It Was One Hundred Degrees As We Sat Beneath A Willow Tree

[originalprodigy]

Characters: L and Kenta
When: August 6, evening
Where: Juke's house
Rating: PG, to be safe? Can't think of anything that could happen. :p
Summary: Annoyed and maybe-a-little-worried, L told Kenta that he should go shopping to keep the naive young man from talking too much to Sasori. He also gave Kenta a long list of very specific types of junk food

Comments

[papipupepon]

Kenta wiped a line of sweat from his brow and hitched his makeshift sack higher on his shoulder, hiking along the path towards the coordinates that Ryuzaki had given him. The sun was still high in the sky, and normally he would have waited until later in the day, when it was fractionally cooler, to undergo such a journey, but Ryuzaki had sounded strangely urgent over the PCD and Kenta had found himself unable to fully ignore the other man, tiring as he oftentimes could be

[originalprodigy]

L's eyebrows rose; he was impressed, despite himself. It seemed that Kenta was more punctual than he had originally guessed. He waited several seconds, even though he was actually waiting by the door, so he didn't seem too desperate for company. The act was, like so many of L's other acts, a disguise. He would do anything, to keep people from seeing him for who he truly was. It could be exhausting, but he memorized his lies and practiced them every day until they were truth. L was physically unable to stand up straight anymore, because his spine had grown that way when he'd adopted poor posture to avoid looking in peoples' eyes. He'd started to chew on his nails as a way to avoid talking when he didn't want to speak, and then his fingertips when he ran out of nail... and now, it was a rigid, unbreakable habit that got in the way when he did want to speak. Staying in safe places with curtains drawn and nothing but his own thoughts and speculations to entertain and motivate him, L had become something unique and confusing. He was a self

[papipupepon]

"Uh... thanks?"

Kenta stared up at the man who, even slouching, stood at almost a head taller than him and marveled, not for the first time, how someone as intelligent as Ryuzaki could continue to fail so spectacularly at such simple social events.

He pointedly did not dwell on the deep bags under his eyes or the nerve bitten fingernails, nor the pasty white skin. Outward appearance had nothing to do with the person inside. Though it was painfully obvious at this point that the person inside certainly had quite a bit to do with the outside. This, however, does not leave him many places to look. He hitches the bag up higher and casts about for what to say.

He finally settles on, "It's... nice to finally meet you face to face Ryuzaki." and a smile.

[originalprodigy]

"You're welcome, of course," L said abruptly, not picking up on Kenta's uncertain response to his bizarre opening statement. In his mind, it had been a fully successful exchange. He'd said something, Kenta had said something back, and Kenta was still here, so things were going unusually well by L's standards

[originalprodigy]

To L, "justice" was the ideal and the end-all. That was the objective, and the affirmation of truth. To mention it was like a seal of sincerity. He defined himself that way, and it was what he stood for.

He didn't just start when that laugh burst out of Kenta; he nearly jumped out of his skin. L was fairly skittish, and he had such a vicious caffeine habit that his nerves were usually frayed to begin with.

"Really? You're kidding," he said when he'd recovered sufficiently. At any rate, he didn't press himself too close to Kenta, following that. "I'd think that you'd hear it quite a bit... it's so obvious...."

[papipupepon]

"Actually," Kenta said, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling, "I'd always been told I lacked motivation. Which, to be fair, was true about my job at first - I hated kids and I hated dressing like an idiot, and I was only doing it for the paycheck because dad was ordering me to pay him back for college all of a sudden. But I just couldn't live with myself if I'd stood around and done nothing there, you know? What with that goon Himuro prancing around like he owned the place and winking at me and making me roll down a hill until I was nauseated. It was just so sad to have a kid's show with no kids."

He leveled his gaze at Ryuzaki. "Before I came here, I didn't really have friends. I never really put myself out there for people. I never acted, always reacted. Sometimes I feel like that's still what I'm doing."