lifetime /// deathnote

Chapter One

Matt-

"Yo, thanks for escorting me, Watari," I said to the older man walking beside me. I put a cigarette between my lips and lit it, inhaling slow and exhaling smoke. "I get lost on my way to the mailbox."

"That's most likely why L asked me to retrieve you, Matthew," Watari replied easily, not looking at me as we walk down a long corridor.

"Dude, can you cut the 'Matthew' crap? That's not my name."

"I'm aware."

I scoffed with a smirk. "And some people say the elderly are the kindest."

"Hm. I wouldn't know. Perhaps we should ask Roger."

I laughed as he smiled a small bit, and then he opened a door and instructed me to go in. I strolled in with a head nod and looked around, pulling my cigarette out of my mouth and whistling high and slow.

"Some place you got here, man," I said in awe as I walked into the headquarters. I smirked, taking a drag blowing smoke out in a curling cloud around me. "This place is huge."

"It was designed for the entire Kira Task Force to work comfortably while we made advancements on Kira," L said as he came in with three other men - is he handcuffed to that one? - like it was plain logic. "If it were small, there'd be no way we could ever get anything done."

I stuck my hands in my vest pockets and looked around a bit more. "Makes sense. I hate cramped spaces."

L sighed. "Well, trust me, Matt, no matter if you were one of my possible successors or not, this building wasn't made solely with your opinion in mind."

I shrugged. "I'll talk about it like it was, so it might as well have been." I acknowledge the other three men with a nod. "So. Who's the dream team here, huh?"

"Oh." L motioned to the man to his left, a young-looking guy with black hair and kind eyes. He had slight laugh lines and under-eye bags, but he looked good. "This is Matsuda Touta. He's a very dedicated yet very dense member of the Task Force. Treat him like you'd treat a child and you'll get the farthest." He motions to the men to his right and jingles the chain of the handcuffs he wears, an older man with salt-and-pepper hair and basically the younger version of himself, who was on the other end of the chain by the other handcuff. Older guy's son, most likely. "This is Soichiro Yagami and his son, Light. Address them both with respect and we'll all get along fine." He paused for a moment before crossing the room to me, bringing Light along with him, looking me dead in the eyes. "I believe we should go somewhere a bit more private in order to talk about the situation at hand. But before we start, any questions?"

"Um..." I pointed to the chain that tethered Light to L. "Why are you chained to Zac Efron?"

"He's a possible Kira suspect. I needed to be able to keep an eye on him at all times. This was my best solution."

"Um... alright. Question two. Does he- do you- are you attached even when you go to the bathroom?"

With a grunt, L grabbed my arm and pulled both me and Light along, eliciting a surprised yelp from me. After dragging me into the room and making sure Light was also inside, he slammed the door shut.

I made my way over and plopped down on the couch in the room I blew smoke out of my cigarette. L sat down on the couch across from me Light sitting next to him.

"So Matt..." L said bringing his thumb to his lip.

"Yeah?" I said slight nervousness settling in

"How would you describe Mello's positive relationship with Near?"

"In a word? Nonexistent." I replied L grimaced

"I was afraid you'd say that. Explain the relationship they do have."

"Mello despises Near with every fiber of his being."

"Do you know the reason as to why?"

"Mello has never come out and said exactly why. But I have some suspicions on what it might be with what Mello complains about Near doing- or not doing in this case"

L looked confused for a second. "Explain."

"Near is at the top of the class. Mello right below him. Mello tries so hard to be at the top. To be better than Near. But he always falls short. But according to Mello it doesn't seem that Near tries to get where he's at. It seems that he is naturally great at everything. That frustrates Mello. Cause all the hard work he does is getting him nowhere."

"Yes, I can see how that might annoy him." L said looking down in thought

"If I hadn't of seen it for myself. I wouldn't have guessed they were soulmates. They are polar opposites." I said blowing smoke off to the side

"This is proving to be a very difficult task." L said.

"Not to mention since I'm not there who knows what Mello could do. If Near says something meaning nothing by it with how much Mello hates him. I don't know what he will do. And I'm not there to hold him back." I stated

"Well let's hope nothing like that happens" L replied.

"Okay, since I can't go anywhere without L I would like to know what the situation is here." Light said I looked over to him then to L who nodded

"Okay. Me and L are trying to figure out a way to get my best friend Mello to get along with someone else at Wammy's House. Cause they absolutely hate each other"

"Why do you need them to get along?" Light asked

"They're soulmates." L replied

"Well how do you know they are soulmates?"

"Every kid at Wammy's House has this one person that they trust. It was Ls idea that we do that. Me and Mello are each others best friend I know his real name and he knows mine. No one else besides L knows our names. Also saying that I am Mellos best friend I also know the name on his arm."

"Okay. I'm with you so far. But how do you know that the name on Mellos arm is Nears real name?"

"I'm getting to that." I said blowing out smoke. "I have slight insomnia. Not as bad as some other people at Wammy's but enough to where some nights if I'm not paying attention I'll stay up all night and not be bothered about it the next day. One night I was staying up. I was playing my game and the time just slipped right past me. I got up to just walk around and get some fresh air. When I walked out of my room and down the hall I saw Near in the main room building one of his puzzles. It was when he turned the puzzle upside down to start over is when his sleeve fell down and I saw part of the name curious, I went over to him. Near doesn't have any problem with anyone but he is aware that Mello doesn't like him. And he also didn't care about who knew his soulmates name or and who didn't so I asked if I could see it he shrugged and showed me. Obviously I didn't say anything about the fact that I knew who it was I just simply commented on the name and just sat there and talked to him for a while. I discovered that even if he never shows it he's secretly can't wait to meet his soulmate."

"Huh. And you said Mello hates Near?" Light said I nodded

"Absolutely despises him."

"We need to get them to get along at the very least" L said

I nodded agreeing. "It's not going to be easy."

"No, it is not." L replied. "Well no time to waste. Matt tell me all you know about both Mello and Near. And how they feel about each other."