Today you'd left L with a few chores to do while you were out, which he didn't mind. He liked helping you, and he found it more fun to do something rather than just sit and wait for you.
His job today was to clean up the section of the apartment garden that was yours. Each resident has a section of garden they were allowed to plant whatever they liked in, and if you didn't want to use it you could allow others to use your part of the land. You quite liked this set up, because it allowed you to have fresh fruit and vegetables for your meals. The food was always just that little bit better when it was fresh.
So L had put on your apron to keep the dirt off, and tied a bandana over his hair to keep it out of his eyes while he worked. You'd shown him how to tend to the garden a while ago, and he quite liked it actually. It was relaxing and fun to see your plants grow and get bigger and brighter.
In your section of garden you had some strawberries, carrots and tomatoes. All foods you often found in your recipe books and used frequently, so it was good to have some growing just downstairs to save money buying them from the shops. L was particularly fond of the strawberries, being a persacom he didn't need to eat, nor could he taste. But he liked how cute they were, some of them even shaped like little hearts. L wished he could taste and eat human food sometimes, cakes and ice creams looked so delicious. And you always said they were sweet, which he knew was a very yummy taste.
Maybe one day someone would invent a taste program for persacoms and he could eat all the foods that look yummy.
Ducked down by the plants, L carefully checked the leaves for any bug damage, pruned the overgrown parts and picked off the ripest ones to bring inside. The basket of fruits and vegetables slowly filling up as he examined the best ones on the bush to take to you.
"Look at you being helpful"
He knew that voice, it was Mr Watari out doing some sweeping to keep the entrance of the building looking neat. L turned to face him, smiling that he was being helpful.
"(Y/n) wants L to make sure all the fruits and vegetables are growing yummy, and all the best ones need to be picked for dinner!" L smiled.
"It looks like you're doing a good job. You were built to be helpful after all" Watari replied, sweeping leaves off the path.
"L is the most helpful persacom!"
"You definitely are, it's your purpose"
L didn't think much of the comment, he'd been called helpful a lot. He was just glad to know he was doing a good job. Although it did give him that strange deja vu feeling again... like Watari had told him his purpose before. He got up, picking up the watering can to go fill it up and water the plants.
When you taught L about gardening, you told him that when the plants are nice and damp frogs will come to soak up the water. If you have frogs, your garden is nice and healthy. L was determined to make the garden healthy and being in lots of froggy friends to live in the plants. In fact he'd been checking for frogs every time you went out to pick some fruit and water the plants. You found it rather cute, how he took a liking to frogs so quickly.
You found everything L did cute, he had an odd charm to him. Most people said slouching and eyebags weren't very flattering, but you found they stilted L. And a lot of people found behaviours like his odd, but you thought it was interesting and rather cute.
He did have an AI for a brain after all, he didn't always know the right way to do things but he could still get them done. Just a little differently. He learnt through observing the world and putting things together, so naturally some things might come out a little bit crooked, but he still got the idea and that was all that mattered.
Like how he always talked about himself in third person, it wasn't what people normally did but it still got the message across. And how he solved problems by finding the most efficient way rather then the 'correct' way, the task still got done in the end.
It reminded you a bit of how neurodivergency worked. L's AI was extremely powerful and lifelike, but some things got a little lost in translation sometimes. Just like how someone born with sensory issues can still function perfectly fine, their brain just didn't like certain senses.
You can be a bit different and still be a smart, helpful and sweet person. Human or persacom, regular brain or AI brain.
L turned off the tap when the watering can was full, and wandered back over to the garden to water it. Making sure to not do too much, he poured the water over the plants to give them their drink.
"Drink up plants! Make sure you call your frog friends to come visit!" He smiled.
Watari chuckled, L really was the sweetest persacom...
Now all done with his gardening task, he had to put everything away before he could go back inside to wash the fruits and vegetables he just picked. The watering can went by the tap, so he began to head back there to put it in its spot.
Although in his mission to get the watering can back, he failed to notice the spade he'd left on the ground and when his foot came down onto it, it slid against the dirt and made him loose his balance.
"Wahhh!" He yelped, dropping the watering can and landing on the ground with a thud, right in the now muddy water he'd spilled.
"Oh dear..." Watari said, seeing the whole thing happen so quickly he couldn't even drop his broom on time to catch him.
L sat up, now covered in mud and looked down at the stains on his clothes.
"Uh-oh" he muttered.
Watari walked up to him, ducking down to his level on the ground.
"No breaks or malfunctions?" He asked, looking the persacom over.
"No, L is water proof" L replied.
"That's right, it'd be a problem if you weren't. Come on, let's clean you up"
Watari pulled L to his feet, and shook off as much mud as he could from L's apron, having him shake his arms and legs to get it off his sleeves too. Taking him inside, and into your apartment, Watari told L to go rinse off the mud and he'd put the dirty clothes in the washing machine.
He and L knew you wouldn't mind him in your apartment for a little bit, you'd had Watari over to help fix up broken appliances before. Watari was a good landlord and building owner that was very serious about keeping it up to a liveable standard. You trusted him with looking after L while you were gone.
Watari knew mud would be hard to get out of white clothes, but he did know if a good combination of soaps to use as well. He dropped back into his apartment to get some stain removers before coming back to yours to wash L's clothes. The only problem was he needed to get L new, clean ones.
Even though he was allowed to come into your apartment, he knew it wasn't very nice to go looking through his residents drawers. There was something he could do though, he was sure he had something L would fit into. He hadn't taken it off the hanger in the back of his cupboard in a while, it was collecting dust. So L may as well have it and get use out of it.
He left it on the doorknob for L to grab and change into, which he managed to figure out quite quickly.
"It fits alright doesn't it?" Watari asked.
L, now clean of mud came out of the bathroom in the outfit. White shirt with frills on the sleeves and a bow on the collar, paired with baby blue loose pants with lace trimmings and stars down the sides.
"It fits" L stated, not remembering you getting this outfit for him.
It seemed familiar though...
"That's good, it was yours after all. It'd be a surprise if it didn't fit" Watari replied.
It was... his? But L didn't remember this outfit? It was familiar sure, but he was positive he'd never worn it before.
He didn't have time to ponder on it through, the door opened and you stepped in, back from work. L smiled, rushing over and jumping on you into a hug.
"Welcome back (y/n)!" L smiled.
"Hey L, you get all the gardening done?" You asked.
"Yes, I need to bring the basket inside though... I got dirty"
It was then you noticed the washing machine going, and Watari walking over to explain.
"I apologise for the intrusion but he got a bit covered in mud after slipping, so I had to get him cleaned before all those clothes you bought him stained" Watari explained.
"Oh it's ok, thanks for looking after him" you replied.
"I used a few stain removers so that white apron and shirt should come out clean as a whistle. L did a good job gardening though, you can probably expect some frogs soon"
"L made sure to make the soil nice and damp for the froggies!" L said.
God he was so CUTE. It made your heart explode, the way he spoke, the smile on his face, how dedicated to helping you he was... you were so lucky to have L as your persacom.
"Well done L, and look at this fancy new outfit! You're so cute!" You complimented, ruffling his hair.
"Mr Watari gave it to me" L replied.
It didn't seem like something the older man would wear, you figured perhaps it was something and old tenant left behind and he'd kept in storage. Especially since Watari was nowhere near L's size.
"Actually, I have some things that have been collecting dust that would fit him if you wanted to take it" Watari offered.
"That's be great, L needs more clothes than just blue jeans and white shirts" you replied.
L sure did love that combination, but he did need some fancy clothes for going out places, some stuff for the beach, winter coats for the snow etc. sure he couldn't feel the temperature, but it was still good to keep him clean and protected with the right clothes.
You were glad you could count on Watari to help, L was your little helper but could get into mischief sometimes.
L quite liked the landlord too, he just wished he knew what that strange deja vu was...