Found You One-shot L x Light

Disclaimer: Death Note does not belong to me. If it did…well. I wouldn't be here.

"L! Let's play hide-and-seek!" The other children tugged on the poor boy's arms.

He was a mysterious boy who liked to keep to himself but on the occasions that he did join the others in their fun, he always won. No matter what the game was, L always won.

He was exceptionally smart and sometimes, his classmates spited him for his perfection. Other than his appearance, that is. They take in L's disheveled look of uncombed hair and sloppy clothes, and wrinkle their nose in distaste.

Not all the children disliked L, though. When L believed in something, he always stood up for it and spoke his mind. Bullies were one frequent subject of his.

And as a result, Mello and Near became L's two most loyal admirers.

Mello and Near were the best of friends and after being saved by L that one time a year ago, they had become his shadow. They kept an eye and ear out for any trouble the others might plan for L and pretty soon, they were dubbed L's spies.

The children made sure to keep their plans a secret from the pair and today had been no exception.

"Please L-kun! Play with us!" They begged as they began to herd the boy towards the woods.

L hesitated. Today was one of those days when he felt like playing with the other children but he was suspicious. A few of the bullies he had stood up to were among the crowd urging him and one didn't need to be the brightest kid around to feel wary.

"……Alright, I guess. But only one game." He relented at last but harried shouts overpowered his last few words.

"Wait, L!"

"L-kun! It's a tr—"

Mello and Near had somehow caught a whiff of the children's plan and had rushed as fast as they could to L. However, before they could further warn L, the other children hurried to cover up the exposure.

One girl crossed her arms as she glared at the two gasping for breath before her, cutting them off, "Oh don't be such sore losers. You guys just don't want L playing with us because we won't play with you."

"And you want him to yourselves too." Another added.

A chorus of agreement rose among the crowd and a particularly nasty boy reached out and shoved Near before anyone realized what had happened.

"Come on L, let's go."

Watching Mello help Near to his feet, L paused for a moment, pondering. "Alright, lets go." He said.

Seeing his two informants' horrified and betrayed expressions pained L and he rubbed his nose—pinky up and twitching.

To Mello and Near, it was out of smugness and that stunned them. They had never seen such a haughty side to L before!

But to L, it was a reassuring signal to them. To show them he knew what they had tried to warn him about and he had a plan of his own up his sleeve.

Too bad Mello and Near didn't understand his sign language.

L shrugged before turning to follow the rest of the children into the forest. Later, he'd tell them everything over a good cup of tea with chocolate on the side at home. Maybe if they had enough time, they'd even play with the new train set Near had bought recently.

"10…9…8…7…" L counted down as he covered his eyes tiredly. By the time he reached 5, he knew that there was no point in counting down the rest.

He was alone.

That had been the children's plan all along. To trick L into the woods and leaving him there, in the middle of nowhere. Right now, they were all probably laughing at him as they all returned to the cafeteria for a snack to celebrate their victory.

However, they expected him to find his way back in his terror, before lunch ended. It would be a real problem if the teachers found out what they had done to him so they had made sure he wasn't too deep in the woods. The perfect way at getting back at them was to stay missing long enough for the teachers and parents to realize he was gone.

No doubt, in fear of something really happening to him, the others would spill what they had done, L would be "found" and they would be punished.

Of course, L knew exactly where he was and wasn't technically lost. In fact, he had spent many hours wandering among the woods, finding peace among the silence of the day and had come to know his way around as he knew his home.

Shrugging out of his jacket, he dropped it to the ground and reached up for the nearest branch to the tree behind him. It was nearing winter but the temperature was just right for L at the moment.

He was fond of the cooler seasons ever since he was little and especially enjoyed the winter season. The chilly sting of the cold air against his body was pleasant and L always had disliked being forced to wear jackets during the season.

Leaning back against the tree trunk, he closed his eyes, enjoying the stillness of the air and the feel of the cold breeze going by.

A loud sneeze echoed through the woods.

Startled, L's eyes shot open.

Now alert, L could hear the slight sobs of a person crying. Because he wasn't looking to hear anything around him before, he had not been aware of the stranger in the beginning. Glancing about him, L couldn't see anyone, even halfway up the tree.

Dropping to the ground, L followed the sniffles to find another boy, a few years younger than he, huddled against a tree. He was hunched up and shivering, his nose slightly red from the cold and his head snapped up when he heard L approach.

L and the boy stared at each other for a long time.

"Who are you?" L finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Light." The boy looked at him measuringly and cleared his throat. "Light Yagami. And you?"

With a name to label the stranger, L relaxed.

"L." He replied. "What's wrong? I heard you…sneeze."

It occurred to L that Light might not appreciate being heard crying. After all, boys weren't supposed to cry.

"Oh, I think I broke my ankle. That's all." Light winced as L knelt and lifted the left pant leg up to examine the ankle. "I'm better now, I think."

Probing the large purple bruise lightly, L was sure the ankle wasn't broken. Just bruised and probably twisted at most.

Light's big toe twitched. "Oh. I guess it isn't broken after all. I probably just twisted it." Light blew a small sigh of relief. "But it sure had hurt as if I had though."

"Well, it's good that it's not broken. That way it'll be easier to get out of here. Where do you live?" L asked, already getting to his feet.

"You know the way ou—?" Light sneezed loudly again. "Uhngh…sorry. I think I caught a cold…" He apologized.

"That's okay. I'm pretty healthy so chances are, I won't catch it." L paused and a hand hovered above the jacket folded over his arm.

At last, L draped his jacket over Light's shoulders. When Light looked up at him in surprise, L blushed. "W-well, you're cold right? You can use it until we're out."

"…Thanks." Light gratefully pulled the jacket tighter around his shoulders and struggled to get up. "We better start moving now. It's already getting darker."

And it was.

L pulled Light's arm around his neck and placed his other arm around the other boy, resting at the waist. It wasn't very awkward for the two were about the same height and though Light didn't admit it, the warmth of L's body felt nice against the bitter cold.

Their progress was slow and Light had to stop every so often—his good leg cramping up from the excess of weight put on it. The sky grew darker and finally, it became night.

Once, an owl hooted its greetings and surprised, both L and Light had jumped, tripped and fell all in one process.

They had laughed it off, picked themselves up and continued their trek towards the edge of the woods but L couldn't suppress the uneasy feeling creeping up into his throat. It was already pretty dark and he knew that although he was familiar with the woods, he didn't know his way around by feel.

Worried, he encouraged Light to move faster. "We're almost there. If we hurry, there might still be staff in the school building." He lied.

Light saw right through it. "I doubt that very much but all the same, let's get out of here before we get eaten by wolves." He joked half-heartedly.

"Yea…"

"I'm sorry. Because of me, you're not home. Why don't you just go on ahead and find help for me? It'll be better that way."

"No!" L said vehemently and even he was taken aback with himself. Swallowing, L felt himself flush and was thankful that it was dark out, even with the full moon out. "W-well…what I meant was…well…"

Light waited patiently and the two continued their turtle-like progress in silence until L spoke up again.

"I'm sort of a-afraid of the dark…"

It was impossible to suppress the smile that crept up Light's face and L didn't miss it. "I know it's stupid but I am! I'm sure you're afraid of some stupid things too!"

Damn it! His face was heating up again and L shivered a little as a cool breeze blew across his face, the iciness intensified by the fire in his cheeks.

"No, I'm not laughing at you. It's just…I don't know what the word is…cute? Sweet? It's as if you're a little girl!" Light chuckled but apologized when he saw L's hurt face.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I sort of expected it…"

"L?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you think I can rest? Just for a little bit?"

L hesitated, torn between his concern for Light, a boy he now considered a new friend, and his longing to be in a warm, cozy bed. "Alright, how about here? I'm sort of tired too."

They sat down beside a cluster of rocks and together, they listened quietly to the nocturnal life.

Seconds…Minutes…Hours passed but L didn't notice. When he finally tore his gaze from the stars, he discovered that Light had fallen asleep.

He laughed softly as he saw that the boy was slumped in what looked like a rather uncomfortable position against a tree.

L yawned.

He was tired too…His eyelids burned and he closed his eyes for a moment's relief…

The next morning, the teachers discovered the two boys sleeping side by side, exhausted and tired. Yet, their faces were peaceful. Not those of terrified, lost children.

They shook their heads at each other.

When will they ever learn?

 - I've been thinking…maybe sometime in the future I might make a one-shot just for that Mello-Near incident mentioned.

 - When L drinks tea, he lifts the teacup with his pinky up xP That was what I meant and was afraid readers wouldn't understand…

A/N: Wow…so OOC but I thought it was still cute x3 It turned out longer than I had expected but I hoped ya liked it anyways I was actually thinking of making a chain of one-shots here, all connecting with one another like I had mentioned before. Anyways, just to clarify, I started it off as if they were really young but they sort of…matured over the pages ; So generally, I suppose they're in middle school. Heh, that was just bothering me and now that that's out of the way…

People, please review! It'll let me know that at least some are reading this . Thanks 3