Mello x Near: Human - Chpt. 3

Finally, at 1.30am, they all went to sleep. Dreaming of L, dreaming of tomorrow.

Near awoke early that morning, to Mello screeching next to the window. “Get up, you two! L’s here! He’s arrived! I just saw him outside!”. “Gaaah, how long have you been there?” moaned Matt sleepily. Mello glanced at his watch. “It’s just past 8am… So it must have been about 1 hour, maybe nearly 2 hours.”. Near licked his lips and yawned, climbing out of bed. “I’ll just go down to meet this L person…” he mumbled. Mello screamed shrilly and clawed at the silver haired boy’s arm. “NEAR!!! Noooo. No way are you meeting him in your… pyjamas!” he scolded. “But… but… I like my pyjamas!” Near grumbled. Mello looked at him, sighed, and then said “OK then, but at least have a wash!”. Near smiled and headed into the bathroom. After 5 minutes, he opened the bathroom door saying “Come on then, let’s go!”. Matt grumbled again, muttering about not being ready. Mello rushed to the door and dragged Matt outside, closely followed by Near.

They hurried down the numerous corridors, not hesitating for anything. All they could think about was being first to see L. First to hear his voice. Near was obviously nervous, and he was wondering what the famous L would be like. Would he be kind? Arrogant? Humble? Would he even want to speak to the small silver-haired child wearing pyjamas? Mello suddenly tensed, and turned his head to look at Near with a reassuring grin on his face. “Hey, it’ll be fine. L doesn’t bite!” Near wondered if the blonde had read his mind. As they neared the hall doors, Near let out a small whining noise. Matt noticed, so he patted the small boy on the shoulder and ruffled his hair. Mello gently took his hand, and held it firmly. The three boys wordlessly entered the hall...

In the middle of the room, there was a youngish-looking guy wearing baggy clothes sitting on the floor, probably aged between 18 and 25. He had a mass of dark hair, and his eyes were lined by dark rings. Near couldn’t help thinking of pandas when he looked at this quite odd-looking person. The figure was surrounded by the children; he had two younger ones in his lap, one clinging to his back and squealing, and an older girl looking up at him as if he were a rock-star or a teen idol. There was a general buzz of energy and excitement, and Near could tell that the person sitting on the floor in front of him was important in some way. But why…?
Mello looked at Near’s confused face, leant over to him and said “That guy is L!” in a way that made him seem like the teenage girl.

As if on cue, L looked up, blinked, and then smiled widely. “Mello and Matt! Wow, you guys haven’t changed at all since last Christmas!”. He beckoned to two spaces on either side of him, and then his eyes paused on Near. “Oh, and this must be… Near? Roger told me that we had a new student.” Near nodded politely, and couldn’t help feeling ecstatic and proud that the great entity that was L had bothered to learn his name! “I think there’s room for one more over here…” said L, and pointed to the floor in front of him. After a long time of L telling jokes and stories, Near began to see why everyone here loved this person. He made you feel joyful, on top of the world. He realised that L made everyone feel that were the most important person in the world, even though there were maybe 100 people in the room.

Soon it was night, and L was thinking of heading to his room to check up on the current case – an incident involving an international cat burglar and a museum in Toronto. He sighed, stood up and announced “OK guys, I think we’ll call it a day.”. Everyone started snivelling, or grumbling, or whining. L looked startled for a second, and quickly said “Hey, don’t worry. I’ll be here for the rest of the summer!”. The room went silent, and then spontaneously, every single person in the room started cheering and screeching. Mello was whooping, Matt was going “Yeah! Alright!”; and Near was just standing there speechless, but with a particularly wide grin on his face. Children started hugging L, wrapping their arms around his waist in a large, hyperactive, squealing, mass of kids. The blonde boy, the redhead boy and the silver-haired boy joined in the unusual group hug. L signalled to stop, and said “OK now, goodnight everyone!”. Mello said “See you tomorrow, L!” and both him and Matt high-fived him. Near shyly whispered “It was nice meeting you, L.”. L replied by saying “Likewise. Hey, come here kid!”. Near obliged, and was high-fived. He giggled, and said “Ummm, is it OK if I can have a hug? I’m sorry, it’s just that…”. He couldn’t finish his sentence because he was promptly wrapped in a gentle hug by his new idol and role-model. “L… I’m going to be just like you.” he thought.

An hour later, the ‘Three Wammyketeers’ as L had labelled them, were all fast asleep. Mello was dreaming of chocolate and of being praised by L; Matt dreamed of being in a video-game with L as the final boss; but Near was dreaming of being L’s successor, for some reason he kept on seeing Mello’s face smiling, laughing, joyful, when he was talking about L. Suddenly the dream slipped into a nightmare, Mello’s cheerful smile contorted into an evil grin. This new Nightmare Mello wasn’t prepared to lose, and would do anything to crush anyone else. Near whimpered in his sleep as Nightmare Mello sneered and closed in on him. “Come on little Near, you know you can’t stop me!” he taunted. Near hoped the nightmare would end soon.