It was when Kaito missed school after a heist that Hakuba first noticed it. He’d been injured the night before, which Hakuba had known, but had assumed that his assistants would take care of it. Surely, Kuroba-kun had a team working with him to deal with all of the minor scrapes and bruises, right? But, no, he’d only seen him with one other person besides Aoko, who certainly didn’t know the truth. And that was Jii, the owner of the Blue Parrot. Spry as he was, the man was, well, old… and managing the health of an internationally wanted super thief was no easy job. Least especially not with just how dangerously Kuroba conducted himself. 

In that moment, staring at the empty desk, it struck Hakuba just how… much the very idea of losing him hurt. Just how much he cared. That the rising panic in his chest wasn’t the immediate thought of ‘great what’s that obnoxious idiot scheming now?’ or ‘good, he deserves to be exhausted after the runaround he gave us last night’  but rather ‘oh God I hope he’s okay’  and ‘should I contact him or Jii!? Oh God what if Jii doesn’t answer? Who can I contact then?!’ …all followed by the immediate relief of having Kuroba hang up on him when he snuck out to ‘use the restroom’ and instead placed the phonecall in the hallway.

He realized that he wanted to be closer. He wanted to know who Kaito trusted, so that he could utilize them when necessary for the thief’s benefit. Hakuba wanted to know his friends, his enemies, his resources, contacts, family. He’d already gathered a lot of this information before, certainly, and it sat in his database ready to be used but… Oh, god, the database. 

After school he hurried home and made the necessary updates to the files. Kuroba Kaito was no longer a suspect for Kaitou KID – several other people that he didn’t know remained on the list as red herrings, but Kuroba was confirmed to not be the thief after all.

Hakuba then upgraded his medical field bag to include a hell of a lot more supplies for suturing, sterilization, different sized bandages, splints, creams for burns, and so on, including a box of little bunny plasters.  The kit moved from a small messenger bag to a larger duffel and became a permanent resident of the trunk of his car (which has come in handy on many occasions). He also got into the habit of texting exactly an hour after heist’s end to confirm Kaito’s safe arrival to wherever. Text, wait fifteen minutes, the text again if necessary. Nothing too sappy or worried, just… 

[text] Home free?

[text] Still alive?

[text] I hope you didn’t get too much blood on your carpet.

[text] I suppose congratulations are in order. 

[text] Good show.

[text] Until next time?

…and a drive around the neighborhood if he had any niggling fears or doubts, though even then he hesitated for fear of bringing attention. He loved Kuroba Kaito, after all, and couldn’t stand the idea of losing him. The thief may never learn to trust him or accept him as a friend, but Hakuba would do what he reasonably could to help. Even if that only meant attending heists just to be on site to administer medical aid.  

Not that KID would accept it, but it did make Hakuba feel a little bit better.