It was truly amazing, the amount of corpses murdered in cruel and bizarre ways his poor, unfortunate friend came across. Who murders someone right outside a police station? Honestly! That was the kind of crime that only ever happened around the one and only Kudo Shinichi. At least it had been a pretty straightforward case without the sort of ridiculous, convoluted methods murderers seemed to use these days.
"It's getting cloudier," Kudo observed as they stood outside a brightly lit convenience store near the station, drawing Heiji's attention. Heiji looked up to see a gray blanket settled over the sky. "I don't think we're going to beat the snow."
Heiji distinctly remembered Ran telling him to bring Kudo back before it got dark and before the storm hit. But that had two cases ago.
He snorted. "No, I think we passed that mark a couple hours ago. Listen, Kudo, my parents are both away on business, so we don't have to come up with a bunch of excuses and keep the act up. How about you come to my place and spend the night?"
Kudo looked up for a minute, pondering. "I don't think Ran will like that very much."
"Well, I'm not putting myself or my motorcycle through a freakin' snowstorm to take you all the way back to that detective agency. Just call her and tell her you're spending the night here 'cause of the weather. You've stayed over at the professor's plenty of times, yeah?"
"All right," Kudo grumbled, fishing his Conan phone out of his pocket. "You win. I don't relish the idea of arriving at the Mouri's in the freezing cold at four in the morning anyway."
"This way, then," Heiji grinned, gently steering his friend in the right direction. His breath came out in visible puffs as they walked along, hands in his pockets and eyes fixed on the Christmas lights adorning the trees in the street and the hustle and bustle around the Osaka Christmas Market. They passed enormous trees all lit up and decorated with shiny ornaments, snowman sculptures, sleighs, everything. If Heiji could think of it, it was there.
Kudo's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Ran says that's fine, but next time to actually keep your promises."
"Hey, it's not like it's my fault we can't see each other without someone winding up six feet under," Heiji protested. "I think you need to get a specially made, ultra-powerful good luck charm. Your bad luck really reaches new heights. And so do bodies."
"Oh, don't remind me of the car incident. I'm aware," Kudo groaned, rolling his eyes. "I'd sure like to know where Kaitou Kid gets all that insanely good luck from. Maybe—"
A scream cut him off, and both detectives glanced at each other with a knowing look as they took off towards the source. They were greeted with the sight of a corpse on the pavement and a lot of frantic people eager to either get at or away from the crime scene.
Heiji scowled.
It was midnight when the pair finally made it to the Hattori residence. They stepped inside and hung their coats up, shivering in the icebox of a house. In retrospect, perhaps he should have turned the heat on, knowing there was a chance of snow. Heiji immediately went to the living room and threw a log into the old brick fireplace, fetching a lighter at the speed of light. His socks were definitely too thin for a floor that cold.
Kudo came in a moment later, and Heiji chucked a light blue fluffy blanket at him, completely swamping him in fabric. He popped out looking so surprised and disheveled that Heiji really couldn't keep it in; he burst out laughing and came over to help his poor nerd friend. Said nerd friend looked like he was trying very hard to be annoyed (with little success).
"I know that look," Heiji said accusingly. "Come on, Kudo, lighten up!" He stood up straight and dramatically puffed his chest out. "I hereby outlaw the practice of not having fun!"
"By whose authority?" Kudo shot back, a grin spreading across his face.
Oh, it was on. "Hattori Heiji needs no one's say-so!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." He knelt down and poked Kudo, sticking his tongue out.
"Do you have legal documentation of your authoritative status in this household?" Kudo crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the old beige couch with that trademark smug expression of his.
"Why, I thought you'd never ask." Heiji produced his wallet and pulled out a Matsuya* gift card. Kudo took it and pretended to scrutinize its legitimacy, making a great show of turning it over in his hands and holding it about two centimeters in front of his face.
This time, neither of them could keep a straight face and one snort from Kudo had them both rolling on the floor. Every time they thought they were done, they caught each other's eye and it started all over again. Heiji wagered it was a good five minutes until the fits subsided.
"I'm going to go make a hot drink. You want anything?" asked Heiji as he got up and stretched.
Kudo snapped upright and looked him dead in the eye. "Coffee. Please. I'm so coffee deprived it's not even funny."
"Neechan won't let you have it?" Heiji inquired as he motioned for Kudo to sit down. Why not? It wasn't like it was harmful. But then again, Heiji didn't know a whole lot about kids. Kudo was never going to let him live down the liquor thing.
"I get the 'coffee is bad for kids and it'll stunt your growth' lecture every time she catches me trying to sneak a cup. I know she means well, but I'm seriously this close—" Kudo positioned his thumb and index finger almost touching each other to demonstrate, "—to snapping every morning. Plus, I know a thing or two about stunted growth already," he answered with a grim expression on his face.
A ghost of a smile appeared on Heiji's face as he made a noise of agreement. He returned to the couch a moment later with a steaming mug of (decaf—it was late) coffee for his buddy and one hot chocolate for him, complete with a dollop of whipped cream on top.
"Detective Samonji?" Kudo suggested, eyeing the DVDs on the polished wooden shelf next to the TV.
"Detective Samonji."
Thirty minutes later, Heiji and Kudo were jumping up from their seats every five seconds to shout out evidence in their own mini deduction competition. Which would have been fine, but they were both wrapped in blankets like oversized burritos, causing them to keep tripping over them when they got underfoot. It was a miracle nothing had gotten broken yet.
"It's the tablecloth! I'm calling it now, it's the tablecloth! That stain has to be the unidentified substance on the wife's shoes!" Kudo yelled, almost dropping his coffee for the third time (Heiji had since put his own drink on the table to avoid spilling it).
Heiji scoffed and lightly pushed Kudo. "What? No! The key evidence is the scuff on the door, idiot! If the culprit isn't the brother-in-law, I'll...I'll treat you dinner at some really nice sushi place!"
"I'll enjoy my free sushi very much," Kudo had the audacityto reply.
"Oh, you are going to be eating those words," Heiji declared, pointing a finger at him.
Kudo turned and put a hand on Heiji's shoulder, a malicious grin accompanying the action. He shook his head and tutted obnoxiously. "Actually, Hattori, I'm going to be eating sushi."
Heiji threw his hands up in exasperation. "Oh my God!"
"You kind of walked into that one."
He had. Not that he was ever going to admit that.
The episode ended with Heiji's and Kudo's indignation as it turned out that they'd both been wrong and the murderer had been the cousin. At least they had both had some right points concerning certain pieces of evidence. Heiji did, however, make a point of complaining loudly about the murder method as he went back into the kitchen to get them refills. Kudo was oddly silent as Heiji came back in with the cups.
Kudo looked away and out the window to the left of the couch where huge snowflakes were falling fast. A conflicting look came over his face as he rested his chin in his palm, setting his elbow on the arm of the couch.
"Oi, Kudo, what's wrong?" asked Heiji, furrowing his brow.
"It's just...no, it's stupid. Never mind."
"Hey, hey. Look at me. Whatever it is, I know you well enough to know it's not stupid," Heiji said gently as he took his seat back. Passing Kudo's new cup of coffee to him, he waited patiently.
Some might call him hot-headed, but Hattori Heiji would be damned if he didn't sit down and listen to his best friend when he clearly needed to talk.
Kudo took a deep breath and looked to the side at nothing in particular. "Well, I was just thinking. This-tonight has been so nice. It's been a relief from the constant lying, the constant paranoia, the fear that—" He broke off and looked down into his mug. "The fear that I'll never be able to really be Kudo Shinichi again.
"But I don't know if I'll be able to keep this charade going. If Gin and Vodka find out about my identity, they'll come for everyone and they'll do it without a shred of mercy. And at the end of the day, it'll be all my fault. It was so selfish to live with the Mouris, to put them both in so much danger. And they don't even know. Ran's already gotten suspicious more times than I care to admit. I should have left ages ago. But I just can't pull myself away from it."
"Because of Ran-san?"
Kudo shook his head and kept his eyes fixed firmly on his hands in his lap. "It's really because if I do that, I'm going to be severing the last tie I have to my old life. If I do that, that's pretty much admitting this whole thing is hopeless. Now that I'm not living that life anymore, I have so many regrets. So many things I want to fix."
The room fell silent as Heiji gathered his thoughts. "I'm not going to give you the 'Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine' thing. Let's face it, that's a very real possibility. And it sucks. It sucks a lot. But, well...sometimes, I think you just have to take things a day at a time. Maybe you didn't make any progress on the Black Org case today, but that's okay, you know? You've got a lot of crap piled onto your plate all the time, but this is still, like, life you're living. Sometimes, you've just gotta live it." Heiji picked up his hot chocolate and held it in his hands, letting the cup warm them up.
"And Kudo? I don't think anything is really your fault. You've gone to great lengths to try to keep people safe. It's gotta be maddening, keeping who ya are secret like that. And in any case, I would much rather know what you're going through than stand by forever and do nothing to help. Even if it puts me at risk too. 'Cause you're my best friend."
Kudo's eyes widened as he looked up at Heiji. "I never thought of it like that."
"You at least have the skills and the courage to take control of your life," Heiji said before he could stop himself. He immediately regretted it. "No, I didn't mean—"
Kudo held up a hand. "If you want to talk about it, I'm happy to listen." He coughed and looked away. "You're my best friend too."
Heiji rubbed the back of his neck and leaned further into the back of the couch. "I'm just so afraid of being second best all the time. I feel like everyone around me expects me to be perfect at everything. I mess up one thing in an investigation? Oh, I'm just a high school brat who doesn't know what I'm doing. At school? I have to be top of the class if I want a shot at detective work. I have to be the best at kendo, the best at problem solving, so on and so forth. I just can't do that."
"Pressure," Kudo stated matter-of-factly. "A terrible product of society. Well, if it's worth anything, I can speak for your detective skills. You're astute, observant, and everything a good detective should be. You're a little rash sometimes, yeah, but it's because you're doing the right thing. You're trying to prevent rather than solve if you can help it, and I think that speaks volumes for your character."
The corners of Heiji's mouth twitched upwards. "Thanks. Really. I know logically I can't do everything but you know..."
Kudo grinned back. "Yeah, I do. Thanks to you too."
The pair watched the snow fall, enjoying each other's company in a comfortable silence. Kudo leaned against Heiji, savoring his coffee. The fire was still going strong, it was the middle of the night, he was wrapped in a blanket, and he was with his best friend. Cozy was the only word to describe it.
He had almost dozed off when Kudo's voice broke the silence. "We both have to go back to all that tomorrow. The pressure, the guilt, everything."
Heiji smiled fondly and ruffled Kudo's hair, which was met with only mild protest. "It's all right. We'll always have each other's backs."
The two fell asleep to the sound of the crackling fire.
This was written for my dcmk secret santa 2018 on tumblr. I hope you like it, omajishans! Happy holidays!
*Matsuya is a Japanese restaurant chain