Who Said I'm Too Young!?

☆Chapter One☆

Near's P.O.V

"L's here."

With those simple words my world crashed.

My fingers began to shake, the cardboard puzzle piece fluttering between my thumb and index finger. My eyes widened.

L was here? What was he doing here on such short notice? He had barely left last week, what had caused him to come back so soon?

I took a deep breath. I had to remain calm, especially since Mello was still in the room with me. I looked up at the blond boy, his eyes slanted and mouth as thin as a line. I had to act normal, to do so otherwise would undoubtedly notch me down for position points. After all, this was a competition.

Mello stared at me, a piece of broken off chocolate dangling from between his pale lips. His black eyes were narrowed, yellow wisps of hair sticking to his face. We continued to stare at each other, silently challenging each other as if we were playing some ingenious game.

We were.

"L's mine!" Mello yelled and dashed off, heading out the door. I sat there for a few good seconds before I realized that Mello had taken off to go after L. I couldn't let him do that, I couldn't let Mello be the victor.

"He's not yours," I huffed and walked out through the door towards Mello's direction.

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Why did it make me feel this way? To see Mello's arms wrapped around the slender waist of an insomniac with raven hair? Sure, the picture was unorthodox in itself but none of that mattered to me. Mello was in my territory now. No matter what, I wasn't going to lose to him.

'It's just a competition, surely I can win this,' I thought to myself.

I walked up slowly, albeit casually, glaring at Mello from the corner of my eyes. My fingers came up to curl around a lock of white hair, twisting and twirling as if there were no tomorrow.

"Near," L confirmed. I stood still. What was happening to me? Last week and the many weeks before that, I was perfectly fine when I was around L. Last week and before, it was all a competition; Mello and I versing off to take the rightful position of L's successor. But now, something was stirring up inside of me, a fluttering feeling which I did not like very much. It felt too foreign.

I simply nodded shyly. Mello withdrew his head from L's stomach, quirking an eyebrow in confusion at my quirky ways.

"What's up with you?" he asked, a bar of chocolate twiddling between his fingers as they were still wrapped around L's torso.

"Mello," L said calmly, looking down at him. He smiled at him, his bony fingers coming up to play with the strands of his shoulder length hair.

"Let's begin", he said and stalked off towards the front doors leading into the Wammy House.

I stared after them, my brow furrowing and my frown deepening. Where were they going? My anger and curiosity only fueled when Mello cocked his head to look at me and gave off a venomous smirk, his hand in L's. That truly infuriated me to no end. I didn't understand why, nor did I quite care at the moment but I was starting to feel something that I never felt before; something strange. Why was it that when I had seen L play with Mello's hair like that, it made me...mad? Was it perhaps that Mello now had the advantage to become L's successor?

I shook my head, ridding myself of the thought. I truly doubted it was that, something didn't feel right. All I knew was that I did not like it at all when Mello was that close to L, it should be me gripping onto his waist like that, me burying his face into L's stomach...me holding L's slender hand.

I walked up the stone steps of the orphanage, back within its protective walls. My head hung dejectedly as I neared the door to my room, closing it shut as I set foot inside. My uncompleted puzzle was still lying in an assortment of pieces on the floor. Why did it hurt so much to think of what Mello and L were doing while behind those closed walls?

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Maybe I was so engrossed on completing my puzzle that I didn't hear the creak of the door opening. Perhaps I was so lost in thought and concentration that I didn't hear the padding of feet on the carpet or when a hot breath breathed deeply over my shoulder.

"You're almost done," L's smooth voice erupted, startling me. I dropped the puzzle piece from my fingers and straightened up. L sure did have a strange way of presenting himself, although...the insomniac detective did have his quirks...many quirks.

My breath caught in my throat. L was leaning over me, his breath tickling the hairs on my neck. The sensation was so odd, so strange and unfamiliar...yet oddly pleasing.

"It's your turn now," L said and withdrew from his closeness. I hung my head, afraid of the heat starting to spread onto my cheeks. Why had I thought such ludicrous fantasies when L had said that? I had no idea what was happening, but I was starting to feel very much embarrassed that I would be thinking those sort of things.

It made me wonder about myself; about my capabilities. A mere feeling, a shudder of emotion shouldn't be able to stir me up so. I was the successor in line to L's throne, I was supposed to be prepared, to know everything and anything when it came to troublesome problems. Was this a troublesome problem then?

It didn't feel very troublesome though, oddly pleasing to say the least and rather awkward but not troublesome.

I sat there on the floor, neither of us speaking a word. The silence was so overbearing, so torturous that I was afraid that it would engulf me entirely. After a moment or two, I heard the shuffling of feet from behind me.

I turned my head. L was leaving, he was heading straight for the door, his shoulders hunched and his hands stuffed into the pockets of his tacky jean pants.

"Perhaps another time," he said softly and made to turn the doorknob.

"Uh!" I stood up, amazed at the idiotic sound that I had made. I had wanted to tell him to stop, to stay there with me for a while longer but I couldn't find any other words to voice it off. So instead, I had made such an odd noise that would probably make L think me a gluttonous fool. How degrading.

I walked over to him, slowly at first but then it quickly turned into a fast trot. I grabbed onto L's white shirt, my small fingers wrapping around the fabric; clutching onto it. My face was burrowed into L's abdomen, my white hair mussing against his body.

"Stay," I uttered. I looked up and had to fight from looking back down again. I was always amazed by L's beauty: his sharp features, big dark eyes and messy black hair that would be called "stylish" in todays modern culture.

L knelt down so that he was face to face with me. He pressed his forehead against my own, warm flesh meeting each other.

"Is that what you request?" L asked softly. He stared at me, emotionless voids suddenly brimming with quizzical life. L's penetrating gaze seemed to cut into me, making me fidget in nervousness under his intense stare. L was so close, closer than I would have ever imagined.

I suddenly realized that I had been feeling these emotions all along, had been pining after L like how I was now...although...it was carefully masked previously. I didn't know what those odd emotions were so I had thoughtlessly discarded the new emotions as if they were nothing but trash.

Yet now, as I was faced with my current little stressor...it seemed that it had just been redirected at me, hitting me squarely in the face.

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