L x Reader oneshots 1 // series 3 • Death Note

Coma

This didn't make any sense, the death note was supposed to be 100% effective every time. So why not this time? How had things gone wrong just this one time? And it just had to be L too...

L was alive. Somehow. Alive but unresponsive.

As bad as the situation was for L, it was worse for Light because his failed murder attempt was what lead to him being caught. L's stubborn ass just refused to die, and in a wild twist of fate, him having a death note induced heart attack and LIVING was the key to the end of the Kira case. Even in a coma, he still solved the case... his reputation for never being wrong really did seem to stick to him no matter what. But now there was the issue that he was still unresponsive. The case was over, you didn't need to keep checking in on him... but you did. For months you'd been showing up to his hospital room nearly daily to just... see him. Talk to him even if he couldn't respond. He looked dead, which given the case that had just wrapped up was a little unsettling, but no matter how still and sickly he looked, he was still breathing. That heart monitor still beeped and all tests came back inconclusive. He could live, he could die. There was no telling, it was a 50-50 chance.

And given his one and only family member died right before his eyes seconds before he had his own heart attack... he had no one. At least, no one contactable. If he did have family somewhere, he'd not left any trace of a way to contact them or where they are. When the police and doctors asked for a next of kin, and none of you on the taskforce could come up with anything to give them, you just... put yourself down on the papers. Of everyone in the taskforce you were probably the closest to him after all.

Even Ryuk seemed shocked and confused, when the taskforce was finally able to see him and question him, not that he was very helpful or cooperative. Though he insisted he had zero idea how L survived, and seemed genuinely confused about it. So if even the shinigami himself didn't know, you certainly didn't either. With a lack of answers on how he survived and being stuck in a coma, you felt oddly hopeless.

And yet, you still stayed with him. You didn't have to, you were just a taskforce member after all, but you felt obligated to. Something inside you was worried sick for him. So once again, you sat in his hospital room watching him breathe and listening to the heart monitor beep. Rambling to him about nothing in particular, talking to doctors about anything that could be done. Wondering if he was dreaming or somewhat aware of his surroundings... you'd heard some accounts of that happening before.

"I really should try more flavours, but the matcha one is just so good. They make it with the perfect amount of sweetness and the natural matcha taste, it's even better with red bean. It's not crazy sweet like you always have, but I think with the red bean you'd like it. If you like other green teas you'd probably like the way this place makes it..." you mutter, watching his chest rise and fall with each slow breath.

He never responded... but somehow talking to him felt... right.

"I dunno how you do the triple sugar man, it's so sweet it makes me sick after a few sips. But hey, you've always been weird about sweetness. We all have our food preferences I guess. I mean, some people genuinely like cilantro, it's a tastebud thing apparently. I think they're insane, but it's just the way their tastebuds developed. Maybe there's a tastebud thing that makes regular levels of sweet seem too dull to you, so what's super sweet to me is normal sweet to you"

Come to think of it, you'd probably tasted more sweets in the duration of the case than your entire life because of L. He was no food hoarder, he offered slices of cake and tastes of biscuits to the taskforce all the time. You were just one of the few who actually accepted, because half of these foods you'd never even heard of before and were curious. It seemed like he knew every single dessert and baked good from every country ever. He even went out of his way to find panettone for Christmas... in Japan. Just so he could dust it with icing sugar and eat it with his overly sweet tea. As far as you were concerned he wasn't Italian, just British-Japanese, but insisted on finding the Italian sweetbread in an Asian country anyway.

"You've gotten me into a lot of desserts you know? I've been eating dango a lot because of you, and eclairs" you muttered, hoping maybe talking about his favourite foods would trigger something in his mind and wake him up.

Watching him simply lie there, motionless and unaware, it was solemn. You cared about him more than you'd thought apparently, because you just couldn't leave him... you had zero obligation to be here, to put yourself down as the emergency contact... but you did. He probably didn't care for you nearly as much as you did him, but you still stayed.

The silence between your aimless rambling about sugar was unexpectedly cut by the sound of the door opening, you looked up expecting a nurse, but ended up being met with... a man. An older man you didn't recognise.

"(Y/n), I presume?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's me" you replied, a little confused.

The man looked over at L, sighing deeply like he was half expecting L to get himself into deep shit one day.

"Old friend of Watari's, I was the one he released custody of L to if he were to die" the man said.

Oh? Well, that explained how he knew L. And he did look around Watari's age. Perhaps that all data deletion alert also sent an SOS to him?

"I was shocked to find L survived... I fully expected him to have died with his father..." he muttered, looking rather pensively down at L.

So they were father and son... you always had a hunch they were, maybe not by blood since they didn't look alike. But definitely by bond. L could hide it all he wanted, but the subtle behaviours told you everything. Clearly they cared a lot for each other. And clearly Watari didn't think L could take care of himself. While L was definitely incredibly intelligent in the problem solving and academics side of things, how social awareness was... lacking. And he couldn't mask that Autsim for the life of him. Maybe a level 2 on the spectrum? Fully mentally aware, but lacking in some basic survival aspects.

"You put yourself down as next of kin? Why? You have zero legal obligation to, you're not family... was there something L never mentioned to us back home about you?" The man said.

"I just... I don't know, felt like I had to. As far as I was aware he had no one and I didn't want to just... leave him a John Doe rotting in a care facility until he dies" you replied.

"Well, he did mention you had a big heart. That certainly checks out"

"He talked about me?"

It wasn't odd L would be in contact with people he considered family and family friends during the case. Just under lock and key for their safety of course. But you weren't expecting to be the topic of said discussions...

"A lot actually, in all honesty... I think he likes you more than he leads on. Or maybe he just doesn't know how to express it. But he definitely respects you as an investigator, and likes you as a person. Even mentioned several times you're willing to try all his odd sugar concoctions..."

Huh... maybe he did care more about you than you initially thought...

Looking over at him, still he lay motionless aside from the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

"He's always been a lonely person... never really got along with the kids his age, grew up to isolate himself in cases... I think he needed you more than he realises..." the man said.

"I think I needed him more than I realised, given how I'm sitting here day after day talking to him like he can hear me..." you muttered in reply.

Maybe there was more to this than you thought, maybe it is worth sticking around until he wakes up even if his actual next of kin is here now. Maybe there was something there after all, that after coming so close to death, he'll finally realise.