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XIV

L's A Cat, Es is Sure of It

L discovered that night the joys of slumber parties.

It was Cairn's idea of a joke to tell the detective to just stay the night in Es' hideout but Watari deemed it to be a good idea and took it to a whole new level by suggesting a sleepover with all the activities typically involved. Neither Es nor L understood what Watari had meant, only going along with it because the ageing man had been the one to propose the idea. Es never had friends his age, the only one being Gaara - who was the son of the Kazekage and had to remain in Suna. Es never thought anything much about sleeping in the same room as someone else. He had not even slept together Vince and Aria since he turned one.

Neither were oblivious to the fact that sexual activities were done with a partner, often in bed. However, the concept that having company as one slumbered would be enjoyable was alien to them. Both had friends of their own, but sleeping in the same room for no reason never came up. Es, for one, always presumed that sleepovers were a thing of teen television shows where girls stay up all night to gossip. It was a great headache for Watari to explain that no, it was not related to sex and that they were not expected to stay up all night together which would defeat the purpose.

The two confused youths had thus bundled themselves up in blankets in the infirmary after spreading mattresses all over the floor, a pile of pillows in front of them.

When Watari mentioned the possibility of a pillow fight, he never expected the relatively harmless activity to escalate into an all-out war.

Cairn and Watari were dragged into it while, at some point, the detectives tag-teamed their assistants. It was so chaotic, Watari deemed it a miracle that none of the pillows burst during the pillow fight. Cairn launched volleys of pillows at the pair of detectives until he ran out of ammo, at which point he dove behind the exasperated Watari. It ended up as a tie - the eventual friendly fire ended the game, or so Watari decreed.

Cairn fell asleep in a corner as soon as it was over beneath his pillow fort while Watari bade the two youths goodnight and went to bed in another corner. At this point, Es was laughing at how Cairn might as well be a corpse what with his hand sticking out of the pillow pile limply.

Somehow, no one had been hurt despite the violent pillow war - much to Watari's relief - and L and Es retired for the night soon after. The insomniac L was first to nod off, Es following soon after - not needing sleep did not mean that he did not fall asleep naturally. Unless he was actively trying to stay awake and staved off the tiredness, he would still feel sleepy.

They woke in the morning to the snaps of cameras and realised that L had ended up sleeping on Es' shoulder.

Cairn had no choice but to hand his camera to Es while complaining it was not fair that Watari could keep the pictures he took.

"Perhaps sleepovers can cure insomnia?" Es had seriously contemplated upon departing from L's hideout that evening after completing every task that the other detective assigned for the day.

Cairn had done his usual job, though the one speaking through the voice mixer was L instead of Es, while the reverse held for Watari who had only one place to visit rather than three, to Cairn's consternation.

"No way," Cairn huffed, still upset that Es seemed to work him more than L.

"Continue sulking, would you? I don't mind swapping you out with Watari for good next time," Es stated dryly.

That shut Cairn up immediately.

💣

"...and this place is Wammy's House, an orphanage that houses gifted children."