This story was inspired by a pair of shoes I saw. A picture of the shoes can be found on my deviant-art page under the name shads-pics, or just do a search for L's shoes.

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Death Note or anything affiliated with said show.

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

L's Shoes

L and Light had been sitting in front of their computers for the last seven hours when Light suddenly rubbed his eyes. 'God this is annoying.' He thought as he closed off the file he was currently viewing. 'If I have to look at one more stupid company memo from Yotsuba Corp, I'll go insane. It's obvious that Kira is one of them, I just wish there was a way to prove it.' Sighing, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

"Tired Light-kun?" L asked, taking a bite of his cake while his eyes continued to scan the screen before him.

Snorting, Light rolled his eyes. "No, of course not." He said sarcastically. "Who could possibly be tired after staring at a computer screen for seven hours straight."

If L noted the sarcasm in Light's words, he didn't show it. "Good, we still have about four hundred more files to go through tonight. I'm glad to hear you're still doing fine." L said as he opened up four more files and began to sift through them.

"Yeah, yeah." Light muttered as he sat back up and double clicked on a random file. Several minutes passed in silence until Light once again became bored. Deciding that maybe some conversation would help the time pass quicker, he glanced over at L. "You know, I've been meaning to ask." Light said as he closed his current file and opened another one. "Exactly how many pairs of that outfit do you own?"

"Hmm." L cocked his head as he thought. "My closet currently houses 9 of these shirts, 7 pairs of these jeans and unfortunately only one pair of my shoes." He said after a few seconds had passed.

"Oh." Light replied. I mean really, what else can you say to that. He did ask after all. Several more minutes slipped by in silence until Light spoke up suddenly. "Wait, what did you mean by 'unfortunately only having one pair of your shoes'?" He asked curiously. "You rarely ever wear them, why would you want another pair?"

L set down his spoon and spun his chair to face Light. "I do not want another pair Light." He said seriously. "I need another pair."

"…ok." Light said, raising his eyebrow at the odd detective. "Do I even want to know why?"

Shrugging, L replied. "I can not possibly know that Light, but in case you do I will explain." Taking another bite of his cake, L set his spoon down once again before placing his hands on his knees. "Many years ago when I was but a child, Watari decided that walking around barefoot was going to cause my feet serious problems one day so he took me shoe shopping. Sadly, that did not work as well as he'd hoped since I managed to scare away all the sales people and I refused to wear socks. Did you know that shoe stores frown on you trying on shoes without socks?" He questioned.

Light opened his mouth to answer, but was frankly too shocked to say anything. L rarely talked, and when he did it was almost always about the case. Now here he was spouting off some story from his childhood. In all honesty, L was seriously beginning to scare Light. 'Note to self, never ask L a personal question again.' Light thought as he watched L nod at his silence and continue.

"Yes, neither did I, but apparently it is wrong." L continued on. "Anyway, after that I refused to look for anymore shoes Watari decided to shop for some himself. However, after several dozen trips to the stores and back he got tired of returning shoes I wouldn't wear and he gave up." Pausing to take another bite of cake, L continued. "A few years later, Watari stumbled upon a pair of shoes that he thought would be perfect for me so he bought them. He was right, not only did the shoes fit, but they even had my name on them. They were perfect."

"Wait, what do you mean they had your name on them?" Light cut in suddenly. "Do you mean Watari wrote your name on them?"

Raising an eyebrow, L gave Light a look that said he was clearly crazy for thinking that. "Why would Watari write my name on a pair of shoes, that would be stupid." L said. "No, the shoes came with my name on them." Reaching under the desk, he pulled out one of his raggedy white shoes. Holding it up, he pointed to the 'L' that was sitting on the side. "See, it has my name on it."

Light nodded dumbly as he watched L put his shoe back under the desk, and decided it would probably be best if he kept his mouth shut for awhile.

"As I was saying." L said as he shifted to get more comfortable. "I sent Watari out the next day to buy as many pairs as he could find, but sadly there were only three pairs left. When he told me this I spent weeks on the computer checking every database I could find to see if there were anymore left anywhere. Unfortunately, the company had been out of business for many years and that was the last of their stock so I was unable to get anymore of my shoes." L finished with a slight frown.

Light looked at L's frown and shook his head. "Well…that was some story." Light said lamely. "Now if you don't mind I think I'm going to lie down before my brain explodes." He muttered quietly.

"You do know that it is impossible for your brain to explode, right?" L asked, cocking his head to the side questioningly. All L got as a response was a 'thud' as Light's head hit the desk. "Hmm, he must not be feeling very well." L said softly as he opened up several more files and took another bite of cake. "Poor boy."