In The Spaces Between Words

---Clouds in My Coffee---

“So… From Yagami-kun’s findings on the Yotsuba Corporation, we have a total of twelve Kira suspects in the company out of the stack of employees Mogi-san compiled earlier,” L surmised, eyes still busily scanning the pictures and brief profiles the brunet had compiled on his desk from where he was perched in his usual position on the chair he had pulled over.

“Yes. Please confirm and eliminate as necessary. I would like to know your opinion,” Light answered easily, although anyone with half an ear (or perhaps a decently discerning one, since L had an unhealthy combination of ears and ignorance, which somewhat excluded him from the first rule) would have realized that the ease and civility was rather forced on his part.

“I agree with all of them, Yagami-kun. Your profiling ability is above mine.”

“Your confidence is generosity itself, Ryuuzaki, but I was hoping for an independent analysis.”

Being chained to this socially blind hermit was the most trying experience his patience had ever had to deal with, and the worst part was that the detective was so innocently unaware of the existence of something known as social norms that one couldn’t even justifiably blame him for not adhering to them. Today was one of those days when Light thought ignorance should be a crime punishable by death. Oh God, he sounded like Kira. The brunet quickly tossed the idea as far out of mind as it was humanly possible lest the other somehow developed telepathy. Last he checked, L seemed to have the uncanny ability to materialize all kinds of skills just when he needed them; the only failure in that ability seemed to be passable social ones, unfortunately.

A thumb was brought to pale lips contemplatively. “Well, what do you think, everyone?” he opened the discussion to the rest of the investigation team instead.

“I think, Ryuuzaki, like Light says, it’s what you think that’s important here,” Yagami Souichirou answered evenly without missing a beat.

It was plain to everyone that together, Light and L were the brains of the group. L was the world’s greatest detective and the leader of the investigation for a very good reason, and if he admired Light’s ingenuity, then they had little reason not to respect the boy’s opinions as well. Not knowing what to say in the tense silence that resulted as the eccentric private investigator turned back to the information thoughtfully –yet another testament to his social ineptitude, since anyone else would probably have reassured them that their views did carry weight-, Matsuda quickly spotted a way out in an approaching Watari.

“Ah, the coffee’s here,” he announced as the elderly man placed a large tray on the coffee table before the couch. “Why don’t we have a drink while thinking?” he suggested sheepishly and was quite relieved when Light was the first to get up and walk over for a cup of refreshment. It made him feel significantly less awkward about suggesting something like that in the situation at hand if either Light or Ryuuzaki found it agreeable.

Then he noticed what Light was doing and blinked widened eyes. Yagami Light was adding creamer to his coffee. It hadn’t taken him long to notice that Light always drank his coffee black, so the sight of him adding two pots of liquid creamer was quite a surprise. The teen stirred the mixture, now the colour of the many paper bags littered around from what appeared to be a certain eccentric investigator’s favourite cake shop, and calmly reached out –much to everyone’s shock, and even the subdirector was staring at his son now- for the sugar bowl before adding five –white, brown, white, brown and white, in that order- sugar cubes to the cup. Before anyone could comment though, the brunet rose in a swift but graceful motion and carried the cup of coffee over to his desk to place before a certain sugar addict.

Well, that’s nice of Light-kun, he thought as he poured and mixed his own cup of coffee before handing the coffee pot back to the younger genius, who silently poured himself a cup and took a sip of it black as usual.

Meanwhile, the oddball was staring at the cup in what appeared to be a mixture of surprise and suspicion. It was a well-known fact that Ryuuzaki still suspected Light of being Kira despite evidence to the contrary, and it was an unsurprisingly long time before the detective finally reached for the cup, seemingly having decided that it was harmless. Already wide midnight eyes widened further in apparent astonishment at the first sip and a piercing gaze turned on the brunet. Suddenly, L smiled slightly.

“Light-kun, did you really memorize the precise amount of cream and sugar I put in my coffee?” It had been strange enough that Light would bring him the coffee, simple a gesture though it may be, with relations between them being less than pleasant as it were. It was so unexpected that he’d had to suspect it of dubious intent. When he realized that the drink had been mixed perfectly to his tastes, though, he couldn’t help but smile. Looks like I’m not the only one doing the watching. Are you looking for an opening as Kira, Light-kun, or is there some other reason you’re letting me in on your observation?

The college student turned and returned the smile, certain that few, if any, would notice the slight strain in the expression. “No, I recall the colour though. This isn’t as strong as the last one, so I adjusted accordingly,” he replied.

“It’s perfect, Light-kun. I should have you make coffee for me more often.”

Matsuda looked from one genius to the other. There was something… strangely domestic about the conversation, but there was also a strained undertone to it that he wasn’t sure he wasn’t imagining.

Light sauntered closer to his ‘friend’ from behind and placed a hand on a bony shoulder, noting with mild satisfaction that the other tensed at the contact. “Are you sure about that, Ryuuzaki? Aren’t you worried that I might poison you?” he asked pleasantly, only loud enough for the slender eccentric’s ears. The scrutiny onyx eyes had given the cup failed to escape his notice, and it irked him that the raven-haired man was paranoid enough to suspect him of doing something to his coffee in front of the entire investigation team.

Twin obsidians slid to rest their gaze on the hand upon their owner’s shoulder. “It’s not quite your style, Kira,” the detective responded softly.

And Light found himself thinking that L was like a meeting of opposites and extremes. The older man’s voice was deep, smooth and gentle in contrast to his abrupt mannerisms while his too-thin body hid an amazing amount of latent strength. His posture was always entirely too relaxed, yet he was one of the most guarded and paranoid people on the planet. His sloppy appearance hid a brilliant mind that also contrasted sharply with his lack of social and emotional awareness. Best of all, he could say someone was his first and only friend while striving to get them a death sentence.

He leaned down to murmur in the investigator’s ear, taking a minute amount of sadistic satisfaction in the shiver the sensation of his breath on pale skin evoked from the other. “Well… I could… put something like sodium pentathol into it and try to make you tell me your real name,” he riposted sweetly.

There was a slight pause. “Is that a confession I hear, Kira?” the eccentric queried, barely above a whisper, tilting his head back slightly to get the brunet’s face within his peripheral vision. Not that it mattered much, since Light probably knew as well as he did that the efficacy of such so-called truth serums was highly overrated.

“What do you think, L?” Light returned, his tone still saccharine. He wasn’t Kira, but the point was that L thought he was and was obsessive with mixed conviction and paranoia.

The oddball smiled gently at that. Light was teasing about his paranoia. “Maybe about fourteen percent. If you or I were Kira, we wouldn’t be discussing our plans to kill each other.”

“Hm, but because you are L, you’d think that I’m deliberately saying these things to make you think so,” Light riposted, being sure to exhale down the other’s slender neck as he spoke and delighting somewhat spitefully in the shudder that ran through that willowy body in response.

“You see, that’s why I was depressed. Second-guessing myself like that has no closure,” L explained, leaning forward and reaching for the coffee to put some distance between himself and the brunet as he tried to force himself to relax. Extensive physical contact with other people made him uneasy, and Light was far too close for comfort. “So… Will Light-kun keep making me coffee?” he asked playfully, changing the subject as he took another sip of the warm liquid.

He gazed at the other’s reflection on the coffee as the younger genius smiled with mild amusement. “Maybe about… fourteen percent of the time,” came the answer.

Somehow, Light didn’t feel quite so annoyed at the strange detective anymore.

A/N: It has always fascinated me how this site's hit-review ratio can be as astounding as about 110:1. =.= *sigh* Why do I even bother checking.