[fic] TGZ: Shades of Red
Aug. 10th, 2005 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ickaimpThis one prolly needs some work. Got about half way done with it a couple of months back when it just... died.
Then![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sakurazuka_jae wrote a lovely TGZ fic, "Taken". (read it before you read this)
And suddenly! the chapter re-wrote parts of itself and made sense. Some areas are still a little rough, but they'll get smoothed out eventually.
The Grey Zone: Shades of Red
By Icka! M. Chif
Hakuba had always gotten a lot of stares while walking down the street, Kaito had privately observed. Previously, it had been more along the lines of the 'Check out THAT freak' variety, people looking at the Inverness coat and not at the person wearing it.
Ever since Hakuba had 'retired' the Inverness coat and started wearing the duster-style coat that their odd feather searching companions had given him, Kaito had noticed that Hakuba was still getting stares. Only now they were along the lines of 'Check out THAT cute guy' variety. Most of the time he watched people do this with a sense of amusement.
But sometimes Kaito wanted to point out that too bad, so sad, the blond was -off- the market. Hakuba was the Kaitou Kid's. Or something like that.
Only he couldn't and didn't dare say that out loud. For one thing, the Kaitou Kid was an internationally wanted thief. For another, he was Kuroba Kaito the majority of the time, not the Kid. And it wasn't Kaito that was dating Hakuba, the Kid was.
... so if he flirted with Hakuba, did that mean he was encroaching on his own territory?
It made his head hurt.
It was much easier to glare at the tall pale blond dressed in velvet, lace and pants so tight no one wore them like that any more who giving Hakuba an appreciative eye, like the detective was a piece of fine art he'd like to hang on a wall to admire. Kaito bristled slightly, but kept walking with a determined air.
Hakuba caught sight of the long haired blond pervert as well, but instead of letting his eyes just glaze over like he normally did at someone staring at him, an expression of realization and delight crossed his face. "DORIAN!" He shouted, waving and rushing towards the older man.
A look of shock and recognition flashed across the other man's face before he held his arms out, catching the running Hakuba in a crushing bear hug. They started not-quite squealing in joy, rambling at each other at top speed about how long had it been since they'd seen each other --about three years--, where had they been --Japan and all over, respectively-- , when had Hakuba gotten so tall --they were about equal height-- and how Marvellous it was to see the other.
Kaito just sat back and boggled. He'd never seen Hakuba -bounce- before. Or sparkle. And both of them were definitely sparkling, enough to light up the entire street. So he just watched and wondered what the hell it took to get that kind of reaction out of the usually composed detective. And why the hell hadn't he seen that greeting before?!
"Kuroba, this is my Uncle, the Earl Dorian Red Gloria." Hakuba explained as the two blond's stepped apart slightly, an arm still wrapped around the other. The detective was still beaming, a wide pleased grin on his face. "Uncle, this is my friend from Japan, Kaito Kuroba. He's here to go to school."
"Wonderful to meet you, Darling!" Kaito shook the hand of Hakuba's uncle, quietly surprised by the strength of the grip. Uncle Dorian's calluses on his hands, although faint, were very peculiar. And the man seemed familiar somehow, but Kaito couldn't quite place it.
He was also slightly horrified to realise he'd just been thinking Hakuba's Uncle was a perverted old man.
Then as he found himself pulled into a quick hug, he considered that of what he'd met of Hakuba's family, it was probably best to reserve judgement on the perverted or not...
He was then held out at arm's length, Uncle Dorian's hands on Kaito's shoulders as the blond examined critically from head to toe, not as if he were a piece of meat, but as if he were good enough to run with Uncle Dorian's cherished nephew. From the slight curve of his mouth, the Earl liked what he saw. "A Watson to your Holmes, Angel?"
Kaito almost took affront. Almost. He was no one's sidekick. That was the hawk's job.
Hakuba grinned back. "Nah." A mischievous look was tossed in Kaito's direction. "More like my Moriarty."
Kaito grinned back as the Earl laughed, releasing him. He elbowed Hakuba in the stomach, leaning over to whisper in Japanese: "You say the sweetest things."
This earned a laugh from the tea-coloured blond. The pale-gold blond twinkled approvingly at both of them. "Exquisite taste, Saguru."
"Thank you, sir." Hakuba blushed slightly, -in pleasure- Kaito realised with a bit of a shock. If Hakuba's Mum had said that, the detective would have thrown a fit.
"And you must be the reason why our adorable Saguru has gotten rid of that god awful coat." The Earl grinned at Kaito. "I simply must thank you for that."
"It wasn't awful!" Hakuba protested. "-IS- not!"
"Is too." Kaito and the Earl chorused. Kaito grinned at Hakuba's Uncle. He could get to like this relative. Possibly. Especially since this relative could get Hakuba to turn that many shades of red with only a little bit of effort.
"We must celebrate this." Uncle Dorian decided. "I have the perfect idea!"
"Oh, no." Hakuba groaned in almost but not quite Mock Horror. There was some very real horror mixed in there. Kaito looked on inquiringly.
"Shopping!"
"Bugger." This was said very very quietly.
But not quietly enough. The Earl slung an arm around each of their shoulders, casually draping himself between them. "Why, Saguru. One must have a decent wardrobe to show off such a lovely figure as yours. Really, you must flatter your natural beauty, not hide it away from the eyes of the world."
Hakuba looked pained. Kaito looked on with interest, ignoring the too-casual contact in favour of watching his friend's embarrassment. He got the feeling that this was going to be very interesting. And most likely entertaining.
"I believe there's a Grace Brothers around the corner." Uncle Dorian continued blithely, quickly escorting them away. "They're not the -best-, of course, but they'll do for now."
"What about your accountant?" Hakuba inquired, a hint of panic creeping in. "Mr. James will have an absolute heart attack."
"Jamsie has a heart attack nearly every day." The Earl casually dismissed it. "And it is not like I can't afford it. Hurry now, I see him coming."
Kaito could just hear a faint wail behind them as both he and Hakuba were bodily escorted through the doors of a department store and towards the elevators. He remembered the one time that Hakuba's Mum had tried to take them shopping with her. Hakuba had cursed a blue streak the entire way to the store, then grabbed Kaito and enlisted his help in disappearing as quickly as possible.
He somehow doubted that was going to happen this time. For one thing, the detective was reluctant, not adamant about the whole thing. For another, he looked strangely pleased in his Uncle's presence. Which was odd, because Kaito got the feeling that if the Earl of Gloria wasn't toning things down right now to give someone the slip, he'd be more flamboyant than Hakuba's Mum. If he wasn't already.
They ducked into the elevators, Uncle Dorian primping slightly in the reflections there, an amused smile on his face. Hakuba watched with fond amusement, looking one step away from chuckling. Then the doors opened and they were both bodily ushered from the confined space, into the Clothing section of Grace Brothers Department store. A very stiff looking middle aged man with an even stiffer moustache greeted them as they came down the stairs. "Welcome to Grace Brothers. My name is Captain Peacock. If there's anything I can help you find, please don't hesitate to ask."
"The men's department." Uncle Dorian smiled. "We require a new suit."
"Of course, right this way." Captain Peacock --what kind of name was THAT?!-- directed them off to their left. "Mr. Lucas, Mr. Humphries and Mr. Grainger.... Where is Mr. Grainger?"
"In the back, sir." The brown haired man, Mr. Lucas from the looks of it, answered promptly. "He's quite busy with... what ever it is he's doing."
"Oh, I'm quite sure he is." Mr. Humphries, who had the palest hair of anyone Kaito had seen on anyone this side of forty, twittered. Both he and Hakuba peered behind the curtain to spot an elderly gentleman fast asleep, a tape measure around his neck. Kaito and the detective exchanged looks.
"Saguru here requires a new suit. Something form flattering." Uncle Dorian nudged Hakuba forward. Kaito grinned at the desperate deer in the headlights look Hakuba shot him. The desperate look sharpened into a glare, silently informing Kaito that he'd get his later. Kaito wiggled his fingers in return as Mr. Humphries squealed and escorted the reluctant detective into the back, nattering about various styles and colours.
After all, who was he to interrupt an obvious family bonding moment?
Speaking of family, a quick glance around revealed no sign of the Earl on this side of the room. The tall blond was on the women's side, charming the two ladies from the lingerie department. Grinning to himself, Kaito stuck his hands in his pockets and wandered over.
Surprisingly enough, Uncle Dorian was talking about... pantyhose. And the difficulty it was to find properly fitting ones in his size that didn't form ladders at the slightest snag. And that didn't pinch in all the wrong places.
"Have you tried garter belts?" Kaito questioned, having faced a similar problem in the past. "You have to make sure the straps don't twist when you sit down, but they don't pinch nearly as much."
Not to mention the thigh-highs created a lovely hiding place for lock picks and small trinkets that went boom.
This launched them into a lively debate about garter belts versus pantyhose for cross dressing, both of them tossing questions to the ladies for points of clarification to add strength to each side's arguments. The elder lady with the impossibly coloured hair, Ms. Slocombe didn't offer much in the way of opinion, but the younger lady, Miss Brahms, seemed happy to talk to them about it, willing to give them pointers on how to fit a bra so it was more comfortable as well.
The topic of conversation didn't sink in until Hakuba joined them several minutes later, a bit of pink staining his upper cheeks. Mr. Lucas was pointedly looking somewhere else as Mr. Humphries was looking at them with something akin to admiration on his face.
Correction, Mr. Humphries was looking at the Earl, who was leaning over to chat with the ladies in those impossibly tight pants.
Kaito almost laughed.
"If you are done..." Hakuba drawled.
"Oh?" Uncle Dorian blinked at the detective, as if surprised to see him so soon. "Of course, darling. Just a moment." The Earl then proceeded to purchase a garter belt and several silk tights, which waved dramatically when he tossed them over an arm and sashayed back over to the men's side.
Hakuba sighed. Kaito leaned up, propping his elbow up on Hakuba's shoulder. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting any of your family to be so..."
"Flaming?" Hakuba deadpanned.
"Flamboyant."
"That too." Hakuba admitted with a small chuckle. "Mum sent me to live with Uncle Dorian the summer before I moved back to Japan. It's rather difficult to have the usual teenage angst and confusion over sexual orientation while your Uncle is down the hall screaming and demanding to know who stole his eyeliner."
THAT was an amusing mental picture. "You did, didn't you?"
"Actually, it was one of Uncle Klaus' men." Hakuba admitted. "Uncle Dorian forgave G for that, saying that if you were going to borrow eyeliner, it was best not to borrow an inferior product."
Made sense, in a certainly twisted way. "Uncle Klaus?
"Uncle Klaus Heinz Von dem Eberbach. Iron Klaus he's called. He works for the German NATO. Uncle Dorian chased Uncle Klaus for years until he got caught."
"Caught Klaus?"
"Uncle Klaus caught Uncle Dorian."
Kaito tried to figure that one out and decided to give it up as futile. His head was really beginning to hurt. Fortunately the Earl chose that moment to call them back over to the men's side of the store --much to Captain Peacock's visible relief-- to look at suit styles. Hakuba sighed and trudged over, Kaito following along with.
"Garter belts?" Hakuba questioned.
"Sometimes I have to pose as my own Magician's Assistant." Kaito posed, doing a little flourish with his hands. "Ta-da!"
The detective rolled his eyes. "I do -not- want to know how you keep everything from bulging out."
"Oh, they have special underwear for that now, Darling." Uncle Dorian assured him. "Much better than the old days, when you used to have to use a ping-pong ball."
Kaito nearly applauded as Hakuba's brain appeared to explode, his face turning the colour of a flashing red police siren.
Uncle Dorian winked at Kaito. "Disguise expert. It comes in handy sometimes."
"Yes." Kaito agreed. "Yes it does."
"That reminds me, Uncle." Hakuba frowned, a forbidding expression crossing his face. "I'm rather angry with you over another matter."
"Oh?" This earned them a raised eyebrow and a artful hair flip of golden curls. And roses. Kaito allowed himself a small frown. Roses... Dammit, why did Uncle Dorian seem so familiar? It was right there, nagging at the edge of his brain...
Hakuba made a not-quite pointed glance around the store. "Later." He promised.
The Earl nodded, then began flipping through the magazines there, pointing out styles and colours with a rapid non-stop chattering. Hakuba looked pained, rapidly sorting clothing into 'possibly' and 'not unless hell froze over' as if his life depended on it. Kaito merely stood back and tried not to smile too much, incase the detective took it the wrong way. It was amusing to see the Half-briton's sharp-eyed focus on something other than a murder, theft or himself, even if it was in a form of self defense.
Finally the sorting stopped, the two blonds looking at each other like Generals out over a battle feild. "All of the clothing you chose is so... old!" Uncle Dorian finally snapped, almost childishly.
"Yes." Hakuba agreed. Kaito glanced over the picture that was being pointed at as evidence. It was old-fashion, leaning more towards last century than this. The detective spared him an amused glance. "One of us should to remain retro."
Kaito's mind flashed over to his white Kid outfit, which should have been impossibly impractical, and yet worked. He snorted in amusement and debated the merits of kicking Hakuba in the ankle for the jibe, but thought better of it. He didn't want to have to explain the joke to the Earl, who was looking at them quizzically.
Instead, he gestured at his own clothing, with the zipper down the front of the long turtle-neck style jumper. Out of the three of them, he was definately the most modern looking. Uncle Dorian, who looked like he'd just stepped from the late 70s, nodded, but not without some question to his gaze.
"Yes, but Darling, surely we can do better than that." The Earl lamented. "Something less... covered."
"It's more fitted than a lot of the modern styles." Hakuba stubbornly pointed out. But a hell of a lot less fitted than some of the clothing that looked like the majority of it was made of either translucent veils or spandex. Uncle Dorian paused, then ceded that point.
"You have a terrible eye for colours and fabrics." The Earl lamented, turning his attention towards the fabric swatches, clearly intent on taking over that part of the decision. "Must be your father's side, everyone from my family has excellent taste for fashion."
Hakuba's mouth opened, then he shut it again, clearly biting off a comment. "I'm not wearing red." He finally growled.
Kaito had heard Hakuba's Mum grumble about her troublesome youngest brother before. He was starting to wonder if it wasn't because they were so much alike that they didn't get along. Not that he would ever voice this observation within earshot of either Mum or Uncle Dorian. Ever.
"Most of his wardrobe lately is browns and earth tones." Kaito offered, feeling just a little bit puckish. He had a slightly vested interest in this endeavour after all. He had to live with Hakuba after this. "Maybe go along those lines? That way everything matches, even if he gets dressed with his eyes closed." Hakuba gave him a -look- for that and Kaito shrugged in return. Wasn't his fault the detective dressed like he was partially colour-blind.
"I'm a Detective." Hakuba said firmly. "The formal clothing help people take me seriously, instead of dismissing me because of my age, like they would do if I wore jeans and a colourful jumper, like some of my schoolmates."
Kaito thought about it and realised that he had a point. Kudo Shin'ichi used to show up to mysteries in a tie and everyone took him seriously. People's first reaction to Hattori Heiji, with his jeans, denim jacket and baseball cap at a crime scene was usually along the lines of 'what does that guy think he's doing?'. If you dressed like you were serious, people took you seriously.
However, this didn't explain the inverness coat or the blue suit-lavender shirt-green tie combo he wore at Sunset Mansion...
"Fine." Uncle Dorian agreed. "But no tweed."
"What's wrong with tweed?" Hakuba demanded. Uncle Dorian and Kaito just stared at him. Hakuba stared back, his expression guileless.
"He has argyle socks too." Kaito informed the Earl sadly.
Uncle Dorian looked at his nephew with great pity. "Oh, my poor, poor boy."
"What?" Hakuba bristled defensively. "Mum buys them!"
The Earl rolled his eyes deploringly upwards as if looking to heaven. Kaito was pretty sure he heard the curly haired blond mutter something along the lines of 'Lord save us, his mother dresses him funny', but he wasn't entirely sure.
Things went pretty much as could be expected after that, Uncle Dorian making outrageous suggestions, Hakuba --resigned to the fact that his favourite uncle was going to dress him up like a doll no matter how he protested-- working frantically at damage control, the two of them bantering back and forth. Mr. Humphries watched the entire spectacle with great delight, rooting for both sides as he made making occasional suggestions and possible compromises. Kaito certainly couldn't begrudge him for it, he'd come out well no matter the outcome, especially if he worked on commission.
Most of the clothing they made an arrangement to meet sometime next week and pick up, but Hakuba did walk away with one piece of clothing he appeared to be especially pleased with. It was an old-fashion waistcoat, like a train conductor might wear, specifically designed to carry a pocket watch. Uncle Dorian decided it 'fashionably retro' when Hakuba clipped the watch where it was supposed to go, the gold chain dangling slightly and gave his approval.
Kaito stayed back in the shadows, feeling slightly smugly superior. -He- wasn't the one being dragged around for a clothing makeover. Of course, his own clothing --Kid tuxedo aside-- tended to be on the looser casual side, mostly because one of his main requisites for clothing was being able to do gymnastics in it. They got into enough trouble in daily life that restrictive clothing that prevented a clean getaway was a serious no-no. It'd also be highly embarrassing to do the splits and suddenly find his trousers splitting as well.
And he could blame the mostly dark clothing on the fact that -everything- went with black. Heh. Clothing really was all about disguise after all.
So they left the store, Hakuba happy to have gotten off what he considered to be lightly, Uncle Dorian happy to have gotten to play dress up with his favourite nephew, Grace Brothers and their associates happy for the sale and Kaito if not thoroughly, then mostly entertained.
Hakuba and Uncle Dorian chattered away about where and when they should meet when Hakuba did a slight double take, blue eyes slightly widen in what Kaito swore was either malicious glee or not-so muted mischief.
"Uncle?" Hakuba asked, his voice almost -too- bright and innocent, but only if you knew the sarcastic bastard.
It was a warning sign that the Earl obviously missed, turning his wandering attention towards the detective. Kaito watched with some confusion as Hakuba's eyes narrowed in what looked like anger, but his mouth curved up in a smirk. "I would appreciate it if in the future you did not casually molest my thief." The words came out flat, almost casual, but with a hint of muted violence in them.
It took a moment for the words to sink in.
"YOU!!!" Kid the Phantom Thief jabbed an accusing finger towards the Art Thief Eroica, who was waving a finger back at him.
Dammit, he KNEW that the Earl Gloria had seemed familiar!!!
A tall dark shadow fell over them. "You, what?" An accented clipped voice demanded brusquely.
Kaito glanced up to see a tall, dark and handsome man staring down at them. Kaito almost backed up, recognising the maniac with the gun from the art museum he'd run into Eroica at. Hakuba was not-quite grinning at the new man, looking pleased with himself. "Hullo, Uncle Klaus." Hakuba greeted the man formally. "May I introduce my friend, Kuroba Kaito? He and Uncle Dorian were just realising that they've meet before."
"So I hear." Uncle Klaus said. There wasn't quite ice crystals in the voice, it was more like muted steel, the sound of a gun being taken off of safety in preparation of being fired.
Kaito knew without a shadow of a doubt, that Uncle Klaus --IRON Klaus, suddenly the nickname made sense-- had heard Hakuba's comment towards his uncle.
Somehow he got the feeling that Uncle Klaus was nothing but severely territorial. And that he hadn't know about Eroica's little... late night epilogue. Or if he had, he hadn't known about the kissing part. It was not going to be a quiet night in that household.
It suddenly struck him that Hakuba had probably been more annoyed at Eroica's gift than he'd let on. It also meant that he'd had passed on a kiss from Hakuba's Uncle to Hakuba... ew. Kaito made a mental note to both selves: Pass on only personal kisses in the future.
But then he supposed the bastard had deserved it. Especially since the bastard detective hadn't -mentioned- that he knew exactly who Eroica was. Dammit, no wonder Hakuba hadn't had a major problem with him being a kaitou, there was one in the family! Who lived with his own personal rival, another law enforcer!
"Nice to meet you." Kaito said politely, bowing to Uncle Klaus, keeping his thoughts in his head and not in his voice. Iron Klaus certainly didn't look the hugging type.
Funny thing was, he could see more of Hakuba in Uncle Klaus than Uncle Dorian. The strong focused look, like a wolf on the hunt, even when idle, was similar. The main thing marking Hakuba as being related to Uncle Dorian was the golden colouring, especially with the stupid contacts in.
Uncle Klaus grunted in return, attention clearly focused on his mate. Uncle Dorian smiled back, clearly unfazed by the look that probably sent most people trembling in fear. "Perhaps while you are here, you could answer a question for me." Kaito ventured, keeping his tone mild. Hakuba raised an eyebrow at him.
"Certainly." Uncle Dorian smiled at the distraction.
Kaito took a slight breath and asked the question that had been bothering slightly him since he'd run into Eroica. "Why is your name 'Pervert Squid'?" Although part of that was probably self-explaintory... The first half anyway.
The noise of the street suddenly got impossibly loud as the two and a half Europeans stared at him.
"Eh?" Okay, he'd probably completely blown that, but at the time he hadn't wanted to ask the irate detective. But since they were here, he figured it was as good of an opportunity as any He glanced at Hakuba for help, switching to japanese. "'Ero' means 'Pervert', and 'Ika' is 'Squid'..."
Hakuba made a noise somewhere between a cough and a choke. "It's an English word."
Kaito frowned. So he had gotten it wrong then. "Erotica?" He tried again. The name on the card wasn't one he recognised. He'd wondered if the other thief had made a typo on the card or something. It'd been annoying him.
This earned a coughing fit from Uncle Klaus. "Close enough." The stern man commented, taking a hold of Uncle Dorian's arm. "We'll see you later. Saguru, we'll be expecting you to stop by while you're on this side of the world."
"Yes, Uncle." Hakuba said dutifully, although happily.
Uncle Klaus grunted again, dragging his thief off. Uncle Dorian waved at them looking not at all unpleased to be dragged off by the man he obviously adored, skipping slightly to keep up with Uncle Klaus' long strides. "EXCELLENT taste, Darling!" Uncle Dorian shouted after them. "Bring him along too!"
"I think I'm embarrassed." Kaito muttered. Not only about Uncle Dorian's comment, but for his own blunder. He hadn't quite meant to make -that- big of a tactical and grammatical error. Hakuba rolled his eyes in agreement.
"Better watch out, he may try to recruit you." Hakuba grumbled back. "He's committed to Uncle Klaus, but that doesn't stop him from admiring. Especially since you've got a brain in your head."
Kaito raised an eyebrow, refraining from making any of the obvious 'committed' jokes.
"Uncle Klaus has his Alphabet of Agents, Uncle Dorian has his rouge's gallery." Hakuba explained, motioning for them to head the other way with a tilt of his head. "And the word 'Eroica' comes from Beethoven's Third Symphony."
"Oh." Kaito shrugged. Stupid English words. Like he was going to understand the references.
"However, I think that Uncle Klaus is going to get a good deal of mileage out of the 'Erotica' comment." Hakuba added cheerfully.
Kaito glanced back over his shoulder, but the Uncles were already out of eyesight. He supposed, that to Uncle Klaus, Eroica was Erotica...
Ack. Bad mental picture.
"Nice timing back there." He commented instead, changing the topic. Why use strong arm tactics when a well spoken comment at the right place would work even better? However, he did have one minor niggling point of contention. "And who ever said I was -your- thief?"
Hakuba smiled, but didn't comment, looking highly pleased with himself. Kaito followed, glaring, more for forms sake than anything else. The detective already knew most of his secrets, he didn't need to know that Kaito would steal for him too. Among other things. He owed the bastard anyway.
Kaito turned the focus of his attention towards the people around them again, not wanting to dwell on introspection at the moment. People were staring at Hakuba again, the blond completely ignorant to the attention he was getting.
This time however, Kaito mentally shrugged and dismissed it. Let them stare. The blond wasn't bad to look at, even if he was a sarcastic bastard.
They weren't the ones Hakuba was going home with.
-fin-
Disclaimer: Characters from "Are You Being Served?" (which is where 'Grace Bros' comes from) and "From Eroica with Love" are being used without permission, no profit is being made, we don't own them.
[edit] formatting should be fixed.
*snaps fingers and points* You! Laptop! You WILL obey me! Mwuahahahahaaa!!
... 'cha. right.
Then
sakurazuka_jae wrote a lovely TGZ fic, "Taken". (read it before you read this)And suddenly! the chapter re-wrote parts of itself and made sense. Some areas are still a little rough, but they'll get smoothed out eventually.
The Grey Zone: Shades of Red
By Icka! M. Chif
Hakuba had always gotten a lot of stares while walking down the street, Kaito had privately observed. Previously, it had been more along the lines of the 'Check out THAT freak' variety, people looking at the Inverness coat and not at the person wearing it.
Ever since Hakuba had 'retired' the Inverness coat and started wearing the duster-style coat that their odd feather searching companions had given him, Kaito had noticed that Hakuba was still getting stares. Only now they were along the lines of 'Check out THAT cute guy' variety. Most of the time he watched people do this with a sense of amusement.
But sometimes Kaito wanted to point out that too bad, so sad, the blond was -off- the market. Hakuba was the Kaitou Kid's. Or something like that.
Only he couldn't and didn't dare say that out loud. For one thing, the Kaitou Kid was an internationally wanted thief. For another, he was Kuroba Kaito the majority of the time, not the Kid. And it wasn't Kaito that was dating Hakuba, the Kid was.
... so if he flirted with Hakuba, did that mean he was encroaching on his own territory?
It made his head hurt.
It was much easier to glare at the tall pale blond dressed in velvet, lace and pants so tight no one wore them like that any more who giving Hakuba an appreciative eye, like the detective was a piece of fine art he'd like to hang on a wall to admire. Kaito bristled slightly, but kept walking with a determined air.
Hakuba caught sight of the long haired blond pervert as well, but instead of letting his eyes just glaze over like he normally did at someone staring at him, an expression of realization and delight crossed his face. "DORIAN!" He shouted, waving and rushing towards the older man.
A look of shock and recognition flashed across the other man's face before he held his arms out, catching the running Hakuba in a crushing bear hug. They started not-quite squealing in joy, rambling at each other at top speed about how long had it been since they'd seen each other --about three years--, where had they been --Japan and all over, respectively-- , when had Hakuba gotten so tall --they were about equal height-- and how Marvellous it was to see the other.
Kaito just sat back and boggled. He'd never seen Hakuba -bounce- before. Or sparkle. And both of them were definitely sparkling, enough to light up the entire street. So he just watched and wondered what the hell it took to get that kind of reaction out of the usually composed detective. And why the hell hadn't he seen that greeting before?!
"Kuroba, this is my Uncle, the Earl Dorian Red Gloria." Hakuba explained as the two blond's stepped apart slightly, an arm still wrapped around the other. The detective was still beaming, a wide pleased grin on his face. "Uncle, this is my friend from Japan, Kaito Kuroba. He's here to go to school."
"Wonderful to meet you, Darling!" Kaito shook the hand of Hakuba's uncle, quietly surprised by the strength of the grip. Uncle Dorian's calluses on his hands, although faint, were very peculiar. And the man seemed familiar somehow, but Kaito couldn't quite place it.
He was also slightly horrified to realise he'd just been thinking Hakuba's Uncle was a perverted old man.
Then as he found himself pulled into a quick hug, he considered that of what he'd met of Hakuba's family, it was probably best to reserve judgement on the perverted or not...
He was then held out at arm's length, Uncle Dorian's hands on Kaito's shoulders as the blond examined critically from head to toe, not as if he were a piece of meat, but as if he were good enough to run with Uncle Dorian's cherished nephew. From the slight curve of his mouth, the Earl liked what he saw. "A Watson to your Holmes, Angel?"
Kaito almost took affront. Almost. He was no one's sidekick. That was the hawk's job.
Hakuba grinned back. "Nah." A mischievous look was tossed in Kaito's direction. "More like my Moriarty."
Kaito grinned back as the Earl laughed, releasing him. He elbowed Hakuba in the stomach, leaning over to whisper in Japanese: "You say the sweetest things."
This earned a laugh from the tea-coloured blond. The pale-gold blond twinkled approvingly at both of them. "Exquisite taste, Saguru."
"Thank you, sir." Hakuba blushed slightly, -in pleasure- Kaito realised with a bit of a shock. If Hakuba's Mum had said that, the detective would have thrown a fit.
"And you must be the reason why our adorable Saguru has gotten rid of that god awful coat." The Earl grinned at Kaito. "I simply must thank you for that."
"It wasn't awful!" Hakuba protested. "-IS- not!"
"Is too." Kaito and the Earl chorused. Kaito grinned at Hakuba's Uncle. He could get to like this relative. Possibly. Especially since this relative could get Hakuba to turn that many shades of red with only a little bit of effort.
"We must celebrate this." Uncle Dorian decided. "I have the perfect idea!"
"Oh, no." Hakuba groaned in almost but not quite Mock Horror. There was some very real horror mixed in there. Kaito looked on inquiringly.
"Shopping!"
"Bugger." This was said very very quietly.
But not quietly enough. The Earl slung an arm around each of their shoulders, casually draping himself between them. "Why, Saguru. One must have a decent wardrobe to show off such a lovely figure as yours. Really, you must flatter your natural beauty, not hide it away from the eyes of the world."
Hakuba looked pained. Kaito looked on with interest, ignoring the too-casual contact in favour of watching his friend's embarrassment. He got the feeling that this was going to be very interesting. And most likely entertaining.
"I believe there's a Grace Brothers around the corner." Uncle Dorian continued blithely, quickly escorting them away. "They're not the -best-, of course, but they'll do for now."
"What about your accountant?" Hakuba inquired, a hint of panic creeping in. "Mr. James will have an absolute heart attack."
"Jamsie has a heart attack nearly every day." The Earl casually dismissed it. "And it is not like I can't afford it. Hurry now, I see him coming."
Kaito could just hear a faint wail behind them as both he and Hakuba were bodily escorted through the doors of a department store and towards the elevators. He remembered the one time that Hakuba's Mum had tried to take them shopping with her. Hakuba had cursed a blue streak the entire way to the store, then grabbed Kaito and enlisted his help in disappearing as quickly as possible.
He somehow doubted that was going to happen this time. For one thing, the detective was reluctant, not adamant about the whole thing. For another, he looked strangely pleased in his Uncle's presence. Which was odd, because Kaito got the feeling that if the Earl of Gloria wasn't toning things down right now to give someone the slip, he'd be more flamboyant than Hakuba's Mum. If he wasn't already.
They ducked into the elevators, Uncle Dorian primping slightly in the reflections there, an amused smile on his face. Hakuba watched with fond amusement, looking one step away from chuckling. Then the doors opened and they were both bodily ushered from the confined space, into the Clothing section of Grace Brothers Department store. A very stiff looking middle aged man with an even stiffer moustache greeted them as they came down the stairs. "Welcome to Grace Brothers. My name is Captain Peacock. If there's anything I can help you find, please don't hesitate to ask."
"The men's department." Uncle Dorian smiled. "We require a new suit."
"Of course, right this way." Captain Peacock --what kind of name was THAT?!-- directed them off to their left. "Mr. Lucas, Mr. Humphries and Mr. Grainger.... Where is Mr. Grainger?"
"In the back, sir." The brown haired man, Mr. Lucas from the looks of it, answered promptly. "He's quite busy with... what ever it is he's doing."
"Oh, I'm quite sure he is." Mr. Humphries, who had the palest hair of anyone Kaito had seen on anyone this side of forty, twittered. Both he and Hakuba peered behind the curtain to spot an elderly gentleman fast asleep, a tape measure around his neck. Kaito and the detective exchanged looks.
"Saguru here requires a new suit. Something form flattering." Uncle Dorian nudged Hakuba forward. Kaito grinned at the desperate deer in the headlights look Hakuba shot him. The desperate look sharpened into a glare, silently informing Kaito that he'd get his later. Kaito wiggled his fingers in return as Mr. Humphries squealed and escorted the reluctant detective into the back, nattering about various styles and colours.
After all, who was he to interrupt an obvious family bonding moment?
Speaking of family, a quick glance around revealed no sign of the Earl on this side of the room. The tall blond was on the women's side, charming the two ladies from the lingerie department. Grinning to himself, Kaito stuck his hands in his pockets and wandered over.
Surprisingly enough, Uncle Dorian was talking about... pantyhose. And the difficulty it was to find properly fitting ones in his size that didn't form ladders at the slightest snag. And that didn't pinch in all the wrong places.
"Have you tried garter belts?" Kaito questioned, having faced a similar problem in the past. "You have to make sure the straps don't twist when you sit down, but they don't pinch nearly as much."
Not to mention the thigh-highs created a lovely hiding place for lock picks and small trinkets that went boom.
This launched them into a lively debate about garter belts versus pantyhose for cross dressing, both of them tossing questions to the ladies for points of clarification to add strength to each side's arguments. The elder lady with the impossibly coloured hair, Ms. Slocombe didn't offer much in the way of opinion, but the younger lady, Miss Brahms, seemed happy to talk to them about it, willing to give them pointers on how to fit a bra so it was more comfortable as well.
The topic of conversation didn't sink in until Hakuba joined them several minutes later, a bit of pink staining his upper cheeks. Mr. Lucas was pointedly looking somewhere else as Mr. Humphries was looking at them with something akin to admiration on his face.
Correction, Mr. Humphries was looking at the Earl, who was leaning over to chat with the ladies in those impossibly tight pants.
Kaito almost laughed.
"If you are done..." Hakuba drawled.
"Oh?" Uncle Dorian blinked at the detective, as if surprised to see him so soon. "Of course, darling. Just a moment." The Earl then proceeded to purchase a garter belt and several silk tights, which waved dramatically when he tossed them over an arm and sashayed back over to the men's side.
Hakuba sighed. Kaito leaned up, propping his elbow up on Hakuba's shoulder. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting any of your family to be so..."
"Flaming?" Hakuba deadpanned.
"Flamboyant."
"That too." Hakuba admitted with a small chuckle. "Mum sent me to live with Uncle Dorian the summer before I moved back to Japan. It's rather difficult to have the usual teenage angst and confusion over sexual orientation while your Uncle is down the hall screaming and demanding to know who stole his eyeliner."
THAT was an amusing mental picture. "You did, didn't you?"
"Actually, it was one of Uncle Klaus' men." Hakuba admitted. "Uncle Dorian forgave G for that, saying that if you were going to borrow eyeliner, it was best not to borrow an inferior product."
Made sense, in a certainly twisted way. "Uncle Klaus?
"Uncle Klaus Heinz Von dem Eberbach. Iron Klaus he's called. He works for the German NATO. Uncle Dorian chased Uncle Klaus for years until he got caught."
"Caught Klaus?"
"Uncle Klaus caught Uncle Dorian."
Kaito tried to figure that one out and decided to give it up as futile. His head was really beginning to hurt. Fortunately the Earl chose that moment to call them back over to the men's side of the store --much to Captain Peacock's visible relief-- to look at suit styles. Hakuba sighed and trudged over, Kaito following along with.
"Garter belts?" Hakuba questioned.
"Sometimes I have to pose as my own Magician's Assistant." Kaito posed, doing a little flourish with his hands. "Ta-da!"
The detective rolled his eyes. "I do -not- want to know how you keep everything from bulging out."
"Oh, they have special underwear for that now, Darling." Uncle Dorian assured him. "Much better than the old days, when you used to have to use a ping-pong ball."
Kaito nearly applauded as Hakuba's brain appeared to explode, his face turning the colour of a flashing red police siren.
Uncle Dorian winked at Kaito. "Disguise expert. It comes in handy sometimes."
"Yes." Kaito agreed. "Yes it does."
"That reminds me, Uncle." Hakuba frowned, a forbidding expression crossing his face. "I'm rather angry with you over another matter."
"Oh?" This earned them a raised eyebrow and a artful hair flip of golden curls. And roses. Kaito allowed himself a small frown. Roses... Dammit, why did Uncle Dorian seem so familiar? It was right there, nagging at the edge of his brain...
Hakuba made a not-quite pointed glance around the store. "Later." He promised.
The Earl nodded, then began flipping through the magazines there, pointing out styles and colours with a rapid non-stop chattering. Hakuba looked pained, rapidly sorting clothing into 'possibly' and 'not unless hell froze over' as if his life depended on it. Kaito merely stood back and tried not to smile too much, incase the detective took it the wrong way. It was amusing to see the Half-briton's sharp-eyed focus on something other than a murder, theft or himself, even if it was in a form of self defense.
Finally the sorting stopped, the two blonds looking at each other like Generals out over a battle feild. "All of the clothing you chose is so... old!" Uncle Dorian finally snapped, almost childishly.
"Yes." Hakuba agreed. Kaito glanced over the picture that was being pointed at as evidence. It was old-fashion, leaning more towards last century than this. The detective spared him an amused glance. "One of us should to remain retro."
Kaito's mind flashed over to his white Kid outfit, which should have been impossibly impractical, and yet worked. He snorted in amusement and debated the merits of kicking Hakuba in the ankle for the jibe, but thought better of it. He didn't want to have to explain the joke to the Earl, who was looking at them quizzically.
Instead, he gestured at his own clothing, with the zipper down the front of the long turtle-neck style jumper. Out of the three of them, he was definately the most modern looking. Uncle Dorian, who looked like he'd just stepped from the late 70s, nodded, but not without some question to his gaze.
"Yes, but Darling, surely we can do better than that." The Earl lamented. "Something less... covered."
"It's more fitted than a lot of the modern styles." Hakuba stubbornly pointed out. But a hell of a lot less fitted than some of the clothing that looked like the majority of it was made of either translucent veils or spandex. Uncle Dorian paused, then ceded that point.
"You have a terrible eye for colours and fabrics." The Earl lamented, turning his attention towards the fabric swatches, clearly intent on taking over that part of the decision. "Must be your father's side, everyone from my family has excellent taste for fashion."
Hakuba's mouth opened, then he shut it again, clearly biting off a comment. "I'm not wearing red." He finally growled.
Kaito had heard Hakuba's Mum grumble about her troublesome youngest brother before. He was starting to wonder if it wasn't because they were so much alike that they didn't get along. Not that he would ever voice this observation within earshot of either Mum or Uncle Dorian. Ever.
"Most of his wardrobe lately is browns and earth tones." Kaito offered, feeling just a little bit puckish. He had a slightly vested interest in this endeavour after all. He had to live with Hakuba after this. "Maybe go along those lines? That way everything matches, even if he gets dressed with his eyes closed." Hakuba gave him a -look- for that and Kaito shrugged in return. Wasn't his fault the detective dressed like he was partially colour-blind.
"I'm a Detective." Hakuba said firmly. "The formal clothing help people take me seriously, instead of dismissing me because of my age, like they would do if I wore jeans and a colourful jumper, like some of my schoolmates."
Kaito thought about it and realised that he had a point. Kudo Shin'ichi used to show up to mysteries in a tie and everyone took him seriously. People's first reaction to Hattori Heiji, with his jeans, denim jacket and baseball cap at a crime scene was usually along the lines of 'what does that guy think he's doing?'. If you dressed like you were serious, people took you seriously.
However, this didn't explain the inverness coat or the blue suit-lavender shirt-green tie combo he wore at Sunset Mansion...
"Fine." Uncle Dorian agreed. "But no tweed."
"What's wrong with tweed?" Hakuba demanded. Uncle Dorian and Kaito just stared at him. Hakuba stared back, his expression guileless.
"He has argyle socks too." Kaito informed the Earl sadly.
Uncle Dorian looked at his nephew with great pity. "Oh, my poor, poor boy."
"What?" Hakuba bristled defensively. "Mum buys them!"
The Earl rolled his eyes deploringly upwards as if looking to heaven. Kaito was pretty sure he heard the curly haired blond mutter something along the lines of 'Lord save us, his mother dresses him funny', but he wasn't entirely sure.
Things went pretty much as could be expected after that, Uncle Dorian making outrageous suggestions, Hakuba --resigned to the fact that his favourite uncle was going to dress him up like a doll no matter how he protested-- working frantically at damage control, the two of them bantering back and forth. Mr. Humphries watched the entire spectacle with great delight, rooting for both sides as he made making occasional suggestions and possible compromises. Kaito certainly couldn't begrudge him for it, he'd come out well no matter the outcome, especially if he worked on commission.
Most of the clothing they made an arrangement to meet sometime next week and pick up, but Hakuba did walk away with one piece of clothing he appeared to be especially pleased with. It was an old-fashion waistcoat, like a train conductor might wear, specifically designed to carry a pocket watch. Uncle Dorian decided it 'fashionably retro' when Hakuba clipped the watch where it was supposed to go, the gold chain dangling slightly and gave his approval.
Kaito stayed back in the shadows, feeling slightly smugly superior. -He- wasn't the one being dragged around for a clothing makeover. Of course, his own clothing --Kid tuxedo aside-- tended to be on the looser casual side, mostly because one of his main requisites for clothing was being able to do gymnastics in it. They got into enough trouble in daily life that restrictive clothing that prevented a clean getaway was a serious no-no. It'd also be highly embarrassing to do the splits and suddenly find his trousers splitting as well.
And he could blame the mostly dark clothing on the fact that -everything- went with black. Heh. Clothing really was all about disguise after all.
So they left the store, Hakuba happy to have gotten off what he considered to be lightly, Uncle Dorian happy to have gotten to play dress up with his favourite nephew, Grace Brothers and their associates happy for the sale and Kaito if not thoroughly, then mostly entertained.
Hakuba and Uncle Dorian chattered away about where and when they should meet when Hakuba did a slight double take, blue eyes slightly widen in what Kaito swore was either malicious glee or not-so muted mischief.
"Uncle?" Hakuba asked, his voice almost -too- bright and innocent, but only if you knew the sarcastic bastard.
It was a warning sign that the Earl obviously missed, turning his wandering attention towards the detective. Kaito watched with some confusion as Hakuba's eyes narrowed in what looked like anger, but his mouth curved up in a smirk. "I would appreciate it if in the future you did not casually molest my thief." The words came out flat, almost casual, but with a hint of muted violence in them.
It took a moment for the words to sink in.
"YOU!!!" Kid the Phantom Thief jabbed an accusing finger towards the Art Thief Eroica, who was waving a finger back at him.
Dammit, he KNEW that the Earl Gloria had seemed familiar!!!
A tall dark shadow fell over them. "You, what?" An accented clipped voice demanded brusquely.
Kaito glanced up to see a tall, dark and handsome man staring down at them. Kaito almost backed up, recognising the maniac with the gun from the art museum he'd run into Eroica at. Hakuba was not-quite grinning at the new man, looking pleased with himself. "Hullo, Uncle Klaus." Hakuba greeted the man formally. "May I introduce my friend, Kuroba Kaito? He and Uncle Dorian were just realising that they've meet before."
"So I hear." Uncle Klaus said. There wasn't quite ice crystals in the voice, it was more like muted steel, the sound of a gun being taken off of safety in preparation of being fired.
Kaito knew without a shadow of a doubt, that Uncle Klaus --IRON Klaus, suddenly the nickname made sense-- had heard Hakuba's comment towards his uncle.
Somehow he got the feeling that Uncle Klaus was nothing but severely territorial. And that he hadn't know about Eroica's little... late night epilogue. Or if he had, he hadn't known about the kissing part. It was not going to be a quiet night in that household.
It suddenly struck him that Hakuba had probably been more annoyed at Eroica's gift than he'd let on. It also meant that he'd had passed on a kiss from Hakuba's Uncle to Hakuba... ew. Kaito made a mental note to both selves: Pass on only personal kisses in the future.
But then he supposed the bastard had deserved it. Especially since the bastard detective hadn't -mentioned- that he knew exactly who Eroica was. Dammit, no wonder Hakuba hadn't had a major problem with him being a kaitou, there was one in the family! Who lived with his own personal rival, another law enforcer!
"Nice to meet you." Kaito said politely, bowing to Uncle Klaus, keeping his thoughts in his head and not in his voice. Iron Klaus certainly didn't look the hugging type.
Funny thing was, he could see more of Hakuba in Uncle Klaus than Uncle Dorian. The strong focused look, like a wolf on the hunt, even when idle, was similar. The main thing marking Hakuba as being related to Uncle Dorian was the golden colouring, especially with the stupid contacts in.
Uncle Klaus grunted in return, attention clearly focused on his mate. Uncle Dorian smiled back, clearly unfazed by the look that probably sent most people trembling in fear. "Perhaps while you are here, you could answer a question for me." Kaito ventured, keeping his tone mild. Hakuba raised an eyebrow at him.
"Certainly." Uncle Dorian smiled at the distraction.
Kaito took a slight breath and asked the question that had been bothering slightly him since he'd run into Eroica. "Why is your name 'Pervert Squid'?" Although part of that was probably self-explaintory... The first half anyway.
The noise of the street suddenly got impossibly loud as the two and a half Europeans stared at him.
"Eh?" Okay, he'd probably completely blown that, but at the time he hadn't wanted to ask the irate detective. But since they were here, he figured it was as good of an opportunity as any He glanced at Hakuba for help, switching to japanese. "'Ero' means 'Pervert', and 'Ika' is 'Squid'..."
Hakuba made a noise somewhere between a cough and a choke. "It's an English word."
Kaito frowned. So he had gotten it wrong then. "Erotica?" He tried again. The name on the card wasn't one he recognised. He'd wondered if the other thief had made a typo on the card or something. It'd been annoying him.
This earned a coughing fit from Uncle Klaus. "Close enough." The stern man commented, taking a hold of Uncle Dorian's arm. "We'll see you later. Saguru, we'll be expecting you to stop by while you're on this side of the world."
"Yes, Uncle." Hakuba said dutifully, although happily.
Uncle Klaus grunted again, dragging his thief off. Uncle Dorian waved at them looking not at all unpleased to be dragged off by the man he obviously adored, skipping slightly to keep up with Uncle Klaus' long strides. "EXCELLENT taste, Darling!" Uncle Dorian shouted after them. "Bring him along too!"
"I think I'm embarrassed." Kaito muttered. Not only about Uncle Dorian's comment, but for his own blunder. He hadn't quite meant to make -that- big of a tactical and grammatical error. Hakuba rolled his eyes in agreement.
"Better watch out, he may try to recruit you." Hakuba grumbled back. "He's committed to Uncle Klaus, but that doesn't stop him from admiring. Especially since you've got a brain in your head."
Kaito raised an eyebrow, refraining from making any of the obvious 'committed' jokes.
"Uncle Klaus has his Alphabet of Agents, Uncle Dorian has his rouge's gallery." Hakuba explained, motioning for them to head the other way with a tilt of his head. "And the word 'Eroica' comes from Beethoven's Third Symphony."
"Oh." Kaito shrugged. Stupid English words. Like he was going to understand the references.
"However, I think that Uncle Klaus is going to get a good deal of mileage out of the 'Erotica' comment." Hakuba added cheerfully.
Kaito glanced back over his shoulder, but the Uncles were already out of eyesight. He supposed, that to Uncle Klaus, Eroica was Erotica...
Ack. Bad mental picture.
"Nice timing back there." He commented instead, changing the topic. Why use strong arm tactics when a well spoken comment at the right place would work even better? However, he did have one minor niggling point of contention. "And who ever said I was -your- thief?"
Hakuba smiled, but didn't comment, looking highly pleased with himself. Kaito followed, glaring, more for forms sake than anything else. The detective already knew most of his secrets, he didn't need to know that Kaito would steal for him too. Among other things. He owed the bastard anyway.
Kaito turned the focus of his attention towards the people around them again, not wanting to dwell on introspection at the moment. People were staring at Hakuba again, the blond completely ignorant to the attention he was getting.
This time however, Kaito mentally shrugged and dismissed it. Let them stare. The blond wasn't bad to look at, even if he was a sarcastic bastard.
They weren't the ones Hakuba was going home with.
-fin-
Disclaimer: Characters from "Are You Being Served?" (which is where 'Grace Bros' comes from) and "From Eroica with Love" are being used without permission, no profit is being made, we don't own them.
[edit] formatting should be fixed.
*snaps fingers and points* You! Laptop! You WILL obey me! Mwuahahahahaaa!!
... 'cha. right.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2005-08-10 08:25 pm (UTC)My favorite line, however, will always be: "Mum sent me to live with Uncle Dorian the summer before I moved back to Japan. It's rather difficult to have the usual teenage angst and confusion over sexual orientation while your Uncle is down the hall screaming and demanding to know who stole his eyeliner."
*continues to die with laughter*
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Date: 2005-08-10 08:38 pm (UTC)Also, WHAT feather-chasing people? D:
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Date: 2005-08-10 08:48 pm (UTC)Perverted Squid? LOLOLOLOL, this will make it hard to look at Dorian without falling in gales of laughter for a while.
Enjoyed the whooooool thing.
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Date: 2005-08-10 09:48 pm (UTC)Waouh. From Eroica with Love seems verrry interesting! XcD
And the mental picture of a bouncing Hakuba... -^o^-
...And Mr Humphries!! Yeah! Hadn't even thought of it! Thought the shop seemed familiar until I realized why~ :cD
And absolutely loved the comparison of how seriously Shinichi and Heiji are taken depending on their dress sense -^^- Poor Heiji must get that a lot! lol
About the violet costume comment, Sunset Mansion special... Have rewatched parts of it recently. I Personally found the smoker's costume much more frightening ^^; Gueh, striking greens XcP I least all the colours in Hakuba's suit had a blue component ^^;;;
Anyways, this is great!
%Mucho Thankees to sakurazuka_jae! ^^%
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Date: 2005-08-10 10:22 pm (UTC)It also meant that he'd had passed on a kiss from Hakuba's Uncle to Hakuba... ew. My favorite line. Disturbing, yet funny.
Umm...
Date: 2005-08-10 10:56 pm (UTC)So yeah, thanks for your detailed explaination of young vs old Kaito Kid on the DC forums. It all makes sense now. And tell Ysabet that I hope she feels better soon, and should finish her heist fics so I can finally read them. -_^
- Mac
Re: Umm...
Date: 2005-08-11 07:40 pm (UTC)I'm the List Mommy!!! XD
Glad the explination was of some help. If you've got some pressing questions and the Kid Ref page can't help, you can find me here.
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Date: 2005-08-11 02:46 am (UTC)/me loves, although is slightly bemused by the fact that we seem to have completely independently come up with the idea of Hakuba as the son of one of Gloria's sisters. As part of a larger, more involved crossover, yet.
(Of course, mine started from the EyAoK end and worked more like:
Gloria: Good Lord, Claire's sprog is chasing Kuroba's son around... hm, I wonder if that's chasing or chasing; I believe they are getting to be about that age. I should look young Kuroba up. Kaitou, wasn't it...?
Kaito: Masaka. Hakuba's uncle is Dad's Red-sempai. From everything Dad wrote and Mom remembers, they're nothing alike. And I'm sure I saw some references to Red-sempai-ojisan in Dad's secret room, filed under "E" for some reason...
Hakuba: When Mum said she disapproved of Uncle Dorian's lifestyle, I thought she meant the riotous living... I'm just going to go home and hide my head under the pillow for a few days. Months. Years.
and certainly didn't have all the backstory that you brought to Shades of Grey and this its sequel.)
I like the bit where Kaito is wondering whether or not he might be poaching from himself (tangled stuff with double identity is one of my buttons; half the reason I loved Lois and Clark back when it was good), and I love the shopping scene (although I've never seen/read whatever it was you gacked the shop from).
I noticed one typo up where Hakuba is introducing Kaito to Gloria --
as the two blond's stepped apart slightly --
-- the apostrophe has no business being there.
Also, the description of the Major getting dangerous --
a gun being taken off of safety in preparation of being fired
-- is awkward. I'm not quite sure what would sound better; maybe "a gun's safety clicking off prepatory to its firing" -- well, that's still awkward -- or maybe just "a gun's safety lock clicking off." Or, if you don't think enough of your readers will know what a safety is, "a gun's initial bullet being loaded into the chamber." As I rather think that's what taking it off safety does.
Oh, and I was a little puzzled by Hakuba yelling "Dorian!" rather than "Uncle Dorian!" But this may just be a personal thing, as I've never addressed any of my aunts or uncles by their given names alone.
The "Love Squid" cracked me up (although I think that "eroica" is Greco-Latin, and possibly German, but NOT English) and I loved the ending. :starts singing: Save the last dance for me...
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Date: 2005-08-11 04:20 am (UTC)BTW, Icka, have you thought of putting some of the traveling toons in to TGZ. Like Johnny Quest or Ghostbusters ect. there are a bunch that work even Billy and Mandy ^ . ^
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Date: 2005-08-11 02:19 pm (UTC)Actually, Icka-san, I was wondering if you intended to bring in any of the literature-fandoms (well, Sherlock Holmes is sort of fictionally-present-by-default, and I assume Kaijin 20-Mensou and Kurotokage are as well...)
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Date: 2005-08-11 07:13 pm (UTC)Currently looking for fandoms to cross them over with. Will read/watch them if we don't know them and have a chance to.
The orginal plot was for them to stay in England and go to school somewhere around there, but we've yet to find a series based on a British University.
The plot's re-writing itself and now it looks like when we get up to January-story time wise, they're gonna end up heading towards the States, pretty much on a 'round the world trip.
But I dunno, m'just along for the ride.
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Date: 2005-08-11 11:56 pm (UTC)Aaarghhh. I can't think of any contemporary anything matching that either (the closest is Sarah Caudwell. If you write them meeting either Professor Tamar or the denizens of that set of Chambers, I will adore you.)
/me thinks Hakuba might want to go to the University of London. Both because of its reputation, and of its fictional presence.
...if you really want to throw them a curveball (well, another one, after the Tsubasa people), they could meet the Tomorrow People.
Oh, and if they happen to walk or drive by whatever became of Madame Fidolia's Academy, I will squee like a mad thing.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-11 04:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-11 01:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-11 04:52 pm (UTC)