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What's this? You say his birthday isn't for seven months? …Well, I'm not waiting that long. But you can read it again in October if you'd like. :D

Please enjoy. Mmm…candy corn…

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Summary: The year before, he had been at Wammy's House, and was able to have real candles. This year, he got twenty-five candy corn and a secret smile with Watari.

25 Candy Corn

He was on the very verge of a breakthrough; he could feel it. He was only missing that one last crucial piece to the puzzle, and if he could just find that one thing, then everything would fall perfectly into place.

L stared harder at the information on his computer screen, waiting for the last clue to present itself to him. He did not see Watari approaching him or realize he hadn't blinked in over two minutes until something was set in front of him, breaking his concentration. He started and looked down at it.

In front of him was set a large plate, on top of which was an entire cake, shaped and decorated to look like a Jack-o'-Lantern. On the top were set candy corn, all evenly spaced around the center. Watari stood to the side, a benevolent smile on his kind face, and his hands folded behind his back.

"Oh, wow! A carved pumpkin!" Matsuda exclaimed, standing and moving closer to get a better look.

Light looked over from his seat a few feet to the side of L. "Is that a cake?"

L poked it. "Indeed it is." He licked orange icing off his finger, looking up at Watari with round eyes. "What is this for?"

"It's October 31."

L's eyes only got rounder. "Is it? I had forgotten…" Watari's smile faded a little. L turned back to the cake, instantly counting the candy corn on the top. Twenty-five. Of course. Last year there had been twenty-four. The year before, he had been taking a respite at Wammy's House in England and was able to have twenty-three real candles.

"Thank you, Watari," L said quietly, plucking the candy corn one by one from the orange icing and popping them into his mouth. Watari bowed his head, smiling again.

"Special occasion, Ryuuzaki?" Light asked.

L pretended there hadn't been a gleam in the teen's eyes when he asked. He decided that if he had had real candles that year, he would have wished that one of them didn't have to die to end this.

He gave a small smirk. "Of course it is, Light-kun. It's Halloween."

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End. Yay, Watari is a professional cake decorator, too! Is there anything that man can't do? And aww, L forgot his own birthday. (Good thing Watari was there to remind him. Another point for Watari.) I don't know how someone can forget their own birthday…I'm usually counting down to mine for about four months. Haha.

Hope you enjoyed; thanks for reading.