Detective Conan and Magic Kaito characters, settings, and ideas do not belong to me but to Aoyama Gōshō.

TMPD Antics

By Taliya

LXXII: Kuroba and Hakuba

"So no potential prospects yet?" Kaito asked as he slurped the broth of his ramen.

Saguru sighed. "No, for the fifteenth time, and I'm also not terribly interested in the idea."

Kaito frowned. "Just because you find most women to be idiots doesn't mean there isn't at least one girl out there for you." He paused. "Or guy, for that matter." The Divison Three detective flinched as he received an impromptu frontal shower of shoyu broth.

The blond thumped his chest as he hacked and sputtered. "Kuro—Kuroba…" he coughed.

The brunet had begun wiping himself off with napkins handed to him by a rather considerate waitress. He first wiped his face and did his best to soak the soup from his hair before he sighed at his white shirt, which was now liberally spotted with light brown and looked closer to an abstract work of art. "Had I known I would have received that particular reaction, I would have asked for a space at the bar instead of a booth," Kaito muttered as he did his best to blot himself dry. He had already decided he was going to go home to shower and change, on the clock time be damned. Inspector Momose, his boss, would likely understand.

"Why do you keep trying to set me up, Kuroba?" Saguru hissed quietly once his lungs were done expelling the foreign liquid.

"Because I think you could stand to have human companionship besides your coworkers and your housekeeper," Kaito replied bluntly. "And just so you know, it's Aoko who's pushing this, though I'm certainly not opposed." At the Division Two officer's blank stare, Kaito sighed gustily. "The point, Hakuba, is that we both just want you to be happy."

Saguru blinked, touched by the fact that his friends were trying to look out for him. "Kuroba," he murmured softly, "I'm an aro-ace."

It was Kaito's turn to blink. "Oh," he said, staring at the half-Briton for a long moment. He then released a mixed groan and sigh, and ran a hand through his dirtied hair in frustration. "You could have said so earlier!"

Author's Note: Bonding moment for our two frenemies… how cute. This is my explanation for Saguru's lack of a significant other for this particular fic. If you don't know what being ace is, look up how the term "asexual" applies to people. We're a rather willfully ignored or unseen group on the whole, it seems. I hope you enjoyed it.

Completed: 22.05.2016