Cracks in the Ship

Characters: Saguru and Masumi
Theme: Fake Dating

Prompts are always welcome! But it'll take some planning and time till I get to upload it :)
/ This is a tad bit longer than what a drabble should be because ugh, I just couldn't shake off the habit of typing like a mindless rant.

The first time they met was the day when Saguru realized that life doesn't always pay good to be nice.

It was a normal day after school when he crossed path with this reckless pedestrian, who happened to dash across the road without a care for safety, but in the nick of time, he grabbed onto the muscular and firm arm a second before the green light turned red and saved her from getting ran over by a truck.

"Great! I've lost him!" She yelled over his head while he was observing her legs in minute details, being the actual one stunned for a moment once he became aware that the person he saved was actually a girl wearing a skirt.

"Well," He peeled his gaze off her feet and to her odd yet uniquely shaped eyes. "Pardon me for saving you from being squashed to death."

"Crap, another wasted day." She blatantly ignored his remarks and squinted her eyes across the road before looking back at him with a scowl. "You owe me one."

He blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You're from Ekoda High, right?" She watched him up and down. "Hakuba Saguru."

The way she was peering at him so intensely made him look down to check on himself, just to make sure he was wearing clothes all along. He inwardly sighed in relief when he was staring at his black school uniform.

But the main question-

"How do you know me?" He glanced back up at her with a raised eyebrow. More often than he liked, the Suzuki corporation and Edogawa Conan had stolen the limelight whenever Kid was on the move, so as of late, he hadn't been on the Tokyo news as much as he was in England's. It was rather disheartening, but it wasn't a choice he could choose.

She waved a hand off nonchalantly like she couldn't be bothered to explain further, which seemed like it was actually the case. "Anyway, you owe me one for this. I'll find you again."

On the cue, the red light turned green and everyone started crossing the road. A couple of strangers bumped into both of them, though he couldn't blame anyone when they were blocking the way. But instead of moving along with the crowd, she stalked off to another direction.

There was no reason for him to call out for her, but his curiosity couldn't be kept inside of him. "Where are you going?"

"I'm pushing back my job till tomorrow." She shouted over her back before disappearing down the streets.

Saguru shook his head and decided to finally cross the road.

It doesn't matter anyway.

.o.

"Hakuba,"

The said detective looked up from his desk and smiled politely at his classmate who was standing by the door. "Yeah?" He responded while putting away his textbooks back inside his workbag.

"There's someone at the gates asking for you."

Saguru frowned and an unexplainable cold shiver ran down his spine. He turned towards the windows, which were coincidentally facing the school gates and stepped closer to look through the glass panes. His nose wrinkled unconsciously at what he saw.

"Can't shake off your ex-lover?" Kuroba Kaito slipped right next to him with an annoying smirk. It wasn't often that the thief in disguise would come and start any sort of conversation, unless it was to make a fool out of him or to annoy him, which he was now doing both at the same time with his remarkable talent.

"It's not what you think." Saguru sighed before trudging back to his seat to collect his bag.

There was this awkward silence that Saguru deemed as unusual for the prankster to not break. He glanced to his side and glimpsed at Kaito curiously. The latter was still looking at the front gate, face slightly pale.

"What's wrong?" Saguru couldn't help but questioned.

"Nothing." Kaito let out a long chorus of fake laughter before his face fell lax and he switched to his rare, serious mode. "How did you know Sera Masumi?"

"Oh, so that's her name?"

"Wait- You don't know her?"

"Let me throw the question back at you. You know her?"

"No," Kaito muttered and moved away from the window and headed out of the classroom with two hands suspiciously in his pockets. "Definitely not."

Saguru was only willing to ignore the thief's current odd behaviour because he had himself to worry about.

He had thought a lot about it since last night. That tomboy; Sera Masumi, seemed like one who would press charges just because someone's elbow touched her chest in the crowded train. And judging from her toned legs he happened to (perhaps sinfully) stare yesterday, her kicks were likely to be dangerous. A bad sign. Still, he couldn't stay in his class forever, and something about her gave him the impression that she wasn't the type that practice patience. The longer he drag, the worse it might become.

Like what he was told, she was standing by the gates with her arms crossed and looking like she wanted to punch someone. He took in a deep breath and approached her with tentative steps he desperately wanted to hide. This wasn't his style, not one bit at all, and it seriously sucked beyond heavens. He just prayed Kaito wasn't anywhere to see his slight pathetic form at the moment, though he doubt it would make any difference when most of the students who were on their way out of the school were spying curiously at them. It was always a hot topic when a student from another school came to wait at the gates.

"Excuse me," Saguru cleared his throat, trying to ignore the surrounding stares. "You-"

"What took you so long? You're acting like a girl more than me." Sera slung her workbag over her shoulder and gestured her chin down the streets, signalling a move that Saguru still didn't understand. "Let's go."

"Wait, we are-?"

"We're going on a date."

.o.

The first time they went on a "date" was the day Saguru realized he had been missing out a lot when it comes to cafe and nice cakes. He hadn't tasted such a nice caramel chocolate cake since he was born, perhaps. It would definitely go well with his British tea.

While he slowly sliced the tip of the cake with his fork, he casually looked up to see Masumi almost glaring past his shoulders, and that very part of his shoulder seemed to freeze due to the electric waves her powerful eyes were giving out. Knowing better than to turn around, he placed his fork down and pretended to drop his napkin on the ground. While he was in the midst of picking it up, he effectively glanced to his side, to see a couple acting lovey-dovey at the corner of the cafe, their drinks and sweets were clearly forgotten.

"So that's your target?" Saguru asked when he returned to his position and set the dirtied napkin aside.

"Yes." Masumi's frown grew deeper. "I've been working on him for the past week and now's finally my chance."

Saguru nodded his head. After that undesirable declaration earlier, he only managed to sprint two metres away before Masumi caught up with him and explained the details about her so-called plan. Just because he'd accidentally caused her to lose sight of the cheating husband yesterday, he had to repay her back by being her pretend-date and aiding her in gathering the evidence. He thought there was no point of explaining that he saved her, because being saved wasn't something she was used to, perhaps.

She took out her camera and was about to take some pictures when the cheating husband flicked his gaze over and she slammed the camera onto her lap, keeping it hidden just in time. Darn it. This was unluckily one of the sly and careful targets she had to deal in every dozen husbands she was commissioned to check up on.

"I'm not a good photographer, but I'm not a bad one either." Saguru spoke in an audible whisper. "We should change seats. It may seem more convincing if the boyfriend wants to take picture of the girlfriend and her food. The usual trend. I'll angle it in a way they'll be in the shots."

Masumi gaped for a few seconds before her face brightened. "That's a brilliant idea." She produced a thumbs up and they swop the seats after she handed him the camera under the table.

The case was closed.

"It was a good date." Masumi triumphantly waved the camera in her hand as they departed out of the cafe, her little vampire teeth poking out when she grinned.

Like it was his usual natural thing, he smiled. "It's my greatest pleasure."

It wasn't until 3 hours, 48 minutes and 15 seconds had passed then Saguru realized the stupidity of his response to Masumi's words back then.

.o.

Their tenth "date", one that Saguru agreed to (again), was held in a park.

They were sitting on a bench together, just across the target and his mistress who were giggling and fooling around in the broad daylights. Masumi held out her phone in front of her and flipped it to its original camera mode, but effectively pretended it was a selfie she was trying to take.

"You need to sit a bit closer to me." She muttered. "This is the best angle, but from their side, it's obvious you're not in the shot. They might suspect something."

"If you say so." He scooted closer to her and placed an arm behind her shoulders. They faked a smile and began taking pictures, but the photos being saved were all of the disgusting cheating husband's act. It was irrelevant and perhaps nonsensical, but he briefly wondered how their pictures would really look like if they were in fact taking a selfie; with his arm loosely around her shoulders, her wild and messy fringe so close to his face...

To think of this way, it seemed almost like this was a missed opportunity to Saguru, the sort of weird thing.

Their thirtieth "date", one that Saguru paid for (again), was held at a sea aquarium.

They were standing before a large fish tank, where Masumi's wide and dull green eyes were ironically lit up at the sight of the creatures swimming gracefully in their little ocean.

"I'm naming that Blurb." She pointed at an angelfish that had been consistently breathing out bubbles.

Saguru smirked. "Its face reminds me of you."

She snarled over her shoulder. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Cute? He contemplated for a moment, but his thoughts were broken apart when Masumi suddenly straightened her back and let out a curse from underneath her breath. Saguru was instantly alarmed and ready- for whatever she was alerted about.

"Where the hell is the target?" She slapped a hand over her eyes and groaned out loud.

He surveyed the crowded hall and could only chided himself the same.

It wasn't until 38 hour, 26 minutes and 9 seconds had passed then Saguru realized that the reason for their uncharacteristic distraction was as clear as day.

On their second date, they met at the cafe that sold the best caramel chocolate cake.

They were both sitting across the table, their fork poking into the shared cake. Before Masumi could take a bite, Saguru placed his fork down and grabbed hold of her hand, which grew slightly warm with just his touch. He leaned forward, eyes narrowing while Masumi leaned the same distance back, eyes blinking continuously like a burst mode on the camera.

"What?" She spat.

"Is that..." Saguru scoffed and broke into a small smile. "Is that lipgloss you're wearing?"

He assumed the answer was a yes when she choke onto nothing but air.