Game Night

[Kudo Yukiko]

Yukiko was miffed to the extent that she hadn't been within the Kudo household that much since she became informed of what happened to Shinichi—to everyone, really. She just couldn't believe it. When did it become okay to hide something like that? It just emphasized her point that she loathed being kept in the dark about things. And dammit, Yukiko was determined to ensure that changed—even Chikage and Hakuba-kun knew before she did! Yukiko understood why they kept it a secret from her but Yukiko still didn't like it, not one little bit especially when Yuusaku got involved like he did.

But with the kitchen out of groceries, Yukiko had found that as yet another excuse to escape the injury-ridden home for a little while with Chikage. Yukiko hadn't seen her friend in some time, the last encounter she could recall was in Los Angeles after Chikage spent a little time in Las Vegas. Still, the fact that Chikage was willing to accompany her despite the injuries that she had obtained astounded her. While they weren't nearly as bad as Heiji-kun's, Yukiko refrained from asking Chikage to assist with unloading the groceries when they returned home and parked the car in the garage. That hadn't stopped Chikage from taking a few light-weight bags, though.

When they both entered the home with grocery bags in hand, Yukiko was surprised when she heard Heiji-kun's voice as they headed towards the kitchen.

"Oh, you're actually up Heiji-kun? What is it?" Yukiko asked, surprised that he was walking downstairs cheerfully. Not only that, but Kaito-kun was following him—what was that about?

"Hey Kaito," Chikage lifted her free hand and gestured towards the garage. "We've got some groceries in the trunk. Go help unload, will you?"

[Kuroba Kaito]

Ooookay, so for once in his life, he’d been right about his mom-- wow, amazing, what a wonderful surprise. He’s coming out of his room when he hears familiar voices down stairs-- Hattori’d gone to check, right, and he hears the familiar trill of Yukiko-san’s voice asking about the Osakan detective and his mom’s voice following not so long after.

Oh, they were coming home from grocery shopping. How convenient! Maybe he wouldn’t have to ask the Mouris to buy something on the way to the house, if they brought snacks…. Yeahhhh right. Groceries didn’t necessarily equal snacks, and he really wasn’t up for chewing on a… ( A peek of the bag that his mom was holding--) raw cabbage while playing games.

He rolled his eyes at Hattori-san as he skips out the door; (Yessssss, mom) he’d leave the permission asking about game night to Osakan…. The rain seemed to be pounding harsher, dense streaks of water from the sky that was actually near terrifying.

He wonders if Game night is such a good idea, after all, but… hey, people really needed to get out and going, and this should be fun.

[Hattori Heiji]

Heiji watched Kaito skip out the door to help with the groceries. The Osakan was about to move to help him but stopped short when he realized what the Tokyoite had left him to do.

Bastard.

Instead of asking to host a game night he had bolted to do the task his mother set out for him leaving Heiji alone to ask a woman who was currently angry at him if they could have a game night. So now there he stood, in the kitchen in nothing but a black tank top and a pair of green pajama pants, because damn it they were comfy and they didn’t agitate his injuries, about to ask Yukiko-han for a game night. Thankfully though she seemed calm enough when she asked what was going on.

First thing first though it would probably be best to be polite and welcome the two women home.

“Welcome home!” He said cheerfully, hoping to keep the mood light. “An I’m feelin better Yukiko-han so I thought I would get out of the room and stretch a bit.”

Okay that was the easier part. Now came the moment of truth.

“Also, me n’ Kuroba-kun were wonderin if we could host a game night. Ya know just invite a few people over an play some games?” He asked of course he spoke a little fast and it might be a bit hard to understand because of his Osaka-ben.

[Kudo Yukiko]

Yukiko deadpanned at Heiji-kun, wondering what made him even think that she was a little bit concerned about the boy's health who actually hid her son's captivity from her. THAT WAS NOT OKAY. Yukiko might've been really miffed about a lot of things concerning Shinichi, but she was still his mother and cared about his safety immensely. She was after all, the first to suggest that he returned to Los Angeles with them.

"E-Eh?" Yukiko blurted, breaking out of her deadpan as she placed her bags on the kitchen countertop. With the rainy weather, Yukiko couldn't really blame the boys for wanting to get something going indoors. "I suppose it'd be alright. I invited Hakuba-kun over for dinner, so we were already expecting company....Who'd you have in mind?" Yukiko arched a brow, giving him a suspicious look, hoping that Shinichi was left out of the invitation list.

[Hattori Heiji]

He held his breath during the time of Yukiko-han just staring at him. It was extremely unnerving. In fact he was slightly worried she was just going to kick him out right there and he’d have to find a way back to Osaka.

He knew he made mistakes but he also knew a mother’s instinct. After all his mother showed it more often than not. And if Heiji was in danger, she would be going head first into danger herself to save him. In fact his mother even yelled at his father after the incident at Osaka castle. No he didn’t doubt Yukiko, but he knew that Kudo would never forgive him if something happened to his mother when Heiji could have stopped it from happening. So if he had to live with having her angry then it was better than the alternative.

All that aside the tension broke at her sudden announcement and Heiji breathed a sigh of relief. Until she said Hakuba. The dark-skinned male did his best not to pull a rather unpleasant face. But this was her home so he had no right to argue about the Brit. Even if he was, rather helpful in recent incidents.

“I was thinkin we could invite everyone from….recent events over. Ya know just ta relax after all that has happened?”

[Hakuba Saguru]

Rain wasn’t something that Hakuba generally worried about; he was used to dealing with it in just about any situation because of the way that London just was, due to various environmental factors, and the fact that it was raining actually made him a touch more comfortable in otherwise stressful situations. In this instance, it was being invited to dinner by one Kudo Yukiko. That, in and of itself, would have been a stress that he would have been grateful for, despite the high calibre of the hostess and his particular affection and admiration for the entire family, but it was rather the current occupants of the Kudo household that he was unsure of.

That was to say, he wasn’t looking forward to spending more time with Kudo-san’s other visitors.

But, Hakuba Saguru also wasn’t one to turn down such gracious invitations, particularly with people that he absolutely did not want to burn possible bridges with, so he had accepted and made plans accordingly to follow through -- and with flourish.

After a brief (and frantic) discussion with his governess, Hakuba had decided to bring an offering of baked goods in lieu of the traditional bottle of wine, though he snuck a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon out to his car anyway, just in case. This was only after, of course, he’d spent the entire afternoon with Baaya baking cupcakes, all three dozen carefully placed in three white boxes, using plastic lattice-work separators to ensure that none of the home-made frosting or delicate sugar roses touched.

Once everything was loaded into the car, Hakuba realized that it might seem peculiar that he had spent all afternoon baking, and looked to Baaya in despair.

“Oh, Young Master. No one can say anything poor about such decadent desserts.” She smiled, and patted him twice on the head for good measure.

Finding that this was, in fact, true, he thanked her for her assurance and checked the time once more before leaving. Taking the rain into account, it would take him approximately 37 minutes to get to the Kudo home, which would put him at their front door with a couple of minutes to spare. This, he thought, would be useful if he decided to bring the wine in anyway, which he would think about on the drive over, as he would have to make two trips to ensure that everything made it inside in the most presentable fashion.

Top up, the sporty convertible made excellent time indeed on the wet roads, hugging the turns and gripping the road with the most wonderful traction. Speeding through the slicks calmed the young detective considerably, and by the time he made it to the house, he was feeling quite confident and pleased. He pulled up to the front, parked his lovely red car, and managed to finagle the wine, the boxes of cupcakes, AND his umbrella, and found himself knocking with his charming smile in place, all accounted for.

His suit hadn’t even gotten wet due to his perfectionistic efforts.

[Kuroba Kaito]

The house was full of people and that’s the amount of groceries he brings in; bag after bag after bag, wow, catering for so many people was hard work and Kaito could feel it in the way he was forced to do slave labour-- WOW, THANKS MOM. Joking comment aside, he really does appreciate the work Yukiko-san put into making them dinner in the one in a million chance that finicky whim struck her; and today was one of those days, apparently.

Maybe it was because his mom was with her; he knows that the Kudos and the Kurobas are quite close with each other; somewhere in his own generation, the closeness the two families shared hadn’t been continued, snipped off somewhere; odd, really, but Kaito didn’t push it because he was a phantom thief and Kudo Shinichi was a detective, and really, the kid seemed like he had his own problems to deal with.

(Problem #1 with Edogawa Conan: Kid was a kid. Literally. Mind of a teenager, sure, but Kaito found it hard to treat him as the apparent genius teenager he was. )

He sets the groceries on the counter and lets out a curious noise at the sound on wood-- He’d only caught the last few words of Hattori’s conversation but the unpleasant expression the Osakan had didn’t bode well-- not when he didn’t know what caused it. (If he was the reason, then that was never a bad omen, it usually meant that he was snickering in the room somewhere at the multicolored skin the Osakan was sporting. Touch of some perfume, maybe, the kind that old grandmas wore.)

“I’ll get the door,” Kaito said cautiously, furrowing his brows at the (currently) dark-skinned detective, trying to convey a non verbal message of what made him look like he’d just eaten a decade old musty diper fished out from the deepest depths of Tokyo’s sewer systems; hopefully nothing that concerned him…

He opened the door.

And promptly near shut it again.

It was a grace that he didn’t actually slam it in the other’s face, and he stared at stupid British detective bastard’s face-- how had he even known to come here anyway? And no, don’t you dare say deduced, Kaito would hit the person who said that with the cheeky grin on their face.

(Wait, he was the one who usually made those comments. Never mind.)

The door was open half way and the magician stood with an incredulous look, trying out a dozen different sentences before settling on occam’s razor--

“And what are you doing here?”

Because surely Hattori couldn’t have told them to invite him and Yukiko-san couldn’t have called him in that short amount of time-- but wait, were those cupcakes?

He suddenly didn’t mind all so much.

“Never mind, come on in. Sorry, I just didn’t expect you to be here.”

Maybe Yukiko-san invited him…?

Either way, Hattori-san’s expression suddenly made sense-- he really hopes it isn’t some other unpleasant news because nothing could beat this.

(Except maybe Hakuba with no cupcakes. But that was beside the point.)

[Hakuba Saguru]

The smile promptly faded at the reception, which was tepid at best.

“Ah, Kuroba-kun,” Hakuba said with a nod of his head, drawing in a quiet breath to steel himself before moving into the house. He didn’t want to come in, not with that start, not with Kaito reacting that way, but all the same, he couldn’t back down, either. Not with that invitation from Kudo-san, and not with the rivalry between himself and his classmate. “Thank you. Apologies for the confusion…

“Kudo-san invited me over for dinner, and yes, these are cupcakes. I wasn’t certain how many people would be in attendance, so I settled on thirty-six, given the size of the house and estimated number of those in residence. Chocolate makes up 66.67% of the batch, with white in the remainder, though all are topped with a buttercream…” He stopped when he realized that he was rambling, and averted his gaze with the faintest of color on his cheeks -- though, that might have been from the chill of the rain, really. Who could tell?

“Ah. Anyway. If you could please take them…”
 
He held out the boxes of cupcakes, hoping that Kaito would take them from him so that he could remove his shoes and take care of his umbrella more easily, but that would all depend on if the other teenager was willing to be polite enough.

[Kuroba Kaito]

It wouldn’t do to let the food go to ruin, of course; being polite’s the last thing on his mind when he takes the boxes, swinging the door open with a foot and walking inside. Okay, maybe a little. Ingrained politeness was a thing, apparently.

“Dinner, huh?”

He glanced at the roses that adorned the confectionary, they really were delicately set and made, Kaito thought, store bought, probably. It looked that way. Did Hakuba even bake? He’d have thought that the detective would be drowning in cases in his spare time, the workaholic he was. Dinner explained the groceries, though-- guest, couldn’t really order take out or go out. 36 cupcakes…. Okay so. Hakuba, Hattori, Yukiko, his mom…. Aoko? Maybe? Ran-san, Edogawa-kun, Satou-san and Takagi-san… Who else was involved in that thing? The girl next door? Uh, no, they should invite them, though, if this Game night thing was still on.

Sooo, Including Okiya-san and Yuusaku-san, about 13 people, including him. So 2-3 cupcakes for each?

Mm... Chocolate and Vanillla, Chocolate hands down for him, though maybe he’d try the ones topped with white first just to see how it was.

“Buttercream’s nice.” He said distractedly, wondering how’d they’d taste, he hadn’t had cupcakes in ages. He should treat himself to more. Cupcake math and probability factors ran in his head-- If Aoko didn’t come to play games after all, then everybody should be able to have three… Or maybe he could just steal one from someone, and that defeated the point of running numbers in his head, but meh.

Yeah, he’d steal a whole box. Totally.

“You can put your umbrella by the side there, and shoes go over there,” Kaito said, missing any sort of color Hakuba may have had on his face, making general movements with the boxes in his hands. It was pretty obvious where they went, anyway, but it was only polite to point them out. “No slippers, unfortunately. Yukiko-san’s at the kitchen, so come on in.”

[Hakuba Saguru]

“Thank you,” Hakuba said with another nod of his head, sort of a replacement for the customary bow that he would give to anyone other than someone on equal academic level. He turned once he was inside far enough, then shook out his umbrella once more outside, tucking it up and putting it away, followed by his shoes where indicated. “And that’s fine, really… not a problem at all.”

What he’d meant was that he was used to not being offered slippers, though it was always preferred. Many of his clients didn’t have them for guests in Japan, and in England, they just didn’t bother. Shoes off at the door, walk around in socks. At least the floors were kept clean, and it’s not as though there were any pets that he was aware of, so really, he wasn’t worried at all.

Once everything was in place and he was out of the way of the door, which he made certain to close if Kaito hadn’t already, Hakuba adjusted the wine in his arms to hold it instead of cradling, and pushed a small smile back onto his face. “The kitchen, you said?” he asked, though he was certain he’d heard Kaito correctly. “I ought to present this to the lady of the house, then… is it right through there?” he indicated with a nod of his head.