Title: Che Sarà, Sarà
13. Undeviating: Keeping a true course.
Italics: Flashback Sequence
"You should have seen his face, Raito-kun. You would have… you would have loved every second of it." A baritone voice echoed within the sterile room stained entirely of white, the peaceful atmosphere strained with a underlying tension.
Whirls coming from the machines around the unconscious man's bed continued to repeat after each other as L Lawliet sat perched on the edge of his chair, feet practically dangling from his seat. The still unresponsive Yagami Raito lay undisturbed on his bed as L relayed his day at work to the prone figure beside him.
It was one of the many things they had enjoyed doing while Raito had still been awake.
"It was quite comical to watch him try to act so regally after falling so promptly on his face." L finished the story with a sad smile as he wiggled his precarious toes. The beeps of the heart monitor hooked up to the I.V. were his only response as the expression on Raito's face stayed the same.
It made L think back to happier times, times before this hospital, this room…
This coma.
"L, come here! Look at this!" Raito was staring out their window in giddiness while L was working on another set of schematics for a new building that was being built in the middle of Tokyo. Both men had been living together for over 3 years, which was quite the mile stone since they were both prone to growing bored of their significant others after a month.
This was the real deal.
"What is it, Raito-kun?" L stood (hunched) up from his awkward (to everyone else) seated position and, barefooted, shuffled over to where Raito was standing. L peered through the window and directed his gaze across the street where a gaggle of children were playing with a sprinkler. Three distinguishable heads in particular were spotted almost immediately from the distance.
"They're actually…" L began perplexed.
"Yeah!" Raito exclaimed excitedly. The three boys they were observing were actually playing (Or in Nate's case, staring boringly) with the other children.(Yelling in Mihael's case).
L smiled as he watched his three kids enjoying themselves in their own way, content with everything around him. Raito smiled beatifically at their sons, and L counted himself lucky once more.
His life was closer to perfect than he'd ever thought it would be...
God, what happened?
A knock came from the door, interrupting L from his memories. "Father…?" A hesitant whisper squeaked from the slightly open door as a blonde head with dark eyes poked out to glance at their surroundings. L blinked back at the boy sluggishly, not truly seeing him there.
Mihael hadn't expected much else from his father, but was still disappointed none the less.
"Can we come in? Watari-san said we could see daddy today, but if you don't want…"
"No, no, come in, Mihael. Are your brothers with you?" L drolly beckoned the boy in as he nodded the affirmative and he and his brothers came inside the bland hospital room. A red head wearing goggles and a PSP in his hand along with a silver haired boy clutching a toy jet entered the room along with Mihael. "I'm sure your dad would want you to be here with him. I suppose I am to blame for not allowing the three of you to come see him more often."
The boys glanced at each other unsurely as L grasped onto his lover's hand and held onto it tightly. Mihael was the first to step forward as he came up to the opposite of the hospital bed and sadly gazed down at his 'daddy.' Matt came up beside him, pocketing his electronic device, while Nate slouched to his father, all the while keeping his eyes on the figure on the bed.
"Is daddy going to wake up soon, father?" Nate whispered solemnly. The same black eyes that L, himself, had turned to the man beside him, as the youngest boy's fingers began to clench the toy to his chest all the tighter.
What do you say to a child at a time like this?
Nate had always been the smartest of the three (though all three boys were geniuses in their own right), so patronizing him didn't seem worth the effort. But even L could not be so cruel as to tell his own son that the person, the one who had pulled him up from the horrible orphanage and given him a home when no one else would, did not even have the slightest chance of actually living again.
"I hope so, Nate."
Mihael and Matt began to climb on top of the bed and cuddled up next to their comatose daddy, trying not to get tangled in the wires connecting to the machines in the process. Nate frowned before moving forward and climbing on the bed as well, all three of them bunched up together on the small mattress. L let go of Raito's hand as he (grudgingly) allowed the boys to have their own time with their main parental figure.
Raito had to wake up, and he had to wake up soon. L didn't know how much more of this he could take before…
Before he finally broke.
Yes, I brought back coma!raito along with grieving!L. I couldn't leave them hangin', y'all. I hope you all enjoyed the cameos as well. I'm just messing with this whole family, now...