Chapter Text
The rain fell in heavy sheets outside the building, and L Lawliet plopped a towel onto his head.
It hadn’t been his plan to get caught in the rain. Or, rather, it hadn’t been his plan to get caught in the rain with Light. He didn't want to be with Light, especially not now.
He had always loved standing in the rain.
After all, with England being his home, how could he not? He had wanted to stand in the rain longer, tipping his head back until he felt every drop on his skin and watching the skies. He looked back out, out of the window at the grey puffs of clouds. Some people would have been upset that the weather was so dull on their last day alive but L was glad. The rain felt like a goodbye, like the bells.
After all, it always rained on a funeral day.
He looked down at Light, who was rubbing his hair dry with some fervour, looking absolutely furious. L hid a smirk. He had always loved pissing Light off, during their time chained together. He had spent entire days crafting schemes to inconvenience the teenager just to see that twitching eyebrow signal the start of a fist fight.
The smirk melted off soon enough. That mask had been better on Light. It was easier to remove, all it needed was some initiative and...friendship. A friendship that felt natural and organic, neither of them even trying before they were closer than they had ever imagined. But this mask, the one that turned his eyes cold and dark, his mouth set in a straight line and his muscles tense…he didn’t know if this one could be removed at all.
“That was quite an ordeal, wasn’t it?” L found himself saying, the corner of his mouth tilting ever so slightly up, knowing Light, the real Light, would have responded to this taunt with an equally sarcastic remark.
He didn't, though. Kira only looked up at him and rolled his eyes, his hands not moving from his hair as he systematically dried every section.
“Well, it’s your own fault for being out in that hurricane.”
L cocked his head. With Light, he knew he could make a sarcastic remark, taunt him about his vanity, something…but with Kira? The man who was about to kill him soon enough? What could he say to him?
“I’m sorry.”
Kira looked up at him, mildly surprised. It wasn’t like him to keep apologising this way, but for some reason he felt he had to. Maybe for losing the game, for proving a weaker opponent…or maybe for letting this happen. For letting Light become a monster again.
He should’ve believed him, the one with the wide eyes and turtleneck sweaters. He should have let him go home, study for college, be a normal nineteen year old. Maybe then he would never have gotten his hands on the Death Note again.
The remorse snaked through him and it was unbearable. He needed something from Light now, he needed hope. He needed to see surprise flood his eyes, a small smile turn his lips up, a cocking of his head as he watched him. He needed Light back. He needed to apologise to him.
Before he knew it, he had taken a couple steps down to crouch below Kira, secure in the knowledge that all of the brunet’s attention was on bringing his appearance back to absolute perfection. With an amused glance at him, L swept his leg up, using the towel over his hair to dry it.
“Ryuuzaki!”
L chuckled to himself, making sure to look into the teenager’s eyes. Making sure to see shock and embarrassment light up the amber from the sombre strictness they had sunken into ever since the Third Kira had died.
“What are you doing?” He spluttered, indignant. L smiled.
“I am atoning for my sins, Raito-kun.” And you may know what I am talking about, or you may not. But I must atone all the same.
“Y-you don’t have to do that.” Kira tried to draw his leg back, but L held firm. He looked up at him, at the man he had been chained to for months now, the man he had watched for so long he knew him better than the back of his hand.
And he grinned. “I’ll throw in a massage. I’m quite good at this, you know.”
He knew his expression would change Light’s mind. The gleam in his eye, the little teasing smile, for some reason it managed to sway the brunet no matter what. He had used it more than once, when he had wanted ice-cream in bed at three a.m., when he had had to cut Light’s clothes off of him to shower when he’d lost the handcuff key, when he had found himself rolling onto Light more than once in sleep…
Kira looked away. “Fine. Do as you please.” And his craving for hope, it latched onto that. Maybe there was some of Light in him after all. Maybe it was possible, to change his mind, to change him back.
“Ow. Careful, Ryuuzaki!” Light (Kira) tried to pull away again, his face colouring. L rolled his eyes, holding onto the slim little foot in his hands. For a God, he sure had small feet.
“You’ll get used to it, Light.” Will he? Would he get over L? Near and Mello would make sure he wouldn’t forget him, but, had the positions been reversed, L knew he would not have been able to forget Yagami Raito. Never. But did it work the same way with him?
He pressed the foot again, hard, expecting another protest on cue…but instead, he felt something soft against his face. He looked up to see a towel wiping his wet bangs. Light looked at him, biting his bottom lip as he dried L’s hair thoroughly.
“You’re still wet.” He said, and the detective looked up at him, taking in his expression. Utter blankness, as usual, but those eyes…remorse? Was he seeing his own remorse reflected or was that real?
Did Kira regret having to kill him?
How was the hope inside him blossoming so quickly? L had always been a pessimistic person, how was he so optimistic about the world’s greatest serial killer?
He looked up and locked eyes with Light, those brown eyes that were studying him just as intently as he was. What are you thinking, Yagami Raito?
Unfortunately, before he could voice his question, before the moment could fully end, his phone rang. Loudly and obnoxiously, making Light flinch and pull his shells back on. L felt like cursing. Damn it, he had worked on getting those off!
Aggravated, he pulled it out and checked the caller ID. Watari. Well, at least it wasn’t Aiber or Wedy. He picked it up, holding it between thumb and forefinger. “Hello?”