Well… amazingly, I haven't much to say here. The usual….

Oh, and I only own the storyline idea for this fic.

Me no own Death Note or its characters… just the words I use for it. ;D

Again, it's a terribly short chapter (At least it's like, double the length of the last one x3)… but the juicy stuff is coming soon, I promise~!

Around chapter two and three, to be exact. :3

Oh~! Mood music for this chapter… Hmm…Probably "You Girls Never Know" by Franz Ferdinand... Hard to find a good song for this chapter, but it's pretty close.

Chapter 1:

Of Tea Parties and Dreams

"And when I was in his bed and My father had sold me," - Marry Me by Emilie Autumn

Near had contributed vastly to the research in the Kira case, bringing up several possibilities that were previously disregarded and/or ignored. However, he was almost always hesitant to share his ideas.

Most of the workforce believed that it was L making such breakthroughs (since Near didn't tell anyone but L his suspicions) and Near wasn't keen on correcting them.
All this had taken approximately a week to happen; Near turned up enough evidence that L never seemed to have any time anymore.
So, understandably, Near was surprised and slightly anxious when, on Friday (exactly one week and five days, five hours, twelve minutes, and approximately thirty-five seconds since he arrived) Watari had knocked on his door, announcing that L wanted to see him.
Almost immediately Near replied with an unsure "I'll be right up," (for L was a single floor above him) and retreated to the safety of his room. His mind racing, Near wondered feverishly at why L would want to see him. Quickly checking his appearance in his mirror and smoothing down his hair, Near exited his floor (L had given him his own floor, god, it was so much! He could never use that much space…) to find Watari waiting by the elevator.

"Are you ready?" Watari asked politely; Near nodded and followed him into the elevator.

Upon reaching the top floor, Watari pressed his thumb against a print scanner in the corner of the elevator (which had suddenly whirred to life); Gesturing for Near to do it as well, Near hesitantly pressed his own thumb against the cool surface; the double-door opened and Near followed Watari into an apartment-like floor that seemed completely white.

Sterile, hospital-worthy white. It was in stark contrast to Near's room (which was the place he frequented most often), which was the darkest black possible. Near's pillow was the only white thing in it besides the door; some might call it depressing, but he found it calming.
Watari ushered him into the 'living room', where L was sitting with his back to them.

"Good morning, Watari."

"Good morning; I have brought Near, as you requested; shall I take my leave?"

L turned and nodded, clearly grateful to Watari.

"If you like, you can go outside for a while."

"That's alright; but I wouldn't want to stray for too long."

"Hmm. Indeed… Oh, I've been ignoring Near. I'm sorry, Near, please take a seat. It's more comfortable than standing there."

Watari 'melted into the shadows', as some might say (he seemed to disappear, but the saying isn't quite appropriate as there are very few shadows in the room).

"Tea, Near?" L offered, pouring himself a cup and adding more sugar than was necessary.

"Tea?" Near repeated blankly, not understanding. As he echoed L, he looked around the room again, noting all the differences between this floor and his own. He liked how the furniture played off the white surroundings, creating a focal point by standing out. The armchairs and loveseat were dark, and looked like suede; the coffee table was largely made of glass, black granite framing it with intricate, tiny patterns at the edges, and curved, spindly legs (which didn't seem capable of holding up all the cakes, sweets, and sugar in general that was stacked upon it).

"Yes, tea. I did invite you, after all. Now, please sit down, you're making me feel silly.

Near did as he was asked, taking a seat opposite the dark-haired detective. Accepting the proffered cup, Near sipped at the dark liquid inside it, glancing at L as soon as he did.

"Green herbal tea…?"

"It's admittedly not one of my favorites, but with extra sugar it's quite tolerable. You like it, though, don't you?"
Near nodded silently, inwardly bursting with pleasure that L had bothered to remember his favorite tea.

"Is everything going alright?" L asked softly, his attention solely on Near as he drank his own sugar-in-a-cup. (There was barely any room for tea with how much sugar he'd dumped into the cup.)

Near found himself speechless and nodded once again, watching as L stirred his tea with a lollipop.

"You seem… down. You have ever since you came here. Is… Is it something I've been doing? Have I been ignoring you? Has someone been bugging you about something?"

Near looked up at L so suddenly that he was surprised he hadn't gotten whiplash, looking honestly perplexed.

"I told you, everything's fine… You don't need to worry about me, L."

"Alright… but promise me you'll tell me if something's wrong…?"

Near met L's gaze briefly (only as long as it took to murmur his consent to do so) before looking away again. Soon, he apologized, and left, the need to get back to work as his excuse.

He didn't forget to thank L for the tea.

The next day, Near awoke to a cold sweat and sticky sheets. Almost immediately, he knew he'd had a rather erotic dream, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember who else was in it, or what had happened. Shaking his head, he got up to shower, change, and get ready to have breakfast.

After that, his day was 'business as usual', except for the fact that little or no new evidence popped up (as they were watching possible suspects, as were the FBI).

The next week followed in the same way, Near's dreams plagued with an unknown person; but upon awakening, it would disappear.

This had quickly found a way to frustrate him, and he found he was working at nearly thirty per cent of his usual efficiency. True, there wasn't much to be done, but it would be disturbing if anyone knew him well and discovered it. After all, almost nothing hindered his work.

This sudden decline wasn't readily noticeable, but after another three days L had definitely picked up on it.

"I thought you promised to tell me if something was wrong," L accused (after he'd summoned Near to his living room once more).

"It's just a dream, L. It's not something to worry about," Near replied calmly.

"Obviously it is a recurring dream, and one that you're not very happy about."

"It's only bothering me because I can't remember what it's about."

L gave Near a piercing look, as if unsure whether Near was telling the truth or not, and chewed on the pad of his thumb.

"If you say so. Tea?"

Near politely declined, and returned to his own floor. When it came time to sleep, he found himself dreading another forgotten dream; yet he anticipated it eagerly in the hopes that he might discover what it contained.

This time, he awoke with a glimpse of pale moonlight striking broad shoulders that were just as pale as the light that hit them; and he was shivering almost violently. It took him thirty-three minutes longer than usual to get ready (which even Near thought was extremely odd) which meant he missed breakfast. Instead of opting to get something to eat anyway, he hurried down to try and be useful (his stomach felt queasy anyway, and he doubted he could keep anything down for long). However, most of the day he did nothing but sit in his seat, staring at the computer screen in front of him. His efficiency, he calculated mentally, had probably dropped to nineteen per cent, for he could do almost nothing without his mind being jerked back to the tiny clue he'd gotten as to who he was dreaming of. After all, when you're trying to find out something so big as this, anyone would be just as intensely curious, especially when they have the mental capacity that the average Whammy's kid had.

"Near," murmured a voice close to his ear. The back of Near's neck prickled eerily and he nearly jumped. Turning to see L, he felt his pulse slow, but it still beat faster than it normally did.

"What's wrong?" L asked, sitting on a chair next to him.

"Nothing's wrong… why?"

"You didn't eat this morning and you've been staring at the same sentence for the last fifteen minutes."

"Touché. No, nothing's wro…ng…" Near's words trailed off, as he apparently lost the ability to speak. Staring at L, Near gazed into the depths of L's dark eyes and saw himself reflected in them. But what really caught his attention was the lollipop held between L's lips, which were pale pink and soft-looking, shiny from the sticky gloss of the candy.

Suddenly struggling to beat down a blush, Near tore his eyes away and fixed his gaze at a point just above L's shoulder.

"Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah," Near answered almost breathlessly, and L shot him a 'I-don't-believe-you-but-I'll-give-you-the-benefit-of-the-doubt' look before nodding and standing.

"Alright… but I want you to go to bed early and take the day off tomorrow," L said softly.
Near nodded and went back to staring blankly at the computer screen, thoughts racing, as L watched him intently for a moment and then walked away.

Near was, of course, more than capable of putting two and two together.

But for some reason, he kept coming up with fifteen as the answer.

Moonlight hitting broad, pale shoulders, hot breath against his ear, a hand cupping his cheek, calloused thumb smoothing over his lips gently…

Near woke trembling, once more because of the impact of his dream. He reflected on what he'd seen. It hadn't been a woman, Near decided, for the hand was too large and the shoulders too broad; and the aura he felt coming from the other figure simply screamed masculinity and a sense of power.

Near pondered this, slightly startled by this revelation; he'd never given the matter much thought, and he'd never let himself foster prejudices of any kind, but it would always be a surprising thought, he decided, to suddenly find out you have dreams about other guys. Especially if you don't know who it is.

Looking over at his clock, Near realized it was past lunchtime, and his stomach growled in support of the thought. Slipping out from under his blankets, he showered, brushed his hair (though it never changed a thing) and got dressed (in more of his signature white pajamas and headed downstairs.

"I heard him moaning in his sleep last night like he was dying or something."

Near halted and glanced at the speaker; Matsuda, Ukita, and L were talking about something. He only heard that part clearly, but he managed to also pick out "sick", "hasn't been talking much", and "maybe it's the stress" from the soft murmurings coming from their direction.

Holding back anger at the thought of having L, of all people, gossiping about him, Near turned on his heel and made for the elevator in a flurry of motion that caught the three males' eyes.

"Near, wait," L called softly, but Near ignored him and pressed the button for his floor. Slumping against the side of the elevator, he watched the numbers go up until he neared his own floor.

'That was so--' Near thought.

".Childish of you."'

Near looked up, realizing the elevator had given off its signature 'ding' and the doors had opened, only to reveal L standing in front of him. Entering the elevator and closing the doors, L drew closer and crouched in front of Near silently. Chewing on his thumb, he blinked owlishly at the smaller male before him.

"…Yes?" Near replied, both confirming L's statement, and questioning what L wanted.
Near jumped, as did L, when the power suddenly went out; the back-up power came on almost immediately, the faint white light flickering on to replace the previous darkness, striking L in a way that seemed to make his skin glow.

Transfixed, Near felt like reaching out to touch the detective; he resisted, and glanced into L's eyes. Finding that he couldn't look away, he felt his pulse speed up (along with his breathing) seemingly of its own accord, his face flushing slightly as L drew closer. Mentally, he chalked it up to the unusual invasion of his personal bubble.

He could feel L's breath, warm against his cheek, and L murmured "Are you alright?" ever-so-softly.
Near replied with 'yes' a little too quickly; L studied him a moment before standing and moving to the panel of buttons within the elevator.
Holding one of the buttons, L spoke into a small microphone in the side of the elevator.

"Could someone turn the power back on, please? I rather dislike being in elevators when the door won't open."

After a few moments (during which Near managed to regain his composure) The lights brightened and seemed blinding; the elevator 'dinged' again and the doors opened.

Near left the elevator, but before he could walk away, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning to L questioningly, Near blinked at the touch.

"We weren't talking about you, Near."

"What…?" Near replied, wondering who they had been talking about, if not him.

"We were talking about a new… ah… development in the case."

"Development, as in..?"

"We took Light Yagami and Misa Amane into custody last night, and they are being observed."

This was news to Near, but he reasoned that it was his own fault for not knowing, and that this was obviously big enough that no one could be spared to tell him right away.

"I'll send Watari with something to eat, I'm sure you're hungry, to say the least."

Near's stomach gurgled as if in agreement, and he looked away sheepishly.

"It's fine, I--"

"Near, I am sending him whether you deem it necessary or not," L said sharply.

"Just because you think you're not as important as others, doesn't mean you don't deserve kindness. You don't seem to understand how many people think highly of you."

L returned to the elevator, the double-doors seeming to swallow him, leaving a shocked Near in his wake.

Hope you enjoyed that chapter!

Check out the band Paramore if you haven't already, it's really good.

Oh, and Sleepless Nights by Faber Drive, and Fall For You by SecondHand Serenade… :D

Review, please~