Mikau: Welcome back! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last time: Guest, Assasin8, Bunnyz-chan, GeekyGenius, Guest, Miss Emotion, and lany-chan! I never would have guessed that there would be this much support for this pairing! I'm so pleased that you guys seemed to like it. This short is a little darker and mature, but it's got its cute parts too, so I think you'll like it. It's another one of the Poirot Café forum's daily word prompts, and the words this time were: baby, ransom, fire, target, and shadow! By the way, 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.

…

Support Beam

It was a bad day already, and the sun hadn't even come up yet. Shinichi got the call at about five in the morning, and he'd had to climb over both a blonde and a brunette to get to the phone. He'd woken and thus invoked the wrath of Hakuba Saguru and Kuroba Kaito, neither too keen on being up at such an hour after the preceding evening's orgy.

"Shit," Shinichi hissed as Takagi relayed the situation to him. "Hold on. I'll be over as soon as I can."

Saguru pealed one eye open as Kaito grumbled into the blonde's collarbone. "Shinichi?" Saguru called, slowly sitting up as the other detective tumbled out of bed and began searching frantically for pants.

Shinichi tried to ignore the fact that he could barely move without experiencing pain in his backside as he searched for a decent shirt and pants among the piles of clothes scattered about the room. He growled softly when he realized that positively everything had bodily fluids on it.

"Shinichi?" Saguru called again, sliding out of bed as well, much to Kaito's displeasure. The magician-thief let out a little moan of protest as his source of heat left him, and then he sleepily curled up into a little ball around one of the pillows.

"Kidnapping," Shinichi explained, going to the closet and searching for something, anything wearable. "Who the hell kidnaps a baby?"

Saguru bit his lip and frowned, understanding his mate's frustration and outrage. "Has there been a ransom demand yet?"

"No," Shinichi sighed. "But we should be hearing something around six o'clock. The kidnapper left a note saying that they'd call then."

"Then you have enough time to shower and eat breakfast," Saguru concluded in a tone that informed Shinichi that the blonde would not be argued with at five in the sodding morning.

"Ru, you know as well as I do that time is of the essence in a case like this. I have to get over there and—"

"—You're not going to inspire much confidence from the family if you go there looking and smelling like you spent the night doing gymnastics on a mattress, Shinichi. And you're no use to them on an empty stomach," Saguru scolded lightly. "It'll take you seven minutes to shower and three to wolf down breakfast. I'll head downstairs and whip up something quick for you, so you go get in the shower, okay?"

Shinichi turned and really looked at his boyfriend for a moment, appreciating Saguru's thighs, his obliques. He smiled at the trail of hickeys winding down around Saguru's neck and torso, ending in a Kaitou Kid caricature on the blonde's inner thigh.

"W-What?" Saguru blushed like a virgin, tucking a stray strand of hair behind his ear.

It was funny how pure and innocent Saguru could be the rest of the time, despite the way he acted in bed. Saguru was a hurricane, and Shinichi loved being one of the two people that knew that about the prim and proper British gentleman.

Shinichi shook his head and smiled even wider. "I was just thinking that you look beautiful naked. You should walk around the house like that all the time." He leaned in and gave Saguru's jaw a quick nip.

"I'd get cold," Saguru protested, cheeks burning like a wild fire. "Now get a move on, Shinichi."

"I love you," Shinichi called as Saguru turned towards the door.

Saguru paused in the doorway and glanced over his shoulder. "Forever?"

"Forever," Shinichi echoed.

"Promise?" Saguru giggled.

"Promise," Shinichi affirmed.

"Then I love you too," Saguru teased, heading downstairs to make breakfast.

Shinichi came down about nine minutes later, dressed and ready to go.

"Here's lunch too." Saguru handed over a bentou all wrapped up for later. "You'll forget unless I pack something for you…. You'll forget even if I do pack something for you most of the time, but—"

Shinichi cut Saguru off with a kiss and took his homemade lunch. "Thanks, Ru. You're the best."

"That would be Kaito, I think," Saguru chuckled with a wink. "But thank you, and you're welcome. Just make sure you actually eat it."

"I will," Shinichi promised with certainty, seriously hoping that he really did remember to break for lunch.

Saguru nodded, knowing the chances were fifty-fifty at best, but accepting the fact that the odds were not stacked in his favor. "Is there anything else I can do, Shinichi? I can come over later after I get Kaito up and taken care of."

Shinichi shook his head. "No. You stay and take care of our thief. You know how needy he can be, especially after we put him through his paces like we did last night. Besides, he's got a heist tonight, right?"

Saguru nodded, wishing there was more that he could do for the man he loved.

Shinichi could see it in Saguru's face and smiled fondly in response. "What's Kai-chan's target tonight? I might need a good heist depending on how things go today."

Saguru shook his head. "The Stone of Rising, I believe. Some weird legends behind it, so…. Are you certain that I can't be of assistance?"

Shinichi cupped his beloved's cheek and leaned in for a kiss. "You just take care of Kaito in case I don't get around to the heist afterwards. Make sure that the shadows don't swallow up our dove."

"Understood." Saguru nodded, knowing that Shinichi meant "shadows" in more ways than one. Due to the increase in Crow presence at heists, there had been heightened security…in other words, more people to get shot at…and one of the officers had gotten in the way and died of his wounds. This had left Kaito feeling responsible and more than a little bit down.

Saguru could understand it. He'd blamed himself for everything and sloshed through depression a time or two himself. Perhaps it would be best for Saguru to stay with their thief today.

Shinichi knew what he was doing and could easily handle the case himself. Saguru would call later and see how things were going, but Shinichi would most likely be fine. The best thing that he could do for his darling right now was take care of their thief like Shinichi had asked. It was his job to be the glue that held their family together.