Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, Harvey, or make any money from this story.

Prompt: (From the Death Note Kink Meme on LJ) Misa wants to have movie night, and Light is moved to tears. L mocks him relentlessly.

A/N: It was hard to keep Light IC for this prompt, but hopefully I succeeded…

"Let's have a movie night to celebrate capturing Kira!" Misa happily suggested, while hanging from Light's neck.

Light snorted with disgust and inwardly seethed with rage. All he needed was a few minutes of alone time with Misa, and then he could set his super-awesome master plan of manipulation into motion. But first he had to convince L to unchain him, and he couldn't do that until they spent more time analyzing the rules in the notebook, and concluded that Light and Misa were innocent. Then once he was away from L's prying eyes, he could start his elaborate plan. He needed to continue to act like a caring boyfriend for at least a few hours more, in order to have an excuse to spend said "alone time" with Misa, but movie night? Light snorted again. What was next - let's style our hair and paint our toenails night? He was supposed to be Misa's boyfriend, not her girlfriend.

"That sounds like an acceptable plan, Misa," L said. A small smile crept up his lips and he turned to stare at Light.

Light shivered. L was up to something. He was sure of it. Had the detective somehow sensed his plan? No, there was no way - Light's flawless acting skills had to have fooled him.

"Yay! Thank you, Ryuuzaki!" Misa squealed as she tightened her hold on Light's neck. "Doesn't that sound like fun, Light?"

"Yes," Light answered politely, as he gently loosened her arms from around his neck. Sure it sounded fun. About as fun as L's trips to the dentist.

L continued to stare at Light and Misa as he chewed on his thumb. "A particular movie comes to mind that might be of interest to you both." L gave another creepy smile. "I'll have Watari bring it up and prepare the refreshments."

"I don't want anything to eat," Light said grumpily. Maybe that was all L was after - an excuse to eat sweets and junk food, and make Light uncomfortable by offering him food. Light doubted L would undo the chain for movie night. And he would probably take advantage of the chance to annoy Light by jangling and pulling on the chain, or tripping over things in the dark.

"Misa-Misa, just wants pop-corn, and of course Light can share it with her," Misa said while clutching at Light's arm and giggling.

A few minutes later, Watari arrived with a DVD and a cartload of popcorn, chocolate-covered popcorn, chocolate covered pretzels, deep-fried marshmallows, and a mountain of assorted candies.

L brightened up as he saw the "refreshments" and greedily dug in as soon as he finished setting up the DVD player.

"I apologize," said L around a mouthful of popcorn, "But the movie we are about to watch is in English. It is subtitled in Japanese however."

"That's fine, I can understand English," Light said. It would be a good chance to practice his English listening comprehension skills, not that Light ever needed any practice.

"That's right, Light is so smart, and the most wonderful boyfriend in the world," Misa crooned as she settled down on his lap.

L sat off to one side, the cart of food within easy reach.

The movie started.

Light started to get annoyed with the main character almost instantly. First of all, the guy stupidly gave his full name to just about everyone he met: Elwood P. Dowd. Not that there was a Kira threat around, but still – who would be that trusting with random strangers? And then, he was pretty much useless, aimlessly wandering around while his sister was forced to fulfill all the social obligations of the family. Light frowned. Vagabonds like Elwood would be better off removed from society. Why if Elwood wasn't just a character in a movie his would be the next name to go into the notebook. Light imagined how pleased the man's family would be at not having to deal with Elwood's antics anymore.

Light's stomach clenched when he realized that Elwood had an "invisible friend". That must have been why L wanted to watch this movie, damn him! He glanced over surreptitiously at L, only to jump when he realized that the detective was close enough he was practically sitting on top of him.

"Is something wrong, Yagami-kun?" L asked.

"Can't I have any personal space while watching this movie?" Light retorted.

L stared down at him. "Oh, yes, I sometimes forget you have an aversion to closeness. Don't mind me; I was just refilling my bag of candy."

Light glared up at L; sure he had been refilling his candy bag. That was about as likely as the six foot rabbit in the movie being real.

As Misa snuggled up against him, Light decided that movie night had turned into his own personal hell. His plans were being delayed, Misa had apparently decided that "movie night" was code for "touchy-feely time", and L had managed to turn the movie into a game of lets-watch-Light's-reactions-to-every-tiny-thing-and-somehow-prove-that-he-is-Kira. He glanced over at L, and sure enough, L was staring at him again, his huge unblinking black eyes fixed on his favorite suspect while he took bites of candy, never breaking eye contact as Light looked at him.

L stared at him some more. "Light, do you think it's possible that Pooka exist?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ryuuzaki."

"Hmm, until yesterday, I thought that Shinigami couldn't possibly exist either." He paused in thought some more. "Do you think that Kira could have collaborated with a Pooka as well? I wonder if Shinigami and Pooka can see each other."

Light ground his teeth. He was certain that L was indulging in such pointless musings just to mess with him. It was dammed annoying. He glanced back at the movie. Elwood was happy as always. Light wondered what would have happened if Elwood had met up with Ryuk instead of Harvey.

He could practically hear the hypothetical dialogue:

"Well, I'll be, a Shinigami, I've never heard of that one before. That's very impressive; you ought to be proud of yourself. Yes, Sir, very impressive indeed. Wait until I tell the boys at Charlie's. Hey, that reminds me, would you like to get a drink?"

Light wondered if Ryuk liked hard apple cider, and why he had never thought to try. But then again a drunken Ryuk would be harder to control than a sober Ryuk.

The invisible friend and…if only L was as interested in alcohol as he was sugar. Come to think of it, all it would take is some yeast and a few weeks to ferment some of L's sweets. The fruit anyway. Light doubted that any micro-organism could live in the concentration of sugar that most of L's concoctions had. Light laughed out loud at the absurdity of the whole situation.

"What do you find amusing, Yagami-kun?"

"I'm watching the movie, it's normal for someone to laugh at a funny part in a movie. Weren't you paying attention?"

L mumbled under his breath and shifted in his chair.

They continued watching the movie, with Misa only interrupting once to comment that of course she did not have eyes for anyone but Light, but even then, none of the men in this movie were good-looking. The only good looking character was the nurse.

Light briefly wondered if maybe he could foist Misa off onto another girlfriend someday.

Light resumed watching the movie and plotting Elwood's imaginary death. Maybe he could try to kill Harvey off too, just to see whether or not the Death Note worked on non-humans.

Light was almost entirely certain Elwood's family would be better off without him.

x

.

Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, "In this world, Elwood, you must be" – she always called me Elwood – "In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.

.

x

"We should have invited Matsuda to watch this movie with us," L sarcastically remarked while stuffing twenty-three lollipops into his mouth.

By the end of the movie, Light was sniffing. He had wanted to kill off Elwood at first since the man had seemed so useless, but now he realized that he had misjudged the man. Even Elwood's sister had tearfully realized that she loved him as he was.

What if Light had made similar errors in his judgements as Kira? He thought of the families of the judged, crying for their loved ones. Were they really necessary sacrifices? Maybe some of the former criminals had been about to reform. And he had taken that chance away from them forever.

A tear welled out of the corner of his eye.

L was grinning at him. "I didn't realize Yagami-kun had such a soft side," he snidely remarked.

Light turned away. "Just leave me alone," he practically sobbed.

"Light, what's the matter?" Misa asked.

Light paused in his misery to look at Misa. Kira had avenged her parents' deaths. But that hadn't changed anything. Misa was still alone and traumatized and desperately clung to him. He had used her, and a small but insistent part of him knew that was wrong.

"I'm fine, Misa, that was just, uh, an emotional ending to the movie, huh?"

x

Light was surprisingly quiet and subdued as they got ready for bed.

"Did Harvey bring back memories of your "imaginary friend" Yagami-kun?" L asked.

Light sniffed and refused to look at him.

"Do you want me to call Matsuda over here so he can cheer you up?" L taunted.

No response.

"I didn't know Kira-kun was so easily moved to tears," L caustically remarked, perching on the side of the bed and staring for a reaction.

Light just hiccupped.

L grinned evily. "You no longer deny that you're Kira?" he pressed.

Still no response.

That's when L knew something was wrong. "Light-kun," he began.

Light stubbornly crawled into bed and turned away from L. His shoulders shook slightly underneath the covers.

L stared. Was Light…crying? L had never been good with interpersonal relations. He scooted closer to Light on the bed and poked at his shoulder.

"Ryuuzaki, I told you to leave me alone!" Light snapped.

L chewed on the tip of his finger. "Yes, but that was approximately one hour ago." He shuffled awkwardly on the bed. Light was upset? L therefore needed to "comfort" him. And if he found out what was bothering Light so much, well that was just a bonus. An extra-large bonus if it turned out to be related to the case.

L laid down behind Light, and stretched his arm out and around the teen.

Light stiffened at the contact at first, but then relaxed into L's embrace. He choked out a few more sobs, then turned and buried his head into L's shoulder.

x

Light clutched at L's shirt and sobbed. He thought of all the people he had killed, all the people he would kill. He might even have to kill L. Could he really kill someone he knew, who was living and breathing right now so close to him? "It's just that…" Light took a deep breath, he needed to explain himself, but without giving L any incriminating information. He would have to keep things vague.

L awkwardly patted his back. "It's okay, Light, you can tell me," he whispered into Light's ear.

"It's just that…all my life, I've had to…live up to people's expectations of me."

L waited patiently.

"I've always been intelligent, that part was easy…and then it was expected. But I never really had a chance to try anything else."

L frowned, if this was all…

"But now I think…" And Light thought back, to how he started with the notebook, and selflessly started killing off the criminals for the good of humanity. He knew from the beginning there was a chance he would become a monster, but it was worth it to create his new world, where good people could live without fear. But what of his mistakes? Or the people who seemed evil or useless, but on second glance were actually good people deep down? And what of the rest who were loved by those around them? What would a world be like where the majority were grieving over the loss of their loved ones?

Had he ever really had a choice in the matter though? The Death Note had fallen to the ground right in front of him. He was the only one in the world intelligent enough to use it correctly. And if he hadn't…Ryuk would have killed him and gone off in search of a different source of entertainment.

"It's just…hard, you know?" Light sniffed. "I feel like I never really had a choice and now I'm trapped."

L's eyes lit up. "It would help if Light-kun would be more specific with the details," he said, attempting to make his voice sound kind.

Light scowled. L still thought he might be Kira, and was trying to take advantage of him when he was upset. This was too much. L had no shame! "I was talking about school," he said coldly.

"Oh, I see," L said, and there was a note of disappointment in his voice. "I'm sure what Yagami-kun is describing is simply a teenage identity crisis. It's not particularly uncommon."

"How is that supposed to make me feel better?" Light demanded.

"Oh, is that not how one is supposed to comfort a distraught individual? I apologize, I am not well-versed in these matters."

Light turned around on the bed with a huff. L paused, then snuggled in behind him on the bed. Light could feel the warmth behind him, and the steady beat of L's heart. It was…surprisingly soothing.

Light clutched at L's hand, and pulled his arm over himself once again. Maybe he wasn't as trapped as he thought he was. Yes, he was intelligent, he was sure he could figure a way out, change his methods or at least try…

Light felt L's breath on the back of his neck, warm and alive, as he drifted off to sleep.