Notes – Written for a kinkmeme prompt that wanted a Professor Layton & GetBackers crossover under the theme of 'get back the lost future'. Set in the Layton universe, sometime after the third game with some spoilers for it. It's been a very long time since I watched the GetBackers series through, so I'm sorry for any inaccuracies there may be on that part.
"I can't believe we went through all of this trouble just for a stupid hat," Ban mumbled, turning the tall top hat with its red silk ribbon over in his hands.
"But this hat is obviously very important to that English guy, Ban," reasoned Ginji, always the one to see the nice side of everything.
Ban sighed; "If it had been so important then he could have been a bit less vague about it. 'Get back the lost future', what does that even mean?"
"It means that the hat was a present to me from someone who I lost the chance to have a future with," said a calm voice from behind them.
"Oh, hey Mr. Layton," Ginji cheerfully chimed, as Ban badly tried to mask his surprise at the man sneaking up on them without him noticing.
"Hello there, Ginji. I have come to reclaim my hat," Layton replied, "And I will say that I very much appreciate the lengths that you probably had to go through in order to retrieve it. In most cases I'd have done so myself but… I had arranged to meet a friend at the docks today," he gestured to a young boy dressed in blue standing next to him, who smiled up at them, "And was left in the predicament that both my friend and the hat are very important to me. I wouldn't want to risk losing either of them. Hence why I am very glad that the two of you happened to be in London and available to work."
"'Course if the Professah 'ad just told me what was goin' on then I'd 'ave just waited for him to get the 'at back 'imself," the boy commented, in a heavy cockney accent.
"Now, Luke, I'd never leave you alone at the docks for such a long period of time," argued Layton.
"Talk is cheap," Ban cut in.
Layton nodded; "Very well, Mr. Mido, I would not wish to prevent you from receiving your payment after the trouble you undoubtedly went to."
"You're… actually going to pay us?" Ginji asked, a look of doubt crossing his face.
"Of course I am. Those are the terms we agreed to. Is there any reason why I shouldn't pay you?" a puzzled-looking Layton enquired.
"It's just that… well, usually stuff happens that makes our clients not pay us," admitted Ginji.
"How odd. But you can count of that not happening in this case," assured Layton, reaching to take out his wallet, "Now I'd very much appreciate it if you could hand the hat back to me. My head feels most bare without it."
"Sure," said Ban, offering said hat out.
"Baaaaan!" Ginji hissed, in a tone that showed he was trying to be quiet, but was still obviously loud enough for the other two to hear him anyway.
"What is it?" Ban muttered, his tone suggested that he knew every time Ginji tried to whisper to him like that it meant that he had developed a conscience and felt bad for taking their client's money away.
Sure enough; "We can't charge this poor guy! The hat was a gift to him from someone very important and he's been really nice to us."
"I don't see how that changes anything," Ban sighed.
"Mr. Mido is quite right," Layton agreed, snapping them both back to look at him, "That hat means a lot to me and without your help I may have lost it forever. So payment should be given as it is due."
Ban looked from the polite smile of Layton to the puppy-dog eyes of Ginji and shook his head. Sometimes he hated himself for being so easily won over by Ginji's innocent desire to always do the right thing.
"Look, your hat wasn't all that difficult to get back. We pretty much just chased a dog down a few streets," he lied. In truth they had to scale the top of a few buildings following a mischievous definitely-not-native-to-London parrot, which Ginji had eventually managed to strike down with a weak shot of electricity, only for the hat to then be snapped up by some guy with a moustache and weird hair who claimed that the hat should have been his all along, before trying to escape in a flying machine that had taken them the better part of the day to catch. When they had finally found the strange man he was sobbing into a photo of some pretty girl wearing glasses, and with the right amount of 'persuasion' he had handed the hat back to them. But that was beside the point. "It'd look bad on the GetBackers name if we took money for such an easy job," Ban concluded.
"Are you quite sure?" Layton checked.
"He is," Ginji said quickly, before Ban could change his mind.
"In that case, I still feel that I owe you for your troubles," Layton mused, "Luke and I were just about to make a quick stop for some of his favourite ice cream before returning home. You fine fellows are welcome to join us."
"Ice cream? I love that stuff!" Ginji cheered.
"Yes, you probably do," mumbled Ban, then in a louder voice he confirmed, "If you're offering, we'll take you up on it."
"The pleasure will be all mine," assured Layton.
"Ice cream is almost better than payment," laughed Ginji.
"Almost," Ban highlighted, but he was put in good spirits just at the sight of Ginji's mood, so didn't make a point of it.
"Let's go then," hummed Layton, turning to walk away in the direction of Luke's favourite ice cream parlour. As they walked, he placed his beloved top hat back on his head, adjusting it slightly as he watched Luke and Ginji babble away to each other. The two excitable boys seemed to get along very well, especially when the topic of conversation was sugary snacks. The more sullen Ban walked a little further away from them, but Layton felt as if he was quite pleased with the development as well.
However, Layton knew in himself that if the two men had pushed it, he would have paid anything to get back the one last reminder of his lost future with Claire.
For the future with her itself, was something he could never get back for any price.