable, he couldn’t deny the feeling in his chest when Light touched him.

They stared at each other for a couple seconds before L got off of Light. “Don’t force me to apprehend you again.” He said before taking a bite of a strawberry.

“I’m going to rip your face off.” Light said, scrambling as he got up.

“You know, remarks like that don’t reduce the chances of me thinking your Kira.” L said with his mouth full again.

Light brushed his teeth, his eyes closed as he wished he could fall back asleep right there in the bathroom.

L stood next to him, peering at him with his beady eyes as he always did when Light did practically anything.

“Ryuzaki I’m not in the mood.” Light whined, rinsing off his toothbrush and combing his hair.

“Light is tired this morning.” L stated, skipping on brushing his teeth this morning as he followed Light out of the bathroom.

“Yeah no shit.” Light said before grabbing his shirt from the closet as well as a pair of pants before changing in the bathroom with the door closed.

This whole handcuffed to each other thing hasn’t brought the two together as much as L assumed it would.

Light still values his privacy, which is reasonable, but L wishes he can just catch a glance…

“Ryuzaki, you're going to brush your teeth.” Light almost demanded, just now noticing he skipped the necessary task.

After they both got ready, they headed down the elevator to the Taskforce Headquarters and started getting to work.

L peered at Light as he flipped through multiple files, setting up his desk in the orderly fashion that he does every morning.

L ordered Watari to bring down some coffee, two mugs instead of one, and plenty of sugar and cream.

“Do we have any new leads on the Yotsuba group?” Aizawa asked as he sat at his own desk.

“Yes, I did some research and these killings are helping their financial status immensely.” L stated, stirring sugar cubes into his coffee before pouring Light a cup.

Light looked at him with confusion before taking the mug from him. “Thanks.”

Ryuzaki isn’t one to do simple, nice tasks for anyone. Maybe it's poisoned.

At this point, though, Light didn’t care and he drank the coffee to try to wake up his mind.

The team discussed L’s findings and decided to go through more killings related to the Yotsuba group and analyze why they chose to kill those certain victims.

Throughout the day, L was finding himself very distracted.

He watched Light flip through pages, drink coffee, type at his keyboard.

Everything he did was fascinating to Ryuzaki. And not in the “I’m going to profile and convict you” kind of way.

He decided to blame it on the lack of sleep. He’s on his fourth day without sleep, and typically after the fourth day he is no longer an asset.

After everyone went home, Light and L stayed late at the office. Light ended up having a lead and he didn’t want to stop in his tracks and lose his train of thought. And he was hyped up on too much caffeine.

L however, was definitely feeling the effects of no sleep. He was getting tired, but he dreaded laying down in bed.

Even though he was tired, falling asleep was the hard part. He has been tired countless times before, but he can hardly ever try to sleep.

“Light-kun I’m tired.” L almost whined as he slouched in his chair.

“Tired? You’re tired?” Light said in disbelief. “Of course you're tired when I want to stay late.” Light said with a huff, leaning back in his chair. “I suppose we both should get rest.” He said, and he was at a good stopping point.

They headed back upstairs to their shared room, and after getting ready for bed, they both crawled under the covers.

Light did realize he was tired, and decided to let go of the grudge against Ryuzaki for making him go to bed early.

Light’s eyes shut as he started to drift to sleep, before he heard L’s voice.

“Light I can’t sleep.” L whispered, facing Light’s back.

“This isn’t new news to either of us Ryuzaki,” Light said with a snicker.

L was well aware this wasn’t a new issue, but he knows how he could fall asleep.

“Light if I don’t go to sleep tonight I won’t be an asset to the team.” L stated, talking to the back of Light’s head.

“Take some melatonin, there’s gummies in the drawer.” Light said before his eyes shot open and he sat up. “They’re not candy.” He added, rethinking his decision to buy the gummies for L.

Light looked down at L, who was peeking up from the blanket, obviously wanting to say something.

“What is it, Ryuzaki?” Light asked with a sigh; expecting something like “I’m hungry” or “I want sweets” or “I’m going to grab my laptop.”

“I can go to sleep if you touch my hair.” L stated shyly.

Light’s breath hitched before laying back down. “No way, I’m not going to play with your hair to get you to sleep.”

“But Light I’m going to be very tired tomorrow, and possibly more of a nuisance to you.” L compromised as he scooted closer to Light. “And… last night when you were brushing my hair, I almost fell asleep… so I think it’s worth a try.” He said softer.

Light sighed and reached his hand back and plopped it on top of Ryuzaki’s head. “There, go to sleep.” He said, his arm weirdly twisted from not facing him.

L closed his eyes, the warm weight of his hand on his head made him focus on only that.

After about 10 minutes, Light’s shoulder was cramping and he pulled his hand away slowly, thinking L was asleep.

L’s eyes opened and he grabbed Light’s wrist. “Only 30 more minutes… please? It almost worked.” L said, almost pleading for Light to keep his hand on him.

Light heard the desperation in his voice, and changed his auto annoyed response.

“I need to readjust if I’m going to keep my hand there for so long.” Light said quietly before turning around to face L, who was closer to his own body than he thought.

L didn’t seem phased at their closeness, just eager to get a good night’s rest as he closed his eyes.

Light on the other hand, was blushing profusely again, not knowing what to do.

“Uhm… is… this fine?” He said awkwardly, setting his hand on the side of L’s head, almost caressing where the brush was lodged before.

L relaxed again, almost nuzzling into his touch.

Now, it was Light’s turn to not be able to sleep. His gaze was fixed on L, who was nearly inches away from his chest being pressed against his. He didn’t dare move his hand, for the fear of waking the detective.

A small part of him wanted to give L the relief of sleeping.

L stayed still as he slept, not moving or tossing or turning; he just stayed put.

Soon after, Light fell asleep too.

Light was the first to wake up in the morning.

The sun was shining in his eyes from the window, and as he went to shield his eyes, he noticed his arm was lodged underneath something.

He looked down and saw L underneath him. His left arm was underneath his head, holding the back of L’s head, and the right arm was slung over his waist.

It didn’t take him long to realize that L hadn't moved, and this was all of Light’s doing.

“Shit shit shit.” He whispered to himself as he slowly pried himself away from the detective, his face burning from embarrassment.

The moment Light fully detached himself from L, his eyes fluttered open peacefully.

“Goodmorning Light-kun.” He said sleepily before stretching his arms. “Thank you for helping me get to sleep.”

“Hi.” was what came out of Light’s stupid mouth.

Is he really getting this nervous?

L caught onto his nerves but chose to ignore it. “I slept well, the best I’ve slept in a while.” He said with a small smile. “Even though it was only 6 hours.”

6 hours?! He fell asleep at 11… which means he woke up at 5.

It’s 6:30.

Light’s face went pale. He thought L was still sleeping when he pulled away from him.

That means… he didn’t get away without L finding out he was basically cuddling with him.

“Oh by the way.” L said as he stood up and faced the window. “We aren’t working today.”

Light took the chance to drink some water while L was facing away, trying to hide his flushed face. “Oh… why? It's Thursday?” Light asked, double-checking his phone.

“My apologies, Light. I didn’t mean to wake you.” He said in a hushed, monotone voice. 

“What are you doing?” Light asked again sleepily, hoarseness disguising his voice.

“Brushing my hair.” L said, trying to hide the fact that the brush was indeed stuck in his hair. He was struggling to get it out for the last 30 minutes, and he didn’t want to admit defeat to the tool; let alone admit defeat to Light.

“Well can you be quiet, I’m trying to catch up on sleep that you keep interrupting.” Light said with a huff, turning back around and pulling the blanket over his head.

L took a deep breath before tugging on the brush again, wincing and hissing in pain.

Light threw the covers and sighed loudly. “Ryuzaki, what did I just-” He stopped and saw the tangled disaster that was the left side of L’s messy black hair. “How the hell did you do that?” Light asked with disbelief as he leaned to get a better look at the tangled brush.

L remained quiet, finally dropping his hands from the brush and huffing in frustration. “I don’t know. Watari normally does this for me.” He muffled quietly, feeling almost ashamed that he couldn’t complete the most basic human function.

“Were you twisting it and trying to get it stuck on purpose?” Light teased as he pulled on the handle.

“Ow, bastard! Don’t do that!” L swatted Light’s hand away, the sharp pain lingering on his sensitive scalp. 

“Let me help, you idiot. If we don’t get it out then you’re not going to shut up and let me sleep.” Light said, agitated that L had the audacity to smack his hand like that. 

He turned on the lamp and sat up criss cross in front of L. “Let me look at it.” Light said, swatting L’s hands from the handle as payback. 

“You’re just going to yank-”

“No I’m not! Move!” Light huffed before slowly turning the brush and trying to see which way the brush was tangled.

To no surprise, it was tangled every which way. “I don’t understand how you could even-” “Don’t ridicule me, Light, just help.” L said, frustration turning into hopelessness. He was starting to think he got it too tangled in his hair, and feared he would never get it out.

Light examined the brush intensely, finally waking up before standing up. “I’m going to get detangler, don’t make it worse.” Light said before getting off of the bed and digging through his bag, the chain of their lengthy handcuffs tugging ever so slightly. 

He hopped back on the bed with the bottle before soaking the wadded up hair in the detangler.

L noticed that it had a pleasant smell, which lifted his spirits. “It smells like strawberries.” He mumbled more to himself than to Light.

“Yeah and this shit is expensive so you better pay me back for it. I practically had to use the whole bottle.” Light teased, but with more of a playful tone than the insulting manner he had when he first woke.

Light worked at pulling small strands away from the brush, successfully getting good sized chunks out of the bristles.

“Light, can you be more careful?” L said as he pulled his head away from Light’s hands. 

“Ryuzaki can you stay still?” Light replied, gently tugging on the brush to get L back in his reach. 

L winced and huffed, his poor scalp burning from the tugging.

Light noticed the pain across his face and almost paused what he was doing. Instead, he gently held his fingers across the roots of L’s head as he pulled more pieces out. This decreased the tugging L was getting tired of.

Ryuzaki’s breath stopped in his throat as he felt Light’s hand on his head, wanting to flinch away from it and lean towards it at the same time.

Luckily, Light was focused at working the strands loose to even notice. 

L picked at his own fingers in his lap as Light was working the brush free, almost savoring the human contact.

Light’s whole hand had come to rest on the side of L’s head, still applying pressure to his roots to immensely reduce the pain. 

L noticed the warmness of his hand pressing against his cold product-soaked hair, closing his eyes as he finally started to get tired after 72 hours.

He leaned into Light’s hand ever so slightly, his thoughts drifting off-

“Got it!” Light said with pride, holding the brush in front of him.

L’s eyes opened immediately as he smiled softly. “Thank you Light.” He whispered as he touched his wet head, feeling the clump of tangled hair. 

“We need to brush the rest of your hair so this doesn’t get tangled in it again.” Light said, happy that he achieved the seemingly impossible.

L nodded and reached out for the brush, only for Light to hold it away from him. “You actually think I’m going to give this back? I don’t have the patience to do that again.” Light said with a chuckle before pointing to the floor in front of the bed. “Sit there.” 

L blinked a couple of times before crawling off of the bed and sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest. 

Light put his hand back on the top of L’s head and started to brush the thick black hair.  

Light took into notice the softness of the detective’s hair once it was actually smoothed out, gently running his fingers through it after the brush. 

A shiver ran down L’s spine, gently shaking at the touch. Light immediately noticed and blushed, his face turning red as he realized he was basically petting the man who is framing him for mass murder. 

“Can I have more of that spray?” L asked, looking up at Light, who quickly turned his head to hide his red face.

“Uh y-yeah… but like I said it’s expensive-” “I’ll buy you more.” L interrupted before looking forward again.

Light took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, before spritzing the detangler in all of L’s hair.

He resumed the brushing, finally distracting himself with the brushing and forgetting about L’s reaction.

“Light-kun can I ask why you are blushing?” L asked, no emotion in his voice as he nibbled on his thumbnail.

Light felt heat rush to his cheeks again. “I-I’m not! It’s just… hot in here.” Light barely hid his lie.

“Hm… Light-kun typically has the room at 68 degrees, which is rather cold. I can turn down the temperature if you'd like.” L stated, who didn’t need to look back to know that red had stained Light’s face again. 

Light swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, sure.” He said before putting the brush down and scratched the back of his neck. He was actually getting quite cold in the room and was going to put on a hoodie, but now he's going to just have to suffer.

L stood up and headed towards the thermostat, the chain between them stopping him from going any further. He turned his head at Light, giving him a knowing look before Light stumbled out of bed and followed L to the control panel by the front door. 

Light felt flustered and out of control with his emotions, and he hated it. 

He didn’t like how L could mess with him and his emotions so carefree… and so easily.

L took his spot in front of the bed again, happily waiting for more brushing of his hair. 

Light cleared his throat and started brushing his hair again, running the brush through L’s smooth hair, his hand atop of L’s head once again.

“Ooo Light-kun your hands are cold.” L said, flinching at his cold hands, a small smirk spreading across his lips. “The AC hasn’t even kicked in… I thought you were warm-”

“Shut up Ryuzaki!” Light stated defensively. “Do you want me to finish or not?!” 

The frustration in his voice allowed L to basically read his mind. He knew he was flustering the younger man.

Making him blush and stutter.

“Yes I would like that.” L said lowly, sticking his thumbnail in his mouth again. 

Light huffed and continued to brush his hair, not minding being careful anymore. 

The brush would catch on tangled strands, but the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as it was earlier, so L didn’t mind the loss of the hand on his head.

For that reason at least.

L realized how much he longed for human contact.

No, Light’s contact.

No, human…

L’s face contorted with thought.

Was he wanting Light’s touch? Or is this emptiness simply from the lack of human contact?

“Okay, your hair is untangled.” Light said before setting the brush and detangler back on his nightstand. “Can I go to sleep now?”

“I suppose so, even though you were the one who insisted on brushing my hair.” L said with a small smile as he stood up and actually laid in bed this time.

Light was going to argue, but decided not as he turned off the lamp.