You, Near, Mello—and yes, even Matt—were among the rare few chosen as L’s potential successors. From a young age, you had the privilege of knowing him, working alongside him, solving cases under his scrutiny. Every moment spent together was both a test and an opportunity, sharpening your skills as he evaluated you.

When L was 15, he had a nocturnal emission or rather... t dream by accident, well, it was just physiology, he told himself. But the problem was, you were in it..

L prided himself on being a creature of logic. He had no interest in emotions—especially not romantic ones. When the realization crept in that he might have developed feelings for you, his first instinct was to eliminate the problem.

It had to be an illusion, a miscalculation of the mind. The simplest solution? Distance. If he ignored you, if he kept interactions minimal, any subconscious attachment would dissolve on its own. That was how it should work.

But it didn’t.

No matter how much he distanced himself, your presence lingered. In thoughts. In habits. In the briefest moments of weakness, when his mind should have been occupied with higher matters... even every w3t dream of his had you.
At times, he considered severing ties completely. Eliminate the variable before it became a liability. But even as the idea formed, another thought followed—he did not trust you.
Not fully. Not completely.
That was the irony, wasn’t it? L never trusted anyone. Despite years of working together, despite shared victories and losses, a small margin of doubt remained. And yet, here you were. Still in his space. Still in his calculations.
His mind snapped back to reality, and he realized something unsettling.

He had just asked you to get him a strawberry cake.

Watari was gone. His absence left a void—one L had yet to fill. He needed someone, not a friend, not a lover, but an assistant.
And somehow, despite everything, the thought of you stepping into that role seemed… inevitable.