Lamplight by blackdragonflower

Summary: Matt and Mello have come to visit L, both unable to get to sleep for different reasons. Mello soon falls asleep leaving Matt and L to have their own special bonding moment. L and Matt friendship fic

Characters belong to Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

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"L-L?" Matt stuttered as he and Mello poked their heads into L's room.

"Hm?" L turned in his rollerchair and looked at the two.

"W-we couldn't s-sleep." Matt bit his lip, jumping at the shadows on the wall.

"Come in." Matt and Mello hurried into the room and shut the door behind them. The dark haired adult stood up, posture hunched over slightly. He stepped away from the chair, the laptop, and a half-eaten piece of cheesecake. "You boys couldn't sleep? How come?"

Mello's eyes narrowed. "Matt's afraid." The blonde was trying to act tough.

L sighed and picked up the plate with the cheesecake. He poked the cake with the fork, then took a bite. "Matt... why are you afraid? You can go crawl into my bed, then tell me." The redhead complied eagerly, leaving Mello at the door. The blonde visibly cringed. "You know... you can also join him Mello, if you feel the need."

"I don't see why I should..." Mello muttered but hurried over to L's large bed. Soon both Matt and Mello were buried underneath seas of covers, nestled into mountains of pillows.

"Now Matt..." L pulled his chair close to the bed, then sat. "Why are you scared?"

"Well..." Matt became pink. "Mello was telling me scary stories..." L shook his head with a sigh. His lip turned up on end.

"What kind of scary stories?"

"One about a man... who eats little kids... because they play too many videogames..." Matt gulped, the blanket covering up to his cute nose. L reached over and patted his head, then gave Mello a look.

"Mello. No more scary stories. Stop teasing Matt." The blonde grumbled. "That explains why Matt is here, but what about you Mello? Why did you decide to visit at such an hour?"

"..." Mello pouted defiant, so Matt spoke up.

"Mello's scared of the dark..." Matt whispered, "but don't tell anyone." Mello punched Matt in the shoulder.

"Shut up Matt."

"Ow..." Matt rubbed his wounded arm.

"Mello, be nice." The blonde child rolled his eyes and sank further into the plush blankets. The blonde was soon deep asleep.

"Hey... L? Do you ever... sleep?" Matt innocently asked.

"Yes. Of course I do. Every human sleeps."

"Yeah but... you're not like everybody else..." Matt smiled. L took another bite of cheesecake.

"Of course you're right Matt-kun. Nobody is like me... and nobody is like you." The black haired teen pointed with the end of his fork. "Do you mind if I go back to work? It's quite the difficult case..." Matt sat up.

"... May I watch?"

L stood and wheeled the chair back to his desk where three computers were set up in a semi-circle. "I don't see why not..." He sat back down, Matt trotting over to his side to peek at the computer screens. Unfortunately the boy wasn't quite tall enough to see over the lip of the desk to see the screens. L smiled chuckling softly. He readjusted his sitting position and patted his lap. Matt climbed up on his lap and grinned.

"Thanks L." The redhead tapped the ends of his toes together skimming the information on the screen. L was reaching around him to type on the keyboard in the middle of the ring of computers.

"The positions here and here... executions done is this way..." Matt bit the edge of his thumb for a moment then looked up. He leaned back into L's chest. It was comforting, the soft rythym of L's steady heartbeat, the mumbled sentences. It soothed Matt's fears and lulled him into a feeling of security. The lamplight was dim, but the computer screens glows were bright, chasing away dark thoughts and shadows. L found himself stumped. Matt blinked sleepy and pointed groggy to a part of the screen where numerous pictures were lined up,

"All... victims... have new looking... Sony... equipment.." The child yawned, sleep taking over his small body. L looked at the pictures closely, the redhead boy was right. All the TVs were Sony, and all were relatively new looking. L pulled up the suspects he had gathered, one was a salesman who had access to records about who had just bought a Sony television. In fact, all the victims were now connected, now all that was left for L to uncover was the murderer's motive. He would have the televisions further investigated. He smiled and looked down at the child asleep in his lap.

"Thank you Matt, very much. You may have just solved this case." L held the boy carefully and stood. He took Matt over to the bed then put him down. He pulled the covers over the hacker's shoulders and ruffled his flaming red hair. L grabbed one of the extra blankets from the bed and headed to a comfy chair. He sat down and reached over, clicking the lamp off. The room became shrouded in darkness, the lamplight gone, but the computer screens radiating a comforting light a short distance. It cast playful shadows across L and the two boys asleep in his bed. Then after a few minutes all screens blinked themselves dark.