Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ PITCH ❯ Lair ( Chapter 8 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

 

Pitch: (def.) 

A substance commonly utilized to bind materials in construction... Tar pitch appears solid, and can be shattered with a hard impact, but it is actually fluid. Pitch flows at room temperature, but extremely slowly. To attain maximum fluidity, to be used, it must be exposed to heat.

 

Minds are like pitch. To reveal their full potential, they must be exposed to environs that apply stress. They must be challenged.

 

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Part 8: (Lair)

 

L took the time Raito was using to smoke to get a handle on his desperate physical state.

 

When Raito lit a second cigarette, he was relieved at the extra time that would give him, though he was starting to wonder if the brunette's father had had a point when he mentioned cancer.

 

Not that it was any of his business what Raito did with his body...

 

L closed his eyes, leaned back in the seat, and tried to think of things that were as unsexy as possible. In his mind, he reconstructed his computer desk and took it back apart again, down to the smallest pieces. He moved on to brief musings about his current cases, but found his concentration was not up to it. He thought about Aiber, and as a result, felt mildly pissed off, but it didn't really distract him from Raito, whom he could see so easily through the windshield. 

 

He didn't even need to open his eyes to do it. The image was burned there in his mind.

 

It occurred to him, guiltily, that he was pretty much planning not to return home tonight, and he had yet to inform Watari. Premeditated intimacy... was that more or less frowned upon than not premeditated? Was it more or less a sign of moral corruption?

 

Not that he subscribed to the standard moral fare, but a lot had happened in the last several days. First, he had been seduced by a near stranger, and had actually had sex with him. Second, preceding this event, he'd never thought to consider what gender he might be attracted to and it was a little perplexing to have skipped completely over the opposite gender without so much as a kiss to test the waters. Third, he had some serious reservations about the sort of person Raito actually was, and the truly alarming part about it was that he couldn't remain properly cautious.

 

Raito scared him a little at times, and L couldn't even keep that in mind when the brunette was touching him. It was like someone or something else took complete control over his body and his power to affect anything grew more diminished with each passing moment.

 

He was half afraid he would feel like this with anyone who got close, and half afraid that it was only the brunette that made him feel this way.

 

L pulled his phone out of his pocket to send a text email to Watari. His hands were trembling with the effort of maintaining motor control in the face of the nervousness that was coming to the fore as his body began, finally, to cool down. 

 

I just want you to know that I am about to engage in a night of premeditated sex with someone I hardly know, and that it may or may not involve a bathtub.

 

No.

 

I'm going to be out late again tonight, like last night, doing unspeakable things that render my brain functions NULL and I'm not sure when I might recover enough to come home.

 

No, no. 

 

It was harder to compose a message than he thought, with these awful snippets of truth typing themselves out in his head.

 

Finally, he settled on the following:

 

I might be out late. L

 

He sent it off and looked up as the car door opened. Raito looked through the opening, and asked if L could hang on to the containers of leftover food. L noticed the brunette's eyes focus on his cell and narrow slightly before L tucked it out of sight. By the time he took the food from Raito, that strangely intense look had been wiped clean.

 

L wondered if it was still there, beneath the smooth features of complacency that had replaced it. Raito was silent as he backed the car out of the driveway, then pulled out onto the road. And, if L wasn't imagining it, an uncomfortable air of disapproval was hanging thick within the car. He jumped as the automatic locks suddenly engaged with a lurching thunk.

 

"Something on your mind?" L ventured, disliking the unpredictable moodiness the brunette seemed prone to. It wasn't like he assumed that he was the cause of it, but Raito had a way of making him feel like he'd done something wrong.

 

"No."

 

L risked a glance at him, but his face indicated nothing new. But now L had the urge to be out of this car after all and it was amplified greatly by the knowledge that he was locked in. It made the space a little claustrophobic, actually.

 

"Nothing at all?" he tried again.

 

"Nothing," was Raito's short reply.

 

L tapped on his phone through his jeans as he kept the silence. It was sort of a relief when the phone buzzed against his fingertips, giving him something to do. He pulled out the glossy red phone and pressed a few buttons so he could read the message that came through. It was Watari answering back. He expressed the need to know where exactly L might be, and also conveyed Aiber's apparent frustration at trying to reach him.

 

"Huh," L said under his breath. He began scrolling through his messages to see if he had missed any earlier. He had. Several, in fact. Three in a row from Aiber, the usual fare, with the added sentiment of disappointment at having been stood up. L somewhat doubted the man had even gone out and waited for him. He was just trying to be a pain in the ass, and as loudly as possible.

 

The feel of sudden acceleration, and the louder sound of the engine made L look up in a hurry. Their car whisked under the beginnings of a red light, and made a fast lane change around a slower vehicle. Raito looked distinctly annoyed now. He accelerated even more and tucked around a van and behind a coup, then past a dark blue car and out into open road. The speed of it was pressing L back into his seat, and causing his heart to pound frightfully.

 

"Is there any reason you're driving so fast?" he tried to ask calmly, hoping his query would not incite increasingly reckless behavior.

 

"You don't like how I drive?" the brunette asked with a challenging undertone, staring straight ahead.

 

L gripped the handle on the side of the door while nearly dropping his phone while another high-speed maneuver was executed. He took a shallow breath and focused on the word non-confrontational instead of the growing surety that they were going to crash into something any second. "I wouldn't say that... but you seemed a little more relaxed on the drive over?"

 

"Oh, did I?"

 

The statement was laissez-faire, but again, Raito's tone seemed a little too sharp for it to be taken that way. 

 

"A bit," L said through clenched teeth as he watched the position of the speedometer spiking up. He supposed it was lucky they were on a stretch of highway. He didn't think his nerves could take it if there were stop signs involved, and the running of said stop signs.

 

L decided to try and respond to a few of his messages with one hand while holding onto the car door for dear life. Maybe a distraction would get him through this.

 

---

 

Light was irritated. Extremely so.

 

It would even be more accurate to say that he was jealous.

 

And that was what made him angry. He didn't get jealous. But watching Lawliet on his phone, thumbing through countless messages - not to mention the one he'd spent so long mulling over before they'd left his parent's driveway - was doing just that. 

 

While he had been battling with himself, actually having difficulty reining in his desires, Lawliet was calmly communicating with other people on his cell phone. Not only that, he'd looked me in the eye and tucked it away almost guiltily. Who had he been talking to? 

 

Who really had the upper hand here?

 

Was it Lawliet, who had pulled that little red and black phone out again when he thought Raito wasn't looking? Or was it Raito, who could instill a bit of uneasiness in his passenger through driving more aggressively than usual?

 

He would have said it was himself, but then he saw Lawliet doggedly typing on the damn thing with one hand while gripping the car door with the other.

 

It was soon time to exit the highway, and Raito used the change in roads to affect a change in his strategy. Lawliet was too determined to be intimidated so simply. He didn't like to lose. 

 

There was also the fact that he was in Raito's car, en route to Raito's home and, in a way, was totally at Raito's mercy.

 

Raito took a silent, deep breath and forced himself to clear his head. There was no need for jealousy. He was fairly certain that he was the first person who had ever gotten this close to the dark-haired intellectual, the first to have had sex with him, and the first to engage him on such a level. Jealousy was unfounded. Even if others wanted to compete for such a position, they hadn't been successful before his presence, so they should be even less so now.

 

Still, he was jealous. What about people who had yet to try and ensnare the unsuspecting insomniac? And how many might there be?

 

But he did not have to stay in the dark. 

 

He merely had to gain access to dear Lawliet's phone.

 

It would be an easy feat if things progressed as he'd originally planned. Lawliet had been quite blissfully unconscious when they'd finished the other night. But in order to ensure that scenario, he had to undo the damage he'd done. Dark eyes were flicking his way warily, as if uncertain of what he might do next.

 

That which had been broken must now be regained.

 

He had to secure his companion's trust, and before the car stopped.  

 

"I don't get along with my father," he tossed out, dropping the topic like a rock in a still pool.

 

"I gathered that."

  

"The more I was thinking of things, the more it was bothering me. I'm sorry if I was driving like a bit of a lunatic. It was inconsiderate." Raito was pleased to see that as soon as they began talking, Lawliet made his cell phone disappear. 

 

"You could have just said so instead of insisting nothing was wrong."

 

"I haven't made a habit of discussing my personal problems with anyone."

 

Raito found that renewed communication was washing away the acrid taste of his previous agitation. It was also pulling his attention, with renewed interest, back to the exposed, vulnerable areas of Lawliet's pale throat and wrists. He liked that the other man was taking steps to appease him and understand him, despite that cautious approach. It was a shame this conversation was a farce.

 

After a long pause, his companion said sullenly, under his breath, "Well, perhaps you should try it, if it keeps you from getting yourself into a fiery wreck."

 

"Are you expressing concern for me, Lawliet?" Raito asked with a smile. Things were playing back into his hands, he noted with satisfaction. His pet insomniac glanced up with startled, beautifully wide eyes, denial on his tongue, though he weighed his words with care.

 

"You aren't the only one you put at risk."

 

Raito let him have that little evasion without contest. He was certain from his passenger's first reaction, that he did indeed care to some extent. Raito felt himself relax even more; knowing he had something to work with was a weight off of his mind. Now he only had to secure those elusive sentiments, elevate them exponentially, and he could guarantee his hold on Lawliet. But, first things first...

 

"Hmm. You know, I'm not sure I've ever apologized so profusely in one night."

 

"Does that mean you were intending to do so again?"

 

Raito's lips twitched up in amusement. "I was entertaining the idea. But it was starting to feel out of character."

 

"Do you usually have so much to apologize for?" 

 

Raito shrugged. Perhaps he did, but it was not usually required of him. Or was it more that he didn't often feel the necessity? The expressing of true regret, that was indeed a rarity and a far cry from the empty words he offered his father, for instance. Lawliet was dragging sincerity out of him. He probably had no idea.

 

Home was only a few minutes away now.

 

"Raito, what was your purpose in bringing me over there tonight?"

 

Had Lawliet sensed how close they were to their destination? His tone was one of someone tossing out a statement they knew might not end well. Raito looked at him carefully, scrutinizing. The signs of passion had died down and disappeared from his face and body, his breathing was inaudible and even. Now that the moment had passed, was Lawliet getting cold feet? Was he thinking they might part ways once the car had stopped? Oh no, my charming little friend, that will most certainly not come to pass.

 

But how to answer? A bit of truth would be best, but which part?

 

"I thought that you would be less likely to leave partway through in such a setting."

 

"Wha-" Lawliet turned in his seat to look at him. "That was the reason??"

 

"Don't act as if it wasn't a perfectly good one. You were upset with me. The chances of you walking out even if I had managed to bring you out somewhere were rather high." 

 

"Not necessarily," the dark-eyed man said stubbornly, crossing his hands over his chest.

 

"What about Guissupo's? You were dead set against coming, for some reason, then seemed as if you were going to jump up out of your seat at any moment."

 

Lawliet was looking fixedly out the window.

 

Raito would guess that he might have been angry, but his posture had slipped into something a little more sloppy, and he was unobtrusively biting at the tip of his thumb. This seemed indicative of deep thought, and retreat.

 

Raito planned out his next few moves. They could begin here, but there wasn't time. He was already approaching his driveway. He edited and altered his tactic as he parked the car. Lawliet was best taken advantage of when he was off balance or feeling guilty. But pressing him there too quickly would turn out poorly. For the next few minutes, Lawliet would easily be able to just walk home. 

 

Just like the ride in the cab the night before, he had to distract his companion carefully lest he take flight.

 

"Are you going to come in, or are you going walk away, as seems to be your habit?"

 

"My-?" Lawliet exclaimed, turning to face him. His expression battled between guilt, annoyance, and that wariness. "If we want to get specific, I don't do so without reason."

 

Raito scoffed and opened his door.

 

Like clockwork, as he got out, he could hear Lawliet make a sound of irritation and thrust his own door open.

 

Raito could feel his heat beat a little more quickly as the thrill of animating the dark-haired man according to his will settled over him. He could easily lose that control in the next moment, but for now, Lawliet was unwittingly playing along. 

 

"What reasons?" Raito said dismissively as he walked up to the door, noting with amusement that his companion had not forgotten the leftovers in the car. They were clutched in his pale hands, looking like they might just have an upcoming flight path towards his head.   

 

"Well, for instance--"

 

"Wait, hold that thought," Raito said, slipping his phone out of his jacket's pocket. "Hello?" he said, opening the door and walking inside. "Ok, Just a minute." He kept moving briskly towards the hall but glanced back at Lawliet. "Shut the door, would you? And put those in the fridge? Thanks." 

 

Raito curbed a smirk as he turned back around. Oh, his quarry's face was priceless. "Yeah, I'm here," Raito said into the phone. However, that look would no doubt exceed priceless if Lawliet were to find out he was faking the call - which he wouldn't. 

 

---

 

L closed the door behind him and stalked down the short hall to the kitchen on the left.

 

He hated being cut off like that. It was so irritating, especially when you couldn't recall exactly what it was you were going to say in the first place. Sure, the gist of it was the same, but the composition always differed.

 

The refrigerator was roomy enough to take the bag of stacked Tupperware without requiring rearrangement, so L shoved it in like a building block and shut the door.

 

Why am I here again?

 

He looked out over the living room, thinking on his first impression of the place with its floor to ceiling bookshelf on the far end, its dark leather couch, light wood floors, and the airy, open feel that the large windows on either side gave it. 

 

On first glance, he'd instantly liked it and felt moved to explore further. And so he had, walking from the kitchen back into the living room, just as he was doing now, until he'd come to the couch-side table and looked down. For a moment, he expected to see what he had then - a pile of cardboard coasters covered in dark black inky scribblings. But there was nothing but dark, bare wood and the lamp that sat upon it.

 

He frowned, debated briefly, and opened the table's drawer to see if they lurked inside.

 

Nothing. 

 

Nothing but a few, finely crafted pens, some paperwork, and a leather-bound personal planner.

 

He slid the door shut, wondering if the brunette had thrown them out.

 

"Looking for something?" Raito asked, emerging from the hallway that led to the bedroom.

 

L jumped, having been caught in the act. No use denying it now. "Yes. The coasters. What did you do with them?"

 

Raito looked mildly surprised. "They upset you, so I got rid of them."

 

L felt somewhat relieved, but also a little disappointed. He also felt the urge to smack himself for said disappointment. Wouldn't any normal person have discarded the controversial item in a situation like this? It was a good thing if they'd been thrown away. It meant Raito might not be as maladjusted as he'd previously seemed, didn't it? 

 

L looked at the object of his thoughts who was currently watching him.

 

"You were saying earlier?" Raito prompted. 

 

"Ah. Well." Should I even bother saying it now? The coasters are no longer an issue, since they're gone. Still, it annoyed me that he acted as if I was only acting on whim when I sought to get away from him. "I was saying that there were actual reasons behind my behavior."

 

"Mmhmm." L noticed that Raito was no longer wearing his jacket, just the soft, cream colored shirt that had been under it. It hugged his frame and arms as if it were tailored just for him and its paleness accentuated the darker color of his tanned skin. 

 

L mentally slapped himself for getting distracted. "For instance," he repeated doggedly, "I hadn't planned to leave without a word last time, but finding those coasters..." Should he say what he'd really thought at that time? That he'd thought Raito might be a deranged stalker or some such thing? Was it necessary?

 

"Anyone would have been troubled at such a find," Raito said easily, as he stepped closer. "Anyone would have worried about what sort of person I was after seeing that."

 

L frowned a little. "I wasn't 'worried'..." Had he made too big a deal out of it? Raito's placating, understanding tone made him feel as if he were being humored, that they were going to gracefully sidestep his massive paranoia and pretend it was a perfectly normal thing. 

 

Raito reached out and touched the side of L's arm briefly, his eyes looking a bit disappointed and solemn. "I can understand your reaction, Lawliet, but why did you intend to have things end right there?"

 

L bit the inside of his lip. He'd never heard his name used with such entreaty, and it pulled at things in his chest. Had he really been this wrong? "It was... just the reaction I had. It was so unexpected..." It was hard to give excuses to those dark, burnished-gold eyes as they regarded him with quiet reserve. They were crushing him with their soulful look and causing him to second-guess himself.

 

Raito caught L's hand in a gentle clasp of fingertips and brought it up to his lips, pressing a kiss across his knuckles. "I have to take care of something for work... it may take a little while, but in the meantime you are welcome to the bath I promised."

 

L chewed on his lip. He'd been reconsidering staying. He was just going to give the brunette a piece of his mind before walking home, but suddenly the climate had changed once again. 

 

"Will you wait for me, Lawliet? At least that long?" 

 

What would a bath hurt while he waited? It was work, so it wasn't as if Raito would be free to join him in there, unannounced. Of course, he could always take a look at the book that Raito had retrieved from his parent's house instead, but L had quite lost track of it's location. Oh, really... mainly he just didn't want to have to say no to the look on the brunette's face. "Okay," he said reluctantly.

 

Raito smiled at him and it was dazzling.

 

The brunette then stole a quick kiss, as if L might disallow it, which tingled lingeringly upon L's lips long after if was over. "I'll start the water running and find you something to wear," he said.

 

L nodded, and sank onto the couch, still dazed by the power of the brunette's smile and the warm, fluttery feeling in his stomach that the kiss had inspired. 

 

Was this side always a part of him too? This nearly sweet, sensitive side? Every time he thought he had Raito figured out, he was privy to something new and unexpected. Brusque, arrogant, demanding, these were the things he had counted as Raito's own personal, patented adjectives. (Don't forget sensual) a voice in the back of his head reminded him needlessly. Shut up, he told it, putting his face in his hands. Was this really all right? 

 

So if he stayed until after a bath, and after Raito dealt with work things, what then?

 

What was he expecting?

 

Did he envision them talking, continuing to hash out these miscommunications and misconceptions between them, and sharing? Getting to know each other? Was that naive? 

 

Or was he secretly hoping that Raito might kiss him again in that overwhelmingly passionate way he had, and that one thing might lead to another?

 

L brushed his fingers over his lips. 

 

I'm just trying to be prepared, he told himself. I like knowing what to expect. 

 

L got to his feet before he continued his inner discourse in any more self-analyzing detail. 

 

The hallway off of the living room was longer than he thought. Raito's room was on the right, the light burning a warmly yellowed rectangle out upon the hallway's wooden floor. He peeked inside. The brunette was sitting on his bed, Indian-style, pen in hand, a mass of papers arrayed around him and a cell phone pressed to his ear. He looked up as he spoke and waved L down the hall to the bathroom and continued in a rather spirited manner as the person on the other end apparently disagreed with him on the location and date of something.

 

Political Lobbyist... 

 

He still didn't know how Raito managed to make as much money as he appeared to with such a job. Unless someone had taken him under their wing and was grooming him for a much higher position? Or were bribes playing a large factor in this political scene? There had to be something... Perhaps something that was enough to cause such bitterness in Raito's father? 

 

Of course, personal prejudice did not need to be founded upon anything concrete; the police chief might merely be biased.

 

L came to the end of the hall, noting a second door on the right as he passed that was shut and locked. The door before him was not, and behind it he could hear running water. It was ajar, spilling dimmed, flickering light into the hallway. He pushed it open.

 

He blinked.

 

It had to be one of the more extravagant bathrooms he'd seen, almost as wide as the living room itself, done up in a Westernized style with rich shades of brown, cinnamon, and cocoa. The tub was indeed large, the surrounding area covered in small, expensive-looking tiles that reflected the spice-inspired shades of the bathroom in their dappled coloring. The flickering light was from the darkly colored pillar candles that stood sentry in the tub's tiled alcove. Deep gold, blackened green, and a reddish purple. 

 

Perhaps he always lights these and thinks nothing of it?

 

L nearly looked behind him to see if Raito was intending to share the bath after all, but he could still hear him on the phone, faintly, over the rushing of water.

 

The room practically hummed with richness and sensuality. 

 

It would be an understatement to say he felt out of place. 

 

L shifted from foot to foot, toying with the idea of turning the dimmed lights all the way up, but was quite reluctant to actually touch anything. In the end he closed the door, and bent to slip off his shoes. He'd never used anyone else's bathing facilities before. It was strange. 

 

He placed his shoes neatly next to the door, and began on the buttons of his shirt. Catching sight of himself in the full, counter to ceiling mirror on his left, the feeling that we was stripping down where someone could see was intensified. It was because the room was so large, probably, that made it feel like getting naked in someone's living room. 

 

The plush throw rug was soft and thick beneath his feet. There was another one like it by the counter cabinets, a circle of off-white on the floor, in front of an ornately carved, dark wood bench. Finishing the last button on his shirt, he shrugged it off and laid it upon the exquisitely patterned fabric of the cushioned seat and began on his pants.

 

It was perfectly natural to be unused to such lavish surroundings in what he usually considered to be a utilitarian sort of room, wasn't it? Bathrooms should be white tile and glaring lights. Simple, yet functional. This was more like a bedroom, though no bedroom he'd ever had.

 

He looked like a phantom in the slightly fogging mirror, all long, thin limbs and pale skin, with a shock of ink-black hair and equally dark eyes. He failed to see what it was Raito might find attractive about him, or what the brunette might have been focused on while driving so deeply inside him and murmuring his name. 

 

L watched a pink flush dust his cheeks as his he remembered the delicious weight of the brunette on top of him, the feel of a lean, muscled back beneath his grasping fingers and the pulling, tugging pleasure Raito's touch caused. 

 

What was there to desire about this body?

 

In comparison, Raito was gifted with near perfection. He was beautiful. 

 

Everything about him was flawless. On the outside, anyway. L shivered, the air feeling cooler against his flushing skin. The tub was about full now. He stepped over to the side of it and turned off the faucet then felt the bubbled water with his hand; it was hot, just shy of too much. Gingerly, he sat on the edge and swung his legs into the foaming heat. 

 

Was he infatuated with the brunette's exterior?

 

Only his exterior?

 

L slowly lowered himself into the bath and sank down into the water.

 

He'd considered that possibility at first, but he'd met other beautiful people before and none of them had gained such a hold on him as this, and within moments of meeting. No, Raito had a special way of getting under his skin and hijacking his thoughts. It was as if he had just pushed his way into L's secluded sphere of personal space and limited human contact and then demanded that he be dealt with. Hadn't it happened that way at the beginning? Stealing his pen and then on the next meeting, forcing L to endure his unsolicited presence at the table, always watching him with faintly amused eyes?

 

And what of the interior?

 

Raito both intrigued him and repelled him in some ways. He was like a minefield, and the more sensible part of L advised caution or even retreat.

 

But hadn't Raito become skilled at blocking such behavior? Digging him back out or barring his exits? That's what it is this time as well, isn't it? He'd never meant to leave the house. He'd never meant to see Raito again, nor come back to this place.

 

He hadn't wanted to revisit the taste of such all-consuming lust.

 

It was too soon, and he couldn't quite put down the feeling that he was being dragged in over his head.

 

---

 

Raito stretched and rolled his head from side to side. He'd decided to make real calls after the first fake one, for authenticity's sake, but he wasn't in the mood for dealing with anyone. He was incredibly distracted by the fiercely wary little creature that he had successfully lured home.

 

Keeping Lawliet on his toes kept him on his toes. 

 

Wooing him and seducing him so carefully was like building a house of cards. Precision, a steady hand, and impeccable control were required.

 

Raito had pursued him directly and forcibly in the beginning, which had been fine and had worked perfectly until the coaster blunder, but now a more delicate hand was needed. A softer touch...

 

He'd started to realize it as they had stood off against each other in front of his parent's house. He'd tested it out by enticing Lawliet to come to him, to kiss him instead of merely being kissed. And now again, in his own home, he baited the line and waited, playing to that lovely sense of guilt his dark-eyed guest had displayed as well as his tendency to over-think things. 

 

It would happen, if he was patient. 

 

Certainly, if he behaved himself and limited himself to only thoughts of devouring Lawliet's sweet mouth at any given moment... 

 

Ah, but patience was not always his virtue. Even as he cleared the paperwork from his bed, he was thinking of his guest in the bath, of doing the things to him that had been so plainly written upon his face earlier. Undisguised wanting... 

 

Oh, ever since he'd had Lawliet, all he could think of was how to get close enough to have him again. Once was not enough. Twice, a dozen times, he didn't think that it would sate this desire that crawled up through his belly with ragged claws, consuming his mind with lust and the insatiable craving for carnal rites and sobbing breaths.

 

Raito pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it at the tall laundry basket behind the door, suddenly feeling stifled by the long-sleeved garment. He picked his pack of cigarettes and his lighter up off the dresser. He'd go cool off outside in the night air while he waited, maybe have a smoke if the urge struck him.

 

He padded out into the living room, reflexively tapping out a cigarette to keep between his lips, before he even got to the sliding glass door that looked out on the enclosed garden.

 

He stepped outside onto the porch and slid the door shut behind him. He flicked flame from his lighter and lit the end of his cigarette, certain that he had never smoked with such frequency before meeting Lawliet. It was as if he had developed an intense case of oral fixation, one that probably would try to snuff him out with cancer, emphysema, or some other nasty thing. Then again, it hadn't been much more than a week so far, so it wasn't something to be overly concerned about yet.

 

In any case, the smoke felt good in his lungs, and the breeze felt nice against his bare skin, and Lawliet would not be able to sneak out of the house unnoticed what with the excellent view Raito had of the living room.

 

---

 

L had a conundrum.

 

After his bath, a towel had been an easy item to locate but, unfortunately, the fresh clothes the brunette had spoken of were not.

 

He had no doubt that reappearing in his own clothes would set off a maelstrom of unpleasantness, as he would have completely undone the purpose of cleansing and would have also wasted the brunette's efforts. 

 

He would rather not dispel the calmer incarnation of Raito's mood for the alternative. He also could not stay in here, forever debating his course of action. He had quite thoroughly examined the contents of the bathroom, and had not missed the location of any clothing, nor had he turned up any additional towels.

 

He rubbed the towel he did have over his hair once more, still amazed after all these years at its ability to retain water.

 

He then wrapped the towel around his waist, wishing he'd at least had another one to throw over his shoulders so he wouldn't have to appear so... naked. 

 

Oh, if wishes were fishes.

 

L spared another forlorn glance at his pile of clothing and set out into the hall.

 

____________________________________________________________< /font>

TBC

 

A/N: Someone asked me if Lawliet was L's first name in Death Note. Supposedly, his full name is L Lawliet. (L being his first name.) I just made Lawliet his first name in this fic because Raito wanted to get to say it a lot and use it to work his magic. ;) Little did L know how powerful he would find that to be. 

 

((name-fetish anyone?)) 

 

P.S. If at any point in the next few weeks updates are late, that would be because I am in the middle of moving. Just a forewarning. Next chap will be up next week.