Chapter Text
The flight had been dreary and exhausting, sitting in a plane for almost a day was not something you subjected yourself to often.
As you got off the plane, walking through the airway hallway, you got into the actual airport. Stretching, you tugged your luggage along with you. Jelly, that’s what your legs felt like, causing you to be a bit sluggish walking through the dull airport.
L had arranged for Watari to pick you up, now you just had to find the exit. You recalled it was 2-b, but after that flight your mind felt mushy. Though, as you wandered around the airport, you somehow managed to find yourself in front of 2-b.
Lucky you, as you stepped outside into the coldish weather, Watari’s car was waiting for you.
Classy, a lustrous black, Watari did always love a nice car.
As you opened the car door, taking a seat in the backseat, you noticed the nice leather seats.
God, you loved rich people.
“Hello, y/n.” Watari spoke politely.
You smiled, “It’s nice to see you again, Watari.”
He began driving, “It’s good to be in your presence again. We’ve needed someone like you on our team.”
You laughed softly, “Haven’t been able to find someone like me again? Not surprised.”
He pulled out of the airport, “You’re witty remarks always lightened the mood.”
You silently agreed with him.
“If I'm being honest with you, I’m personally glad you’re here.” He added.
Your eyebrows raised, “Oh, why?”
“L…he’s been neglecting himself, more than he normally does in these situations. And the others on the team haven’t seemed to pick up on it.” He spoke almost somberly.
You spoke confidently, “We’ll, I’ll be starting the process as soon as we get there, if that’s alright?”
Watari responded happily, “Of course it’s alright, thank you again.”
The rest of the car ride was quiet, only filled with the soft, classical music that danced around the car. You read over the list of what you needed to do to restore L’s motivation and pull him out of his pit of despair. Watari would sometimes hum along, it added a simpleness to the ride.
The crumbled piece of paper said:
Shower
Restaurant
Go outside
Shower Again
Do something stupid
Do other stuff if needed
Depending on how bad L was, more steps may be added, or there would be an added period of time between each step. This time, you added another shower and switched around the order to keep L on his toes.
You hadn’t seen L since you were both eighteen, you wondered how much he had changed.
As you both arrived at the tower, you noticed how tall it was. You knew Watari was rich, but this building was incredibly tall. How could someone possibly have this much money to build this just for a case? He went through the car security, then pulled into a parking spot.
Watari exited the car, then he opened the door for you.
“You are such a sweetheart, Watari.” You joked.
“Only the best for our guest of honor.” He replied.
As you exited the car, you noticed another layer of security. You approached, with Watari standing in front of you. He guided you to the very fortified door, which scanned both of you. After it finished, the door quickly opened.
The inside felt like the lobby of a luxury hotel; except, towards the left side there were six computers and cameras that seemed to be in every room. There were two people sitting in chairs across from the monitors, analyzing the footage.
It seemed Watari was taking you towards them, you could only assume to figure out where L was.
Watari announced, “Hello, gentlemen. We have a new person joining us for a while.”
The two of them turned around, one an old, revered man with a professional look to him. The other a young man, smiling widely.
“Wow! A new person, how refreshing!” The young man gleefully spoke.
You curtly smiled, “Nice to meet you. I’m y/n, I use (/) pronouns.”
For your safety against Kira, you only went by your first name, which you would spell slightly different. Your full name was nowhere online and only L and Watari knew it.
Matsuda happily cheered, “Ahhh it’s so nice to meet you! I’m Touta Matsuda! I go by he/him.”
The refined man stood up straight, offering you a handshake, “Soichiro Yagami. He/him I think. Former chief of the NPA.”
You shook his hand, “It’s nice to meet you both. To be honest, the main reason I’m here is to make sure no one neglects their health and care. As well as to add a new perspective to the investigation whenever I can.”
Soichiro nodded, “It’s good to have a new person joining us.”
Previously, Watari had told you to inform them that you were there for all of them, knowing they wouldn’t need it.
Watari said, “Y/n’s methods can be a little…unconventional; however, the results are always good.”
Matsuda smiled, “I look forward to seeing them!”
Soichiro politely nodded, before turning back around to monitor the cameras.
Now that you had introduced yourself, it was time to get started.
‘So…” You questioned, “Where is L?”
Matsuda quickly turned around, leaning forward in his chair, “So you see these camera monitors?”
Following where he looked with your eyes, you noticed that the camera monitors were in every single room across the hotel.
Every single room.
Even the bathrooms…
You widen your eyes, noticing L and two other people sitting on a couch; presumably, the two he thought were Kira and the Second Kira. One fashionably dressed blonde with overexaggerated movements, clinging onto the standing man. Another man stood behind where the two were sitting, he seemed to be indifferent to the blonde. All while L was sitting on the couch, hunched over eating a strawberry cheesecake.
“You can see them here!” He pointed, “They are on the fifth floor! In the suite!”
“Thank you, Matsuda.”
Watari gestured towards the elevator, “There is the elevator.”
You began to walk towards the elevator, pushing the metal button. As you waited, Watari approached you.
“And don’t worry about the camera’s…I’ll cut them while you do your methods, but only in the bathroom.”
You lightly smirked, “You’re the best, Watari.”
With a chime, the elevator doors opened, playing classic elevator music. Your suitcase and you waited patiently as you rode up to the fifth floor. With a roll, you were off, approaching the polished door.
You knocked on the door, confident, but not demanding.
Muffled voices sounding confused approach the door, quiet footsteps too.
Someone grew closer, with a quick shift the door was open revealing the man with light brown hair stood in front of you, along with the blonde girl. You remember L sending you a brief synopsis of the two of them.
“Who’s this Light?” She nagged.
“I’m y/n. I use (/) pronouns. I’m here to make sure everyone takes care of themselves.” You smiled.
“Yeah! I’m Misa Amane, Light’s girlfriend. I use she/her pronouns. I love when people tell me their pronouns!” She spoke excitedly.
The other responded, “Light Yagami. I use he/him.”
You nodded, “Nice to meet you! I’m actually here for L! You can feel free to stay here for a bit, but you’ll have to exit once I begin the process.”
Misa nodded happily, “Does that mean Light and I will have alone time?’
A soft, laced with tiredness shouted from behind, hindered from what you presumed was cake in his mouth.
“No, Misa. Mogi will be supervising you guy’s downstairs on the bottom floor.”
It was him.
It was L.
She stomped, “No fair!”
Light gently pushed her, “Let’s get out of there way, so they can start.”
Nodding, you brush past them and walk towards where you saw him on the camera.
And there he was, hunching over in a classic white shirt, typing on a computer while eating cheesecake. You saw the back of his hair, it had grown longer since the last time you saw him.
You walked over towards, before you were right behind him and then…
You smacked his back.
“L! How has your posture gotten worse? Have you not done any of the practices I’ve given you?”
This seemed to elicit some gasps from the others, shocked you would act so aggressive towards L.
He continued typing, “No.”
You rolled your eyes, “L! Your health is important! You probably smell horrible and all your coworkers haven’t told you!”
L looked up at you with his dark eyes, his eyebags had grown worse, the small light in his eye had grown dimmer. His cheeks were a bit thinner, with tension lines presenting themselves all over his face. His baby fat had diminished, his jaw had sharpened. Shockingly, he seemed a little paler than normally; though, he wasn’t too far gone yet where he would look sick.
Responding with a mouth full, he said, “Well, I have been trying to solve this case. The thought hadn’t really occurred to me.”
You know how hard he had been trying to solve this.
It confounded him to the point where whenever he would reach out to you, it was only to share his worries about this case, which never happened with L.
L was never emotional, he took great lengths to hide it from others.
This immediately alerted you because if L was disclosing his emotions to you, something was wrong. Not that you didn’t want him too, it’s just not L’s style.
You heard a knock on the door.
You turned to the others, “Everybody out! The process is beginning!”
Light and Misa gasped, hurring out the door.
“Do we really have to do this again?” L groaned.
You lectured, “And we’ll keep doing it until you learn how to take care of yourself.”
L leaned his head back, his jet-black hair fell back, tousled and unkempt; yet, it was illustrious and sleek.
“Do you have it?” You asked.
He rolled his eyes, “Yes, I have it.”
You pushed him lightly, “Go put it on!”
He shook his head, “I can’t I’m eating my-”
You snatched the plate out of his hand, “Cheesecake?”
“You’re not as funny as you think you are.”
He stuck his tongue out and stood up, going to his drawer to get his Misa Amane bathing suit set out.
You clapped happily, “I’ll accumate while you go change!”
He unhappily strode to the bathroom, seemingly trying to hide his bathing suit from the camera. You laughed to yourself as L rarely got embarrassed.
L emerged, “I’m done. You can use it.”
Awkwardly, he stood there in a colorful hot pink shirt with Misa Misa in a Hatsune Miku outfit, the shorts were a matching hot pink.
It was the perfect bathing suit.
“I’ll be out in just a sec, L!”
You rushed into the bathroom, quickly taking off your clothes and putting on your matching bathing suit, which wasn't the exact same, but both have the same "Hatsune Misa" print and decided whether or not you'd wear a shower cap. You neatly folded your clothes, putting them right next to L’s near the sink. Grabbing items from your bag, you placed your supplies in the shower. The bathroom was quite nice with a shower and bath combination, with plain white tiles all around the bathroom. The walls were a pale blue, the shower had a dark gray curtain. and there was a mirror in front of the shower. There was a bar where you could hang up your towels.
Opening the door, you noticed L was waiting outside for you.
“Well, get in here!” You grabbed his arm pulling him into the bathroom.
Shutting the door behind you, L leaned against the door, standing there stiffly as he bit his nail.
“Don’t worry!” You encouraged, “Watari shut off the cameras in here, we will be in complete privacy!”
L seemed to relax a little at this notion, he never did know how to act when this happened. He stood there patiently as you turned the water on for the shower, always making it warm, but not scorching in order not to hurt his skin.
Opening the curtain, you hopped in the shower, motioning for L to come and join you.
“Come on L, you’ll feel better once you are clean.”
He sighed, slowly entering the shower with you.
L stood in front of you awkward, eyes fixating on the tile surrounding the shower, biting his nails. The warm water streamed down every inch of his body which seemed to relieve some stress; even so, he looked tense and his nail biting was becoming repetitive.
You reached your hand up hovering over his, looking at him for confirmation to make sure you could touch him. He nodded slightly, you placed your hand softly over his, caressing it.
“If you need something to bite, you can bite me.” You joked.
He shook his head, “If my nail biting was bothering you so much, you could’ve asked me to stop.”
You pretended to be shocked, “But your oral fixation is one of your charms!”
He deadpanned, “You don’t seem the freudian type.”
“I’m not, but a broken clock is right twice a day.”
He rolled his eyes.
You grabbed the shampoo and shook it obnoxiously.
“Excited?”
“No.”
You cheekily replied, “I think you are.”
You squeezed some shampoo into your hand, while he just stood there looking at you.
“Do you want to stare into my eyes as I massage it into your hair, or are you going to turn around?”
He huffed, almost as if he was caught off guard, and turned around.
“Thank you.”
The back of his neck was slightly paler than the rest of his body. His dark hair had already melted onto his body, creating a contrast with his pale skin. You noticed his mole on the right side of his shoulder. Rubbing your hands together to make the shampoo frothy, you delicately put your hands in his hair. You had to be careful, L had a sensitive scalp. Delicately, you began massaging the shampoo into his hair, causing him to let out a relaxed sigh. Spreading it throughout his hair, he began to lean back into your touch, almost resting on your chest. It was a little out of character for him to melt into your touch immediately.
You’ve always thought his hair was beautiful: the ever-consuming darkness, the slight waviness, the fluffiness. You curled a piece around your pointer finger, it was wet; yet, almost soft. Uncurling the hair, you began to trace down his neck, which caused L to shiver slightly. Going down to his upper back, feeling the large hunch in his back.
You sighed, “You really need a chiropractor.”
“The hunch helps me think.”
You stifled a laugh, “The hunch…helps you think?”
He nodded knowingly.
L had a very dry, situational humor that was rather endearing. After knowing each other for such a long time, he let this side out. Normally, he wasn’t expressive at all, the unreadable man; but, with you he was slightly more expressive: letting his annoyances out in huffs and eyerolls, small smiles, and with his jokes.
You took your hands off him for a second, causing him to lean back more, slipping, flailing his arms as he fell into you. Quickly, you wrapped your arms around him tightly to prevent the both of you from falling. Stumbling, you stabilizing yourself and him, pulling him up so he was on his feet.
You realized that you had been holding him by his waist the whole time. Swiftly, you removed your hands and took a step back.
Taking a deep breath, you apologized, “I’m sorry, I know you don’t like being touched there, I did it without thinking. I’m really sorry.”
He shook his head and spoke honestly, “No, no, it was…okay. I would’ve told you if it wasn’t.”
You paused for a moment.
You shakily agreed, “You’re right. Silly me. Let’s get the shampoo out of your hair.”
He was right, L was very vocal about if he was uncomfortable. It took a long time for the both of you to become comfortable like this, even more so for L to become comfortable with touch. You’d only ever touched his head and arms, that interaction had been…foreign. Even more gently, you put your hands in his hair, really getting into his scalp to get rid of the built up oil. He had a history of depression, which was made worse by him being a workaholic, he would never admit it though. He would never talk about it, but it would consume him entirely, he would barely eat, drink water, or shower, so obsessed with his cases. You would always come to help, he would always come to help you as well, but that was a different story.
“I think that was my first hug.”
He spoke as if that was a very normal thing.
And you didn’t know if you could even call that a hug.
Your jaw dropped, “Really? Haven’t you had to do it in any cases?”
He tilted his head, putting his finger on his mouth, “I guess a correction to that would be the first one I’ve ever enjoyed.”
You stood there agape, dropping your hands out of surprise. L was always somewhat honest during your interactions, but this had never happened before. You always suspected he enjoyed your touches since he never shut them down; however, he had never actually admitted it.
Especially something so accidentally intimate.
He questioned plainly, “Did I make you uncomfortable? I apologize if so.”
You urgently responded, “No! No! I just, uhm, didn't expect…”
He turned around slowly, his dark eyes trailing all over your face, examining every microexpression. The proximity between the two of you was quite close, you began to think he be able to hear your hastened breath if he got any closer. He tilted his head, his gorgeous eyelashes had small drops of water sitting on them.
“I’ve never seen you speechless before.” He matter-a-factly said, “Was what I said so shocking?”
Staring into your eyes, he patiently awaited a response.
“No,” You replied. “You’ve just never said anything like that before.”
For a moment, you were completely enchanted by him, something deep inside you wanted to take a step closer, so you could look over every inch of his face.
He shrugged, “I guess I haven’t.”
Then he turned back around, picking up the sapo (net sponge) and conditioner.
“Can you condition my hair while I exfoliate?” He questioned.
That was a sentence you never thought you’d hear L say.
You smiled, “I didn’t know you knew that word.”
He pointed his finger at you, almost as if he were scolding you, “You don’t become a good detective if you refuse to learn.”
This was also something strange that was happening today, normally you would leave after the shampoo part because it would hurt his pride to take a full shower with you. He couldn’t stand people taking care of him for more than five minutes.
You took the conditioner from his hand, “But with all the oil already in your hair…”
He turned and just looked at you.
Maybe he finally cared about taking care of his hair?
That was unlikely, but you didn’t quite understand why he wanted you to do this.
As he began using the sapo, you put the tiniest amount of conditioner in your hand. Spreading a very light layer across your fingers, you rubbed it into his ends.
“You’ll need to turn around, so the shower's water pressure can rinse it out.”
Following your command, he quickly faced you while using the sapo to clean his body. His eyes were trained on his hands, diligently washing his body.
You just stood there bored, swaying slightly.
After he finished washing his legs, he reached up and felt the ends of his hair.
“The conditioner hasn’t washed out yet, can get it out?” L asked nonchalantly.
“I guess I can.”
The request confused you.
He stood there waiting.
“Aren’t you going to turn around?”
He tilted his head, “But won’t you need the water pressure to help you?
“I guess you’re right.”
You had said that earlier; yet, you didn’t expect him to use that as his reasoning.
Extending your arms outward, you reached over his shoulders and began lifting the ends of his hair up and running your hands through it. The positioning was a little awkward, you tried to keep your body as far away from you as possible. Your bodies weren’t evening touching; and yet, you could feel some of his body heat. He was staring at you, completely unphased by how close the two of you were; while, your heart was beating erratically.
You continued until you couldn’t feel the oil anymore.
“All done!”
You took a step back, missing the warmth.
He felt the back of his hair, “I can never get it out as well as you.”
Was he praising you?
You felt a little embarrassed, he had never said anything like that before. He had been saying and doing a lot of things that were out of character today, but you didn’t understand his intentions.
He spoke frankly, “You can leave now.”
You nodded, stepping out of the shower grabbing one of the robes and a towel, so that your clothes would not get the floor wet.
When you walked out of the bathroom, you headed toward the drawers, looking for a pair of fresh clothes. You found a plethora of white shirts and blue pants, so you grabbed a clean pair and knocked on the bathroom door.
“Some clean clothes for you.”
You heard the shower turn off as you went to sit on the couch. After about a minute, L had grabbed the clothes from outside.
“Y/n!” He shouted, scared.
Launching your body up, you quickly ran to the bathroom door. Was something wrong? Had he hurt himself?
Did Kira do something?
You threw the door and saw L on the ground, pretending to be injured in his regular clothes. He motioned with his head for you to close the door.
Swinging it shut, you looked at him angry.
You whispered, “What was that?”
He sat on the floor crisscrossed, “I had to fully test your dedication to me.”
“I’ve flown across the world to come help you multiple times, how would I not be dedicated to you?”
He shrugged.
Now all of his strange behavior was explained, it was all a test.
You sighed, rolling your eyes, “So that’s what that was earlier. You made me worried.”
“Yes.”
You gestured, “Well, what were you testing me for.”
L spoke with determination, “I need you to get close to Misa.”
You narrowed your eyes, “Why?”
L stood up, “I need someone from the outside to do this. You’re bright, you’ll understand once you spend time with her.”
He then walked past you and looked at the cameras, making a comeback motion with his hand, overexaggerating his speech, “Bring Misa and Light back in here.”