Post by silvercyanide on Sept 22, 2018 10:38:48 GMT
Prompt: How does Kaito deal with the abundance of carp streamers during Golden Week?
“Kaito!”
A pink cloud exploding beside him had Hakuba flinching, hand instinctively going to his hair in some vain hope to be able to prevent an unplanned dye job if Kuroba was feeling particularly devilish that day. His hair turned out dry, but that was never a reliable indicator so he pulled out the compact mirror he always kept on him and flipped it open. He was met with dark blond hair – nothing had happened.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aoko-kun’s mop whizz by and whack Kuroba squarely across the face. That had him do a double take, and if the surprised expression on Aoko-kun’s face was anything to go by, she hadn’t expected to actually hit him too.
“T-t-that wasn’t supposed to hit you. Are you falling sick? Is there something wrong?” Aoko-kun’s hands fluttered aimlessly a few centimetres away from Kuroba’s body as she hovered over the boy sitting on the ground. There was a red mark across the bridge of Kuroba’s nose, in the shape of the mop handle, clear evidence that Kuroba really did just get hit by the mop.
There was a flash of something – panic? – across his face before Kuroba’s face smoothed out into a grin. “What are you talking about, Aoko? Maybe you’re the one falling sick.” He flipped over a table, setting off a shower of confetti in the process. A jet of air cause Aoko-kun’s skirt to fly up – Hakuba politely averted his eyes – and a low whistle sounded out.
“Oh, white? How boring.” Kuroba said, with that grin still on his face. Hakuba squinted at his face.
‘Is that a blush?’
He immediately dismissed that idea, because Kuroba did not blush, not when flipping skirts was a thing he did on a near daily basis to bother Aoko-kun. The boy had a funny way of showing affection.
In the background, their math teacher was futilely trying to get class back on track, but by the way half of the class was cowering behind their desks and the other half was watching from the outside of the classroom, it wasn’t happening any time soon.
Another burst of smoke filled the air – smoke bombs from Kuroba’s sleeve, sloppy – and a shadow flitted across Hakuba’s vision, heading for the window. When the smoke cleared, Hakuba saw the edge of Kuroba’s uniform vanishing past the window ledge.
A loud screech followed in his wake as Aoko-kun realised what happened and chucked her mop, once again, in the direction Kuroba had disappeared to. To no effect, considering the boy had already reached the ground floor and was now leisurely making his way toward the school gates, a hand raised in a lazy wave. A quick check of his pocket watch showed that it turned 3 p.m. on the dot. Turning from the window, he saw Koizumi gazing at the spot where Kuroba had leapt out of, a frown replacing her usual smile.
Hakuba shook his head. Everyone was acting strange today.
“Are you listening to me? Kaito!” Aoko huffed, hand already curling into a fist. The brown-haired boy in front of her blinked, returning from his daze where he had been staring at an arguing couple for the past five minutes.
“What’s wrong, Aoko?” Kaito asked, focusing his attention on her. Aoko poked at him with her fork, peering at his face. “You’ve been acting all weird this week, are you sure you’re not sick? We’ve been in this restaurant for 20 minutes already and you haven’t pulled out one magic trick yet.”
Kaito swatted a hand at her fork, a faux-offended look slipping onto his face. “I’ll have you know since it’s Golden Week, I thought I’d give you a break from the pranks and magic. Plus, I burned my fingers working on a trick recently. To think you’d question me like this, I’m hurt, Aoko!”
Aoko smiled, leaning back against her chair and cutting off another piece from her chicken. It looked like Kaito was fine. Although…
“I’ve been wondering this but, since when did you eat fish?”
Kaito froze, one hand in the middle of delivering a piece of fish to his mouth before a terrified expression slipped onto his face. He gingerly set his fork down and pushed the plate away, face turning pale.
“F-f-fish? Aoko, why didn’t you tell me that was fish?!”
Aoko shot him a befuddled look, tapping on the menu slotted into its holder beside their table. “Look, it says here, ‘Deep-fried cod in batter’, didn’t you read the menu before ordering?”
Kaito looked to the side in what almost seemed like embarrassment – Kaito, embarrassed? – his lips pressing together. “I was distracted, okay? I just randomly chose a dish.”
Aoko giggled, a vindictive satisfaction rising in her. Looks like Kaito had his not-so-smooth days as well. “And here I thought you’d gotten over your fear of fish. You haven’t even flinched from one of those carp streamers that are everywhere right now. Last year I remembered you screaming and refusing to come out of the house.”
Kaito choked, his face turning into a mix of red and white and cleared his throat. “I just had to tell myself they weren’t real. That’s all. And what a good friend you are, dragging me out to accompany you shopping even though you knew there would be carp streamers everywhere.”
Aoko opened her mouth, a retort on the tip of her tongue, when a scream pierced the air. To her surprise, Kaito’s eyes sharpened like she’d never seen before, an intimidating aura rising from him as he whipped his head around to look at the table where the couple he’d been staring at were sitting. The man had collapsed face first into his food and his girlfriend was currently sobbing, shaking his shoulders and crying for help. A second later, the aura retreated like it had never been there and Kaito pulled out his phone.
“I’m going to call the police, that man’s fingers are purple, he’s been poisoned. We should let them handle this and try not to get too close to the crime scene.” He said, fingers already dialling the number.
“O-okay.” Aoko replied, feeling faint. This hadn’t ever happened before and she didn’t know what to do. She turned her eyes to Kaito, wanting something familiar to distract her from the fact a man was quite possibly dead not two tables away and saw that same, sharp-eyed look on his face as he studied the scene from his seat, listing off details to the operator over the phone in a well-practiced manner.
As she leaned back into her chair, Aoko had to wonder why Kaito seemed so familiar with crime scenes.
The door closed behind him and he let out a sigh, dropping his backpack off on the ground. He had returned almost four hours later than he expected because of the incident in the restaurant – thankfully not a murder.
Footsteps rang out from the staircase and a person appeared from the second floor. Kaito, taking the steps two at a time, called out a greeting, “Welcome back Meitantei! How was your day?”
“Could be worse,” Shinichi replied, shrugging off his jacket. “A man got poisoned in the restaurant but he didn’t die and I almost blew my cover to Nakamouri-san but I managed to avoid it.” He levelled Kaito with a look, “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d been the one she was with instead of calling me to do it for you while you stayed at home this whole week.”
Kaito flopped down onto the couch, hands flipping expertly through a deck of cards. The four of clubs disappeared with a small puff of smoke and Shinichi felt a slight touch in his pocket. He pulled out the wayward card with a deadpan look.
“No can do, I’ve got a lot of planning and working to do before the heist next week, and you owe me favours. Remember all those times I saved your ass when you were travel-sized? Yeah.”
Shinichi rolled his eyes, taking a seat beside Kaito. They sat in comfortable silence for 30 minutes or so, Shinichi tapping on his phone and Kaito making his way through his wide array of card-based magic tricks. A flash of red outside the window caught his eye and he suddenly remembered something.
He sent a sly smirk towards the boy beside him. “Here I thought it was because of all the carp streamers. All those fish-shaped flags fluttering around in the wind. Someone with ichthyophobia surely wouldn’t be able to take it.” A small flinch, hardly noticeable.
“It’s a real phobia,” Kaito grumbled, poker face melted off into something more genuine and sullen, “if I knew you were going to make fun of me I’d have handled it myself.”
Shinichi sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair, the messy strands settling back into their original, neat state, “I wasn’t trying to make fun of you. I’m sorry if I made it seem that way.”
A chime from his phone caught his attention. It was a message from Ran. He stood up, making his way to the door. “I should be going now, I’ve already been away from Beika for a week. Ran’s going to kill me for disappearing without warning again.”
Kaito huffed a chuckle, looking up at him, a teasing look firmly in place. “Dear Conan-kun doesn’t want to worry his Ran-nee-chan anymore, does he? How adorable.”
Shinichi raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t reply, picking up his backpack and slipping his shoes on, hooking a finger in the back of each to pull them on. He pulled open the front door and stepped out, looking fully Kudou Shinichi this time.
Just before he closed the door, he threw a final line back, “By the way, you might want to watch out come Monday. I think Koizumi-san figured out I wasn’t you and she said something about a curse on your seat or something. See ya.”
“What-”
The door shut with a click and Kaito collapsed against the couch. He hated Golden Week.
1678 words, thereabouts. I managed to finish this just before the deadline, wew. Hope you enjoy it, I haven't written for this fandom in a really long time.
“Kaito!”
A pink cloud exploding beside him had Hakuba flinching, hand instinctively going to his hair in some vain hope to be able to prevent an unplanned dye job if Kuroba was feeling particularly devilish that day. His hair turned out dry, but that was never a reliable indicator so he pulled out the compact mirror he always kept on him and flipped it open. He was met with dark blond hair – nothing had happened.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aoko-kun’s mop whizz by and whack Kuroba squarely across the face. That had him do a double take, and if the surprised expression on Aoko-kun’s face was anything to go by, she hadn’t expected to actually hit him too.
“T-t-that wasn’t supposed to hit you. Are you falling sick? Is there something wrong?” Aoko-kun’s hands fluttered aimlessly a few centimetres away from Kuroba’s body as she hovered over the boy sitting on the ground. There was a red mark across the bridge of Kuroba’s nose, in the shape of the mop handle, clear evidence that Kuroba really did just get hit by the mop.
There was a flash of something – panic? – across his face before Kuroba’s face smoothed out into a grin. “What are you talking about, Aoko? Maybe you’re the one falling sick.” He flipped over a table, setting off a shower of confetti in the process. A jet of air cause Aoko-kun’s skirt to fly up – Hakuba politely averted his eyes – and a low whistle sounded out.
“Oh, white? How boring.” Kuroba said, with that grin still on his face. Hakuba squinted at his face.
‘Is that a blush?’
He immediately dismissed that idea, because Kuroba did not blush, not when flipping skirts was a thing he did on a near daily basis to bother Aoko-kun. The boy had a funny way of showing affection.
In the background, their math teacher was futilely trying to get class back on track, but by the way half of the class was cowering behind their desks and the other half was watching from the outside of the classroom, it wasn’t happening any time soon.
Another burst of smoke filled the air – smoke bombs from Kuroba’s sleeve, sloppy – and a shadow flitted across Hakuba’s vision, heading for the window. When the smoke cleared, Hakuba saw the edge of Kuroba’s uniform vanishing past the window ledge.
A loud screech followed in his wake as Aoko-kun realised what happened and chucked her mop, once again, in the direction Kuroba had disappeared to. To no effect, considering the boy had already reached the ground floor and was now leisurely making his way toward the school gates, a hand raised in a lazy wave. A quick check of his pocket watch showed that it turned 3 p.m. on the dot. Turning from the window, he saw Koizumi gazing at the spot where Kuroba had leapt out of, a frown replacing her usual smile.
Hakuba shook his head. Everyone was acting strange today.
“Are you listening to me? Kaito!” Aoko huffed, hand already curling into a fist. The brown-haired boy in front of her blinked, returning from his daze where he had been staring at an arguing couple for the past five minutes.
“What’s wrong, Aoko?” Kaito asked, focusing his attention on her. Aoko poked at him with her fork, peering at his face. “You’ve been acting all weird this week, are you sure you’re not sick? We’ve been in this restaurant for 20 minutes already and you haven’t pulled out one magic trick yet.”
Kaito swatted a hand at her fork, a faux-offended look slipping onto his face. “I’ll have you know since it’s Golden Week, I thought I’d give you a break from the pranks and magic. Plus, I burned my fingers working on a trick recently. To think you’d question me like this, I’m hurt, Aoko!”
Aoko smiled, leaning back against her chair and cutting off another piece from her chicken. It looked like Kaito was fine. Although…
“I’ve been wondering this but, since when did you eat fish?”
Kaito froze, one hand in the middle of delivering a piece of fish to his mouth before a terrified expression slipped onto his face. He gingerly set his fork down and pushed the plate away, face turning pale.
“F-f-fish? Aoko, why didn’t you tell me that was fish?!”
Aoko shot him a befuddled look, tapping on the menu slotted into its holder beside their table. “Look, it says here, ‘Deep-fried cod in batter’, didn’t you read the menu before ordering?”
Kaito looked to the side in what almost seemed like embarrassment – Kaito, embarrassed? – his lips pressing together. “I was distracted, okay? I just randomly chose a dish.”
Aoko giggled, a vindictive satisfaction rising in her. Looks like Kaito had his not-so-smooth days as well. “And here I thought you’d gotten over your fear of fish. You haven’t even flinched from one of those carp streamers that are everywhere right now. Last year I remembered you screaming and refusing to come out of the house.”
Kaito choked, his face turning into a mix of red and white and cleared his throat. “I just had to tell myself they weren’t real. That’s all. And what a good friend you are, dragging me out to accompany you shopping even though you knew there would be carp streamers everywhere.”
Aoko opened her mouth, a retort on the tip of her tongue, when a scream pierced the air. To her surprise, Kaito’s eyes sharpened like she’d never seen before, an intimidating aura rising from him as he whipped his head around to look at the table where the couple he’d been staring at were sitting. The man had collapsed face first into his food and his girlfriend was currently sobbing, shaking his shoulders and crying for help. A second later, the aura retreated like it had never been there and Kaito pulled out his phone.
“I’m going to call the police, that man’s fingers are purple, he’s been poisoned. We should let them handle this and try not to get too close to the crime scene.” He said, fingers already dialling the number.
“O-okay.” Aoko replied, feeling faint. This hadn’t ever happened before and she didn’t know what to do. She turned her eyes to Kaito, wanting something familiar to distract her from the fact a man was quite possibly dead not two tables away and saw that same, sharp-eyed look on his face as he studied the scene from his seat, listing off details to the operator over the phone in a well-practiced manner.
As she leaned back into her chair, Aoko had to wonder why Kaito seemed so familiar with crime scenes.
The door closed behind him and he let out a sigh, dropping his backpack off on the ground. He had returned almost four hours later than he expected because of the incident in the restaurant – thankfully not a murder.
Footsteps rang out from the staircase and a person appeared from the second floor. Kaito, taking the steps two at a time, called out a greeting, “Welcome back Meitantei! How was your day?”
“Could be worse,” Shinichi replied, shrugging off his jacket. “A man got poisoned in the restaurant but he didn’t die and I almost blew my cover to Nakamouri-san but I managed to avoid it.” He levelled Kaito with a look, “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d been the one she was with instead of calling me to do it for you while you stayed at home this whole week.”
Kaito flopped down onto the couch, hands flipping expertly through a deck of cards. The four of clubs disappeared with a small puff of smoke and Shinichi felt a slight touch in his pocket. He pulled out the wayward card with a deadpan look.
“No can do, I’ve got a lot of planning and working to do before the heist next week, and you owe me favours. Remember all those times I saved your ass when you were travel-sized? Yeah.”
Shinichi rolled his eyes, taking a seat beside Kaito. They sat in comfortable silence for 30 minutes or so, Shinichi tapping on his phone and Kaito making his way through his wide array of card-based magic tricks. A flash of red outside the window caught his eye and he suddenly remembered something.
He sent a sly smirk towards the boy beside him. “Here I thought it was because of all the carp streamers. All those fish-shaped flags fluttering around in the wind. Someone with ichthyophobia surely wouldn’t be able to take it.” A small flinch, hardly noticeable.
“It’s a real phobia,” Kaito grumbled, poker face melted off into something more genuine and sullen, “if I knew you were going to make fun of me I’d have handled it myself.”
Shinichi sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair, the messy strands settling back into their original, neat state, “I wasn’t trying to make fun of you. I’m sorry if I made it seem that way.”
A chime from his phone caught his attention. It was a message from Ran. He stood up, making his way to the door. “I should be going now, I’ve already been away from Beika for a week. Ran’s going to kill me for disappearing without warning again.”
Kaito huffed a chuckle, looking up at him, a teasing look firmly in place. “Dear Conan-kun doesn’t want to worry his Ran-nee-chan anymore, does he? How adorable.”
Shinichi raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t reply, picking up his backpack and slipping his shoes on, hooking a finger in the back of each to pull them on. He pulled open the front door and stepped out, looking fully Kudou Shinichi this time.
Just before he closed the door, he threw a final line back, “By the way, you might want to watch out come Monday. I think Koizumi-san figured out I wasn’t you and she said something about a curse on your seat or something. See ya.”
“What-”
The door shut with a click and Kaito collapsed against the couch. He hated Golden Week.
1678 words, thereabouts. I managed to finish this just before the deadline, wew. Hope you enjoy it, I haven't written for this fandom in a really long time.