"So, this visit to the mall is… mandatory?" L muttered, unable to believe that he was once again being forced to do something he didn't want to do. It was like he was living with an actual parent or something.

"Yes. The boys listen to you better than anyone, and we're short on caretakers right now. Plus, you need some new things."

He sighed. "I'm perfectly fine with you getting me new clothes, Wammy."

"Come on, L!" Matt chimed in excitedly. "It'll be fun!"

L didn't respond, he just perched himself on the end of Mello's bed and furrowed his brow. Quillsh had promised that the children with the highest scores on their tests for that semester would get a special trip to the local mall. Though normally the caretakers would buy any toys or clothing that the children asked for or needed, they never went to the store themselves for safety reasons. So to be able to look for and buy their own stuff was like a dream come true.

"I'm not sure I'm too excited about this either." Near said, twiddling a lock of his hair in between his thumb and index finger.

"Don't be such a wet blanket, Queer," Mello sniggered. "You don't have to go. It could just be me, Matt, and L having a great time at the mall while you stay here bored."

Near scowled at him before returning to his hair. They would've just left immediately at 8 'o clock this morning, but Mello needed his chocolate, L needed two small containers of strawberries (which Wammy was forced to go out and buy ahead of time), and Near had to take 15 minutes to decide which toy he was going to bring just for the ride to and back. All the while, Matt just hovered around, almost bouncing up and down with excitement, asking 'Can we go now?' every few minutes.

"Okay, we've got Mel's chocolate. Can we leave now? Please?"

"Yes, Matt. We can leave now." The old man chuckled, patting him on the back.

The six of them (Roger was being dragged along also) piled into the 16-seated 'Wammymobile' as Mello called it, and were off. The car ride seemed to drag on forever with Mello and Matt's harassing of Near and the fact that he'd already gone through the half of his strawberries reserved for the first part of the trip. Believe it or not, L was starting to wish they'd just get there already.

"Calm down, children!" Roger snapped back at them, his face reddish. If L was pissed off to be surrounded by these rowdy 10-year-olds he could scarcely imagine short-tempered Roger's emotions at the time. He was 87 percent certain he'd have already gone insane had Wammy not been there to keep an eye on him. This was why he was given the docile Near to chaperone for Mello and Matt's sake.

At last, Wammy pulled into the parking lot. L and Near immediately felt sick at the sight of so many people, but Matt and Mello were already unfastening their seat belts and jumping out of the door Wammy opened for them.

"L? Near? Are you coming?"

"I think I shall stay in the car," L said, nibbling on a finger nail. Near nodded his head in agreement.

"Nonsense. You'll get hot, and we're not going to waste gasoline for you two to have air conditioning," Roger said gruffly.

They remained seated.

"Stop acting so childish!"

"I am a child, Roger." Near retorted.

After several attempts by the four of them, Near and L eventually got out. L did indeed feel very childish, but it was certainly worth a shot. When they got into the mall, Quillsh turned around and assigned each student with their adult chaperone. Mello went reluctantly to Wammy, Near went even more reluctantly to Roger, and Matt clung to L's hand immediately, smiling happily. He was given a cell phone and credit card, and they were off.

"C'mon, L!" Matt tugged on his arm. "I read about this mall online and I hear there's this store called Ziggy's or something that sells all this skater stuff."

The detective followed behind the 10-year-old boy, forced to go wherever he wanted for the remainder of the day. 'Skater stuff'? The great L does not look at 'skater stuff'.

"Look at all this, L!" he said, holding up a pair of orange tinted goggles. "Aren't these cool?"

"Erm, yes." He said, missing his finger nail and biting his thumb.

"Ah!" he gasped, squeezing it with his opposite hand. He glanced over at the sound of laughter and noticed a group of about five people, three females and two males, laughing at something. He blushed when he realized they were laughing at him, with his pale skin, droopy eyes, baggy clothes, irregular posture, and now the fact that he'd just accidently bitten himself as a reason.

"Matt, can we go somewhere else for a while?"

"Aw, okay. But can I buy this stuff?"

He held up a black-and-white striped shirt, the goggles, and some new blue jeans.

"Yes. Now let's check out and leave, okay?"

After he'd bought everything for him (it was even more awkward and humiliating since he'd never used a credit card before and the clerk had to show him how everything worked) Matt went into one of the bathrooms to try everything on. L wasn't used to seeing him without his red T-shirt and black sweatpants on, so he had trouble recognizing him at first.

"So what do you think?"

"What--? Oh, Matt. I think you look very… good."

He beamed. "Thanks L! Mello told me last night he was going to look at this place that sells leather and stuff. Can we go see him and Wammy?"

L nodded.

Mello's choice of clothing was slightly more shocking. He'd picked out a leather vest and tight leather pants, and had thankfully decided to keep on his normal solid black shirt and pants on for now.

"Whoa Matt, you look awesome! But look at this." He pulled out two pairs of leather boots and gloves; matching. L frowned, unable to believe that the two of them, especially Mello, could be so stupid.

…

"Roger? Do we have to stay here? Can't you just drop me off at—Oh…" Near was interrupted in his incessant whining at the sight of a huge toy store up ahead. His eyes bugged slightly and he clung closer to Roger's side.

Roger, relieved to see him finally cease talking, asked, "Would you like to go in, Near?"

"Yes, I think so."

Once inside, Near immediately shuffled towards the action figure section. He loved to play with toys—they helped him concentrate when he studied, keep him company when he was sad, and, of course, supplied him with the entertainment that all young children needed. Though at the moment, all he could think about was what he wanted to get.

Two hours later, the two of them walked out. Roger was weighed down with three different shopping bags full of toy robots, dice, playing cards, plushies, action figures, and the like. Needless to say, he was beyond the mere levels of human anger and was teetering into Roger anger. Near took notice, but he honestly couldn't give a care in the world how he, the man that had been partially responsible for making him come here in the first place, felt. Though now he was rather pleased that he'd come up with enough new toys to last him for a few months.

"Do you think we should look for the others now? It's certainly been a while, don't you think?" he asked, smiling to himself. "Although it doesn't seem to have been so long since we saw them last. Time really flies when you're having fun, doesn't it Roger?"

Roger gritted his teeth and nodded in response.

"Good. Though I don't know where they could be… Maybe you—or I, could call them to organize a meeting place in a little while? Before-hand I'd like to maybe look for some replacement pajamas. These are getting too small for me, unfortunately. And are you feeling alright? You look very red."

…

L perked up a little as he looked up at one of the televisions in the electronics store Mello and Matt were shopping in. On the screen was an ad for Victoria's Secret's new line of underwear. He watched as the beautiful models strut about wearing the sexy, black, and lacey things, smiling. The people around him stared with raised eyebrows, some muttering something about him being 'perverted freak'. Most wouldn't have noticed but… he looked like a pervert.

"L, why are you looking at that?" Mello asked, disgusted, "Girls are gross."

L snorted, looking away. This coming from the 10-year-old boy who had just purchased a pair of tight leather pants and kept his hair in the same girlish fashion every time it needed to be cut was to be expected.

He jumped a little when he heard the cell phone's unfamiliar ringing coming from within his pocket. Guessing it was either Roger or Near, he flipped it open and hit talk.

"Hello?"

"L? This is Near. Roger and I would like to figure out what would be a good time and place to meet up again."

"Oh, yes. Let me discuss it with Wammy first. Wammy—!" he added, moving the phone away from his face. The older gentleman was looking through a bin of discounted video games with Matt and came over at the mention of his name.

"Near would like to know when we can leave. The sooner the better."

He sighed. Even he was getting tired of Near and L's whining. "We can leave now, if you'd like. We'll meet at the mall's main entrance."

"We're leaving because Near's ready to go?" Mello said unhappily.

"No, we're leaving because all of us are ready to go. Not including you and Matt."

Mello, who was now joined by his sidekick, scowled and crossed his arms.

…

The car ride back to Wammy's was more enjoyable than the one from it. For one thing, Matt was completely silent as he slowly became addicted to video games. Mello was playing with a Rubik's Cube that Near had already solved about ten times over, and was desperately trying to solve it just as many times before they got back home. He'd already solved it six times, so just five more to go and he'd have finally beaten him at something, and Near silently played with his new robots.

"Hey L." Matt said for the first time in an hour. "Look at this game. It's called Clue. You play a detective who's trying to solve a murder. I thought you'd like it."

L accepted the device. He fiddled around with it for a minute or so and when he was still unable to figure out the controls, gave up and handed it back to him.

"I'll work on this later if you don't mind, Matt."

When they arrived, the other children rushed around the top three students, asking different questions about what it was like and admired Matt's new outfit. L sneaked away to his room and got on his computer to return to the case he was working on. He had to admit, today was a little bit fun. Although the idea of doing it all again made him nauseous.

AN: I'm so sorry for not uploading earlier guys. I guess I've just been really lazy recently. Trust me, you won't have to wait nearly as long for the next chapter.

And in response to the question if there will be any yaoi—Near has a small crush on Mello which will be explored lightly in later chapters. And the only hint that Mello might be gay was mentioned earlier in this chapter. So for the most part, no. I do plan on writing a yaoi companion to this series involving MelloxMatt and LxLight, though.