Death Note || Phan

~ Chapter 04 ~

"You'll be fine, besides you can get on with your studies. Wouldn't want to fail those tests now would we?" Phil teased, sticking his tongue out.

"Shut up you meanie, I'll get them done eventually. I just can't believe you're leaving me to rot away for a week." Dan complained and walked into the room and flopping down on the bed. Phil avoided looking in Dan's eyes, he was lying to Dan and he didn't want to ... but he had to.

"I'm sure you'll live." Phil decided on.

"Well ... when are you going?" Dan asked.

"An hour." 

Dan's eyes widened, "So soon?" He asked, looking upset. He never liked it when Phil left, sure he was busy killing off criminals but he still enjoyed every second with his flat mate, best friend and crush. 

"Sorry Dan, I got her message late so I'm leaving early." Dan huffed and stood up blocking Phil's path from the dresser to his suitcase. Phil stopped and sighed.

"Daaaan." He whined but there was a small smile tugging at his lips. Dan smirked and wrapped his arms around Phil's shoulders, halting him in place. Phil froze as Dan's long arms wrapped around him. "What are you doing?" Phil asked, awkwardly hugging him back.

"Stopping you from going." Dan mumbled into Phil's shoulder. Phil grinned stupidly and pulled Dan tighter to him. For some reason he was enjoying the gesture way too much, Dan's body just fit perfectly with his. He rested the side of his head on Dan's hair and breathed in his scent, a reminder of home. 

"I have to go Dan, I'll be back before you know it!" Phil reassured.

"Ok ... bring me back a souvenir." Dan sighed, making Phil chuckle. Dan pulled away but Phil found himself selfishly wanting to stay in the embrace. A wave of confusion washed over him at wanted to feel Dan then guilt. He was lying to his best friend. He quickly shook the thoughts out his head before smiling and picking his suitcase up.

"How about some lunch before I go?" Phil offered. Dan's face lit up, his eyes literally shining. It made Phil happy and a little flutter go off in his stomach. It confused him but it felt pleasant.

"Okay but I'm cooking, I don't want you to burn the house down before you go." Dan teased.

"Hey!" Phil frowned but chuckled anyway.

~

"Why does he need all six of us? He's solved all these difficult cases in the past so what makes this one so different? The way L's been conducting things so far, odds are he's going to send a stand in or a fake to meet us instead of coming himself! It's not like we'd ever know ..." Joe snapped.

"Well it is possible ..." Marcus agreed.

"I believe L, I think we can trust him, and besides I don't really see how we can solve this case without his help." Tim protested.

"I agree." said Jack.

"From the beginning he's been very upfront about the fact that he would need the help of police on this case. Perhaps we should think of it like ... he's been waiting for this to happen all along." Mr Howell interjected.

"Why would he do something like that?" Tim asked, confused.

"There were a number of people on the task force who distrusted L before this investigation began and once we got started we had detectives resigning left and right. Following that, classified information was leaked, so I'm not surprised that he didn't trust us."

"In other words, he was waiting for the task force to narrow down only to those investigators he could trust, and to do that he needed to weed out anyone who wasn't totally committed." Joe concluded.

Marcus frowned, "If we're working with that guy I'm leaving the task force! You don't have to worry, I won't try to follow you, I'm not interested in finding L." He snapped and walked away. The others watched him leave before Alfie spoke up.

"Well I think we can trust L so Id be willing to co-operate with him on this investigation." 

"Count me in." Joe agreed.

Mr Howell nodded in understanding. "L said he would be changing hotels every few days from this point on. He says that we should think of the hotel room as the temporary head quarters for now. We all have to be outside his room at 6pm. He also said to come a separate times, possibly in pairs so no one gets suspicious." He explained.

Mr Howell and Tim went up first, followed by Joe and Alfie, then Jack all ten minutes apart until they were all outside L's hotel room door.

Mr Howell gulped and smoothed back his hair before knocking firmly on the door. Not only a minute later did Jim open the door and looked every one over. "L had asked that he have a private word with Mr Howell before meeting the rest of the task force." He explained. Everyone looked at each other, confused before nodding. 

Mr Howell held his breath and walked through the door that Jim held open. He continued through a narrow hallway then into a large living room with a window over looking the city. L was looking out the window, back facing Mr Howell. He could make out a mop of dark hair until they turned around, blue eyes staring into his soul.

"Hello Mr Howell."

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~HelloAnonymousWriter~