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L very rarely slept. Which was why he was so annoyed when he was rudely awakened by someone’s coughing and hacking. He tried not to let it bother him, to continue sleeping. When the coughs became more desperate, the chain on L’s handcuffs jangling more insistently, he finally cracked an eye opened and turned to his bed mate.
“Light?”
No answer. L sat up, to see his boyfriend hunched over, an elbow to his face. His eyes were scrunched tight, but he looked as if he were about to collapse from exhaustion as well as frustration. L felt sympathetic, for once. Light’s immune system really wasn’t all that, having not gotten out much as a kid. He reached over and draped his bony frame over the other boy’s, rubbing his back. He felt Light relax a fraction of a bit.
“Light-kun, are you alright?” Light nodded a bit.
“Go back to sleep, Ryuzaki,” he insisted, voice raspy and unconvincing.
“Obviously, I can’t.” L said, matter-of-factly. Light rolled his eyes, panting slightly. L nibbled his thumb and reached his opposite hand out, stroking Light’s cheek.
“Light, you have a fever.” He tutted quietly to himself, “what’ve you done this time?”
“I-I didn’t mean to wake you.” L sighed. Of course that didn’t matter now. He had noticed the blood in droplets on his boyfriend’s inner elbow in the dim moonlight, no doubt something Light had coughed up. Even in his sleepy state, his deductive abilities were beyond capable. Light-kun’s eyes were bright with fever, he clearly couldn’t catch his breath, he’d been coughing up blood for who knows how long, and his breaths were rattling in his chest. It would be obvious to anyone at this point that L’s boyfriend needed medical attention.
“I’m calling Watari. You need the hospital.”
“Baby, no. C’mon, I d-don’t need tha-” Light was cut off by his own gasping for breath.
“You sure, darling?” L asked sweetly. Despite Light’s numerous protests, L did as he promised. Before long, they were both in the car on the way to the nearest emergency room. Light’s condition had worsened. He was nearly unable to catch a breath at all at this point.
Addressing L, Watari noted, “You are quite calm.”
“It is the least I can do for this one. I can tell he is more than a little afraid,” L gestured to Light, whose head rolled to the side as he grinned at L. L’s eyes widened.
“He’s not breathing,” he whispered. He repeated it much louder, followed by, “faster, Watari, faster! ”
Watari pulled up to the emergency entrance, to meet the paramedics.
“Sir, you have to leave your friend here.”
“N-no, I can’t,” L cried, Watari holding him back. “He’s my boyfriend, he can’t be alone-he’ll, he’ll-” L was cut off by a pair of wire cutters severing their chain. L knew that as soon as Light regained consciousness, he’d have a panic attack, once seeing L nowhere to be found.
“I’m sorry, sir.” They rushed off with L’s heart in tow. L felt empty. L felt lost. L felt helpless. L felt like dying. L felt like he was withering away. It was almost as if he needed Light. As if he cared . But L didn’t care about anyone. Did he? Nothing besides his cakes, right? Did L actually- did he love Light?
---
Light was drowning. Or, that’s what it felt like. Logically, he knew he wasn’t. He could still blurrily see L. He was saying something. He was talking to Light, Light should listen. But all Light could focus on was the fact that he was drowning, why wouldn’t L help him? He didn’t need to go to the hospital, he just needed to cough up all this damn water he was drowning in. But he couldn’t he couldn’t he couldn’t. All he could do was hold tight to L and cough and cough and cough. Why was the water he was coughing up red? Was L bleeding? Light hoped he was okay. But the logical part of Light’s mind was out of service at the moment. He grinned up at L.He was going to die here, wasn’t he? At least he’d die in L’s arms. He held his breath and pressed a kiss to L’s hand, the only part of his boyfriend he could reach at the moment. His waterlogged chest burned with the effort.
Suddenly, someone was yanking him from his lover. Light did not appreciate this one bit. L was fading from his vision. No, no, no. Light needed to see L, needed to know he was here. As long as they had the handcuffs, all would be well, right? But someone was cutting their chain, their link, and it felt like his ribs were cracking with the effort of holding his breath this long. L was gone. Why wasn’t he fighting? Kick someone for me, L! Light wanted to scream. He couldn’t scream. He couldn’t yell, he couldn’t talk, he couldn’t breathe. Maybe he was dead? Maybe L wanted this. Otherwise he would’ve fought, right? Maybe L didn’t want him anymore. With that thought Light floated down, sinking into the murky depths of whatever this was. Sleep? Death?
When Light awoke, it was to a tube in his chest and another down his throat. He scanned the room for L, his search coming up empty. His chest seized, panic gripping him. These tubes were supposed to help him breathe, he supposed, but he couldn’t. Light needed L, even if L didn’t need Light. Monitors were beeping, nurses were rushing in and touching him, but these were all at the edge of his vision. Before long, he was put under once again.
---
“You can see him now.” L stopped his pacing and chewing on his thumb when Light’s doctor came in, “it’s a severe case of pneumonia.” He led L to Light’s door. “I want to warn you that he is intubated and sedated. His body has an apparent tolerance to morphine, and he awoke shortly after the procedure. He panicked after not seeing you, and has done so each time, so we had to heavily sedate him. Nurse Misa will be coming in soon to remove the breathing tube before he wakes up. Go on in.” Despite the doctor’s warnings, L was not prepared for the sight of a deathly pale Light, clearly knocked out with signs of struggle, judging by the cut on his lip and forming bruise on his cheekbone. He was shirtless, which L would usually appreciate, but he had a tube in his chest, “for draining the fluid from his lungs,” L vaguely remembered the doctor saying, along with another down his throat, to help him breathe, he deduced.
L pulled up a chair and simply held Light’s hand. He knew this would help infinitely. Shortly after the blonde nurse had removed the breathing tube and left, Light shifted in the hospital bed and his eyes fluttered open before widening. He gasped, looking around the room, presumably for L. When he saw his boyfriend he relaxed considerably.
“L,” he whispered, “you came back.”
L chuckled, “I never left, darling.”
“You did, I thought you didn’t want me anymore,” L tightened his hold on Light’s hand at that.
“I, will always want you, Light. I love you.”
“I-I love you, too.” Light smiled a bit sorely, before moving over to make room for L in the bed. The latter gladly climbed in and pressed a kiss to Light’s dry and chapped lips.