He watched him; his heart leap somewhere into the sky. Smiling he crossed and took Hakuba’s hands in his and kissed each one. “I swear.”
Hakuba laughed, suddenly giddy as he watched Kaito lay the affection on him, still oh so baffled by the turn of events. “I do, too.” His smile went wider and he hunched his shoulders, bashful all over again with another short laugh, practically giggling. “I… I suppose we’re dating now, then. Officially."
He’d never looked happier.
hakuba we hit 4,000 posts on the blog tonight!111 we should domsething to celebrate
“No, munneko-chan, please don’t… … I knwo what you’ve been up to, talking to Spidermun… I don’t like it.
"also i am pfretty sure tha you are oin ambien again.”
shhh hlep me plan a thing for you it will be so great anbd probably enjove a caej rif simethugnb
“no”
“But I was. I was very cruel, just wanting to solve the cases as quickly as possible. I didn’t care if the offenders broke down crying under the pressure or if I … I made it seem that death was there only option. I did so much damage not only to them but their families.” He leaned back and folded his hands in front of him. He stared them and continued. “There … I have blood on my hands. Of those that I’ve push and those I couldn’t save thanks to being so blind. "
He could remember all of there faces. The pain and hopelessness of each one. Their faces used to haunt him at night along with Gin and the organization. So after a while the nightmares diminished and soon stopped all together. He didn’t dream at all any more. Not even to day dream.
Hakuba fell silent for a time as he contemplated Kudou’s words, eyes half-closing to concentrate. "Yet,” he said after a moment or two. “You now see that you were blind. You have made changes, haven’t you? This feeling of sorrow that I get from you is authentic. I trust that it is.”
Even so, he had to admit that he didn’t know Shinichi well enough to give a full assessment, not really, and certainly not of everything. “Holmes was cruel, but he had to be with many of those criminals. He still showed mercy, even to the worst… Boscombe Valley Mystery, you know?"
He flicked the watch open with the press of his thumbnail and studied the time before verifying it with the wristwatch he wore.
"Surely things are different now, Kudou-san."
He spun around and faced him again not because Hakuba called to him because he was to damn annoyed to consider actually thinking straight. This time he didn’t slip and looked like a sick child ready to throw a temper tantrum. ”Why? So you can make fun of me again?! Or to rub your money in my face. Trust me Hakuba I know what you have.” He sighed and felt his energy vanish as fast as it came. “Forget it. Just forget it.”
He turned back around and started to shuffle off. He was too cold and too tired and too frustrated with everything to do much else. Anger had its perks and its cons. When it came he was warm again when it left it just left him drained and even colder. He sneezed and tired to bundle up again.
“Can we just go? Please … please?”
“I really hadn’t meant to do any of those things,” Hakuba stammered, voice pleading, though the longer Kaito remained fixated on it, the more heated were his defenses. “I didn’t want to make fun of you, and I don’t care about the money, I didn’t mean to…"
The detective huffed, steam coming out as a cloud from his mouth in the chilly air. "Don’t turn your back on me, Kuroba-kun!” he said, shuffling after him with Something To Prove– which couldn’t be done if Kaito just kept walking away.
“We are going, but we’re supposed to go together and… and…” Frustrated, Hakuba began to untie his own scarf, shopping bags banging against each other and his sides with the violent effort. Finally, once it was free, he thrust it at Kaito, right over his shoulder and from behind, since Hakuba was so tall.
“Here! Take it!"
“Is he trying to get himself killed?!”
"It’s very likely given what an adrenaline junkie he is… god dammit, Kaitou-san!”
“…The cases are being closed prematurely?” He didn’t like what that could imply. “And I shall not, but I was talking of back when we butted heads so much. Usually I was the biggest thorn in your side.”
“Aha, yes… yes indeed you were. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?” Hakuba asked, voice soft and fond as he recalled the timeline they’d shared together. Then he shook his head, frowning once more. “Ah, and yes, cases are being dismissed without so much as a proper final verdict from district heads. I know that they’re not always strictly necessary, but when it comes to this sort of crime, I’m decidedly unnerved by the lack of care…
"I’m certain you can understand how stressful that is."
“Probably pointless to ask, yeah,” he answered with a small smile, arms still comfortably tucked behind him, the perfect picture of ease. Though underneath his casual aura he was still very much paying attention to the details. As per usual.
The nickname had caught his attention however. It had been awhile since anyone had used it. It had been awhile since anyone had called him anything at all, actually. As far as ‘Shinichi’, that is.
“Around here it was ‘Heisei Holmes’. The other is yours to keep. I thought everyone had forgotten, though. It’s kind of nice to hear that again,” he added with a chuckle. “As you can imagine, I don’t really get the kind of publicity I used to. No more tabloids for now. But as for food…
"Hmm, today’s special is the cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches but I would actually recommend the French Dip with au jus. It’s a little heavier but you get more for your money and it’s warm.”
“French Dip sounds fine to me,” Hakuba said, considering the particular food only after the fact. Protein was good, but it did sound heavier, yes, and he often had difficulty eating in situations where he wasn’t at ease. Which included having lunch with his idol. Though, he could always get the rest to go– that wasn’t too awfully awkward, was it?
And then there was the matter of the titles. “The Heisei Holmes and the Modern Day Sherlock Holmes sit together in a cafe called Poirot, discussing books, tea, and how good we are at analyzing each other.”
Hakuba smirked, then, attempting to force himself to relax. Things weren’t going to go any better if he stayed so tense, after all; it would serve them nothing. “I think our networking is going quite well so far, don’t you?”
Toshio debated whether or not to help the other for a moment. They were in a busy enough place that someone would notice if he were being abducted…and it might actually be interesting to talk to this man, if he were actually what he said he was.
“Fine.” The writer huffed, matching the detective’s pace as they began to head for their destination. He wracked his brain for something to talk about…..anything.“Uhm. Uhm. So, Hakuba-san, I-I would like you to look into that translation of the Kojiki I was talking about. You see, because it’s written in old Japanese, many kanji have changed and all sorts of new w…words have been developed since then-” He couldn’t help but look over his shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of this mysterious woman and seeing no one conspicuous.
“-Anyway, th-this history lesson must be boring you. Do you need to know any more details?” Though he gave the lines of a customer his voice was way too pained to seem natural, and his body language was hunched and hesitant.
“No, no, not boring at all,” Hakuba said, pushing his voice to its most professional in tone. He was so relieved, so grateful that Toshio had agreed to play along, though poorly at best. That was all right; many of his clients were very nervous people, and tended to act out of sorts. “Any details that you can provide would be quite helpful…”
Kanji, though? That was something that Hakuba had to admit he wasn’t intimately familiar with. He was still, after all, a foreigner as everyone was so eager to point out. Still, he could ‘help’ with whatever task at hand his ‘client’ had come up with, regardless. He knew that his investigative abilities at least allowed for that.
Guiding the other toward the bookshop, Hakuba, too, stole a glance around to look for the woman. She had disappeared into the crowd of shoppers, but he didn’t feel any less ill at ease. If she caught up to him…
“This sounds like quite the intriguing case, but I believe that, together, we’ll be able to get to the bottom of it."
Kaito turned to him and measured him carefully and debated internally.
“I’ve been celibate for the past year, Hakuba. I’ve also never dated anyone before that. No one. So I can hold true to your request. I can try.” He answered just as calm. At least his voice was. His knees how ever were shaking.
Grateful though he was that Kaito apparently hadn’t noticed that he’d passed song lyrics off as legitimate words in a serious conversation, Hakuba couldn’t help but feel the tiniest big disappointed, too. Mostly because the significance of the prose was… well, it didn’t matter.
The fact that Kaito was willing to try did, though. That he wanted to. It mattered a great deal, and it changed everything.
“Kuroba-kun,” Hakuba said, expression softening, giving a warm smile. He was still terrified – of everything – but this… “If you can promise me, I promise, too… I would be honored to be yours, and you mine."
