A/N: This just popped into my head out of nowhere. It's pretty short and definitely not my best work. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this little ficlet containing this surprisingly rare pair.
It's not the first time Murasaki has taken a case without him, but Nice is still a little annoyed. This is why, as soon as Murasaki steps into Café Nowhere, the first words out of Nice's mouth are "Where have you been?" even though he knows the answer.
Murasaki looks a little bewildered. "Across town, taking care of a client. I thought you had business to attend to today, as well."
From his seat at the bar, Birthday snickers, not even trying to disguise his amusement. Nice shoots him a look, then quickly focuses his attention back to Murasaki.
"I thought we were going to assist this client together," Nice says, trying to keep his voice steady. He's aware that everyone in the room has now focused in on their conversation.
At this, Murasaki just looks even more confused. He takes a seat across from Nice at the table he's sitting at. "This morning, Koneko presented us this case. You said you didn't want to take it. I said I would. It seemed fairly straightforward, so I thought I could handle it myself. And at that point, you stalked off and Koneko informed me that she would find work for you. Is this not how you remember things happening?"
"You're not supposed to take cases without me!" Nice exclaims abruptly. "I didn't think you'd actually follow through! After that conversation, I went to look for you and you were already gone!"
"Excuse me?" Murasaki says. His voice is steady, but there's an undercurrent of anger running through it now.
From the bar, Birthday is giggling uncontrollably. Ratio, who has moved to sit next to him, is fixing him with a glare, but it's not really accomplishing anything.
"I'm not supposed to take cases without you," Murasaki repeats incredulously. "And why, exactly, would that be?"
Nice can't help what comes out of his mouth next, even though he knows it sounds ridiculous. "What if something happened to you? What if you needed help?"
Murasaki freezes. Instead of getting angrier, as Nice had anticipated, he begins to relax. A small smile appears on his face, amused and defiant. "If I needed help. Nice, honestly. Do you hear yourself?"
"What?" Nice says, a little uncertain. He had not been expecting this turn of events.
"For one, I'm perfectly capable of handling myself, especially in regards to the case I just completed, involving retrieving an old lady's missing cat."
Nice winces, and a sheepish smile begins to crawl up his face.
"And secondly, if I was ever in real danger, which I can assure you I rarely am, I have every confidence that you would come to my aid. After all, you need me, since I do all the work around here. Your little business would be nonexistent without me." Murasaki is smirking, and it makes Nice feel much, much better.
"I wasn't really all that worried about you," he says mildly.
"Of course you weren't," Murasaki says, smirk still firmly in place.
"For crying out loud, would you two get a r—"
"We have another case!" Koneko interrupts loudly. Ratio takes this opportunity to place his hand firmly over Birthday's mouth. Everything is back to normal. But, well, normal is a relative term.
7/18/14: Ayo! This fic now has a Chinese translation! If you're interested, check it out here: (weibo dot com) /1901912533/BdJ5jwqeY?mod=weibotime