L sat, still mostly underneath the covers on his king size bed. For once, he was not sitting crouched, and had his legs straight out stiffly. It took a few minutes to get them straight again, but it felt good to stretch them out.

It was almost 3 in the morning and he was still wide-eyed; he never had been much of a sleeper, so every night he watched tv until it made him tired. Tonight he was back at the orphanage, so the sound was down low and the voices of the program almost a whisper.

Between cases L would come back to Wammy's orphanage. He wasn't a sentimental person, but this was the only place that felt like home to him. He didn't like people all that much, but it made him all warm inside seeing the other children rushing up to him whenever he returned. A few years ago, they would have looked at him as they usually did, a strange genius not to be talked to. Now he was 17, and almost all the children were at least 5 years younger than him.

The hum of the tv in the background, it occurred to him that one of these children here would have to take after him. After all, being a detective was a dangerous job. His first thoughts were of Near and Mello, the smartest of all the orphans. The carers would always say to him how different they were whenever he came back; Near would actually come and talk, and Mello would take a momentary pause from eating chocolate to listen to L tell them about his latest case.

There was a knock on the door and L started.

"Ah…um…come in!" he called.

The door opened slowly and a little white haired boy peered around the corner.

"Oh, Near! Sorry, did I have the tv on too loud?" L sighed. Near said nothing and fidgeted, staring at his toes.

"Something wrong, Near?"

"…couldn't sleep…" he mumbled in reply.

L chewed his thumb, unsure what to do. "Um…watching tv always helps me sleep. Why don't you watch some tv?"

"…would wake everyone up…" he mumbled. As much as he admired the detective, he was still nervous around him.

"Stay and watch here then," L said decisively, and placed a pillow to his right for the boy.

"Thank you," Near said, and smiled nervously at L.

L flipped through a few channels, finding it inappropriate for Near to be watching the gory horror movie on channel 5 (Near had seen worse, but he was too shy to say so to the 17 year old). He grudgingly settled on Power Rangers, remembering how Near was playing with the action figures earlier. Near's eyes opened wide with happiness.

L sank back into his thoughts again, ignoring the white-haired boy and the noise of the tv, when he was disturbed by another knock at the door.

"Come in," he called again, and glanced at Near. Perhaps Near had woken up one of the others on his way over.

A blonde boy peered into the room nervously.

"Oh, you couldn't sleep either Mello?" L said, surprised.

"Woke up cause I was hungry," he grinned. L smiled, and sure enough the blonde boy was clutching a bar of chocolate.

Near said bluntly "You're gonna get fat, Mello."

Mello scowled. "L isn't fat! And he does nothing but eat!" L blushed slightly at this.

"Um…why don't you just come watch tv too, Mello?" L suggested, placing a pillow to his left for him. Mello bounced into the bed, then groaned "Power rangers? You've seen this one a bazillion times!"

"Have not," Near muttered, not taking his eyes off the screen. Mello snatched the remote and flipped over to another channel.

"Hey awesome! Charlie and the chocolate factory!"

"Give that back! I wanted to see the fight scene at the end Mello!"

Near reached for the remote over L, but grabbed Mello's arm instead and pulled. Mello fell on top of L, and pretty soon L found himself trapped in between the two's fight.

"Hey…um…be quiet now, you'll wake everyone up," he warned, but nothing happened, so he simply covered his head and adopted his usual, protective, crouched over position.

The tug of war ended when the remote control was sent flying onto the floor, landing on the button for channel 7. A detective movie.

All three stared with the same wide-eyes. Here was something they could agree on.

Around 4, the argument between Near and Mello started again, this time over who the murderer really was. Near said it was Mrs. Jameson, but Mello said it was Professor Parkins.

"Honestly Mello, Parkins couldn't have done it! He was there with the others at the time of the murder!"

"That's what you think! How do you know that WAS the time of the murder? They were really vague about it, remember!"

L smiled and laughed softly. They both looked at him.

"L, who's right? Me or Near?" Mello demanded. L sank back into his pile of pillows.

"Neither. It was Miss Prism," he said contently.

The two boys stared at him, and then thought. It all made sense…of course, it had to be her! The tv soon confirmed this and the two boys stared at L with awe. L flicked the tv off.

"Well, I'm tired. I'm just going to get a drink and then I'm going to sleep," he yawned.

As he walked to the bathroom with his mug, he smiled. The two were just like him, really; Near had his shyness, Mello had his sweet tooth, and they both had his eyes, constantly searching for justice.

Like three brothers.

L returned to his bed to find his little brothers curled up asleep. He was too tired to move them, so he collapsed between them and shut his eyes, and hoped he'd never have to pick between the two.

Disclaimer: I own nobody! NOBODY!

Also, this isn't supposed to imply that the three of them are real brothers…but come on, how cute would it be if they were? .