For my first head canon post this has been something I’ve been wanting to write for a little while, which is my interpretation of growing up with L as his first and only friend.
CW: Some minor swearing but besides there’s nothing else as these take place when L and you are children
When you met L, no one really expected you to get along with the seemingly strange boy. So when it seemed that he didn’t mind your presence, it was a pleasant surprise for Watari and your guardians (if you have guardians)
It also surprised L himself a lot as he never thought that someone would even want to be friends with him and even if they did his trust issues made it feel impossible for him to want to get close to others. It’s something that still confuses him a little to this day to be honest.
You are the one to initiate the friendship as L has never had one and simply doesn’t know how they work, it wasn’t something he looked for and expected to ever have until he met you
You’ll have a lot to work through, because as mentioned before, that poor boy has major trust issues and even though you got past his initial walls, it won’t be easy to get closer. It’ll definitely take some time!
One thing to expect a lot when it comes to becoming friends or being friends with L, is to expect him to just watch you. Like a lot. Not in creepy way or anything (at least not on purpose), simply because he’s just observant and curious to how you do things. So most of the time he’ll just be quiet and watch you as if studying you in a way
“Are you okay..?” you’d ask after a couple moments of you taking notice of his usual gaze on you
“.. Yes? Why do you ask?”
“I swear you’ve barely blinked in the last minute or so”
After hearing that he ended up looking away for a minute and blinking a bit more than usual, as if self conscious in a way. After a couple minutes though he would go right back to looking at you as if you’ve never never said anything to begin with.
When you decide to play chess with him, expect him to win almost all the time
You probably didn’t know much about chess when you met him so he ends up teaching you, but even with his teaching it won’t help.
Apart of you would wonder if he was cheating or teaching you the wrong things, but even if you practiced and tried to learn chess in your free time, he just almost always managed to win
I say almost because one day you did manage to win, taking both yourself and him off guard. You don’t even know how you managed the win but you felt SO proud of yourself.
L was quiet, his face unreadable like usual but was that a glimpse of shock on his face ever so briefly? It vanished before you could even question it much as he ends up actually congratulating you for the win, especially if he saw how happy it made you
“It seems you aren’t always terrible at chess, hopefully you keep up this winning streak next time we play”
He could honestly be such a little shit at times
Yet you still managed to smile with your head high and say that your streak won’t be ending anytime soon and soon you’ll be the ‘chess champion’
You didn’t win the next time or the times after that
You still hold that one win high though! Even if you sometimes wonder if he let you win in the first place
Besides chess you would always try to find fun things to do or play with L, like board and card games or some games like hide n seek (even if it was just the two of you) and tag.
He isn’t a big fan of tag though, but if you both had nothing else to do and if you persisted enough he would go through with it
It always excited you when you told L about a game he didn’t know of so that you’d have to teach him about it
One of the early things you took notice of in his behavior was his interest in sweet food. You’ve never seen someone who ate so much of it and not even bat an eye
Once you are close to L, you will also quickly realize how many sweets you’ll eat when with him
He was never the type to share with the other kids at Wammy House as he didn’t see the need to and wasn’t particularly a fan of the other kids
With you though, you could be studying or talking about something and he’ll just take whatever he’s eating and offer you some. That has happened multiple times
You remember how you were working in silence and when you glanced up from focusing you saw a piece of candy next to what you were working on
Or when you were talking to him as he had a small bowl of strawberries, and every so often he’d offer you a couple of them throughout the conversation silently and nonchalantly
It was definitely something you felt was a great honor and you still do to an extent
You just won’t have to worry about being hungry when you’re around L
Reading with L also seems like something that would happen
At first it was just you two reading your own respected books as you sat near each other
As time goes on though either you or him will end up peering over each other’s shoulders and sitting close to see what the other is reading
It then shifts to you reading to L, and if he is up for it he’ll read to you in return
I feel like when you two get closer and have more conversations, it’ll go from him mostly listening to you and soon enough I see you both having some really good talks! Like it’s something you probably won’t find yourself being bored with when you’re with him
You two probably end up walking around together a lot, whether in whammy house or outside the building
Even if you bot hare quiet in each other’s company, it’s never uncomfortable and can still be really enjoyable
Like briefly mentioned before with you initiating things in the friendship, if you are the affectionate type you are definitely going to be the one to hug him first
When you hug him for the first time, It was something he just wasn’t expecting
Besides Watari, you’re the first person who has had the chance to get that close to him so it definitely took him off guard and confused him to why you’d even want to do such a thing with him
So the first time you hug him or do anything like that he had no idea what to do
He just tense and froze up as his eyes widened as he looked at you, but he probably didn’t say or do anything to make you stop. He just let you hug him quietly and after most likely tried to focus on something else
As time goes on though he’ll find himself becoming less jumpy and stop tensing up as much. He never would say much about how he felt, but deep down there was/is a part of him that appreciated and enjoys the affectionate moments
As time goes on and the closer you get, he definitely finds himself enjoying it a bit more and he’d even hug back once he was used to it a bit more and comfortable.
As you both get comfortable with one another, he’s definitely going to show his more sarcastic side and his dry humor
Just hearing him laugh and seeing him smile makes you really happy, and the closer you are the more he feels like he can open up and show that side of himself to
You probably get in some arguments or disagreements from time to time as kids/teens usually do, but you’ll both end up talking to each other again once things are calmer.
He’s also the type to just start stuff, whether it’s because he’s in a bad mood or simply wants to see your reaction as if to ‘test’ you and see if you’d stick around afterwards. He’ll find himself apologizing afterwards, maybe not at first in the beginning of the friendship but if he knows he made you upset in some way, he’ll definitely try to make up for it
You both just built up a really good communication with one another in general
You’ll just find yourself seeing a side to L that others wouldn’t expect for him to do
So you’ll learn things that others wouldn’t know like his identity, but because you grew up together you in general just know a lot about him and it’s just something you knew that you’d have to take to your grave as the last thing you’d ever want is to betray him after he opened up that side of himself to you in the first place
It started out as an unlikely friendship but even through the rocky parts, it has become so much more. A bond that won’t be broken easily to say the least
If you want me to talk about something more specific with anything I wrote, just ask! Reminder that requests are open!
