Author's Note: I originally wrote this as a short little oneshot, but it developed a mind of its own and ended up being a lot longer than I intended. Most of it was written while on a camping trip. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of its characters.

Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, L's perverted mind, and candy!erotica. Fun stuff, no?

Lollipop

For once, the world's greatest detective was taking a break. Curled up in an antique red-upholstered armchair, he delicately sipped from an ornate teacup he was holding in front of his worn novel. There was a small glass bowl of hard candies resting precariously on one of the chair's arms, but wasn't actively being taken from. The young man wished more to concentrate on his sugar-laden drink and the text before him. It was turning out to be a thrilling read, too. L loved his classics.

In short, the scene would have been a perfect example of high-class British life if not for two things: L's choice of wardrobe (he had obviously neglected to hear that loose jeans and a threadbare white shirt were hardly befitting of one with as much money as he had), and the lack of any sort of classical music whatsoever in the room. In fact, the only things that kept it from being completely silent were L's slow, even breathing and the quiet mechanical noises his computer was emitting.

Between Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile and his half-full cup of tea, L's sleepless eyes turned to the doorway out of habit. Both his prime suspect and greatest asset in the Kira case was away for the day. Watari had been the one to talk L into letting him go in the first place.

'You're working Yagami-kun too hard,' Watari had told him. 'He's only a teenager, and he must be under a lot of stress because of the case. Give him a day off, L.' He had forgotten how fatherly Watari could sometimes be.

L was certainly not watching the door because he missed Raito. He was simply curious of when he was going to return. The computer clock read 5:42. Had Raito eaten dinner yet, or should he see if Watari could make him something?

No, L wasn't worried. Just wondering what was taking Raito so long. He had left at around nine or so, and hadn't even so much as called since then. L had been informed that such behavior was typical of any normal teenager, but then again Raito was anything but. It surprised L that he hadn't asked if he could pick up anything along the way. Then again, L suspected that his suspect would return with something special regardless. As it turned out, L was going to be right about that.

He'd almost missed the sounds of mixed conversation a floor below him, followed by the unmistakable noise of confident footsteps ascending the stairs. The only door in the room being opened was obvious, but L had also taken note of the lock's tinny click once it had been closed again. Obviously Raito didn't want his audience with the brilliant detective to be disturbed.

In one glance, L took in everything about Raito's appearance in an effort to discern how the young man had been spending his day. He was carrying with him a couple of large clothing-store bags, but he wasn't wearing anything new apart from a simple silver bracelet. The top of a Chinese take-out bag sticking out from one of the clothing ones had not escaped L's critical eye. So he had eaten.

"Did you have a good day, Raito-kun?" L looked back down at his book, but at least he had the sensibility to set his nearly empty teacup down in its saucer.

The first thing that Raito did was not reply, nor even set his bags down. No, the detective-in-training first snatched L's candy bowl off the armchair and gave it a safer place on the table, but not before sampling from it. It was almost cute how L's sweet tooth was starting to rub off on Raito.

The array of shopping bags was then set down in the corner of the cluttered room. The sound of this was quick to be followed by Raito's dulcet voice. "Yes, I did," he stated matter-or-factly. "What have you been up to, Ryuuzaki?"

"The same as you have been," countered L with a rare smile playing about his pale lips. He lifted up his novel for Raito to inspect. "Relaxing."

Predictably, Raito did come over to the sake of surveying the eccentric L's reading material. He'd actually flicked it open and was looking over the passage that he had bookmarked. Smirking, Raito returned it. "Isn't that a bit redundant, L? Reading mystery novels?"

L picked up on the use of his detective's persona. "Not really," he answered, picking up his teacup for the purpose of draining the remainder of its contents. "I need to keep my mind sharp. And Agatha Christie is a very good author."

Raito didn't seem convinced, but then again he offered no protest whilst he watched L drink the rest of his cold tea. The next thing he did was to reach into his jacket pocket and draw from it something that could easily be concealed in one hand. Intrigued, L asked him what he had taken, to which Raito replied, "It's a present for you. Here." With that, Raito relinquished the brightly wrapped object.

L was thrilled. What he had been given turned out to be a strawberries-and-cream lollipop. It had come from a specialty candy store from across town. He disliked sending Watari there too often because of the distance, but at least cost wasn't an issue in purchasing the rather pricey merchandise. He eagerly freed the precious sweet from its plastic bindings and studied its swirling red and white patterns for a moment.

As was always his custom, L first touched the tip of his tongue to his treat, wanting to get an idea of what the rest of it was going to be like. He grinned at the delicate flavour he tasted and, eager for more, let himself take the lollipop in its entirety into his mouth. His friend was perfectly right about him loving this. He savoured every small subtlety in the sweet taste; every little unique moment in a familiar experience. The harder he sucked, the more he could taste. By gently raking his teeth along the candy's surface, L was able to break off tiny sugary pieces. He slid the delicacy in and out of his mouth, twirling it a little to add to the wonderful tactile sensation. It was blissful to feel every tiny imperfection on the lollipop against his lips and tongue. L took it out of his mouth for only long enough to stare at the candy's distorted patterns. Then he slipped it back in again and before long could feel the creamy strawberry sweetness fill him completely. Mmm, that was so good.

L was so deep in his happy reverie that he did not notice an insistent sound coming from across the room.

"Ryuuzaki?" The childlike man turned his head lazily towards the speaker.

"I'm jealous," Raito continued. No anger was carried in his voice, only the tone of one stating a simple fact.

L straightened up coolly and slid the hard plastic shaft out of his mouth. "Jealous of what, Raito-kun?"

"Your lollipop." It was then that two things were thrown into the sharp light of realization. The first was exactly how suggestively L must have been playing with his candy. The other was the feel of Raito's wide, brown eyes upon him and the subsequent tightening of his friend's designer pants. Ah, so that's why he was so jealous.

L, never being one to state the obvious, chose to pretend that he had noticed nothing amiss. It was so fun to play mind games when Raito was like this.

"What do you mean?" L innocently inquired. The smile was proving difficult to keep off his face. "Did you want me to share it with you?"

L was suddenly made acutely aware of how close Raito had moved to him. He could feel the young man's weight leaning against his shoulder, over the armchair.

"You know perfectly well that's not what I had in mind."

The demanding kiss that followed did not catch L off his guard in the least. He eagerly leaned into Raito's lips, shifting him his seat so that neither of them would have to stretch too much. When his suspect half-sat beside him and half-pinned him against the ancient chair, L didn't make any sound or motion of surprise, nor protest. This had become so routine to them that it was almost comical.

The two of them were lovers. Only in a tactile sense, however. As far as the rest of the investigation team was concerned, Raito and L were colleagues, maybe friends. Perhaps it was best if they remained oblivious to all that went on behind closed doors. It would save all of them the severe mental shock, and keep Raito's overprotective father from throttling anyone.

All of this horribly complicated business had begun a couple of months ago. Raito had been working on the investigation for a good while. As time wore on, he found himself (against his better judgment) becoming inexplicably drawn towards L and his genius' mind. What he hadn't expected to learn was that not only L thought the same way, but was also a homosexual who preferred to keep quiet about it. All it had taken to get things started was an evening invitation to L's room, a rather short but interesting game of chess, several confessions and a lot of new discoveries.

For example, the first new thing about Raito that L learned was that the younger man liked to be in control. L wasn't going to allow that all of the time, so he quickly taught himself how to tickle (yes, tickle) Raito into submission. His soft fingers against Raito's devilishly sensitive ears were enough to make anyone give in.

Raito, on the other hand, soon figured out that his skills in the art of seducing women weren't going to be of much use to him where it concerned L. Even his romanticized notions of kissing his dark-haired lover good morning evaporated when L's constant insomnia was to be taken into account. Hell, he'd be lucky if the two of them could sleep in the same bed for more than a couple of hours, yet alone the whole night.

His past womanizing had little sway over the paradoxical L's affections, but he was still as adaptable and clever as ever. Because of this, Raito had been led to discover his most vital piece of information: L could be bribed with candy. It didn't matter what kind, as L's love of sweets encompassed almost everything imaginable. In addition, there was basically nothing that L refused to do for a treat, just as lonh as it had nothing to do with the Kira case. That was forbidden ground, and both of them knew it. Besides, Raito would never sink to that level in the first place.

Both of the investigators let their better judgment take a back seat, just as they had been doing for so long. There was a certain air of danger to their relationship, which could only add to the appeal. Raito had the experience of being so close to L's mind to see how it worked, while L had the privilege of sleeping with his murder suspect – no, his one and only friend.

Raito and L, being the disobedient kids as they were, had no qualms at all about moving to L's bed to continue with their exchange of affection. The thick quilt that covered it was quick to disappear. It had always been a bitch to clean and L didn't want to inconvenience Watari any more. He'd even gone through the trouble of disabling the video cameras in L's room. Though, that had been after his caretaker had reviewed that one incriminating security tape of the two young men sleeping together for the first time. Fortunately Watari had stopped watching early on and had had his mind set as ease after a long discussion with L the following morning. Watari had promised that he would keep secret about anything his employer wished to do while alone in Raito's company.

At the moment, said detectives were making short work of each others' clothing. Light kisses and soft touches were made like offering to newly exposed skin. Raito loved L's lithe and deceivingly strong frame, just as L found guilty pleasure in admiring Raito's well-toned body. L soon felt himself becoming overpowered by his companion's strength, but then again he wasn't actively fighting the younger man's advances. Sometimes it did feel nice to just give in.

Raito had even been so kind as to give him a gift. So, naturally, L felt as though he needed to make it up to him. Raito's reward was going to have to wait until the young man in question would kindly remove his tongue from L's mouth. He wasn't sure if his lover was trying to smother him or simply trying to get a taste of L behind the lingering sweetness of the lollipop. It wasn't as though L minded, not when Raito tasted of the breath mints that he was so fond of.

Eventually, Raito quit trying to choke his boss and allowed the world-renowned detective to trail kisses down his neck and chest. They were teasing, feather-light touches; filled with passionate emotion unbefitting of those lips who spoke of facts and figures and death so distantly. Ah, if only everybody else around him could learn that the enigmatic L was just as human as any of them.

When L reached to slide Raito's boxer shorts down his legs, he could not suppress a shiver. Both knew well that this was borne of anticipation and not of nervousness. That had been shared only during their first night together, and then only in a small amount. L and Raito were both clever enough to realize that the other would gain nothing from hurting them.

"Raito-kun?" L was hesitating – that was unusual. The purpose of the pause was made clear in his next statement.

"I don't think that you're going to taste much like candy."

Raito made a sound halfway between a laugh and an amused sigh. Leave it to L to be witty at a time like this. "That doesn't matter. Use your imagination. Any good detective needs to be good at imagining things, right?"

He was perfectly correct in L's ability to conceptualize scenarios related to his cases, and other such things. Nevertheless, it was still going to be a stretch to envision his lover's anatomy as a lollipop. A banana, maybe. Like in a banana split. L and his perverted mind amused themselves with that analogy for a few moments, enough to cause him to grin and Raito to wonder what the hell he must be thinking about.

Fine, Raito could be a banana split instead of a lollipop. It was a better comparison anyway. And L did love his desserts just as much as he loved his candies.

As was always his custom, L first touched the tip of his tongue to his treat, wanting to get an idea of what the rest of it was going to be like. "Nnn…" He grinned at the delicate groan he heard and, eager for more, let himself take Raito in his entirety into his mouth. His friend was perfectly right about him loving this. He savoured every small inflection in Raito's sweet voice; every little unique moment in a familiar experience. "More, Ryuuzaki…" The harder he sucked, the more he could taste. By gently raking his teeth along Raito's skin, L was able to slowly break his lover's self-restraint. "Please…" He slid the length in and out of his mouth, twirling it a little to add to the wonderful tactile sensation. It was blissful to feel every tiny shudder of Raito's body against his lips and tongue. "Haah…Ryuuzaki!" L took him out of his mouth for only long enough to stare at Raito's flushed, pleasured face. Then he slipped him back in again and before long could feel the overpowering creamy sweetness fill him completely. "Aah – aahhnn…" Mmm, that was so good.

His work finished, L stretched his seemingly frail body out beside Raito's and gave him a languid kiss. Because L knew that his friend would be long in recovery, he reached over to the table and picked up his real lollipop in spindly fingers. While he ate it, he laid his head down on Raito's chest to enjoy the sound of his erratic heartbeat.

"Thank you, Ryuuzaki. That was wonderful." Raito was staring at him and smiling.

L couldn't help but to smile back. "Anytime, Raito-kun."

It was very pleasant for the both of them to simply lie there and enjoy each others' company. No stressful thoughts at all; no worries about Kira. For now they were no more than two friends and lovers. All the trappings of their detective-and-suspect relationship had evaporated as soon as they had entered the bedroom.

Peaceful as it was for the hardworking young men, duty always had a way of intruding upon their relaxation. This time it was in the form of polite knocking upon L's door. Raito would have instantaneously panicked had he not remembered that he had earlier locked it. As such, he calmly reached over and pressed the switch that enabled L to speak through the PA system to whoever was outside. L thanked him with a happy smile and leaned overtop of him to get to the microphone.

"This is L."

The deep, patient voice that responded was identifiable only as Watari's. "Ryuuzaki, Yagami-san has discovered something he feels is important to the case. He wishes to speak with you right away."

L groaned. He was looking forward to spending more time alone with Raito, not to mention finishing the rest of his mystery novel. "Tell him that I'll be down in a few minutes. Thank you, Watari."

Evidently his caretaker must have heard the displeasure in L's voice, for he added, "If Yagami-kun is there, please tell him to come as well."

L turned the microphone off after that. Watari seemed to know him better than he knew himself sometimes. While he climbed off of his lover in an effort to locate his clothing, he ensured that his lollipop was back in its rightful place – his mouth. Finding and putting on his jeans was easy enough, as was returning Raito's belongings. He was just about to hand back Raito's jacket to him when he noticed something interesting in one of the pockets. Reaching in, he drew out not one, but four lollipops similar to the one he was devouring. Their eye-catching wrappers proudly proclaimed their flavours – cherry, green apple, lemon, and chocolate.

L couldn't hold back a small chuckle. "You spoil me, Raito-kun."

Raito was just fixing the knot on his tie when he looked over. "I thought that one lollipop would hardly be enough payment for what you did. However, if you still feel that way, you're welcome to pay back the rest of your debt later tonight."

Not all of Raito's smooth talking was lost on L, or so it seemed. He'd smirked and nipped sharply at Raito's ear. He hated it, but there was a lot that L could get away with. Not to be outdone, Raito plucked L's strawberry lollipop from his hand.

"You don't think that my dad's found the security tape, do you?" Raito jokingly inquired. Casually he licked at the sweet which had turned a fairly uniform shade of pink. Perhaps he should consider picking up a treat for himself the next time he wanted to bribe L.

In response to the question, L shook his head and explained. "No, that would be impossible. The tape is right over there." Lo and behold, L was pointing towards a pile of assorted security tapes next to his small TV. Raito did know that L would often review them with the hope of uncovering some sort of clue. However, the date on the topmost tape marked it as being from that one special night the two of them had shared.

"You're such a pervert, L."

"This coming from Kira?" L took advantage of Raito's ensuing grin by snatching back his lollipop.

He then took Raito's hand and led the way out into the uplifting fluorescent light.