Work Text:
For someone like Kaito, who picks things up with ease and rarely has to put in the effort, high-school is mostly made up of routine and muscle-memory. He’s used to going through the motions without really paying attention to what’s going on, relying on Aoko to tell him when anything of importance actually happens. All of this means they’re already well into the school day when he finally clues into the fact that something very very strange is going on.
Aoko and Keiko have decided to pick a fight with Tashima over him having presumably stolen one of Keiko’s school supplies, and on a normal day, Kaito would have barely paid this sort of thing any mind, but as their insults and shouts start ringing more and more familiar in his ears he can’t help but stare for the duration of the whole thing. At first he thinks they’re doing some kind of bit, what with all the recycled lines they’re throwing around, but that theory quickly gets proven wrong when Hakuba, who’s been gone through most of the day again, arrives only a few seconds later to the same sort of greeting he’d received the previous day. He’s well liked in class despite his random unplanned absences, and it wouldn’t be unheard of for the girls to fawn a little bit over him after he’s been away for a while, but this isn’t that - or at least, it shouldn’t be, because Hakuba returned from his three weeks’ stay in London just yesterday, and the novelty of his presence that seems to fill the class every time he comes back should’ve worn off by now. Instead, everyone is talking as if it’s the first time they’ve laid eyes on him in a while, and Hakuba himself is greeting them with the same amount of enthusiasm.
Kaito looks around the classroom, wondering if nobody else can see how weird this is, and his gaze skips over all the excited, worried-free faces of his classmates and comes to land on Akako, who’s watching the whole ordeal with a constipated look on her face.
She glances his way, as if sensing him watching, and something like realization crosses her face when their eyes meet. She tilts her head, scrutinizing, and then discreetly points towards the back door of the classroom before leaving her seat and heading out. Kaito wastes no time in following after her, ignoring the way Hakuba’s eyes chase him across the room.
“Did you do this?” He accuses the moment the door is closed behind him.
Akako raises an eyebrow and delicately curls a strand of her long red hair around one finger. “No, Kuroba-kun. As much as I’d like to take credit for it, I’m afraid this is some other witch’s work.”
“ Other? ” As if having Akako around wasn’t enough, now they have some other unknown witch hanging about and putting everyone under some kind of - what, time loop spell?
She rolls her eyes. “Of course, did you think I was the only one?” She sighs when he shrugs, as if despairing over his ignorance towards the supernatural. “I doubt whoever cast this meant to leave you out of it, though, which confirms my suspicions that you have some sort of immunity to certain types of magic.”
Kaito frowns. “Why are you ok too?”
“I’m a witch,” she says, like it should be obvious, “I’m impervious to most magic unless it’s being cast by someone more powerful than myself.”
Kaito lets that sink in and feels somewhat comforted by the fact that at least this means Akako is stronger than whoever did this - the lesser of two evils, as they say. If some kind of witchy fight is gonna break out, he’d rather be on the side of the devil he knows.
“To cast a time spell like this you don’t need a lot,” she goes on, thoughtful. “Time travel would be much harder and would take a really powerful witch to do it, but this sort of spell is more like someone hitting the pause button on a cassette, it doesn’t affect the workings of the world aside from this specific moment in time getting stuck on repeat for however long this witch wants it to be.”
Kaito leans in closer, curiosity getting the best of him. “Can you stop it?”
A slow smile spreads across her lips. “I don’t need to. Spells that mess with time are against most covens’ laws because other witches get stuck in the loops and it’s a general annoyance to deal with. Someone will most likely track down whoever the caster is and deal with them before I have to.” She twirls the loose strand of hair around her finger until the skin turns white, her eyes narrowed. “This is inconvenient for me, though. I had plans tomorrow.”
"It's Tuesday, Akako. We're stuck on a Tuesday and you're angry about your plans being cancelled?" He despairs.
She lifts her chin, nose in the air. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were such an avid Tuesday hater. Next time I'll ask the witch whose identity I don't know to stick us on some other day of the week."
He puffs his cheeks out, annoyed. “Isn't it someone in the school? Can't you just sniff them out or whatever?”
“What am I, a dog? Of course not. I’d know if there was another witch around,” she says with derision. “Whoever did this could be anywhere in the world, Kuroba-kun.”
Which is the last thing Kaito needs right now. He hates being at the mercy of other people's actions, hates knowing he doesn’t have the power to change something that’s directly affecting him. Being KID has allowed him some modicum of freedom when it comes to that, has given him the chance to work against the guys responsible for his father's death, but it's still mostly an illusion of control. As much as he likes to make fun of Hakuba for his need to be on top of things all the damn time, Kaito finds he's the same as him in that regard, if only different in the way their neuroticism is presented.
“Great,” he groans, running a hand through his hair, “we have to wait until they get caught?”
“I don’t like it either, but the alternative would be to travel around gathering all the ingredients needed for a tracking potion, which would disappear in the loop if we didn’t get them all in the course of a day, and then going to whatever location the witch is in, which could be all the way across the globe for all we know.” She crosses her arms over her chest and blows her bangs out of her eyes. “Would you rather do that?”
And, well, when she puts it like that, waiting around reliving this day with her does seem like the better option.
---
Kaito is expecting it, so when Hakuba drops himself on the empty seat in front of him halfway through lunch break, instead of startling out of his light nap like last time, he lifts his head from between his arms and stares at him in silence. Hakuba stares back, because he doesn't seem to be familiar with the concept of social awkwardness, and after a long moment in which his eyes trail over Kaito's face as if drinking him in, he lets a small smile spread across his lips and says, "You've cut your hair, Kuroba-kun."
Kaito can't help but touch a hand to the loose strands falling over his forehead, even though they had this exact same conversation the day before.
"Yes, well, it'll be summer soon." He taps a finger on the table, feigning disinterest. "What's it to you?"
Hakuba seems amused by his reply, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "It looks nice."
Despite having known what was coming, the words still make heat spread all the way up the back of Kaito's neck. He presses a hand against the skin there and hopes no red is visible beyond that point. "Nobody asked you."
Hakuba lets out a soft chuckle and looks down at his hands, which are tangled together on the back of the chair. “Say, are you free this afternoon after school?”
Kaito presses his lips together. He is, of course, just like he was yesterday. He had a heist last week, which has freed him up on the KID front for the next few weeks unless a particularly interesting jewel makes its way into Japan, and Aoko has already made plans with Keiko to go visit a new sweets shop that recently opened near their house - he’s still holding a grudge for not being invited - so he has nothing to do today, or tomorrow, or however long he’s going to be repeating this freaking Tuesday for.
It’s not that he wants to spend time with Hakuba, really, but he did claim to be busy last time around because he was afraid the guy would drop some kind of KID related crusade on him if he said he had time to indulge him, so Kaito reasons that saying he’s free now is just a way for him to spend away the boredom of this sameness he’s going to be subjected to for the foreseeable future and ease some of the guilt from having rejected him before. It can’t hurt to throw Hakuba a bone - probably.
“Sure,” he shrugs, eyeing him curiously. This answer sends the conversation down a completely different path from the one he knows, which makes him mildly more invested in it. “Why?”
Hakuba looks up, shoulders relaxing minutely. “Ah, I have these,” he shifts in his seat and pulls two small pieces of paper out of the breast pocket of his gakuen, “tickets, for a magic show they’re having at the Beika dome.” He places them on the table between them, the corner of his mouth tilting up tentatively. “I thought you’d be interested. Would you like to go?”
Kaito stares down at the tickets, unblinking. He thought it’d be something dumb, not something like - is that Tenko Arima ? How did Hakuba even manage to score tickets like these? Her shows always sell out so fast, plus they’re not exactly on the cheap side. Kaito’s never seen her perform live despite many attempts, but somehow Hakuba has not only managed to get two tickets but gotten them for the second row too. Being a rich young master sure pays off.
“So?”
“Yes,” Kaito quickly breathes out, touching a finger to one of the tickets almost reverently. “I wanna go.”
This seems to please Hakuba, because he draws back in his seat and lets out a small happy sigh. “Great, I’ll pick you up at six?”
“Wait, what? We can’t just meet there?”
Something like disappointment crosses Hakuba’s face before he schools his expression into a blank one. “If that’s what you want…”
“Yeah,” Kaito nods. The less time they have to spend in close quarters the better for his sanity. He wants to enjoy the show, he doesn’t want to spend the entire time over-analyzing this or that thing Hakuba said during the ride over.
“It starts at seven, would a quarter to seven be good for you?”
“Sure, I’ll just catch the bus at six.”
Hakuba makes a put upon face but doesn’t comment on it, pushing Kaito’s ticket further across the table until Kaito realizes he’s trying to get him to put it away. He grabs it and saves it in his wallet, excitement building up in his chest at the thought of getting to finally watch Tenko Arima in action, live .
Maybe this time loop thing isn’t so bad after all.
---
The show is amazing. Kaito spends the whole length of it with his eyes glued to the stage, to the way Tenko moves her hands, the smoothness of it all - she’s the exact type of magician he strives to be, the sort that mesmerizes their audience with the way they perform their tricks like every single element of the show is an extension of themselves.
He doesn’t think he’s ever clapped as hard as he does when the curtains close, an almost impossible to contain grin high on his face. When he turns to Hakuba, he’s already watching him with a soft look in his eyes, some inscrutable feeling touching the corner of his lips.
“I’m glad you enjoyed the show,” he says as they make their way out of the venue. “You always looked so focused when you read her articles.”
Kaito stares up at him and feels the way his throat clogs up, something sweet and heavy stirring in his gut. “You pay way too much attention to what I do,” he grumbles.
“I think it’s just enough,” Hakuba retorts easily. His nose is red from the cold night air, and so are his cheeks and the tips of his ears. Kaito has to force himself to look away, focusing instead on the rythmic thumping of his own heart - thump, thump, thump . It sounds increasingly loud in his ears.
“Did you get the tickets because of me?” He asks, even though he feels like he already knows the answer at this point.
Hakuba simply lets out a soft hum in response, sticking his hands inside the pockets of his jacket and looking up at the sky.
Kaito wonders if he knows the effect he has on people - he’s pretty in a way that catches Kaito off-guard almost every time he looks at him - and suspects he’s as oblivious about it as he is about most things. Detectives only really care about one thing, he’s come to realize, and none of that entails being aware of their own ripples across the water of their surroundings.
“Can we give you a lift home?” Hakuba asks, after they’ve come to a stop under a streetlight by the edge of the road. “It’s almost 10p.m., you can’t really want to take the bus home right now.”
Kaito purses his lips and looks down at his watch, confirming the time. He’s taken the bus later than this - when he has heists he doesn’t have much of an alternative unless Jii-chan is involved and can give him a ride - but he’s feeling indulgent in a way he rarely gets with Hakuba, grateful for the show and the strange and unexpected act of friendship, so he accepts the offer.
The person that comes to pick them up is an older woman, with greying hair and smile lines around her mouth. Hakuba calls her baya, and Kaito immediately recognizes this as the person who makes him the cute little lunch boxes he takes to school (Kaito tried teasing him about them one single time before realizing Hakuba doesn’t get embarrassed about things like heart shaped carrots). She smiles at Kaito like she knows him, eyes soft and gentle, and he feels somewhat like he’s been put on display, even though it makes no sense.
“You know my address?” He asks, when Hakuba quickly rattles it off without hesitation.
“Don’t you know mine?” Hakuba shoots back, as if this is normal behavior for highschoolers - to keep track of where their classmates live even though they’ve never been by.
Kaito opens his mouth to say, no, of course not, why the hell would I, but what ends up coming out is a mild, “Yes,” because he does know where Hakuba lives, looked it up along with a bunch of other unrelated personal information back when Hakuba first tried to arrest him.
Maybe neither of them can really be considered a normal highschooler.
“It’s good to know such things,” Hakuba says, because he’s apparently decided to pretend he doesn’t just know Kaito’s address due to his weird KID obsession, “in case of emergency.”
“Sure,” Kaito agrees, half amused, half incredulous, “in case of emergency.”
“You and Aoko-san are neighbors, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Must be nice, to live next door to each other,” Hakuba says, almost wistfully.
Kaito stares at him for a long moment, watching as the flashes of light from outside catch his profile, on and off, as the car moves along the road. He thinks back to Hakuba’s first arrival here, the way he keeps alternating between Japan and London. Does he have any friends at home? He must, surely, but he’s always given off this unequivocal air of loneliness that seems to hang about him like a cobweb on an old painting, brushed off everyday and back again the moment you turn around.
For the first time since they met, Kaito wonders if it’s been cruel of him to reject the hand Hakuba has often extended his way. He didn’t think so, but then again, he’s never paid much attention to Hakuba’s relationships aside from theirs.
“Thanks for today,” he says, tongue heavy with reluctance. “It was nice.”
Hakuba turns to him, eyes bright with delight. “You’re welcome.” His smile is big, blinding in a way Kaito’s never seen before, and it makes his lungs expand in his chest, tight and burning behind his ribcage. He wants to see it again the moment it disappears, and hates himself just a little bit for that thought. This is Hakuba, nothing good will come out of entertaining the kind of wants that would get him behind bars faster than he could even act on them.
When they get to his house he sees the lights in Aoko’s room are still on, so he gets out of the car and heads straight to the Nakamori household instead of his. Hakuba watches him as he goes, eyes curious and inquisitive when Kaito turns back to wave at him from the doorway.
Aoko is braiding her hair when he enters her room, quick and messy, the sort of style she wears for bed. She smiles absent-mindedly his way as he comes to sit next to her on the bed, eyes glued to the laptop open in front of her.
“Date night?” She asks, even though he told her exactly where he’d be earlier today.
He snorts, swatting her hands away from her hair so he can take over braiding it. “You suck at this, you know?”
“Shut up,” she grumbles, puffing her cheeks out. “Did you have fun?”
“I did, actually,” he says, watching over her shoulder as the characters on her screen run across an empty field, dramatic music playing softly in the background. “She was amazing.”
“Did Hakuba-kun like it?”
Kaito pauses in his ministrations, thinking back. Did he? He realizes with a start that he doesn’t know. He’d been so focused on the show he didn’t even think to wonder if Hakuba was enjoying it as much as he was. “I think so.”
Aoko makes an aborted movement with her head, as if trying to turn around before remembering his hands are on her hair. “You think?”
“Well, I was a bit distracted, you know, watching the performance.” He returns to the braiding. “He seemed happy afterwards, so I’d say he did.”
“Maybe he was just happy with your company,” she suggests, a teasing lilt to her voice.
“Don’t start.”
“Aoko’s just saying what she thinks.”
“Whatever. Things like that are better left staying in your dreams.” He finishes tying up her hair and flicks the braid with his fingers. “There, done.”
She grabs it with one hand, head turned to watch him now that she’s allowed to move. “Kaito can have nice things too, you know?”
He smiles, because she’s sweet and hopeful and he loves her for that despite not sharing in her optimism. “I know.” He knocks his shoulder with hers. “Now scoot over, I wanna watch too.”
----
Kaito accepts Hakuba’s invitation the next day too, because he thinks there can never really be too much of Tenko Arima and this gives him the opportunity to go over all her tricks without the novelty of it distracting him - like rewatching a show and noticing all the things you missed the first time around. Plus, Hakuba seems pretty happy about it all over again, which makes something warm and giddy bloom in Kaito’s chest any time he thinks about it.
He agrees to Hakuba picking him up this time around, because now he knows the bus will be full and if he takes the only seat available the guy next to him will sneeze on him twice. The cushy seats of Hakuba’s car seem like a much better alternative when considering that.
“I think we should eat before the show since it’s going to be so long, there’s a nice place close to the dome we could go to,” Hakuba suggests on the ride over, eyes trained on his wristwatch.
“Sure,” Kaito says, because he did feel hungry by the time the show was over yesterday.
Once they arrive, they head to the small diner and take a seat by the windows with a clear view of the front doors of the dome. Hakuba orders the daily menu and Kaito follows suit for lack of a craving for anything else. They eat in comfortable silence, which is unexpected only because Hakuba never seems to know how to shut up when they’re together, always rambling on about this or that. He’s the sort of person that constantly wants to talk about the things they like even when nobody else has asked them about it - Kaito finds it more endearing than anything else, which only serves as an indication of his continued descent into insanity.
“I noticed you and Akako-san seemed to be chatting a lot today, have you two grown closer in my absence?” Hakuba asks as they’re waiting on the bill.
Kaito isn’t expecting the question, which is why his answer comes out as easily as it does, “Not really.”
“Oh?” Hakuba leans forward in his seat, interest piqued. “Then why all the whispering?”
Kaito frowns. He knew Hakuba had been paying attention to his movements from the moment he arrived in class, but he didn’t think his conversations with Akako had pinged his radar, mostly because he’s been relying on yesterday’s version of Hakuba to deal with this one, and yesterday he didn’t bring up the argument in the hallway or any of the following interactions Kaito had with Akako. Had this been on his mind the entire time and he’d just never found the opportunity to ask?
“Witch stuff,” he says, because he knows Hakuba will see that as him deflecting rather than telling the plain truth.
“Right,” Hakuba says, letting out a low chuckle. “Because of Akako-san being a witch?”
Kaito grins, too big and too sweet to be anything but a mockery. “Exactly.”
“Did something happen, then?”
“Yep! But it’s a secret.”
Hakuba stares at him for a moment, eyebrows raised, and then a smile breaks over his face and he says, “I see. You sure are full of those, aren’t you.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
They pay for their food and leave the diner, coats pulled tight around them as the wind outside blows by. They still have some time to spare before the show starts, so they make their way to the park area surrounding the dome, where benches are spread along the path under a long line of trees. Sitting side by side with Hakuba, watching pedestrians walk their dogs and old people feed the local pigeons, Kaito feels a strange sort of peace settle over him, relaxing his bones until he’s sinking back against the bench.
“This is nice,” Hakuba says, echoing his thoughts, “we should do it more often.”
Kaito lets out a short laugh at that. “Believe me, we will.”
And that seems to make Hakuba perk up because he turns Kaito’s way, eyes crinkling, and says, “Yeah?”
Kaito, of course, was making a joke about the time loop thing, but it’s not like he can tell him that when he looks so strangely pleased about the prospect of future outings. “Yeah.”
It’s not technically a lie, really.
---
The days continue like that, on and on. Sometimes Kaito accepts Hakuba’s invitation, sometimes he doesn’t. He finds himself doing the former more often than not. There’s an ease to it all that he hadn’t before but has now come to associate with Hakuba. He steers their conversations away from their usual routes, making it so they always talk about something new each time, and everyday he finds out something new about him - little quirks and tidbits about his past, things Kaito didn’t realize he’d been missing and now can’t get enough of.
Maybe he’s taking advantage of this time loop to do what he’s never been able to before, and maybe he’s only hurting himself in the long run by sticking to Hakuba like this when he knows it won’t last. But is it so bad, to give himself a break and do something he knows won’t have any lasting consequences once in a while? Is he really doing any harm by enjoying this while he can?
It’s nice having a simple routine, enjoying Hakuba’s company without having to worry about what he says and who he’s saying it to. It’s nice being around him without the constant need to watch himself or the fear that he’s giving too much away, the fear that Hakuba will turn around and twist the knife on his back if he gets too careless.
It’s so nice that he almost forgets that’s not usually how his life goes.
---
They’re on another one of their Tenko Arima outings when it happens.
Kaito doesn’t mean to do it, not really, not when he knows everything could be ruined by one single action - but still, he does it, because he’s stupid and weak and Hakuba is looking at him with soft eyes and that pretty twist of his smiling mouth, and they’re standing so close it’s almost too easy, to lean in and press their lips together, to bask in the sharp intake of breath Hakuba takes at the contact, to feel the smooth way his mouth slides against Kaito’s.
He regains his senses halfway through it, pulls back fast enough to almost give himself a neck crick and brings a hand up to his mouth on instinct. Hakuba is looking down at him with a dazed look in his eyes, cheeks flushed and lips stained kiss red. Kaito wants nothing more than to pull him in again, to grip the back of his neck and keep him close for as long as he possibly can, and he almost does it too, when he thinks of the fact that this will all be erased from Hakuba’s memory in the morning, nothing to strain their relationship, nothing to break things apart.
Except that would be taking advantage of him, and that’s the last thing Kaito wants to do - it’s already bad enough that he kissed him knowing fully well Hakuba won’t remember anything once the sun rises again.
“I’m sorry,” he says, taking a step back. His lips still tingle and he’s sure he’s just as pink as Hakuba looks right now, but there’s nowhere to hide, nothing to put over his face so he can pretend he’s unaffected by all of this. “I shouldn’t have.”
Hakuba frowns, eyebrows dipping. He looks down at his feet then back again at Kaito. “Oh.”
Kaito rubs a hand against his cheek, trying to will away the heat spreading all over his body. “I’m sorry,” he says again.
Hakuba purses his lips and takes a step back as well, looking small and confused. “It’s okay.”
Kaito shakes his head, digs the heel of his foot into the ground. “It’s not. This whole time loop thing is messing with my head. This is all because I got carried away with all the- ”
“What time loop, what are you talking about?” Hakuba asks, helplessly. His eyes are glassy, red tinted at the corners.
Kaito looks at him and feels all the ways in which he has wormed his way under his skin. “I’m- I need to clear my head.” When Hakuba opens his mouth to speak, he cuts in with, “I’ve got a ride home,” a lie, “don’t worry about me. I’m sorry, again.”
He walks away before Hakuba can get a word in edgewise and sticks his hands in his pockets to keep himself from twisting them into the fabric of his jacket.
This is for the best.
It is.
He just wishes he could convince himself of that.
-----
Repeating the same day for the seventh time becomes old really quickly when he spends almost every minute of it dreading the moment Hakuba shows up. Kaito knows he won’t remember anything, knows there will be no consequences to his actions, but knowing this doesn’t stop the way his nerves seem to want to swallow him up. It’s the sort of irrational fear that keeps him from jumping into the ocean, or walking down the cold foods aisle at the grocery. Impossibly large and imposing, taking up so much space in his head he can hardly think of anything else.
Akako, for her part, seems to be just about as done with the loop as he is, which is shown when instead of pairing up with a random boy like usual, she runs up to Kaito during gym class and grabs his wrist, insisting that they work together.
“This is driving me insane,” she says, palms digging hard into his toes.
“Yeah, well, don’t take it out on me,” Kaito groans, trying to wiggle his feet out from under her grip despite needing it in order to complete his required sit-ups. “It’s not my fault this is happening.”
She lifts her hands slightly, looking only mildly apologetic. “I have half a mind to go find this witch myself.”
“I thought you said it was near impossible for us to do it.”
“Well, yes, but the covens are taking so long.”
“It hasn’t even been a week, Akako,” he laughs. “You’re not a very patient person, are you?”
She glares at him. “I haven’t been going on dates every day like you have.”
He finishes his sit-ups and leans back on his hands, watching her through the gaps in his sweaty bangs. He doesn’t need this kind of reminder right now, not when his mouth is still full of something sour and his lungs can barely keep up with all the work he’s doing. “Shut up, they’re not dates.”
“What do you call them, then?”
“Hanging out with my...classmate. Either way, that’s over now.”
She tilts her head. “Over? Why?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He looks away, fingers digging into the soft gym mat beneath him. His palms sting, and he’s reminded of clenching his fists so tight he almost drew blood.
“Okay,” she says slowly, scrutinizing him. “Let’s switch up.”
They trade places and he sits back on his heels so he can grab onto her feet. The air in the room is hot and stale, making his shirt stick to his back uncomfortably - he’s tired of doing this everyday with nothing to show for it. “What happens if they never find the witch, will we just be stuck like this forever?”
Akako lets out a breath through her nose, rising and sinking, rising and sinking. “No. This kind of magic isn’t sustainable for long periods of time,” she grunts, “at most we stay like this for a month.”
“ A month ?” Kaito almost shouts. He leans in, lowering his voice, “I can’t do this for a whole month!”
“Now who’s impatient?” She asks, raising an eyebrow on her way up.
“Still you,” he grumbles.
“This would’ve been much better if we’d been stuck on a summer vacation day,” she says.
Kaito thinks about being free to do whatever he wanted all day long and half agrees with her for a moment, before he remembers Hakuba would most likely be back in England for the holidays, which would make it impossible to see him for the whole duration of the spell. The prospect of a time loop vacation quickly loses its appeal after that, even though for all intents and purposes, seeing Hakuba should be the last thing he wants right now after yesterday’s disaster.
“Let’s just hope this ends sooner rather than later,” he says.
Akako hums in agreement, finishing up her last sequence of sit-ups before stopping to drink some water.
Kaito zones out for a few minutes as they wait for their teacher to notice they’re done with their warm-ups. He tries to imagine what it’d be like to relive this day forever; Akako said it’s not possible but the logistics of it make him curious all the same. Would he be able to die? Or would time just reset every day and bring him back? He doesn’t think they’ve aged since this whole thing started, but who’s to tell? A week isn’t long enough to register something like that.
Would they age away from everyone else? Grow old while their friends remain the same? Or would everyone age along with them and one day wake up to realize they’re much older then they should be? It feels like the sort of thing you’d see in a horror movie plot.
“If a whole coven casts a spell like this, how long would they be able to keep it up?”
Akako purses her lips thoughtfully. “Well, it depends on the power level of each member. There’s no recorded moment in history of that ever happening so all I can give you is speculation.” She wrinkles her nose. “No longer than a year, though. Like I said, it’s not sustainable for long periods of time. It’s like when you take a specific type of medication for too long, you become-” she stops mid sentence, looking over Kaito’s shoulder with wide eyes.
He turns around, curious about what could’ve made her go silent like that, and finds Hakuba standing by the gym’s doorway, school bag in hand, glancing around at his classmates with a confused frown on his face.
“That’s not supposed to happen,” Kaito says, mouth dry.
“No, it isn’t,” Akako agrees, pulling her feet from under his hands so she can cross her legs.
They both watch with unblinking eyes as Hakuba’s gaze lands on them and his face goes through a wide range of expressions before settling on a blank one. He starts making his way across the gym towards them, ignoring the shouted greetings of his classmates who think they’re seeing him for the first time in three weeks.
When he reaches them, he drops down to the floor like a puppet with cut strings, sitting next to Kaito with a lost look on his face. “You weren’t joking.”
Kaito and Akako stare at him for a long moment, before Kaito regains his bearings and asks, “Who? What?”
Hakuba turns to Akako. “Are you in on this?”
Kaito moves to try and grab his shoulder, but before his hand connects Akako is pulling him back, forcing him to crawl along with her or risk being dragged across the floor. Once they’re far enough out of Hakuba’s earshot, she leans into his side and whispers, “Kuroba-kun, did you tell him about the spell?” Her face is serious, for once, as if his answer might be what makes or breaks the entire universe.
Kaito scratches his head, feeling her gaze like a laser right to the face. “Uh, kinda, maybe,” he says.
She lets out a loud sigh and leans back on her hands, the tension in her body leaving her all at once. “Okay, okay, so you’re just an idiot. Nothing new.” She cocks her head, looking at Hakuba who’s still watching them with questioning eyes. “Normally he wouldn’t be aware of this. Him being aware could be a sign of the spell growing weak in increments, which could cause a whole load of issues with people becoming aware all over the planet.” She flips her ponytail over her shoulder. “Thankfully, this seems to just be a case of forced awareness. You told him about it and in turn he became resistant to the spell.” She looks at Kaito. “I should’ve warned you against it but it never crossed my mind that you’d straight up tell someone what was going on.”
“It was a stressful moment and it slipped out,” Kaito says helplessly, “I didn’t think he’d actually snap out of it.”
Hakuba looks between them, lips pressed together. He seems to still be in the process of accepting the fact this is real and not just some sleep exhaustion induced hallucination.
Kaito and Akako crawl back to his side and exchange a glance. How exactly do you go about explaining to someone that magic is real and their classmate is actually a witch? Kaito half wishes he’d been eased into it back when he first found out, rather than being pushed into the realization by Akako’s attempts at murdering him. Maybe with Hakuba it can be different, they could slowly tell him about-
“I’m a real witch,” Akako says, which, well, okay, he guesses they can also just blurt it out like that with zero warning, that’s good too. "Someone cast a time loop spell and you were stuck in it until Kuroba-kun-loose-lips told you about it.”
“Loose-” Kaito snaps, affronted, but Hakuba turns to stare at him when he speaks, gaze clear and steady, and he finds himself choking on the rest of his words.
For the first time since he arrived, Kaito realizes Hakuba being aware means he remembers what happened yesterday - remembers Kaito’s idiotic fumbling, the kiss, and the way he ran away with his tail between his legs because he’d been sure he’d be able to escape facing what he did when the day reset. Of course life always finds a way to screw him over, doesn’t it? And now Hakuba is probably expecting some kind of explanation for his actions, and Kaito is no closer to being able to give one than he was the day before.
“Right,” Hakuba says, turning back to Akako. “When you say someone , you mean you didn’t do it?”
“It was another witch whose identity we don’t know.”
To Kaito’s relief, they’re saved from any further questions by their gym teacher, who seems to have finally realized half of the class is already done with their warm-ups and that Hakuba, who wasn’t here at the start, is now sitting next to one of the groups in his school uniform. He orders him to go change into his gym clothes and separates the rest of the class into teams for a game of basketball, which means Hakuba doesn’t have the opportunity to press Kaito for answers regarding their last encounter for the rest of the class’ duration.
Kaito makes plans to avoid him afterwards, very detailed and thought-out plans, but fate has other ideas when he’s put on clean up duty with Aoko, a change that must somehow have been caused by Hakuba's appearance, and they end up being the last ones leaving the gym.
When he walks into the boys locker room, he finds it deserted but for Hakuba, who’s sitting on one of the benches already dressed back in his school uniform. His hair is wet from his shower and his cheeks are pink from the heat, Kaito wants to run back outside the moment he lays eyes on him.
“Kuroba-kun,” he says, looking up from where he’d been staring down at his feet.
“Um,” Kaito swallows dryly around the lump in his throat, “Shouldn't you already be in class?”
Hakuba turns in his seat, facing him properly. “Can we talk?” He gestures to the free space next to him on the bench. Kaito hesitates, shifting his weight from foot to foot, before nodding semi-reluctantly and moving to sit down.
He spent all class trying to figure out what he’d say when he was finally forced to talk to Hakuba, but he didn’t manage to come up with anything that would salvage the relationship they currently have. I ran away because I’m an idiot? I ran away because I didn’t want to deal with the fact that I kissed you and you wouldn’t remember the next day? I ran away because I’ve become too attached to you and I’m still half convinced you’re going to arrest me the moment you have definite proof that I’m KID? None of it sounds like the right thing to say. It’s all too much and too real, and he doesn’t think he’s ever been that honest to Hakuba’s face before, doesn’t know if he tried he’d be taken seriously at all.
Thankfully, he doesn’t end up having to scramble for some kind of explanation at the last minute, because Hakuba is the one who breaks the silence between them with three simple words, “I like you.”
“You- what?” Kaito stammers. He thinks he’s misheard, for a moment, but the flush high on Hakuba’s cheeks tells him otherwise. His heart starts beating a staccato in his chest, wild and out of rhythm, like a stone rolling down the mountain and picking up speed. “You like me?”
Hakuba runs a hand through his hair, looking frustrated. “I thought it’d be obvious when I asked you on a date, but now that I remember repeating it so many times I realize you never noticed at all, did you?”
Kaito can only stare at him, eyes wide and mouth slack. It was a date?
“I thought...we were hanging out,” and now that he says it again he realizes how ridiculous it must have sounded to Akako. Hanging out? Him and Hakuba? How did Kaito manage to convince himself that going out with him like that was nothing more than a friendly outing? How much denial was he buried under? “Wait, what do you mean repeating it ?”
A troubled look crosses Hakuba’s face. “When I woke up this morning I remembered everything. Not just yesterday, but all the other days.” He rubs at the space between his eyebrows. “We went out so many times and you still didn’t...” His mouth gives an unhappy twist. “Is it so crazy? That I would want to-”
Kaito shakes his head, tries to tell him no, it’s not crazy, but pauses when his words sink in, feeling his blood rush to his face. “You remember...everyday?” His voice goes high at the end, unintentionally, and he discretely presses two fingers to his pulse point to make sure he’s not on the verge of passing out. How embarrassing would that be, on top of everything else?
“Yes,” Hakuba says, looking stricken. “Would you rather I didn’t?”
“No,” Kaito blurts out before he can stop himself, the honesty of it surprising them both. “No,” he repeats, licking his lips.
“Oh,” Hakuba sounds out, expression softening.
“Just- I need a second to process this. I didn’t think you’d-” Kaito lifts one hand up to cover his face, feeling more than a little overwhelmed.
“Right.” Hakuba leans back, looking down at his lap. Kaito doesn’t like the way he curves into himself, as if trying to take up less space, so he kicks him lightly in the foot and shifts closer on the bench until they’re pressed together shoulder to hip. “I’m sorry about what happened,” he murmurs, looking away.
Hakuba doesn’t reply for a long moment, long enough that Kaito starts worrying that he’s messed up this whole thing all over again, and then he kicks back at Kaito’s foot and says, “Kissing me or running away?”
Kaito shrugs, picks at a loose thread on his gym shorts. “Both?”
“I see.”
An oppressive silence falls over them then, and Kaito has no idea what to say to make things better. He can tell Hakuba’s upset, but he doesn’t know if it’s because of something he said or if it’s something brought over from the previous day. He’s never felt so out of depth before, unsure and tongue-tied, hyper-aware of every movement Hakuba makes. He wants his past self back, the one that could say whatever he wanted because he couldn’t care less about the impact his words had. But he doubts he’d ever be able to return to that sort of indifference - not with Hakuba, at least.
“Look,” he says, breathing in, “I made a mess of things, and you’re probably sick of me apologizing so I’ll stop.”
“It doesn’t suit you, anyway,” Hakuba mumbles.
Kaito wants to feel offended at that, but it’s not like Hakuba’s wrong. “Right. It doesn’t, does it?” He shakes his shoulders out, trying to ease the tension that’s settled along his spine. “Anyway, we’re gonna be stuck like this until that witch gets caught, and I really- I don’t want things to be weird.”
Hakuba purses his lips, rubbing at the spot under his left eye. “Weird,” he echoes.
“I like you too,” Kaito admits, though he thinks it must be obvious by now, after everything he’s done, “and I want us to get along,” as much as they can possibly get along, really, “but things have always been a little intense between us, and I get it if you think some distance would be best for-”
“You like me?” Hakuba stares at him, brows furrowed, eyes wide. His leg twitches against Kaito’s, theis knees knocking together almost involuntarily. “What distance? I feel like you’ve misunderstood something here, Kuroba-kun.”
Kaito looks down at the floor. "I-"
“Why would I want to put some distance between us?” Hakuba goes on, touching a finger to the tip of Kaito’s chin, tilting his head up until their eyes meet. “I like you. I just didn’t realize you liked me too.”
Kaito can only stare at him, at the brownish scarlet of his eyes, at the freckle above his lip, at the strand of hair stuck to his eyelashes. Everything about him makes his heart skip erratically, like he’s jumped off a building and the ground keeps getting closer and closer. “But I kissed you.”
“And then apologized.”
“I didn’t think you’d remember. And it felt wrong to do it when you wouldn’t.” He closes his eyes. “Besides, I thought it’d ruin everything if you did.”
“And now?”
“Now what?”
“Do you think everything is ruined?”
Kaito looks at him, sees the gentle curve of his mouth and the crinkles around his eyes. “Oh.” His gaze gets trained on Hakuba’s lips, red and soft, the dip of his cupid’s bow almost magnetizing. “Maybe not.”
Hakuba lets go of his face and Kaito feels a pang of disappointment that only lasts as long as it takes for Hakuba to lean down and brush their lips together in a soft kiss. He smells even better up close, like apple scented shampoo and some kind of spicy body cream, and Kaito can’t help but lean in until they’re pressed flush chest to chest, his hands gripping Hakuba’s hips, fingers slipping under the hem of his dress shirt. It’s hard to get comfortable with his legs twisted to the side like this, so he breaks the kiss only for a second so he can swing one leg across the bench, straddling it, before dipping back in, chasing the taste of Hakuba’s mouth. He feels Hakuba trailing a hand up his back to come rest between his shoulder blades, the tips of his fingers touching the soft sensitive skin of his nape and making him shiver. Their last kiss feels like a faraway dream now, incomparable to the kind of heat building up in his chest, spreading like fire all over his limbs. Hakuba kisses with the sort of intensity that can only come from knowing his feelings are reciprocated. If Kaito knew being honest with him would’ve brought this forth he would’ve done it much sooner - though that might just be his kiss hazed brain talking right now.
When they part, both red faced and breathing heavily, Kaito feels the enormity of what’s just happened stick to the back of his tongue like glue. There’s no turning back now.
“Let’s go somewhere else next time, yes?” Hakuba says, licking his lips. Kaito stares, only half-listening, and then rubs the bridge of his nose in embarrassment when Hakuba calls his name questioningly.
“Next time- what? I didn’t catch what you said.”
“Instead of the magic show,” Hakuba elaborates, an amused note to his voice. “You must be tired of it by now, no?”
“Just a bit,” Kaito admits, and then pauses, eyeing him closely. Is he being asked on another date right now? He doesn’t want this to be a repeat of last time. “Where would we go?” He asks, slowly, gauging Hakuba’s reaction.
“You pick,” he says, “it should’ve been your turn a couple of dates ago, don’t you think?”
Kaito lets out a breath, relieved at not having to ask outright. He feels a bit idiotic with the way Hakuba keeps talking about these things as if they’re matter of fact while Kaito is still so many steps behind he can hardly even tell whether he’s been asked on a date or not. Maybe he should try watching more romantic movies or reading those books Aoko has on the bottom shelf of her bedside table.
“I guess you’ve got a point.” He leans in, hands flat on the bench between them, and Hakuba moves towards him like a moth to a flame. They watch each other for a long moment, breaths mingling, and then meet halfway, mouths touching softly at first and then opening against each other, wet and warm. It’s almost too easy to get comfortable with this kind of thing, Kaito thinks, linking his hands behind Hakuba’s neck. He hears Hakuba let out a breathy sound and presses himself closer, feeling the pull on his shirt as Hakuba clutches it as if looking for purchase. “What about a movie at my place,” he whispers against Hakuba’s cheek, running his nails down the sides of his neck until his thumbs come to rest against both sides of his jaw. “We could order pizza.”
“Pizza sounds nice,” Hakuba breathes out. He drops a kiss on Kaito’s mouth before leaning back out of his reach, smiling when Kaito follows after him for a moment, lips puckered. “You should get cleaned up, though, before someone comes looking for us. We still have classes for the rest of the day, remember?” His pupils are blown wide, and his lips look bruised and puffy, in that just kissed kind of way that makes Kaito want to run his tongue over them. “Kuroba-kun,” he says, the corner of his mouth twitching, “shower.”
“Right.” Kaito shakes his head and slowly gets up from the bench, reluctantly grabbing his things from his locker before moving into one of the shower stalls.
He finishes in record speed, and when he comes out, all dried out and dressed, Hakuba is still waiting in the same place he left him.
“So, about this witch thing, how long have you known?” Hakuba asks as they make their way back to the main school building. "You always joked about it."
“A while. She tried to- uh..well, it doesn’t matter. I found out soon after you joined our class.”
“Do you guys know how long it’ll take for the loop to end?”
Kaito tilts his head. “Akako said if the witch isn’t caught, then the most it could last would be a month.”
“And it’s been about a week now?”
“Yeah.”
"I see.” Hakuba looks up at the sky, lips pursed. “So we have an undetermined amount of time to do whatever we want, then?”
“Basically.”
He turns to him, eyes twinkling. “That should be interesting.”
Kaito eyes him suspiciously. “What?”
“Well, we could skip school, couldn’t we? It’s not like it’d be permanently on our record. Even if the loop ended we’d only have one absence.”
“You have many more than that. It's actually unbelievable you’re not failing because of it.”
Hakuba dismisses his words with a wave of the hand. “Either way, we could go anywhere.”
“Within reason. The day resets at midnight.”
“Still. It’s like a short vacation. I’m surprised you went to school every day.”
“I...didn’t think to skip," Kaito says, a little bit embarrassed at the realization. He'd followed Akako's lead for the most part, and skipping would mean not getting to see Hakuba and being invited out with him, which Kaito didn't really want. Not that he can admit that to the guy's face.
"I feel like our roles have been reversed here," Hakuba says, stepping closer to him so their shoulders brush together as they walk. "Shouldn't you be the one to think of skipping first?"
Kaito is too distracted by the new contact to come up with any sort of clever comeback. "I'm a top student, I'll have you know."
"They do count class behavior in your grades, Kuroba-kun."
"I make up for it with charm and great brains." He shrugs lazily and feels himself flush red as the back of his hand rubs against Hakuba's. Damn, why is he getting all flustered now after kissing him so eagerly just a few minutes ago - courage sure runs out fast.
"I think charm is a skill you need more for your side job than for school."
Kaito looks away wordlessly. He'd been waiting for the moment KID got brought up, but he didn't expect Hakuba to do it so casually. He's still unsure what Hakuba's stance on the whole thing is and he doesn't think he's ready yet to have a discussion about it, not when things seem so new and uncertain still. It's always this one thing that gets in the way of his relationships - Kaito KID, the legacy, the mask he can't put down until his objectives are accomplished. The suit is a prison in itself already, the shackles he wears. He wonders if Hakuba could ever understand something like that.
"Whatever you say," he replies vaguely, and they walk the rest of the way in silence.
---
Hakuba shows up at his place at 8p.m. on the dot that night, a bag of snacks in each hand and a small smile on his face. Kaito takes the bags from him as he lets him in, peeking inside to check what he brought - a bag of chips, three packs of cookies, two cans of coke and a huge plastic container full of gummy bears.
“You didn’t have to bring this much stuff, you know. We’re gonna be pretty full from dinner,” Kaito says as he leads them down the hall towards the living room. He sets the bags down on the coffee table in front of the couch and gestures for Hakuba to sit down as he grabs the remote. “Make yourself at home.”
“I thought bringing more wouldn’t hurt,” Hakuba says, settling down on the cushions with a sigh.
Kaito messes around with the TV settings until the movie he’s picked for them to watch is set to go and then joins him on the couch, startling a little when Hakuba shifts closer so the sides of their bodies are pressed together shoulder to thigh.
He clears his throat. “We should order the pizza first.”
Hakuba nods in agreement, and they quickly discuss what kind they want before Kaito places the order to the closest place open. Things feel a little bit awkward, and he isn’t sure if it’s because they both feel too shy to say anything or if he’s imagining it because it’s the first time he’s aware they’re on a date. It felt much easier to relax back when he didn’t know a thing.
“What’s the movie about?” Hakuba asks, eyeing the title displayed on the screen.
“Oh, um, you’re fine with horror, right? Being a detective freak like you are,” Kaito says, and then presses his lips together, suddenly worried if it’s rude of him to say stuff like that now that they’re - now that they’re… Well. Hakuba doesn’t seem bothered by it, only nodding shortly to answer the question. Then again, he’s always seemed like a bit of a masochist to Kaito, maybe he likes being called a weirdo to his face.
Instead of looking further into such suspicions, he presses play and sinks back against the couch, letting the intro credits distract him from all the thoughts racing through his mind.
Their pizza arrives halfway through the first conflict, and Kaito makes quick work of getting it and paying before rushing back to the couch so they can keep watching while eating. The movie is - fine. It’s not too scary and the plot isn’t complex enough to get him thinking deeply, but it’s okay, good enough for a home watch, he supposes. By the time it's over he's feeling a little sleepy, leaning sideways into Hakuba in order to chase the warmth of his body. As the credits roll, he lets out a yawn and stretches his arms above his head, feeling his spine pop as he does. Hakuba watches him with sleepy eyes, head resting against the backrest of the couch, and Kaito is unexpectedly hit with the thought that he must have found the movie boring but kept quiet for his sake.
“We could’ve put something else on if you didn’t like this one,” he says, slipping his legs under himself and turning to face him, “you didn’t have to force yourself to watch this.”
“It was fine,” Hakuba says with a shrug, dragging a hand over his eyes. “I’m bad at watching movies in general, they’re too long.”
Kaito too is usually incapable of sitting still for prolonged periods of time, but today he feels more exhausted than usual with everything that’s happened, and his normal restlessness has been replaced by a slow sluggishness that weighs down his bones. He drapes an arm around the back of the couch and shifts closer to Hakuba, knees touching the side of his thigh. He’s not looking for anything, just the comfort of closeness under the dim lights of the tv, but Hakuba leans in all the same, pulling him by the neck until their noses are rubbing together, his eyelashes brushing against Kaito’s cheek, tickling his skin.
“We didn’t end up eating any of the snacks you brought,” Kaito says, eyes half lidded, fingers twitching.
“You can keep them,” Hakuba replies, and then dips his head the rest of the way in. He tastes like pizza greaze and the gummy bears Kaito saw him sneak out during the movie. The trembling of his heart makes itself known again, climbing up his throat then back down again like it can’t make up its mind about where it wants to go. It’s always the same when it comes to Hakuba - the tingles, the rush, the cotton in his head - he can’t seem to rid himself of the headiness that overtakes him every time they touch. He grabs Hakuba’s earlobe between two fingers and pulls on it, relishing in the sound of annoyance he makes in response.
“Stop that,” he grumbles against Kaito’s mouth.
“What, am I bothering you?” Kaito snickers, grabbing his face with both hands and squeezing until his lips pucker out in a comical fashion. “Look at that, you wanna kiss me so bad.”
Hakuba’s brows furrow, but Kaito doesn’t allow him time to escape his hold, pressing their lips together in a theatrical kiss. He makes a loud smacking noise as he pulls back, grinning, only to then find himself flat on his back on the couch, Hakuba hovering above him with a playful glint in his eyes. He’s heavy on Kaito’s lap, legs spread on either side of him and hands bracketing Kaito’s head, making it impossible for him to look anywhere but up. “You sure are bold, all of a sudden,” he says, leaning down and burying his face in the crook of Kaito’s neck. His lips feel hot against the sensitive skin there and Kaito lets out a breath as he feels them move across his pulse point, teeth scraping gently.
“Do you wear cologne or is it all the roses you always carry around?”
Kaito licks his lips, swallowing around the dryness in his throat. “No cologne.”
“Should’ve known,” Hakuba laughs, drawing back.
“What, not all of us walk around wearing suits and fancy shoes.”
“Obviously. Some people don’t have a sense of style.”
“Says the guy who was wearing a full Sherlock Holmes cosplay when I first met him.”
“Leave off it, already.”
Kaito snorts, settling his hands on Hakuba’s hips. Their position is a bit dangerous for him and he doesn’t want Hakuba to start shifting around while on top of him - that’s not the path this specific date is supposed to go on, he thinks.
“It’s getting late,” Hakuba hums, sitting up.
“You don’t have to go home, you know,” Kaito tells him, “the day will reset with you on your bed either way.”
Hakuba gives him a strange look. “Baaya will come get me, though.” He blows some hair out of his face. “You should’ve told me that sooner, I would’ve called her and told her it was a sleepover.”
“You could still do that.”
He glances down at his wristwatch. “She’s probably already on her way now.”
As if on cue, the doorbell starts ringing. Hakuba gives him an apologetic look and slowly lifts himself up off his lap, stretching his legs out as he does. Kaito follows after him, reluctant to part but knowing there isn’t much of a choice now.
"See you tomorrow?"
"Or today," Kaito says.
He waves Hakuba off at the door and then watches as the car drives away down the street. He’s too alert now and sleep feels like a far off thing, so he locks the door behind him and heads to the Nakamoris’, climbing up to Aoko’s room.
She’s lying down on her bed watching the same movie as always, and Kaito wordlessly sits down next to her, leaning back against the headboard of the bed.
“I noticed Hakuba-kun came over to your place,” she says, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Yeah." He keeps his eyes fixed on the screen of her laptop.
“And? Aoko didn’t know you guys were that friendly now. What did you do?”
Kaito squirms in place, uncomfortable. “It’s whatever, we just watched a movie.”
“A movie date?” She asks eagerly.
He hesitates. “I guess.”
“Kaito,” she says, eyes wide, “are you dating Hakuba-kun?”
Kaito turns to her. “I-” he swallows, unsure, “I don’t know, actually.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“We haven’t discussed it.”
She makes a face, as if baffled at their stupidity. “But do you guys like each other?”
“Sure.” He fiddles with the hem of his shirt, lips pursed. “We just didn’t get to that, is all.”
She keeps looking at him as if she can’t understand what he’s saying, but doesn’t comment further on it.
Kaito blinks up at the ceiling, wondering if maybe something like a real relationship isn’t what Hakuba wants. You can like someone and not want to date them, can’t you? But then, going on dates would be a bit counterproductive towards that, wouldn’t it?
This is all way too complicated for him.
---
“Well, if you’re sneaking out for lunch you should bring me along too.”
“We were sort of thinking of going-”
Akako cuts him off. “Hakuba-kun, surely you guys weren’t planning on ditching me, were you?”
Kaito adjusts his grip on his school bag, kicking his heel against the floor to fit in his sneakers. “We were, actually. Who says we have to bring you with us?”
She glares at him, and Kaito feels more than sees Hakuba surreptitiously step behind him. “Since when have you been such good friends, anyway? I thought you said you wouldn’t hang out together anymore,” she says accusatorily.
“You said that?” Hakuba asks.
Kaito gives him a careless pat on the chest without looking. “That was before, things changed. Besides, don’t you have better things to do than follow us around? How about you try to contact one of those covens to see if they’re progressing in their search or something.”
“What, you think there’s a witch landline I can just call up? Please, Kuroba-kun, if I could check up on their progress I would’ve done it days ago.” She crosses her arms over her chest and gives him a shrewd look. “You guys are up to something. I know I joked about you going on dates but-”
“Anyway! We’re leaving, bye!” Kaito says, pushing Hakuba towards the glass doors and promptly shutting down that line of questioning. He doesn’t need to have Akako digging into his romantic life, not when he himself is still somewhat lost about what he’s doing.
She doesn’t follow them outside, which is a small blessing in and of itself, and they quickly make their way out the school gates.
“Won’t she be mad?” Hakuba asks, looking over his shoulder as if still able to see her standing by the shoe lockers.
“It’s that or have her come with us. Did you want her to?”
He frowns. “...No.”
“Exactly.” Kaito knocks their shoulders together. “Don’t worry, she won’t curse us or anything.”
"I wasn't worried about that."
They grab a quick lunch close to the school grounds by the park, so they can go on a walk around the lake right after because that’s the sort of thing Hakuba seems to be into, and then get back just in time for their first afternoon class.
Kaito is still wary about bringing up any questions regarding what it is they're supposed to be, afraid that the answers he'll get won't be the ones he wants, so by the time the school day is over he's still unclear on how to answer Aoko if she asks him about it again. Thankfully, he and Hakuba get stuck on cleaning duty because someone (read: Akako) snitched on them about sneaking out of school for lunch, and he uses the opportunity to try and broach the subject without giving away his own burning need to put a name to this thing between them.
“What should I tell Aoko when she asks me about you?”
Hakuba pauses in his sweeping and glances up at him from across the room. “What do you mean? She asks you about me?”
Kaito gives a careless shrug, keeping his eyes fixed on the bristles of his broom. “Sometimes. More often lately, since I keep coming home from hanging out with you.” He gives a dry laugh. “Not that she remembers she’s asking the same thing all the time.”
“Ah.” He watches out the corner of his eye as Hakuba places his broom against one of the desks and starts making his way towards him. “You mean she asks for our relationship status.”
Kaito quietly cringes at that, though it’s not untrue. He wishes Hakuba were less direct about these things, it’s still too embarrassing for him to properly face this entanglement of theirs, he liked it better when they used to talk in subtext, though he supposes that’s what led to all his misunderstandings in the first place.
“I guess.”
“And you don’t know what to tell her?” When he peeks up for a second, Hakuba has paused just a few steps in front of him, his head tilted sideways in question.
“Not...really,” Kaito admits, sweeping with a stronger intensity now, the only sound in the classroom that of the broom bristles scratching against the floor. Swish, swish, swish.
“Hey.” Hakuba grabs at the handle, hands covering Kaito’s where they’re gripping the wood so tight the skin of his fingers has turned white. “If there was ever any dust in that spot, I’m sure you’ve swept it all away by now.”
Kaito stops his movements and lets out a sigh, kicking at the leg of the desk standing beside him. He feels ridiculous in his anxiety and stupid in the way of his approach, maybe he should’ve just kept quiet about all his doubts, this whole confrontation feels impossible to get through with his pride intact.
“Kuroba-kun, to be quite honest I thought I’d made my intentions clear, but if you need me to be clearer I will.” Hakuba steps into his space, feet facing his, the tips of his school slippers barely an inch from Kaito’s. “I want us to be together, like a proper couple. That was the whole point of the dates, you know?”
Kaito feels the tension leave his body all at once, his hands loosening under Hakuba’s. “Oh.” His neck is warm under his collar and so are his cheeks, he never knew he was so quick to fluster before this week. Was it all this simple? It feels like just asking was a journey of its own, and yet, Hakuba’s answer came to him so easily that Kaito is left looking a bit like an idiot for worrying so hard over it.
“You know what to tell her, now?”
Kaito shrugs again, freeing his hand to scratch at the base of his throat. “I- yes, I guess so.”
“Problem solved, then?” Hakuba says, taking the broom from him and setting it aside. “Any other questions I should know about?”
“Not really.” Kaito purses his lips, looking up at him through his bangs. “Don’t you dare tease me about this now.”
“I wouldn’t,” Hakuba smiles. His mouth curves so prettily when he does it, Kaito wants to chase the shape of it with his finger, dig his thumb into the corner until he opens up to him. And he can now, he realizes, hand already halfway up to Hakuba’s face. He can trace the lines of his face and the slope of his nose and whatever else he wants - he’s allowed to touch. Hakuba startles lightly when Kaito presses his thumb to his bottom lip, and then relaxes almost immediately as their gazes meet. Can he tell what Kaito’s thinking? It’s too embarrassing to consider, he hopes at least his thoughts can remain hidden from view.
“What are you doing?” Hakuba asks, and the pink inside of his mouth comes to meet the tip of Kaito’s thumb as he speaks, wet and soft.
Kaito hums and lifts his thumb from his lip, pressing it down on Hakuba’s chin instead, forcing him to open his mouth just enough to be tantalizing. What a sight he makes, Kaito wants to stare at him all day. But too soon he becomes aware of how mortifying his actions are, and all he can really do to cover his own embarrassment is push forward and bring their mouths together, effectively getting Hakuba to close his eyes. A part of him wants to do whatever he wants, and another part of him feels impossibly anxious and tiny whenever he’s around Hakuba - perhaps they’ll always be there, but he hopes at some point the former surpasses the latter.
He’s just managed to pin Hakuba back against one of the desks, enjoying the way he has to lean down to kiss him while Kaito stands casually between his legs, when the door to the classroom clicks open followed by a distant gasp. They rip apart at the noise and Kaito has barely a second to take in Hakuba’s surprised, red flushed face before he looks towards the entrance and sees Akako and Aoko standing there.
“Akako,” Kaito grumbles, and she only deems to raise an eyebrow at him, as if pretending this was not some intricate plan of hers to ruin their day as revenge for not having taken her to lunch. “Did you really have to?”
“You guys are dating? ” Aoko exclaims, coming further into the room. She looks somewhat sheepish at having caught them but determined to get some answers nevertheless. “Kaito! Why didn’t you tell Aoko?”
He spares Akako another glare before he turns to her. “Well, it’s sort of a recent development.” One she would’ve known at least a little bit about if it wasn’t for the damned time loop.
“Recent?” She glances between him and Hakuba, who looks like he’d rather be anywhere else but here, red faced and shifty eyed. “I see.”
“Yeah, so, don’t make a fuss about it,” Kaito says, patting down his wrinkled shirt. “Why are you here, anyway? Weren’t you going to that shop with Keiko?”
“Keiko’s waiting downstairs. Akako-chan forgot one of her textbooks so I came back with her so she could get it.” She glances over her shoulder at Akako, who makes a show of walking over to her seat to retrieve said ‘supposedly’ needed textbook.
Kaito rolls his eyes, suspicions confirmed, and waves them off with one hand. “Alright, get going then. We still haven’t finished cleaning up.”
Akako finally speaks up, a sly smirk on her face. “So that’s what they’re calling it nowadays?”
“Shut up, you,” Kaito glowers, and watches with narrowed eyes as Aoko lets out a short giggle and pushes Akako back out the door, closing it behind them as they go.
He turns back to Hakuba only once he’s sure their steps are far down the hallway. “I said she wouldn’t curse us, not that she wouldn’t do anything.”
Hakuba runs a hand down his face but looks amused all the same. “In terms of petty retaliation, I guess this is pretty mild.”
Kaito snorts. “She knows Aoko doesn’t care, she just wanted to interrupt us.”
Hakuba opens his mouth to reply but Kaito’s phone starts vibrating in his pocket before either of them can say anything else. He slips it out and sees he has a new message from Akako.
“By the way, the loop is over,” he reads aloud, and then looks up at Hakuba, who stares back at him with what must be a mirrored version of his own dumbfounded expression.
“It’s over?” Hakuba says, sounding strangely disappointed.
“She would know,” Kaito replies, pocketing his phone again. “I guess we shouldn’t have worried much.”
Hakuba leans back on his hands, sitting up on the desk he’d been propped against. “We didn’t even get to skip.”
“What’s with you and skipping? You do that enough already,” Kaito says, slapping one of the feet he’s got dangling off the floor. “Besides, I’m sick and tired of Tuesday.”
“I would miss the cases,” Hakuba hums in concession, “and your heists.”
Kaito presses his lips together and slowly steps closer, pinching one of the buttons of Hakuba’s shirt between two fingers. He’s silent for a moment, considering, and then dips his head until his forehead meets Hakuba’s chest and mumbles, “I bet you would,” which isn’t much of an admission, he knows, but is all he can really give right now, as he is.
Hakuba stills for a second under him, and then his arms come up to circle around Kaito’s shoulders, pulling him even closer against him. He smells like apples and spice and some kind of cologne he must have put on today to make fun of him, and Kaito doesn’t think they’ve ever hugged before, not like this, with this sort of intent, and something about it feels monumental to him, in the way their bodies fit together, the way he can feel the warmth of Hakuba’s body seeping into his own, the way he allows his own arms to wrap around Hakuba’s middle and squeeze. It’s different, but he likes it.
And time isn’t stuck for him anymore - his clock has been ticking since the day began, or maybe ever since Hakuba woke up from the spell. Whatever kind of comfort the loop brought him and whatever kind of choices he could escape with it, it could never compare to this.
He can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
END.