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L hated candy hearts.
Normally he enjoyed anything if it had enough sugar in it, but the putrid little multicolored pieces shouldn't even have been considered candy. Hearts represented love, correct?
Yeah, nothing says 'I love you' like a crunchy chalk-and-earwax flavored snack in a box.
Not to mention the obnoxious (and often misprinted) messages stretching across the face of the heart. The detective simply couldn't understand how lovers could hope to express their feelings with dye on something that was going to be devoured soon anyway.
So why, with only a few days before Valentine's day, was L to be found sitting crouched over his computer in the Words of Love candy heart factory? He himself was wondering this, until he felt the need to voice his confusion.
"Light-kun," he asked, pushing inky hair to the side of his face with milk-white fingers. "I apologize for not paying attention earlier, but may I ask what we are doing here in this…unappealing environment?"
Light had to lip-read what L had said, as the two were standing (well, one kneeling, one standing) next to the vat where they mixed the candy heart paste and filled the miniscule molds to be shipped off to the ovens where they would be cooled and placed into boxes.
He sighed. "I already explained this to you, Ryuuzaki. I'm here because Misa has a promotional fashion show to give here, to advertise for the company, and I promised her I'd go. You're here because you happen to be chained to my wrist."
"Ah," the insomniac replied. He held up his wrist, as if to verify what the brunette had just said. The chain clinked and rattled as it fell back on the hard cement floor. "And where is Amane-san currently?"
"She left temporarily," Light said nonchalantly. "She just went to-oh, here she comes now."
L turned back to his computer as the bubbly blonde half ran, half bounced up to hug Light tightly, the jingling of her various bracelets and bangles proving to be very distracting to L, as he already had the inconvenience of the rumbling of the candy tumbler.
"Light!" the model chirped happily, placing her arms as high up on him as she could reach and kissing his cheek. "Misa is so glad you came! I have something for you."
She gave a little giggle and opened a large purse that was swinging from her upper arm. Light soon found himself with a small collection of boxes that the idol had deposited in his hands.
"They're candy hearts!" she exclaimed in a singsong voice. "Misa got them from them from the owner of the company. They're custom made just for Light!"
He stole a look at a few of the boxes, each one containing hearts bearing a single message written in faded English lettering. Among the ones he could translate were 'Be Mine' and 'My Angel'.
"Thank you Misa, I'm very happy," he said, trying to sound overjoyed but failing miserably. The blonde seemed satisfied, for she smiled and skipped over to Ryuuzaki.
"Here, Ryuuzaki, I got one for you too!" She handed him a single box, which L examined before reading the message printed on the contents.
"He's Mine," he read lifelessly. "Amane-san, thank you very much, but I'm not too sure what you are implying."
"Whoopsies!" Misa remarked, feigning a pouting face but stealing a devilish glance at the chain bonding her boyfriend with the bizarre detective. "That must have been a misprint."
Before another word could be said, a tall and rather stereotypical looking female manager entered the room, power walking as if in a great rush.
"Misa, darling, you're on in five!"
Taking a hold of Misa's arm, the woman dragged her out of the room, allowing the girl a final "See you later, Light!" before she disappeared.
L set down his box, and there was silence but for the sounds of rapid typing and rattling candy. It was this way until Light decided to ask a question.
"Hey, Ryuuzaki, are you going to eat those?"
The black haired man looked up from his post, an unreadable expression on his face. "Light-kun wishes to eat them?"
His umber eyes seemed to read this as a ridiculous notion. "Of course not, I have tons. I was just wondering why you hadn't eaten them yet. You always seem to attack sweets head on."
L glared down at his box of candies. "I don't think these have the right to be called sweets, Light-kun. I find them chalky and unpleasant. You may help yourself to mine if you wish."
Light frowned. "Ryuuzaki, you're completely missing the point of candy hearts. They're not simply for passing out to anyone, they're a representation of feelings. Misa got me all these custom made hearts, so I'm going to eat them out of respect for her love."
"Light-kun knows very well that Amane-san was only being polite by giving these to me," L spoke dully, holding up the box with two fingers.
"Alright, then fine."
The brown haired boy strode over to the crouched figure and placed a single heart into his hand.
"There, that one's from me."
He peered into his hand and read the message aloud, translating it from English. "You're My Man. Does this represent your feelings, Light-kun?"
Light turned a delicate shade of pink. "Well, it's one of the ones that Misa gave me."
The insomniac instantly dropped the heart onto the floor where it promptly broke in half. Just the thought of the gothic diva's emotions rolling around in his stomach was sickening.
Without a word, L watched as Light casually walked up to an employee.
"Excuse me miss, could I make a request?"
"Err, I don't think- oh! You're with Amane-san. Yes, of course, what do you need?"
The detective drowned out their voices as to concentrate on exploring yet another Kira supporter site. He'd succeeded in doing so, and was just about to move on to another well know website called KiraKiraSekai when the brunette appeared, hovering over him with a new box of multicolored hearts.
Before he could say anything, Light dumped a couple of pieces into his hand. As he examined them, he saw they only bore one letter, written in what looked like red gel.
"L." he read aloud.
"And it's written in strawberry puree, because I figured that would be more appealing to you." Light explained. "You won't accept them when it's Misa giving them to you, so maybe you will if it's me."
He stared at the heart. He had to admit, with the strawberry L on the front, the rancid things looked a lot more appealing. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and opened it again, this time to say something.
"These are…Light-kun's feelings?"
The boy smiled. "Yes, Ryuuzaki, I guess you could say that. I gave them to you after all. I think of you as L, the greatest detective that's ever lived, my friend and-"
A crunch stopped him from continuing as L chewed the candy.
"They're sweet," he said.
Light nodded. "Strawberry puree has a lot of sugar in it, so-"
"Not the hearts, your-"
His words were interrupted by a blonde blur as Misa attached herself onto Light again.
"Light! The show was a great success!"
"That's wonderful, Misa." Light smiled as convincingly as he could. "And thank you again for the hearts."
"It was no problem!" she chimed, grinning from ear to ear. "Misa picked out all the messages just for Light!"
As the two went on talking, L returned to his computer work, but not before popping several more candy hearts into his mouth.
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