I don't own any of the characters, they belong to Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata and they're from the manga/anime Death Note. This story does belong to me, though. So, um, please let me know what you think! 3 (and yes, its extremely short. I'm sorry xD)

--

"147, 148, 149... 161, 162, 163..."

"NEAR!"

"Uhm…" L mumbled as he set down a stack of collectible trading cards. He pushed away from his desk with his hands and, with the help of the wheels on his chair, rolled to the door. He eased it open and poked his head into the hallway, prepared to dodge any item that might have been thrown only seconds ago. Luckily, there wasn't a single thing flying through the air. L wasn't surprised to see Mello and Near at the end of the hall, staring each other down with murder in their eyes. Mello was seething on the ground, tears falling down his cheeks and gathering in his ruffled blonde hair. He was biting his lip to keep from crying and his small but tough hands were clutching at the hems of his long sleeves. Near on the other hand had scrunched up his nose and crossed his chubby arms in defiance, unless it was supposed to be triumph. L deduced that Near had shoved Mello to the ground purely for the sake of competition. It was a common happening at Wammy's House after all. In hopes of controlling the situation, L pushed himself along the wall, the wheels on his chair squeaking noisily, and slowed to a stop right in front of the conflicting children. They looked up at him with big eyes, their innocence rivaling each others.

"He pushed me." Mello whined, pointing a pink finger at the white clad child. Near shot a skeptical glance at the other before lifting a hand to play with his hair, his eyes on the floor.

"Did not," He said quietly, as if lying hurt him physically. "He fell. You know how clumsy he is…" Mello's lip quivered as his let his arm fall limply to his side.

"N… Nuh-uh!" he squeaked. L could see that a fresh wave of tears was coming on. That probably meant that it was time to stop this.

"Near," L said softly. The small boy's head was tilted up in a flash. "Lying is not the way to solve things." Near looked away abashedly, ashamed to have gotten caught by his idol. Mello, however, had adopted a wide grin.

"You didn't really think you could get a lie past L, did you?" he piped up, wiping the tears from his eyes. "He's too good for that! He's… um… L!" L smiled softly at the compliment as he rose from his chair. He towered several feet above the two boys, and that worked to his advantage as he crouched down and lifted Mello from the floor. The blonde child was obviously enjoying all the attention, as well as the excluded look on Near's face. He was quite smug by the time L set him down in his chair.

"Near, could you please come with us?" The older boy asked kindly. Near nodded and reached for L's outstretched hand then they were off toward Watari's office, Mello curled up in the comfortable folds of L's chair and Near shyly grasping L's hand. For the world's greatest detective, this was all in a day's work.