He heaved a mental sigh of relief when the door finally swung open, and a wide grin settled on his lips as his eyes finally locked on the blonde. “Hot chocolate sounds great, actually. Thanks~ Good to see you too, by the way, Hakuba. Really.”

“So pleased to hear that, thank you! Yes, do come in, let me get this door closed and firmly locked to keep out the cold and we’ll go straight to the kitchen." 

The detective, who was perhaps a little more antsy than usual, stepped to the door to do just that. 

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this evening, anyway? If you don’t mind my asking, of course… not that you have to have a reason, necessarily, to come visit me, but I’m curious as I always am and you know, that sort of thing just-" 

Hakuba paused, glancing back behind him toward the darkened hallway, hesitated a moment, then let go of the breath he’d been holding. 

”…What was I saying?“