Hello everyone! This is my first Death Note story. I know I'm late to the game, but I just got into DN and now I'm pretty obsessed. I wanted to read some LxLight/LightxL but there are only so many boyxboy fans out there who post stories : ( and I got tired of reading them, so I decided to just write some myself. This will be a chaptered story and I have no idea how many chapters I will have.

Anyway, a disclaimer, however ridiculous: I do not own death note or any of these characters. As such, of course there is oocness, as I am not the author(s) of Death Note.

There will be spoilers eventually. Maybe even L's real name, but if you haven't read it or googled it by now, you're a rare soul.

Enough chatter, Enjoy!

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L could tell that the boy chained to his wrist was having a nightmare; it was easy to see. The boy was panting and sweating with a grimace of pain and fear displayed across his otherwise perfect features. Light would never allow himself to show these expressions in real life, so what was torturing him so much while he slept? L wasn't sure if this was raising or lowering the percentage of Light being Kira. Of course, he knew that the boy was indeed the mass murderer, but what he didn't have was hard evidence beyond the fact that he was L and L was seldom wrong.

In fact, L couldn't remember the last time he'd been wrong.

. . . Had he ever been wrong?

"Get away," he heard the boy groan.

L glanced down at the boy from his crouched position. Light's hands were now balled into tight fists and he was shaking with . . . fear? 'Yes, this is fear,' L affirmed. Light had now entered into a fight or flight mode within his own head, but his reactions were quite visible to L's eyes. L watched as Light suddenly froze: no more shaking, no more breathing, and no more noises.

Light inhaled sharply as his whole body jerked awake. He saw L looking at him, barely visible in the darkness of the room, "L?"

"Yes."

Light exhaled slowly, his mind finally catching up to reality. His hair was sticking to his forehead and the bed sheets clung to his body like a vice. Light fixed his breathing, making his facial expressions relaxed while he calmly peeled the sheets from his damp skin. His body still had adrenaline pumping through it, but he did his best to push that away.

L knew that Light had a harder time fighting his human reactions when he was tired. He wasn't like L. L suppressed everything without trying, mainly because he didn't feel emotions like other people did. He understood emotion. He recognized emotion. He just didn't react to emotions.

"Nightmare?" L asked, already knowing the answer was yes, but that Light's response would be no.

Light looked at L. "No," he replied, without a trace of lie in his features. If L already knew, which Light was sure he did, telling the truth or telling a lie wouldn't really matter. What he was sure of was that he didn't want to talk about the nightmare and he especially did not want to talk about it with L. This wasn't his first nightmare—obviously—this was just his first nightmare that felt so very real.

Just like Light, L knew it had been a lie and that Light didn't want to discuss it. Unlike Light, however, L was Light's superior. If the boy was innocent of being Kira, which he wasn't, then he was working for L in order to catch Kira and prove his innocence. If the boy was guilty, which he was, then L had already won and had control of the world's most powerful killer. Either way, L had the upper hand and he always eventually got his way.

"You told me to 'get away' while you were sleeping, Light," L provoked. He knew this wasn't entirely true. L had no idea what Light was dreaming about, but the boy wasn't afraid of L, meaning that the fear caused by the nightmare was in no manner caused by L.

He saw Light flinch for a moment before recovering.

"Then don't get so close to me while I sleep, L," Light retorted. All honorifics and false names were dropped when they were alone. It wasn't an agreement or even an unspoken agreement; it's just what they did.

"You know better than anyone that I wouldn't get close to you while you slept. The thought alone is repulsive." Yes, of course Light knew that. One of L's many quirks was his distaste for human contact. Light knew that L was just trying to show his dominance in the situation. But Light also knew that L knew that Light wasn't going to let him have his way so easily. Childish? Absolutely not.

"Maybe you just couldn't resist me." Light grimaced slightly at the comeback; the rebuttal sounded even more bizarre out loud than it had in his head.

"That thought is even more repulsive," L replied.

"I agree. Obviously that's why I wanted you to get away," Light replied, stretching. He felt better; the back and forth battle of wits calmed him down enough to sleep again.

L glanced at the time, 03:24. "Well, since you appear so awake, we might as well get to work."

Light turned his back to L and smiled slightly. L sure was a jerk. "Goodnight, L," he stated, pulling the covers over his shoulders.

L pursed his lips. Did that mean he won? He was fairly certain this battle had been a tie. Sure, he got Light to drop his mask for a while, but he never found out what the nightmare was about and the boy was already back to sleep. L sighed slightly; maybe he'd sleep tomorrow.

'Why don't I sleep?' L contemplated for maybe the millionth time in his life. It's possible that it was all the sugar. It's possible that he just didn't need sleep. His mind would keep racing even in sleep; he was too brilliant. Maybe it was simply the vulnerability that came with sleep. He had just witnessed what happened when dreams turn toward nightmares. But L wasn't afraid of anything.

Was he?

'Vulnerability,' L repeated. Yes, he didn't sleep often and clearly there were many, many reasons. But who would sleep next to Kira?

L watched Light breath softly in his sleep. He wasn't in a REM cycle yet, so he slept peacefully with no thoughts. He wasn't next to Kira. Kira wasn't inside Light anymore.

But what exactly was Kira? A person? A state of mind? L was fairly certain that the young boy next to him had been Kira, but that sometime during the confinement had given up his memories of Kira and most likely the ability to kill as Kira, too. Misa had done the same. This was probably when they both mentioned "getting rid of it," or "disposing of it." L was certain, since both of their attitudes changed after saying these words.

Light had been Kira, but now has no memories of being Kira. Misa had been Kira, but also was currently without the memories.

And now there was even a new Kira. L was certain that both Light and Misa could become Kira again if they were to obtain whatever it was Kira used to kill, be it a weapon or a possession of the mind.

This was just something L believed; he had no proof and no hard evidence. But again, when was L ever wrong?

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Hello and welcome to the end of chapter one! I hope you enjoyed yourself and will promptly proceed to chapter 2 once it becomes available to your viewing pleasure. As always, please feel free to review as I love reviews. I once left a story unwritten for 4 years because I hadn't read the reviews. I won't do that again (without warning anyway) so please give me a reason to want to post more chapters. Yes, I'm fishing.

Still though, it's a free world, so if you don't want to, then don't. You jerk. Heh. Until then,

~Aia~

p.s. chapter 2 will be longer

revised 8/29/2014 02:56