for the prompt: post no-good-very-bad-day cuddles, Heiji and Kazuha

this involves less cuddling than expected. possibly none. but i Tried

Kazuha takes one look at Heiji when she meets back up with him after aikido practice, and cancels the vague plans she'd had for dinner at Dotonbori.

See, the thing is, Heiji's not very good at keeping track of his own mood most of the time. And with anyone else, Kazuha wouldn't bother, really – but she's known Heiji long enough to learn, usually the hard way, that if you let one of Heiji's worse moods build for long enough it eventually explodes like… well, a particularly bad-tempered volcano, maybe.

Point is, it's not pretty all around, and something she'd prefer to avoid if at all possible.

So it's become habit to notice the warning signs of Heiji getting stuck too deep in his own big head, and the abstracted expression he's sporting as he waits for her outside the school gates is practically a waving red flag. Because Heiji is quite easily distracted when he's not on a case, yes, but the faraway look on his face is something different.

Kazuha finds herself just about shaking her head in disbelief. Seriously, they'd only just split up earlier this afternoon after school, what could the idiot have managed to get himself into within those few hours?

(She's not at all surprised to find out later from Otaki-han that it'd been a particularly bad murder case. Heiji's luck, honestly.)

At any rate, she's seen enough to figure out a course of action by the time she semi-intentionally runs into him, startling him enough to react.

"Ow!" Heiji scowls slightly as he looks at her, rubbing his side where she'd poked him hard with one elbow. "What's the big idea, Kazuha?"

Kazuha snorts, and spins on her heel, walking in the opposite direction. "C'mon. We're going to my house, Ran-chan gave me a new curry recipe that I've been dyin' to try."

"But – " Heiji splutters, hurrying to catch up to her. "I thought we were going ta get okonomiyaki?"

"I don't feel like dealin' with all those crowds today," Kazuha replies blithely, because she knows Heiji won't argue with that. "Besides, it's easier to make curry in large batches, and I can't finish that all by myself."

Beside her, Heiji rolls his eyes. "Che. As if I particularly want ta try your cooking."

"Well, it's better than yours, to be sure," Kazuha says right back. She's certainly not the best cook around, and less experienced compared even to Ran-chan, but anything is better than the disaster of Hattori Heiji in a kitchen. "Now stop talking and walk faster, I don't want ta be up all night washin' dishes."

.

later:

"I don't get why we're having dinner on the couch while watching crap telly," Heiji says, as she walks into the living room with the milk tea they'd gotten from a vending machine earlier.

"Shut yer mouth, Heiji, this ain't crap telly." Kazuha sets the two bottles down on the coffee table before taking one bowl of curry from Heiji, and settling herself down on the other end of the couch. "I can't even believe you've never watched a Miyazaki film before. Now scoot over, I'm not lettin' ya take up more than half the couch."

END