AN: Takes place right after chapter 13

*o*o*

Cooking with Kuroba was...different. As Saguru chopped a growing pile of vegetables and Kuroba put on rice and sliced meat to cook, he couldn't help comparing it to cooking with Mel. Mel had more of a tendency to shoo Saguru off to the side and take over with micromanaging tendencies in the kitchen though. Kuroba didn't seem to care that Saguru's knife skills were less than perfect so long as everything got chopped in more or less similar sizes.

"So you cook," Saguru said, as Kuroba began mixing up a sauce to go over the meal they were making.

"Obviously," Kuroba said. "I don't cook a lot because I'm on the go all the time—easier to just grab something while I'm out—but I've lived on my own for years. I've been cooking since I was in middle school whenever Kaa-chan took trips. You can cook too."

"Poorly. Enough to survive off of." Saguru finished slicing the last of the vegetables as Kuroba tossed the meat into hot oil, using long cooking chopsticks to keep it moving and cooking evenly. "Nothing special."

"Cooking's not your thing then?"

"No, that was always Mel's thing," Saguru said. Kuroba made an enquiring hum, reaching over to take Saguru's cutting board and add the vegetables to the mix. Saguru watched, reminded of all the times he'd seen Mel wielding a wooden spoon with similar focus. "He liked to plan meals and try new things and I was always the boring one who would just make a roast and have it for the week if left to my own devices."

"By roast, do you mean you just cooked a plain slab of meat and ate it?"

"Essentially, yes. Usually you cook it with carrots or potatoes and cabbage."

Kuroba gave Saguru a flat look. "No offense but that sounds bland as hell."

Saguru chuckled. "Yes, well, that's traditional British cooking for you. Bland, and steamed, roasted or boiled. I can cook more than just sticking meat in the oven or boiling pasta."

"I'd hope so. You wouldn't have much variety otherwise." Kuroba flicked his wrist, tossing the pan's contents around a bit before adding the sauce. It hissed, bubbling and boiling quickly into a thick, sticky coating. "Set the table for me? There's plates in that cupboard, cups in the one next to it, and chopsticks in the drawer to the right of the sink. I can handle the rice bowls."

Saguru set the table diligently, putting Kuroba's generic dishware with its simple floral pattern on the table at three places.

Kuroba was just filling bowls with rice as Saguru put glasses of water around the table when the front door opened. Takumi's greeting carried in before he was even through the door. "Welcome back," Kuroba called, filling the last bowl. "Hakuba's joining us for dinner."

"Hakuba-sensei?" Takumi poked his head around the entryway. He had his lacrosse uniform still on and a heavy sports bag over one shoulder, which he set down next to the pile of shoes. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought it might be nice to have company," Kuroba said cheerfully. "How was practice?"

"Fine. I think I'll make an alternate this year if I can get my aim just a little better. Or if someone gets injured." Takumi scrunched his nose. "Which hopefully won't happen." He wandered over to the sink to wash his hands, giving Saguru a tiny nod like he wasn't sure what the polite thing to do was when a teacher was unexpectedly in his home. They'd shared tea and stories often enough that it wasn't too awkward though. "Kei-kun and Mirai-senpai said they'd help me work on some techniques next week though so I can be ready for the summer tournaments."

"You'll have to give me a list of game dates. I'll try to make a few over the summer."

"Sure. Oh, and I have a group report in History, so I have to meet up tomorrow with a few classmates. It shouldn't take too long though, so we can still work on the thing with the doves you wanted to show me. It'll just have to be in the evening."

"I'll make plans to have dinner at Obaa-san's house then."

Kuroba and Takumi moved around each other with the ease of people who shared a kitchen space frequently. Takumi even grabbed the last rice bowl to take to the table in the absentminded sort of way of habit, used to helping set the table then. Saguru felt a little out of place. He didn't know where to sit, and surely the Kurobas had their preferred places.

Takumi solved that problem, plopping into the chair at the setting missing its rice, and Kuroba sat on the other side. It left Saguru sitting next to Kuroba.

Takumi took one look at the stir fry with the thin sliced pork stir fried in it and gave Kuroba a glowing smile. "I am so hungry after practice and this so beats the usual Friday night combini meal."

"I'm not that bad am I?" Kuroba asked.

"About cooking?" Takumi picked up his chopsticks. "You save your cooking energy for Saturday, but nine times out of ten, Friday ends up a convenience store meal. I don't mind, but you made ginger pork stir fry. This is great."

"I really can and do cook," Kuroba said, giving Saguru a serious look that almost hid the glimmer of humor in his eyes. "You'd think I only ever feed him onigiri and takeaway."

"You're a good cook, but Kaa-san's tonkatsu still beats yours," Takumi said. "Now can we please eat? I just spent more than an hour running around with a stick. I am starving."

"We should make him wait," Kuroba said in a loud whisper to Saguru. Takumi gave his father a betrayed look.

Saguru rolled his eyes. "As the guest, I think we should eat."

"If you say so. Itadakimasu!" Kuroba said, cheerfully clapping his hands together. He didn't let on that his ribs were bruised at all, not when cooking and not now as he leaned over to dish out food. It was both impressive and unnerving, because it left the question of if Saguru had missed other injuries in the past just because Kuroba was that good of an actor.

Takumi echoed Kuroba and dug into his food the second his plate was filled. Saguru took his time in comparison as Kuroba launched into an explanation of his current work project, his coworker's lives, and various neighborhood gossip between bites of food, all unprompted. Takumi threw in a question here or there that showed he was both listening and knew who Kuroba was talking about. Saguru let the chatter wash over him, content to listen. It was a bit like family meals when he and Mel used to visit Mum, only with less pointed comments in his direction to engage him in the conversation. It used to exasperate them whenever Saguru sat back and listened; they could never quite get that sometimes he just liked to watch two people he cared deeply about interacting. It was a little different now, of course, more seeing sides to Kuroba and Takumi he hadn't seen before, but the feeling was similar.

It was a bit of a bittersweet feeling in that similarity... Saguru turned his attention to his plate, pushing that emotion away.

"—Hakuba-sensei?" Takumi's voice registered.

Saguru glanced up and found both Kurobas looking at him, heads tilted to the side like mirror images. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I just asked how your day went," Takumi said. "You had Mai-chan and Hanasaki-san from class C get into an argument in your last English class, right?"

"Yes." The day was a haze, all caught up in worry but that had happened. "To be honest it barely interrupted the class. I sent them in the hall and kept teaching."

"...Wouldn't they just keep arguing in the hall?" Takumi asked.

"So long as they weren't being a disruption, I could have cared less at that moment."

Takumi snorted. "I can half picture it—no wonder people in class C weren't sure what to think of it. Usually you stop, give a warning or something and mark your book, and start back up again. Aren't teachers supposed to care when that kind of thing happens?"

"Everyone has off days. Honestly, I couldn't be less interested in knowing who was angry at whom over some romantic interest that likely has no interest in either of them."

"Hakuba, you mean to say you ignore the gossip mill?" Kuroba said, mock-scandalized.

"I hear it whether I want to or not," Saguru said drily, "so no, I suppose I do not ignore it."

"Teachers follow the gossip mill?" Takumi asked.

"Of course. Teachers gossip just as much as their student body."

"More, if half of what I hear is true," Kuroba said, amused.

Saguru bet he meant Erika. Their old homeroom teacher had to be one of Kuroba's sources. Saguru was still trying to figure out all of them, but he supposed Takumi could possibly count as another.

"I've been in that gossip," Takumi said with a deeply uncomfortable expression. "What do they think of me? Holy crap, I just realized teachers might talk about me when I'm not there."

"And students talk about their teachers all the time," Saguru said, wondering how on earth this could be news.

"They know about my life and they might talk about it." Takumi sat back in his chair like he was having a revelation. Saguru exchanged a glance with Kuroba. Kuroba looked far too amused. "That is extremely weird, especially because I know almost nothing about my teachers. Except for you, Hakuba-sensei."

"That is normal. We're at school to do our jobs and be professional. You're at school to learn and be yourselves."

"But you're people."

"Yes."

"Of course you're people, ignore that." He waved a hand, erasing his words in a gesture. "I know teachers have outside lives, but I've never really thought about it. What do they do at the end of the day? What do they do in their free time? Why do they willingly teach the mess that is high school, I mean...why?"

Saguru couldn't help laughing. "You know, it's not much different from our students. We go home, deal with homework, and sometimes we even see friends or do things that might be considered fun by the majority of the population." Saguru took a sip of water and added, "Although as to why, I can't say with full certainty that all teachers aren't somewhat drawn to things that will give them headaches. Or at least that's true in my case."

Kuroba laughed at that, catching his eye and no doubt thinking of Saguru's old habit of pitting himself against Kid despite never truly gaining the upper hand. "You're all a little bit masochistic?" There was a teasing lilt to that that had a blush crawling across Saguru's cheeks before he could fully control his reaction. Kuroba looked terribly smug, amusement glinting in his eyes.

Takumi's face scrunched in disgust. "Ew. No. Stop and don't even bring that word up."

"I didn't say they are masochists just that they have a trend toward—"

"No." Takumi jabbed his chopsticks in Kuroba's direction. "I'm going to need brain bleach."

Saguru cleared his throat, pushing the blush down. "More honestly, I like seeing people grow into their potential," Saguru offered, nudging the conversation back to a safe track. "High school is where interests are being discovered and dreams take first steps."

"Huh." Takumi glanced at Saguru and away again just as fast. "Makes sense I guess."

"You always did look for the good sides in people," Kuroba said.

"I feel like nostalgia gives me too much credit; I liked understanding, but whether or not I empathized with them was an entirely different story." He hadn't exactly been empathetic toward Kuroba's situation back then, at least not at first. Saguru finished the last of his food. Kuroba was a decent cook. It was certainly better than anything Saguru had made since moving to Japan. "Thank you for the meal."

"You don't want more?" Kuroba had the rice paddle in hand, ready to scoop out more if Saguru wanted, but Saguru declined the offer with a shake of his head.

"I'm full." Both Kurobas looked at him like they thought he should eat more. Kuroba added another scoop of rice to his own bowl, perhaps trying to prove some convoluted point. Or maybe he was just still hungry. Not everything was a mind game to be read into. "I'm not a teenager anymore."

"You barely ate enough then," Kuroba said, "considering how much running around you did."

"I don't do much running at all now, so I don't need seconds." Takumi's eyes flicked toward Saguru's cane and away. Kuroba just kept up eye contact until Saguru rolled his eyes and held out his rice bowl. "Fine, but not much. I really am full." Feeding people had to be a thing with Kuroba. Between the random gifts of food and how he seemed to enjoy seasonal food items to their fullest, food had some meaning in Kuroba's personal interactions. Saguru could eat a bit more if it made Kuroba stop giving him a look that resembled some of the looks he'd gotten from his mother in the last year. "I do feed myself on a regular basis, Kuroba."

"You make one meal for the week and pack sandwiches and salads for lunches," Kuroba said.

"It's efficient."

"It's boring. You don't even order out."

"It cuts costs to prepare your own food."

"Since when is money an issue?"

Kuroba had him there, it really wasn't an issue. "It's financially responsible."

"It's bo-ring," Kuroba repeated. "And you can't be getting all your vitamins and minerals when you eat pasta for a week straight."

Saguru chose to be the adult here and ignore him instead of continuing a pointless argument. Even if it was Kuroba teasing him. He could see that smirk twitching at the corner of Kuroba's lips. Saguru finished the extra rice with pointed silence.

Takumi helped himself to thirds.

"So, while Takumi's doing the dishes—" Kuroba said.

"Hey!"

"—want to pick out a game for after dinner?" Kuroba finished.

"Nothing with playing cards," Saguru said instantly. "I'm sure both of you cheat."

"I don't cheat," Takumi protested. Kuroba snorted. Takumi kicked at him under the table, clearly missing and hitting the table leg by the way all the dishes rattled. "Well, I only cheat against Tou-san because otherwise he'd never lose. It's a survival strategy."

"I only cheat against you half the time. You just have bad luck with cards."

"Yours isn't the greatest either, or were you dealing Kaa-san good hands that time I convinced her to play poker with us and Baa-chan?"

"Point," Kuroba said. "Aoko's luck trumps all of ours. So, Hakuba, stay for a game?"

Saguru glanced at Takumi, but he didn't seem to mind the thought of playing a game with Saguru if his open interest was anything to go by. There wasn't much waiting for him back in his apartment. He set down his chopsticks, meal finished. "I'll stay."

"Great! Come look at the game selection."

"Nothing that will take all night," Takumi said, rolling his eyes at Kuroba gleefully directing Saguru to a shelf with games stacked on it.

"Well that rules out a few."

There were a good number of games, most of which Saguru had never heard of, ranging from what appeared to be adventure games, to card games, to games that required constructing things. It was no surprise to find something like Jenga with Kuroba's steady hands, but he had to raise an eyebrow at some of them. "Too Many Cinderellas?"

"It's fun. You try to convince the prince who Cinderella is, and sometimes it gets pretty ridiculous," Kuroba said, content to let Saguru make the game choice.

Saguru kept looking. There were a few foreign games in the mix, like Monopoly and—Saguru's eye caught on a familiar box. "How about Cluedo?"

Kuroba snorted. "You're so predictable."

"Just because it's a mystery game doesn't mean I'm predictable."

"No?" Kuroba teased. "Then you just happen to choose one of the only mystery games in the mix by chance?"

"It's one I recognize and enjoy," Saguru defended, pulling the box free.

"Did you know there's a Kaito Kid version that was made locally?" Kaito said in a lower voice. "The point of the game is to figure out who is actually Kid and how the target was stolen."

"Sounds like a fun and thematically appropriate game. We should play it sometime."

Kuroba grinned. "Thought you'd say that. Sadly I don't own it. Kaa-san does though. Maybe I'll borrow it and drag her into playing a game with us."

"Somehow I'm sure you'll still manage to cheat. Or automatically end up as Kid."

"Haha, very funny." Kaito snatched the box from Saguru and cleared a space on the coffee table for the board. "Just for that, you get to be Mr. Green."

"What's wrong with Mr. Green?"

"Nothing. That's the joke."

Saguru looked at him blankly. This was the classic version of the game so Green was a conniving priest, and he honestly couldn't see the connection.

"...You've never seen the movie based on the game have you?" Kuroba said after a moment.

"There's a movie?"

"We," Kuroba said with mock seriousness, "definitely need to have a movie night some night, because if you enjoy the game and ridiculous eighties American films, it will be right up your alley."

"Another time then," Saguru said. He wouldn't mind the chance to watch a movie with Kuroba at any rate. Although he wouldn't have thought an American comedic film would be Kuroba's choice, but what did Saguru know?

"So you're choosing Clue?" Takumi said, dishes washed and set in the strainer. "How stereotypical, Hakuba-sensei."

"I know, right?" Kuroba snickered.

Saguru rolled his eyes and let them have their fun.

"It's a fun game though," Takumi continued. "Hakuba-sensei gets to shuffle and deal out the cards."

"Don't trust me?" Kuroba said.

"Nope. You're the one who taught Shiemi and me to cheat after all."

"I'm hurt," Kuroba said with exaggerated dramatics. He draped himself back along the couch, one hand over his eyes. It was all very amusing until Saguru remembered that Kuroba actually was hurt, and then it was a bit worrisome, but Kuroba popped back up again when the act didn't get him a reaction. Not too hurt to play around at least. "No defending my name, Hakuba? Some friend you are."

"You want me to lie?" Saguru asked, deadpan. "I'm not sure my detective sensibilities will allow it."

Kuroba and Takumi both snorted at the same time. Takumi looked away, red faced and trying not to laugh even as he seemed to find the humor embarrassing. Saguru took the chance to snag the cards.

"Let's play to learn who killed Mr. Boddy, shall we?"

"Professor Plum, in the study with the candlestick," Kuroba said under his breath.

Saguru was going to make sure Kuroba lost, he decided. Just because. It didn't matter whether Saguru or Takumi won, just that Kuroba lost a game for once. "In that case be Plum."

"Nope, I call Mrs. White."

"...The maid."

"Yup."

"I'm Scarlet," Takumi said. When both adults glanced at him, he shrugged. "I like red."

Scarlet brought a few too many memories of Koizumi Akako to mind for Saguru's peace of mind. "Well let's play then."

Cards went into the file for the eventual reveal, and the rest were doled out.

Kuroba, it seemed, was the type to take the 'jump around the board and confuse what is really being searched for' sort of strategist. Saguru was more methodical, and Takumi was somewhere in between their styles. Saguru was somewhat convinced that both Kurobas were substituting loaded dice at one point, but he had yet to see them trade off and honestly they might just have good enough control to get the die to land on high numbers.

Kuroba had to dramatically act out each time he made an accusation. It took a few times for Saguru to realize he was imitating detectives he knew each time, though when he made up precise times and methodology in an imitation of Saguru's reveal method, it was abundantly clear what he was doing. It was both irritating and amusing at the same time, and the game was the most fun Saguru had in a while. No pressure, just simple challenge of trying to out-think someone else.

Takumi won in the end. It was Saguru and Kuroba's fault for getting too involved in trying to throw each other off that they half forgot about the other player in the game.

Takumi gave them both an exasperated look as he said, "Mrs. White, in the ballroom with a revolver, now will you please stop smirking at each other?" He opened the envelope and fanned out the cards to reveal that he was right.

"I guess you were the killer after all, Kuroba," Saguru said.

"Damn, and I was between White and Mustard." Kuroba tossed down his cards.

"I had Mustard the entire time, I was trying to figure out whether anyone had the pipe, rope, or revolver."

"You both have tunnel vision and shouldn't be allowed to play games against each other," Takumi said. "Tou-san clearly kept guessing the rope because he already had it. Now I'm going to go to bed because I asked for a game that wouldn't take all night and you both dragged the game on forever." He had his hands on his hips like he was the adult in the situation and it was spoiled a bit by how he kept forcing himself not to smile. "Goodnight, Hakuba-sensei," Takumi said. "It was...pretty nice having you over for dinner."

"Thank you both for the hospitality."

"Stop being so formal all the time," Kuroba said.

"It's called being polite. You should try it."

"Goodnight," Takumi repeated, exasperated. Saguru could hear him mutter something about acting the wrong ages as he wandered off to his bedroom.

When Saguru glanced at Kuroba, Kuroba looked...happy. Content, like he couldn't imagine a better way to end the day and all was right with the world. To a lesser extent, Saguru found that he felt similarly at peace. Tonight was the most he'd laughed in...well, in a long time. A long, long time.

"Kuroba," Saguru said softly, unwilling to break the moment by speaking louder. "Thank you. Truly."

"Anytime, Hakuba," Kuroba said. He smiled, maybe the truest smile Saguru had seen on his face in the whole of their acquaintance. "Anytime."

That smile made Saguru want to commit it to memory, dissect every detail of its features and hoard it close with other similarly precious moments. He probably had an equally open expression at the moment, but he couldn't bring himself to care about what Kuroba might or might not take from an unguarded and happy moment. Let Kuroba see him relaxed along with all the rest of Saguru's myriad of emotions.

It was Kuroba who looked away first. "We'll still have to watch that movie sometime."

"Of course."

"And maybe do this again. Dinner. And a game."

"I would like that."

"Good."

That would be the ideal moment to leave, probably. Saguru didn't really want to go just yet, but the clock on the wall matched the digital one blinking next to the TV, both showing almost nine.

Saguru reached for his cane. "Goodnight, Kuroba."

"Night, Hakuba," Kuroba said. He busied himself in picking up the Cluedo pieces, shuffling them about. "See you maybe tomorrow."

"Maybe tomorrow," Saguru echoed agreeably before letting himself out. It wasn't like either of them had to go far if they wanted to talk.