L sighed.

This investigation was pointless. Kira sat a few feet away from him, already in a handcuff. If he could just get the other handcuff on Kira's wrist, then all of his problems would be solved.

L carefully tilted his head a bit to examine Kira.

Kira was beautiful. L didn't say it from attraction or lust, but simply as a fact. The boy sat a few feet away from him in his own chair with perfect posture, his slim fingers flitting across the keyboard, the fine golden-brown strands of his hair falling perfectly around his face, his pink soft lips in a slight frown of concentration, and his eyes, his perfect, beautiful, innocent, amber eyes, staring at his screen.

That was the problem though. Light was not innocent. The detective had little to no doubt (about 97.3% certain) that Light was Kira. But that was from his observations. Observations that no one else could understand, like Light's childish view of the world and people, his quietly cunning mind that he hid perfectly behind his masks, or his obsessive compulsive nature, but those were just not cold, hard evidence.

L looked to his computer again, pulling his thumb to his mouth and toes curling on the seat in his usual (or unusual, depending how you look at it) crouch. These were the only signs of frustration he usually allowed himself, but he was sincerely tired. Not physically, though he was feeling a bit sleep deprived having only acquired 10 hours of sleep in the past week, but of this case. This ridiculous farce of a case.

Kira was sitting right next to him dammit! And there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. It could take years to build a case strong enough against Light, and the conniving little punk would probably dispel it easily with a casual flick of his hair and one of those perfect smiles too!

It frustrated L to no end that he was being bested by a teenager with a god-complex, all because Light was beautiful. And all that beauty put to waste as the owner of it never really showed his true self. L relished seeing Light let his calm façade slip and see the true, burning beauty beneath the ice of his mask. But so rarely did it slip. It would only happen when L could truly anger him. Or sometimes L would say something that was startlingly blunt, and just for a moment, L could see that glimmer of sadness or hurt in his eyes. Those were less satisfying victories.

Kira may be a sociopath, but for now he was a naïve boy. For now, he was a harmless dreamer with a big heart. It was whatever weapon he used to murder that corrupted him, filled him with power, and therefore insanity. But for now, he was just a beautiful boy with a dream of a better world, like the way a young child might dream for a world full of dinosaurs, not understanding that dinosaurs would destroy and kill everything he had come to know, but thinking simply of how he would like to pet one.

And that was the only reason L would stand to be his friend. Because this beautiful boy was also a complex, intelligent, amazing human being. L craved his presence and his attention just as much as he craved those small breaks in his façade. Because when they were alone, and Light didn't have to act for anyone (except for acting all the time like he wasn't Kira, but he was) he was real.

If only Light could show his real side to everyone, maybe L wouldn't suspect him as much. Light felt the need to project his flawlessness to everyone, but underneath those silly masks was an intelligent, witty, funny, interesting, and undeniably flawed boy.And that was what made him so beautiful to L, not his flawless looks, but his flawed personality.

If people could see that, L was willing to bet that people would love Light even more. More than they already worshipped him. But Light was just so damn stubborn about pretending he was perfect. Maybe he even fooled himself into thinking he was perfect. And maybe that was how something as twisted as Kira came to be.

That was the biggest reason L liked to break Light's mask. Because Light had to be reminded that even he was human, even he could make mistakes. Even if L had to hurt him to do it, he would show Light that he wasn't perfect, because someday, some horrible day, Light would become Kira again. And L might not live through that, which was a pressing issue of course, but more importantly, all of Light's beautiful mind would be warped and twisted into a more sharp and scary kind of beauty that made L tremble. That was the kind of beauty L first saw in Light, but at some point in his confinement, the sharper edges softened, and L's spine didn't shiver when he looked in Light's eyes out of fear, but rather from their pureness.

Yes, L would continue to remind Light to keep that pureness in his eyes as much as he possibly could, to keep that startlingly beautiful human, human. But L could feel time was running out, they were moving closer to discovering the third Kira, and something drastic needed to be done. Something that would make Light absolutely rage with imperfection. But what?

L again turned his gaze toward Light, this time fully swiveling his chair to view the brunette. He scrutinized him thoroughly testing theories in his head as to what could crack his mask so thoroughly, surely Light would even see his imperfection.

Light's concentration broke when he saw the detective swivel to look at him. He inclined his head toward L, letting his lovely eyes fall onto L's startlingly black ones.

"Is something wrong Ryuuzaki?" he asked quietly. There was no need to be loud as it was around 1 in the morning and they were alone on this floor of the headquarters.

L didn't speak but merely brought his chair closer to Light's. Light began to eye him wearily, but with an increasing flicker of panic as he neared. L found this extremely interesting. Perhaps he could find a clue as to how to irrevocably ruffle Light.

L let his chair slide closer and closer, still not opening his mouth to speak. Light began to look fully panicked now. Normally, L would be satisfied with the already apparent breach in Light's shield, but he needed to push further. So he pushed until his chair was touching the side of Light's. Then he leaned toward Light with the intention of further examining him. Light drew in a short gasp of breath as L invaded his personal space to a critical extent.

L took note of the involuntary breath, but continued to lean towards Light. The key to breaking him was so close, he knew it. Light flinched a bit when there was but a foot between their faces, but that wasn't it either, so L continued. It wasn't until his face was but a few inches from Light's that he noticed the soft pink color that flushed Light's skin.

That's it! I've found it!

And with that, L closed the trivial gap he had left and kissed Light.