#hakukaiweek22

[mercheswan]

Where There is Dove, There is Love

— — — — — — —

Saguru and Conan have been kidnapped and they are being detained in an abandoned warehouse, with no way to get out.

Then a little bird from an International Thief saves the day.

Hakukai Week 2022. DAY 5: Birds.

To read also on AO3 (Link in the comments)

“Hakuba nii-chan! Hakuba nii-chan! Wake up!” Saguru heard the voice of a little child scream. He opened his eyes slowly and found himself, face to face with Edogawa Conan.

“Edogawa-kun?” Saguru groaned. His head hurt and his eyes were slowly adapting to the light. “Where… where are we?” The London detective looked around, the place wasn’t familiar it was like an old warehouse.

“I don’t know. I was investigating some clues in an alley near the crime scene when I felt someone behind me. I couldn’t react fast enough and they hit me with something, making me unconscious.” Conan responded with his characteristic ‘I don’t really sound like a seven years old’ voice.

“I see. Yes. The last thing I remember is coming back home from the police station. I did pass some empty streets...” Saguru sighed. “I should have listened to my Baaya and take a taxi…”

“So, he was waiting for you. Why would he do that? Did you find something relevant to the case?” The little detective inquired.

Saguru’s eyes then widened with panic and he began searching his jacket’s pockets. Then he cursed in a hushed voice. “I had a piece of evidence. I was going to take it to my grandfather’s laboratories. I thought it could contain biological traces from the murderer”

Conan rested his chin in his hand in a pensive gesture. “That’s must have been why they took you. Both of us were getting close to figuring out their identity”

“I don’t have my phone, I guess you already checked. They took yours too?” Saguru questioned. Conan nodded. He didn’t have his badge neither as the Professor Agasa was repairing it, so they had no mean of communication to ask for help.

Saguru suspired. “I suppose you have already tried to open the lock? How convenient to have a cage in an abandoned warehouse”

Conan nodded. “Yes, I’ve tried but they melted the metal”

Saguru confirmed what Conan said, touching the melted lock. “Did you listen to anything? Do you think they are near?”

Conan shook his head. “I don’t think they are, but I didn’t want to risk it by screaming for help. The only way out I see it’s that tiny window over there”

Saguru looked up. The window was their only source of light, but it was very small, not even a child like Conan could exit through it.

“I can lift you so you can see what’s on the other side. Maybe we can try to figure out where they took us” Saguru suggested. Conan nodded, agreeing with the older Detective’s plan.

Conan jumped yo Saguru’s shoulders, he peeked through the window. There was another building close to the one the were being captive in, it looked like some old industries. Conan doubted that there were anyone else in the zone, and no one would come during the weekend.

The shrunken detective groaned out loud. Their only way out was for someone else to find them. Ran would surely know that he was missing, and she will search for him, but he wasn’t very optimistic about them finding the clues to capture the murderer and rescue them. Maybe if Heiji was there things would be different. Ran might call the Osakan detective, if she got really worried, but it would take some time for him to arrive and investigate. And of course, the criminal could return at any time and eliminate them. They needed to find a solution promptly.

“You seem lost in thought” Saguru said, breaking Conan from his trance.

“Ah… haha, sorry Hakuba nii-chan. I was thinking that maybe Ran will alert the police about my disappearance. What about you?” Conan asked.

Saguru sighed. “They have probably been alerted already. My Baaya it’s very… overprotective…” He cleared his throat. “Since my father is the Superintendent General of the Metropolitan Tokyo Police, I’m sure they will not spare any resources searching for me. But, then again, we are at the mercy of the criminal for now…”. Conan gave a little nod.

Then a loud sound starlet the two detectives. They glanced at the window and they saw a pigeon, but the bird quickly flew away.

They couldn’t get distracted at that moment. At least Saguru was a competent Detective and he surely would be of help to escape. “Hakuba nii-chan, do you have a—” Conan stopped. Saguru was glaring at the window with a pensive and concentrated face. “Hakuba nii-chan?”

The London detective glared at Conan. “Sorry… I just…”

“You had an idea?”

Saguru suspired. “Kind of. It’s… it’s a long shot… it’s just that… I- I may have another person looking for me… if he found out about my disappearance…”.

Conan raised at eyebrow at him with confusion. “Who?”

Saguru took something from his pocket. It was a watch, an old pocket watch. “Can you help me? Can you place this in the window?”

Conan took the watch with hesitancy. “People won’t be able to see it if we put it in the window, we are on the ground floor”

“I know. It’s actually not for a person to see…” Saguru claimed.

That left Conan confused but he did as the London detective asked and placed the pocket watch on the window.

After that, the detectives brainstormed with ideas about what to do if the murderer came to check on them. A couple of hours later, the anxiety of being caged in, started to show. But then, a chirping sound caught their attention. Another dove landed on the little window. This one had its talon on Saguru’s watch.

Saguru reacted fast, coming closer to the window. It looked like the pigeon was going to fly away with the detective’s pocket watch, which looked old and valuable.

The dove looked inside the room and Saguru examined it. “Kei-chan? Kei-chan, it’s that you?” The London detective asked the bird. Conan raised his eyebrow, wondering if the the bird belonged to the blond teen.

The dove chirped happily and entered the room through the tiny window. Saguru smiled widely and offered it his arm to rest, but the bird went to Saguru’s shoulder and bumped its little head against the London detective’s cheek. Saguru chuckled. “Yes, yes, I’m so glad to see you too, you little stalker” He took the bird and began petting it.

“Hakuba nii-chan? It’s the dove yours?” The bird was totally white and looked taken care of.

“In… a way…” Saguru murmured. He cleared his throat. “The important thing is that she is our way out of here” His face turned serious as he addressed the white dove. “Kei-chan, I need you to take my watch to… him.. okay? Make sure he calls the Police”. The bird chirped again, clearly having understood everything the she was ordered to do. She flew back to widow and grabbed the watch with her talons before taking to the air.

Both detectives stood in silence for a few seconds, staring at the window, until Conan spoke. “Hakuba nii-chan, the dove seemed well trained”

Saguru smiled. “Yes. You don’t have to worry about that. Kei-chan will deliver the watch, and the receiver will call the Police.”

Conan nodded. It was good that there was a chance for them to be saved now, but something bothered the shrunken detective. “Hakuba nii-chan” The older boy glared at him. “You had a falcon, right?”

“Yes. Her name it’s Watson”

Conan hummed. “Training Watson and a dove seems very unpractical. Watson it’s a predator, won’t she attack the dove?”

Saguru’s gaze turned more serious. “I like to believe that Watson it’s well trained. If I tell her not to attack she won’t. After all, her feeding needs are covered”

“Yes, I suppose…” Conan said with his innocent child voice. “Then, the one who trained the dove it’s the person who you have sent the watch to?”

Saguru breathed out. “Yes”

Conan hummed out loud, acting as if he was in deep thought. Saguru was watching him thoughtfully. “Isn’t it funny? We both have an acquaintance that uses trained doves…” Conan’s tone made it very clear who he was referring to.

Saguru didn’t break the eye contact with the little boy, his expression still remained serious, as if he didn’t want to let in any possible clue escape. Conan was intrigued about why would Kaito KID send a dove to search for a missing Hakuba. Where they working together?

“Why don’t you ask directly, whatever theory is forming in your mind?”

“Why would Kaito KID care if you got kidnapped? Are you working together?”

Saguru chuckled. “I know you’re incredibly intelligent, but it feels weird when a kid accuses you of working with an international thief” The London detective sighed looking at his hands. “I came from London to catch him, Conan-kun. I thought I would be able to do it in one heist, and I was proven wrong. He beat me. And he beat me again and again” Saguru lifted his eyes to meet Conan’s. “I suppose you understand how frustrating that feeling is..” Conan nodded slowly. He found KID’s heists to be entertaining, the thief had a master criminal mind. The chase was thrilling, uncovering his tricks was exciting and challenging. He didn’t have his heart set on capturing him, but Shinichi had tried to, and the Magician had beat him or managed to escape every time. “I realized that they mystery of Kaito KID was more convoluted than I previously imagined” Saguru claimed.

Conan furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“I want to know why” Saguru declared. “Why he steals, what’s his motive. He can’t just simply do it for the rush of the moment. But, when I questioned him the first time I met him, he said that: it was for me to deduce. It made me incredibly mad, but that’s why I’ve been trying to do.” He crossed his arms. “You have been to his heists, but, you have mostly see him in Suzuki-san’s prepared heists. Me, on the other hand, I’ve been into many of his heists. Do you know what happens on some of them?” Conan tilted his head in confusion. “He has enemies. Dangerous ones”

“What do you mean? Is anyone else after him apart from the police?” Conan questioned with interest.

“It’s my case” Saguru proclaimed.

“What..?”

“It’s my case” Saguru repeated. “I guess you could say that I’m territorial” He chuckled. “Of course, if you, the KID killer arrest Kaito KID before me, it would be your achievement, but, I’m going to try and capture him myself before anyone else does” The older detective smiled.

Conan pressed his lips in thought. He understood the possessive feeling of wanting to solve a case, and it was true that Saguru has always looked to be more committed with arresting KID than he was.

“I’m not his accomplice” Saguru said. He huffed a soft laugh. “We have a rivalry relationship, which is also wrapped in respect, you could say. I can confess that we have worked together a couple of times to… eliminate a major threat”

Conan couldn’t blame him for that. He had worked alongside the thief in several occasions too, to stop a more menacing crime for happening or to capture a much more dangerous criminal. Because, even though Kaito KID was a lawbreaker, he wasn’t evil.

“I understand Hakuba nii-chan” Conan nodded. “But the dove..?”

“Ah! Kei-chan it’s my surveillance dove” Saguru answered. Conan blinked confused. The blond teen chuckled. “I’m not sure if you have one… but, I realized that there was a dove in the tree outside of my bedroom. And that it was always there. I ended up deducing that KID sent her to spy on me.”

“He…” KID has sent messages to Conan using his doves before, so Saguru’s deduction wasn’t far-fetched.

“I actually question him about it, and he confirmed it. He told me that her name was Kei-chan. Since I figured that I was not going to get away from her, I decided to befriend her. She is actually very well-behaved and sweet. And she follows her orders, so if KID is in a good mood, he’ll call the police and we will be saved shortly.” Hakuba explained.

The London detective had been right. Half an hour later, a tactical team sent by Saguru’s father was entering the warehouse to uncage them.

“Conan-kun!” A tactical team which included a very worried Ran.

The girl wasted no time to go inside and hug Conan tightly, almost suffocating him.

“Hakuba-kun, thank you for taking care of him” Ran bowed in gratitude.

“No need to thank me Ran-san. Conan-kun is a very intelligent boy, we helped each other” Saguru winked at the shrunken detective.

“Ah..! Hakuba nii-chan!” Conan called with his childish voice. “You are going to continue with the case?” Saguru gave an affirmative nod. Conan came closer to whisper into his ear. “I think you should take me with you, I have some evidence and deductions that could help you… it’s in both of our interest to arrest him soon, right? We don’t want them to kidnap or murder more people”. Saguru had no chance but to agree.

~~~~~~

“Bocchama! You made me very worried!” Baaya greeted Saguru when he arrived home.

“I’m terribly sorry Baaya, that wasn’t my intention. I wasn’t harmed. And, the good thing is that with Conan-kun’s help we managed to uncover who the murderer was and arrest them.”

“I had not doubt that you would capture the culprit Bocchama. You always do.” Saguru smiled sweetly at his caretakers words. No one had more faith in him than her.

“It’s been a long day…” Saguru sighed. “I’m going to bed Baaya, and you should do the same”

“Very well Bocchama, if you need anything, just call for me” Saguru nodded with a smile before walking towards the stairs. “Ah, Bocchama, I almost forgot” The teen detective looked at her. “I think you have a visitor in your bedroom…” She offered a little smile.

Saguru’s eyes widened a little bit in surprise. His expression morphed into a content one. “Good. That way I won’t have to look for him tomorrow. Thank you Baaya. Good night”

Saguru walked upstairs, making more noise than usual, so his late night visitor would know that he was coming. He opened his door and then a little white thing flew to him.

Saguru smiled cheerfully at the little dove that had landed on his shoulder. “Very well done Kei-chan, you were amazing. Thank you for rescuing us” The blond petted the bird that chirped happily.

“I must disagree. I would say that the savior in this scenario it’s me. After all, I’m the one who called the police” A voice that Saguru would recognized anywhere said.

“Kei-chan is the one that found me”

“I sent Kei-chan to find you” The man tossed him something from the corner of the room where he was sitting in one of Saguru’s chairs. The blond caught the object. His grandfather’s watch. He smiled. “Nice thinking with the watch, Tantei-san. Since you use it so much, Kei-chan it’s familiar with it”

Saguru hummed. “Yeah, my thoughts exactly”

His visitor was on the further side of the room. The lights didn’t reach him, making him a shadow. A phantom.

“There was a little… mishap with the rescue though…”

“Oh?” The Phantom muttered with curiosity.

“Edogawa-kun was trapped with me. Since you’re also familiar with him, he correctly deduced that you had sent Kei-chan” Saguru explained.

The late night visitor smirked widely. “Oh? And what did Tantei-kun think? Was he grateful that I collaborated in your rescue?”

“Actually, he accused me of being your accomplice”

A cheshire smile illuminated the room. “Imagine that, it would be a scandal!” He chuckled. “Hakuba Saguru, international detective, son of the Superintendent General of the Metropolitan Tokyo Police: Kaito KID’s partner in crime”

“It’s not really helping my case that the mentioned thief is right now in my bedroom, isn’t it, Kuroba-kun?”

“You made it sound very sexy, Tantei-san~” KID said in a seductive voice. “And now, now, how many times do I have to tell you that I’m not your beloved classmate?”

“He is not beloved, he is annoying.”

KID snorted. He walked towards Saguru. “Did you managed to disperse Tantei-kun’s doubts of your innocence from his little head?”

Saguru sat on his bed and left out a long breath. “I think so… I told him that you were mine”. He laid on his bed, resting his arm on his forehand in a tired gesture. After a few seconds he glared at the white-suited man, disconcerted with his silence.

Even when half covered with his top hat, Saguru could see that the Magician’s cheeks had colored in a light red. “D-Did you phrase it like that..?”

Saguru furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Then he realized what he just said. “N-No, no! I m-meant the case! Y-Your case…—I-I told him that it would be me the one who’ll capture you!”

Kaito was barely trying to contain his laughter at Saguru’s embarrassment, although his cheeks were still a little bit rosy. “Tantei-san, how possessive!”

The detective diverted his eyes, avoiding looking at the thief. His face was also getting a little bit flushed. “I explained to him that Kei-chan was meant to be my surveillance dove, so you would have me supervised. He found the idea plausible”

“It is the truth after all. Although, I was not expecting my precious dove to be so fond of you… I feel a little bit betrayed. Kei-chan, you have horrible taste~!” KID pointed his finger to the bird that made a cooing noise and flew to Saguru’s side. “How dare you! Tantei-san, you stole my bird! There’s supposed to be honor between thieves!”

“D-Do not be absurd Kurob—KID.. I did not do such thing. It’s obvious that Kei-Chan prefers to work on the right side of the law” Saguru claimed.

“Traitor” KID whispered playfully at the white bird.

Saguru suspired. “In any case… thank you for aiding us today… and for returning my watch. You can leave now, if someone were to see you here it would be arduous to explain.”

The thief chuckled. “As you wish, Tantei-san” KID offered a little reverence and walked towards the door. “Do not worry about Tantei-kun, I’ll make sure that he won’t suspect you of being my partner”

“There’s no need. You will only make things worse, I’m sure” Saguru shook his head.

“That hurt. You don’t trust me?” KID grinned teasingly.

Saguru sighed. “As I matter of fact I do” The Brit’s confession made KID stare at him with bewilderment in his face. “And sometimes I find myself, against my better judgment, wanting to… help you… but it is you the one who doesn’t trust me enough to tell me why you do what you do, Kuroba-kun”

KID turned around, as to not look at the detective. They stood in silence for a few seconds. “A detective like you has not enough imagination to be my assistant, I’m afraid. So, I will have to refuse your aid.” He moved to the veranda, to jump out of the room. “But, if I’d ever require assistance in the future…from someone working from the lawful side… I would come to you” KID proclaimed. Saguru’s eyes widened a little bit in surprise. “So, you need to still be alive for that, okay? No more getting kidnapped by a murderer or any other criminal. You’re my detective after all…” KID stood in the top of the veranda, ready to jump. “See ya, Hakuba” He said in an almost imperceptible voice before fleeing away in his hang glider.

Saguru stared at the empire window. “Who’s the possessive one now, Kaito?” He murmured in a soft voice. Kei-chan cooed catching his attention. “He is way too reckless, isn’t he? That stupid and charming master of yours” The bird offered a happy chirp in agreement.

~~~~~~

“I’d had killed myself If I ever had to stay locked with that bastard Hakuba for so many hours! Are ya sure you’re all right, Kudo?”

Shinichi laughed at the voice of the other side of the phone. “Yeah, It’s all right. He is actually not that bad, we talked about Holmes and he is a very competent detective. In fact I was more afraid that he would notice something strange about me, as we have never been alone for that long. You did figure out my identity after one case”

“That’s because I’m awesome! I’m much better detective than that Bastard!” Heiji claimed in a loud voice.

Shinichi huffed a laugh. “But, actually another thing we talked about was KID, as we both have faced him in several occasions. And he said something that worried me”

“What it is?” Heiji asked.

“That someone was after him. It made me think that maybe the Black Org could have its sight put on him for some reason? But when he helped Haibara in the train faking her death, he didn’t seem to know that they were very dangerous, like he had never encounter them” Shinichi explained.

“What are ya gonna do?”

Shinichi sighed. “Nothing. Hakuba said it was his case. I have to respect that. Actually, I think he might be working with KID… but, I’m sure that Hakuba it’s not a criminal. In any case, I’m if I do find evidence that KID is being targeted by the Black Org, I’ll approach them. A murmur of agreement could be heard at the other side of the call. “Any way, thanks for calling Hattori”

“Of course! I’m your best buddie, I was worried when your Nee-chan told me that ya had been kidnaped. Try not to do that if I’m not there to get ya out, yeah?”

Shinichi snorted before ending the call. He opened the door of the Agency and the first thing he noticed was that the window was opened, which was weird because neither Kogoro or Ran were gone yet. He became alert, searching for an intruder.

The sound of wings moving caught his attention. In one of the couches there was a white dove seated, staring at him. Shinichi came closer and saw that the bird had a note attached to its neck. He suspired, having already guessed who and entered the Agency.

The dove stayed still while Shinichi grabbed the note.

Tantei-kun~ I hope this letter finds you well! Im glad that neither you nor Tantei-san were harmed in that little kidnapping from last week.

Your welcome by the way. I always take care of my detectives! <3

You didn’t have a surveillance dove, but, I do not want to have you thinking that I have preferences, so, may I introduce you to Aya-chan!~

Take good care of her! 🤍

Kaito KID

The bird cooed and flapped it’s wings. Shinichi glared at her with an incredulous face. “What the—”

[mar-the-magician]

H Is For Hawk

Despite how busy I’ve been recently, I still wanted to do something for Hakukai week, so I picked my favorite prompt (birds) and wrote a fic for it! Apologies that it’s not more 😅 I love these two adorkable idiots so much and will definitely be writing more with them! 

“We should race sometime.” Kaito watched as Watson glided smoothly back over the field onto Saguru’s leather-gloved hand. Saguru fed her a small treat and gave Kaito an amused glance out of the corner of his eye. 

“She’s pretty fast, you know? I bet she could keep up with me!” Kaito laughed cheekily, bending forward and reaching out to stroke Watson’s feathers carefully. Saguru smiled at him, shaking his head.

“Considering that she was literally designed for flying, and everything about her is conducive to speed…” 

“Exactly! She might just be able to barely match my pace on a good day!” He laughed. Saguru sighed, trying to hide his smile.

“Have you ever captured birds mid-flight?” Kaito stopped laughing after a moment, looking pensive.

“I’ve actually caught some of the less well-trained doves when they got out and flew away— obviously they’d never do that now, but they took some time to get acclimated to my house when I first got them…” 

“You caught them from your glider?” Saguru raised his eyebrows. Kaito shrugged.

“There was no other way to catch them covertly, and not everyone puts two and two together to make four the same way you do, so no-one else knew I had them at the time.” He parroted one of their classmate’s voices perfectly, even taking on his posture as he said

“Just because Kuroba-kun used doves for a couple tricks doesn’t mean he owns some— maybe he just rented them!” Saguru stroked Watson and looked off into the distance, thoughtful.

“But— that’s not how training birds… works… you have to build up trust and make sure they know they’re safe with you, give them positive reinforcement and show that you respect their boundaries… and all that before you even consider teaching them tricks…”

“You know that because you have trained a bird in the past.” Kaito mused absentmindedly. Suddenly he did a double take, whipping his head around to look at Saguru.

“Did you—“

Saguru met his gaze, confused. 

“Did I what?” 

“How you just described training a bird sounded a lot like how you’ve talked about the early stages of our relationship.” Kaito’s stare remained fixed on the speechless Saguru. 

“Was Watson— practice for you??” He whipped around to face the hawk who was still perched comfortably on Saguru’s glove.

“Are you the reason why we’re in a relationship??” Saguru got his words back at that, laughing a little at first before growing more serious to say

“We might have taken longer to get to this point if I’d never had experience with someone who took time and effort to build the foundation for a healthy relationship, but I always would have wanted to be with you. I always would have done anything within my power to get past that front you put up, and consequently fallen in love with you.” Kaito blushed and scoffed at this, putting a hand in front of his mouth.

“I— that’s— thank you… Hakubaka.” There was no bite in the insult, in fact it almost felt like a term of endearment. Saguru smiled at him fondly.

“Come on— let’s go inside, it’s chilly out here, and I think Watson’s had enough exercise for the day— plus, I think Baaya should have hot cocoa ready for us by now!” Kaito coughed, trying to shake his blush, and handed Saguru Watson’s hood. 

“Th-that sounds good. Thank you, Sa-chan.” He murmured. Saguru gently placed the hood over Watson’s head, lacing it up, and reached to link arms with his boyfriend.

“It’s not a problem. I wanted to do it.” He gently shoved Kaito with his hip as they began walking.

“Just make sure to return the favor— I need to spend some time with your doves!” Kaito’s face lit up, and his step grew bouncier.

“Of course!”

“Now, hot chocolate.”

Thank you for reading! This was quite fun to write �� the title is the same as that of a nonfiction book I read once, about a woman’s story with becoming closer with a hawk (that’s a very oversimplified version of it, it gets pretty dark in some places) and some parts of it reminded me of Kaito and Saguru’s relationship, and thus, this fic was born! And for everyone wondering about my WIPs— they’re coming, I promise!!! I’m going to try to get another LR chapter up by the Friday after tomorrow!!! Goodness it’s been a while on that—

Anyhow, enough of my rambles! Thank you for reading and I wish you all a very happy Hakukai Week 2022!!

[radibe5]

The HakuKai Week 2022 prompts are here!

HakuKai Week 2022, created with @xnicowritesx to celebrate the relationship between Hakuba Saguru and Kuroba Kaito (graphics courtesy of @kuroko99!). The following are the prompts:

September 18 - Black and White

September 19 - Costumes

September 20 - Dreams

September 21 - Confession

September 22 - Birds

September 23 - Handcuffs

September 24 - Free Day

FAQ:

Q: How do I submit?

A: Either tag it #hakukaiweek22 or add it to the AO3 collection here! Feel free to @xnicowritesx too!

Q: Do I need to create works for all events?

A: No, you can create as many or as few as you want.

Q: What if I want to submit art/something else instead?

A: That’s fine! Just tag the post as hakukaiweek22 so we can see it.

Rules:

Be respectful of everyone

Please tag all entries as hakukaiweek22

Support other creators and have fun!

[kit27x]

Black and White(DCMK)(hakukaiweek22)

I had fun doing this drawing and you bet the gun took forever. Sigh..that dumb gun. Hakuba hair was hell as well. Time-lapse is below.

[lisatelramor]

Ok, I managed to write SOMETHING for HakuKai Week. Woo! I have a little more for other days, but gosh I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get anything considering how writing has been this year. Anyway, enjoy? They didn’t want to come out super shippy annoyingly enough, but it’s something -_-;;

Fitting a Role

Saguru, without a doubt, was not meant for the stage.

Kaito studied him critically as Saguru adjusted the sad-looking Holmes costume their classmates had cobbled together. Even the wannabe cosplay Saguru came to Japan in would have looked better. Plus, he was holding himself too stiffly. To think, here Saguru was getting to live his fanboy dream of being Holmes for a day and he wasn’t even having fun with it.

“Okay, stop,” Kaito said. “This is a travesty.”

Saguru glowered at him. “The costume,” he said stiffly, his shoulders forced too tight by poorly made sleeves, “doesn’t fit right.”

“That’s only part of the problem,” Kaito said. “You should be able to embody Holmes even wearing a paper bag. Why are you moving like the stage is full of land mines?”

“Acting is….different,” Saguru said. A lame excuse for a man that had the public eye on the regular. “There’s lines and an audience,” Saguru mumbled, unable to meet Kaito’s eyes.

“So? You deduct in front of people all the time.” Saguru treated solving a case like a stage in its own right with him performing a monologue. It really shouldn’t be this complicated.

Saguru shook his head, a pinched furrow in his brow. “But that isn’t acting.”

“It’s a role!” Kaito said rolling his eyes. “You’re a ‘detective’ so you act like one. Just be ‘Saguru the detective’ for a bit and add in some Holmes flair.”

“But—”

Kaito raised a hand. “Look. How would you enter this room if it was a case?” He watched expectantly as Saguru gave him a blank stare. An eyebrow lifted impatiently.

Hesitantly, Saguru walked to the edge of the stage.  If this was a crime scene… He stepped forward, eyes sweeping the area like he would when searching for clues, back straight and ready for anything.

“Okay, good,” Kaito said. “Now how would Holmes enter the same room?”

“…Oh,” Saguru said like something was finally connecting.

“Exactly.” Took long enough. “The audience doesn’t exist. You’re here, you’re Holmes, and you have a case to solve and people to see through. Now give me that cape and hat thingy.” He made grabby hands in Saguru’s direction. “This is embarrassing.”

Saguru shrugged off his costume pieces, careful not to rip any seams. “You sew?” he asked as Kaito pulled out needle and thread, seemingly from nowhere.

“Yeah,” Kaito said, grabbing the cape first. “A bit. Enough to fix the fit of things. I can’t believe they gave the girls costuming just because they assumed they could sew.”

“Statistically speaking, they are more likely to know.”

“Okay but realistically speaking, most people these days do one tiny project in elementary school—if they’re lucky enough for that—and never pick up a needle again.”

“And yet,” Saguru said, sitting down across from Kaito with a searching look, “you know how to do a fair bit more than that.”

“It’s useful.” Kaito snipped a thread, mentally going through Saguru’s numbers for shoulder width and neck, readjusting plans. Hakuba’s eyes narrowed at him. Kaito could all but feel him skirting around accusing him of being Kid in his mind. “I’m a magician,” Kaito said, because it was true and he had legitimate reasons for learning to sew. “Sometimes you need to make pockets in things that don’t have pockets. And sometimes off-the-rack clothes fit like shit and you just want them to sit right.”

He was good at sewing fast, and even better at sewing fast for temporary things. It didn’t have to be perfect; it was a crappy stage play. It just had to fit better and stay in one piece for the whole play.

“Try that on,” Kaito said after a few silent minutes of work.

Saguru obliged, settling the silly-looking cape on his shoulders again. Not perfect, Kaito reflected, seeing all the tiny flaws in his work and the original stitching, but it was much better than before and Saguru could actually move his arms now without threatening to rip it.

“Great. Now the hat.” The hat was too big, so all Kaito had to do was take in the seams a bit and readjust the brim, which, ok, was basically taking the thing apart and remaking it all over again. Details.

“Why do you care if I have a fitting costume or can act?” Saguru asked bluntly.

Kaito glanced up from dismantling the hat, brows high. “One, you’re representing the class. Two, I’m acting too and I don’t want to hold it together if you choke.”

“I still can’t believe they cast you as Watson,” Saguru said, sounding tired. Kaito didn’t check his expression, the hat taking priority, but he could all but picture Saguru pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I can act,” Kaito said just as blunt. “They’re counting on me to carry the show if you trip up.”

“…Such a convenient array of skills you have,” Saguru said leadingly. “Acting, sleight of hand, making clothing fit, makeup…”

“What makes you think I know makeup?” Kaito asked.

“I overheard you giving tips about blending to Nakamori.”

Kaito sighed. “Stage makeup can be important, and if you’re going to learn stage makeup, might as well learn how to do regular makeup too. And stop implying I’m Kid. No matter how much you insinuate, I’m not going to confess.”

“Not confessing isn’t the same as not being Kid,” Saguru pointed out.

Kaito gave him a flat look before tossing the half-sewn hat in his face. “You know what? You can finish that yourself.”

Saguru blinked at him. “It’s genuinely annoying you to be accused.”

“It’s always annoyed me,” Kaito said sourly.

“You are generally tolerantly-annoyed. Or at least willing to argue.” He turned the hat pieces around in his lap. “I thought…”

“You thought what, Hakuba?”

“We had an… understanding? Dynamic?”

“I don’t mind some banter, but it gets tiring to be accused all the time. You make having a conversation into a minefield.”

“…Apologies,” Saguru said stiffly.

Kaito let him feel uncomfortable for a moment before holding out his hand with a heavy sigh. “I’ll finish the hat. Then you’re running through a scene with me until you can be Holmes to my Watson convincingly.”

Saguru handed the hat back slowly. Kaito pretended to not notice how he continued to stare a hole in Kaito’s head as Kaito bent back over his sewing. “Kuroba.”

“Hm?”

“Thank you.” Saguru sounded so stiff, Kaito could think he never thanked anyone before.

Kaito waved the thanks away. “I already said it’s not for you personally or anything.”

“All the same. You did not have to help, and you are helping.”

“Just act properly on stage and we’ll call it even,” Kaito said.

Hakuba actually smiled at him. A proper smile, not the smug ones he got when he thought he knew more than Kaito or that he had Kaito cornered with some stretch of logic. It was a lot nicer than the usual smiles. “I’ll do my best.”

Kaito finished up the hat as fast as possible. They would act. Saguru would get better at it. And they could go back to their usual circling each other like wary cats some other time. Kaito tried not to let the thought of returning to normal disappoint him.

“Your hat, Holmes,” Kaito said, affecting his Watson persona.

Saguru took it with more gravity than the action deserved. “Thank you, Watson.” As he put on the hat, Kaito could finally see a bit of Holmes in him.

[xnicowritesx]

HakuKai Week is Over!

I'll still be monitoring the hakukaiweek22 tag until the end of September, but afterwards, please @ me somewhere in your post if you want me to see it! (Late submissions are 100% okay!)

Sometime in the next few days, I'll probably be creating a blog solely dedicated to hosting HakuKai events. I'll make an announcement about it here on this blog when I do, and will put it in the hakukaiweek22 tag as well. Make sure to give it a follow for any future HakuKai events!

I hope everyone had fun!

[beingvv]

Hakukai / inviting secrets

“Are you free on Saturday? I have a case for you,” was the first thing Kuroba said, when he approached Saguru after school.

Happy Hakukai Week!! Here's my little contribution to our tag today, so happy to it fill with new content!! ❤️❤️❤️

[phantomposter1412]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Magic Kaito Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hakuba Saguru/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid Characters: Hakuba Saguru, Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Vacation, Hakuba being his usual rich self, hakukaiweek22 Summary:

After absently making a mention about wanting a break, Saguru drags Kaito into a vacation. Written for Hakukai Week 2022 Day 7: Free Day

[starlightsigner]

Continuing my trend of being late to the prompt, I present this. It was supposed to be a cute date fic how did I end up with angst.

[mercheswan]

~~

Kuroba: Black Feather◾️🪶

Hakuba: White Horse◽️🐎

🖤🤍

HakukaiWeek2022

Day 1: Black and White

[kit27x]

Costumes(DCMK)(hakukaiweek22)

This one was fun as well, but it the last one. I wasn’t able to finish this whole shipweek. Below is the time-lapse and sketches for the other days. I might eventually do these later on. The other days, and some silly sketches are below. 

please someone write a fic where Kaito and Hakuba do a costume contest. Day 3-Dreams

Day 4- Confession

Day 5-Birds

day 6- handcuffs(A screenshot redraw)

[lisatelramor]

last day I’m participating in hakukai week. already missing spring as the weather slides firmly toward autumn. =_=

Did You Really

 “What do you mean you lost the key?” Kuroba Kaito demanded.

Saguru winced at the sheer, incredulous rage those words held. To be fair, they were more or less deserved. It was mostly Saguru’s fault that they were up on the roof of an apartment building only accessible by ladder, handcuffed together, with Kuroba having no way to pick a lock. On the other hand, Kuroba was Kid at the moment, so Saguru had felt entirely justified for taking the opportunity granted by a shift of wind and Kuroba accidentally gassing himself in the face instead of Saguru.

“As I said,” Saguru said, trying to remain calm because one of them had to, “I do not appear to have them in my pockets anymore. They must have been lost in the scuffle at the heist earlier.”

Saguru may have been a bit overly creative in his cuffing method. Taping Kuroba’s hands shut and handcuffing him behind his back would likely have been enough. He had felt paranoid and only had perhaps five minutes before Kuroba started stirring, no doubt somewhat immune to his own sleep gas concoction, and had ended up handcuffing himself to Kuroba as well as an extra precaution to keep him from just jumping from the roof or some other ridiculous tactic.

Thus the current problem. The roof was only accessible by ladder. Kuroba’s hands were behind his back. And Saguru was stuck to him. Put together, it was tricky at best, impossible at worst to try to get off the roof without uncuffing.

And Saguru had lost the key.

“Great,” Kuroba huffed. “Wonderful. And how were you planning to get me down to arrest me?”

Saguru pressed his lips together tightly, unwilling to admit that he hadn’t thought that far ahead. He had tried to train himself out of acting on impulse, but it seemed he still had a lot of work to do there. “I’ll call Nakamori-keibu,” he said after a moment, pulling out the police handheld transceiver. He’d barely blipped the button to speak when a shoulder knocked it from his hand.

With rising dread, Saguru watched it skip off the flat roof with a crack before sailing over the edge. Somewhere below there was a crash. Saguru looked at where it had disappeared and took a breath. “Or we can not do that and stay stuck up a roof all night,” he said sourly. If only he hadn’t left his phone in the car. After the last time he broke one vaulting over a railing…

“Oh, so I’m supposed to sit still and let myself get arrested?” Kuroba shot back. He glared over his shoulder. Saguru didn’t know how Kuroba thought he was being subtle or hiding anything. Sure, he’d lowered his voice a bit and added some contouring to change his face shape, but his eyes were the same strange shade of blue and he had the same shape of lips. The hair peeking from his hat’s brim was the same dark brown. And he’d covered it in makeup, but Saguru could still see the tiny raised bump of a mole by Kuroba’s right ear. It was entirely obvious who he was and that Nakamori couldn’t see it was because he was blinded by biases.

Saguru tugged on where their wrists were connected, making Kuroba brace to keep his balance and not wrench his arms. “As a criminal, yes, you are supposed to let yourself get arrested once caught.”

“What kind of criminal goes quietly?” Kuroba complained. “And did you have to tape my thumb under all my other fingers? What if I fell on my hands? That’s practically a guaranteed broken thumb.”

“If I didn’t take your thumb like that, you could likely dislocate it and slip free.”

“Exactly. It’s really inconvenient.”

Saguru scoffed. Kuroba thought he was funny. He wasn’t. He was irritating and a challenge.

Kuroba jerked and Saguru staggered forward a few steps.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Oh you know,” Kuroba huffed as he moved his torso in ways that he shouldn’t be able to with his hands behind his back. “Just trying to dislocate a shoulder.”

“Are you insane? Even if you did, you’d only have succeeded in injuring yourself!” Saguru was jerked forward again by his wrist. They were both going to be bruised by the end of this, weren’t they?

“Well do you have an idea to get out of this?”

“…I could probably untape your hands.”

Kuroba raised an eyebrow and thrust his hands back pointedly. Saguru looked up because he realized another miscalculation. Namely that by cuffing his hand to Kuroba’s wrists, it was stuck right next to Kuroba’s butt. Which was currently emphasized by Kuroba’s posture.

Tape. He would pick off the tape, they would free themselves, and Saguru would just chalk the night up for his loss because he didn’t actually want to spend the night on a building until someone miraculously managed to find him just because he was too prideful to let Kuroba go.

He plucked at the tape. And plucked some more. The angle was wrong and he could only effectively use one hand. He breathed hard out his mouth as his short-cut nails failed to catch the edge yet again.

“Wow, this is sad to experience,” Kuroba deadpanned. “A detective who can’t even manage the tape he put on me in the first place.”

“Shut up.” This would be easier if it wasn’t night for one. Saguru tore a few bits off here and there. The tape, irritatingly, refused to come free in a strip. He could feel the flex of Kuroba’s fingers under its surface, but after ten frustrating minutes he had to pause. “This isn’t working.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Kuroba rolled his shoulders as much as he was able, probably trying to relieve the strain on them from the position. The cuffs clinked, mocking them. “How are you at lockpicking?”

“Not good? I haven’t had much reason to do more than pick a lock on a diary or something similar.”

“Of course.” Kuroba sighed. “Thankfully handcuffs don’t have complex locks. Even you should be able to pick it. They’re pickable with even a bobby pin.”

“So grateful for your vote of confidence,” Saguru said sarcastically.

Kuroba craned his neck around to frown at him. “I have picks, but clearly I can’t get them. Just grab one and get us loose.”

“Grab from where?” Saguru wasn’t about to do a strip-search to find a lockpick. The idea made his cheeks heat though.

“Oh, any of five places,” Kuroba said lightly. “The easiest would be in one of my chest pockets.”

“Right.” Saguru paused a moment to contemplate how he would reach before internally shrugging and stepping closer, right hand reaching around and into Kuroba’s suit jacket. He could feel Kuroba freeze, muscles like rocks and the breath stopped in his chest as Saguru had to press bodily against him. He felt along Kuroba’s body-warm silk shirt, the edge of the tie, before turning his hand to feel for pockets in the jacket.

A few seconds later, he concluded that there were far too many pockets to guess.

“Which one?” he asked, hand skimming up toward Kuroba’s neck. There were pockets there too. How did he keep such a clean suit line with so many hidden pockets? Against Saguru’s chest, Kuroba’s frame shook with a delayed breath. If he hadn’t been touching him, Saguru would never have noticed.

“Left,” Kuroba said, “and down—not that far!” He twitched away, ironically pulling Saguru in closer as Saguru’s fingers skimmed his lower ribs. Ticklish? “I really don’t need you setting off a smoke bomb right on top of us.” Ah, not ticklish. “It’s up against one of the darts. Right against the seam. A little right, maybe a centimeter up…”

Saguru’s fingers found something made of metal, one end rounded into a knob that made it easier to grasp and pull. There were three others, lined one after another. Saguru slid one free, his hand leaving Kuroba’s jacket. The air felt shockingly cold compared to the warmth of Kuroba’s body.

“Good, yeah, that’s the one I meant. Now pick the lock.”

Saguru looked down at the tangle of cuffs. Thought about angles. Crouched. His face burned and he was fiercely glad that Kuroba couldn’t see him all but pressed against the back of Kuroba’s thighs, too mindful of proximity to give into leaning against them. This was mortifying. Saguru was rethinking his stance on handcuffing people to his person. There had to be a better way. Like handcuffing to a railing or something.

The lock didn’t click open easily. Saguru blamed the fact that he hadn’t picked a lock in three years, but it was a bit humiliating knowing that it would take perhaps a second or two at most for Kuroba to free himself from all three locks.

The lock clicked. Saguru held the pressure as he eased the teeth of the cuffs off and open from one of Kuroba’s wrists.

“Oh thank fuck,” Kuroba muttered, pulling his wrist free and releasing his shoulders from their tensed state. He immediately started attacking the tape on his hand with his teeth. Finally able to turn and see Saguru without awkward acrobatics, Kuroba lifted an eyebrow above his monocle and rattled the wrist where they were still linked together.

“I thought you would appreciate not having your hands behind your back before anything else.”

“I’d appreciate—bleh—not having tape—rrgh—all over my hand! How many layers are there?!”

Saguru averted his eyes and went to work on the cuff connecting them. He…may have used a good portion of a roll on each hand.

“You,” Kuroba grunted around gross sounds of trying to chew through tape, “are on my shit list, Detective. Next heist, be prepared.”

Saguru stopped picking the lock to scowl up at him. “I could leave us locked together and force you down the ladder and to the station.”

“You couldn’t,” Kuroba said confidently. “Try to get me down the ladder and I’ll definitely get us both injured.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Could and would. You underestimate what I’d do to escape.”

Saguru had the mental image of a raccoon flash into his head, chewing off its paw to escape a trap. Actually causing Kuroba physical harm was the last thing he wanted. The lockpick slipped and he had to duck down to get it, fingertips scraping concrete.

“You’re terrible at that,” Kuroba said, or more, “Yr trrble ah dat” as his teeth were tugging at a thicker chunk of tape.

“Not all of us make a point of knowing dubiously legal skills.”

“Lockpicking is perfectly legal to know.”

“And perfectly illegal to use on someone else’s lock without permission.”

“Details.”

The lock clicked free and now Kuroba had two sets of cuffs dangling on one wrist and two hands still mummified in tape to resemble an old, low-quality pixel game character.

Saguru could leave Kid there, go and try to get Nakamori, and come back likely before Kid could chew through all the tape. But Kid probably didn’t actually need to use his hands to grip much in order to escape.

He had well and truly lost this one by trying too hard.

Ah well.

Saguru mustered a bit of boldness in his defeat and stepped forward. Kuroba eyed him like he was a stranger’s dog as Saguru held out the lockpick.

“What do you expect me to grab that with?” Kuroba asked.

“I don’t.” He took another step closer, body heat mixing with body heat. He had the pleasure of watching Kuroba’s eyes widen and his mouth drop open in shock as Saguru slipped his hand back into his suit jacket. Finding the right spot was a bit tricky from this direction, but he found where he’d gotten the pick from and slid it back into place.

It felt a bit like winning as he noted the hint of pink in Kuroba’s cheeks as he drew his hand back.

“Since I’m letting you go, I might as well give that back,” Saguru explained.

Kid blinked several times, rapidly. “You’re a jerk.”

Saguru raised an eyebrow. He took a step back.

“…You’re leaving me on the rooftop with my hands covered in tape, aren’t you?” Kid said, resigned.

Saguru smiled. “Good luck with getting free. But then you’re a world class thief. I’m sure you’ll manage.”

“No, you’re a bastard.”

“My parents were happily married when I was born,” Saguru said grinning. This, at least, was a win over Kuroba. Over Kid. “Goodnight, Kuroba-kun.”

“Who are you calling Kuroba?” Kuroba sputtered.

Saguru waved and stepped neatly down the ladder. He could hear Kuroba’s muffled curses above him. Perhaps this counted as a draw. Saguru could live with that.

[lisatelramor]

Not 100% sure how this happened. It went from, "oh, they'd only talk for real if they were stuck together" to "ok, but even then they'd have to have a life or death situation" to "uh. this is getting kind of grim" to "wait why are you kissing??" so *shrug*? They kinda took over and it unspooled and I wrote the most in one sitting that I have this year on this thing, so yeah. It's also the last thing I have fully written for the HakuKai week, so no guarantee on anything else. =_=; I'm chronically burned out a bit this year.

Last Confessions

Kaito always thought that if he was going to die, he’d die much like his father had; in a very public manner from an ‘accident’ or shot in front of a crowd as Kid. It would be the same organization of course, and the only collateral would be the pain his death would have on everyone he loved. Maybe the pain of his identity as Kid coming to light in the most horrifying way possible.

It was almost funny; he never expected his death might come from being buried alive. Definitely didn’t expect Hakuba to be there with him. Ironically, his night job as Kid wasn’t even related to how they got in this situation. A case of wrong place, wrong time, sideways collateral for someone else’s life problems.

So.

Stuck buried under a hell of a lot of rubble in a space barely bigger than the average bath-and-shower stall with no idea if the mess would shift and crush them at any moment or if they’d run out of air or if some other terrible thing would kill them.

Lovely.

Their light came from Hakuba’s cellphone, set on its dimmest setting to make the battery last as long as possible. There wasn’t a signal to send a help message. Kaito sat at one end of the space and Hakuba sat at the other, left to contemplate their own mortality and nurse the bruises and cuts they’d gotten from the damn building collapsing around them.

“Is it good luck,” Kaito said into the uncomfortable silence that had stretched since they realized their phones would be no use, “or bad that we lived through a building falling on us?”

“I assume good,” Hakuba said. “It is certainly good luck that there were not many people in the building when it fell.”

Because someone pulled the fire alarm first. Because Kaito had the bad luck to hold back with Hakuba to check people were actually out. Because he had the good luck to pull Hakuba to a sturdy part of the room when he felt the ground lurch and the walls rumble.

“Pretty sure that alarm was intentional,” Kaito said. Another stream of dust sifted down above them as something shifted. Kaito could taste it on his tongue. They probably looked like dust monsters, not that the dim phone light gave enough details to tell exactly how bad their condition was. “You think anyone is going to realize we were in there?”

“The people we helped evacuate should notice,” Hakuba said in a dull tone. Tired. Too close to defeated.

“Hm.” Not much good it would do if they ran out of air. How long would oxygen last in a space this size? With two more-or-less adult bodies? Air typically contained about twenty percent oxygen, give or take a percentage or two. The human body exhaled oxygen with carbon dioxide, but each breath that amount of available oxygen would get less. With the dust, the air quality was poor to begin with. Put all of those factors together, Kaito couldn’t really see lasting more than a day or two if the air was truly sealed. Even if it wasn’t, they had perhaps three days without water before their bodies would start shutting down. And they still could get crushed at any moment if the wall and support beams keeping them safe for the moment gave out after all.

“I’m surprised you aren’t coming up with a plan,” Hakuba said, though he didn’t sound surprised, just resigned.

Kaito shifted to get comfortable—as comfortable as concrete and scree could be really—and huffed. “I know I’m a talented magician, but even I don’t have the means to lift a ton or three of concrete off us.”

“No escape then.”

“I’m not giving up hope just yet,” Kaito said, forcing his voice light. “Like you said, someone should know we were still in there.”

“The odds of us living through this are currently at forty-three percent,” Hakuba said. “And dropping.”

“I love to cheat the odds,” Kaito said. “That said, never thought I’d get a building dropped on me. Or that you’d be stuck with me.”

“I’m sure you’d rather a different companion,” Hakuba drawled, blinking focus back into the moment instead of wherever he’d drifted to. Likely to thinking about death and dying. A bit impossible not to at the moment.

Kaito shrugged. Part of him wished it was Aoko. A greater part of him is glad it wasn’t. That she was far away and safe. “I could be stuck with worse.” He could be stuck with Edogawa. Or a corpse. Edogawa and a corpse. Really, Hakuba wasn’t too bad.

“I’m glad I’m here with you rather than a random civilian,” Hakuba said. “I don’t think I would be able to handle the panicking.”

“Oh, we aren’t panicking? I thought we were doing that very very quietly,” Kaito joked.

Hakuba huffed a laugh. Dust sifted to the ground as he ran a hand through his hair. “I doubt you would let me see it even if you were panicking. You can be a hard man to read.”

“Thanks, that’s intentional.”

Hakuba laughed again, quieter.

Kaito didn’t want to sit in silence, stewing in his own thoughts. He rifled through his pockets, coming up with two pieces of candy and one of his many packs of cards. Add a scarf for a surface that wasn’t completely covered in dust, brush aside some pebbles… Hakuba watched him in the dim light. Kaito flipped a card. Hmm. Not great, too hard to play a card game with this. It was enough to see Hakuba some, but with the light pointing up, then they couldn’t see the cards. He could use his phone or try hanging it so it pointed down, but they needed to conserve battery and hanging anything could move things above them by accident.

“Well, there went that idea,” he muttered. He held out a candy instead. “It’s not much, but here.”

“Do you have more of these?” Saguru asked, taking the lozenge.

“Only a couple.”

“Best make them last, then.”

“Or enjoy it while we can,” Kaito countered.

“Hmm.”

Kaito popped his own candy into his mouth, letting artificial strawberry clear away the taste of concrete dust. After a moment, he heard the crinkle of cellophane as Hakuba did the same. Still too quiet. “Hey.”

“What, Kuroba?”

“Why did you become a detective? I mean, you could just like being nosy.”

“No, I am not a detective to be nosy,” Hakuba said. Kaito could picture him rolling his eyes. “I’m a detective because I want to help people.”

“Right,” Kaito said, not really seeing it. Maybe if it was all murders or stalkers or something. But a lot of criminals, especially the petty crime sort that seemed to be a good deal of Hakuba’s expertise, weren’t crazy or cruel, just trying to get by.

“Truly,” Hakuba insisted. “I want to know why people do them. What makes them desperate enough, or uncaring enough, to commit a crime. If I can understand that, see the whole structure of the system, then I can take steps toward bettering that system.”

“Oh, so the puzzle aspect isn’t the draw.”

“I can’t say I dislike the chance to reason out a conclusion based on the facts at hand,” Hakuba said. “But that wasn’t why I was originally drawn to this.”

“No, you just were a Holmes otaku taking it a step too far,” Kaito joked. If it was brighter, he could see the way Hakuba’s lip curled with irritation. Instead, he had to satisfy himself with the scoff and stiff shift in posture instead.

“I liked Holmes because he helped who the police couldn’t or didn’t care to help. Women. The lower class. People who were at a disadvantage.” A beat of silence. “What drew you to magic?”

“Uh. My dad?” Magic was such a core thing in his childhood that it wasn’t even something he questioned. “I guess I wanted a way to connect with him and he loved showing me how to do tricks.” Kaito ached a little inside, an old, old hurt that had never healed right. “And after he died, it was a way to keep him alive.”

“I see,” Hakuba said.

There was another uncomfortable silence. Kaito hated that sort of silence, and they always happened when he mentioned his father’s death, and it was only one of the reasons he never brought it up.

Hakuba’s phone timed out and it left them in suffocating darkness for the long moment it took to find it and turn the light back on. Their hands brushed, having both reached for it. Hakuba pulled his hand away first. Neither of them scooted back toward the edges of the space though.

Kaito thought about closing his eyes and trying to sleep, but the idea of spending potentially his last moments asleep felt cheap. He was going to crawl out of his skin though. He hated being trapped. Always had hated it. He shifted. Shifted again when it only managed to dig rocks more pointedly into his skin. “Distract me?” he said after an unknown amount of time.

“Distract you how?” Hakuba asked. “We decided cards were out.”

“I don’t know. A story or a game or something.” Kaito fiddled with the edges of the scarf he’d set down earlier.

“A game.” Hakuba hummed, thinking. Slowly, he said, “Kuroba. We are most likely going to die.”

“Loving the optimism.”

“I would like to do so with the least number of regrets.”

Kaito scowled in Hakuba’s direction. Hakuba could have been something from a horror movie in the lighting they had, so it was probably a really good scowl. “Not seeing how this is a game, Hakuba.”

“We could take turns saying things we want to air out. I know I have my fair share of secrets weighing on me,” Hakuba said with a wry smile.

“This sounds a lot like your attempts to get a confession of criminal activity from me.”

“No, that’s not—” Hakuba let out a frustrated sound. “I’m not thinking in lines of incriminating things. Merely things that weigh heavy on us.”

“Not sure we’re at the heavy secret stage of whatever the hell we have going on,” Kaito quipped.

“Entertain yourself then,” Hakuba huffed.

He turned his back on Kaito and Kaito felt a twinge of guilt. If Kaito confessed a secret… what kind of things were they even talking about here? “You go first,” Kaito said after several dozen breaths of tense silence.

“Oh no, you’re clearly not interested.”

Hakuba was such an ass sometimes, Kaito thought. “It’s better than waiting to die I guess.”

“What a ringing endorsement.”

“Shut up or spill, Hakuba.”

Hakuba turned back and frowned. His mouth opened. Closed. Ha, not so easy to spill secrets, was it?

“Scared?” Kaito taunted. “I guess it could be a problem to let me know your deep dark secrets.”

“That’s not it. I don’t know where to start.”

“Start wherever.”

“Maybe you should start,” Hakuba snapped.

Kaito rolled his eyes. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t eat fish.”

“…I highly doubt that this is something that weighs on you, Kuroba,” Saguru said archly. “Although it is strange for someone born and raised in Japan.”

“Well it’s kind of a secret. Only my mom, Jii, and Aoko really know why.”

“And why is that?”

Kaito pursed his lips. He wasn’t going to mention his phobia. That would be giving Hakuba something to hold over his head and use against him. He could tell a bit of truth though. “I fell in a fish pond as a kid and a fish tried to swallow my arm. I’ve hated anything with scales ever since. Just looking at them brings back the awful smell of mucky water and slimy fish and—” Kaito shuddered. “Yeah, don’t want to eat something that is so gross.”

Hakuba hummed, bemused. “Alright then. I suppose that is being honest if nothing else.”

“Well what sort of confession were you thinking of, oh mighty detective?”

Hakuba looked him dead in the eye. “I’m gay,” he said bluntly. “And this is the first I’ve ever said so out loud.”

“E-eh? Really?” Kaito blinked rapidly. He. Couldn’t compute that really? No, it was fine that Hakuba was gay, it just. Didn’t fit? He flirted with women? And girls clearly were interested in him if their class was any indication. “Huh.”

“Well? Is that it?”

Kaito blinked again and realized Hakuba was…tense. Oh. He softened a little inside. “Um, congrats on saying it out loud?” Oh crap, should Kaito share something like that back? “Are you… okay with being gay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Defensive much? “You’ve apparently never said it out loud. Even I’ve—”

“You’ve what?” Hakuba’s eyes are sharp in the dim light.

“Ugh.” Kaito rubbed grit into the back of his neck. “Even I’ve said that I sometimes find men attractive out loud before. To myself and to Aoko.”

“Oh.” The defensiveness bled away into understanding.

“Yeah.”

Awkward.

Kaito cleared his throat. “Uh. So, to follow that. Hm. Well I guess I technically just outed myself as sort of bi? But.” He swallowed. Oh, it was actually a lot harder to say this sort of thing aloud than he thought it would be. “I like Aoko. A lot.”

“I think everyone in class is aware of that,” Hakuba said. His voice was a little scratchy. The dust, of course.

“Whatever. It’s just.” You know what? Kaito hated vulnerability. “I guess I wonder if it’s love or love. Is it because she’s the person who’s closest or…? Anyway, I’ve never told Aoko.”

“…I believe she cares for you as well,” Hakuba said kindly.

“She has awful taste,” Kaito joked.

Hakuba actually laughed a little. The space around them felt a little less oppressive for a moment.

“You really never told anyone?” Kaito asked.

“Who would I tell?” Hakuba asked rhetorically. “I haven’t had a close friend my age since I was twelve. My closest friends are my caretaker and a hawk.”

Ouch. “…Aoko’s my only close friend,” Kaito offered.

“I used to think that the price of genius was intimidating everyone away. Now I suppose it was my lack of social ability.”

“Oh, social ability doesn’t mean much if you don’t let anyone close.” Kaito would know that better than anyone.

“It’s lonely,” Hakuba admitted.

It was too vulnerable and yet Kaito supposed Hakuba was right about this exchange. They might die here. Why not air some of the things buried deep in them to someone else, just this once? It could be the only chance to do so.

“Yeah. It’s lonely,” Kaito agreed. “It’s part of why I was mad at my mom for going to America. She was someone who got it.”

“America?” Hakuba questioned.

“She’s in Las Vegas. There’s a pretty big stage magician scene out there. She works as an assistant and helps magicians develop new tricks.”

Hakuba moved a little closer. “When did she go to America?”

“I was thirteen?” Kaito shrugged. “Old enough to take care of myself.”

“Hm.” That was a sound of disagreement.

“Some of us can cook,” Kaito said, “and don’t need a housekeeper or nanny, or whatever that old lady is to you.”

“Baaya is the most stable presence in my life,” Hakuba said. “My parents shipped me back and forth across the world and are both career-driven people. That doesn’t lend itself well to childrearing. Baaya is more of a parent to me than they are.”

Ah. That was sad. Kaito at least had his parents for some of his life. His father was a big part of his early childhood. His mother had been there helping him gain skill for years after Toichi’s death. “They didn’t spend any time with you?”

Hakuba hesitated and in the silence, something crashed distantly. It made them both flinch though, moving closer to each other and the light for comfort. Kaito could almost make out the gold of Hakuba’s eyes this close, bright even with the rest of his body grayed out by shadows and dust.

“They did,” Hakuba said finally. “Mother encouraged my love of books. Otou-san taught me the very basics of deduction. But they were busy, and I never quite…”

“Quite what?” Kaito’s voice came out hushed, gentle.

“Fit,” Hakuba said. “I’ve never fit. Not in Japan, not in England. A half-blood child of a divorced couple who can’t socialize with children his own age. Up until I began gaining fame for solving cases, I felt like a nuisance at best, a bit like an easily forgotten pet to be paraded at social events at worst.” Hakuba breathed out heavily. Dust stirred with the force of it, swirling eddies. “I felt more at home in the imaginary worlds of my books than reality most of the time.”

“Hakuba…”

“I am not saying it for pity,” Hakuba said, sharp. “I never told them though how it felt to forever fly back and forth, switching between languages and cultures and never feeling quite right with either.”

How many times had Kaito thought of Hakuba as only British? It made a tiny squirm of guilt shift in his gut. “Are you mad at your parents?”

“Are you mad at yours? Parental choices shape us, and as children we have to live with it.”

Kaito drew his knees to his chest. He didn’t. He didn’t want to look at the part of him that had those sort of negative emotions. They weren’t useful emotions. Anger at his father’s killers, anger at corruption in the police that had let those killers slip through the cracks without even a true investigation… That was useful for drive. For purpose. The rest of it was only muddying the black and white of it all.

He sighed. “Maybe,” he admitted. “Maybe I’m mad at my mom a bit for moving half the world away. Maybe I’m a little mad at my dad for dying.” It felt wrong to say that out loud. Like. Like it was disloyal to his dad’s memory. Like Kaito’s efforts as Kid wouldn’t outweigh the bit of him that was still that eight -year-old that felt betrayed that the man he looked up to was as mortal as anyone else.

“Maybe I’m a bit angry that my parents thought raising a child from opposite sides of the world was a good idea,” Saguru said, covering Kaito’s rising guilt and discomfort with his own confession. “For as much as I am glad for my freedom to come and go as I please, it would be nice to know if my presence is ever missed.”

“Everyone here notices when you’re gone,” Kaito offered, nudging Hakuba with his elbow—when had they gotten quite so close? “The girls always talk about how they hope you’ll return soon.” Too late he realized girls missing him wasn’t exactly something Hakuba would care about.

But Hakuba gave him a wan smile for the effort. “I’m sure you don’t miss me at all.”

More guilt at all those moments on heists where he’d heaved a sigh of relief that he didn’t have to deal with Hakuba and Beika’s devil child. Kaito cleared his throat. “I definitely notice when you’re gone.”

Hakuba huffed a laugh and it wasn’t even a real, true laugh, and Kaito wanted to change that, to make Hakuba laugh and mean it all of a sudden because if they died here, it didn’t feel right to die with all this bittersweet feelings in the air. This whole sharing secrets was supposed to clear away regrets, not make them worse.

“…Hakuba.” Kaito leaned closer, reaching out to brush his sleeve. He wasn’t sure what he was doing, just that he felt like he had to do something.

“Yes?”

Hakuba’s face was close.

Kaito swallowed. Maybe it was just because of the situation, but he wanted… Maybe… He leaned a little closer. The right words didn’t appear. Kaito was supposed to be able to adjust to any moment, any situation, fit on any mask at the space of a breath, but there weren’t masks here. It was open and vulnerable as an open wound.

He reached out. Hakuba watched his hand near his cheek and didn’t pull away. The faintest hint of stubble at the edge of Hakuba’s jaw. Grit and dust and sweat against sweaty fingertips. Kaito didn’t know what the hell he was doing. Hakuba leaned in further.

The barest brush of lips and breath, the sense of a mouth beyond that, and Kaito’s heart was beating faster than the time he’d kissed a girl on a dare in junior high.

Something gave a loud crack behind them and they jumped apart. Sudden light stabbed into Kaito’s eyes.

He swore, shielding his eyes so they could adjust after hours in dimness. Squinting, he was at least sure that they weren’t going to die from rubble and that there wasn’t some kind of miracle tunnel from a rescue operation. Instead there was an unnaturally even circle in the wall that was glowing a blinding shade of silver-veined red.

“Akako?!” he yelped when his eyes finally adjusted past the glow to see the person standing in the middle of it.

“Kuroba.” Her teeth were grit and she looked exhausted and furious. “Get the hell through the hole.”

“I. What?”

“Is there a carbon monoxide leak giving us visions or is that Koizumi-san?” Hakuba asked.

“Uh, I think it’s really Koizumi,” Kaito said.

“Through. The portal,” Koizumi said tensely. “Now.”

Kaito didn’t think twice; his survival instinct was strong. He grabbed Hakuba and Hakuba’s phone and dragged them bodily past Koizumi’s body holding the hole open.

The hole closed behind them with another awful crack. He now knew the sound reality made when someone ripped a hole in space. Great. Wonderful. Not brain-bending at all.

“You owe me,” Koizumi said, wiping sweat from her brow. She looked exhausted and the least put together he’d ever seen her. Not to mention the room he was in looked… kind of wrecked. Like Koizumi shoved all the furniture to the walls, ripped up the rug, and painted on the floor and wall with something that looked suspiciously like blood.

Hmm, yeah, Kaito wasn’t going to examine that closer.

Hakuba looked frozen, eyes flicking about to take in the details without really believing what he was seeing.

Wow, they were both a mess. They had so much dust they were literally gray except for the places where they’d bled. Which were red and the particularly discomforting rusty brown-black that dried blood turned. Now that they weren’t trapped under a building and possibly dying, Kaito’s injuries rushed back to the forefront, all aches and uncomfortable lungs and knee-melting relief.

He sat on the ground not even caring that it was smudging one of Koizumi’s creepy symbols. “Oh thank fuck.”

“No,” Koizumi said crossly, “thank me. You have no idea how much trouble this was.”

“Then why did you even bother?” Kaito asked.

“If you think for a minute that I went through all the work of trying to ensnare you just for you to die from a building of all things,” Koizumi said as her eyes narrowed dangerously, “you’re even more of an idiot than I thought you could be.”

“I didn’t think it was even possible to—” Kaito waved a hand, indicating ripping through the fabric of reality.

“Possible, but not easy,” Koizumi said with a sniff. “You owe me a favor and a date. Two favors,” she corrected, glancing at Hakuba. “Because you had baggage.”

“Pardon me?” Hakuba said. Kaito would laugh at how insulted he looked except he was a bit too emotionally drained for that.

“So yes,” Koizumi said, crossing her arms and tossing her sweat-clumped hair. “You owe me favors.”

“Nothing against my morals,” Kaito said. He flopped to the floor. Wasn’t like he could get dirtier than he was already. “Do you have a shower we could borrow?”

“Do you want to owe me more?”

“Do you really want us walking around your house like this?”

Koizumi huffed. “There is a guest bath down the hallway on the right, and another at the end of the hall on the left.” Wow, two baths on one floor. But he kind of figured she had a mansion or something. “My butler will bring you a change of clothes and towels. I am going to lay down. Kuroba, if you try to wiggle out of your debt later, I will curse you and the next three generations of your descendants, should you be so lucky to have any.”

Kaito waited until she stomped out of the room to open his eyes again. “I feel like a bird that flew into a glass window,” he said.

“Kuroba, is there… I am not sure how…” Hakuba started several times, fumbling with words. “How?”

“Koizumi’s a witch. Don’t know how it works, just don’t think too hard about it.”

Hakuba made a pained sound. “There has to be some… logic… to how that. Whatever just occurred.”

“It breaks the laws of physics,” Kaito said. “You get used to it.” He sat up.

Hakuba stood swaying in the middle of the room, hands gripping his own elbows like he was holding onto his sanity. Fair enough. He had blood on one leg though, and more on his arms and the side of his face. The cut on his face sloped toward Hakuba’s mouth, and Kaito realized with a jolt that Hakuba had kissed him.

Fuck.

“Kuroba?” Hakuba raised an eyebrow at him, concerned.

“Nothing,” Kaito choked. He’d thought he was going to die, yeah, so that was. That was normal, right? Hakuba confessed his sexuality the first time and Kaito didn’t react negatively, and it was only natural he’d want to. To experiment or something in the last however long that. Yeah. Uh.

Oh, Kaito wasn’t thinking about this now.

“I’m going to go find a shower. I’ll go left, you can go right, okay? Okay.”

Kaito walked away fast before Hakuba could call him back. Moving hurt but whatever. He’d had worse. Was it weird to be a little upset that they’d been interrupted before Kaito could really register how that kiss felt? Or if he liked it? Did he like it??

Kaito stripped and stepped under the shower water before it was warm. The shock was good to get him out of his head long enough to wash what looked like two and a half pounds of dirt and dust from his body and find a first aid kit to patch where he’d gotten cuts. The clothes that the butler left—while Kaito was showering and in some method he hadn’t heard him do it—fit unnervingly well. Why did Koizumi have clothes that fit him?

Kaito grimaced. Maybe he shouldn’t go down that trail of thought.

Okay. Next. One, make sure Hakuba didn’t drown in the shower. Two, get the hell out of Koizumi’s place before she decided to put a spell on him in addition to him owing her favors. Three… talk to Hakuba? Maybe? Or he could just skip to figuring out an excuse to justify how they ended up out of the pile of rubble that should have killed them in more-or-less one piece?

It took a minute to find the bathroom Hakuba was in. Koizumi definitely had too big of a house and too many random rooms with identical doors with slightly unnerving decorations that left Kaito feeling like he was being stared at by things like an antique painting of an Irish wolfhound. The shower wasn’t running, but Kaito didn’t hear any noise in there either.

He knocked. “Hakuba?”

Nothing.

Kaito waited for a slow count of five before turning the doorknob. It wasn’t locked.

Inside, Hakuba was shirtless, only wearing underwear, and staring at his own first aid kit like it could tell him the secrets of the universe.

“I’ll take it as a ‘maybe’ to if you’re okay,” Kaito said.

Hakuba flinched, turning to stare at him and cover his chest like some kind of Victorian maiden before wincing as it no doubt aggravated the livid-looking start of a bruise on his ribs. Hakuba got the worst of the damage between them from the look of it. Kaito expected Hakuba to settle since it was just him, but instead he seemed even more flustered, face going a splotchy pink.

“Kuroba!”

“I knocked,” Kaito said. Was Hakuba body shy? He didn’t have anything to be ashamed of for the look of it. Hakuba was solidly built and fit. It wasn’t like he had some sort of bad scars or an embarrassing third nipple or something. Or… maybe he was flustered because he’d kissed Kaito and confessed to being gay, and he was half-dressed in front of someone he was attracted to. Kaito blushed a bit himself at that realization.

He scratched the back of his head, looking up at the paneled ceiling. “Do you need help with bandaging?”

“…I could use assistance with my ribs and back,” Hakuba said after a long, uncomfortable moment.

Kaito nodded, moved forward brusquely. Perfectly normal to help bandage someone up. Nothing odd about a bit of partial nudity between boys. But Kaito’s cheeks stayed warm as Hakuba turned his back to him. As Kaito touched his bare skin and Hakuba’s breath caught in his throat, maybe from pain or maybe not.

“I’m sorry,” Hakuba blurted as Kaito finished tying off bandages around a cut on his side.

“For?”

“The…kiss,” Hakuba said, facing conveniently away so Kaito couldn’t see his expression. The mirror had too much condensation to give him a glimpse. “I shouldn’t have taken advantage of—”

“It’s fine,” Kaito said.

Hakuba’s shoulder jumped under his hand. “Are you sure that—”

“I’m sure.”

“Kuroba…” Hakuba turned. He blushed down his chest, Kaito noted. It was weirdly cute?

“Look. Let’s revisit this when we’re not hopped up on a near-death situation,” Kaito said. “But for the record, I kissed you back.”

Hakuba frowned. “You didn’t.”

“Did.”

“Kuroba, that barely lasted long enough to be counted as a kiss, and I initiated it. I would notice if you had kissed back.”

Kaito was going to blame this on dopey, relief-high brain, but okay. He was doing this. He caught Hakuba’s face in one hand like earlier and this time he leaned in, pressing lips together, firm and unmistakable. Hakuba’s mouth opened in shock and it got a little wetter.

Kaito pulled back.

Hakuba stared, face red, mouth open and a bit shiny at his lips.

Kaito licked his own lips as they practically tingled. “There. Even. One surprise kiss each. Next time one of us asks first.”

“Next time?”

Oh, Kaito did not just say that. Crap. Thankfully he had an excellent poker face. “Oh, did you think I just kiss anyone? Ouch, Hakuba.” It was funny to watch him flail a little, words failing. Kaito took his distraction as a chance to get clothing on him. “And now we’re leaving?”

“But? Koizumi-san?” Hakuba protested as Kaito took him by the arm and pulled him down the hall.

“Will get over it. Pretty sure she left to pass out for a few hours anyway. She knows how to find me.”

Hakuba couldn’t argue that; Koizumi had just ripped a hole in space to find Kaito.

Kaito glanced at his phone, a message to Jii having finally gone through, this time with their current location. He’d be there in fifteen minutes. “Okay. Hakuba, while we wait for a ride, you’re helping me come up with a cover story.”

Hakuba must give up on trying to understand or control any of this because Kaito could practically see the switch flip as his shoulder slumped the slightest bit. The whole way out of Koizumi’s hell-home, Hakuba’s hand was warm against Kaito’s own.

[xnicowritesx]

One Month Until HakuKai Week!

There is one month left until HakuKai week begins! Have you guys started on your works yet?

[lisatelramor]

For Want of Wings (Manmade Will Do)

When Kaito was little, he wished he had wings.

He had always loved heights to the point where his mother used to tease him of being a monkey for how often he climbed trees or furniture or could spend ages staring out a high window. Kaito distinctly remembered one of his fifth birthday gifts being a trip to Tokyo Tower just so he could see the city from its top.

That love never went away, though it changed after his father died. Kaito still loved heights, but instead of wanting wings so he could fly and see the world up above, he wished he could fly because bids looked so free and happy. And he was stuck on the ground in reality, a dead dad and a grieving mother and no idea how to process any of it.

The doves were about as close as Kaito could get to having wings as a kid. They could fly for him, and there was always a complicated mix of joy and jealousy when he watched their wings beat through the air.

After Kid, he had gliding. It wasn’t wings, but it was the next best thing.

*

When Saguru was little, he wished he had wings.

When he didn’t fit with his classmates or was too foreign for Tokyo and for London, Saguru would picture himself with wings flying up, up, up, away from everything in his life. Away from his father who was constantly busy with work. Away from his mother who gave him affection but not her attention. Away, and maybe turn into a bird in truth, something that had flocks so he could finally fit somewhere.

Of course he set aside those sorts of fantasies as he got older. At ten, he devoted himself to focusing more on logic than wild flights of fancy. If he wanted to fly, there were planes for that, and if he liked birds, he could have one for a pet.

He never truly stopped wanting to escape somewhere, but he knew better than to think that running—or flying in this case—away from his problems wouldn’t make things any better.

*

It had been an offhanded comment. A wistful reminiscence of wishing he could fly as a child to Kaito as they spent an hour exercising Watson. For Saguru, it wasn’t meant to be anything more than sharing a bit more of himself with his boyfriend. Sharing something that he thought Kaito could empathize with since he spent a good deal of time in the air as Kid.

Kaito must have seen something more to that exchange because not even two weeks later Saguru found himself, inexplicably, standing in a glider school just outside Tokyo with Baaya signing a permission form and Kaito digging through protective gear for a helmet that would fit Saguru.

“That was a sentiment from the past,” Saguru said as Kaito pressed a helmet into his hands before going back to find a harness. “You didn’t need to take me here.”

“One, that was a very sad sort of sentiment that in no way convinced me you don’t still want to fly,” Kaito said holding up a harness before dismissing it for a size larger. “Two, you keep saying we should try each other’s hobbies. I know you meant me reading Holmes novellas or joining you on a case, but this is one of my hobbies and you’ll probably like it a lot more than me trying to teach you magic tricks or, you know, anything less legal.”

It was all entirely legal, as Kaito had put forward while convincing Saguru to come. He could have, as Saguru well knew, just taken Saguru on a flight illegally. Instead, he’d taken the time to jump through all the hoops that this sort of thing required of two minors. Even if one minor had glider pilot certification.

“Alright, that’s all your gear, and I already have mine,” Kaito said clapping his hands. “You just have to sign the waiver and we’re golden for doing a tandem flight. You’ll like the glider I have here. It’s blue with a white dove sewn into it.”

Saguru let himself get tugged to the counter to sign the waiver. Baaya patted him on the shoulder, amusement dancing in her eyes as Kaito chattered on about wind currents and past flight experiences. Saguru wasn’t afraid of heights. He didn’t have a fear of flying either, although his experiences with flying were more on the inside of vehicles, not dangling in a harness from what was essentially a glorified kite. That said, being on a plane or helicopter or, well, even a dirigible was a lot different than hang gliding. Saguru couldn’t help a bit of apprehension about the idea.

Kaito was thrilled though as they loaded up their gear and glider with other certified gliders. He laced their fingers together and smiled the whole perilous drive up a narrow switchback road to the launch point most of the way up a mountain. He had a bounce in his step as they worked together unloading everyone’s gear.

Saguru almost backed down when he looked out at the expanse of land they’d be gliding over. It was beautiful. It was terrifying. But there was Kaito, still at his side, pulling him in for a quick side-hug before helping him into the harness. Saguru couldn’t do anything to dim that smile.

The knot of anxiety twisted tighter, almost to breaking as they launched. But it fell loose when they caught the first updraft and Kaito laughed, joyous and free.

The world fell away beneath them, wind rushing past their faces, and the peculiar feeling of being supported in the air made Saguru’s stomach swoop.

Kaito flashed him a grin that was more often found on his alter ego’s face. “This,” he called over the rush of air around them, “is as close as you can get to being a bird!” The sheer joy on his face made Saguru’s heart skip a beat.

Saguru looked at Kaito’s open glee and the peace that sat behind it that was so often missing. His breath steadied. Fear lost its grip. Below them spread kilometers of forest and mountain. There were farms and houses and city in the distance. Below there were birds flitting from tree to tree, having no need to go up as high as the glider. They were only gliding, but it felt like they could fly on forever. Fly away together.

Saguru laughed softly, a bubble of awe rising in his chest. This, this moment here, was as close as a man could get to having wings.

“Like it?” Kaito asked, grinning as he clearly knew the answer.

“I love it,” Saguru said.

“We’ll have to do this again then. As often as you like.”

For the moment Saguru let go of it all, let the wind blow away any current worries and sweep away all the past from him like it couldn’t cling to him up so high. For the moment, Saguru flew.

[lisatelramor]

More Like a Nightmare 

Kaito’s breath came in shallow, rasping pants, lungs burning with exertion. It felt like he had been running for hours, but it couldn’t have been that long. All he was sure of was that he was being followed. Being watched. There were sirens all around, flashing lights, but somehow he’d still managed to avoid the police so far. Somehow he kept finding the right shadow, the broken door lock, the rusty dumpster to hide behind before they rounded the corner to arrest him.

He was up a fire escape now, arms and legs aching, a stitch in his side. The metal rails were rough and cold, and just a bit slippery from his sweat as he rested his forehead against them. Just a moment. Just a moment to breathe. He just needed to—

The creak of a door, right above the fire escape, and no alarm going off. Kaito froze, chest freezing even as it spasmed for air. Still. Still. They didn’t know he was there, he wasn’t in Kid’s white anymore, he wasn’t suspicious, just a random person on the fire escape and.

And looking down at him was Hakuba Saguru, expression unreadable.

Kaito rose shakily back to standing.

“You should stop,” he said. “Before it’s too late.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Kaito said, voice a bit deeper and slower than his natural tone, posture shifted to seem wider, heavier, not Kaito at all, just a man, a random man.

“You know exactly what I mean, Kid,” Hakuba said, soft as a silk glove before it tightened its grip. “You can negotiate. You must be doing this for a reason. I know you. You aren’t a bad person.”

“You don’t know me.”

“Don’t I, Kuroba-kun?”

Suddenly Hakuba was in front of him and Kaito tried to take a step back, but the railing was behind him, digging into the middle of his back as Hakuba’s eyes seemed to pin him in place.

“Why do you do it, Kuroba-kun?” Hakuba said, too close, so very close that the words were practically breathed into Kaito’s lungs and Hakuba’s sharp, golden-eyed stare stabbed firm. “Aren’t you afraid?”

“Afraid of what?”

“Of what happens after?”

Kaito opened his mouth to answer and Hakuba crumpled, eyes still open and accusing as his neck exploded into a fountain of blood. There was a horrible, rattly gurgle as he went down. The blood was warm. The railing was cold. Bits of viscera spattered Kaito’s face and chest and the hole in Hakuba’s neck could only be from a high-caliber bullet.

He had to be dead before he hit the ground, the clang of the metal fire escape steps as limbs struck at odd angles. But his eyes didn’t stop staring.

Your fault, they seemed to say. Your fault.

Kaito’s breath hitched. He had to move had to run had to—

A man with a silenced gun stood in a window of the opposite building, aim sure and steady. Kaito stared at him, unable to get his body to move. He saw the flash of the muzzle, the slight jerk of the gun and—

Kaito dragged breath into his lungs like it was the last breath he’s get before he drowned. Sheets tangled his feet as he staggered free of his blankets toward the trash bin by his desk. His stomach rebelled just as he reached it, emptying its meager contents between frantic, pained gasps for breath.

Kaito’s body was soaked with cold sweat. His hands were shaking in a way he couldn’t let them do as a magician. Swallowing around his nausea, he tried to focus on his hands in the dim pre-dawn twilight.

There wasn’t blood staining them. He didn’t have half-gloves on and they weren’t scraped from scrambling up rough surfaces. Just years of old scars, all faint and thin from razor nicks and dove claws and solder burns.

“Fuck,” Kaito rasped. It had felt so real. “Fuck.”

Of course, he thought as he buried his face in those scarred hands, he’d watch Hakuba die. They weren’t even friends, really. It was all a cat-and-mouse back and forth. Ongoing argument. Conversation at best where neither one would let the other win.

Kaito had dreams where Aoko died. Dreams where she opened her door to greet him and was shot through with a dozen bullets. Dreams where Nakamori-keibu had a gun to his head and a dark-suited shadow at his back forcing him to step off the roof. Dreams where Edogawa Conan became a broken mess of limbs on the pavement when a jump failed, and Kaito couldn’t catch his tiny body fast enough.

He saw Hakuba die over and over, more often than the others, and it was a cruel kind of irony to that because he shouldn’t be the one his subconscious was most worried for. And yet detectives were stubbornly nosey and Hakuba had stuck himself in Kid’s life, in Kaito’s and he was the closest to figuring it all out. He knew too much and too little and Kaito couldn’t trust him and wanted to trust him all in the same snarling tangle of messy feelings he didn’t have time or patience to pick apart.

His breaths slowed, no longer burning in his throat. Kaito’s hands still shook, but at a reasonable level. He was so tired.

Ever since the Nightmare mess went down, the dreams—nightmares really, who was he kidding?—had gone from once in a blue moon to more than once a week. Kaito had a terrible sleep record in the first place, but it felt like he was always running off fumes these days. He was going to slip up at this rate and he couldn’t afford to.

The fact that Kaito had a mind for detail, a great memory, and had run into several murders over the last few months meant that his nightmares had so freaking many things to pull from these days it wasn’t even funny. As a high school student, Kaito shouldn’t know near so much about how to determine the time of death on a corpse as he did.

Well. Not like he ever claimed to be normal.

With heavy limbs, Kaito crept out of bed to the bathroom, helping himself to a handful of water. He used another to wash away the sweat on his face and neck. It dribbled down his collarbone in cold rivulets. The face in the mirror looked too old for seventeen. Kaito was going to have to put on concealer tomorrow to hide the dark shadows under his eyes.

Feeling only a little better after cleaning up, he staggered back to his bedroom. Thank goodness his mother wasn’t here. Kaito wouldn’t know where to start explaining his recent sleeping habits.

There was no chance he was sleeping again so soon, not even with how tired he was, so Kaito picked up his phone. A message from Jii-san about a new smoke bomb he’d commissioned. An email from his mother filled with glamor photos of the Vegas night life and very little content o n how she was actually doing. He should call her soon. Instead of her number, though, he found his hand lingering over Hakuba’s cell number.

Hakuba warned him a few times when he didn’t need to. Hakuba also tried to catch him and expose his identity in public. Hakuba had backed off of chasing lately and Kaito didn’t know why.

His thumb brushed the call button and instead of canceling, he let it ring through. Kaito couldn’t quite say why his breath stuck in his chest as he listened to it ring. And ring.

The call picked up right before it could roll over to messages, a befuddled “Hello?” coming tinnily through the speaker.

Kaito hung up. His lungs ached as he took a deep breath. The phone in his hand vibrated as Hakuba tried to call back. Kaito canceled it. Brought up messages instead.

Sorry, he typed. Didn’t mean to call that number.

You’re forgiven, Hakuba responded less than thirty seconds later. Though I must suggest you get sleep if you are so tired as to mistakenly call my number. It is four twenty-seven in Japan.

Kaito snorted. No shit. Hakuba probably didn’t really believe it was a miscall either. Not tired, he lied.

Your sleeping habits are abysmal, Hakuba replied. Kaito could all but hear the dry tone of his voice. With that aborted call, at least he knew it really was Hakuba. And that Hakuba was alive. Since you are awake, care for a game?

Sure, Kaito said. Why not? Didn’t really matter what game. Kaito curled around his phone, probably killing his vision slowly, and let Hakuba text word games at him. Just like a friend would do.

For a little bit, the bright rectangle of his cell phone screen warded off the terrors of his mind.