AN: alright, hey. this is just some short little thingy i came up with one night when i couldn't sleep, so sorry if it's kinda bad. i just whipped out my ipod and started writing.
established naoto/kanji, implied chie/yosuke, rated T for infrequent cursing.
Kanji fumbled around in the dark, looking for his house key.
"Damn," he huffed, patting hands over his pockets. He placed one over his right jacket pocket, making sure something that wasn't his key was there. He felt the small box which he had left his home so late to pick up. He hoped Naoto was asleep.
He shoved his hand into his other jacket pocket and felt for his keys. Once his hand recognized the small metal trinkets, all connected loosely by a wire loop, he pulled it out and slowly unlocked the door, trying to make as little noise as possible.
Cautiously, he opened the front door. A slight creaking sound broke the deafening silence as he slowly opened it. He winced, hoping that he was the only one who could hear it. He looked around, and after seeing that all the lights were off, gave a sigh of relief. He turned back around to quickly close the door.
He gave a push much more gentle than the last, hoping the creak wouldn't be as loud. It wasn't, thank God, but getting the door to close and lock without a sound, Kanji knew, wouldn't be as easy.
With a sudden knock of wood against wood and a piercing twist and click of lock and key, Kanji exhaled his held breath. He was safe, for now- or so he thought.
There was another sudden and piercing click, but it wasn't from the door in front of him. The lights of the living room suddenly flared on, leaving Kanji blind for a few bewildering seconds. His heart began to pound. He whipped around, seeing the only person he hoped he wouldn't, seeing the only person it could have been.
Naoto was standing, or more leaning, against the wall; next to the light switch. Her arms were crossed across her chest and her eyes serious- never a good combination, Kanji knew.
Shit, act natural, casual, Tatsumi, Kanji told himself. "Uh, haha... Hey...," Kanji pushed out. It was a bit more awkward than the casual that Kanji had wished for. "Er, you almost gave me a heart attack there, Naoto..." Fuck, that really didn't help. He inconspicuously brought his hand over his right jacket pocket, feeling the outline of the box, as if it would give him some false sense of comfort.
Her piercing gaze was still serious. Yeah, that really, really didn't help. He suddenly shifted his gaze downward after meeting with her sharp look. She was tapping her fingers on her arm; really not a good sign. "What are you doing?" She asked, her eyes narrowed and her head giving a confused shake.
"I- uh," Kanji raked through his mind for an acceptable response. "I didn't wanna, uh, wake you up or anything..." He gave an awkward cough. Real smooth addition, dude, he scolded himself.
"Oh." She looked down, her eyes still narrowed and her arms still crossed. She wasn't buying it, Kanji knew. From all their years of living together, he could tell at least that much. Seemingly, after some thought, she looked back up at him, with a new question.
"What were you doing? Before you were sneaking- or at least trying to sneak into the house." He could tell that she was trying to make it sound like she wasn't wasn't interrogating him. Sure, she was an ace detective, but after so many years of dating, Kanji could tell the difference between when she was trying to sound casual and actually being casual.
"Uh, you saw my note, right? The one that said that I'd be out with Yosuke-senpai for the night. That one." He pointed to the direction of the kitchen, where he had left the note, along with a bento he had made for dinner when Naoto came home from work. He made the various items into the shape of a giraffe. She always liked it whenever he made boxes with animal designs, so he often made them- just for her, though.
"Oh, yes. The note." Still not convinced, he knew. But that was probably one of the few cons against the many pros of dating someone as perfect as her: never being able to convince her to believe something that wasn't the truth. She was either too smart to fall for a lie like that, or just too damn lucky and came across something that would contradict whatever excuse he came up with. Fortunately, or unfortunately- whatever, Kanji didn't know; he was still caught either way- it was the latter.
"Look, Kanji," she started. Oh, hell no. She really did find out that the note was a fake excuse. She pushed herself off of the wall and took a step towards him. "You know that I trust you, right?" Her eyes looked straight into his. As much as he wanted to look away, he couldn't. Ah, yes. The wonders of dating someone as beautiful as Naoto; being unable to look away despite how much you want to.
"I mean, I love you, for crying out loud," she said. "We both know that. I love you, and I trust you, and I know that you would never do anything awful behind my back. And God knows how many times you've told me that you loved me,"she added. Kanji thought he could see a small smile showing through her panic after that comment. "But," she started, and then she paused. "Look, I called Chie-senpai earlier tonight."
Kanji's stomach dropped. "I wasn't snooping on you or anything," she explained. "I just thought that, well, if you and Yosuke-senpai were out having fun she might appreciate a call or something. We talked, of course, then she asked me why I had called her, not to be rude or anything of the sort. I told her that I thought she might have appreciated a call, since, you know, you and Yosuke-senpai were out." Naoto looked down.
Kanji just wanted her to stop talking. He wanted to come up to her and tell her the truth, the entire truth, but no; he couldn't. If he did, his plans would have been ruined, not that they weren't already, though. "She found it odd, what I said," Naoto continued. "And I found it odd, too, after what she said. She told me that Yosuke-senpai was with her, already asleep in bed, as a matter-of-fact."
Forget falling, Kanji's stomach just turned itself inside out, if that was somehow possible. He made a note to himself to let the people he was using in a plan, well, in on said plan.
"So," she began once more. She exhaled and looked back up at Kanji, her eyes seemingly full of forgiveness. "I'm not going to ask you what you were really doing, I just want you to know that I trust you- and love you enough to know that you wouldn't do anything behind my back that would hurt me." She paused again, looking for something else to say, or maybe an answer from Kanji himself.
She shook her head. "I'm-," she gave one last breath. "I'm going to bed."
Kanji couldn't- he really couldn't. He couldn't let her go like that. He loved her, too. He loved her as much as she loved him, if not more, and he really couldn't stand to see her go like this. It was almost as if she was guilt-tripping him into spilling whatever she wanted to know, but even if she was, Kanji still loved her too much to let her go.
"Naoto- wait," Kanji called, bringing his arm up to reach for her. She turned around, her arms crossed again. His heart was pounding in his chest.
He exhaled and looked down, bringing his hand back down to his side, reaching over his right jacket pocket. "I guess now's as good as a time as ever," he muttered to himself with another exhale. He felt the outline of the small box which had caused so much controversy and moved his hand into his pocket. He brought one of his knees down, kneeling. He felt the small black box inside his pocket and gripped it tightly.
Naoto's eyes were full of confusion, shock, and possibly even disbelief. The box was taken out of its hiding place in Kanji's pocket and brought out into the open. "Naoto...," Kanji started with hesitation, "Shirogane..." He felt as though his heart was going to leap out of his chest.
"Would you do me the honor," he began slowly, his gaze shifting downward. Blood was rushing into his face. He slowly opened the small black box, still unable to believe that this was really happening; that this was really a thing that he, Kanji Tatsumi, was doing to her, Naoto Shirogane, in the late hours of the night.
She focused her attention on what was inside the now opened box. After realizing what was inside it, what Kanji was asking her, her eyes widened, and it was definitely because of disbelief. Kanji thought he could hear a small, almost inaudible gasp coming from her.
"Of being...," he swallowed one last time, "... My wife...?"
After those two last words, he looked back up at her, looking for her reaction, waiting for a response.
He saw her bite a trembling lower lip, her eyes looking down at him in disbelief. They were glazed over. Her arms were still crossed as well, her hands gripping her arms tightly. She swallowed. The silence was deafening. Kanji awkwardly got back up, not knowing what to do, or to say. "So... Uh, is that a yes?"
She looked down, her eyes now brimming, and then away to the side. She snorted, or maybe it was a hiccup of tears? Kanji didn't know; he couldn't tell. He saw a trembling smile through her holding back of tears. She looked back down once more, hair falling over her face and the trembling smile becoming more visible.
"You're such an idiot," she whispered, and she threw herself into Kanji's chest, her arms wrapping tight around his back. He felt her head pressing and moving against his chest, mumbling something as well. She was nodding, over and over. "Yes," she cried into his chest. "A million times, yes."
Kanji felt as though his heart was about to burst. He brought his own arms around Naoto, his own eyes brimming with tears. He was terribly happy.