Fever Dreams by Sashocirrione
is a Death Note Light x L / L x Light fanfic where Light and L fall in love at the end of the Yotsuba arc and Light realizes that the Kira-plan isn't working-which leads to some awesome hardcore Xanatosing as Light works swiftly to save L from his own plan without incriminating himself or Misa in the process.
Fever Dreams provides examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: When Near takes over the investigation he has to watch the little shows Light puts on for L on the surveillance cameras.
- Amnesiac Dissonance: Even after Light falls in love with L and realizes that his plan to rid the world of crime had been fundamentally flawed and doomed to fail from the start, he still convinces himself that he was nonetheless justified in using the Death Note for as long as he did — until he loses his memories of the Death Note for good, whereupon he becomes absolutely repulsed at the thought that Kira might have manipulated or even been him and firmly believes that L shouldn't let his feelings for him get in the way of punishing him if he turns out to have indeed been Kira, even rejecting all the possible explanations/justifications L brings up for making his punishment less severe.
- Batman Gambit: Light tricks all the officers present at Higuchi's arrest into accepting and giving up ownership of the notebook in order to wipe their memories by having Rem throw the notebook at every cop, growling out "That's mine, give it back to me." If "Give it back or I'll Kill You!" doesn't work, she should then tell them they passed the test of bravery and that she had selected them to be the next Kira and if they would just slaughter their families and fifty additional innocent people then they could have the power of Kira, something no one in their right mind would agree to.
- Birds of a Feather: In spite of Light and L's obvious differences in opinion on Kira and justice, it becomes clear that both of them are deeply screwed-up Manipulative Bastards who could never be happy with anyone else because they need someone who provides them with constant intellectual stimulation and never becomes boring to them.
- Brains and Bondage: Once Watari concedes that L isn't going to stop his relationship with Light anytime soon he orders for them a wide assortment of toys.
- Break Her Heart To Save Her: Light attempts to do this for Misa. Hilarity Ensues.
- Break the Haughty: One of L's tests of Light's love for him seeing if he'll humiliate himself in public to win him back.
- Breaking the Bonds: Rem breaks Light and L's chain so Light can sneak out and do everything he has to do.
- Brooding Boy Gentle Boy: L is the brooding one, Light is the gentle one being very careful with how he treats L since Light was on the receiving end of a very abusive relationship in the past.
- Bullying a Dragon: Since Rem started helping Light the taskforce assumes Kira is more powerful than they thought... and so, logically, L and the taskforce pester Light more than ever before.
- Cannot Talk to Women: Matsuda. Light gives him dating advice.
- Cassandra Truth: When Light goes to the media, L manipulates the media in order to suppress Light's story.
- When Light is cornered he counters with the arguement that if he was Kira why were they still alive and why would he allow himself to be trapped so easily? Aizawa suggests that Kira might just be "a Fool for Love" but L immediately dismisses it as ridiculous. Of course Kira would never fall in love with L!
- Catch Your Death of Cold: Light and L both become sick and feverish after their activities on the roof.
- Caught in the Rain: The story begins with the rooftop scene from episode 25, but has a very different outcome.
- Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Misa is ultimately paired up with Hideki Ryuuga the pop star.
- *Click* Hello: Aizawa does this to Light when L has all but proved that Light is Kira and Light begins shouting at an invisible presence.
- Comforting Comforter: L's quilt.
- Coming-Out Story: The taskforce quickly discovers Light and L's sexual activities. Later Light is forced to come out to Misa and his mother and sister in order to be free of Rem's influence.
- Confess to a Lesser Crime: Light "confesses" that he was coerced into being The Mole for Kira.
- Consummate Liar: Light, of course.
- Cosmic Plaything: Light. Even when his plans go right, something is always going wrong... but he still usually recovers quickly.
- Courtly Love: when L dumps him Light pursues "the Lovesick Moron Plan" sending L sappy poetry and spending all his money on sending him flowers and candy that he knew would be immediately rerouted to forensics.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Light towards L. It's implied that Light is a bit emotionally stunted and needy given his father was never around for him growing up.Light: I know I can win him back if he'll just visit me in person once.Rem: You sound like Misa.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Light's last relationship was very destructive and ended poorly, L has lived through several tragedies he chooses not to dwell on or elaborate to anyone.
- Dating Catwoman: Kira and L. Lampshaded when L gets him and Light some matching tracking devices which he uses when he keeps Light under house arrest and nicknames them "the wedding bands."
- Destructive Romance: Yamamoto and Light before the events of the series.
- Devil in Plain Sight: L suspects Light is up to no good by his smug smirking.
- Did You Think I Can't Feel?: When Light has a fit after L screws up his plan that Light hoped would get them back together.Rem: Light Yagami, I did not realize you were capable of having feelings.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Light to L, for a given definition of "nice".
- Domestic Abuser: Before the events of the series Yamamoto was one to Light.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Many people find it humorous how Misa stalks Light (or even think he's lucky) and only when Misa gets really violent and crazy do people even consider calling the cops.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: If L's time spent in the rain hadn't caused him to become delirious from a high fever for several days, it would have been far harder for Light to escape his surveillance long enough to communicate with Rem or for Rem to convince L to give the Death Note back to her without him becoming suspicious.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Light needs more information about the case... so he finds Matsuda at a bar...
- Finger in the Mail: After Light breaks up with her Misa sends Light
a dead bird in the mail.
- Fingore: When Light burns the notebook and his hands along with it.
- Fix Fic: Averting the outcome of episode 25.
- Flaw Exploitation: Light agrees to let L see a Shinigami eating an apple (he can't see the Shinigami but he can see the apple being eaten). L strikes while Ryuk is solid and manages to steal one of Ryuk's rings.
- Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: After dumping Light, L takes up Nei hua to distract himself.
- Freudian Slippery Slope: Poor drunk Matsuda...Matsuda: It was so horrible. I- I feel like I've violated Misa-Misa just by listening to those lies being told to her... I don't want to have sex with two men and Misa-Misa at the same time... (*everyone stares*) No, no, I'm not with this guy, he's just my friend who has sex with my other male friend. I really like women a lot and any women who want to be with me, I'll respect them incredibly hard and skillfully with all the right respectful lines that I'm going to learn.Light: I don't think you should return to this bar anytime soon.
- Friendly Enemy: Light realizes it was L that was protecting him and Misa from being assassinated.
- Gambit Roulette: Light does several, having to make up many on the fly.Rem: Light Yagami, I have underestimated you. No matter what happens, your plans work. I appreciate this, and all you've done to protect Misa.
- Gollum Made Me Do It: Light deliberately evokes this trope when cornered in order to sew confusion among the taskforce, he starts shouting at an invisible presence: "I won't let you kill them" and "I'm Not Afraid of You!"
- Heel Realization: Light realizes that the Kira plan isn't working, although he's still prideful enough that he thinks that him trying it out for six months at the cost of Raye, Naomi, and other innocent people's lives was still perfectly justified.
- Helpless Good Side: When Light loses his Kira memories he becomes so sweet and innocent that L almost feels bad for manipulating him.
- Hollywood Hacking: Light instigates a virtual attack on Taskforce Headquarters corrupting L's files and erasing footage of the investigation.
- I Know You Know I Know: Light gets the investigators and even L to begin doubting that he is Kira because Kira would never let himself get caught like this, Kira would never incriminate himself like this...
- The "I Love You" Stigma: Light gives it to L early because he knows L's never going to believe him anyway and he's afraid he'll never get another chance.
- Implausible Deniability: When L catches Light on camera watching and reacting to an invisible presence.
- Intangible Woman: Rem destroys L's security cameras from the inside.
- Intoxication Ensues: Light has to deal with a drunk Matsuda.
- Kansas City Shuffle: 1) L knows Light's planning something to derail the investigation and it's clearly all going according to plan 2) Light is counting on L to make this assumption in order to stay close to him. 3) L is now wrong about what Light's ultimate goal is.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: As soon as Light decides he wants to quit being Kira he has to deal with potentially deadly and/or incriminating disaster after disaster.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Light gets Rem to trick all the investigators into accepting and giving up ownership of the notebook thus wiping their memories.
- Love Redeems: Zigzagged. Light's realization that killing L, someone he has grown close to, would cause him to lose the last of his sanity contributes to his decision to stop being Kira, but he doesn't view it or the impromptu sex they had on the roof as the sole reason for his decision. In addition, developing feelings for L doesn't stop Light from still being a prideful Manipulative Bastard who has little empathy for others outside of his family or L; he becomes more willing to admit that he might be wrong about some things and take L's feelings in consideration to make their relationship work, but he's still hardly a nice person. The author describes Light as not so much "redeemed" as "rehabilitated".
- Loves My Alter Ego: The final chapter makes it clear that while L really does love Light back, he still hates Kira and would be far from quick to ever forgive Light if he found out the truth one day.
- The Man Behind the Man: Invoked and exploited: Light manages to convince the investigators that he was being controlled by the REAL Kira to incriminate himself and mislead the investigation and that he is constantly being watched and guarded by two Shinigami-one keeps constant watch over him and threatens him every time he steps out of line and the other, a Shinigami that likes apples, drops in regularly to takes reports from the one guarding him.
- Man on Fire: Light does this out of desperation when L (re)discovers the notebook. Light grabs the notebook and sticks his hands in the fire and he holds the notebook there until it's burnt to ash.
- Manipulative Bastard: Both Light and L.
- The Masochism Tango: Light and L's relationship comes off as this at many points, with them constantly manipulating each other even while having sex.
- Memory Gambit: Light has to do this several times in the space of a few hours for the sake of his new plan.
- Mind Rape: Light feels defiled every time he regains his Kira memories.
- Mirror Scare: Happens to Matsuda when Rem wiped his memories.
- The Mole: Matsuda accidentally leaks information to Misa and Light.
- Also when backed into a corner Light pretends to be both The Mole and the Reverse Mole to Kira—that he was coerced into working for Kira but now he has somehow backed Kira into a corner so he can't kill anymore. L realizes to his frustration that there's no way to prove it one way or another.
- Multitasked Conversation: Light frequently has to communicate with the Shinigami and L at the same time with dialogue vague enough to not make L too suspicious but still specific enough for the Shinigami to understand.
- Mutants: Since L proved that Light can see something that no one else can see, and that he reacted to events he had no way of knowing about, and somehow Light's chain broke... the taskforce now thinks Light has superhuman powers. Matsuda pesters him to levitate something.
- Mythology Gag: One of Light's reasons for giving up on being Kira is his theory that since he can no longer use Misa to deflect suspicion away from him, he would eventually have to give a Death Note to a fanatical but mentally unstable Kira follower if he ever came under suspicion again for being Kira which would lead to his downfall — which is indeed exactly what happened to him in the second half of the manga and anime.
- Nerds Are Virgins: played straight with L at the beginning of the story, averted with Light.
- No Endor Holocaust: When the Shinigami attack Yotsuba. Justified, if anyone actually died in an incident where the Shinigami didn't use their death notes they'd get in trouble.
- Noodle Incident: again?Light: I could send you an email.Matsuda: No, we're not supposed to do that. Then everyone would get mad at me and I'd have to change emails again.
- "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization: Misa seems to think so when she assaults Light in front of his mother and sister.Misa: Noooo! Let me stay. I know you would have gotten hard in another minute or so.
- Not So Stoic: Light when L screws up his plan and rejects him.
- Operation: Jealousy: when L kisses Matsuda
- Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?: Inverted Trope.Light: You're hard.L (thinking): No, I'm not. That's just the gun in my pocket.
- Power Perversion Potential: LampshadedMatsuda: Kira can control people. Maybe he's going to make all of us have sex with each other.
- Primal Scene: Light and L are having a moment when Matsuda interrupts.Matsuda (screaming): Light's raping him again! What do I do?
- Professionals Do It on Desks
- Psychic Link: Light accidentally sees one of L's early memories when they both touch the Shinigami apple tree at the same time.
- Redemption in the Rain: Light and L resolve their UST on the rooftop, which results in Light changing his mind about a few things...
- Revealing Cover-Up: L concludes that since Kira took the time to tamper with evidence and wipe their memories there must be a way to defeat Kira.
- Scars are Forever: Both Light and L get hurt destroying the notebook.
- Seamless Spontaneous Lie: Light comes up with an elaborate one when cornered- he claims he was coerced into working for Kira and then betrayed him and though he conveniently can't go into details, he has now backed Kira into a corner so he can't kill anymore.
- Shipper on Deck: Light suggests that L should get Misa counseling and maybe arrange things so that Misa and Hideki Ryuuga (the pop star) hook up. Later, L does it.
- Shout-Out: After Rem assists Light by breaking the chain L seems to be under the impression that Light is a metalbender.
- Sidekick Ex Machina: When Rem is helping him, Light "jokingly" considers how easy it would be to pursue a life of crime with a Shinigami as an accomplice.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Light is the only person L has ever been sexually attracted to; he tries dating other men and women on Watari's suggestion but feels nothing for any of them. Similarly, while Light has had sex with other men, L is clearly the only person in the world outside of his family capable of making him feel anything close to love.
- Smug Smiler: While the investigation is falling apart L notes that Light is looking incredibly smug.
- Sorry, I'm Gay: Light resorts to telling Misa this to prevent Rem from forcing him back into a relationship with her.
- Stalking Is Love: Misa is stalking Light, Light is stalking L, and L is stalking Light via surveillance and his agents.
- The Starscream: Exploited Trope. When Light is cornered he comes up with a new story- he isn't Kira, but he was forced to work for Kira but once he gained Kira's trust he betrayed him. It works as a solid defense against being accused of being Kira and some even view him as a hero but he has lost the trust he once had when the Taskforce begins to realize how manipulative Light really is.
- Tabloid Melodrama: Details of Misa's personal life are available at every newstand.
- Take That!: Light and L are riba in this fic, they are not shoehorned into Seme-Uke stereotypes:L: There's the cultural stereotype of the uke, who receives blow jobs from the seme, which is seen as a privilege for the uke. In return, the seme gets to enter the uke, which is a privilege for the seme. However, it's considered degrading and low-status to be entered by another man, so supposedly nobody wants to be the uke and the blow jobs are seen as a way to compensate the uke for that humiliation and entice him into his role. I think you view yourself as the seme and me as the uke.Light: But those are just stereotypes. No relationship is really that simple unless there's at least one idiot involved.
- The Talk: Watari forces L and Light to read some sex ed books.
- Think Unsexy Thoughts: when L lets Light back into his presence, Light has to work hard on focusing on the murder case L has given him instead of on L.
- Transparent Closet: Light doesn't like to think of himself as gay even though he's only ever enjoyed having sex with men. He is forced to come out in order to convince Rem that a relationship with Misa would never work.
- Unequal Pairing: L (the detective in charge of the Kira investigation) and Light (the main suspect in the Kira investigation), however this fic subverts the usual
Fandom-Specific Plot where Mr. Yagami gets mad at L for sleeping with his son and instead he gets mad at Light because it looks like he's corrupting the investigation.
- Unishment: After Light's "confession" L and the taskforce decide it would be best if Light remains under house arrest under L's supervision which of course is exactly what Light wanted.
- Unusual Euphemism: "I like it when you investigate me."
- Villains Never Lie: When Light tells the investigators he is constantly being watched and guarded by two Shinigami-one keeps constant watch over him and threatens him every time he steps out of line and the other, a Shinigami that likes apples, drops in regularly to takes reports from the one guarding him and then lets them come to their own conclusions about his involvement in the Kira case.
- Villainous Breakdown: When L screws up his plan to get them back together Light very calmly goes up to his room, collapses into bed, and screams into his pillow.
- Villainous Crush: Light to L.
- Wise Tree: the Shinigami apple tree that imparts psychic visions.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Light has to scheme fast in order to save L, Misa, and himself. Fortunately he has Rem as his accomplice.
- You Have to Believe Me!: When L is sick he begins raving to everyone that Light is Kira. Everyone attributes it to his high fever.
- You're Not My Type: Light tries to let Misa down gently and when that doesn't work he tries being mean. That doesn't work either...