Looking past the gun and the white clad arm that held it, he found himself staring into the face of the person he had been chasing, the Kaitou Kid.

Silence stretched, the Kid's expression blank, his eyes hidden by shadows and the white gleaming deamon's eye he called a monocle. Neither of them moved, the only sound filling the dark cabin the howling snow-heavy wind outside.

He supposed he could jump the thief, but quite frankly at this moment, he didn't see what good it would do. The thief most likely still had a full armament of his tricks, gadgets and weaponry, while all he currently had was a pair of handcuffs and his pocketwatch. Even if he did succeed, there was nothing to keep the Kid from simply escaping the handcuffs, knocking him out with sleeping gas and throwing him back outside into the snow.

Kid the Phantom Thief was non-violent on general principals. However, this did not mean that he would allow himself to be easily caught or captured.

And at this point, Hakuba was really too cold, too sore and too exhausted to really care.

The door behind swung shut with a deafening slam, extinguishing the sole light source and plunging the room into absolute darkness.

Hakuba remained still, senses straining for a sign of the thief, but as far as he could tell he was alone in the room.

Evidently, he'd been granted permission to stay. Huzzah and all that rot.

He reached behind him, his left hand running into the wall, which he then followed to a corner, where he sat down with a muffled groan, allowing shaking shivering limbs to finally rest. Following the Kaitou Kid through the snow had not been one of his brighter ideas. Granted, the weather reports hadn't called for this much snow to be dumped tonight, but he really should have listened to the advice of the older officers when they had looked at the sky and called off the hunt.

Logically then, he supposed he had no one to blame but himself. His stung pride still muttered that it was the Kid's fault. What the hell was the idiot thinking? Holding a heist in weather like this. It certainly made him harder to spot, like attempting to find the Abominable Snowman in the snow, but still, he could freeze like this.

...They both still could. He didn't need his eyes to know that his breath was coming up in white puffs in front of his face. It was warmer in the cabin than outside, but still too cold for comfort.

And it would get a lot colder.

They sat in silence, the Kid hidden somewhere around the room, him huddled in the corner.

Time passed, a half-hour according to his mental clock. It wasn't as accurate as his pocketwatch, but it worked. He was pretty sure he couldn't feel his lower legs or fingers now, despite the fact that he was wrapped up as much as he could. His inverness coat was damp, and it was making him colder.

He cleared his throat. "Truce?"

Silence echoed, and he could hear no sign of the thief. Panic flared in his chest. Had something happened to the Kid?

"Truce-?" The voice was soft, coming from a few feet away from him on the left. He turned his head, but couldn't see anything.

"We're going to freeze to death like this," He explained. Surely the Kid knew this as well. It struck him as somewhat odd, him, a detective, having to earn a thief's trust. Usually it was the thieves who were supposed to be untrustworthy. "I propose a truce for tonight. For survival."

"No games?" The Kid's voice came from the right this time, wispy and teasing. Ventriloquism.

"None." He agreed. "I will not attempt to capture or unmask you, on my honour. At least until we can get out of here safely."

Maybe his position wasn't quite as precarious as he had thought. The Kid might have had his full arsenal, true, but he was also trapped in a small room with a detective.

No wonder the Kid was playing shy.

Of course, this still didn't discount the possibility of waking up bound hand and foot in his skivvies in the snow.

"On your honour..." The thief's voice was musing, as if weighing just how much that was worth. He was annoyed at that, there shouldn't be any cause to call the worth of his word into question.

"Agreed."

Hakuba breathed a sigh of relief he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

A light flashed on, not pointing at him but still blinding none the less. "Several birds got to the chimney before we did." The Kid informed him, almost merrily from where he was crouched up in the rafters, a small electric torch resting beside him. "So it's pretty much useless, even if we did have material to burn."

"Which we do not." Now that his eyes were adjusting to the light source, he could see that the single room the cabin boasted was very Spartan. So Spartan, in fact, that it did not hold anything at all other than the ceiling, walls, floor, fireplace and themselves. Nothing to break up to use for firewood, and there didn't appear to be anything in the fireplace to burn at all.

The place was clean, he had to give the previous occupants that much.

"Correct." The Kid sat down on the rafter, leaning against one of the bracers and letting one of his legs dangle down in an entirely too-casual-to-be-appropriate gesture considering the fact that they were both still cold and damp from the snow.

It also put the neatly tied white oxford right at batting height if he were to stand up. But he was not a cat, so he remained seated and watched the Kid like a dog watching a smug cat sitting on top of a high wall instead.

"Which leaves us with only a few options." The Kid continued pleasantly.

He sighed in return, running a gloved hand through snow-damp bangs. No fire or any other sort of heaters to warm the place. There was only one option he could think of, which was practically textbook in its simplicity. "Body heat?"

"Body heat." The Kid nodded.

Joy. Oh, rapturous joy.

He briefly wondered when his thoughts had gotten so sarcastic. Probably around the time he's lost feeling in his rear from sitting on the cold floor.

"We can use my coat and your cape as blankets." He mused out loud, slightly surprised at just how casual he sounded. He might as well been discussing what sandwiches to have for a picnic in the park with a mate instead of bunking for the night with his favourite international criminal. "They should be large enough to cover both of us."

"Probably be best to use mine to lay on." The Kid nodded, equally as casual. "It's not as much padding from the floor as your coat would be, but it won't be as warm either."

"Sounds like a plan." Hakuba muffled a groan as he winced and willed his heavy legs to unbend and move properly as he stood up, using the walls as a prop. "Any preference on where we sleep?"

Something flickered across the Kid's face, too fast for him to catch. "Corners would trap the warmth better than the open floor." The Kid rose, scooping up his hand torch as he moved, causing the shadows around them to shift. "I'd say I'd rather not be cornered in, but I'm afraid I'm out of luck there." A wiry twist of his lips accompanied the light comment.

"I will take the wall then." He shrugged gamely. Part of him protested the idea, wanting to be between the thief and the door. Not to keep the Kid from the door and possible escape, not that he would currently, but to keep what ever might come in the door from the Kid. Not that it was likely, but he was used to the role of protector.

Of course, a corner was the most defensible position as well. Not as much room if he wished to flee, but it meant that he had at least one direction that was safe from attack. Just because they were cooperating tonight didn't mean he should not expect mischief from the kaitou. Heavens knew he got it the rest of the time.

The Kid nodded, lightly jumping off the rafter. The landing wasn't so light, belying the Kid's own chilled and sore state. "Thanks."

He waved it off. "Welcome."

He unwrapped the scarf from around his neck and began to work on unbuttoning his coat, silently cursing his numb fingers which took great delight in fumbling and slipping from the large wooden buttons. The Kid set the small light down on the floor, the beam aimed up which lit the room relatively well, and began working on unattaching the fabric of the cape from the metal and plastic framework that it was tangled with. Finally the white material came free and he shook it out, the material proving to be larger than what the simple cape appeared to be.

Of course it had to be, to provide the skin of the hang glider. Buttons still half done, he gave an involuntary shiver from the cold air and took one end of the smooth cloth and helped the thief fold it in half, then lay it smoothly on the floor, making sure that there were no wrinkles to lay on trapped underneath. It was longer then they'd need, so the extra was folded up as place to rest their heads.

The Kid turned his back to him slightly as he then unattached the flying harness from the rest of his garments and Hakuba undid the rest of the buttons on the coat, spreading it out over the folded cape like a blanket. They undressed silently, pointedly not watching each as they stripping off coats, ties and belts, laying them out nearby to dry. Hakuba kept things towards where his head would rest, the Kid placing his possessions next to his side. Both were shivering by the time they were down to shirts, trousers and socks. And in the Kid's case, monocle and gloves. The dim light of the torch shadowed the Kid's face better than his hat could, and it was hard to make out his features. Not that Hakuba was trying.

"Ready?" the Kid asked, rubbing an arm for warmth or because he was nervous, it was hard to tell. Both of them were still slightly damp, but clothed and damp was better than naked and vulnerable. Or pointing and laughing.

"Yeah." He shrugged and crawled into the makeshift bed, pointedly laying on his right side so that he was facing the wall. He could hear and feel the slightly smaller boy curl up behind him, then helped to drape the large coat over both of them. It was wool, and stunk, but far superior to the alternative of freezing.

The Kid turned off the light and they huddled under the coat, their backs as close as they could get to each other without touching. Eventually they began to warm up, enough to get slightly more comfortable and stretch out a bit.

"Eep!" He bit back a yelp. "Your feet are freezing!"

The Kid shifted his feet away from Hakuba's. "So are yours." Was the sullen reply. "Blow me."

Hakuba growled in response and focused on -not- moving, because if he did, he would strangle his bed mate. Which considering that he was pretty sure the Kid had kept his card gun next to his head was a Bad Idea.

They lay there for a while, listening to the snow pile up outside and the wind howl around them, hyper aware of the other. A while passed before the warmth got to him and Hakuba felt his thoughts grow fuzzy with sleep. He finally allowed himself to relax, reasonably confident that the trickster wasn't going to do anything, at least not right away.

"G'Night." He whispered, finally letting go of consciousness and drifting off. The last thing he was aware of was the soft voice of the Kid wishing him pleasant dreams.

Hakuba woke up from a rather nice dream, feeling quite warm and fairly content. Aside from a rather cold nose, that was. He wrinkled his nose in annoyance and buried his face into his pillow, which was warm and smelled kind of spicy, even if it was a bit fuzzy against his cheek.

Details niggled at his brain as he did so, sleepily trying to recapture pieces of the fading dream, even as they slipped through his fingers as elusive as a ghost's touch. He should probably wake up, but he was warm here, and comfortable, and the air on his exposed skin was freezing. Moving was not an option he wanted to sleepily consider.

Then the small random facts that had been niggling at the back of his brain came together with a decisive 'click' and Hakuba had what could be counted as a very considerable 'Oh Shit' moment.

He was curled up against the Kid, his face buried at the junction of the slightly smaller boy's neck and shoulders, the dark spiky hair pressing against his cheek. One arm was pressed between their two bodies, the other wrapped possessively around the Kid's chest. Their legs were intertwined, pressing his certainly not protesting nether regions against the curve of the thief's buttocks.

And if the rapid heartbeat under the open hand pressed against the Kid's chest was any indication, the thief was very much awake and aware of their positions.

He'd been molesting the Kid in his sleep. Hakuba felt his face go red as he tensed and untangled himself from the kaitou with as much dignity and grace as he could muster. Which wasn't much under the circumstances. He turned back around and facing the wall once more. "Sorry."

The Kid was silent, lying unmoving for several moments and Hakuba winced, feeling smaller than a few centimetres high. That was not what he had intended to do at all, and now he had made an uncomfortable situation even more uncomfortable for the both of them. How was he supposed to chase after the thief now? Especially without making himself look like more of a pervert?

Finally, just when he was contemplating the merits of hara-kiri, the Kid spoke, his voice soft and curious. "So you... like guys?" There was no retribution or scorn in the tone, just a curious question.

He winced anyway. "Sort of." He couldn't bloody well lie his way out of the situation. And after forcing himself on the thief as he had, the Kid deserved the truth anyway. "There are a few girls I'm attracted to, and some guys. It depends." He didn't consider himself gay, or bi, and it wasn't like he was on the market for a significant other anyway. It was just that some people he found more attractive than others, regardless of the gender.

He swallowed. "You?"

The Kid was silent again. "I don't know." He finally quietly admitted.

One of Hakuba's eyebrows rose. "But I thought you liked A..." He cut himself off. Accusing the Kid of being Kuroba or vice versa would just get the magician thief to shut himself off again. And he found himself curious as to what his answer was.

"There -is- a girl I'm fond of." The Kid continued softly, ignoring the question as if it had never been spoken. "But... not the way you think. And she'd be a whole lot safer with someone else. So I never thought about it."

"You never-?" That didn't make sense.

The Kid snorted. "I'm a Kaitou, Tantei-san. And in case it's escaped your attention, it's not exactly the safest profession out there. I can't -afford- to think about it. It's too risky."

It made sense, from the thief's point of view. Other people couldn't be used against him if he was alone. And similarly, if he were caught, he wouldn't bring anyone one else down with him. But still... it was just rather hard to wrap his mind around.

Especially for someone as attention seeking as Kuroba.

"So wait... You have not even -kissed-?!"

"Shut. Up." The growl there was more Kuroba than Kid. Gone were the mockingly polite precise tones of the Kid, to be replace by the annoyance of a wild teenage boy his age.

"Sorry. It's just that considering your reputation of a ladies man, and all your fans..." Not to mention Aoko and Koizumi chasing him as Kuroba. Or in Koizumi's case, as the Kid as well. That woman could be down right scary.

A surly grumble answered him, even more Kuroba-like than before. If he hadn't been one hundred percent sure before that Kuroba was the Kid, he was now. "...like you've got so much more experience..."

"-I-" Hakuba said loftily "at least dated at my old school." Not that it ever went very far due to his hectic schedule as well as the robberies, the murders and the other assorted gruesome things that came with the profession. Not that he was going to tell the other boy that.

A low growl was his only response and he realised that he might be pushing his boundaries a bit -too- far.

"Sorry." He apologised again. "It is just rather a bit of a surprise. But it could not hurt to try, could it?" He shrugged. It would certainly make Aoko-kun happy, that was for sure.

The dark-haired boy shifted, leaning slightly more in his direction. "All right, fine. Tell you what." A slight mocking grin was back in the Kid's voice. "I'll make a wager with you. If you manage to cuff me on a heist, I'll do anything you want for a night."

Hakuba half rolled over in surprise, but caught himself. "You are joking."

"Nope." He could practically feel the pranksterish grin on the magician's face. "One Kaitou at your service for what ever you say, one night only."

"Rather confident of yourself, are you not?" He smirked back. A rather high price to pay for a game.

"Yup."

"All right. You are on." He awkwardly reached his right hand, which he was still partially laying on, over his body and a gloved hand of the Kid's took it, and they shook to seal the wager.

"Be rather interesting to watch you fulfil that promise from behind prison bars." He commented, pulling his hand back down against his side.

"Now who's the confidant one?" The Kid retorted, amused. "You're assuming I'd stay caught."

He did have a point there. Same quandary he'd had here. Catching the Kid was one thing. Keeping him caught was another.

"We shall see." A yawn blindsided him, reminding him that it had still been a long day with very little sleep, all embarrassment aside. "... after tonight however." Their truce was still in effect after all.

"Oi." A sharp elbow jabbed him in the back. "Roll back over." The Kid ordered, rolling onto his side again.

"Huh?" He blinked, surprised by the request.

"Roll over to your other side." Kid repeated. "Like you were before."

Hakuba frowned. "Are you sure?" He didn't want to do anything to make either of them uncomfortable.

"Yeah." The other boy urged impatiently as a slight shiver made the coat shake a bit. "It was warmer that way!"

He chuckled slightly, and not just a bit ruefully at the comment, rolling over to obey the command. The Kid grabbed his arm as he did so, curling it around him once more like a secondary blanket under the coat-blanket. Hakuba leaned his head against the back of the Kid's, in a looser, less intimate embrace.

The Kid was right after all. It was warmer this way.

• • •

It was the cold that woke him up again. And this time when he opened his sandfilled and gritty feeling eyes, he found the sun peering weakly through the cracks in the window's coverings and his bed mate was missing.

Thus explaining the cold air.

There was some light now too, coming in from the windows and he sat up with a stretch, joints popping and muscles protesting having slept on such a hard surface. The Kid was gone, leaving no trace of his ever having been there.

Which figured.

Although he was rather annoyed with himself for having slept through the Kid removing his cape from underneath him. He'd suspect pink sleeping gas as the cause but the usual foul after taste that the gas left was missing.

Leaving the disturbing thought that he'd been comfortable enough in the thief's presence to sleep as soundly as he normally did. Which was to say, like the dead.

. . . .

He pushed that thought aside and grabbed his suit coat, shoes and tie, which were fortunately still laying above his head within reach, apparently untouched, and pulled them under the inverness coat to warm them up fractionally before he donned them. Pulling on freezing garments in the cold was not exactly a feeling he enjoyed.

Hakuba waited until they weren't so cold before slipping on his garments and putting his arms through the giant coat's sleeves. He rose then, the coat falling around him like it normally did and hastened to button the coat shut before any more of his accumulated warmth could escape.

The tie however, he didn't bother with and simply stuck it in his pocket. His fingers were simply too sluggish to deal with a windsor knot currently and he doubted anyone would take offense to his not wearing it.

He stretched, coaxing more warmth into his stiff limbs and gave the room one last perfunctory sweep as he wound the scarf around his neck, making sure they had left nothing behind. Aside from a clean patch where the Kid's white cape had lain -he briefly wondered if the cape was now stained-, there was no sign that they had spent the night there at all. Fair enough.

Thus satisfied, he opened the front door to step outside and abruptly froze. It wasn't the blast of chilled air that made him pause, it was the lack of footprints in the pristine white snow that blanketed the landscape.

'Phantom' thief indeed.

Glancing down, he noticed that there was another pair of footprints in the snow besides his dusted with clumps of snow. A few crunching steps out into the snow and a glance up revealed that the snow above the door had been partially knocked off, a pair of smudged footprints resting up there.

He smirked to himself. It was a nice trick, climbing up to the roof to take off and thereby escape leaving a clear path for Hakuba to follow. But not quite clever enough. If his memory served correctly, there was a road to the east that lead back towards the town. All he had to do was head towards the sun to find the road.

A plan which would have worked better if it didn't involve sliding down knee-deep snow covered hills. While it was faster to go down the hills on his posterior, it was rather painful and not the least bit dignified. He was rather glad that he was the only one in the forest to observe this foolery.

It also meant that he became quickly snow-covered and by the time he found the road, he began to feel much like an abominable snow creature. And about as chilled as a yeti as well.

He was exceedingly grateful when after several minutes of walking down the marginally easier to traverse road a cheerful older gentleman in a pickup truck offered him a ride back to town, commenting on the way that young people these days had no common sense in the empty space between their ears that they called a brain.

Hakuba didn't quite understand that statement until he opened the truck cab door and found a second person in the vehicle, a brown haired girl in braids and bright multi-coloured jacket and skirt. An eye peeked at him as he climbed in, then closed as she curled back up, apparently taking a nap.

The old man chuckled as Hakuba found himself yawning in the warmth of the cab as he loosened his clothing so he wouldn't freeze when he got outside again. The old man advised him to take a quick nap, they'd be to town shortly. He thanked him and followed the girl's example in curling up for some shut eye, not quite dozing.

The truck continued slowly on its way, bouncing in the uneven ground, jostling them quite a bit. The girl ended up partially sprawled across him as they hit a particularly big bump, her hair shoved into his face as he wrapped an arm around her to prevent her from falling further. She smelled of old chemicals, cosmetics and underneath of the same slightly spicy scent of the Kid he had woken up to earlier that night.

Hakuba helped her sit up right again, a faint smirk tugging on the corner of his lips as he kept an arm around her, as much as for balance as for his own amusement. "Caught you." He whispered just loud enough for the other to hear.

An amused violet eye glinted at him as the Kid dug a sharp elbow dug into his ribs in retaliation.

-fin-

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