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Shades of Grey: Curiosity brought the Kaitou
By Icka! M. Chif.

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Hakuba startled at the warm press of skin against his forehead and opened his eyes to see wide violet ones staring at his own from scant millimetres away.

"No fever..." A voice murmured as a hand ran across his bangs.

It was just the Kaitou Kid. Content with that analysis, Hakuba closed his eyes and drifted off again, hands leaving his skin.

He then bolted upright, his brain clicking on as he pulled the covers back from the bed as he swung his legs out. "I am going to be late for the Heist!!!"

"You mean this?" From a few paces away, the Kid held up a glittering pendant of Diamond and Alexandrite.

"Exactl-" He paused in mid-action, his mind belatedly catching up to the rest of him.

One. The room was dark, the only light on being the lamp he had turned on beside his bed. Night had obviously fallen.

-Logically, much time had passed since he was last conscious. Several hours by his mental clock.

Two. The Kaitou Kid was in his room, grinning as he held up the object of tonight's heist.

-Therefore, enough time had passed for the heist to be well and over with.

Three. He wasn't wearing any trousers. At least he was wearing his shirt and underpants. But with the covers back, it was a bit chilly on his bare legs.

Hakuba rubbed an eye with the heel of one hand, regretting the fact that he had fallen asleep with the contacts in. "Could you hand me my trousers please?" He finally asked, motioning to where he had draped them over the computer chair across the room with as much dignity as he could muster. If he just pretended everything was normal, he might be able to maintain some of his tattered shreds of pride.

Thankfully the Kid did so without comment, handing Hakuba his trousers and not quite entirely turning his back on him, but obviously finding the pictures on the wall -highly- fascinating.

Hakuba yawned, finishing sliding out of bed and pulled on his trousers. Definitely rated high up on the bizarre ways to wake up scale. He didn't even remember falling asleep. He had just sat down for a moment in the process of changing his clothes before going to the heist. Obviously he'd been more exhausted than he had thought... "Not that I am complaining in the least mind you, but what are you doing here?"

"You did say I was welcome back, correct?" There was no teasing in the question, it felt more uncertainty than anything else.

Hakuba frowned slightly as he fastened his trousers and settled them comfortably on his hips. "Of course."

Kid nodded, the cape twitching slightly as shoulders un-tensed. "I was curious as to what happened to you when you didn't appear during the heist. I saw your light on while passing by and thought I'd stop in."

"Ah." Hakuba yawned again and looked around for a shirt. "I just flew in from London a few hours ago, in time to for the heist actually, but evidently I was more knackered than expected." Failing to spot one he wandered over to the wardrobe rummaged around for a pullover to wear over his shirt.

Kid chuckled. "Jet lag is a bitch."

"Something like that." He agreed, finding one and pulling it over his head. His eyes felt like sandpaper and he rubbed at them. "Are you in a hurry?"

"Hmm?" Kid glanced at him. "Not really. Why?"

"Stay -right- here, I will be back in a tic." He yawned, heading towards the bathroom that was connected to his bedroom, slipping the contacts from his eyes. A vague part of his mind questioning just ordering the thief to stay put. Neither Kuroba nor the Kid were exactly known for doing what they were told. He shrugged as he put the contacts in their containers with the cleaning solution as fast as he could and splashed some water on his face. He felt marginally more awake for it as he stumbled back out to his bedroom.

The Kid was still there, although closer to the open window, his blurry form looking around the dimly lit room with his hands in his pockets in what could be interpreted as a too innocuous to be believed gesture. Hakuba gave a small internal sigh of relief, picking his reading glasses off the computer monitor and putting them on, the room sharpening back into details. "Thank you."

The Kid shrugged in response.

"Have a seat." Hakuba grabbed a file from beside the computer and motioned towards the bed.

The Kid's head tilted in a curious gesture. "I didn't intend to intrude for too long."

"You are not intruding." Hakuba explained, pulling the covers somewhat straight at the head of the bed and sitting down cross-legged at the head of the bed. He tossed one of the extra pillows towards the foot of the bed, then motioned for the Kid to sit down. "Have a seat, tell me what I missed."

That earned him an incredulous look. Hakuba gave a half shrug in response. "The Task Force's explanations tend to be a bit... over exaggerated."

Understatement.

"And you want to hear the other side of it." The Kid's tone was amused, but the posture was guarded.

"As much detail as you're willing to give." Hakuba agreed easily. "'We will get that bastard next time' is not a very good caper summary."

"I do not do Capers." Kid informed him haughtily. "I orchestrate Heists, not Capers. Capers imply frolicking. Heists are Serious Business."

A brief mental image of the Kid skipping along and tossing flowers out of his top hat like it was a basket as Nakamori growled and chased him passed through Hakuba's mind. He kept his mouth shut. "I see."

With more dignity that any one person should have the right to possess, Kid sat down at the foot of the bed. Hakuba took the opportunity to spread the notes that he had on the blankets between the two of them. "From the information I have, I was expecting you to-" He pointed to the diagrams, outlining the possible routes and tricks he'd been calculating the thief to use.

Kid was an attentive listener, occasionally adding comments about where the information he had deviated from what had actually happened, inserting short amusing observations. It was refreshing change to have an audience who could not only keep up, but as well expound on the topic.

The only person knowing more about the Kid's habits, aside from the possibility of Nakamori, being the Kaitou Kid himself.

"You went to the roof?" He found himself frowning, his eyebrows coming down in an annoyed crease as the Kid narrated the last part of the heist. "Would it not have made more sense to escape through one of the side doors and make your escape into the crowd or to another building?"

The Kid spread his hands out eloquently. "I was anticipating you being there to attempt to foil my escape at the last moment." It was not quite a reproachful tone, but it was close. More of a sulk or a disappointed tone. "Security is tighter on the lower floors, mostly to keep people out instead of me in."

He'd have to get past more police to escape by the lower floors. But at the same time, it was a well-known fact that the Kid could fly. Glide. Close enough. Therefore it was more logical to change the pace, go down instead of up.

Hakuba had just about to open his mouth to explain this when the words died in his throat, the realisation of the current scenario he was in clicked into perspective. He was sitting in his bed room with an internationally wanted thief, a thief he was chasing no less, and giving him tips on how to evade the police.

The Kid lapsed into silence as well, an awkward moment filling the room.

Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, the silence was disturbed by the sound of a door opening downstairs. Both of them straightened, eyes wide in surprise. "Father." Hakuba explained in a muted whisper. "He's home."

The Kid raised an eyebrow. "I am not hiding under the bed." Was his grumbled comment.

"Too cliché." Hakuba agreed. Although it would be interesting to see where the Kid -would- hide.

Or not, as the Kid slunk off the bed much like an over grown cat, picking up his hat as he went. "My cue to go."

"All right." He gave the thief a small grin. "Thank you for stopping by. It has been... fun."

"It has." The Kid agreed, smiling back as he donned his hat. Then leaned over and dropped a quick peck on Hakuba's forehead, a teasing parody of how he had woken up. "Good night."

"Sleep well." Hakuba echoed, briefly catching the Kid's wrist and dropping a kiss of his own in the palm of the gloved hand.

One last grin and the Kid was gone, vanishing like a white shadow out of the window. How he managed to disappear while wearing all white was still a mystery to Hakuba.

Vaguely familiar footsteps walked down the hallway, pausing outside the door, then a light rapping on the wood surface before the door opened a crack. "Saguru-kun? You still awake?"

"Just looking over heist notes." He replied honestly.

His Father nodded, large laughing face taken up by a wide yawn. "Don't stay up too late." His father admonished, closing the door to head to his own rooms to sleep. "Good night."

"Pleasant Dreams, Father." He called after him. He might have gotten a response, he might not have. It was late and his Father looked dead on his feet.

Hakuba smiled to himself, glancing over the pile of paperwork spread out on the bed before gathering it all up to catch some rest of his own.

If nothing else, it had been a most interesting and productive night.

-fin-

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