Archive of Our Own ^beta

Overlooking the city, on a moonlit night, KID lands on a rooftop.

He smirks, “Another successful and fun heist!”

“Now then, is this the lady I’m looking for?” He holds the gem up to the moon.

‘Though, I’m not expecting much since all the others were duds…’ he narrows his eyes as he looks through the gem.

In his fingers, the gem’s crystal clear with nothing inside of it.

“...Still,” KID smiles forlornly as he puts the gem away.

‘Not what I’m…’ KID stares up at the moon, “Looking for—”

KID flinches, sensing a presence, ‘Snipers? They’re,’ he points his card gun in front of him, “Here!!”

After a pause of nothing, “...” KID breathes a sighs of relief, sheepishly putting his card gun over his shoulder, “Damn, my senses must be off tonight—”

He senses it but his body’s too late to dodge.

Bang!

His eyes widened as he’s shot through the shoulder from behind, spilling blood. Feeling the initial pain, he grits his teeth to settle himself, and glares.

Holding himself together, he quickly escapes the rooftop, flying with his hang glider despite the pain.

When he crash landed in an alley, he was barely conscious, having lost a lot of blood.

Panting, he leans against some garbage bags, quickly changing into black. ‘KID can’t be caught here…’ he grimaces through the pain.

He takes deep breaths, he lays there for a while, almost falling asleep… when he hears footsteps coming towards him. He chooses to pretend to be asleep.

Meanwhile…

Vermouth and Bourbon were just finishing up their business for the night when they passed by an alley and smelled blood.

When they go to check it out, they see a young man in black, bleeding from the shoulder lying there.

“What do you want to do?” Bourbon asks.

“...” Vermouth sighs, “Take him to the car.”

Blinking for a moment, Bourbon nods as he picks up the boy, trying not to jostle his shoulder too much, and carries him to the car.

The boy’s eyes slowly open, his blue eyes blurry, groaning from the pain. It’s what he says next that surprised Bourbon.

“...Nee-san?”

“Quiet, Junior,” Vermouth immediately replies.

The boy just grumbles as Bourbon gently puts him in the backseat. Apparently, it was warmer than outside, so the boy quickly fell asleep.

After getting to a safehouse and patching the boy up, the gem left on the table, Vermouth heavily sighs, head in her hands.

Bourbon serves her some tea.

Vermouth just sips it before saying, “I’m leaving him to you for now.” Him referring to the boy sleeping in the futon.

Bourbon nods. Of course, he has a lot of questions…

"Bourbon…keep Junior a secret," Vermouth requests.

He blinks, "Sure but…why?"

"Because I honestly don't want him to get involved in the Organization," she answers.

This surprised Bourbon. He’s silent before sighing, “...alright. But just who is he?”

Vermouth just smiles, “He’s Kaitou KID Junior.”

‘Kaitou KID?!’ Bourbon’s eyes widened in shock. This boy is Kaitou KID… and Vermouth apparently has a soft spot for him.

Before Vermouth leaves, she says, “Inform me about how he’s doing later.”

Bourbon could only nod as she closed the door, locking it behind her. Then, he collapses onto the couch, sighing heavily, head in his hands.

He glances at the still sleeping KID before softly brushing his cheek.

‘Kaitou KID…is a literal child. A minor has been causing all kinds of trouble, and Vermouth… cares for him, and is actively protecting him.’

Having treated his wounds, of course he’s seen the collection of scars on his body. Much more than he anticipated.

‘I suppose my questions will be answered after he wakes up,’ Bourbon muses as he goes to the kitchen to prepare some coffee. It’s gonna be a long night.

When Kaito woke up, he groaned, blinking groggily. He remembers getting shot by a sniper, crash landing, and… being picked up by Nee-san and Bourbon. Eyes widening, he sits up before grimacing in slight pain. His shoulder was patched up. Then he hears breathing, and sees Bourbon asleep next to him.

Shivering in fright, Kaito gets his bearings. ‘Seems he was worried about me…’

“...I know you’re awake,” Kaito sighs.

Bourbon smiles as he opens his eyes and sits up, “How’s your shoulder?”

“...a bit painful, but nothing I can’t handle.”

“Good. That’s good,” he nods.

“Then how about you answer my questions, Kaitou KID-kun?” Bourbon gives him a coffee shop smile.

Kaito sweat-drops, “...did Nee-san tell you?”

“Yeah,” he nods, “About that… What's your relationship with Vermouth?”

“...” Kaito sighs, “We had the same teacher, that's all.”

“The previous KID?”

“Yeah…” he nods, sadly smiling, “We’re practically like siblings, in a way.”

‘So Vermouth got her disguise technique from the previous KID… That makes sense,’ Bourbon nods before asking the important question, “Then why is a minor like you playing KID?”

Kaito’s silent, trying to turn away from him. However, Bourbon just grasps his chin, making the boy look him in the eye.

He hums, “I can guess… The previous KID is dead. He was killed by whoever shot you, or at least associated. An organization, perhaps?”

Kaito’s eyes trembled. That gave Bourbon all the answers he needed.

“And all the heists? It’s to lure them out, isn’t it?” he continues, “You’re using yourself as live bait while checking and protecting the jewels and their owners, right?”

Bourbon leans in closer, whispering, “And all for the sake of revenge.”

Kaito shut his eyes, trembling in fear as he felt Bourbon’s breath so close to his ears.

Bourbon moves away, letting the boy go before patting his head, ruffling his soft curly hair.

Kaito blinks as he’s being patted by the man’s large hand.

“Of course, that’s just my speculation,” he smiles.

“H-Haa…” Kaito sighs, but is still tense even as the tremors eased. It’s been a long time since he’s had his head pat like this… it feels good though, so he leans into it.

As Bourbon prepares breakfast, he asks, “What about the jewel?”

Kaito looks at the jewel on the table, huffing, “...it’s not what I’m looking for, so I’ll send it back.”

“Hm. I see,” he nods.

“Are you well enough to get home on your own? I can drive you, if you want?” Bourbon offers.

“Thanks for the offer, but I can manage,” Kaito smiles like the sun as he heads out the door.

“OK then. Be careful out there,” Bourbon smiles, sending him off.

“Yeah!” Kaito waves as he leaves.

After the door closes, Furuya sighs, thinking about how much of the truth of KID’s purpose he’d guessed correctly. Considering how the boy reacted, he probably guessed pretty much all of it correctly.

Just thinking about that boy fighting an entire organization alone is… disconcerting to him. Plus with his connections to Vermouth and possibly the Kudos, he technically qualifies as a protection target worthy of being in Public Security custody.

With all that in mind… Furuya smirks as he makes a phone call.

“Kazami…”

“Hai?”

After giving instructions, Furuya hangs up, an evil smile on his face, ‘I may be able to sway him…and make him my collaborator.’

A few days later…

Kuroba Kaito was just leaving school for the day…when he saw a familiar blonde at the gates.

Flinching, he looks around, trying to find an escape route…but the man just smiles, waving him over, “Kuroba-kun!”

Brow twitching, Kuroba tries to run, but unfortunately, the blonde was faster, catching his wrist.

“C’mon! I’ll make you chocolate ice cream,” the blonde smiles, gripping the younger’s wrist tightly.

Feeling like his wrist was gonna break, Kaito could only nod, “Hai!”

After Kaito admits defeat, the blonde takes Kaito into his RX-7, and drives away.

In the car…

“I’m Furuya Rei of the Public Security Bureau. Kuroba Kaito-kun, I’m bringing you into Public Security custody,” Furuya says as he drives, “And as a special exception, you’re now under me as collaborator number 1412.”

Kaito freezes in shock for a moment before heavily sighing. He whines, “...Furuya-san, you’re scary , you know that?!”

“Why, thank you!” Furuya smiles happily.

Pouting, Kaito mutters, “...there better be chocolate ice cream…”

“Hai hai.”

Furuya did give Kaito homemade chocolate ice cream to make up for scaring him so much. It was delicious.