Happy Birthday, L!
...Though this might not be a present he'd want. Heh.
Ghost Story
"Happy birthday." The disembodied voice rang through the modernised room. "What is that saying: Sweet sixteen, and never..."
L sighed, looking around for the telltale shimmer in the air that would locate his currently-invisible roommate. "I'm sure someone who prides himself on his intelligence would remember perfectly well."
The ghost faded into view, leaning against the wall. His eyes were brown, L noted, relaxing. The curse was dormant - for now.
"Are you upset that I've let so much of your special day go past without giving you a present?" Ghost teased.
L shrugged. He'd been more disappointed that Ghost hadn't been there to talk to him, to be honest. Not that he was going to be. Curse dormant or not, that was just asking for trouble. "Ghost's inventiveness when deciding on presents had to run out sooner or later. It is an immense handicap to be unable to leave this room or use the computer to order online."
Ghost scowled at the reminder of his limitations, a flicker of red in his eyes there and gone. Then he forced himself to smirk. "I have a... very special gift in mind."
L stopped. That tone of voice meant trouble. "Oh?"
"Mmm." Ghost stood up, strolling over to him. "I can't promise you'd like it, of course..."
L turned away from him, climbing onto his four-poster bed and rolling onto his back. Eye contact would probably be a very bad choice while Ghost was in this mood. "What would it require?"
Ghost didn't act surprised that L had realised the obvious - if this 'gift', whatever it was, didn't require L's input, he would have been handed it instead of this coy enticement. "Let me hypnotise you."
"No." L kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He could tell Ghost had sat down beside his leg from the sudden chill, but he didn't make the mistake of meeting his eyes to check their colour.
"Come on," Ghost wheedled. "Hypnotised people can't be forced to do things against their will, didn't you know that?"
"Perhaps not if they are hypnotised by ordinary humans," L retorted. "Magic workers, and supernatural beings, are not constrained in the same way."
Ghost snorted. "What do you think I'm going to do? You're my only contact with the world beyond this room, and if I do anything to upset your guardians I'll be exorcised before I have a chance to apologise. Whatever you may think of me, I hope you don't believe I'm stupid enough to risk losing everything I have."
The argument was logical, believable on the surface, but L had been sharing a room with the spirit since his arrival at Wammy's ten years ago. He knew better than to take anything he said at face value.
"What would be worth the trouble of hypnotising me that isn't risky?"
He didn't need to see Ghost's face to know that he was smirking. "Isn't showing supposed to be better than telling?" he asked with a fine pretence at innocence.
"Ghost. I will not jump in blindly."
"But you will consider it if I give you a hint?" Ghost's voice was as sharp as his eyes must be.
"Consider it," he emphasised, because when dealing with his spectral best friend it was never wise to leave any opening for him to use.
Ghost lowered himself till he was a line of cold down L's side, both of them looking up at the ceiling. "I want to make you respond to a word. One single word, only when spoken by me, only when heard in this room."
"Respond how?" It sounded almost innocuous, and that made L deeply uneasy. He knew from a decade of patient teaching that Ghost was at his most dangerous when he seemed mildest.
"Physically." Ghost tapped L's fingers absently. "Nothing that leaves you unable to override it with sufficient will."
"Meaning that if you have me doing something I like or want to do, I will be unable to stop myself regardless of how bad an idea it is?" L asked dryly.
Ghost huffed an almost-laugh. "We both know you've got more self-control than that; I certainly complain about it enough."
L sighed. Giving in like this was a truly stupid thing to do, but... he trusted Ghost, if not in the way most people would define the word. The curse which bound Ghost to the mortal plane warped his nature, but he had never made L feel hurt or betrayed.
Which was more than L could say for most living people.
"Very well." He turned his head to the side, meeting hungry russet eyes.
L could feel himself waking up. He looked at Ghost questioningly. "Well?"
Ghost smiled, face taut with anticipation. "Now we test it." He leaned forwards, and whispered in L's ear, "Slut."
L's head snapped back, spine arching as a wave of heat crashed through him. "W-what -" he gasped, eyes wide.
Ghost pressed closer. "Slut," he repeated, and L cried out as the word yanked response from him like a hook buried in his gut.
"S-stop it!" he protested, trying to get his self-composure back.
"You're strong-willed enough to resist. If you want to," Ghost whispered in his ear, tracing it with his tongue before murmuring huskily, "Slut."
L was tearing off his clothes before he'd registered his own intent. He glared at Ghost, only to moan helplessly as a chill hand stroked up his newly-bared chest before helping pull off his jumper. The moan merged with a whimper as he realised that Ghost was kneeling before him completely naked.
Swearing was the sign of a limited vocabulary, he reminded himself desperately, but the only word that he could think of to say as he stared at the dead teenager was, "Fuck."
"I plan to," Ghost assured him, and pushed him down before he could come up with a worthwhile retort, crawling over him and - finally - claiming his mouth in a possessive kiss.
L whined underneath him. Ghost was solid, his body cool, and L was starving for touch and too too hot - He wrapped his arms and legs around Ghost, trying to pull him closer, trying to get more of what he wanted, he needed - Ghost's cold fingers pried between his buttocks and pushed inside him and he cried out with pleasure, jerking his hips to get more of that delicious chill inside him.
Ghost forced himself up, face flushed, eyes glittering. "L." His hand suddenly left L's butt to fiddle with something on the bed, and L cried out in protest, too far gone to try and put his complaint into words.
"My lover," Ghost hissed as his hand returned to where L wanted it, needed it, and L barely noticed that his fingers were now rubbing slickness into him. He just knew that if anything stopped Ghost now, he wouldn't survive it.
Then Ghost's fingers were spreading him wider open, and Ghost's tongue was filling his mouth as something thicker than his fingers entered him. L twisted and pulled with his legs, wanting more, wanting all of it, and Ghost was echoing his moans and whimpers as he moved, filling L so completely right and then pulling out just to push back in, entering him again and again and L's mind was gone and all he could do was feel as a sharper, hotter need built with every move, every touch, until it was flooding him and he screamed with pleasure.
Ghost collapsed on top of him, cold pressure with no weight behind it, and groaned his own pleasure into L's mouth.
L shivered underneath Ghost. He felt vaguely feverish, dizzy and just overheated enough for Ghost to feel good lying on top of him, but he didn't, physically, feel bad.
Physically.
"Ghost set me up," he murmured, his arms and legs finally releasing their hold on the other boy.
Ghost lifted his head to meet L's eyes, his own wary brown instead of the empty scarlet L had expected. "If you'd resisted, I'd have tried to stop."
The words felt like a blade in L's heart. He wasn't sure which part was worse - the fact that his subconscious hadn't been unwilling enough for Ghost to notice any resistance, or the fact that the closest Ghost could come to caring was attempting to stop himself from forcing L to do something he didn't want.
It wouldn't have mattered before, with his understanding of the curse Ghost was under. But Ghost had never crossed this sort of line before - never risked really hurting L's feelings.
What would be worth the risk of hypnotising me? His own words hung in L's mind, and nausea suddenly curled in his stomach. He pushed Ghost away, sitting up to get to the toilet - and stopped with a startled yelp as newly-strained muscles protested.
"L?" Ghost sounded genuinely worried.
L didn't turn to look. "I believe that I would prefer solitude at this moment," he said carefully.
A cold hand cupped the back of his neck, and he despised himself for leaning into it.
"...What I feel for you is as close to love as I'm capable of," Ghost told him quietly, sounding as if each word had to be forced from between his teeth.
L didn't respond, trying to fit the words with what he knew of Ghost's curse.
'Centuries before, the son of a minor Japanese noble had come to England, where he unintentionally caught the eye of a witch. Convinced that her affection was returned, she cast a spell that inverted his nature, turning his honour and nobility into callous selfishness to remove what she thought stood in the way of his confessing to her.'
Ghost had told him his history as if it were a fairytale, slipping through the cracks in the witch's order not to reveal what had been done to him. Considering it logically, the curse couldn't have been meant to destroy Ghost's ability to feel for other people, only change the ways he could show it.
And since despite everything Ghost still did his best to cling to his original morals, he wouldn't see it as love if it made him selfish enough to possibly force himself on L.
The churning in L's stomach grew calmer, and he let himself relax. Ghost hesitated, then cautiously started brushing his thumb against L's neck. The tickly sensation made L shiver, but he didn't protest.
"Ghost."
"Yes?"
L finally turned and fixed him with a grim stare. "We need to break your curse."
Ghost lurched away, hands flying to his temples. Remorseless, L continued, "Giving me your heart for my sixteenth birthday was probably meant to be a romantic gesture, but it isn't worth much until the tarnish has been destroyed."
Ghost choked, trying to decide what to respond to first. "My heart? Romantic? Tarnish?" He shook his head violently. "I just didn't want someone else to be your first time!"
"Of course," L pretended to agree, long-used to Ghost's hasty justifications to prevent the curse from acting on whatever minor decency he'd managed to commit. "But as my first time, you have obligations to me." Which the curse would prevent him from filling. "And if you want to ever have a repeat of tonight, you will fill them." Hopefully that would make his motivations selfish enough that the curse wouldn't attempt to burn them out of him.
Bloody red eyes peered between Ghost's fingers. "We'll see."
L nodded and forced himself to stand up and calmly leave the room. He tried not to limp as he made his way to the library.
He had research to do - on cursebreaking.
Hopefully, he'd find a way to free Ghost from his curse before his guardians or tutors found out about this change in their relationship...
OMAKE
Wammy cleared his throat as he came across L in the library.
L ignored him.
Wammy reached over to take a look at one of the books L was reading, getting his attention. "Yes?"
Wammy couldn't help smiling. "Another argument with Ghost?"
L stared at him blankly, denying his panic as he tried to figure out how Wammy knew. Then resisted the urge to hide his face as he realised... he hadn't bothered to get dressed before leaving his room.
Ghost Story
"Happy birthday." The disembodied voice rang through the modernised room. "What is that saying: Sweet sixteen, and never..."
L sighed, looking around for the telltale shimmer in the air that would locate his currently-invisible roommate. "I'm sure someone who prides himself on his intelligence would remember perfectly well."
The ghost faded into view, leaning against the wall. His eyes were brown, L noted, relaxing. The curse was dormant - for now.
"Are you upset that I've let so much of your special day go past without giving you a present?" Ghost teased.
L shrugged. He'd been more disappointed that Ghost hadn't been there to talk to him, to be honest. Not that he was going to be. Curse dormant or not, that was just asking for trouble. "Ghost's inventiveness when deciding on presents had to run out sooner or later. It is an immense handicap to be unable to leave this room or use the computer to order online."
Ghost scowled at the reminder of his limitations, a flicker of red in his eyes there and gone. Then he forced himself to smirk. "I have a... very special gift in mind."
L stopped. That tone of voice meant trouble. "Oh?"
"Mmm." Ghost stood up, strolling over to him. "I can't promise you'd like it, of course..."
L turned away from him, climbing onto his four-poster bed and rolling onto his back. Eye contact would probably be a very bad choice while Ghost was in this mood. "What would it require?"
Ghost didn't act surprised that L had realised the obvious - if this 'gift', whatever it was, didn't require L's input, he would have been handed it instead of this coy enticement. "Let me hypnotise you."
"No." L kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He could tell Ghost had sat down beside his leg from the sudden chill, but he didn't make the mistake of meeting his eyes to check their colour.
"Come on," Ghost wheedled. "Hypnotised people can't be forced to do things against their will, didn't you know that?"
"Perhaps not if they are hypnotised by ordinary humans," L retorted. "Magic workers, and supernatural beings, are not constrained in the same way."
Ghost snorted. "What do you think I'm going to do? You're my only contact with the world beyond this room, and if I do anything to upset your guardians I'll be exorcised before I have a chance to apologise. Whatever you may think of me, I hope you don't believe I'm stupid enough to risk losing everything I have."
The argument was logical, believable on the surface, but L had been sharing a room with the spirit since his arrival at Wammy's ten years ago. He knew better than to take anything he said at face value.
"What would be worth the trouble of hypnotising me that isn't risky?"
He didn't need to see Ghost's face to know that he was smirking. "Isn't showing supposed to be better than telling?" he asked with a fine pretence at innocence.
"Ghost. I will not jump in blindly."
"But you will consider it if I give you a hint?" Ghost's voice was as sharp as his eyes must be.
"Consider it," he emphasised, because when dealing with his spectral best friend it was never wise to leave any opening for him to use.
Ghost lowered himself till he was a line of cold down L's side, both of them looking up at the ceiling. "I want to make you respond to a word. One single word, only when spoken by me, only when heard in this room."
"Respond how?" It sounded almost innocuous, and that made L deeply uneasy. He knew from a decade of patient teaching that Ghost was at his most dangerous when he seemed mildest.
"Physically." Ghost tapped L's fingers absently. "Nothing that leaves you unable to override it with sufficient will."
"Meaning that if you have me doing something I like or want to do, I will be unable to stop myself regardless of how bad an idea it is?" L asked dryly.
Ghost huffed an almost-laugh. "We both know you've got more self-control than that; I certainly complain about it enough."
L sighed. Giving in like this was a truly stupid thing to do, but... he trusted Ghost, if not in the way most people would define the word. The curse which bound Ghost to the mortal plane warped his nature, but he had never made L feel hurt or betrayed.
Which was more than L could say for most living people.
"Very well." He turned his head to the side, meeting hungry russet eyes.
L could feel himself waking up. He looked at Ghost questioningly. "Well?"
Ghost smiled, face taut with anticipation. "Now we test it." He leaned forwards, and whispered in L's ear, "Slut."
L's head snapped back, spine arching as a wave of heat crashed through him. "W-what -" he gasped, eyes wide.
Ghost pressed closer. "Slut," he repeated, and L cried out as the word yanked response from him like a hook buried in his gut.
"S-stop it!" he protested, trying to get his self-composure back.
"You're strong-willed enough to resist. If you want to," Ghost whispered in his ear, tracing it with his tongue before murmuring huskily, "Slut."
L was tearing off his clothes before he'd registered his own intent. He glared at Ghost, only to moan helplessly as a chill hand stroked up his newly-bared chest before helping pull off his jumper. The moan merged with a whimper as he realised that Ghost was kneeling before him completely naked.
Swearing was the sign of a limited vocabulary, he reminded himself desperately, but the only word that he could think of to say as he stared at the dead teenager was, "Fuck."
"I plan to," Ghost assured him, and pushed him down before he could come up with a worthwhile retort, crawling over him and - finally - claiming his mouth in a possessive kiss.
L whined underneath him. Ghost was solid, his body cool, and L was starving for touch and too too hot - He wrapped his arms and legs around Ghost, trying to pull him closer, trying to get more of what he wanted, he needed - Ghost's cold fingers pried between his buttocks and pushed inside him and he cried out with pleasure, jerking his hips to get more of that delicious chill inside him.
Ghost forced himself up, face flushed, eyes glittering. "L." His hand suddenly left L's butt to fiddle with something on the bed, and L cried out in protest, too far gone to try and put his complaint into words.
"My lover," Ghost hissed as his hand returned to where L wanted it, needed it, and L barely noticed that his fingers were now rubbing slickness into him. He just knew that if anything stopped Ghost now, he wouldn't survive it.
Then Ghost's fingers were spreading him wider open, and Ghost's tongue was filling his mouth as something thicker than his fingers entered him. L twisted and pulled with his legs, wanting more, wanting all of it, and Ghost was echoing his moans and whimpers as he moved, filling L so completely right and then pulling out just to push back in, entering him again and again and L's mind was gone and all he could do was feel as a sharper, hotter need built with every move, every touch, until it was flooding him and he screamed with pleasure.
Ghost collapsed on top of him, cold pressure with no weight behind it, and groaned his own pleasure into L's mouth.
L shivered underneath Ghost. He felt vaguely feverish, dizzy and just overheated enough for Ghost to feel good lying on top of him, but he didn't, physically, feel bad.
Physically.
"Ghost set me up," he murmured, his arms and legs finally releasing their hold on the other boy.
Ghost lifted his head to meet L's eyes, his own wary brown instead of the empty scarlet L had expected. "If you'd resisted, I'd have tried to stop."
The words felt like a blade in L's heart. He wasn't sure which part was worse - the fact that his subconscious hadn't been unwilling enough for Ghost to notice any resistance, or the fact that the closest Ghost could come to caring was attempting to stop himself from forcing L to do something he didn't want.
It wouldn't have mattered before, with his understanding of the curse Ghost was under. But Ghost had never crossed this sort of line before - never risked really hurting L's feelings.
What would be worth the risk of hypnotising me? His own words hung in L's mind, and nausea suddenly curled in his stomach. He pushed Ghost away, sitting up to get to the toilet - and stopped with a startled yelp as newly-strained muscles protested.
"L?" Ghost sounded genuinely worried.
L didn't turn to look. "I believe that I would prefer solitude at this moment," he said carefully.
A cold hand cupped the back of his neck, and he despised himself for leaning into it.
"...What I feel for you is as close to love as I'm capable of," Ghost told him quietly, sounding as if each word had to be forced from between his teeth.
L didn't respond, trying to fit the words with what he knew of Ghost's curse.
'Centuries before, the son of a minor Japanese noble had come to England, where he unintentionally caught the eye of a witch. Convinced that her affection was returned, she cast a spell that inverted his nature, turning his honour and nobility into callous selfishness to remove what she thought stood in the way of his confessing to her.'
Ghost had told him his history as if it were a fairytale, slipping through the cracks in the witch's order not to reveal what had been done to him. Considering it logically, the curse couldn't have been meant to destroy Ghost's ability to feel for other people, only change the ways he could show it.
And since despite everything Ghost still did his best to cling to his original morals, he wouldn't see it as love if it made him selfish enough to possibly force himself on L.
The churning in L's stomach grew calmer, and he let himself relax. Ghost hesitated, then cautiously started brushing his thumb against L's neck. The tickly sensation made L shiver, but he didn't protest.
"Ghost."
"Yes?"
L finally turned and fixed him with a grim stare. "We need to break your curse."
Ghost lurched away, hands flying to his temples. Remorseless, L continued, "Giving me your heart for my sixteenth birthday was probably meant to be a romantic gesture, but it isn't worth much until the tarnish has been destroyed."
Ghost choked, trying to decide what to respond to first. "My heart? Romantic? Tarnish?" He shook his head violently. "I just didn't want someone else to be your first time!"
"Of course," L pretended to agree, long-used to Ghost's hasty justifications to prevent the curse from acting on whatever minor decency he'd managed to commit. "But as my first time, you have obligations to me." Which the curse would prevent him from filling. "And if you want to ever have a repeat of tonight, you will fill them." Hopefully that would make his motivations selfish enough that the curse wouldn't attempt to burn them out of him.
Bloody red eyes peered between Ghost's fingers. "We'll see."
L nodded and forced himself to stand up and calmly leave the room. He tried not to limp as he made his way to the library.
He had research to do - on cursebreaking.
Hopefully, he'd find a way to free Ghost from his curse before his guardians or tutors found out about this change in their relationship...
OMAKE
Wammy cleared his throat as he came across L in the library.
L ignored him.
Wammy reached over to take a look at one of the books L was reading, getting his attention. "Yes?"
Wammy couldn't help smiling. "Another argument with Ghost?"
L stared at him blankly, denying his panic as he tried to figure out how Wammy knew. Then resisted the urge to hide his face as he realised... he hadn't bothered to get dressed before leaving his room.