#dcmksecretsanta2020

Twelve.

It is warm inside the Suzuki residence. Feeling extremely bored, the young Suzuki suddenly decides to do an activity which involves water guns. Having already done their homework and revisions, and with watching TV mindlessly boring her, she just feels like doing something physical. So Sonoko convinces Ran to play, and they wear swimming costumes under casual clothes so as not to catch a cold before grabbing their water guns. It has been thirty minutes since then.

However, there is something missing from this scenario. She ponders the thought. What is it?

It feels like there is someone missing from this group… Ah, yes. Shinichi! She’d forgotten!

She turns around to see Shinichi sitting on a bench, reading another mystery novel that he had borrowed from their library, having already refused to join in on their activities. 

Why is he reading that book and not joining in?

Ah yes, because that little brat has ‘better things to do than get himself drenched in cold water from a fake gun’. His words, not hers. Sonoko is annoyed. Very, very annoyed. 

So when she impulsively decides to forcibly bring him into the ‘pointless’ activity with herself and Ran, the world need not blame her. 

She shushes Ran, then slowly and sneakily walks towards the wannabe detective who is looking at the back of the book with a contemplative expression, and when she arrives at the destination, she raises her hand up, pointing towards him. Barely holding in a giggle, she pulls the trigger. 

SPLAAASH!

“UWAAH!”

A steady fountain of water lands on his head, wetting his hair and splattering onto his clothes, a few touching the book. Ah well, it’s on the back, so it’s going to be readable. Even if it isn’t, her library has one or two extra copies, so it’s fine. He still instinctively puts the book out of the way while shielding his face, so there. A few more seconds, and she stops.

A long silence.

Shinichi is the one who breaks it. He puts his arm down, gawks at her. His mouth opens and closes like a gaping fish. “Did you—” he clears his throat. “Did you just splash water on me?”

“Yup, I did!” she says cheekily, popping the ‘p’.

Somewhere in the background, she hears soft, suppressed laughter at the display.

“...” He looks down, his wet hair covering his eyes. “What the hell?” Sonoko remains silent, not gracing him with an answer just yet. “What the hell are you doing, Sonoko?”

She raises her eyebrow. “Playing water guns. What else am I doing?”

“Well then,” Shinichi’s voice is low, “riddle me this. I have not done anything to you today or ever. I didn’t want to come here but you dragged me here anyway so I borrowed this book and left both of you alone to play whatever it is you like to play with. But then you came sneaking on me, involved me in your game without warning, and ruined a perfectly written novel. So tell me…” His head raises ever so slightly, giving her a glare. “What did I ever do to deserve this kind of treatment?”

Having been around him for long enough to be immune to his glares, Sonoko just deadpans and gives him a glare of her own. “Oh, you’ve done plenty. First of all, you’re boring. Second of all, you left us alone and read whatever that is in your own solitude. I don’t know what the heck is up with that. Third of all, I dragged you here for a reason. And finally, that book is still intact. It isn’t the end of the world if a few droplets just happened to land on that book. Oh, and did I forget to mention that you’re boring?”

“Oh, am I?” He slowly stands up from the bench, still glaring at her. “And what do you want me to do about that, oh gracious heiress?” The last lines are dripping with sarcasm.

“You’re forgetting,” Sonoko drawls as she steps backwards a little, the corners of her lips twitching up, “about the fact that it’s currently the winter holiday, we’re 12, in middle school, we’re still young, and we have perfectly logical reasons to partake in fun activities like this one?”

His eyebrow raises into his hairline, tone curious despite the glare intensifying. “Oh? I didn’t know that you knew such big words.”

“You’re the one to blame. I’ve been infected with your loquacity.”

“Ah, thank you for the compliment, Your Graciousness.”

Sonoko’s eyebrow twitches. “The hell’s with that?”

He skillfully ignores her. “So…?”

She deadpans at him and just sighs as she raises the hand holding the gun, pointing at him. “So, a little bird told me that you’ve learned how to shoot with your dad in the middle of nowhere?” Shinichi’s stare is all the answer she gets. “Won’t you show me those lame skills of yours?” And before he can reply, Sonoko immediately pulls the trigger.

SPLAAASH!

Cold water hits his head, splashing droplets everywhere. Once again, he raises his hand to shield his face. And once again, silence.

“Oh. You actually want to do this? Fine.” Shinichi mutters as he lowers his arm, his glare at Sonoko intensifying once more. His lips curl into a smirk, his teeth showing. For once, Sonoko feels a tiny bit of fear growing from her being, but she skillfully rids herself of it. “Let’s play.”

.

.

.

---

Kaito woke to an empty hotel bed, sheets cold and crisp beside him, and sighed. He rolled over onto his side and pulled the blankets tight over him, trying to will himself back to sleep. The clock read 3:14am, green light piercing through the pitch-dark of the room and making his eyes ache for a brief moment before he snapped them shut. And he tried, he really did try to go back to sleep. But the bed was so cold without Saguru cuddled up next to him and entirely too large without him flopped over half of it. Hell, he even missed how he would always hog all of the blankets. 

Kaito groaned and pulled the covers up over his head. It wasn’t like this was his first time going out of town by himself. He used to travel all the time - visiting his mom in LA, touring all over Europe, even doing an odd show or two over in the U.S. But this time, for some ungodly reason, it was different. 

He missed waking up to his partner, missed seeing him heading back in from his morning run, missed sitting at their tiny kitchen table and sipping coffee before they had to head off to work. It was only the third day of his trip, and Kaito was miserable. The next three weeks of traveling was looking more daunting by the minute, and he could feel his chest tighten at the thought of not seeing him for another three weeks. 

Kaito checked the clock again - 3:17am.  3:17am in London was equivalent to a little past noon in Beika. Saguru would probably be holed away in his office if he hadn’t been roped into a case yet. 

Kaito sighed and took his phone off the nightstand, swiping away a variety of unimportant notifications before unlocking it. His background photo was a picture of them on the day they bought their condo, and Kaito smiled just a tiny bit before clicking on his contacts app and promptly dialing Saguru’s office number. 

It rang once, then twice, and the answering machine picked up, giving an automated message about Saguru being out of the office. Maybe he’d finally gotten tired of Kaito calling him at all hours of night and day. Kaito sighed and locked his phone screen, rolling over to bury his face in the hotel pillows that were way too soft to be comfortable. 

After what felt like an eternity, Kaito lifted his head to check the clock again. 3:20am. It had only been three minutes. He unlocked his phone again and checked his messages - the last one from Saguru had been received roughly 7 hours ago. Saguru had texted him to wish him a good night before Kaito went to bed, even though it was roughly 5am in Beika at the time. It did warm his heart just a little to know that Saguru had woken up early just to text him good night, particularly because Saguru would generally scoff at the idea of getting up any time before 11am. 

With that thought at the forefront of his mind, Kaito buried his face back into the pillows and eventually fell back into a quiet, restless sleep. 

-

Kaito woke the next morning to a very low phone battery because he’d forgotten to plug it back in when he went back to sleep the night before and a good morning text from Saguru. A good morning text that he’d received at the exact minute his alarm went off, which made Kaito smile despite himself. The image of Saguru also missing him and counting down the minutes until he knew he’d be awake warming his heart. 

Kaito shot back a text, asking how his day was going, and set about getting ready for his day. 

-

Eight hours and three shows later, Kaito was starting to get a bit worried that Saguru hadn’t texted him back yet. He’d called once in between his second and third show and now that the fourth show was almost starting, with no text or call or anything of the like from Saguru, Kaito’s nerves were on edge. And his phone was dying. And he’d forgotten to pack his phone charger. 

The set manager called his name and Kaito begrudgingly sent one last text to Saguru before switching his phone off to conserve the last 5% of his phone’s battery, and started toward the closed curtains. 

-

It had been 12 hours now. Kaito turned his phone over in his hands as he sat in the back of the taxi that was taking him back to his hotel and tried to remind himself that Saguru was an adult with a job that demanded a lot of his attention. Solving murders and burglaries and the like. But he usually at least kept him updated. Unbidden, thoughts of Saguru being hurt on a case or worse, sprung into his mind and Kaito twisted his fingers together, anxious to get back to his room and plug in his phone. He took in a deep breath as the taxi pulled in front of his hotel.

He paid the cab driver and made his way up to his room, his dead phone sitting like lead in his back pocket as he opened the door. Immediately, he became aware that there was someone else in the room and he flattened himself against the wall. Someone was in his hotel bed, but it was too dark to make out who they were. Kaito tried to run through who it could possibly be - a rival, a detective who’d figured out he was Kaitou Kid lying in wait, a random lost stranger? 

The person occupying his bed propped themself up on their elbow to look at him and then promptly flopped back down. 

“Are you going to come in?” A voice that sounded a lot like Saguru’s asked. Kaito shut the door and hurriedly shucked off his bag and shoes. 

Saguru smiled when Kaito joined him under the covers and twined their fingers together between them. He said nothing else. 

“What are you doing here? Are you alright?” Kaito’s anxiety still thrummed through him and Saguru chuckled, brushing his thumb lightly over Kaito’s knuckles to sooth him. 

“Jet lag.” Saguru murmured.

“Why--” 

“Missed you,” Saguru breathed and pulled him closer, wrapping his arms around him, “Do you realize you called me 15 times on Tuesday? Thought you might have missed me too.” 

Kaito wanted to say something else, but as he fell into the warmth of the bed and Saguru’s embrace, his eyes started to droop, the anxiety that had been coursing through him all day settling down and leaving him exhausted.