Mikau: Hello, hello! Good to see you all again. Thanks to everyone that reviewed last chapter: Bunnyz-chan, Miss Emotion, and Blue Waters 52! This short I actually wrote because someone hurt my feelings. I tend to process through the lens of Kaito or Hakuba torture, so please enjoy the result! ^.^ Also, if you're interested, I've got a new fic that's HakuSera. It's called Falling in Love Literally. I've never written the pairing (not to mention Sera herself) before, so I'd really like some feedback if you have the time or interest. Thanks guys!

Disclaimer: I think I've said this before, but if I owned it, I'd make sure that Robo Kaito and the Green Dream chapters made it into the MK 1412 anime. Those are really some of my favorites. As it stands, all I can do is cross my fingers and hold my breath.

…

Tolerance

"What's the matter?" Kaito asked gently, sitting down on the bed beside his roommate and gently nudging the arm Hakuba had slung over his face. "You're not being all obnoxious and British today…the past couple days."

Saguru shook his head, keeping the arm in place to block Kaito's view of his face—his red, puffy eyes and tearstained cheeks in particular. "N-Nothing," he muttered.

"Liar," Kaito whispered, leaning over his best friend. "Hey. Talk to me, okay?"

Saguru shook his head once more, biting his lip. "It's nothing. People are just monsters, Kuroba. It's nothing."

"Who do I need to beat up?" Kaito prodded, poking Saguru in the side. "Hm? Whose face do I need to bash in for hurting my Haku-chan?"

"I thought you were nonviolent," Hakuba chuckled softly, touched that his friend was trying to help, doing his best to cheer the detective up.

"That's Kid," Kaito snorted. "My name is Kuroba Kaito, and if someone messes with my friend, I mess back. Now, what do I need to do? Who do I need to prank?"

Saguru smiled weakly, lowering his arm and sitting up. "Really, Kuroba. It's okay."

"If someone is being mean to you, it's not okay," Kaito insisted with a pout.

"You're a good friend, Kuroba," Hakuba chuckled softly. "Thank you for looking out for me, but let's drop this. I don't really want to talk about it."

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "Why not? Who are you trying to protect?"

Saguru paled, and he looked away. "Myself."

Kaito blinked, cocking his head to the side.

"B-Because I'm afraid. If…If you find out who was bullying me…why they were bullying me…you might…you might not want much to do with me anymore, so…" Saguru pulled his knees to his chest, curling up in shame.

"Bull," Kaito snorted. "Only if you tell me you're secretly some kind of psychopathic serial killer. Saguru, talk to me. We've been friends for three whole years now; you know you can talk to me."

Saguru looked down at his toes and considered it for a good minute or two before he actually responded. "…It…was those guys in my philosophy class—those xenophobic ones that wrote on my notebook before."

"Geez," Kaito hissed, mentally preparing a list of things he'd need to enact his biggest prank ever. "What did those bastards do to you this time?"

Saguru seemed to shrink up even more. "They found out…that I like…that I'm…"

Kaito's brow furrowed, and he leaned in closer as Saguru steadily became less and less audible.

"I'm bi," Saguru whispered, closing his eyes and bracing for what was sure to be a dramatically negative response from Kaito.

He hadn't expected Kaito to bop him upside the head. "You big dope," Kaito sighed. "You thought something like that would negate the past three years of sharing my deepest darkest secrets and baring my soul to you? Talk about selling a guy short. You really thought I'd discard you just for that, Haku-chan?"

Saguru blinked, slowly uncurling and looking up in surprise at his best friend. "B-But…doesn't it bother you? Your roommate likes other men."

"So what? I like nattou and Lady Gaga and the Hanshin Tigers. It bothers me more that you like grilled salmon, honestly," Kaito retorted with a roll of his eyes.

Saguru gazed at his friend in shock. It was too good to be true. "Are you honestly saying that you don't mind in the least? I…I sleep in the same room as you…see you naked…I could be in love with you for all you know!" Saguru protested.

Kaito shrugged. "That'd be more of a problem for you than for me. I think I'll take my chances. I mean…I believe the likelihood of you jumping anyone, let alone me, is as close to zero as you can get."

"So you don't see me as a threat," Saguru concluded.

"No," Kaito chuckled, rolling off the bed and turning to pull Saguru to his feet as well. "Because even if you were in love with me and thought about how much you wanted me while I was sleeping or changing my clothes or something like that…I know you'd go about it the right way. I know you'd court me first before you tried to get into bed with me. I know you'd have to consider us as good as married before you ever tried anything like that. I know what kind of person you are, Haku-chan, so I don't have to freak out just because I find out that you like guys too."

Kaito smiled as he pulled Saguru along behind him, toward the door. "Now let's go get some crepes to celebrate your coming out, and then we can hunt down those guys that were bullying you and give them a piece of my mind."

"It'd be wasted on them," Saguru replied, a content smile coming to his own face.