Work Text:
“Here I am the barbarian-for no one understands me.”
-Ovid, Tristia V.10.37
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Soichiro is sometimes skeptical that the young man in the baggy white shirt and bare feet is truly the greatest detective in the world, but then, after everything he’s done and allowed to be done on the man’s orders, he decides that thinking about things like this are not productive and then he goes back to working on the Kira case, which brings about the same feeling as hitting one’s head against a brick wall and hoping that the wall will break.
The greatest detective and his son are currently exchanging barbed niceties and theories about the case at blinding speeds, one of them playing devil’s advocate for a moment before switching roles without warning, leaving the rest of the room confused. But this seems to be everyone’s constant state when it comes to the detective and Soichiro’s son, so he is not surprised. The fact that Light can effortlessly keep up with one of the smartest men in the world always makes Soichiro’s chest swell with pride, but these days, that pride is tempered with a cold sliver of fear that the detective’s accusations are right and his son really is a mass-murderer.
When Soichiro looks over at them again, the two boys have stopped with the rapid-fire assault and now are just staring at each other challengingly. L calmly licks his chocolate ice cream cone, the movement jangling the chain at his wrist. Finally, Light breaks the silence.
“Why do you have to be so rude, Ryuuzaki?” Light’s words are feather soft and honey sweet, as if to mask whatever poison was hidden within them.
“Why do you have to be such a liar, Light-kun?” L’s own response is as monotone and calm as ever, yet, even from across the room, Soichiro can sense the tension between the two. Soichiro isn’t entirely sure what the argument is about, they shroud whatever their conflict is in obscure metaphor and subtle glances and snide comments, but Soichiro has the feeling that they are both at their breaking point and soon one of them will end up with a nasty bruise.
Before anyone can step in and diffuse the tension, Light’s eyes are widening as they read the file in front of him and he slides it over to the detective, and just like that, the tension shifts and they are back to being in their own world, one so far removed from the one that the rest of them can perceive that they might as well be in a totally different dimension.
Soichiro settles back in his chair and mentally starts preparing for whatever breakthrough his son and the detective have just figured out.