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Kaito watched him humiliated, terrified. His stomach rolled dangerously and he launched up and out of his seat. The shaking had moved from his up his arms. Memories from that night flooded back to him all at once. Wrapping arms around his waist he watched the other. His breath came in short quick pants and he felt his vision fade. All thoughts on his escape route vanished.

Please let this be a lie. Don’t …

He bowed his head and struggled with staying right where he was. His imagination was running rapidly around and around. 

“Kuroba-kun…?” Hakuba watched him helplessly, turned in his seat to look at him, half wanting to run to him, half wanting to crawl under the table and die. “There’s no poison, I swear to God. I would never– not to you, not to anyone else, oh God… no, I… I… please forgive me, I…" 

The detective grimaced, turning back to the table to bury his face in his hands. He wanted to eat and show Kaito that things were fine, but as he reached a hand for the fork to force himself, the lump in his throat just pressed harder. "It’s fine, Kuroba-kun, I swear it.” He forced it down, then reached for the soup that was still there, getting a spoonful to eat, as well.

He reached for his wine glass, hesitated, then went for Kaito’s, which he took a long sip from, feeling absolutely miserable. What a mess their dinner had turned into. 

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“That’s fine. I didn’t know that it was a seven hundred dollar bottle of wine. Thank you.” He said and waited before giving the alcohol a swirl not to mix the flavor just to simply do something with his hands. 

He took a sip and welcome the dry heat in the back of his throat. Setting the glass back down he took up the fork and knife again. He was finally starting to relax properly. Glancing over to Hakuba he noticed the other had barely touched his food. He blinked a few times before he glanced down at his food. He swallowed thickly and felt his hands start shaking so bad he places the fork and knife down with a gentle clatter.

“What’s wrong? You’re not eating?” He said quietly and tried to keep the chill out of his voice and expression.

Hakuba blinked, fingers on the stem of his wine glass, glancing down at his food with sudden embarrassment. “Ah, I…” he stammered, wondering exactly how to explain it, turning to offer a pained and apologetic look to Kaito. “Apologies, I just can’t…”

Then he paused. What was wrong with Kuroba? Shaking, fear, the… subtle tremors, what happened? Was it something in the food? The detective looked down at Kaito’s plate, then back to Kaito, alarmed, and then it clicked. 

“Oh! Oh, God! No! Kuroba-kun!” He laughed,bringing a hand to run through his hair anxiously, beside himself and horrified. “God, no I just can’t eat when I’m anxious! I’m so bloody terrified I haven’t been able to – just the water! But it’s…! God!”

Hakuba took a deep breath and hurriedly picked up his fork, with food on it, and forced it down, ears almost scarlet. As he chewed, he wondered if he should feel insulted, bringing up a napkin to cover his mouth as he swallowed, stomach twisting again. “…see?”

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“I’m going to have to talk to your chef. The food is amazing.” He smiled truly. 

He reached for his water glass and noticed his wine bottle unopened. He glanced at the other bottle and shrugged. He couldn’t really take offense after all it was a seven hundred dollar bottle. That price still made him squirm. He finished the water, took up the wine glass and gestured to the open bottle. “Do you mind?”

“I’m so glad to hear that, and… oh! Ah, not at all…”  Hakuba set his own glass down and immediately went for the wine bottle, pouring the exact standard amount into his glass– not a little more or a little less, then set it aside and went for the water pitcher.

“God, I’m sorry. I’m all out of sorts. I hope that you don’t mind that I opted to go with this other bottle… I’d of course be more than willing to drink yours with you, but…”  He laughed uneasily, setting the water pitcher down afterward.

“…I always err on the side of caution, you know.”

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So much for being grounded. Kaito paused in his step and swallowed. “It’s not …. I mean … Can we both admit that this is different and awkward for both of us?” He winced.

Now that the elephant was acknowledge he could breathe a bit better. He walked over to him and rested a hand on the back of Hakuba’s shoulder before taking his seat. He let his finger slide over the material softly before picking up his utensils again and began to eat with vigor. 

“Yes, I believe…”  Hakuba’s voice trailed as Kaito touched his shoulder, gaze following the movement of the other’s hand, even after Kaito went back to eating. “Ah… yes, it’s a little… yes, what you said, precisely.”

He wasn’t usually this bad with communication, even with Kaito. At least, during school he’d managed to keep his composure for the most part, even when frustrated. And during heists, well, that was another matter all together. But here, in this intimate setting, just like the last… It was the one-on-one moments, with no one prying, that were truly the most challenging, and Hakuba was failing to live up to his own expectations.

“I hope the meal is to your liking.” His voice, timid, announced the turn of his head back to his own setting as he reached for the wine he’d poured. 

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That said servant was one he nearly ran into. Embarrassed far beyond he could take he blushed and shook his head. Quickly he moved down the hall and to the guest bathroom, once there he practically showered again. Face dripping the water he struggled to settle his stomach. This wasn’t like him at all. The sickness that came from nerves, the embarrassment at his own stupidity. He was usually so much better than this.  Always one step ahead. What is Hakuba? Did he just not care to put forth an effort.

His hand slid into his hair and he blushed . No, it was because it WAS Hakuba that made everything important. When had the approval of one person mean so much to him? When did Hakuba start to mean so much to him? Exhaling he started to bring a hand to his mouth and paused he was trembling. Glaring he moved it to his churning stomach. He was so nervous and scared and  …. so happy.

Leaned back against the counter he slicked his hair get with the remaining water and took several deep breaths before settling on the fact that he was going to figure this out soon.

Grounded again he walked back to the dinning room.

By the time Kaito returned, another bottle of wine had been brought out. Hakuba really wasn’t certain if they were going to be able to enjoy Kaito’s, so it was better to be safe than sorry. He poured some into his own glass, then sighed, drumming fingers against the table. The moment he heard Kaito’s approaching footsteps, he froze and slowly turned to look at him again, nervous smile plastered on his face.

“Oh, ah… welcome back, Kuroba-kun… I trust you found your way?” A pause. “I’m… so terribly sorry if I’ve mucked everything up. Again. I have to admit that I can be quite awkward at times… ah…”

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“That’s nice.” he mumble then froze. Half way through a gulp he choked and nearly spewed. “WAIT!! Did you just say seven hundred dollars?”

He paled. Holy crap, Jii. Why did he have that mixed in with the others? Were all the wine that expensive? Well at least he didn’t have to worry any more about it being insulting. Hands shaking he set down the silverware and stood with an easy smile.
“You mind if I use your restroom? No, okay.” He asked then answered for himself and quickly walked out of the room.

Blink blink.

“Ah…” Hakuba stood up to follow, but with Kaito already hurrying on his way, he sat back and frowned. What had he said? Was it the price? Was it Jii? Was it… what was it???

He looked at his food, picture perfect in its presentation and tilted his head, reaching for his fork. There was no desire to eat, but he pushed it around on his plate to burn at least a little bit of his anxious energy. 

Out in the hallway, a servant asked if Kaito needed anything, but it seemed clear that he knew where he was going already.

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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.“

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He blushed. He really didn’t know anything about wine. Oh Gods did he mess up? Was it a bad choice? He swallowed the bite he had just taken and felt his stomach churn. Then when he heard Hakuba had visited the Blue Parrot struggle not to vomit. The memories of Jii flashed through his mind and he had to really concentrate not to break into a sweat.

“Did you?” His voice fluxed and broke embarrassingly. What was the question? The wine? Right. He took a deep breath and put on an easy smile. His expression changed to one of ease and normalcy.

It was fake.

“I brought it from Blue. Is there something wrong with it?” He asked through the smile and the perfectly masked pain.

“Oh, no, no… it’s brilliant, actually. A very fine selection, good year from what I understand.”  Hakuba reached for the bottle to look it over, giving himself an opportunity to continue to ignore the food in front of him. "I believe that I’ve had a taste of this before– a couple of years ago in England. I remember it being quite good and, ah…“

It was completely inappropriate to bring up the cost, but the detective didn’t think that he could drink it in good conscience while Kaito was blissfully unaware. Or, well, not blissfully – the pain, as well as it had been hidden, was shared in quiet empathy. The wine was just a convenient distraction.

"It’s quite expensive, too.” He paused, lips pursing. Not wanting to imply that Kaito were poor, or that even if he was in comparison that it was at all a problem, Hakuba quickly continued. “If we’re really to drink this, we must make certain to savor every last drop. Perhaps I’ll bring out a different wine for dinner, and we can share this one afterward?" 

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He blanked and went very still. Then he laughed weakly at himself. OH Gods what was he going to say? He fell for Sherlock? At least the food came at the right moment and saved him the YEARS of embarrassment. 

He again bow his head and gave thanks for the food. Sending a side glance towards Hakuba he notice that the other was distracted by something under the table. He leaned over and angled so he could try to see what exactly it was.

If Hakuba was an expert at anything, it was hiding his phone while he researched something. What he found had him pause, though, eyes getting wide for a moment as he looked from the phone to the wine bottle again, then to Kaito, then back to his phone, then the bottle again, then his phone as he hurriedly back into his pocket. Oh. 

“…so, I didn’t ask you,” he said, voice tense as he straightened up in his seat, reaching for his water glass again, gaze shifting from what he was doing to the rest of the food as it materialized. The servants were quickly gone away again. “This wine that you’ve brought… private collection from home, or something from the Blue Parrot?”

Another sensitive topic, but this he addressed with a small, sweet smile at the end, looking to face him directly. “I used to frequent,” he added quietly for context. 

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“Adler? ” He was a little disjointed. He looked at Hakuba and heard him speak of Lupin. He chuckled. “To be honest I haven’t read Lupin. We, the current Lupin and I, don’t  exactly get along.”

He smiled and the edges were slightly cruel. “As for Adler …. I didn’t fall for her … it was -“

Surprise and curiosity had Hakuba’s attention firmly fixed on Kaito once more, and he nodded as he spoke, taking in every word with several degrees of calculation. Alas, the servants arrived just at that thought, bringing in the start of the main course. 

It was painful to tear his thoughts away, but he couldn’t help but be distracted by the flurry of movement and the situational upheaval.  "Ah, hold that thought,“ he said to his companion, reluctantly turning his attention to the staff to nod and offer his thanks to them.

So far, so good. Roast. Potatoes. Vegetables. Soon the wine joined the table with appropriate glasses, and Hakuba found himself side-eyeing the label again. So familiar… but where…? 

Attempting to be as discrete as possible, the detective slipped his phone out of his pocket and under the table, typing in the name while feigning a smile. "I suppose dinner is served… a little earlier than planned, but…"