Written as an extremely late birthday present for random-prophet, later posted on the Kink Meme for Gant/Light. I hadn't actually read Death Note at the time, but she wanted Gant and "swimming lessons" meme!Light to meet, because, well, lolswimming. I know it's inaccurate, just sit back and enjoy the conversation.

"I think I know who you are," Gant said, weaving his fingers together and sitting forward. Kindly green eyes stared into innocent brown as the old detective watched the young man across the table from him. "And I think you'll tell me in the end" - a dangerous gleam, whether from the interrogation room light reflecting off his glasses or from those cat-like eyes it was impossible to tell - "but I'll ask you nicely first."

"What are you talking about, sir? I'm going to tell you the same thing as my father did when you came to the door for me." The boy sat more straightly, folding chair creaking to punctuate his statement. "I'm Light Yagami. An ordinary high school student studying for his entrance exams. As if I would have any time to get in trouble, especially since they're tomorrow."

Ah. The innocence smokescreen. He was dealing with a master of it here, though of course not as good at it as Gant himself was. It was a good thing he'd insisted on handling this personally, leaving Manny outside to listen and ask questions once he finally opened the brat up. "Your daddy told me that much, Lighto. But I want to know a little more about what you have to say." He felt like he should have been in danger here, but there was no way the boy knew his name yet and he wasn't enough of a damn fool to tell him.

"What else is there to say? I go to school every day. I come home. I do my homework and study. I don't even eat dinner most days, I've got so much work to do this semester," Light responded coolly. "I'm the top student in my school and have to keep it up if I want to get into a good college."

The boy's eating habits were as eccentric as that young fellow with the cake he'd met at the beginning of the Kira case. Pity about him. They couldn't keep losing good detectives to this little punk. "We noticed when we were searching your room that it seems like you live on potato chips, Lighto." Gant's smile never broke as Light's eyes briefly flashed red. "You're gonna have to be careful with that." He grinned more cheerfully. "You might end up getting fat and lazy, and I know a boy like you wouldn't like that, with those cute girlfriends you've been getting. Swimming's good for that," he added.

Interest flickered on the boy's face briefly and the tension between them dissipated a bit. "Swimming, sir?"

Gant nodded. "You like to swim, Lighto? You ever go to the pool on the weekends?"

"I go to the pool," Light sneered, eyes growing redder. "But you call what they do there swimming. Don't make me laugh."

He hadn't expected this. Not at all. Much as he liked swimming, it wouldn't do to get the boy angry. Light continued without a response. "It's like watching some cat drowning in a pool. Those slow pieces of shit." Gant blinked at the sudden vulgarity from such an innocent-looking young man's mouth. "They think it's called free-style." Light pushed himself away from the table quickly, chair shrieking on the tile, and… did he just flop down on the floor?

"Let me show you free-style," Light snarled. His arms flailed up and down in paddling motions, slamming into the tile and then waving about in the air again. "You pull your arms up out of the water, elbows first!" What kind of technique were they teaching children at the county pool these days? That much force would tire even him out far too quickly, and he made it a point to swim at least an hour every day… But Light was still going, not even wincing at one loud crack of elbow against floor. "And then you take that arm and reach out in front of you…"

Gant closed his mouth quickly. Had he been staring? He must have had been. "I know how to swim well enough, Lighto," he said, rising to come over and help his suspect back up. "We're not done here yet."

"Then dip your fingertips into the water…" Fingertips? What was this? Two quick strides across the floor, grabbing the struggling boy's collar and yanking him up, eyes level with his own again. "Mr. Yagami."

Light's eyes darted around the room, panicked and still wild. "Detective, sir?"

"I didn't want to learn about your terrible swimming technique." The friendliness had gone out of Gant's face, with the beginnings of a stare in his eyes. "Stay in that chair. And answer my questions." He let go of Light, who had found his feet by now, and sat himself back down. "The sooner you tell me who you really are, Lighto, the sooner you can leave if I'm wrong."

Light sat back into his chair again, wincing a little as he adjusted his seat and put his shirt back to rights. "So, then, what is it you want to ask me, Detective…?" The unasked question hung between them awkwardly.

"Detective Edgeworth." It wasn't the first name he could think of, but watching Manny glare and flinch outside the glass was worth letting boy see the pause. "A lot of things," Gant answered coldly. "Let's start with those potato chip bags I mentioned earlier."