Chapter Text
-Ran-
Being in London- a place that was very special to Shin'ichi- made Ran realize just how strange it was to not think of him romantically anymore. Everything reminded her of him, but instead of resulting in any pain in her heart there was just a numb emptiness, like the spot he used to reside in was patiently waiting for any new love interest to come along. Was that really all he had been to her? A place holder?
No. He was still special. Which was why she felt so guilty about calling him earlier just to brag, and then snapping at him when he seemed so indifferent.
She slowed to a stop on the sidewalk. If she called him, she could apologize and ask for his help with the mysterious note. It was obviously the right thing to do, but that didn't make it any less uncomfortable. Still, she pulled her phone out and took a deep breath as she found him in her contacts and hit call.
"Hello?"
"Shin'ichi? Sorry for calling at this time… I know it's only 5 AM in Japan," She said, hoping she hadn't woken him up.
"Ah, n-no! Don't worry about it. I've actually been awake," he assured her.
"I see… I wanted to apologize for earlier, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, I was just so excited about being in a place you've always wanted to go."
"It's fine, it didn't really bother me. I was busy at the time anyway."
"Well, that's good, I guess. In any case, there's a code I need your help with."
"Oh, Conan-kun already forwarded that code to me. I've been awake thinking about it, but the first line, 'the loud sound of a rolling bell', is where I'm stuck…"
The deep, echoing chime of a loud bell rang out through the London streets.
"That's it!" Shin'ichi exclaimed, "It's Big Ben!!"
"Big Ben…?" Ran turned around and looked at famous clock tower not too far from her. A delayed, muted echo of its chimes came through Shin'ichi's end of the call.
"You can hear it, right? Big Ben's chime, that's what it refers to!"
"Hold on… Shin'ichi, are you… also in London??" Ran asked.
"Huh? N-no, I-."
"You are, aren't you! I can hear Big Ben through the phone! Why didn't you just tell me??"
"Ah- um, well-."
"If you're here we should meet up!"
"No!! Uh- I mean, I can't. I didn't want to tell you that I was here because I knew you'd want to hang out, but I can't. I'm too busy, and… I head back tomorrow morning anyway, so there's no time."
"Oh… alright," Ran sighed. The excitement that had swelled up in her chest at the thought of getting to see her friend deflated. It had been so long since the last time they had been able to properly hang out, and the times they did get to see each other seemed to be getting further and further apart.
"Sorry," Shin'ichi apologized, "I know I've been really busy a lot lately."
"That's for sure. You shouldn't work yourself to death, you know," Ran chided.
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
"Oh! I completely forgot I was in the middle of looking for Conan-kun! I gotta go, I'll talk to you later!"
They ended their call, and Ran resumed her search, feeling much better.
-Back in Japan, about a week later-
-Conan-
"Conan-kun," Ran's voice drew the shrunken teenager's attention away from his elementary school homework. "Would you like to see Kuroba-kun again?"
"Kaito-niichan…?" Conan asked, feeling his heart rate quicken.
"Yep. I'm going over to Aoko-chan's house for a few hours, and she said Kuroba-kun wouldn't mind hanging out with you again. You two had a lot of fun together, didn't you?"
"Y-yeah… um, okay, I'll go!" Conan smiled, attempting to mask his nervousness with his childish persona.
Of course he was thrilled to be able to see Kuroba-kun again, but he was worried about being able to act 'normal' around him. It had been so natural before he had realized his feelings, but now… there was a high probability of getting flustered and accidentally embarrassing himself.
He sighed heavily as he thought about it while following Ran out of the detective agency. His feelings for her had never been so troublesome.
-
Immediately inside the front door of the Nakamori household, Conan could see Kuroba-kun sitting at the dinning table, shuffling a deck of cards. The magician smiled and greeted them- his handling of the cards not faltering for a second, even with his attention divided- as Aoko-san lead them into the conjoined living room and kitchen area.
Conan's heart fluttered. In the couple weeks that had passed since they first met, he had considered the possibility that his memories might be a little… 'rose-colored', but Kuroba-kun was just as handsome and skilled as he remembered! He opened his mouth, about to greet the other teenage boy with a bright, "Hi, Kaito-niichan!" but was abruptly cut off by-
"Hi! We didn't meet properly last time. I'm Mouri Ran," Ran introduced herself in her usual polite manner.
"I'm Kuroba Kaito," the magician said with a casual, friendly smile, finally setting the deck of cards down. "It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too…" Ran trailed off, squinting ever-so-slightly and leaning closer to inspect his face.
"Um…" Kuroba-kun leaned back, visibly tense, "Is something wrong?"
"Sorry!" Ran apologized, backing out of his personal space. "You just… really look like my friend."
"Friend?" Aoko-san spoke up, "Is it the friend you told Aoko about? Kudou-kun?"
"Yeah! The two of them are practically identical," Ran said.
"You wouldn't happen to be talking about that… Kudou Shin'ichi, would you?" Kuroba-kun asked, "I've seen him on tv before, and I've gotta admit, we do look alike."
He knows about me? Excitement spiked in Conan's chest.
"What do you think about Shin'ichi-niichan?" He asked, looking up at the magician with an expression of innocent curiosity.
-Kaito-
Is this guy searching for an ego-boost or something? Kaito thought, internally raising an eyebrow. Externally, he reached a hand out to ruffle the detective's hair.
"I don't think I can really form an opinion about him from just seeing him on the news," He said.
The detective stiffened slightly under the magician's hand, and Kaito could've sworn he notice his face flush a couple shades pinker.
-Ran-
Ran sat cross-legged on her friend's bed, laughing so hard she could feel the burn in her abs. Aoko-chan was telling her stories of all the best pranks Kuroba-kun had pulled at their school.
"There's no way he actually did that!" Ran exclaimed through her laughter.
"It's true! Aoko was forced to go to detention with him because he got her involved!"
"Your life seems so much more fun than mine," Ran sighed when she was able to breath properly. "My class is more likely to run into a murder."
Aoko-chan's face contorted into an expression of perturbed horror. "That's awful!! How many times has that happened?!"
"Well… only once actually, on a ski trip."
"That‘a still more than the average person would ever run in to," Aoko-chan said, looking a little sick.
"Really?" Ran tilted her head slightly. "I run into way more mysteries outside of school…"
Her friend's eyes widened. "Ran-chan's life seems scary…" she murmured in almost a whisper.
"Well, how many murders have you witnessed?" Ran asked, tilting her head in genuine curiosity.
"Zero!"
"Oh…" In hindsight it was only natural that the average person had never actually seen someone die right in front of them. Ran was getting too accustomed to people dropping dead everywhere she went. "Must be the curse of hanging around detectives all the time…" she sighed.
Aoko-chan shifted uncomfortably on her bed, eager to change the subject. "Speaking of detectives… how is everything going with Kudou-kun?"
"Hm? You mean because of the whole 'gay' thing?" Ran asked. Aoko-chan was the only person she had told. Kazuha-chan, of course, already knew, and Shin'ichi had specifically requested she not tell Sonoko (yet), because Sonoko knowing was basically equivalent to the whole school knowing. Her friend nodded.
"Everything's fine between us," Ran said. "In fact, I'd even say our friendship has gotten better. There used to be this… 'tension' between us that I didn't even notice until it was gone. Like we were both holding our breath, waiting, trying to communicate through extremely vague hints, hoping the other would just magically understand everything."
"Aoko's situation with Kaito has been very similar," the other girl said, nodding in understanding. "It feels like we can finally be open with other like when we were kids."
"Exactly!" Ran agreed. She was beyond grateful to have a friend that was going through the same thing she was. It made the whole thing that much easier.
Just then Aoko-chan started giggling to herself.
"What is it?" Ran asked, leaning forward.
"Aoko was just thinking about how funny it would be if Kaito and Kudou-kun ended up dating," the girl said through her laughter.
The thought was so absurd, Ran burst out laughing as well. "Do you think they're even each others' type?" She asked. "They seem so different!"
"Well… they say opposites attract…" Aoko-chan mused. "Kaito has told Aoko that he likes smart guys…"
"Hmm… I've never asked Shin'ichi about his 'type' before… I wonder if he does like guys like Kuroba-kun…" Ran murmured, gazing thoughtfully up at the ceiling.
"Ran-chan should ask Kudou-kun! If Kaito is his type, we should totally introduce them to each other!" Aoko said, becoming excited at the idea.
"Well…" Ran couldn't help but smile as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. The idea was growing on her more by the second. "I suppose it can't hurt…"
-Meanwhile-
-Conan-
The boys were sitting shoulder to shoulder- well, shoulder to bicep thanks to the height difference- on Kuroba's living room couch. Conan had his head craned slightly forward to watch the screen of the handheld console the magician was showing him a new game on.
The game genuinely looked really fun, but mostly Conan was just thrilled to have an excuse to sit so close to Kuroba that their arms touched. It seemed so cliché to get excited over something so small, but Conan was starting to realize just how accurate all those incredibly cliché things about crushes really were.
-Kaito-
"Can you see okay like that?" Kaito asked, noticing the detective seemed to be holding his head at an uncomfortable angle.
"Yeah, I can see fine," Conan said.
"Are you sure?" A thought occurred to Kaito, a way to tease the detective just a tiny bit. "You can sit in my lap if you want. That way we can both see," he offered.
As expected, Conan immediately reeled back, cheeks pink and shoulders tense. "Ah, wha- I, um, that's- uh-," he stumbled over his words, definitely not accepting the offer but… not nearly so quick to decline as Kaito had expected…
"Oh, come on. It's fine, isn't it?" Kaito said, taking a chance and pulling the smaller boy directly into his lap. Conan made a strange sound halfway between a gasp and an embarrassed yelp. "There, that's better, right?" Kaito said, suppressing a laugh, and resumed his game as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about the situation.
"Y-yeah…" Conan stammered.
-Conan-
It's not like it was the first time he'd ever sat in someone's lap since getting shrunk, but it never got any less embarrassing. The fact that he had a crush on the person this time, and a very small part of him was actually, just a little bit excited, made it that much worse.
Surely he wouldn't do something like this if he knew who I was… right? Well, Kaitou Kid likes to tease me, but would he go this far?? It's possible… He sighed. I can't believe I'm still thinking about this…
"Is something wrong?" Kuroba asked, having heard the sigh. His voice didn't betray a single hint of teasing.
"Ah- No, I-."
"You can have a turn if you want."
"No, it's not that-." He was cut off by the sound of his cellphone ringing and immediately grasped the opportunity as an escape. "I need to take this!" He said, scrambling out of the magician's lap.
Damn it, it's the Shin'ichi phone… I can't let Kuroba hear me use the voice changing bow tie…
"I'm just gonna step outside for a moment!" He called back as he dashed out of the living room.
On the front steps, he held his phone to his ear and his bow tie to his mouth.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Shin'ichi," Ran's voice greeted him, "Are you busy right now?"
"Um… I was just in the middle of something," -and aren't you also with a friend right now?- "but I can talk for a minute."
"Okay, well, I just wanted to ask what kind of guys you're interested in."
"What kind of guys…" He trailed off as a hot blush overtook his cheeks. "Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?"
"I’m just curious, I guess…"
"Right… well…" Conan gazed up at the sky, his mind all too happy to think about Kuroba as he began to describe his interests. "I like guys that are… really fun to be around, guys that are talented, and smart, and… comfortable, but the most important quality would probably be… kindness."
"I see… you mentioned talented," Ran said, "How would you feel about, for example… a magician?"
"Magician?" The word seemed to snap Conan out of his dreamy trance. Why would she ask about that… unless… The heat returned to his face. "Uh, yeah, I mean, magicians are cool. I would date a magician," he said, growing increasingly flustered.
"Really?! How soon can you come back? There's someone you have to meet!"
"I… don't think I can come back anytime soon… sorry."
"Are you sure?" Ran pried, "Not even for a small visit?"
"Not even for a small visit."
"Oh… that's too bad. Well… be sure to tell me if you do get a chance, okay?"
"Yeah, of course. Well… I should probably get back to what I was doing."
"Okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye."
"Bye."
-Kaito-
Kaito hadn't meant to overhear anything. He had only followed the detective because he was curious if Tantei-kun would use that voice-changing bow tie of his to talk to someone as himself. Which turned out to be exactly the case. But just as he had been about to walk away, and let Shin'ichi have the rest of his conversation privately, he heard him say: "I like guys that are…"
Kaito immediately halted. Tante-kun likes guys? He thought, holding his breath to listen as the detective listed off a couple traits that were pretty common for people to look for in partners. There was a pause while the other person spoke. Kaito considered leaving again, still not wanting to intrude on the detective's privacy, but then…
"Magician?" Tantei-kun said. The word made Kaito's blood run cold. Then came the blow that really knocked the wind out of him. "I would date a magician."
Kaito staggered away from the door and into the kitchen, going over that list of things the detective likes and realizing it sounded an awful lot like himself. Suddenly all of Conan-kun's odd behavior- the quick glances, the blushing, the occasional stammering- was beginning to make a lot more sense.
There was no time for him to adequately sift through and come to terms with what he'd learned. The front door opened, and his poker face immediately took over, shoving his thoughts aside with well-practiced ease. He opened the snack cupboards and- just as the detective was passing the kitchen- said, "Oh, you're done? Would you like some popcorn, cookies, chips, ice cream…?"
Tantei-kun entered the kitchen. "What kind of chips do you have?"
They got their snacks and drinks together and returned to the living room to continue playing games. Kaito, curious about his new discovery, decided to put a pause on teasing the detective, and instead observe how he reacted to their casual interactions.
It took awhile, but eventually Conan-kun relaxed and opened up again, similar to how he'd been the first time they'd hung out. After a good hour of laughter and energetic conversation, Kaito began experimenting.
First he leaned just a little too close to watch the detective play. Then he intentionally bumped their hands together when they both reached for more chips at the same time, and commented on how small Conan-kun's hands were. He held his own hand up for them to compare. Tantei-kun was visibly tense and flustered as he pressed his hand against the magician's palm. And finally, towards the end of their time together, Kaito used his thumb to wipe some crumbs off the corner of the detective's mouth. The evidence was crystal clear. Conan-kun absolutely had a crush on him.
-
After Mouri-chan and Conan-kun left, Kaito found himself at his computer, typing 'Kudou Shin'ichi' into the search bar. He had looked up pictures of the detective before, to reference for disguises. This time, however, he gazed at the images and wondered… what it might be like to be in a relationship with him.
Well, he is pretty damn hot…