A/N: I'm back again! Well, I just love being an authoress for Raito and L brotherly fluff. Yay for Raito and L brotherly/best friends fluff! My "Music of Love from the Nonforgotten" story is also up! Well, please read and review! Thank you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. Sadly, I don't. cries
It's the Thought That Counts
Chapter One: What You Gave Me
The door to L's apartment room opened and slammed shut as someone entered from the outside. L heard his name being shouted out into the air as a shadow fell over the hallway to L's left. It was Raito.
"I got you something," Raito announced as he held up a bulging white bag for L to see.
L took his eyes off the T.V. and looked and Raito. "Is it cake? I'll love you if it's cake."
Raito raised his eyebrow. "No… But I got you something! Here, catch!"
Raito threw the bag at L. It hit L right in the head and fell to the floor. "I said, 'catch!'" said Raito. "Why didn't you catch it?"
"I didn't want to."
Raito looked at the detective with a bewildered look. "Um… Okay… But didn't that hurt?"
"Yes, it did."
"Then why didn't you catch it?"
"I didn't want to," replied L as he continued to look at Raito.
"Well, aren't you going to look inside and see what it is I got for you?" asked Raito with a smile.
"How do I know if it's not going to jump out and attack me?" L asked, eyeing Raito suspiciously.
"It's not alive, L. It won't attack you."
"That's not what happened last time you got me something," L replied.
"Hey! I didn't know that 'rubber duck' the guy at the store sold me was actually a living duck!" Raito protested. "Maybe that's why he said it's a really good companion at bath time…"
"That duck of yours chased me around my apartment room …" L reminded him as a flare of anger was reborn into his dark eyes. "As I was running around, you stood there, pointed and laughed at me singing, 'L's afraid of ducks'…"
"Really? I did? Cool…"
"It's in the bathroom every time I go in! It's in the bathtub, the sink, even the toilet! Most importantly, it ate ALL of my cake, Raito… After I tried to take it back, your duck bit me…" L continued.
"Ducks have teeth?"
"Well, it has a beak! It pecked me! Ducks have really hard beaks, you know!" L protested. "It really hurts. It almost made me cry, you know."
"Speaking of which… Where's the duck?!" Raito asked in panic of not knowing what L has done to his duck.
"Oh, don't worry. Ducky is in the bathtub sleeping," said L with an innocent smile as he hugged his legs on the couch. "Turns out, Ducky likes strawberries too."
"You two have a lot in common, I see. You even named it too," said Raito. "Well, aren't you going to open the bag?"
"Is it another duck? I don't want ducklings considering one duck is enough," said L. "One duck occupies the bathroom 24/7, I don't want to think about a family of ducks quacking up a storm in my bathroom…"
Raito snickered loudly at the thought of a trail of ducklings following L as the mother duck around everywhere he goes in public. "Haha…"
"What?"
"Nothing…" Raito turns away from L to avoid him seeing his redden face from laughing. "Mother duck… I wonder if I put wings and a beak on him, will he look a duck?" Raito asked himself out loud with a crazed smile and even crazier idea forming in his mind.
"Raito-kun, you have the "I'm going to take over the world" look again," L announced. "Did you skip breakfast again?"
"No, I'm fine!" Raito recovered. "Just open the bag, L! It's not a duck and it won't attack you!"
"Okay, if it won't jump out and attack me…" said L as he reached for the fallen bag on the ground. Suddenly he stopped, retracted his arm, and looked back at Raito. "Will it explode?"
"What?!" asked a startled Raito, taken back L would ask such a thing. "Explode?! Why would it do that?"
"I don't know. The second to last gift you gave me exploded in my face when I opened it…" said L as he reminisced on Raito's past gift.
"Again! I had no idea the "exploding pie" at the store was really an exploding pie!" Raito defended himself.
"It said "exploding pie" on the lid."
"I thought all that meant was that the pie was really good or something! The guy at the store said it'll go out with a boom when you open the lid to eat it! I really thought he meant that it was great-tasting!" Raito protested.
"Okay, but the third to last gift you gave me-"
"This time it won't explode or attack you!!!!" Raito screamed as he ran out of patience.
"You, sir, have a very good percent of making someone go deaf extremely fast," said L as he picked up the bag and sat it beside him.
"Was the last two gifts the reason you didn't catch this gift when I tossed it to you?" asked Raito.
"Maybe," replied L with shifty eyes.
"Just open the bag!" said Raito.
Before reaching into the bag to take out its content, L poked the bag and rushed to shield his face in case of any sudden attacks or explosions. Raito rolled his eyes and walked over to L. He grabbed the bag and pulled his hand inside.
"Raito-kun, don't! You might get hurt!"
Raito looked at L with a bland face. "You really need to lay off a little sugar, L," he said before pulling the object out.
"AHHH! Please don't hurt me!" L screamed as he raised his arms up to protect his face. "I want to live!"
"Look at it," Raito ordered as he put the object in front of L's face.
"Will it shoot laser beams at me?"
"Did you eat a whole cake before I got here? It's not going to hurt you!"
L finally lowered his arms to look at the object in Raito's hand. It was a just an ordinary looking teddy bear. It had on a long-sleeved white shirt and a faded pair of blue jeans. Raito waved in L's face. "Isn't it cute?" he asked as he gave it to L.
"Is this bear supposed to look like me? If it was, you didn't do a very good job," asked L as he used two fingers to hold up the bear for Raito to see.
"I thought it was kind of cute…" Raito replied with a slight hint of hurt audible in his voice. "If you want, you can even make it suck its thumb…"
L, with his skills of insight, immediately heard the pain in Raito's tone. "But thank you, Raito-kun. I appreciate it."
"Don't you like it?" Raito asked.
"Yes," L replied, absentmindedly. "Did you get it from that store with the guy who sold you the duck and pie?"
"Yes…" Raito replied meekly in a weak voice.
"I see… In that case…" L gently set the teddy bear on the other side of the couch and continues to stare at the television set operating in front of him. "This is so it won't hurt me. Sorry, Raito-kun. Past experiences still haunt me."
Raito, disappointed in not knowing whether L genuinely liked his gift, turned and headed for the door. "I'll see you later, L," he said as he closed the door gently behind him. All was then silent.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Well, how was it? I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please review and tell me how I did! Constructive criticism is highly welcomed! I can always learn to improve on my grammar or whatever it is I made a mistake on. Thank you so much, guys! Please review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.