Stolen in the Night
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Blanket Disclaimer: I have all but memorized this sonnet but I do not own it or any of Shakespeare's works. I also have no drawing skills so neither DC nor MK belong to me. I can however claim the annoying muse that is going to meet an unfortunate end if he continues to annoy me in the middle of work.
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He's so angry that only his Poker Face is keeping the world from knowing that he's feeling more than amusement from making his Task Force look like a group of kindergartners who've yet to learn the wonders of hand-eye coordination. Laughter spills from his mouth as he dances away from the attempts to grab at him – his cape, something – his eyes meeting serious blue ones far too old for the face that they're set in and the laughter comes to a sliding halt. An absent hand motion later and smoke is rising into the air in a sinuous, winding fashion that he uses as a distraction to move behind the young boy whose eyebrows are furrowed into a neat mask of concentration. Bending down to whisper into the boy's ear he flounders to find the words needed to express his anger without giving voice to the worry still curled tightly against his heart. He doesn't want to acknowledge the worry that had him gripping the edge of his desk last night as he tried to ground himself amidst the tumultuous sea that he'd been sent adrift into by the maelstrom created by the worry.
"As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest/In one of thine, from that which thou departest;/And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestowest/Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest." Unbidden the words from his English homework come out into the expectant air as he grips abnormally tense shoulders in his gloved hands. I know you're not a kid, Tantei-kun and now you know that I know he thinks grimly as they stand so still in the midst of the chaos that is the stage set by his heists. Indigo hued eyes darkening as he squeezes the shoulders lightly he forces himself to grin brightly at Nakamori-keibu who's screaming for his Task Force to do something. "Herein lives wisdom, beauty and increase:/Without this folly, age and cold decay:/If all were minded so, the times should cease/And threescore year would make the world away."
"I didn't take you for a Shakespeare fan, Kid."
In his surprise he barely keeps the smile on his face from becoming fixed and decidedly fake while he grins inwardly that his words aren't going unnoticed. "You don't know everything about me, Tantei-kun and I'm finding there's a lot that I don't know about you." His voice is harsh with his face shadowed by the brim of his hat while the distractions he'd so carefully created the night before give him the opening he's needed. So he lightly pushes on the boy's shoulders just enough to cause the boy to trip and cause a rather amusing chain reaction as his Task Force all but exhibit gymnastic-like grace in their attempts to avoid stepping on the boy. Its ten minutes later that he stands on the rooftop with the wind tugging at the heavy folds of his cape while he stares at the skyline of the city with the useless jewel curled tightly within the grasp of one hand. "Let those whom nature hath not made for store,/Harsh featureless and rude, barrenly perish."
Don't you understand, he thinks to himself when the footsteps coming from the stairwell pause, that anyone else in your position would have been found by now? "Look, whom she best endow'd she gave the more;/Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish." He turns to smirk mockingly at the shrunken detective who's still panting from the exertion of running up the flight of stairs to the rooftop where they now stand and for a moment he thinks that he'll choke on the anger that's gathering in his throat. "She carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby/Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die."
He's got to understand it now. He's putting himself in danger by forgetting to act like a kid and someday someone's gonna see. They're gonna see Kudo instead of Edogawa and they're gonna make sure that it's permanent this time. "I hope you remember our little chat, Tantei-kun." He says with a light tone that he doesn't feel as he tosses the jewel over his shoulder knowing without a doubt that the boy will catch it before he's leaning out over the edge of the roof and allowing gravity to take hold. In the precious few seconds where he's being held by nothing more than the wind's gentle caress he has time to wonder why Tantei-kun seemed so surprised. Surely he's not the only one to have noticed. He can't be the only one who's managed to realize that 2 and 2 equal 4 and not 5.
Right?
But some part of him whispers mutinously against his feeble attempts at convincing himself that Tantei-kun is upset because he was chastised like the child that he now looks like. Some part of him hisses in a sibilant fashion that he associates with the wind that maybe he isn't the first to have figured it out but maybe he's the first that's actually bothered to let Tantei-kun know that he's angry because it's so easy for Tantei-kun to forget. It's too easy for Tantei-kun to forget that those eyes belong in no child's face that he's ever known and that uncanny ability to solve crimes only puts him at a greater risk. His body jerks in a motion that will leave him feeling sore tomorrow as he finally stops his free fall and begins to glide through the air his thoughts turning down a path that he's unsure of. But while he's unsure of the path he's never been more certain that what he's doing is the right thing.
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Quotes taken from Shakespeare's Sonnet 11
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