Post by doctorpeggy on Feb 26, 2017 14:05:48 GMT
Themed Writing Contest #31 - Partner: Always alone
(So I got this idea, wrote it within twelve hours, edited it once, and decided to submit it even though it was much too short. Not to mention it's from the POV of a character that I'm not at all familiar with. And I think I almost came within spoiler range and then walked on the line in between. And maybe the theme died somewhere in the middle and I tried to revive it later on. I hope you like it anyway!)
Word count: 1509
Summary: Sometimes Amuro Tooru wondered what it would be like to have a normal life.
Always alone
Amuro Tooru usually worked alone. He didn’t really have much choice. His job had, for a very long time, required him to do things without involving other people. He didn’t really mind. He was used to doing things his own way, at his own pace, alone.
Alone was how he found himself on a rainy Thursday afternoon in his small apartment. Earlier that day he had gone to get groceries, and had ended up stumbling across a mess of a murder, Naturally, Edogawa Conan had been there, too.
Amuro Tooru usually worked alone, but just this once, he had decided to work with the kid. Not because he had needed help, but because Conan-kun was a genius by anyone’s standards, and Tooru had wanted to get the whole affair over with quickly, so for once he let himself work with a partner. Not that he really couldn’t have done it alone.
Or, at least, that’s what he had told himself.
Now, sitting by the window with a novel that he had read at least a dozen times before, he wished the case had dragged on a little longer, because today was his day off, and he had absolutely nothing to do. Not that it really mattered. He was always alone anyway.
That evening, Tooru was about to prepare dinner when his phone rang. For a second he found himself wishing it was Mouri Kogoro, calling him because there was a case. Not that it would ever actually happen. Not that he really cared. Sure, maybe in another life he could really have been Mouri Kogoro’s apprentice. Maybe in another life, he could have even been Mouri Kogoro’s equal, and then maybe they’d be something like partners. It didn’t really matter, though. Tooru didn’t care, he always worked alone.
Or, at least, that’s what he told himself.
He picked it up without looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Ran-san?” he found himself asking, incredulous.
“Amuro-san, there’s been a case. There was a dead body found right in front of Poirot. I thought you should come.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ll be there in a little while.” he replied mechanically.
So maybe he’d gotten what he’d wished for. He hadn’t thought of the possibility that Ran-san would call him for help, or that there would be case in which he would need to be involved.
When he got there, the case had already been solved. Surprisingly enough, for once it wasn’t a murder. Ran-san had told him the details the he got there.
The person who had died had been dumped by her boyfriend in Poirot that very evening, so she had taken her own life outside the café in a fit of rage and sadness. She had stabbed herself with a knife at the threshold of the coffee shop. A slightly bloodstained but readable suicide letter had been found tucked into one of her pant pockets.
Tooru couldn’t understand why one relationship was worth her life to the girl. Maybe she had really loved her boyfriend. Maybe she had thought he would be her partner for the rest of her life. Tooru wondered what it might be like to think like that. He had never thought like that. Maybe someday he would. Not that it really mattered. He was always alone, and he was used to it.
The police made quick work of cleaning up the crime scene. Later in the evening, Tooru went home once everything looked like nothing had happened at all. Death had long since become a normal part of his life, so he let himself believe that nothing had really happened that evening.
At Poirot the next day, he worked silently by Azusa-san. He smiled at customers, made small talk with the regulars, and continued his work in solitude. Because no matter how many people were around him, he would always be by himself.
Evening came, and before he knew it, the little café was packed. Young couples, old women and middle school kids alike filled up the seats of the coffee shop. And sure enough, one table was occupied by the detective boys. As usual, the little strawberry blond girl was missing from the group. She never seemed to come to the café with the gang, and Tooru thought, that maybe, she was like him. Always alone. She had never really seemed like part of the group anyway, even though she usually went wherever they went.
He pulled his focus back to work. At peak times like these, he and Azusa-san switched from each doing one order to an assembly line of sorts. He would get all the food ready, and she would put it on plates and serve the customers. Almost as if they were partners. And he knew she thought they were. Not that they really were.
Or, at least, that’s what he told himself.
He mentally listed the orders as Azusa-san rattled them off to him. The system only just about worked, but there was really no alternative other than to employ another person. Although, that wasn’t Tooru’s decision to make. All he had to do was finish his work, and he always worked alone.
It was no surprise that the detective boys stayed longer than most of the other customers. When there were only a couple of other people left, the group of elementary school kids made their way from the spot in the far corner to the counter to talk to Tooru and Azusa-san.
Azusa-san smiled and listened eagerly to their chatter, while Tooru just watched as cleared up and put away things. There wouldn’t be any more business till later in the evening, when people would have finished their work.
Conan-kun didn’t say much, he just watched them with a faint smile on his face, and not for the first time Tooru felt as if the boy was older than his friends.
When Conan-kun noticed Tooru staring at him, Tooru didn’t look away. Instead he gave the boy a friendly smile.
Conan-kun smiled back and walked up to the counter.
“You’re not joining their conversation?” he asked conversationally.
“You’re not either.” the boy pointed out.
“I don’t have much to say.”
“Neither do I.”
For a while they both just listened to Azusa and the rest of the detective boys.
“Hey, Amuro-san, is it fun working in a café?”
Tooru blinked. He hadn’t been expecting that. Was it fun to work at Poirot? He really didn’t know.
“I suppose.” He said.
Yes, he supposed. Although he knew that the boy wasn’t really asking him because he was curious. That boy always seemed to know more than anyone else, and that boy probably knew Tooru’s secret. So maybe it was his way of saying ‘Hold on to this pretense.
Conan-kun just nodded at his answer and went back to be with the other detective boys as if there really hadn’t been much to anything.
Or maybe Conan-kun really was just a child, and Tooru had been imagining that he was smarter than a normal grade schooler.
Tooru sighed, puzzled by the conversation he’d just had.
When the day ended and he and Azusa-san were clearing up, making small talk about the customers and the day’s business, Tooru wondered if this was what a normal life was like.
He’d never had one. He didn’t know.
And yet, something about this situation felt incredibly domestic. So very tame compared to the reality of his life. It was one of those times he felt as if working at Poirot and being a detective was really all he did.
He wasn’t sure when he had started taking his job at Poirot seriously. Of course, he had always put a fair amount of effort into it, even if it was just pretend, but now he found himself automatically trying to cut costs and doing his best to please customers.
And more than that, he found himself talking about things he had never talked about before. The weather, the cat that always came to the café, that strange-looking customer.
He smiled as his work partner laughed at a joke he’d cracked about the old lady who always came to Poirot.
“Amuro-san, you really shouldn’t.” she giggled.
“You’re the one laughing” he said smoothly.
It was one of those days. Those days when he contemplated the what ifs.
And he thought:
What if this was my reality?
And for just a moment, he let himself admit that he had got attached to the little café at which he worked. And for just a moment, he let himself pretend that he was really Amuro Tooru, and that Azusa-san was really his partner.
Maybe someday he would be able to work with a partner for real, as himself. And maybe someday he wouldn’t have to pretend to anyone, but for now he was Amuro Tooru.
And Amuro Tooru was just a guy who worked at Poirot. And he didn’t work alone.