#I didn't like that they combined near and Mello. or that to do that they made Mello near's split personality

[darkgodcomplex]

Stolen

Mello X Reader

Chapter 7

You can find chapters 1-6 at:

AO3

Wattpad

Enjoy the story:

You and Near sit across from each other, eating the cheesy takeout pizza over the coffee table. You can't help but glance up at the time. Mello, Matt, Halle, and Gevanni are already at the bar. You wonder what kind of night they're having.

You shake it off, opting to stare at Near instead. He grabs the pizza delicately, gray eyes flicking up to stare back at you.

"Is pizza your favorite?" He makes idle conversation. It's unsettling, in a way.

You swallow your bite of pizza, "No, I just... felt like pizza."

He nods, eating the pizza just as delicately as he holds it, "Have you been liking the headquarters? If there is anything you would like, just ask. It's really no problem."

You feel like he's prodding for something, but you don't know what. That's the unsettling about Mello, Matt, and Near, you always feel like you're being analyzed.

"I've been just fine."

"I apologize to take our dinner into work talk, but I did wish to ask you some more questions regarding Beyond Birthday.”

Ah, so you were right. He is prodding for something.

"Okay..."

"When we arrived in the tent at the fair, you and Beyond Birthday must have been inside for several minutes beforehand."

"What makes you assume that?" He's right, but you know better than to fold right away.

Near's eyes slide to the side, as if debating what to tell you. Finally, he gives a reply, "On the day of the mission we placed a tracking device in your sweatshirt. Just in case anything went awry, of course. It's why we were able to get to you so fast. The tracker placed you inside the tent for several minutes before we arrived."

Ah, you should've suspected something like this.

"What did Beyond Birthday say to you?"

You swallow. Now is your chance to come clean about everything. After all, Beyond Birthday is a murderer, there's no doubt about that. There should be no reason for you to take his side. Yet, there is something nagging at the back of your brain.

Why would he want you to get the inheritance?

Perhaps he is merely lying. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a murderer to lie. Still, you can't help but feel like Near is hiding something from you.

You'll play Near's game, even if you don't have the handbook. "He said the inheritance isn't money." It's not a lie, but it's not the entire truth.

Near's eyes flash with interest, a small smile perched upon his lips. "So Beyond Birthday knows what the inheritance is?"

You nod, "But he didn't tell me what."

Near leans back, absentmindedly grabbing for a toy robot. He moves it's arm up and down as he ponders this.

"What do you think it is?" You ask him.

Near's eyes snap back to you, "I don't know." He speaks honestly now. "It's something I've wondered about for a long time. Before this, I was about 70 percent sure it was money."

"70 percent?"

"Now I would give around 50 percent for some sort of note or letter, around 20 percent for a piece of property, 15 percent for money, 13 percent for a personal object, and 2 percent for something else."

You're not sure you understand where he's getting these numbers from, but he seems pretty confident.

"You think he left me a note?" Perhaps there will be an explanation for everything. Why you never met him, why you're not a part of this great detective legacy, why this is all crashing down on you now.

"Or a diary, I suppose." Near still fiddles with the toy. "Most likely detailing cases he's worked on.”

"I see."

Near leans forward again, "Now, back to the tent-"

There's a ruckus outside the door. Both you and Near look up to see Matt burst through the door, clearly intoxicated. Mello follows him, looking less intoxicated. Leaning on his shoulder is Halle, who looks more drunk than the two of them combined. She hugs Mello's arm, stroking it with her fingertips.

"We've brought the party to you!" Matt slides in next to you on the couch. He's much touchier when drunk, not afraid to sling his arm around your shoulders.

You glance at Mello. Despite his alcohol flushed cheeks, he doesn't make eye contact with you. He looks at Near.

"What were you doing?" He asks, his words deadly sober.

"We were just having a conversation." Nears says innocently. "She was just telling me how much she likes our athletics room."

A lie.

Mello knows this is a lie. His eyes slide over to you. It's the first time he's looked at you in over a week. Just as he's about to ask you something, Matt chimes in.

"Quit being grumpy, Mello." He teases, mocking a grumpy face. "Come sit."

Mello considers it for a second, then obliges. He moves past you, sitting on your other side so that you're wedged between Matt and Mello. Halle follows after Mello. Near gives her a polite nod as she sits on Mello's left. You watch her hand slide onto his thigh, petting lightly. From then on you opt to stare ahead.

Matt ruffles your hair. It feels demeaning. "Ah man, should've taken you with us, would've been funny."

"What's more funny is how you seem to have returned with no date." You quip back, sticking your chin up.

Halle laughs, "He spent the whole night talking to a girl and she ended up going home with someone else."

Matt shrugs it off, "Night's still young, I could still get myself a lady friend-" He prods your side with his finger. You elbow him away and he smirks, "I promise my bed's cozy-"

"Knock it off, Matt." Mello huffs.

Matt raises his palms defensively, moving away from you. "Since when have you cared what I do?" He leans back, throwing his arms behind his head.

Mello rolls his eyes, "You were being annoying."

"Bah, what a lame party." Matt stands, giving a big stretch. "I'm going to go play video games."

"Oh, is that what you call jerking off?" Halle calls after him as he walks off.

Matt merely puts up a middle finger as he disappears around the corner.

"I suppose I should be retiring as well." Near stands, nodding his head at you before walking off.

Now it's the three of you.

You don't know why, but you don't excuse yourself. You fiddle with your hands as Halle strokes Mello's arm and leg. When she sees you're not getting up, she leans towards Mello, putting her lips against his ear.

"Let's go back to my room."

She pulls away, standing up and waiting for him. He doesn't follow.

Mello looks up at her, his face unreadable. "I've got some more work to do tonight.”

Her face falls for the briefest moment before she hardens back up, pursing her lips tight. "Your loss, maybe I'll go visit Matt." She looks at you and a foreign emotion passes over her face before she turns and walks off.

Now it's just you and Mello. He leans back into the couch and you wonder what he's thinking.

After a beat, you speak up, "Thank you for the dog." You say softly.

He looks over at you.

"The plush dog," you clarify, "...the one from the fair."

He shrugs, "It wasn't that hard to get it."

"I know... but I appreciate it."

There's another pause.

Mello sits up, clearing his throat, "You know, I was thinking about your boxing technique. Your jab's not bad, but your hook could really use some work."

You smile, listening to him gently explain boxing techniques to you. As he goes on, he gets more animated, talking with his hands and looking at you for your nods of approval. For the first time, as you gaze into his icy blue eyes, you catch a subtle hint of green.

"Mello." You interrupt him talking about blocking.

He blinks at you, "huh?”

"I would love to practice boxing with you."

You see him turn a shade redder. He keeps his voice soft, "We can start tomorrow then."

When you finally retire for the night, you feel like you're walking on clouds. Mello disappears into his room with a smile plastered onto his face. As you pass by Matt's room to get to your own, you hear the soft sounds of his video game.

In the morning, you wake up feeling refreshed. You bounce out of bed, getting dressed and heading out the door.

You're looking forward to seeing Mello, particularly for your boxing lesson. When you reach the living room, however, you're greeted with the sight of Matt flopped on the couch, Gameboy in hand.

"Where is everyone else?" You ask.

Matt sighs, "Mello and Near went to investigate another crime scene, took Gevanni with them and told me to stay here and watch you. I said why can't Halle or Rester do it, but apparently they had work to do."

You sit down next to him, watching him play his game. "Another Beyond Birthday murder?"

"Apparently." Matt shrugs. "Didn't know who though, it was a fresh case, just occurred a few hours ago. They left just fifteen minutes ago."

"Oh."

Matt jabs one of the buttons, making his digital car turn sharply around a pixelated building.

"Did they say when they'd be back?" You ask.

"Could be hours, who knows."

As you open your mouth to ask another question, the power goes out. The room you're in has no windows. The only thing that illuminates you both is the Gameboy and, even then, it has only enough light for you to see the dark shadows of Matt's face.

"That... is not supposed to happen." Matt stands, looking around the dark room. "We have two backup generators. If there was an electrical outage, they should kick on automatically."

"Did someone... cut the power?" You ask frightfully.

Matt frowns, "Even if someone cut the power, we have building security." He starts to walk away from you.

"Wait, don't leave!"

"Stay here, I'm just going to get Halle and Rester. I'll be right back." You watch the light of the Gameboy fade away until you're left in complete darkness. You can't even see your hands in front of your face. Still, you feel around, trying to find something that might provide some light.

If you had your phone, this would be much easier. Unfortunately, it's currently sitting on your kitchen countertop in your apartment, left behind when you were first kidnapped.

Sitting in the dark gives you a lot of time to think. It feels like ages since you were first kidnapped and taken to the SPK's hideout. Surprisingly, you've grown quite comfortable with the fact that you're a top level detective's daughter.

When this is all over, will you be able to return to your normal life? You contemplate this. Your office job seems so menial now. When you've had a taste of car chases, gun fights, and genius detectives, can you really return to a boring life?

You'll have to. Eventually, the inheritance will be found, Beyond Birthday will be caught, and Near, Matt, and Mello will have no use for you. You will have to return to your office job, your tiny apartment, your...

Your family. Your real family. The ones who raised you, loved you, and taught you everything you know. Your heart aches for them. You hope they know you're safe.

You're not safe.

You're suddenly grabbed in the darkness, pressed back against a taller body. You feel a cold sharp edge press against your throat.

"Now the real show starts."

#fanfic #fanfiction #death note fanfiction #near death note #matt death note #l death note #death note #deathnote #mello fanfiction #mello x you #mello x reader #mello #mello death note #miheal keehl #mihael keehl #romance #x reader #reader #female reader

[my-one-true-l]

Hi, this ask is related to your recent labb post. You said that you didn't buy the notion of L never meeting his successors. I wonder why is that so ? Have a nice day !!! 🌻

Hello Dear Anon. I apologize for how long this took me to respond to. This is up to reader interpretation, but this is why I always thought the successors probably knew L, at least on some level more than the other kids at Wammy's did.

Near's and B's interpretations of L's Looks.

You can argue that there has been gossip and talk of what L looked like among the children at Wammy's, but Near is closely (if albeit a little scary) accurate to what L looks like. That combined with the fact that it's stated in LABB that B looks an awful lot like L makes me think they had to have seen him at some point. Regardless of the fact that B used a ton of makeup to get there, he still managed to pull it off. Even though Beyond's mannerisms are not really like L's at all, you can argue that it's almost his way of insulting L, taking his traits to extreme and almost insulting levels. ("L likes sweets and has a propensity for strawberry. I'm going to eat strawberry jam with my fingers out of the jar!" *sneer*).

This is "as canon as you want it to be" because the timeline can be a bit...questionable here, but There's that infamous scene in Relight 2 when L is giving the "That Monster" speech where someone who looks suspiciously like L is in the group listening to him and a lot of fans like to think that's Beyond. (Honestly, if that is Beyond, the smile on his face while listening to L makes me sad for him. Like, what if he was dressing up like him originally because he worshipped him that much, just before L crushed him somehow?)

I also want to point out how much Near's body language in these panels match L's as well.

Yes, he is prone to sit like that throughout the manga/anime, but I feel like when he's wearing the mask, it seems almost deliberately more L-like.

Near also made a finger puppet of L, which again, not the most flattering interpretation, but still enough to feel like he has seen L in person before. (Please enjoy this panel because it's one of my favorites LOL 😊).

Having one successor get pretty close to what L looks and acts like is enough to convince me that they've met him. Two successors doing so? I have no doubt they've met the world's greatest detective.

The way L Talks about others working with him on the Kira Case.

I know this is to make Light think it would be impossible for him to kill off the entire Kira Task Force (so don't get any ideas of killing these four members Light-kun. There's more out there), but this always felt to me like it hinted at Mello's and Near's existence, like they could be keeping tabs on the investigation "just in case".

The way Mello talks about L and Kira.

Mello and Near knew L was hunting Kira, both knew about the case.

Mello loses it when he finds out L has been defeated, yelling at Roger how L promised he was going to catch Kira (which again...insinuates that they not only spoke to L but that L spoke about the case with them as well.)

These are some of the things that made me think that L had met his successors. Of course this is just my interpretation, but I like the idea that he knew them and spent time with them.

Have a lovely day/night, Dear Anon!😊

#Death Note #L Lawliet #Beyond Birthday #Mihael Keehl #Nate River #Ask #Answer #Anonymous

[alarici]

How do you think fem mello and near would be?

This is connected to my draft post about Death Note and Wammy's house in particular and, like, Gender but as succicint (boys we failed here) as possible I think any fem! version of Mello and Near would be inevitably effected by the setting you put them in. And if this is Wammy's, the particular way you flesh out the exact dynamic there would play a super big role.

Like, of some part of Wammy's itself or some larger structure is enforcing a certain gendered presentation to succeed, I can see Mello adapting to this better than Near. Mello's canon gender presentation is interesting, especially in its multiple contexts, but that's besides the point. If you want a concrete idea of any fem AU broadly, setting aside any other dimensions of gender for now.

I think fem Near would be pretty similar as canon and if forced, do the bare minimum of Performing Girl, and be the kind of woman/young woman/girl in authority that the Rational Bigboys (spk men) masculinize her in their mind regardless of her outward presentation. That sily, "I didn't realize you were actually, like, I _girl_" movie trope but with your super smart boss-who-is-girl. I also headcanon Near is autistic or similar and am therefore interested in how gender would play here. Because all the whimsical and mildly off putting male geniuses in Death Note kind of have this trait as a shorthand for the "asocial norm-breaking" male genius while, if Near were a girl, this may shift. I don't think it would shift radically, but I can see her being punished more for these behaviors as a girl.

For Mello, I think she'd either be much more or much less comfortable with performing more femininity. Depending on both what she's taught to value (or what she's taught helps her survive/win/etc) and any role models she has in this AU, if that makes sense? I can see her going to the side of being a masculine woman because it's how she can get more respect & feel more comfortable OR fem fatale it up as needed/wanted/etc.

Together, I don't think much of their dynamic changes. Growing up in a battle royale of minds populated by hand picked smart orphans is...a wild backstory and any Meronia ideas I think are more compelling because of that system around them than any combination of their genders. I don't see how them both being girls would change any dynamic over time. Besides maybe that they are allowed to/more comfortable with having a more intimate relationship because of the difference in how male and female intimacy is treated?

Sorry if this is too headass. And it got kind of long. I can give more specific and more targeted ideas if the concept is less vague. Or think up my own scenario that is most interesting to me if you'd like.

#anon #is this a setup #ask

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I don’t get why so many people hate the Death Note drama.

I guess I can get it if people only saw the first few episodes, and thought it was going to be a normal Light vs. genius L--because that really isn’t Death Note--but it isn’t.

This Light is/was a genius too, but just didn’t apply himself after his mom died--and wanted a normal life--so it takes him a little bit to become the Light we know from the anime, but he does become that. And everything anime Light does, drama Light does do. They also take a longer time to corrupt him... but I kind of prefer it that way? Because this version of the character made me sympathize with Light in a way I never had before. 

...I haven’t seen the Netflix movie (and probably never will. Thank God), but the general consensus seems to be that it also tried to make Light more sympathetic. But it went about it the wrong way, in making Ryuk the master manipulator and Misa--err, Mia--the more evil one, so that it really wasn’t even Light at that point. I feel like the drama is sympathetic Light done right.

What are other issues people have with this drama? Oh. Light being “ugly”, which he’s not, and L being “hot”. And I guess if this bothers you that much, that’s your choice. But IDK. Adaptations making someone more or less attractive than they were in the source material has never really upset me. All I care about is if I think they’re good for the characters. And for the most part, I think these two are (Light especially. Seriously. He plays Kira so well).

And then people don’t like that they changed L’s mannerisms... which I guess is fair. But for me, L’s mannerisms don’t make L. And they seemed to trade them for similar things (for instance, L’s new weird sitting thing is him jumping into a chair and having his legs dangle over the armrest. And instead of him picking things up with two fingers--and holding them far from his face, because he’s a germaphobe?--now everyone has to be sprayed with disinfectant(?) when they come in to see L now). I guess I’m okay with this, because this is an adaptation where they’re making things slightly different, so people won’t be bored. As I definitely think this is an adaptation that assumes you know the original well, and is trying to find some new ways to surprise you... which I actually appreciated. I guess if I have to mourn one thing of L’s that was lost, it’s probably the social awkwardness. Though it’s still somewhat there, like in L thinking nothing of having Lind L. Tailor die to prove his point, and Soichiro having to chew him out for it.

This adaptation also does more with the Light and L friendship... which I’m personally here for; and I think that’s a good thing to highlight if you want to make some changes, but still stay close to the source material. Because I won’t say it was my favorite thing from the original... but the fact that Light and L probably could have been friends, if things were different, was something I hadn’t expected but enjoyed. And it added a nice bit of tragedy to the whole thing.

I think that about covers everything I’ve heard complaints about? At the end of the day, it’s not my favorite version of Death Note. And I don’t think it should be anyone’s entry point into the series. But if you know the original story well, and are looking for another adaptation to enjoy the story through, I think the drama serves its purpose well. Especially since, as said, I think the drama assumes you know the original, so the few changes that are there can take you by surprise. There are a few changes, but it’s still the same story.

Like, I remember when Shadowhunters came out (The The Mortal Instruments adaptation), and the director, writers, or whoever said that they get to the same points differently, but they still get to them in the end... But I think that statement became disingenuous, and it did eventually feel like an entirely different story from the source material. I feel like it’s true about this drama, however.

Also... remember, guys, that they had a budget and stuff. I’m sure they did well with what they had.

Edit: I’ll even mention that I think it makes sense for this L to be more sympathetic towards this Light. Because this Light wanted to be a cop when he was a kid... but then his mother was dying, and his dad chose a case over seeing his wife in her dying moments (and I mean, to be fair, a very dangerous escaped murderer was on the loose. And I didn’t think Soichiro realized he was squandering away his last chance to see her). And Light is furious about this, because he called his dad so many times and he didn't come. So after this, Light has a bad view of the police and never wants to be one. But deep down, he did--or would have--if this hadn’t happened. So when he gets his hand on the Death Note, the sense of justice he’d always had sadly came out in a twisted way and L realizes this.

#I could for days write how I think this light was actually handled really well #maybe I will some time #also I guess here in the tags I'll mention something I had issues with at first #I didn't like that they combined near and Mello. or that to do that they made Mello near's split personality #I'm familiar with characters being combined in adaptations. like in twilight Jessica was Jessica and Lauren and Eric was Eric and ben #and I get why a lot of times that probably needs to happen and can most of the time even agree with the choice #but I just thought that was a weird way to go about it here. but in the end I became way more okay with it than I thought I was going to be #also... I can get it if some people don't like it because of the acting. because I feel light is the only one who really stands out #even though people who have never seen the drama sadly always hate on the guy because he's not as 'hot' as anime light #when to me he was the best part of the show #but I mean. I could still watch it. I didn't think it was terrible #...okay if I'm being honest I don't know if l was the greatest actor in the world--which is part of the reason I'm sad when people who #haven't seen the drama watch amvs and praise him and tear down light's actor #but I still think he did a fine job. since he's a model and was maybe new to acting at the time? #everyone else was decent too. even though they're not in it that much so probably only decent for that reason