He'd never had to take care of kids before, but here he was having to help take care of three.

Before him sat three little boys ages 6-8. The oldest was Mail, who the orphanage dubbed Matt. He was an energetic redhead with freckled cheeks and a striped shirt a bit too big for him. His knees were bruised from playing outside, and he'd lost a baby tooth recently so his smile had a little gap in it.

The middle child was Mihael, otherwise known as Mello. He was a fistey blonde who seemed a little easily aggravated. He needed a bit of a hair cut with his once shoulder length hair now growing split ends, the foster home he was in before clearly hadn't thought to fix that. His eyes were striking, bright blue with an aggressive stare. Despite his short temper, he was already getting along very well with Matt.

And the youngest, Nate. Near is what he'd be called. Quiet, but very well spoken for his age. Childish with his love for toys a little more than usual for kids his age, but able to solve hard problems in a matter of seconds. He didn't have the best social skills, and the staff who'd helped in transferring him here even thought he had selective mutism when they first met him because he was just so quiet. He was small, had soft white hair and refused to take off his socks.

L could see the neurodivergency in him already.

It became clear why the boys were transferred here as soon as L met them. They were intelligent, but had some mental health problems that needed extra attention. And wammys was the perfect place for that specialising in gifted kids who needed some extra emotional help. Most kids at wammys had come from unstable homes and carried a lot of trauma with them. Upon reading their files their backgrounds told L that was the case for these boys as well.

Poor kids. Not even a decade old and already having to carry the burden of trauma, not so different from L's childhood really.

Maybe that would help in forming a more meaningful connection with them.

"Alright, now that you know where everything is I want you to meet L" Watari began.

The boys looked up at L from their place on the play mat in the playroom. L must look like a super adult to them being so tall... even with that slouch of his.

"He's going to be helping take care of you. He was bought here as a kid about your age as well so he'd been here a long time and knows everything about this place. If you have any problems during the day come and find him, if it's something he can't help you with then he'll take you to me. If you need help at night come to the front office ok?" Watari explained.

The boys nodded, all of them understanding the general idea of the orphanage pretty quick.

"Alright, I have some paperwork to fill out so I'll leave you to it" Watari said.

"Dad-" L whispered under his breath.

"You'll be fine"

Not giving him the chance to speak further Watari left L with the boys. And very confused too.

"Alright uh... hi. Look I'm going to be honest this is the first time I've had to help look after kids so I'm not sure what I'm doing but... I was in your position once and I know it's not very fun so I'll try my best" L explained.

May as well be honest right?

"L as in the super detective that's all secret and stuff?" Matt asked.

Should have known these smart kids would figure it out pretty quickly.

"Yes, and of course that means you have to keep that a secret ok?"

Matt nodded, looking exited to meet a detective. L trusted them with the secret since they were wammys residents now, they wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.

"So you've like... seen dead people and stuff?" Mello asked.

Well... definitely a dark question for a kid. Then again these kids have probably seen some shit in their days.

"Yes, it's not very nice but it's part of the job"

L sat down on the play mat with them, seeing this was going to end up a conversation. Maybe a case story time.

"How many bad guys have you caught?" Matt asked.

"Uhh... at this point I've lost count but lots" L replied.

"Even super villains?" Mello added.

Well... you could definitely call some of the brutal murders he'd solved the work of a a super villain...

"Maybe not a super villain with powers but some very very bad people, yes"

Matt and Mello seemed rather enthusiastic given their situation. Bouncing around holding homes until getting a proper spot in an orphanage is stressful for a kid, especially ones who've come from bad places like them. Despite all that they still seemed energetic and full of wonder. Near on the other hand, just sat there silently and listened.

"Do you go on spy missions with top secret weapons and stuff?" Matt asked.

"I've been undercover a few times, but I'm not a spy just a detective so I haven't done any crazy missions. Worn a few disguises though" L explained.

"With wigs and costumes and hidden weapons?" Mello added.

"Wigs yes, costumes kind of and weapons... I mean I had a taser one time..."

The two older boys felt like they were meeting a superhero or something, being a detective seemed so cool and glamorous to them. Like it was something from a movie where the good guy beats up bad guys. It was pretty cute, L would admit that. He was never too fond of kids, but wammys kids had a soft spot in him as he was just like them once.

While Matt and Mello existedly asked questions about being a detective, and getting all hyped up over the fact one was going to help take care of them, Near sat quietly and just listened. L noticed, but since he'd read in Nears files that he was a very quiet kid he didn't think much of it. He was like that too.

It wasn't until the youngest noticed the string around L's neck that was tucked under his shirt that he decided to join the conversation. Wordlessly he reached up to L and pulled the string out of his shirt to reveal the shell on it. L was a bit confused at the sudden action but Near being a kid, he just chalked it up to curiosity.

"That's a calico scallop" he stated, looking at the shell.

"Oh... yeah it is. I friend gave it to me" L explained.

"I've never seen one that colour before..."

"It's uh... a special shell"

Couldn't exactly say it was from a magic land and a siren gave it to him now could he? He was still exploring the land himself so he wasn't about to let anyone in on the secret. It was pretty impressive a kid that young knew the different types of shells though, maybe he grew up by the beach before becoming an orphan? Or maybe he was just that smart for his age.

Near let go of the shell and let it dangle on the necklace around L's neck, sitting back in his spot.

Near was definitely a curious kid, just a rather shy and quiet one. Something told L that he'd be up in the library like all the other kids that fell into that category.