A/N: A fast update, enjoy! x
L is for... - 38. Lunate
adj. crescent-shaped
It was a quiet night. A warm breeze drifted passed her, making her hair dance in the air. The sun had set many hours beforehand, she guessed it was close to midnight, if not after. The only thing lighting up the darkness was a radiant first-quarter moon. It lit her features as she stared up at the orb. She was lying on her back, the dark shadows of flowers and greenery surrounded her. If anyone tried to find her, she would be well hidden from them, just how she liked it.
There was an uncomfortable dull ache coming from her back. They weren't fresh wounds anymore, but the scars were going to last a lifetime. It wasn't painful but told her she had been on it for far too long. A couple of hours to be accurate, there was nothing to do inside, so she came out here. There was nothing to do here either, but the sight was pretty. She ignored the signs telling her to get up and stayed, content with facing the sky. Out here it was peaceful, with no worries and all the time to relax.
She was able to separate herself from life at that moment. No BB, no copycat, no murders and no L. The last thought was nixed instantly because she didn't want to ever forget L. He was great man, maybe not the perfect role model, but he was someone that children should look up to. Children did, but they were all in a different country. A smile appeared on her features at the thought of them, until she heard the snapping of a twig nearby.
Stilling, she stayed quiet and wondered who was up here. Maybe another hotel resident wanted to see the garden on the roof in the dark? She would admit they would be crazy because the garden was much more beautiful during the day. Although it was unlikely, it was not impossible, a twenty-three percent chance. The number that entered her mind was made up but it had her shaking in silent laughter. He was definitely rubbing off on her and she was one-hundred percent okay with it.
"D, are you out here?" It was L's voice and she could tell there was worry in it.
That didn't mean she would do something to notify him of her presence. If he was up here, then he was certain she was too. He would just need to find her, do some field work for once. He was always locked up in his room. Lights off, curtains closed. She knew this because she had been in there a couple of time, maybe more than just a couple times. He always unlocked his door, around the time she left her room to come up to the roof. She would always go into his room, but tonight was different.
"D, you know I don't like it when you are out here by yourself." Less worry, more concern and unease. Even though they all meant the same thing, it only meant one thing to her. He would be keeping a closer watch on her, again. As if his restrictions weren't already enough.
A figure blocked her view of the moon above her. She definitely knew it was L now, his signature shaggy hair was illuminated by the light coming from the sky. His features were darkened and she couldn't see the look he was giving her, but she could guess it was a mix between distress and disappointment. Stars sparkled around his head in the night sky, so her attention moved to them. He didn't move from in front of the moon and was fine with just staring down at her. He was use to staying in a dark room with little light, so his eyes adjusted easily. It was one of the few times he saw a serene look on her face.
"I couldn't sleep." She looked back at him and reached out to him with a hand, waving it in front of his face. "Come down here with me."
He removed a hand from his jeans pocket and held onto hers. "You've had no problem stealing my bed when this happens before." Getting down with her, he moved around so that her head was resting on his stomach and they formed a T shape.
"It's not like you use it." She felt him absentmindedly playing with her hair, something he had done on several occasions. Whether it was out of habit, or a way of comfort, she did not know. "I wanted something different."
"Do you want me to get the room redecorated?" He asked with complete seriousness.
"You can't do that." She laughed at the preposterous idea.
He didn't understand her laughing. Did she really not think he could? He had plenty of resources and if it was something she wanted, he would get it done. "Yes I can."
"Shouldn't you be working?" She was curious to why he came up four storeys to get to the roof. She also wanted to change the subject.
"I'm taking a break."
She was confused. L never took breaks, not unless he had some massive sugar craving and Watari wasn't around to serve him. He had given up trying to make her a slave after the first attempt. It had ended badly and left them in a very sticky situation. If Watari wasn't around he would usually just wait until the elderly man was available. He rarely left his room, with his computer in it, as it was. This was a very unusual situation, but she wasn't going to complain about it.
"No sweets?"
"What are you looking at?" It was his turn to change the subject. He almost hated her for bringing up that he forgotten to bring some sugary supplements with him.
She pointed to the moon. "It is the only thing worth looking at out here." Realising what she said, she quickly sent him a glance. It was difficult in the position she was in. "I mean, the only thing worth looking at in the sky."
He had known what she meant. Unlike some people, he didn't need to have things dumbed down for his benefit. As he looked up at the ball made out of six different elements of the periodic table, a list of facts and trivia buzzed through his head at rapid rates. He didn't want to say them because he tried to seem normal when with her, most of the time it didn't work. She knew of all his quirks and still liked him. He couldn't have stopped the words from leaving his mouth if he tried.
"Did you know a survey was done and thirteen percent of the people who completed it thought that the moon was made out of cheese?" The year was 1988 and a whole population did the survey, but she didn't need to know these details.
"Do you think it is made out of cheese?"
"The moon made out of a dairy product? Never!" He paused for a bit as if in deep thought. "Everyone knows it is more believable for the moon to be made up of marshmallows."
"Marshmallows?" She laughed but stopped after she felt him wince at the weight of her head.
"Yes, with that much cheese, it wouldn't stay afloat in the sky." Lifting a few strands of her hair so that it obscured his vision of the moon, he went onto his next fact. "Did you know only fifty-nine percent of the moon's surface is seen by us?"
She moved so that they were parallel and her head was on the left side of his chest. "Who sees the other forty-one percent?" The question was only a joke, like her previous one, but she wanted to see how he would answer it.
"Aliens." His hand went to stroking her arm while her hand gripped onto his white shirt.
"You believe in aliens?" He had said it seriously and she didn't know whether he truly thought it or not.
"Everyone knows that aliens exist." He pointed out various stars and called them different names until she was crying with laughter. He just shook his head at her. "Have you not seen Men in Black? It explains everything."
She shook her head at him. Movies were not her thing. She would rather immerse herself in a book for hours instead of watching a box and have the images provided. Books let her imagination run wild. She hadn't read a good book in a long time, everything she read now was research. It was research for this case thing, or research for that case thing. She decided, when this case was over, she will buy many books and just lock herself in a room and read them all. His voice brought her out of the thoughts in her mind.
"Did you know the moon is twenty-five percent the size of the Earth?"
Her eyes lit up with excitement. "Yes, I do know that!" She thought back to one of her boring astronomy classes, it had been the easiest fact to remember. "But normal people would just say quarter, not twenty-five percent."
"But quarter isn't a percentage." He was still pleased she knew something related to the object she had been staring at previously. He finally caught onto the first part of her words. "Are you calling me abnormal?"
"Well you never denied it the first time I called you weird."
It was back when she had first started learning about his funny quirks. Some of them she thought were adorable, but you could never get away with calling a man that, it would ruin their pride. Did L even have pride? With the way he carried himself and dressed, she didn't think so. She kept the thought to herself, just in case. Not wanting to ruin something that could quite possibly be there. Adorable, it still made her laugh though.
"That was before…" Before they were together, became an item as normal people would call it.
He continued to drone on about different facts concerning the moon. She couldn't help but think how much his voice started to resemble her old astronomy lecturer. It was a class she found herself falling asleep in constantly and had no relevance towards the degree. Slowly her eyelids started to get heavier, soon she was asleep and her breathing was shallow. He purposefully went on about different trivia. Her worded replies turned into a few nods or the shaking of her head, which turned to nothing. She was finally resting. He lifted her head to get out from under her and then picked her up to go back into the hotel. This was done easily, he was much stronger than the scrawny look he had.
The truth was, he had finished another on-the-side case and wanted to celebrate with her. D, he refused to call her by her real name, especially after her insistence that he didn't. He had gone to her room, to find it empty. After looking through all the camera footage he had set up in the hotel, he saw she had gone to the roof. Being relieved that she was safe, he had forgotten all about his victory of catching another criminal in the name of justice. She needed sleep so he got her so bored, that she had nothing else to do. Who actually cares about the natural satellite in the sky?
Instead of going to her room, he laid her down in his bed. He watched as she curled up under the covers, facing the flickering light of his monitor. Another message meant another possible case. The cases would be never-ending and he would not stop solving them until his very last breath. He brushed away her fringe so he could lightly kiss her forehead. Needing more, he bent down again, this time to kiss her lips. They upturned in a smile and he heard her whisper his name, a goofy grin appeared on his face and he was glad no one was near to see. It turned solemn just as quickly.
"All I ever want is for you to be safe, please stay safe."