Time Will Tell

Chapter Five

     "Good morning, Dad," I say as my dad gets settled in at his computer.
He smiles, saying, "Good morning, Light."
"How's mom?" I ask as he sips on his coffee. "Have you told her yet?"
He shakes his head, "I'm going to wait to tell her about Ryuzaki. She's still in denial that your engagement to Misa was broken off, and your sister didn't take that to well either."
Dammit.
     "I'll talk to Mom soon," I tell him as Ryuzaki joins us in the main workspace.
     "I'm sure that she'll understand as long as you tell her the truth. She misses you, Light," he tells me.
     I nod and sigh, saying, "Don't worry. I miss Mom too."
     "What happened?" Ryuzaki asks as he perches himself in his chair, bent in the strange position he's normally in.
     I brush his hair out of his eyes, saying, "My mother, unfortunately, is still upset that Misa and I broke up. But, my dad and I are more concerned with the fact that she doesn't know you and I are a couple."
     "I see," he says as he fidgets with the hem of his shirt sleeve.
He hardly ever fidgets.
     "When you have some free time today, Ryu, I need to ask you some questions about the case," I tell him as nonchalantly as possible.
This is one of our codes for meeting in secret during work hours. We're to meet each other in our bedroom at precisely 11:52 A.M., but he is to go there at least five minutes beforehand so we cause less of a distraction.
     "Of course," he replies, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
     Whatever it is, he's able to work through it, but his fidgeting is unusual. He's not the type to do anything even remotely similar to fidgeting.
     I work through the next several hours without a second thought, but when I look up from the computer in front of me and find that Ryuzaki is nowhere to be found, I finally look at the clock.
11:50 A.M.
     I save my work and push my chair away from the desk. Then I stand up, grab a bottle of water, and head for the elevator. Once I get in the elevator, I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.
     The text message reads: You'd better not be late, Light.
     I smile and put the phone back in my pocket as the elevator doors open and I step into the hallway leading to the apartment L and I share. When I reach the door, I type in the code, let it unlock, and then step inside. After closing the door behind me, I find my boyfriend perched on the edge of the bed with his back turned to me.
He's looking outside.
     "Hey, Ryu," I say as I shrug off my suit jacket and set it on the chair by the door.
     I also kick off my shoes and loosen my tie a bit.
     "Hello, Light," he replies, almost too quiet for me to hear.
     I climb onto our bed and rest against the pillows with my arms held out to him as I say, "Come here, love."
     He crawls into my arms and rests his head on my chest, saying, "Thank you."
     I kiss the top of his head before asking, "Will you tell me what's bothering you?"
     His jaw tenses, then relaxes.
     After a moment, he says, "I want to marry you, Light."
     "How is that bothersome?" I ask him as I run my fingers through his hair and hug him close.
     "I've never felt this way about anyone and, quite honestly, I'm terrified," he tells me. "The first person I developed feelings for was you, the first person I ever kissed was you, the first person I ever had sex with was you, and the first person I ever fell hopelessly in love with was, still is, and always will be you. I keep waiting for something to go wrong, for someone to do or say something wrong.  But, you take my breath away by how devoted you are to loving me. You won't allow me to feel pain, and I admire you even more for that because all I ever felt before was pain. It was dark and lonely without you. Now that I have you, I don't want to lose you. I don't want my world to grow dark again. I want you, Light. I need you here."
     I wrap him up in my arms and pull him on top of me, making sure that his face is in my hands as I smile and say, "Oh, L, you're beautiful. You amaze me every second of every day. I love you."
      "I love you too," he says, right before I pull his lips down to mine.
     We share a tender, passionate, lingering kiss, and then L moves off of me and curls up in the blankets. He pages Watari and asks him to dismiss our fellow detectives. When asked why, he tells Watari that he's staying in with his sweetheart.
     Seeing that my love has decided to take the remainder of the work day off, I go into boyfriend mode. I change into sweats and a tshirt, put together a few cups of tea, and bring a stack of movies to our bedroom. While Ryuzaki ponders over which film to watch first, I talk him out of his jeans and get him into a pair of sweatpants. Then, I kiss him on the cheek and wait for him to put in whatever movie he dejected. Soon after the movie starts, I hand Ryuzaki his cup of tea and put my free arm around his shoulders.
     He intently watches the film as I play with his hair and sip on my cup of tea, but by the time we get to the end of the third movie, I'm completely asleep. I wake up to find L curled up into an adorable ball of little cat-like snores, and I can't help but think of how cute he is.
     Then, I get an idea. Last night, he told me that he wanted me to propose when I felt I was ready. While I'm not sure of the corresponding reactions our fellow detectives will surely have, I am sure of my relationship with L. I want him in my life, as whatever he chooses to be, and I want him to know he's not alone. I want tonsure together a semi-public proposal, full of cliches and heart-shaped balloons. I want him to feel every single emotion I can possibly get out of him, and I want him to finally understand that when I tell him "I love you," I truly mean it - even when it seems too good to be true, or too surreal to believe.
As I watch over my sleeping lover, I reach for my phone and text Matsuda for help. I plan on starting tomorrow off with one hell of a bang.