Chapter Text
Kudou Shinichi couldn't believe what he had heard, no, he couldn't, and he didn't understand it, and damn it, he didn't want to reason how the hell they had come to that.
Heiji Hattori stood, looking at little Conan Edogawa, who seemed to be in shock; his lips slightly parted and staring into nothingness after his words. Hattori didn't regret it, not at all. Although he had to admit that this was not the moment, much less the instant to let that know. Shinichi, in the body of little Conan, then turned to look at him while he was seen taking in a bit of air before facing him.
"You can't be serious, Hattori," he said, the small one sounding somewhat troubled.
Then the brunet lowered his gaze unable to hold it to his best friend. Looking into those big, beautiful blue eyes made him tremble slightly, and he knew that with his words he had caused quite a big mess.
"If you really think I'd joke about that, then you don't know me, Kudou."
"I just can't make sense of it!" the small one exclaimed, somewhat annoyed.
"Oh come on, Kudou, what doesn't make sense?" Hattori asked, feeling a bit offended. "The fact that I'm in love with you? Or that I simply couldn't keep it a secret any longer?"
Hattori kicked the small, almost white stone in front of him. The words for which Conan had reacted like that were supposed to have been, at the right moment, for Kazuha, not for Conan. But he couldn't help it; since when did he feel that? He didn't know. Was there a remedy? Probably not.
"I think I'm in love with you, Kudou," and Shinichi had almost choked. They were both in one of Kaitou Kid's many heists, waiting for the magician thief to try to escape where they both deduced he would. They both waited hidden in the darkness, Shinichi in Conan's small body had said something, Heiji didn't know what, but it was something that had made his beautiful deep blue eyes shine like sapphires in the eyes of the Western detective, who let out a slight sigh followed by the words; and the sound of the wind, the noise of the patrols, and the pair of helicopters searching for the white-gloved thief, disappeared completely.
"I don't understand...," murmured Shinichi without turning to look at him. "What could you possibly like about someone like me with the body of a... child?"
Conan had uttered those words with a deep, soft, slow tone that made Heiji stop by his side, raising one of his hands slowly trying to reach out to touch that beautiful face with it. Conan felt the warmth of the gentle touch on his face and lifted his gaze, meeting the pair of emeralds that were looking at him so deeply that it seemed like Hattori was trying to convey his feelings with just the touch and the simple gaze, and he succeeded.
The blue eyes sparkled, and the small, pale cheeks were tinted with a pale pink, and the Western detective bit his lower lip, finding that sight terribly irresistible. Damn it, Edogawa Conan was beautiful, so adorable, how the heck did the Beika detective think he wouldn't notice that?
"Kudou... I..." but Hattori's words were abruptly cut off by the sound of hurried footsteps.
Conan immediately turned noticing that the white-gloved thief was running towards the end of the building since both Kid and they were on the rooftop.
"We'll talk about this another day, Hattori, for now we must catch Kid!"
And Heiji nodded and ran after the little detective who was chasing the thief Kaitou Kid without knowing that the thief was simply too cunning to be caught, that even with Hattori's help, his mind was so clouded by the confession he had suffered that he couldn't concentrate. And Hattori didn't know that he would be waiting for them to discuss the matter again. Heiji had hopes, yes, he had them.
But they never revisited the topic...
★‡★
After weeks of confessing, after keeping silent hoping that the little detective would bring up the subject again, that didn't happen. It seemed that Conan simply avoided the matter, didn't call him, didn't look for him. Hattori just waited patiently at home without daring to seek him out himself, trying to give him his space. But Conan's, Shinichi's, time and concentration were spent trying to destroy the dark organization, and, as it seemed to him, on Ran Mouri, and... in a way he understood. Shinichi was subjected to a lot of stress; between the dark organization, and what Hattori had confessed to him.
And one day, the phone rang.
"Heiji!" said Kazuha, who had gone to visit the brunette's house. "Conan-kun is calling you."
Hattori jumped up from the chair where he was sitting, somewhat sleepy.
"Kudou?" he asked, surprised, to which Kazuha raised a confused eyebrow.
"Heiji, what are you talking about? I said Conan-kun."
The Western detective let out a silly laugh, taking the phone from his childhood friend's hands to then give her a stern look, making the girl understand that the detective wanted to talk in private.
"Kudou?" he asked after Kazuha had left reluctantly.
"Hattori!" the little one seemed happy, and Heiji couldn't help but wonder what it was about. "Haibara has finally managed to complete the antidote!"
"How?"
★‡★‡★
"Hey... Kudou!"
Hattori Heiji was alarmed; Edogawa Conan had collapsed onto the bed, hugging himself, with beads of sweat streaming down his forehead, reflecting the pain on his beautiful face. Hattori heard him scream in desperation as Shinichi thrashed on the bed, unable to contain himself. It was taking a toll. Haibara, standing at the door, had warned him: 'It's going to hurt, it's going to hurt like never before.'
The Osaka detective had arrived at Professor Agasa's house, where Conan was after bidding farewell to Ran and her father, after informing them that he would return to his parents, and the girl hugged him with all the affection in the world, saying how much she would miss him.
Haibara had not stopped until she finally had the antidote that would return him to his normal body. Finally, Conan Edogawa would become Kudou Shinichi again, and the latter was so happy that he had immediately called his best friend to tell him, and Hattori Heiji had run to his side immediately.
Now he saw him there; writhing on the bed after taking that capsule that completely nullified the effect of Apotoxin 4869, but, being definitive, the change hurt much more.
"Hold him tight!" he heard Haibara shout, and he didn't hesitate to approach the small figure on the bed and cradle him against his chest, holding him in such a way that Conan writhed in his arms.
"Hattori!" Conan complained, feeling the detective holding him tightly. The brunette didn't like seeing him like this, not at all, he didn't like seeing him suffer.
"Calm down, Kudou," he murmured, pressing him harder as the mini detective ceased to be, feeling as if his insides were burning and his bones were melting. The pain was strong, but somehow, Hattori's presence calmed him down a bit, distracting him from the pain.
The brunette's green eyes opened in surprise as he saw how the small Conan Edogawa, whom he loved so much, was slowly transforming into the great detective Kudou Shinichi, and before he knew it, he was holding an attractive young man with tattered clothes in his arms. Heiji smiled broadly as Kudou's detective eyes met his, while he breathed heavily as if he had run a long race.
"Welcome back, Kudou," he greeted as he watched the young man stand up, stepping away from him and sitting on the bed, looking at his hands. Haibara had gone to get his clothes. Shinichi was happy.
"At last..." he smiled, turning to look at the green-eyed one. "At last, it's me, Hattori."
Heiji was about to reply, but he fell silent when, in an instant, Haibara had thrown the detective's clothes, which landed right on his face, and Shinichi complained.
"Haibara!"
"Don't complain and get dressed already," she demanded.
Heiji couldn't help but laugh as Shinichi reluctantly got dressed.
When Shinichi finished dressing appropriately and stood up, Heiji couldn't take his eyes off him. Undoubtedly, Shinichi was beautiful; his eyes were as bright and deep blue as Tanzanite embedded in gold settings. He was completely sure that he would never find someone with such beauty anywhere else, and yet, something was wrong... no, not right at all.
★‡★‡★
Haibara snapped the brunette out of his reverie as she finished setting the table for dinner.
"Don't wait for him to say what you want to hear," the little girl spoke as she placed napkins on the table, the sound of the professor's footsteps descending the stairs echoing in the background. "Kudou doesn't know how to approach the subject well, so you should do it."
Heiji turned to look at her, somewhat surprised.
"What are you talking about?" he tried to play dumb, momentarily forgetting that Haibara's childlike appearance didn't mean she was naïve.
"You like Kudou-kun, don't you?" she said, looking at him as she stopped what she was doing. "Tell him."
Heiji was frozen for a moment, then turned to look away as if the girl's gaze made him uncomfortable.
"I already did," he murmured without elaborating.
"Do it again."
"But..."
Agasa interrupted them as he began to set the dinner on the table with a smile oblivious to the conversation between the two.
"Alright. Dinner's ready. Can someone go let Shinichi know?" he asked, his smile fading as he noticed the serious expressions on the faces of the two.
Heiji shook his head and pretended to smile to ease the tension, avoiding having to explain to Professor Agasa what they were talking about. Haibara furrowed her brow; men could be so stubborn.
"I'll go," Heiji replied, leaving the room immediately, leaving the professor somewhat puzzled.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, but Haibara just shrugged.
Heiji climbed the stairs to Shinichi's room very slowly. It was night outside; the clock was about to strike nine, and the full moon shone in the sky, illuminating the streets much more than all the streetlights.
"Kudou..." Heiji gently touched the door to the room, as if not wanting to disturb the boy inside, but there was no response.
Lost in his thoughts, he tried to understand how he felt about Shinichi's transformation. He knew he would never see Conan again and tried to figure out why that bothered him; a part of him was sad, and another part was happy for his friend, but there was a third part, hidden deep inside him, which was upset, angry would be the word, and the worst part was that he didn't even know why.
He considered knocking on the door again when he didn't get a response the first time. Perhaps Shinichi had fallen asleep? He wasn't sure, so he turned the doorknob and opened the door slowly, entering the room without even waiting to see what he would find inside.
The lights were off.
The open window caused the curtains to sway gently in the evening breeze, and the silvery light of the moon filtered through them, softly illuminating the room. And there was Shinichi, standing a few steps away from the window, and he wasn't alone.
Heiji stepped back a bit upon noticing how Kaitou Kid, the charismatic white-gloved thief, held Shinichi around the waist while they kissed passionately. He could see how the hands of the once mini-detective pressed against the magician's shoulders.
"Kudou..." he murmured so softly that Shinichi managed to hear him and stepped away from the thief, only to see the sadness reflected in those emerald eyes.
And seeing those pain-tinted green eyes, he truly didn't like it at all.
★‡★‡★
By Yahir Abisai.