Chapter twelve:
Near has been settling in with Light's family pretty well so far. He is currently in the living room with Light and their adoptive parents. He has gotten his own bed with a bedframe both of which he got to pick, sheets he picked out himself which have robots printed on the sheets save for the plain navy blue comforter, a desk with a computer, and even some toys which he loves to help to keep his hands busy.
Light stands in the doorway of his brother's room watching with a smile as the other works on a puzzle that is just solid black easily solving it. He is glad that he can tell that the other is truly enjoying doing such things. He doesn't care if others might call it childish. He will support his little brother in doing this if it makes him happy or even content. He knows that he will end up heading out with L soon and he wants to talk to Near about it. He wants to ensure that the other feels okay staying here without him here all the time.
Their adoptive parents have already started looking into advanced classes and schools to give Near options to enroll into them. They want to embrace his smart mind in a school that will help him truly become the best he can be while nurturing his mind.
"Boys!" Their adoptive mother calls from the living room causing the brothers to both look in the general direction. "Can you two come here for a moment?"
The two glance to each other meeting each others eyes before heading down to see what is needed. They blink seeing their adoptive family and their adoptive mother holding a present.
Their adoptive mother heads over and gives the present box to Near. "Here. Go ahead and look inside."
Nead opens the lid of the box before pulling out a gold locket with a crescent moon engraved on it and some papers. He looks at the locket first opening it to find a picture of the family on one side then a picture of Light and him on the other. He checks the papers and slightly gasps. "They're approved legal adoption papers." He mentions making the brothers smile at this.
"You're legally our family now. We also wanted to give you a welcome to the family present to celebrate." Their adoptive mother says with a grin then embraces Near warmly when he hugs her.
Light smiles more at seeing this. He is starting to feel even more sure that Near will be alright while he is gone. He will still bring it up to his brother though he feels comforted at seeing that it is indeed looking like Near is truly feeling even more comfortable here.
After Near gets some hugs from his now legal family they break off for a bit with their adoptive mother going to check a cake she is making to celebrate.
Light sits next to Near on the couch as they are left alone in the living room with the other family members heading off to do their own things.
The papers are on the coffee table for now and Near is wearing the locket around his neck now.
Light nudges his brother sharing a smile with him. "It is so good to see you getting so comfortable with all of this."
"Your family is amazing big brother." Near confirms and his eyes sparkle with happiness showing him coming more and more out of his shell as time goes on.
Light chuckles warmly for only a brief moment. "Yes they are. They are a good family." He puts an arm around his little brother's shoulders. "Listen. I will be heading out with L again. I will be visiting and we will have facetime calls. I am not leaving you behind. I just wanted to ask what your feelings are about it all. If you really want to you can come with us. Or if you are starting to get comfortable here then you can stay. I will be in contact with you each and every day. So I am not leaving you behind if you decide to stay. It is up to you. I think that you'll like school when you start. We can do a homeschooling or something if you are more comfortable with that."
Near slightly glances away though his older brother can tell that he does need a moment to think this over. He looks back to Light after a few moments. "I want to be close to you. After being apart for so long. However I do understand why you are going back with him. You two are good to each other." He gets a warm smile of appreciation for that. "I am not really used to a lot of travel however. So I'll stay here. I'll even tell you how school goes when I pick one that I do end up liking."
"Alright. And I will hold to my promise to talk to you every single day." Light hugs Near close who hugs him in return. "You're going to love your life here. I know you will. They are wonderful people. If you have any problems you can either talk to them or me. Whoever you think you can talk to about it." He feels the other nod his head to this. "And I know that the two of us will be visiting more. He knows how much it means to me to have you back in my life again." He meets the other's gaze seeing the appreciation there for being able to indeed see Light a lot more than he original thought when he said he was going with L.
"Cake is ready!"
The two get up letting go of each other.
"Come on. Mom's cake is really good." Light leads Near into the kitchen for some cake which they find has been decorated with icing saying 'Happy Adoption Day!'.
Near gets the first piece and when he tries a bite he hums in appreciation at the taste.
Everyone is glad that he likes it.
…..
Near is about to fall asleep in his bed when he hears a small sound. He shifts getting up then checks the drawer of his desk. He spots the phone that Matt gave him so he could potentially stay in contact with Mello. He is a little surprised as it hadn't so much as rang the whole time so far. He picks it up and finds that there is a text message on it. He opens it finding some simple words just asking if he is awake. He can't tell if this is Matt or Mello. He messages back in confirmation that he is. He sits down in his chair at his desk. He waits for a little longer than a simple response should take making him wonder if it was a mistake that it was sent to him. He blinks when a response finally comes through.
We need to talk.
Near blinks at the message wondering what in the world is going. He sends a simple Sure back. He truly wonders what this talk will entail.
