Magic Kaito characters, settings, and ideas do not belong to me but to Aoyama Gōshō.
Warnings: Implied violence, discussion of racism, classism, intolerance of sexual orientation
Nonconformity
By Taliya
The chime of the doorbell was unexpected, particularly since it was nearing eleven o'clock on a Tuesday night, and no visitors of any kind were anticipated. Twenty-seven-year-old Kaito frowned as he set his laptop aside and heaved himself off his squashy old couch. The small LCD screen off to the side of the front door revealed none other than Hakuba Saguru—who, oddly enough, was partly hiding his face from the doorbell's camera. He opened the door somewhat warily, greeting his longtime acquaintance with a questioning, "Hakuba?"
Hakuba's bespoke suit was rumpled, his hair disheveled, and his face positively ashen under the loggia's fluorescent lighting. The blond slowly turned to face him, and around the hand pressed to his left cheek, Kaito could see the beginnings of flushed, elongated welts on his skin. Hakuba's blue eyes gleamed with unshed tears even as he pursed slightly bloodstained lips to keep them from trembling. "Kuroba-kun," he answered shakily, a visible shiver rattling his frame in the chilly October air. He opened his mouth to say something more, froze, then sighed, seeming to physically deflate even more than his slouched posture suggested he was capable of. "I'm sorry for interrupting your evening," he apologized and spun on his heel. "Have a good—"
"Wait," Kaito said even as he reached out to grab Hakuba's free hand by the wrist. The blond froze. Kaito's grasp was firm but not restricting; a good shake from Hakuba would easily dislodge his hand. The brunet briefly warred with himself over allowing Hakuba inside. There was nothing in his apartment that would suggest that he was Kaitou KID, considering he had retired from life as the phantom thief two years ago, but he was still loathe to bring a detective—any detective—into his abode. They were barely friends in any sense of the word, realistically speaking. But Hakuba was clearly injured in both a physical and emotional way, and Kaito, in good conscience, could not let him walk off after he had been specifically sought out. He silently sighed. "Come inside and let's see what we can do about that cheek of yours," he invited.
Hakuba turned, eyes cautious, before he seemed to find something that deemed the brunet sincere in his offer. "Thank you," he breathed, gaze dropping as he docilely followed Kaito inside the cramped single unit. He murmured his apologies for his intrusion as he toed his shoes off.
"Please sit," Kaito verbally nudged as he pointed to the couch. "I'll get you something cold for your face, and then you're maybe going to tell me why you decided to show up at my doorstep at eleven at night if you're up for it, all right?" The blond wordlessly nodded, and Kaito bustled about creating a makeshift icepack. As he rooted around in his freezer for a package of frozen peas or corn, he wondered what sort of circumstances had shaken the normally confident to the point of arrogant Hakuba and brought him to his door. He snagged a clean dish cloth from a drawer in his kitchen, filled a glass of water from the sink, and made his way back to his guest.
Hakuba accepted the glass and icy bag of peas wrapped in a towel with quiet gratitude and took a sip, wincing as he swished a little before swallowing and sipping more. He then delicately pressed the frozen vegetables against the clear imprint of a hand that stretched from his left ear down to his chin, nose to jawline, and hissed quietly at the contact.
Kaito took a seat on the corner of his coffee table, facing the despondent blond with a troubled expression as he debated how to start what promised to be an undeniably prickly and awkward conversation. "So…" he began as gently as he could, "want to talk about… whatever is on your mind?" He had decided against asking directly about the handprint on Hakuba's face, lest he spook the blond more than he already was.
Hakuba sighed deeply through his nose. "I'm sorry," he miserably apologized again as he stared at the beige carpet somewhere to Kaito's right, "I just… didn't know where else to go and didn't want to be alone."
That response at least explained why Hakuba was here in Kaito's apartment and not in his own. But surely the man had better friends other than him to go to? "It's okay," he said, and pushed his question aside. Now was not the time to pry in that regard. Instead, he quietly asked, "May I… ask what happened?" with a nod towards the ice-packed cheek.
Time—along with Kaitou KID's retirement—had dulled their animosity towards each other. Kaito was currently content working as a programmer for a security company, and he performed small bits of magic on the weekends whenever he volunteered at the local children's hospital. Now that KID no longer occupied his spare time, his encounters with Hakuba, who moonlighted as an unofficial officer in Division Two when not heading the behemoth that was Hakuba Industries as its CEO, had decreased dramatically. He wondered what had happened so badly in Hakuba's recent life as to earn him a hard slap to the face.
The blond appeared to droop even more and fidgeted for a moment. "I—I told Father that I would not marry," he said softly, and Kaito's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Whatever he had been expecting, it certainly had not been that.
"Why should he be concerned with your marriage prospects?" There was genuine puzzlement in the question.
Blue eyes glanced at him before sliding away once more. "To understand why, you'll need to know a bit about my family history." Kaito nodded and leaned his elbows on his knees, settling in for a story. "My parents' marriage was arranged between two business conglomerates that wanted stronger international ties. It was… 'unhappy' doesn't even begin to cover the extent of it, and they most certainly did not love each other. I was conceived because it was expected that Mother produce an heir to the Hakuba line in case the one uncle I have—who at that time was the head of the family companies—passed away before he could have any children of his own… She filed for divorce three days after my birth, claiming that she had fulfilled her duties per the arrangement between the families, and that she should no longer be legally bound to Father. She prevailed and moved back to England, and they were given joint custody over me. It was agreed upon that I would alternate living between them by year once I reached the age of five after I passed toddlerhood in England with her.
"Though I bounced between the two countries as I grew up, I ended up forcing my way back to Japan long-term upon learning that Kaitou KID had become active once more, and… well, you know how I was in high school." He sighed shakily, a rueful grin curving his lips as faint, dark amusement danced in his eyes before rapidly dying away. "Fast forward to today. I had been meeting up with Isuzu Mari, the heiress of another Japanese conglomerate—we were promised to each other since I was twelve, but I just… I don't love her. She's a friend—sort of—for we rub each other in all the wrong ways despite having somewhat grown up with each other, and if I cannot tolerate her much on the best of days, then how am I to live with her for the rest of my life? I've never loved her—never loved anyone, really—since I've never felt that giddy euphoria that I've read about in books and seen in movies and television shows. I've never been attracted to anyone as far as I can recall, so how would I have been able to keep a wife satisfied emotionally and physically when I feel nothing?
"I tried to say as much to Father when I returned from meeting with Mari-san earlier this evening—he requires that I report back to him after every meeting—and when he mentioned my duty to my family for the umpteenth time, I… I snapped and mouthed off at him, saying something along the lines of how he had failed his own family since Mother divorced him, and—" He choked, curling in on himself as he whispered, "—he slapped me, told me that I was a disgrace to the Hakuba name, and to get out of his house."
Kaito sucked in a breath, shocked that Hakuba—posh, proper Hakuba—had been labeled a disgrace to his own family name. The brunet had not truly given much thought to the lifestyles of the ultra-wealthy, for it was a social sphere that he knew he would barely ever come into contact with outside of his time as Kaitou KID. He knew a lot about their ways of life given the number of times he had impersonated one person or another, but had never honestly contemplated what it truly meant to be the heir to a family legacy, to bear the burden of carrying on the family name. His own mother certainly had no opinions on whether or not he should have children of his own, and as he watched colleagues his age being pressured into relationships and starting families by their respective parental units, he could not have been more grateful for her very hands-off approach to the idea of marital bliss and grandchildren.
"I—I'm so sorry, Hakuba," he stuttered, not quite sure what to say. Asking if he was okay was completely idiotic, as it was clear he was very much not. "Do you… Is there anything I can do to help?"
"You're helping," he answered quietly. "You're helping in that you're here, and that—that you haven't tossed me out on my arse," he added with a bitter chuckle.
For all his years of dislike towards the blond, the brunet's heart twisted in his chest at the admission even as he huffed in wry amusement. "Why would I throw you out when you've done nothing to offend me? Even if I've never really liked you for the majority of our acquaintanceship, that doesn't mean I'll kick you when you're down." He paused to reconsider his words before amending, "Well, maybe once upon a time in high school I would've, but not now." The offhand remark garnered a sardonic huff of agreement from the blond. Kaito snorted and ran his hand through his hair, ruffling it even more than its usual mess before he stood. "I'll set up the spare futon, if you don't want to take the couch—which, by the way, is incredibly comfortable to crash on. If you want the futon, would you rather sleep out here or on the floor of my bedroom?" He offered the option because if Hakuba had come to him of all people, then he probably wanted simple companionship.
"Bedroom, if that's okay with you," Hakuba answered softly, hesitantly.
Kaito hummed in agreement as he made a beeline for a closet. "Don't mind at all. Give me a few to set it up and get you some fresh clothing to change into, since I highly doubt you want to sleep in your suit." The brunet pulled out the spare futon, along with blankets, sheets, and a pillowcase, and hauled the bedding into his room. Hakuba followed, and between the two of them the futon was set up in short order after stealing and denuding a pillow from Kaito's bed. With the blond helping him with the bedclothes, the brunet got a clear view of the handprint that decorated the left side of the blond's face. It was a man's hand, broad with thick fingers, and… that one welt in particular had to be due to a ring. He winced at the sight of the handprint. "Need more ice for that?" he inquired, for the mark still glowed an angry red with the handprint outlined in bloodless white.
Hakuba shook his head. "Maybe later," he said, and gently prodded it. "Right now, it's so cold I can barely feel myself poking it. I put the bag of peas back in your freezer, by the way."
"Thanks," Kaito responded. He glided to his closet and handed the blond a clean towel and a few hangers for his suit. "Do you wish to shower now?" he asked as he held the items out for Hakuba to grab.
The blond accepted the towel and hangers, and answered, "Yes, please."
"Okay. Shampoo, conditioner if you need it, face wash, and body wash are yours to use." He rifled through his chest of drawers and produced a worn black cotton tee of Brilliant Green's 2003 tour and a pair of navy plaid pajama bottoms. He then froze before carefully asking, "Uh, did you need fresh underwear…?"
Hakuba blushed as he accepted the clothing. "No, but thank you. I'll… what I'm wearing underneath should suffice for a single overnight stay." The blond disappeared into the bathroom, and soon enough the sound of running water could be heard.
Kaito sighed and wondered what exactly he was doing, allowing Hakuba into his home when he had had no meaningful contact with the blond since they had graduated from high school—barring KID heists, of course. I'm just being nice, he thought as he threw himself into his computer chair and twirled around from the momentum. That's all this is. Kaito busied himself with his usual evening hobby of absently watching Spy x Family on his personal laptop while working on some coding side projects from work on his company laptop.
At length, Hakuba exited his bathroom, dressed in the clothes Kaito had given him. They were a little on the tight and short side, but not uncomfortably so. The blond's damp hair was ruffled from washing. The handprint was less pronounced, diffused into generalized redness and swelling that encompassed the entirety of the left side of Hakuba's cheek and jaw.
"Feel better?" asked the brunet.
"Much, thank you," Hakuba answered quietly.
Kaito waved a hand at his apartment in general. "Make yourself at home. You're welcome to the fridge, freezer, and pantry if anything happens to catch your fancy. Or you can order delivery here if they're still open, as you know my address." He stood, grabbing his pajamas and fresh underwear. "I'm going to shower as well. Poke around however much will satisfy that curiosity of yours," he offered before shutting himself in the bathroom and beginning his own evening ablutions.
Kaito took his time washing himself and soaking in the furo, comfortable in the fact that nothing incriminating would be found in his apartment. He did not stay too long, however, as he did not want to leave his guest waiting. Slipping on his pajamas, Kaito walked out of his bathroom to find Saguru already ensconced in his temporary bed on the floor, flicking his thumb across the screen of his phone with a slight pucker to his brow. Scrubbing his head with a hand towel, Kaito sat on his bed to dry his hair.
"Is it really okay that I stay in the room with you?"
The question caught Kaito off guard, and he paused in his drying to study his impromptu roommate. "It's fine, really." To set Hakuba's mind at more ease, he added with a grin as he resumed hair drying, "At least you came to visit on trash day. My place would have been a bit messier otherwise."
One of the blond's eyebrows rose in skeptical curiosity. "Old bento containers?" he hazarded.
Kaito chucked. "Nah, more like empty udon, pocky, and hot chocolate packaging scattered across my countertops." He stood and hung the towel in his bathroom, noting that Hakuba's suit was neatly hung on the outside of his closet door. "You need a cord to charge your phone before I turn out the lights?"
"Please," Hakuba replied, and the next several minutes were spent digging through one of his desk drawers for a compatible cord.
Kaito turned off the lights and slid under his duvet, contemplating when the last time he had hosted an overnight guest had been. College, if he recalled correctly, in his cheap apartment close to campus after a few of his classmates had imbibed a little too much to make it back to their own places safely. Thinking about his time in university made him wonder what Hakuba had been up to at that same time, whether he had been a participant at some of the wild karaoke parties that he knew were a frequent occurrence on the weekends or if he had been party to various murder investigations on his downtime.
"I miss Grandfather," the blond quietly admitted apropos of nothing, and Kaito blinked but otherwise did not deign to reply. He could tell that Hakuba needed to get something off his chest, and that he was to play the role of the metaphorical agony aunt. "Grandfather from… before. Grandfather allowed me to chase after my dreams, gave me the opportunity to become a detective if I so desired… At least, that was the case until Uncle passed away eight years ago. Then it became lectures on how to run the family business since Father was not trained for it, demands to change my major from forensic science to business management—but even then, he told me that I should continue to pursue my dreams on the side. While it was true that he was the one to arrange my marriage, he honestly believed that Mari-san would be a good match for me."
"May I ask what your uncle's passing had anything to do with your marriage prospects? Did he not have any children?" Kaito cautiously prodded.
"Uncle never got married," Hakuba stressed. "Which was kind of nice to see because most of the children of ultrawealthy families like mine tend to be forcibly and politically married by the time they are in their mid-twenties. That Uncle managed to resist made him something of a role model for me." There was a wistfulness to his voice that spoke of deep fondness for the man. "He had been courting a lady of common lineage—Father's side can be traced back to the samurai nobility of the Edo shogunate—and he had been planning to propose to her before he suffered a stroke that killed him.
"Grandfather changed after Uncle's death. He went from being someone who seemed to care about my interests and wellbeing to someone who wanted to ensure that the family line and company continued, as Father was already settled into his role as the head of the Japanese police force. Grandfather… passed away four years ago, and I've faced nothing but mounting pressure from Father to marry since then."
Kaito digested what Hakuba had told him, allowed the information to percolate. "Since you so vehemently do not want to marry Mari-san, is there anyone you do want to marry? Or even like at all?"
There was the rustle of fabric as the blond shifted. "No… I—I've never been romantically attracted to anyone of any gender. I've watched movies and read books and yet there's no… no attraction like that, romantic or sexual, like what is depicted in the media. Perhaps there's been some purely aesthetic or intellectual attraction, but I've just never felt anything like… that. Ever."
"Do you think you might be asexual or aromantic?" Kaito suggested after turning the idea over in his head. He rolled onto his side, facing the room where he could barely see Hakuba's silhouette in the dark. "Maybe you fall somewhere on both spectrums?"
"… maybe…?" he answered hesitantly, contemplatively. "I've heard of asexuality and aromanticism, though I've never applied the definitions to myself. But it… it makes sense, if the definitions that I understand to be asexuality and aromanticism are what I believe they are."
Kaito hummed. "From my perspective, you sound like you're somewhere on the aro-ace spectrum."
Hakuba snorted derisively. "Figures that my natural inclinations would isolate me just as much as my mixed heritage does," he remarked quietly with no small amount of resigned resentment.
The brunet was more than a little aware of his home country's subtle but ingrained xenophobia. Kaito had first noticed it when he was still a child: whenever he mentioned the fact that his mother was not pure-blooded Japanese but half French, the attitude of people—primarily the adults—flipped from genuinely genial to faintly disdainful. For the longest time, Kaito had been unable to puzzle out why the mention of his mother's heritage would garner such a response until he had asked her outright.
"Kaito," Chikage had murmured with a hint of sadness as she stroked his cheek, "People here don't really like people like me."
"Like you?" he had echoed, frowning mightily. "Why would people not like you?"
His mother had smiled indulgently, a hint of sorrow tinging the expression. "The Japanese are a proud people who value the purity of their blood. Because I am half French, they…" Then she paused, brow furrowing in consternation. "They…" She sighed and murmured softly under her breath, "How do you explain racism to a five-year-old…?"
"'kaa-san…?" Kaito asked, ducking in to wrap his arms around her waist in a wordless gesture of artless comfort that only young children were capable of.
"Oh, my Kaito," Chikage breathed as she knelt to return his embrace, "I hope you never have to experience that sort of sentiment directed towards you."
Kaito said nothing, merely clutching his mother tighter as he felt her body tremble ever so slightly in his arms and silent spots of dampness paint his shoulder.
It had never once occurred to Kaito that Hakuba would experience the same thing his mother had touched upon all those years ago, given the influence both sides of his family wielded. "But you…" His voice trailed off as he tried to organize and vocalize his confused thoughts. "You're CEO of Hakuba Industries…! Fashion magazines consistently list you as the number one bachelor in all of Japan! How—?"
"Just because I show up on top of their lists does not mean I'm excluded from the prejudice and bigotry that come with not being full-blooded Japanese," Hakuba quietly explained.
Kaito had nothing to say to that.
The blond audibly exhaled. "Sorry," he murmured as he rolled over, if the rustling of fabric was anything to go by, "I'll not keep you up any longer. Good night, Kuroba-kun."
"… good night, Hakuba," the brunet echoed with a frown as he settled himself more deeply under the covers. It took a long time for Kaito to fall asleep.
Dawn found Kaito sleepily shutting off the vibrating alarm on his phone and stretching himself while half tangled in his duvet, groaning out a yawn as he mumbled, "I really don't want to go to work..." He blinked muzzy eyes open and spotted a blanketed lump on his floor with tufts of gold strands sticking out from one end. Hakuba, his brain sluggishly informed him, is sleeping on my floor. Deciding that unpacking that statement was too much work for his brain at five-thirty in the morning, the brunet slid out of the warmth of his bed and silently slumped into his bathroom.
As Kaito washed his face, the lukewarm water that had not quite fully warmed up woke him up more. Hakuba came to me last night after being slapped in the face by his father for refusing an arranged marriage. Even having had all night to chew over the blond's situation, Kaito still found it difficult to believe that stuffy, proper Hakuba had been ousted from his father's house—for rebelling, no less!
Super late teenaged rebellion stage? he absently pondered as he began the mindless process of making himself a breakfast of toast with yuzu citrus marmalade after starting up the coffeemaker. He put enough coffee grounds and water in the percolator for two cups, operating on the assumption that Hakuba would want one upon waking up as well. Glancing at the clock, Kaito sighed. It was nearly time for him to leave if he wanted to arrive on time at his office. He scribbled a note that he stuck to the bathroom mirror indicating that the blond had free reign of his home for the day and left a spare key next to the sink.
Kaito snorted as he locked his front door behind him after wrapping himself up in a thick jacket. "I must be nuts," he muttered to himself as he strode towards Ekoda Station. The train ride was packed as usual, and Kaito managed to squeeze himself out the door when the train stopped at the station closest to his office in Chiyoda. As Kaito neared his desk after a forty-seven-flight trip up the elevator, the coat pocket containing his phone buzzed against his hip. The brunet fished it out and read the text message.
Hakubaka Saguru [07:16:27]: Kuroba-kun, thank you for letting me stay. I might impose on your hospitality for a little while longer.
A snort escaped him, and he texted back, lve key on frme abv frnt dor if u lve b4 I get bk ur wlcm
Kaito twitched in irritation at the terrible grammar, spelling, and lack of punctuation. While texting in such a manner was in keeping with his persona as Kuroba Kaito, once-upon-a-time class clown and magician extraordinaire, he actually preferred constructing proper sentences, though the habit was surprisingly difficult to break. Perhaps it was a consequence of years spent creating riddles made up of incomplete phrases—who knew? He huffed as he set his computer bag on his desk and stripped himself of his coat. The small device buzzed against the laminate surface, and only after Kaito had hooked his laptop to its docking station did he check the new message.
Hakubaka Saguru [07:18:54]: Truly, Kuroba-kun, thank you.
Ye ye, he typed, Go do wht u need 2 do Kaito sighed, plugged his phone in to charge as he had forgotten to do so last night, and settled in for a long day at work.
Kaito squeezed himself off the train, relieved to no longer have to play sardines in the overcrowded carriage. He was reasonably sure someone had groped his ass, though with how tightly packed it was, he was unable to move or even turn to find the offender. He stretched his arms with a groan once he had gained sufficient distance from the tracks, off to the side of the flow of foot traffic. Around him, people were hurrying home from their jobs, a large majority of them in some form of business attire—himself included. He tugged irritably at his tie, loosening the knot and unbuttoning the topmost button by the collar.
The walk back to his apartment was uneventful, his brain contemplating the contents of his refrigerator and what he could make dinner with. He unlocked the door and stopped, his customary muttered, "I'm back," freezing in his throat as he stared at the pair of polished black derby shoes set tidily next to his shoe cabinet. The scent of dashi permeated the air despite the fact that his living room windows were cracked open for ventilation. Hakuba's still here? he thought as he closed the door behind him and stowed his own shoes away. I guess that's understandable, given how his dad reacted. "Uh, I'm back…?" Kaito called out a bit louder, feeling absurdly foolish at how tentative he was in his own home.
"Welcome back," Hakuba answered from what sounded like the kitchen.
Kaito set his messenger bag down by the sofa and slung his coat over the armrest. "What are you making?" he asked as he rounded the wall to peer into the kitchen. "It smells good."
"Kake udon. I did a little shopping to stock up your kitchen since I am, at the moment, freeloading," he offered by way of explanation, and the brunet blinked at seeing Hakuba with button up sleeves rolled up to the elbows and sporting his worn red apron that boldly stated, Whatever happens, we're eating it. The hand-shaped welt on his face had healed, though in its place bloomed an ugly purple and green bruise. The sight of it made Kaito feel upset on Hakuba's behalf, though he tamped his irritation down. Now was not the time to address it—not when Hakuba was clearly feeling much better.
An amused snort escaped him at the incongruous sight of the blond wearing the apron. When Hakuba sent him a quizzical glance, he explained, "… that apron on you…" between chuckles.
Hakuba glanced down at the graphic, reading it upside down. He also snorted and remarked, "It's a very fitting apron for you."
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" he retorted with a false glower.
"You don't follow recipes because you like to experiment, I'd wager," Hakuba said, returning his attention to the broth.
Kaito huffed indignantly. "I do too! Just… not most of the time," he admitted in a mumble as he headed towards his bedroom to change out of his work outfit.
Hakuba chuckled. "Well, dinner tonight should hopefully not taste terrible," he called after him.
After swapping out his button up and slacks for sweatpants and a sweater, Kaito wandered back into the kitchen. "Anything I can help with?"
"I'm just about done," Hakuba said, "though if you would not mind chopping up the scallions…?"
Kaito grimaced but collected the washed scallions, a chopping board, and a nakiri. "I'm going to start crying," he grumped as he began slicing the slender green and white shoots, and in short order Kaito's eyes were stinging and watering.
Hakuba's eyebrows shot up in surprise upon seeing the other man crying. "I thought you were joking," he said in amazement. "Here, take over cooking the udon and I'll do the chopping." They swapped tasks, the blond efficiently cutting up the exceedingly fragrant vegetable without tearing up.
Between the two of them, the kake udon was dished out without any mishaps. It was only after they had given their thanks for the food that Kaito broached the topic that had been on his mind. "So… what now?" he asked. "What are you going to do?"
Hakuba sighed. "I need to go back to the office tomorrow after taking unexcused leave today."
Kaito swallowed his mouthful of noodles before blurting out with incredulity, "You have to account for unexcused leave?"
"Of course," replied the blond matter-of-factly.
"But—but you're the CEO and owner of your own company! Shouldn't you be able to do whatever you want since it's your company?"
Hakuba huffed. "Just because I own it does not mean I am not accountable for my own actions. I pay myself for what I do, yes, and if I haven't earned it, I don't get paid. It's as simple as that, Kuroba-kun."
Kaito snorted in amusement. "Well, look at that, an ethical CEO… Will wonders ever cease?" he ribbed.
The blond shot Kaito an affronted frown that quickly melted away into a resigned chuckle. "Well, you aren't wrong about being ethical," he revealed before heaving a deep, worn sigh. "I cannot count how many times I wanted to dive into white-collar investigations with the very people I was trying to sign business contracts with." He ruffled his hair distractedly, the disturbed tufts of hair making it look like Hakuba was wearing a very gold, very delicate bird's nest on his head. "But I had no solid evidence with which to convict them with. I don't have access to their accounting books, after all, and pulling in the police without sufficient cause—I'd have no grounds to back up my accusations."
It was another glimpse into the world of the elite—and how Hakuba just did not fit in. Kaito knew, after having swanned about as certain people during his time as KID, that those who grew up with that kind of wealth just did not have the same sensibilities that the common people did. They wrote off a hundred-thousand yen for a pair of shoes as a pittance, whereas Kaito would never even dream of purchasing a pair of shoes for at most twenty-five thousand yen—and even that was pushing his self-enforced budget. Did Kaito have the liquid assets to purchase shoes that expensive? Yes, he had more than enough to do so, but there were so many other things he could do with that amount of cash.
Excessive spending habits meant that an equal or greater income was required to sustain said habits, and for a good number of the elite, money laundering was a relatively "easy" way to make up for whatever their income did not. It was either that, or they just got their rocks off for the thrill of doing something illegal with trillions of yen at stake and screw the office-worker peons that needed the income to survive.
They finished eating with lighter conversation about their respective jobs and current events, even going so far as to get into a debate on the China-United States tension over Taiwan. After they had washed the dishes and settled down for the evening after taking showers, Kaito pulled out his work laptop to read his emails and check on the status of his workflows while cozied up in his bed, while Hakuba ensconced himself in the futon that had once again been set up in Kaito's bedroom.
"Hakuba…?" he asked, deciding to voice a question that had been nagging at him for the better part of the day.
"Hm?" the blond hummed as he read through news articles on Kaito's personal laptop.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you." Kaito powered down his laptop, and only once Hakuba had given Kaito his full attention did he continue. "Is there a reason you decided to seek me out? Why you felt like telling me all this? I mean, I'm flattered, don't get me wrong, but I guess since it's been ages since we've had any sort of non-confrontational, meaningful conversation, I just…" He trailed off, honestly at a loss to understand why Hakuba had come to him of all people.
Hakuba sighed gustily as he organized his own thoughts. "Out of everyone I know, Kuroba-kun, you probably knew me best."
The answer had not been what Kaito had been expecting, and it showed in his face.
"Think about it," Hakuba explained. "You had to study me in order to impersonate me while you were Kaitou KID—"
"I'm not KID," he interrupted almost automatically.
Hakuba continued as if there had been no interruption. "—and therefore had to know enough about my personality, my quirks, my likes and dislikes, in order to successfully pretend to be me." He paused, and while his expression did not change, there was a sense of sadness that seemed to envelope him. "No one—" he swallowed, visibly containing his emotions, "—no one's ever really bothered to get to know me at any depth that comes even close to what you did."
The admission shocked Kaito to his core. Did Hakuba truly have no honest friends to call his own? Was the world of the elite that cutthroat and shallow? "I—I don't know what to say," he confessed at length."
Hakuba gave him a tired smile. "That's the world that I live in. Yes, there are genuinely kind people there, but it is very clear to me that most of the people who associate with me are after my name and wealth. So… yes, you would be the one to know me best." Hakuba gazed at him, a rare vulnerability in his eyes. "Thank you."
Kaito silently gulped, completely wrongfooted by Hakuba's frankness, but managed to pull himself enough together to say, "You're welcome."
They sat in silence, both lost in their own thoughts before Kaito broke it with, "If you ever need a break, you're welcome to drop by. And talk about whatever you need to."
Hakuba snorted a laugh. "That's very kind of you, Kuroba-kun. I might have to take you up on that offer in the future." He closed Kaito's laptop, set it aside, and situated himself under the covers to sleep, though he tacked on a mischievous, "I know I can trust you with secrets."
"Ha, ha," he snarked in reply as he placed his work laptop on his nightstand and plugged in his phone. "Very funny."
"I am the epitome of a comic," Hakuba haughtily sniffed before chuckling and then sobering up. "Thank you, Kuroba-kun. I mean it."
Kaito shut off the lights and climbed back into bed once Hakuba gave him the okay. "It's fine." He smiled to himself, feeling a bit of warmth in his chest flutter at the trust the blond had in him. "Just give me a heads up so that I know you're coming if you ever decide to drop by."
"So you can hide all your evidence that you are KID before I arrive?" Hakuba joked.
"So I can set up everything I need to turn you pink from head to toe," was Kaito's retort, "without turning anything else in my apartment pink as well."
Hakuba laughed. "I look forwards to trying to flip that trick back on you."
Kaito snorted. "You're on."
Author's Note: I began writing this in response to a prompt for Pride Month and just… lost steam for a while. Now, here I am two years later wrapping this up after getting fed up with it sitting on my hard drive for so long. I had wavered on whether to use "Father" or "Chichi-ue" in Saguru's dialogue—along with Grandfather and Uncle—because my habit is normally to use whatever Japanese terminology the characters use in canon, but in this instance, it somehow felt better to use the English terminology instead. Plus, actually building a family tree in order to get the correct nomenclature was… eh. Oh well. I had contemplated extending this fic with a contractual marriage between Saguru and Kaito just so Saguru could escape his arranged marriage, though considering who I am, and what and how I write, they would remain platonic companions (read: no romance). Plus, I am lazy and currently not particularly motivated to try. And I couldn't resist using a geology term for the title that actually works. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed it.
Completed: 08.06.2024