Another chapter! As always, reviews are super appreciated, and I hope everyone enjoys!

When L woke up, his face was against Light's neck.

After a couple more moments of assessment, L gathered that: their legs were tangled, his arm was draped over Light's side, Light's hand was still resting in his hair, and together, they were very, very warm.

Additionally, it was obvious that Light was still asleep, because his breathing was slow and even and deep, and L could tell that he was relaxed — his body wasn't tense.

L was not at all sure how long he'd been asleep. Though he knew himself, so he was assuming it hadn't been all that long. Which meant that Light definitely deserved more sleep, and that L had to detach himself from him without waking him up.

More than likely an impossible task.

And, sure enough, when he was attempting to get his head away from Light's hand, he felt said hand start moving — and then Light was gently combing through his hair.

"Good morning," he mumbled, eyes closed, voice muffled and very sleepy. "You're allowed to move yourself away from me, you know."

"I'm aware," L said, though he did feel bad for waking Light up. "I thought that Light-kun should get more sleep."

"Very considerate." Light yawned, and then rolled over, onto his back, effectively freeing L from his grip. He stretched, crossing his arms behind his head, and then simply stayed like that, looking more relaxed than L was used to seeing.

His hair was tousled and messy, a classic case of bedhead, but somehow it still managed to look like a style, like it was purposeful. His face was slightly flushed, courtesy of how close he and L had been, but that wasn't a bad look, either.

It was absolutely a new experience, waking up next to Light Yagami — but he had a feeling that he could get used to it.

After another moment or two of simply looking at Light, L moved himself onto his back as well, staring at the ceiling, before he was glancing over to look at the clock on his bedside table, and —

"It's 11am," he said in absolute disbelief, his eyes now wide and staring at the clock. "We slept for-"

"Six hours?" When L looked back over at Light, he was sitting up, leaning on one arm, and looking considerably less carefree than he had just a moment ago. "Is — everyone's here already, aren't they?"

"Absolutely," L said, even though he supposed he didn't know for sure. But, there was one way that he could — "Watari? When did everyone arrive this morning?"

It took a few seconds longer than it normally did, but soon Quillsh was answering through the speakers in the room, saying, "Aizawa arrived at 7:45, Soichiro arrived at 9, Matsuda arrived at 9:30, and Mogi arrived shortly after him."

"We can't go down there at the same time," Light said, immediately. "You go first, and then I'll go fifteen minutes later."

L raised an eyebrow. "What would happen if we did come in at the same time?"

"A situation that we definitely do not need to deal with right now." Light stood up, smoothing out his shirt, and — he was not wearing pants. Right. That. L had (somehow?) forgotten about that. The two of them just stared at each other for a few moments, before L's eyes were drifting down to Light's exposed thighs (very muscular, somewhat similar to his own; not lined with cuts, definitely not similar to his own), and that's when Light snapped back into action, quickly reaching down to grab and pull on his pants. "I'm still with Misa, remember? Do we want the task force to think that I'm cheating on her?"

"Is that what they'll assume?" L asked, because he was fairly certain that while it would be strange, L and Light entering the work room together and very late, no one would automatically think that they were seeing each other. "Also — isn't that exactly what you're doing?"

That made Light pause — as if he actually hadn't considered it before. "Yes," he said, slowly. "But that revelation doesn't need to be made public until after we get the second notebook."

"Sure," L agreed, and he was also getting up and out of bed, and making his way over to Light. "I very firmly believe that if Light-kun and I were to arrive downstairs at the same time, it would not make anyone think that he and I are together. Light-kun must be aware of the fact that he presents very heterosexually."

Light rolled his eyes, but before he could speak, Quillsh was interrupting them by saying, "The common assumption among the team is that Light spent the night with Misa Amane."

"Thank you, Watari," L said. And then: "See? Heterosexual. No reason to worry."

"Right." They stared at each other for a moment longer, but then something in Light's expression was changing, becoming — softer, and he was asking, "You don't think that I don't want people to know about us, do you? After the case is over, I'll gladly tell my father about us."

Gladly? That was an exaggeration. "I do not think that, no," L said, though he wouldn't have blamed Light, if that were the case. "I think that Light-kun has a complicated relationship with his father and with himself, and that he can take all the time he needs to be sure of what he wants to do, regarding us." He paused for a moment, debated whether he should continue, but, of course, he did. "Actually, I would like some clarification on what he means by us."

Whatever they were, they'd only been anything other than friends for around a week or so. Obviously, L wasn't sure how any aspect of a relationship worked, but a week seemed like a rather short amount of time. Though, they had spent every night for that entire week with each other, whether they were talking, working, kissing — so perhaps it wasn't too soon for them to be — them. One unit. Together.

"We don't have to be anything," was Light's initial response, but after L raised his eyebrows in surprise, he continued with, "I would understand if labeling the two of us as something so soon was — overwhelming for you. So we don't have to be anything."

This was probably not the time for them to have this conversation, because L was getting the feeling that it meant more than he had initially intended, but if he postponed it, it was very possible that they'd never come back to it. So — "If it were your choice, what would you want us to be?"

"Boyfriends sounds ridiculous," Light said, no hesitation, and while L definitely agreed, it made his chest ache in the warm, good way, to think of Light Yagami as his boyfriend. "Partners sounds better. I would call you my partner, if it were entirely my choice. But it's not, so-"

"You are Light Yagami, my partner," L said, interrupting him, but Light didn't seem to mind, based on the small, soft smile that was now on his face. "And I, Ryuzaki," L Lawliet, "am your partner. Is Light-kun okay with this agreement?"

"Yes." He was still smiling, and combined with his still very present bedhead, it was — nice. Pleasant. Maybe even a bit lovely. "I am definitely okay with this agreement."

"Good." They were still standing fairly close to each other, and in any other situation, he would have leaned in, given Light a kiss. However — "Our absence is already suspicious, Light-kun, so unfortunately I think it's best if we go downstairs."

"And you want us to go down at the same time?" Despite Light seeming to agree, he was not making any effort to move away from him. In fact, after another moment or two, he was taking L's hand in his own, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Am I really that heterosexual?"

"Most definitely." L paused for a moment, before continuing with, "But that's only because most people don't see your nightly skin care routine."

"That — Ryuzaki, genuinely, it's strange to not have a skin care routine. And it's-"

"Strange to sleep in jeans, I'm well aware." Based on the look on Light's face, that was absolutely what he had been about to say. "Maybe you should try it sometime."

"Only if you try sweatpants, at least," Light said, and now he was moving towards the bathroom, pulling L with him. "What about blue sweatpants? Will that work?" Light didn't even give him time to answer. "Can Watari order you some pants? No doubt he knows what size you are."

"I can," Quillsh said — very unhelpfully.

Though the look on Light's face made it slightly worth it. "There you go. Order him some blue sweatpants, and more yogurt."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." For the first time, it truly occurred to L exactly why Quillsh had been so adamant on Light finding out about his — nightly habit. It was because of things like this — things like wanting L to wear more comfortable pants to sleep (even though it was a non-issue, really), or wanting him to eat healthier. It was him trying to encourage self care, he supposed, and ordinarily, he wouldn't even consider it, but —

"Thank you, Watari," L said. "Light-kun's suggestions have merit, so I'm to assume that the pants will be put into my closet when they arrive?"

"That is correct," Quillsh said, and Light's smile was annoyingly (wonderfully) bright.

It was closer to noon than 11 when they actually made it to the work room.

Immediately, all eyes were on them — all four pairs of eyes, because yes, Aizawa was back. That was still catching him off guard — though neither L nor Light said anything. They both (as planned) calmly walked to their desks, and sat down without a word, Light immediately beginning to work on research, while L began to work on the stack of blueberry pancakes he'd brought with him.

It took two minutes before Soichiro Yagami was saying, "You never came home last night, Light."

And then almost immediately, Matsuda was adding, "And you're wearing the same clothes as yesterday."

Without looking away from his computer, Light said, "My date with Misa ended pretty late, so I just decided to come here instead of going home. The guest rooms are pretty nice, and Ryuzaki said it was no trouble at all."

At that, all eyes were now on him, and he took three more bites of his pancakes before he was saying, "Any of you are welcome to spend the night here. We have plenty of spare rooms."

"But why did you guys come down here so late?" Matsuda again. Of course. Soichiro was too polite to ask any prying questions, but Matsuda didn't seem to care. "You're always here before anyone else."

"I was working out some technological issues with Watari." And, even though it wasn't part of their plan, L couldn't help but add, "And Light-kun was sleeping. It appears that Misa-san truly exhausted him."

The look on Soichiro's face was nearly the same as when they'd both watched Light read his adult magazines over the surveillance cameras. Matsuda looked — jealous? (L couldn't possibly understand why.) Both Aizawa and Mogi simply looked uncomfortable, which was understandable. And Light —

He was shooting a glare at L that said something along the lines of, Was that really necessary?

L just shrugged. And while Light rolled his eyes with a little more annoyance than normal, there was still the now ever-present fondness.

Thankfully, the implied reference to Light's (non-existent) sex life seemed to make everyone uncomfortable enough to drop the topic, and they continued on with their work in silence, as per usual. The only sounds were typing on keyboards and the occasional shuffle of papers, and after a little while, Matsuda and Mogi were looking up some specific death in the Death Note, trying to link it to the second Kira — somehow. L wasn't all that concerned about it.

What he was concerned with, however, was Light — for some reason. He couldn't help but look over at him every few minutes, thoroughly enjoying his I'm focused on research face. And really, he wasn't even sure what he was researching, considering that their work during the day was mostly about trying to find a link between Higuchi and the second Kira — which he and Light both knew was an impossible task. But it kept up the ruse that they were hard at work, and it also gave him something to look at, because he sincerely loved seeing Light use his brain, watching him think, watching him come up with solutions to problems that should have been impossible, watching him —

"Ryuzaki," Quillsh said, snapping him immediately back into the present, and out of his thoughts. He briefly made eye contact with Light (he'd been staring at him, after all), and then he was looking back at his computer, just in time for Quillsh to continue with, "Higuchi just forfeited ownership of the Death Note."

"What?" he and Light asked in unison, and Light was getting up from his chair and coming over to stand next to L, as if being closer to his computer would aid them in any way.

"During an interview with an NPA officer, Higuchi was made aware of how many days it had been since his arrest." Twelve. It had been twelve. "Before anything could be done, he announced to Rem that he was relinquishing ownership. He now has no memory of being Kira and is insisting that he is innocent."

"Why did the NPA officer tell him how many days it had been?" Light asked, leaning on his desk with both hands planted firmly on it. "Weren't there instructions not to do that?"

"According to the officer, it was an accident." Right. Of course. An accident. How convenient. "I will be informing the officer's superior about the mistake."

"Won't Higuchi still die?" Mogi asked, and L had been wondering if anyone caught onto that little detail. "It doesn't matter if someone owns the notebook, the rule says the user will die. He's still in danger."

"He doesn't realize that," L said. "He misunderstood the rule."

"But who has ownership of the notebook now?" Soichiro asked from behind them, and when L turned around to look at him, he was also standing. "If not Higuchi, then-"

"Uh, guys?" Everyone turned to look at Matsuda, who was — he was holding the notebook. "You don't think it matters that I was holding this, do you?"

"Rem stayed with Higuchi the entire time he was in prison, despite the fact that the Death Note wasn't with him," Light said, and when L looked over at him, they made immediate eye contact. "Which means that the Shinigami stay with the owner, and not the notebook. So that means-"

"Rem should come here, if Matsuda is the new owner," L finished, and this was — not what they had planned. This was the very opposite of what they had planned. Matsuda being the owner? They were doomed.

"I don't want to own this thing!" Matsuda threw the notebook down onto the table, as if that would make any difference at all. "Doesn't that mean I'll die in thirteen days?"

"Only if you kill someone," L said. "Which I wouldn't suggest doing."

"How long will it take for Rem to get here?" Aizawa asked, and yes, that was right, he was back. Of course.

"The facility where Higuchi's being kept is pretty far away from here," Mogi said. "Or — can Shinigami teleport?"

"Matsuda, if you are, in fact, the new owner," L began, ignoring both Aizawa and Mogi, "I want you to relinquish ownership so I can become the new owner."

"What?" At least three people had asked that, in unison, though one of them was most definitely Light.

So L turned to him, and — he was unsure how to feel about the worry he saw in his eyes. He decided to simply ignore it, for the time being. "Do we want Matsuda to own the Death Note?" His voice was quiet, and he was fairly certain that no one but Light could hear him.

"Do we want Rem following you around?" was Light's returning argument, which — was definitely fair, but still. "At least if she's with Matsuda, we still have some time every night."

"But then we have no control over what he says to her." It seemed that Rem liked to talk — under certain circumstances, anyway. And no doubt Matsuda would chat with her, once he was used to her presence. More than likely, the topics of conversation would be harmless — but what if they weren't? "We need to be aware of what information she's getting."

Light looked halfway between conceding and arguing more — but it didn't matter. When L glanced back over at Matsuda, Rem was already standing directly behind him.

"Good afternoon, Rem," L greeted, which got no response from her — but caused the rest of the task force to look around, many of them gasping at the sight of her. And Matsuda —

"I'm giving up ownership of the notebook!" He hadn't even bothered to ask if he was the owner, but. That was fine. "I don't want to be the owner! Make Ryuzaki the owner!" And then — Matsuda was looking around, blinking, and for a second, L was sure that he'd lost his memories, too, but soon enough, he was saying, "Where'd she go? Rem's gone. Does that mean that it worked?"

It must have worked — considering Rem was most definitely still there.

Without answering Matsuda's question, L stood up, walked over to the table, and picked up the notebook, staring up at Rem as he held it in his hands.

"Am I now the owner of this Death Note?" he asked. The rest of the task force was quiet — even Matsuda, who was probably very confused.

After just another moment, Rem was simply saying, "Yes."

But L didn't need confirmation from her. Not really, anyway. Being the owner of a killer notebook — it was something he could feel, something resting heavy on his chest, something suffocating. It was evil, and wrong, and maybe it was all in his head, actually feeling proof that he was the owner, but — maybe it wasn't.

Either way, he didn't want it. This wasn't what their plan was supposed to be, it wasn't how anything was supposed to go. Higuchi was supposed to remain the owner of the notebook and stay alive, proving the thirteen day rule wrong, so they could actually start searching for the second Death Note.

But — that would, in turn, make Light and Misa suspects again, which before, was fine — without their memories, their innocence was easier to prove. However, after L and Light's revelation from the night before —

Making Misa a suspect again would be putting her in danger, and Rem wouldn't allow that to happen.

(If their hypothesis was correct. L had a feeling it was.)

There was never going to be a time in which the thirteen day rule was proved wrong, as long as Rem was around. In order to protect Misa, she would prove the rule right, again and again and again. Higuchi didn't understand the rules of the notebook — he'd thought that forfeiting ownership would save him. But in all actuality, he was still going to die in a day — and Rem was going to be the one to kill him.

That had always been the plan. L just hadn't — realized it.

And that also meant that the only way to get the second notebook was to ask Rem (if she even knew where it was) — or, if that plan failed, they would have to ask Kira.

"Is Rem still here?" Matsuda broke the silence that had fallen over the room, and L looked away from the Shinigami's gaze, thinking for half a second before he was pushing the notebook into Matsuda's hands.

"Touching the notebook again might make you see her again," he said, and after another moment, he was turning, heading out of the room, saying, "I'm going to the bathroom," as he did.

His destination was the closest bathroom to the work room, because he didn't know what he was doing, or exactly why he'd left — he just needed time. He needed a second to think, because he didn't know how they were going to do this. He'd thought it was a possibility, that Higuchi would forfeit ownership of the Death Note, but he'd counted on him not knowing how many days he'd been in prison. And so after the thirteen days, he would stay alive, the rule would be proven wrong, and they could start looking for the second notebook in the right places, with Rem still dutifully attached to Higuchi's side.

But that was the plan before they realized Rem's motive. Before they realized that Rem was protecting Misa, that she wouldn't let her be in any danger.

And now —

L was the owner of the Death Note. And Higuchi was going to be killed by Rem.

He didn't know what to do.

"Ryuzaki?"

L blinked a few times, looking towards the closed and locked door of the bathroom. Part of him just wanted to ignore it, wanted to be left alone, but the other part of him remembered the agreement he just made — the agreement to tell Light whenever he felt like it.

So, he opened the door. And then they were simply face to face for a few moments, L not knowing what to do with the worry in Light's eyes or what his own face could possibly look like.

Silently, Light was pushing past him and into the room, shutting the door behind him, and then he was —

Sitting on the floor. Cross legged and staring expectantly up at L, like it was obvious that he should just — join him.

L gave him a skeptic look for about seventeen seconds, and then he was sitting down, too, right in front of him and also cross legged, mimicking his position.

"I don't know what Light-kun wishes to achieve by sitting on the floor," he said.

"It's more comfortable," was his response, which was — strange, and then he was continuing with, "What are you thinking about?"

L almost had to hide a smirk. Almost. "What reasons Light-kun could possibly have for wanting to sit on the floor."

Light rolled his eyes. "Okay, smartass. Give me an actual answer and I'll actually tell you why we're sitting on the floor."

Well, that was a mostly fair deal, so. "I'm thinking about how our plans have been ruined."

Light nodded, seemingly appreciating his answer, before saying, "We're sitting on the floor because it's distracting you from thinking about other things."

Other things. Right. And by that, Light meant, slicing your skin open with a blade.

"It is working," L allowed. "Though not as much, now that you've revealed your motive. You should have kept me guessing for a little longer."

"Valuable feedback, thank you," Light said. "Our plan was already going to be to talk to Rem, right? So now we're just doing that here, instead of there."

"Optimism isn't a good look on you, Light-kun." That made him roll his eyes again, but L didn't let him say anything else. "There are a few more things that are different about the situation now. Yes, we can talk to her here, but there's no room for us to prepare, because she'll be with us the entire time. And we don't want her to be aware of all the information we know." He paused for a moment, taking a quick glance around the room, before he was sighing, shaking his head. "You shouldn't even be in here. We don't need her joining us."

"Matsuda was asking her a bunch of questions, so we're fine for a few minutes." Light looked down at the space between them (which wasn't very much), and then looked back up, worry still in his eyes. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm fine." It was a lie, but hopefully a forgivable one. "It just — feels like I can't focus right now. There's too much going on."

"I know," Light said, gently, and L wasn't sure if he appreciated the tone or hated it. "But you can. You're focused on me, aren't you?"

"You're easy to focus on." L wanted to reach out and touch, but he didn't — because he didn't want to get caught by a Shinigami. (God, what had this case become?) "In fact, you're rather distracting, Light-kun. But you already know that."

"I do, yes." Light stood up after a second, holding his hand out to L, and though he obviously didn't need it to get up, he took it anyway, using it to pull himself up. "I think I'm only distracting to you, though."

"Perhaps Matsuda as well." Once Light raised a confused eyebrow, L couldn't help but smirk. "I've caught him staring a few times."

"Have you? Interesting." Even though they were both standing, Light hadn't let go of his hand yet, and L hadn't, either. "I have options now."

"You do," L agreed. "Me, Misa, Matsuda, and, additionally, every other person on Earth."

"Oh, please." L was very ready to argue about Light's incredible attractiveness, but then his face was changing, becoming more serious, and he said, "I'm going to head back out there, okay? And if you feel — overwhelmed at all, just — focus on me." L must have looked skeptical, because Light continued with, "You said it was easy, right? So if you can't focus on anything else, focus on me."

There was that warm feeling in his chest again. "Okay, Light-kun. I'll focus on you."

"Good." And then they were just standing there, still holding hands — and Light pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, before he was letting go, walking away, leaving the room.

Once the door was shut again, L simply stood there, trying to recollect his thoughts, trying to make sense of how the case had shifted, and how it could possibly work in their favor.

But it didn't exactly matter how he thought of it — this wasn't supposed to happen. It did all come back to the mistake that the NPA officer had made — Higuchi wasn't meant to know how many days it had been since his arrest, because knowing would make him panic, and do something without thinking (and he had) — but it also came back to a mistake that he and Light made.

With realizing that Rem was protecting Misa, they should have also realized that there was no chance of Higuchi surviving. There was no chance of the rule being proven as fake.

He and Light did work well together, that was true, but they also — they were too involved. They spent more time kissing than they did working the case, and that —

It was their fault. His fault.

But if they had realized that Rem was going to kill Higuchi, what could they have done? Protected him? There was no protecting someone from a Shinigami. The most they could have done was figured out a plan for after he was dead, which was what they needed to do now, but —

"Ryuzaki." Quillsh's voice admittedly startled him, and he looked up towards where they'd placed the microphone. "You should rejoin the task force."

"Yes, of course." L moved towards the door, opening it a crack, before hesitating and saying, "Thank you, Watari."

"Anytime." He hadn't said Lawliet, obviously — but it was implied. They both knew it was there.