Chapter Text
“Hmph.”
Light rolled onto his back, stirring in his sleep. Faint and quiet sounds woke him from his deep sleep.
“Ouch.” Light heard L hiss and he opened his eyes.
“Ryuzaki what are you doing?” Light said, sitting up to get a better look at the detective sitting up in bed next to him.
The faint dimness of the sun creeping back into the sky lit the room up ever so slightly, just enough to make out shapes in the shared bedroom.
L had been staying up profusely late as they got a new lead in the Kira case, and after many times Light scolded him for the bright laptop screen, he accepted defeat and just rolled the other way every night.
With L designating so much of his time to the investigation, he has done a poor job at taking care of himself, which led to the situation he was in now.
L was holding onto the handle of his hairbrush, the bristles tangled in his dark hair.
He whipped his head to the side, seeing Light awake.
“My apologies, Light. I didn’t mean to wake you.” He said in a hushed, monotone voice.
“What are you doing?” Light asked again sleepily, hoarseness disguising his voice.
“Brushing my hair.” L said, trying to hide the fact that the brush was indeed stuck in his hair. He was struggling to get it out for the last 30 minutes, and he didn’t want to admit defeat to the tool; let alone admit defeat to Light.
“Well can you be quiet, I’m trying to catch up on sleep that you keep interrupting.” Light said with a huff, turning back around and pulling the blanket over his head.
L took a deep breath before tugging on the brush again, wincing and hissing in pain.
Light threw the covers and sighed loudly. “Ryuzaki, what did I just-” He stopped and saw the tangled disaster that was the left side of L’s messy black hair. “How the hell did you do that?” Light asked with disbelief as he leaned to get a better look at the tangled brush.
L remained quiet, finally dropping his hands from the brush and huffing in frustration. “I don’t know. Watari normally does this for me.” He muffled quietly, feeling almost ashamed that he couldn’t complete the most basic human function.
“Were you twisting it and trying to get it stuck on purpose?” Light teased as he pulled on the handle.
“Ow, bastard! Don’t do that!” L swatted Light’s hand away, the sharp pain lingering on his sensitive scalp.
“Let me help, you idiot. If we don’t get it out then you’re not going to shut up and let me sleep.” Light said, agitated that L had the audacity to smack his hand like that.
He turned on the lamp and sat up criss-cross in front of L. “Let me look at it.” Light said, swatting L’s hands from the handle as payback.
“You’re just going to yank-”
“No, I’m not! Move!” Light huffed before slowly turning the brush and trying to see which way the brush was tangled.
To no surprise, it was tangled every which way. “I don’t understand how you could even-”
“Don’t ridicule me, Light, just help.” L said, frustration turning into hopelessness. He was starting to think he got it too tangled in his hair, and feared he would never get it out.
Light examined the brush intensely, finally waking up before standing up. “I’m going to get detangler, don’t make it worse.” Light said before getting off of the bed and digging through his bag, the chain of their lengthy handcuffs tugging ever so slightly.
He hopped back on the bed with the bottle before soaking the wadded-up hair in the detangler.
L noticed that it had a pleasant smell, which lifted his spirits. “It smells like strawberries.” He mumbled more to himself than to Light.
“Yeah and this shit is expensive so you better pay me back for it. I practically had to use the whole bottle.” Light teased, but with more of a playful tone than the insulting manner he had when he first woke.
Light worked at pulling small strands away from the brush, successfully getting good-sized chunks out of the bristles.
“Light, can you be more careful?” L said as he pulled his head away from Light’s hands.
“Ryuzaki can you stay still?” Light replied, gently tugging on the brush to get L back in his reach.
L winced and huffed, his poor scalp burning from the tugging.
Light noticed the pain across his face and almost paused what he was doing. Instead, he gently held his fingers across the roots of L’s head as he pulled more pieces out. This decreased the tugging L was getting tired of.
Ryuzaki’s breath stopped in his throat as he felt Light’s hand on his head, wanting to flinch away from it and lean towards it at the same time.
Luckily, Light was focused on working the strands loose to even notice.
L picked at his own fingers in his lap as Light was working the brush free, almost savoring the human contact.
Light’s whole hand had come to rest on the side of L’s head, still applying pressure to his roots to immensely reduce the pain.
L noticed the warmness of his hand pressing against his cold product-soaked hair, closing his eyes as he finally started to get tired after 72 hours.
He leaned into Light’s hand ever so slightly, his thoughts drifting off-
“Got it!” Light said with pride, holding the brush in front of him.
L’s eyes opened immediately as he smiled softly. “Thank you, Light.” He whispered as he touched his wet head, feeling the clump of tangled hair.
“We need to brush the rest of your hair so this doesn’t get tangled in it again.” Light said, happy that he achieved the seemingly impossible.
L nodded and reached out for the brush, only for Light to hold it away from him. “You actually think I’m going to give this back? I don’t have the patience to do that again.” Light said with a chuckle before pointing to the floor in front of the bed. “Sit there.”
L blinked a couple of times before crawling off of the bed and sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest.
Light put his hand back on the top of L’s head and started to brush the thick black hair.
Light took into notice the softness of the detective’s hair once it was actually smoothed out, gently running his fingers through it after the brush.
A shiver ran down L’s spine, gently shaking at the touch. Light immediately noticed and blushed, his face turning red as he realized he was basically petting the man who is framing him for mass murder.
“Can I have more of that spray?” L asked, looking up at Light, who quickly turned his head to hide his red face.
“Uh y-yeah… but like I said it’s expensive-”
“I’ll buy you more.” L interrupted before looking forward again.
Light took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, before spritzing the detangler in all of L’s hair.
He resumed the brushing, finally distracting himself with the brushing and forgetting about L’s reaction.
“Light-kun can I ask why you are blushing?” L asked, no emotion in his voice as he nibbled on his thumbnail.
Light felt heat rush to his cheeks again. “I-I’m not! It’s just… hot in here.” Light barely hid his lie.
“Hm… Light-kun typically has the room at 68 degrees, which is rather cold. I can turn down the temperature if you'd like.” L stated, who didn’t need to look back to know that red had stained Light’s face again.
Light swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, sure.” He said before putting the brush down and scratching the back of his neck. He was actually getting quite cold in the room and was going to put on a hoodie, but now he's going to just have to suffer.
L stood up and headed towards the thermostat, the chain between them stopping him from going any further. He turned his head at Light, giving him a knowing look before Light stumbled out of bed and followed L to the control panel by the front door.
Light felt flustered and out of control with his emotions, and he hated it.
He didn’t like how L could mess with him and his emotions so carefree… and so easily.
L took his spot in front of the bed again, happily waiting for more brushing of his hair.
Light cleared his throat and started brushing his hair again, running the brush through L’s smooth hair, his hand atop L’s head once again.
“Ooo Light-kun your hands are cold.” L said, flinching at his cold hands, a small smirk spreading across his lips. “The AC hasn’t even kicked in… I thought you were warm-”
“Shut up Ryuzaki!” Light stated defensively. “Do you want me to finish or not?!”
The frustration in his voice allowed L to basically read his mind. He knew he was flustering the younger man.
Making him blush and stutter.
“Yes, I would like that.” L said lowly, sticking his thumbnail in his mouth again.
Light huffed and continued to brush his hair, not minding being careful anymore.
The brush could catch on tangled strands, but the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as it was earlier, so L didn’t mind the loss of the hand on his head.
For that reason at least.
L realized how much he longed for human contact.
No, Light’s contact.
No, human…
L’s face contorted with thought.
Was he wanting Light’s touch? Or is this emptiness simply from the lack of human contact?
“Okay, your hair is untangled.” Light said before setting the brush and detangler back on his nightstand. “Can I go to sleep now?”
“I suppose so, even though you were the one who insisted on brushing my hair.” L said with a small smile as he stood up and actually laid in bed this time.
Light was going to argue but decided not as he turned off the lamp.
“At least I can get another hour before having to wake up again.” Light said, annoyance in his words.