Disclaimer: Not mine.
Rating: K+? Eh.
Warnings: L, Higuchi, Rem, and Light. Sort of.
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Echolalia
By Azar-Apocalypse
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L thinks that these types of stories should start with a date, but he's not sure what day it is when he wakes up after falling asleep at his desk for the second time in as many days and sleepily realises that the bells are dull for the rain pounding against the roof.
Huh.
It might be a Monday. He likes Mondays, so he'll say it is one, even though time blurs when the only thing he does all day is read and read and read.
He wishes the bells were louder. He likes listening to them. They are nostalgia personified and L feels a strange sort of sadness sweep through him.
The mini-fridge under his desk is stocked to the brim with desserts. He is reaching for a strawberry tart - his favourite - when it occurs to him that he is in Tokyo, Japan, not Winchester, England and his hand freezes in place for a second.
Huh.
He's not very hungry, after all...
With an awkward shrug, he somehow manages to pull himself out from beneath his desk and scratch his suddenly churning stomach.
"Rem-san," he calls out, "I'd like to speak to you about the notebook, if you please."
He has been doing this every day for the past week. He sincerely doubts that Rem will be able to give him any more answers.
She- Is Rem a she? He's honestly not sure that reapers have reproductive organs or even genders...
It drifts into the room through the wall; unabashedly stares at his ruffled appearance; and replies, "What did you want-"
L curiously interjects, "Are you a female?"
Rem blinks.
L also blinks.
Rem blinks again.
L contemplates his strawberry tart.
"Gender is a human concept," Rem says after a moment. "It has no relevance to Shinigami - we don't reproduce in the same way that you humans do."
L is glad that he isn't a reaper.
A pause, and then: "However, if you were to apply human standards to Shinigami... I suppose you could call me a female."
"I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable, Rem-san."
"It wouldn't. What did you want to ask?"
He likes Rem. She is intelligent and cunning. He wonders whether, if the circumstances were different, they could have been companions...
"A page in the notebook is torn. A piece is missing from it," he answers, deciding that he is hungry after all. "Would it be possible for this piece to be used in the same fashion as the rest of the notebook?" He procures a bag of panda-shaped cookies from the fridge and eagerly opens it.
Rem eyes his biscuits with distaste. "I don't know. I've never heard of a notebook being used like that, but I don't see any reason as to why it wouldn't work..." she responds dully, as if he didn't already know that.
L looks up from his desk and-
"Ryuuzaki," Light says, but L barely hears it for the rush that is suddenly flooding his ears.
"Light-kun," L returns thickly. The saliva in his mouth is suddenly sticky-sweet - not in the good way, like his strawberry tart, but rather in the bad way, where he can't breathe or swallow around it.
Light silently glances between L and the reaper.
L's heart secretly sinks when he says, "You know, Light-kun, when I said you were free to leave, I meant it." The crumbs on his chin are making him feel unclean and strangely self-conscious.
"Are you saying you don't want me around here, Ryuuzaki?"
Rem is curiously watching the exchange as if she has never seen anything more fascinating in her life - which L estimates has probably lasted at least one hundred years.
"No," he mumbles, half-hoping that Light doesn't hear.
Pleasestayjuststaypleasepleasepleaseiwantyoutostay
Light leaves.
The dark, empty pit in the bottom of L's gut gurgles unpleasantly. The panda cookies are suddenly much less appetising than before.
Rem doesn't bother with tact when she comments, "I thought humans were geared to feel attracted to those they could reproduce with."
A panda goes flying toward her head. Unsurprisingly, it clatters to the ground some five feet past her.
Rem does not look affronted, as a human would, but she seems to realise that the gesture is supposed to be offensive; she haughtily remarks "Humans are so simple" as she drifts away, through the floor.
L doesn't realise that he is shaking until more of his cookies meet the floor. He manages to avoid standing on all of them when he stands up and slouches away.
He should probably say goodbye to Watari.
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Hm. I don't expect anyone to actually understand this. I haven't slept in a few days, so... ^^;;;
I'm not sure if I should continue this. I want to and I know where I'd go with it, but it ended well on this note...