Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

[selfrescuer.livejournal.com]

Somehow, after their talk in the chapel, Elaine felt simultaneously more accepting of and more irritated by her future husband. On the one hand, seven years had clearly been good to him. He seemed more sincere and thoughtful than he had been before his disappearance, and he had a more mature (dare she say, handsome?) look to him. On the other hand, there were clearly some things that made even time throw up its hands in vain and say, "To hell with this!" Guybrush was still inexorably prone to disastrous accidents if the story about the Pox of LeChuck was anything to go by, and he was so obviously keeping something important from her that any passing dolt in the Institute would have been able to tell. In the end, that eternal underlying sweetness of his that won out, keeping her from punching him again, at least. That was only by a hairs width, though. Her snugglecakes was going to have to stay on his best behaviour if he knew what was good for him.

She left the Mighty Pirate™ alone for the time being when the announcement of the next shift went off. He would want some time to catch up with Morgan next, presumably. As much as the woman's attitude bothered her, she was a friend of Guybrush's, as she had claimed. Elaine could be strict, but she wasn't the kind of shrewish future wife/past fiancé who would keep her man from seeing his friends. Besides, she needed some more time to catch up on the goings-on of the Institute. Patients filled the building to the brim, now, it seemed; there would be a lot to investigate.

After a few quick trips back and forth to the bulletin and a few new leads to follow up on, the governor gave in to her nurse's persistent nagging and headed to the cafeteria for brunch. After the relatively light fare of the day before, Elaine took advantage of the Institute's admittedly scrumptious offerings and loaded up a full, balanced brunchfast of eggs, sausage links, waffles, and vegetable soup. As expected, the selection of drinks did not offer either root beer or grog. Grog she could live without, at least, she thought while making a face. Eugh. For now, she settled for a tall glass of water.

Elaine settled into a seat in the cafeteria and tucked into her meal. Her eyes didn't stay on her food, though, instead gazing around restlessly; she hadn't seen LeChuck so far this morning, and god forbid he wanted to invite himself to brunch with her if he chose now to show up. A certain horribly unpleasant dinner on Mêlée Island came to mind. She was prepared to either move at the first sign of the dread pirate or signal a random stranger to sit with her before he could.

[For Dean]

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[flashyaudacity]

The soup was already beginning to cool, but brunch would simply have to wait. If Okita wanted to hear what happened from him, he would get it his undivided attention.

"I can't tell you everything," Kaito said seriously. "But I can tell you most of it. Kudou has a... secret that I, as Kid, have known about for some time. I know what it's like to hide something from those closest to you, so I've always been willing to help Kudou keep that secret, despite our professional rivalry. I won't tell his secret, but what happened is because of it."

When it came down to it, his miscalculation had been the idea that Kudou might extend him that same courtesy when presented with his real face, but he didn't voice the thought. The idea stung a bit, but in the end, he was a thief and Kudou was a detective. They were on opposite sides of the law; he could render detectives all the assistance he desired when their goals coincided, but if he were to ever be caught, he would be arrested in spite of it all.

"I overheard something I wasn't meant to hear that night, and Kudou's secret was revealed. I... suppose I panicked, and in the end I thought the better course of action would be to keep the knowledge of 'Kaito' and of 'Kid' separate. 'Kid' already knew, after all, so Kudou might feel less anxious if one less person knew about him. I called him by a nickname to let him know that he was dealing not with 'Kuroba Kaito', but with Kaitou Kid.

"Kudou picked up on the hint I'd dropped him, and he wanted to talk to me—to Kid—alone before we entered the file room. I agreed and let Hattori go on alone; I thought it would only take a moment, but..." He shook his head. He'd gotten caught up in taunting Kudou, and because of it, Hattori had gotten hurt. "When we rejoined Hattori, he was already under attack. I was back in my room not long after that."

Kaito paused, lacing his fingers together and considering his next words. "From the beginning I'd had how I'd handle it all planned out. The detectives both know Kid as a master of disguise, and even though we're stuck here, there's at least the possibility of recovering what I'd need to pull a disguise off. I thought it was safe enough as Kid to brush off any private accusations by Kudou about my identity, and then as Kaito claim that Kid had knocked me out, taken my place... It's not something uncommon of me to do, after all, and Kudou is familiar with my methods. I hadn't expected him to accuse me in front of Hattori."

[notachick.livejournal.com]

So many secrets were flying around the three of them that Okita wondered if any of them knew everything about the others. Heiji seemed to be the only one so far that wasn't hiding something from everyone else, and even then he was bottling things up. Okita had been watching Heiji for the signs of eruption, but this place made it so difficult to keep an eye on people. The boys were always separated from the adults when Okita most wanted to speak to them.

That Kaito was willing to keep Kudou's secret though was admirable. While Okita would have preferred to have the whole story so he could better understand the entire situation, he wasn't going to compromise Kaito's integrity to do it. Conversely, it raised Okita's respect for the boy a little more for the maturity he was showing in his decision. Unfortunately, the world was not going to be as understanding and as Kaito continued his story, Okita closed his eyes.

Once a man of the law, always a man of the law. Kudou wasn't going to rest until he'd either proven or disproven Kaito as Kid now that he had a clue, which meant eventually the three of them were going to head straight into an ugly battle with only one outcome. Unless Okita could somehow stack the odds against Kudou being able to prove Kaito was Kid. "Thankfully, Heiji-kun doesn't believe Kudou-kun about that. He believes your story more than Kudou-kun's at the moment, especially since he feels Kudou-kun left him alone to be attacked."

And he held no such grudge against Kaito. Not that Okita liked the idea of turning this around to make Kudou the bad guy. He was just...singlemindedly focused on catching Kid instead of focusing on the real task at hand. Okita knew that feeling all too well whenever he glanced at Himura so he couldn't exactly fault Kudou for his devotion. "Kudou-kun and I have something in common in a way. If I spoke to him about this, about him putting his personal feuds and cases above the work he must do here to survive - would that help or hinder?"

[flashyaudacity]

Hattori may have believed Kaito rather than Kudou, but that was part of the problem. "Hattori... asked me if Kudou was right—if I was Kid—after Kudou accused me. I told him I wasn't."

He looked down at his tray, picking up his spoon again. "I've been trying to do damage control again. I tried to talk to Kudou again as Kid—in Kid's suit; the clothes... ended up in my closet one day," he said. "And I think I stopped him from resigning from the club."

Kaito sighed. "I appreciate the offer to talk to Kudou, but... I think he's already willing to work together despite his suspicions. To be perfectly honest, I think I'm the one preventing it right now. I can't do anything that might make give him a reason to think he was right all along, so I've been watching what I say, what I do. I've got a lot more leeway as Kid than I do as Kaito, but I... can't ally with Kudou that readily as Kid. Not unless there's something we both want. But as Kaito... I've been avoiding Kudou a little since his accusation. Before you might talk to him, I think I should try talking to him one more time, without Hattori around."

[notachick.livejournal.com]

Okita watched Kaito closely and tried his best to keep his face as level as possible. Lying to Hattori probably didn't sit well with the thief considering how close their friendship had become since arriving here. There would always be a slight divide between them on Kaito's side, but Okita could see now that it was perhaps wearing on him. Keeping secrets may have been his business, but it certainly wasn't his pleasure.

When Kaito picked up his spoon again, Okita was surprised to hear that he had been working to keep Kudou in the club. Kaito himself wasn't extremely active in it and Okita had always thought his and Kudou's involvement were only through their friendship with Hattori. As long as Okita asked it of Heiji, the boy would remain in the Club - as proven by his continued association with it despite his open distaste for Homura.

Closing his eyes, Okita continued to listen to Kaito as he explained what he'd been doing. Kudou was going to keep working together with everyone, but the strain was going to be visible. Okita understood the differences between Kaito and Kid and the ways they could move. Finding a solution to this problem, however, was going to be much more difficult than merely understanding it. Everything was being held together tenuously by strings and by cutting even one of them, things were set to fall apart at the seams. Okita was almost tempted to just throw everyone into one big room and lock them in until they learned to get along, but he sincerely doubted that would work right now. Opening his eyes again, Okita smiled faintly and said, "I will defer to your authority on this, Kaito-kun. You know more about Kudou-kun and his methods than I do, and know better how he will react. Once you have spoken to him, let me know if things to do not go as planned and I will do my best."

Raising his eyes, Okita's smile widened. "But remember, you're important to us, too, Kaito-kun. I don't want you to feel you have to carry all of this on your own shoulders."

[flashyaudacity]

Kaito grinned, feeling a little better now. He really did appreciate Okita's offer to help, but if he could settle this on his own, it would be better. Less suspicious. The last thing he needed was Kudou to catch some hint of Okita being Kid's accomplice, because Hattori certainly didn't need to think the man he so obviously respected was helping a thief.

"Thanks," he said. "I'll let you know how it goes. And thanks for the concern, but my shoulders can handle it." Kaito held up one arm as if to show off his muscles, even if there wasn't much to show. "I may not like lying all the time, but I have a lot of practice at it. I'll be fine."

He dropped his arm down again, the grin fading away as he fixed Okita with a serious look. "But if I can't cover this up, or if I can't manage to make Kudou doubt his suspicions... I won't let him try to convince Hattori that he's right. It'll be my last resort, but I'll make sure to keep an ace up my sleeve: I'll come clean to Kudou if I absolutely have to. Maybe he'll even understand."

[notachick.livejournal.com]

Kaito's optimism was so refreshing. Okita couldn't help but let out a genuine smile when the teen flexed his muscles to reassure the swordsman that he could handle things. Okita knew Kaito would do his best and that in the end, things would work out, but it was the rocky road to get there that worried him. In this place, they needed each other so much. To lose even one person was a devastating blow, especially since it seemed so many people were disappearing and giving in. Or dying.

"As you wish," Okita said, nodding slightly as he turned back to his meal. "And if that is your last resort; I will act before it. You should not have to compromise yourself unless absolutely necessary. Kudou-kun seems like the type to see justice as absolute. the risk of him trying to arrest you and his actions breaking the bond you share with him and Heiji-kun is too great." The stability of the group had to be ensured. The upcoming battles and the strain that Okita himself was putting on it all was enough. The last thing Heiji and the other boys needed was to lose their main support. "Anything you need from me, Kaito-kun, and you will have it. The three of you must remain together."

The force in Okita's statement surprised even him and the swordsman lowered his gaze, staring at the table as the command in his voice softened. "The most important thing here is to stay close to the people that matter. I won't let your friendship be destroyed over something like this."