themoonlightthief:

Aah, so much for that.

Spoilsport.

Lowering his hand, Kaito let out a quiet huff of annoyance and reluctantly followed after Hakuba, crossed his arms and watched the detective as he glanced around the living room. “Yeah, they do. Non-alcoholic though.“

He paused. Then motioned towards the duffel bag. “Are you planning on staying the entire night or something?”

Regarding the duffel, the detective shrugged his shoulders. “Ah, I.. well. I’m not going to make any presumptions. I just like to be prepared.”

Awkward.

“But, ah, rootbeer! Of course it’s non-alcoholic… Just like ginger beer, if I’m not mistaken.” Hakuba looked thoughtful at that, considering what he knew about the various types of beer that were not, as previously mentioned, fermented. “Applebeer, too. You don’t drink anyway, do you?”

themoonlightthief:

The stream of questions pulled a quiet snort from Kaito’s lips and he stopped, glancing over his shoulder at Hakuba, before briefly directing his gaze to the muted TV. The rather terrible action movie he’d been watching before the detective came knocking was still showing, but, thankfully, it seemed to be nearing the end.

“Not really. Just the only thing on right now that caught my attention, I guess,” he shrugged.

And then a wide, sly grin stretched across his face as he turned to fully face Hakuba, hand stretched out in an expectant manner. “And I think I’ll take you up on that offer about your credit card now, if you don’t mind.“

Oho, the things he could do with that thing~

"What soda do you want? I’ve got tea in the kitchen, if that’s more your thing though.”

“Ha ha- you think I’m that naive? No. I’ll hold on to the card until you need it to pay for the pizza, and then you may borrow it for only as long as it takes to read the numbers over the phone or enter them in on your computer. And then you will hand it back to me. And while I do know that you have eidetic memory, I expect you to be respectful and not abuse it.”

Rant over, Hakuba considered for a moment, approaching the living room while scouting out a place to put his duffel down.

“Ah, do they have rootbeer? We don’t get that in England so much… I’ve always wanted to try it." 

themoonlightthief:

An utterly unamused look was aimed the detective’s way as he noted Hakuba’s own expression and he had to resist the urge to mutter some very well chosen words under his breath.

Well.

Two could play this game. Whatever kind of game it was Hakuba was playing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if you’re planning on staying here, then one pizza is not going to be enough,” he replied with a roll of his eyes and turned to head back inside, reluctantly motioning for the other to follow.

He’d hidden the sapphire in the secret room behind the painting, and there was no way Hakuba was getting in there. It didn’t stop Kaito from feeling slightly unsettled though – he hadn’t expected to run into the detective again quite so soon – but he hid it with ease behind a well practiced poker face.

Success.

Hakuba walked into the house and removed his shoes, casually taking in the surroundings with careful, practiced gaze. Yes, memorize all of the details.

“That’s fine. You order, I’ll hand you my credit card. Is that agreeable enough for you?”

Shoes off, he straightened up and offered a grin. It was that same amused, ‘I’ve got you now’ kind of grin that he had worn before, but now it was a little more relaxed.

“We need drinks, too. I suppose pizza delivery doesn’t bring scotch, but… Soda should be fine? What do delivery places in Japan usually bring? Do you have tea already in the house? Oh, wait, I’m sure that you do… Oh, are you watching something?" 

themoonlightthief:

Kaito blinked and raised his head from the armrest of the couch and glanced in the direction of the door, while grabbing for the remote and turning the TV on mute.

He had gotten back surprisingly early – at least the wind had been kind enough to him tonight – and after checking the sapphire to, once again, only be disappointed to find that it wasn’t the Pandora, he had changed out of his clothes and taken a shower, before dropping himself in front of the TV. It might be late, but it was nowhere near late enough for him to want to go to bed just yet, so he’d decided to let his brain rot, just for a little while.

Not that there were any good shows on right now anyway.

Had he done something to piss lady Luck off or what?

Stretching, Kaito pushed himself up from the couch and headed for the door, expression one of confusion and curiosity. His mom was out on another one of her trips, Jii was busy and Aoko would just storm inside instead of knocking, so who…?

Upon opening the door, he froze, blue eyes going slightly wide in surprise and all he could do was stare at the detective and—

…Was that a duffel bag?

Okay, no, this was just not cool. It was everything but cool. What was Hakuba even thinking?!

“Y’know, if you’re gonna drop by all unexpected like this, the least you could do was bring a pizza,” Kaito huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe, a confused expression plastered on his face. “What are you even doing here?“

Perfect.

Hakuba offered a broad, sinister smirk to his friendly neighborhood Kaito, and shrugged his shoulders.

"You ruined my evening, Kuroba-san, and so I am here to ruin yours. I’ll pay for pizza if you insist, but you are going to have to host. May I please come in?”

The detective felt so much amusement in all of this, and it showed. Ah, to be the one watching the wriggling anxiety instead of feeling it for once.

themoonlightthief:

The thief arched a brow of his own at the lack of reaction, but he easily hid any disappointment behind a well trained pokerface and merely offered the detective a grin and a bow.

And then he took that final step over the edge and disappeared from view.

With practiced motions that he didn’t even need to think about anymore, KID released his glider and shot a brief glance back towards the roof. With no one nearby to see his face, he let his expression drop into a frown as a disappointed sigh left his lips, before he turned his attention straight ahead again, concentrating on letting the wind take him home.

And here he’d hoped he’d be able to relieve at least some of his boredom. But, apparently, lady Luck wasn’t on his side tonight.

At least not yet.

Hakuba turned from the thief to return to the scene of the crime, offering reports and statements and all of that bureaucratic nonsense necessary to absolve himself of responsibility for the unsuccessful evening. At least, it all looked good on paper, which is really all the administrations wanted. The detective himself, however, and the good officers around him, all felt that same bitter defeat even so.

Well, almost.

When the work was done, Hakuba went home and packed a duffel bag, and convinced Baaya to give him a ride.

“I’d rather not drive when I’m this distraught, Baaya.”

“…Are you sure you wouldn’t just rather stay home and sleep, young master?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I don’t think I could sleep. Besides, I promised Kuroba-kun that I’d help him with his studies. I’m not going to be made into a liar just because that bastard thief managed to get away again.”

“If you’re certain…”

And that is how Hakuba ended up on the walk in front of the Kuroba household, bag over his shoulder, expression determined and grim. All that was left was to get through the door. 

He waited until Baaya drove away before walking straight up to it and knocking, then waited. Although his stoic expression hid it well, the detective could not wait to see Kaito’s reaction to this new and dastardly tactic of attack. 

themoonlightthief:

whiteknighthakuba started following you

“Detective. What a surprise. If you’re here for the Lotus sapphire, I’m afraid you might be, ah…” A grin curled at his lips as he rolled the small gem between his fingers with practiced ease. “…A little too late.”

God, not this again.

Hakuba took in a calming breath,then let it out wearily, watching the thief. “As usual, yes, I understand that. However, my punctuality is not the issue here-” well, it had bothered him that he, yet again, hadn’t managed to figure out all of the clues and leaps in logic ahead of time to be there EARLY, but “- it’s the matter of your criminal antics. I know you’re simply going to return the gem anyway, so if you could kindly hand it over now we can get all of this nonsense over and done with.”

Yes, return the gem, not capture the thief. That would go over well.