Dating someone like Matsuda Tatou was made enough as it is. One never knew when Matsuda would, say, run into a young child and get ice cream all on his shirt, for example. And Matsuda was cute, and polite enough that if someone came to rape him he would go along with it so he wouldn't offend any feelings.

Okay. Maybe Matsuda wouldn't do THAT. But he was pretty polite, and if he got mugged L was pretty sure Matsuda would just let it go, despite having no money to pay for rent.

So, naturally, L liked it when Matsuda was by him. Maybe he was being a bit parental, but he liked to have Matsuda where he could keep an eye on his boyfriend. He wasn't afraid that Matsuda would go whore himself out or anything, he was just a bit... protective. So when Matsuda called in that he was busy and couldn't make it to work on Mogi's cell phone, L got suspicious.Matsuda barely did anything on the weekends -- what could be so important that he had to skip work for it? Did something happen? Was Matsuda in trouble? Or... was he meeting someone else?

No, no, Matsuda wouldn't cheat on L. He may be a bit slow, but he wasn't unfaithful. If anything, Matsuda was too faithful. Still, Matsuda had skipped work. And the reason for such an act had to be discovered. Of course it did.

So when Matsuda came trotting into work in the late afternoon, he apologized for any inconvenience he might have caused and bowed before heading over to his area. Or rather, he started to, for L called him over before he could reach his desk.

"Is everything alright, Matsuda-kun?" L asked quietly, eyes flickering from Aizawa and Mogi to the Yagami family that were talking in the corner of the room. Matsuda nodded, although it was a little too quickly for L's liking. Almost... suspicious. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Ah! There's nothing wrong, Ryuuzaki-sa... -kun. Honestly! I was just..." Matsuda fell silent, chewing on his lip thoughtfully as he thought of an excuse. L's suspicion grew, and he narrowed his eyes slightly at his boyfriend.

"Were you with anyone?" L asked, to which Matsuda shook his head.

"No! I... I can't say right now, okay? You'll find out soon enough, ne? So be patient!" Matsuda chirped, tapping L on the nose lightly and grinning.

"...fine," L said, pouting slightly. He glanced over at the others once again, before tugging on Matsuda's tie and bringing him down so he could lightly kiss Matsuda. After a moment, Matsuda straightened, his grin wider than before. Probably glad that he knew something that L didn't, L thought with another pout.

--

Later that night...

"Watari-san, is there anything happening in the near future?" L asked Watari later that night, once everyone else had left. Watari blinked, eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully.

"Well... it's Christmas in six days, sir. If that helps any," Watari said, frowning slightly. L nodded, giving Watari a little smile.

"Yes it did. Thank you."

Watari nodded, and L swiveled in his chair thoughtfully. Christmas, huh? Maybe Matsuda was out buying presents?

Maybe L should get revenge on Matsuda and skip work tomorrow to buy Matsuda a present...

Once again, thank you to artemisgirl for her help with writing this chapter.

Only five more days to go!