I obviously don't own the series. I should probably be working on my other DN story, but I wanted to try this.

In this one, it's slightly AU, since (other than Mello, I think) none of the Wammy children have seen L. The ages are-
Near: 6
Mello: 8
Matt: 8

"No."

"Near, you have to learn how to swim."

"Actually, I don't. Swimming has nothing to do with solving cases unless I was put in a situation where I was forced into a body of water, in which the chances are slim."

"I see." L pressed his thumb to his bottom lip. He looked down into the the pool. On the shallow end several of the younger kids were learning to kick their legs and tred water. On the deep end even more of the children (who had already learned how to swim) were goofing off, having fun. Across the room on the other side of the pool was Matt, playing a video game. "Near, please follow me."

The two walked around the pool, avoiding the splashes of water heading their way.

Matt was soak and wet, wrapped in a towel, playing a video game. He glanced up at them warily before going back to his game.

"Why aren't you swimming?" L asked him.

"Mello thought it would be funny to dunk my head under water for a full minute."

"Oh, really? And where is Mello now?"

Near looked up at him. What was he doing? He wasn't going to -

"Over there," Matt pointed at the deep end of the pool.

The blonde was splashing several kids while dunking another under the water. Suddenly his arm shot up from out of the water and he looked at it. Another boy surfaced, gasping for air. Snarling, Mello splashed at him as he swam away before jumping on a another kid's back. They both fell under the surface. Mello popped back up, laughing. The other, when she came back up, punched him in the arm.

"Thank you, Matt. You've been a great help," L said quietly, still watching Mello as he grabbed Near's arm, preventing him from running off. "Mello!" he shouted.

Mello twisted around to look at him, surprised. The boy swam over to the side of the pool. "What is it?" He glared at Near, who tried to hide behind L. This was out of character, but Mello hardly noticed. "Does this have to do with him?"

"Yes."

"I'm out of here." He turned to swim away.

"But Mello," L seemed to almost whine, catching the boy's attention, "I thought you would enjoy the oppurtunity to push Near into the pool."

"What?" the blonde asked, stunned. He was going to let him push that annoying freak into the pool? This had to be some sort of trick. Near was supposed to be on the shallow end, learning how to swim. If he drowned of something, Mello was going to be in big trouble.

Near turned to run off again, but was caught by the older man.

"Near's having trouble getting into the water. I figured that, since you don't like him and seem to enjoy physically hurting other children, you would 'help' him," he explained.

Mello climbed up the side, grinning devilishly, apparently forgetting his other thoughts. "Does it matter where he lands?"

L put his thumb against his bottom lip again. "Not really, as long it's in the pool."

Mello chuckled, then lunged at Near as the younger boy jumped away. He grabbed him by the arms, picking him up. The little freak squirmed around, trying to free himself. Mello swung him back and threw him into the pool.

L tilted his head. "I said push him, not throw him. Well, I guess it doesn't matter now."

Mello laughed. Near splashed around, trying to keep his head above the surface, gasping for breath.

"One more thing," the blonde looked at L, "don't let him drown. Either you can help him learn or bring over to the shallow end." L walked away, going to talk to Rodger before he had a chance to punish Mello.

The blonde blinked, comprehending that, and snarled.

"You might want to go get him," Matt commented, not looking up. "I don't think anyone else has noticed him yet."

Still seething, Mello jumped back into the water, intent on ditching the kid the second his feet could touch the bottom of the pool.

In case anyone is wondering, I don't know why I made Near afraid to go into the water.