DC/MK fic: Crossroads
Title: Crossroads
Scene Title: AU - After Class
Progress: WIP
"All right then," Kuroba said before clapping the book he held aloft in his right hand shut. A smirk came onto the English teacher's face--one that was directed toward a particular pupil in his class. Well, he would deny it if asked directly which was well known since a number of them had asked him before, but they all knew who it was he always directed those kind of looks toward.
Edogawa Conan tried not to let on how frustrated he was by being in this situation and merely stared boredly ahead with a pen in his mouth and a hand propping up his head while everyone turned to look at him.
They all wanted to know what sort of punishment would come now. Edogawa-kun had been quiet all class, after all. A strange change in behavior considering how volatile he was toward their beloved Porcupine-sensei--a name which only made Conan roll his eyes as he had meant it as an insult not a pet name.
So it was that they all slowly turned back to Kuroba-sensei to see what he would have to say about this strange behavior.
The English teacher just continued to smirk. "Edogawa-kun," he eventually said, still holding the book in the air, a signal for the class to prepare to be dismissed. Everyone watched with baited breath, wondering what would happen. Finally, there came the one thing that they thought they would never hear, even when Conan was behaving his worst: "See me after class."
Murmurs rose up, but Conan just rolled his eyes before closing them, boredly using his tongue to make the pen between his lips bob up and down.
He could hear Haibara scoff behind him and inwardly smirked.
Then a book was predictably dropped onto the desk, which was Kuroba's signal that they were dismissed. He had claimed early on that he hated the thought of telling them to leave his classroom and thus used the book's hard smack against the desk's surface as a way to say it without words.
Conan just thought that he wanted to jump-start those who had fallen asleep in his class.
Sadist.
Chairs were scooted back as everyone but the supposed delinquent of Kuroba-sensei's class rose and bowed to each other, all of them then packing up their things and progressing out of the classroom.
Conan only opened his eyes as he felt a hand clap down on his shoulder. He looked up curiously just in time to catch Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Haibara leaving the room. The former two teenagers waving him farewell while the third just gave him a suspicious look.
He just gave her a bit of a smirk and watched them go.
All was quiet when the students were all gone, the doors shut, blocking out the noise from in the hall.
Still, Conan didn't look up to his teacher. He didn't need to look to know that Kuroba had sat at the edge of his teacher's desk, putting his legs out in front of him with one crossing the other near the ankle while also crossing his arms, and watched his trouble student intently. He didn't even need to look to know that Kuroba had a smirk on his face, nor that this smirk would be one that he could remember seeing years ago--a lifetime ago.
During a time of trial and turmoil when this man would show up in his life under the light of the full moon and bring about wonders that only the best could figure out after seeing them only once.
Still, Conan could admit that he didn't expect the sigh that escaped the supposed teacher then and glanced up, letting the pen droop in his mouth as he raised a curious eyebrow behind plastic frames.
Kuroba-sensei was using one of his hands to rake fingers furiously through his already messy hair--which the girls in the class always seemed to talk about. Wanting to touch it and feel if it was coarse or soft. With the way it stuck out as though he couldn't find a decent hairbrush, Conan had to assume that it was the former more than the latter.
The supposed teenager blinked, trying to clear his thoughts, puzzled as to way they had headed in that direction.
Well, he thought to himself wryly, bringing a hand up to his pen and using it to support the writing utensil as he slowly withdrew it from his mouth, it was kind of hard not to what with the way the man brought attention to it.
"Is there a problem, Kuroba-sensei?" he asked aloud, using his best "I'm just an innocent kid" tone that he had perfected over the years.
The English teacher halted his actions, arm still up with elbow in the air as his hand went behind his head, and gave that almost wry smirk. "Well, that's just what I was going to ask you, Edogawa-kun," he said lightly, though with the way his eyes were narrowed just so, Conan doubted he was as laid-back as he would have others believed.
The detective smirked inwardly at the thought that his plan was finally taking effect.
Outwardly, he gave his best surprised expression, asking curiously, "I was quiet the whole time and listened to everything and even took notes." Here he held up a loose leaf paper.
Oh, they were notes all right.
Observations made on Kuroba-sensei and comparing him against his memories of that legendary thief.
In English, of course.
Kuroba knew exactly what they were without even having to look and gave a slight nod at the supposed boy's words. "Well, yes," he said, voice still light before dropping a bit, hardly anything of note if one didn't know the man for who he really was, "that was what had me worried."
This made Conan predictably furrow his brows while he chuckled at how they were just following this act that they both fell into. Teacher and student, indeed.
It would always be thief against detective.
"But, Kuroba-sensei," he began with a bit of a drawl to his tone, going for the confused but annoyed and petulant teenager routine, purposefully using his title as well as his surname to further stress what an act he was putting on for anyone who may have been watching, "I thought you wanted me to be on my best behavior during your lectures. If that wasn't what you wanted, why would you keep punishing me and others whenever I misbehave?"
Kuroba lolled his head to the side, making it look as if he was using the hand behind his head to rub at a sore muscle in his neck. It just made Conan's eyes narrow in suspicion when the man grinned winningly back at him.
Bastard. What did he have up his sleeve?
"Why, Edogawa-kun!" the English teacher said, following the act to a T as he lowered his arm and placed it and its brother against the desk on either side of him. "I didn't think you would ever finally let that lesson sink in. After all the trouble we've gone through to get you to this level--"
Conan close his eyes as he stood up, taking up his sachel as he went, cutting off the man's words before speaking himself, "If I'm not in trouble and you have nothing to really discuss with me, Kuroba-sensei, then I'll just be going now--"
"Is that how you handle things these days, tantei-kun?"
Sharp eyes opened to glare at the blank-faced individual who continued to leaned comfortably back against the desk, appearing defenseless and off-guard. Neither of which were true in any sense of the words.
Kuroba had already made the first move, backing out of their dance around the subject and leaving Conan out on the dancefloor, baffled that he hadn't been able to be the one to do it to him.
Hand clenching the handle of his satchel, the supposed teenager then looked away from those eyes which neither smiled nor frown, just stared at him, through him, knowing him as well as he knew the other man. Knew him for what he really was--who Conan pretended every day not to be. With just those simple words, the cards were laid out on the table.
Conan's bluff was shown for all the world to see.
He couldn't help but to give a slight huff of amusement before he glanced back to the man pretending to be just a normal--well, maybe not normal--English teacher with a piercing stare that showed his own nature as well as that Poker Face showed Kuroba's.
Lightly, he replied, "For one who always runs for a living, I'm surprised you choose to call me a coward of all things, Kaitou Kid."
A slight twisting of the lips marred the perfect indifferent expression the thief wore. "Who said anything about running?" he asked, quite calmly and with a level of smugness that made Conan glower momentarily at him.
"Just like all those other times, I know what you're thinking," the detective stated firmly, not allowing the man to get away with pretending any longer. "You couldn't fool me then. You can't fool me now. I'm no fool and more than a match for you."
Unnervingly, instead of a familiar retort, Kuroba heaved a sigh and said with a light smile, as though going straight back to being just Porcupine-sensei, the beloved English teacher of Teitan High School, "Do you know why, Edogawa-kun, I am a teacher?"
Suspicious that there was an underlying reason for this question, the supposed teenager answered slowly, "Why?"
"Because it's one of the hardest performances to put on," the thief answered simply before leaning forward a bit, crossing one arm over his chest while the other lifted into the air and wave its hand idly as he tilted his head back, explaining to the ceiling, "I've been around, Edogawa-kun, and believe me, there has been no more difficult performance to ever be put on than to get up in front of a group of kids and get both their respect and their hate."
Kuroba lowered his head again so that he could look Conan in the eye. "Especially when put in front of the worst critic this side of the Pacific," he finished with a bit of a smug look.
Conan just frowned at him. "What's your point?" he asked with annoyance, impatient.
"Point?" Kuroba blinked at the detective, seeming not to understand. "I'm supposed to have one of those?"
He really did try not to let it get to him, but there was a time and a place for this sort of behavior. Still, Conan really should have figured that the man would go back to dancing around the subject. Kid was the most unpredictable person he had ever had the displeasure of meeting, and after nine years of being abroad, who knew what the thief learned?
Not wanting to give the thief the satisfaction of seeing him lose his temper, Conan began to head for the door.
"My point is, tantei-kun," came the voice of none other than that legendary jewel thief which the detective would have recognized anywhere--especially when he felt those eyes on his back. That stare that made him shake with an odd sort of excitement. The signal of the start of the chase. "That while I am here, I am just a teacher. I am not a thief, nor am I here to mercilessly torment you, no matter what your over-developed brain pan might lead you to think.
"After all," Kid said as Conan turned to look back at him. That impossibly wide grin, manic as it was, only looked slightly odd on Kuroba's face and that was because it was lacking the white top hat and monocle over the right eye, "I don't steal for a living."
.
Scene Title: AU - After Class
Progress: WIP
"All right then," Kuroba said before clapping the book he held aloft in his right hand shut. A smirk came onto the English teacher's face--one that was directed toward a particular pupil in his class. Well, he would deny it if asked directly which was well known since a number of them had asked him before, but they all knew who it was he always directed those kind of looks toward.
Edogawa Conan tried not to let on how frustrated he was by being in this situation and merely stared boredly ahead with a pen in his mouth and a hand propping up his head while everyone turned to look at him.
They all wanted to know what sort of punishment would come now. Edogawa-kun had been quiet all class, after all. A strange change in behavior considering how volatile he was toward their beloved Porcupine-sensei--a name which only made Conan roll his eyes as he had meant it as an insult not a pet name.
So it was that they all slowly turned back to Kuroba-sensei to see what he would have to say about this strange behavior.
The English teacher just continued to smirk. "Edogawa-kun," he eventually said, still holding the book in the air, a signal for the class to prepare to be dismissed. Everyone watched with baited breath, wondering what would happen. Finally, there came the one thing that they thought they would never hear, even when Conan was behaving his worst: "See me after class."
Murmurs rose up, but Conan just rolled his eyes before closing them, boredly using his tongue to make the pen between his lips bob up and down.
He could hear Haibara scoff behind him and inwardly smirked.
Then a book was predictably dropped onto the desk, which was Kuroba's signal that they were dismissed. He had claimed early on that he hated the thought of telling them to leave his classroom and thus used the book's hard smack against the desk's surface as a way to say it without words.
Conan just thought that he wanted to jump-start those who had fallen asleep in his class.
Sadist.
Chairs were scooted back as everyone but the supposed delinquent of Kuroba-sensei's class rose and bowed to each other, all of them then packing up their things and progressing out of the classroom.
Conan only opened his eyes as he felt a hand clap down on his shoulder. He looked up curiously just in time to catch Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Haibara leaving the room. The former two teenagers waving him farewell while the third just gave him a suspicious look.
He just gave her a bit of a smirk and watched them go.
All was quiet when the students were all gone, the doors shut, blocking out the noise from in the hall.
Still, Conan didn't look up to his teacher. He didn't need to look to know that Kuroba had sat at the edge of his teacher's desk, putting his legs out in front of him with one crossing the other near the ankle while also crossing his arms, and watched his trouble student intently. He didn't even need to look to know that Kuroba had a smirk on his face, nor that this smirk would be one that he could remember seeing years ago--a lifetime ago.
During a time of trial and turmoil when this man would show up in his life under the light of the full moon and bring about wonders that only the best could figure out after seeing them only once.
Still, Conan could admit that he didn't expect the sigh that escaped the supposed teacher then and glanced up, letting the pen droop in his mouth as he raised a curious eyebrow behind plastic frames.
Kuroba-sensei was using one of his hands to rake fingers furiously through his already messy hair--which the girls in the class always seemed to talk about. Wanting to touch it and feel if it was coarse or soft. With the way it stuck out as though he couldn't find a decent hairbrush, Conan had to assume that it was the former more than the latter.
The supposed teenager blinked, trying to clear his thoughts, puzzled as to way they had headed in that direction.
Well, he thought to himself wryly, bringing a hand up to his pen and using it to support the writing utensil as he slowly withdrew it from his mouth, it was kind of hard not to what with the way the man brought attention to it.
"Is there a problem, Kuroba-sensei?" he asked aloud, using his best "I'm just an innocent kid" tone that he had perfected over the years.
The English teacher halted his actions, arm still up with elbow in the air as his hand went behind his head, and gave that almost wry smirk. "Well, that's just what I was going to ask you, Edogawa-kun," he said lightly, though with the way his eyes were narrowed just so, Conan doubted he was as laid-back as he would have others believed.
The detective smirked inwardly at the thought that his plan was finally taking effect.
Outwardly, he gave his best surprised expression, asking curiously, "I was quiet the whole time and listened to everything and even took notes." Here he held up a loose leaf paper.
Oh, they were notes all right.
Observations made on Kuroba-sensei and comparing him against his memories of that legendary thief.
In English, of course.
Kuroba knew exactly what they were without even having to look and gave a slight nod at the supposed boy's words. "Well, yes," he said, voice still light before dropping a bit, hardly anything of note if one didn't know the man for who he really was, "that was what had me worried."
This made Conan predictably furrow his brows while he chuckled at how they were just following this act that they both fell into. Teacher and student, indeed.
It would always be thief against detective.
"But, Kuroba-sensei," he began with a bit of a drawl to his tone, going for the confused but annoyed and petulant teenager routine, purposefully using his title as well as his surname to further stress what an act he was putting on for anyone who may have been watching, "I thought you wanted me to be on my best behavior during your lectures. If that wasn't what you wanted, why would you keep punishing me and others whenever I misbehave?"
Kuroba lolled his head to the side, making it look as if he was using the hand behind his head to rub at a sore muscle in his neck. It just made Conan's eyes narrow in suspicion when the man grinned winningly back at him.
Bastard. What did he have up his sleeve?
"Why, Edogawa-kun!" the English teacher said, following the act to a T as he lowered his arm and placed it and its brother against the desk on either side of him. "I didn't think you would ever finally let that lesson sink in. After all the trouble we've gone through to get you to this level--"
Conan close his eyes as he stood up, taking up his sachel as he went, cutting off the man's words before speaking himself, "If I'm not in trouble and you have nothing to really discuss with me, Kuroba-sensei, then I'll just be going now--"
"Is that how you handle things these days, tantei-kun?"
Sharp eyes opened to glare at the blank-faced individual who continued to leaned comfortably back against the desk, appearing defenseless and off-guard. Neither of which were true in any sense of the words.
Kuroba had already made the first move, backing out of their dance around the subject and leaving Conan out on the dancefloor, baffled that he hadn't been able to be the one to do it to him.
Hand clenching the handle of his satchel, the supposed teenager then looked away from those eyes which neither smiled nor frown, just stared at him, through him, knowing him as well as he knew the other man. Knew him for what he really was--who Conan pretended every day not to be. With just those simple words, the cards were laid out on the table.
Conan's bluff was shown for all the world to see.
He couldn't help but to give a slight huff of amusement before he glanced back to the man pretending to be just a normal--well, maybe not normal--English teacher with a piercing stare that showed his own nature as well as that Poker Face showed Kuroba's.
Lightly, he replied, "For one who always runs for a living, I'm surprised you choose to call me a coward of all things, Kaitou Kid."
A slight twisting of the lips marred the perfect indifferent expression the thief wore. "Who said anything about running?" he asked, quite calmly and with a level of smugness that made Conan glower momentarily at him.
"Just like all those other times, I know what you're thinking," the detective stated firmly, not allowing the man to get away with pretending any longer. "You couldn't fool me then. You can't fool me now. I'm no fool and more than a match for you."
Unnervingly, instead of a familiar retort, Kuroba heaved a sigh and said with a light smile, as though going straight back to being just Porcupine-sensei, the beloved English teacher of Teitan High School, "Do you know why, Edogawa-kun, I am a teacher?"
Suspicious that there was an underlying reason for this question, the supposed teenager answered slowly, "Why?"
"Because it's one of the hardest performances to put on," the thief answered simply before leaning forward a bit, crossing one arm over his chest while the other lifted into the air and wave its hand idly as he tilted his head back, explaining to the ceiling, "I've been around, Edogawa-kun, and believe me, there has been no more difficult performance to ever be put on than to get up in front of a group of kids and get both their respect and their hate."
Kuroba lowered his head again so that he could look Conan in the eye. "Especially when put in front of the worst critic this side of the Pacific," he finished with a bit of a smug look.
Conan just frowned at him. "What's your point?" he asked with annoyance, impatient.
"Point?" Kuroba blinked at the detective, seeming not to understand. "I'm supposed to have one of those?"
He really did try not to let it get to him, but there was a time and a place for this sort of behavior. Still, Conan really should have figured that the man would go back to dancing around the subject. Kid was the most unpredictable person he had ever had the displeasure of meeting, and after nine years of being abroad, who knew what the thief learned?
Not wanting to give the thief the satisfaction of seeing him lose his temper, Conan began to head for the door.
"My point is, tantei-kun," came the voice of none other than that legendary jewel thief which the detective would have recognized anywhere--especially when he felt those eyes on his back. That stare that made him shake with an odd sort of excitement. The signal of the start of the chase. "That while I am here, I am just a teacher. I am not a thief, nor am I here to mercilessly torment you, no matter what your over-developed brain pan might lead you to think.
"After all," Kid said as Conan turned to look back at him. That impossibly wide grin, manic as it was, only looked slightly odd on Kuroba's face and that was because it was lacking the white top hat and monocle over the right eye, "I don't steal for a living."
.