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The teen blinked wearily as the door opened, eyes going wide as he saw the detective. He turned so that his back was to the Hakuba, hoping the other hadn’t seen the wetness on his face…. Though he most likely had…
“…I had nightmare,” he said, wincing at the hoarseness in his voice.
“Yes.” Hakuba answered, his face softening in fondness. “He’s out of high-school now, since he’s two years older then me. He’s getting his Private Investigator licence, currently. Though the last I heard of him, he was on a pretty big case, going undercover and everything.” Hakuba sighed, he really did miss Ryan, his support, the one who got him through the worst of his times.
“I guess you could consider him my senpai. He taught me much of what I know today, he was a huge part in me becoming a detective. If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be here right now; or living.” He closes his eyes. “He brought me out of the darkness, and I owe him everything. He’s also how I got Watson.” Hakuba let out another sigh. “I miss him too, but the last time I brought him, he nearly died….”
That had been so terrible. He hadn’t known Watson would be scared of flying and the hawk had gone into shock. By the time they got him off the plane he’d nearly stopped breathing. Hakuba had rushed him to a vet, and they were able to calm him down thankfully. Birds could die rather easily when they go into shock; their hearts would just stop.
He’d made Bayaa drive them back to England then.
He listened as the detective spoke, a soft smile coming up at the obvious adoration Hakuba had for this person. It really was nice to know that he did have someone he actually got along with, considering he wasn’t actually all that social with people at school, outside of polite conversation. Well, and not quite so polite if the magician was concerned, though they didn’t bicker all the time… Not usually, anyway.
At the mention of not being alive if not for Ryan, though, a coldness went through him and he drew in a sharp breath, his mind shutting down for a moment. The words following the comment barely heard and faded soon after they reached his ears.
It had never occurred to him that the confident and slightly cocky detective might have ever had enough trouble that he’d let himself be taken by death.
And Kaito found himself scared by the thought, a knot tightening in his chest as he looked down.
Hakuba hadn’t exactly been the most welcome person he’d met. Criminal obsessed, arrogant, and, once he’d come to the conclusion Kaito was Kid, incessantly making accusations, both outright and veiled, and trying to catch the magician off guard. Honestly, every time he’d heard the other’s voice, his thief defenses would immediately go up. And it had been tiring and annoying.
But at some point, he’d started to not mind. Not bring up caution.
A good part of it likely had to do with seeing the other in school quite often. Hard to constantly be in constant ‘beware the detective’ mode when he was with him for so long. However…. another big part of the relaxing of caution had to do with the fact that…. Hakuba did seem to care. He may have said Kid was bait for Spider in the beginning, but he didn’t really want the thief to die. There had also been times like with Chat Noir, the injury to his arm, and being banned from magic at school, when Hakuba took the time to give a bit of help to the person he had already made clear that he was suspicious of being a criminal.
Irritating as the detective could be at times, both during the day and at night…. Kaito already couldn’t imagine what it would be like now without him here.
Wait, scratch that. Considering his first encounter with Spider… he’d be dead.
The magician fell silent again for a few minutes, but he didn’t turn around this time. He half wanted to talk more. Ask about Hakuba’s life, more about his past, why he thought he wouldn’t be alive.
But it wouldn’t be fair of him to ask about things that might be more personal, considering he wasn’t sharing anything himself. Nor did he want to, right now. He was more curious for information than he himself would be willing to give if the other was the one asking.
“…Sounds like a great guy…” he finally said, forcing himself to keep his voice normal. He didn’t really want Hakuba to think he was still depressed, though his current position and the silence from earlier likely hadn’t done much to get rid of any idea that he wasn’t.
Moonlight Archive 