A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEAR!!!!!
This is the FINAL PART. Enjoy!
Near liked L
Part 3
"Oi! Near!"
Near turned blankly, waiting for the one who had called to him to catch up. Matt slid into view a moment later, stopping short at his side, slightly out of breath.
"Hey," Matt said, nodding to Near in acknowledgment.
"Hello," Near said, non-committal. He blinked, looking up at the redhead, waiting to see what the other boy needed.
"Near…" Matt paused. "Why're you wearing that?"
"This?" Near glanced down at himself. "What's wrong with it?"
Matt looked startled. "Well, nothing really," he said, scratching his head sheepishly. "It's just… well, I've never seen you in anything but your pajamas, let alone a white suit."
"I fail to see why you're so surprised," Near said tonelessly, resuming his way towards the orphanage door. "It's hardly a big jump from white pajamas to a white suit."
"Yeah, but still," Matt said trotting alongside him. "It's like seeing a dog wearing clothes or something weird like that. Why're you wearing that suit, anyway?"
"If you must know," Near informed him. "I have a date."
"A date"
Near rolled his eyes. "No. I lied."
Matt stared, astonished. "You have a girlfriend, Near?"
"No." Turning a corner and the door entering into sight, Near was pleased to see Mello already there, waiting for him, decked out in all his finest leather regalia. "I'm his girlfriend."
"Hey Matt," Mello said, pulling Near to him quickly and placing a possessive kiss on his lips for Near to tolerate. "I'll be back later."
"See you," Near said as well, hiding his amusement as Matt's jaw fell open, his eyes bulging inside his goggles.
"Yeah," Mello said, pulling Near through the door after him, before leaning back and calling, "Don't wait up for us!"
Near was hard-pressed not to laugh.
"Mello…"
"What, Near?"
"This movie makes no sense."
Near caught the scathing glance Mello shot him even in the dark of the cinema. "And why doesn't it make sense?"
"You cannot just rent islands off of the Costa Ricans, it's absurd," Near said, ticking things off his fingers. "People smart enough to clone dinosaurs from ancient DNA would also be smart enough to not use frog DNA to patch up the holes. Such people would also be sure to have automatic backup generators so the power would never go out. Also, when confronting with such a calamity as a full-fledged dinosaur attack, one's first instinct will be for self-preservation, not to document their behavior or examine eggshells."
"Near, shut up," Mello snapped, curt. "I don't care if you like the film or not. We're only here because we're supposed to be here."
"What do you mean?" Near asked, curious.
"I mean, this is what you're supposed to do on a date," Mello told him. "I'm supposed to take you to a scary film, and then when you get scared, I'm supposed to put my arm around you. Then afterward we both laugh about it and go get dinner."
"But you know I rarely laugh," Near said, blinking. "And this movie's really not scary…"
Mello groaned. "Tell me about it," he said, aggravated. "I mean, there's raptors and T-rexes running all over an island, they have no weapons, and we don't even get to see any gore of when people are eaten? This is soo lame!"
"Mello… it's not a snuff film. It's supposed to be an action-adventure movie. You're supposed to want the humans to win."
"And those kids! What kind of flaming idiot brings kids to an island with mutant dinosaurs?! They should at least be eaten! Or fed to the dinosaurs to stave off their hunger! Not saved!"
"Mello, if you were stranded on the island as a young child, you would want to be saved too," Near pointed out reasonably.
"Hell no I wouldn't!" Mello said flatly. "I'd save myself! And it wouldn't even be really hard, what with these wussy dinosaurs not eating anyone and only chasing them around in great giant circles the entire time! These dinosaurs are so lame! Booo!!"
Mello stood up, throwing popcorn at the screen, yelling crude things about what the dinosaurs could do with themselves and various orifices or their anatomy. Near winced, ducking his head and hiding under his arms as the security guards approached menacingly.
"Well, that was fun. What do you want to eat?"
"Mello, you got us banned from the theater."
"Ah, it was a stupid movie anyway. And the theater smelled bad, too."
Mello was relaxed in the booth across from Near, his arms hanging on the top of it, acting like he owned the place. Near watched as Mello glanced around, raising a hand to signal a waitress.
"A root beer and a water, please," he ordered. "And an order of nachos and stuffed peppers, too."
The waitress raised an eyebrow at Mello's age, and Near could almost see her mental shrug as she went off to get them their food.
"So," Mello said, looking at Near. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," Near said blankly. "You?"
"I'm fine too," Mello said.
There was a silence.
"God, this is boring," Mello said, thunking his head back against the booth. "This is like, the lamest date ever. Dinner and a movie. Why is this so popular?"
"It's relatively simple and not overly expensive," Near pointed out. "What would you rather be doing?"
"Something fun," Mello said shortly, looking around the place. "Like kidnapping a baby or robbing a bank or hacking the government or having a burping contest."
Near looked uneasy. "Mello, those things are hardly the romantic sort of thing on which people can endeavor to get to know each other better…"
"Bet you $5 I can steal that old guy's steak without him noticing," Mello interrupted, his eyes on a table a few away. Near stared.
"No, Mello, don't-"
But Mello had already gone, crawling underneath the tables, his black attire blending in with the walls and shadows under the table. Near watched in horrified fascination and Mello made his way over to the senior's table, bumped the table to make his knife fall onto the booth, and snatch the steak as he bent over to retrieve it before hurrying back to the table.
"Ha!" Mello said triumphantly, plonking the steak back down on the table, bare. "I told you I could do it!"
Near watched as the old man sat up, blinking, looking confused and searching around for his steak. "That was mean, Mello," Near said, his voice void of any sort of disapproval whatsoever.
"Yeah, so?" he said, uncaring. "Hey, you want some?"
Near shifted uneasily as Mello ripped the steak in half with a butter knife and his hands, watching out of the corner of his eye as he saw the old man summon a waitress, gesturing, clearly looking still surprised, while the waitress cast a dark look over at their table.
"Sure. Why not," Near said, taking his half of the steak in his hands and biting into it, watching as Mello crammed his half into his mouth.
"Yeah," Mello said thickly through a mouth of meat. "It's not like we'll be able to stay here. They're going to kick us out anytime now."
"To be precise," Near said, watching as the waitress stalked angrily towards them, clutching his dripping steak in one hand. "In three, two, one…"
"Well, I had fun," Mello said, looking down at Near underneath the light of the doorway back at Whammy's.
"No, you didn't," Near said simply, looking up at him. "You complained nearly the entire time about how you'd much rather be doing anything else.
Mello scowled. "Well, yeah," he admitted. "But it was fun complaining to you."
Near's eyes widened, and Mello smirked.
"What?" he said. "Surely you didn't think that I'd just go out with you because you wanted me to?"
Near fumbled for words, his eyes widening as Mello came closer, an odd glint in his eyes, and then Mello was kissing him hard, and it was quite impossible for Near to say anything at all.
Near broke up with Mello two weeks later. Mello yelled and screamed and ranted and raged and broke things and then went off to his room to break something else before getting over it an hour later when Matt told him he had a new game to kick his ass in. Near was slightly concerned over Mello's emotional outburst over their relationship ending, but he was relatively certain they could be friends.
Not that they had ever been friends before, but Near liked to be optimistic.
Near mentally went over his list. He was emotionally mature now, so that was taken care of. The next big thing to take care of was dealing with Roger, and the last matter would take care of itself.
Near smiled to himself. All according to plan.
"Roger," Near said, peeking his head around the door of the old man's study. "If I might borrow a moment of your time?"
The old man glanced to the door, looking tired and annoyed and resigned all in one. "If you must," he said. "Make it quick."
"Thank you," Near said politely, closing the door behind him, clutching a folder to his chest. He made his way over to Roger's desk, standing on the other side of it and setting his folder down.
"I'll get directly to the point," Near said, looking up at the man, "because I'm sure neither one of us want to waste any time."
Roger nodded slowly, looking suspicious.
"I want to go to Japan to see L," Near told Roger. "I'm in love with him and I miss him, so I intend to do so at the earliest convenience."
Roger choked, but Near ignored the interruption and carried on.
"As you have probably realized, this will require your consent," Near said pleasantly, "which I doubt you will willingly give. Thus, I have constructed a case to convince you that you should allow me to go on this trip."
He opened the folder. "This is a copy of my school record, proving how intelligent and responsible I am," he said, laying the page down in front of him. "This is a copy of the bank statement for the account of the school given for funding of educational trips just such as this. This is how much the plane ticket would cost, this is where L is staying, this is where I would meet him, and this is the approximation of how long the entire thing would take."
"The answer is still no," Roger said shortly. "I'm not signing your form to let you go." Near ignored him, setting his final piece of supporting evidence down on the table, watching as Roger's eyes widened.
"And these are photocopies of your private journal and picture collection, fully documenting your unnatural obsession with Watari, your pictures of him, and your photoshopped pictures of him that include images of you and him in rather compromising positions," Near said, rather unnecessarily.
Roger scowled, looking at the pictures, looked up at Near, scowled again, and snatched the form from Near's hand, scribbling a harsh signature and thrusting it back at Near.
"Thank you, sir," Near said, flushed with success as he gathered up his papers. "I won't waste anymore of your time."
It had been a long day, L sighed to himself, unlocking the door to his hotel room. Being forced to work with the Japanese Special Task Force was a nightmare. Didn't they see that he clearly worked better on his own? And when so many of those in the force were so stupid, it was a miracle he had gotten anything done at all…
He opened the door, already planning to have a nice slice of strawberry cake to calm him down, only to stop dead in the doorway.
"Hi, L," Near said, looking at L from his place standing on L's bed, which he'd been bouncing on a moment before.
"…Near?" L said, uncertain, incredulous. "What are you doing here?"
"Today's my thirteenth birthday," he told him, and L blinked.
"…I could have given you your gift next time I was in England, Near,"
"No," Near said, plopping down onto the bed. "That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?" L asked, watching as Near approached him, almost alarmed. How did Near get here? Surely Near knew better than to cut some shady deal with the yakuza to get passage or some other thing…
"I came to be with you," Near said simply. "I fulfilled all your requirements."
L paused. "…requirements?"
"To have a relationship with you," he said, nodding. L's eyes widened, horrified, but Near had started ticking things off on his fingers.
"I've felt happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and love, and I was in a real relationship with Mello for two weeks," Near said, moving towards him. "That constitutes being emotionally mature."
"You dated Mello-?" L asked, watching as Near drew even closer, and the small boy nodded.
"Roger has also been taken care of," Near said matter-of-factly. "He's signed a form permitting me to do whatever I want where you are concerned. It's a legally binding contract, one he was almost too enthusiastic to sign, actually, so that's that one done."
"Near…" L said, looking down at him, soft remorse in his eyes.
"And today's my birthday," Near said, finishing, looking up at L as he arrived at him. "The age of consent in Japan where we are now is thirteen. So I can be with you, L. I'm not too young anymore. We can be together now."
L staggered over to the bed, sitting down heavily on the mattress, Near scrambling up beside him. "L? L? What's wrong?"
"Near," L sighed. "Do you really expect me to have a relationship with you now just because you dated Mello for a bit and talked to Roger and aged by a few months?"
Near bit his lip.
"No," he said finally. "But I do expect you to be surprised that I took what you said so seriously and went to such efforts just to come and see you to be with you, as well as consider that I can help you with your case and you could use some intelligent conversation, even if you win all the arguments, and that you might like someone to hug after long days of speaking a language that's not your own, and-"
L looked at Near blankly as he rattled on, watching his eyes flicker with scant bits of emotion as his lips moved. He raised a hand, pressing a finger to Near's lips, silencing the small white boy as he looked up at him quickly, caught off guard, his eyes wide.
"If we're going to do this, Near," L said finally, "you can't talk through the whole thing."
Near's eyes beamed as L leaned down and kissed him, a triumphant shine in his eyes as he threw his arms around L's neck and passionately kissed him back. He shifted slightly, a soft noise escaping him, a sort of sound escaping L as well as they both lay down, and Near felt his face flush as he smiled.
In the end, he supposed, gasping and struggling to keep his thoughts as L leaned down to kiss his neck…
He was rather glad he'd realized he'd liked L.
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