In The Spaces Between Words

A/N: My deepest apologies for the delay. I left the file I had written half this chapter in on another computer and only managed to retrieve it shortly before this. Hopefully, time has not left me bereft of my touch in writing this fascinating pair. The hit-review ratio is still as depressingly discouraging as I remember, however. Nice to see some things never change. Anyway, without further ado, I present...


---Falling Iris---


“It’s impressive, Light-kun. Five out of the eight people in that secret meeting were in the list of twelve potential suspects you short-listed earlier,” L commented, a bit of genuine awe in his gentle bass.


Both geniuses were lying on their backs in bed, having just changed into their pyjamas –at least, Light actually wore pyjamas; L just slept in the same thing he wore all the time–, staring pensively up at the apple white ceiling in what little neon and moonlight they had filtering in through the crack between the curtains.


“Thank you. That was a great idea to save Matsuda back there, although I didn’t favour endangering Misa in the process,” Light replied sincerely.


“I have always admired Light-kun’s profiling abilities.”


“And I Ryuuzaki’s quick, sharp and inventive thinking,” he returned, wondering when they’d gone from disagreeing with each other to offering each other compliments.


He closed his eyes, trying to sleep. It was almost midnight; they both needed to rest. A long silence passed between them, and he soon felt himself drifting off, the fog of sleep falling gently over him like a blanket of clouds.


“I can’t sleep,” the detective said abruptly, chasing the clouds away faster than favonian winds.


“You eat too much sugar and drink too much black tea and coffee,” he retorted, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.


“Did I wake you?”


“Sort of.”


“I apologize.”


“Forget it.”


A pause. “Since we’re both awake now, we may as well—”


“No,” Light interrupted, sitting up in bed as he turned to look at the older man. “If we start working on anything now, you won’t even think of sleeping till dawn again. And even then, you’d probably just fall asleep in your chair. How about we go get some fresh air instead?”


The insomniac briefly contemplated the suggestion before agreeing. “Alright. Where do you want to go?” L asked, sitting up as well. It was probably a bad thing that Light could predict what he was going to say beforehand, but he couldn’t quite seem to feel upset about it at the moment.


“We could go up to the rooftop.”


The Yagami boy swung his legs down to stand and waited for him to rise as well before leading him to the cupboard. He shrugged; it didn’t really matter to him where they went. Light opened the wardrobe and passed him a random coat.


“Here, put this on. It’s cold outside.”


He unlocked the handcuffs for them to put the coats on and locked them back in place thereafter before toeing on his shoes and following the younger genius out of the bedroom. They rode the elevator as high as it went in silence, and L couldn’t help wondering if Kira was bringing him to the roof to kill him the traditional way and push him to fall to his death. Well, as long as they were wearing the handcuffs, that would mean that the other would fall with him. In any case, it wasn’t Kira’s style. There were another four flights of stairs to be climbed from the top floor to reach the roof, and he led the other through the door to this stairway still in silence, letting Light precede him up the stairs.


“I’ve never been up here before,” the brunet remarked casually, climbing the steep steps slowly.


“There’s never been any reason for us to be here yet,” he responded impassively.


Light laughed. “Well there are only lightning arrestors, telecommunications equipment and the helicopter pad up there, right?”


“Correct.”


Of course, there were also surveillance cameras, but L decided not to share that bit, since if Kira didn’t know he was still being watched up there, he might let something slip. The rooftop had also been built difficult to access from outside the building except by helicopter. There were no walls or rails to keep people from falling off, which may be dangerous, but it also meant hooks on climbing and gliding equipment had nowhere secure to latch on to. Even the top of the stairwell had been built in a semi-circular dome to eliminate grappling points. So unless they used a helicopter and alerted everyone in the vicinity of their break-in, it was pretty safe to say that the risk of anyone getting in through the roof was negligible, what with its being taller than all the buildings in its immediate circumference.


Suddenly, lost in thought, L missed his step. Crying out as he slipped and failed to catch his balance, he flailed a little as he found himself falling backwards an instant before the chain on the handcuff jerked sharply as Light pulled on it to keep him from falling. A warm hand closed around his wrist and tugged him up onto the landing where the other was standing, momentum propelling him into the boy’s arms. He gasped softly, pulling back slightly as he steadied himself, and was stunned to find himself missing the brunet’s warmth.


“Are you alright?” Light asked in concern, noticing the other’s flushed face and shallow breaths as he held on to slim shoulders to steady the detective.


L inhaled deeply to calm himself. “Ah… Yes. Yes, I’m okay.”


That elegant visage formed a relieved smile at that. “Then let’s go.”


They climbed up the last flight of stairs and exited the door out onto the rooftop. The brunet stretched slightly as he stepped onto the helicopter pad and turned to face him, walking backwards across the empty space. The cold breeze blew a bitter chill into his bones, and he tugged the younger boy’s dark grey knee-length coat more tightly around himself, inhaling the spicy scent of the other’s cologne. He lifted his hand his hand to accommodate as the other turned full circle, spreading his arms to feel the breeze and manoeuvring under the chain between them before continuing his backward meander across the landing circle.


“Is it cold?” Light asked, his lovely brown eyes full of genuine concern as always.


“A little,” he admitted, shoving his free hand into the coat’s pocket as he ambled after his receding companion.


“You’re too thin,” the brunet chided. “Start eating properly.”


Pointedly ignoring the advice, he riposted, “Be careful… You might fall off.”


His prime suspect smiled slightly at that. “Wouldn’t you fall with me then?” he murmured the question softly.


Alarm bells instantly went off in L’s head. Was that truly his plan? It wasn’t… No, it couldn’t be. Kira would go to great lengths to kill him, certainly, but not sacrifice his own life in the process; Kira would want to live on as the god of the new world he’d created. Unless Yagami Light had found a way to unlock the handcuffs? No, perhaps the younger genius planned on fighting him here to obtain the key. In that event, the cameras would record everything, and his goal would have been attained. It was perfectly worth the risk, and he had been prepared to lose his life since the moment he’d taken the case. And yet, even as he turned a challenging gaze on the other, he felt none of the triumphant satisfaction he had expected.


“Don’t tell me you brought me up here to kill me normally, Kira,” he scoffed condescendingly. “It’s not your style, and the very idea is nonsense.”


The brunet’s smiling visage immediately contorted in a mixture of fury and hurt at that, and he quickly turned away to hide it. “If it’s so nonsensical, L, it wouldn’t even cross your mind,” he bit the retort out harshly, clearly upset.


“Is that really your plan then?” the detective pressed with a taunting grin, wondering at the twang of pain that he suddenly found resounding in his chest.


“God, Ryuuzaki!” In a trice, the Yagami boy had knocked him down to the floor with a thud that reverberated in his ears. “I swear if it wasn’t already, it definitely sounds like a brilliant plan now!” he yelled angrily.


L, slightly stunned and taken a little unawares, did not react. His back hurt slightly from the impact on concrete, but he ignored it, unable to tear his attention from his companion.


Russet eyes were squeezed shut as their owner inhaled a deep, calming breath, and fisted his left hand in the dark gray canvas coat he had lent the paranoid sleuth, letting his voice drop to a hoarse whisper as he half-choked out the rest of his words. “All I wanted… was a normal, friendly conversation. I was going… to tell you… that I would be careful not to fall off because I wouldn’t want you to fall with me,” Light slowly enunciated, evidently with great effort, most of which was going to maintaining his patience and composure.


A long silence ensued as older genius stared at younger, both unable to find any words to say, and all that could be heard were the distant sounds of the metropolis far below and the almost inaudible movements of the air in their heavy breaths and the gentle breeze. It wasn’t cold anymore, L realized, as if the oppressive tension between them weighed down upon him like a suffocating blanket of heat. At least Light seemed to have calmed down and relaxed and had uncurled his fingers from the tight fist he’d held that bit of stuffed canvas in. Now, the boy was merely lying with his head resting on his chest and his hands next to his face, and L found himself wondering if Light simply couldn’t be bothered to get up or if there was some other meaning to his remaining where he was.


Perhaps Light really wasn’t Kira after all, and he’d just been overreacting as usual. In hindsight, which was psychologically proven to be 20/20, he probably shouldn’t have said anything. What difference did the words make? If Light had indeed planned on pushing him off the building, he would have done so whether or not anything had been said. Indeed the line of conversation he’d led them to would have neither bolstered nor detracted from the proof of Yagami Light being Kira had there been any to be found. It had been uncalled for, as usual, and he’d gone too far again. He couldn’t even attribute this sudden outburst of violence to the other’s being Kira; anyone else would presumably have snapped as well, sooner even.


He’d never really given the boy much benefit of the doubt by which to prove his innocence, and for once, he wondered if he was right in doing so. All he seemed to have been doing so far was ruining what little of their dubious friendship existed that had a chance at being genuine. Of course, this was simply based on the assumption that Light really wasn’t Kira. No matter how he thought about it, there truly was no other who fit the profile as closely. Was he merely seeing an illusory correlation by ignoring all the evidence disproving his conviction and believing the truth as he wanted it, or was there indeed something everyone was missing? He held back the usual sigh; this really never got anywhere.


“I—”


“Don’t,” Light interjected, cutting him off with a shake of his head that seemed to nuzzle his chest in the process. “Stop apologizing when you don’t mean it. It doesn’t make any difference.”


“Ya—Light-kun…”


Back in the other’s pleasant warmth, he couldn’t think of what to say. There was something wrong with their present situation, and it bothered him that Light was so quickly getting better at predicting his behaviour, but although he hated the idea from a professional and intellectual standpoint, he couldn’t deny that a part of him wanted this connection. Archnemesis or otherwise, Yagami Light was the only person he’d ever met that understood him, precisely because the younger boy was so dangerously brilliant, and the feeling that understanding brought was comforting. He was falling, he knew, but he couldn’t bring himself to hate or stop it, yet he also could not help the nagging feeling that it would cost him his life someday. How could he be seeing what he wanted to believe when he found himself now desperately wishing that Light was NOT Kira?


“Ryuuzaki…” the soft whisper of his pseudonym on the younger boy’s lips interrupted his reverie.


He said nothing, waiting for his companion to continue.


“Let’s go skydiving together when all this is over,” came the strangely inane suggestion.


“Skydiving?” he echoed, somewhat puzzled.


He sensed more than saw the small smile curve Light’s lips. “Yes. Don’t you think it would be nice to fly freely in the sky, however briefly?”


The orphan contemplated the idea for a few moments, wondering why it had never occurred to him before. Certainly, it was nothing he couldn’t afford -indeed he could well afford to bring the entire investigation team with him if he so wished-, and the notion seemed a pleasant enough prospect, now that he was perpending it. He imagined how it would feel like to “fly freely in the sky” and found that he rather liked the very thought of it. To engage in such an enjoyable activity with his first and only friend only added to the quality of the impression.


“That sounds like it would be pleasant,” he agreed.


A hand found his and laced their fingers together as the brunet murmured, “I hope we catch Kira soon, so we can do that sooner.”


In that instant, L had to keep from stiffening and upsetting the younger genius with his supposed paranoia again. In agreeing to Light’s proposal, in making plans for after they had caught Kira, he had recognized the possibility of Light NOT being Kira without even realizing it, something he had never been willing to truly admit before. When had their friendship stopped being a lie to him? Looking back, he realized he didn’t know. L was afraid now, and the feeling was new to him, not for his life but of how his feelings were beginning to impair his judgement.


Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure he could confidently say that he would definitely bring Kira to justice no matter who the real murderer was. Had this been any normal case, he would simply withdraw from the investigation. However, that would be exactly what Kira would want, and there was as yet still no real confirmation that Yagami Light wasn’t Kira. Even as fear gripped him more strongly now, he gripped the other’s hand more tightly, lacing their fingers more closely together. What was he afraid of now, really: losing his head or losing his heart?


~*~*~*~*~*~


A/N: Please tell me what you think of this chapter. As you can see, the romance between our two geniuses is finally making some discernible progress, and I am left to wonder if I'm handling it at all right. Workload is rather crazy now and will remain so in the foreseeable future, so I cannot guarantee timely updates. However, rest assured that I have no plans of abandoning this fic and that I, like anyone, am not immune to persuasion. 8P