7 – At the dark end of the street
L had been more than a little surprised when Michael said he wanted to come with him. Michael had been the one with the plan, after all. He had everything worked out. A plane waiting.
Chaos had quickly ensued in the little cabin. Apparently they had been waiting for a car that never showed. Finally, the group had split up. Michael and Lincoln had both claimed enough faith in L's promise that he would investigate the case, but Lincoln had refused to come with them to LA. He had a son, apparently, that he had to find. So after collecting their hidden clothes and money, L and Michael had said goodbye to him and boarded a greyhound bus bound for LA. And here they were.
L stood in a phone-booth, curled up inside a several sizes too large grey sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. It was stolen, but he didn't care. Outside, Michael was keeping watch down the street, and L dialled the mobile phone number that Near had given him. The signals rang out on the other end, and finally there was a click as someone accepted the call.
"Hello?" L said to the silence on the other end.
"Who's this?" The voice was young and cold with an English accent. Good enough to chance it.
"Mello? This is L."
Hesitation. Then, "Yeah? How do I know you're who you say you are?" He sounded like he had to force himself to disbelief, but managed it quite well.
"You don't recognise my voice, Mihael?"
A second of shocked silence, and than that cold voice said, "So, you know my name. Am I supposed to be impressed? It doesn't prove anything. Tell me something only L knows."
"If I told you something I know, you wouldn't be able to verify it, so what would be the point? Mello... let's arrange a meeting. You'll recognise me from the photos in the paper, even if you don't remember my face from that one time years ago."
That would be something only L was likely to know, and certainly something Mello wouldn't shoot his mouth off about; the fact that they had only ever met in person once before. Some more silence as a decision was made on the other end.
"Ok," Mello finally said, "find a street called Viaferae Lane and exactly at midnight, walk to the mouth of the alley and wave your hand once. The alley is open at both ends, so no-one will get cornered."
He was taking charge of the situation. L couldn't help but feel a little pride. He had of course had nothing to do with the kid's upbringing, but... somehow, he still thought of them a little like brothers. That was because of Watari, of course. Watari had spent hours talking about these children; how clever they were, what funny things they had said and done. L felt like he knew them, even though he had never met them.
"Fine. Thank you Mello. I will see you there."
Silence. Mello was not hanging up, and there was a weird moment when they were listening to each other listening. Then L replaced the receiver and stepped out of the phone booth.
The alley was dark and narrow, full of rubbish bins and fire escapes. L did exactly as they had agreed, waited until midnight on the dot and walked to where the alley ended and waved his hands. Then he retreated into the shadows and waited.
Michael was visibly nervous. Not strange, considering he had no idea what L had planned. He was getting swept along in a story that wasn't his, and he didn't seem to happy about it.
After a few minutes, a dark shape appeared at the end of the alley, back-lit by the bigger street's lights. The first time L had seen Mello, through a web-cam, the boy had only stood by the wall, silently munching on a chocolate bar. He hadn't asked any questions or said anything over the voice link, but simply hung back and observed the others. That, in conjunction with his test scores, had told L that he was a good candidate for the job.
The second time, he had seen Mello in person and he had told him about the Los Angeles BB murder case. Mello had been completely absorbed by the story. He had asked questions then, and even though he was only thirteen at the time, he had stayed up with L and Watari until early morning, talking to them with an unstoppable energy. The conclusions L had drawn from this was that Mello worked best when he didn't have to share. He thrived on attention, and his favourite kind was undivided attention. Near had said he would have been happy to work with Mello, but clearly the opposite was not true.
The figure came closer and the light from the street behind L fell over him. L almost did a double take. Was this the same boy? He was decked out in shiny leather, a coat with a strange feathery collar, and a silver crucifix, which dangled around his neck and sparkled with reflected streetlight. Mello would be seventeen now, not a child anymore, L had to remind himself. But still, this was... unexpected.
Mello walked right up to him and stared at him hard, like he suspected a trick of some kind. Then his expression flipped from stone-cold suspicion to a delighted smile.
"L. It is you. So, you got out, huh? Knew they wouldn't be able to keep you in there."
Behind Mello, someone else was moving down the alley. L shifted his eyes nervously, but Mello must have heard the footsteps and didn't seem worried, so L presumed it must be an ally of his.
"Mello. I need your help."
"Of course. Anything."
The person behind Mello chuckled and L could make out a fluffy beige sleeveless vest in the shadows. Mello held up his hand to silence this person before he even started speaking.
"I need some things from Wammy's. Sensitive things that can't just be posted through the mail. Obviously, I can't go, and there's no-one else I trust with this."
Mello smiled again. Behind him, the figure in the vest flicked on a lighter and L got a glimpse of a goggle-covered face, surrounded by reddish brown hair. He recognised the face from Watari's pictures.
"Matt," he said. "Nice to meet you."
"Hey." Matt stepped up beside Mello, blowing out smoke and grinning. He held out his hand towards L, but Mello grabbed his wrist before L could shake his hand and yanked him around to face him.
"Matt. You heard him. You're going back to Wammy's."
"Me? Didn't L say he wanted you to go?"
His grin faltered somewhat when Mello gave him a perfectly lethal glare. L remembered Watari telling him about Mello bullying the other kids and getting them to do errands and chores for him. Leadership skills were always useful, but the same behaviour could also easily make enemies.
"I don't care which one of you go," L said. "But I would request that you please hurry. The sooner I can get my new identity set up, the sooner I can repay my debt to Michael."
He gestured to Michael, who was standing further down, again nervously keeping an eye on the street behind them.
"How will you do that?" Mello asked.
"His brother is accused of murdering the vice-president's brother. I have to find proof that he's innocent."
"I see. Where will I find you when Matt comes back from England?"
L hesitated. This was a more awkward situation than he had expected. Mello was so grown up, so professional, and while that was a good thing, it made L feel even more... useless. Pushed off his pedestal once and for all. He was no longer 'L' in function, what right did he have to order these kids around at all? He was at the mercy of their respect for something he could no longer live up to.
"I don't have a place yet," he admitted. "I'll contact you again when I do..."
"You can crash at ours," Matt said, nonchalantly blowing smoke-rings at the dark night sky.
The strange parade of emotions that swept over Mello's face was indecipherable even to L. Embarrassment was in there, annoyance, pride?
"Of course you're more than welcome," Mello said, "but I have to warn you. The place isn't up to... any standards at all. It should be relatively safe though. As safe as anywhere else."
"If I'm caught with you, you will get into trouble." L said, matter of factly.
Matt laughed quietly, and Mello suppressed a tiny smile. "If we're caught at all..." he said.
"I see. The rumours were true then."
"I'd say they were," Matt piqued.
"Matt, why don't you go start the car," Mello said.
"Yeah yeah."
He wandered off and L gestured for Michael to join them.
"I've arranged a safe-house," Mello said before any introduction. "I expect no trouble from you. You aided L's escape, and so you're alright with me, let's leave it like that."
Michael stared at the outrageously dressed teenager with a quizzical look. L should probably have done something to smooth out the jagged introduction, or at least said something, but he was tired and hungry and so he left them to their staring match and followed Matt's trail down to where the car was waiting.
"What's he doing?" Matt asked through the rolled down driver's side window.
L shrugged his shoulders and climbed into the back seat, crouching down. It felt good to sit down. The smell of petrol and leather reminded him of the days of being ferried around in a Limo by Watari. The loss stabbed at him again. He missed Watari. Matt was turned around, looking at him like he wanted to say something, but then the front passenger door was yanked open and Mello got in.
"Get us there," he ordered.
Michael sat down in the back and leaned over to speak to L quietly. "I thought prison was bad," he murmured, "I thought T-bag was disturbed. But that kid... he's freaking me out."
L said nothing, but smiled to himself. Michael dug his hand underneath him and pulled out something he had been sitting on. "Hey, chocolate."
Both Mello and L immediately grabbed for it, Mello relinquishing it when he saw that it was L he was battling. L tore the wrapper off and dug in. Heavenly. In the front seat, Mello opened the glove compartment and took out another chocolate bar. Michael shook his head as the sound of snapping and chewing filled the car. Matt twisted his head around, taking his eyes off the road, and said, "Welcome to the circus. I hope you'll enjoy your stay.""Matt! Fucking keep your eyes on the road!"
"Yeah, yeah. Don't Mello out on me."
This was going to be a long ride for Michael, L feared, but for him, it felt almost like coming home.
-
A/N: I'm the worst person in the world for not updating. Inspiration comes in short bursts, and it seems like I used up most of it for WMB. But this WILL be finished, one way or another. It just might not go in the direction I first thought. Once Mello gets let in, he tends to just take over. Oh well.