A/n: ok yeah yeah it's hella OOC but hey, L's a dad here. Being a dad tends to change people a bit because you know, you created life and are raising it. It has an effect on your world.

Hc: L is very sensitive about child abuse having been abused himself. So when his sons best friend shows up at midnight with a bag and bruises he immediately takes him in.

The only light in the house was from the slightly open curtains in your bedroom that illuminated a patch of the bed where you and your husband slept. His arms draped over you and his head snuggled into your chest. He was sound asleep for once in his life. Being the world's greatest detective means lots of late nights and not much sleep, no matter how hard you tried to get him to come to bed.

But it seems the tables have turned, while he was sleeping perfectly you were sill half awake, unable to slip into sleep fully. Maybe it was the light from the curtains, but rule number one of marriage is if your insomniac husband is asleep on you you better not move and wake him up.

You'd been trying hard to focus on falling asleep for a while when the silence of the night was broken by a loud banging downstairs. A knock on the door, one that seemed frantic. L being the light sleeper he is, immediately woke up from the sound.

"Hm..? What's the noise?" He complained.

So much for a full nights sleep.

"Someone's at the door" you replied.

"How late is it?"

You turned to look at the clock, which read just past the stroke of midnight.

"Midnight" you replied, getting up and stuffing your feet in your slippers.

L sleepily rolled out of bed and grabbed his fluffy robe to shield off the cold night air.

"Who's knocking this late?" He yawned.

"No idea"

You both began to head downstairs when you heard the knocking again. Waking up your 15 year old son who opened his bedroom door and turned in the lights.

"What's going on?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

When he was tired was when he resembled his father the most. The two of them are an absolute mess when they're tired.

"Someone's at the door" you said.

"This late?" He questioned.

You made it to the door and turned on the porch lights, unlocking the door and pulling it open. There in the cold night at your doorstep stood none other than your sons best friend, who went by the nickname Ro. They'd been buddies for years, he came over every Wednesday to do homework and play video games. So he was a regular visitor. But something was wrong.

Not only was it late, in the darkness you could make out a black eye, busted lip and bloody nose. On his back was a backpack, his eyes were ready and tired.

"Holy shit- dude what happened?!" Your son exclaimed, immediately recognising his distressed friend.

The two joined in a tight embrace, Ro crying into your sons shoulder. You and L exchanged a worried look.

"T-they told me to leave, so I ran but- but..." he stammered, through a waterfall of tears.

"Hey, come inside. Come sit down" you said, ushering the boys inside and closing the door behind them.

You all went into the lounge room where you sat the boys down on the sofa and handed Ro some tissues, and had L go get ice for his eye. You let Ro cry to your son for a while, just to let it out of his system before you asked what happened.

"I-I'm Sorry, I know it's so late but you were the only one I could think of to go" he sobbed.

"Hey, it's alright. I've said it before if anything goes wrong our house is always open" you replied.

L watched the scene play out, examining it, like he knew exactly what was going on. He was a detective after all, he's probably seen many victims to crimes react like this.

"Alright, calm down you're ok here. But what happened?" You asked.

He took a breath, trying to steady his breathing.

"M-my parents, they. They raged again because I tried to hide from them when they started yelling. But they got to be first and... and they told me to get out and never come back" Ro sobbed.

It was immediately clear this was something that had happened before.

"Dude why didn't you tell me about all this? I would have helped" (s/n) said.

"Last time I told someone they didn't believe me..."

"How long has this been going on?"

He was silent for a moment, hesitant to continue.

"Ro..."

"Since primary school..." he sighed.

"God damnit I'm a idiot-"

You all turned to L, wondering what he meant and why he looked so frustrated.

"I suspected this might be happening but wasn't sure since you boys are both on the sport club and get bruised from games all the time. But I should have put the dots together sooner, the bruises, why we never see your parents, the long clothes all the time, why you sleep over so often..." L rambled.

"Y-you could tell?" Ro asked.

L sighed, getting that thousand yard stare you knew all to well.

"Yeah... it's what I used to do before I was..."

"Honey you don't have to talk about that, I know what it does to you" you added.

"Yeah, dad it's fine-"

"No, I should have acted sooner. I had a hunch but, I just.... wasn't certain. But I should have known... since I was beaten and thrown out on the street like I was nothing too..."

Ro gave him a sorrowful look.

"It's fine really- I'm here now, acting earlier probably would have-" Ro stammered.

"No, it would have done more good than bad. I get it though... I get the hesitation"

"Look, lets clean you up. Then we can figure out what to do about all this. You can stay here for as long as you need Ro" You said.

"Thank you" he weakly smiled.

The two kids went off to the bathroom to clean up all the blood and cuts and put bandaids on them. Leaving you and L to figure out what to do. Obviously you'd be getting the police and CPS involved, but you had no idea what would happen to Ro during this process.

"I'm an idiot" L sighed.

"No honey, you're not. You were right to have suspicions with how passionate those to are about the club games" you replied.

"(Y/n), I know abuse when I see it. I lived it! I should have acted sooner-"

Lowering your voice as to not reveal L's real name in the presence of non-family you grabbed his hands and turned him to face you.

"L listen, I know you get all worked up about child abuse cases. But the fact is he's here now, and we have to make sure he's safe for the time being. I admit I was a bit blind too. I should have connected the dots with the long sleeves and all the sleepovers, but he's here now. That's all that matters. Now, mister worlds greatest detective... how are we going to secure a conviction?" You said.

L paused for a moment, thinking over the case requirements.

"Well we'd need solid evidence. So pictures of the bruises, detailed witness accounts from us, a timeline of events... uh... it'd probably be good to have a psychiatrist talk to him and determine trauma... and any evidence that can be ceased from his home. But I can't do any of the detective work because I'm a witness, they usually don't let witness work on the case as detective because of bias..."

"Correction. Ryuzaki can't work in the case. L can" you smirked.

As long as he was involved in this, there's no way that child would have to end up back in that household. L would never let a child suffer like that, not after the things he's seen.

"Yeah, you're right. God I love you, you know all the right loopholes, you know exactly what to say, you're the best wife anyone could ask for (y/n)" he smiled.

You wrapped your arms around each other, giving him a tight squeeze.

"I love you too. Now let's go win a case" you replied, ending it with a kiss on his cheek.

You both walked over to the bathroom, finding your amazing son putting bandaids in his best friend. Doing his absolute best to comfort him. L always insisted he got his natural ability of caretaker from you, but L's the one with a crazy strong sense of justice here. It's probably a mix of both of you. It created the sweetest, most respectful, kind, helpful boy anyone would ever want as their son.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do" you said.

The boys looked over at you, listening with full attention.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll file a report. That means they'll want witness reports from us and a victim report from you Ro. They'll have to get CPS involved, but we'll offer to have you stay here during the whole process. They'll look into the case, they'll want some like of evidence of abuse to photo record as well as three witnesses saying they saw bruises and blood the night it happened would definitely suffice. Any other evidence that's in your house can be gathered by police. I'm not letting this fly under the radar" L explained.

"But what if there's not enough evidence? What if the police don't care?" Ro sniffled.

"Oh this case isn't going cold on my watch"

"But dad, if you're a witness they wouldn't let you on the case right? Because of bias?" (S/n) said.

"Well, Ryuzaki can't..."

You looked over at L, giving him a frantic look. He was walking on thin ice with that statement and (s/n) saw it too. Ro was just confused as to why you both suddenly got tense when he said that.

"Dad-"

"No, if any case results in this is rather it be this one. Plus, the investigators don't need to know we're the same person. This is for Ro, who at this point is a member of the household" he said.

Ro looked confused. But L just turned to him with a reassuring smile.

"Like I said... Ryuzaki can't. But L can"

"Wait- you know L?"

(S/n) snickered and smiled at his friend.

"Ro- think about it-"

Then it him him. Like a ton of bricks and his tear stained face turned to an expression of shock.

"No-" he said.

"Hey as long as the investigators can't connect me to L and I spin some take about why I'm talking the case, no one will suspect a thing"

The shock turned to overwhelming joy, the kind that made you feel soft inside and brings tears to your eyes. Ro smiled and threw himself into L's arms. Usually L wasn't too huggy with people that aren't you and his own kid, but this was different.

"Thank you, thank you so much..." Ro said.

"No one hurts my babies friends and gets away with it" he said.

"Ahhh daaadddd, I'm 15 not a baby" (s/n) groaned, making Ro laugh.

"Shhh yes you are, your my kid you'll always be my baby"

You giggled at the interaction, just like them. Always play fighting over things like that. Being a dad really changed L. But in a good way, he was still the same monotone, sugar addict you fell in love with all those years ago, but now he knew how to express emotions better.

"Just keep me being L on the down low, I don't need news reporters at my door" L joked.

"My lips are sealed. Thank you so much, you're more of a dad to me than my real one..."

"Hey, as long as you're with us no one can hurt you... I'll make sure of that"