A/N: Written as a Christmas gift fic for browneyedmami at Livejournal.

Misa is a firecracker, quick and lively, eternally cheerful. She wears gothic lolita dresses every day, revels in the frills and lace and knee-high boots that make up her wardrobe. Everyone knows her name, wants to be her or at least get a chance to be close to her. In other words, she is exactly the opposite of everything else L stands for. (And yet.) L is slovenly and doesn't care about his outer appearance for the most part. He eats nothing but sugar and lets his biology take care of the rest. His brain is a series of proverbial cogs and gears continually working silently in his head case, mister genius at work. No one knows who he is or where he came from or even his real name. So he's not surprised that he is exactly the opposite of everything Misa Amane stands for. (And yet!)

But here is the thing: she is dimwitted on the outside but quite clever at the center. He is clueless on first glance but incredibly dangerous and cunning by his true nature. By some quirky twist of fate, they were really meant to be. It was a shame that the powers that be decided to put them on the opposite sides of the chessboard, destined forever to be unknowing rivals in another man's game.

L is an expert at chess. He knows that making the first move is not always the best move. So his nature is to hang back and survey the scene, take stock of the situation. It will shock him, after it all, that he is continually missing all the obvious signs: the way Misa clings to his arm when Light isn't around; how she is the only one who remembers what his favorite candies and tea brands are when the pantry runs out; the terribly interested gleam in her eye when L discusses police procedure and crime history ad nauseum. He imagines she is only attracted to him because it was a detective like him who solved the murder of her parents' death; it was Kira, of course, who eventually executed their killer with his devious weapons. After making this connection, L thinks nothing more of Misa's fascination.

So when snow blankets the streets of Tokyo, the windows chill over and everyone is drinking hot liquids to keep away the chills, L is totally taken aback as he is caught under a well-hidden mistletoe by one Misa Amane, her hands (and, ultimately, her mouth) keeping him from moving an inch. And for a second, L thinks that Kira has finally taken him away, as it feels like he is having a heart attack. (Don't worry, he's not.) And eventually L thinks that this is all right, and that he would not mind having more of this. And since L always gets what he wants in the end, it surprises no one that they find the two of them hours later cornered together in a stalled elevator, finding out with expert hands what makes the other tick.

(Light Yagami later goes home and uncharacteristically kills criminals until he is in a drunken stupor, wondering how in the hell his greatest rival was able to steal his fake girlfriend in only one night.)