Make-or-break

It’s a beautiful winter evening, the dark blue sky contrasts with the Christmas decorations in the streets.
The first snow of the year has yet to fall.
The streets are bustling with people rushing to buy presents and preparing for the coming festivities.
And yet there’s this silence. The colors are silent compared to summer, the smells are silent due to the cold air and the sounds seem to get lost somewhere in the vastness of the atmosphere, muffled by the icy fog and a warm bonnet.

At the end of a street that’s normally not that busy stands a huge mansion. And today, Suzuki Jirokichi has again challenges Kaitō Kid to steal a diamond in order to test his newest high security system.
Inside the building, the mood is anything but silent. The rooms are overheated and packed with people who have gathered to see the legendary thief’s show. Everyone is chattering in expectation for what’s to come.
Then finally, a minute before the announced time everyone starts counting the seconds until Kid appears.

It’s not the first Kid heist Shinichi attended, not by far. It doesn’t even seem like a special one.
As always Kid shows up right on the second the countdown ends, easily steals the gem – of course he stages it in a beautifully dramatic way – and runs away from the utterly confused taskforce without a hitch.
Shinichi, on the other hand, is once again the only one who didn’t fall for the thief’s trickeries.
He waits until the last of the taskforce members disappears around the nearest corner, then takes chase.
Little does he know that this particular night would change his life… forever.

When they’re standing on the rooftop, just the two of them, Shinichi suddenly becomes weirdly self-conscious in front of the thief. Panting he stands in front of the open roof door before he turns around to lock it.
Kid laughs while checking the diamond. It sounds endearing and mocking at the same time.

“Here you go… DETECTIVE.” he says handing the gem over to Shinichi. He emphasizes the last word in a way that makes Shinichi think there’s more to it than he lets on.
Irony, he thinks bitterly.

“What do you mean?” he asks instead, stowing away the diamond in his pocket.

Kid chuckles and beckons for Shinichi to come closer.
“Tell me detective, why did you lock the door?”

Shinichi frowns, gritting his teeth.
“I want to catch YOU on my OWN.” he says bluntly.

“Ooooh! So my dear detective is looking for some alone time with his boyfriend!” Kid sing songs.

Shinichi gets red. He tells himself it’s because he’s angry.
Yes, of course he’s angry! How could he not be when the thief mocks him in such an audacious way…
Anyway, he’s bright red and can’t decide whether he wants to explode or be swallowed up by the floor.
“… shut up…” he grumbles.

Kid’s grin is broader than ever.
“You know, detective…” he says, “I’m only telling the truth. I’m a criminal, an internationally wanted one at that, and you, my dear, are a detective who as I clearly recall swore to take me down with his own hands six years ago.”

Shinichi can only guess Kid is playfully raising an eyebrow hidden beneath the brim of his hat.
He wants to object but finds no words for it. Before he can utter a word Kid continues.

“So detective, aren’t you supposed to catch me?” he says, taking a few steps towards Shinichi. “If so, you can! Look, I’m even giving you the perfect opportunity…” Kid nonchalantly takes the detective’s hand and places his own wrist into it, curling each of Shinichi’s slender fingers carefully around it, as if to tighten his grip.

Shinichi gets more… angry.
So angry he even feels his ears heat up.
Oh God, this is bad for my heart… he thinks incidentally.

“Oy detective!” Kid wakes him up. “Did you forget your handcuffs at home?” He leans in, close enough for Shinichi to feel his breath against his ear. “I’ll gladly go get them with you if you want…” he whispers. “Why aren’t you doing anything? Didn’t you want to catch me so badly?”

Kid is too close.
Shinichi can smell the remnants of stage smoke, acrylic paint and lighter fluid on him.
There’s also something like… lemon? … pine needles? It smells surprisingly good.
Shinichi gives up.
“Haaa… just go… you moron…” he says and sits down on the floor with an audible thunk. He waves weakly when kid salutes him and jumps over the railing, then stares into his empty hand where Kid’s wrist had been.
This time he blames the cold wind for the color of his cheeks.

While Shinichi wraps up the case with his fellow officers Kaito is still hanging from his glider, searching for a silent and secluded spot to land without being seen.
He spots a dark alleyway which seems to be narrow enough for his glider, so he descends, steering towards it.

Once he arrives between the houses his eyes have to adapt to the sudden darkness and he has to rely on his other senses to steer. Everything goes well until a gust of wind makes him swerve and piece of metal protruding from a damaged fire escape gets stuck in the fabric of his cape.
It slows him down abruptly and changes his trajectory to the right, slamming him brutally into the metal construct. The other end of the broken bar gets caught in his vest, ripping it open and scratching him all across his stomach.

Kaito swears.
He’s now hanging from the fire escape solely by the metal bar hooked into his vest, his hang glider, torn to shreds, dangles a few meters above him, unreachable.
He has no idea how far he’s up from the ground. It hurts when he tries to look down, the iron bar pokes his wound at each of his movements. Kaito can feel the blood trickle down onto his pants. It’s warm. The dark spots on his white clothes are probably the only thing he can see in the darkness. And he sees them double.

Kaito takes all the resolve he has, grabs the last remnants of his cape which are still attached to his shoulders and bites down on them to muffle his voice. Then he grabs the fire escape and pulls himself up, gasping at the burning pain from his stomach. He can’t even scream. The pain is too intense.
He manages to hold on long enough to free himself from the broken bar before he faints and falls down landing in a dumpster.

When he comes to he feels weak. Really weak.
This isn’t good, he thinks and laboriously climbs out of the dumpster. A shudder runs through his body, he’s lost a lot of blood. Still, he can’t go to a hospital. He’s a criminal after all, and his white clothes are not exactly inconspicuous. So he drags himself along the alleyway towards a house whose lights are off in hopes of finding some first aid equipment before somebody sees him.

Shinichi is finally on his way home. He’s dead tired after wiping off wet paint from walls and documenting the whole mess Kid has left at the scene. Now, the only thing he’s looking forward to is his bed. Not even a nice warm dinner sounds intriguing to him at this point. I’m a detective… why do I have to clean up after every heist that guy pulls off, Shinichi thinks but he knows very well coming to the heist and helping with the cleanup was his own choice.

Yawning he fishes his key ring out from his pocket and trudges up the front stairs fumbling for the key to his front door. The streetlights in the alley are broken since last night, so it’s quite dark and Shinichi has trouble finding the keyhole. He crouches down and brings his head close to the door in order to see better when he hears something. The noise is coming from INSIDE his apartment!

Out of instinct he checks the door and to his dismay finds it open.
He sneaks in, swearing in his mind that he’s seen enough thieves for the month but stops in his tracks when he sees a crouching figure. Something is weird. This doesn’t look like a normal theft.
Backlit by a tiny flashlight – the purpose of which is obviously that the light won’t be seen outside through the windows – the man wipes something dark off the floor.

Shinichi frowns. Is that blood? He reaches for the light switch.
The sudden movement betrays his presence, the man winces, then swears in a wheezing voice.
The light goes on.

Shinichi is taken aback by the scene playing out in front of his eyes. His living room is littered with bandages, tissues, q tips and blood. In the middle of it sits a man about his own age wearing one of his tracksuits. He’s frantically trying to clean up the mess he made. When he sees Shinichi he looks nothing short terrified. The look doesn’t suit him…

“Oh my god!” Is all Shinichi can say after a seemingly endless moment of gaping. “What happened?!... And why are you in my apartment?”

“I…” The other begins but breaks off clutching his side. His face is distorted from pain.

“Did you take the painkillers?” Shinichi asks concerned and points towards the first aid kit. The man nods. When he takes his hand off his side it comes away red.

“You need to redo the bandages. They’re leaking. Here, let me help you…”
Shinichi crouches down next to the man and helps him take off the clothes. The bandages are loosely wound around the man's muscular torso and threaten to slip out of place at the tiniest movement. Obviously he didn't have the strength nor the flexibility to tighten them enough.
Shinichi takes them off, gasping at the horrendous scratch across his belly and begins dressing the wound properly. He pours ethanol into a glass and drenches a cotton ball with it in order to disinfect the wound.

“Sorry, this might hurt.” He warns the man before the cotton touches the wound but the man only smirks bitterly.

“I’ve had worse.” The man says and tries to smile. “Don’t apologize.”

“… You should go to a hospital.” Shinichi says, aware of the fact that the man broke into his house to treat himself.
He doesn’t say it solely out of concern, he needs confirmation.

“Sorry, no hospitals…” is the reply he gets.
As expected.

After that the man remains silent. The painkillers seem to have kicked in.
Shinichi wants to ask him a lot of questions but he lets him rest.

When Kaito wakes up a while later he feels a lot better. The painkillers are working wonders, the bleeding has stopped and he isn’t dizzy anymore, instead he’s really hungry.
What’s confusing though is that he seems to be lying on a soft surface… Wait! Is that a bed? He doesn’t remember how he got there.
Confused he turns his head only to look straight in the face of… Kudo Shinichi. He flinches. Ah right… of all the places I could break in…

“You awake?” the detective asks him. He is trying to be nice but Kaito can’t help but notice the annoyance in his voice. He looks tired. Kaito feels a little bit guilty, since it’s probably entirely his fault the detective looks so worn out. He made his rival – and crush – run after him for more than half an hour after all…

“I’ve made you some porridge.” the detective says and walks over to the kitchen to get the bowl he prepared. “Your body needs a lot of energy after losing so much blood, so it’s important that you eat, whether you want to or not.” he mutters when he returns from the kitchen and walks past the table towards Kaito.

“Wait!” Kaito sits up abruptly, the falling sheets revealing his bandaged torso. “You don’t have to bring it here, I feel well enough to come over and eat at the table.”

He gets up and the detective blushes. He doesn’t quite know why though.

Kaito sits at the table and eats Shinichi’s porridge.
It’s a bit bland but he doesn’t care at all since it’s made by the detective.

However, the mood is weird. He’s the only one eating and Shinichi, sitting opposite him behind a bowl of oranges, just watches him with a sour expression. None of them says a word until Kaito can’t take it anymore and searches for a way to cheer the detective up. He grabs some oranges and starts juggling.
Shinichi comes to life.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Come on," Kaito says, "why are you so down? I’m hosting a private show to cheer you up but it doesn’t even get a laugh out of you… Should I light them on fire?”

Shinichi rolls his eyes. “Shut up… I’m just tired... and I thought you're supposed to be hurt.” he says. “And why are you trying to impersonate that thief?”

“Aww, because I know you like him!” Kaito says and grins cheekily.

Shinichi blushes embarrassed. “I don’t… Why do you even know I like him?!” He feels betrayed. Was he so bad at acting? What does this even mean for his career as a detective if even some random stranger was able to find out?!
Or – he studies the injured man closely for the first time this evening – it can’t be, right?
Well he is quite muscular and has a similar chin… but then his own chin is like this too.
Other than that Shinichi doesn’t really know.
Kid might indeed have blue eyes and black spiky hair like the man in his apartment but it’s always covered by the shadow of his hat and that monocle he wears. Shinichi can’t help but wonder what Kid looks like in…

“Detective, are you checking me out?” the man asks suddenly...

... and that’s when somebody knocks loudly on the door.

“Oy Kudo! We’re back from that real-estate fraud revenge murder case!” Takagi yells, vastly overestimating the house's soundproofing. “You missed a real psychopathic businessman!”
Sato laughs. They’re both overly ecstatic and probably already had a few drinks.

There’s no telling whether they’ll burst through that door or not! Shinichi thinks panicked. Flushed like a tomato, he ushers the half-naked man in his apartment into his wall closet and closes the door.
“Please put something on and stay hidden. This is not good…” he whispers, then rushes to the door.

Takagi and Satō come in and assault Shinichi with slaps on the back.

“Hey Kudo! You can’t imagine what you’ve missed! Lemme tell you, it was a real drama over there! So many horrible people, like… literally everyone was bad… I swear!” Takagi is a little too enthusiastic, considering people died and others cried. “You remember the one who inherited the house?”
Shinichi nods, slightly annoyed at the surprise visit – even though he really likes his two colleagues, he really does, but not right now.
“Well he didn’t!” Takagi continues. “He…”

“It was an impostor!” Satō interrupts him. “And the one who died was his friends daughter… her dowry included real-estate that wasn’t even her family’s property… and the groom was a swindler and he………………..…”

Shinichi is too tired to listen. He plans to just sit there and nod or say “yes” sometimes until the two go home again, when he hears a loud clatter from the closet.

Next thing he knows is a still half naked man falling out with a pile of clothes. The buttons of the shirt he wears are shifted and he missed to close one altogether. It’s obvious he did it blindly and in a hurry. He’s in the middle of putting on pants and apparently he got tangled in the process.
“Ouch.” He says and blushes, then he smiles. He looks dangerously handsome with his tousled hair.

Takagi and Satō gape in disbelief, they exchange a glance, then look at Shinichi. Satō blushes.
“Umm… Kudo? Did we… interrupt something?” she asks.

The man on the floor smirks.
Before Shinichi can say something he props himself up on one arm and introduces himself.
“Hello detectives! I’ve heard so much about you from Shinichi here…“
Shinichi inhales sharply and gets beet red upon hearing his given name without any honorifics.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Kaito, Kuroba Kaito, I’m Shinichi’s boyfriend.” He beams proudly.
Shinichi wishes the floor was a little bit more carnivorous but as usual it didn’t even appear to be hungry.

“Oh my… why didn’t you tell us?” Satō says visibly pleased and pats Shinichi on the shoulder.
Shinichi ignores her and turns around.
“Why did you… come out?!” he asks the man – who was apparently called Kaito and was apparently his boyfriend – and buries his head in his hands in defeat.

“Well, honey, you told me to get dressed AND stay still in the closet but when they came in I was in the middle of putting on some pants… and you know how hard it is to stay still on one leg... of course I lost my balance.” the man explains.
Honey?!?!?! Shinichi thinks unable to sort out his emotions concerning the matter.
He lets out a long and loud sigh. This wasn’t how he expected the rest of his evening to play out.

“Kudo, this is a reason to celebrate!” Satō says and Takagi nods, blushing. “Come on," she continues, "we have a lot to catch up on and you two need to spill some beans! Tell us everything! All the juicy deets, and don’t you dare leave anything out!”
She drags Shinichi towards the door.
“We’re going for drinks. It’s decided, two against two… and we’re both older so we have an additional vote. Kuroba, you’re coming too, put on some respectable clothes and hurry up!”
"Hey, that's election fraud!" Takagi protests grinning. "... besides, adults should get one additional vote each." he chuckles.

Dammit Takagi... Shinichi thinks. He's witty in the wrong situations!
When he turns around, he notices with dismay that his “boyfriend” is all too happy to oblige.

“Wait” Shinichi exclaims.
The glass with the ethanol I is still on the table where he’d put it after dressing Kuroba’s wound.
He knows there’s no way around what’s to come, after all it’s not the first time he’s roped into having drinks with his colleagues. So if he’s going through with it, he can’t do it sober.
Defiantly he grabs the glass and downs it with one gulp.

“Alright” he says. “Let’s go. You ready... Kaito?”

Kuroba, who is putting on a pair of Shinichi’s jeans, chokes on his own saliva and nearly loses his balance again.

Later at the bar Shinichi orders a craft beer with an expression so annoyed it could hurt the dead.

“Honey, the main reason we’re here is to celebrate the success in solving that case you three had been working on! … I’ll take the same as him please...” Kuroba says.
The waiter looks at him with an expression that says “ugh, lover’s quarrel”. Kuroba ignores him.
“We’re celebrating to honor you and still you look like you’re about to blink SOS at me in morse code… Come on, cheer up a little, I know you’re tired after all the things we did today but it’s not that bad, isn’t it?”

Oh my...
Shinichi sees Satō look at a violently blushing Takagi with a wicked grin.
He twisted those words intentionally! He thinks irked. And he’s having way too much fun…

“Well, sweetie…” Shinichi says annoyed and jabs Kuroba right into his bandages. “I think they’re gonna INTERVIEW us about our LOVE all evening instead.” Contrary to his intention, Kuroba puts an arm around his shoulder and leans his head against Shinichi’s. He smells bad, kind of like trash and smoke, probably from when he got hurt... but there's a familiar hint of lemon or pine needles in it. Shinichi can't put a finger on where he'd smelled it before. It hurts his pride as a detective. He tells himself that he has to pay more attention to smells in the future.

“Well, our story is worth the time isn’t it?" Kuroba continues smiling. "I could relive it over and over… it wouldn’t get boring in the slightest.” Shinichi shudders. Kuroba is way too close, the cheeky bastard… but he just looks so undeniably handsome when he smiles.

“Ohooo!” Satō chuckles. “That sounds promising…” her smile looks somewhat vicious. "So what happened? How’d you two meet?”

Kuroba's expression brightens instantaneously.

“Aah well, it sounds really dramatic, but the first time we met was on a rooftop." Kuroba says without hesitation. "Shinichi had seen somebody who was planning to jump over the railing and rushed there to stop him. I had seen it too and arrived a little bit earlier than him. In the end the man didn’t fall down and we all enjoyed a nice evening lying on our backs on the roof, looking at the stars.”
Weird… Shinichi thinks. How did he even come up with this story?

“The next time we met was at a charity event. It was kind of like a rally for the rights of the citizens as well as against the destruction of a historical monument and public property. I was already at the site, you see, it’s an important place for me, since I confessed to my crush there when I was in elementary school. Even though she has long since found a boyfriend the place was still filled with fond memories for me. Who would have thought I’d find the love of my life at one and the same place…”
Kuroba’s hand travels up and down Shinichi’s shoulder as if to seek for confirmation. He looks at him and smiles warmly. Shinichi awkwardly returns it. The situation makes him feel sort of uncomfortable… although it’s not as bad as he thought it’d be. Somehow the firm touch of Kuroba’s warm hand is strangely comforting.

“Wow! You’re a real romantic!” Satō exclaims and Kuroba chuckles lightly. “Yeah, maybe I am…"
He looks dreamy for a moment, gazing into space. Then he focuses his attention on Satō and Takagi again and continues the story.
"Well, anyway, Shinichi happened upon the rallying crowd by coincidence and we met each other among all the people somehow. I guess it was destiny.” He tilts his head towards Shinichi. “Right honey?”
Shinichi suddenly feels like he’s being interrogated. He looks at Kuroba in confusion but nods nevertheless, faking a smile.
What’s he getting at? It feels as if Kuroba somehow isn’t freely inventing those stories but rather tweaking the truth somehow, setting up a riddle for Shinichi.
Have we met before? He asks himself, feeling like he’s searching for the answer too far. Or rather… he has a pretty good idea what Kuroba is trying to tell him but his mind refuses to accept the obvious.

“Yeah.” he says, lost in thought. “Maybe it was indeed destiny.”

Kuroba chuckles lowly. “I wonder…”
He pauses for effect before he continues.

“I was distributing roses to the people to cheer them up and gift them with a memorable evening. I think that’s when Shinichi saw me and fell in love with me…” Kuroba smirks cheekily. “Or were you jealous?”

When Shinichi hears the word “roses” in combination with this particular grin, something in him clicks. He can't deny it anymore. His inner voice begins to scream.
It's HIM after all! What is he thinking?! Does he have no shame? There’s three cops in this room, THREE COPS! … Also how did he get hurt?! he was fine moments before... And why did he have to break into Shinichi’s apartment of all places?
He has to fight the urge to slap the bastard who’s still draped around his shoulders all too comfortably.
Instead he decides to return the favor of every singe idiotic remark Kuroba – Is that even his real name? – throws at him for the rest of the evening in an equally provocative manner.

“What do you think, sweetie?” He says, laughing and Satō raises an eyebrow. “Of course I’d get jealous seeing you give roses to random girls!”
Jealous my ass… Shinichi thinks. I was annoyed because he was stealing a damn clocktower!
“… Besides, they were red. Have you never heard of the meaning behind a rose’s color?”
Kid looks surprised for a fleeting moment, Shinichi might not have noticed it if he weren’t so close to the man’s face but he DID notice and he’s proud of it.

“Hey!” Kid says in mock complaint. “I was the one who taught you this!”

“Yeah yeah, it’s alight. Don’t take it seriously, I was just teasing you.” Shinichi says, finally beginning to be somewhat satisfied with the events of the evening.
He’s already quite drunk at this point though. It makes him bolder than he usually is so he takes the initiative and gives inventing their story a shot.
“Anyway,” he says, turning away from Kid and facing his colleagues again, “we also found out about both our love for books at some point. Once he even stole a book from the library in my family's mansion!”

“Stole?!” Kid exclaims, desperately trying to look upset but failing miserably. “I didn’t steal it, I borrowed it!”

Shinichi grins.
“Oh, did you now?”

“Well… I might have taken it without your consent… but I did give it back…”

“You always return things and I really like that about you but that’s not the point!”

“Oh… thanks! But what’s the point then?”

“The point?” Shinichi tosses back the rest of his third beer, slams the empty glass on the table and attempts to snarl at KID. It sounds more like a pitiful gurgle though, which makes Satō laugh so hard people turn around to look at her.
Shinichi ignores them all.

“The point is...” he says, changing the tone of his voice twice on the last word to emphasize his statement.
“Earlier today when I got home…" he doesn't really know where to begin, "... I mean I saw you before, you were fine then… but when I got home I saw you and you were a total mess and… well at least you tried to clean up afterwards. BUT WHY OF ALL PLACES DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT IN MY Hhmmmmpphhhh!” Before he can say anything more, Kid grabs his head with both hands and kisses him... on the mouth. Shinichi has probably tried his best to twist his words but Satō and Takagi could still figure out the truth if they heard too much.

“I went in there... to steal your heart.” he says before he Kisses Shinichi again.
Shinichi tries to free himself first but gives up soon and plays along instead. Or at least that’s what he tells himself he’s doing.
Damn pick-up line…

When he glances over to his fellow detectives he sees both of them sitting there with beet red faces. Takagi is intently studying the floor on his right and Satō is watching them, a bit too fascinated. Then she turns towards Takagi and softly taps him on the shoulder. He flinches and hurriedly turns towards her, trying to ignore what’s happening in front of him.
“Hey,” Satō whispers, “I think we should give them some privacy, don’t you think?” She smiles.
Takagi gets even more red. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” he says.
The two detectives get up from their chairs, put on their winter coats and wish them both a beautiful evening together. Then they hurriedly back out of the bar.

Kaito waves them goodbye with one hand and turns Shinichi around with the other, so that the latter has no choice but to wave too. Then he leans in and whispers: “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t report me, tantei-kun?” He cheekily pecks Shinichi on the nose.
The detective keeps on smiling until the door closes, then he looks directly into Kaito’s eyes and scowls. Contrary to his beliefs, it looks rather phony. Kaito laughs.
Shinichi’s face is pretty red, Kaito isn’t sure whether it’s from anger or for some other reason.

“YOU!” Shinichi exclaims. He would have liked to yell but he holds back since they are in public.
“You shameless bastard! I bet you fell out of that closet on purpose!”

Kaito is still laughing. “I didn’t…” he says as if it was a question.

“Well, you were obviously enjoying yourself at my expense!”

“When am I not?” Kaito asks, sporting one of his signature smirks.

“Gaaaah could you NOT make fun of me for five seconds?” Shinichi is desperate at this point – also his heart is pounding way too fast.

“Okay.” Kaito says but Shinichi doesn’t buy it.
Still, the thief has grown awfully silent so he takes a deep breath and tries to berate him again.

“Do you know how shocked I was to find you bleeding like this, only to find out that it was HALF as bad a bit later? It looked terrible!”

Kaito’s smile vanishes for a second.
“It WAS terrible… but your painkillers are crazy strong and you are the best at making me forget my aches.”

Shinichi’s expression fluctuates between concern and anger. In the end the anger wins.
“Are you aware it makes a difference that it was YOU who was bleeding in my apartment and not some random stranger?” he asks.

“Oh! So I am NOT a random stranger?”

“No you're not!”

“And why might that make a difference?” The Kid-smirk is back. Shinichi sighs.

“You could've told me…” He says loudly and slams both hands on the table for emphasis. “You could have said you have feelings for me a long time ago…” He pauses and looks down on the table. “… because they are mutual.” He mumbles barely audible.

“... Oh................... OH!” Kaito says, taken aback.

“Well then…”