That Old Magic Trick

By Seishuku Skuld (skuldchan@gmail.com)

Series: Death Note

Pairing: RaitoxL

Warnings: Yaoi PWP, post-forfeit

Date: February 2005

A Valentine’s Day present for Mel-mel.

*~*~*~*~*

Yagami Soichirou turned away when the door to the bedroom suite shut with a smart click of the lock. As one of the seniors of the Kira investigation he was privy to all the images from the cameras installed around their hotel base, but there were certain things a father didn't need to know. Certain things a father would rather not see and not hear his son doing.

He glared at Matsuda, who was trying to sneak a peek. The Chief caught his eye and Matsuda flushed, stammered some apologies he couldn't make out, and turned away quickly, mumbling something about having to go to the bathroom.

This entire incident had been precipitated by Ryuuzaki's insistence that he and Raito be chained together. But Chief Yagami could hardly blame the odd-mannered detective for it was Raito himself who had made the first move. Yamgami did not approve, but he was not about to bring up the issue in front of the other detectives on the case, and especially not when Amane Misa might have a chance of getting wind of it. Besides, there wasn't a moment save for then they took off and put on their clothing that Raito wasn't within three feet of Ryuuzaki. Yagami Soichirou might have suspected tha tsomehow Ryuuzaki had planned to seduce his son all long, but after seeing just a few seconds of Raito's performances in bed, he wondered if it had been in fact quite the opposite.

*~*~*~*~*

Steam filled the extra large shower, almost obscuring the gleam of the chain linked to his wrist. Almost. If he closed his eyes and tried hard enough he might be able to pretend he wasn't shackled to a naked, wet, and slippery Ryuuzaki. But then the chains would rattle, the links clinking off each other and there Ryuuzaki would be, shifting into a better position to compromise himself beneath the wide spray of the showerhead.

At first Raito had protested showering and sleeping together with L on grounds of modesty, but the young detective had insisted.

"It's not as if we have anything to hide from each other," Ryuuzaki had said so nonchalantly, as if he couldn't even imagine that Raito might take the entire situation as a personal affront. Raito had read the undertones of L's feigned naïveté--to refuse meant that he might as well have just confessed to being Kira, save for the solid evidence that L had yet to collect. He had the feeling he wast still at the top of the suspect list despite the appearance of the new Kira, and he's rather not be holding a very large lead on that coverted spot. But Ryuuzaki thrown out the challenge, so Raito put down his ante and raised the stakes.

"How much do you suspect me now?" Raito has asked after their first time together (incidentally also his first time period) when they had burrowed beneath the covers to share in a little bit more sweat and body heat.

"It's a double digit number." But from the way that Ryuuzaki had settled himself in the crook of Raito's shoulder, Raito could't be sure if he was joking.

Showers were a now a regular nightly affair complete with bubbles and plenty of soap suds. Being bound together as they were, they could never quite escape each other so when one of them fell he invariably dragged the other with him in a tangle of limbs on a slippery tile floor. The shower water cascading over them and making all parts of their bodies very lubricated did nothing to diffuse the situation.

Toweling off after the shower was a more complicated affair that involved trying not to get the towel caught in the chain of the handcuffs while trying to score as many gropes as possible. Oftentimes they had ended up dropping entirely the idea of getting dry and bounded into the bed still wet from the shower. It was too much of a nuisance to bother with sleepwear after the shower (not to mention unromantic) so they always slept naked, even on the nights where they still had the energy to do a little more.

Raito had known since the very first night that his father and the rest of the investigators knew exactly what was going behind the closed doors of Ryuuzaki's love suite. There were cameras and microphones after all. Raito wouldn't have been entirely surprised if their videos had made it to the Japanese internet pornography underground. It was just a miracle they all managed to keep it from Misa, but Raito had the feeling that Ryuuzaki was good at keeping information he didn't want to get out.

"Pass the soap," Raito said, as he Ryuuzaki stepped into the shower. L passed him the bar and waited for Riato to turn around so he could wash his back.

L looked odd in the water, his nromally unruly hair flattened beneath the showerhead's downpour. He almost looked like a drowned cat who'd lost half his size and threat because the water slicked down his fur and revealed a very thin and scrawny animal underneath.

Raito turned around and let Ryuuzaki soap his back. L pressed close, one hand resting lightly (posessively, perhaps) on Raito's hip as his other hand brought up the bar of soap. Somewhere in the middle of the process Ryuuzaki's hand had crept forward and wrapped itself about Raito, stroking gently with each rise and fall of their chests.

Ryuuzaki was sure getting down to business early, thought an amused Raito just before L flipped him around, wrapping the chain around his backside. Ryuuzaki licked his lips once, almost leaned in for the kiss and then started sinking to his knees. Raito wondered if the microphones could pick up his gulping.

If there was one thing to be learned from this whole affair it was that while L had been Raito's first, Raito was definitely not L's first. Or maybe even his second. If L's confidence and skill in bed were any good indicators, L was already well-versed in matters of physical romance and pleasure, just as he might already have mastered a plethora of other activities like dead languages or international chess. Of course, it was also possible that L was simply a very good actor who had done a lot of reading and a lot of research (probably online), but that was hardly pertinent intelligence. He doubted the rest of the law enforcement world was interested in how agent L gave head or how he liked it in bed. Despite the fact he certainly seemed to enjoy his nights with Raito, L was not the type to let himself be blackmailed over any sort of important information. It was entirely likely that everybody who cared to know that L bottomed about seven times out of ten already did, and that Raito had just spent the past few weeks gathering old news. L had to have some ulterior motive for the sex, but then again, who didn't? It was very often a (warm and) sticky game they played and Raito wondered if in the end all his tenderness would clear his name or just serve to tarnish further. Or whether he really cared about his name, because L was mindblowingly good at blow jobs.

With a short gasp he came in Ryuuzaki's mouth, his hands buried in the mess of Ryuuzaki's wet hair, pulling out a few dark strands. Ryuuzaki pulled back and licked his lips with a strange lopsided grin, the same that appeared when he bit into a pastry more delicious than he had anticipated it would be.

Raito sunk to his knees beside his 'partner' and L handed him the bar of soap. Raito stared at it for a moment, not quite comprehending what the soap meant. L waited, crouched on the tile one hand holding the bar, the other by his lip where he was biting his thumb. Then Raito grinned and gave him the soaping of his life.

*~*~*~*~*

Yes, Raito knew that Ryuuzaki's bedroom was bugged with infrared sensors and no he didn't care. He didn't care because Ryuuzaki's long, spidery fingers were all over him and despite apperances Ryuuzaki was warm and strong. He was a responsive body and they moved in tandem, tossing aside the blankets and sheets onto the floor in their mad scramble to consummate their desire.

Raito flipped Ryuuzaki onto his stomach, twisting the chain of the handcuffs halfway around his back. The chain too was warm from their activities and from the hot water in the shower. It rested across the lower part of Ryuuzaki's back, reflecting dully the semi-darkness of the room. Ryuuzaki never slept with all the lights off, though it did seem that he liked pulling the covers over his head. The ambient lighting was a good contrast to Ryuuzaki's pale skin, giving it a darker glow that offset the glittering steel of the fetters that linked them.

Raito stared, breathing hard, at the curve of L's ass. It was usually barely detectable beneath his baggy clothes, but Ryuuzaki's physique was impressive for a long-limbed, insomniac detective addicted to sweets. L's muscles were well-defined for someone who spent most of his hours crouched in front of a computer monitor, his stomach lean and flat. He was all skin, bone, and lean sinew with signs of the fat that anybody else would have collected from years of eating cake. Ryuuzaki packed quite a punch in that body, or so according to Raito's experience.

A movement at the corner of his eye snapped him out of his reverie but caught his attention too late as the tube of lubricant sailed through the air and glanced off the side of his head before landing without a sound on the bed. Ryuuzaki had his face turned away so that Raito couldn't see, but he was sure there was an amused expression on his face. It was times like these, Raito thought through the haze of his nether regions doing most of the thinking for him, that Ryuuzaki was no longer the detective hell-bent on catching Kira and became more a warm feeling with a distinctly odd personality. Ryuuzaki showed one of his usual neuroticisms in bed, and even his finger-biting habit had mostly served them to the end of keeping the noise down to an acceptable level.

Raito entered L slowly but with preamble--they'd had all the foreplay in the shower that two men needed. L was tight not uncomfortably so, loose enough that Raito didn't need to hold back for fear of hurting him. L pushed back against him, fingers digging into the sheets for purchase. Much to their misfortune these past few weeks, Ryuuzaki's bed was rather squeaky and with a particularly hard thrust the headboard would hit the wall with a loud bang. He was sure heads were turning with each thrust into Ryuuzaki, but it was well past Misa's bedtime, and he was beyond caring anyway. L was moaning for all he was worth and Raito had long ago been enthralled by the slight curve of L's hips is his hands.

Ryuuzaki's skin was amazingly smooth and reminded Raito of the cream he would sometimes find perched at the corner of his mouth, hiding from his pink tongue. Raito often took it upon himself to hand Ryuuzaki a napkin, or when nobody was looking, partake of that little last bit of the cake.

Raito tugged on the chain that linked them together, and Ryuuzaki arched his back, coming of his hands and turning around just enough for Raito to wrap an arm about his waist and kiss him on the mouth. No cream this time, but that was all right. L always had the lingering taste of sugar and milk.

They finally came together with a squeeze of Raito's hand, Ryuuzaki tightening his body and impaling himself further on Raito as he gasped and overbalanced backwards, bearing them both down to the bed with another slap of the headboard. They lay like that for several seconds, struggling to remember how to breathe as they retrieved the blankets from where they'd tossed them on the carpet and cudded in each other's arms, the chain lying between them.

Most of the time they spent the aftermath of their bliss in silent contemplation. It was one of those few times when Raito had a few thinking moments without ostensibly being watched by Ryuuzaki. After all, Ryuuzaki usually had his face buried somewhere neck or chest level. Raito was thinking, for the pure reason that his brain was now back in charge, when L's two fingers came into view and a small key appeared, dangling between his thumb and forefinger. It was the key to the handcuffs.

"I could set you free right now," Ryuuzaki said quietly, eyes wide open with interest.

Raito smiled a bit. Was this all the game had amounted to?

"There's no reason for you to do that right now. I haven't proved my innocence."

"You know that time may never come."

"Then I guess I'll wait until you trust me."

Ryuuzaki snuggled closer so he could speak and kiss Raito's jaw with every movement of his lips. "I trust you already."

Raito knew full well that Ryuuzaki was lying--while he enjoyed the company and shared the pleasure of his bed, there had never meant to have been a moment when they had trusted each other. "I think I'll wait until some irrevocable proof comes along."

"Whatever you wish," L replied and with a flourish of his fingers, the key disappeared.

Raito rolled over with Ryuuzaki spooned against him. His last thought before he went to sleep was that he had seen L's sleights of hand before, and made a mental note to search for the key in the morning. They were both naked after all, and there was no place to conceal the key save for in the sheets.

When Raito woke the next morning, he combed the sheets while making the bed but the key was nowhere to be found and had magically reappeared in the pocket of L's pants again.

*~*~*~end*~*~*~