The Way We Fall

Chapter 1

When L had handcuffed Light to himself, he never actually considered the consequences of his actions.
He had known he had feelings for the younger boy, but, assuming these emotions would simply fade away, had decided to become better acquainted with the 17 year old.

A tennis match and a coffee break. (That was it, wasn't it?)
L had thought so, but had used the time to test Light's deduction abilities. It was a fair time, anyway.

He had packed the cards containing the code given by Kira, and had made a fake one as well. When he lost -which he had not expected at all, mind you - he had been surprised to find that he was not upset, but rather impressed.

That was when he had realized he was attracted to the boy. He himself was still a teenager, but his 19th birthday was less than a month away, and he was already considered a man, though would admit that he had the looks of a mangy seventeen year old.

He did not let his personal feelings get in front of his suspicion of Light.

Not at first, at least.

L remembered seeing Light reading porn in his bedroom. Although he could not show it in front of his coworkers, he was slightly nauseated. Why, he didn't quite know; he himself had looked at such materials as a younger teen....though, not of women, L would admit. But he couldn't put his finger on the uncomfortable feeling settling in his stomach.

Now, he completely understood why. In a bedroom, dimly lit by the light of his laptop, L felt his heart beating a mile a minute. Light shifted slightly beside him and mumbled something.

Oh dear.

Oh god.

This had not gone as he had planned.

He stared at the younger of the two in wonder. Of course, he still suspected Light of being Kira, but he felt something else as well. He could not explain it, though he desperately wished he could.

(Maybe if he was raised in a normal home, with a normal family, he'd of been able to think "Ah! I love this boy!" But alas, L Lawliet had been resigned to fate of having 2 working brain cells in the "Romance" category of his brain.)

L checked the time. It was 3:47am. Maybe tonight he would sleep. Light was seemingly comfortable, and he could sleep for 2 hours and nobody would know.

He turned off the laptop and lay down, concentrating on his own shallow breaths. He lay still, quiet, before deciding that the sound of his own breathing would not help him sleep.

So he concentrated on Light's breathing instead.

What if Light kills me while I sleep? L wondered. It seemed unlikely, yes, but not impossible. He didn't actually expect Light to do such a thing. His actual suspicion of Light was dramatically overplayed in front of the boy.

L blamed his sadistic sense of humour.

"Ryuzaki?" Light whispered, startling L. In a perfect world L could say he did not show a twinge of surprise, that he kept his composure and remained Unstartled and Suave.

(But this isn't a perfect world, and L was 18 and a human, and so he jumped a little, and would never admit to the squeak of surprise he made)

"Yes Light?" The raven haired detective asked, pretending that None Of That Had Happened. His voice slightly echoed off the walls of their small bedroom. He felt so much closer to Light than he had felt a minute ago.

He felt Light's breath fan his hair.

"Are you going to sleep?" The younger boy asked.

L didn't know how to answer. He couldn't decide between lying ("No, my head just hurts. Go back to sleep.") or dry sarcasm (No, I am meditating; it helps me keep my blood pressure under control, as well as not murdering my co-workers. Perhaps you'd like to join me?)

L felt like Light would take him seriously with the last part though.

He felt like Light would join him.

He did not like that.

L sighed. "Yes." He answered truthfully, and waited for the teenage boy to respond. Maybe he'd fallen back asleep. Maybe L had created an entire joke in his head for nothing.

"That's good." Light stated simply. "Everyone needs sleep once in a while. Goodnight, L."

And with that the younger of the two relaxed once again, and was asleep again within seconds.

L was impressed with Light's ability to fall back into a comatose sleep within seconds. As much as Light pretended to be Cool and Suave, he snored slightly in his sleep. He sleep talked a lot ("No mom, school was fine. No mom, I don't want to see a therapist.")
(L thought he should.)

He drooled in his sleep. And the drool got in his hair and on his cheek and pillow and L laughed because Light Yagami, Star Student, had spittle in his hair.

He really needed to sleep.

L closed his eyes once more and listened to the steady breaths of the younger boy beside him, and eventually fell into a dreamless sleep.

*

*dabs* I'm rewriting this bc it sucks