kuroba-k:

“Well, you won’t be full-body tackling any criminals for a while now. Even though with your height I imagine it to be rather productive here in Japan.” The corners of his mouth twiched upwards again. He was being considered tall, but Hakuba was at least another half a head taller, so he really did have some advantages. Although the side of it he imagined not to be that much fun was, that it made the detective’s ‘Hafu’ heritage a little more visible.

Although with the next topic it seemed Kaito had found the sore spot Hakuba had been avoiding a few times already. So he focused a little more, watching his patients body language a tad more attentive.

Small apartment in Tokyo, floor?, lift – planning to move into house, he noted quickly. Then he nodded when Hakuba mentioned the boy, he already talked about before.

“So he’s most likely pretty lively”, Kaito supplied during the little pause and wrote down that there was a small boy with custody in the question and trying to organise a nanny. “Sounds like a fine young man and a very reasonable thing you’ve planned there.” He looked up again with a warm smile and finally put his papers and the pen aside.

“As for us, the first thing I’d like to do is take a look at your leg and the scars. For today they’re my first priority. I want to make sure the tissue stays as functional as possible so you won’t have any long term restrictions due to the fact that the skin won’t strech. Also, I want to know how much pain may come from them. As for the rest of the time I will most likely be a little mean, because I’d like to try and slightly irritate some pain to test the waters. Which is the next thing I plan tackling with you. My feeling so far is that the aches currently bother you most, so I’d like to try and optimise your pain management with you. What do you think?”

“Oh, I used to be very good at tackling people and… yes, he’s quite the handful,” Hakuba said, pouting as he considered the next part of Kaito’s plan for him. He was used to pain, but he didn’t really enjoy it. He knew very few people that did, though, and that fact forced him to keep a tight jaw and a grim smile on his face. 

Really, all things considered, he was lucky that he hadn’t completely lost his leg. Or his life. He very well could have at so many points during the confrontation and the ensuing trauma. It had been a mess. “Go ahead, Kuroba-san, do whatever you need to do and I’ll do my very best to avoid making too much noise.”

He laughed, tilting his head at him with a broader sort of smile. “Or am I supposed to be completely honest about the pain? I try not to complain nearly as often as I’d like to…”