Marie-Alexandra and L walked side by side through the park. It was a beautiful spring day and everything about it was wonderfully cliché- singing birds, bright green grass, even the bark on the trees looked brighter.
"Sure is nice today," Marie remarked.
"Mmm." L agreed. I was nice out, at least in the spring when it wasn't humid or buggy.
"Hey, wanna get some ice cream?" Marie-Alexandra pointed to a small trolley with the tell-tale ice cream cone on the side.
"Yeah!" L said enthusiastically- Well, enthusiastic for L, anyway.
"I'll buy."
L didn't object as his friend purchased two strawberry cones. Slurping noisily on the chilly treat, L and Marie wandered around the park, taking in the spring atmosphere. Redbuds and tulips filled the air with a light but sweet scent. The colors were so vibrant after a winter of white and brown that everything looked like a coloring page out of a child's art book.
Finally, L and Marie got tired of walking around and came to a white stone bench. It was under two big oak trees.
"Care to sit down?" L asked courteously.
"Sure." Marie-Alex plopped down and looked up at the cotton-candy-blue sky.
L sat down and seemed completely enraptured by his noisy ice cream cone. As the two friends ate, a few people walked by and looked uneasily at L's odd sitting position.
"Let's give them a good reason to stare," Marie said, grinning impishly at L. She gave her ice cream an extra noisy slurp, to which L responded with an even louder sluuuurrrrp-smack. They kept it up until the ice cream was gone and they had removed all trace of it from their fingers.
Marie and L laughed and then just sat a while, enjoying the day and just being quiet at each other.
After a long time, L turned his head to face Marie. Watching her with his owl like gaze, L said,
"Marie," he began.
"Hm?" Marie Alex (who had been absently watching a squirrel and a robin have a 'discussion' about to whom a crust of bread belonged) turned to look at L.
"What is it, L?"
"Why is it that you never refer to me as 'Ryuzaki'?" her friend inquired. "You seem to be the only one who simply calls me 'L'."
"Wha? Well, I guess 'cause it seems more like your name than 'Ryuzaki'," she responded.
"Why?" Asked L. He never once looked away from Marie's face or blinked- something that he found unnerved most people, but didn't affect Marie.
"Hmm. Because," Marie said, scratching her head thoughtfully, "I think it's the first letter of your real name. Because," she continued, just as L opened his mouth to ask 'why is that',
"you could have been called any letter out of the alphabet but you chose 'L', and the first letter of your name would make sense as a reason to choose 'L' instead of B or K or X or something. Or," she pondered, "You could just happen to really like the letter L. Either way, it fits you way better than 'Ryuzaki'. It sounds like some kind of hot sauce."
She grinned and chuckled. L 'hmmed' and stared off into space to process this information.
Marie busied herself by throwing bits of her waffle cone to the squirrel and bird, and watching the sunlight bounce off his silver fur.
Suddenly, Marie felt a vice-like grip on her forearm, and felt L's eyes boring into her.
"Huh?!" Her gaze snapped around to L. She was pretty surprised- you know it's serious when L breaks his No Touchy policy.
"Marie-Alexandra," L said in an urgent sounding whisper, "Can I trust you?"
"What? Of course you can, L," Marie said, surprised. "Why would you think otherwise?" She looked concerned. "Is something wrong?"
"No," L said, still in a low voice.
"I would like to tell you something."
A few seconds passed. A child laughed in the distance, and the robin twittered from somewhere close by.
"You can tell me anything L," Marie-Alexandra said, taking his hand for emphasis. "I wouldn't tell a soul no matter what."
"I," L said, watching her intensely, "Am going to tell you…my name."
Marie sat astounded.
"Your real name?" She whispered, her grip tightening on L's hand.
L nodded once.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if I got captured by some nut job and tortured-"
"Would you tell?" L cut her off.
"Well no, never, but- you really trust me that much?"
L nodded again. Marie blinked and exhaled slightly.
"My name," L went on in that same urgent whisper. "is Lawliet."
Marie stared at him for a moment. Then she broke into a smile.
"Lawliet! Of course." She said. "It's a very cool name, L- Uh, I mean Lawliet."
Lawliet- L – smiled slightly.
"You think so?"
Marie-Alexandra nodded. "Yup! Lawliet." She rolled it around her mouth for a second. "I like it! Too bad you have to keep it a secret. But now I'll call you by it sometimes, and you can have a real name. I was afraid it would be something goofy like Larry or Leonard."
L laughed in his odd way.
"You really like it."
"Mmhm." Marie said.
"We'd better get back to headquarters." Lawliet said, getting up. Marie nodded and hopped up.
"Does anyone else know your name?" she asked as they walked down the path.
"A few people."
"Are they good guys?" Marie-Alexandra asked, a slight frown creasing her brow.
"As far as I know. They are the people in the orphanage I mentioned."
"Oh." Marie seemed satisfied by that answer.
"Hey, c'mon- Let's go sing 'I gotta secret' to Light until his head explodes!" Marie grabbed L's hand and ran down the path.
"Huh? Whao!" L kept up with Marie Alexandra and they ran to the car where Watari was waiting with that wise, grand father-like smile on his face.