New chapter! This one took a while. A long while. Well, I have other stories to update, too, you see... Anyway. On to the chapter!
At last they reached their bedroom. L waited for Light to catch his breath, standing by the doorway. Roger looked between the two of them with a small, worried frown.
"Oh... um… Yes, well, when you're all settled in, Ryuzaki," said Roger, "I need you to meet me in my office. Yes."
L would have perked an eyebrow if he had any. Roger was acting suspiciously nervous.
Of course, it could just be the chain. But this seemed a bit excessive.
"All right, Roger," said L, "I will be there in ten minutes at the latest."
"Understood," said Roger. He moved back towards the stairs, then stopped and turned around again. "Oh… And, um, this is the area with the older children, but… but they are still children, so if you could, uh, not make much noise… during the night…" He swallowed, backing away from the collective glares of the other men. "…Because children need their sleep, and you know how noisy… um… typing… can be… Not that… you'd be doing… anything else okay goodbye."
With those hurried words of farewell, Roger turned away and scurried down the stairs. As he left, L and Light heard him muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "oh dear, the explanations… no Sex Ed… good god, what if they walk in during… the chain!"
L scowled, but said nothing more about the matter. He moved to the door and swung it open, then took the suitcase by the handle and rolled it a few feet into the room.
"You're welcome, Light-kun," said L, setting it down again.
"The wonder of collaboration!" Light snapped breathlessly.
L merely stared blankly at him.
Muttering under his breath, Light walked into the room and straightened his spine, wincing at the painful cracks coming from his back. He sighed, looking around the room. "Whatever… Anyway, Ryuzaki, that man told you to meet him in his office. Are you going to—"
Light turned around to find himself alone in the room, his wrist chained to the bedpost.
He scowled. Asshole. Sighing again, he walked towards the suitcase. Oh well, at least I can have some quiet and work for a while…
As the chain tightened, Light realized that L had chained him in a way that put the suitcase just out of reach.
--
Near was halfway up the stairs when the sound of someone cursing loudly reached his ears.
That voice… the chorus of angels, thought Near. It's him!
He hurried up the rest of the stairs and found the right room by following the sound of the continued angry mutterings. When he reached the open doorway, he nearly collapsed at the sight of the room's contents.
This proves it, thought Near, I'm L's favorite.
Light being alone in his room, lying on the bed, would have been enough. But no, Light was chained to the bed. Chained. To. The. Bed.
Sure, it would have been nice if he was naked, but that would have been a bit too much, too fast.
Too fast… Near frowned. Of course…
L was obviously testing him. L was seeing if he could resist temptation. If he couldn't, the number one spot would go to Mello. That was why he brought this delicious man-meat with him, and why said man-meat was chained to the bed, where L must have known Near would go.
Then I have to resist… Near sighed, turning away from the door.
"Oh, hi, Near."
Near froze instantly. Resist. Resist. Resist.
"Do you think you could do me a favor?"
Cannot… resist…
"Of course," said Near, turning around. "What do you need?"
"Thank you," said Light, smiling at him. Near could feel his cheeks grow hot. "Could you please bring that suitcase over here? I can't reach it."
Near nodded, going to the big black suitcase. As he started pulling it, he realized why Light was having such trouble pulling it by himself before.
"Oh yeah… It's heavy, huh?" Light stood up off the bed. "Just push it a little further, and I'll take over when I can reach."
Near wasn't sure why that sounded so dirty, but he did know that he didn't need his face getting any redder right now. He did as Light asked, keeping his gaze locked on the floor as he did so.
"Thanks," said Light, taking the suitcase. He smiled. "I really appreciate it."
Near gawked a bit more openly than L would probably have approved of.
Screw L, he thought, Mello can take over the #1 spot.
--
L had never liked Wammy's.
It was a fine place. As long as it was empty.
L had always been either worshiped or shunned, wherever he went. Because of his intellect and attitude, people had always found him either superior, intimidating, or just plain creepy. What he had wanted was to find a place where people treated him normally, where everyone saw him as 'just another kid'.
Watari had promised that Wammy's was different. That he would be treated normally there.
What a load of bullshit that turned out to be.
L had quickly grown popular. With so many quirky children around, no one saw him as a freak, and because of this worshipped him even more than the others schools had. As a genius even among the highest IQs of the country, L was considered a king, or even a god, of Wammy's.
It drove him nuts.
After a few years of the 'royal treatment'—which included things like stalking, more stalking, and the occasional gift basket—L had withdrawn to his room and never left again. Meals had been brought to him. A laptop had been provided, the top model, including an internet connection. He had been given a cell phone. And, most importantly, a lock had been placed on his door.
This way, he completely avoided human contact from the age of 10 to the age of 14. During that time, he amused himself by hacking into the local police station's computer and solving the unsolved cases.
Originally, he hadn't told the police when he solved them. He would just look through the case files, came up with an answer, and then move on to the next one. But after a while (mostly out of pity, as they took so long to solve cases themselves) he started sending the answers to the chief of police through e-mail, signing it with only the letter 'L'. (It was certainly convenient that his real name doubled as a perfect alias.)
This got the chief's attention. He had sent for L's capture, thinking at first that it was a criminal mastermind who was selling out his partners in return for police protection, and he was a man who refused to be bribed. But after L kept sending him solved cases without asking for anything in return, and even asked him a question involving one of the cases, the chief realized that L was on the side of justice.
The chief started asking for L's assistance. L had agreed to help when he could (which was, of course, all the time), but when the chief started sending him problems that were far too easy and boring, L made it clear that he would not accept such trivial cases. He told the chief that he would only take what interested him, and what interested him was mainly what the chief really didn't want to be hacked into.
This was a dilemma. L wouldn't take cases that wouldn't interest him, and the chief didn't want some random stranger meddling in these important cases unless he knew he could trust them.
That was when the chief decided to use the one method he knew could keep L faithful: money.
Not realizing that he was dealing with a twelve-year-old, the chief created an account and sent L his first five million.
L had been surprised, but not shocked by the amount. What he had been paid was probably little more than what he had earned after the hundreds of cases he had solved. Possibly less. But the chief had promised to pay him more with every case he solved, as long as he stayed loyal to the system of justice.
L could dig it.
For the next two years, L had kept on solving cases and making more money than he needed. His name became well known among the law, and he was soon called the world's best detective.
At the age of fourteen, L was called to Africa to investigate a murder. It would be the first time he had to solve a case without only the use of his computer.
The response to his exiting the room was larger than he had expected.
When he had opened the door, a little kid who was walking by had screamed and passed out. Moments later, he had been surrounded by the children of Wammy's.
Apparently, during his four years of isolation, he had passed into Wammy legend. 'That really, really freakin' smart kid,' they called him. After his name had appeared among the police, other hackers among the school had figured out who he was, and now the name 'L' was whispered among the halls of the school.
And with his emergence from his room, he had turned the legend into reality, and was now worshiped more than ever.
It sucked greatly. L had pushed through the crowd of children, clinging to his laptop for dear life. Some kid who seemed to be imitating his appearance was kicked to the side, literally.
L had driven away with great relish. As it disappeared into the distant fog, L had given the building the finger.
And now he was back.
Groan.
Trying to push the horrible, irritating memories out of his head, and resisting the urge to slap a bitch when a random kid stared in awe at him, L traveled down the hall towards Roger's office. Hopefully, whatever Roger needed from him would be quick, so he could drag Light back to Japan and never come back.
When he opened the door to see Roger and Watari standing next to each other, their expressions grave, L got the feeling that his prayers would not be answered.
"L," said Watari, in that old, kind voice of his, "Could you please sit down?"
L frowned. I'm not going to like this.
Author's Notes: I really liked writing L's past, which is why it drags on for a while. XD None of it is relevent to the story, but I hope you found it interesting.
Also, does anyone here listen to Rip Slyme? Best. Band. Ever. I love their songs 'Masterpiece', 'Hotter than July', and 'Dandelion', among others that have names that are in Japanese and hard to remember. You really need to listen to them, if you haven't. Look them up on YouTube.
Please review!