~4 Idiots In A Closet~
Chapter 02: When your poker face fails you

But after this, we're really square, he said.

The little detective was a compulsive liar. First he rubbed it in his face - that they were done with the helping and being all friendly-like with one another - only to insist that he'd still come and check up on him together with that trusted doctor of his after he cleared up the whole mess with Hakuba. Things were bad enough for him as they were, and Shinichi was honestly expecting him to give him away his actual address? No way in hell would he be comfortable with that. He knew what was going on here, he wasn't stupid.

Then again, the detective already knew that Hakuba knew a lot of other things about him which would fill in a lot of missing puzzle pieces into his picture. All it would take for him was to meet up with the other and ask, and Kaito's identity would be blown for them both. He'd have not one, buttwo detectives ganging up on him.

The thought made him shiver. Shinichi, he could still blackmail with his 'an eye for an eye' policy, at least. Hakuba was a different story.

This was potential tricky stuff that didn't look good at all.

Kaito tried not to think too much on the agonizing scenarios for now, rather concentrating on the task before him. He's asked Subaru to let him off the car a couple of streets away from where his actual house was, making sure he wouldn't be followed from that point on. He appreciated that the guy didn't ask that many questions and just went on with his request.

He vaguely wondered where Shinichi found these kind of people. From what he understood, he befriended Okiya as Conan, at that.

As expected, Hakuba was standing by the stairs of his front porch, clearly waiting for him to either arrive or open the door. That bastard, didn't he have better things to do with his time?

Well, the sneaking mission was on. Wounded or not, Kaito still had it in him to move around as quietly as a shadow, eventually managing to sneak around to his back yard from the other side of the street. He's almost killed himself while jumping over the fence, his body protesting under any kind of gymnastics in his current state, but he's managed. Somehow. At least the window Jii left open for him was on the ground floor, not on the one above it.

Thank the heavens for small miracles.

Getting in through it was still a bit of a challenge nevertheless, and Kaito was sure he just strained a great a deal of muscles that needed to be left alone badly. Priorities were priorities, though.

Quietly kicking his shoes off, the boy made his way upstairs, making sure that indeed nobody else was inside of the house. Jii was probably back at Blue Parrot by now, trusting he could take care of himself. Kaito hurriedly threw his school uniform over his shirt - Kudo's shirt - before he went back downstairs again, this time purposely causing noise as he did so.

Taking a deep breath, Kaito took one last moment to compose himself and get his act together. He's been feeling feverish ever since he woke up, but he could turn that to his advantage at the moment, if he played his cards right. He had this.

When he finally opened the door, he gave Hakuba the most irritated look ever.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Saguru looked almost startled to see him, and Kaito would have smirked had the circumstances been different.

"You… weren't at school." His classmate informed, as if that was supposed to explain everything.

No shit, Sherlock. The dark-haired boy just looked at the other as if he were some kind of idiot. "I got a fever and weren't feeling well, geez. Can't a guy even get sick in peace nowadays?"

There was a pause after that, and Kaito had to try his best in order not to start feeling self-conscious under his schoolmate's suspicious and calculating gaze. Of course he'd search for anything weird in his behavior. He'd give him none of it.

"Is there something on my face?"

"You're aware of what happened, aren't you?"

"Of what happened?" The usual, oblivious act was on, with Kaito faking ignorance like all those many times before, whenever it was convenient for him.

Hakuba didn't even seem surprised, just played along to his game. Kuroba did always claim that he was Kaitou Kid's number one fan, and they both knew it, so the whole topic wouldn't be out of place under normal circumstances either, at least.

"During tonight's heist." He explained. "We've lost track of Kid."

Kaito acted as if he didn't follow. "And that's new, how?"

The detective's eye twitched, his lips forming into a thin line, and the thief couldn't help but secretly feel proud of himself.

"There have been reports of gunfire. And the place Kid's been seen last… The jewel he stole was found laying on the ground and there were traces of blood present in the surroundings. All evidence shows that Kid might have been shot."

"Okay… And of course the first person you run to is me." Kaito sounded anything but impressed with the whole story. "When will you stop with that? How many times do I still have to prove to you that I'm not Kid?" He let out a tired sigh. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine."

Hakuba stared at him for a moment more - damn all of these detectives and their constant search for clues - before he finally seemed to give it a rest and relax. If Kaito didn't know better, he'd say that his schoolmate even seemed somewhat relieved with the closed eyes and tiny smile that appeared on his face in the meantime.

"I suppose… My apologies."

Wow, he was even getting an apology. Kuroba couldn't help but feel a bit of relief himself. Was this conversation over? Was he off the hook? Could he say goodbye and close the door?

"Well, I copied today's notes for you." Kaito blinked, taken totally off-guard by that sudden admission when Hakuba took out a bunch of notes and handed them to him. "… Not that you probably need them."

"Ah… thanks?" Hesitantly, the dark-haired boy accepted the small pile of papers, still not sure how he's supposed to feel about the unusual gesture of kindness.

When Hakuba smirked, Kaito wanted to punch himself in the face for being so stupid.

"Mind if I come in for a minute?" The other boy suddenly asked, and Kuroba knew it wasn't the polite and mindful side of him speaking - it was the detective one. "Unless there's some kind of reason why you can't let me in."

"Other than me feeling like shit?" The 'you're an idiot' look was back.

But the suggestion was obvious. Kaito had the option to decline but rise suspicion, or invite him as if nothing to possibly clear those for another day or two. He wondered about any clues he might have left around the house that could get him in trouble and hoped he didn't miss anything crucial.

"If you really must."

Kuroba swore going up the stairs shouldn't have been that exhausting. Once the two entered his joined living room and kitchen, he suddenly felt dizzy and tried his best to shake it off. He was faking being sick and having a fever, though, so the whole dizziness was making everything all the more believable. Right?

He knew Hakuba was watching him from the corner of his eye but tried not to pay much mind to it.

"Tea?" Kaito offered, not really caring about being hospitable, but going along with it anyway. The kettle was being filled with water and placed on the stove even before an answer was given.

"Please."

The dizziness suddenly hit him again, so the dark-haired boy decided to take a seat for the time being (no wincing, no wincing, damn why did this have to hurt like a bitch,) his guest soon following in his tracks and taking the chair on the neighboring side of the table.

"Kuroba-kun, are you okay? You look… really pale."

Damn it, was he grimacing? He needed to keep his poker face together. He also tried to ignore how worried Hakuba actually sounded. He really needed to look like crap.

"Fever, remember?"

"Perhaps instead of drinking tea, we should really get you back to bed after all, then." Well, if the brown-haired detective wasn't convinced before, he was apparently starting to believe him now. Point for Kid. "… Were you sleeping in your school uniform?"

Or not.

"Yeah. I already got ready for school before deciding it would be better to stay in for today." Kaito made up on the spot. "Then I got lazy."

Did that sound believable enough?

Idle chatter followed, regarding nothing interesting happening in class, then about Aoko being worried about him and also mentioning wanting to come and check up on him later on.

Eventually, a whistling sound interrupted them with the water in the kettle starting to boil, and Kaito was as fast on his feet as Saguru was (he got this, why wouldn't that idiot just sit,) intending to stride to the thing and turn it off. Two seconds later he was painfully aware of what kind of mistake that was, with his vision suddenly going dark before his eyes and him instinctively trying to catch the edge of the counter as he stumbled under his own feet.

He could swear his classmate yelled something, but he didn't quite catch it.

Once the spinning sensation in his head subsided and his vision came back, he was glad to realize he was still mostly in a vertical position. To his horror, however, the piece of firm furniture wasn't the only thing he felt pressed against himself, nor was it the only thing he was currently clinging to.

Hakuba was supporting him, the detective's hands pressed to his sides - and of course, he had to unknowingly assign pressure to the spot that currently hurt him the most, son of a— It took all of Kaito's sanity and willpower not to make a noise, nor to just kneel over there and then, breath catching in his throat as a jolt of intense pain flashed through his already aching muscles.

When he looked up, he noticed the detective staring at him with a worried and suspicious frown on his face.

The fact that he didn't say anything was a little nerve-racking.

"Bed, definitely… After tea." Kuroba scrambled for words, trying to sound more light-hearted for a change, as if admitting that Hakuba's earlier suggestion was good and he was willing to take it to heart. "Just got dizzy for a moment there. But I'm fine now… you can let me go."

The detective complied, though retreated carefully, as if wanting to check that Kaito would really be okay standing on his own and not lose his balance again as soon as he released him. The dark-haired boy let out a relieved sigh, leaning back against the counter for support as he finally moved the kettle and let it rest.

They needed mugs, he needed to move towards the cupboards…

"… Kuroba."

There was something odd about the way Hakuba said his name. It sounded like he wanted to get his attention, but there was also a hint of worry in his voice as well.

"What?" The dark-haired boy tried to concentrate more on the task of opening the cupboards, making sure to use his right hand and not strain his poor, abused muscles further. No answer came, so he tried again, wondering if the other didn't hear him. "What is it?"

When Kaito finally looked around to take a glimpse of the other boy, his blood ran cold.

Hakuba was staring at him with a very serious expression, his hand lifted before him.

There was something red smeared all over it.

Poker face.

Poker face.

Poker face, poker face, poker face.

As much as Kaito tried to stay calm on the outside, he couldn't help the internal panic that was sinking in his gut at the speed of light. His wound needed to have opened up from all the moving and jumping around earlier, and he was too distracted with everything else to even notice. The blood… wasn't visible on the dark fabric of his school uniform.

Shit.

Kaitou Kid got shot. Hakuba had undeniable proof that he was wounded. Two plus two gave ' this doesn't look good at all' and 'you're screwed', Mister Moonlight Magician.

His father must have been rolling around in his grave right about now.

"It's… not what you think."

"Let me see it." The detective was already getting closer to him again, and Kaito could feel his 'fight or flight' instincts kicking in. Cold sweat ran down his neck as he took a step back, eyes widening the tiniest bit as he heard his quickening pulse pumping in his ears. His hands clenched against the counter behind him.

"Hell, if you want evidence so bad—"

"Stupid, I didn't come here to get evidence against you." Hakuba both seemed and sounded irritated all of a sudden. "I came here because I wasworried."

Hakuba. Worried about him. Ha. Good one.

Wait, what?

"Didn't I say it before?" The detective went on, serious as ever. "Kid might be an international jewel thief, a criminal, and someone I want to catch, but I don't want to see him die."

Kaito couldn't bring himself to say anything to that. He was suddenly feeling light-headed and dizzy again, his heart still threatening to jump out of his ribcage with how fast it was beating. He wanted to stop Hakuba in his approach, swat away the hands which were already working on unbuttoning his school uniform, but his own were shaking when he barely tried to lift them.

"Dammit, Kuroba." Judging from the detective's tone of voice, things didn't look pretty. Kaito took a glimpse of himself, somewhat horrified to find a big portion of Kudo's shirt to be indeed soaked with crimson. Well, that definitely didn't look as bad just barely an hour ago. "Were you— Are you out of your mind? This needs immediate treatment."

"No hospitals." The dark-haired boy demanded, closing his eyes. The air about him changed all of a sudden, as if the graveness of the situation was finally getting to him. Placing a hand on Saguru's shoulder, Kaito added a bit of pressure to make the other move and let him go.

"Honestly, you can be the worst kind of stubborn sometimes."

"You took those words out of my mouth."

His classmate seemed displeased with him but still moved to support him the next moment, offering a shoulder to lean on as Kuroba started to make his way towards his room.

"Do you have a tatami mat? Laying on something firmer would be better for you at the moment." Hakuba explained, clearly deciding to go along with the other's stubbornness for the time being. "We'll need to add pressure to the wound for a specified time so that it can close up again, so that would be easier, too."

Huh. Somehow Kaito didn't expect for Hakuba to go all… mindful on him all of a sudden. But he supposed they could talk about the obvious stuff later. It's… not like he wanted to die on him, either.

"I have one, yeah."

Kuroba was left sitting on the floor as Hakuba dragged the mat out of the wardrobe and prepared the sheets for him. Neither of them spoke up in the process. Kaito wasn't even sure what to say as the other boy helped him with taking his uniform off, then his bloodied shirt, revealing equally soaked bandages underneath the layers of clothing.

"You had it treaded by someone else before." It wasn't a question. The thief wasn't sure what gave it away - perhaps the fact that he wouldn't be able to wrap the bandages in such a way all on his own, somehow, although that was underestimating his abilities by a long shot - but he figured there was no point in denying it.

"You could say I had some help." Not entirely a lie, vague enough not to give away too much information.

He was glad Hakuba didn't pry any further, instead concentrated on the bandages. Those needed to be changed and he was aware of that much himself.

"Hey, Hakuba…" Kaito spoke up all of a sudden, his voice somewhat hesitant, but mostly just weak and tired at this point. "Would you mind getting some towels from the bathroom? I don't want the whole place getting dirty. … Mom would probably freak out."

That made the other boy stop, then look him intently in the eyes.

"… I won't find you missing when I'm back, will I?"

Now that made Kaito blink in surprise, then smirk in slight amusement. That bastard really knew him well, didn't he? The staring contest continued for a moment more, as if they could somehow communicate without words all of a sudden.

"Do you have a first aid kit?" Hakuba was the one to speak up first again.

"Also in the bathroom."

"Alright." The detective closed his eyes, as if taking a moment to come to terms with himself and decide on something, before he finally got up to his feet. "Don't move."

Kaito watched him leave the room.

Were you honestly trusting and holding a phantom thief to his word, Hakuba? The boy thought to himself, more amused with that prospect than he probably should be.

… Well, as much as he hated to admit it, he probably wouldn't be able to move that far, even if he wanted to.

—t.b.c.