(Posted September 4, 2010)

Edit: Reuploaded, because somehow, the text repeated itself twice, making the chapter twice as long. Turtle-chan in Blue pointed it out, thanks!

KK: I'm not sure how ASAP turned into "Next weekend". This week has been very busy, since my school schedule has been hectic and ppht. It's not much of an excuse, since I'm sure most regularly updating ff authors here are getting into school as well, so I apologize.

Btw, Dark Miko and I'm sure many others caught it: The last post and much of this was very very closely based off of the now-ended always-awesome show Malcolm in the Middle. Obviously, Reese and Malcolm weren't getting caught making out under the bleachers (well, unless you read the fandom, which is very much lacking in fics by the way!) but I should probably toss out there that I don't own MitM.

Also, there has been talk going around about fanfics and ffnet accounts getting deleted because of their inappropriate nature. If you've read Hari-Aisu's stuff, you'd see she's posted this warning on all of her stories. A lot of this was inspired by her, as well (mostly the goofy stuff :P). Now, I obviously don't think any of the things I write come even close to the other fics in this fandom, maturity-wise, but my well-wishes go out to anyone whose brilliant fic may be in danger of deletion. Just a warning to everyone to back up your work, even if it's as innocent as a strawberry Hello Panda!

This will be the last weekly chapter. I've had a lot of fun doing this, and hope that this has helped me to write a multi-chapter one day. I hope you enjoy the last of this. It's a follow-up of the last update. It's not as funny, but it has a bit of a fluffy end. :)

At the End of the Day

L tiredly closed the door behind him. Today had been a particularly taxing day, with the serial killer Shibuimaru having to kill three more women and children before L was able to get on his track.

He still wasn't able to catch the bastard. He was tempted to stay at the office, since it had once been a habit of his to see things through, regardless to his own self. However, those times were past, and there was actually a home for him now, with people that expected him.

He never thought he'd see this day, but it truly was good to be -

"Damnit, Mihael! Throwing Nate into the laundry machine will NOT get that chocolate out of your clothes! Let him go!"

It was music to L's ears.

Light had already passed by his husband twice before he noticed he was there. "Oh, L! When did you get home?" He set down Nate, who, free from his brothers' grasps, wobbled a bit from dizziness before gathering himself and running into L's arms.

"Daddy!"

"Hello, kiddo," L greeted warmly. "How was your day?"

"It was great! The kids at school were really nice to me!"

L raised an eyebrow at Light, who had rolled his eyes heavenward and mouthed something that looked like – a prayer?

-.-.-.-

"The boys got sent home early from school today. Mihael and Mail couldn't keep their hormonal hands to themselves and Nate was terrorizing the other children into doing their bidding."

"Mmm…" L murmured, watching his husband slip out of his shirt. "Remember when we were like that?"

Light gave him a sideways glance. "I never caused my parents this much trouble!"

L smirked. "If they knew the stuff you were getting into, they would've had heart attacks five times over."

"Which is why I never got caught!" He huffed. "Haven't we taught those boys anything? Vacant public places, for heaven's sake!"

"Maybe they're just more daring than we were," L suggested.

"Are you kidding me? I introduced you to my father." Light flopped into the bed, making the soft Mailress bounce a little. He made a contented sound as long fingers ran themselves through his hair. "How much more daring can a person get?"

"Touché."

Light's eyes traveled towards the bedroom cabinet, where L placed a manila folder.

"How's the case?"

L recognized the skillfully concealed envy in his voice. It had been a while since Light had been in the field, ever since it was firmly established that the younger man was more capable than L at keeping three devil children from destroying the house. Even so, "stay-at-home-mom" was not a position Light ever expected to fill, even though he certainly didn't resent or regret any of their decisions. Light still handled some cases of his own, but if a case ever looked like he might have to get too involved, he would be forced to pass it on to L.

While he knew this of his husband, the dark-haired man also felt some jealousy of his own. He'd had to spend too many hours with fully grown adults whose intelligence didn't even come close to matching even his own sons'. And he always felt as if he was missing out on something whenever he came home to his family, and found out that the children had already been sent to bed and that any adventures they had, Light was too exhausted to tell.

Hell, he hadn't even realized Mihael and Mail had hit puberty until Light mentioned that he had already given the two "the talk". ("What do you mean I didn't tell you?" Light had said. "I thought you'd figured it out when I told you Mihael wanted some money for leather leggings!")

Light had already pulled out the contents of the folder, reviewing the details of the criminal Shibuimaru. He left the victim's pictures behind however. It was another reason Light wasn't so reluctant to curb his progress in a career of criminal investigation. Beyond mug shots and written data, Light didn't have much of a stomach for the more graphic aspects of the career. It didn't make L think any less of the man. In fact, L liked that Light was so easily affected by the wrongdoings of the world, especially considering L had forced himself to build up defenses towards them.

"Speaking of murder cases," L said suddenly, "How's Beyond doing?"

"Killed a handful of forest creatures, caused his commandant to lock himself in a closet for thirty-six hours, and sent four freshmen home crying."

"Wow, that's actually improvement," L said, genuinely impressed.

"Yup. Only two people threatened to sue."

"At this rate, he might be able to walk in the streets without mothers pulling their children away by the time he's eighteen."

At that Light froze, staring up at L with a pale face.

"…What?"

"That's three months from now."

"And?"

Light groaned, and burrowed his head into L's shoulder. "He's almost eighteen! We're old!"

L smiled, amused. "I'm afraid I can't sympathize, love. I'm in the prime of my life!"

Light glared up at him in exasperation. "Lawliet, when we first met, I was fresh out of college and you were three triple-shot mocha lattes away from a mid-life crisis!"

L kissed the pouting face. "Actually, I'm pretty sure you were my mid-life crisis."

Light nudged his husband roughly, scowling. "Oh, thanks!"

At that moment, a muffled screaming rang down the hallway and through their door. Automatically Light shot out of the bed, L following quickly after.

Light opened the door to Mail and Nate's bedroom, where Mail was blearily getting up and Nate was upright, his face red and covered in tears.

"I think he had a nightmare," Mail informed.

"That's because you and your brother keep scaring him with your horror stories!" Light accused, while L picked up the boy, hushing him gently.

"He kept butting in, how else were we going to keep him away?" Mihael protested from the door, having just emerged from the room the parents had forced him to take to help him resist the lure of hormones between himself and Mail.

It took a while, but they were finally able to reduce Nate's pitiful wails to a few hiccups and whimpers. "Are you okay to sleep, Nate?"

The little boy sniffled. "Tell me a story," he pled. "A good one, with robots!"

The two fathers exchanged looks, then shrugged and settled onto the edge of Nate's bed in the middle of the room. "Once upon a time there was…" L started. "… a robot… princess."

"What was her name?" Nate prodded.

L blinked. "Linda," he blurted. "And this is a story about her and her kingdom against the attack of… zombies."

"Zombies?" Mail repeated eagerly, crossing his legs and looking attentive. Mihael took the opportunity to join the redhead on the bed, and use his lap as a pillow.

Light nodded. "And the zombies were spawning by the thousands, forming armies to attack the kingdom of… Legoland." He ignored L's incredulous look. "Anyway, Princess Linda was very talented in the art of zombie-killing…"

It was an hour or so before the three boys were asleep (they elected to allow Mihael to stay in the room, but only for this night). Light and L returned to their room, where Light carelessly brushed the files from L's case off the bed, and joined his husband between the covers.

KK: ... so that's it. El end-o. After this any updates will be unpredictable and probably far apart. I hope you all enjoyed this, and I thank you so much for your support. Here I'd like to pay tribute to all those who reviewed (in alphabetical order).

AnimeDramaMe

Anjeriin Fujioka

CaliforniaHills7

Chrysus

Clashing Harmony

cwilder

Dark Miko - You get a special shout-out for reviewing every damn chapter! (Hugs)

EphemeralEuphony

Fighting Apathy

Fluffysnowgirl

Hikari of the Moon

IamAsimpleReader

Kawaiikitty400

Kazu0

LingKee

Nightimewriter

sunshineonacloudyday

The Awesome Lord Van

Turtle-chan in Blue

I apologize for any typos. And, even if you just favorited/alerted or even just read the thing, thank you so much as well!

Also, I'm issuing a challenge to anyone out there who might be willing to follow up on any of the more abstract ideas that pop up in this fic. If you do come up with anything, please tell me, I'd love to read it!