Mikau: Hi all! Thanks so much for tuning in! I can't believe this thing as almost fifty reviews. Thank you all for writing in and letting me know what you think. Even though these are some of my roughest work due to writing them to get through writer's block, I'm so glad that you guys are still enjoying them. Thanks so much to last chapter's reviewers: MeridianGrimm, MeitanteiRose, Bunnyz-chan, MercheGlee, and patternleap!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, we'd see Kaito and Hakuba on a regular basis.

…

The Back of the Cab

"I cannot believe you!" Saguru seethed quietly so as not to disturb the cabbie that was driving them back home.

Kaito shrugged, letting the side of his face press against the cold glass of the window.

"I don't care how drunk you were, Kuroba; you doused a very influential politician's daughter with wine, red wine. All over her extremely expensive, custom, designer-made, white dress." Saguru fumed in quiet rage. He normally would have been shouting and cursing his head off, but, out of respect for the cabbie, Kaito was getting the lower-volume, abridged version.

Kaito shrugged again, not really having anything to say to defend himself.

"Oh? Are you a sad drunk now, Kuroba?" Saguru snorted. "You were an angry drunk earlier."

"She was flirting with you," Kaito mumbled.

Saguru's eye started to twitch. "Yes. Yes she was, and she was quite pretty, thank you so very much for ruining that for me. What the hell is the matter with you, Kuroba?"

"She was flirting with you," Kaito repeated stronger this time, turning to actually look at Saguru with hurt shining in his lilac eyes.

Saguru rolled his eyes. "Yes. No use arguing with a drunk, I suppose. Yes, she was flirting with me, and I was really hoping to finally lose my virginity, thank you, so I really would have appreciated it if you had continued to drink the open bar dry and not interfered, stupid lush."

Kaito looked away, wrapping his arms around himself for comfort. "What else am I supposed to do but drink when you're out there with all of those gorgeous women hanging off of you?"

"Go find a few of your own and have an orgy!" Saguru snapped just a little too loudly. He sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "Look, Kuroba, I know you're still hung up on Aoko-kun, but it's been a few years now. You need to move on."

"I have moved on," Kaito grumbled, looking down at his feet.

"Tch. Right." Saguru sighed, about ready to give up. There really was no use trying to reason with Kaito in this state. "You're a lonely mess that drinks too much."

"…You're hurting me," Kaito whispered.

"I'm not even touching you!" Saguru snorted. "Or did you mean I'm hurting your feelings when I call you names? Poor baby. It's either that, or I'm going to start letting my aggression and frustrations out by smacking you instead. You infuriate me sometimes, Kuroba. Sometimes I get so sick of you and your nonsense and your crap. Forgive me if I'm a little short with you, but you put me through a lot. Just be glad I haven't given up and tossed you out yet."

Kaito looked sadly up at Saguru, tears welling up and spilling over, running down his cheeks. "When girls flirt with you like that, and when you flirt back…when you say stuff like that…that hurts me. It hurts me watching you not care even an ounce that I'm right here. It hurts being so close to you but still being so far away."

"K-Kaito?" Saguru swallowed hard, searching Kaito's eyes for answers.

Kaito leaned in and pressed a whisper of a kiss to Saguru's lips. "I love you," he whispered. "And you're hurting me, but…but I still love you."

"Oh, Kaito." Saguru's heart sank as he looked away, reaching out and putting an arm around Kaito's shoulders. "And now I feel like an absolute clod. I am the most oblivious, insensitive, cruel…shit."

"Sorry," Kaito muttered, curling up and in on himself.

"No. Don't worry about it," Saguru assured, letting his head dip to rest against Kaito's. "You're my best friend, and you're incredibly drunk at the moment. We'll get you home, take care of you, and see what you remember in the morning after your hangover has subsided. If you even remember having this conversation, I'll deal with it then."

"What if I don't remember?" Kaito hiccupped. "Are ya just gonna pretend it didn't happen…like you don't know how I feel…like you don't know that you're hurting me? Are things gonna keep going the way they've been, if I don't remember?"

"No. I promise, Kaito," Saguru swore. "Things will be different. I'll take care of it. I'll take care of you."

"Pinky swear?" Kaito held up his finger.

"Yes, Kaito," Saguru chuckled, linking his pinky with Kaito's and pressing a kiss to the top of his friend's head.