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lxttledipper: I MADE IT!! So here’s a quick giveaway to show my appreciation! Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of finished GF art so you’re gonna have to deal with some older stuff so I can show off all my styles. ;; Rules: Must be following me. Don’t follow just for the giveaway and then […]
Kaito tilted his head in confusion. That was …. ”Expensive? How much are we talking about?”
“Ah…” So Kaito didn’t know. Hakuba licked his lips as he attempted to come up with a way to express the amount without insulting him. He had no idea how Kaito would take it if it were too much, but then, he knew several people who thought bottles of wine like this were cheap. "It runs around seven hundred dollars, actually. Now, I understand relevance and perspective, but the bottle I’m suggesting is only thirty-seven.“
((Thank you so much. T__T;; this means so much to me.))
you sometimes f o r g e t
who you really are
beneath the facade
— — because it is too pαιɴғυl
to acknowledge your sins.
The only place Shinichi could think was Periot and that embarrassed him. Here he was supposed to know Beika, did know Beika, and the only place he could think of was a tiny cafe some odd blocks away from his home. He shook his head and unscrewed the cap off a water bottle to take a long gulp of water. His work out had just ended and he was just waiting, trying to kill some time between the actives cases he was working on and the series of colds that Meguire-keibu had given him.
‘Something to keep you from hunting the streets.’ He grimaced. He did not hunt Beika’s streets NOR prowl as Shiratori-keibu put it. It wasn’t his fault that he stummbled, literally sometimes, across murders or in the scary sense fell right into his lap. That was a interesting night to say the least.
Shinichi sighed and pulled the thin shirt over his head to mop the sweet off his face. He still hadn’t replied to Hakuba mostly because he was still debating on taking the fellow detective to Periot or scrambling in the last minute to find a suitable replacement. A cafe in Japan? After living in Europe? Fat chance he was going to be able to find something that good.
SO Periot it was. At least it was a comfortable spot for him.
Shinichi sat in front his laptop again after his shower and reread the email. The message brought up more questions than answers for him. Particularly why his meeting spots would no long exist. He had read, after some digging and a bit of illegal hacking, and heard the rumors about his running with a criminal named Spider. It didn’t go well for either of them. The coroner’s report was pretty clean and straight forward in their findings.
He leaned back in the chair, the tips of his fingers pressed together as his mind raced with the possibilities as to why it had happened. What trigger that reaction from his fellow detective. Not that he didn’t think it wasn’t necessary but ….
He shook his head. Hakuba was his colleague and was asking for his help. What ever happened in his past need to stay there untouched till the other brought it to the surface. Sitting up in his seat again he got to work on his short simple reply.
Hakuba,
I know of a cafe that is pretty close to my home and is something of a neutral spot for me. Periot cafe. This weekend sounds perfect if a case doesn’t crop up during that time. I’ll be looking forward to our up coming meeting.
Kudo.
He reread the message, was satisfied with it and hit send then looked at the time: One AM. He let his head fall and hit the table.
Hakuba waited until the morning of his departure before responding, seated in the uncomfortable wooden chair on the covered patio of the Wickham-Hakuba estate.
His tea cooled in the warm morning air, spoon set aside while he tapped out his reply on his phone. Marion watched him from across the table, sun hat shading her face in a solid line while the rest of the setting was dappled with sunlight from the overhanging latticework and ivy.
Kudou-san,
Excellent. I will give you a call on Saturday morning to confirm plans. Shall we tentatively plan for 15:00:00?
The game had changed. Last names only from Shinichi meant that Hakuba would switch to last and honorific, as opposed to the full names of their previous emails. Did this mean that Kudou thought of him as an equal already, or at least a colleague? Incredible, were that the case…
“Are you sure that you’re able to travel? There’s still time to cancel your flight.” Marion’s voice broke the train of thought, careful to keep her lips in a thin line, not wishing to give away her feelings on the matter, though Hakuba already knew quite well how it was. They played the game of pokerface often, but knew each other far too well to be fooled.
He didn’t even bother to look up at her, reaching for the delicately rose-covered cup to take a sip. Still too hot. He set it down again. “I expect I’ll be fine, Mum.”
“Yes, of course you’d say that, but your back…”
Hakuba gave a patient sigh and ignored her in favor of rewriting the line he’d just written, easing into a statement that would be a little less formal.
Let’s tentatively plan for 3 o’clock PM.
Better. It was a little more friendly while still accommodating. But what else to include? How to end it?
“Do you think Miss Twiggy will take to Ekoda well?”
Hakuba finally looked up at that, blinking. “Oh, I think Twig will do splendidly. She’s a sturdy thing.”
So sturdy, in fact, that he wasn’t entirely certain where she was. He glanced over the vast grounds of the estate, squinting to see if he could spot her. Probably herding the ducks again. Like all good corgis, she liked to keep busy. He could relate.
She smiled. “You could always leave her here.”
“No, Mum. Twig stays with me.” He set his phone down to take another sip of tea, which had finally cooled enough to let the flavor of honey through the brew. “We’ll be fine.”
They both sighed, both took a sip of tea, then looked at each other again– she pleading, he irritated.
“Oh, I wish Baaya were going with you. Just promise me that you’ll stay away from the station?"
Hakuba rolled his eyes at that. "I’m retired, Mum. I’ve no reason to go to the station except to meet Dad for… whatever I would need to meet him for. I’ll just be taking a holiday.”
It seemed to ease her worries, but only just. “If you say so, but you know how detectives are…” She stopped herself when her son’s expression went cold. “Retired or not, you’re still just as thirsty as a hound, you know! I know you, Saguru James. The moment a case comes up that piques your interest, you’ll be off running regardless of your capacity!”
If it weren’t for the medications, the comment might have pushed Hakuba in all of the wrong direction. As it was, he took another sip of tea, then calmly set it down, ignoring the tremor in his hands. “I’ll stay away from the station, and I’ll come back in one piece.”
Marion let herself relax at that, satisfied. “Good. See that you do, my dear. I’m going to fret from the moment we see you off at the airport until you’re back again.”
“Yes, yes, I know.” Hakuba picked up his phone again to finish the email, hitting send without a second thought. It wouldn’t do to linger, since he was well aware that he was inviting trouble and ignoring his mother’s wishes, right there at the table.
Thank you for your quick response.
I look forward to seeing you and discussing the aforementioned topic. I’d love to hear of some of your cases, as well.
Sincerely,
– Hakuba S. J.
The two detectives froze at the whimpering plea, and while Conan steeled himself for what was to come, it only took 1.37 seconds for Hakuba to know, without a doubt, who the voice belonged to. It was Kid. It was Kuroba Kaito. His Kaito. He’d never heard it like that before, though; not in any of the time he’d known him. It was so broken. And it hurt.
Taking in the scene didn’t help ease that pain, either. Both of them could smell the blood and sensed the fear, felt the tension in the air, but Hakuba recognized something else that Conan had very little experience with, and it twisted his stomach in knots. The odor of sweat and sex, though nearly impossible to describe, stirred with the evidence of torture and brought unbidden flashes to mind. But the blond detective didn’t stop breathing until he saw his moonlight thief.
Conan leveled his watch, body tense, muscles coiled and ready to spring, but narrowed his eyes at the figure shivering in the light. Was that figure, bent and bleeding, really Kaitou KID? Was that even possible? He stepped forward, listening for his companion’s actions to dictate his own, but stopped when Hakuba staggered forward. He’d expected a calm and cautious approach, soft words and authority, but this…
It was all wrong. All so wrong. Hakuba couldn’t see KID, all he could see was Kaito. None of his professionalism and training stood a chance against vivid images that overtook him, crashing through all of his protective walls like the raging sea against a crumbling dam. It was far too personal. It hurt too much.
All at once he was drowning, gasping a ragged breath of his own as he dropped the firearm uselessly to the floor. Numbly, his left hand made for his pocket, digging for the watch in a desperate and reflexive effort to salvage his sanity, but the trembling in his limbs was far too violent to even keep adequate hold. Knees giving way to the crushing emotions, Hakuba sank to the ground, face twisted in agony and horror. Kaito, oh god, Kaito, oh god!
He couldn’t speak. Could barely think. The shadow cast by his own body in the flashlight stretched over Kaito as the sheepdog over a lamb’s battered form, drawing close despite its resemblance to the offending wolf.
It was the perfect contrast; a tormented knight to the shattered joker, and it disturbed Conan to witness it. It also told him far more than he’d anticipated– Hakuba was no stranger to abuse and he probably knew who Kaitou Kid really was… or they were really close despite. There were very few alternative explanations for how quickly the foreign detective had become emotionally compromised.
In a way, it embarrassed him. Hakuba may care for the thief, but they had work to do. How was losing his shit going to help KID?
“Oi, Hakuba!” Conan barked, voice hard and scowl firm. “Pull yourself together!"
The harsh reprimand snapped Hakuba back just enough for him to give a strangled cry. "Kaito!” Reaching, half crawling through the bloody patches toward him, tears building and falling in desperation.
Fortunately, Conan dismissed the slip for a mistake on that foreign tongue, rolling his eyes as he impatiently collected the gun from the floor. Dammit, Hakuba!
((My drafts say 81, but after counting, it looks like the number of actual RP replies is really in the realm of, say, 32~, some of which I’m pretty sure I can just delete… that’s comforting. It’s still going to take a while to get through, and I need to sleep soon, but hey! It’s not as hopeless as it seemed!))
“Wasn’t exactly handcuffs that I was worried about…”
It was a silly paranoia, really. He was more worried about the possibility of being unmasked more than being physically captured. Even if Hakuba knew the thief was his classmate, and wasn’t likely to do anything like that outside of a heist, …if he would even do it then…, Kid couldn’t help but be wary. He held the detective in high regard, but the caution that had built up wasn’t going to disappear anytime soon.
“…But thank you. I think I will stay.”
He smiled at the other a moment before before he shifted, moving his arms back to lean on as he closed his eyes.
“And it’s not like a thief has many people he can tell, so no worries about that, tantei-san.~”
“Again, it’s appreciated, regardless.” Hakuba laughed, voice still nervous in tone as he sat up again. It wasn’t as though he mistrusted the thief, either, but as flirtatious as they were, there had never really been any sort of define the relationship discussion.
He reached for the duvet at the end of the bed, exposing his naked back briefly, then dragged it around himself to preserve some sense of modesty as he slipped from the bed, heading for the closet.
“Now be a gentleman and turn around."
Her eyes widened a bit at his question. “What do you mean ‘my’ Kaito? It’s not like we’re dating or anything. I was just about to buy some things here. How about you?”, she asked the tall boy in front of her.
“Ah hah.” Hakuba coughed politely into a fist and glanced away, folding hands behind his back at his faux pas. “Ah, yes, quite. Ah, I’m here with plans of a similar design. I’m…” He wondered if there was any real merit to telling her of his plans, but there didn’t really seem to be any way out of it, either. “…shopping for a new tie, actually.”
He only hoped that she wouldn’t tease him. After all, it was well known (at least as far as he was aware) that he had a very extensive collection of ties already.
