L x Reader oneshots 1 // series 3 • Death Note

Petty

You were typically a live and let live kind of person. But you weren't immune to the petty joy that comes with karma.

L being a such a good detective meant he could find anyone and everyone that ever existed within an afternoon. Usually, you only ever asked him to do this for case purposes. But as you were using your break time to check social media and happened to see an old school friend post about a trip they were on, you remembered something, more like someONE actually.

Whatever happened to your school bully? The person who made every day hell for you for years? You were feeling a bit nosey so you looked them up, only to find you couldn't find any social media accounts for them. Either they didn't have any, or they used a different name online. This was beyond your abilities, but you knew someone who could get this done for you.

"You want me to find someone you went to school with?" L asked, a little confused.

"Yeah. I just want to see what they're up to now" you replied.

"I'm in case time (y/n), I can't be looking into peoples personal lives outside of-"

"They were my bully"

If there was one thing you'd picked up from working with L, it was that he was just as petty as you were. But he was good at hiding it. The way he side eyed Light and made his life just that little bit harder gave it away. Light deserved it of course, he was a murderer. Anyone else and you'd have told L off for being so petty. But when it was people like Light as people that have wronged you... maybe you'd let it slide.

Unable to resist the petty urge, L turned to his computer.

"What's their name?" He asked.

Telling him their name, and any other details you remembered from school, he was immediately in the depths of the internet looking for any legal documents with the name and brith year and city of your school bully. From there he could find any social media accounts attached to the phone number or email they used so even if they used a false name online, he'd be able to find them anyway. L worked fast, so fast you couldn't barely keep up with the words on his screen.

"Was this a blatant bully or one of those stealth ones?" He asked.

"Stealth. They knew physically hurting me would get them in trouble so they'd just patronise me and play mind games. Made me feel like shit, I hated school because of them" you explained.

"You know I had a feeling you'd been bullied in the past"

What the hell was that meant to mean? You have him a confused and slightly offended look.

"Your behaviours indicate stressors in childhood, nothing that's your fault. You're just scarred by the experience" he added.

Oh... well, he was right. You forgot how good he was at reading people sometimes. His monotonous domineer made it seem like he didn't understand people. He did, he was just bad at expressing it himself. Social cues weren't his strongest point, but he could tell when someone was lying in a heartbeat.

"Is this them?" He asked, pulling up a social media page.

Sure enough, it was the exact person who'd made your life hell for years.

"That's them... damn they got..." you muttered.

You didn't want to mock appearance, especially since you'd been mocked for it before. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder, everyone was beautiful to someone. But it did look like your bully had gotten rather... unkempt. Like life had dragged them through a bush backwards.

"From the looks of these status posts, I'd say they can't keep a partner for the life of them..." L said, slight amusement in his voice.

You leaned over his shoulder to read all the posts. Song lyrics... they were seriously doing the edgy song lyrics posts like they were in year 8 still.

"Oh my gods, we're grown adults..." you snickered.

All the social media activity painted a picture of someone who peaked on high school, couldn't keep a relationship because they were the problem, was still living in their hometown working a dead end job and refused to grow up.

"Oh karma is a cold, cold bitch isn't it? I recall them telling me I'd go nowhere in life and look at me now" you snickered.

"Seeing as you're working for the worlds greatest detective and they're working at a petrol station, I'd say you win in that regard" L smirked.

"They haven't changed at all, they're still talking and posting like we're in year 8..."

You couldn't help but feel a sense of petty joy, knowing that you'd grown into a much more successful and happy person than they were. There was a hint of sympathy, you knew sometimes life just wasn't fair to people and they stayed stuck in their bad times for years. But when it was someone who'd dragged you through hell and back, it was hard to stay sorry for them. This was what happened when you treated people around you like shit, it'd come back on you ten fold. When people grow up and mature, they stop tolerating that kind of behaviour. If you refuse to change and grow up too, you'll drive everyone away.

"They just look mean..." L commented.

"Oh they were. In the exact ways you're thinking too. So much subtle psychological warfare" you replied.

"You're petty, you know that (y/n)? Desperately needing to know this information"

You just have him a chuckle and a playful glare.

"I know. So are you though" you replied.

He was the one helping you do this after all...

"... true. To be quite honest that's part of why I like you. You don't let people walk all over you, experiences like the ones you've had with this person have turned you into a headstrong person" L complimented.

"Thanks, I've definitely learnt not to tolerate bullshit from people like them. Maybe I am a little petty feeling better than them for the way our lives turned out. But a little pettiness is a good thing, keeps you from feeling sorry for yourself ya know? I can be proud of how far I've come, despite what was thrown at me" you replied.

L gave you a proud smile, glancing back at the screen and the pictures of your bully on it.

"If I'd have been in your school, we'd have been friends. We'd talk shit about them together" He chuckled.

"Oh we definitely would have been best friends in school... maybe even more..." you teased.

So you met a little later in life, but that wouldn't stop you from having the vibes of that one couple in the halls who kept to themselves and rolled their eyes at the mean students together. Petty attracts petty, it seemed.