A/N: So, I was riding in the car on my way up north, and I heard the song Rollercoaster of Love THREE TIMES. In 2 hours!!! And I was subsequently inspired to write this. I like it lots so far, and am surprised by how looooooong it is! It was supposed to be a one-shot, lol.

Anyway, I really, really, really hope you like it, and that you review, cause I've had some tough stuff going on, which I won't expand on, and reviews brighten my day. :)

Also, I abbreviated the title, and I was like R of L... haha, Raito and L! Wait, oh my gosh! ROFL!!! Rolling on the floor laughing! And then I knew I was insane.

And I went to my first anime con today!! Jafax. It was epic, and I intend on going to many more. :)

Chapter One

Disclaimers: Neither Death Note nor Joe vs. The Volcano belong to me in any way. And if you can catch the reference to the latter, I give you props.

You give me that funny feeling in my tummy....

Ahw sh.., yeah, that's right huh

Rollercoaster of Love say what
Rollercoaster yeah (oohh oohh oohh)...

Oh baby you know what I'm talking about
Rollercoaster of Love
oh yeah it's Rollercoaster time

Light could feel the moisture being sucked out of his eyeballs by the fluorescent bulbs that flickered in the ceiling.

You would have thought that being chained to the greatest detective of the century, possibly of all time, would have been fascinating. Light had initially assumed that being with L 24/7 would shed some light on the method behind the mysterious man's madness. He had even been so forward as to hope he might learn something.

Ha! Yeah. Right.

Two weeks into it, Light had garnered very little in the way of instructive detective material. He did, however, know the finer points of how to hull a strawberry.

If for some reason the detective gig didn't work out, perhaps he could become a professional fruit huller.

Seriously, though. L was being extraordinarily obstinate. For all they were chained to each other, Light felt as if he interacted with L even less than when they were individual entities.

He felt distinctly…ignored. Given the cold shoulder. L barely spoke to him, unless it was to discuss the case, and even then it was only short, to the point questions.

What really bothered Light, though, was his own reaction to L's indifference. All things considered, he had no reason to care what L did or did not think about him. Heck, the detective was convinced that Light was Kira. That was a basis for antipathy if anything was.

But…for some inexplicable, completely illogical reason, Light cared very, very much what L thought of him. He'd tried several times in the last week to pin down exactly why that was, but hadn't had any more luck with the answer than the team was having on the Kira case.

Yes, the investigation had come to a standstill, and it was making everyone act like a PMSing Misa.

L was even eating more chocolate than usual.

Maybe that was why the man was ignoring Light…he was depressed about the case. Or just really annoyed with the lack of progress.

Light tapped the end of his pencil against the screen of his computer, contemplating this new lead into his analysis of L's recent avoidance.

His reverie was broken, however, by its subject.

L cleared his throat and stood up, as much as L ever stands up. The entire room fell silent, waiting for their genius leader to speak, all silently hoping that he had a new lead on the case.

Their hopes, though, were only partially fulfilled.

"I know that you have all been working very hard at uncovering new information, but you will have realized by now, as have I, that this method is getting us absolutely nowhere" L paused for effect, and several of the men nodded in agreement.

"I think that, instead of looking for new leads, we would do better to do retroactive research; look over those parts of the case that have hereto stumped us." Without waiting for the team's consent, L continued.

"We will be starting with the Ray Penber case, since it is one of the first left without an acceptable conclusion. As you all know, Ray Penber was on the bus to the amusement park when the highjacking, followed by Penber's death by heart attack, occurred."

"Given this information, I have decided that it will be necessary for a few of us to take said bus to said amusement park, posing as regular park goers, in order to better understand Kira's motive, as well as why he was going to an amusement park, which you all must admit is an odd activity for a proven mass murderer."

None of the team objected to L's logic, although that might have been due to how their brains were still trying to process that L was going to let a lucky few of them go eat snowcones and ride the tilt-a-whirl for a day.

Soichiro's brain in particular was filled with images of fried Twinkies.

Unfortunately, it was not their lucky day.

"I myself will need to be present on this outing, as I wish to see the situation first-hand. Also, there will be cotton candy.

"Of course, this means that Light-kun will be accompanying me, so that I may continue my observation of him. The chain will be removed, however, in order to limit any unnecessary attention on the pair of us.

"Also to this end, I will be requesting the pleasure of Miss Amane's company, as her fame will draw the attention further from Light and myself. The three of us will be leaving on the first bus tomorrow morning. That is all."

And with that, L climbed back onto the chair next to Light, turning his attention back to his computer screen and his work.

Light, however, found it completely impossible to concentrate after L's revelation. He got to finally go to the amusement park? Awesome! Did this mean L was warming up to him?

The thought of a day at the park with L was, to Light's utter confusion, far more appealing than the prospect of doing the same with Misa. Probably because Misa was, for all her enthusiasm, an utter bore.

In any case, Light spent the rest of the day planning what rides he wanted to go on, and wondering which ones L would like, all the while sneaking glances at the detective (still studiously ignoring him) and wondering why the blood was rising to his cheeks.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

The next day, bright and early, found L, Misa, and Light all sitting in a row on the bus on their way to the amusement park.

The ride was devoid of anything even remotely interesting to the detective. No one even had allergies, much less a heart attack, much to L's disappointment.

Misa, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed herself, occupied as she was with staring at Light, and repeatedly brushing her hand against his in hopes that he would take it. He didn't.

It couldn't be said that Light was having as much fun as Misa, but he was equally engaged in watching someone, albeit not the person the Gothic Lolita would have wished.

Light told himself if was because he wanted to see if L was breaking out of his bad mood now that they were actively investigating something. And if his hand strayed a little closer to L's than civility required, then surely it was simply due to the bus's rattling and moving.

In any case, when they stepped off the bus and into the ticket line, Misa's eyes were glued to Light, Light's were on L, and L's were focused on…the cotton candy stand.

The detective made a beeline for said stand, but Light and Misa were slow on the uptake, and before they had a chance to catch up, L had been accosted into playing a carnival game by some greasy carny.

The man was fairly scary looking, even as carnies go, but L seemed not to notice, big grey eyes analyzing the neon-hued canopy as the carny explained the rules. It was, all in all, a simple game involving throwing a ping pong ball into a small fish bowl.

For someone who had their physics textbook memorized cover to cover, it was a piece of cake, and before Light knew what was happening, L was delicately holding a plastic bag by one tip. Inside, to L's seeming fascination, was a bug-eyed goldfish.

L's face lit up as he gave Light one of his rare smiles; the ones that made Light's heart beat just a bit faster. "Light-kun, it seems I have caught a fish".

Light smiled in turn at the detective's childish glee, leaning in closer to get a look at the little beastie. He glanced up through his eyelashes at L, about to say something clever, when the soft look in L's eyes caught him off guard, words sticking in his throat.

The other man seemed like he was about to say something, and Light raised his head a little, unable to tear his eyes from L's…and then Misa grabbed his arm, tugging it and squealing.

"Oh my gosh, Light, lookie! A Ferris wheel! Oh, how romantic! Let's go on it!"

Light shrugged at L; he couldn't really say no. Misa was supposed to be his girlfriend, after all, and L himself had asked Light to stay close to her since she was suspected as the second Kira.

So it was that Light was jammed into the miniscule, candy-colored seat next to Misa, and L was left on the ground holding his fish, wishing not for the first time the he was little, blonde, and female.

All in all, it wasn't the worst experience of Light's life. So far that position was reserved for the time he thought his dad was going to shoot him. Misa wasn't too clingy, and he did get a nice view of the surrounding park.

When they got off and found L, however, Light's mood fell. What happened? L had looked so happy just moments ago, and now…now he looked as if he wished he had Kira's power to kill.

Light only had time to frown and meet L's gaze, though, before Misa was hauling him towards the next attraction. The one she had in mind this time was the tilt-a-whirl, much to Light's joy.

He LOVED the tilt-a-whirl, enough that he went along with Misa fairly willingly, leaving L standing with his fish once again.

Once the two of them were seated, just before the ride began, Light caught L looking at Misa with a positively murderous gaze. He barely had a chance to wonder what it was all about, and then he was spinning so fast it flung Misa's long hair in his eyes. Light would never admit it, but he positively squealed as they spun round and round, faster and faster inside the sparkling blue contraption.

He was still laughing breathlessly as he stumbled down the stairs off the ride, dizzy from all the spinning. Surely that was why he missed the last step, half falling onto L as he tried to catch himself.

After he had stabilized, Light would ask himself why his arm was tingling where it had brushed L's sleeve, and why L's hand was clenched, and his usually white face was tinted pink.

Light was suddenly possessed by his scientific side. Was L's reaction cause by Light touching him? Hmm, it was a hypothesis worth testing.

This, completely academic, thought in mind, Light lowered his eyes bashfully and reached over, hesitantly brushing his fingertips against the fabric at L's wrist, just barely touching the skin…and L's entire arm tensed up, the hair standing on end….

Fascinating.

Light would have continued his experiment, but Misa decided that they needed to go on the carousel, and thence they went. Light had to admit, he was starting to get as sick of the girl as L seemed to be.

This time, however, L staunchly refused to be left behind, forcing the carny tending the ride to allow he and his fish aboard a neon green carousel horse. The carny almost spoke up when he saw how L was perched atop the ride, but the man's burning gaze silenced him.

Even a carny knows to back down when physical mutilation is imminent.

Light took the ostrich to L's left, and Misa ended up on a sparkly pink pig on Light's other side.

L looked sour for the entire ride, despite the cheery music, and his fish didn't look any happier with all the ups and downs.

When the turning finally ceased and the three of them were back standing in the dust and dirt, Misa let out yet another high-pitched scream, pointing towards some shooting game. "Light, Light, oh, won't you please win Misa Misa a big stuffed animal?!?!"

Light met L's gaze, and for once, the two were in perfect harmony. Misa needed to be ditched. And between two geniuses, nothing was easier.

Light stepped up to the shooting arcade, easily taking out the little cardboard men in prison suits that served as targets. He was mildly disturbed by how angry he was getting at the game, and how good it felt to kill…

And then he set the gun down, and everything felt normal again. The overweight carny behind the counter shoved a gigantic stuffed alligator at Misa, who took it with a huge grin.

L quickly stepped in with the second part of the plan. "Misa Misa, I'm sure you wouldn't want something Light-kun won you to get sullied by the dirt at the park. Why don't you take the bus back to the hotel and drop it off somewhere safe?"

Misa suddenly looked very grave, glancing about as if she suspected every sticky-handed child was after her precious alligator. She leaned around the beast to give Light a quick peck on the cheek before scampering off.

"Misa Misa, since you're leaving," L called after her, "would you mind taking my fish back, too?"

The tiny girl grabbed the fish hastily, hurrying to catch the next bus back into the city. Light and L watched until she was out of sight and then turned to each other, smiling widely.

"To the cotton candy stand?"

L nodded, his eyes sparkling, as Light led the way to the nearest refreshment cart.

A/N: Like it? Really? Please review. Please?