"Another nightmare," L stated, not looking away from the various monitor screens as she entered the main work room at the new Task Force HQ, her bare feet cold against the tiled floor while she crossed over to drop into the seat beside him. "Third night in a row."

She sighed, letting her head rest against the back of the chair and closing her eyes against the pounding in her cranium which was a consequence of all the sleep she was missing out on. "Yeah," she said. "It's probably the new work environment."

L hummed. "And stress from the case," he added, sparing her a sidelong glance. "Perhaps you require another week off?"

Shaking her head, (Y/n) refrained from yawning. "I was getting better until the shift in HQ," she spoke with a subtle frown. "Maybe I ought to visit my therapist soon."

"Maybe," L agreed, and then they were both quiet for a brief moment before he offered her a strawberry from the half-empty bowl sat between them on the table.

Smiling thinly, she popped one into her mouth, chewing on the fruit thoughtfully while she eyed the information flitting across one of the monitors, the light only adding to the sting in her eyes. "Doesn't it bother you?" she asked. "I mean, I'm no stranger to late nights, but I don't think I've ever seen you sleep."

L turned to her, blinking blankly, the dark circles under his eyes suddenly a lot more prominent. "My body has become accustomed to less sleep to accommodate my work," he replied simply, making her eyebrows rise up.

"That can't be healthy," she muttered, pulling her feet up and tucking her arms closer to herself. "Regardless of how used to it you may be, at the end of the day, you are just as mortal as the rest of us, and that means that, eventually, you need to sleep too."

Pausing for a moment, L turned to her owlishly, taking in her expectantly raised eyebrows with empty eyes. "I'm touched by your concern, (Y/n)," he admitted at last in a contradicting monotone, and she rolled her eyes because of course, that's what he focuses on.

"Don't get too emotional about it," she muttered, exhaling sharply through her nose as she looked away from him to examine the screen which showed a sleeping Light tucked away in his room-- his state of unconsciousness being the only time he wasn't chained to L. By the time he'd wake up the next morning, the restraints would already be in place again.

The incessant stagnation of the case was beginning to drive (Y/n) on edge. She felt captive in her own mind, and her overactive brain, with nothing else to do, latched onto unnecessary details that were slowly starting to give her a dull headache that just refused to go away. Even though she was quite plausibly currently the most caught up person in the grand scheme of the case, she was caught in a position where she could make no moves of her own until someone else made theirs first.

That someone else being the third Kira who was undoubtedly out there somewhere, but so far had been inactive enough to not give them any decently sizable lead to pursue.

To put it quite simply, the case was at a standstill like no other, and it was getting to her in the slow, aggravating way madness tended to creep up on most intellectually gifted people.

"It must be so frustrating," she murmured, still gazing at Light's peaceful form, "to be so close to the truth and yet so far away." Her eyes fixated on L, and she smiled emptily. "I certainly don't envy you."

For a long moment, he was quiet, staring back at her with an intensity that hadn't been there just a moment ago, like he was trying to figure her and all of her little half truths out in one instance. Finally, he exhaled and looked away, briefly glancing at the monitor showing Light. "You're being uncharacteristically honest," he noted.

Shrugging, she popped another strawberry in her mouth. "I've been told that the night time has a tendency to induce openness in people. Perhaps, it's because of that."

"You don't look all that worried about this openness," L commented, reaching for the fruit as well.

(Y/n) considered his words and then nodded. "I'm not," she agreed. "There is nothing I can tell you that you don't already know."

He lips twitched, thumb coming up to rest against the corner of his mouth. "I think if anyone were to be able to surprise me, (Y/n), it'd be you."

"I'm flattered," she returned flatly, beating him to the last strawberry and smugly biting into it.

Little victories against L were far and few. It wasn't petty, she told herself, to cherish them.

Smiling in amusement, he regarded her with an inclined head. "I like when you are like this, (Y/n)," he stated, turning away to press a key on the keyboard and change the information on the screens in front of him.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Like what?"

"Honest," he replied. "It makes me think that you don't entirely hate me."

(Y/n) blinked slowly, turning to him. "I don't entirely hate you," she emphasized. "Of course, I find you more aggravating than I do most people, and I find great pleasure in inconveniencing you, but I'm fairly certain that's a mutual thing between us. I don't hate you, though."

"Oh." L nodded to himself. "I'm glad."

She shook her head at him. "It's obvious which one of us is the profiler. I was under the impression that you were good at reading people." She watched him shift at the unsubtle dig before turning back to the screens. "Or is it that you've become accustomed to assuming that everyone 'hates' you."

L wriggled his toes, fingers tapping against the tops of his knees as he readjusted in his seat. "I've been told that I have a disagreeable personality quite often," he drawled. "There are many who resent me. I'm aware of that."

They lapsed into a pressing silence, one that called for her to say something but (Y/n) didn't know what to tell the detective. She wasn't surprised that most people disliked him, but she did pity the isolation he lived in.

"I suppose it's an occupational hazard," she mused aloud, and L nodded like he perfectly understood. "However, no one deserves to be all alone."

Tilting his head, L regarded her with a curious stare, raven hair falling in his eyes. "No one?"

"No one," she repeated firmly, reaching out to brush his hair away. "Especially not you. Because for all the annoyance you cause me, I don't think you're a bad man. A little childish, a little too competitive, and maybe a little socially clueless, but not a bad man."

L was quiet for a long moment, simply staring at her and for once, she held his gaze, letting him look for whatever it was that he liked to search for in her eyes. For once, she would be completely honest with the man she would eventually be going against if all things went according to her plan. For once, she would stop resisting L and his incessant pushing to get past her wall of clever half truths and ulterior motive.

Just this once, she thought, he needed to see her truth.

"(Y/n)," L began, still not looking away, "can I kiss you?"

She blinked, taken aback at his sudden request as she considered the abruptness of the whole situation. But eventually, she exhaled, and nodded slowly.

"Okay."