phantom-thief-kid:

“Sorry there’s no tea.” Kaito inched closer to Hakuba until their shoulders were touching. He noted the expression at the news of lack of tea, a bit surprised by it. So Hakuba really loved his tea. It was something he stored in the back of his mind, next to “Let Nakamori occasionally win if he’s feeling too down due to heists.”

He rested his head on Hakuba’s shoulder. This was probably unwise, but sharing body heat is something he didn’t mind. It was preferable to that nipping low-level cold that bit into one’s body during prolonged exposure to the rain. It was the kind of cold that settled into one’s bones and didn’t take to leaving so easily.

Hakuba was British, after all, and they were built to operate on tea dispersed at specific intervals, with extra here and there. The tea was nearly forgotten, however, at the physical contact. The detective glanced down at Kaito, eyes fluttering in momentary confusion and surprise.

“Ah, it’s… really… all right…” he said, stumbling over his words. Hakuba averted his gaze, looking toward the chair with his suit jacket awkwardly, blushing ever so slightly over his pale cheeks. He was cold, though; and the other teen’s warmth permeated through his damp shirt quite effectively and reminded him just how cold he really was. 

“Er, I suppose your heater’s out, then, isn’t it? It’s a bit cold out.”

There was a flash of light outside the window, and thunder roared only a couple of frantic heartbeats later. The more the storm progress, the darker it got, and Hakuba leaned back against Kaito, reluctantly. 

phantom-thief-kid:

“Hmm…” Kaito got up and headed over to the kitchen, ignoring the vague chill creeping into his extremities. “We may not have any British teas, but I’ll see what I can do.” He then looked for a tea kettle, grinning in a vaguely amused way. If he were able to go back in time and tell his past self (from when Hakuba was overly antagonistic) this, that would’ve been priceless.

After finding it behind a pot, he filled it up with water and set it on the stove, trying to turn it on. He frowned and turned the switch back to the off position, then back to the on position. After a moment, he headed over and tried flipping the light on, to no avail. He headed back to the living room and sat back down next to Hakuba. “Uh, strike that. The power’s out.”

Certainly, Hakuba’s current state would amuse several previously-antagonized parties. When Kaito left for the kitchen, the detective let out a breath and finally took a seat on the couch. He stayed on the edge of the cushion, and as far to the left as possible, and stared at the carpet ahead tiredly. 

It didn’t matter if it was Earl Grey or not. He’d long since learned to get by with any sort of tea, be it green, oolong, chai, whatever. As long as it was hot and in a cup of some sort, he would be fine. Milk and sugar only made it better. It was the simple act of holding a warm tea cup in one’s hands, and spreading that warmth throughout the body with gentle pulls that made it calming. Made it wonderful. 

Tea would set things right. Tea always set things right. Hakuba managed a small smile as he told himself this. 

So when Kaito returned with the bad news, the heartbreak on his face was something akin to the shattering of a million small children’s dreams, dashed upon the pavement and dragged under a tractor for fourteen miles. 

“Ah…” was all he managed to say, turning to look at the thief in disguise next to him. And then, after a faint whimper. “That’s all right. Th-thank you, anyway." 

Then silence and more shivering. Somehow, the world had suddenly become a much colder place. 

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?”