Beautiful Liar || L. Lawliet X Reader

2. Deceit

(A/n): Song- 'Neverland' by Prismo.

{ 21: 00 – San Diego, CA }

Three days later, and my downtrodden apartment was all cleared out, and with it five years of distant memories. Now, all I have left is two black suitcases suitcase and a kennel where the love of my life, a beautiful black cat named Kuromi, dozed.

I smiled fondly at the sleeping Kuromi. She was the only thing I truly loved, despite being a simple housecat. We've stuck by each other through thick and thin. With her, I don't have to bother with anything like loneliness.

I'd been practically radiating with excitement ever since I woke up, humming for the hourlong taxi ride to LAX, all the way through security. I've always liked airports for some reason. I'm drawn towards it's bustling atmosphere. I happily shoplifted a thriller novel and some snacks, then waited at my gate for the plane. L was kind enough to give Kuromi and I first-class seats, making me feel rich and important even though I was dressed rather trashy, with an oversized black windbreaker, torn jeans, and old combat boots. I smiled to myself and looked out the window contentedly as the plane took off, a feeling that never failed to exhilarate me.

Now, you might be wondering to yourself, why am I so excited to be working to solve some dumb mystery that halted an otherwise content life? And I'll be honest — I couldn't care less about putting Kira in prison or seeing 'justice' served. My only goal is L.

What a person! The infamous, world-renowned, iconic detective responsible for putting more criminals in jail than any other individual detective combined. No one even comes close to him. He operates on a completely different level of understanding, wielding enormous power over international law enforcement. And that guy owes me not just one, but two favors. Imagine the possibilities?

I stand to benefit from associating with him. It's simple networking: the more powerful people you know, the more powerful you yourself are. But in this instance, I'm not seeking social standing — just a fun time.

Often times in my life, I'm referred to by colleagues as a 'manipulative cunt', because I have a fluid personality that changes with whoever I'm talking to, and I like to use and take advantage of people by using the fact that I'm short, small, and people can't help but underestimate me. My face and frail demeanor are my weapon. I come off to most as a harmless and aloof, easily taken advantage of when in reality, I'm the one taking advantage of them.
At Wammy's House, all of the adults and almost all of the kids loved me, which was how I was able to breeze by while other children struggled below me. I intentionally never gave my best effort, and I was never actually pushed like they were. Not to be too narcissistic, but I'd day I performed quite well.

Now that I'm older, the ability to manipulate people and exploit human empathy has gotten me out of countless sticky situations, allowing me to lead the life I do.
I'm not a psychopath, and I don't have malicious intent. It's just how I've always operated. I'm a hedonist. My person philosophy is, as someone with only so much time to waste on Earth, I shouldn't waste it having a boring one. If I'm gonna be stuck here for 70 or so years, I might as well have fun, right? So that's what I've done. Running to America. Smuggling. Manipulating people. Never getting emotionally attached to those who only tie you down, and using others as tools to tinker with.

I dropped my old life in an instant to work on another continent and solve a case that I knew could easily kill me. All for fun, for the sake of entertainment. Nothing else really matters at the end of the day. I'm the kind of person who would sell my soul if it gave me a good enough rush; burn in flames for kicks. The epitome of a phenomenon demonstrated in noice psychological studies — a person stuck in a room with a live wire will eventually electrocute themselves out of boredom. I just happen to be easily bored.