Chapter 11
Dazed and Distracted
XXX
"Here you go, L."
L turned around to find a huge cup of cocoa topped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles in front of his nose. He blinked. When he felt safe that the treat was really there and not imaginary, he moved his gaze to the hand that held the cup, following the sweater-clad arm, the curve of a shoulder, a slender neck, and finally reached Light's face.
He blinked again.
Light cleared his throat. "I thought you'd appreciate it after the snow fight, but it's getting heavy so take it before I'm forced to dump it all over you."
Mello, seated on the floor next to the fireplace and cocooned in a warm fleece blanket like L, was staring up at the cup with wide eyes. "If you don't want it," he said wistfully, "I'll be glad to take it off your hands..."
Light smiled at him. "Yours is in the kitchen, the one in the blue cup. With extra chocolate."
The boy's eyes widened even more, and then he was on his feet and was stomping towards Light in an alarmingly aggressive manner. He stopped only when he was practically standing on Light's toes, and kept looking at him for a moment with unblinking eyes.
The God of the New World looked more than just a little intimidated.
Finally the boy said slowly and quietly, "I'm not entirely sure what you're doing, Light, but you have my blessing. Welcome to the family."
He whirled around and was off in a flash of blond hair and purple fleece, apparently to get to his precious cup of hot chocolate before anyone else could, leaving L and Light alone in the living-room. L eyed the younger man's beautiful face with great interest as the look of slight fear turned first into shock, and then into a hesitant smile that widened slowly, reigning at full force by the time he turned back to the raven-haired man to offer him the cocoa again.
"Hmm? What are you looking at?" he asked as the older man accepted the cup and brought it to his lips.
"Nothing," L murmured, taking a sip of his prize and trying to tell himself that it wasn't to hide his smile.
XXX
After the detectives and the orphans had warmed their fingers around their cocoa cups and burned their tongues with the content of said cups, it was time to decorate the house. Roger unlocked a cupboard in the hall and brought out three cardboard boxes of Christmas decorations, retreating quickly to his office before the teachers unleashed the children on them. Light and L helped the kids and had to step in a few times to stop two (or more) of them fighting over an ornament, but generally the decorating of the house was a calm and pleasant experience for Light, who had never really celebrated Christmas before.
"I don't even know where half of these things go," the Japanese man had to admit. He was holding a package of plastic cherries and a chain of the flags of different countries. "How on earth are these Christmas-y?"
"I'm not entirely positive they are supposed to be," L mused, looking thoughtfully at them, and then at the blue glass ball he was dangling in front of his face by its strap. "But they have always been in the Christmas decorations boxes. I have never thought about it before..."
Light chuckled. "Well, I understand the cherries – after all, you live here – and I guess the flags could be because there are children of so many different origins here... What are you doing, trying to tell your future from the crystal ball?"
"Yours," L replied with a quick smile thrown at him before returning to stare at his own reflection on the metallic gleam of the glass ball. "You are going to meet a tall, dark young man, apparently."
"Really? Hopefully he's not quite as insomniac as the last tall, dark young man I met. My sleeping rhythm will never be the same."
"... I have been sleeping this much only when I was a child and when I have been deathly ill."
"... L, sometimes I really wonder how you're still alive."
"Practice, practice," L reminded him (though it sounded more like a question) before his attention was stolen by Kelly, who wanted to use him as her personal stairway to the upper half of the living-room window, which she was determined to decorate with snowflakes she and some of the other younger children had sloppily cut out of paper. L didn't seem to have the heart to point out that most of them looked like shredded paper rather than snowflakes, demonstrating that he could, in fact, be considerate when he wanted to, or at least when faced with the threat of crying children.
Still quietly basking in the glory of his tentative victory over L's insomnia, Light turned to cherry up the massive evergreen Christmas tree placed in the corner of the living-room. He was down to his last cherry and was contemplating on whether the string of flags was supposed to go around the tree, around a crime scene or perhaps in the doorway to kitchen so the kids would not be able to get in, when he noticed that Near had joined him in decorating the tree.
To be more specific, Near had, like a good parent, brought his eight little finger puppets to decorate the tree. Light could almost hear him talking to the puppets, telling them to be careful with the decorations.
Then he took a closer look at the puppets.
They were modeled after the other residents of the house – a Matt-puppet was currently hanging a glass ball on one of the branches together with a Kyle-puppet, while a Mello-puppet supported the ball from underneath in case it slipped from the other two. An L-puppet was holding the branch in place, accompanied by -
"... Is that me?"
Near looked up at Light as he leaned closer to inspect the puppets. "Ah, yes. I made him yesterday, before we left to the Applegate House. For such a dashed puppet, I think he's fairly successful as far as likeliness goes." He reached out to wriggle the finger with the Light-puppet in front of the real-life Light's face.
I am a finger puppet, Light thought, gaping at the thing in awe.
Then Mello's earlier words floated past his mental ears, and he started to wonder – Mello had said that he had his blessing, apparently at least partly because he could fulfill the boy's requests for chocolate even before he asked. Could this maybe, possibly, in some alternative universe, mean that Near had accepted him as well? After all, his puppet was quite happily right next to L's (on Near's middle finger, which Light thought a bit too innocent to be a coincidence), and it seemed that Near had only made puppets of the people he considered "family".
"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle aaaaaall the wayyy!" Mello shattered the delicate moment by skipping to them, a silvery, glittery tinsel garland wrapped around his neck and shoulders like a feather boa. "Ohhh what fun it is to riiide... hmmm mmh hm hm," he hummed the final words tactfully and proceeded to hang a little wooden angel on a branch.
Near sighed. "Trust Mello to turn even that song into poorly concealed porn."
"Hey, now!" Mello protested.
"But O Mighty Prophet," Matt intervened earnestly from next to Light, his eyes wide behind the goggles and his hands clasped together as if in prayer, "the heretic has a touch of divine truth in his words! Surely we must add that beautiful song to the Psalms of Mello?"
"This one is better," Mello promised, throwing a grin at the redhead and snatching the puppets from Near's left hand. The blond cleared his throat, lifted the L-puppet and started in a sickly sweet girly voice, "There goes the baker with his tray like always..."
Matt doubled over in laughter and Near slammed his forehead into his puppet-less hand. Light was confused. "The tune is slightly familiar but... is that a Christmas song?"
"No," L's voice came suddenly from behind him, and Light whirled around to get an eyeful of the detective's pout. "That's from Disney's Beauty and the Beast..."
"Look, there he goes, that boy is strange, no question," Mello sang the part of the townspeople, now waving the puppets Shane and Linda and making them gossip and send meaningful glances at the isolated L-puppet. "Dazed and distracted, can't you tell -"
"Never part of any crowd, 'cause his head's up on some cloud," Matt joined suddenly, having stolen the Kyle-puppet (and the Matt-puppet) from Near, "No denying he's a funny boy, that L!"
Realization dawned on Light. "They're making you Belle!" he exclaimed in glee.
"Yes," L replied, and the aura radiating from him was once again that adorable, strange mixture of irritation and amusement. "I believe they are."
The writer of these lyrics had probably made Belle rhyme with L on purpose, Light thought, because they fit so well – wasn't Belle's father a strange inventor? Watari could certainly pass for one...
Suddenly Near surprised them by raising his three remaining puppets and joining the choir. "Oh, isn't this amazing," he sang in a low, soft voice, waving a white-haired Near-puppet, and even Mello and Matt turned to look at him in amazement. "It's my fav'rite part because – you'll see... Here's where he meets the killer, but he won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three!"
Wait, was the kid implying...?
Light's grin turned into a frown when he noticed that Mello was holding the Light-puppet as well. If he was going to be a part of this play, the blond would probably make him either the handsome prince turned into a murderous beast – which just hit a tad bit too close to home right now – or...
"Wow, you scored a hundred percent, Light! You're the smartest Ken doll in the whole world!" the Matt-puppet covering Matt's index finger gushed like a good fangirl.
"Oh, I know!" the Light-puppet boasted in Mello's voice.
… yeah.
L buried his face in his palms. Light was tempted to follow suit. Near smirked.
"He's the one!" Mello cried, pointing the Light-puppet at the L-puppet. "The lucky guy I'm going to marry!"
Matt gasped. "But he's -"
"The most intelligent boy in town! That makes him the best – and don't I deserve the best?"
Light was willing to swear that if Mello could have made the puppet wiggle its eyebrows, he would have done so.
The logic was sound, though.
"There must be more than this boring life!", the L-puppet sighed in Mello's left hand.
"Just watch, I'm going to make L my wife!" the blond switched into his Light Yagami voice, which cracked at the end of his sentence where a mad laughing fit threatened to destroy the performance.
Near and Matt rushed in to save the show, singing, "Look, there he goes, that boy is strange but special – a most peculiar genius!" By now Mello had recovered from his cackling and was ready to join for the grande finale. "It's a pity and a sin he doesn't quite fit in – he really is a funny boy, so smart but such a funny boy – he really is a funny boy, that L!"
The song was followed by a moment's silence, during which Light noticed that almost every single one of the orphans had gathered around to listen with wide eyes -
… and then the thundering applauding almost swept him off his feet.
Mello and Matt were throwing extravagant smiles and bows and graceful waves all around, Near smiled a little, Light's face was burning, and L looked like he had just realized for the first time in his life what it felt like to be embarrassed.
"I'm never going to be able to watch the Beauty and the Beast again," Linda moaned somewhere in the background.
"Near," Mello began in a solemn voice, "I officially like you know. From now on, our friendship shall bloom forever, and serve as an example to the generations to come."
"I'm flattered," Near murmured blankly, carefully plucking the puppets from Mello's fingers and stuffing them into the safety of his breast pocket.
L cleared his throat, having finally recovered some of his usual lack of color. "Does Light-kun intend to have Watari taken into a mental asylum to blackmail me into marriage?" he inquired.
His eyes added, I have read that taking the joke even further will help divert the attention from your embarrassment.
Light feigned a shudder. "I have a feeling that if a thought like that even crossed my mind, I would find myself straitjacketed and in a padded room sooner than you can inhale sweets." Smiling a little, he eye-mailed back, If diversion doesn't work, change the topic. "Alright, kids, I'm sure everyone but L is already on the verge of diabetes, thanks to that particularly sugary episode of The Mello Show, but could I possibly interest anyone in baking gingerbread cookies...?"
XXX
It turned out that the children of Wammy's House had not baked gingerbread cookies in years.
Two sweaty hours later Light knew exactly why.
The staff of the orphanage had disappeared magically the moment the word "baking" was mentioned, and thus L and Light were left to lead the operation on their own – though in reality L caused just as much trouble as the rest of the kids, so Light had to take the role of the responsible adult to himself.
They used frozen dough, and later Light was immensely grateful to whoever had thought to fill the freezer with it (he was willing to bet it was Watari, because Watari seemed to be the devil behind just about everything), because there was quite enough of mess and havoc even without having to prepare that, too. Soon enough, the air was full or flour, the voices of the children and the occasional pieces of candy flying and hitting someone in the head.
"Where's the reindeer-shaped cutter? Linda! Hand it over here!"
"No, I'm using it!"
"But I want to make reindeer, you can make pigs, here!"
"I don't want pigs!"
"How dare you – MATT!"
"I'm sorry! Sorry! It was an accident, an accident – aaaaarrghh, Liiiiight! Help!"
"What the – I turn my back for a minute, and you two are all over each other... Mello, let Matt go. Why do you have syrup on your face?"
"Ask him!"
"... I'm not sure I want to know, but Matt, why does Mello have – L! Greedy paws off my dough!"
"But -"
"No buts! There will be no random fingerprints on my gingerbread cookies, and there will most definitely be no mysteriously disappearing mouthfuls of dough!"
"Unimportant! Deal with the dough thief later, my case was the first in line! I demand justice! He shot me with syrup -"
"... It was anacci – sweet Sephiroth, Near, you freaked me out! Go put on some blush, I can barely tell you apart from all the flour!"
"You're not the only one, Dana already grabbed my hair with every intention to sprinkle it over the table..."
"Really? Dana, you're my favorite girl!"
"Thanks, Mello, you're mine, too!"
"You little -"
"... So much for your eternal friendship, then... L, for the last freaking time! Hands off or you're not getting any when they're ready!"
This particular declaration was followed by a deep, floury silence, strengthened by twenty-four wide-eyed stares directed at Light.
"... Cookies. Getting any cookies, dammit."
"Oh, is that what they call it these days?" Mello sniggered.
L blinked at him. "For someone so intelligent, Light-kun truly has a tendency to word himself very poorly..."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, because you're the embodiment of smooth lines, aren't you? Put your hands in your pockets if you can't do anything useful – not right now, idiot, you have dough in your hands – gah, why do you have to be such a brat?"
"... I... was not thinking..."
"Go away, dammit! On the other side of the kitchen, right now! I can't focus with you around!"
Sulking, the detective trudged to the other side of the room and proceeded to poke at Near's cookies and steal the candies when the boy was not looking; satisfied, Light turned around to continue guiding the poor lost souls in the dark valley of gingerbread cookies, and came face to face with Mello. So face to face, actually, that the syrup on the blond's cheek was close to get smeared on his face as well.
"Hey, Light-ooo," the blonde said, and reminded him so eerily of Ryuk that he had to stop to wonder if humans and Shinigami could be related to each other.
"Mell-ooo?" he stammered back, trying to shoo the idea of Mello as a Shinigami out of his mind.
The blond looked at him for a moment, very serious now; then his eyes shifted slowly to L on the other side of the room, and just as slowly back to Light. "You'll be careful with him, won't you?" he said finally in a very low voice.
Well, that was unexpected.
What could you say to that? 'Where's the fragile – handle with care sticker?' 'Do you know what my parents will say when they find out?'
Suddenly, Light got the strangest feeling that Mello wasn't talking to him but…
"... I don't care," the boy interrupted his thoughts, his voice barely above a whisper now; Light had to strain to hear it over the shouting voices of the orphans. "I know L chained himself to you because he suspects you of something, not because of a ridiculous experiment. We both know that if I let myself think about it even for a second, I will immediately realize what he suspects you of, and I'm only stopping myself from thinking about it because L must have chosen to keep quiet to protect us. But..."
Mello turned suddenly, his profile facing Light, and started to decorate the cookies lying on the table in front of him, apparently feeling uncomfortable in the situation; his eyes were hidden by his golden hair, and his hands were steady in a way that told that the boy was using all his willpower to keep them from shaking. Transfixed, Light turned as well and followed suit, edging close enough to hear the boy's next words.
"... But," Mello was saying softly, "as long as you make him happy, I just plain don't care if you're guilty or not."
Light's heart went ba-dumb, and then it skipped a beat. Disbelief, happiness, regret and triumph coursed through his veins in a flash. For a moment, he couldn't hear the orphans, and his blood seemed to have frozen; then the real world returned to him so suddenly that he felt momentarily nauseous.
Even after that, his head felt a little dizzy, his legs a little weak. Mello had just as good as declared, I know you're Kira, but as long as you're nice to L, I don't give a crap.
And he was practically keeping the detective as a prisoner... because even though L was no longer so vehemently against his touch as he had been, Light could still not be sure whether it was because the man was beginning to trust him, or because he was being blackmailed.
Guilt was not a feeling Light Yagami was accustomed to.
He was dimly aware of Mello's eyes heavy on him as he spun around, looking wildly for L with his gaze – though he was not sure why, what it was he intended to do – but the man wasn't there. Light's eyes settled on Near, who was pressing French pastilles into his cookies, looking innocent enough until he raised his head.
As he excused himself to the kids and rushed out of the room, Light had a passing, eerie feeling that if things had progressed differently, Near would have worn that quirky, smug little smile on his pale, childish face while watching him die.
XXX
"Well, are you?"
L had blinked and looked at Near, his fingers still holding a pastille to his lips. "Pardon?" he questioned.
Near had gazed back at him with his unfaltering storm cloud-colored eyes. "Involved in a romantic relationship?"
L had dropped the pastille. "... What?" he had asked quickly, suspecting that he had heard incorrectly.
"He is," Near had continued without repeating his question. "Are you?"
"I..." Confused, L had turned back to the cookies; they had looked much safer than the ghastly pale boy standing next to him. He had been tempted to deny he knew what Near was talking about, but then again, the kid had heard parts of his monologue and his fight with Light not too long ago. Near knew. "I believe that this is a private matter," he had decided finally. Relationships were private, right? Especially the romantic ones.
… Aw, damn.
"That counts as a yes," Near had murmured.
Well, L had figured, it was the boy's turn now. "Exactly how much did Near hear when -" he had started to say.
"Oh!" the boy had exclaimed unenthusiastically, pointing behind L. "Looks like Mello is giving Light a hard time..."
Distracted by the interruption, L had glanced over his shoulder, and for some reason the sight of the brunet, looking so serious, so worried as he listened to the blond, had made something tickle the insides of his stomach. It was a curious feeling; not entirely unpleasant, but certainly not comfortable either.
"... Near," he had said after a moment's hesitation. "Do you think it will be damaging to L?"
"His life? It better not be." Near had blinked slowly, turning his disinterested gaze back to his cookies. "His career? It doesn't matter." He had picked a sweet from the bowl on the table and brought it to his lips, glancing at him from the corner of his eye. "You're human, too, aren't you?"
The next thing L remembered was the door to his room. He presumed that he had excused himself and wandered upstairs; to do what, he'd had no idea until he had opened the door, stepped in and his gaze had fallen on the bedside drawer.
Several minutes later Light came rushing in, stopping dead on his tracks after barging through the door, gaping at the sight of the world's best detective pinning old pictures and paintings to the wall. L was making sure to pierce the wallpaper only where there was a hole already, putting every single piece of paper back on the place it had been ripped from so many years ago; back where they belonged.
"What," Light gasped, then coughed to clear his throat, took a deep breath and asked again, in a more collected voice, "What are you doing?"
L, standing on the bed and splayed against the wall to reach the far corner of the painting he was holding, turned his head to blink at the younger man. "I'm decorating our room for Christmas," he replied, and something within him shivered. When had his room turned into our room?
The young man looked around in amazement, walking to the opposing wall to stare at the photographs L had put there. Mello, Matt and Near in varying sizes and ages, a couple of kids he didn't know, and the black and white picture of an unknown woman with a baby...
"I see," he said then, "but why these?"
The raven-haired man withdrew from the wall, but remained standing on the bed, his back to Light. "Because," he said slowly, in an almost questioning tone, "because even though I'm a letter on the screen... I'm human, too. I am allowed to feel. Allowed to have memories, have a past and a childhood." He blinked at the wall, distantly aware of the burning behind his eyes. "The ones who told me to be nothing but that letter on the screen have been dead and buried for a long time, already."
He turned around to find that Light had turned as well, and was eying him with an unreadable expression. They looked at each other for a moment in silence; then L exhaled, stepped down from the bed, and slowly, hesitantly, he extended his right hand towards Light.
"I am L Lawliet," he introduced himself, finally giving his name out of free will – he knew it was, in a way, insignificant because Light already knew, but the widening of those golden eyes told him that the meaning behind his gesture had been realized. His voice was a little hoarse, unused to speaking these words. "... I am the son of Watari's goddaughter," his eyes flitted to the black and white picture and back to Light's again, "and I was brought here after my parents were killed in a traffic accident when I was five. This is my home."
His eyes were unwilling to stay focused on Light's face, and at the end of his speech they were lowered to the floor between them. Soon after the last words had stumbled past his lips, a tan hand joined his in his view, and Light's hand was warm against his; then another hand approached him, reached out, touched his chin and lifted it with a finger hooked under it.
Light's lips were smiling sadly, happily, proudly, but what L found more important was that his eyes were smiling as well. "The pleasure is all mine," the younger man whispered, in a half-joking tone to cover how deadly serious he was.
L smiled.
XXX
The night was dark blue and windless. Big, soft snowflakes were floating down slowly and gently, landing on L's upturned face and his dark hair.
Technically, he presumed they landed on Light as well, but he couldn't tell with his eyes closed. The snowfall had started again soon after their earlier discussion, and in the spirit of their new, strange truce, Light had suggested that they take a short walk outside, obviously having caught the way L's eyes had brightened at the fresh snow this morning, at the way he had followed the falling snowflakes a few days earlier, when they had been walking home from the town. The walk had been slow, spent in companionable silence, L too overwhelmed by recent events to speak and Light – Light, perhaps, a little overwhelmed as well, he thought. Every time he glanced at the younger man, he just managed to catch Light looking at him, always with a soft little smile on his face, and every time Light turned his gaze elsewhere, seeming oddly embarrassed at being caught even though he had had no trouble staring at L before.
And this was where the walk had brought them, standing in the darkness just beyond the reach of the house's porch light, faces upturned, Light standing behind him. Both were unwilling to go inside just yet; this moment seemed perfect, everything in harmony, and L had a feeling that they both feared that going back in would upset the fragile balance. The silence would certainly come to an end.
L was dimly aware of the many pairs of eyes peeking curiously at them through the curtains of the windows of the living room, comfortably aware of Light's chest against his back and his cheek against the side of his head and very, very much aware of the arms wrapped around his waist. He felt almost certain that the children should have been asleep and not watching this, but for this short never-ending moment he couldn't bring himself to care.
"What is it with you and things falling from the sky?" Light murmured into his ear.
L blinked slowly. "That makes it sound as if I make a habit of having meteors and grand pianos raining on me whenever I step outdoors."
Light considered it for a moment. "There's something disturbingly hilarious about that picture," he decided. "But I was actually talking about something more natural and common – it seems to me that you find your way outdoors every time it rains or snows..."
The dark-haired detective shrugged slightly. "There is nothing mysterious about that – I simply happen to like rain and snowfall. Or at least a peaceful snowfall like this..."
He trailed off; Light's right hand had left his waist to be raised slightly, palm upturned to gather some of the plump snowflakes on his bare hand.
L had always enjoyed standing under the rain or snowfall – it seemed to calm his erratic, overactive mind. But being alone had always been an important aspect of those moments of freedom, so he could, for a while, forget the burden the world had set on his shoulders; he had never thought that he'd enjoy doing so with someone else.
It was time for an experiment.
"Light-kun," L said after a while, opening his eyes and looking at the sky. "Would you do me a favor?"
"Almost anything," the younger man replied immediately. "With several restrictions – you're not getting the Moon, unless Mello will do, or all the sweets and cakes in the world, and I won't do anything that involves rolling in the snow." He stopped to reconsider. "The last one is not absolute," he decided finally.
Allowing a low chuckle escape from his lips, L turned around in Light's arms and offered him a small, lopsided smile. "Nothing quite that demanding," he assured the other one. Then he exhaled deeply, gathered his courage and said, "I am merely asking you to kiss me."
Light stared. "Kiss you?"
"And not pull back before I react," L explained. "You have been doing that, and I would very much like to know how I would react if you didn't."
"I've been doing that on purpose," Light protested. "I rather like my teeth where they are, and my ribs are a lot more comfortable in one piece than in several."
L frowned (the logic seemed sound...), was silent for a short moment and then forced out, with a small grimace, "... Please?"
He barely got the despicable word out of his mouth, and the question mark was pretty much swallowed by Light, who's lips were soft and warm and moving slowly on his.
He froze. Light ran his tongue over his lips, prodding gently for an entrance.
He couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't focus on anything for long – there were the arms around him, trapping him and protecting him, and the cold snowflakes caressing his face, soothing him and startling him, and the lips -
Light was hesitating.
Suddenly L found his lips moving against Light's, and the younger man was so startled by the sudden movement that he almost moved away, only to be stopped by L's bare fingers curling into his coat and keeping him in place.
It wasn't a long kiss, and not much could be said about the explorative qualities of it – no forbidden temples or lost cities were discovered, and no movies were made of it – but it was a kiss, and since kissing was one the things that took two people participating to be complete, L supposed it was, in a way, their first.
"That," he murmured when there was enough air between their lips to breathe and speak, "explains a lot."
Light was tilting his head in a questioning way and opening his mouth to voice it, when the sound of the gates opening and tires turning on fresh snow reached their ears. They turned around to see a sleek black car screech into a halt once it was inside the gates; the engine stopped humming, and a moment later a familiar figure opened the driver's door and stood up next to it.
"Watari!" L exclaimed, breaking free from Light's arms and practically dashing to the elderly man like a kid, only to stop awkwardly in front of him as if suddenly remembering that he was supposed to act like a grown-up.
Watari looked at the detective, looking slightly startled for a moment, but then that look melted in to a gentle smile. "It has been years since you last did that," the man said, obviously touched. Light was grinning, like he could almost see the memory of a ten-year-old L skipping across the yard to greet Watari, probably in his pajamas and barefoot even in the worst snowstorms.
L scratched the back of his head, feeling suddenly like an embarrassed, awkward teenager rather than the three top detectives of the modern world. Watari chuckled at him and turned to nod at Light, who had come to stand next to the detective. The elderly man's gaze stopped for a moment at the empty space between their wrists; the man glanced at L's slightly pink face, then at Light's mortified expression, and then at the space between them again.
Then he smiled. "Would you two be so kind and help an old man with his luggage?"
Light grinned and nodded; L closed his eyes and allowed himself a moment of relief and peace. If everything had felt right and correct the moment before, now things were downright idyllic. He had everything he needed right here.
And now that Watari was here as well, Christmas could finally come.