Chapter Text
"If you cease to attend my heists again, then I will surely come to steal you away."
“Hakuba-kun?”
The English detective snapped out of his daydream and muttered a curse as he jerked his knee against his desk. ‘Drats. That’s going to bruise.’
“H-how may I help you, Aoko-san?” The brunette was about to apologize for startling her friend before a loud cackle interrupted her.
“So the British guy can also curse! You really have a potty mouth on you, huh, Hakuba?” Saguru glared as his nemesis continued to chuckle.
It had been two months since Kaitou Kid had visited the detective at the hospital and ever since then, Saguru had been receiving nothing but mixed signals from the damn thief. Well, if you counted that Kuroba Kaito was truly the phantom thief, because it was Kuroba who became weirdly nice after Saguru had come back to school after being injured. Kuroba also still pranked the whole class but mostly Aoko—and now strangely Saguru too—on a daily basis.
The attention Kuroba was giving him mesmerized Saguru but at the same time frustrates him, because every time he thought that Kuroba was finally opening up to him, the prankster always turned one hundred and eighty degrees, shutting himself off again. Whether it was to protect his secrets from Saguru or he just did it to piss him off, Saguru would never know.
“Oi Hakuba, you alright?” Hakuba’s eyes went wide. Since when did Kuroba’s face come so close to his? “Hey, your face is really red. Did you catch a fever again?”
On the corner of his eyes Saguru could see that almost every one of his classmates were staring at him and Kuroba. But none of them mattered right now, certainly not when Kuroba’s face, no, Kaitou Kid’s face was so close to his.
Did Kuroba not realize that Saguru could clearly clarify from this distance that Kuroba and Kaitou Kid was really the same person? Did he not care that Saguru, for this evidence—and other evidences that he had collected throughout these months—could arrest him?
Saguru was suddenly aware of the palm that was currently held against his forehead, snapping him out of his thoughts and also making him blush even deeper.
Since when did Kuroba touch him in such a familiar way?!
“U-umm,” Saguru watched as Kuroba froze, as if the shorter boy had only just now realized where exactly he had put his hand on and how close he was to the Englishman and—oh my, Kuroba’s eyes were really blue.
“Ne, Kaito, since when are you nice to Hakuba-kun?” Aoko’s voice snapped the two males out of their frozen state. Kuroba then snatched his hand away as if he was burnt, and Saguru couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. He looked away as Kuroba turned to his childhood friend.
“Of course I’m nice, Ahoko! I’m always nice to a friend!”
“You’re not that nice to me every time you prank me, Bakaito!”
Soon, the classroom was filled with laughter as their attention was aimed at Aoko and Kuroba’s usual antics. Not long after, the teacher stepped into the class.
“Hey,” Saguru glanced up to find a still standing Kuroba with his hand awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “We are friends, right?”
The blond’s eyes widened, not only at the brunette’s question but also because he had never seen the phantom-thief-slash-resident-magician-and-prankster looked so timid and unsure. And that made his next words flew right out of his mouth without his permission.
“Yes, of course.” Saguru whispered in the room full of people still chattering and getting to their seats, but even with the screeches of desks and chairs, he knew Kuroba could hear the blond loud and clear.
Because his response to Saguru’s statement was a smile.
And that was when Saguru realized that he did, in fact, sincerely thought of Kuroba as his friend.
That same moment, he also realized that Kuroba Kaito’s smile was brighter and even more beautiful than the chrysanthemum flowers Kaitou Kid had given him.
Well, shite.
Later that night, everything did go to shit.
“Give it up, Kid.” Saguru wanted to clap himself on the back for keeping himself calm, despite being covered in glitter and a disgusting amount of slime and all.
They—meaning him and Kaitou Kid—as usual were on the roof of yet another skyscraper which name Saguru couldn't be bothered to remember with.
“That’s a shame,” said the man draped in white whilst performing his ritual of looking at the moon through tonight’s conquest. As he lowered the jewel, he turned confidently towards his rival. “And we were having such a good time too.”
The detective was about to retort, because what part of being covered in goo, slime and glitter was defined good? However, his grumbling quickly turned into a shout of horror when Saguru saw a red dot made its way slowly towards Kaitou Kid’s heart.
'A sniper.'
“KID, GET DOWN!” Saguru didn't think, he leapt.
And then he felt excruciating pain on his right shoulder.
Well, shite again.
It was only a graze.
It was only a graze, but to Baaya it was a serious injury that Saguru had no choice but to agree to a night of observation at the hospital so she wouldn't be in hysterics.
Honestly, the things Saguru did for love.
When Baaya went out to freshen up, a nurse suddenly came in. She came looking murderous that Saguru wondered why the other nurses or doctors hadn't come to the conclusion that this nurse was clearly someone in disguise.
“Why are you always getting hurt?” Kaitou Kid growled as soon as the door closed, visibly uncaring that he was not imitating this particular nurse’s voice.
Thrown aback, Saguru could only reply with a statement he holded dear in his heart. “Because I am a detective.”
The nurse laughed with a humorless tone. “I’m sorry? I thought detectives were supposed to deduct, not get shot or whacked in the head every few hours!”
Saguru shook his head. “Why are you so upset? You may proclaim that you are not one, but you must know that getting hurt comes with the job of being a detective. And even before I came to Japan I received injuries during cases-”
“Yeah, but this time you got hurt because of me!” Saguru gaped, speechless at the wrecked voice.
Silence filled the room for a few seconds before the Brit started to talk again, only to shut his mouth when the nurse, no, Kaitou Kid held up a hand.
Saguru stared quietly at the nurse's face which was hidden by the shadow of her bangs. He watched the trembling hand while the other was clenched tightly on her side.
“I don’t think I can be your friend anymore, Hakuba.”
It sounded like something a child would say, but they both knew it’s something that meant far worse.
'We belong in different worlds. It’s better to stay away from each other.'
The statement left a cold feeling in his wake as Saguru watched Kaitou Kid, no, Kuroba Kaito turning away and heading towards the door.
In each step the man took, Saguru was reminded of Kuroba Kaito.
How they met.
How they fought.
How they argue.
How Kuroba always pranked him at school.
How he had saved Kaitou Kid when he was shot in the eye and had fallen into the sea.
How he had called Kuroba from Paris.
How he watched Kuroba shut himself off after the Nightmare case.
How he unintentionally assisted Kaitou Kid with his heists on several occasions out of the goodness of his heart so the thief didn't die.
How Kaitou Kid had visited him when he was sick and in the hospital.
How he had given him flowers and proclaimed they were friends.
How Saguru thought there was even the slightest chance they could be more than friends.
Saguru scoffed.
“Coward.”
Saguru didn't know if he meant himself or Kuroba or them both even, but when Kuroba paused for two point five seconds before continuing his way out the room and shutting the door, Saguru let his petty self be slightly satisfied of the thief’s hesitation.
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