Time Will Tell

Prologue

Alternate Universe: Light gave up the Death Note, and Misa gave up hers as well. The two have no memory of their crimes. L does not suspect them any longer. Mello, Matt, Near, and the others are all alive.

     • Narrator •

The raven-haired man is perched in a black office chair in his own particular, special way. To his right sits a brunette with a sharp jawline and a passion for detective work. The two are silent, but to everyone around them, there is a brick wall of tension between the two.

     They've been battling each other for the upper hand in their relationship, and it's not quite benefiting either of them. They've been bickering over everything from theories about Kira to Light's unfortunate engagement to Misa Amane.

     L is used to feigning total silence, and his apparent lack of reaction is driving Light insane. He wants the pain in his chest to stop, but every time he looks at his raven-haired lover and thinks of apologizing, the pain gets worse.

     But, he's decided to do something about it today. He wants his adorably cynical detective to smile for him again.

"Ryuzaki, is everything okay?" A voice asks after a period of uneasy silence overwhelms the others in the building.

     Light watches L out of the corner of his eye, waiting for the right moment.

"Soichiro, everything is fine," L says, a hint of aggravation in his voice.

     Light takes note of the tone and his thoughts begin to violently crash together. Soichiro nods to himself and goes back to the computer in front of him, speaking to Matsuda about the case every so often. This lack of attention makes Light feel that much worse, and his thoughts of despair turn into thoughts of giving up completely.

After a while of this, Light abruptly stands up and leaves the room. He goes upstairs to the room he and Ryuzaki often share and locks himself inside. A few minutes later, Ryuzaki unlocks the door and closes it behind him.

      He's hardly prepared for what's waiting inside.

"Light, was that necessary?" He asks when he spots the brown-haired man standing by the window.

     As it turns out, Light decided that physical pain was more palpable than emotional pain, so he pried apart a razor and swiftly slashed his arm.

     There he stands in silence, with a bloody razor blade in his hand.

     Once he finally looks at his lover, L notices the narrow stream of blood running down Light's arm and rushes to his side, taking the blade out of his hand as he drags him to the bathroom. Light stares off into space with a blank look in his eyes as L cleans up his arm and wraps the wounds.

"Light, you have to stop this," L says as he takes Light's hands in his delicate ones. "I can't have you running off to hurt yourself when we're fighting. It'll only make it worse."

     Unfortunately, this is the fourth time in three days that he's done something like this.

He nods, numbly, and says, "Why are we even fighting at all, Ryu?"

     Truth be told, that's the real question.

L shrugs, saying, "The last several weeks have been extremely exhausting for all of us, and we've been taking out our frustration on each other instead of talking about it like we should." He presses his forehead to Light's as he continues. "Talk to me, Light. What's on your mind?"

Light sighs and says, "It's Misa, and you, and us."

"What about it?" L asks.

"I haven't broken up with her yet," Light tells him, "And the pressure of having to tell her I'm breaking off the engagement is tearing me apart. I want to be honest with her and tell her that I don't love her, but I don't want to bring you into this."

"Light, tell her when you're ready to," L tells him, and Light's blank eyes start to fill with color again.

Light presses his forehead to L's, saying, "Ryuzaki, thank you."

L smiles and squeezes Light's hands as he says, "Of course, Light."

"I love you," Light murmurs as he kisses the eclectic raven-haired detective.

"I love you too, Light-kun," L replies.

The two men stand together in their bathroom, sharing kisses and sweet nothings as the others work downstairs. When Light gets tired of standing, they move to the bedroom and cuddle up in bed under the blankets. Light is firmly wrapped in L's slender arms, and even though it is normally the other way around, neither of them mind.

     It's been a rough patch for them, but they know how to adapt to each other when necessary. For now though, they lie there in each other's arms, happy to finally share some quiet time with one another