The lollipop glistens, a hard red ball of sugar. L twirls its rigid stick between his thumb and forefinger, his eyes savoring what his tongue is going to in a little while, a sweetness thick and swirly, but his gaze darts up and --

He worries the edge of his lip.

...

There is something unattractive about Yagami Light tonight. Or... odd, at the very least. To start with:

"You're smiling, Light-kun."

Light glances away from his hand on his crotch. "What -- I'm smiling?" His face turns nearly bewildered.

"Well, you were," L points out. "You've been smiling an unusual lot. Today and yesterday."

"Oh. ...I guess I've got a reason to, now," Light shrugs, his smile returning. It's close, but the smile isn't quite what is unattractive about him tonight. It's something else.

Something...that L cannot see.

+

When Light touches him at last, his hands are slick and cool against the back of L's knees, but this is easy to ignore by the time Light is moving against L and L is more inclined to heed how good it feels to have Light inside him.

With a lazy tug at his shirt, L bares the hard red length of his arousal. When Light brushes his fingers against it, L's back flicks up to a momentary arch. He listens to himself moan.

+

The mattress is too new, the sheets too soft. Only in the almost-silence does L mind the absence of handcuffs, the light rhythmic chink of steel with every sway of the bed.

"I kind of miss it." L shakes his right wrist. "The sound it makes, anyway."

Light lets out a sigh. It sounds nearly tired, irritated. "Look. Could you stop thinking about it already?"

"No. You know I can't. And neither can you."

"Just give it up, Ryuuzaki. You were wrong about me. I've never been wrong about you."

"Not yet."

Light nods, but not in any sort of agreement with L, and between them that is the last word on the subject for the night.

+

Finally, L pushes the lollipop into his mouth. He twists his tongue around the candy, its white stick jerking about like a restless cigarette between his lips.

+

Sometimes, Light sweats when he's in bed with L, making his shoulders glow, giving L a sight to behold -- but not at this moment, not when L finds more interest in the growing miff across Light's face.

"You really gonna...unh...suck on that right now?"

L rolls his lollipop between his lips until it touches a corner of his mouth. "Must this be a problem?" he asks back.

"A problem." Light's laugh comes out in a puffy little burst, making his throat quiver just under his chin. "No, but -- okay. Whatever." Light shakes his head and continues to move as he has been moving, inside L, between his pale spread legs, rocking, writhing, even gnashing. At one point, he brings his hand to the lollipop stick, catching it between his own thumb and forefinger.

+

L's eyes track upward to Light's, the gaze between them sticking like syrup. Light doesn't let go of the lollipop the whole while that L continues to suck the cherry-laced candy --

until he pulls it out and sticks it in his own mouth.

"Hey." L clicks his tongue.

"Just a taste." Light's cheeks sink in as he sucks the lollipop, his smile wrapped tightly around the candy. A moment later, "Too sweet," he decides.

+

L's lips are parted and ready when Light brings his lollipop back to his mouth.

Suddenly, there is something L can't quite place, a sensation that makes him tremble as if from a rush of cold, and it's the moment he sucks on the lollipop again that he begins to doubt everything, his very own senses foremost. The candy seems to have lost all its flavor, every trace of its sweetness gone from the buds of L's tongue, and instead his mouth is assailed with a taste so foul, even worse than rotten blood, and the rankness cuts down his throat like a line of acid that L is grasping at his throat even as he tears the lollipop from his mouth and sends it soaring across the room.

+

"Light-kun."

"Hm?" Light's face is graced once again with a smile, a smile that seems to sparkle with the very lure of sweets, growing brighter the faster he thrusts, but it's the moment it restrains itself before it becomes something else, when it just edges into the form of a smirk or a soundless laugh, that L --

"I need to get another candy," and heaves himself up on his elbows, "now."

"What the..." Light's movements come to a graceless halt, and by the time L pulls himself away from the stunned young man and slides his naked backside over to the edge of the bed, leaving them both sore and unsated, he can feel the seething heat of Light's breath against his spine. "You can't be serious, Ryuuzaki! We're right in the middle of --"

"I lost my lollipop. Didn't you see?"

"But you threw it away!

"That I did. This won't take a minute."

Glancing not once over his shoulder, L pulls his shirt down and his jeans up and pads his way straight to the door. Light is saying something, and he still doesn't sound at all too pleased, but L has already stepped out to the hallway before he can choose to listen to it, in any case.

Down in the main room, the god of death stands guard. Just before he takes his swivel chair at the computer, L meets her big empty eyes, wishing he could hear what her silence has been telling him. He draws his legs to himself and slips a bite-sized chocolate in his mouth. When his eyes start to drift shut, he offers little resistance.

+

In his brief sleep, L dreams about many things. He remembers none of them when he wakes up... none but the bleary image of Kira's cold, triumphant face...

"Ryuuzaki."

L tilts his head in the direction of the stairs. Light stands there, looking concerned for some reason.

"Are you coming back to..."

"Bed?" L glances down at his bare toes for no reason. Then, "Yes," he replies finally.

Light turns to head back up to his room, but not before casting a smile L's way.

L cannot bear to think what Light is happy for. He rubs his wrist against his lips, along the repulsiveness that still clings to them.

END