Chapter One: Meeting the Conman
"You look…different from what I had expected."
L was already becoming used to this reaction from prospective clients. But something about Yamamoto's tone really irked him.
"Did you expect a trenchcoat and magnifying glass?" he said testily.
"No…" said Yamamoto, a bit taken aback.
When's the last time an employee didn't suck up to him? Too long ago, obviously.
"I think what my partner here is trying to say is that people generally think of detectives as more physically imposing, older and more battle-weary, harder-living…manlier, if you will. You look like a stiff breeze might knock you over." The other man, Aiber, stepped forward, looking him slowly up and down with a smirk on his lips.
God, but I hate foreigners, L thought, never minding the fact that he was one himself, albeit one who'd spent the bulk of his life in Japan. Especially the men. They come here for women and money and sake, and never give a damn about anyone but themselves.
"How old are you, kid? 17, 18?"
"19." As of last month.
"Still got a few years on you, then. I'm approaching the big 3-0 myself – but hey, don't let your inexperience get you down. It was Aso Naoto-san who recommended you to us, and you must remember how exacting he is. He only takes on the best, so I assume that's what you are. And don't worry if people are surprised by you now. I'm sure you'll grow into the job soon enough."
He patted L's shoulder in a fatherly way, and L had to suppress the urge to shake him off and sock him in the nose.
The nerve of him! he thought. Who the hell does he think he is?
"When can you start?" Yamamoto said.
"I can start immediately. But first I need to know more details about the case…"
As L and Yamamoto discussed the terms of their deal, L watched Aiber out of the corner of the eye. He didn't like the way the man was looking at him. There was an intensity in his gaze, a look of intrigue and something else that L didn't quite know how to place. It was unsettling, at any rate.
"…I think that is all the information I have to give you. The rest is up to you, L-kun. We have to be off now, but I will be in touch with you tonight. And for future reference, know that if there are any new developments, you may call me at any time, day or night. You needn't think of disturbing me – I will sleep sounder with the knowledge that progress is being made."
"That goes for myself as well," said Aiber, and there was still that indefinable something shining in his eyes. "We're putting a lot of trust in you, so don't be a stranger."
"Good day, L-kun. I will message you sometime this evening to check up on you," said Yamamoto, and with that he turned to leave.
"Go get 'em, tiger," Aiber said, and L knew he'd said it purely to enrage him. He looked over his shoulder as he left after Yamamoto and gave L a long smirk as if he knew something L didn't.
Contrary to what the ever-anxious Yamamoto seemed to think, the case turned out to be relatively straightforward, albeit time-consuming. It wasn't until the case was nearly over, a few weeks later, that L found himself obliged to look deeper into the company records – but when he did, he was not at all pleased with what he found.
"Aiber-san, I need to examine your and Yamamoto-san's tax returns. There seems to be some funny business going on."
"Oh, I know what you're talking about. A few months ago we hired an accountant by the name of Koiso Ichiro to do our tax returns. Not a thief, but an idiot if there ever was one: repeatedly bungled our information and completely miscalculated the amount of money owed. He's been replaced and his errors have done no long-term damage, but they do remain on some of the older documents. Don't worry about it, L. I've seen the papers myself, and it's all a clerical error. I think we would've noticed if ¥3 200 000 had suddenly gone missing from our bankrolls. I assure you, it's all been accounted for."
"But it's not only that, there's another thing – "
"Just leave it," Aiber said, in a voice that did not brook disobedience. "Don't waste the time we pay you for to go snooping around in our records to no good purpose. I tell you, it's been accounted for. You're the detective, I'm the businessman; you're the employee, and I'm the boss. I have faith in my business partners and I am sure that everything's as it should be. Leave it."
The look Aiber gave him promised grave bodily harm if he did not comply. L set the papers aside, thinking that if the money were indeed missing, he had a very good idea of who might have taken it.
All in all, it had been a relief when the Yamamoto case had ended, if only to escape the man whom L increasingly suspected was a conman. He had in fact continued his investigation into the company finances, and while he had not found anything concrete enough to bring Aiber to court, his gut told him he was guilty, and L's gut was rarely wrong. Yet despite Yamamoto's nervous personality, Aiber had earned his complete trust, and L knew that if he let slip his suspicions, it would go badly for him. Aiber was just so much more persuasive than he was.
A couple of months later, a message appeared in L's inbox requesting his help in a new case. A simple enough affair, but unusual in that it was a corporate board member requesting his help on behalf of the company, rather than a private individual or at best, a small business owner. In terms of clients, L tended to attract mostly the small fry – the moneyed corporations and the upper crust seemed to look down on him, with his scruffy-student appearance and small, messy home office. More than once, a gentleman or lady clad in a business suit had stepped into that office, taken one look around and departed. So it was a surprise to see the individual from UmeCorp inform him that the board had requested him personally, and would not allow another to take the case.
"We've been told you are the best," said the woman, "and your track record, low-key though it is, appears to confirm your skill. If you agree to it, we will be most happy to do business with you."
And so L, intrigued both by the puzzle the case provided and the likely fee it would generate, immediately signed on.
He was told to meet the clients in the lobby of the UmeCorp building in Marunochi. When they arrived, L was stunned the see a familiar, smirking face among them.
"Aiber-san! You again."
"Indeed it is. Nice to see you again, sport," said Aiber, giving L that patronising smile L had come to hate so much. "But unfortunately I am here for business, not pleasure. We have reason to believe that our competitors have placed a spy among our product development personnel. The spy, from what we have gathered, has been sharing blueprints, company emails, notes from brainstorming sessions, etc. with The Kishin Group. Obviously we need to find out the spy, and we also need to gather the evidence to take Kishin to court. Above all, seek out links between the spy and the higher-ups at Kishin. We want to bury these people, if we can."
"I see," said L. Just what scheme are you cooking up now?
When the little meet-and-greet was over, Aiber summoned L away to a shadowy corner where they could speak alone.
"You're a sight for sore eyes, L," said Aiber, who seemed amused by the glare L was levelling at him.
"I certainly can't say the same for you, although I'll be happy to pocket more of your hard-earned money on this case. What happened to Yamamoto-san, anyway?"
"I'm afraid the business has taken a turn for the worse. Fouled-up contracts, bad investments…not to mention that a big slice of our profits was siphoned off by an embezzler who has yet to be apprehended." He inspected his nails for a moment, then flashed L a smirk that told him everything he needed to know.
"Having freed myself from that sinking ship, I made the rounds looking for a business partner to whom I might attach myself and reverse my bad fortune. Happily, I soon found a contact at UmeCorp, who brought me to the board of directors as his associate. They were leary of me at first, seeing as how I just popped up out of the blue, but I am slowly becoming accepted as one of their own. Good thing, too, seeing as how most of my salary thus far has gone towards paying off the debts I accrued with Yamamoto…"
"Perhaps. Yet if you are so badly off, why is your Armani suit so immaculate it must be newly bought? Recent manicure, haircut, new ring….Far from a poor boy, you look as if you've been on a spending spree."
"I know what you're thinking, L. But I can assure you everything I did with Yamamoto was completely by the book. You think I want to spend the rest of my life in prison? You must know my tastes run far too fine for that." He gave L an odd look as he said this. "I may not be a detective, but I know how not to attract their attention. With you being the exception, of course. I was highly impressed with the work you did for us before, and I can guarantee that whenever I need such services, I will call on you. So expect more business from me in the future."
He's like a schoolboy that pulls girls' hair just to hear them scream, L thought. And he makes it sound like he's doing me a favour!
Surely he knew how much L hated him, and was provoking him out of spite, just to see what would happen. The only explanation was that he thrived on making L miserable – why else would he deliberately seek to torment L this way?
I am in for a long few weeks.
Aiber was as true as his word. In the coming months, L found that whenever Aiber and the current victims of his conning needed a detective – which was surprisingly often, L thought – it was always him that was called in. Aiber seemed to fairly revel in the experience of tormenting L whenever, and indeed wherever, possible. Indonesia, England, China, Brazil, Germany – Aiber's crooked business seemed to take him all over the world. In just how many languages had he swindled innocent business people, anyway? Even L would admit that, compared to anybody but himself, Aiber had a very good grasp on languages. All the more opportunity to cheat people, L supposed. Yet as much as he hated Aiber, he still had to admire the sheer guts it took to charm people and steal their money right out from under their noses. He'd make cursory attempts once or twice to investigate Aiber, but the man seemed to be just clever enough to prevent L from compiling a good court case. The sheer audacity of Aiber's cons boggled his mind…and he had to admit that he did somewhat envy Aiber his people skills. So unlike L, Aiber seemed to know just how to play people….If it were a skill that could be taught, L would've paid quite a lot to learn what Aiber apparently knew by instinct.
The last time he'd seen Aiber, the man's meddling and pestering and reached such a pitch that L finally snapped and told him not to seek him out anymore. The money, it now seemed to him, was no longer worth the hassle that working under Aiber entailed. When he returned home, he had deleted Aiber's email address from his laptop and instructed Watari not to accept calls from him any longer. It had felt such a relief to cut Aiber loose, and know that even if Aiber tried to contact him again, he would never have to see his stupid face anymore.
A month later, he found out how very wrong he was.
It was another corporate case, the very lucrative kind which – L had to admit – had become far easier to procure since his successful stint with Aiber and UmeCorp. This time he had been brought right up to the boardroom, a first for him, although the attendant pride he felt took a hit when he actually arrived and found the room nearly empty, and with half the lights turned off. A man who introduced himself as the Takeshita with whom L had corresponded bowed and greeted him; another man, who sat lounging in a corner chair with a hat over his face, made no move. L stepped forward with his hand outstretched for a handshake, if that was what the man preferred, but the anonymous man seemed content to stay that way. It seemed an incredible snub to L, as if he weren't important enough for the man to waste time greeting him.
The rude man and the empty room aside, though, all seemed well as L and Takeshita discussed the terms of case. Or at least, it did until L suddenly found a wrench thrown in the works, such a one as he had never expected to encounter.
"…Your references have spoken very highly of your skills, of course, and I have no doubt that you are capable of the job. But considering the scope of the case" – that meant he didn't think L was could do it alone – "And our limited time frame, I have taken on another detective to help you deal with the load. I thought I might as well get that out now. Come on," said Takeshita, gesturing to the man in the hat, "don't be such a layabout, come greet our newest member of the team."
The rude man slowly stood and removed his hat, and L realized that it was Aiber.
"We know each other already, boss, so introductions will not be necessary," he said. And then he smiled at L. "The two of us get along like peas in a pod. It'll be a pleasure working together, I'm sure."
L was too shell-shocked to respond.
"Well, I certainly hope so," said Takeshita. "It'll take close cooperation and coordination between you to tackle a case of this magnitude."
"It won't be a problem. This one here's quite a fighter, and I'm no slouch myself. Our styles are rather different, but that mostly just means we complement one another. I have a feeling our partnership will be a very fruitful one." His eyes briefly met L's.
"Let it be so. Now, L-san, I have already filled Aiber-san in on the details of the case, but before you start working you should know…"
L barely listened to the rest of Takeshita's ramblings, and once they left Takeshita's hearing, L grabbed Aiber by the forearm and pulled him sharply around to face him.
"What's the meaning of this, Aiber? What are you trying to do this time? You're pretending to be a detective now? !"
"Not pretending, my friend. I am what I am," said Aiber, curling the fingers of his free hand around L's, and wrenching them off his person. "Of course, I am only starting out in this line of work, so it's only natural that I would want to work with you and see how a real pro goes about it. Especially with a case this size – you can imagine how I might feel out of my depth here, considering that this is my first stab at detective work. I found this case almost by accident."
L seriously doubted that.
"I was closing a deal with some associates of Takeshita, and happened to hear that the man was looking for a private detective. It seemed difficult, but you know how much I love a good challenge –"
"I know how much you love money."
"– so I decided to contact Takeshita myself and offer my services. I confess I engaged in a bit of creative resumé-writing. Once I was hired and confronted with the case itself, I realized I would need an old hand to help me out –"
"To do your work for you."
"– And so I started dropping hints that guided Takeshita towards taking on another detective, and you in particular. It is my hope that you will assist me…will partner me on this case."
For a moment, L just stared at him in dismay and disbelief. When he found his voice again, he said, "Aiber, why are you doing this to me? Are you mocking me for what I said in Germany?"
"If you are in need of a detective for your games, start looking elsewhere or become one yourself…"
"Not at all. After our last meeting, I gave what you said a good thinking over, and it occurred to me that you were right. Why employ others –"
"You mean me."
"– others to do what I could do for myself, free of charge? And why not expand my skills, and increase my work opportunities? You know how sporadic my employment can be…"
"Because you swindle your partners and clients blind!"
"So you say. You've always believed the worst of me without a shred of proof."
"We both know it's true."
Aiber gave him a hard stare. "Now, L, this won't do at all. We'll need to present a united front to Takeshita in order to keep this case. He's jumpy, and might bail if there seems to be friction between us."
"You go out of your way to create it."
"Really? I haven't felt any friction as of yet between us." A smirk played about Aiber's lips as if something amused him. L wasn't sure he was in on the joke. But then, he had always been a joke to Aiber anyway, hadn't he?
Well, har-dee-fucking-har, L thought. I won't let you suck me in this time.
"Takeshita-san and his associates are going to pay us ¥5 000 000, which means 2.5 million straight into your bank account. When's the last time you had a case with those stakes? I know you love challenges….And I do love money. So stick around and help us both out, why don't you?"
"Spiting you would be reason enough," L said, although privately he thought that ¥2 500 000 was actually more difficult to refuse than he'd thought.
"Oh, come on, L, where's your sense of adventure? I know you've never worked with a partner before, and neither have I, for that matter. Come to think of it, when's the last time you really spoke to another human being, besides Watari? You could really use the time away from your cold computer, and don't try to tell me otherwise."
"But I –"
At that moment Aiber's watch began beeping, and he glanced at it with apparent displeasure.
"Sorry, L, I have to run now, but I suggest we get together later tonight and begin brainstorming how to tackle this case. I'll find a good restaurant and text you the details shortly."
And he swept away again before L had a chance to refuse. When L returned home, he considered writing an email to Aiber and Takeshita cancelling his involvement with the case, but in the end the lure of ¥2 500 000 proved too much to resist. He couldn't help but feel ashamed, too, at the reminder Aiber had given him of just how empty his life was outside of work. It really would be the first time in a very long time that he had spent any significant part of the day away from his computer, and the womb-like environment of his home office. He would feel guilty about it if he refused.
Had Aiber been counting on that?
A/N: I'm actually surprised there aren't more Aiber stories out there. Or rather, I'm surprised at the lack of long Aiber stories. Fics focused on him and the people he beds are generally one-shots of only a few thousand words, and I wonder why. Perhaps it's because he isn't developed much in canon – but then again, Matt's even less developed, and look what happened there XD Part of it is probably that Aiber isn't particularly important to the canon plot, which makes it difficult to write stories in which he leads the action. Also, we don't really know any details about his life, which means that writing an Aiber fic requires you to make up a life story for him, or at least part of one, out of scratch, and it can be very difficult to get inside his head. Nor does Aiber seem to have any particularly deep relationships with other characters in canon. Matt, of course, is attached at the hip to the ever-popular Mello, which means that for all the many, many fangirls who want Mello to be fucking someone, Matt's the most natural choice. Even in canon, it's obvious that they're very close, and fangirls can build on that. But whom, in canon, is Aiber really close to? With whom does he have a relationship that is developed at all? No one, and that makes him a lot more difficult to write for. Thankfully, uberneko-zero solved that problem for me by inventing a very intense relationship with L that goes back years. And since this is a Kira-less AU, I can make Aiber as important to the plot as I see fit, and I can invent a version of Aiber's past that revolves around his relationship with another canon character, L. And so, here we are.
The second longest Aiber fic, if you search on FFN, is a very clever and affecting little story called In Vino Veritas, and I definitely recommend it. It's also an AiberxL story (well, more like AiberxLxAiber), though this story actually follows canon, and includes an interesting backstory about Aiber's family and why his codename is what it is. If you like this pairing, I also recommend Practiced Liars by the awesome Sashocirrione. I wish I could recommend Carmilla's House, an incredibly hot vampire!AiberxLight fic by Tarshil, but unfortunately she's taken it down. It was perhaps this fic more than any other that made me want to write a good, hot Aiber story. Let's all go pester her to repost it!
L's complaint about foreigners, and foreign men in particular, is pretty common in countries like Japan, Korea, etc. It's a bad stereotype, but I thought it would be funny for L to make use of it, considering that he's a foreigner himself. In uberneko's story, I seem to remember that he thinks of Aiber as a foreigner more than once. The Yamamoto I have Aiber working with, by the way, is a reference to Light's friend Yamamoto in canon, and I imagine that the two are related :D
The age gap between L and Aiber is canon, by the way. When I was thinking the story out, I wondered how much older Aiber is than L, and I estimated that the age gap might be 7-8 years. Then I consulted my trusty Vol. 13, and found that it is actually 10.5 years! So I decided to use it.
I had a bit of fun with the company names in this chapter. I wanted at least one to have a flower/fruit name like Sakura TV, and thus we got UmeCorp, from the word "ume," which means plum. Kishin are apparently some kind of demon, and thus I named the corrupt competitors, The Kishin Group, after them.
Honestly, I feel a bit bad that my largest contribution to the Death Note fandom – more than five times the length of my next longest – is a fanfic of a fanfic, for the kink meme, set in a universe without Kiras or, er, Death Notes, in which my two favourite characters (L and Light) are obviously different from canon, and in which my OTP (L and Light, haha) is only a side pairing. But I will say this: it was fucking fun to write this! So if I enjoyed writing it, and if you enjoy reading it, then I guess that's all we can ask from a fanfic. I hope you did enjoy the first couple of chapters, and I hope to see you again, next update!
