Lawli: Yes, I know I have way too many fics out there that need to be completed, but I'm starting a new one anyways. Why? Because I want to attempt to write something for NaNoWriMo, that's why! Who knows if I'll actually be able to finish it in time, but I'll try my hardest!

Warnings: Um... OOC everyone, most likely. And yaoi in later chapters.

Chapter Word Count: 3,268

"What do you want with your life?"

Light stared at him curiously, raising en eyebrow in silent question as the words repeated themselves over and over again in his mind. What did he want with his life? He shrugged his shoulders, turning his eyes on the man beside him. "Probably the same thing as you and everyone else in the world," he replied slowly, raising his drink to his lips and taking a slow sip. "Good health, a successful marriage (I suppose)... a steady income wouldn't be too bad, either."

"That is what everyone in the world wants?" asked his companion.

Light stared at him for a moment. "Well... most people. Probably not you; you never seem to go along with the norms of society."

There was a small laugh. "Too right you are," the other man agreed. "I find it much more exciting to forge my own path."

Light took another gulp of his drink, enjoying the pleasant buzz it created. He felt so warm, comfortable. All his troubles were ebbing away bit by bit, as the alcohol ensured that there was only room in his mind for enjoyable thoughts. "And you?" he asked, leaning forward in his chair, reaching a hand out to press it against the other man's chest, "Mr. Difficult, what is it that you want out of life?"

For a moment, there was only silence. They stared at each other, eyes searching – searching for something that neither of them could define. Light could feel the heat of the other man's body soaking through the thin material of his white T-shirt; he swallowed, wondering why he suddenly felt warm and blaming it on the alcohol.

The kiss was sudden, unexpected. He'd opened his mouth, and Light was sure that he was about to only verbalize his response, but suddenly those lips descended upon his own as a means of answering the question. Light should have known – should have realized that this man strived to always either exceed or go against one's expectations.

Light's mouth was forcibly pried open and their teeth clashed together and he wanted to pull away but couldn't summon the strength to do so. The alcohol was impairing his judgment and the hands that came to rest on either side of his face prevented him from moving his head, and that mouth was just so inviting that Light didn't think he could have detached himself from it anyways.

What did he want out of life? Health, a successful marriage – what did any of that matter? Nothing could be as good as this heat – nothing could be a pleasing as those hands; nothing in the world could be better than this.

Dancing in the Dark
(Ballando nell'oscurità)

Capitolo Uno

The studio was a small, hidden thing – tucked away between a large bank and an ice cream parlor. The yellow-white paint was chipped and vines grew up one side of the building. The sign overtop the single door flickered spasmodically, depicting a single word – Dance.

Yagami Light stood uncomfortably on the rectangular floral doormat, staring at the dance studio with a mixture of bitterness and nervousness swirling in his amber eyes. He'd been standing there in that exact position – rigidly still with his hands buried deep into the pockets of his black leather jacket – for over ten minutes now, mentally debating whether or not he would actually take the risk of stepping foot inside.

Soft piano music filtered from the studio through an open window, reaching the young man's ears and attempting to soothe his nerves and lull him into a state of comfort and grant him the courage to pull the door open and actually enter. Over the music, a strict voice could be heard giving instructions on what to do next – "first position, two-three-four, second position, five-six-seven, Demi-Plié, eight-nine – I am not seeing bent knees, Hana-san..."

Light bit down on his lower lip, still trying to gather the strength to enter the small building. It would be stupid of him to leave after coming all this way, but at the same time he felt as if actually going inside the dance studio would somehow make him less of a man. Real men weren't supposed to know how to dance, after all – they were too tough for that – and Light was a man who valued appearances; what would people think if they learned he was taking lessons in ballroom dancing? He did have the excuse that his wedding day was approaching, but still, not everyone would accept that reasoning.

"Did I forget to unlock the door again?"

Light shook himself of his thoughts, glancing to the side and taking notice of the figure standing behind the open window. A pale-faced man with unruly black hair and dark gray eyes stared back at him inquisitively.

Managing to find his voice, Light replied most unintelligently, "huh?"

The man's thin lips twitched upwards in the faintest of smiles. "The door," he said, gesturing to the door Light stood in front of. "Is it locked?"

He sounded quite amused. Light had the strangest desire to hit him. Turning his gaze back to the door, he leaned forwards and gave the knob an experimental twist, and was met with no resistance. "No, its not," he replied.

"Then is there any particular reason why you are still standing there?"

Light frowned at the sarcastic tone, eyes narrowing slightly. If this man was to be his instructor, then he wanted no part in taking lessons. Another glance in the window's direction showed that the man had disappeared; Light could only imagine where he had gone.

Several seconds later, to prove his guess correct, the door opened to reveal the man from the window. One quick look at him was all Light needed to deduce that there was no way this man could ever be a dance instructor. For one thing, his posture was absolutely terrible; he stood with his back hunched and his hands buried deeply in the pockets of his oversized blue jeans. Dancers were supposed to be lean and graceful; the man before Light appeared to be neither.

"Why don't you come inside?" he asked, stepping away from the archway so that Light would have room to enter.

Light accepted the invitation and did just that. Once he was inside, the man closed the door to prevent him from escaping. Light turned his eyes on him warily before taking in the small studio.

He never would have guessed that the room beyond those paint-chipped front walls could be so spacious and tidy, but it was. The floors were made of wood and polished so that Light could almost make out his own reflection in them if he squinted. The back wall and two side walls were covered entirely by mirrors and fastened to these mirrors was a long, horizontal bar. Standing alongside the barre, performing various warm-up exercises that coincided with the instructions given to them, was a group of ten or so children wearing matching black leotards.

A baby grand piano resided in the corner of the room, several feet away from a door leading most likely to the back offices and changing rooms, and situated on the piano stool, playing the notes to a classical song that Light, for the life of him, couldn't remember the name of, was a young woman who appeared to be in her middle to upper twenties. She was fairly attractive, though if Light were to be perfectly honest he would admit that she was a little on the plain side.

"Misora-san, we have company," the man who opened the door announced, slouching over to the piano. The woman looked up at him and he motioned to the front door so that she would take notice of Light's presence.

Light's eyes darted between the two of them, and he idly wondered if they were married. The woman stood up from the piano bench and moved over to Light with agility most befitting of a ballet instructor. As she came to stand before Light, she bowed respectfully to him.

"Welcome, I am Misora Naomi. I own this school."

Light bowed in return and introduced himself. "Yagami Light."

He offered her a charming smile and then turned expectantly to the man beside her, who was now chewing on his index finger and staring up at the mirrors attached to the ceiling. Realizing that he was being watched, the man lazily cast his charcoal eyes on Light and removed his finger from his mouth so that he could offer Light his hand in a very Western form of greeting.

Light stared at the hand as if it were diseased. Not letting this blatant disgust bother him, the man reached out and took hold of Light's hand, squeezing his long, pale fingers around the appendage and pumping his fist up and down in a firm shake.

"It is a pleasure to be formally introduced, Yagami-kun. I am L Lawliet."

As soon as he was able, Light wrenched his hand from L's grip. "Um, yes... a pleasure," he echoed, hardly meaning the words.

They spoke for several moments, questioning Light about his presence at the school. With a small amount of embarrassment, Light explained that he was in need of ballroom dancing lessons, to prepare for his upcoming wedding. This had earned a large smile from both instructors.

"Who is the lucky woman?" L asked, finger finding its way back into his mouth.

Light tried not to stare impolitely, but couldn't help himself, especially as L actually began to suck on his finger. Light cleared his throat and directed his gaze to the ground. "Amane Misa... perhaps you've heard of her, she's done some modeling."

L's eyes widened. "I am so jealous, Yagami-kun! I have been a fan of Amane-san since her first appearance in Eighteen! She is quite gorgeous."

Light found the idea of a grown man reading a magazine designed for teenaged girls to be absolutely ludicrous, but he couldn't deny the comment L made. Amane Misa was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever met, and he was very lucky to be marrying such an attractive and well-respected woman.

However... his marriage with Amane Misa was an arranged one, set up by his parents several years ago; there was no way Light would ever marry someone like her by his own choice – for while physically she was any man's type, mentally they just did not connect. Misa valued things like fashion and gossip, and while she was two years older than Light she acted as though she was still stuck in her adolescent years; Light, on the other hand, did not – he'd never acted like a gossiping teenager, even back in High School – he had always been a serious person.

For the sake of his parents and keeping up appearances, Light agreed to marry Misa. It would look good for two attractive and successful people to be wed. And due to Misa's fame, the media would be all over the story of their wedding – already articles were being printed about their recently announced engagement.

"Well, congratulations. I wish you both very much happiness," Naomi said. "Now if you will excuse me... I do need to get back to my class." With a bow she left the two men and returned to the group of children who were staring at the adults with piqued interest.

L watched her for a moment, finger sliding across his bottom lip, before turning back to Light. He took a step forward before cocking his head in the direction of the hallway next to the baby Grand. "I'll show you around," he offered, moving before Light even had the chance to reply.

Light followed him silently, gazing with minute interest at the photographs that lined the blue-painted walls. He stopped in front of one, eyes widening as he recognized one of the figures in the pictures as L himself. "You're a ballet dancer?" he asked, astounded, giving L a once-over yet again.

A ghost of a smile appeared on L's face as he turned his focus on the photograph, a strange softness in his eyes as he outlined his own figure with the tip of his index finger. "Used to be."

What happened? Light wanted to ask, for the sake of a conversation, but L didn't allow him the opportunity to do so. As if snapping out of some kind of trance, the man turned away from his picture and began to walk down the hallway once again, tersely instructing Light to follow him.

"That is the restroom, and these are the changing rooms."

L didn't stop to show Light inside any of the facilities, only pointed them out with the wave of a hand as he passed them.

As they arrived at the end of the hallway, he pushed open the door to the final room in the building. "Misora-san's office is to the left, and this is my office." Making a sweeping motion with his arm, he invited Light inside.

The room was painted the same shade of powder blue as the hallway and was furnished with only two plush chairs and a mini-fridge that plugged into an outlet in the far corner of the room. Light quirked an eyebrow, taking in the multitude of papers – some important documents and bills and others, restaurant menus and scraps covered with doodles. In the very center of the clutter was a laptop computer.

"Please excuse the mess," L said offhandedly as he stepped over the latest edition of Eighteen magazine – Light grimaced as he noticed Misa's radiant face on the cover, now positive that L hadn't been lying when he said he was an avid fan.

Light gingerly nudged aside a stack of manila envelopes to form a clearer path to one of the available chairs. "Its fine," he said once he reached the safety of the chair.

L shook his head, as if berating himself. "No, no. It must look terribly unprofessional of me. I apologize. I must seem like such a slob. But I suppose it can't be helped." He sighed and made his way over to the mini fridge. "Can I offer you something to eat or drink?"

Not expecting this sort of hospitality, Light chuckled. "That's okay, I didn't come for lunch," he informed. "All I wanted was some information about ballroom dancing lessons."

Making a humming noise in the back of his throat, L crouched before the refrigerator and opened it, rummaging around through its contents before he found what he desired. As he turned to face the other man once again, Light saw that he'd chosen a generous slice of strawberry cheesecake for himself. L situated himself on the floor in front of Light, facing him but not looking up at him – his focus was entirely on the cake.

"I see..." L stuffed a piece of cake in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "So, when is the big day?"

Light furrowed his brow, and then realized that L was obviously referring to his wedding. He shifted in his chair, resting his arm on the side cushion and placing his chin in the palm of his hand. "Two months from tomorrow," he replied, closing his eyes briefly. It was right around the corner, practically. Before he knew it, he would be standing at the end of the Church aisle, donned in his formal tuxedo and watching Misa approach him in a frilly white wedding dress.

"Hmm... getting close," L mused, swallowing his piece of cake and immediately carving another bite. "Do you have any experience dancing?"

He peeked up at Light through the curtain of his black bangs. Light scratched the back of his neck, wondering why he suddenly felt stupid for not knowing how to dance.

It was normal for a guy his age to have no awareness about this sort of thing; after all, dancing was mainly for women, right? Light was only familiar with grinding, and that was because, as a young teenager, he'd gone through the normal hormonal phase in high school that permitted him to shamelessly rub up on girls and call it 'dancing'.

Assessing the prolonged silence, L came to his own conclusion. "High school dances?" he guessed, not needing Light to affirm the answer. "I figured. You don't look the type to regularly attend formal gala events."

Light wondered if he should feel offended or not, but decided not to waste time dawdling on something so unimportant. "No, I don't."

The only parties he went to were the annual Holiday parties that some other guys at the office he worked at put together each year for the employees and their families. On rare occasions he accompanied Misa to her social events, but there was hardly ever dancing at those parties.

L took in another mouthful of cheesecake. "I think we should sign you up for the six week course."

"Six weeks? Would it really take that long?"

Charcoal eyes briefly roamed Light's body, sizing him up. He was in good shape, L could tell by the way his shirt outlined the muscles of his arms, but that did not matter so much when it came to ballroom dancing. For ballroom dancing, one needed fluidity, poise, and charm... One might never guess by stealing a look at L, but he was a master of all three of those, and then some. Light, while he did possess a natural sort of grace and charm, still needed to strengthen those attributes so that they would truly shine when he was sharing the first dance with his lovely bride.

"Perhaps not... It depends on how quick a student you are and how much time you're willing to devote to learning." Setting aside his cake momentarily, L shuffled through some of the papers beside him. "Aha." Finding what he was looking for, he plucked the leaf of paper up by the very corner and presented it to Light. "Here is a tentative schedule of lessons. Mondays and Wednesdays are entirely devoted to my and Misora-san's ballet classes. Tuesdays we are closed to the public... I believe Thursday would be the best day. Thursdays at seven-o-clock... does that work with your schedule, Yagami-kun?"

Light nodded his head. "That should be fine."

"Excellent."

L reached forward, pressing a random key on the laptop to clear away the screensaver. The sound of clicking filled the air as he began typing at a rapid pace. "I'm scheduling you in now. May I just ask for your address and phone number?"

Light gave him the information he desired, also explaining that he would be paying for the lessons by check – he'd have it with him when he started lessons the following Thursday.

L gave him a business card with contact information and then reclaimed his piece of cake, picking up where he left off with it. As he finished off the slice, he continued to explain the breakdown of lessons, the sort of things that Light would be learning – "of course, it will be Misora-san teaching you all of this," he reminded Light every so often. He also gave instruction as to the sort of clothes to wear – dress for comfort at first, and to impress later.

"I am very glad to have met you, Yagami-kun," L smiled once their little talk had ended. "I can assure you that by the time your lessons are through, you will be ready to sweep Amane-san off of her feet."

Giving a small chuckle, Light thanked him. "I'll see you on Thursday then, I suppose."

"I suppose," L echoed with a slight bob of the head.