DN Fic - “The Case of the Sugar-Snatch”
Title: The Case of the Sugar-Snatch
Fandom: Death Note
Prompt: L/Light, “bittersweet”
Wordcount: 1461
Genre: Humor
Rating/Warnings: K, as long as you don’t mind slash. :)
Summary: L makes a truly distressing discovery: all of the sugar in the building is missing. This can only mean one thing - there’s a Sugar Thief on the loose.
Author’s Notes: A Christmas present for richelle2972. :)
As soon as he took the first sip of his coffee, L knew something was wrong.
This was because he could taste the coffee.
Now, L had nothing against coffee. It was just that normally, he liked enough sugar in it that it tasted like… well, concentrated sugar, with a little bit of moisture in it. One-hundred percent sweet.
But this… this coffee had a taste that could only be described as bittersweet. And that could only mean one thing.
“Please pass me the sugar bowl, Light-kun,” he requested.
Light raised an eyebrow as he handed the little porcelain container over. “Too much coffee in your sugar, Ryuzaki?”
L nodded, completely serious, before opening the bowl and peering inside.
There was no sugar in the bowl.
“Light-kun,” L said.
“What is it now?” Light asked, turning away from his computer again. “I’m trying to work.”
“The sugar bowl is empty,” L informed him, displaying it as evidence. “We’ll have to go retrieve more from the kitchen.”
Rolling his eyes, Light stood, and the two made their way into the kitchen and over to one of the cabinets, which L opened and began rifling through. To his surprise, though, there was no sugar to be found. He was certain there had been two bags of it in here the other day, though…
The detective stood, eyes narrowed.
“What’s wrong?” Light asked worriedly.
“It would appear,” L announced, “that we have a sugar thief on our hands.”
There was a pause.
“A sugar thief, Ryuzaki?” said Light. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, but I am,” L replied, his eyes glinting dangerously. “And we are going to track him down.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be tracking Kira d-”
“I can’t track Kira down without my sugar, Light-kun!” L wailed. “We have to find it!”
“All right,” Light sighed. “It just seems like you’re making a bigger deal out of it than it is.”
L’s eyes narrowed. “It seems to me,” he said, “very likely that if an individual like Kira knew I liked sugar, and knew that depriving me of it would incapacitate me, he might-”
“I’m not Kira!” Light cried, exasperated. “And I didn’t steal your sugar, all right? Look, I’ll help you find the person who did, if it’ll make you feel better.” He closed his eyes and pressed his fingertips to the bridge of his nose - then jumped slightly when he felt arms go around him.
“Thank you, Light-kun,” L murmured into his shoulder. “You’re a true friend.” Light smiled and gently ruffled his companion’s wild black hair.
“It’s really important to you, isn’t it?” he asked.
L nodded, eyes wide. “I need it to concentrate.”
“Then,” Light decided, “we’ll find it, wherever it’s gone, and get it back.”
L smiled.
Finding it and getting it back, however, turned out to be easier said than done.
“Let’s see,” Light remarked as they sat drawing up a list of suspects. “I think we can eliminate Rem right off the bat; I can’t see her stealing sugar. I don’t even know if shinigami eat. Aizawa, too; he left too much earlier to have taken it with him.”
“Aiber and Wedy have been out doing surveillance work on Yotsuba for me since yesterday morning,” L said. “It can’t have been them. And I believe Misa went to a photo shoot with Mogi this morning, so we can rule them out.”
“That leaves…” Light counted on his fingers. “Matsuda… my father… and… Watari.”
L raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s start with Matsuda,” Light decided.
As it turned out, Matsuda was a dead end. Almost as soon as they began to question him, he frowned and shook his head.
“I didn’t take your sugar,” he said. “I don’t eat much sugar.”
“You don’t?” Light asked suspiciously.
“I have type one diabetes,” Matsuda explained. “Here, look.” He pointed to what everyone had always appeared to be some kind of pager, clipped to his belt, then showed them the plastic tubes that led through a gap in his shirt buttons. When he undid one and pulled aside his shirt slightly, they saw something that resembled a little plastic suction cup stuck to his abdomen.
“It’s an insulin pump,” he explained. “I have to be really careful to control how much sugar I eat and how much insulin I have. I usually don’t even have sugar in tea; I would never have taken two bags of it.”
Come to think of it, Matsuda never did seem to put sugar in his tea, or eat much of it at all. Thanking him for his time, they crossed him off their list of suspects and moved to the next person on the list - Light’s father.
“Wait a moment,” Soichiro Yagami said, frowning. “What you’re saying… is that you think I might have stolen all the sugar out of the kitchen.”
“Er…” Light hesitated. His father glared at him.
“I can’t believe you honestly think I would do that! I thought I taught you better, Light. Take me off your suspect list or you’re grounded for a month!”
They crossed him off the suspect list.
“Watari won’t have taken it,” L complained as they headed for the surveillance room. “We should have stayed and questioned your father more, Light-kun. The fact that he got so defensive is extremely suspicious.”
“Look,” Light replied. “You’re not the one who was about to get grounded for a month.”
“When we accuse Watari of stealing my sugar,” L grumbled, “I will be.”
“Accuse me of what?” Watari’s voice asked. They realized they had reached the surveillance room and looked up to see him watching them, eyes twinkling slightly.
“Nothing!” L said hastily. “What we meant was that we wanted to ask you if you knew the whereabouts of the sugar. All of it had disappeared - or been stolen - when we went to look a few minutes ago, and so we’ve been going around the building asking everybody if they know where it could be.”
“Ah.” Watari nodded. “I see. Well, I’m afraid I can’t help you with that.”
“But why not?” Light asked, suddenly suspicious. “You’re in the surveillance room. Wouldn’t you have seen whoever took it?”
“I can go back and check the tapes,” Watari offered. “But I’m afraid I didn’t see anybody stealing the sugar. Let me know if you find them, though.”
L seemed satisfied, but Light was still extremely suspicious.
“Now who’s letting people off too easily?” he asked as they made their way out into the corridor. “I don’t believe his story about not having seen the person; he’s always watching the security cameras! Either he did it himself, or he’s covering up for the true culprit.”
“But who would the true culprit be?” L asked, frowning. “We’ve asked everybody in the building, and-”
“Light! Ryuzaki! What are you asking people about?” Misa chirped, appearing before them with a smile.
“Hello, Misa-san,” L greeted her pleasantly. “I thought you were at a photo shoot today.”
Misa shook her head. “Oh, no; today’s Christmas Eve. I’m not working today.”
“In that case…” L looked at her suspiciously. “Do you have any idea what might have happened to the sugar?”
Misa blinked. “The sugar?”
“All of the sugar in the building is missing,” L informed her.
“Oh, that’s too bad,” the young woman said sympathetically. “You really like sugar, don’t you? Well, perhaps one of the others will know.” She began making her way along the corridor towards the main room, and the other two followed her reluctantly.
“It’s no use, Misa,” Light called. “We already asked everybody in-”
They reached the main room, and he stopped.
The investigation team was gathered on the sofas around the little coffee table, smiling and chatting, and the table itself was covered with glasses of juice, cheese and crackers, and plates and plates of…
“Christmas cookies!” L exclaimed in surprise. And standing by the table, wearing oven mitts and carrying yet another tray of cookies, was…
“Mogi!” Light said. “You took the sugar!”
Mogi nodded, smiling, and Matsuda piped up cheerfully, “Surprise! We’ve all been planning this for days; come sit down and join us! It’s a Christmas party!”
“Wait!” Misa exclaimed. “Not yet - look!” She pointed to the doorway above L’s and Light’s heads with a delicate finger, smiling mischievously.
“What’s that?” Light asked, craning his neck.
“Mistletoe,” L said.
“Did you put that there, Misa?” Light demanded.
“No,” Matsuda called cheerfully. “Watari did, with a ladder. But it was our idea.”
“Well,” Light shrugged with a smile, “I suppose that’s that, then.”
A moment later, serenaded by encouraging cheers from the other occupants of the room, L decided that this was really a rather wonderful conclusion to a mystery.
Fandom: Death Note
Prompt: L/Light, “bittersweet”
Wordcount: 1461
Genre: Humor
Rating/Warnings: K, as long as you don’t mind slash. :)
Summary: L makes a truly distressing discovery: all of the sugar in the building is missing. This can only mean one thing - there’s a Sugar Thief on the loose.
Author’s Notes: A Christmas present for richelle2972. :)
As soon as he took the first sip of his coffee, L knew something was wrong.
This was because he could taste the coffee.
Now, L had nothing against coffee. It was just that normally, he liked enough sugar in it that it tasted like… well, concentrated sugar, with a little bit of moisture in it. One-hundred percent sweet.
But this… this coffee had a taste that could only be described as bittersweet. And that could only mean one thing.
“Please pass me the sugar bowl, Light-kun,” he requested.
Light raised an eyebrow as he handed the little porcelain container over. “Too much coffee in your sugar, Ryuzaki?”
L nodded, completely serious, before opening the bowl and peering inside.
There was no sugar in the bowl.
“Light-kun,” L said.
“What is it now?” Light asked, turning away from his computer again. “I’m trying to work.”
“The sugar bowl is empty,” L informed him, displaying it as evidence. “We’ll have to go retrieve more from the kitchen.”
Rolling his eyes, Light stood, and the two made their way into the kitchen and over to one of the cabinets, which L opened and began rifling through. To his surprise, though, there was no sugar to be found. He was certain there had been two bags of it in here the other day, though…
The detective stood, eyes narrowed.
“What’s wrong?” Light asked worriedly.
“It would appear,” L announced, “that we have a sugar thief on our hands.”
There was a pause.
“A sugar thief, Ryuzaki?” said Light. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, but I am,” L replied, his eyes glinting dangerously. “And we are going to track him down.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be tracking Kira d-”
“I can’t track Kira down without my sugar, Light-kun!” L wailed. “We have to find it!”
“All right,” Light sighed. “It just seems like you’re making a bigger deal out of it than it is.”
L’s eyes narrowed. “It seems to me,” he said, “very likely that if an individual like Kira knew I liked sugar, and knew that depriving me of it would incapacitate me, he might-”
“I’m not Kira!” Light cried, exasperated. “And I didn’t steal your sugar, all right? Look, I’ll help you find the person who did, if it’ll make you feel better.” He closed his eyes and pressed his fingertips to the bridge of his nose - then jumped slightly when he felt arms go around him.
“Thank you, Light-kun,” L murmured into his shoulder. “You’re a true friend.” Light smiled and gently ruffled his companion’s wild black hair.
“It’s really important to you, isn’t it?” he asked.
L nodded, eyes wide. “I need it to concentrate.”
“Then,” Light decided, “we’ll find it, wherever it’s gone, and get it back.”
L smiled.
Finding it and getting it back, however, turned out to be easier said than done.
“Let’s see,” Light remarked as they sat drawing up a list of suspects. “I think we can eliminate Rem right off the bat; I can’t see her stealing sugar. I don’t even know if shinigami eat. Aizawa, too; he left too much earlier to have taken it with him.”
“Aiber and Wedy have been out doing surveillance work on Yotsuba for me since yesterday morning,” L said. “It can’t have been them. And I believe Misa went to a photo shoot with Mogi this morning, so we can rule them out.”
“That leaves…” Light counted on his fingers. “Matsuda… my father… and… Watari.”
L raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s start with Matsuda,” Light decided.
As it turned out, Matsuda was a dead end. Almost as soon as they began to question him, he frowned and shook his head.
“I didn’t take your sugar,” he said. “I don’t eat much sugar.”
“You don’t?” Light asked suspiciously.
“I have type one diabetes,” Matsuda explained. “Here, look.” He pointed to what everyone had always appeared to be some kind of pager, clipped to his belt, then showed them the plastic tubes that led through a gap in his shirt buttons. When he undid one and pulled aside his shirt slightly, they saw something that resembled a little plastic suction cup stuck to his abdomen.
“It’s an insulin pump,” he explained. “I have to be really careful to control how much sugar I eat and how much insulin I have. I usually don’t even have sugar in tea; I would never have taken two bags of it.”
Come to think of it, Matsuda never did seem to put sugar in his tea, or eat much of it at all. Thanking him for his time, they crossed him off their list of suspects and moved to the next person on the list - Light’s father.
“Wait a moment,” Soichiro Yagami said, frowning. “What you’re saying… is that you think I might have stolen all the sugar out of the kitchen.”
“Er…” Light hesitated. His father glared at him.
“I can’t believe you honestly think I would do that! I thought I taught you better, Light. Take me off your suspect list or you’re grounded for a month!”
They crossed him off the suspect list.
“Watari won’t have taken it,” L complained as they headed for the surveillance room. “We should have stayed and questioned your father more, Light-kun. The fact that he got so defensive is extremely suspicious.”
“Look,” Light replied. “You’re not the one who was about to get grounded for a month.”
“When we accuse Watari of stealing my sugar,” L grumbled, “I will be.”
“Accuse me of what?” Watari’s voice asked. They realized they had reached the surveillance room and looked up to see him watching them, eyes twinkling slightly.
“Nothing!” L said hastily. “What we meant was that we wanted to ask you if you knew the whereabouts of the sugar. All of it had disappeared - or been stolen - when we went to look a few minutes ago, and so we’ve been going around the building asking everybody if they know where it could be.”
“Ah.” Watari nodded. “I see. Well, I’m afraid I can’t help you with that.”
“But why not?” Light asked, suddenly suspicious. “You’re in the surveillance room. Wouldn’t you have seen whoever took it?”
“I can go back and check the tapes,” Watari offered. “But I’m afraid I didn’t see anybody stealing the sugar. Let me know if you find them, though.”
L seemed satisfied, but Light was still extremely suspicious.
“Now who’s letting people off too easily?” he asked as they made their way out into the corridor. “I don’t believe his story about not having seen the person; he’s always watching the security cameras! Either he did it himself, or he’s covering up for the true culprit.”
“But who would the true culprit be?” L asked, frowning. “We’ve asked everybody in the building, and-”
“Light! Ryuzaki! What are you asking people about?” Misa chirped, appearing before them with a smile.
“Hello, Misa-san,” L greeted her pleasantly. “I thought you were at a photo shoot today.”
Misa shook her head. “Oh, no; today’s Christmas Eve. I’m not working today.”
“In that case…” L looked at her suspiciously. “Do you have any idea what might have happened to the sugar?”
Misa blinked. “The sugar?”
“All of the sugar in the building is missing,” L informed her.
“Oh, that’s too bad,” the young woman said sympathetically. “You really like sugar, don’t you? Well, perhaps one of the others will know.” She began making her way along the corridor towards the main room, and the other two followed her reluctantly.
“It’s no use, Misa,” Light called. “We already asked everybody in-”
They reached the main room, and he stopped.
The investigation team was gathered on the sofas around the little coffee table, smiling and chatting, and the table itself was covered with glasses of juice, cheese and crackers, and plates and plates of…
“Christmas cookies!” L exclaimed in surprise. And standing by the table, wearing oven mitts and carrying yet another tray of cookies, was…
“Mogi!” Light said. “You took the sugar!”
Mogi nodded, smiling, and Matsuda piped up cheerfully, “Surprise! We’ve all been planning this for days; come sit down and join us! It’s a Christmas party!”
“Wait!” Misa exclaimed. “Not yet - look!” She pointed to the doorway above L’s and Light’s heads with a delicate finger, smiling mischievously.
“What’s that?” Light asked, craning his neck.
“Mistletoe,” L said.
“Did you put that there, Misa?” Light demanded.
“No,” Matsuda called cheerfully. “Watari did, with a ladder. But it was our idea.”
“Well,” Light shrugged with a smile, “I suppose that’s that, then.”
A moment later, serenaded by encouraging cheers from the other occupants of the room, L decided that this was really a rather wonderful conclusion to a mystery.