Sweet Little Lies

Quarreling Gods

The two men stood scrubbing in silence. There was something unspoken between them. A sense of awkwardness that hung in the air that L was no doubt overthinking. Light could tell by the detective's sceptical side glances, which the sharp-eyed boy noticed in his peripheral. If the roles were reversed, the younger man would be all too capable of putting two and two together and concluding the dream in question was about 𝒉𝒊𝒎. Had L noticed already? The uncertainty was driving Light 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒆. Perhaps if he acted nonchalantly regarding the situation, L would be less suspicious. But would this be out of character? What would Light even ask him in this scenario? L is British, so maybe the 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓? '𝑯𝒆𝒚 𝑹𝒚𝒖𝒛𝒂𝒌𝒊 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚?' Sounded stereotypically forced and unnatural. What did Light even 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 to know about the detective? It occurred to Light that he hadn't outwardly displayed any interest in L's life before....whoops. All L did was ask 𝒉𝒊𝒎 questions...

"Ryuzaki..."

L idly turned his head toward the boy, bowing it in a nod to urge him wordlessly to continue.

"What's your favourite museum? You've been everywhere...seemed like something you'd appreciate"

L inquisitively explored his wide eyes up and down Light's body - as if calculating whether he'd been swapped with a clone under the detective's nose.

"Why? Is Light-kun asking me on a date?"

L's eyebrows moved up twice, teasing in unison with a playful expression. Light shook his head so fast, the hair on it was dry by the time he'd finished the overcompensating presentation of denial.

"No no no! You're a well travelled man! Call it one of those...private reflections...if you will"

L stood, blankly analysing the boy's face. Would the detective choose to acknowledge that Light was talking out his arse right now? Or choose to engage out of merciful compliance...

"Well...I 𝒂𝒎 rather fond of the Prado in Madrid."

Light wasn't too partial on worshipping any fictitious divine beings but thank 𝑮𝑶𝑫 for that. Anything to keep Light's sanity on casual conversation than let it wonder to the dark crevices of his dreamland memories best left forgotten.

"My favourite piece they hold is 𝑽𝒖𝒍𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆. The artwork depicts Vulcan in said forge as he crafts a suit of armour. Unfortunately, the activity is interrupted by none other than Apollo, who decides to bare Vulcan the news of his wife's infidelity with Mars. Personally, I just admire the reactions of the men around him. Their stunned expressions are quite... entertaining to me."

Listening to L drone on about subjects Light was already well acquainted with was...surprisingly endearing, actually. Anything was better than Misa babbling about her supposed 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 or something.

"Is that why you like it so much?"

L tapped a finger to his lip in contemplation.

"It does also remind me of someone..."

Light's eyes blazed at the detective's ambiguity. The way L landed the last word with his gaze fixed at his unwillingly chained victim - it was 𝒐𝒃𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 who he was referring to.

"𝑮𝒐 𝒐𝒏..."

The boy challenged L to test him with what he dared come out with next. Everyone had obscure ideas when showering, but L's obscure ideas involved hairstyles correlating with intelligence, and ill-suited Baroque oil painting metaphors.