Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ Keep Your Friends Close But Your Enemies Closer ❯ Chapter 8

“Raito…” Raito heard L say in an exasperated voice. He slowly became aware of the fact that he was leaning heavily on someone's shoulder, and they were half-dragging him into an elevator.

“L?” Raito queried groggily. He had a vague feeling that he should be feeling uncomfortable and awkward around L, but his mind was much too fuzzy and warm for him to think properly about why that might be the case.

“You're drunk,” L informed him disapprovingly, propping him up against the wall of the elevator and turning to contemplate the vast column of buttons to find the right floor number.

“You're sexy,” Raito countered in a voice that was surprisingly coherent.

When he noticed that L was speechless, he felt a rush of victory. He'd outwitted L so wittingly that L could not find a suitable witty report…retort. Witty. Hmm, it was getting harder to think straight. Whatever. What mattered was, clearly, that L was no match for him when it came to their verbal spats. In the end, Raito would always come out victorious, and L would always be left pushing blinking buttons in elevators. This pleased Raito greatly.

“1 7h1nk j00 n331) 70 5l33p 0ff 4ll 7h47 54k3,” L concluded suddenly, after an awkward pause.

Raito frowned. He had simply not understood a word of what L had just said. Not one word. In fact, his head was feeling a little funny, there was some odd buzzing going on, and everything seemed a little too loud.

“n0! 1)0n7 5l11)3 70 73h fl00r!” L exclaimed, when Raito started gravitating towards the floor at an alarmingly fast rate. L leapt forward and caught Raito just before he hit the floor.

“L…I don't understand what you're…talking. Speaking. Saying,” Raito chided, though that wasn't very important anymore, now that he was in L's arms.

“R4170, 1 4m g01ng 70 74k3 j00 70…” L began, but that was all Raito heard before he blacked out again.

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Somebody was talking much too loud. It pounded against Raito's eardrums and made his head feel as if it would split open. Really now, they needed to shut up.

With this thought in mind, Raito grudgingly opened his eyes, wincing as fluorescent light hit his face. The nerves in the back of his eyes seemed to be on fire, and the fuzzy voice was still talking incessantly.

“Shut up,” Raito hissed, moving haphazardly into a sitting position. He still couldn't see anything; the unbearably bright light obscured his vision.

“Ah, Yagami-kun, you're awake!” he heard Matsuda say cheerfully.

Raito simply wanted to hit him. What the hell was there to be cheerful about? He didn't even know where he was, nor why he had such a terrible headache.

Before he could cuss the dolt out, however, another more loathsome voice spoke.

“Good morning, Yagami-kun,” L said evenly.

Suddenly L's face swam into view as Raito's eyes adjusted to the light, and the memories of the night before flooded back.

Shit. He'd gotten drunk. And then he'd…he'd kissed L.

Raito had a sudden urge to brush his teeth.

L seemed to notice the death glare Raito sent at him, but mercifully did not ask any questions in his usual idiotic way. Instead, he turned around and walked out of the room, which Raito now recognized to be their headquarters.

L must have brought him here after their little…incident…last night. L had no home to speak of, so this would be the logical place, especially if he didn't want the chief to find out where his son had been all night.

Despite his enmity of L, Raito was a little relieved at this. The last thing he needed were questions about his outings. It seemed that L had given him this little mercy.

What surprised Raito more, though, was that L hadn't gloated over his victory. Raito had gotten drunk, something he never thought he'd do, then kissed the man, and then passed out, all over L. If Raito were in L's place, he'd never let L get away with it. He'd revel until L was dead!

But he wasn't L, Raito supposed. He just wasn't anything like that man.

He was much smarter.

Matsuda interrupted Raito's musings. “So, what exactly did you two do last night?”

Raito's head snapped over to focus on Matsuda's face, eyeing him with contempt. “Nothing,” he said in a venomous tone.

Matsuda seemed to completely miss this tone. “Oh no, Yagami-kun! I've seen that look before! The way you look at Ryuuzaki, I mean. You don't even look at Misamisa that way!” Matsuda laughed.

Raito, however, was not amused. “What exactly are you suggesting, Matsuda-san?” His tone could've shattered stone.

Once again, Matsuda was unaware of the threat in Raito's voice. He chuckled to himself. “I mean that, well, Misa is pretty hot, you know, and she drapes herself all over you, but you never seem to respond at all. You told as at the Christmas party after we got you drunk that you two haven't, you know, done it yet.”

Raito narrowed his eyes a little. That was the Christmas party he had pretended to be drunk at, thinking it would butter L up to reveal his name later. He assumed that drunk people would babble about things they shouldn't, and thought this was an appropriately un-important detail to speak of. Apparently it wasn't, as it was now back, biting him in the ass.

“And what does that have to do with anything?” Raito was now more than un-amused. He knew exactly where Matsuda was going to take this, and was almost daring him to go there. Matsuda couldn't possibly have the guts to accuse the brilliant and ruthless Raito of something like that.

Apparently he did. “Well, Yagami-kun…you and Ryuuzaki seem pretty close. And you and Misa have never gotten anywhere beyond hugs and maybe a tight-lipped kiss or two. And Misa is, simply put, irresistible, and yet you seem much more intent on Ryuuzaki. Like I said, I've seen the way you look at him.” Matsuda face was soft, almost sympathetic, which only made Raito despise him more.

“What did you just insinuate?” Raito hissed, his whole body emulating the rage he was feeling at such a suggestion.

Matsuda was a little shocked at Raito's violent reaction. “Yagami-kun, I didn't mean to—”

“No,” Raito interrupted, keeping his voice even yet deadly. “I know what you meant. And that has to be the most revolting thing I have ever heard.”

Matsuda's eyes were wide with alarm, so wide that Raito realized he usually didn't behave this way in front of his coworkers. They expected him to be the innocent, well mannered young man.

Hell, L was making him go crazy. He was losing his grip on himself. Damn that stupid man.

Raito forced his face to crack into a smile, as if everything had just been a joke. “I'm kidding, I'm kidding, Matsuda-san! You take things so seriously!” He forced a laugh for good measure.

Matsuda blinked in confusion at the sudden mood swing Raito had gone through. “Er…yeah. I guess I do…” he said, still shaking from the intensity Raito's previous tone.

Raito laughed again and stood up to leave the room, swaying slightly as the pounding in his head returned. “It's just the hang-over, that's all…” he muttered, rationalizing as much to Matsuda as to himself.

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A/N: Thanks for all the comments! More are always welcome, though ; )