Mikau: Hello and welcome everyone! Thanks so much for taking a look at this, and thanks in advance for taking the time to review! This is kind of my fledgling effort at writing HakuShin. As with my other shorts collections, the pairing is reversible, and the title is whatever the pairing means in English. In this case, "hakushin" means "reality". I thought it was actually a fitting name. Also, this is another one of those daily prompt projects from the Poirot Café forum. The words were: aquarium, picnic, cousin, headache, courage. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I'd really like to have a Hakuba-centric arc maybe involving his family and backstory and stuff. Only, I like my headcanon backstory for Hakuba more than I think I'd like anything that Aoyama-sensei could come up with, so maybe things are better the way that they are.

…

Date Crashing

Saguru had been so excited for his first official date with Shinichi. They were planning on meeting up for brunch at a cute little place called Christie's that was known for their desserts, and then they were going to spend a leisurely afternoon at Sumida Aquarium, walking around, holding hands, and generally swooning over the way each other looked in the glow of the light from the tanks. After that they were planning on having a late picnic lunch in one of the parks not too far away.

Saguru had been so looking forward to spending the day with his crush…but then Shinichi had called and told Saguru that his cousin would be tagging along. Apparently the child had begged and whined and cried and had a temper tantrum when he found out that his older cousin would be going on a date, so Shinichi had had no choice but to offer to bring the boy along.

Originally, Saguru had thought, "No matter. We can still have a romantic time together in the presence of a small child. There just won't be any kissing." And then Saguru blushed at his own thoughts because, really, there wouldn't have been any kissing anyway. The very idea of kissing Shinichi was just…! Saguru would die of either embarrassment or happiness. Whichever came first. But it was too soon for kissing. They hadn't even held hands yet! They weren't even officially dating. The pessimistic part of Saguru's mind chimed in that this could just be a one-time thing, a bout of madness on Shinichi's part, asking out the blonde.

But Saguru hoped it wasn't. He desperately wanted to make a good impression on this first date so that by then end of the day together, Shinichi might consider asking Saguru on a second.

And then the day of the date arrived, and Saguru went to meet up with Shinichi and his little cousin. Saguru sat on the designated park bench, eagerly awaiting his crush, every few seconds looking up and around for Shinichi. He tried not to look too excited, too desperate, but did not succeed.

And then who should he see come up alongside Shinichi but that hated Kuroba Kaito. The classmates blinked at each other.

Kaito turned to Shinichi and shrieked, "The guy you're so nuts about is HIM?!"

Saguru blushed, feeling light-headed. Well. Apparently Shinichi felt more strongly for him than initially anticipated. That was excellent, but…this first date with Kuroba of all people tagging along…it was sure to be a headache.

Shinichi blushed and thwacked his cousin. "Shut up!" he hissed sotto voce before turning and smiling at Saguru. Shinichi scratched at his cheek in embarrassment and let out a laugh that was obviously strained. "Sorry about him. He's…special needs."

"Hey!" Kaito exclaimed, putting on his pouty face.

"I know," Saguru sighed. "We're in the same class, and I chase him around Tokyo attempting to thwart his attempts at grand larceny. I'm aware of his…issues."

"I'm going to prank you both so hard," Kaito muttered, crossing his arms and attempting to look wounded by their words.

"Oh." Shinichi brightened up considerably. "You already know about my kleptomaniac cousin? Sweet. That's one less skeleton in the closet."

Both detectives chuckled. Kaito deadpanned.

"Shall we?" Shinichi smiled, offering Saguru his arm.

"Let's." The blonde returned the grin with a dazzling one of his own and gladly wrapped his arm around Shinichi's.

"I didn't sign up for all this mushy-gushy stuff," Kaito griped. "I think I'm gonna hurl."

"Quiet, toad," Shinichi hissed.

Kaito grumbled but followed along, looking forward to all the pies and cakes and varied desserts at Christie's.

The whole day turned out to be Kaito torture. Shinichi and Saguru played footsies under the table and made goo-goo eyes at each other at Christie's. They walked too close together, hanging off of each other and whispering in one another's ears.

Kaito hadn't had the courage to go into the aquarium, but Saguru had generously suggested that they go to Ueno Zoo instead and then have their picnic in the park there afterwards. Kaito cast the blonde a grateful look. As they walked through the zoo, the two detectives chattered animatedly, barely even seeing the animals.

Kaito just rolled his eyes at the stupid-in-love couple, but…Saguru made Shinichi laugh. Really laugh. Hard. Without Shinichi's usual restraint, and that was good.

Shinichi and Saguru cuddled together on the blanket during the picnic, feeding each other and laughing and again with the goo-goo eyes. If there was ever an opportunity to touch one another, no matter how briefly, they took it.

After lunch, Kaito gracefully ducked out, leaving the detectives to the rest of their day together. Frankly, those two were so sickly sweet they were giving Kaito cavities. It was obvious that they wanted to suck each other's faces off and were only holding back due to Kaito's presence, so the magician bowed out, claiming that he had to pick up some parts in Ikebukuro and then meet a friend in Akihabara later.

"I give you my blessing," he called over his shoulder as he walked off. "Just make sure to use protection!" he snickered, loud enough for anyone in a hundred meter radius to hear.

Saguru and Shinichi turned twin shades of vermillion but didn't loosen the hold they had on one another's hands.