phantom-thief-kid:

“…I’ve kept them separate, to be honest. Cats eat songbirds frequently. She may be well-behaved usually, but I’d rather not chance it.” He looked over to Hakuba. “Are you okay? You look cold.”

“That’s probably for the best, that… and me?” Hakuba chuckled grimly, rubbing at the still damp sleeves of his shirt.

“This… last trip to London was more exhausting than most, and I haven’t quite recovered. I’d hoped that walking here would do me some good, but I’ve only managed to get stranded here in the middle of a bloody thunderstorm. I keep worrying that I’m wasting your time and all I can think about otherwise is my fireplace back home. God, and what I wouldn’t give for a cup of tea." 

phantom-thief-kid:

Kaito was even more curious now, due to the timeframe (years plural and parole were indicative), but the way Hakuba had acted made it sound much less like a normal case for him. “Well, I got a cat. Someone just left her at the doorstep and I took her in. And I had a strange dream of being attacked by Yamato no Orochi… Boring stuff, really.”

He was omitting a lot, though. The KID stuff was out of the question and the stuff that was basically magic was also out of the question. He didn’t want one of his detective’s heads to explode.

“Ah, yes, the hissing from under the couch.” Hakuba stayed standing next to the chair, unsure of what to do with himself. Even his words sounded distracted at best. He pulled the towel away from his shoulders and shivered again, draping it over the seat of the chair, and folding his arms afterward to try to retain some of his body heat. 

“I’ve never had a cat myself, but they seem like they would make good, quiet companions… I trust there’ve been no issues with your lovely doves?”

phantom-thief-kid:

“You can put it…” Kaito looked around. “Over on that chair.” He gestured toward the chair in question. He didn’t really care all that much, to be honest.

“Almost everything about that seems normal for you. An emergency, though? What happened? Someone get hurt?” (Curiosity may have killed the cat, but he was now currently unkillable, as far as he knew.)

“N-no, not exactly…”  

Hakuba stepped over to the chair and, still carefully, draped the suit jacket over its back. Nothing, as far as he could tell, was out of order. He checked his collared shirt, as well, draping the somewhat damp towel over his shoulders to ensure that nothing would be seen. He would not repeat the same mistake that he made with Heiji.

“Ah, a criminal that I put away years ago was up for parole for ‘good behavior.’ I only found out the day before his trial, and took the first available flight back home to prevent it from being granted." 

He cleared his throat, awkwardly. "But that’s… taken care of, now. What have you been up to, if you’re able to say?" 

phantom-thief-kid:

“Yeah, it’s fine.” No need to be spiteful. He was just hoping the storm cleared before nightfall. Sudden glowing red eyes would be a hell of a lot harder to explain and would probably involve dropping the charade about not being KID. (His colored contacts would be arriving in a few days and time travel wasn’t something he could do.)

“Anyway, aside from being a postman, what’ve you been doing as of late? I haven’t really seen you around within the past few weeks.”

Post…man? 

Now that Hakuba thought about it, he had been delivering quite a few envelopes to people. He frowned again, but it was more of a feigned pout than anything serious. The detective finished very carefully removing his suit jacket and looked for somewhere to hang it.

“Oh, you know… fighting with Hattori-san… gathering evidence for cases. I went home to London for a while, as well… An… ah, emergency, of sorts. May I set this somewhere?" 

phantom-thief-kid:

Kaito shrugged. “It’s fine. Detectives gotta do what they gotta do.” But he was still curious about the incontrovertible evidence. Did he leave fingerprints? Get caught on camera? He thought that the only evidence he left was in the realm of ‘suspicious, but still just circumstantial enough that he could wiggle out of it.’ And then there was the question of why Hakuba didn’t use it against him. But it was unlikely Hakuba was going to talk.

He sat back down. “C’mon and relax a bit. You’re so uptight sometimes.”

The uncertain, almost worried expression turned to a dry frown. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to relax after having been accused of being uptight.” But the change of topic did help Hakuba to loosen up some. 

He shivered, looking himself over again, and reluctantly began to pull his suit jacket away. It was heavy with rain water, and he wondered just how much of his belongings had been damaged by the storm. 

“Is it really all right for me to stay put for the time being?”

phantom-thief-kid:

Kaito blinked. Wait, what? Hakuba looked so pitiful right now. If it was about that question of why he wasn’t currently languishing in a jail cell, Kaito really would like to know what was going on. “Why’re you apologizing?”

“I don’t… I can’t…" 

Hakuba chewed on his lip. It bothered him that he didn’t have an adequate answer for the proverbial elephant in the room. But more than that, it bothered him that he’d managed to upset Kaito. After his more recent interactions with Hattori, the trend of confrontation was difficult to ignore. Perhaps he was the problem, not others. 

Frustrated, he brought a hand to his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes.

"It makes sense that you would deny it, even to me, if it were true. I should stop badgering you about it. I’m… sorry that I’ve been… difficult." 

phantom-thief-kid:

Kaito had kept his pokerface up, but he was a bit irritated. Maybe it was the sarcasm and how Hakuba had him in a corner; the latter is a very bad thing for phantom thieves and left them wary and guarded. “If I am KID, than why haven’t you turned me in, if there’s so much insurmountable evidence?”

He went to get a phone. The thunder was still booming out and, when he picked up the phone, Kaito noted the dead silence on the other end. He headed back over to Hakuba. “Phone lines are down. But, uh, yeah, I’m free then.”

The question stunned the detective to silence, and when Kaito returned, Hakuba’s gaze was fixed on the floor. Suit jacket soaked, hair tangled and damp, and the almost morose frown on his face made him look almost like a dog who’d been reprimanded for tracking mud in. 

After a moment, he shifted his gaze to Kaito again, hesitantly, before nodding.

“Ah.. I’ll let my father know, then… thank you.” His voice and tone were quiet, polite. “And, ah, in that case… might… you have a spare umbrella? It seems that mine was built for the gentle English rain, not…" 

Hakuba winced as shaking thunder cut him off, and he turned his attention back to the floor, fidgeting with the towel in his hands. 

"I’m sorry, Kuroba-kun.”

phantom-thief-kid:

“Good. I don’t want him shooting the entertainment.” The relief was short-lived however.

…Ohcrap. Backpedaling time. “How many times do I have to say it? I’m not KID.” Though, really, given that whole mess with Janus shooting him and how Nakamori found out, he wasn’t really sure if Nakamori had told Hakuba. Or if Hakuba had visited when he was high out of his mind on pain medication. If either were the case, he may as well just end the charade.

Fortunately for Kaito, no one tells Hakuba anything. Ever. Especially when it’s important. 

The woefully unaware detective sighed, expression turning dry, then irritated, and it took him a moment to force a painfully neutral appearance, which he did with a sigh.

“Right. Of course. Despite the insurmountable evidence and your consistent missteps, coupled by correlating behavior, you’re not KID. My apologies; I must have forgotten. It must be why I haven’t turned you in yet." 

He pulled the towel under an arm and retrieved his cellphone again, frowning.

"If you’ll allow me to use your phone, I can call for a car. My mobile appears to be out of service- damn this storm. As for the dinner,” his tone abruptly changed to something more even, calm. Professional. “Are you free next Tuesday evening?" 

phantom-thief-kid:

Regardless of audience, there would be much fun to be had and smiles were something worth making. He put the letter away with a flourish of a puff of smoke.

“I agree to it, but I have two questions. Does your dad have a gun and does he have it on him normally? I ask this because I have a few ideas for openers and I’d rather not get shot because he’s like that Delon guy.” (Shot again, more like). And he just slipped up a bit and referenced something he shouldn’t know. He cursed internally.

The puff of smoke garnered a roll of Hakuba’s eyes, but he otherwise didn’t react. To that, anyway. On the subject of his father and Delon, however, he sighed and returned to the work of toweling off his hair. 

“He carries a firearm, yes, but… He’s a very careful, deliberate man. Not like that hothead Detective Delon. You needn’t worry about that. Every one of his actions are calculated through algorithms so complex that even I don’t understand it at times." Hakuba pulled the towel off, revealing a messy mane of sandy blond. He combed through it with his fingers.  

"One thing I can say for certain, is that he will not shoot unless he absolutely has to… and it takes a lot to get him to that point.”

He couldn’t resist a lopsided grin, then. “But… aren’t you used to dodging bullets by now?"