Chapter Text
Kaito withheld his excited squeal with the finesse of an academy actor. Today was the book signing of Kudou Shinichi, author of Deduction Queen and Elementary Conan (and Sleeping Totoro, but Kaito didn’t care for that one as much). Kaito had missed the panel the day before due to his own book signing, but he had made sure to keep today free. He was finally going to get all of his first editions signed!
And he was next in line!
“Who am I making this out to?” Kudou asked, face arranged in a friendly smile.
“K-Kaito!” Kaito replied, trying to keep a lid on his inner fanboy. As an author himself, he knew how tiresome it could get with over-exuberant fans.
“Kaito then,” Kudou’s smile brightened as he held out his hands for Kaito’s books, “All three series, I see.”
“Yeah,” Kaito confirmed bashfully, “Got into Deduction Queen first. Great female lead –strong and smart, unlike a lot of them these days.”
“I’m glad,” and Kudou looked glad, “She was my first foray into writing. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go.”
“Sleeping Totoro, though,” Kaito winced as Kudou opened that book to sign, “your writing, it felt kind of sad?”
“It was right after a break up that I wrote it,” Kudou admitted, cheeks red with embarrassment, “I think it kind of showed with Totoro being separated from his own wife.”
“Now that you mention it, I can see that,” and he could. Kaito wondered, briefly, how he didn’t know it before, but Kudou was known for being private with his life. Kaito couldn’t make connections if he didn’t have all the information.
Kudou picked up the last book and Kaito smiled.
“But you really made up for it with Elementary Conan,” Kaito smiled, “The premise is extraordinary and the main character is so endearing. And how many times he’s nearly gotten caught!”
“Yeah,” Kudou agreed, smile soft on his lips.
Maybe… maybe now was a good time to ask? They had a good rapport going, maybe Kaito could feel out the other author’s feelings on a cross-over with his own series, Moonlight Magician?
It… couldn’t hurt, right?
“Um,” Kaito began hesitantly. Kudou stopped mid-pen stroke. “Have you ever… thought of a cross-over…?”
“With Moonlight Magician?” Kudou finished and Kaito’s heart leapt into his throat. Kudou had known exactly what he was going to ask! So did that mean he’d thought about it before? Did Kaito have a chance?
The look on Kudou’s face said otherwise.
“If this is about the panel yesterday,” Kudou started angrily, all friendly pretense gone and Kaito realized abruptly it had been a mask, a fragile one. It had broken, “I already told you my thoughts on a cross-over with that series! And I don’t appreciate being nagged about it everywhere I go!”
“I…” Kaito took a step back, “I’m sor-!”
“Don’t you get that I have a life outside of writing?!” Kudou continued, standing now in his rage, “That Conan isn’t my heart and soul? That maybe I don’t wake up eager to write more about some poor schmuck that has to manipulate others in order to be heard?!”
“I-I don’t-!” Kaito could feel stares on his back, pointed, like it was his fault that Kudou had snapped.
How could he have known? He didn’t go to the panel!
“What if I decide I never want to write another novel?!” Kudou shouted now as he shoved his chair in under the table and stalked off, “Did you ever think of that?!”
Kaito stood there, unsure of what had just happened. Kudou had walked off, in the middle of a signing, all because Kaito wanted to possibly do a cross-over. And he threatened to never write more Elementary Conan?
“Sir,” a security guard at his elbow called to him, “I’m going to have to ask you to leave the booth.”
“Yeah,” Kaito answered, feeling like it was someone else’s mouth he was using, “Yeah, okay.”
“Your books?” the guard asked, less gruff when he realized Kaito was just as shocked as him.
Kaito tore his eyes from the door Kudou had left through to the thing that had started this all –Elementary Conan vol. 1, first edition, partially signed. The sight of it made him sick. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to read it again without thinking of this exact moment –wasn’t sure if he’d be able to read any of them.
Part of him wanted to just leave them there, to never have to look at them again.
The other, more sensible, part of him knew it wasn’t the books’ fault. They were inanimate objects, ones that apparently gave Kudou a lot of stress, but inanimate none-the-less. So he gathered them up in his arms, hugged them close, and fled the scene before anyone could recognize him as Kuroba Kaito, author of Moonlight Magician.
He didn’t realize he’d been crying until Aoko pointed out tear tracks on his face.