Someone pinches his ass, again. It's the third time in twice as many minutes, and considering how dense the room is with people between him and the bar, it's going to happen again in another thirty seconds. Hattori bares his teeth at the next wild-eyed raver that drifts his way and feels like laughing when they immediately freeze and bolt.

It's unkind, but he's been in this bar trying to find Kudou, not trying to pick up a date. Kazuha is going to kill him if he doesn't get the smear of lipstick and the hand stamp off himself before he sees her, anyway.

Ni-Chrome district isn't somewhere he's familiar with, but Kudou's boyfriend apparently works in one of the bars and if Hattori wants to meet him before he goes back to Osaka, he has to be here. He does give serious consideration to leaving, after a woman in a latex body suit cups his ass and squeezes. He turns on her with a snarl, but she ignores his hostility and licks her lips in invitation.

Hattori backs away so fast he nearly knocks over three barely legal teenagers dancing together.

He winds his way through the crowd, keeping an eye out for the woman in latex, just in case, when he finally spots a familiar profile at the corner of the bar.

Kudou is sitting at the end of the bar, back to the wall and facing the rest of the room. He's not wearing the suit he left for work in this morning, but something dressier and more suited to the club scene. It's terrifyingly unusual, but Kudou has mellowed somewhat since returning to his own body five years ago. He has something blue and fruity in a martini glass in his hand, also fairly unusual. He doesn't look out of place here, whereas Hattori knows he does.

There's a man sitting next to Shinichi. His body language screams seductive intent, leaning into Kudou's space as he tells a story. He reaches over and places a hand on Kudou's free hand resting on the bar.

That wasn't happening.

Hattori considers his angle as he approaches Kudou and the man. Kudou is more than capable of taking care of himself, is even wearing his stun dart watch, but he's been pretty adverse to violence since becoming himself again. He won't shy away from confrontation, but he's usually reluctant to start anything for himself.

So Hattori is going to have to do it.

Well, Kazuha can't kill him anymore than she's going to when she finds out about this adventure. Might as well go for broke.

He makes his way through the patrons flittering from the bar and back again. He sees the moment Kudou notices him, pulling his hand out from under the other man's and starting to smile. Hattori smirks in response as he siddles up to Kudou's side, wedging himself between their two chairs and dropping a possessive arm over Kudou's shoulders.

He leans down and presses his lips to Kudou's cheek, angling his body right into the edge of Kudou's.

"Hey, babe. How are you?" he asks, keeping his attention on Kudou and ignoring the other man.

"Uh. What." It's not even a question, just blandly stated, and if Kudou acts like this there's no way the other guy's going to back off.

"I didn't mean to keep you waiting. You know how much I worry about you." He squeezes Kudou closer, leaning down to briefly rest his chin against Kudou's hair.

"Your boyfriend?" The other man asks, not sounding discouraged in the least.

"I am," Hattori snaps, "What's it to you?"

The other man leans back, palms up and a disarming smile on his face. He's very handsome. He shares a lot of that refined and delicate bone structure that Kudou does, but sharper. Messier. His eyes look purple in the strobbing club lights.

He looks exactly like a creep.

"He didn't say he had a boyfriend," the man says, but it's like he's laughing at something.

Hattori is sure he's laughing at him.

He really doesn't like it.

"Well I am. So are you gonna get lost or what?" he challenges.

"He didn't mind talking to me. So I think I'll keep doing it." The man smirks, running a hand through his hair and tilting his chin up in defiance.

"Oh my god," Kudou mutters, but Hattori doesn't pay him much attention now.

He's gonna beat this guy.

"You the kind of creep who hits on taken guys?" Hattori pulls a little away from Kudou, but not far enough to separate from him. Just made himself more solidly between them. The other man's face tilts into an arrogant smirk, and every instinct Hattori has screams at him.

"I never liked the idea of taking someone. Taking people like you get to possess them. They get to choose who they go with. And he was talking to me," the man says, hand dropping to the bar and tapping two fingers on the surface.

The pretty girl bartender places the blue fruity drink in front of Kudou and smiles sweetly at the man as she goes. Kudou, clearly not understanding what Hattori is trying to do, takes the fresh drink.

Hattori takes the drink from Kudou's hand and sets it back on the bar, closer to the other man.

"I think this is yours," he says.

The other man laughs, picking up the drink and sliding it back across the bar. When Hatori goes to intercept it, he rolls his hand without spilling the drink and sets it right back in Kudou' hand.

"Thank you," Kudou says.

"What."

"No problem. Your bodyguard is pretty vicious, though." The other man leans past Hattori and kisses Kudou. "Let me go say good bye and we can leave."

"We'll get a cab," Kudou says, "As soon as he snaps out of his shock."

"Kuroba Kaito," Hattori says flatly, pointing at the man in question. He smiles, razor sharp and mocking. Hattori is going to punch that face sooner or later, no matter how much Kudou seems to like it.

"Nice to meet you properly, Hattori-kun." He wiggles his fingers as he leaves. The crowd swallows him up quickly.

"You're an asshole," Hattori finally says.

"Sure," Kudou agrees, smirking just a bit.

"Your boyfriend's an asshole, too."

"Definitely."

Hattori sighs. "Well. I can't embarrass myself any further. Might as well go."

"I wouldn't speak too quickly," Kudou mutters.

Hattori follows Kudou on their way out of the bar. He spots Kudou's boyfriend hugging the woman in latex, smiling at her and nodding. The woman catches his eye and smiles at him, whispering into Kuroba's ear. He nods once more. Together, they peer back at Hattori and give him identical looks. Something predatory, sharp, spine-tingling.

Not in a good way. More like how he'd felt facing that murderer last week and not being sure who would come out on top in a physical confrontation.

Somehow, he knows the night's only going to get worse from here.