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justiceraffles · 3 years

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"Hey, what if MK was a horribly written telenovela with a poorly conceived mystery storyline that's tied together in the most precarious of ways with nonsensical plotpoints and was also endgame Hakukai" So here's the start to my Hakukai longfic! I have a lot of things to say about this story so I'll just ramble about it at length beneath the cut if anyone's interested in my nonsense notes. Otherwise,

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I've been working on this thing on and off for a year and a half now, it lives rent free in my head every day and has been editted, restructured, and rewritten a lot. I've been very apprehensive about sharing it. ...To be honest, I still am! It's a chaotic story where I just allowed myself to write the most self-indulgent thing I could muster. This entire plot is an amalmagation of random things and ideas I like. It feels like a niche concept that is very messy and ???¿¿¿¿??? why did I make this

But, I guess that also makes it a very "me" story, so having fun with it and writing something that just brought me joy is what matters most, ultimately.

(aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

I'm very thankful to everyone who has read the outline and concept for it or just listened to me ramble about the incoherent plot and characters or cheering me on when I've been kinda anxious about it— it's thanks to that support despite this being such a specific and ¿¿¿ idea that I've found the courage to actually share it. I'm very grateful and I hope you guys can enjoy something in it o)-(

So, about the fic,

It's a story about Hakuba! I think we are all well aware that jokes about his long absences and infrequent appearances are very commonplace (where in the world is hakuba saguru??? TT) and it unfortunately leads to him being forgotten and overlooked often. The initial concept that inspired this fic was "Hey, what if Hakuba stopped showing up for real?" and explore the implications this would have on the MK storyline (and Kaito, by extension). I wanted to make a plot where he was allowed to be the protagonist of his own story, highlight his worth as a detective, his role in the main narrative, and the depth of his relationship with Kaito. It's a Hakuba Saguru Appreciation fic, first and foremost!

So, the romance itself is very slow burn. There is a lot of plot, because I have a lot of fun with ridiculous, contrived stories haha. It takes a while for the story to be fully set up, and Kaito doesn't make a proper, official appearance until the end of Chapter 2.

Chapter 1 is rather lengthy and sets the context and plot from Hakuba's POV, Chapter 2 focuses on establishing where his relationship with Kaito (as well as Aoko and Akako) stands at the moment, and Chapter 3 onward starts seeing the first proper developments in the relationship.

It's a bit rocky at first and they have a lot of ups and downs but I promise they work it out (I promise!!! I swear!!!) I tried my best to maintain a balance between the fluffy and angsty moments, but I have to admit it's quite dramatic at parts lol I enjoy stupid, trashy drama a lot sometimes— this is the reason I'm calling it a bad telenovela.

Despite the fact that this is very plotty, their feelings for each other are the guiding force behind the storyline, and their relationship does take center stage later on. The romance is in no way secondary, it just takes a long while to fully develop. They most definitely get a happy ending, but you can expect this to be 95% pining.

The story starts out some years after the current events in the MK manga. Pandora hasn't been found yet, and KID is still active. On the other hand, the DC canon is used very loosely; the conflict has long since been resolved. The BO was taken down years before the start of this story.

The two plots aren't too deeply intertwined here, they just intercept at parts. References to DC events appear here and there and some elements and character interactions overlap, but they tend to be minor for the most part. This is primarily a MK story and I wasn't too worried about completely integrating both plotlines (or staying 100% accurate to the DC plot, for that matter).

Of course, because this is MK-centric, Aoko and Akako are involved with the overarching story and have major roles to play.

In terms of DC characters, Masumi, Shiho, Heiji and Shinichi play semi-prominent roles in the story. I've tagged Masumi from the getgo because she appears in the first chapter, but I'll add the others when I get to the little arcs they show up in. Save for some specific contributions they have, they aren't too deeply involved with the overall plot progression, but the interactions Hakuba has with them are important for his character development and his better understanding of his relationship with Kaito. Basically each of these characters gets some sort of little story arc in which they interact with/help Hakuba in some way. I arbitrarily chose who I wanted him to interact with, lol.

Speaking of arbitrary decisions— Miss Masumi!!!! She's the first character that shows up in this and interacts with Hakuba. I understand this is probably a strange choice. Because I really wanted to flesh out Hakuba's detective methods and life in London a little more, I decided to use the very what if headcanon of Hakuba's maternal family and the Sera family being acquainted with each other. Like I said before, I didn't really want to connect DC and MK plots thoroughly, so the Akai family plotline isn't at all relevant here beyond a couple of passing mentions. I was mostly interested in Hakuba having an MI6 connection without the need of using another OC and I just wanted to imagine what a hypothetical dynamic between him and Masumi would be like.

And then, OCs. There's a couple of OCs with pretty major roles here as well. Really major— probably in equal measure to Aoko and Akako. I apologise in advance! I really needed them to properly build the detective/mystery aspect of the plot, and the more I wrote, the more they became involved with the story and relationship progression TT I really enjoyed writing them a lot, and I'm satisfied with how they turned out here. I understand OCs with prominent roles aren't everyone's cup of tea, though. Even though I enjoyed writing them, I'm a little self-conscious about how relevant they ended up being when they were originally just going to be there as a plot device to kickstart things ;;; Hopefully someone can find enjoyment in them nonetheless. They are most heavily involved with the story after the midpoint, but they appear all throughout.

I'm really nervous about the choices to have Masumi and major OCs in this story...I understand it is likely these things will make this story a little too niche. But!!!!!!!!! Again!!!!!!!!!!!!! Having fun with it is what matters most Raffles!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get that through your thick skull!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, please expect the most convoluted explanation to Pandora. There is a lot of made up lore I had a blast writing but it's all probably needlessly complicated.

In summary, it's a detective story starring Hakuba that somehow ended up reading like a dramatic post-breakup/getting back together soap opera.

A significant portion of this has been prewritten, so my (ideal) plan is to have weekly or biweekly updates (but hmmmm let's see how long that lasts until I decide to scrap and rewrite everything out of embarrassment— this is very likely, I second-guess myself a lot)

I keep dragging it through the mud, but I've actually had a blast writing it, even though there's A Lot going on and I'm not very confident in it being decent enough to share.

With all that, I hope someone else can maybe find some enjoyment reading it.

#Refutation of time #my writing #DCMK #magic kaito #hakuba saguru #hakukai #sagukai #dcmk fanfic #this is the most rafflescore way to take over the MK plot #says my beta #ohdearohboyohgod #i need to pee #I have read the first chapter like 50 times over its not even funny #(passepartout voice)#GAAAAAAAAAAGH THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING

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lisatelramor · 4 years

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Be a Better Me Ch3

AN:I know having Kaito's robot self have more or less biological functions is a little weird. But someone, even Kaito, woulda noticed him not eating. Or bleeding. Or sleeping. So weird almost biology it is.

Chapter 3

Surprisingly it’s Hakuba, not Jii, who barges into the room first.

His hair is a mess and his sleeves are rolled to his elbows with stains on his shirt that can only be ‘blood’. There’s something fragile in his expression like he’s expecting to find Kaito on his deathbed and a deep relief when Kaito meets his eyes with an impassive stare.

“You’re okay,” Hakuba says.

“For a certain value of okay, sure,” Kaito says.

Hakuba scowls. “Don’t even start. You almost died in my arms.”

“I didn’t know you cared that much,” Kaito says, only half sarcastic.

“Of course I care,” Hakuba says. “I might want to arrest Kid, but I never would want to see you dead.”

“Funny,” Kaito says drily, “because that’s what an arrest would get me.”

Hakuba bites his lip, tense as a riled cat. Kaito half expects to be pounced on like a mouse, but Hakuba takes a breath and settles. “Are you in pain?”

“I have a leg that got vivisectioned and reconstructed, a bullet hole in my shoulder and a chest full of dented ribs,” Kaito says. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know,” Hakuba says, “since I don’t know how much you feel in the first place.”

“What, the screaming didn’t make it clear?” It’s cruel to say that probably, and Hakuba goes grey-white, looking sick.

“Right,” he says. “That was a foolish question.”

“It hurts but not unbearably,” Kaito says, taking a bit of pity on him. “Like a deep bruise so long as I’m not moving. I don’t know if I’m on a painkiller or if my system’s just…filtering it out for the moment. I don’t know if I can even be affected by pain killers.”

“You can,” Hakuba says, still pale. “Some. The Professor—you can.”

“Ah.” Kaito doesn’t want to know what Hakuba saw. Well, he knows some of what he must have seen. “I haven’t taken anything since… I wasn’t sure.”

Hakuba swallows, shaking off horrors of Kaito in pieces. “You weren’t always like this,” he says.

“A robot? No.”

“When… How…?”

“Before you met me. As for the how… I can’t exactly say I get the science of it.”

Hakuba’s face pinches. “The whole time.”

“The whole time,” Kaito says tiredly. “I didn’t know for a long time, so don’t feel bad about not noticing. So far as I can tell, the whole point of…whatever it is I am was to mimic human life as close as possible.”

“You didn’t know.”

“Imagine my shock,” Kaito says, “when I found my own corpse.”

Hakuba pales impossibly further looking like he’s going to be sick. He sits heavily. “Corpse.”

“I have all the memories of Kuroba Kaito,” Kaito says as detached as he can make it. “Up to and including the moment of his kidnapping. I don’t have any memories of how he—I died.” He takes a breath. “The body’s in the basement of this building actually. His body. My body. However we’re framing it.”

“Why?” Hakuba asks horrified.

“Kuroba Kaito’s just fine,” Kaito says in a flat, dead tone. “He’s right there, going to school, living his life. Surely the body’s a mistake. It’s not like there could be two of him.” Or three. He still doesn’t know what happened to the remnants of the other robot. He doesn’t really want to look either. More honestly and openly he adds, “I don’t know what to do with it. Him. My mind says I’m him, but he’s dead and I’m not human so who the hell knows.”

Hakuba shakes his head.

“The person who made me and killed him is dead,” Kaito says. “There was another robot, a less…human… robot. It killed the doctor. Tried to kill me. I think something went wrong with its programming or maybe it wasn’t meant to mimic a human like I was. I don’t know. I know I don’t have skin that peels away or rockets in my elbows.” He sees skin peeling in his nightmares often enough.

“It feels like… there should be something…”

“To do?” Kaito gives him a cool stare. “There isn’t. There’s no justice here. There’s a corpse and there’s me, a poor replacement with a dead man’s face.” Doubly true with Kid.

Hakuba’s face twists. “You’re the only Kuroba I know. You said you didn’t even know the difference so how the hell does that make you a poor replacement?”

“Because I’m not him,” Kaito says, voice breaking, mask shattering. “You found me and you saved me, but why? The wires had to be obvious.”

“How could I not?” Hakuba says. “You were dying and aware and bleeding out in my arms, how could I not do everything to keep you alive? You might be mechanical, but you still have breath and a heartbeat and a sharp, human mind.”

“What does it say that a person can be reduced to numbers and code?”

“What does it say that emotions are just collections of chemicals and thought and memory just electric firing in the brain,” Hakuba shoots back.

“I took his place.”

“From what I can tell it sounds more like you keep him living on,” Hakuba says boldly.

Tears well up and Kaito stubbornly doesn’t shed them. “Why does everyone keep acting like I’m human?” he asks.

“In your mind are you any different?” Hakuba asks, like it’s a genuine question.

“I don’t know,” Kaito says feeling small. “I just know that physically I am.”

“Well,” Hakuba says, “I for one can’t believe a mere robot could possibly outthink the entire Japanese police force.”

Kaito snorts bitterly. “Like bots haven’t been beating humans in strategy for ages. Chess masters weep. Try again.”

“Fine,” Hakuba says. “I don’t think a robot would cry from fear and pain and express terror over dying. Or do magic tricks just to see Aoko-chan smile. Or give a damn about whether it can run circles around the Japanese police force, but we both know you have an ego that loves to be satisfied doing just that. You’re as human as can be given the circumstances.” Hakuba boldly sets a hand on Kaito’s good shoulder and Kaito stares at the point of contact. “Regardless of how your current existence started, you’re as alive as I am so far as I can tell, Kuroba-kun.”

It’s profoundly weird to be touched by Hakuba’s words, but Kaito is. It’s almost like they’re friends at the moment, not rivals. Kaito has to look away. “Thank you for not letting me die,” he says after a moment.

“There wasn’t any other choice I would have made,” Hakuba says seriously.

There’s a cough from the door, Jii standing there with a phone in hand and a tense expression. Hakuba looks at him and draws back.

“I should go,” he says. “Now that I know you’re going to survive.” He nods to Jii and walks toward the door, and a tiny part of Kaito wonders if he’ll go looking for Kaito’s body or not.

But that’s not really something important. Hakuba seeing it or not can’t bring back the dead. Jii takes Hakuba’s place at Kaito’s bedside with a sigh and slow, heavy movements that make him look every bit as old as he is.

“You’re not arresting me?” Kaito calls after Hakuba.

Hakuba glances back with the familiar expression of disdain on his face. “Kuroba, if I catch and arrest you, it’s not going to be because you’re bleeding out and vulnerable.” Like it’s obvious that he won’t take advantage of what he knows and yet also isn’t going to stop chasing Kaito. Kaito blinks. Well, Hakuba always has had his own system of honor. Kaito can’t say he understands it though.

He waves and leaves and Kaito looks at Jii to see him watching Hakuba vanish with a conflicted expression.

“Jii?”

Jii shakes his head. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Jii says quietly. “I should have been there last night, ready for anything that went wrong.”

“I’m the one that told you I’d be fine on my own,” Kaito says. “And they hit me six blocks from the heist, it’s not like we were expecting that.”

“Still. I should have been there for you.” Jii passes a hand down his face. He’s old enough to be Kaito’s grandfather, looks every year of that age, worn down and exhausted. “I spoke with your mother.”

“Oh.” Kaito tries to curl into himself but can’t and so just hunches his good shoulder and ducks his chin.

“You didn’t talk with her.”

“I… I meant to eventually.”

“Kaito-bocchama,” Jii sighs, a reprimand and exasperated care all in one.

“It’s not really something to bring up over a phone call,” Kaito says. “I was hoping…” Chikage hadn’t visited in months. When he was sixteen she’d come back every other month for a week or so, but since he turned seventeen… It was a conversation he’d hoped to have in person, or perhaps never at all if it could be avoided, no matter how much it was a needed conversation.

“She’s coming home,” Jii says tiredly.

“For Kaito,” Kaito says, meaning the real Kaito.

“For both of you,” Jii says. “You could use your mother’s support.”

There’s no point in protesting that she isn’t really his mother. Kaito just nods. “Is she… Will there be a burial for him?”

“It’s too soon to say.”

They can’t just keep Kaito in a glass box, forever preserved like some messed up Snow White tribute. It’s not what he’d have wanted. It’s not what Kaito wants. He’s not sure what he does want, but leaving his body in a box like a specimen isn’t it.

“The Hakuba boy has a surprising amount of medical and chemical knowledge,” Jii says after a moment. “There were some things he cleared up from the doctor’s notes last night. He might be able to understand them better than Hiroshi-san.”

“Are you suggesting making Hakuba a proper ally?” Kaito asks with brittle humor. “Hakuba. Hakuba whose father’s the head of Tokyo’s police forces Hakuba.”

“Hakuba-kun isn’t his father,” Jii says, “and he’s proven to care enough to ignore the legal scope of right or wrong.” He sighs again. “Kaito-bocchama, the fact of the matter is neither Hiroshi-san nor myself is an expert in this field, and you’re likely going to need more than what our knowledge can provide long term.”

“Hakuba,” Kaito stresses.

“If he’s willing you might as well take advantage of it. Otherwise we’ll have to start looking elsewhere and it’s harder to be sure who you can trust.”

Trust Hakuba or trust a stranger? Well, irritatingly, it’s pretty clear who he’s more likely to trust. It’s some kind of cosmic irony. The world, Kaito’s learning, seems to have a sick sense of humor or he wouldn’t exist at all.

It’s a scary thought though, the idea of handing over what made this body work and letting Hakuba study it. It might be more trust than he can give to anyone. With Jii he didn’t have much of a choice. “I’ll think about it,” he says.

o*O*o

It takes three days—an astonishingly fast time—for Kaito be up and walking again. In part this fast recovery is thanks to the fact that he doesn’t actually have to heal a bone; a bonus for metal bones he guesses. But on the other hand, the internal healing is taking time. The Professor had tried to explain his understanding of how Kaito’s bio-mechanical processes worked—the synthetic blood, tissue, and skin all having a self-replicating and repair process to keep him operational without needs for frequent major repairs. The technicalities go in one ear and out the other, and Kaito will have to do a lot of reading to get a better idea of how his own body works.

In the time Kaito’s stuck at the Professor’s home, Hakuba visits every day, somehow managing to be far less abrasive than normal, and maybe even verging on friendly. It’s kind of creepy and Kaito will be relieved to get on with their usual bickering banter the moment Hakuba gets over whatever weird combo of guilt and pity he seems to have for Kaito at the moment.

Most of his visits also lead to him studying Kaito though, so maybe Hakuba’s just got science on the brain instead of detective-ing. It had been more than a bit uncomfortable to have him on his knees, examining Kaito’s leg and knee joint.

Kaito’s still not sure if it was because it was Hakuba doing it, or if it’s the implications of having someone on their knees at his feet that was the bigger discomfort, and he’s not going to examine that too closely. The last thing he wants to do is find out how this body might differ on hormonal levels. He’s spent this long pushing those sorts of thought out of his head, he can keep doing that.

His leg’s in a light cast, just to ensure that everything heals up correctly, and Kaito’s already finding it obnoxious. He’s broken bones before, but every time it’s a hassle to deal with. He hobbles in circles on crutches, resigning himself to a week of this at least probably, knowing it could be a lot worse.

Most of all he just wants to go home. No offense to the Professor, but he misses his house and his bed and his doves. He’s always hated being a guest and he wasn’t exactly an invited one this time.

There’s a soft knock on the door to the guest room Kaito’s using and he sighs. Probably Agasa again. He keeps double checking Kaito’s healing and Kaito gets it, really, it’s all experimental and new, but it’s annoying and he’s vibrating out of his skin with how he can’t even literally climb the walls.

“Come in,” he says, less graciously than he should considering he is, of course, a guest. But if Agasa had a problem with Kaito’s attitude he could take it up with Jii because Kaito’s been through so many emotional rollercoaster moments lately he’s done. Just done.

There’s silence and Kaito glances up from trying to see if he could get the crutch to work more comfortably with his still healing shoulder and looks straight into familiar blue eyes. “Kaa-san,” he says numbly.

She stares, doesn’t come closer to hug him or say anything and Kaito remembers; he’s not her son.

“…I didn’t think you’d be back so soon,” Kaito says to break the silence.

“I’d have been here sooner if I could,” she says. There’s nothing in her voice to let on what she’s thinking and Kaito can’t remember ever seeing her so closed off. It’s her version of Toichi’s poker face and it’s an iron wall.

The silence stretches and the guilt rises back up in his gut. “I… should have said something as soon as I re—”

“What did we do for your last birthday?” Chikage asks, cutting him off.

Kaito blinks. “We… went out to dinner with Aoko to that Korean barbecue place. We shared bulgogi and you took me to get a tailored suit because you said it was a good time to have nice formal wear that actually fit.” She’s almost cried because he looked so much like his dad when he was younger.

“When did you lose your first tooth?” Chikage says, showing no reaction.

“When I was six and a half,” Kaito says immediately. “I lost both my front teeth because I messed up a flip and landed on my face.” It had hurt and he’d cried, terrified that he’d lost them for good until his mom explained he was going to lose them anyway. They hadn’t even been very loose, just starting to wiggle. “I drank from the gap with a straw until they started to grow back in.”

Something in Chikage’s shoulders loosens, but her face still remains a wall. “Why are you afraid of fish?”

Kaito flinches, instinctively trying not to remember one of his childhood traumas. “C-can I not answer that? F-finny things are evil and whoever created koi ponds is a sadist.”

“And what wat your first magic trick?”

“Vanishing coin,” Kaito says. “Only I had trouble with it so Oyaji had to show me about four different ways to do it before I was able to get one I could make work. Of course then I had to get all of them right over the next month.”

Chikage closes her eyes and lets out a slow sigh. “Kaito.”

“Yes?”

She shakes her head. “No, you don’t understand. You’re still Kaito.”

He realizes she was testing him. Testing how close to Kaito he was and he curls in on himself. “I’m what’s left of him.”

She shakes her head again, but finally crosses the room to pull him into her arms. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” Kaito asks, off balance and vulnerable, feeling like a child in her arms. He has the memories but technically he’s never been a child. Or, well, technically he isn’t even a year old yet.

“I wasn’t here when you needed me,” she says. “You’ve always been so self-sufficient that I forget sometimes you’re not an adult yet.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“Well you’re my kid, and I haven’t been a very good mother.” She holds him a bit tighter. “I’m going to try to do better.”

“But I’m not your Kaito,” Kaito says.

“You’re not,” she says and it’s almost a relief to hear it even as it hurts, for someone to acknowledge that he isn’t the same. “But I’ll mourn him in my own time and you’re him in every other way that matters. You’re not a replacement,” Chikage whispers, voice shaking, “but you are a part of him.”

“Have you seen…?”

“No. I wanted to see you first.”

And make sure he really is her son, in a way. Kaito closes his eyes. He can feel her shake, crying silently, but he makes no effort to move from the embrace. He needs this too. This is a situation where there is no winner. Her son is dead, and there’s an identical false copy in his place, like Kid pulling of a jewel heist. Kaito just isn’t sure what his flaws are yet, apart from the physical, that mark him out as the fake. He’s lucky that they seem to love him anyway.

Chikage pulls away, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. “Thank you. I know it’s been you I’ve talked with for months now, but…”

“You had to be sure,” Kaito says, understanding.

Chikage nods. “Are you well enough to come home or are you still under observation?”

Kaito pouts. “I think I’m fine, but Jii and the Professor want to do another day of tests just to make sure my leg is healing right.”

“Jii mentioned it was bad.”

“Well, they replaced the fibula in my leg and had to fix all the connections and my knee joint so…”

She looks a little paler, glancing at his walking cast with new understanding. “You shouldn’t be walking at all.”

“I don’t heal like a human does,” Kaito says with a grimace. “It’s…faster. You’d think I wouldn’t need to heal at all but the bastard that built this apparently liked realism.”

“That’s probably for the better,” Chikage says after a moment. “If you functioned too differently…”

He’d what, stop feeling human? Kaito’s already there, feeling like some unholy science experiment most of the time instead of a robot, but that’s honestly not really better. He’s not going to say that to his mother though. If he was a little more robot he’d hurt less, probably feel less… and possibly end up exactly like the other robot. Shit. Okay, yeah, maybe the realism is for the best.

“Jii said you haven’t had lunch yet,” Chikage cuts into his thoughts, “and that it’s important that you do.”

Kaito grimaces again. “Yeah. Funnily enough, my system processes food for fuel just like a human’s. It’s no wonder I never noticed anything was different. But they have me on a weird diet because apparently the fake skin and all,” he gestures at his leg, “it can self-repair, but it needs certain building blocks to do it. If I see another kale protein shake I am going to throw it at them.”

Chikage laughs, wiping the last of her grief from her face. “I’ll have to see if I can put together something that tastes better.”

“Please. Also I haven’t had sugar in days. I’m having withdrawal.”

“…Can you get withdrawal?”

“I have no idea, but I’m craving chocolate like crazy.”

She snorts. “You always have liked chocolate.” Her hip bumps his good side gently, like the times growing up when he helped in the kitchen. “I’ll see what I can do.”

While Chikage works her magic in the kitchen with help of the Professor and Jii, Kaito gives in to the restlessness and hobbles back and forth around the wide open living area. The Professor, for all he’s an inventor and scientist, seems to also be a bit of a mystery and romance geek. He has a collection of hard-bound novels on a bookcase, and while there’s a few science books in the mix, most of it’s fiction.

Kaito would like to be playing with a deck of cards, or spending some quality time with his doves, but since his cards were ruined along with his Kid suit and he doesn’t have any of his birds on hand, a novel isn’t the worst way to pass time. Although Kaito’s never been a huge mystery fan. He wrinkles his nose at the Sherlock Holmes collector’s edition. Hakuba’d like that.

Kaito has just started in on a romance instead—very tasteful cover full of wistful stares and absolutely no nudity—when his mom wanders out of the kitchen with a blender full of something that looks chocolatey. Jii follows with his hands full of kale like he expects Kaito to choke that down raw. Gross.

“Well, I couldn’t get a concession on the shake, but this will taste a lot better,” Chikage says with a grin. “Plus, chocolate.”

“Heck yeah,” Kaito says.

“You really should,” Jii starts, but Kaito’s mother waves him off.

“One meal isn’t going to hurt.”

So Kaito puts down the book, hobbles over to get a glass, and that’s when the front door opens without even a knock, and a child wanders in with a scowl behind oversized, thick rimmed glasses.

“Hakase, I need a breath of sanity and some help with the watch,” the child says, not looking up as he kicks off shoes like he lives here. “It keeps sticking when… I…” He catches sight of the group standing in the hall between the kitchen and living room. His eyes flick from Chikage’s pitcher, to Jii’s handful of kale and land on Kaito’s crutches, following up to his face where the gaze freezes. “What the hell?”

“Well,” Kaito says, “that’s the first time an elementary student’s sworn at me.”

“Aoko-chan swore at you all the time,” Chikage corrects.

“That was when we were both in elementary school. There’s a difference.”

“Hakase?” the child calls a bit louder, uncertain.

The Professor bustles out of the kitchen. “Ah, S-Conan-kun, I didn’t know you were coming over!”

“What’s going on?” Conan asks. Kaito realizes this is the kid he saw from the Professor’s roof that one time. Clearly he’s pretty close to Agasa, but it’s not like Agasa’s going to go around spilling secrets to a six year old.

Agasa looks between Conan and Kaito’s group. “Ah, I have a few guests at the moment, Conan-kun, and I’m doing some work as a favor for a friend.”

“A friend,” Conan says, his shock turning sharper.

Kaito shivers as those eyes pass over him again. It’s like he’s being dissected by a laser beam, and Conan’s weirdly interested in his face.

“Yes.” Agasa laughs awkwardly. “Jii Kounosuke is an old friend, and the others are…”

“More or less his extended family,” Chikage cuts in cheerfully. She glanced Conan over. “He looks just like you did when you were that age, Kai-chan,” she says. “Well, a bit neater than you ever were.”

“Are you saying I was a slob?”

“Kaito, honey, your hair has never laid flat a day in your life. Add that to your tumbling and getting into trouble…”

Kaito scowls. The kid looks like someone stuffed him into nice clothes like they’re trying to make him a mini adult, what with the blue suit jacket and tiny bow tie and how his hair’s carefully combed. Can’t help having a cowlick though. And those shorts… What a dorky sense of style. Conan catches him looking and scowls right back. Defensive little guy.

“Who are they anyway?” the kid asks, his voice tilting up like he’s trying to sound younger than he looks, which kind of fails with his entire body language, but Kaito’s not going to be the one to give him acting lessons. It probably works on some people, but that’s because a lot of adults barely look twice at children. “He looks a lot like…”

“Ah, this is Kuroba Chikage and her son Kaito,” Agasa says. “And that’s Edogawa Conan. He’s—”

“Related to the Kudos isn’t he?” Chikage says, looking at Conan intently. “He looks so much like their son Shinichi did as a child.”

Conan blinks rapidly. “Uh. Shinichi-nii-san is my cousin,” he says. “Wait, Kuroba as in the magician Kuroba Toichi?”

Chikage grins. “Exactly the one. You remember Yukiko don’t you, Kaito?” she asks tilting her head in Kaito’s direction.

“Uh.” Yukiko, Yukiko… He had a vague recollection of an actress and a smiling woman with ringlets in her light brown hair. “Not well.”

Chikage pats him on the shoulder. “You were five, so I’m not too surprised. You were such a charmer, giving her a flower and everything.”

The memory comes into focus, handing off a flower to a beaming woman because his father had said that’s what you do when you met a pretty girl; you were polite and gave them flowers to leave a good first impression. He’d done the same to Aoko not long after too. “Oh yeah.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet a relative of theirs at any rate,” Chikage says. She finally hands Kaito a glass of protein shake and he almost fumbles it before holding it with his bad arm and keeping his good one for the crutch.

“Yeah,” Conan says, flicking Kaito yet another look.

“Is it the injuries?” Kaito jokes, “because I assure you it’s normally my charisma drawing attention.”

It’s both hilarious and cute how Conan’s nose wrinkles for a split second before he covers it up again—definitely needs acting lessons—and shrugs. “You just look a lot like Shinichi-nii-san.”

Chikage laughs. “They would wouldn’t they?” she says, and Kaito doesn’t get the joke really, but fine. There’s apparently a guy running around with a face that could be his own. At least this time it’s not another murder-bot so he’ll take it.

Of course, face doubles make him think of the corpse downstairs, and that’s… Yeah. Yeah, no, not thinking too close about that. At least this double must be running around alive and well he supposes.

Well as interesting as being confronted by a child half his size is, Kaito has other things to be doing. Namely eating, sitting, and trying to convince his mom and Jii to take him home. “Right,” Kaito says. “We were going to have lunch, but that’s taken care of.” He mock toasts with his glass as much as he can with his arm in a sling. “It looks like you need to talk, so we’ll be in the kitchen.”

Conan shuffles like he’s feeling a little guilty for barging in, but it’s not like he interrupted anything actually important. However he’s feeling, it isn’t enough to keep him from gripping the Professor’s sleeve and pulling him off to have a private conversation.

Kaito sinks into a kitchen chair and takes a sip of his shake. Mm, chocolate. “This tastes ten times better than what they’ve been feeding me.

“It’s not nearly as healthy,” Jii says with a sigh.

“You know, you absorb more nutrients when you enjoy what you eat,” Kaito shoots back. Humans did anyway. But since there's no way of knowing if that applies to him, he’s just going to claim that factoid as valid.

Jii sighs like he’s the victim. It’s not even his taste buds.

Chikage snorts and pours herself her own glass. “He’s always been picky,” she says to Jii.

“I’m not picky.”

“You cut most seafood out of your diet and you live in Japan.”

“I’ll eat ffff—seafood,” he grumbles. “But only the kind I like. Shrimp and crabs and clams are fine. And it’s not like I boycott anything that has finny things as an ingredient, it’s just the less it resembles them the better.”

“See?” she says to Jii. “Picky.”

Kaito rolls his eyes. The chocolate shake, whatever else is in it aside, helps. Sitting here with his mom helps. He hadn’t realized how much he missed her actually being there, but it’s calming. Even though he knows it doesn’t work that way, having a parent present makes him feel a bit more like things are going to be okay. Like somehow Chikage will fix things even though he knows full well that’s not how it works. She can’t just sweep in and fix the Kaito downstairs or make Kaito actually human. She can’t wipe away any new traumas either. Couldn’t when Toichi died, can’t now. Parents aren’t all powerful and don’t have all the answers. But it’s pretty nice to let her take over being the adult for the moment.

He’s tired.

The last swallow of shake is rich on his tongue. He could probably pick apart what’s in it, but he’d rather enjoy it. Especially because life keeps reminding him how fleeting the good moments are lately.

“So, could I go home if I promise to let Hakuba look me over every twelve hours or something? Pretty sure I’m not going to fall apart at this point.”

Jii looks heavenward like he’s asking for patience. Chikage pats Kaito’s shoulder. “One more night,” she says. “I’ll talk to Agasa-san about what we can do to keep track of how you’re doing at home.” Her smile slips a bit. “I have a few arrangements to make before we move you anyway.”

“Ah.” Right… “Do you want me to come with you to…?”

She shakes her head. “I’d like a bit of privacy if that’s okay.”

“Yeah.” Kaito looks at the empty glass in his hand. “He’s your son so…”

Jii coughs softly and takes their glasses to wash them and Chikage stands to go face her dead son. She gives Kaito a wan smile and he wishes he could keep her from going and looking. She needs to look, but if it haunts Kaito, it’s definitely going to haunt his mother.

Kaito flees for the roof for lack of better places to go. He takes the romance book with him but he kind of doubts he’ll end up reading it.

It’s another beautiful day. It feels like the weather should reflect such heavy things like dead sons and imperfect copies, but nature doesn’t care what the piddly beings scrambling around on the earth’s surface are experiencing, it just does what it always does.

He ends up pulling out his cracked cell phone, now with a strip of clear tape across its front to keep from breaking worse until he can get a new one. There’s an unread message from Hakuba that goes on and on about the chemical properties of Kaito’s blood compound. Apparently Hakuba must have borrowed his grandfather’s lab space again. “So glad I’m providing you entertainment,” Kaito texts back sarcastically.

“You should know how your body works,” Hakuba sends almost immediately. “I’ll be over tomorrow to go through more research notes.”

It’s Hakuba who’d eventually hacked into the doctor’s personal computer. Kaito doesn’t doubt that the facility upstairs had been full of even more detailed information, but there had been enough filed in the remains of the living area and foundry for everyone to work with. Agasa might have been able to use the synthetic blood from the chest freezer and patch Kaito’s skin with similar samples, but it’s Hakuba who’s intent on understanding how they work and can be reproduced. It’s just weird how Hakuba’s not hounding him about the Kid thing at all.

“I might go home tomorrow. I’m trying to make it today, but they’re not budging.”

“Kuroba, don’t be an idiot. Your leg is still in a delicate state and we still don’t know if the loose wire in your head he fixed was the only one.”

“Vision has been working normal and no brain problems here. Besides, my mom is here and she’s going to be watching closer than Jii probably.”

“It’s good for there to be another set of eyes,” is all that Hakuba sends back and Kaito scowls at the message.

There’s a few from Aoko, worried about him, but he’d made it sound like he had a bit of an accident and was fine but not really up for visitors. It would only work for so long, so that is another reason to return home. Kaito’s life is a mess these days. Just one lie after another.

Although… less lies at the moment than there have been. He wants to believe that’s a good thing, but less lies mean more people hurt with the knowledge that Kaito’s dead. It’s a tossup whether it’ll be a relief long term or just another problem.

#detective conan #magic kaito #robot kaito #fanfiction #my writing #chapter breaks are all roughly 5000 some words btw #if anyone was wondering at arbitrary cut off points

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chiyuukiaru · 4 years

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In regards to the newest chapter of Haikyuu!!, can I say how happy I am that Furudate sensei hasn't shown any "quite decent players, probably could go pro, but anyway they didn't for this or that reason" in pro careers?!

It would be so unrealistic and looks more like fanservice than a solid storyline.

Of course, by me saying that, it means I do have a list (?) of people that I think will and won’t go pro. Yes, I know, unless I am Furudate, I can’t really pinpoint who will be pro athletes and who won’t be. But I believe, we as dedicated fans, can all at least make some sensible guesses about that.

Now, moving on. The players that I actually think would go pro so far have appeared in manga as pros (cheers me!). As for the rest of them, I’ll try to break it down by teams coz it’s easier and tidier. Mind you, I’m not athletic and can’t do any sports at all. So technique-wise, I can’t explain much. I go by intuition and deep thinking for pretty much all of my guesses below. So if you’re going to read my analysis (?) or opinion (?), please don’t be too harsh on me just because I can’t give you the logical reasons behind it. Maybe, I should apologize in advance for this.

Karasuno (brace yourself, it’s gonna be long)

Kageyama is the first one. I honestly can’t see any other career choice for him except going pro and finally be a coach after he retired. Kageyama has been playing and practicing volleyball the longest, since he was 7 (Hoshiumi too). And this is the reason why he’s so far ahead of everyone. Also, he’s even worse than Hinata in school, so there’s no way he went to university to me. So, pro it is.

Aside from Kageyama (and Hinata, but I believe I don’t need to explain Hinata to you coz we’re currently the viewers of his journey to be a professional player), I can only see Nishinoya going pro. For me, he stands in the same category as Kageyama. And he’s not going to university with a brain like his. Not trying to be rude or belittling him, but I just can’t see Nishinoya voluntarily enrolling in college. Other than that, Nishinoya is one of the best Libero in the series. It still bothers me even to this day, that he wasn’t invited to the Youth Camp with Kageyama. But I think I understand why: there are just too many great Liberos and The Youth Camp wouldn’t be able to hold everyone there. Besides, there’s the “positioning after receiving thing” that Kageyama had to tell him. Who knows if Nishinoya has been doing that for so long?! An observant scouting staff or professional coach would definitely think it’s a minus point. And there’s the suspension he got too. Idk about other countries much, but I know how Japan really takes care of their background and portfolio. His suspension may be not for something dangerous like drugs, but it definitely marred his resume for the Youth Camp a bit. But Nishinoya has moved past that now and pro career is not so impossible for him.

For the other 2nd years: Tanaka, Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita, they probably won’t go pro. Tanaka has a higher chance though, and deep down I want him to shine more in volley, but I still don’t think so. Tanaka & Kinoshita look like they will go straight down to labor working right after graduation. Ennoshita & Narita were in class 4 and can be assumed as pretty smart, so college and office working probably.

Tbh, I actually can see Asahi be a pro. But, he’s a bit tricky. It all depends on whether he got scouted after Spring High or not. Coz he already chose not to go to university, so it is not impossible as well. As for the rest of the 3rd years, no. I think they have other things (or a career) that they want to pursue and they are smart enough to do it (Daichi and Suga were both in college preparatory class). Though, I would love to see Daichi graduating from sport science or something and go back to Karasuno and be an assistant coach hehe.

For first years, I don’t think Tsukishima & Yamaguchi will go pro. Same like Daichi & Suga, I believe they both have a dream job in their mind, hence why they chose to go to university. Ofc, they can go pro after graduation, but I have little faith in it. Now, I think Tsukishima wanted to be an archaeologist or something along the line (all those dinosaurs!!!), I would be so happy if it turned out to be true.

Aoba Johsai

Except Oikawa, I honestly don’t think the rest of Seijoh will be pros. Maybe Iwaizumi or Kyoutani, but the others, not so much. On a side note, Oikawa (and Hinata) is the most surprising outta the rest of the Haikyuu!! characters. I mean, I never would’ve thought that he’d fly to Argentina and join a league there. I always think he’d join a Japan team. But I love the element of surprise, so I guess it’s fine.

Datekou

Aone has the best chance. Simply because he has all the necessary skills. But he’s so quiet I can’t guess anything from him. I could be wrong, really. Futakuchi and Koganegawa aren’t so bad either, but Idk tho.

Johzenji

I have no idea, truthfully. But I’m leaning more toward the opinion that no one from the team will continue playing professionally.

Kakugawa

I really really wish Hyakuzawa going pro. He’s blessed with the height and also power. With enough practice, he’ll be great. But that’s just my wishful thinking. I can’t really guess him, similar to Aone.

Shiratorizawa

Ushijima is another one of my “definitely going pro people”. He’s just a complete package. He has the sense, the height, the power, the… everything. It would be a big waste for him to just stop. And Ushijima is a volleyball baka too, so he loves the sport too much to not continue playing.

I also think that Goshiki might try to get into pro teams too, maybe after completing college. I don’t think he’d stop just like that. I mean, after Ushijima retired, Shiratorizawa never went to National again. I think that hit him hard. Especially because Ushijima left the team on his hand as the next ace. I would really love to see Goshiki improving himself and kinda get a revenge by getting much much better than before. But, if he doesn’t go pro, it won’t be really disappointing to me. After all, Haikyuu!! always tries to be as close as possible to real life, and in real life not every good player can be pro.

Tendou is a no no. He said he’d stop and he wouldn’t lie about it. Shirabu is confusing, but I think he’d stop in high school or maybe university. He’s not a bad setter, he’s good, but even within Shiratorizawa, his ability is not better than Semi. He was the starting setter just because he was able to blend into the background and be a support for Ushijima so he could shine. So, I really don’t think he got scouted or still pursuing Ushijima.

For the rest of Shiratorizawa, we didn’t see much of them so I can’t make clear guesses. I apologize once again.

Nekoma

Nekoma is also a bit confusing. But, I could see Lev go pro. He’s not super duper amazing per se (I say this based on his performance up to National, idk how he is now okay), but he has the talent and all those height and power. His progress is fast too. I think it’d catch the scouting agents’ attention.

Now, Kenma definitely wouldn’t go pro and we’re shown that XD. Surprise though, I always had a headcanon that he’d be a pro gamer or secretly doing stock trading. Just never thought he’d be a YouTuber and a company board member (or is it CEO?!). Imagine my feeling when my “simply headcanon” became real.

Kuroo is a bit like Asahi, but I honestly believe he is really smart and probably wanna do something else. I wish Yaku would go pro coz he’s a really top caliber Libero (and I would really like to watch his rivalry with Nishinoya grow more), but he didn’t really show much “ambition” for professional career for me. The rest of the members wouldn’t go pro too imo.

Fukurodani

Now, as much as it breaks my heart to say this, I don’t think Akaashi is going pro. He gives me “doctor/scientist/basically high and smart position vibe” somehow. And he’s very clever as well (all those thinking he does lmao), I think he’d pursue something else. So volleyball stopped in high school or university for him. Idk about the rest of Fukurodani though. I definitely wanna see more of Konoha, but the chance is small.

Bokuto >>> pro for me. Been that for a long time. He doesn’t strike me as academically gifted, but I can be wrong ofc. He could: a) straight going pro after high school or b) finished college then go pro. Either way, he’s definitely pro athletes material.

Inarizaki

Atsumu (I’ll call him Atsumu to differentiate him with his twin, even though I prefer last name tbh) also >>> pro. The reason is pretty similar to Ushijima/Kageyama/Bokuto. He’s just that good. Oh on this, I really should mention that I believe all the Youth Camp candidates are going to be or already pros (this by extension means Sakusa & Komori from Itachiyama).

For the rest of Inarizaki, the ones that will be pro are Aran and Osamu. Aran is awesome and one of the best 5 aces in the nation. I know he would get scouted. Whether he go pro after high school or after finishing college, idk. But he will be pro. I would riot if he isn’t. And for Osamu, it would be really cool if he goes to a different team than his twin and they will fight it out on court.

On a side note, Kita is one of my favorite characters and he’s the one that from personality and mindset, can resonate the most with me. But tbh, I’m certain he’s not gonna go pro.

Kamomedai

The only Kamomedai members that would be pro for me are Hoshiumi and Hakuba. Hirugami is high level himself ofc, but idk, I didn’t get the pro ambition vibe from him, similar to Yaku.

Hoshiumi is another one in my list that I think would be revealed as a pro. He’s small, yes, but there’s a wing spiker in Japan National Men’s Volleyball Team that’s around 178cm, and I believe Hoshiumi has grown around this height too. I mean, Hinata has reached 171cm, so it’s possible that Hoshiumi has grown taller as well. Besides, he’s really really really good. He has one of the highest overall skill after Kageyama. He only lose in power coz well, he’s smaller. After all, there’s the promise he made to Hinata. So a showdown between them will definitely happen. So, I think it’s safe to assume Furudate will make him a pro athlete.

Hakuba >>> same vibe as Lev and Hyakuzawa. He’s tall af. Not many people can reach 2 meters (especially Japanese), so he’d bring an advantage for any pro teams.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention Kiryuu. He’s definitely going pro (or he already is?). I really really like and admire him. His character is so wholesome and amazing, he deserves the best. And that translates to the best career too. I would be so disappointed if he isn’t a pro.

There’s also Tsubakihara High School that Karasuno fought in the first round National. Out of those players, the ace (Teradomari) and their wing spiker (Maruyama) have the best chance to get scouted. But there’s little information that we have about them, so I’m not sure. Furudate might not bring them back to the present. This also applies to Ubugawa and Shinzen High School captains from the training camp. Oh, Daishou-kun is also an interesting character, I would love to see him again. But maybe he won’t come back as pro player tho. But him giving commentaries will be very appreciated hehe.

PS: I kinda wish Furudate was a fic writer, lol. They would be able to write absolute masterpiece of crack-pair fics considering how they are able to make sense of Bokuto-Atsumu and Ushijima-Kageyama, lmao. Who else after this? Hoshiumi-Sakusa? Nishinoya-Kiryuu? XD

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child-of-malnomen · 6 years

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Candy

⚠wɑʀɴιɴɢ: ʀɑтєԀ т/м⚠ 〔♡〕ｐｒｅｓｈｉｎｋａｉ〔♡〕h e i k a i

As Ran's voice vanished, Shinichi almost spit the drink out and Heiji look at her with open eyes and a really terrified face. Beside him, three women formed a little group and laughed, trying to cover it with their hands over their mouths. And Kaito, who actually should have been one of the most affected, didn't even move.

Hattori stepped back when he saw the magician picking a glass up, ready to keep on going with the dare he had been imposed. The detective of the west's hands moved with dullness due to the alcohol inside him, almost making him slip, being supported by his childhood best friend and the other two girls who were with her. Unlucky. Heiji would have prefered splitting his head in two rather than having them near him because, instead of saving his life, what they had done was prisioning him. Prisioning him so he did that that he didn't want to do even if he were crazy —or drunk, and he already was.

The thief almost broke into laughing when he saw the drama Osaka's detective was doing. Truth was that it wasn't anything from the other world for him. After all, he was used to it, and he was sure Heiji did so too. He had been witness of the amount of fans that man had and, if anyone asked him, it was normal. He was handsome and smart, and based on the analysis Kaito had from him, really interesting. It was impossible he wasn't used to situations like this, because the magician was.

Without hesitating or stopping to think about the situation, Kaito spilt what was on the glass directly to his mouth and put his head back. The heat that ran through his throat heated his cheeks too and made him jump a little before putting the glass back to the floor. Horrified and skin paled, Shinichi, Hakuba and Heiji himself saw Kaito crawling towards the last one and, leaning on his knees, he gripped on his shoulders in order to have more stability. Next thing Heiji knew was that Kazuha had put a lemon slice on his mouth and Kaito had fallen to his lips to take it.

And goodbye to Heiji's common sense. Oops.

The kiss was... Both of them would lie if they said it was bad.

On the background, the girls who had incited the situation screamed in ecstasy with what Kaito was pretty sure was a too shrill voice, but he could't assure it. His mind got blocked when Hattori took his hips and pulled him closed to his body. None of them knew when Osaka's boy had started kissing him back and demanding him to open his mouth. Probably at the same time Kaito put the lips over his and Heiji was able to taste an explosive mix.

Tequila. Lemon. Smoothness. Aggressiveness. Kaito already expected Heiji to be extremely aggressive and possessive in what kisses involves. His impulsive behaviour led him in behaving that way and, as the thief had expected, made him nothing bad at kissing. In fact, he was pretty good. The slide ended up on Kaito's roof of the mouth because of Heiji's tongue, which put pressure on it until wringing the last drop of citric on it. What happened after that was only good for heating more up the ambient.

Hattori got through everything he found on his way: teeth, gums, taste buds. Kaito panted when that tongue wrapped his, although it could be heard as a moan rather than anything else. When the grip on his hips tightened and he ended up completely against the other's body, the magician noticed Kazuha was a very, very lucky girl. He was sure that the force Osaka's detective was putting on suckling and biting his lips came from a possessive desire of marking, and so against of what he would have wanted to think about —because his situation would be really embarrasing if he put away right in this moment—, Kaito wondered if he would be this good at mistreating the rest of his body as he did with his lips.

Heiji's hand ended up on the bottom of his back, touching under the t-shirt cloth by the way. Another moan spilt out of Kaito's mouth, and even though he was very interested in where the detective was leading that to —Ran, Aoko and Kazuha were too, and including a nose bleed—, Kaito wondered if he should be the responsible voice that stopped him before Heiji tried to take his clothes off. Because if he tried, Kaito wasn't going to deny it.

Unfortunately, a greater force than the two teenagers made —and that's already an overstatement— intervened and pulled them apart before they could get to topper phases. Still with desoriented senses, Kaito could be able to hear a possessive and refusal groan out of Heiji, complaining to anyone who had taken his toy away about that he was pretty much liking the game and he wanted to carry on. Uh. Would Kaito have sounded the same?

"You've already done it, haven't you?" An annoyed voice reached his eardrums, probably coming from the person who was gripping his shoulders. Kaito looked in his half-full by lust brain for who the hell this voice belonged to. Eh... Hakuba? No, no fucking way; he had dreamed about that voice, and not exactly educative things suitable for all audiences. Then... "Dare was kissing, not fucking yourselves in front of everybody. Keep your tongue, Hattori; you look like a dog in heat."

Shinichi. Kaito was sure this was Shinichi's voice. He was the only one who could spit Hattori's name this way so... so... his?

When the magician was able to focus a little on reality, he faced a hair disheveled Heiji, gasping and all red, wet lips. Wait. Since when had Kaito had the hands on his hair? Staring more firmly at him, Kaito also noticed that the Osakan's pupils were dilated and his gaze was hungry. He looked like a beast ready to jump over his prey. A shiver went through the magician's spine as the thought that Kazuha was a very lucky girl came back to his mind. He almost felt tempated to ask her for lending him one or two days; time enough for him to see this gaze until he's satisfied. Kaito shivered in anticipation, a part of his body very happy with the idea.

It was then when Hattori's brain seemed to clear a little and he was concious of the situation in which he was. Blood came to his cheeks —thanks to God, because were it to stay where it was, it would have been a disaster— and he rapidly took the hands away from Kuroba's waist, apologising for, in general, almost having ravished him in Kudo's library. Kaito nearly asked him to go to the bedroom if place was what was bothering him, but he prefered to shut up when Shinichi's hands pulled him back towards his chest and his body slid from Heiji's lap. Wait again. When had Kaito ended up there? Uups. Maybe he had gotten too much excited.

The detective of the West scratched his nape, a little uncomfortable, or so he was until Kazuha broke into laughing and, embarrased, Heiji turned around to start a fight with her. Aoko and Ran had faded away due to the lack of blood since the very moment they heard Heiji groaning defending his prey, and Hakuba was carrying them to a couch in order to prevent them from getting torticollis.

With that, Shinichi and Kaito were left ignored. The magician was still a little on his own planet, and the detective didn't make any sound; he was just gripping his shoulders, tighter each time. Maybe this was what made Kaito get out of his antonishment and lick his lips in order to make them get back to their original sensibility. Surprised, Kaito touched his lips and looked at his fingertips only to realize that they were spotted with blood. Wow. Hattori did get too excited too. How hadn't he noticed it earlier?

"Has it been so amazing?"

Shinichi's voice behind him made him get out of his antonishment, and the fact that his breathing was hitting right to his neck made him shiver. He was still sensitive and desoriented. The warmth of Shinichi's breathing directly to his nape was too stimulating for his condition. And he didn't push aside however, because he couldn't deny that feeling it was beyond pleasant.

"It wasn't bad. As I thought, Hattori is quite passionate when it comes to intimate situations. Well, he's impulsive and too much hurried for everything, so I'm not suprised that everything involves kissing too. It makes me be actually a little bit jealous of Kazuha. And although tequila and lemon don't taste bad, maybe if..."

The magician were suddendly shut, and not because he wanted to. His eyes opened abruptly, but when his taste buds reacted to the incitement, Kaito gripped to Shinichi's shirt like a bat out of hell, taking the cloth in fists, and pulled him closer to his body. Hunger Heiji's lips had given him was nothing compared to this, and the thing was that the detective of the east held between his lips one of his biggest vices —he was already one of his biggest vices himself.

Shinichi put his arm around Kaito's waist and held his nape with the other hand, preventing him from getting even a millimeter away when he made pressure on his lips and pushed with his tongue the candy that was between both of them to the other's mouth, dumping himself on it by the way. The magician melt in presence of his favourite detective's taste mixed with sugar and Rum Caramel; three of his biggest downfalls.

Kudo's hand, not nearly happy with his position, moved under the magician's clothes and placed on the bottom of his back. Secretly, it was to erase all vestige of Hattori. He crashed his tongue with the other's and played with it until the candy was completely melt. Needless to say that certain magician, in his own world at this time, was not slightly concious of all the embarrasing, not much concealed noises that left his mouth and which the other's throat, too much thrilled, swallowed with no question. They sounded like music to the detective's ears. Sensual, exciting Kamasutra's recital.

Not wanting to, Shinichi left Kaito's lips. Before the magician could say anything in disagreement, the detective trapped them again, this time between his teeth, and sucked out until something Kaito didn't get, but didn't matter anyway. Those blue eyes were looking at him, hungry and angry? Who knows, but the magician's sensitive condition was getting too much excited with all this game.

When Kudo left his mouth free —not that Kaito wanted him to, but anyway— at least, he could see a more than noticeable blush covering the detective's cheeks. Great, because Kaito found it pretty unfair being he the only one turned on in all of this. Too much hot kissed for one day. He needed a bed, and it really didn't matter for which of its uses.

At least Shinichi was considerated enough for waiting until the magician's legs were stabilished enough so he wouldn't fall on his face the very moment the detective left him. And he ended up sitting on the floor however —in case someone doesn't remember: they were knelt.

The detective stood up and stretched his hand to him. Kaito took it and stood up —as if he could have done this by himself—, still with his head on the clouds. His senses were clouded again, but at least he did find reasonable to ask Shinichi what the hell was that.

"You like sweety things, don't you?" Kudo interrupted right in the moment Kuroba opened his mouth. He was looking anywhere but him, blushed cheeks and unsteady eyes between his face and the wall. Nevertheless, he hadn't let go of his hand, and this time it wasn't in order to guarantee the magician’s stability. "I just gave you something you like... And I guess —just guess— maybe I wouldn't mind doing it again.

And then, Shinichi went to prevent Heiji and Kazuha from breaking down his library, because they had begun throwing books to their heads. Typical.

The magician stood for a moment he used to put one hand on his lips and think about the words of his beloved Tantei-kun. Uh. He liked how it sounded. A smirk curved on lips, because he definitely will; he will ask for more.

Much more Shinichi could ever imagine.

A/N: Author-chan wants to say thanks because her English really sucks~ xd Anyway I’m so happy if you’ve come to this point and you understand what the hell I wrote ;u; I did my best, so I hope it... uh... wasn’t as awful as I think it was xd

In case you guys wanna read its original version (in Spanish, I mean xd), here it’s: WATTPAD.

#dcmk #detective conan #magic kaito 1412 #magic kaito #heikai #shinkai #shinichi kudo #kaito kuroba #heiji hattori #kazuha toyama #ran mouri #aoko nakamori #hakuba saguru #dares are funny~#one shot #fanfic

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mintchocolateleaves · 7 years

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Cost of Freedom: (6/??)

Summary: In which there is a phone call and someone asks why. Prison!AU

[Beginning] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

“Hello?”

The voice is low, and feminine, with an all too familiar lilt of playfulness that Kaito has come to miss. It echoes in his ears, replaying over and over until he forces himself to speak.

“Aoko.”

Another pause, as he waits to see whether she will hang up or not. He won’t blame her if he does, will sit back and accept it - but if Hakuba told the truth during his visit… then Aoko has been waiting for this call for a while. She won’t end it so quickly.

“Kaito!” She cries, emotion overwhelming her voice before quickly turning to irritation, “you idiot, you should have called sooner!”

Kaito feels a smile worm it’s way onto his face, relief jittering through every synapse in his body. Joy bubbles up from his throat until eventually he is laughing, tears in his eyes. He’s been worried over this? Over talking to Aoko, his greatest friend?

“…Is everything okay?” Aoko asks when he stops laughing, finally succeeding in smothering his emotions, forcing himself back to one piece.

“I’m just… really glad that you picked up,” Kaito admits, leaning against the phone booth, brushing his hand up and down the phone’s cable. It’s short - probably so prisoners can’t use it as a weapon - the cable thin enough that with big enough scissors he’d be able to cut through. “And that you haven’t hung up yet.”

Aoko lets out a small laugh - it is a nervous bell-like sound as if she’s suddenly realised where he is, who he is. “Aoko still might, if all you’re going to do is laugh at her.”

“Okay, okay,” Kaito says, “I’ll quit laughing. Just… catch me up with you, how’s everything going?”

There is a pause on the other side of the phone, and the background music halts, stopping with a small shudder as Aoko presses the off button.

“Aoko was just doing her homework,” she says, “it’s difficult maths, mechanics - Aoko thinks you would enjoy it. School isn’t too chaotic, although everyone in class cannot get over the fact that you’re-”

Kaito wants to tell her that she shouldn’t falter, that she should just call him Kaitou KID and get used to the fact that they’re both the same. Wants to say that KID will always be his alter ego, that he claims it as his own with pride.

He doesn’t.

“Yeah…” He mumbles instead, hand tightening over the phone. He sighs, “how’s… my mum, is she okay?”

“Aoko’s not sure.” She breathes uncertainty, and it is sad in the same way that snow is cold. It freezes him, leaves him shuddering as he waits for any more information. “the last time Aoko saw her, she was trying to find a buyer for your house, said that she couldn’t bare staying in it.”

Kaito stops breathing. His mother wants to sell their home? She wants to throw away the last place his dad lived, throw away the memories of Kuroba Toichi that live beneath the floorboards in his own secret room?

“She can’t sell the house,” Kaito says.

Aoko sighs, “you’re mother doesn’t spend any time in Japan, and since you can’t live there anymore…”

Kaito heaves out a sigh and pushes the thought away for later. The fact that home isn’t going to be there for him when he leaves - not that he’d considered going back, that’d be a stupid place to escape to - isn’t something that he’d ever considered. What will his mother do with all of her father’s equipment?

“I get it,” Kaito says, even if he doesn’t. It shouldn’t matter if they can return there, as long as it remains a possibility. “Don’t worry about it.”

“You’re not mad?” Aoko asks. Knowing her, she’s sat back, frowning across at the photo of the two of them she keeps on her desk, imagining which expression he’s wearing. She’s seen them all - well, almost all, over the years so she should have a faint idea.

“A gentleman never gets man at the middle man,” Kaito grins, before falling short. Because - well, that sounds more like KID than it does Kaito. He hopes that Aoko will overlook it, glance away from it like she used to glance away from the subtle similarities between the two personalities, but she doesn’t.

Instead, there is a very audible intake of air, not quite a gasp, but not simply breathing. It’s almost as if Kaito can hear her simmering on the other side of the phone, bubbling anger ready to explode.

“Aoko-”

“I want to talk to Kaito.” Aoko whispers, her voice grave, “not to KID.”

Kaito takes a deep breath, pulls at the collar of his shirt when he feels like he’s being strangled. It doesn’t help, not when it’s his own words that are suffocating him. She knows - Aoko knows that he is both and neither. She should know he is just a canvas worn by both.

“They’re both me Aoko.” He says, helplessness seeping into his voice, “KID and Kaito… we’re the same, I’m both of them.”

“No,” Aoko says. “They’re different. Kaito is my best friend, whereas KID is the reason behind so much pain. There’s a difference.”

“There isn’t!”

“Yes there is!” Her voice rises to a shout, leaving behind a silence and a bullet sized wound where Kaito’s sure his heart should be. “And until you learn to separate the two, Aoko doesn’t want to talk to you.”

Kaito’s voice transforms into a plea, “I can’t just separate two parts of myself. Aoko-”

Kaito grits his teeth, resists the urge to slam the phone back onto the receiver. It feels, almost as if there is something within him dying - but he doesn’t have the time to mourn it. He just needs to bury it, try to deal explain to Aoko in a way so she’d understand.

Maybe if he tells her everything-

The background noise cuts out. The line goes dead.

And Aoko is gone.

Kudo doesn’t ask him about it, even though Kaito can see that he wants to.

Another day passes, and Kaito thanks every possible god he can that he will only have to deal with 56 more days at the most before the two of them are free again.

Already he’s tired of working on laundry duty, sick of remembering to empty the lint filters every time he throws a new batch of clothes into the dryer. Sick of folding and giving out clothes to other people - he doesn’t understand why Kudo thinks this is important to help them escape.

“What are we doing here?” He sighs after he’s folded another set of blankets, placing them over to the rack where they will be given out to other prisoners. “There’s no point to this.”

Kudo grins, shaking his head. He seems a lot more relaxed than Kaito is, folding the ends of blankets with a careful precision. He says, “there’s a lot of points behind all of this. You’re just not seeing them because you’re still moping.”

“I’m not having this conversation with you again,” Kaito huffs, “just tell me why we’re doing this.”

Smirking, Kudo places his blanket down, brushes out the creases and moves to do the same with another. As he does, he glances at the thief, eyes dancing with something akin to mischief. He says, “did you know this is the place where most things get smuggled into the prison?”

Oh. Oh.

“Well… how would we get anything smuggled in, huh?” Kaito hisses. He knows that he could ask Jii for help, but he’d told the man before that they would have to go their separate ways if Kaito was ever caught. He wonders what the old man’s doing now. “I don’t have any-”

“Then aren’t you glad we’re working together?” Kudo laughs, “I’m lucky to have someone who’s able to bring stuff in for me. We place whatever we need for our escape in these blankets, smuggle it into our room and then, we’ve got we need for when we’re ready to head off.”

The idea of the ex-detective having allies in a place like this isn’t actually that strange. He has a kind of superficial charm that he expels, eyes that are far too wise and experienced to seem anything but trusting. Even knowing that he shouldn’t, Kaito wants to trust him.

“That guard you always talk to,” Kaito guesses. He’s seen them, talking to one another often. Kudo talks to other guards too, but it’s always with an air of hostility, superiority rolling off him in waves.

Kudo hesitates, waits a moment, before nodding. “Oto-san yes. It’ll take him time, but he’ll get us whatever we need. Provided he can get it past the metal detectors he has to go through when getting into work.”

“How’d you manage to get a guard in your pocket, huh?” Kaito asks. He scowls at the blanket he’s been trying to fold for over a minute, but ultimately he feels hope climbing up his spine.

“I didn’t,” Kudo says, taking the final blanket from his pile, leaning against the counter when he is finished. “He’s one of my father’s contacts.”

It is not private that Kudo Shinichi is the son of novelist Kudo Yuusaku. For as long as he can remember, Kaito has passed the man’s mystery novels every time he’s been inside a bookshop. His books are bestsellers, each one containing a plot more overwhelming than the last. He’d help solve murders with the police in the past, long before his son had started his own detective career.

Kaito had thought that the father and son duo didn’t talk. The only visitor Kudo seems to get is that one female - Ran he’d called her - so naturally Kaito had assumed…

“My father is not in a position where he can openly support me,” Kudo says, snatching the blanket from Kaito’s useless hands, “so I have Oto-san as a go between instead.”

Frowning Kaito says, “Your father wants you to escape?”

Kudo purses his lips but after a moment, he grins. “My parent’s don’t exactly believe that I killed those people.” He shrugs. “I understand that, it’s a hard thing for a lot of people to accept. That six people are dead because of me, well-”

For a split moment, Kaito hesitates.

From what he knows, Kudo Yuusaku does not make mistakes. Is there something odd about Kudo’s case that makes his guilt unbelievable? Or is it the delusional thoughts of a father unable to believe that the son he has raised is capable of creating such a bloody scene, victims slashed and left skewered against the walls?

“Did you?”

Kudo’s eyes widen, shock erasing whatever amusement he’d been feigning. He looks away from Kaito at first, at the window, the door, anything that is not the thief before turning back. He meets his eyes, lips thin a taut smile on his face.

“Did I what?” It’s almost chilling how different his voice sounds. It’s not usual irritated response he normally throws at Kaito during the day, nor is it the argumentative tone he wears around guards and their fellow prisoners.

No, this is the voice of someone who’s swelling with resentment. Kaito takes a step back at the sudden change in Kudo’s expression, the way his brows draw together into a glower.

“Did you really kill them?” Kaito doesn’t even know why he’s asking. The way he’s reacting - isn’t this practically a confession? But would a serial killer really be angry about him bringing up his crimes, wouldn’t he be more thrilled to talk about them?

Kudo’s shoulders tense, and once again he turns away. “I’m certainly… responsible for their deaths.”

Kaito doesn’t breathe.

“But did I actually kill them?” He glance back with a self-deprecating smile, his eyes far away but his body language more welcoming than it had been previously, “well… There’s not a trace of blood on my hands.”

There is nothing Kaito can do but blink.

“Although, that’s for you to take however you want.” Kudo says, turning away. “I’m pretty sure most of the people in this joint claim they’re innocent. Actually, KID, you might be the only guilty person here.”

#How do I write so quickly? I do not know #but fortunately plot is flowing well from my fingertips to the page #please enjoy #Fic: Cost of freedom #Kuroba Kaito #Kudo Shinichi #Nakamori aoko #Mentions of Mouri Ran / Kuroba Toichi / Kudo Yuusaku #mywriting #DCMK

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the-zealoptics · 6 years

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One Board, Two Sides

Words and images by Summer Fenton

There are two sides of snowboarding: the contest side and the filming side. Both are equally fun and challenging, yet both are completely different elements and states of mind. Both include obstacles and hard work that makes that feeling of accomplishment so thrilling, when you land your contest run or get the shot. If you are a competitive half pipe rider, you dedicate your time to snowboard nothing but half-pipe. You take the chairlift up, listen to your coach’s advice and practice your contest run in a pristine, perfectly built half-pipe. You are constantly focused on training and practicing your amplitude, trick combos and style over and over again until it is perfection for the judges. If you’re filming, you dedicate your time to chasing the snow whether it is to ride fresh powder lines or hit a street spot in the city. It’s about how you perceive your surrounding elements and how you can express yourself and make it your own. You wake up early searching for the right spots, hiking up big mountains, driving around a town in hopes of finding something that you can put your own twist on and is worth filming. When you find that spot, you scout out your line, call your trick, get your shovel out and start building or riding the feature you want to hit. And once you drop in, whether it be a half pipe, a powder line, or a street spot, you better believe and be confident going into it because once you start going, there is no turning back.

In the past, half pipe riders like Kazu or Danny Kass were at the top of their game, while filming insane video parts. On the contrary, nowadays it is rare to see a half pipe rider outside of the half-pipe. Therefore, I decided that going into this winter season that I would do both just like how they did back in the day.

Photo: @stevenewilcox

This winter has been nonstop from balancing my time between being a competitive half pipe rider to filming my first full part for an all girls movie project called Powanoia. Balancing both of these during one season is pretty unusual for a competitive half pipe rider, but it was exhilarating to step out of the box and fulfill both. While the Powanoia crew was filming during the first storm in Tahoe, I was packing up my car, focusing on my upcoming contest season and making the 18hr drive out from San Francisco to Colorado to make it just in time for my first contest of the season: Olympic Qualifier Stop #1. Here I would be battling the best of the best women half pipe riders for the four U.S. Olympic Team Spots. With only six hours of practice and below freezing conditions, it was go time. The time was now to do what I have worked so hard for, to show how much I put my heart and soul into it, and to prove to myself that all the sacrifices I've made and obstacles I’ve overcame was worth it. The pressure was on and the contest adrenaline was back. For this was my moment to shine, let it all out and ride the best that I could. Week after week I competed in all four Olympic Qualifier stops, which included Grand Prix, Dew Tour and World Cups. At the last stop in Mammoth Mountain, I competed my personal best and made it into finals! It was an unreal experience riding under the lights at night in the half pipe with crowds lined up and down the pipe cheering on all sides. Although I didn’t make the Olympic Team, I was proud of the accomplishments that I’ve made and how far I’ve come. And for that my heart is filled with gratitude for the entire experience and for all of those who have supported my dreams and goals.

By the end of January, I hadn't filmed at all because I was putting my energy and time into competing. So I said “Sayonara to the U.S.A.” and hopped on a plane to Japan to meet the rest of the Powanoia crew to finally start filming for my full part. After more than 24hrs of traveling from getting searched at the airport to transferring on and off buses and trains, I finally made it to Hakuba Valley. And just as I was falling asleep, we woke up at the break of dawn to massive amounts of fluffy snow. When you are doing what you love and wake up to fresh snow, you get this burst of energy to get going. A quick pit stop at the local convenience store Lawsons to eat some onigri and corn dogs for breakfast and on our way to the mountains we went to chase that famous japow, where the fresh flakes glisten against the morning sun.

My favorite thing about Japan is the accessibility to unlimited amounts of untouched powder runs and street spots. You can find great runs in and out of resort boundaries which gives you the freedom about your landscape. One day we hiked out of the resort and found an awesome spot for a powder jump in between two trees! The only downfall was clearing the tree for a smooth landing. Already exhausted from our long hike up, we dug out the run in and built the lip to the jump to give us just enough pop to get over the tree. When we were testing the speed of the runway into the jump, it seemed a little slow but there wasn't much we could do. So we decided that it was best to use our avalanche shovels as a tow in. As my hands gripped both shovel handles, my friends sling shotted me forward so that I could get enough speed to clear the tree. I felt a little slow but still sent it anyways. As I hit the jump, I did my trick but didn't have enough speed so I ended up landing on the tree, catching my toe edge on it and doing a scorpion down the entire landing. I was disappointed that our efforts didn't work but this was something that happens regularly when building your own features. It was something I wasn't used to because when I ride half pipe everything is built and groomed for you. I hiked back up and adjusted the runway into the jump so I could get more speed. With intrinsic motivation driving me, I attempted it again and it was a success as I cleared the tree and landed my trick! A huge sigh of relief and happiness washed over me.

Photo: Kieth Rutherford

On days where it didn't snow in Japan, we changed our perspective on our usual surroundings and started looking at the buildings we drove by everyday as pockets of opportunities. Sure, it was risky that we could be caught by the authorities or that a roof avalanche could happen at any second but the reward outweighed. We quickly all worked together to help build each other features that we felt we would be able to express. With everything built, all that was left was to fulfill our vision that we set out on our car drive there. In the end, we did it fellas.

Shortly after Japan, I got invited to go on my first yurt/split boarding trip in the Eastern Sierras, a dream of mine to snowboard ever since I’ve been driving HWY 395 from Tahoe to Mammoth for the many competitions. I’ve only snow-shoed before this trip, and let me tell you that split boarding has changed my whole backcountry experience. It allows me to explore terrain I thought I would never be able to go to.The mountains are huge, unpredictable and filled with so much beauty. Therefore, I’ve learned to read and adapt to snow changes quickly whether it is to ride an exhilarating line or to be safe from avalanches. My connection with the mountains has deepened because I am earning my turns with every step I climb. Once I drop into a fresh powder line, it’s just me and my snowboard, riding together in one fluid motion in the moment.

In the end, snowboarding isn’t just a sport I compete or film in; it is a way of life. A life filled with passion, lessons that range from physical exertion to the mental challenge, adventures and growth. Each step of my journey this winter has enriched my life for the better even when balancing both competing and filming has been exhausting. Being able to pursue my passion is what makes me feel so alive. I love being able to do both sides of snowboarding and experience the different elements they both have to offer. I am extremely grateful for these incredible opportunities. Thanks Zeal Optics for the unconditional support on my aspirations in life.

Cheers and stay tuned for more adventures. Follow Summer on Instagram!

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lisatelramor · 5 years

Note

If you accept requests can you please write some AoKai with Aoko finding out Kids identity and confronting him about it I love your fics on FF :)

so, to answer your question, yes, yes I do take requests, though it is purely up to the whims of my brain whether or not anything gets written from them so I don’t explicitly advertise that. You’re lucky, it bit this time ;) Have some AoKai, Anon

Gotta Spend SomeTime, Love

Aoko made a note in the notebook she kept under her bed.Another one for the left column. Aoko smoothed a finger over the lines,spanning several pages now. Kaito is Kid.Kaito is not.

She started the list when her dad first suspected Kaito wasKid. One thing in each column that day—the left: Kaito replaced himself with a dummy (I can tell the difference from mybest friend Kaito), the right: Itisn’t possible to get from the amusement park to the heist site and back in thelength of that movie. The left column had the added: Kaito makes the impossible a hobby. She’d added to it ever sincethen, bit by bit. Evidence for, evidence against. Hakuba Saguru’s accusationwas in the left column, all the times Kaito got into a heist site because hewas her friend, Kaito’s skills with sleight of hand and acrobatics. The othercolumn held the time Hakuba handcuffed Kaito to him—that was the real Kaitothat time, she was sure—and how he tried to help her dad by pointing out blindspots when he was asked, how Kaito was afraid of fish so he’d never have beenpart of those heists with the submarine or the boat.

If Aoko could pick her worst trait, it was that her emotionsclouded her thoughts. She reacted, always reacted, first and thought second. Itwas a trait she shared with her father. It was a trait she’d had since she wasa small child, jumping to conclusions without proof and her mother used to holdher hands and talk her through it, piecing together why her conclusion was orwasn’t right. It had almost been a game then, a puzzle, pretending to be apolice officer sometimes like her dad.

When it came down to it, Aoko was and had always been apolice officer’s daughter.

Aoko’s finger stopped on Kaitoloves Kid which she’d written on both halves of the list. On the one hand,Kaito was a magic geek and Kid’s heists were the sort of spectacle that Kaitoloved. On the other… Kaito was just enough of an egoist to join his own fanclub.

He dad knocked on the door and Aoko flipped the notebook toold school notes in the back. He glanced at it as he poked his head in. “Justchecking in. Working on homework?”

“Yeah.” Aoko smiled. “Almost done though. There’s someleftovers from dinner in the fridge if you haven’t eaten yet.”

He smiled back, so worn and tired. He didn’t sleep enough.He probably didn’t eat enough, or at least not healthy things. Kid had himrunning around at all hours and hardly ever home. “Thanks, Aoko. You’re a goodkid. Don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t.”

The door closed again. Aoko’s smile slid off her face. Shewasn’t a good kid, though, was she? If she was, she wouldn’t be hiding thisnotebook.

She flipped back to her list. At the top of the most recentpage she’d written Aoko loves Kaitoin the reasons Kaito was Kid. Maybe it wasn’t a reason exactly, not the way therest of the list was. But Aoko knew better than most that love could beblinding. It made you see what you wanted to see. For her dad, a perfectdaughter. And years ago, it had been the same with her mother, not seeing theproblems until it was too late.

The Kaito is Kidlist was winning again. Every time Aoko added to it, she thought she’d justgive him one more chance. One more chance to prove he wasn’t Kid. One more. Onemore.

Maybe it was time for the last once more.

When she started this list, it’d been from a place of anger.Now Aoko just felt heavy seeing all the damning evidence that had piled upwhile she stretched to fill things in for the other column. A year was morethan enough time to work past her gut emotions and trace evidence. Any longerand Aoko wouldn’t be able to delude herself that she was still waiting forKaito to prove this theory wrong.

***

“Kaito?” Aoko said, after the school day was over andcleaning was done and the aftermath of Kaito’s pranks and a mop chase werefixed up.

“Yeah?” He had his bag in one hand and a newspaper in theother. He didn’t used to read the paper much before Kid.

“There’s a magic act this weekend that sounded like fun.Would you like to go with me?” She pushed a stubborn, flyaway strand of hairbehind her ear. “We could get dessert after.”

Kaito stared at her, probably waiting for the catch. Therewasn’t one. No Kid heist that day. Something Kaito would enjoy. Not her nagginghim to do something stereotypically romantic in hopes that he’d get a clue, orsomething she liked more than him that he’d pretend to drag his feet over.

Aoko waited. Kaito took a breath.

“Just us?” he asked.

“That okay?”

“Yeah,” he said slowly, a smile spreading on his face. “Thatsounds pretty fun. It’s been a while since we just did something together,huh?”

Not without Kid involved or Aoko dragging him there. ButAoko wasn’t going to point that out. She smiled. “It’s a date then.”

She left Kaito sputtering, face going red. She was blushingtoo, heartbeat racing at saying that out loud. Anticipation and dread curled inher. Kaito, notably, didn’t call her back or protest that it was just a friendsthing. Add that to the theory that he liked her back.

***

“Ok, but that was actually a really hard trick to do,” Kaitosaid, gesticulating with his ice cream cone. “It looks easy but if you don’t time it exactly right, the whole thingends up falling apart and looking really fake, so the fact that this guy notonly got the timing right, but made it more complicated was really cool.” He grinned,a bounce in his step. He hadn’t sat still since the performance. “Actually itgives me a lot of ideas.”

“Of course it does,” Aoko said with a theatrical sigh. “I’mgoing to have to chase you with a mop for disrupting class more often in thefuture aren’t I?”

Kaito gave her an innocent look and Aoko had to laugh. Theywere walking in the park, now, eating ice cream and letting their free handsdangle a bit too close. She hadn’t tried to take his hand and Kaito hadn’treached for hers, but it felt like a date. He kept his pace at her side insteadof a bit ahead and stayed closer than normal. It was nice.

Aoko crunched through the cone of her ice cream, barelytasting its sweetness. Pity it wouldn’t last.

“Hey, Kaito?” Aoko said, pulling Kaito out of his magiciandaydreams.

“Yeah?”

“Has it been worth it, being Kaitou Kid?”

She caught him off guard, his eyes going wide and his feettripping on nothing before he pulled himself together. Normally she likedcatching him off guard. Now, it only hammered in the truth. Kaito blinkedrapidly before laughing. “Pff! Sure, you got me, Aoko. It is I, the great, uncatchableKaitou Kid!” He gave her an exaggerated bow, almost dripping the dregs of hisice cream down his own wrist. “C’mon, Aoko, what kind of a joke question isthat?”

“Is it worth it?” Aoko repeated, refusing to react.

His masks were up now and he pushed forward irritation andhurt on his face. “It’s bad enough with Hakuba going on and on withaccusations, don’t tell me you’re going to start too. I keep saying it, I’m notKid. Don’t tell me you’re going to believe Hakuba over your best friend?”

Aoko’s hands clenched into fists. She forced them back open.Breathe. He was trying to guilt herinto backing off. But that wasn’t going to work this time. Aoko looked Kaito inthe eye and waited.

The irritation on Kaito’s face wavered. He probably didn’tknow what to do with this. Aoko always reacted. She responded. But she wasn’tthis time. “Seriously? I know your dad’s a bit of a washed up inspector, butyou’re confident enough to say you know who Kid is when he doesn’t?”

There, an attempt to get her angry—and Aoko wanted to getangry, words were at the tip of her tongue waiting to burst out in defense ofher father—but Aoko wasn’t going to.

“Kaito.”

He took a step back. For a second he almost looked scared. “Didyour dad put you up to this? Hakuba? You asked me out last time because of yourdad.”

“I asked you out because I wanted to ask you out,” Aokosaid, patience slipping. “Answer the damn question because I know you’re Kid, Kaito.”

“And what makes you so sure?” he shot back.

“I have a list. It’s four pages long.”

Kaito went pale.

“I didn’t need someone to ‘put me up to’ this.” Aoko crossedher arms. “I’m confronting you because I’ve been compiling evidence for months.I know I’m not a genius like you or Hakuba, and I don’t have Tou-san’straining, but I’m not stupid, Kaito. Even I can see what’s right in front of mewhen I think to look for it.”

“I… I don’t think you’re stupid,” he said. The remains ofhis ice cream cone were a sad dripping mess clenched in one hand, but he didn’tseem to notice.

“No?” Aoko asked. “The number of dummies you’ve left me with,the number of times you used your friendship with me to get into a heist, thetimes you used my face say otherwise.”

And Kaito flinched. Maybe it was because she usually usedmops and shouted insults instead of pointed words, but they’d hit harder thanshe expected them to. “…Why haven’t you tried to hit me yet?” he askedfinally.

“If I get mad right now you’ll just use it to run away,”Aoko said. “So, was it worth it?”

Aoko didn’t know who he’d been confiding in the last year,who he’d shared his burdens with like he used to share ideas for tricks when hewas little with her. He hadn’t confided in her about anything in a long time,longer than Kid had been around, but from the way something in Kaito’s eyesfolded like a surrender, she guessed that whatever support he had wasn’t enoughall this time. Kaito was good at faking. Good at pretending so hard he fooledhimself. Aoko doubted he’d let himself look at what was underneath all thosemasks he wore in a while, easier to compartmentalize eternally than deal withhis problems.

“Am I going to end up in handcuffs if I answer?” he asked.

“If I was going to get you arrested, would I have asked youon a date?” Aoko asked, irritation bleeding into her voice. “Bakaito, if Iwanted you arrested, I’d give Hakuba your hair to match with Kid’s and give mylist to my dad, not invite you to get ice cream.”

“Oh.” Kaito’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. If it’sworth it.” He stared at the mess of ice cream in his hand without seeing it. “Iwant to think it is. It’s just… It’s something I had to do.”

“Had to,” Aoko repeated, voice flat. She’d told herself shewouldn’t get angry. Don’t get angry.

“Had to,” Kaito said standing straighter. “Oyaji was thefirst Kid. His death, it wasn’t an accident, Aoko. I’m the search lightrevealing the rot hidden in the shadows—Nakamori-keibu already has arrestedsome of them, but I need to get all of them.”

Screw not gettingangry. “At the expense of dying?” Aoko growled. She always tried reallyhard not to think about the gunmen that had appeared at heists because whenevershe did, she felt so scared for her dad and Kid—Kaito. “How many times have younearly died, Kaito?”

He glowered back at her, a stubborn set to his jaw that wasmore at home on her face than it was his. “You don’t understand, Aoko, theykilled my dad. You wouldn’t get—”

“Don’t try and tell me what I wouldn’t get,” Aoko hissed,grabbing his arm. “Because I understand missing a parent just fine.”

Kaito looked away first. “Sorry. But no one else is doinganything. They’re committing crimes and killing people and no one is stoppingthem from doing it again, and if I can, then why shouldn’t I? Isn’t it themorally right thing to do?”

“Only you would make a moral argument about breaking the lawto stop other people from breaking the law,” Aoko said. Why was she in lovewith this brilliant, stupid boy? She probably would be happier in the long termif she could choose to love someone simpler. Pity the heart really didn’t careabout that sort of thing.

“Well,” Kaito said, a cautiously optimistic note of teasingentering his voice. “There’s degrees of evil, and really, as far as that goes,stealing and returning what I take is a lot lower than murder.”

“You’re also a public nuisance, cost the police too muchmoney, and are giving my dad high blood pressure.”

“Pretty sure he gives himself high blood pressure. It’s notmy fault he gets angry easily.”

Aoko smacked the back of Kaito’s head lightly and he didn’teven try to dodge. “That’s for being an idiot and lying to me. You owe me somany apologies.” She felt him flinch minutely in her grip. Aoko pulled him intoa hug, messy, melted ice cream hand and all. “And this is for finally tellingme the truth. I’m still really angry at you and I’m probably going to try andsmack you later just. For now.”

Kaito was stiff as one of his wooden dummies for a fewseconds before he grabbed her back like he was afraid she was going to changeher mind. When was the last time she’d hugged him properly? Probably not sincepuberty hit them and emotions made things awkward. “Do you hate me?”

“Idiot.” Aoko squeezed him tighter. “I’m angry, that doesn’tmean I don’t love you. I don’t forgive you yet though,” she added because therewas no way Kaito was getting out of this that easily.

“Fair enough,” Kaito said, laughing into her hair. “Wait,did you just say you love me?”

“Don’t make me regret saying that,” Aoko grumbled, feelingher face heat up.

Kaito pulled back, grinning so wide he was more smile thanface. “Does that mean you actually want to date me, not just going on a date tocorner me?”

Why was it so hard to keep composure now? Aoko hid her facein her hands. “Yes, yes, that is what it means.”

“You know I thought I’d be the one to ask you out, but youbeat me to it.” Kaito sighed, still grinning too big for any of his dramaticsto mean much. “Not fair, Aoko.”

Aoko glared at him between her fingers. “I’ve asked you outhalf a dozen times, dummy! It’s not my fault you keep acting like it’s a burdento be around me!”

“It’s not. A burden,” he said. “I just…” He scratched athis face, sheepishly. “You hate Kid. It’s been easier to keep my distance.”

“I still hate Kid.” She wasn’t going to let him thinkotherwise. “But I don’t hate Kaito, so I guess we’ll have to come to some kindof an agreement.”

“Are we dating now?”

“Do you want to be?”

Kaito caught her hands, pulling them away from her face.Aoko blushed harder and his grin lost some of its manic edges. “Yes.” And thenhe didn’t kiss her. What was he waiting for, an invitation?

Aoko growled and grabbed him by the shirt to haul him thelast little bit forward. It was a terrible terrible kiss. The second one wasmuch better.

#asks #magic kaito #aoko/kaito #fanfiction #my writing #hope this is the sort of thing you were looking for!

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lisatelramor · 5 years

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NLTSA Extra: Christmas at Aoko’s

Happy Holiday season guys! This is just after the epilogue of NLTSA

It was weird to be sitting in Aoko’s living room with Kaito at his side and Takumi fidgeting with excitement next to a cheap paper Christmas tree that looked like it had been made with a couple of pieces of green cardstock. Considering neither Aoko nor Takumi celebrated the holiday for religious reasons, it was more decoration than he’d expected. The invitation hadn’t been expected either, but it seemed that Takumi had wanted to share their holiday routine since Saguru had invited him and Kaito to pre-Christmas baking as part of Saguru’s routine. When Takumi asked, Saguru hadn’t been able to say no even knowing the high likelihood that it could end in disaster. Yet here they were, sitting in the same room without anyone killing anyone yet.

They’d eaten the odd Japanese tradition of fried chicken and Christmas cake before Takumi tugged them into the living room to exchange gifts.

They’d given Takumi his gifts first, a new lacrosse stick from Aoko, a multi-tool from Kaito, and a novel Saguru had come across that he’d thought Takumi might like. They’d been well-received with smiles, though the whole time Kaito and Aoko had kept glancing at each other like they were waiting for the whole thing to fall apart.

Surprisingly, it seemed they usually gave each other gifts at Christmas as well, even with everything between them, though Kaito had said they were predictable and not always given with the most friendly intent over the years. He’d listed off the exchanges when they’d been out shopping together. Aoko got something floral from Kaito, Kaito almost always got an addition to his clock ‘collection’.

The gift Aoko held out to Kaito was bigger than expected, rectangular instead of the square of an average wall clock box. Kaito took it with a wry smile.

“Let me guess,” Kaito said, slitting open the wrapping paper, “another cl—ock.” It wasn’t a clock, but something roughly shaped like a scrapbook. Kaito looked over at Aoko, shock and gratitude mingling openly in his expression. “I thought you threw this out.”

Aoko shrugged. She couldn’t quite look his direction as she waved a hand. “Someone rescued it from the trash,” she said, waving a hand like it would make the gift mean less. “I just found it when I was cleaning the closet and figured you would get more from it than I would.”

“What is it?” Saguru asked. He leaned over Kaito’s shoulder to see better. Kaito opened up leather binding to reveal photos—high school photos—some of him, some of Aoko, most together. There was even Saguru in the background of some as Kaito flipped through slowly. “When were these even taken?”

“When we graduated—so after you left—a few classmates got together and pooled all the photos they took from high school and made albums for everyone. They gave Aoko and me a shared album since we were all but married by that point.” He paused on a page, the Aoko in the picture blushing and clearly trying to pretend she wasn’t pleased while Kaito grinned at her, something small hidden in his hand. Takumi settled on Kaito’s other side to look too. “They even got me proposing to her.”

“Because you had to be a dork and propose in front of everyone in class,” Aoko grumbled. “It would have been more romantic somewhere else.”

“You were happy enough about it at the time,” Kaito said, sticking his tongue out at her. Aoko rolled her eyes. The next page was Aoko kissing Kaito in front of the whole class, so yes, she must have been happy. Kaito smiled at the photo. “Thank you, Aoko, really.”

Aoko sighed. “Well... If we’re starting over, I figured I might as well give you something you actually wanted this year.”

Kaito laughed. “Makes me feel a bit silly with my gift...”

“Flowers?” she asked, smiling crookedly.

“Flowers,” Kaito agreed. “Although this year...” He walked to where he’d set his gifts, pulling out the orchid he’d carefully bundled to transport it through the cold. “I thought something that lasted might be nice. Instead of cut flowers. And if it’s cared for, it’ll bloom again.” Its blossoms were a delicate, pale pink, two flower stems supported by sticks.

Aoko snorted, taking the pot with a tenderness to her smile that was rarely directed at Kaito these days. “It’s beautiful. And don’t think I missed the metaphor there; care for it and it’ll bloom again.”

“It wasn’t meant to be a metaphor,” Kaito protested, “but sure, that works too.”

At his seat on the floor, Takumi shifted, clearly getting tired of waiting. “Okay,” he said a bit too loud. “I’m really glad you’re not at each other’s throats and we can actually have a decent gift exchange this year, but can I give my gifts now?” His open presents were at his knees but he’d kept a small pile of hand-wrapped gifts at his side, waiting to pass them out.

Aoko rolled her eyes. “Have at it.”

“Here!” Takumi shoved a box toward Kaito, then a bag to Aoko and a rectangular wrapped package at Saguru. “Y’know with how much I’ve been grounded I actually had money to buy gifts this year,” Takumi said with wry humor.

“Do we open them in a particular order?” Kaito joked.

“Just open them!”

Kaito laughed and slit open the paper. Inside was a plain box, but when he opened it up it was full of small trinkets, all Kid memorabilia.

“So,” Takumi said, fiddling with the paper tree nervously, “I figured since you’ve been trying to keep it secret so long and you stopped pretending to be a Kid fan when you married Kaa-san—well, sort of stopped with being a Kid fan—” Saguru vaguely remembered that being something Kaito mentioned as a conflict before their divorce. “—you probably didn’t keep and Kid merchandise and after your farewell heist things kind of exploded for a bit with Kid stuff, so...” Takumi waved a hand at the box. “Shiemi picked the best ones she saw since I was still grounded. I just thought you might like a, er, positive reminder of it now that you retired.”

Kaito lifted a keychain and smiled. “Thank you,” he said. Aoko looked resigned, but surprisingly not upset. Saguru had a feeling that Kaito was going to add the gifts to the collection of actual Kid items in his secret room. Kaito was slowly transitioning it into something like a museum with records of all his heists and the tricks he’d performed at them.

“Me next I guess,” Aoko said.

She pulled tiny bottles and packets out of the bag one by one until she had what amounted to a home spa kit by her feet.

“I couldn’t afford to get you an actual ticket to a spa,” Takumi said by way of explanation. “So, home spa it is. One day of your choice where you can spend it relaxing and I’ll take care of anything you need or want, okay?”

Aoko snorted, holding up what looked like a face mask. “I’ll hold you to that. I haven’t exactly spent much time relaxing the last few years.”

“All the more reason,” Takumi said. “Now you, Hakuba-sensei,” he said turning to Saguru.

Saguru opened his gift with good humor. A collection of Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes DVDs emerged from the wrapping.

“You mentioned that was your favorite adaptation of Holmes,” Takumi said, more nervous about this than he had been with the other two gifts. “I found someone selling it online and thought you might like it...”

“I do,” Saguru said, touched that Takumi had remembered something said in passing at a literature club meeting. “I haven’t watched them in years.” He’d never had the whole collection either, only a few of the films. These had been remastered and restored with all of the films Rathbone had played Holmes in. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Takumi said, beaming. “Happy Christmas.”

“Happy Christmas, Takumi.”

“Christmas puzzle time!” Kaito announced, pulling a box seemingly out of thin air—Saguru wasn’t sure how he’d manage to hide it, but he must have grabbed it the same time he got Aoko’s gift. “Saguru, you have your tradition, but Takumi and I put a puzzle together every year.” Usually not with Aoko, Saguru guessed, as Kaito turned to her. “Can we take over your table for a while?”

Aoko shrugged. “Have at it. Though you’d better not leave me out.”

Takumi’s face lit up. He snatched the box. “Kitchen table! It has the best lighting!”

Kaito snickered as Takumi ran out of the room. “I got one without a picture on the box this year. It’s a puzzle surprise.”

“Let me guess, it’s something with complex and similar patterns, isn’t it?”

“Abstract,” Kaito confirmed. “It’s going to be an eyestrain.”

“Sounds like something we’ll all enjoy then.”

Aoko laughed at them. “Let’s see, a police inspector, an ex-detective, a man who has put half-destroyed relics back together piece by piece, and a high school student. Who has the advantage here?”

“Takumi of course,” Kaito said. “He hasn’t had half the eye strain as the rest of us.”

Aoko swatted at him cheerfully as they moved to the kitchen.

Takumi popped his head around the corner. “Oh yeah, were there any other gifts left to exchange?”

Saguru glanced at Aoko. He had something small for her, but he and Kaito had decided to forgo gifts in exchange for a trip the next time they both had time. “Just this.” He gave Aoko a small bag with a decorative scented candle.

“Thank you, Hakuba-san.” She gave him back a package of store-bought candies. Black tea flavored.

Saguru smiled. “I didn’t know that they made something like that. Thank you.”

“I’m always amazed what some stores carry.” She grinned at Takumi. “Now we can do the puzzle.”

“Perfect. I call edge pieces,” Takumi said, dumping the box on the table.

Kaito took a moment to join them and so Saguru lingered too, standing in the doorway as Aoko and Takumi bent over puzzle pieces.

“Sorry,” Kaito said, barely a whisper. “It’s just... this is the sort of thing I’ve wished would happen for years and it doesn’t quite feel real yet.”

Saguru caught him in a half hug. “Hopefully there will be many more years of this.”

“Yeah.” Kaito pecked Saguru on the lips and went to join the others at the table.

Aoko raised an eyebrow at Saguru. Saguru blushed. He still got caught off guard by a simple act of affection. Well, more affection in front of people. Thankfully, Aoko just looked amused.

“You get to look for pieces with blue on them, Hakuba-san,” Aoko said.

Saguru took a seat by Kaito and started looking for pieces to put together.

#nltsa #detective conan #magic kaito #fanfiction #not left to stand alone extra #my writing

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lisatelramor · 6 years

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Not Left To Stand Alone Ch33

“You’re smiling,” Kudo said. “And peppy. You looked like you were going to fall over when you got here.”

“Am I?” Saguru tried to reign in his outward expression of happiness into something closer to his usual self, but it was hopeless; he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “Kuroba wanted to know if there was anything left from his Kid costume to take home.”

“Ai’s giving him the green light?”

“I think he’s more or less given himself permission,” Saguru said, amused in spite of himself. “Aoko caught the person stalking home this morning.”

“Huh.” Kudo gave him a piercing look. “I hope he wasn’t planning on leaving without saying goodbye.”

“I’m sure he has every intention of saying goodbye in as grand a way as possible,” Saguru said drily. Kuroba had enough mobility back that he could pull off something dramatic.

Kudo rolled his eyes. “Of course.” He went over to his office safe, opening with a practiced flicker of fingers. “I put his things in here just in case. Since they had his blood on them I figured he probably would want to dispose of them himself...” He took out the shredded remains of Kid’s white suit, slit up the sides from where they’d pried Kuroba out of it, the bulletproof vest, the blue shirt and red tie, shoes, and hat following. The glider material was there, jagged holes in Kid’s cape where the poles had pierced through it, but the frame itself must have been dismantled and disposed of.

Saguru’s happiness was dimmed by the bloodstains soaked into the white cloth. It told a story just as clearly as Kuroba’s body did. “Thank you,” Saguru said.

“No problem,” Kudo said. He set a bag on top of the pile. “These are the contents of his pockets. Well, everything he hasn’t taken back yet.”

Of course Kuroba would have found the safe and opened it by now. It truly wouldn’t be Kuroba if he hadn’t. A glance showed a good number of sleeping gas and smoke pellets. “Hopefully he won’t have a reason to use most of this anymore.”

“Ugh,” Kudo said, “I hope not. The number of times I’ve been gassed is ridiculous. He has to have been changing the formula over the years because we’d all be resistant to it by now.”

“He would have to.” Everything bundled up neatly and he gave Kudo a friendly nod. Funny how he went into things not liking the man very much, but was coming out something like friends with him. “I shouldn’t have much reason to use your guest room anymore. I do plan to keep in touch though and updated with the case. Thank you for letting me stay as long as you have.”

“It’s not like there wasn’t space,” Kudo said with a lopsided smile. “It’s always nice to have a second pair of eyes and someone to bounce ideas off of who can follow where my brain’s at.”

Saguru returned the smile. “Best of luck with the case.”

“Good luck with looking after Kid. He’s going to be bouncing off the walls from being stir crazy.”

“I’ll manage.” He saw Kudo’s eyes narrow just the slightest bit and knew he was drawing conclusions on where Saguru would be staying and the status of his and Kuroba’s relationship. Oh well, it wasn’t as if the majority of their acquaintances didn’t already think something was going on already by this point. “And now I’m going to collect Kuroba before he overexerts himself out of sheer joy of freedom.”

Kudo snorted. “Take care, Hakuba.”

***

Saguru woke up for the first time in most of a month to the sounds of Kuroba moving about in his apartment. A television playing and the rush of running water. It was before his alarm was set to go off but Saguru didn’t even mind. He levered himself to his feet and made two cups of tea before heading to Kuroba’s door just because he could.

Kuroba answered his knock, grinning when he saw him. “Morning!”

“Good morning. Care for a cup of tea?”

“I’ll take it. I just put rice and soup on for breakfast; it’ll be ready in a bit.” Kuroba gave him a peck on the cheek and took one cup from him like they did this every day. That...Saguru could get used to that. He could get used to having someone in the mornings to talk to and eating meals together regularly. Perhaps eventually he could get used to falling asleep next to someone again and having them there when he woke up in the morning. He hoped they could be that someday.

Kuroba couldn’t have been awake for long, but the apartment was already showing signs of life again, Kid’s hat resting on the coffee table next to some papers, the stack of books he’d had at Kudo’s set on the bookshelf, and a month’s worth of mail piled up on the kitchen table.

“Slipped my mind to ask you to get that,” Kuroba said. “I’m going to be in trouble with a few bills being late, but eh, that’s not too big a deal in the long run.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, but how is your work taking your leave of absence?”

“Remarkably ok. It helps that Haibara wrote up a doctor letter to give me a legitimate leave of absence. I should be okay to go in by Monday though.”

“Do you think the museum is under watch?”

Kuroba shrugged. “If it is, not much I can do about it. I am a legitimate employee there though, so it isn’t weird for me to be coming and going. Now getting Pandora from its hiding place at the Beika museum on the other hand might take a bit of planning. But it isn’t time sensitive.”

“And then Kid retires.”

“And then Kid retires,” Kuroba echoed, lifting his tea in a mock toast. “Although I’ll probably have to negotiate something with Aoko on testifying in court. I’m pretty sure that someone could argue amnesty with the proof I brought up and considering everything I steal is usually returned. I bet it could be whittled down to a fine if they’re really trying.”

“So you will testify?”

“If I have to,” Kuroba said, dead serious. “I’ll take jail time if it means I’ve truly wiped out the people who killed my dad.”

It was a bit too heavy to think about over breakfast, especially with the new, fluttery reality of what was growing between them. Saguru sipped at his tea. “I hope you don’t have to,” he said finally.

“Same.” Kuroba waved a hand, pushing the gloom away. “Buuuut, there’s always that witness protection angle. Either way, won’t be an issue until they go from making arrests to putting people on trial. For now I’m going to enjoy the peace.”

“What on earth are you going to do with your free time?” Saguru asked, both joking and truly wondering.

“Hell if I know. Maybe I’ll get a new hobby.”

There were so many things Kuroba dabbled in already that it would be interesting to see what that new hobby might be. “I’m sure you’ll find something.”

“Mm.” Kuroba smirked over the rim of his mug. “Although I do know one thing I’d like to do.”

“And that is?” Saguru asked, eying Kuroba’s expression warily.

“Take you on a date.”

Saguru took too big a mouthful of tea and almost choked on it, face hot. “I have no objections,” he said after swallowing.

“Any preferences?”

“So long as I’m with you I think I’ll enjoy it.”

Kuroba kept up the salacious smirk a moment longer before he cracked up. “That’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said.”

“I meant it,” Saguru mumbled, ears red.

“I know.” Kuroba’s socked foot brushed his leg under the table. “It’s cute.”

“Are you going to do this all the time?” Saguru asked, still blushing. He wouldn’t be this easily flustered for long, not once the newness of it had passed, but he couldn’t really see Kuroba purposely flustering him all the time either.

“Not all the time. I just want to see you blush right now.” The miso soup was done and the rice cooker had finished its cycle. Kuroba rose to get bowls and Saguru stood to help him. The help wasn’t really needed; the brace on Kuroba’s leg supported it well enough, but Kuroba didn’t seem to mind it. He passed bowls of soup to Saguru before carrying the rice over himself. A dish of pickles and cold marinated tofu joined it on the table. “I was feeling something more traditional today,” Kuroba said.

“And of course you aren’t going to eat braised fish,” Saguru said.

Kuroba gave him a dirty look.

Saguru grinned back. Finding out how much Kuroba disliked fish was forever an amusing discovery that he intended to keep in mind in case he ever needed to keep something from Kuroba’s natural curiosity. All it would take would be a fish printed box.

They talked a bit more over breakfast, nothing important for once, just light conversation about Saguru’s work or the books they’d both read, and by the time they were done and Saguru was helping clean the dishes, he knew they needed to do this again.

“Come over for dinner,” Kuroba said at almost the same moment Saguru said, “Tomorrow I’ll make breakfast.”

They looked at each other a second before Kuroba laughed. “Sure, breakfast at your place tomorrow.”

“And I’d love to have dinner with you.”

“Good.” Kuroba cupped his cheek with a sudsy hand and pulled him in for a light kiss. It was just as dizzying as their first kiss had been. “Now, based off the time, you have just enough time to get your things and get dressed before work.”

“Damn work,” Saguru said, but he pulled back. “Thank you for breakfast.”

“Any time. If you have a chance, tell Takumi I’m home and almost on the mend.”

“I will.” He kissed Kuroba one more time. He had a feeling that was going to become something of a habit.

***

Aoko’s home was the same as Saguru remembered from his other visits, down to the worn nameplate with ‘Kuroba’ etched on it. The only difference Saguru saw was a wilted-looking pot of flowers set next to the doorstep in what had probably been an attempt to brighten the place up. He had been moving about life in somewhat of a happy daze the last week or so since he spoke to Kuroba, but he was coming back down from it and knew there were still a few things to take care of before he could truly relax, the ongoing arrests, trials, and investigations aside.

Aoko answered his second knock. There were hints of dark circles under her eyes and her flyaway hair was even more untamable than usual, fighting to escape the ponytail she’d forced it into. She didn’t look surprised to see him though. Saguru was surprised when she gave him a tired smile instead of the frown he expected.

“Hakuba,” she said, leaning on the door frame.

“Aoko-san,” Saguru returned. He gripped his cane in both hands, rocking back on his heels. “I thought we should talk.”

Aoko snorted, finding something about the situation funny. She gave him a once over before stepping aside. “Come on in then.”

There were a pair of men’s shoes already lined up next to Aoko and Takumi’s shoes indicating that she already had a guest. They weren’t the right size for Nakamori.

“Don’t bother with guest slippers,” Aoko said with a wave of a hand as Saguru took off his shoes. “I don’t mind. I was just having some tea with Kintaro.”

Kintaro? A memory clicked as Saguru rounded the corner, recognizing an officer from the Kid heist who had worked closely with Aoko. He was perhaps a few years younger than them at most, with a serious looking face. He was relaxed at the moment, one of Aoko’s heavy mugs in his hands.

“Kurenai Kintaro,” Aoko said, nodding at him. “My second in command for the task force. We were partners for a while before I got my promotion. Kintaro, Hakuba Saguru. He was my classmate in high school.”

“A pleasure to formally meet you,” Kintaro said. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

Between Aoko and Nakamori, Saguru didn’t want to know what sort of stories had been told. He nodded politely and gave pleasantries in return. Aoko hadn’t mentioned him, but then Saguru only spoke to Aoko about very specific things. Takumi, on the other hand, had mentioned him a few times if Saguru remembered correctly. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything...?” Saguru ventured.

Aoko gave another small snort of laughter. “No. It’s the first day off we’ve had in weeks and all we could think to do with it is sit and have tea.”

“To be fair, we haven’t been doing much sitting,” Kintaro said with dry humor.

“Or drinking tea. I think I’ve drank so much coffee the last few weeks my soul left my body for a while there.”

“That would be called almost passing out from lack of sleep.”

“I went and took a nap after.”

“Next time I’ll intervene before it gets to that point.”

“Damn, there had better not be a next time of that week from hell.”

Saguru watched the back and forth, the humor at the stress shared between them, and had a stirring of understanding. He was interrupting a bit. But it wasn’t an interruption that would ruin anything, much like Mum showing up wouldn’t ruin the back and forth with him and Kuroba. “I take it that was during the worst of the fall out,” Saguru said.

“Ugh,” Aoko groaned. “It’s been hell. And it’s going to drag on for months until everyone’s had every last thing they’ve done in the last decade turned inside out and upside-down to be sure the corruption’s gone. But on the bright side, now that the hype is fading, the media’s not ringing the phones off the hook and for the moment no one’s breathing down my neck.”

“Small blessings,” Kintaro murmured, straight faced into his mug. Aoko elbowed him and poured Saguru a cup of tea.

“So,” she said. “I figure you want to talk about Kaito.”

Kintaro had a professional blank face. Aoko’s frankness meant he had to know about Kid. How they would manage to cover up that they both knew the identity of Kaitou Kid while the whole of the police were being investigated for anything they were hiding, Saguru didn’t care to know. He didn’t think Aoko would sell Kuroba out, and she wouldn’t have told anyone if she thought they would either.

“Yes,” Saguru said. He’d thought about how to approach this many times, from a roundabout discussion on Kid and Saguru’s past investment in him to attempting to talk through his mental state of recent months. In the end he’d decided to go with the most direct conversation because Aoko was a direct sort of person. Admittedly, he hadn’t expected to have someone else present for this. “You’re no doubt more than aware that I hold more than friendly feelings for Kuroba by this point,” he said, feeling uncomfortably open. He didn’t try to get out of it though, meeting Aoko’s gaze despite the faint warmth of his cheeks. “Recently I became aware that it was not one sided, and now we are dating. I hope that this won’t make things awkward going forward.”

Aoko didn’t look annoyed, just a slightly exasperated smile on her face and a complete lack of surprise. “No more awkward than it’s ever going to be interacting with Kaito.” Her smile went a bit more wistful. “I mean, it does feel a bit weird. Especially thinking back to high school. But it’s been years since then and years since the divorce, so...” She sighed. “Damn well time to let go of all that.”

Kintaro was pretending to be engrossed in his cup of tea.

Saguru cleared his throat. “Right. Thank you for understanding.”

“Anytime. Though if he ever hurts you like he did me, I’ll be glad to smack some sense in him.”

“Thank you,” Saguru repeated. Looking at her, she still had the same fire in her that she had in high school. The same fierce glint in her eye she’d have when wielding a mop or protecting a friend. It seemed he still counted as something of a friend to her. Perhaps here, too, he had a chance of building and repairing a relationship into something new. He hoped so. He liked Aoko even if he didn’t like Aoko as she was around Kuroba. “Hopefully that will never be necessary.”

“It had better not be,” she said with a toss of her head. “And I guess you better not hurt him either. Bakaito’s fucked up enough as it is.”

“I’ll try my best.” He let his eyes drop to his tea and drank a long swallow in hope that it would make the embarrassment a bit less prevalent. Mostly it just scalded his tongue. “Is Takumi-kun in?”

“He’s still grounded for the most part,” Aoko said, “so yes. He’s in his room. How has he been in class?”

“Quiet.”

“He’s been pretty quiet here too...” She glanced toward the stairs with pursed lips.

“There was an incident with someone popping a balloon in homeroom recently...”

“Ah.” Both Kintaro and Aoko winced, having their own bad experiences with sudden loud noises in the aftermath of trauma. “He didn’t mention it...”

“Would you mind if I talked with him?” Saguru asked. “There hasn’t been a chance to at school.”

“Go ahead,” Aoko said. She rubbed the back of her neck, back to looking exhausted and every one of her thirty-four years of age. “He certainly hasn’t wanted to talk to me lately.” The difficulty of being the parent who was responsible for discipline, Saguru reflected, and the ongoing tension of Takumi almost dying paired with Aoko having to work even more overtime than normal.

Saguru left his tea on the table. He caught a glimpse of Kintaro putting a hand on Aoko’s shoulder as he rounded the corner for the stairs, but he didn’t linger. Let them have their privacy. He’d almost assuredly interrupted a heart to heart. Maybe Aoko’s decision to move on wasn’t just for Saguru’s ears.

Takumi’s room was right at the top of the stairs, identifiable by the whiteboard stuck on it. It had a little doodle of a dragon munching on a lacrosse stick with Shiemi’s handwriting indicating that the stick was intended to be the losing team. The door was closed, but Takumi opened it when he knocked.

“Hakuba-sensei?” Takumi looked tired, though not as tired as Aoko. More like high school Kuroba the week before a heist, meaning he hadn’t been getting enough sleep.

“Takumi-kun. I wanted to see how you were doing. A lot happened in the last month, and there hasn’t been much time to ask.”

“Oh.” Takumi blinked and scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “Sure. I guess we can talk. Uh. Come in I guess?” He waved a hand at the desk tucked against one wall. “Pull up a chair.”

Takumi’s room couldn’t be more different from the room at Kuroba’s apartment. That room had minimal personal touches, but here there were posters on the walls and casual clutter, homework and books and bits and bobs of magician paraphernalia here and there in an organized looking sort of mess. Takumi slumped back over to his bed where he must have been sitting as there was the latest novel from the literature club there face down to save the page.

“Sorry,” Takumi mumbled. “It’s kind of a mess. I haven’t felt like cleaning lately.”

“It’s fine.” Saguru took a seat at the desk chair. Takumi’s window looked out at a tree, green leaves heavy and full on the branches. “You look tired.”

Takumi shrugged. “How’s Tou-san?”

“Home.” Saguru smiled as Takumi sat up straighter, relief clear on his face. Kuroba had been much better when Takumi last saw him, but far from well. “He will be back to work any day now and it looks like he will regain the full range of mobility he had before.”

“Thank goodness.” Takumi tucked his legs to his chest, curled around them in an act of self-comforting that Saguru was well acquainted with.

“Are you okay?” Saguru asked directly.

Takumi shrugged again. “I’m not hurt.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.” He looked so young. So young, and he was young, younger than Kuroba was when Saguru first met him, barely older than Saguru was when he ran into his first murder case. So much younger than it felt like when you were that age, something that only hindsight revealed. It was easy to try to live up to some skewed concept of adulthood. Easy to tell yourself to grow up and move on. It was what Saguru had done once. He wished he hadn’t, grown up too fast and pushed down too many emotions before he realized what it did to a person. Saguru sighed and looked past Takumi, to the tree, giving him the illusion of space. “Kuroba hasn’t been sleeping well,” Saguru said softly. “He hides it well, but he’s awake before I am and asleep after.” Saguru stayed one night since Kuroba was back in the apartment, and he’d woken halfway through the night to find Kuroba staring out at the dark streets with no expression at all. “I have had nightmares almost every night since Kid’s glider went down. It isn’t a weakness to acknowledge that the events of the last month haunt you.”

Takumi’s shoulders hunched, his face pressed into his knees. He had a pretty close imitation of Kuroba’s blank face on. “I didn’t get hurt,” Takumi repeated.

“It doesn’t have to be a physical wound to hurt.”

“I know that. Just.” He hid the rest of his face. “Hakuba-sensei, I only wore the Kid costume once. Tou-san wore it for seventeen years. I keep having nightmares and Tou-san’s always had a smile when I need one. Always.”

“He’s a remarkably good actor,” Saguru acknowledged.

“Kaa-san is a police officer and she’s been shot at and she’s still going on with life, and Tou-san became Kid around my age, probably got shot at and kept going and I can’t even get over a few bullets and blood.”

Takumi’s voice cracked and Saguru hurt both because Takumi couldn’t help but compare himself to his parents and because he was viewing it from the wrong angle entirely. Saguru crossed the room to Takumi’s side and red-rimmed eyes glanced up at him.

“And you haven’t kept going?” Saguru asked softly. He didn’t reach out because Takumi looked like the last thing he wanted was to be touched, but he stood close, supportive. “Takumi-kun, you have gotten up in the morning and gone to school and proceeded with your life even with things weighing on you. You didn’t hide away after Kid was shot down, but helped save his life and then turned around and did what you thought was the best option even though you were terrified to do it. Bravery isn’t a lack of fear, it’s acting in spite of it.” Takumi looked at him like every word might be the one to snap the world into some sort of order where fear wasn’t the forefront of his life and Takumi wasn’t full of internal conflict over emotional reactions he couldn’t control. “Nightmares don’t make you weak, and just because your parents have had more trauma in their life than you, it doesn’t negate that what happened to you was traumatic.”

“I should be able to just be myself. Move on,” Takumi murmured.

“Takumi, the only reason your mother and Kuroba and I appear to be functioning better is because we’ve had a lifetime of compartmentalizing and learning how and when to deal with the emotions traumatic events bring up. In the first week after Kid was shot, I had to check on Kuroba in the middle of the night half a dozen times, and probably would have stayed the whole night some of those times if Kuroba hadn’t woken up and called me out for watching him sleep.” Saguru sighed. “What I’m trying to say is that your response is normal. You watched a man—your father—almost die and you were shot at. Those are both extremely upsetting things.”

Takumi uncurled a little, still listening.

“Holding it in and pretending it didn’t happen will not help. Talk to someone. Write out what you feel or think or everything the nightmares stir up. It will get better. I won’t lie and say it will go away, because these sort of things leave scars even if they’re not visible. And Takumi?” Saguru crouched until he was eye level. “Kuroba is better at compartmentalizing than most of the world’s population, and if you strip all his acts away and make him be honest to himself, even he has scars that will never heal and things that will haunt him for the rest of his life. This is the first time you’ve had something traumatic like this happen. It’s a good thing you’re able to feel what you are. Some of us who’ve gone through it time and again can get so numb that we can’t even tell when we’re hurting and hurt ourselves worse. Your mind still has the instincts to try and work through and heal.”

“It sucks,” Takumi said after a few seconds.

“Royally,” Saguru agreed with a twitch of a smile. “Nightmares get old fast. I’ve found that trying to clear my mind before I go to sleep helps sometimes.”

“Only sometimes, huh?”

“As much as we try, the subconscious is unfortunately out of our control.”

That got him another tiny smile. Takumi uncurled from his ball. “It would have been better if I could have gone to lacrosse, but I kinda blew that. At least Kaa-san’s letting me do club activities so long as they’re right after school again.”

“Exercise in moderation can help,” Saguru agreed. “Don’t overdo it though.”

“I know my limits there,” Takumi said.

The tension that had filled the room dissipated as Takumi let out a small sigh.

“So is Tou-san retired?”

“More or less.” Saguru returned to the chair, giving him space again. “He does not intend to do any more serious heists, certainly.”

“Good.” A pause then, “Does that mean Kaa-san’s out of a job?”

Saguru tilted his head, considering. “No, because while Kid might be retired, he’s certainly left plenty of messes to clean up that Kid’s task force is uniquely qualified to deal with. And even if he hadn’t, I’m sure Aoko could easily gain a position working theft or specialized cases. The years of experience have given her and her men a wide range of practical experience that transfers broadly.”

“Ok. That’s good then.” Takumi glanced out the window, eyes distant. “You think it will make things less awkward with them? Kaa-san and Tou-san?”

“I hope so.” When he let himself dwell on it, Saguru couldn’t help but feel sad at the state of Kuroba and Aoko’s relationship. They’d been best friends once, weaved in and around each other with a closeness that he’d envied a bit. It was hard to say if more than a decade of lies and secrets and broken hearts could heal at this point.

“At the very least he won’t be rubbing Kid in Kaa-san’s face,” Takumi muttered. “Or getting shot at.”

“True.”

“Pass on a message for me to Tou-san?” Takumi asked, focusing back on Saguru again. Saguru nodded. “Tell him I expect him to take me to get sushi for my birthday this year.”

Saguru raised an eyebrow. Between the fact that Takumi was grounded and that Kuroba hated fish, it was an outing that didn’t seem very likely. He took it to mean that Takumi was still a bit angry at Kuroba after all. “I’ll pass it along.”

“And...tell him that I’m glad he’s better. And I’ll visit as soon as I can.”

“I will.”

“Thanks, Hakuba-sensei.”

Saguru asked him about lacrosse and how he liked the book from literature club, chatting a bit longer and bringing up Takumi’s spirits until he looked almost himself again. When he left, Aoko showed him to the door with a smile and managed to get a promise from him to keep in touch, not just for case reasons.

Life was settling. Saguru thought he was finally ready to settle with it.

OMAKE

Saguru took all of three steps into the literature club meeting before Momoi Shiemi turned to the other members and said, “Ha! Pay up.”

“Pardon?” Saguru froze just inside the door, absent smile on his face frozen in light of all the stares in his direction.

“Aw man...” Honda Jirou reached into a pocket for his wallet.

“Seriously?” Mizumachi Kou said.

Watanabe Emi turned around in her seat. “You couldn’t have waited a few more weeks?”

“I was betting on that cute guy Takata-sensei mentioned,” Honda sighed. He pressed several folded bills into Momoi’s hand.

Saguru blinked at them as they went on with...whatever this was. “Were you betting on me?”

“It’s not bad for you guys,” Nishijima Yuutaro grumbled. “I bet he wasn’t gay.”

“You suck at this,” Momoi said, collecting money from everyone there. Even a shamefaced Takumi.

“To be fair, statistically speaking—”

“Literally everyone else changed their bets after we read Confessions of a Mask,” Momoi said. “Let alone the news articles.”

“I didn’t want to assume!”

“So you assumed he was straight?” Momoi quipped.

Saguru decided he should have just come to the meeting late. Or not at all. Now that their bet was done they were ignoring him altogether. He sat in a chair and watched with something akin to morbid fascination.

“Nishijima-kun, twenty percent of the population isn’t straight,” Honda pointed out.

“The numbers are inflated!” Nishijima waved a hand in emphasis. “There’s over thirty people in my home room alone and none of them are gay.”

“First,” Takumi said, sounding tired, “not straight does not automatically equal gay. Second, how would you even know? Most people are closeted.”

“Third,” Momoi chimed in, “you’re wrong—you do have someone in your class who’s gay. Me.”

The whole literature club went briefly silent. Half the members looked at Momoi wide eyed. Nishijima looked like he wanted to swallow all the words he’d just said. Takumi looked like he couldn’t be more proud of Momoi in that moment.

“Oh,” Nishijima said awkwardly. He glanced around, lingering on Saguru and Takumi who hadn’t been surprised in the least. “You knew?”

“Shiemi told me ages ago,” Takumi said.

“I overheard certain things,” Saguru said diplomatically.

“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Anyone else gay that I should know about?”

Honda raised a hand. No one except Nishijima looked even a bit surprised.

“Seriously?”

“He chose the gay book,” Momoi said. “He isn’t even trying to hide it.”

“So,” Saguru cut in, “all of you had nothing better to do over summer break than make bets over your teacher’s sexuality?”

“We’ve been making bets since the start of the school year and this one was on your relationship status,” Momoi said with a false innocent look one her face.

Ever diplomatic, Takumi shrugged apologetically. “From the sound of it, last year they bet whether or not Yumi-sensei was pregnant.”

“Nishijima-kun bet she wasn’t,” Mizumachi snickered.

“You have terrible luck,” Watanabe said. “Never gamble.”

Saguru rolled his eyes at the lot of them. “How many people were even in on this?”

“Mm, the lit club,” Momoi said, “a couple teachers led by Takata-sensei, some lacrosse team members including Yuuto-kun—”

“We only met once,” Saguru muttered. “He’s not even in my classes.”

“Five people from your homeroom,” Momoi continued without missing a beat, “a guy I know on the police force, and one of the maintenance men who can never turn down a bet.” She grinned at Saguru. “For the record, I made a lot of money.”

“I feel like I should be discouraging this gambling habit of yours.” First the card games at the start of the year, now she was the bookie of a bet. They were lucky he was mostly exasperated and embarrassed than annoyed by the speculations. “Also, how do you know you won anything?”

Momoi snorted. “Please. You and Kuroba-ji have been dancing around each other since you moved here. You have to be as blind as Nishijima to miss it.”

“I take offense to that,” Nishijima grumbled.

“Also,” Momoi said ignoring Nishijima’s commentary, “besides your totally sappy look coming in here, Takumi totally witnessed you two kissing and if you aren’t dating after that, I have questions about how you draw lines in your relationships.”

Takumi didn’t meet anyone’s eyes, flipping through the novel they were supposed to be discussing. The tips of his ears were red with embarrassment. He’d handed over money with everyone else, so clearly he had been betting on this too. Honestly, at this point the only thing Saguru was surprised about was that Takumi never confronted him about seeing them kiss at all.

Saguru sighed, rubbing at his forehead.

“So,” Momoi said, “are you dating?”

Saguru held up his copy of that week’s novel. “So. This is literature club. Where we discuss literature. Form a gossip club on your own time.”

“Spoilsport.” She had a predatory sort of smile that promised nagging questions later and Saguru resigned himself to trying to ignore that for the rest of the day. If she wanted confirmation on anything, she could drag it out of Takumi or Kuroba, not Saguru.

AN: Just the epilogue left guys! Thanks for sticking with this fic so long ^_^ And thank you for all your awesome comments every chapter. They always make me smile. (Promise I'll go answer them eventually! Haven't been in the right head space to do so, but they're still very appreciated ^_~ ) There's going to be more extras and a prequel fic for this universe at some point, but I think I'll be taking a bit of a break after posting the last chapter before posting them all. Thank you for reading! <3

#nltsa #detective conan #magic kaito #fanfiction #my writing #not left to stand alone extra

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mintchocolateleaves · 7 years

Text

Is there a reason I decided to write Heiji and Saguru as parents? Is there a reason I decided to write Shinichi and Kaito as babies? Yes.

Blame @detectivegeekshin

"He's crying again Hattori." Saguru moans, holding the child in his arms. Beside him, Heiji is cradling another child in his arms, trying to keep the other child asleep.

The baby Heiji is holding, is extremely calm. They seem to get along, even if Heiji isn't completely sure he's holding him correctly.

The baby Saguru is holding, is the complete opposite. Either he doesn't like Saguru at all, or he's simply tired and complaining about. Unlike Heiji, Saguru is actually capable of holding babies, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

"Try rocking 'im." Heiji suggests. Bags have formed under his eyes, and Saguru thinks that out of all of them, Heiji might actually be the one who needs sleep the most. "It worked for this one."

"I have been trying," Saguru sighs, deciding instead to bounce the baby, "but Kaito won't stop crying."

"Take Shinichi then." Heiji suggests, "I'll try and make him stop." They both heave out a sigh.

It had all started after a particularly grim case resulting in the deaths of a divorced couple.

Having divorced shortly after their twin children, Shinichi and Kaito, had been born, they ex-couple had not seen one another for over six months. The first time they'd decided to meet again, so their children could meet one another, they had been murdered by a neighbour, leaving the children orphans.

Heiji had been called to the scene to help investigate.

Hakuba had found his way to the crime scene as well, as soon as he'd gotten out of school, and they'd been the ones to discover the culprit and their motive.

Apparently, the children were the motive.

The parents had promised to give the children up for adoption, only to back out at the last moment. The murderer had been promised a new family, and when she'd learnt she wasn't able to have it, she had resorted to murder.

She'd wanted who she had deemed her children.

In the end, she'd gotten neither. The children were destined to spend their life in an orphanage, awaiting adoption. It was possible that they'd end up in one of the local shrines. But they'd never go with her.

Heiji had thought it was sad, the prospect of the orphanage, but he hadn't thought about it too much. Neither had Saguru. They knew what was going to happen from the moment they had stepped onto the scene, and they'd known there was nothing that could be done about it.

But when one of the babies - the more emotional one, Kaito - had started crying, Heiji had moved to pick him up. He'd been a bit of a failure at holding the baby, but luckily the kid had basic motor functions and didn't need to have his head supported.

"Hey," Heiji had said, "what're ya cryin' for?"

Kaito had reached up and pulled his hair. And then he'd giggled, pulling at Heiji's cheek with chubby fingers.

"Oi, oi," Heiji had said. Then, he'd turned to the other baby - Shinichi, the calmer one - and had noticed him staring up at him. His eyes were wide, almost as if he was going to start crying as well. Except. He didn't.

He was watching Heiji and Kaito with sharp eyes, almost aware of what was going on around them. Placing Kaito back down beside his brother, Heiji had turned, looked at the detective in charge of the case and stated that his family would look after the twins.

There was no need to take them to orphanage, where they'd be labelled 'throw away children'.

In hindsight, maybe Heiji hasn't thought it through.

At the best of times he can barely tolerate Saguru, and even then, that's only because they're roommates at university, studying the same criminology course in their attempts to actually become detectives.

Most of the time, Heiji can't stand the guy.

So why, why, had he thought it would be a good idea to have the guy help him raise two twins until he can persuade his parents to take the two in? And why did he think it was a good idea to bring the two babies into the small university room that the two share - there isn't enough space for all of their stuff, let alone the cot Saguru has to set up in the middle of their beds.

The babies seem happy at least.

"Hey Hakuba," Heiji says, as he powers up his laptop and starts on the essay that he's put off in order to read the babies bedtime stories. "How exactly are we supposed to keep these two alive, if I can barely look after myself?"

Saguru pauses, lowering the bottle that he's feeding Kaito with. Kaito lets out a small whine, grabbing for the bottle. He says, "I'll pick up books from the library tomorrow."

Heiji nods - this seems reasonable, at least. "Well, my parent's should take them in pretty quickly. I just need to sway them to the idea..."

His parents do not sway to the idea.

Heiji tries for two months to get them to agree, but his father is too concerned with work, and his mother doesn't think she'd be able to raise two children without his help. They suggest that Heiji takes them to the orphanage before the babies grow too attached to him.

Impulsively, Heiji adopts them instead.

His parents do not quite understand that Heiji himself has grown attached, and that he couldn't bare to see them go somewhere else. It is how he winds up sitting in a court, talking to a judge about being their father.

Saguru also adopts them, because he's grown attached and two parents is better than one. Or rather, Heiji talks him into it, lifts Kaito up to Saguru's eyes and waits for Kaito to laugh that mischevious laugh of his.

So they are now fathers. Heiji is stoked.

Except, of course, he hasn't thought it through again.

He's got to raise them now.

"Hattori-kun!" The voice is outraged. Heiji, who has had four hours sleep in just as many days, does not see what their is to be outraged by.

"Yeah, Detective Megure?" Heiji asks. He's carrying Shinichi in a baby carrier - it's his only way around his awkward carrying of the twins - while Saguru is out buying their groceries. "What's up."

"I didn't think I'd ever have to explain this to you." Megure sighs, running a hand over his face, "but you cannot bring a baby to a murder scene."

Heiji looks at Shinichi, the baby babbling incoherent words, before turning back to Megure. He says, "Kazuha can't babysit, and I couldn't exactly leave him at home, could I?"

Megure groans.

Shinichi looks up at Heiji, who pulls a face, and laughs.

Are we calling this the Parent!Swap AU? I think we might be.

#DCMK #Parent swap AU #mywriting #Hattori Heiji #Hakuba Saguru #Kuroba Kaito #Kudo Shinichi #Detective conan #Case closed #Baby Shinichi and Baby Kaito give me life #Papa heiji

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lisatelramor · 6 years

Text

Not Left To Stand Alone Chapter 2

Saguru stayed in the entryway gripping the doorknob for dear life. This could not be real. Outside the door everything was silent. A young voice asked something, wavering nervously, and Aoko answered. No one knocked on his door. A decade ago, he was sure Aoko would have. The door next door clicked shut and Saguru heard feet on the stairs going down. He relaxed his grip on the doorknob.

The mail slot near the bottom of his door squeaked open. “Hakuba, I know you’re still there,” an adult male voice said—Kuroba said.

“…Just a moment.” Saguru turned the knob and the door swung outward. Kuroba stood on the other side, dressed in a worn dress shirt and blue jeans, hands stuffed in his pockets. His hair was as wild as ever, a bit shorter than Saguru remembered. He had lines around his eyes and on his cheeks—smile lines, Mum would call them. Considering the lines in between Kaito’s eyebrows, smiling was not the only expression causing lines. Kuroba still had a boyish face despite the lines. He had aged better than Saguru had.

Kuroba lifted an eyebrow examining Saguru as completely as Saguru was examining him. His eyes lingered on Saguru’s leg and cane before coming to rest on Saguru’s hair. “You’re starting to go grey,” he said like an accusation.

Saguru lifted an eyebrow in return. “It means I’ll keep my hair in my old age,” he countered. They could have been in high school again in that moment, poking fun at each other as they each tried to catch the other with his guard down. Then the spark of mischief Kuroba had in his eyes faded. He ran a hand through his hair making it stick up further.

“So.”

“So.” Kuroba looked like he was on the verge of shutting the door and pretending the whole thing had never happened. It was tempting to let him, but Saguru, in a moment of impulse, stepped back. “Tea?”

Kuroba laughed. “Is your first answer to a problem always going to be tea?”

“I would have thought you would expect my first answer to a problem to be reaching for handcuffs,” Saguru said back wryly. He didn’t miss the slight tensing of Kuroba’s cheeks and eyes, but he ignored it, turning to enter his kitchen/living room. “You don’t have to worry about anything like that from me anymore,” Saguru said. “I don’t have slippers, so please, just take off your shoes. I haven’t been here long enough to expect guests.”

Kuroba hovered in the doorway and Saguru could feel his eyes sizing up Saguru’s back as Saguru carefully maneuvered his stiff knee up the one stair into the main portion of the apartment. The door closed and Saguru heard Kaito taking off his shoes. Saguru went to put on the kettle. He was glad now that he hadn’t bothered to put the tea away after breakfast.

“Sit down wherever you would like,” Saguru said as he clicked on the burner. He took two tea cups out of the cupboard. “Do you still take sugar in your tea? Because if you do I am afraid I am out. I haven’t bought many staples yet.” He turned around with teacups in hand. Kuroba was looking around with an unreadable expression.

“No,” he said. “I’m fine with my tea plain. Are you trying to become a monk?” Kuroba asked. “This seems way too plain for Mr. Fancy Watch and Manor House.”

Saguru smiled wryly. “I’ve gotten used to plainer accommodations over the years.” It wasn’t a lie, but the apartment was austere even by his shifted standards. It was part that he had taken the minimum amount of things with him possible, part the room’s size.

“Do you plan on living here long?” Kuroba was eying the futon like he didn’t expect to find it there. Had he expected a Western bed? While Saguru preferred a bed, it wouldn’t have been practical to get one.

“I’m not sure,” Saguru said. He set the empty cups on his desk, pushing his briefcase to the side. “I will be here for at least the school year.”

“School year?” Kuroba shot him a sharp look.

Saguru raised an eyebrow, moving to get the loose leaf tea. “I’m a teacher, Kuroba-k…san.” He felt Kuroba’s gaze intensify at the slip. He wasn’t sure what to call Kuroba now. They had never been particularly close, and now they could barely be called acquaintances for all that they had a shared history.

“What happened to being a detective?” Kuroba asked harshly.

Saguru tapped his bad leg with his cane, drawing attention to both. “This happened. It’s a bit hard to chase down crime when you can barely walk.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Have you become a magician?”

Kuroba flinched and looked away. “Nah. That didn’t work out. A lot of things didn’t work out.”

It was too depressing in here, Saguru thought. He willed the kettle to heat faster. Tea would make things a bit less awkward. “I’m teaching English at Ekoda High,” Saguru said. “One of the teachers is on maternity leave for the next year. I’ll be on staff at least that long. I’m not sure if I will try to stay longer or not.”

“…I work at a museum now,” Kuroba said. “Conservation. I keep things from crumbling to dust and make replicas if they need them.”

“If you’re a conservator, why on earth are you living in such terrible accommodations?” Saguru asked. “Surely it pays more than what I’m being paid.”

Kuroba laughed. “It’s close to Takumi’s school and I can afford it, child support, and to add to Takumi’s college fund at the same time. Why aren’t you living with your parents?”

“It’s too far from the school for me to manage and can you imagine moving back in with your mother?” Kuroba shuddered at the idea. Saguru smirked. “Exactly. I’ll take a small apartment with my limited budget than living at my parents’ expense.”

The kettle whistled and Saguru plucked it from the stove. He plopped the tea into it and let it sit for a minute before holding the strainer over each cup and pouring the tea through. The kettle went back on the stove with the heat turned off and the strainer went in the sink. He’d clean it later. Kuroba finally seemed to relax. He made himself comfortable on Saguru’s floor as Saguru offered him a teacup.

“It’s black tea,” Saguru said. “I am not sure where I packed the green tea.”

“It’s fine,” Kuroba said taking a sip. His eyes went half lidded with contentment, hands cupping the hot porcelain like they needed the warmth. Saguru watched him a moment then set his own teacup back on the desk.

“I hope you don’t mind me taking the chair,” Saguru said, easing himself into the seat. He swore he could hear his knee creak.

“I figured you would need it with your leg.”

They sipped their tea and the LED clock next to his futon counted up the minutes. Nine thirty-four… five… six. “So,” Saguru said.

“So,” Kuroba echoed with a sigh. He rested the teacup on his knee. “The divorce was mostly amicable,” he said. “She got custody but I get Takumi on weekends. He can visit whenever he wants provided he sticks to his curfew.” He twisted the cup around in one hand, watching the tea shift. “Ah. Aoko and I got married about a couple months after we graduated high school. You were already back in England then. We were kind of in a rush.” He coughed. “Um. Takumi was born about six months later.”

Saguru took a sip of his tea to cover his surprise. Well, that was one reason to rush into a marriage.

“We figured we were going to get married eventually anyway,” Kuroba said. He stared blankly at the depths of his teacup. “And we had been friends since forever... Nothing really turned out how we planned.”

Saguru watched Kuroba’s expression closely. It was a mask, like KID’s only without the smile. “When did you tell her?” he asked finally.

Kuroba’s hand twitched, sloshing tea that miraculously remained in the cup. No expression showed on his face. Saguru set his tea aside and laced his fingers together. He hated that he had guessed right.

“I’m sorry she took it poorly,” Saguru said. “I always thought she would stay by your side in the end.”

Kuroba’s hand was shaking, not much, just enough to send ripples along the surface of the tea. Saguru wondered if it meant Kuroba was restraining tears, anger, or fear. The tea stilled. “Takumi was four,” Kuroba said finally. No pretending he didn’t know what Saguru was hinting at or protestations that he wasn’t Kid. Acceptance.

“That’s unfortunate.”

“He doesn’t know anything about it.”

“It’s probably better that way,” Saguru said, though he wondered.

“Probably.” Kuroba laughed hollowly. “Watch, he’ll be like me and find out—” He choked off, torn between upset and grim amusement.

Saguru looked away. It was unsettling to see Kuroba show his emotions so easily. “I was shot four months after graduation,” he said changing the topic. “It was a sniper. I don’t know why he shot out my knee rather than going for a killing shot, but I wasn’t able to find out much about who did it after.” He picked up the tea cup again as much to warm his hands and chase away the memory of bleeding out on a London side street as to drink it. He took a sip, the dark, bitter flavor shoring him up and blocking out the past. “I spent four months healing and four more in rehabilitation just to be able to walk as much as I can now. I should have gotten a knee replacement or even an amputation—there was an infection, they almost did amputate my leg… I thought I could overcome it like I overcame everything else.” He laughed darkly. “I tried to go back into detective work and almost got killed trying to trail a suspect. I couldn’t handle the kinds of cases I used to take.”

“So you gave up?” Kuroba asked sharply. He glared over his teacup like Saguru’s retirement as a detective was a personal offense. Maybe to Kaitou Kid, one of his detectives giving up was a personal offense. Saguru smiled.

“No. I went to college and continued taking small cases on the side. Ones that didn’t require a lot of investigative work and had minimal danger involved. I even worked with the police at times helping direct investigations, but it wasn’t a job I would be able to live off of. I decided to go into teaching. I thought I could make an impact that way. Teach children how to be more observational and maybe find some that could be promising detectives someday.” He frowned at his cup, tracing the floral pattern along its side. “I became a chemistry teacher and taught for a while. I continued taking small cases on the side…moved in with someone…got married...” He took a swallow of tea, pretending he didn’t see Kuroba’s eyebrows going up. “Then I messed up.”

“Messed up how?”

“I took a case I shouldn’t have,” Saguru said. “And I lost someone important to me.”

“Oh.” Kuroba looked away. “Um… you wouldn’t happen to have something stronger than tea would you? Because this conversation is starting to need it.”

Saguru snorted. He looked away quickly to hide wiping his eyes. “I’m afraid tea is the strongest thing I have here.”

“Hmm, well I know not to go to your place to party,” Kuroba said, and Saguru wondered why he hadn’t made an effort to be friends with Kuroba earlier. If he’d made it clear that he was on Kuroba’s side against the snipers he’d noticed…if he had been less prideful and self-absorbed… He still wouldn’t have gotten close to Kuroba because Kuroba kept people out. And a younger Saguru would have felt morally bound to convince Kuroba to turn himself in. Morals were less absolute than they once were.

Saguru set the remnants of his tea aside. It was cold now. “Your son’s in first year?”

“Yeah,” Kuroba grinned. “He’s a lot like I was only law abiding. I taught him magic when he was younger, but he uses it to flirt. I take a walk with him and he conjures a flower for every pretty girl we pass.” He rolled his eyes. “I was never that bad was I?”

Saguru grinned. “I can remember you begging chocolate from every girl in class. Including Koizumi-san. And conjuring flowers for your moonlit fans.”

“Pssh. Class was a matter of chocolate. No flirting about it.”

“Mm hmm, which is why you fawned over Anzu-chan until she gave you her chocolate even though she was saving it for Ueda-kun.”

Kuroba grinned, looking truly relaxed for the first time that night. He drained his teacup. “Who knew you had a sense of humor?”

“I think we were too busy actively aggravating each other as teens,” Saguru said. “I’m going to be your son’s English teacher.” He was terrified by the thought. “You say he’s not as bad as you?”

“Oh, I didn’t say that.” Kuroba set the teacup aside and sprawled back on his elbows. “I said he was law abiding. There’s a difference.”

“I’ll pack stain cleaner and an air horn to get the class’s attention.”

“I can’t believe you’re a teacher.” Kuroba poked him in his good leg with a sock-clad toe. “Do you scare them into listening? Out sarcasm them?”

“I treat them like they have working brains.” Saguru pushed Kuroba’s foot aside with his own and winced as the change in position put pressure on his bad leg. Something in Kuroba’s expression shuttered. “I remember how frustrating it was to be treated like an idiot.”

“A lot of them are idiots.”

“Mm. But the ones who aren’t appreciate the effort.” He sat straighter, pulling himself out of Kuroba’s range. “Can I get you more tea?”

“Nah. I’m fine.” Kuroba was staring again. Saguru wondered what he found. “It’s good to see you,” he said finally.

“Same.” Not for the first time, Saguru wondered if he should have stayed in contact somehow. He had never stopped reading about Kid’s appearances in the paper. Each near miss with snipers or the police had worried him. He used to read an imported paper every morning to see if Kid was in it and Mel would—. He cut that thought off before he could take it further. He didn’t want to remember. That was why he was in Japan. Saguru realized he had been silent too long. Kuroba was looking at him worriedly. He smiled thinly, and it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “It...has been a busy last few days. Jet lag isn’t as easy to get over as it used to be.”

“I can imagine.” Kuroba rolled to his feet like the gymnast he practically was. “I should let you get rest. Tomorrow’s going to be hell.”

“First days always are.” Saguru sighed and levered himself out of the chair. He kept his face blank as he leaned heavier than normal on the cane. Kuroba put the teacup in the sink without comment. He let Saguru lead him to the door and open it.

Saguru leaned on the doorway as Kuroba slipped on his shoes. “I noticed there’s a Kid heist Wednesday.”

“Mm.” Kuroba didn’t give anything away in his expression, but Saguru could read the slight tension in Kuroba’s shoulders as easily as he had when they were in high school.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for,” Saguru said.

Kuroba looked up from his shoes, eyes wide. “No veiled threats?”

“I think we’ve grown past those.” Kuroba put his weight on his toes and curled upward more than he stood. Saguru was a bit jealous of his ease of motion. A thirty-four year old man had no right to be that limber. “I’m not with the police anymore. If you ever need any help, I’m offering.”

“Okay where is Hakuba and what have you done with him?”

Saguru smirked. “I’m sincere, Kuroba-san. Think of it as a long overdue offer of friendship.” He offered a hand, Western style.

Kuroba stared at it. A slow smile filled his face. “You’re insane, Hakuba,” he said, but he took Saguru’s hand and shook it. “And call me Kuroba. Hearing you add ‘san’ to my name feels weird.”

“Good. Kuroba.” Saguru felt something close to when he used to chase Kid, a thrill. Maybe it wasn’t just chasing Kid that caused it back then. He’d enjoyed competing with him as much as Kid. Offering his help felt risky and impulsive and made him feel more alive than he’d felt in months.

“As neighbors we’ll be seeing a lot of each other,” Kuroba said. “If you ever need anything I’m a knock away.”

“Of course.” Saguru let go of Kuroba’s hand. “Good night, Kuroba.”

“Night.” He grinned. “I’m bringing something stronger than tea if we ever have another chat about the past.”

Saguru watched him unlock his door in a flourish of keys. His leg ached, he still hadn’t unpacked everything properly, and he was probably going to have a first day from hell tomorrow, but it was a little brighter having someone he knew nearby. Perhaps, despite everything, they could even become friends.

So I figure I can manage an update a week after all, and if I fall behind my 5 chapter buffer, it goes back to every other week update schedule. Sound reasonable? The first few chapters are kind of short, but they get longer as it goes on...

#magic kaito #fanfiction #not left to stand alone #my writing #nltsa

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lisatelramor · 6 years

Text

NLTSA Extra: A Question of Sexuality and Surrounding Topics

Takumi’s legs swung as he talked. His lacrosse gear sat to one side of Saguru’s desk, and he was as relaxed as Saguru had ever seen him. It seemed that once the air was cleared between them, and Saguru had been open to Takumi in return, whatever barrier that had kept Takumi distant and impersonal had vanished. It was a bit of a surprise to be sought out, like now, long past when Saguru would ordinarily have left due to an unexpected increase in workload, but he wasn’t complaining. It was nice getting to know Takumi better, not just through Kuroba’s point of view. He didn’t mind that Saguru sometimes gave half his attention to work either. And in return, Saguru would relate past events for high school that Takumi’s parents had been involved in.

Now, Takumi was talking about Momoi, a fond smile on his face. “She’s always been so confident. Even when we were kids, she’d be charging in and I’d be the one following along with whatever idea she had. Not that I’m not confident, but she’d kind of on another level.” He talked with his hands when he was feeling strongly, Saguru noted, his expansive gestures not unlike Kuroba’s inability to keep his hands still. “There was one time when we accidentally got backstage at a theater and no one even questioned why we were there because she acted like she belonged there. I can’t even remember why we were there in the first place, but we ended up on the catwalk and scared the heck out of our parents. Meanwhile, we got a lesson in stage lights rather than getting kicked out.”

“That sounds like an adventure. Most light board operators would be worried a child would want to press all the buttons and switches.”

Takumi laughed. “Yeah, there was a little worry about that I think, but we both knew better than to touch random buttons. I mean, Tou-san has his equipment and we’d learned the hard way that pressing buttons isn’t really a good idea.” He waved a hand making a sound reminiscent of Kuroba’s smoke machine. “Scared us bad back then, but it was at least harmless.”

Considering some of the things he’d seen Kuroba use over the years? He hoped it had only been a smoke machine. He could only imagine if two children got their hands on one of the knockout gas pellets or the razor cards.

“Sometimes I wish I had that level of confidence. I can fake it but nine times out of ten she actually means it and can back it up. I think it’s the sheer stubbornness that makes it work for her.”

“And a quick mind to back that up,” Saguru said. She could certainly count cards with the best of them. There was one thing he was curious about though… “You two are very close, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” Takumi smiled to himself. “We’ve been through a lot together.”

…There wasn’t going to be a way to make this less awkward to ask but… “You two aren’t…romantically interested in each other are you?” They didn’t seem to be, but then Saguru couldn’t help picturing Kuroba when he looked at Takumi, and he couldn’t help but worry that another childhood friendship turned romance would end badly for all involved…

Takumi blinked, then laughed, incredulous. “What? Heck no! I mean, I love Shiemi and she’s great, but she’s like a sister. Even if I was, it wouldn’t matter because she’s into g—” He cut himself off, paling. She’s into girls, Saguru thought, finishing the sentence. “Uh. Shit. Can we just pretend that I didn’t just say that last sentence? Because I think she’d kill me if she knew I said anything right now.”

“What sentence?” Saguru said obligingly.

Letting out a breath of relief, Takumi slouched in his seat. “Yeah. Anyway. Not going to be an issue.”

Silence stretched. Despite being asked to forget Takumi’s slip, Saguru got the impression that Takumi actually wanted to discuss it from the way he kept glancing at Saguru sidelong like he expected some sort of response. Though he supposed that sexuality still wasn’t regularly discussed openly, and more often than not it would be met with distaste if not outright disproval.

“On a completely unrelated note to the preceding topic,” Saguru said, Takumi tensing, “if you ever felt the need to talk about sexuality or gender, I am not one to judge about that sort of thing.” He paused, weighed his words and added, “It would be highly hypocritical if I did.”

Three seconds, ten, Takumi’s mouth closed with a click, eyes still a fraction wider with realization. Well. That was two students he’d come out to in as many months… It really shouldn’t matter after half a lifetime of being open about it, but there was something about being in Japan again…

“Hakuba-sensei…”

Saguru wasn’t sure what sort of reaction he was expecting, but having an earnest and frustrated look sent his way wasn’t it.

“Hakuba-sensei, I wish you’d been here to say that last year,” Takumi said. “Because Shiemi came out to me last year—” Oh, they were acknowledging this openly now? “—and I’ve looked things up on my own, but I’m the only one she’s come out to and there’s no one to talk to about this sort of thing! It’s not on Kaa-san’s radar. And Tou-san? If I brought it up with him that would just feel too weird. We don’t really have serious conversations.”

Perhaps they needed to start having those sort of conversations. It was tempting to bring it up with Kuroba, but it would probably only make Kuroba angry again for butting in on his parenting choices. “Well you can talk to me if you want.”

“Thanks.” Takumi sighed. “I sometimes worry I’m going to say something thoughtless and hurt her feelings. Or piss her off.”

“It’s give and take,” Saguru said. “No one changes immediately. But you’re thinking and trying to be conscientious and supportive to your friend and that’s what matters most.”

“I guess so...” Takumi sighed again. “Um...” He looked down at his hands, fingers picking at hangnails and the edges of calluses from swinging a lacrosse stick. “If...if it’s not something you’re uncomfortable talking about, how did you know you were, um. That you liked men? I never thought about this sort of thing at all until Shiemi.”

“And now you have to question a lot of things,” Saguru said, understanding. “I didn’t always know, if that’s what you’re asking. Some people are like that, but that wasn’t something I thought about until puberty, and even then it didn’t occur to me a first that being interested in men was, well, not an option, but a possibility I suppose. It should have, but culture does tend to shy away from things it deems morally corrupt, and at the time my exposure to non-heteronormative things was very scarce. Especially in the time I was in Japan.”

“So when you asked my mom out...”

“I had an idea that I wasn’t attracted to what was typically considered feminine, and only just determining that I found certain things about men...appealing.” Aoko with her vocal outrage and mop-swinging force of personality had been attractive as it was different from the quiet femininity of so many classmates or the sultry approach that Koizumi took. And back then Kuroba...well, Kuroba had caught his attention. And held it. Saguru cleared his throat, a bit uncomfortable about thinking just how fixated he’d been back then. “Let’s just say she made an impression, but I figured out that year that I wasn’t attracted in the way I initially thought. The lines between wanting to be a friend and wanting to get to know someone in a dating sense are occasionally blurry as well.”

“I get that. I’ve had a few people ask me out and I don’t really know what to feel when that happens. I mean, most guys in class are all ‘go for it, she’s cute!’ and I usually don’t know the person in question and what’s there to like when you don’t even know anything but their name? Why date someone just because they’re interested in you? I really don’t get it. So far I’ve never wanted to date anyone.” Takumi grimaced. “And that’s...not really normal, is it?”

“Normal is relative,” Saguru said. “Most people consider it abnormal to want to date someone other than the opposite sex. It isn’t abnormal, just not the predominant way of being.”

“I...isn’t that what abnormal is?” Takumi asked.

“Well when as much as twenty percent of the population isn’t hetero, that leaves a significant portion of humanity.” Saguru offered a smile. “You don’t have to have all the answers though. It’s okay not to know yet, and it would be okay if you were never interested in anyone.”

“It feels like it’s something I should know. You spend years assuming you’re attracted to girls because that’s the way the world works,” Takumi said with a hand wave, “and then it turns out the world’s more complicated and who knows?”

“You’re fourteen,” Saguru pointed out gently. “You have time to figure it out. I wasn’t sure until I was eighteen. I know people who figured things out much later than that.”

“That doesn’t make it less frustrating now,” Takumi grumbled. He pouted for a moment before letting it slide away. He seemed to be good at that, not holding on to negative emotions for long. “Hey, Hakuba-sensei, could I...? Would you mind if I told Shiemi? In case she ever needed someone to talk to?”

“I don’t mind,” Saguru said, “but Momoi-san is already aware of my orientation.”

“She is?” Takumi blinked. “When did she...? Oh. Hmm. That explains some things.”

Saguru didn’t want to know. Truly. “Did you have any other questions?”

“Hmm, not right now. I’ll get back to you on that.”

Saguru nodded, turning back to his grading since Takumi seemed to want a chance to think. A long time ago he’d been in a similar place with questions and no answers. There would be more questions to come, surely, and Saguru would do his best to answer as he’d done for other people in the past, and someone once did for him.

AN: This was about half a scene when I dug it out of the rest of the snippets and I was rather frustrated as I could have sworn it was fully written. But it already existed in two other fragments of scene starts and it wasn't like this is the only scene like that I've found. *side eyes the Kaito/Aoko prestory thing that will likely never be finished* Sexuality comes up a lot in this story in some way or another, and while rereading it had me stopping and wondering about Takumi a lot. And he never did speak in a deciding manner and so this gets reflected here. The fact that he starts questioning based around someone else coming out to him was a bit drawn from how my brother eventually reacted when I came out to him. Months later we had a discussion on the topic and he was "I think I am straight. But I'd never really thought about it and so I tried thinking about it and I don't think I'm attracted to men even if it's comfortable to hold a guy's hand" and I dunno, questioning might not change anything but you do end up understanding yourself more in the end. Or you could realize you're ace and mostly gay years after you thought you were bi as that last bit of the puzzle clicks into place. *shrugs* Human sexuality and identity is weird and complex. Takumi is Takumi and still figuring shit out. He has plenty of time.

#magic kaito #fanfiction #not left to stand alone extra #my writing #nltsa

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