Chapter Text
L can hardly remember what his first few years at the Wammy’s house were like. Contrary to popular belief, the young detective hadn’t become completely conscious until he was about 6 years old and, between the ages of 6 and 8, he could hardly remember much, as he had blocked out his first sightings of dead bodies and the disturbing ways in which many of them had been disposed of. But, no matter how much he used to squirm and hide his face behind the sleeve of Watari’s coat, L would be forever grateful that the old man had allowed him to do so. Watari had become his biggest supporter when he chose to pursue this career, often traveling side by side with the boy and making sure that he didn’t put too much stress on himself when solving cases. After all, L was only a child when he decided to partake in this path, and Watari was always there for him, each and every step of the way.
L finds it easy to love people who’ve been there for him his whole life. Nothing but the utmost care and familial love exudes from Watari, and so L finds it easy to reciprocate those feelings to his caretaker as well. It’s easy, it’s mutual (even though L is sure that it’s only that way because Watari feels as though it’s his responsibility to take care of L). The same could not be said about L’s adoptive brothers.
Unlike the first few years at the Wammy’s house, L very distinctly, and vividly, remembers what it was like when Watari brought home his new adoptive brothers. Sure, the Wammy’s house was full of kids, incredibly intelligent ones, at that, but none of them would compare to the three that Watari decided to have meet L personally. The first kid to be brought to the Wammy’s house was a little blonde boy. L was around 16 when Watari dragged the little demon up to L’s office, knocked on the door three times, and revealed the boy to the detective. The boy, feisty with fire ablaze in his crystal blue eyes, was introduced to L as Mihael Keehl, a six year old that showed extreme promise to carry on the L moniker after he had beat Roger in a game of chess in just under five minutes. L smiled to himself at the anecdote.
“Well, if he is to live here, he must be provided with an alias,” L muttered behind his thumb as it rested in the corner of his mouth. The blonde seemed offended by this, opening his mouth to object to L’s request before the teenager spoke up, “There’s no need to be upset, it is simply a safety measure to ensure the protection of all the children in this facility.”
“So is your name not actually L?” Mihael asked as he eyed the older boy with confusion.
“It is,” L nodded.
“That’s unfortunate,” Mihael replied, hiding a snicker behind his teeth.
“Truly,” L mumbled, a small smile tugging at his lips. “How do you feel about the alias ‘Mello’?” L asked as he stared at the boy.
“Mello?” the boy recoiled as L nodded.
“It’s something I think you should work on being. Maybe if you wear the alias long enough, you will finally embody it,” L smirked, watching as Mello’s eyes narrowed before he began to shout and swear at the teenager, being ushered out by Watari not long after.
“L,” the old man said sternly once he reentered the room.
“Watari,” L shot back without missing a beat.
“You could have been a little nicer to him,” Watari sighed, leaning against a nearby wall, “you know how hard it is to be transferred into different circumstances.”
“He seems intelligent enough, emotionally and mentally. I’m sure he’ll be fine, Watari,” the black haired boy shrugged.
“Not every one of these kids is like you, L. They may have to take over your moniker if something were to ever happen to you, but they are not you . Do you understand?” Watari explained to him as if the concept were as simple and childish as sharing a toy with other kids.
“I understand,” L replied resignedly.
“Good,” Watari hummed, “Now, did you finish your homework?” L froze slightly.
“Of course…”
“L,” Watari narrowed his eyes at him.
“I’ll do it later!” he waved him off.
“When is it due?”
“Midnight tonight…” L mumbled.
“L Lawliet-”
“Okay, okay, I’ll get started on it now,” L grumbled, switching his screen from detective work to his online classes.
The second kid that was brought to L’s office was a small boy with pure white hair. He looked like a little snow ball when Watari brought him in, dressed from head to sock in white attire. Somehow, L figured that whatever age the boy was, he appeared much too small to be it. The boy’s name was Nate River, and he was brought to L’s office after Watari had observed the striking similarities he had to the young detective, noting that his intelligence was just similar to L’s own when he was his age.
“Nate, how old are you?” L asked curiously.
“I’m four years old,” the boy replied. L was taken aback. He looked so much younger than he actually was, and if his intelligence could apparently rival L’s at this age, who knew what the boy would be capable of in the future as he continued to mature?
“You’re very well spoken for a four year old,” L hummed as he continued to analyze the small boy.
“A lot of people have told me that,” he nodded, “I overheard from the blonde boy that came in last week that I will get an alias.”
“Yes,” L analyzed the boy once more, noting his wide, dark gray (almost black) eyes and pale white skin. He looked as though he was a carbon copy of L, except the printer had run out of ink for his hair. L almost snickered to himself at the thought. “Near. You shall be called Near.”
“What a weird name,” Near mumbled. He brought up his forefinger to his head and began to twirl a lock of his own hair around it.
“Watari tells me that you’re almost an exact replica of myself. You’re nearly my twin, so he says,” L grinned.
“I see,” Near seemed to ponder his newly assigned alias in his mind, “Thank you, Mr. Lawliet,” and with that, the boy was gone. L blinked at where the boy once stood before he looked up to meet Watari’s gaze.
“Mr. Lawliet?” L grimaced, “I’m not that much older than him, am I?” he asked, earning a hearty laugh from his caretaker.
The third, and final, boy brought to L’s office seemed to be around Mello’s age. In fact, Mello himself had tagged along with Watari when the boy was dragged up to his office. He had brown hair and a pair of goggles that rested atop of the bridge of his nose. He was playing on some sort of device which would spew various video game sound effects every now and then.
“He needs an alias too,” Mello demanded. L stared unblinkingly at the three of them as he intently watched the boy play his game.
“His name is Mail Jeevas,” Watari gestured to the boy in the middle, “I know he doesn’t seem like much, but his intelligence is up there with Mello and Near’s. He’s beaten every kid here in every brain game we have to offer, with the exception of Mello and Near. And, even then, he drew a stalemate with them at best. I’d place him second amongst Near and Mello’s ever growing competition for first place successor.”
“I implemented the same strategies I have to use whenever I play Mortal Kombat,” Mail commented aimlessly, his attention still focused on the little gaming device in his hands.
“And he needs an alias,” Mello repeated a little louder, “He’s new,” L nodded. It seemed that Mello had already befriended the boy prior to this meeting which was odd to L. Mello didn’t really get along with the rest of the children at the orphanage, but, for whatever reason, he seemed to be especially fond of this one.
“I like the name Matt,” the brunette said suddenly, “It’s unassuming.”
“That’s a fine name, Matt,” L hummed in agreement. And, with that, Watari bowed and opened the door, motioning for the two boys to leave L’s office. Mello walked out before he noticed that Matt hadn’t followed. He turned around to face the brunette, scowling softly.
“Matt…Come on dude, let’s go.”
“I’m beating this level right now, hold on,” Matt waved the other off. Mello scoffed and left the room, Watari in tow. Once the door shut, the boy paused his game and looked up, staring right into L’s eyes.
“Is there anything else I can help you with, Matt?” the older asked.
“Mello thinks you hate him,” he said bluntly. It was the second time this week that one of these kids had stunned L.
“Is that so?” Matt nodded, “What drew him to that conclusion?”
“He said that you favor Near over him because you think Near is smarter, and because he’s more like you,” Matt explained. L chuckled softly.
“That couldn’t be further from true. I think that they’re both highly intelligent children, not one is smarter than the other. It’s just that Mello tends to act on his feelings and emotions compared to Near. Mello isn’t any less intelligent than Near, despite his irrationality. Watari and I both agreed to have them take first until one triumphs over the other. As of now, that has not happened.”
“I guess that makes sense,” the other boy mumbled as he made his way over to the door.
“Oh, and Matt?” the boy turned around to face L again, “Thank you for looking out for Mello. He’s had a hard time getting settled here, and I’m assuming it’s been quite a while since he’s had anyone look after him. Take good care of him.”
“I will,” Matt smiled before he left the office.
Despite these three children, and only these three children, being allowed to enter L’s office, the young detective hadn’t made any effort to further his relationship with them. At first, that is.
His growing affection for the trio started a month after their initial meeting. Near had just turned five, and while the other children in the orphanage busied themselves downstairs with far more social interaction, Near, Mello, and Matt were in the main room upstairs. L happened to be walking by when he spotted Near sitting on a couch across the room from where Matt and Mello were playing chess. Intrigued as to what his top three successors were up to, L took a detour and sat down beside Near.
“They’ve been playing for the past twenty minutes,” Near had informed him, “Mello is getting frustrated because Matt keeps cornering him, but he’s too stubborn to give up and call it another stalemate,” L simply hummed in response as he kept a close eye on the way the two boys played against each other. L noticed that, unlike Matt, Mello was more likely to take risks whenever it was his turn to play, often putting himself in a compromising position just to be able to take away two of Matt’s pieces in one go. Matt, however, would use his aloofness to his advantage. He would pretend to not pay attention to the game at hand before absolutely shattering Mello’s expectations, and cornering the poor boy.
“Checkmate, again,” Matt called aloud to no one in particular, his attention now focused on the gameboy in his hand.
“That’s not fair!” Mello shouted as he slammed his hands down onto the table, the force of which knocked over a few of Matt’s pawns. “I demand a rematch!”
“So you’re calling another stalemate?” Matt asked, gazing at him with a challenging glint in his eye.
“No,” Mello shrunk back down into his seat, “No, I can win this. I just have to think.”
“They’ve been going on like this for a while. I haven’t even had my turn to play,” Near muttered to L with a slight pout. L chuckled slightly.
“Well, we’ll just have to see where this goes,” but, before Near could conjure up a reply, Mello’s voice broke through.
“Checkmate!” Mello shouted, the triumph evident in his voice, “I win!” Matt’s eyes widened from behind his goggles as he blinked at the blonde boy. He set his gameboy down on a nearby table, and observed the board before he hummed and nodded in approval.
“Yep,” he said, popping the p sound, “you won, Mello.”
“Finally!” the blonde cheered. He turned around to face Near, but froze slightly when he spotted the teenager sitting next to him. Somehow, his smirk grew even wider. “Did you hear that, L? I won! I beat Matt!”
“Congratulations,” L praised simply with a soft smile curved on his lips. “Would you like to play against me now, Mello?” the younger boy immediately shriveled up.
“No thank you.”
“Why not?”
“Because I know I’d lose,” his response elicited a short fit of laughter from the young detective.
When October of that year came around, no one was more excited for L’s birthday than his top three successors. A certain caretaker of L’s had informed him that the three were planning something, and that all would be revealed on the day of. However, this only further spurred on L’s desire to crack the case wide open. L had prided himself on his ability to not be surprised easily due to his keen deductive skills, and no birthday plan from three little kids would ruin that. But, to his dismay, Watari had very vehemently reprimanded him from trying to spoil the three’s plan. Curse that old man and his parental instincts. It was from that action alone that L was able to deduce that Watari, too, was in on their plan. Perhaps L didn’t need to actively try to spoil his own surprise after all…
The day of L’s 17th birthday, the detective had immediately been showered in gifts by both the staff and children of the Wammy’s house. Sweets and drawings and small ceramic pieces were crammed into his arms left and right from the moment the teenager had awoken. As courtesy, L thanked them all before he set his gifts in his room, making sure to hide the sweets in one of his many drawers in case one of the children somehow managed to sneak in there (none of them were capable of doing so, but L’s paranoia told him otherwise). With a heavy sigh, he left his bedroom and made his way over to his office to spend the rest of his day at work, almost forgetting about Mello, Matt, and Near’s devious plan. As he twisted open the doorknob, he was immediately brought to the attention of Near holding a white frosted cake with five little cake toppers: one of Watari, one of Near, one of Mello, one of Matt, and one of L sat right in the center. Matt and Mello blew into the party horns they held in their mouths as Watari stood behind the three of them with a warm smile.
“Happy birthday, L,” the man said amidst the noise.
“Matt and I made the cake,” Mello piped up, pointing to the pastry in Near’s hands.
“Hm, I’m surprised it looks alright. I figured when I heard you two in the kitchen the other night that you were fighting, not baking me a cake,” L mused.
“I held them back,” Watari sighed resignedly as if he was remembering the night vividly in his mind. L smiled.
“And who made these?” he asked, pointing to the cake toppers.
“I did,” Near blinked at him.
“They’re very well done, Near. Incredibly accurate if I do say so myself.”
“Thank you,” Near smiled just the tiniest bit.
Watari took the cake from Near’s hands and placed it on a nearby tray, pushing it in front of L before the four of them broke out into song, singing happy birthday to him. Once it was over, L quickly made his wish before he blew out the numbered candles on his cake. Matt and Mello cheered as Watari delicately took the candles out of the cake.
“Can we eat the cake now?” Matt asked, already eyeing the dessert.
“I agree. Can we?” L asked as he looked over at Watari for approval.
“Alright, alright,” Watari hummed before he cut each piece carefully, handing off the pieces with the cake toppers to the four of them.
“I want to eat Matt,” Mello requested with a slight giggle.
“Very well then, Mello,” Watari chuckled to himself as he handed Mello the piece with Matt’s cake topper on it.
“Hey, wait, I want to eat myself too!” Matt whined.
“They all taste the same, it doesn’t matter. Besides, the cake toppers aren’t even edible, they’re made out of clay,” Near stuck his tongue out at the two older boys.
“Oh yeah? Well I’ll be the judge of that, Near,” Matt quickly snatched the cake topper version of himself and stuck the head of it in his mouth before Mello smacked his hand, causing the brunette to retract the limb from his mouth. “Ouch.”
“You can’t eat clay, stupid,” Mello scolded, taking the cake topper away from him. As the three young boys continued to bicker, L found himself standing close to Watari.
“Are these three really the ones who are to take my place?” L chided as he watched them eat the cake and laugh boisterously amongst themselves. Watari only nodded in response.
“It seems as if you don’t have much faith in them, L.”
“I do,” L responded back much quicker than he would’ve liked, “Only the ones that are fit to take my place could plan a scheme like this without me knowing,” Watari observed L with a smile at his admission. He knew that the teen would come to love these boys soon enough. And he was right.
By the time L had graduated high school, (albeit, entirely online to protect his identity and privacy) he had come to accept Near, Matt, and Mello as his younger brothers–his family. It had become so easy to love them despite the flaws that many other children in the Wammy’s house claimed they had.
“Mello is so mean,” one of them had told L. He told the child that Mello was merely still warming up to interacting with other people, and that Matt was really the only person he trusted. (Mello was thirteen at the time, and had been at the Wammy’s house for quite a while. After an argument with one of the kids, he stormed off into L’s office, accidentally knocking something into L’s keyboard in a fit of rage. He quickly ran to tell L and apologized profusely for it before L inspected his computer for himself. Mello had somehow managed to open an entirely inaccessible file for L by complete accident. L was so impressed that he allowed the boy to help him with the case he was working on. Mello had solved his first case at thirteen years old.)
“Near is too cold and robotic,” another had said. L explained that Near just had trouble socializing with other kids, and that he enjoyed his alone time. (Later that day, Near requested that L join him in watching Matt and Mello fight to the death in whatever new video game Matt had become obsessed with. Of course, Near had no interest in playing, but he enjoyed watching the two play and liked whenever L would come and commentate alongside him. L accepted his request in a heartbeat.)
“Matt is rude and disrespectful,” said yet another child. L simply chuckled and told them that that was what happened if they played video games for too long. (L stayed up that night working on another case, as per usual. He was perfectly focused until he heard a knock on the door. Three times. L called for Watari to come in, but, instead, it was Matt who stood in the doorway, unmoving. L swiveled his chair to face the boy, asking what he was doing up so late. Matt apologized for disturbing him and interrupting his work, and had explained to L that he had a nightmare about a scary video game he saw online somewhere. L sighed and patted his lap for the boy to crawl into and fall asleep on. Matt slept peacefully that night.)
Now, at 25 years of age, L hadn’t realized just how attached to his brothers he was until he and Watari had to leave for Japan for an important case. Some serial killer in Tokyo had been targeting primarily women, and the task force there called for L to arrive on the scene.
Of course, he had accepted, and now with Watari in tow, L packs their things into his, somehow, inconspicuous limousine. The three boys rush outside amongst the crowd of children that are waving L goodbye. They manage to stop L before he is able to get into the vehicle, and hand him a box. L looks up at the three of them and is reminded of the birthday they threw for L when he was 17 years old during their first year at the Wammy’s house. Only now, L is 25 and is heading off to Japan for however long, and the three of them had been in the house for years, growing significantly older–with Mello and Matt being 15, and Near being 12.
“Open it,” Mello smiles.
“He should do it in the limo in case he cries,” Matt jests with an even wider smile.
“Oh please, L would never cry over a gift,” Mello retorts, sticking his tongue out at the other boy.
“Well, I want to see his face when he opens it, so I’d prefer it if he were to open it now,” Near pipes up from in between them.
“Be civilized won’t you? I’m trying to open my gift and you’re interrupting me,” L muses as he slips the small box open. His heart stops in his chest when he spots a silver heart locket staring back at him. His eyes widen slightly. “It’s a locket,” he manages to mutter out.
“Oh my god! The top three detectives in the world know what a locket is! He really is a genius!” Mello teases.
“Psst, you should open the locket!” Matt whispers to him.
“What do you think I’m doing?” L chuckles, flipping the locket open to one side. A soft smile plasters itself on his lips as he looks at the photo inside. It’s a photo of the three boys, and a seemingly candid one at that. Mello has his arm wrapped around Matt’s shoulder and they both appear to be laughing at something. Near stands right beside Matt as he holds one of his many toy robots with a smile on his face as well, truly a rare sight to behold to anyone that’s not Matt, Mello, L, or Watari.
“Linda took the photo not too long ago,” Near explains, “I thought it was nice and requested that she print it out for us to put in the locket.”
“It’s very nice,” L smiles as he closes the heart and takes the locket out of the box. He puts it on, wrapping the silver chain around his neck. “Thank you.”
Mello and Matt go up to hug the man, embracing him for as long as they can before he leaves. Once they part, L reaches out and ruffles Near’s hair before he gets into the limousine. The vehicle takes off soon after L enters it, and he watches from the window as Matt and Mello chase after him with Near slowly lagging behind. L smiles to himself and waves to them before he gets further and further away. Until they become nothing but specks of color in his vision.