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Shades of Grey: Goldielocks
by Icka! M. Chif

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Hakuba waved blearily at the squad car that had dropped him off at his house before letting himself in. "Gonna kill the Kid." He mumbled wearily as he staggered inside, locking the door behind him. "Strangle him-"

Variations on ways to kill the phantom thief had been his mantra for the last several hours. About half of the force agreed with him. The other half was too bloody knackered to comment other than with minimalist animal-like grunts.

Not that he was far behind them. "-Rip his eyes out with a spoon-" He muttered darkly as he slipped out of his shoes and peeled out of the warm inverness coat -which had been a godsend, the weather turning nippy- and hung it up in the cubboard by the door. That taken care of, he began the tenuous climb up the stairs to his bedroom.

"-liver with a fork, no, a spork would be better-"

His body moved slowly and he was content to let it go at its own pace. He'd been pressing himself hard the past couple of days and he was pleased that he was able to move at all.

"-Gonna kill Kid-" He muttered again, realising that he was being repetitious and not giving a wit. What in the bloody hells had convinced the thief to suddenly pull four heists in three nights? It was beyond absurd. Usually Kid gave a bit more than a few hours warning as well.

Usually he gave about a -day-.

"-drop 'im off a skyscraper. Without the damn glider-" He opened the door to his bedroom, ready to fall into bed fully clothed. "Gonna kill Kid."

"After some sleep." Kid corrected drowsily from the bed.

"-After sleep." He agreed, loosening the tie. "Use a vegetable peeler to..."

Wait. Who'd been sleeping in his bed?

Dropping the tie on the floor, he stumbled over to the bed. Kid, hat tilted down to cover his face, lay there looking much like a vampire ready to rise from the grave.

"Wanker." He grumbled, sitting down on the edge of the bed, debating how much effort he was willing to put into getting undressed. Belt at the very least had to go. Belt buckles pressing into your abdomen while you slept were not nice. "Wot are y'doing here?"

"Catching-" Kid yawned, a giant jaw-cracking motion "-a brief nap."

Fingers fumbled with the buckle of the belt, but finally figure out how to undo it. Years of practice and all that. He tugged it from the belt loops, arms feeling like blocks of wood. "Here?"

Kid shrugged, little more than a shifting of his shoulders. "Figured you'd wanna ask questions."

Hakuba rolled this around his sleep deprived brain. Normally, yes. He'd have many questions. He had many questions.

The main question currently pressing being: Did he feel like staying awake to ask them?

"-After sleep." He growled, rolling face first into bed with a muffled grunt. Oh, yes. Very nice. He could just feel the muscles untense at the chance to relax. Kid could bloody well let himself out if he were so inclined.

"Mmm." Kid agreed. Silence descended as he drifted off.

Peace.

Sleep.

Finally.

Only to be nudged an insurmountable time later by an elbow.

"Oi." Kid nudged him again. "Get under the covers. S'gonna get cold."

With a grunt of distaste, he reached out, a hand grabbing on to some loose fabric that he pulled over him in a half-hearted gesture. There. Done. Warm and comfy. Go away let him sleep.

Silence.

"... that's my cape."

He mumbled something that roughly translated as either 'don't care' or 'go to hell' depending on which language he was saying it in, rolled over and fell completely asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, daylight was peeking in through the closed window draperies. He comfortable, laying next to something warm.

Wait... he knew this one.

Eyes opening was a bad idea. He'd forgotten to take the contacts out last night and now his eyes were protesting. But it gave him an unblurred view of the tousled dark hair on the pillow beside him.

Kid was asleep next to him, one arm stretched out and resting on Hakuba's back. Which was all right, one of Hakuba's arms was wrapped around the thief in return, their legs pressed against each other here and there. They weren't curled up around each other like in the cabin last winter, which was fine, it was plenty warm under the duvet, and a part of him found this... better.

Kid was here because he wanted to be.

That was highly satisfying in a very smug way.

"Go t'sleep." Kid mumbled, dark eyes opening a fraction sleepily.

He patted the kaitou's side before rolling over and climbing out of bed. "Need to take my eyes out."

He got a muffled snort of distain in return and the thief returned to being a motionless lump under the blankets. Sure, just mock the long-sighted one, Mr-Perfect-Vision-Kaitou. Renewing his promise to kill the Kid at the earliest convenient time, he stumbled towards the small half-bathroom that was connected to his room, slipping the contacts out as he went. Everything retreated to a fuzzy blur that was both comforting and always a bit disconcerting. He didn't -like- not being able to see everything clearly.

A fairly clean pair of pyjama bottoms and worn tee-shirt that passed the sniff test were still in the laundry basket, he took advantage of the opportunity to change into the much more comfortable clothing before returning to the bed.

Kid was sitting up when he climbed back in, a palette of golden skin, dark hair, white linen and the sky blue of the shirt against the warm tan of the sheets and the darker blue of the thick duvet. "Going to kill you." He informed the thief.

He got an amused chuckle in response. "Yeah, yeah. Promises, promises." Kid yawned and stretched, joints popping as he did so. "Your father stopped by and checked on you before he went to work,"

Wait... what did the Kid do when Father came in the room?! Under the bed? Out the window?

"Phone calls have been made excusing you from school -evidently there's a bug going around, a few of your classmates aren't making it in either-"

Translation: Kuroba was also out sick with this 'bug'.

"And so now the question is, sleep or talk and then sleep?"

Hakuba raised an eyebrow. "You are spending the day here?"

Kid shrugged. "As long as you don't mind. I can slip out now if it's an inconvenience."

"I do not mind." The words were automatic, but he found he meant them. He'd taken a risk inviting the thief here, but the thief took a bigger risk every time he showed up. He would not throw Kid out if he had another option.

"Cool." Kid seemed pleased. "So... talk or sleep?"

Hakuba sighed as he climbed back into the bed, pulling the covers back over his legs, enjoying the warmth that it still contained. The he turned and slugged Kid in the upper arm. "Bloody Hell." He said clearly.

Kid rolled with the punch, chuckling. "What? No vegetable peeler?" He teased.

"Skinning you alive will have to wait until after I have strangled whatever the hell possessed you for the past three nights out of your misshapen carcass." He informed the thief loftily, the threat some what negated by their physical proximity.

"Not my idea, that's for sure." Kid informed him with wiry humour. "Do -not- want to go through that again if I have a choice."

"Oh?"

The thief flopped backwards on the bed, half in half out of the covers. "Copycats. I really hate copycats. Couple of guys get together, figure they can pull off several heists, leaving My Name behind, then disappear, leaving me to take the fall out." He snorted, highly irritated. "Morons. Like I wouldn't see that as a challenge."

One thing that Hakuba was learning, both about Kuroba and the Kaitou, was that both were highly... territorial. What was theirs was theirs and damned be he who tried to interfere. Kuroba's Mother and Aoko fell under that category. Koizumi and Nakamori-keibu to some extent as well.

For the Kaitou, one did not mess with Name or Reputation, although harming bystanders or the police would also bring about retribution. Challenges were not refused. Ever. Sometimes this resulted in a roundabout means of aid, paid for with a laughing price. Others, this meant being crushed with cold efficient calculation.

People who used the Kaitou Kid's name for their own personal gain rapidly found themselves hoisted by their own petard.

"They had planned those heists?" He confirmed. Marathon thievery for mere handfuls of jewels was not Kid's style.

"Yeah. I sent notices as soon as I could." A deep sigh. "It was close."

"And Nakamori-keibu and his men have the perpetrators in question, I assume?"

"The jewels and what not I stole before they could were found on them too. It was all little stuff too, not even worth my time."

A Kaitou had standards, after all.

"Excellent." He yawned. Pressing questions out of the way, he burrowed back under the duvet, shifting the pillow around until he was comfortable. Kid yawned, pulling the duvet back over himself as well, apparently content to fall asleep as well. "Would you like to borrow a pair of pyjamas?" He inquired dozily. Suits weren't that comfortable to sleep in, he knew that from experiance.

"I'm good." Kid murmured, shifting slightly so he was more comfortable as well. "Night."

"Day." He corrected, content drift off. A stray thought flittered through his mind as he began to doze off. "Wait... how did I get -under- the duvet?" He had fallen asleep on top of the thick padded quilt, but woken up under them.

"Toldja it was going to get cold." Kid mumbled. "And while you may be too heavy to move easily, I -am- a master wiggler."

That brought up several interesting mental images, which he dismissed until he was properly awake to enjoy them. "S'fine. Thanks." He murmured before yawning again. "If you are still here when we wake again, I'll drag you downstairs for breakfast. Porridge, or something..."

This earned a tired chuckle from his bedmate. "Goldilocks." The jab was light-hearted, but he swatted the thief for it anyway. It lacked momentum, ending up as a mild shove, the arm remaining draped across Kid's warm body.

"I'm not the one sleeping in someone else's bed." He corrected.

"And it was just right..." Kid's voice was high and lilting, as if tiredly reading a bedtime story to children.

They both chuckled tiredly for a moment before returning back to the fuzzy haze of falling asleep.

Yup. Just right.

-fin-

There was a stray thought in there about who exactly would be the bear, but that's where the fic wanted to end. *Shrugs*
Belatedly realising that this is our third story in the two months with Goldilocks references to it. ('sog: friends in high places' and 'werewolf') Which is odd, cause usually we reference to 'Little Red Riding Hood' for some reason... huh.

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