This took a lot longer than I thought it was going to take to write-I kept wanting to do a proper casefic in the middle and getting stuck, but it wasn't to be. My brain does not like writing mystery no matter how much I try to force it. :/ BUT! This is finally done and hopefully is a satisfactory conclusion to the series. It's set a year from the start of Not Left To Stand Alone, so in March right before the new school year begins :) Appropriate that this story finishes here as well as surprisingly appropriate for me to end it the same time of year in real life. Here's to moving forward and new years and endings as beginnings of new things. Thank you everyone who's read along and all comments in the last year. It was one of the brighter things from last year. Hope to see you again with future writing projects ^_^

To London, To London

The walk up to the London flat was one Saguru could do in his sleep. He'd lived six years of his adult life in that flat, walking to a store down the road or driving to work down the crowded streets because the public transit was further than he wanted to walk with a bum leg. There was the coffee shop a block away that had a weekly music night he and Mel occasionally went to. There was the Indian restaurant that Saguru got takeaway at when neither of them felt like cooking. There was the neighbor who had a cat that liked sunning itself on Saguru's balcony. The downstairs neighbor had plants on her balcony again this year, and window boxes just starting to have bits of green poking up.

The front door still had the 'Welcome Holmes' welcome mat in front that Mel got him as a joke. It was covered in a few months' worth of dirt and debris, the person Mum had taking care of the apartment clearly not extending that to the outside very often. As he approached what had been his home, Saguru had to stop and take a moment to breathe past all the bittersweet memories around him.

A hand touched his elbow, and Saguru looked back at Kaito. Kaito who was out of place here, but also paradoxically fit in seamlessly. The touch helped, grounding him in the here and now instead of the past. "Nice welcome mat," Kaito said lightly.

Saguru could kiss him. He didn't since he didn't feel inclined to public displays of affection at the moment. "It was a birthday gift. From Mel."

"Impeccable taste," Kaito said.

Saguru smiled. He wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Kaito. He might have left this go indefinitely, paying for a flat he never used and storage for things he no longer needed but didn't want to let go. Starting things anew with Kaito... that made him want to resolve everything. It still took more than a few seconds to muster the will to unlock the door and let them in. Saguru ushered Kaito in before him.

He didn't know what Kaito saw in the apartment. Saguru stepped in and he saw the walls with faded squares where photos once hung, the missing clutter and covered up furniture. He saw the scruffs on the baseboard from years of hasty vacuuming, the faint difference in the wall where it had been plastered over after being dented moving a new couch in. He saw the lack of shoes by the door and the dust trapped in the corners. He smelled the stale air of a room shut up too long and the slightly off smell old wood got when it wasn't aired out enough. There was the flecks of paint on the light switch cover from when Mel repainted the entryway. Divots in the wood floor where they dropped a heavy jar of tomato sauce that had exploded all over the floor and walls. The lack of soft music playing in the background. The blinds closed and the rooms dim. A box with all of Mel's recent playbooks next to the empty bookshelf because Saguru had decided not to take them to Japan in his hasty flight from London. Left with the distant thought that maybe Mel's parents would want them even though they'd only asked to have some photos and the set of dishes Mel's grandmother gave them at their wedding.

Saguru didn't move from the doorway for long enough that Kaito had to tug him forward and close the door behind them.

The bedroom door was shut to their right, the office and guest room open across from it, followed by the bathroom and the kitchen/living area at the end of the hall. Kaito glanced at the open office and walked past it toward the living area where the empty bookshelf and some stacked boxes were visible. Saguru swallowed hard, forcing the messy tangle of emotions rising in him down. It had been a bit over a year since he was here; he could handle walking in his old home.

"It's nice," Kaito said as he turned in the middle of Saguru's old living room. There was the sofa with a dust cover. There, the kitchen table with the chairs upside down on top. There by the wall an antique side table with a marble top that used to house plants Mum gave them, by the balcony sliding glass door so they would get sunlight and could be moved outside in good weather.

Knowing what the room once was, and all the things it was missing, Saguru found he couldn't share the sentiment. Stripped of the majority of its trappings, the room looked too bare; a shell of what it once was. Too big as well, compared to where he was living now. Too big for Saguru alone. "It used to be nicer," Saguru said after a moment that went on a beat too long. Saguru's mystery collection, Mel's Shakespeare collection, and the handful of knickknacks they'd collected over the years were in Japan, most still in boxes in Saguru's childhood bedroom. The plants Mum had given to a friend and her cousin. All the art from the walls had been carefully packed and shipped to the mansion in Japan along with Saguru's clothing, case records, important paperwork, and an odd assortment of things that Mum had deemed important to bring since Saguru hadn't been compelled to go through Mel's things when he was trying to run from everything.

He realized he'd once again stood too long, lost in his thoughts. Saguru shook himself, ignoring Kaito's worried look, and moved to the kitchen. Cutlery in the drawers—could be donated, not of immediate importance and no sentimental attachment. Same to the dishes in the cupboards; Mel's parents took the only sentimental dishware. Well, minus Saguru's old favorite teapot. He took it down. It was nothing special to look at, antique but not flashy, just a squat cream colored teapot with orange and black and gold flowers around the top that they'd bought on a whim and kept because it didn't drip like half the teapots Mel's mother collected. It went on the counter for things to take back with him.

"Didn't clean out your cupboards," Kaito commented when Saguru opened one of the food cupboards. It was still stocked with non-perishables; boxes of pasta and spices and tea that Saguru only ever drank once in a blue moon. Kaito picked up a tin of sardines. "The dates are still good on some of these."

"I suppose that can be donated too." He should start a list. Find a box or something to put things in and sort it out so that it could be donated, kept, or thrown away. He'd have to go get boxes because if he remembered correctly, they'd used all the empty ones lying around when he left.

"Please tell me you emptied the fridge."

"I think Mum did." A quick check confirmed it. Both the refrigerator and freezer were empty, the settings turned down low to conserve energy. Left like he might move back at any moment. Or so that it could be rented out should he ever want to, Saguru thought. "I don't remember much about the packing," Saguru admitted, closing the refrigerator. "Mum had some boxes and I know I threw clothing in them and put all my photos and keepsakes in another. Books. But Mum did most of it."

Kaito nodded, understanding. "I did about the same when Aoko kicked me out. And when I moved into my apartment. Of course I went back and got more things from my mom's house later and things add up, but at first I didn't even have a bed or food, just a spare set of clothes and an electric kettle for instant noodles and tea until I pulled things together."

Saguru nodded back. When life uprooted you, things got lost in the scramble or set aside, or forgotten. Now he was picking up where he left off now that he was at a better state of mind. "Three piles," he murmured to himself. Boxes could be found later. The kitchen wasn't really what he needed to go through though. There was the hall closet, the office, and lastly, the bedroom.

"It's a lot bigger," Kaito said, trailing after Saguru as Saguru wandered back toward the office, "than your apartment now. Or my apartment really. Easily half again as wide. And a balcony. Nice. I can picture you drinking tea out there and watching the sun rise."

"Dinner sometimes," Saguru said. "In the summer we'd get takeaway and eat outside." The office had been left untouched beyond taking the paperwork from the filing cabinet. That left a collection of miscellaneous gifts given by his students on a shelf over the desk, Mel's collection of musical posters—he'd had to pick and choose what to hang up after a few years of performing—on the far wall, held up with tacks instead of frames because they were kept for sentimentality, not value of the design that went into them. The framed photos were gone, but there was a lot of personal items scattered around. There were even tests he'd graded and never given back at the end of the school year sitting covered with a thin layer of dust. In short, the room was a mess, probably worse than the bedroom considering they'd stripped most of Saguru's things from there already. Saguru knew he'd find a mess of Mel's things if he opened the cupboard in the corner because he'd shoved most of them there when he got heartsick seeing them sitting untouched for months. "Kaito, this is going to take hours." He wasn't sure if the words were meant as a warning or an apology.

Kaito gave him an unimpressed look. "I figured it would. It's not like I have other plans. Or anywhere else to go really. Unless you wanted privacy?"

"No." Privacy would mean a better chance of getting lost in his head and memories. Kaito's presence was helpful, grounding him to the here and now. "I appreciate you being here."

Kaito smiled and clapped a hand on Saguru's shoulder before wandering over to Saguru's desk to look at the shelf of teacher gifts. Some of them, like the 'element of surprise' chemistry themed mug holding novelty pens, were amusing and thoughtful. The rock painted in an attempt of a molecular structure was well meant. The apple-themed paraphernalia was both tacky and honestly a bit of an eyesore. Saguru hadn't thrown any of them away because they had been reminders of why he enjoyed teaching, proof that some of his students at least enjoyed his class. He had a file of letters somewhere too, along with a few news clippings of students he'd connected with and seen go on to success later in life. He thought Mum might have packed that with the rest of the files though.

"I suppose I don't have room for most of that anymore." He could get rid of the tacky things, and keep his favorites. He'd have to be choosy anyway; mailing things was expensive.

"You don't have to stay in your matchbook apartment," Kaito pointed out.

"Well, no, but I like being your neighbor." Saguru started separating things on his desk into keep, toss, donate piles. "I intend to keep teaching, regardless of how detective work is infiltrating my free time, so I know I could afford to live somewhere larger, but really I would miss being able to walk around the corner to your home."

Kaito handed him items from the shelf, idly juggling a growing assortment of odds and ends as he did so. "There is a solution to that you know."

"Hm?" The 'element of surprise' mug went in the keep pile. "And what would that be?"

"There's always the option of getting a place together."

Saguru missed grabbing the next item handed toward him. The painted rock clattered its way to the discard pile. "Oh."

"Too soon?" Kaito asked, a grimace on his face. He stilled his juggling.

"No. It's not." They all but lived together anyway, two apartments making up a home with how they left their doors open for each other. They ate most meals together and sometimes slept on Saguru's futon together, and spent most evenings together... They practically co-parented Takumi when he was over. It wouldn't be that big of a shift. "I hadn't thought that far ahead yet is all." Some days it still felt a little unreal where he'd ended up. Most days it felt right though, so he rolled with how his life had changed.

Kaito handed him the whole assortment of novelty pens. Saguru kept the one that gave you a shock, like the one he'd given Takumi, and tossed the rest.

"I know it would be a little weird," Kaito said, handing more things over on autopilot. "And there would be the question of where, and how much space and the whole mess of moving... But I don't technically need to stay at the apartment anymore for Kid reasons, and we practically live together with how your things keep ending up in my room and mine in your closet, and you did say you planned on staying..." He took a deep breath and Saguru listened, patient, for him to reach the end of his rambling. "So maybe we could find someplace nicer. Sort of like this kind of nicer. Room to live and work, and maybe allows pets."

Saguru smiled picturing Kaito's doves. They'd need a decent amount of space for keeping birds. And they'd need a room for Takumi, so that would mean at least two bedrooms and an office space. Perhaps two since both Saguru and Kaito had a tendency to take up a decent amount of space with projects. They both had lots of books to house as well. It would get expensive fast, let alone finding a place at a convenient distance from the school that met their desired criteria. Still... "That sounds nice." He would love to wake up next to Kaito more often. And not have to decide which kitchen they were using that day. "We can think more on it when we get back to Japan, research for someplace we both like when the new semester starts."

"Yeah?" Kaito smiled back. There was that bit of vulnerable hope in his expression, lacking in masks, and it never failed to make Saguru feel both sappy and a little heartsick when he saw that expression, because he knew how hard it could be for Kaito to hope with anything romantic. There would always be a little part of him that was waiting for a shoe to drop like it had with Aoko, just like a tiny part of Saguru would always be worried that this too would end in tragedy. Thankfully they were both people capable of facing their fears and strengthening trust.

"Of course. I did promise I was staying. The apartment I have now was never meant to be permanent anyway."

"How do you feel about houses?"

"Depends on the location. I still have my leg to factor in."

"Right. I'll start looking for places. Do you think Takumi will be happy or upset if we move?"

"Both," Saguru said. The piles in front of him grew fast. The desk was bare now, the shelf above it scattered into categories. "We should talk to him about it before we make any changes. It's his home too."

"True." Kaito crouched down for a quick peck on the cheek before dragging open drawers. "Thanks, Saguru."

No, thank you, Saguru thought as Kaito began pulling out papers, looking so much happier than a few moments ago. Kaito'd managed to cheer up both of them in the span of a few minutes, working his magic like always. Saguru returned to the task at hand feeling lighter. Not even going through Mel's assorted belongings in the room brought him down, not with Kaito humming some pop song under his breath, or the random comments objects brought up. Saguru ended up with a large pile of trash—mostly paper—a much smaller pile of keepsakes and things like Mel's laptop found dusty and forgotten under a pile of dog-eared screenplays for auditions he'd been looking through, and one full of things that could probably be donated along with his dishes and usable food items to some local charity group. There was always a need for school supplies.

He'd found at least two dozen note cards and bits of scrap paper with recipes scribbled on them in Mel's cramped handwriting, some with notations about how to change the recipe for his tastes, and a slightly smushed packet of photographs from their last holiday trip together that Saguru must have stuffed in the cupboard during his quest to avoid reminders of Mel. Clearly he was keeping those.

"How is he not red as a lobster?" Kaito asked, peering at a beach photo over Saguru's shoulder. Saguru was as topless as Mel in it, but of the two of them, Saguru clearly tanned while Mel didn't.

"Sunblock. All over, every other hour. Otherwise he'd burn and be left with freckles everywhere after a week of peeling."

"Ouch," Kaito said. "I burn, but with a bit of sunblock I'll tan instead."

"Irish skin," Saguru said, having met enough of Mel's relatives that he could say that with some confidence. Mum wasn't much better to be honest; somehow he'd lucked out in that genetic lottery.

"You both look happy."

"We were." That was a good memory. A day with both of them making fools of themselves in public, too much sand in awkward places, and not a hint of regret at any of it. "He tried to bury me in sand."

"Please tell me there was a photo of that."

Saguru flipped to it, the image a bit blurry because Mel had been laughing and that more than slowly being buried in sand had woken Saguru from a post-lunch nap.

"Perfect," Kaito said.

They went through the rest of the photos together.

*o*o*

They took a break to eat some of the canned goods from Saguru's cupboard before tackling the bedroom. It was pretty clear from the state of the room which was Saguru's side and which had housed Mel's things. Saguru's things had largely been stripped from the room, but Mel's side still had books stacked and objects poking from an overly-full closet.

"You were really neat and organized," Kaito said as they opened up the closets, "back in high school. You still are, but with more clutter."

"Mel's influence."

"I can see. How long did it take to reach an agreement about clutter?" There were only a few things left in Saguru's closet, hung neatly. Mel's closet was chaos, over-stuffed with things on hangars and odds and ends spilling all over the floor. Saguru knew that some of the things were left from stage productions where Mel had been required to get his own costume parts. Some things even Saguru wasn't sure where they'd come from.

"It was a point of contention for the first few months. I relaxed my standards of cleanliness and he made more of an effort to reduce the worst of the clutter. Thankfully we both preferred clean common space and not having dishes piled in the sink for days."

"Is that a sequin dress in there?"

"A Halloween costume. Although he did like to pull it out for laughs."

"Wish I could have met him."

"You'd have gotten along, I think. At the very least, I imagine he'd respect you as a fellow showman."

Kaito took an armful of clothing hangers out and Saguru grabbed things from the pile in the bottom of the closet. A quarter of that mess was shoes for different situations and outfits. "It's alarming how much a person can accumulate in the better part of a decade. And this is with considerably limited living space compared to what I grew up with. I don't even want to think about going through my parents' homes."

"I thought they only had one home now?"

"There's a summer cottage in England still. For when they want to visit England, but more affordable than the home Mum raised me in. It belonged to my mother's father in his retirement and he left it to her in his will." Saguru set the armload of things on the dusty, covered bed. Kaito was spreading clothing out across the floor. "It was actually a bit of a snub. Her siblings got the nicer property and the contents of most of the estate, but she was left with the summer home and the vastly smaller collection that went with it. Granmum and Mum had a wonderful relationship, but I don't think Grandfather ever accepted that she married my father."

"Well that sucks. At least you got along with your other grandfather, right?"

"Mm, he was less interested in propriety, and more in science. His wife was a bit the opposite though. It was a scandal on both sides that they got married honestly, but they did try to not let that affect me. Mum's father did seem to approve of my detective work. He gave me my pocket watch." Tap shoes from one of the musicals Mel was in. Jogging shoes. Sleek Oxfords that looked like they'd barely been worn. A shoebox full of—Saguru shut that quickly, mildly embarrassed because he thought that box had been under the bed, not in the closet. ...Not to keep, that would be too awkward in multiple ways.

Kaito glanced at him. "You found something naughty didn't you."

"Nothing I didn't know we owned, just not where I expected to find it."

Kaito laughed at him. "What do you want done with the clothes?"

"Well they won't fit either of us," Saguru said, eying them. Mel had been taller than Saguru and a bit slighter in the shoulders. Longer torso, longer legs, a size larger in general let alone anything that had been tailored. He'd taken good care of his clothing though. "The majority can be donated." Although... He glanced through what Kaito had taken down before rummaging through the clothes hangers still in the closet. He pulled a T-shirt free. "I'm keeping this though." It was a production shirt or the first play Mel had performed in professionally. The shirt was well-worn and soft, its screen printed lettering faded from dozens of washes.

"No judgement here. I still have some of Aoko's stuff."

"...Why would you have Aoko-san's clothing?" Or how since Kaito was kicked out?

"Why do you think?"

Kaito should know better than to give an open-answered response because Saguru's brain filled in a dozen possible reasons, half of them not fit to mention in polite company. "Actually I would rather not know."

Kaito laughed at him again. "And people say I have the dirty mind."

"You do."

"That underrates your own brain, Saguru."

Saguru ignored him and went back to digging through Mel's things. Mel kept a lot of random thing that Saguru guessed were for sentimental reasons. Fake flowers squashed under a hat. A dozen belts fallen off their hanger. More scraps of paper, some with drawings, some with recipes, some of them just lists. Shopping lists, to-do lists, gift lists, dates to remember, a completely arbitrary list of ranking different flavors of pies versus cakes. It made Saguru feel nostalgic for Mel standing at the kitchen counter scribbling out one of those lists. Most of the to-do ones were only half checked off which explained why they'd never been thrown away, but Mel always got distracted and ended up writing new lists before the old ones were finished.

Most things didn't have too much emotion attached. Clothing was clothing. But then there was the suit they'd been married in. There was a box containing the dried boutonnieres that Saguru hadn't even realized Mel had kept all these years. There were letters back from when Mel was in college, some of them from Saguru before they started dating. Kaito gave Saguru space and kept making a clothing pile to donate. There was a professional stage makeup case Kaito could appreciate, clutter of lighthearted things like bottles of silly string that hadn't been opened, a board game, handheld games from high school on the top closet shelf that hadn't been touched in years, or a bent up hula hoop that Saguru didn't know when it could have gotten in there.

Then there was the box. It was plain, just a white cardboard box with a sticky note on it with "Don't Forget" written in black sharpie marker. On top was a silk scarf with "for Mum" pinned on it, a book on Spanish culture and cooking—Mel's parents had been planning a trip to Spain—with a scribbled "for Christmas?" and below that... Tickets to the Body Works exhibit that had been showing. That had "surprise" written on the sticky note attached to that. The tickets were dated a few days before Mel was shot, for the week after. There was a list with ideas for Saguru's birthday gift tucked next to it.

Kaito's arms were around him before Saguru realized he was crying. "Damn it," Saguru said, covering his face. "I thought I was going to be able to get through this without crying."

"It's fine. You're going to be fine," Kaito said.

"It's really not."

"Well, no, not right now it isn't obviously." Kaito rubbed circles on his back as Saguru tried to swallow his tears. "But I think we both know that these sort of things aren't a 'one-foot-after-another' kind of path. Life has detours and backtracking and booby traps like boxes in closets to throw at you and it's okay to feel shit when it happens."

Saguru gave a watery laugh. "Hell of a booby trap."

"At least it wasn't a literal one. Imagine when I found Oyaji's secret room."

"Fair enough. That would be a pretty big shock." This wasn't a shock so much as an emotional sucker punch he hadn't realized he'd needed to brace for. He should have realized; Mel was always good at keeping track of upcoming birthdays and holidays and had a habit of finding gifts throughout the year in advance. Saguru never went looking for where he kept them though, for obvious reasons. He closed his eyes and leaned into Kaito. Warm and soothing after their months together. He let go, and the tears stopped sooner by letting them happen.

"Need another break?" Kaito asked kindly.

"No." Saguru didn't move though, face still pressed against Kaito's shoulder.

"So, who's Anand?"

"Hm?"

"Box," Kaito said, gesturing with his chin.

Saguru looked and it seemed there had been something else in the box because there was a gaudy-looking necklace with bright, multi-color prisms spilling from the bottom where Saguru had dropped the box. He snorted, amused and feeling lighter all at once. "Anand is one of Mel's theatre friends. He likes things that glitter."

"I'd say he has good taste, but that is a really bright necklace."

"I am fairly sure there was a bet going on who could find the gaudiest piece of costume jewelry."

"A good friend then."

"Yeah. A good friend." And one more person he hadn't spoken to since Mel's funeral. There was a twinge of old guilt. He was making more of an effort lately to restore some of the bridges he'd burned. Maybe that was another one he should attempt to fix even though Anand had been more Mel's friend than Saguru's. "Would it be kind or cruel to give these gifts to the people they were meant to go to?"

"Depends on the person."

...Saguru might have a few more stops on his trip in that case. And a mother-in-law to possibly call, although he wasn't sure that she would still view herself as such considering the circumstances. They'd never been close to begin with. "Maybe a break would be a good idea."

*o*o*

Kaito convinced him to leave the apartment, and within half an hour of wandering London and stopping in at various places he used to frequent, Saguru was feeling closer to equilibrium. London would always be home in a way Tokyo wasn't. His time in Japan had been vacations and trips, a place he was fond of and had a place in growing up, but not a place he knew in and out. Not where he spent most of his life or where most of his memories were centered in. Tokyo was a second home, but London would always be his first one, so it was nice to share it with Kaito.

"We should bring Takumi sometime," Kaito said, as they sat at a café. Saguru had a cup of strong British black tea, yet another thing he'd missed. Kaito had gotten coffee as the time difference had him a bit jetlagged. "I always meant to take him abroad sometimes like Kaa-san and Oyaji did with me when I was little, but with everything going on it never happened."

"Would Aoko let him out of the country?" Saguru asked. Takumi wasn't grounded anymore, but considering he'd endured three months of restricted freedom and still had Aoko anxious if he was late checking in or somewhere other than he said he'd be, Saguru had to wonder if she'd let him go on a day trip let alone leave Japan.

"Maybe?" Kaito said, sipping at his coffee. He wiggled a hand in the air. "There's a 50% chance she'd nix the idea outright just because it's me—and you, actually, considering how trouble's started following you around. She likes you, but that doesn't really factor into keeping Takumi away from things that lead to police intervention. But I know she'd like Takumi to get to see more than just Tokyo and a trip here and there to Osaka. Paris is a higher chance of getting an okay than London just because it's Paris."

"While Paris is a nice city, I don't see how France is a better choice than England. Especially considering that Takumi speaks English as a second language. I could swing it as a learning opportunity."

"No, see it's a nostalgia thing. We went to Paris once before Takumi was born sort of on our honeymoon. Very romantic. Couldn't pass up the chance since that's where Oyaji met Kaa-san."

Saguru tried to picture Kaito and Aoko on a whirlwind romantic trip in Paris. It wasn't terribly hard to do, but the image felt odd in his head. The idea of them performing typical romantic gestures just didn't fit the image Saguru had of their relationship. Add Kaito producing roses from his sleeves every chance he could get and Aoko getting flustered until she tossed them back in his face maybe. Wining and dining under moonlight with the Eiffel Tower in the background? Not so much. He could see Kaito's father sweeping Kuroba Chikage off her feet in a debonair manner though. He was the one that first established Kid as a charming gentleman thief after all.

"The angle of it being a learning opportunity is a good one though," Kaito said. "I'll be sure to use it when I ask next time we plan a visit."

"Barely here a day and already planning the next trip?" Saguru said, amused.

"Of course. London is important to you. We're obviously coming back." Kaito smiled, his lips edging on Kid's trademark smile. Saguru flushed, wondering if that was the same sort of smile he'd sent Aoko's way on their honeymoon. "I'd like to get to know Saguru the Londoner a bit better too. You're more confident here."

"Between police work and my own exploration, I've been a little bit everywhere."

"Exactly. And confidence is always a good look on you."

Now Saguru was really blushing. Really, now, Kuroba, there was no reason to aim that smile his way in public! Saguru coughed into his fist. "I thought you found my confidence smug and grating."

"Amazing how things change when it's not aimed at me," Kaito replied, grinning wickedly at flustering Saguru in a public space.

Two could play that game. "That's odd, I seem to recall you enjoying it directed at you not too long ago."

Kaito looked too happy at Saguru's response for a split second before he faked scandalized. "Saguru, we're in public! There's a family right there!" He gestured to a woman with two small children sharing a crust-less sandwich.

"It's a good thing we're speaking Japanese, then, isn't it?"

Kaito blinked. "You're right. I didn't even notice we swapped back." He'd been trying to practice English since the plane took off. His accent still was fairly noticeable even if nowhere near so bad as in high school.

"I think we've been speaking Japanese since I found Mel's box." He hadn't really registered the shift back either; funny how languages didn't stand out. He was used to Japanese with Kaito though, so it wasn't odd that he'd slid back into that language when distressed. It didn't feel out of place to talk on about London in a language other than its native one either when it came down to Kaito.

"Switch back," Kaito said in English. "I need more practice. I want to sound correct by the time this trip is over."

"You're still a ways off, but fine."

"It's annoying. American English is easier to copy."

"You're just more exposed to it."

"True." Kaito nodded and affected an American accent. It was a lot more passable than his British one. Saguru was willing to bet he'd modeled at least some of that British accent off Saguru. "Kudo speaks American English almost fluently. From all I've heard about Hawaii, you'd think it was a miracle place where you can learn anything, even some things questionably legal."

"It's America; I imagine there's a lot of things that you could learn there that are of questionable legality elsewhere in the world."

"Did you just diss America?" Kaito asked, laughing. He still had that awful American accent.

"I'll take London and Japan over America. No offense to Americans of course."

"Of course," Kaito echoed in Saguru's British accent. It was almost a spot on copy. Maybe Kaito would get that accent down after all. "Is there anything we need while we're out?"

Saguru sipped the dregs of his tea. "Boxes," he said after a moment of thought. "Lots of empty cardboard boxes."

"Right-o. Let's get on that after tea, yeah?"

"Please never say anything in that affectated accent again. It's painful."

"Aww, I thought I got pretty close that time," Kaito said, grinning.

"My ears bleed at your butchery of British English." Saguru smiled though. So easy to smile even when not long ago he was so sad. Kaito had his magic even when he wasn't performing.

Out of the corner of his eye, Saguru caught the flicker of movement as a woman's purse disappeared from beside her chair. "Purse snatcher," Saguru said under his breath.

"I saw it. I'll play distraction, you catch?" Kaito finished his coffee in one long swallow.

"Works for me."

They got up at the same time, Kaito making a bee line for the cream and sugar counter as the purse snatcher made his way casually through the tables toward the exit. Saguru went the other way around the table making like he was going for the bathrooms near the door.

Kaito pretended to add sugar and cream into his empty coffee cup, before turning just at the right moment to make it seem accidental and bumping into the purse snatcher. Cream went all down the man's front. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" Kaito said in American English. He grabbed a napkin and started trying to dab at the mess.

The man batted his hand away. "It's fine," he said, moving toward the door as eyes turned toward him.

Saguru, now near the door, caught the arm holding the purse before the man could get to there. "I don't believe this belongs to you," he said at a loud enough volume to draw further attention.

The purse's rightful owner gasped. "That's mine!"

The man in Saguru's grasp took one look at Saguru's cane and went for the obvious weak point. Thankfully, Saguru was expecting him to, so it wasn't too difficult to shift his weight and use the man's momentum against him to flip him flat on his back in front of the restrooms. As he wheezed on the ground, Saguru plucked the purse from his hand and tossed it to Kaito to return. "Could someone call the police?" Saguru asked. He jabbed his cane in the man's face as he made to get up. "The whole café has seen your face, sir. It's better to just give in to the inevitable."

For a moment the man's face contorted in an unpleasant snarl before he realized that half the patrons in the room were crowding around and it really would be nearly impossible to run. He held his hands up in defeat.

"Thank you."

"Fuck you," was the muttered reply, but it honestly was mild compared to some of the things criminals verbally hurled at him.

"The police are on their way," the barista said.

"Well, there's your crime for the day," Kaito said, meandering over to lean on Saguru's shoulder. "Think we'll be good for a few days?"

"On a scale of shoplifting to grand larceny, this is the small end of the scale."

"Hmm, true. Probably doesn't net you much leeway then."

They really had to figure out if there was some sort of balance to these things or if the universe saved up sometimes before throwing larger crimes Saguru's way. It would save him a world of headaches if he could figure out how his price worked enough to work with it rather than having it acted upon him. "At least no one was injured this time." He eyed the man still flat on his back. "Well, not too much."

The officer that arrived to arrest the purse thief was one Saguru hadn't worked with often, but she was familiar enough that they recognized each other on sight. Her partner, however, Saguru had never met before. He turned to the officer he knew.

"Officer Rostov," Saguru said with a nod.

"Saguru Hakuba," she said in return, neutral. "It's been a while. You're back in London then?"

"Just until I can clear out my old flat. I intend to stay in Japan."

"Huh. Long way away to uproot yourself to, but if it works for you. You caught the suspect?"

"I was having tea with my companion and we noticed this man take that young woman's purse. My companion distracted the thief and I caught him before he could leave out the front door." The suspect and woman he'd stolen from and the barista were the only people hanging around the front of the shop; most of the people who'd been there for the theft attempt had moved on. The remaining people gawked like they were stocking up on gossip fodder. Kaito, leaning against the display counter, gave a little wave when Saguru referred to him.

The process of the arrest was quick, as were the statements. Saguru found himself under scrutiny from the unknown officer as Officer Rostov talked with the barista.

"You're the freelance detective that used to live around here," the man said, "aren't you?"

"Yes, though technically I'm not sure if I can be considered a detective still." He didn't have a license for it in London anymore, and he was still jumping through hoops to get one in Japan since he wasn't a citizen anymore.

"I've heard about you. Especially when things got shook up half a year ago. Colquhoun is still working with the rest of the British police force in finding rats in the system. He speaks highly of you." The way it was said wasn't the tone of a compliment. Saguru took that to mean other people had a lot less complimentary things to say. "You're not here to cause more trouble?"

"Just passing through." Saguru didn't like the intent look on the man's face. There was something in his stare that bordered aggressive, like he was waiting for Saguru to do something he could react negatively to. It had Saguru moving toward Kaito a few steps before he could even piece together what felt off.

"I lost a partner because of—"

"Burling," Rostov said, cutting him off as she lifted a note pad in his direction. "It sounds like the suspect had a bike outside. Can you check the type and color? I have a feeling it might match up to some other purse snatchings in the area."

Burling's jaw tensed for a moment before he nodded. "I'll do that." He took the notebook and shot Saguru one last dark look before moving out the door.

Kaito let out a quiet whistle. "Wow. Someone doesn't like you."

"I lost a partner," Saguru's brain echoed. He supposed it didn't matter if Burling's partner had been crooked or if they'd been lost to injury or death; a loss was a loss. There would be those who hated him for stirring up the status quo even if it was the right thing to do. And there were still others who disliked him because of the fallout with Mel, and neither one was something he could control. "I'm sure there are a lot of people who don't like me," Saguru said.

"Not your fault though. You didn't make people join crime organizations, and you didn't lead the effort to uproot corruption here."

"No, I just lifted the curtain enough to reveal all the problems." People would always blame the messenger.

"Well I'm sure you have friends because of it too. Officer Rostov doesn't seem to hate you."

She didn't seem to like him much either, Saguru didn't point out, but she had never been one of the officers he was particularly friendly with.

Rostov, done with talking to the barista, wandered back over to them. "I think I have everything I need from you both, so you're free to go if you'd like," she said, still as neutral and professional as she'd been from the start.

"Thank you for your time," Saguru said.

A small smile ticked up the corners of her mouth, the first positive emotion she'd shown so far. "If the guy you caught is who I think he is, you should be the one getting my thanks. I hope Burling didn't bother you two. He is still learning to be professional sometimes."

"I don't take it personally."

"Good." She nodded to them. "If you're in the area for a while, maybe stop by the precinct. Colquhoun would be happy to see you, and a few others." She glanced at Kaito. "Introduce your friend."

"We'll do that," Saguru said. They did plan to meet up with Millard at some point on this trip after all.

"Don't get into too much trouble," Rostov said, giving them a wave as she escorted Burling and the thief out the door.

Kaito sent Saguru a wry smile. "Do you think we should have mentioned that you're a magnet for trouble these days?"

"Somehow I doubt that would endear me again to the police department," Saguru returned, equally wry. Their tea was still at their table. Thankfully they'd mostly finished before the incident as it was undoubtedly stone cold by now. "Back to the apartment?"

"If you're ready," Kaito said, easily agreeable. The tension around his eyes belied his smile, worry that only Saguru knew to look for. He was right to worry but Saguru would have to go back eventually. There was no point in going to a hotel when he had a flat to return to.

"I'll manage." At the very least, there shouldn't be too many other surprises like the box in Mel's closet. The rest he could brace himself for.

Kaito bumped Saguru's shoulder with his own. Saguru caught his hand and curled their fingers together.

"We'll manage," he corrected.

He wasn't alone. If nothing else, he wasn't alone.

*o*o*

It was like catching a glimpse of something through a curtain. Kaito wondered if this was what Saguru had felt back when he first stepped foot into Kaito's apartment. Kaito wasn't a detective, but he knew people and even though most of the objects in Saguru's home were missing, there was more than enough left behind to give a picture of what Saguru's life here had been like. Busy, full of work and casework and individual passions, but also shared interests. Little intimate overlaps in Saguru's life and his husband's seen in such simple things like a shared study and wall hangings or how the remaining books had been mingled subject matters. There were couples that kept their own interests distinct, but that hadn't been Mel and Saguru. It must have been a healthy relationship and in its own way it felt funny because once Kaito would have said he wouldn't be able to recognize healthy if it was staring him in the face.

Being here felt like trespassing just a little. They'd stopped to buy boxes and with each one they filled that feeling grew a little more. This was Saguru dismantling what remained of that past. Objectively, it was him moving on, but as someone who had always had trouble letting go of things he cared about no matter how broken, dead or gone they might be, it was hard to watch.

Kaito didn't say a word though. The last thing Saguru needed was to know that Kaito wasn't as comfortable here as he was pretending to be.

The English helped. The act of forming sentences and sorting through meaning served as a focus.

It was too quiet during most of the boxing up though. After the disaster in the bedroom, they'd taken the boxes to their piles sorted out in the office and just dealt with that. Manageable, slightly less personal, and held no surprises by that point.

Kaito stretched after putting one more awful teacher-themed mug into a donate box. Saguru was methodically fitting the recipe cards into tiny spaces they'd fit in the single keep box. He'd spent most of Kaito's boxing up time shredding documents that were no longer relevant with a noisy old paper shredder in the corner. Kaito was just about to suggest calling it a night since it was getting dark out and they should at least get another snack as the tea was a long time ago when there was a knock on the door.

They both froze. "Expecting any visitors?" Kaito half joked.

"No. Perhaps it's a concerned neighbor?" Saguru struggled to stand up and Kaito offered him a hand, ears straining for hints of sound. Voices, maybe, two of them. No, three, he corrected.

He followed Saguru to the door, for all appearances calm as could be, but familiar tension coiling in him. It had been half a year but there was some part of him that still waited for the other shoe to drop. That paranoid little part of his brain was convinced that it was a trap. It was truly ridiculous because what sort of assassin would knock on the door? That was trauma though; twisting perceptions of reality because sometimes anyone could be an enemy and he couldn't let himself slip. Kaito plucked at a button on his shirt, fingers close to hidden pockets and smoke pellets he kept there. Old habits died hard.

Saguru was less cautious but that didn't mean he was careless as he reached the door. He glanced around the barest crack of a gap before pulling the door open, interrupting what looked to be some sort of hushed argument on the doorstep. "Millard," Saguru said, surprised. "And Jones and McLuhan. What are you doing here?"

"Ha!" one of the women said to the others. "Told you he'd be here! Where the hell else would he be? Hakuba you prat, you didn't even call to say you'd be in the country. Had to hear it from Rostov as she's leading in a bloody purse snatcher!"

The man, Millard, rolled his eyes. "What she means is, hullo! Great ta see you, we've come bearing gifts." He held up a plastic bag.

"Is that...ice cream?" Saguru asked, squinting at its contents, blurrily visible through the translucent bag. "What would you have done if I wasn't here? You didn't call ahead to check."

"We'd have had ourselves a bit of a party on the step," the woman said. "And you'd be out some fuckin' amazing caramel fudge gelato, mate." She held up a bundle of metal spoons and disposable bowls.

"Did you steal those from the station?"

"Borrowed. I borrowed them from the station. No one's going to miss a couple of spoons anyway."

Despite still being keyed up for disaster, Kaito couldn't help snorting at that. Three sets of eyes turned his way. He gave a little wave and put on a friendly face. "Your London friends, Saguru?" Kaito asked like he didn't already know.

Saguru nodded and stepped back to let them in. "Millard Colquhoun, Inez Jones, and Carita McLuhan." He nodded at each in turn—Millard, who looked like a Scottish stereotype minus a kilt, in his forties with a lot of stress lines in his face, currently counteracted with a smile; Jones a thirty-something woman, dark skinned, hesitant to be here; McLuhan a short, tan woman with a wild pixie cut and a wide smile with a bit too much teeth showing. Kaito filed the names and faces away, fitting them with times Saguru mentioned one or another. "Friends from the London Metropolitan Police, although I didn't know Jones too well back when I was involved with them. And this is Kaito Kuroba,"—so odd to hear the Western name order—"my friend and boyfriend."

There was no hesitation in addressing Kaito that way, even if he'd used companion earlier at the café. Kaito hid his surprise. They'd still never really talked about how they'd address their relationship with friends because most of the people who mattered already knew. Kaito didn't miss the surprise on the Londoners' faces before they covered it up. He also didn't miss the flash of concern in Millard's expression. Saguru, looking at Kaito in that moment, didn't see it or he'd probably have added something else to that statement, Kaito thought wryly.

"We knew each other in high school for a year or so," Kaito said, giving context they could build off of. "We weren't close then, but he ended up my neighbor and, well, we clicked a lot better this time around."

Saguru shot him a raised-eyebrow look that practically screamed understatement as he ushered guests toward the kitchen.

"Funny how things work out," Saguru said. He didn't seem bothered by the fact that no one took their shoes off. Kaito didn't view himself as much of a neat freak, but it irritated him even though it wasn't like it would harm anything. Not with how dusty the apartment was to begin with. "I was planning to stop by the precinct tomorrow. I came back to go through things before putting the flat back on the market."

"So you are staying in Japan," McLuhan said, eyes flicking to Kaito and away. "A hell of a far way to go."

"But a second home," Saguru said. The kitchen was a mess with the piles of things they'd pulled from the cupboards. Saguru moved to get tea things on automatic. Kaito pulled chairs from the kitchen table so they'd have a place to sit. "It is also where my parents are so I am closer to family than I was before."

"But on the other side of the bleedin' globe!" McLuhan complained. "And you only call for business."

"Mostly my fault," Millard said with a chuckle. "We catch up and that means he only needs to call to talk about the case." There was a pause, a shadow of the still ongoing dismantling of the group that had haunted Kaito's nightmares and waking moments hanging over all of them. "Which we'll hopefully get over and done within the next few months."

"Ugh, don't talk about the fuckin' case," McLuhan said. "I'm seeing profiles in my sleep. Gimme the goods, Colquhoun. It's gonna melt and that'd be a damn shame." The ice cream was passed over and dug into and Saguru was clearly debating whether or not to make tea considering they'd be eating something cold, a container of tea in one hand and one of the ceramic mugs from the cupboard in his other hand. McLuhan solved the problem by pulling out several bottles of...Kaito squinted at the exaggerated font. Ginger beer?

Kaito shot Saguru a look and Saguru, seeing the label, said, "It's not alcoholic."

"Wasn't sure if you were still avoiding the bottle," McLuhan said, gruff and backhanded as she ripped into the package of disposable bowls—seemed silly when they had bowls. Four spoons and bottles and five of them, Kaito noted.

The mugs from the cupboard went on the table, solving one problem. Kaito leaned against the back of a chair, tuning out McLuhan complaining about how Saguru missed both her Christmas party and her party in May. McLuhan, Millard and Saguru had fallen right back into a familiar pattern of interaction, the odd ones out... were Kaito and Jones. Kaito glanced at the woman on his right and found her sneaking looks at him.

"So you knew each other in high school...?" Jones offered.

"Yeah. We butted heads a lot. I was always playing pranks and Saguru was—"

"Oh, you're that guy!" McLuhan cut in. Kaito hadn't realized she'd been paying attention. From the way Millard rolled his eyes, she tended to do that sort of thing often, not even finishing her previous thought. "The green hair and glitter bomb guy."

"I take it Saguru mentioned me."

Saguru looked embarrassed. "We were exchanging stories and your pranks..."

"My pranks are next level," Kaito said with a smirk, just the right amount of smug and casual to come off as comfortably teasing. "Not that you ever appreciated their genius back then."

"They were disruptive and frequently targeting my person," Saguru said, though he was smiling a little.

"But they sure were fun. Green hair suited you."

"Sometimes I wonder if you weren't a little too fixated on making Aoko and I stressed."

"You both had the best reactions. Ah, the expression of someone as they charge at you with a mop... Not that you ever swung a mop at me like Aoko. If looks could kill though..."

"You're lucky you made it past twenty," Saguru joked, then froze up a bit because it hit a bit too close to reality for a joke.

Kaito grinned and let it roll off him. "I'm always lucky." True, except for when it wasn't. The eyes of the others on him were just a bit too analytical. Surrounded by police, Kaito thought ruefully. Somehow he always ended up back in the same position.

A bowl of ice cream was shoved at his face. "Here," McLuhan said. "Everybody eat before this melts into a puddle of chocolate goo."

Kaito retrieved an extra spoon with an absentminded flourish. Their eyes followed that too. Keep smiling, he thought.

The ice cream was delicious, chocolatey enough to practically give him a buzz and smooth enough to make his inner child practically weep at how perfect it was. Saguru clearly also liked it; he did like darker chocolate and with the bitter-sweetness of the ice cream and the salted caramel bits it probably fit his preferred sweet profile. McLuhan had good taste. Kaito let them talk and catch up, anything but the case they'd been working on from the sound of it, just happy news and reconnecting over old memories.

Saguru looked Kaito's way a few times, probably worried at his abnormal silence. It was fine. Kaito wanted to let them talk. Saguru, a year ago, had been sure that his friendships were broken beyond repair, but it was clear that this hadn't been the case. The past, whatever had happened, was forgiven.

If only Kaito could get his own life to fall back into that kind of easy interaction. He and Aoko were trying, but... They had a long way to go.

Kaito was glad Saguru was happy to see his friends, really, he just also was jet-legged and had had too many emotions happening in a couple hours. He just...needed a minute. "Be right back," he said, in Japanese. He flashed a smile when Saguru looked concerned and headed into the bathroom.

A splash of cold water on his face and the silence of being behind a closed door helped. "You're out of practice," Kaito said to his reflection. He usually was able to push emotions into their compact boxes and get on with life better. Not to mention be social even when he wasn't feeling it. "They're going to wonder what the hell Saguru sees in you." He'd charmed Saguru's parents and Japanese friends, his British friends couldn't be that much harder. Kaito's smile in the mirror turned wry. He always had that part of him that wanted to be liked.

Kaito made his way back, pulling on his friendly expression only to pause, some instinct telling him to wait before he just walked in. Kaito listened to his instincts.

"No, he seems nice!" Millard was saying to Saguru. "It just seems a bit quick, considering."

"It's been almost two years."

"But you started dating him when exactly?" A beat. "No, never mind, it doesn't matter. Shouldn't have said anything."

"It's just a surprise," McLuhan said, subdued. "We all saw how bad Mel's passing tore you up. You went half a year on the edge of reason trying to find who did it and then you just broke, dammit. He makes you happy?"

"Yes," Saguru said emphatically. Kaito leaned against the wall and tucked the warm feeling that gave him in close.

"Then good. Still a bit annoyed he's keeping you in Japan, but hell, anywhere's up from where you were." McLuhan's knuckles popped. "And if he hurts you he'll bloody fuckin' regret it."

Kaito steadied himself and made a deliberate sound to let them know he was coming back. The conversation in the next room abruptly turned to Jones's recent vacation. Kaito sent a grin Saguru's way when he entered the room, a bit less of a mask than earlier at least, and brought a pack of cards to his hands. He was going to charm the hell out of these people and send them on their way confident that they didn't need to worry about Saguru's relationship. The cards bridged between his hands showily. "Anyone like card games?"

*o*o*

The door shut behind Saguru's police friends and Kaito finally could take a moment to breathe. Saguru, for all that he'd been engaged and cheerful for their visit, let out a sigh at Kaito's side.

"Thank you for being patient," he said. "I'm jet-lagged and I'm used to world trips; you must be exhausted."

"It's not that bad." Compared to being Kid, a bit of jet lag was barely an inconvenience. But Kaito could admit that he was out of practice, spoiled by a regular sleep pattern after years of doing without. "It's good that you got to see your friends."

"I should have expected something like this," Saguru said, moving to put the mugs they'd used in the sink. "Really, I was intending to visit them at some point tomorrow, but I suppose it's more personal this way instead of catching them on the job."

Kaito hummed agreement, watching Saguru's shoulders shift under his shirt as he scrubbed.

"I think they were a bit worried what they were going to find with me here. Honestly, without you here I'd probably be a mess."

There was a little strip of skin between Saguru's hairline and the collar of his shirt that got covered up every time Saguru lifted his shoulders. It was distracting. Kaito let it be distracting because if he was paying attention to it, to how Saguru's body filled the space, he wasn't thinking about the ghost that had filled the air between them since the plane set down.

"Well, more of a mess." There was a self-deprecating chuckle that Kaito wanted to shake away. "So thank you for being here," Saguru said, so sincere and heartfelt.

There was a twinge of guilt in Kaito's gut because yes, he was here to support Saguru, but there was a part of him that wanted Saguru to look at him through all of this instead of thinking too hard about the man he'd lost for selfish reasons. Kaito spent a lot of his life measuring up to dead men. It wasn't a contest or a replacement here, but there was still a measure, and every second with Saguru's friends had made it apparent, even if Saguru and his family rarely made Kaito feel like he was standing in Mel's absent shadow.

Saguru turned off the water, flicking it from his hands in an absentminded way that he'd picked up from Kaito in lieu of a dish towel. Kaito's breath caught in his chest from that one, tiny motion, one little sign here in all of this that Kaito had left a mark in Saguru's patterns.

Saguru turned. "Tomorrow we can take the boxes with donations to the—"

Kaito stole the tail end of his sentence in a kiss. Saguru caught himself on the counter, unresponsive for a moment in surprise before letting Kaito pull him into a passionate kiss. Kaito pressed into it, drawing a tiny sound from Saguru like a victory.

Saguru met that kiss for a moment before cupping Kaito's cheek in one hand and taking control, slowing it down and turning the passion to something gentler, sweeter.

Kaito couldn't even be upset when Saguru pulled back, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips, before studying Kaito's expression. It was too gentle and caring to be upset about, or take as rejection.

"Talk to me," Saguru said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

Saguru's eyes narrowed. "You're upset. You've been uncomfortable since Millard and the others showed up. No, maybe before that. Why didn't you say anything?"

Kaito tried to keep his smile, but he didn't really want to hide from Saguru. That was the whole point of what they had between the two of them after all. It didn't make covering things up any less of a habit though. Kaito slumped forward a bit, leaning a bit more on Saguru. "It's hard on you being back here and I don't want to be another problem."

"You've been nothing but supportive," Saguru said. "But that doesn't tell me what's wrong."

"I'm feeling a little insecure," Kaito muttered, looking away. "It's stupid."

"Is it...because of Mel?" Saguru asked, clearly a little uncomfortable to ask.

"No. Yes, a little," Kaito said, letting a bit of the self-directed frustration he felt show on his face. "Like I said, stupid. I know in my head just how much you care, and usually my heart gets that too, but being here..."

There was understanding in Saguru's eyes when Kaito risked a glance. It wasn't like Kaito's situation with Aoko, but how did Saguru manage watching the two of them try to figure things out again with that past looming there? Aoko'd never died, but their relationship was as much a lingering ghost of memory in Japan as Hakuba's husband was here.

"And I might want your friends to like me more than I'd usually care about random people's opinions of me," Kaito added.

"You overheard Millard," Saguru said, a statement not a question.

Kaito shrugged. "I get it. Concerned friend making sure you're not just diving into something you're not ready for or being taken advantage of. It's fine."

"While I'm glad he cares, it really isn't any of his business," Saguru said. "That's between you and me. And between you and me, I am glad I'm with you. Yes, I loved Mel. Yes, I still feel sad as today clearly demonstrated. But I love you as well and what we have is entirely separate from what I had with Mel and always will be. Just like how you feel toward Aoko," Saguru said, echoing the parallel of Kaito's thoughts. "I look at you and I will forever and always only see Kuroba Kaito, magician, thief, and keeper of obscure knowledge."

Kaito surprised himself by laughing and Saguru smiled back. "I love you too, Saguru." He leaned in and kissed him again, heart lighter.

Saguru pulled away before it could get any further than chaste. Kaito raised an eyebrow at him. Saguru's cheeks went pink. "I love you, but we are not doing anything more than kissing in this apartment."

"Nothing?" Kaito asked, thinking of that brief moment where Saguru matched the passion in his kiss.

"Nothing," Saguru said firmly. "My emotions are all over as it is; I have too many memories here to add to them in that way."

"...So does that mean nothing more than kissing the whole time we're in London?" Kaito asked, feeling a bit disappointed. Sure, London wasn't the romantic getaway city like Paris, but he was in a foreign country, alone with his lover for the rest of the week, no child to possibly interrupt them...

"Not in the apartment," Saguru said.

That wording... "Does that mean out of the apartment is okay?" Kaito asked, a grin spreading across his face slowly. "Why Saguru, how daring. Were you thinking of a bathroom tryst? Do you have a kink for the danger of being exposed?"

Saguru went bright red. "Kuroba! No, I was not thinking about...about that! If either of us has an exhibitionist streak, it would definitively be you!"

"You got me," Kaito sighed, playing it a bit dramatic because it was fun. "We both know I like to flirt with danger. Although I'd totally be up for a tryst if you were interested—"

"Stop."

"Toilets are kind of cramped here, aren't they? We could find one that's meant for one, lock the door—"

Saguru's hand covered Kaito's mouth before he could get any further in that little fantasy scenario. The blush had spread to Saguru's ears. It was cute, a reason that Kaito enjoyed riling him up. The interest buried under that embarrassment made it worth it too. "No borderline public sex. Or public," Saguru added like he could read Kaito's thoughts before Kaito even finished having them. "...We are getting a hotel the last day here when I turn over my apartment keys."

Kaito grinned wider under Saguru's palm. Then he licked it, snickering at how Saguru's face twisted in disgust.

"I guess that will have to do," he said, leaning all his weight on Saguru for a second, taking advantage of how close they were to give a tiny taste of intimacy. Platonic or sexual, at least Kaito didn't have to worry that Saguru didn't want that intimacy with him. It was gratifying hearing the tiny, unsteady breath Saguru took when Kaito pulled away. "Until then, I guess I'll just have to make do."

"What is that supposed to—"

"I'm going to take a shower and sleep," Kaito continued, heading to fetch a towel from the linen closet. "We are using the bed, correct?"

"...Yes." Saguru grimaced. Ah, more complicated emotions. Lovely.

"You could always join me in the shower," Kaito said with a wink.

"You're incorrigible," Saguru complained.

He was smiling though. Win for Kaito.

"Kaito," Saguru called before Kaito could get to the bathroom.

"Yeah?"

Saguru still leaned against the kitchen counter, something between fondness and concern on his face. "I love you."

Kato smiled, true and relaxed. "I know. Love you too." He let the smile tick up to a grin. "Offer's still open~!"

"I'll make the bed," Saguru said with a roll of his eyes.

Everything would be fine.

*o*o*

It took about two days to properly go through everything and either donate or dispose of what Saguru wasn't keeping. Saguru put the furniture up in an ad for a low price, and already had the couch, table and chairs, and two of the bookcases gone. There hadn't been any more emotional breakdowns from either of them and Saguru was cautiously optimistic about how the rest of this trip would go. They'd made a short trip to the police station yesterday and they were planning on dinner with Saguru's maternal aunt and cousin that evening.

With any luck, they'd get rid of the rest of the furniture and could turn over the keys by the end of the week with no extraneous items for the landlord to deal with. That just left mailing the items Saguru was keeping and taking the rest of the mess to donate. It would take a few trips, but it was wonderful to be through with the worst of it.

"So," Kaito said sifting through his luggage, "how nice should I dress to meet your family?"

"You don't have to dress up." While it was nice that Kaito cared, Saguru had hoped he would be more comfortable meeting his family.

Kaito looked down at the old t-shirt and worn jeans he currently had on. "I don't think what I have on will go over well. If your family is anything like you, I'll be way underdressed."

"Just put on something clean and respectable. You don't have to wear a suit."

"You're putting on slacks and a dress shirt."

"I wear slacks and a dress shirt on the regular." The old and casual clothing he'd worn the past few days had been for cleaning and dealing with potentially unknown messes and objects while they sorted through things. "Just be yourself. They're not stuck up. That's my other aunt and uncle. Henrietta's lovely, and so is Jean."

"Remind me, how big is your mother's family?"

"She's the youngest of three, one older sister and a brother. Uncle Gregory is married with two children—we don't talk much to Uncle Gregory." Saguru fixed his cuffs while Kaito pulled out a shirt and slacks folded into what seemed to be impossibly small bundles. "Everything is cut-throat and backhanded around him and his wife and he's a bit of a racist to boot. My cousins aren't too bad, but sometimes they fall back on unfortunate behavior patterns they learned from their parents. Aunt Henrietta was married and divorced—a minor family scandal—and just has Jean. Jean's married, but her husband travels."

"Okay, so that makes three cousins, two aunts and an uncle. Your grandparents have passed on?"

"A few years back, yes. Well. Grandmum a few years ago. Grandfather passed closer to eight years now." He would always have mixed feelings about his grandfather. His grandmother though, he did miss her. "Anyway, Aunt Henrietta and Jean aren't anyone you need to worry about."

"Good to know." Kaito shook out his clothes and pulled out something that fit into the palm of his hand with a cord...

"Is that a tiny iron?"

"It's useful," Kaito said. "And takes up very little space. I'm surprised you don't have one."

"Most places have one you can borrow if you need it these days. Why do you have a tiny iron?"

Kaito held up his shirt which had dozens of square creases from being folded very tiny. "While I can fit just about anything I could possibly need by packing tight, it leaves a bit of a mess in presentation."

"What on earth did you pack?" Saguru asked. He hadn't paid much attention to Kaito's luggage before since he'd only brought it out to dress when Saguru was coming or going from the bathroom, but it had dozens of tightly folded and packed clothing, all in neat segments with each type in its own place. It was far more organized than Saguru was expecting, more organized than Saguru's own bag. It was also far more clothing than Kaito could possibly need for a week trip.

"I wasn't sure what I'd need so I brought whatever I thought might be useful."

"Is that a dress?" Saguru's eyes caught on a floral print bundle he could swear he remembered seeing in Kaito's closet once.

"Old habits die hard, 'Kuba. What if I need to wear a dress?"

Meaning a disguise. Probably. And now Saguru had a picture of Kaito wearing said dress as himself in his head. Lovely. Not the time. "I should hope there isn't any pressing reason to need a dress anytime soon, though if you ever feel like it for the hell of it, go right ahead."

"Is that interest I hear?" Kaito teased, ironing his clothing right there on the bedspread with his impossibly tiny iron.

"Ask me when we're in Japan again and find out."

"You're no fun."

"I live to be a killjoy."

Kaito laughed. "So your dad's side of the family?" He moved on to ironing his slacks. Saguru finished straightening his own clothing to his preferred level of neatness.

"My grandfather had an older sister, and she had a son, who had a son and a daughter, and who I view as cousins. My grandfather technically adopted my one cousin back into the Hakuba name as heir to Hakuba laboratories. He was a researcher for a few years until Ojiisama passed on and he took over running the facility..." Saguru was almost ten years younger than his cousin though, so they'd never been close. "I have a more or less formal relationship with my cousin. Hirakichi-san is married, and I think he has a child in elementary school, but I am afraid I didn't keep up with him since I was living in London for most of the last two decades. Most of the memories I have of him are from when I was younger and he was always a bit imposing. But I suppose most relatives would be when you're a decade apart in age." His sister, Rin, was less intimidating, but they'd both been serious people raised in a strict household with high expectations held in them. If Hakuba hadn't grown up in London with Mum giving him significant free reign to pursue his interests, he could have ended up the same way. Many people would have said he was intimidating back then though so perhaps it had been a matter of perspective all along.

"I doubt you'll be meeting them anytime in the near future," Saguru continued. "We aren't close."

"Good to know though. It gives me a better picture of your life." Kaito finished ironing his clothes and had them on in the blink of an eye. Saguru was a bit envious at how Kaito could manage to get everything to fit correctly in that amount of time.

"Do you have relatives I don't know about?" Saguru asked because it was something he'd never considered beyond Kaito's mother.

"All my grandparents died, and my parents were only children. Dunno about further back than that really—Kaa-san's mother was French though."

"Really? I thought she was more than half Japanese."

"She inherited more of her dad's looks. Genetics," Kaito said with a shrug.

Which meant Kaito was a quarter French, which was baffling in a different way because genetically speaking, he was much closer to Saguru's situation than expected, but culturally, he'd never been seen as anything but Japanese. Something to think about when they weren't on their way out the door though. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Hmm," Kaito said flicking his hands and making items appear and vanish off his person. "Wallet, passport, spare apartment key, phone, cards, emergency second phone, smoke pellets—"

"I'll take that as yes, you have everything."

"That's only half the list."

"When did you even manage to fill your pockets?"

Kaito gave him an innocent, wide eyed look that no one who had known him more than ten minutes would actually believe.

"Never mind, let's go." As always, it was better not to think too hard about where Kaito managed to hide half of the things he tended to carry. There were only so many places to hide extra pockets on the human body and Saguru didn't need to start running a mental list when he was going to see relatives.

*o*o*

"Guru!" Jean said, pulling Saguru into a crushing hug the moment she opened the door. "It's been ages!" Saguru patted her back as his aunt leaned in the doorway. To his right, Saguru could practically feel the suppressed laughter vibrating off Kaito.

"Jean, it's good to see you." His cousin had cut her hair since he last saw her, wavy brown hair a bit above her shoulders instead of down her back. She looked happy and healthy. "Aunt Henrietta," Saguru said, giving her a hug as well. "You look well."

She did, solid and warm. She was stockier than Mum and Saguru, round where Mum had inherited a more delicate structure, but it suited her. As a child, Saguru thought she had a face made for smiles with how her round cheeks had dimples and her eyes would turn into crescents. Both dimples were showing at the moment as she smiled widely.

"I'm glad you could make it," she said. "I was starting to wonder if I should plan my next vacation to Japan. I think I might still. Can you believe your mother hasn't visited since she came to help you move?"

"I have the impression that she and Father are rediscovering some of their old passions lately. They've been on trips often the last few months. If I remember correctly they went to relive some of their honeymoon stops." He was glad his parents were still in love, but it was a bit baffling why they seemed to be rediscovering it now. He'd have expected this more when Mum retired and moved to Japan, not four years later.

"Well she should take a few of those trips out this way. Goodness knows they did some of their courting out here."

"I'll pass that along." He stepped back and set a hand on Kaito's shoulder. "Jean, Henrietta, this is Kaito Kuroba, my boyfriend. Kaito, this is my cousin and aunt."

Kaito had a perfect charming smile on his face, accepting getting pulled into a hug by Jean with good humor. He was probably expecting it with how Mum was a hugger.

"Aunt Elaine's told us all about you," Jean said. "Which we should have been hearing from Guru, but he's barely called."

"I called you," Saguru protested.

"Yes, and you talked about work, not a bit about how your life was going or how you'd started dating again. I had to hear it all second hand."

Kaito was pulled into a gentler hug by Aunt Henrietta, and it was probably only Saguru who could tell he was a little uncomfortable with all the touching.

"It's nice to meet you both," Kaito said, his English copying Saguru's accent as close as he could get it. "It's a pleasure to meet more of Saguru's family."

"He's even polite," Henrietta said, eyes crinkling with good humor. That was in reference to how Mel had tripped and fell when Saguru went to introduce him the first time and their first impression had been of him swearing in panic, then in mortification. He was fortunate his aunt had a good sense of humor.

"Oh, he's polite for the moment," Saguru said.

"Saguru, I'm always a gentleman," Kaito said.

"Of course you are. Except eighty percent of the time when you aren't."

"Maybe I'm just not a gentleman to you?"

Jean laughed. "Come in, come in, we shouldn't keep standing on the front step."

"Guru?" Kaito teased, under his breath as he leaned in close to Saguru's side.

"That's a nickname only Jean is allowed to use and if you use it, I'm going back to calling you Kuroba." It wasn't much of a threat and the sparkle in Kaito's eye said he would use this new knowledge at some point. Saguru resigned himself for potential future embarrassment without much actual resignation.

"Don't worry about your shoes," Henrietta said when Kaito bent on reflex to take them off. "It's perfectly acceptable to leave them on and we're not staying in long anyway."

"We're eating out?" Saguru asked, surprised. He'd assumed they were eating in with the invitation.

"Our treat," Jean said. She glanced at her phone as she led them to the lounge. "I'm waiting on a message from Donny. He got back in the country today and he wasn't sure if he'd be free in time for our reservations." With a quick smile in Kaito's direction, she added, "Donny's my husband. Gordon."

"Are you sure we shouldn't wait?" Saguru suggested.

Jean just waved a hand. "If he doesn't make dinner, we can always stop back here after to talk. I'm sure he'll be in before bed. I thought he wasn't going to be back for a few days, but business finished early. He's probably going to be exhausted though."

"As someone still a bit jet lagged, I sympathize," Kaito said, earning a smile from her.

"I think he's always a little jet lagged, to be honest," Jean said. "He showed up to our wedding half an hour late because he still had his watch set to another time zone."

"And he'd forgotten to charge his cell phone so no one could even get in touch," Saguru remembered. "You were close to having me call the police and stage a manhunt."

"Well he wasn't going to leave me at the altar. I didn't think he had cold feet, but if he'd had them he'd have gotten a talking to. Thankfully that sorted itself out."

"At least your in-laws didn't try to talk your husband out of marrying you right before the ceremony."

"Seriously?" Kaito said.

"I did say we didn't get along," Saguru said. "Mel's grandmother ended up pulling his mother away and talking her down from trying to stop the ceremony. It was a bit of a mess."

"Never could have noticed once it got started though," Jean said.

"They do like their public faces."

"Huh. The most exciting thing at my wedding was Nakamori-keibu crying and getting horribly drunk," Kaito said. "Meanwhile Aoko and I were both sober and there were maybe ten other guests and it was a bit rushed and awkward even if we were really happy at the time. I'm divorced," he added for Jean and Henrietta's benefit.

"So am I," Henrietta said. "There's no judgment here, dear."

They sat on comfortable couches in a room that looked like it came out of a designer's portfolio—and likely was in some designer's interior decorating portfolio. Henrietta liked having up to date décor though the private areas of the home were a less picture perfect. Kaito looked perfectly at ease, but Saguru was willing to bet he was at least a bit uncomfortable. Kaito's mother's house was well decorated, but unlike this, it was an unchanging finery—like a museum, or like time had stopped, no time or interest in decorating once she started traveling. Kaito's own tastes were eclectic and full of little cluttered signs of his life and personality everywhere; picture-perfect lounges weren't part of his daily life.

"Now, Saguru. You're back to teaching I hear?" Henrietta said, initiating conversation as Jean tapped at her phone.

"Yes, actually back to teaching Chemistry once the semester starts up. I was teaching English for a while, but the teacher who was on maternity leave returned and so I ended up applying for a different job."

"And you met Kaito here because of one of your students..." There was a bit of humor in his aunt's eyes. Between having tutored Mel before they were dating and now dating the father of a student, Saguru supposed she would find humor in how awkward a situation that could be.

"Actually we knew each other in high school," Kaito cut in. "And he's not Takumi's teacher at the moment."

"But I was when I started dating you," Saguru grumbled. "Yes, before you say anything that wasn't exactly something that the board would have been happy with. Somehow that never reached them despite how widespread the rumor mill is."

Jean glanced up from her phone. "High school. As in that boy you all but stalked? The one you kept notes on in your case diary along with the thief you were chasing? That guy?"

Saguru flushed and Kaito started laughing silently, struggling to conceal a grin.

"Ah, yes, Elaine did mention something about that," Henrietta said, looking even more amused.

"Is that how all your family remembers me?" Kaito asked.

"No."

"You turned his hair green!" Jean said suddenly, pointing at Kaito. "That was you, right? He hadn't got all the dye out when he was visiting and it took ages to get the story out of him."

"One, I had a casebook, not a diary, and two," Saguru lost his train of thought as Kaito started laughing against his shoulder.

When Kaito sat up again he was genuinely relaxed. "Wow. I hadn't realized it took that long to wash out."

"You dyed it before a school break."

"So I didn't get to see how long the result lasted. For the record, I no longer dye people's hair without warning."

"And yet so many other habits are still there."

"Hush," Kaito said, patting him like he was placating a dog.

Jean's phone trilled. "Oh, that's Donny." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, scrolling through the message. "He says he can meet us at the restaurant, but he's going to be a bit late—better than not at all I guess."

"And that means we don't need to wait for him here," Henrietta said with a sigh. "Well, I guess we can continue catching up at the restaurant."

"Are we dressed nice enough?" Kaito hissed in Saguru's ear, lips not moving, for all appearances just taking a moment to lean on Saguru's shoulder.

"We're fine. They're not dressed for somewhere fancy," Saguru murmured under the guise of helping Kaito to his feet. Both his relatives were sharp dressers, but between Jean's slacks and Henrietta's comfortable sleeveless summer dress, they were in their version of casual wear. They'd likely be going somewhere nicer than Saguru normally frequented, but nowhere that required a dress code.

"I am so glad I decided on the button down shirt and slacks," Kaito said through a relaxed-looking smile. "Bet you something goes wrong."

"I'm not taking that bet." They both knew that if something didn't go wrong tonight, that probably meant something really big happening before the week was out. "Help me make sure they'll be okay if something does happen?"

"Of course."

"What are you whispering about?" Jean asked.

They'd dropped into Japanese without meaning to again. "Ah, just assuring Kaito that no matter where we end up, there will be something that isn't sea food."

"Not a fan?" Jean asked.

"Not a fan of fish," Kaito said, managing to keep a straight face at the thought of his phobia.

"We're getting Indian, so you should be able to find something."

"Not going to take me somewhere with traditional fare?" Kaito joked.

Jean patted his arm. "Enjoying good Indian food is part of the British experience. And I know Guru likes curry."

"I'll admit, Indian food isn't something I've had much of. Is the curry anything like Japanese curry?"

"Very different," Saguru said. "Japanese curry isn't as spicy and has a simpler savory taste. Indian curry builds off a variety of spices and a broader range of protein and vegetable combinations than the average Japanese curry. And more bread and less rice."

"Huh."

"It's an adventure then," Jean said, grinning.

Henrietta brought around a car and they piled in.

Saguru supposed that at least they would be having an interesting night out regardless of his karma.

*o*o*

The restaurant was very different from the place Saguru frequented with Mel over the years, dim lighting and mirrors instead of wide windows, and plush sand-colored chairs and booths instead of pale wooden chairs, but the scent of curry and spices was familiar and the dimmer lighting made the atmosphere more intimate than it otherwise would have been. There were only two tables with patrons at the moment, one toward the front door, the other close to the kitchen doors in the back. On the ride over, Saguru had been filled in on what had changed in his relatives' lives over the last year or so, and some of the latest gossip on his uncle's family. Apparently one of his cousins had gotten engaged to someone the family didn't approve of and there was an ongoing argument that Henrietta kept getting pulled into whether she wanted to be or not. Saguru wished his cousin and her fiancé luck. Considering how Uncle Gregory never really warmed up to Saguru's father though, it wasn't likely that this would blow over.

"Well," Kaito said when they were seated at a table in the far corner of the room, "so far it smells great so that's off to a good start."

"How are you with spice?" Henrietta asked, opening her menu.

Kaito wavered a hand in the air. "I can tolerate spice, but not too much. I like to taste my food, not get burned by it."

"Burn is another flavor profile," Jean said cheerfully. She would happily eat things that would make Saguru's tongue burn for hours.

"Try the butter chicken, it's not spicy," Saguru suggested.

"What are you getting?"

"Lamb Roganjosh."

"You're eating baby sheep?" Kaito said, looking exaggeratedly sad. "How could you?" He squinted at the menu. "Yeah, I'm going to go with your suggestion, Saguru, I don't know what half of this says. I know conversational English, but some of these words I've never seen before."

"Well some of them aren't English, so that covers some of what you don't know."

"Well that's entirely not helpful."

Saguru smiled. "Point something out if you want to know more or just ask when the waiter comes."

"How about you teach me, I like to learn." He said it with a smile that made Saguru pause and wonder if it was a serious request or an innuendo, which considering the company, Saguru would hope it wasn't currently an innuendo. With Kaito it very well could be the case.

He was saved from answering that by the waiter, arriving to collect drink orders.

"Mango lassi all around," Jean said, "and an order of mix pakora and a bread basket! Might as well take our time since Donny will be late."

Kaito looked at Saguru. "You'll like the lassi, it's sweet," Saguru said. "The rest is flatbreads and fried finger food; probably not very spicy but filling. Jean, we're not going to want our meal if we fill up on all this."

"The joy of leftovers is that you don't have to cook for a day," Jean said.

"We might not have a refrigerator by tomorrow."

"Leftovers make a decent breakfast?" she said, smiling.

"Well, it allows for a full experience..."

"I have had Indian food before," Kaito said, "it's just been a long time and everything was written in katakana, so it doesn't exactly translate to knowing the word in English lettering."

"So you have an idea about what you're getting," Jean said. "Now, so long as we're on the topic of spicy things..." She grinned at Saguru.

Kaito, clearly sensing an embarrassing story, leaned forward. "Oh?"

"Did Saguru ever tell you about the time with the peppers?"

"No, do tell."

Jean's grin had teeth.

"Must you?" Saguru sighed.

Both his cousin and boyfriend ignored him entirely. "So," Jean said, "back when we were kids Aunt Elaine had this whim to do a vegetable garden. And she doesn't do things by halves so she got a whole bunch of plants and put in raised beds and everything in the back yard and put in pretty much anything you can think of. There were so many plants. Anyway, Guru and I got a kick out of seeing them grow and picking the ripe things. We were what? Eight or nine?"

"You were seven, I was eight, almost nine," Saguru said, resigned to let the story unfold.

"Right. Kids. So Aunt Elaine had more produce coming out of that garden than she knew what to do with, but her peppers were all a bit behind everything else—peppers can be slow I guess? And Guru and I kept watching and waiting for them to be ready. Only we got impatient and decided to snitch one. Just one to share between the two of us."

"Oh no," Kaito said, clearly seeing where this was going.

"Yes," Jean said, telling the story with relish. "I chose the pepper—and mind you Aunt Elaine didn't label the plants, just shunted like plants off in the beds—took a big bite, and handed it to Guru. Who also took a big bite. From the top. Now I realized my mistake about a half second after I handed the pepper over, but by then it was too late. My mouth was burning and Saguru took a bite and then both our mouths were burning. And this was when we had no spice tolerance to speak of, so we were both standing there with mouthfuls of hot pepper and burning mouth, caught completely off guard."

"Oh no," Kaito repeated, grin matching Jean's. "You must have been upset."

"That's an understatement. We both spit the pepper out and ran to the house because Saguru remembered something about milk and bread making things less spicy. Only by that point we were crying and Guru had the worst of it since he ate from the top." Jean wiped a mock-tear from her eye. "Our mouths were burning for hours and Aunt Elaine told us we should have just asked."

"To be honest, we're lucky we didn't get anything in our eyes," Saguru said.

"True."

"They were over it by the end of the summer and entirely willing to try the spicy food Elaine made," Henrietta cut in.

Kaito laughed. "You should hear about the time I first had mapo tofu—"

Toward the back of the restroom, a woman screamed. Saguru turned. One of the two women from the table near the kitchen stared in horror through the bathroom door. Saguru's mood sunk like a lead weight. Just past the door, in the thin strip of tile floor he could see from this angle, was a woman's hand, pale against dark green tiles.

Saguru, Kaito and Jean stood up at the same time.

"I'm a doctor!" Jean said, making her way to the bathroom. "And he's a detective," she added with a thumb in Saguru's direction. "Everyone stay calm."

Of course something would happen; he was overdue. Kaito and Saguru exchanged a look and got to work.

*o*o*

The woman in the bathroom was still alive—Saguru's luck wasn't Kudo's level of bad yet thank goodness—but she had a concussion and had had her research stolen. Research that by all logic should have been safely in her lab instead of on her person, and definitely should have had more than one copy of it. Between the suspicious gap of people using the restroom outside of the woman's group—with the exception of one woman from another party who had left the restaurant almost half an hour before Saguru's group got there—and the abnormal lack of backing up important files, their handling aside, there was something fishy going on. Why would anyone take the research, research on the effect of a certain species of plant extracts on the metabolism at that? How would they have known she had it on her? And, if the rest of the woman's party was to be believed, why would they steal research that hadn't had breakthroughs in months and had had its funding cut to the point where the woman, Amelia, had been working on it out of her own home after hours in hopes of finding something she'd missed?

Nothing added up for a theft case, but it did point to potentially a fraud case—unless there was something else at play. Kaito had chatted up the members of Amelia's party as Saguru and Jean took care of Amelia and examined the surroundings. He'd found grudges in some of her coworkers and a worry that her failing research would lead to funding cuts for the rest of them. Saguru had found minimal signs of a struggle.

He'd handed most of the case over to the police since he didn't actually have his detective license in London anymore, but the questions ticked over in his brain as he watched paramedics carry Amelia out and police officers photograph the restaurant bathroom.

"There's something that doesn't quite add up," Saguru murmured to himself.

"Besides how weird the timing is?" Kaito said at his side. "It sounds like one of the women in the group and the man both used the restroom at some point after Amelia went in there, but neither one says they noticed anything."

"And none of the staff used it in the interim. That leaves either one of them lying or the person who left earlier."

"Which isn't likely based on when they used the bathroom," Kaito said. He looked at Saguru, one brow raised. "They both have the motive. The woman was working with Amelia on her project, and the man was convinced budget cuts were coming to him next because her research was failing."

"And the angle of the head wound..."

"Leaves only her female partner," Kaito finished. "Did you check the bathroom trash?"

"No, but I'll go do that. Do you think she would keep evidence on her?"

"It's possible. What about the weapon?"

"...The doorstop," Saguru said. "It wasn't in use, but there was a stone doorstop in the shape of an elephant."

"Yeah, that could cause blunt force trauma." Kaito clapped him on the shoulder. "You check the trash and talk to investigators, I'll point the officer in charge in the right direction to check the woman's pockets."

Saguru glanced at the investigator who he was acquaintances with. "If he gives you problems, use my name."

"Got it." Kaito grinned and Saguru was glad he was here. It was so much simpler working with someone that had his back.

He hurried back over to the officers documenting the crime scene. "There's reason to believe the research might be somewhere in the room."

An officer who knew him from his detective days tossed Saguru a pair of gloves. "You know procedure."

"Thank you."

The elephant doorstop was already being noted as evidence, so Saguru took his search to the rubbish bin. There were plenty of wadded paper towels, but no memory stick. Nothing in the stall rubbish either, but in the second stall in the water reservoir to the toilet he found what he was looking for; one memory stick carefully sealed in two separate plastic bags, submerged under the tank float. Saguru brought it to the officers.

"I think it's safe to say this isn't an ordinary mugging," he said to them.

"No shit," one officer said, shaking his head. "Who hides something electronic in a toilet tank?"

Someone desperate to keep suspicion off them. The plastic bags showed forethought though. This was definitely planned. "We should go ask the woman who did it," Saguru said.

"Already have it figured out?"

"The exact motive, no, but there are a few too many coincidences."

"I'll take your word for it."

Saguru returned to the main room to find their suspect getting a pat-down with a very uncomfortable expression on her face. Kaito and Jean stood a few meters away while Henrietta sat in a chair looking out of her depth. Jean still wore her crisis-response calm. "It was in a toilet tank," Saguru said coming up to them.

"Hmm, then this is completely unnecessary," Kaito said with a nod toward the suspect.

"I have to wonder how she intended to get the thing back. Return days later?" Saguru shook his head. Their suspect's discomfort was edging toward anxiety; though the other members of their party were having similar pat-downs to cover up that she was the main suspect, she had a guilty conscience. She was the sort who would confess with a bit of pressure and Saguru intended to hand that last bit of leverage to the officer in charge.

"Maybe she didn't think that far ahead," Kaito offered. "Or maybe this was really badly planned all around."

Saguru suspected the latter. "I'll just be a moment."

The officer in charge was listening to one of the officers who had been investigating the crime scene, but he gave Saguru his attention as he approached. "So the missing research hadn't even left the building," he said.

"The files would have to be checked to be sure, but it is rather suspicious to have a memory stick in a toilet conveniently when one was missing."

The man snorted. "With how things have been of late, it'd be my luck if we found a smuggling drop instead. But thank you for finding it. You must have worse luck than my team though; this is your second crime scene this week if I remember right."

"I have a poor track record of stumbling into things lately," Saguru said. "The one who committed the assault here was clearly Amelia's research partner," he said watching her turn out her pockets. "Between the angle of the attack and the timing, she's the only one who could have. She would have known Amelia had the research with her and have been able to surprise Amelia." But. "Although I don't think it was a surprise attack."

"Your theory is that the victim's in on it?" the officer said. He sounded surprised, but he didn't seem disbelieving.

"There wasn't a struggle. Amelia had the only copy of her research on her which is fairly ridiculous as a researcher would know to have backup of their work. It's common sense because if a computer fails or something else goes wrong, you have to have some sort of failsafe or else months of work would be lost. It's almost as if..."

"She wanted it to be lost or destroyed," the officer finished, his mouth a grim line. "They did say the research hadn't had results in months, didn't they?"

"I'm not sure if she hoped to get an out to her situation by scrapping her project in a way she seemed less responsible for, or if there was some other goal here, but either way there is enough evidence to take her partner in."

"There is," the man said. "And I'll get to the bottom of it." He held out a hand for Saguru to shake. "James Yule, by the way. Already know you; you have a bit of a reputation."

Saguru snorted, shaking his hand. "Of course I do. Best of luck with the rest of the investigation."

"Not tempted to see it to the end?" Yule joked.

"Believe me I am," Saguru said, watching an officer lead the suspect a bit away from the others to read her rights. They'd found something in their search of her person, though what, Saguru had missed it. "But I am pushing the legality of helping here as it is."

"Best of luck to you then, Hakuba."

"And to you." Saguru returned to Kaito's side as the suspect was escorted out.

"That was anticlimactic," Kaito said. "Did you figure the motive?"

"Not really, though it's probably an attempt at scrapping the project." There was a tiny part of him that wondered if there had been a breakthrough after all, something that made the project worth stealing, but nothing pointed to that. It was a failing project with cut funding, a cloud hanging over both researchers that they hadn't been able to fix, nor had they been able to just call off. Making it seemingly disappear was an understandable desire. With the research gone, the people funding them would have called it a loss and canceled it, probably in favor of some other more lucrative seeming project. Maybe a project that could have put Amelia back into a better standing in the research community.

"Are you okay?" Kaito asked too quiet for Saguru's relatives to hear. "It's stolen science research..."

And a similar situation to the case he'd investigated when Mel died. But unlike that case, this was a very sloppy job. It wasn't so similar that it had him on edge. It was nice of Kaito to notice though. "I'm fine. I highly doubt this is anything darker than two people feeling trapped by a bit of bad luck." He would privately admit that part of the reason he wanted to hand the case over stemmed from the similarity though.

"Good." Kaito squeezed his hand before turning to Saguru's family. "So, that sure was a way to start the evening."

Jean laughed drily. "Yeah, nothing like finding someone with surprise head trauma in a bathroom. At least it doesn't look like she'll have lasting damage. It was a minor concussion from what I could tell."

"I'm so sorry this had to happen when we were taking you to dinner," Henrietta said, still a bit pale.

Saguru and Kaito glanced at each other—it was more Saguru's fault than anyone's with his luck pulling at the universe around them, but it wasn't like he could explain that. "At least everyone will be alright," he said neutrally.

"Do you think we could get our food boxed up to go?" Jean wondered. "At this point it's a bit of a question whether we should even stay."

"Nothing is wrong with the restaurant itself," Saguru said.

"True."

Of course it was then that her husband finally showed up. Gordon was wide eyed as he wandered over, pushing past the last officers as they left. "What on earth happened? Did someone hold up the restaurant?" he asked.

"Nah, just an assault in the ladies room," Jean said with fake nonchalance.

"The hell?" Gordon glanced back at where the police had been. "Is everyone okay?"

"Oh, we're fine, Donny," Jean said. "The lady was hit in the head but she'll be fine. You have terrible timing, darling."

"You don't say," Gordon said, shaken. "I always have run late." He hugged Jean on automatic, looking her over before looking at the rest of their group. "Oh. Hello, Saguru, it's been a bit, yeah?"

Saguru smiled at his cousin's husband. "Gordon. It's good to see you."

"Pity about the..." He waved a hand. "I was expecting to show up for dessert, not a crime scene. This is a bit more your speed though."

Saguru snorted. "Unfortunately. Gordon, this is my boyfriend, Kaito Kuroba."

Kaito gave a little wave. "Hi! How was the flight?"

"Long," Gordon said. "Nice to meet you."

"Guru, I'm going to see if I can get our food to go," Jean said, patting Saguru on the arm. "I hope you don't mind a bit more of a wait."

"We'll live," Saguru said with good humor.

"So," Kaito said as she wandered over to the woman at the register who had yet to stop looking alarmed since Amelia had been found unconscious. "How do you guys feel about card tricks?"

"I... Neutral?" Gordon said, bemused.

Kaito grinned. "I promise that by the time our food comes you'll have a stronger opinion."

Saguru laughed, sitting next to Henrietta as Kaito started in on an impromptu performance.

"I think I like him," Henrietta whispered.

"I like him quite a bit," Saguru said, not hiding his enamored smile in the slightest. His aunt patted his arm.

Kaito sent Saguru a wink and pulled them all into his performance.

*o*o*

The next morning found Saguru and Kaito sitting on the bed eating leftover curry for breakfast as Saguru went through his emails on his phone. "There's one from work," Saguru said to Kaito, who of course couldn't eat normally, but was sprawled half off the bed doing what could be considered upper body exercises between bites of curry where it sat on a box on the floor. "It sounds like Kate is trying to get together a group of faculty to go to the beach in the name of work bonding."

"Over summer break?" Kaito asked. He did a push up to take another bite of food. "Sounds a little optimistic to expect people to want to be around coworkers for the longest stretch they have an option of not being around them."

"She does seem to like everyone getting along as much as possible." Saguru eyed Kaito. "How are you able to eat like that and not get indigestion? Or fall off the bed?"

"Practice," Kaito said with a sparkling grin. "So are you going to go?"

"She's suggesting the second weekend in July, and if that's the case, I was hoping to see if I could visit London again around then. If it gets moved to a later date, I'll consider, but I don't ordinarily enjoy beaches."

"You showed me a picture of you and Mel on a beach just the other day," Kaito pointed out.

"That was carefully planned with my disability in mind, not a trip with a dozen other people." Saguru took a bite of curry, scrolling further in his messages, most of it advertisements and the occasional social media alert (he'd blame Kaito for convincing him to get some of those accounts, but admittedly several of them were Mel's past influence despite Saguru's habit of rarely using them). "There's also one from the landlord. I sent him an estimate for when we'd be dropping off the keys, and he said not to worry about any leftover furniture as he'd take care of it."

"That's convenient."

"He probably either intends to keep it as a perk for renting the flat or sell it himself, but I'm not going to complain." If Saguru didn't have to worry about the rest of the furniture, that just meant taking the donations away and mailing the rest of the boxes. Which actually meant they could take care of it today and have a day or so to relax at a hotel or something until their scheduled flight back. "What do you think of a trip to France?"

"What, like in the future?"

"I was thinking tomorrow. It's not cheap, but we could take a train to Paris for the day if you wanted."

Kaito gave a shove of his arms so he was upright to stare. "Seriously?"

Saguru rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little self-conscious at the sudden scrutiny. "Well, you did say that you found Paris romantic and I'm familiar enough with the city that an unplanned trip isn't that big of a deal. We'd just have to be back in London in time for our flight..."

He found himself with a surprise lapful of grinning Kaito. "I love you," Kaito said.

Saguru hugged him back, holding his takeaway container out of elbow range in one hand as he held Kaito with the other. "I love you too. I take it that's a yes?"

"Saguru," Kaito said, his eyes glinting the way they did when he was either very happy or plotting mischief, "I am one hundred percent onboard with romantic spontaneity."

"Good," Saguru said as words seemed to leave his brain in favor of all his mental capacity taking in Kaito's happy face. Not for the first time, Saguru was struck by how attractive his boyfriend was.

"So. Would France be a good place to seduce you?"

Saguru blushed to the tips of his ears. "Kaito."

"Mm, that's a yes, right?"

If Kaito kept looking at him like that, Saguru was going to break his own rule about not getting up to anything in the apartment. Regretfully, he pushed Kaito back so he could get a bit of breathing room and perspective as to why now was not the time or place. ...Mostly just the wrong place. "Save it until we're in Paris."

"One kiss?"

"...one kiss."

"Mwah!" Kaito gave him an over-exaggerated kiss on the lips before sliding out of his lap. He dropped back down to eat half off the bed again.

"You know you could eat up here."

"I could," Kaito said. "Actually, if you sat on my feet, I could do sit-ups and eat whenever I was upright."

"That sounds even more uncomfortable."

"I have to get exercise in some way. I'm getting out of shape," Kaito lamented. "It's awful. I spent so much time keeping in shape before, but there's nothing challenging anymore. So I just have to fit exercise in where I can."

"During breakfast?" Saguru asked. He was more or less used to the fact that Kaito had trouble keeping still without something holding a good portion of his attention, but this was both a bit ridiculous, and a relatively new development of the past two weeks.

"Wherever I can fit it in."

He handed Saguru his food and Saguru took it, giving Kaito counterweight on his legs so he could do crunches that should honestly make him not want to eat with how he kept using muscles around his stomach.

Kaito, of course, didn't seem bothered at all. "I should take up parkour."

The image of Kaito throwing himself off buildings in civilian wear had Saguru wincing. "Wouldn't that draw attention?"

"So I'll find a group to do it with. But really, it would satisfy my inner adrenaline junkie and keep me in shape." Kaito did a few sit-ups, taking a bite of his leftovers. "It wouldn't be all the time, but it seems fun."

"You're thirty-five."

"So I have a few good years of it before I've pushed my body too far. I've been thinking it over and parkour seemed the better idea than going hang-gliding every other weekend. Cheaper too. I tried sports the last few months but..."

But none of them had kept Kaito's interest, Saguru knew, though doing some gymnastics workouts every now and then had helped. "Please don't do anything that could get you killed."

"I wouldn't. I know my limits. And the limits of an average person, so I won't push too much." Kaito did a few more sit-ups before pausing. "I bet I could take some pretty cool footage doing it though. Think Takumi or Shiemi would be interested?"

"If Takumi thought it would help him with his lacrosse, maybe. I think Shiemi is more interested in your sleight of hand than the athletic side of your tricks."

"I'm a little sad that I probably won't get to pass on some of my harder tricks..." Kaito sighed and apparently decided he'd done enough exercise for one morning because he wiggled his feet free to sit cross-legged. "I'm definitely going to have to write a book with how I did all my tricks and have that be a legacy."

"Inside the family of course."

"Of course."

"I'm sure Takumi will appreciate that even if he never learns to do all of your tricks." Like Kaito had appreciated his own father's notes.

They finished their breakfast in companionable silence, Saguru's mind half on plans to get to Paris and half on what was left to do. Besides the boxes, he still needed to get Mel's forgotten gift to Mel's mother...

It was a bit of a coward's way out, but Saguru thought Mel would forgive him if he mailed it instead of meeting his mother-in-law face to face. He wanted to end this trip on a high note, not have old problems weighing him down. And this way she could be honest in her emotions instead of hiding them in front of Saguru.

"You alright?" Kaito asked, nudging Saguru with his elbow.

"Mm." He shook off his discomfort, instead turning his mind toward perhaps visiting one of his favorite cafés in Paris. They had pastries Kaito would love. "I'm fine. I just remembered Mel's box of gifts that needs taken care of."

"Ah." Kaito gathered up their empty containers. "Are we taking a side trip after the post office or...?"

"No, I will be mailing what I'm sending along... It's probably for the best that way."

"Okay," Kaito said. He gave Saguru a kiss on the cheek. "You know them best. I'm going to shower real quick then we can start in on taking those boxes where they need to go."

"Thank you, Kaito."

"Anytime," Kaito said with a wink and a parting wave.

*o*o*

There was a time, Saguru reflected as he followed Kaito aimlessly along Paris streets, when Saguru had been in Paris, contemplating Kid and feeling possessive of the thief. He'd called Kaito, been smug about it too like his emotions weren't transparent, and gave him a warning about the French thief, Chat Noir. He'd never asked Kaito what he'd thought about that call, though perhaps the irritated tone one the other end of the phone line and repeated assertion that Kaito wasn't Kid was answer enough for what Kaito felt back then. Here and now, the person Saguru had been wouldn't have recognized the person he was now. But he'd probably understand how Saguru's eyes were drawn more toward his boyfriend than the city streets around them.

Kaito, of course, didn't seem able to keep still, flitting back and forth between street stalls and up to shop fronts with enthusiasm, occasionally practicing rusty French on the vendors. He always bounced back to Saguru's side with an interesting thing he'd learned or to point out something of interest and frankly it was refreshing to see Kaito so enthusiastic. It had Saguru taking interest in things he wouldn't have thought to notice let alone appreciate too.

"You know," Kaito said, their hands linked together and swinging as they walked alongside the Seine, "when I was here with Aoko, we didn't do anything like this, just walking around. We went to a bunch of tourist spots and looked up high rated restaurants and had most of the trip carefully planned out. Aoko likes structure like that, and me being, well, me, I provided any spontaneity on the trip by interacting with our surroundings. But it was still controlled. I think I like this more." He grinned at Saguru, sidelong. "Not that there's anything wrong with carefully planned trips or tourist attractions. I just like seeing how people live. Of course I'm enjoying the company too."

"Of course," Saguru said, mock serious.

"If there's any place you like here, we should go," Kaito said, a bounce in his step.

Saguru thought about that long-ago phone call. "If it still exists, there's a café I used to frequent in high school."

"You came to France a lot as a teen?" Kaito asked.

"Often enough." Saguru shrugged. "Mum has friends in Paris, and I've had quite a few cases that led me out of England over the years. A few of the times I left Japan was actually to come here because I was asked to look into some things. During one of those times I happened to hear about Chat Noir."

"Huh." Kaito stared off into the distance for a moment, thinking back. "Wait, that phone call where you gave some cryptic warning and got weirdly possessive about Kid."

Saguru rolled his eyes. "Of course that's what you remember of it."

"Well what impression did you expect me to have back then?" Kaito said, amused. "I mean I hadn't ever given you my phone number either, so you were kind of having a stalker moment, Saguru."

"I took the time to warn you!" Saguru protested. "You would have gone in blind!"

"I'd have been fine," Kaito said, confident in his skills as ever. Or maybe he was remembering with the same arrogance he'd had back then, thinking he could pull off anything with enough bravado and sleight of hand. "Chat Noir didn't actually want to hurt anyone. She was just trying to right a wrong."

Saguru paused. "You know I don't think anyone ever figured out what happened with Chat Noir."

"No, they didn't." Kaito grinned.

Saguru narrowed his eyes as Kaito's seemed to sparkle with mischief. "You're going to make me work for that story aren't you?"

"Maybe," Kaito said, sing-song. "Either way, Chat Noir is a nice lady. We still send each other letters sometimes."

"Of course you keep in touch." What was Saguru expecting really?

"It pays to keep connections," Kaito said. "So this café is someplace you went to when all that was going on?"

"It's where I called you from," Saguru said.

"Sap," Kaito teased. "You want to visit there because it's connected to a memory of me, don't you."

The blush on Saguru's cheeks gave him away despite ignoring Kaito's words.

"You do," Kaito said, draping himself on Saguru's shoulder. "Aww, you love me."

"I'm dating you, so I would think it was obvious at this point," Saguru said. Kaito just grinned wider and Saguru cracked, laughed. "Fine. Yes, I love you and want to go see if that café still exists because I'm feeling sentimental. Anything you wanted to see?"

"The Louvre," Kaito said immediately. "I know it's a tourist spot but one, it is one of the most famous museums of the world, and two, I now have a professional interest in it outside of my old night job. I didn't have near the appreciation of museum work the last time I was here."

"Done," Saguru said. "We'll grab something to eat at the café, or someplace close if it no longer exists, then head to the museum."

"Are the two even close to each other?" Kaito asked curiously.

"No," Saguru smiled, "but that's part of the fun, getting from A to B, right?"

"We're ducking into any store that looks fun and taking pictures to send to Takumi."

*o*o*

"You know," Kaito said later, "I always forget how small the Mona Lisa is. Like it's built up so much but when you actually see the painting? Tiny compared to most famous portraits. I would not want to be in charge of the preservation for that either. Da Vinci was not the best with ensuring his works would actually be well preserved for the long run. Genius technique and skill or not, that's really something that bothers me about his work."

Saguru laughed. "That would bother you."

"Hey, as a museum worker I totally feel sorry for the conservator that has to deal with things like that. That said, I have a much higher appreciation for their ceramics and pottery collections than I did the last time I was here."

"Professional appreciation," Saguru said with a nod. He gave Kaito a sidelong grin. "Although I noticed you eying the eagle brooch."

"What can I say, old habits die hard." The brooch had a nice sized garnet in it. Kaito had eyed several other gems in other exhibits too, but since he was retired, Saguru didn't dwell on it. Kaito wasn't going to be stealing anything these days. "Their security is pretty tight though. I am more than happy that I'm never going to try and take anything from there." Kaito hummed as they meandered back toward their hotel. "We should come back sometime. There wasn't nearly enough time to look at everything."

"Of course. Perhaps a trip to London, then here, with Takumi along?" Takumi would like London, but he could appreciate Paris's streets the same as Kaito did, taking in their unique storefronts and anything that caught the eye.

Kaito squeezed Saguru's hand where their fingers were laced together. "Sounds fun. Ooh." He stopped walking so fast that Saguru kept going a step or two past him until he was stopped by the tug of his wrist. Kaito's eyes were riveted on a park across the street where a magician was doing tricks. "...Would it be rude to join in? It would probably be rude to join in."

There were only a few people stopped to watch. Saguru saw Kaito's hand twitch toward his pockets that he kept full of tricks even now. "How well could you incorporate yourself into his act without taking it over completely?"

"Mm..." Kaito tilted his head. "Depends on if he played along. My French probably isn't good enough to get a conversation across..."

He fidgeted and Saguru gave him a little push. "Oh, go on. If you're so worried about it, leave him any tips people hand out."

"You're the best," Kaito said in a rush, untangling their hands to head directly over.

Saguru took his time following. The distance let him appreciate how Kaito seamlessly integrated himself into the group of watchers and waited just the right moment to add a complementary trick to the one the magician was already performing. The man, to his credit, paused for only a split second of surprise before rolling with it like it was all part of the original show.

In a matter of minutes it was much more spectacular than anything the original magician could have pulled off. And yet Kaito somehow managed to make it look like it was the street magician's skill coming to the forefront. Saguru shook his head fondly as people started to gather, pulling out cell phones to watch Kaito got a juggling arc started between him and the magician. Only the objects being juggled kept mysteriously changing.

The street magician started laughing with the edge of incredulity when objects started changing color too, but he had a remarkably good stage presence in keeping himself together while being blindsided by so many surprises. The tricks escalated until Kaito dropped a smoke bomb and used the distraction to reappear at Saguru's side.

When the smoke cleared, the other magician had his hat in his hands, quickly turning surprise into a theatrical bow. The crowd—because there was a crowd now—clapped and tossed money his way. A few tried to give some to Kaito too when the noticed where he'd vanished to, but he waved them off. Showing his skill in escaping and working crowds, he whisked him and Saguru away before anyone could pin them down to ask questions about the performance.

Two blocks later and Kaito broke down giggling into Saguru's shoulder. "I shouldn't have done that!" he said after a moment. "But that was so much fun!"

"I think the crowd agreed with that," Saguru said. "And I don't think the magician was complaining with the results."

"He was pretty skilled," Kaito said cheerfully. "Not just anyone could keep a performance going like that. That's probably the most fun I've had doing that kind of thing in a while."

"Good." Saguru looped an arm around Kaito's waist, pleased when Kaito leaned into the touch as easy as breathing. "Dinner before heading back to the hotel?"

"Something romantic and French?" Kaito suggested with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Saguru rolled his eyes but squeezed Kaito's waist a bit tighter. "I'm sure we can manage that."

"Because this is Paris."

"Right."

It wasn't terribly funny, but they both laughed anyway. Everything was a little bit funny and great at the moment. Saguru was thirty-five and in love all over again and very glad in that moment to be alive.

*o*o*

Kaito stepped onto the balcony. Saguru was showering in the little hotel room he'd rented for them, and Kaito couldn't stop smiling because it had been a fantastic day. His arm muscles were pleasantly stretched from his juggling show and his heart was light. They'd had a whirlwind, impulsive vacation day in France and it had honestly been everything Kaito could have hoped for, including getting to indulge in simple public affection like hand holding and flirting and even a few over-dramatic kisses that had Kaito blushing almost as much as Saguru. He just couldn't do things like that in public in Japan and while it normally didn't bother him too much, it was so nice to just... be for a bit here.

He held up his phone to snap a photo from the balcony; not a super photogenic location like some of the places they wandered today, but it was still France and that alone added to the interest of the shot. He'd send it to Takumi over the internet later. For now he took a moment to close his eyes and exist and feel happy.

Something landed next to him.

Kaito jumped half a meter to the left and banged his elbow into the railing. "Shit, ow, what?"

Ruby Jones crouched on the balcony railing looking way too amused. "I see retirement is treating you well," she said in English, the shared language they both spoke best.

"Retirement is great," Kaito said fervently, rubbing at his elbow. "Where the hell did you come from? I thought you lived in America."

"I'm visiting relatives," Jones said.

"Yes, but how the heck did you end up here?"

She grinned. "Someone saw your little show earlier and recorded it. Did you know you're currently trending?"

Kaito blinked. That still didn't really explain how she'd found his balcony when they could have been staying pretty much anywhere in Paris—or not at all—but okay. "Okay. Hi. How's life been?"

"Pretty good. I have my routine and a good enough paycheck to take trips like this once a year. Can't complain. Although it's hell to keep in shape these days."

"Ah, yeah, retirement and aging are hell on the body."

Jones gave him a cool look. "Are you calling me old?"

Kaito put a hand on his heart. "Of course not, I'm talking about myself. You, a lady, are ageless."

She laughed. "You're just about as much of a flirt as I remember. Speaking of flirting..." She grinned. "How long have you been interested in men?"

"Almost as long as I've been interested in women," Kaito said with a mirrored grin.

"Boyfriend or husband?"

"Boyfriend, but in a way that isn't like I'm a teenager for goodness sake. We're both serious about it, but marriage is a... complicated issue with us." They hadn't talked about marriage. It was too soon really. But also... well, between Mel's memory and Kaito's failed marriage, the topic was a bit of a loaded subject to touch upon. Kaito didn't care one way or another, but maybe someday he'd bring the topic up to gauge how Saguru felt about it. Granted, they couldn't marry in Japan anyway, even if it was a possibility in the UK.

"He's cute. I take it it's a romantic getaway?"

Kaito snorted. "The trip? Not really. Being here in Paris, yes." And if she was here too long he'd make it clear that she was intruding on said romantic trip, but he could talk a little bit. Saguru liked long showers when he was relaxed enough to enjoy them. "Now that I'm retired, I have both the funds and time to actually take vacations. Shocking. I'm not even injured this time."

Jones snickered. She had to know how much it cost to upkeep phantom thief gear and how easy it was to get hurt in the process. "I can't say I ever regretted the thief life, but it is nice to come out the other side. And civilian life is treating you well?"

"I work in a museum, ironically enough. It's quiet, I like my coworkers, and the job is fulfilling. What more do you need?" It would never be how he'd expected himself to end up but... "Okay, I admit I miss having an audience sometimes."

"So you pull stuff like you did in that video to fulfill the need."

"Exactly. It's like you understand too well." They shared a look. One ex-phantom-thief to another. "Not to be rude, it's lovely to see you face to face after such a long time and such a scattered acquaintance, but I have a boyfriend to return to and a romantic evening to indulge in."

"Of course, Kid." Jones smirked. "You have fun."

"Oh, believe me I plan to." Kaito matched her smirk right back.

Jones stood up on the railing, reaching up toward the balcony above her. "To answer your earlier question," she said positioning herself, "I saw you by chance from my window. I'm staying in a room two floors up and a bit over."

"So entirely by luck."

"Luck, fate, casual whims of the universe..." She shrugged and gave a hop to catch onto the balcony above them. "You take care."

"Enjoy your visit with family," Kaito said, giving a little wave.

Jones was up and climbing almost as fast as Kaito could have. Not bad for a lady almost two decades in retirement. Maybe it was just second nature for people like them to want to keep hard earned skills sharp and muscles strong. Behind him, the balcony door opened.

"Were you talking to someone?" Saguru asked, looking soft and rumpled in a robe with a towel draped over his shoulders. His hair was still dripping a bit. "I thought I heard voices."

"An old kind of friend popped in for a visit, but she's already gone."

"Old friend?" Saguru frowned. "Do you have friends in Paris?"

Kaito smiled and tugged at a lock of Saguru's wet hair. "Sometimes. I think she mostly wanted to congratulate me on my retirement. Well, that and be nosy, but that's to be expected."

Saguru nodded like of course any friend of Kaito's would have a tendency to not mind their own business and have boundary issues as a given. "Wait, were they on the balcony?"

"My turn in the shower," Kaito deflected.

"Kaito—was that one of your underground connections?"

"If I don't say, you can't feel conflicted over it!" Kaito said. He pressed a quick kiss to Saguru's jaw as he danced past him into the hotel room. "I'll be out in a tick and we can order in for dinner and make out like we're sixteen again."

"I wasn't making out with people at sixteen."

"Like we're twenty then."

Saguru snickered and Kaito slipped into the bathroom to take a very fast shower—he had all the time in the world to indulge in hygiene on some day he wasn't in Paris with his boyfriend.

*o*o*

Later, much much later to Kaito's immense satisfaction, he curled up under the sheets with Saguru by his side, already halfway to sleep with his face mushed against Kaito's collarbone. It was adorable. Kaito took a picture with his cell phone, one for his private photo collection. A lot of those photos were candid ones with Saguru missing most of his clothes, asleep, or otherwise unaware and open. He'd gotten a few of them this trip, like one of Saguru talking to his aunt and cousin and grinning openly at whatever they were talking about. Saguru looking at a street sign. Saguru ordering lunch. ...Saguru changing, from multiple angles... Kaito was glad that he had his phone locked or there could possibly be some potential issues if someone got ahold of it. Still. He took another with himself in the photo too, grinning at the camera honestly. He wanted proof of these little happy moments. Needed them for when his head wasn't in the right place to help get him back to normal.

He flipped back to the other folders with photos from the trip and started attaching his favorites to an email to send to people back home. "Paris is looking pretty nice this time of year" was all he wrote for a caption. He... wasn't going to include Aoko for this particular photo collection. There was starting to rebuild their friendship by sharing parts of their lives, and there was blatantly poking at old bruises, and that would be a bit too close to the latter.

The message sent and Kaito felt warm inside. He'd gotten a message from Jones with a photo of him kissing Saguru on the balcony. He'd saved that photo too. He sent back one of a stray cat he'd found when they were eating lunch. There were a few other emails on his phone, from his mother and one from Kudo that sounded like another of the puzzles they'd been sending back and forth from the subject line.

Saguru patted his arm rubbing his nose into Kaito's shoulder. "You should sleep," he mumbled.

"Just sending a few emails."

"Kaito," Saguru grumbled, curling around him. He was a bit bigger and heavier than Kaito and it was definitely noticeable when he did things like that. Saguru rested his chin on Kaito's chest where he was currently squishing most of the air from him. "I know you act like you still never sleep, but we have an early trip back to London to catch our flight home and it is very late."

Kaito flushed; he hoped he'd never stop reacting like this to having Saguru holding him down and being bossy. Granted his brain tended to skew it more toward much less platonic moments of this sort of thing. Gah. Bad brain.

Saguru snorted. "Your brain is still in the gutter isn't it?"

"Okay, I'm still recovering from years of repressing and you are still naked and less than an hour ago you were—"

Saguru cut him off with a kiss. "Shush. Sleep. Or I will take your phone and toss it wherever you threw my shirt."

Kaito pouted, but Saguru merely raised one eyebrow at him, eyelids still droopy with sleep. He was annoyingly good at ignoring Kaito's pouts. But that was something Kaito liked about him whether he'd admit it or not. Kaito liked people who didn't let themselves be pushed around and stood by lines that they drew. And at the moment it seemed that getting rest was one of those lines. "Oh, fine," he said with a sigh. He set his phone back on the charger, having to stretch and twist to get it with Saguru weighing him down. "Better?"

"Yes." He got another kiss as a reward.

Kaito wound his fingers in Saguru's hair and kept the kiss going. "Mm, sleep now?" he said after he'd kissed Saguru thoroughly.

"...sleep. Right." Saguru stared at his lips. Kaito grinned and got a light smack on the arm for it. "Stop being distracting."

"Stop letting yourself get distracted," Kaito said in return. Saguru rolled off him and Kaito curled around his back, happy enough to be the big spoon this time. "Okay, now we can sleep."

"Goodnight, Kaito."

"Night. ...Guru."

"Okay, that's it, I'm smothering you with a pillow," Saguru said, grabbing one of the extra ones to hold over his shoulder in a very pathetic attempt at suffocation. "How many times do I have to say that only my cousin is allowed to call me that!"

Kaito laughed, warding off the pillow with one hand.

"I'm sleeping on the floor," Saguru threatened.

Kaito wrapped around him with arms and legs. "No, you're trapped."

"We are grown adults, this is ridiculous!" Saguru said, squirming, but he was laughing too. Kaito squeezed him tight until they were both breathless from laughter and exhaustion.

"Goodnight for real?" Kaito whispered against Saguru's neck, arms and legs going loose into a cuddle.

Saguru's hand found his by their hips and pulled it across his chest, fingers linked. "Goodnight. Love you."

"Love you too."

*o*o*

Morning was a rush of early alarms and hastily gathered clothing. Saguru wanted to laugh at Kaito's caffeine-deprived pinched expression when the alarm went off, but he wasn't much more awake. And he definitely empathized with the desire to stay up later last night. Regardless, it was morning and it was time to go.

"Can we get coffee on the way? Or tea?" Kaito asked, barely bothering to look presentable though it would take him a few seconds to do so if he wanted to.

Saguru made a point to straighten Kaito's shirt for him before he finished buttoning his own. "Something quick, yes. Nothing so nice as sitting at a café."

"Ugh." Kaito rubbed at his eyes. "Pity they don't have hot tea in vending machines here."

"There's still convenience store coffee."

"Saguru, we're in France, I'm not getting shitty coffee from a convenience store in France."

"No? It has all the caffeine you require."

"And none of the taste. I can have bad coffee any day."

Saguru snorted. "Come on. If we're quick we should be able to get drinks and something to eat on the way."

"Thank you." Kaito gathered their bags in a quick sweep of the room, catching anything they'd missed in their scramble to get ready to go. "Caffeinate, eat, catch our train to London, get to the airport, take a horrifying amount of time to get home."

"At least there's plenty of time to nap during the flight and layovers?" Saguru offered.

"Very true. C'mon, I want a croissant. I should have a proper French croissant. You should have one too."

"And if I don't want a croissant?" Saguru asked, following Kaito out of the hotel room.

"Well it's not like you're short on other options, but why wouldn't you want a croissant?" Kaito tossed a hand up, compensating lack of energy with dramatics.

"I have nothing against croissants, I just wondered what you would suggest otherwise."

"Haven't the foggiest. Right now my brain's stuck on croissants and all other French baked goods have fled out of my vocabulary."

"You're ridiculous."

"Thank you. Now come on, we're wasting time we could be caffeinating."

*o*o*

They were almost to the station back to London when Kaito stopped, croissant and coffee in one hand and bag in the other. "Saguru, we forgot something."

"What?" Saguru glanced at their bags and all they'd packed, mind coming up blank for what might be missing.

"Omiyage."

"What?" It took a second for Saguru's brain to switch back to Japanese since they'd been using English almost the whole trip. "Wait, shit, you're right. Souvenirs."

"They'll expect something from France since I took pictures here."

"And we never got anything in London."

"Yeah, but we can get something at the airport, but we have..." He glanced at his watch. "Twenty minutes to get something and get on the train to London."

They looked around but most businesses weren't open just yet unless they dealt with morning crowds like cafés. "So long as it's something from France, it doesn't have to be a nice something," Saguru said.

"Convenience store snacks and candy?" Kaito said.

Saguru pulled out his phone and typed rapidly. "There's one a block out of our way."

"Thank goodness for technology."

*o*o*

Stepping off the plane into Japan again was a moment of déjà vu. He'd done the same thing so many times in his life, stepping into Narita airport with its familiar architecture and Japanese signs. The annoying process of walking through quarantine and immigration checks. And he could walk to the baggage claim in his sleep regardless of which gate he came in at by this point. Thankfully he'd actually managed to get some rest on the last flight so he didn't have to do that.

What set this time apart from the others was Kaito at his side, yawning and just inside Saguru's personal bubble enough that their shoulders brushed, though not enough to draw attention. It was a world of difference to how they'd started out the first flight from London. Saguru decided the world could just learn to live with a bit of impropriety.

Kaito blinked at him when Saguru caught his hand and tugged him to get their bags, but he linked their fingers like he'd only been waiting for Saguru to reach out. Like he didn't mind how it could draw stares or displeasure.

For the first time, Saguru wondered if the lack of obvious affection in public in Japan had been for his sake, not because Kaito didn't want it.

"At least your bags aren't hard to spot," Saguru said.

Kaito's bright blue bags were practically lit up against the myriad of nondescript black, brown, and navy travel cases. Saguru's merely had green ribbons tied to the handles to make them stand out.

"I should text Mum," Saguru said while Kaito retrieved their luggage. "She's probably already seen the notice on the travel board that we arrived but—"

"I think she definitely has," Kaito said nodding in the direction of the arrival lobby. Just past the customs inspection counters was Mum, a sparkly 'Welcome Home' sign made out of poster board and what had to be an entire container of glitter held up in the air. Surprisingly, Takumi was at her side. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't holding a sign and was a few steps away from Mum like he was worried he'd catch the glittery mess. Knowing glitter, it was unavoidable.

They made their way through customs as quickly as they were able, and as soon as they were clear, Takumi was at Kaito's side. "Okay, so I saw the pictures you sent but you have to tell me everything and what you did and if you ate anything cool and Shiemi wants to know how you ended up in France."

Kaito snickered and pulled Takumi into a hug. Takumi flailed with all the embarrassment of a teenager having affection poured on him in public.

"Tou-san!" Takumi complained. He was smiling though.

"Not even a welcome back?" Kaito asked, ruffling Takumi's hair until it was a mess.

"Ugh, hi, glad your plane didn't crash into the ocean. How was your trip?"

Saguru left them to it and gave Mum a hug, careful not to brush up against the glitter monstrosity. "Did you make that intending to shed glitter everywhere or...?"

"Actually, Takumi and Shiemi made it," Mum said, eyes sparkling with humor. "I, of course, was willing to track glitter everywhere to use it. Flight in okay?"

"It went fine except for the layover in Hong Kong. We almost missed our connection."

"Because of your bad luck," Kaito said. "A child went missing and we ended up walking almost the whole airport looking for them. Thankfully it was not a kidnapping but that was a mess. We only made our flight because they held the plane an extra ten minutes for us to get there from the other end of the airport."

"But the child was reunited with their family and no one was harmed so it's all well," Saguru said. "I slept the whole last part of the trip from the moment we took off until we landed though."

"Anything we missed while we were gone?" Kaito asked Takumi.

Takumi shrugged. "Nothing big. Had lacrosse practice. Babysat the Kudo girls. Aaaand maybe kind of set up a date for Shiemi." He grinned. "It went okay so she didn't kill me."

"Ooh, spill! Blind date or what?" Kaito leaned on Takumi's shoulder. "Because she didn't mention this at all in her emails."

"They'd met a few times but didn't realize they both liked girls. Only Amari-chan mentioned she thought Shiemi was cute—wait, uh, Amari-chan is on the girl's lacrosse team for clarification—and I know Shiemi has checked out the girl's team practice before so..."

"So you played matchmaker," Kaito finished.

"Yup. They're going on their second date on Tuesday. Either this will go great or I will have to apologize to both of them when it erupts in flames, but either way it's nice to see Shiemi be happy." Takumi smiled softly, affection for Shiemi shining through.

"I think it's cute," Mum whispered to Saguru. "Though if anyone set you up at that age you would have been mortified."

"I was just settling into the realization I was gay at that age so, yes, mortified would be about what I would feel. Along with horror and probably fear," Saguru said drily. Thankfully Shiemi wasn't the type to let public opinion shame her; if she ever did get outed before she was ready, she wouldn't let it upset her life.

"Oh yeah," Kaito said as they all meandered toward the exit in their huddle of baggage and people. "Takumi, what would you feel about moving?"

"You're asking now at the airport?" Saguru said with a sigh. "We haven't even started looking at anything. We've only just brought it up."

"No time like the present to introduce the idea," Kaito said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "So?"

"Wait, like moving out of the apartment?" Takumi glanced at Saguru. "And moving into someplace with Hakuba-sensei?"

Mum smacked Saguru's arm with so much giddy enthusiasm one would think Kaito had just proposed he marry Saguru in front of her. Saguru rolled his eyes. "Yes, move in together. Honestly, we're just talking about the possibility at the moment and if it would be uncomfortable to you, we don't have to. The arrangement we have now has been fine."

"But you'd like to," Takumi said, seeing through to the heart of the matter.

"Well we're practically cohabiting right now already," Kaito offered. "Just with a few extra doors between us. You'd get your own room of course."

"If I didn't I'd be pretty annoyed," Takumi said, "since I live with you a third of the time." He was silent for a while as they passed a group of tourists trying to find somewhere, a map tugged back and forth between hands as they argued in what Saguru thought was some Slavic language, though he didn't have the ear for what. "It is a little weird," Takumi said finally just when Saguru was starting to worry that he really did hate the idea. "But that doesn't make it a bad weird. All of this last year has been a little weird, but in a good way. Mostly. Like I wouldn't want to be around you guys being super romantic or anything because that would be weird in a bad way, but I don't mind how you usually are and it wouldn't be too different from how things are now. Just a new space. The new space part would be weird though."

"You know I never thought I'd spend almost a decade living in that shoe-box apartment," Kaito mused. "It's home. But honestly I would not mind something bigger. With thicker walls. Takumi, we'd both get bigger bedrooms."

"That is a selling point," Takumi said. "Are you thinking house big or larger apartment big?"

"We are not doing logistics in an airport," Saguru said.

"I'll have to think on that," Kaito said, ignoring him completely. "It depends on whether I want a workroom space or not and how much room Saguru needs. Or if I want to move my doves from Kaa-san's place. Hmm. Two adult incomes leave more possibilities, but honestly despite living in a cheap apartment for years, I'm not all that rich. Committing crime out of your own pocket and not keeping the spoils is actually a really expensive hobby. Don't recommend that."

Saguru sighed. Mum giggled at him.

"It has to be close enough to school," Takumi said. "And I want proper furniture in my room."

"Yeah, location is probably going to narrow things down a lot. And might be what takes the longest finding someplace." Kaito's hands moved like they wanted something to fiddle with, but he'd taken his magic props off his person for the plane ride. "Preferably ground floor or no higher than one set of stairs..."

"It has to be a good neighborhood or Kaa-san won't let me visit."

"Well obviously."

"I take it we've decided that this is happening instead of hypothetically happening," Saguru said.

"Duh," Kaito and Takumi said in stereo. Kaito turned to him. "We have Takumi's blessing and we definitely have your Mum's with how she's smiling. And we want to be domestic with each other, so yep, it's happening. But," Kaito added holding up a finger, "probably not for a while yet. Logistics."

"And I have to be there picking the place since I'm going to live there too," Takumi said. "I call veto rights if it's awful."

"We all get a say," Kaito said.

Saguru looked between their equally serious expressions and had to laugh. "Okay, yes, we're going to make this happen then."

"Wonderful," Mum cut in. "And now that that's decided, I'm taking you out to lunch to celebrate and you can tell us all about your trip. How exactly did you end up in Paris anyway?"

Saguru followed them out the building as Kaito enthusiastically started up a story about the various mishaps with theft-related crimes they'd brushed into and how everyone on the police force still seemed to know Saguru's face and name, chiming in when the moment called for it. In front of him Mum still had the glittery sign shedding all over Kaito's bright blue luggage as they walked shoulder to shoulder, Takumi tagging along a step behind. He had his phone out, texting Shiemi from the look of it, and listening with the rest of his attention. The air was heavy with the threat of spring rain, as familiar as the muggy springs in London. London had been home, but this... This was home too, as much for the people as the place.

Ahead, Kaito tipped his head to the side to include Saguru, holding out his free hand.

Saguru took it. Home.