Tag Archives: thread

by

Bloody Moriarty

thelotusflowerfiles:

Shinichi ignored the impulse to take the others bag and walked normally to the door. He did hold it open for Twig and her owner because she need it not Hakuba. So he told himself. He barely got out of the way from them before he was bear hugged into Jon’s ham like arms and barrel chest. Squirming he used his free arm to push against the other and fussed at him in English.

image

 “Jon! Inappropriate! You have to let go!” He shouted.

“You still are so short, my friend! Like a girl.” The man teased and grunted when Shinichi’s fist plowed into his diaphragm. He staggered back and rubbed the sore spot. “Just as feisty too.”

Shinichi glared at him.

The entire exchange caught the half-brit completely off-guard. Hakuba stumbled back two steps and out of the way, backing into the outer wall of the cafe while Twig tugged at the leash to lead him to a safer spot. The man – John? – intimidated him, he couldn’t deny that at all, but he held back the sudden anxiety with a look of bemused confusion. 

“Ah…” he began in Japanese, speaking to Shinichi once he was free. “Is this your friend, then?” he asked, glancing to the man after with a polite smile. Was he supposed to be addressed in English? Should he offer a handshake?

What if Jon took his arm and yanked him over, crushing his spine and leaving him paralyzed all over again? It seemed a very possible outcome, so he stayed where he was, hoping Shinichi would explain the proper procedure for him.

Twig, for her part, pressed against Hakuba’s leg to keep him where he was, large ears angled at the new human while she sniffed in his direction to determine if he was safe. Boisterous, she thought, but not evil… He might be okay… 

by

Bloody Moriarty

thelotusflowerfiles:

image

“No need. I’ve already paid for the both of us and the cab has been taken care of as well.” He stated and finished off his water. Collecting his bag and the food he glanced outside and watched the cab pull up.

“Jon’s early.” He murmured and glanced down at his watch. Looking down to Twig then back up the Hakuba he asked them both. “Ready to go?”

By the time the attention had returned to him, Hakuba managed to get himself into some sort of presentable condition. He didn’t want to lean on his cane any more than necessary, even with the tension in his back. Yes, Kudou knew that he’d been injured, and it was obvious to anyone with any sort of basic observational skills, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to go out of his way to appear weak. 

He spared a glance down at Twig, who wagged her tail, looking right back, then gave a nod. “Yes, I believe so.” Despite saying thus, Hakuba reached back into the booth to retrieve his bag, which he shouldered as a sort of counter-balance to the cane, and started toward the door. 

The limp wasn’t so bad, really, now that he’d had a chance to rest, but his gait was stiff, anyway. Still, determined to be as brave as he could muster, he bore that smile again and walked, anyway. “Thank you for the tea, Kudou-san… it was just what I needed." 

by

A Little Assistance || littledetective

littledetective:

image

   It was far easier to play the adorable, helpful child around those he hadn’t spent a lot of time around, or those that didn’t know his true identity. While Hakuba seemed capable on his own, he hoped that he wouldn’t become another that figured his secret.

   ”What’s the dog’s name, and how’d it get out?” Conan wanted to asked what it was the owner wanted from the canine’s collar, but would wiggle his way into that question later.

“Her name is Mikki, and the current theory is that she somehow got out of my client’s car while it was parked at an office building, just two miles from here…”  Hakuba glanced in the direction of the building – north east – then back down to Conan with a sort of helpless frown.

“They think she just got out through the window, but I wonder if, perhaps, someone broke in to let her out. There were little scratches on the door next to the window, and it’s so terribly easy to break into those older cars. Here, I’ll show you a photo." 

The taller detective pulled out his phone to scroll through the evidence that he’d captured earlier that morning, and held it out to him. Sure enough, the black car had tiny scratches in the paint, indicative of a metal object and several false starts to get between the door and the pane of glass. 

"I have to admit that I’m more than a little upset at my client for leaving their dog in their parked car, but I suppose that can’t be helped now…" 

by

Terminal Affirmation

smokebombsandmirrors:

Kaito softened while watching him slip the necklace on. “I’m glad you like it.” 

He felt like a stupid giddy schoolgirl. Absolutely pleased with his handy work. It took him only three hour search for the right stone, a simple unannounced heist for the aquamarine disk, and six hours to link the chain together and three more to fit the topaz pieces around the disk.

“I’m only sorry that I don’t really have anything to give you in return,” Hakuba returned with a wince, voicing the thoughts he’d meant to keep to himself. Following the trend, he continued while adjusting his collar. “Dare I ask where it came from?" 

At least he managed a playful little smile along with it, tilting his head as he looked back at the young man that he knew, without a doubt, was a thief. That fact did nothing to deter from the sweet expression he gave, though, brown eyes warm and full of feeling as he looked at him with an almost embarrassing amount of vulnerability. 

”…or is it better left a mystery?“ 

by

City Jaunt!

harajukuharuspex:

image

Everything hurt.

She came to with a start, with a gasp, with a near-silent cry of pain and an even quieter mental cry-

      [Emi.]

Her world spun. The walls, were they white or black or somewhere in between. Was someone there? She felt – or she thought she felt – a warmth, a heartbeat of someone close by, her left side in fact, and what was jammed down her throat? Akira choked on the breathing tube and heard the erratic beeping of the heart monitor as she struggled. The person beside her stirred, and Akira recoiled at the garish white and black smeared into grey and the black pits for eyes, a red slash for a mouth.

Akira screamed.

All of the time spent waiting, hyper-focused on every factor of his friend’s vital statistics, had lulled the detective into a false sense of the passage of time. Even the cases that Hakuba brought with him did little to hold his attention for any particular length of time, most of his presence dedicated to counting between each heartbeat, each revolution of the machinery in the room. It had become a sort of comforting despair. 

The scream, of course, disrupted that ever so thoroughly. 

Hakuba fell off of the chair that he’d been sitting in, papers scattering to the floor in a flurry of white and manilla, then scrambled to pick himself up. Any residual pain from his injuries was nothing to the pounding of his heart or the panic that flared up like scalding steam.

“A-AH! Akira-kun!” he cried, eyes wide. “Ah- ah, j-just hold on, hold on, let me… let me get the…”  The detective threw himself to the call button, hitting it a bit harder than necessary, and turned back to the girl in the bed. “Th-they’re coming! They’re coming! It’ll be all right!" 

He didn’t want her to choke, but strictly speaking, he wasn’t really permitted to remove the breathing apparatus on his own. Still, could he stand there and do nothing? Hesitantly, he edged closer to try to put a hand on her shoulder, frantic. 

by

Split Decisions

blackorgkaito:

Finger on the trigger— not. His eyes might as well have been the Looking Glass, such tips tops turvy the reality he gazed at was; tremors in his hands were rejections of the gun in he was holding and I can’t do this, he wanted to say. It’s a life with a family and a past and maybe they’re someone’s father and—

He’s becoming exactly who he vowed that he wouldn’t be, couldn’t be; he’s becoming his father’s killer, he is a killer, and he can’t, he can’t—

A familiar voice.  

He could literally feel the blood draining out of his face. There was a sharp askance in his ear that he barely comprehended— What was that? What’s happening? You’d better answer me, KID, or your friends and family’s gone by next morning.

His breaths came sharp, quick, and damn it he was hyperventilating; a hand slammed to his mouth to cut off oxygen as thoughts of Aoko and Nakamori and his mother dead flashed by— house blown to bits? Maybe it would seem like a simple car accident— or if they were feeling particularly sadistic, it would be arson and memories of a burning stage and screams for his dad to come back echoed in his mind. 

If— if he could ask Hakuba to help— no, he can’t get the detective wound up in this mess. But if he could, if he could, if Hakuba could stop him from doing this, please, please— if he died in action, would his family live at least? He wouldn’t have to kill, and this nightmare would be over, but he couldn’t ask Hakuba to do that.

Not to mention they had thought of everything, he couldn’t ask anyway, the furiously whispering voice in his ear served as a reminder that he was live on air— 

Why hadn’t he checked to see if he was being tailed? Stupid stupid stupid stupid!

“It’s nothing. I’ll take care of it.”

Was his answer to the buzzing voice on the other end, his own forced through a twisting stomach and a constricted throat. A cautious shift in position to slowly rise, head swimming as he did so— placing the gun down (thank you) and raising his hands cautiously to show that he was unarmed. And he wanted to say that he was— No uncomfortable pistol hidden in the small of his back or a knife strapped down to his ankle because he was better than that, right?

But he wasn’t. 

The hidden hand gun that sat all too comfortably at his waist made him sick.

“Well then, you know what to do.”

The tone that came through the ear phones were anticipatory and taunting, a cat playing with it’s prey. He grit his teeth— Hakuba’s not the annoying classmate you know anymore, Kuroba, Kaito tried to tell himself even as his breath made an attempt to quicken again. Lets see, lets see, there was a camera somewhere that was monitoring him— Earphone guy wasn’t looking at it but Headquarters were.

Hakuba was just too noticeable of a person to pass by as a random intruder— what to do—  stupid British teenage detectives who messed everything up.

He can’t fake this, can’t pretend to shoot and cover the other’s mouth, can’t get a silent message across to him and even then he wouldn’t understand. Hakuba was just too good for that, despite his fallacies and annoyances. The stupid idiot would try to save the other and somehow save the day— because that’s what detectives did. 

Save lives.

Unlike him. 

So unlike him.

But that wasn’t the problem here he had to —

He can’t try any stupid moves. He licked his lips— one toe out of line and bang bang boom. He wouldn’t be surprised if the Syndicate would take it one step further and blow up his whole school.  

He would have to play along, then, at this game. If he knew the other as well as he did — the detective wasn’t going to flee anytime soon—or would he? The other was never one to run from danger if what he saw at his heists were any indication but then that was different. Either way, Kaito wanted him here— as soon as the detective got out of sight, the syndicate was going to hunt him down. Trap set. Game over.

He had to checkmate him— them— here. 

But how? 

All of these thoughts ran by in split seconds, mind working overdrive— he had to get the detective out of this alive. 

There was a final decision made at that moment— so many paths pointing to so many directions and he wasn’t sure if he had stepped foot in the right one. Not when all sense of moral “correctness” had gone down the drain. 

Right and wrong didn’t apply anymore.

No looking back.

“I’m afraid that doesn’t apply when the person in question isn’t quite thieving at the moment." 

Kaito said, slipping into his persona altogether too easily — Hakuba’d approached him as KID, and he’d reciprocate— stick with what’s familiar. He’s not in a rush to get to that sniper anytime soon, the conference would last for a while anyway, all he had to do was—

To do was—

He licked his dry lips again; body language Kaito, stop that, you’ve already given away enough.

The game changed all at once, and Hakuba’s expression hardened a degree in both confusion and concern, gaze trained on his classmate, his thief, flicking only briefly toward the gun set on the concrete of the rooftop, then back again. It wasn’t the card gun; that much was clear, and there was so much wrong with the scene before him that he’d have had to be a fool not to recognize it for what it was, at least in part. 

He couldn’t act without more data, though, and a clearer picture on where Kuroba stood in all of it. Theories leapt to his mind in a raging torrent, offering explanation, justification, and warnings, but settling on any would be dangerous to proceed on at the present juncture. 

At least there was the string of usual banner. It was safe– the only neutral territory in the face of potential upheaval. 

"Not quite?” Hakuba asked, forcing a smirk on his lips. “Honestly, you’d think that you could pick a better place and time to case a heist location than during a busy conference, Kaitou-san.”

The words, so familiar, gave him a chance to breathe, to sort through what he did know. KID wasn’t exactly a pacifist, he knew that, and he had dangerous people on his tail. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that he had access to weapons beside his typical KID gear, especially after everything with Nightmare. But it wasn’t like KID to display so much hesitation, minute and discrete as it was. The fear, the bit of chatter… 

Was it Nightmare all over again? Were they being watched? Was Kuroba being controlled? 

Typical of his character, the detective shifted his gaze without turning his head to try to get a better feel for their surroundings, scanning for potential exit strategies. It would be such a simple matter to call for backup. He licked the back of his teeth, contemplating. He had cuffs on him. Perhaps he could take KID in– though, no, no, that wouldn’t work. KID couldn’t be caught for a multitude of reasons, and he still needed more information. 

“Don’t tell me that you’re losing your touch? Or is it just the thrill that you’re looking for?" 

by

Bloody Moriarty

thelotusflowerfiles:

image

“Yes, yes, Thank you. Five minutes.” He sighed, hung up, and pinched the bridge of his nose where the headaches liked to gather. Glancing back inside he looked at the detective sitting there.

There was a lot of pain there, some of which he knew only too well. Inhaling the exhaling deeply he opened the door again and ventured back to the other detective. Azuza stopped him briefly to handed him back his card and a bag.

“Its curry. I thought you might want something to eat when you get home.” She said and gave him a shy smile.

He blinked at before taking it showing off an appreciative smile. “Thank you Azuza-san.” 

He sat back down and shuffled the flies back into his bag. “Five minutes.”

Hakuba put on a bravely optimistic face when Shinichi returned, nodding to the timeline. “I’ve just now finished, so the timing is ideal.” He hated assuming that his costs had been taken care of, but he’d watched the transaction between Shinichi and Azuza, and thought it better than presuming otherwise. 

Taking his time to slide out of the booth, bracing himself against the table until he could get a grip on his cane, he opted for a more careful approach. 

“I just need to settle my tab…" 

Twig, meanwhile, gathered up her leash and trotted out from underneath the table, rearing up to make sure that the end of it brushed against Hakuba’s hand before he straightened up completely. 

by

Two is Too Much

ft-dc-fan:

image

“Then how about a red or white tie? It got pretty rare to see people walk around with ties in these colors.”, she suggested to the detective, while she searched through all the different ties taking a red and a white one, showing them to him. “What do you say?”

“Red and white?” Hakuba repeated, looking down at the offered tie with a bit of a helpless expression. It weren’t exactly what he would have picked, but he supposed it were functional enough. He reached to take the slip of fabric from her, fingers running over the surface for a critical analysis. “I’ll… think about it. Which are you thinking for your father, again?”

As he asked, he thought about what he’d seen the inspector wearing before and wondered if, perhaps, his lack of fashion had been his own fault or that of Aoko. Was she to be Nakamori-keibu’s savoir, or was an intervention necessary? Was it even his place to worry about his superior’s attire? 

Perhaps Nakamori would have better luck if he dressed a little more professionally. But then, did he want him to have better luck? Would a change in dress actually even help anything? Perhaps it might improve his own opinion of the man, at least… … … not that he deserved it, but it was something to think about. 

by

Terminal Affirmation

smokebombsandmirrors:

He knew Hakuba was trying to help but all it did was sort drive and twist  a knife that was already there. He bowed his head causing his bangs to hide his eyes, more over the ….. fear? Disappointment? But in whom? Himself, Hakuba? The entire situation? He wasn’t quiet sure.

Come on Kaito, you have to smile. You have to send him off knowing that this was the right choice.

Kaito smiled and raised his head finally to look at him. He hoped he had hidden enough of the pain as to not scare the other. “You’re going to do great, Hakuba. Like you always have. I’ll be praying for your safe return and fortune over their.” 

He straightened and turned towrads him. Reaching under his shirt he lifted a quicksilver chain and a simple disk of aquamarine with a rimmed in topaz over his head and held it out to the other. “Not sure how you feel about jewelry a polytheistic belief system but I wanted to give you this. The metal is quicksilver and the gems are aquamarine and topaz, all are good luck symbols for Virgos.”

He swallowed and struggled to settle down just a bit. He knew his face was starting to flush, he could feel that much when he ears started to burn. “Sorry I tend to get a bit excited about things that are well …. to put it simply, my life.

Hakuba looked from the necklace to Kaito, then back again, hesitating as he reached his hand out to take it. “It’s… beautiful,” he remarked under his breath, wishing for all the world that they weren’t being forced to share this moment in such a crowded place. He turned the disc over in his hands, fingerpads brushing over the surface, pressing it into his palm. “Thank you." 

He hadn’t expected a gift, and certainly not one like this, and to say that he was touched was an understatement. Was there anything that he could give Kaito in return? His mind went over his personal inventory as he memorized the pendant; its weight, texture, construct. There was no way that he could part with the pocketwatch, but perhaps the lighter? No– he wasn’t ready to give up that secret yet. The cross…? 

God, no. That was a burden, not a gift at all. In the end, he had nothing, but he could remedy that once he got to London. That would be simple enough, even though it would leave him stewing in guilt for the time being. 

Without letting the time drag on any further, he slipped good luck charm over his head and tucked it underneath his collar with just a bit of effort, loosening his tie in the process, ears once again pink.

by

A History of Perfect Mistakes

japansfamousdetective:

It didn’t help when he cocked his head and it was so much like a nervous puppy. And oh god she wasn’t going to be able to stop equating him to a golden retriever. Her adorable, precious little golden retriever. 

God help her, she was too far down the rabbit hole now. 

His laughter was surprising, but welcome and it helped to soothe her laughter down to giggles. Then to a content sigh. Thankfully because she hadn’t been sure how much longer her sides could have handled all the laughter. Maybe she needed to laugh more. 

“If I were to use any of those, Hakuba, I’d probably use ‘hopeless’.” A small twitch of a smirk as she smoothed down the rumpled robe. “For ‘hopelessly adorable’." 

She loved him so much, all facets of him, and she hoped to maybe one day be able to express that to him. Today, or at least not that moment, wasn’t the day. Her mind seemed to kind of die at his compliments and she opened her mouth to argue against them.

Except that she found, for once, she didn’t want to. There was a swell in her heart and it was a feeling that she didn’t want to be rid of. Was that… what it was like to be loved?

"I… am up for whatever you wish to do, Hakuba.” Because she really didn’t care as long as it was with him.

Although he was used to picking up the slack where decisions were concerned in that sort of situation, it was unusual for the headstrong Shinori to be so accommodating. Or, perhaps it wasn’t; he had an impression of her in his head but, really, when not in dire straights, she was usually agreeable, wasn’t she?

Oh, he was so fond of her.

Finally, he reached for her, hands gentle as they came to caress the bathrobe over her back, leaning in to press a kiss to her forehead. His arms circled her, anxiety melting away with the warmth of her presence, and Hakuba smiled in a way that was nothing if not serene. 

“I’ll ask Baaya to bring something by… we can eat in bed, if you’re feeling up to it. We’ll have to get some more studying in eventually, but…"