After dropping off the case files dealing with the regular ‘are you okay’s and ‘you should sleep more’ from Takagi and Sato Shinichi had managed to get home with out an incident, thankfully.
The next morning Shinichi had woken up to a strange dream involving Downey Jr’s Holmes and a talking dog named Tim. There was something about a lost tea cup the belong to Louis the Sixteenth and a traveling giant cranes show loosing their golden llama deity statue.
It took three cups of the strongest coffee he had to take the edge off of the ringing in his ears that came from the screeching of large birds. Rubbing his fingers over his eyes he sighed and tried hard to forget his dream.
A shower washed away anything else that lingered. Towel over his head he glanced at his blinking phone.
[text]: okay
Dressing in a pair of jeans, white button down, and a light grey cotton vest, and a black blazer he wondered if he could sneak in a few case files at the cafe. Fingering his bangs a bit in the mirror he smoothed down most of the fly-a-ways before heading back down stairs to leave. Grabbing a black leather satchel he place about six in and tossed it over his shoulder. He was almost out the door when he remembered his glasses sitting on the desk. Sighing he walked back to them and hooked them into the blazer’s lapel.
Periot’s was slightly emptier than usual as Shinichi sat down in a corner booth; back to the wall and eye on the door. Even after being back and solving cases openly again the constant need to reaffirm a small measure of precaution never left. Settling down with a hot plain tea Shinichi got to work on a three person murder suicide and waited for Hakuba forgetting that it was only 1:15 pm.
As the time drew closer, Hakuba found himself getting more and more nervous. The staff at the house made sure that he was properly given tea as per Baaya’s instructions, and arranged for a car despite his assurance that he could call for a cab himself, really. He could drive himself, even, though on the off chance that he’d have to resort to the stronger painkillers in his bag…
Resigned, the Superintendent General’s son allowed himself to be driven to the cafe in question, though he begged them to let him walk the last half a block on his own. He didn’t want to be seen as someone weak, not for their very first meeting. Hakuba wanted to be Kudou’s colleague. He would be formal and polite, but there would be no awkward hierarchy of superiority– even though Shinichi was better.
Though that was a given, Hakuba thought with a sigh as the car pulled up to the curb, given that he wasn’t a detective anymore.
He stepped out with cane and canine, taking a moment to get his bearings before nodding to the driver. Yes, he’d call if he had any trouble, and yes, he’d call when he was ready to return to the house. Yes, he had his wallet. No, he didn’t need anything.
Twig waited patiently while they spoke, ears twitching at all of the people that passed them on the sidewalk.
Finally, Hakuba made his way into the cafe, awkward limp in his step, and drew himself up, looking for familiar faces. Anxious as he’d been, it was an instant relief once he found that Shinichi was there already, waiting. He checked his watch to ensure that he had made it on time – 14:59:21 – then made his way over to the back corner. A suitable place for detectives, really. Er, and ex-detectives.
He didn’t want to interrupt Shinichi’s work and approached cautiously with that in mind, hoping that he, or the jingling of Twig’s tags, would be noticed before he’d have to say anything at all.