God, he hated being handcuffed to this person.

Light looked over irritably at the boy next to him. They had to eat near each other, use the bathroom near each other… hell, even showering had to be within a few feet of each other! But where Light really drew the line… was having to share a bed with L.

Speaking of L, the boy was sitting up in his usual bent-over position, staring straight ahead. "...Ugh, will you at least lie down?" He grouched. "I can't sleep with you towering over me like that."

"If I don't sleep like this, my deductive skills drop by 40%."

The brown haired boy sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I know. But you don't need to do so much thinking while you're trying to sleep. It's about clearing your head, and then you'll think better in the morning."

L looked down at him with those wide eyes. In that sea of black hair, it was all he could really make out of L's face in the darkness. "..."

"What?" Light sat up.

L looked away. "It's nothing you should concern yourself with. I'm just thinking something over."

"Well, it seems to be worth keeping both of us up." Light crossed one arm over his chest and rested his head in his right hand. "I deserve to know if it's costing me too, don't I?"

"...I suppose that makes sense." L looked over at him. "But I think it will pay off for you later. If I tell you prematurely, it could ruin everything."

"Ruin everything?" Light's eyes widened a bit at that. "Is it crucial to the Kira case? Do you still suspect that I'm him?"

The black-haired boy shook his head slowly. "It's not about that." He turned away and put his thumb to his lips, reemerging into his thoughts.

Light just watched him for what felt like far too long. He was tired, and he knew he could just back down and forget about it… but this could be something important. In fact, it had to have been, if it was capable of 'ruining everything'. But what could possibly be more important than the Kira case? The Kira case was everything to L.

Wasn't it?

Eventually, L looked back over at Light. "You should go to sleep so that my thinking doesn't cost you any more than it already has."

Light sighed. It looked like he'd have to push a bit for his answer. "...Alright, fine. If it's not about the Kira case, I don't give a damn what it is anyway. I can't wait until you uncuff us and I don't have to deal with you this much anymore." He lied down and pulled a bit on the chain between them to get some space as he turned his back to L.

There was another moment of complete silence. It was so quiet, in fact, that the only thing Light could hear was his own heartbeat. And maybe L's… but he was probably just imagining that.

"I didn't mean for you to get mad at me," L said suddenly.

"I'm not."

"So it's passive aggressiveness then."

Light smirked, knowing that L couldn't see his face. "It sounds like you've made up an entire set of emotions for me, worried that I was determined to know your secret. But in that case, it sounds like the person whose most worried is you."

"Wow, I didn't know you wanted to know so badly," L mumbled. "I'm kind of surprised."

Light's smirk disappeared and he sat up again. "What did I just say?!"

"Well, you didn't say it out loud, but you just expressed how much you want to know. I don't understand why anything other than the Kira case is concerning you."

Light froze. He didn't exactly know either. "...Well… it's probably something involving the Kira case that you're just not telling me."

"I told you that it would pay off for you later. I mean that someday, I'm going to tell you." L turned toward him yet again and rested his hands on his knees. "If you were to find out later in time that it actually is about the Kira case, that would be useless to me. The only thing it would have changed is your amount of curiosity on the subject, which is in no way significant to me."

Light got a strange sense that L was lying about that last part, but didn't know what else to say in response. "Why can't you just tell me what it is now? What would happen that could possibly ruin everything?"

L picked up the chain in between them and ran his fingers over each of the loops, his head bobbing slightly with each one as if he was counting them. "Wouldn't telling you that give away what it is?"

"God, it's really that important…?" Light sighed again. "...Alright. Night."

"Goodnight." L turned his gaze back to the wall.

If the black-haired boy was going to tell him whatever this was later in time… then whatever it pertains to could be too late to fix at that point, if it's anything against Light. He needed to find out sooner than that. Maybe tonight wasn't the time to find out though. Maybe tomorrow night would work. Before then, Light would have to come up with some sort of a plan.

-XXX-

He was woken up four hours later by L.

"Light."

Light checked a digital clock on the nightstand. "...Are you kidding, Ryuzaki? It's four in the morning. Go to bed already." He turned over to look at the other boy, who still seemed to be staring at the wall. "Have you been awake this whole time?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Thinking."

O"Oh. About that mysterious thing again?"

L nodded once.

"Well, if you can't tell me what it is until the 'time is right' or whatever, why'd you wake me up?"

"Because I want to tell you now."

Light sat up and gave him a half-lidded expression. "And you couldn't have just told me four hours ago."

"No. Four hours ago, my decision-making skills weren't at their full potential. My mind was working more clearly after you were asleep."

"Okay, whatever. Just, tell me what this is. And don't leave anything out since I'm losing so much sleep over this whole thing."

"Okay." L turned to him.

There was a loud creaking of the bed springs and a large thud before Light reopened his eyes. L was on his knees, on top of him. "...What the hell are you doing, Ryuzaki?!" He choked, having trouble breathing when L was literally on top of him.

L suddenly leaned down toward the other boy. Their lips made contact for a second, then two, then three. And when the black-haired boy pulled away, he didn't get off of Light. He just looked down into the boy's amber-colored eyes, waiting for the shock to set in, and the reaction to come out.

Light's eyes were wide, and he was silent. Now he understood why he wanted to know so badly. Because in the back of his mind, he was worried it would be something like this. But in the back of his mind, he was also hoping for it too.

He knew this boy was different than him in every way, and completely delusional in some ways. But… what he'd called irritation at L before, must have been something completely different.

"No reaction?" L asked quietly. "...I'm surprised again." More silence. "...I'm sorry I waited several hours to tell you. It occurred to me that there would never be a better time. And… I think that as time goes on, the appropriateness of this situation would only worsen. It seemed to be my only option, and-"

He was cut off as Light grabbed fistfuls of his baggy white shirt and pulled him down for a second kiss. There wasn't much more to be said, than that.

"I'm not entirely sure that the handcuffs bother me anymore…" Light admitted in a whisper as they pulled apart. "But I still wish you'd lie down when you sleep."

"...I-I think I can do that. This time." L let himself tumble to the side, off of Light and into the bed space next to him.

Light threw some of the blanket over him and turned his body toward the black-haired boy. "We have a case to solve tomorrow, so I'm going to bed for real this time." That smirk reappeared on his face. "Goodnight, Ryuzaki."

L's wide eyes were fixated on the ceiling now. He let them slowly close. "Goodnight, Light."