He froze then slowly moved back to lean against the couch.
“Right … it could have been anyone and you would have come them.” He smiled at him. It was off not quiet a smile and not quiet a grimace. With his poker face back in place he watched the opposite wall and waited for Hakuba to finish.
“That’s… true.” Hakuba heaved a sigh once Kaito was once again resting, turning to get the sutures ready for sewing. The change in the atmosphere was quite obvious- he thought that even someone as dense as Hattori Heiji would have noticed.
He didn’t know what to do about it, though. Kuroba had been acting so oddly… it baffled him. But with the lingering effects of alcohol and the adrenaline slowly beginning to give way to his body’s exhaustion, the detective kept focused on the work at hand. He could deal with the emotional later.
His hands worked quickly, threading the needle in and out of the skin, tucking it together under tiny, neat stitches. He cared for Kuroba; far more than he’d admit, but to imagine that those feelings might be returned…? No. No, certainly not. Ridiculous.
The entire procedure only lasted a few minutes; Hakuba was good at getting this sort of thing done in a timely manner. Soon he was applying a bandage over the spot, fingerpads massaging it gently over Kaito’s thigh to keep the seal in place.
“Just about done…"