phantom-thief-kid:

Aside from the bright red irises, the lion would look rather healthy. He gave the human a lick across the face, then sat down. He licked his paw, then bit around the ring. Yes, the ring was annoying, but the biting made it worse, as it didn’t break the metal. He went back to licking it.

Fear did come from the human (the smell was noticeable), but he was keeping it under control and didn’t run, unlike prey. KID set his paw down and yawned, then rubbed his head against Hakuba again. A quiet purr issued from his chest.

The red eyes had Hakuba concerned. Brown eyes he’d heard on a lion, but these were unnatural. They were like- 

Hakuba’s thoughts were quickly interrupted by the lick across the face that tumbled him onto his backside. “Gah!” The sound was one of surprise more than anything, The head rub, the purring, got a broad smile from the normally reserved detective. He was relaxed. Somehow.  "Oof. What’re you doing, huh? Just a big, lost kitty, you are. And, oi, what’s wrong with your paw?“

He didn’t dare mess with the animal’s paws, but he did look, brows furrowing. Was the lion wearing… a ring?

phantom-thief-kid:

Meanwhile, said lion stretched again and yawned. Strange. That human wasn’t running or yelling like the others. He padded over quickly.

This one would’ve been easy prey, but his smell threw KID off. He didn’t mind it, but it was vaguely familiar. Though he supposed he could use the trick of old, shapeshifting into a form this one liked as a lure to rip him apart, there was a little bit in the back of his mind that was telling him this was a mate instead of either prey or a competitor. (A bit of the human side was bleeding over.)

He rubbed his head against the human’s hand. He really wasn’t all that hungry. He could wait a bit and humans were a fellow predator. No need to upset one of the friendlier of them.

That… That was not what the detective had been expecting.  

Hakuba let the lion rub on him, carefully keeping his hand still, touching only what was put before him. Was he nervous? Yes, very. But there was no reason to panic. Animals this big and powerful exuded confidence; showing fear like that would only be insulting. 

“Ah… hello,” he said, taking a moment to look around them. Okay, so, every other sane person was staying away. Back to the lion. It was certainly friendly enough. “You’ve been tamed, eh love? Where do you belong, hm?”

He put his phone away and brought his other hand over, shifting to crouch down, nice and slow. He wanted to check the lion’s eyes, ears, nose, mouth if he could, make sure it was healthy-looking. 

phantom-thief-kid:

His stomach gave a guilty lurch. Yes, he was lying, but Hakuba didn’t sound up for it, especially with how he wasn’t sure what was going on, himself. “That sounds wonderful, Hakuba.“

"I’ll call you again some time soon to… arrange something or other. Though I guess it might be after the charity event at this rate.”  The detective sighed. “So much to do… mmn. Have a pleasant evening,  mon attirante voleur.”

phantom-thief-kid:

“Yeah. But I doubt it’d happen, Hakuba. Despite the magic thing, I’m not a dragon. That would be cool, I have to admit.” He stretched out and yawned.

This reaction did surprise Kaito, Hakuba being something other than either dismissive or having his brain break due to how illogical stuff like magic was.

“Maybe some other time." 

Hakuba closed the laptop and looked at the case files on his desk, eyes tiredly narrowing at them.

"I’m… very relieved to hear that you’re all right, Kaito-kun. Very, very relieved. And appreciate that you called me to tell me before I terrorized the force into organizing a search and rescue party.”  He stifled a yawn. “…but I think I’d better get back to work.”

He leaned over, resting his forehead against the desk. 

“Dinner… some time soon?”

phantom-thief-kid:

“Yeah!” Kaito grinned even wider. It’d been a while since he’d performed elaborate tricks when not KID, so he was ecstatic for this. (That lack of performing, though, was partially due to how often he was running around as KID lately.)

“I’ve got the tricks planned and I figured out how to incorporate the red lines during that night, if I can’t blot them out with makeup or disguising tricks. I’m not going to do anything too dangerous, such as fire breathing. I’d rather not give anyone a heart attack. And mistakes would hurt, even with the invulnerability.”

“F-fire… Fire breathing?" 

Hakuba looked at his reflection in the window he was seated next to, noting his own, confused frown with some dismay.

"Ah, you… you mean the stage performance trick, surely… not that you, yourself, can breathe fire now?" 

phantom-thief-kid:

“It’s fine,” he said airily. Keeping secrets was always a pain, but this was getting ridiculous. As soon as he had finally let someone in on it, the universe decided it was time to add on to the double life, just for shits and giggles. (Maybe he pissed off someone in a previous life?)

“Anyway, how have you been, disappointment and panic aside?”

“I’ve been… fine." Hakuba looked at his watch. "Thank you for asking." 

He wasn’t fine, but Kaito didn’t need to know that. Time for a diversion of his own. "Are things still looking good for the charity benefit? Mum’s in town now. She’s… very excited."