Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The train was rocketing along through the countryside at top speed, not even a little slowed by the fact that a heist had just been perpetuated within its corridors. Nor by the fact that a dozen shouting task force officers were trying to break into the control car to get it to stop. Nor again by the fact that two young men were balancing precariously atop a car near the middle of the train's length.

Well, one of them was balancing precariously. The other was, to all appearances, as comfortable here as he would have been on any city sidewalk despite the fact that a large and heavy cape was whipping around him. Appearances aside, though, the detective facing him at the other end of the car was making him decidedly nervous. Kudo Shinichi looked like he might go toppling off the edge of the train at any moment and KID was trying to decide whether he should just tackle him now and control the fall.

But the detective had that damn watch trained on him, and though the wind was violently flinging his hair into his eyes and he was clearly standing with every muscle tensed, there was a real possibility that the shot might connect. Then again, with this much wind…

KID had just made up his mind to get the detective safely to the ground in the process of making his daring escape when the train gave a sudden lurch.

The watch went off.

The detective went down.

KID lunged, getting his arms around Shinichi just before the detective could go flying off the edge of the car. Instead, they both went tumbling, for the task force had accomplished their goal: the train had rapidly decelerated. KID and Shinichi had not.

KID had anticipated that, though, and deployed the glider. They didn't have quite enough height to make a soaring getaway, but it did take them a considerable distance from the train before dropping them in a heap in the grass. KID stood up immediately, eyeing the train that was still speeding off into the distance. It looked like his back-up system had kicked in, causing the train to pick up speed once more. He could have wished for a smoother transition, though. He made a note of it for next time.

"Well, tantei-kun," he said, about to politely inform the detective that he had a bit of a walk ahead of him. He paused before finishing, though. Something was wrong. Shinichi was still lying on the ground. He hadn't moved, hadn't stood, hadn't so much as glared or smirked at him. KID narrowed his eyes, suspecting a trap. Shinichi hadn't hit his head when the train lurched, and KID had of course been incredibly careful while preventing his fall. So…

The thief carefully edged toward Shinichi, then nudged him a bit with his foot. No reaction. He gingerly rolled him over, ready to leap away or catch the detective in a trap of his own should it become necessary.

It didn't. Shinichi was actually out cold. What— oh. KID's visual inspection of Shinichi paused at the detective's feet, where a tiny needle protruded from the canvas of one of his sneakers.

"You… shot yourself in the foot. With your own dart," KID said, needing to hear it out loud to believe it. He looked around. As planned, he had left the train at a particularly deserted part of its route. He knew that the only thing around for miles was the tiny cabin bolt hole he'd prepared in advance. The sun was going down and the wind was picking up. Kaito KID sighed and cursed his good nature.

Shinichi felt like someone had shoved a bunch of cotton into his brain through his ears. It was not a great feeling, and it was making it hard to think, so he rolled over to try to go back to sleep, burying his face in his pillow. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, though, trying to clear out the cobwebs. He dismissed it with a small groan, squeezing his eyes shut more tightly, willing awareness away. He'd been having a really good dream – a heist, and he'd been this close—

"Are you awake, tantei-kun?" a soft voice asked.

Shinichi's eyes shot open. Not a dream, not at home! his brain informed him urgently, though rather belatedly.

"Oh good," said Kaito KID. The thief, still in uniform, was seated at a small, square table against the wall of a small, square room. Shinichi's bed was against the opposite wall, with the cabin's only window (small, square) above it. The front door was the only feature of the wall to KID's right, and to the left the room opened into a cramped kitchen. Shinichi sat up slowly and put his back to the wall, facing KID.

"Where are we?"

KID told him, very precisely, down to the exact coordinates. Shinichi frowned. He'd studied the route before the heist, of course. Had pinpointed exactly where it would make the most sense for KID to strike. He knew as well as KID did that there was nothing within miles, nowhere that could be reached on foot without hours of walking at least.

"What do you want?"

"A thief can't save a detective's life out of the goodness of his heart?" KID asked, smile mocking.

Shinichi raised his eyebrows, skeptical. "Then you won't mind if I make a phone call," he said, reaching for his phone. It was not, however, in his pocket.

KID flicked his wrist and Shinichi's phone appeared in his hand. He considered it for a moment, then shrugged and tossed it to Shinichi. Shinichi caught it, surprised. "Be my guest."

Shinichi frowned down at the phone, suspecting a trick. Then he saw that there was no signal at all and sighed, tucking the phone back into his pocket. Thunder rumbled distantly.

"Incidentally, there is supposed to be a rather nasty storm rolling in," KID said pleasantly. "But if you would like to take your chances out there…" I will follow you and make sure you don't manage to kill yourself, so please don't actually do that, he finished behind his poker face.

"So… what. We just stay here? You're telling me you didn't have a plan for heading back to the city?" Shinichi asked.

"I had a plan. It was a good plan. It did not involve a detective shooting himself in the foot with his own anesthetic dart. So yes, we just stay here," KID said. His plan had been to grab the jewel, go to ground in this well-hidden cabin, wait for nightfall, check the jewel, stay the night here, and get Jii to pick him up tomorrow morning. He'd already called Jii off using the satellite phone hidden in the false bottom of one of the kitchen drawers – no way he was going to risk compromising him with Shinichi here. In the morning he'd vanish, leave the satellite phone somewhere conspicuous so Shinichi could call for help, and wait 'til the detective left before getting in touch with Jii again.

Shinichi frowned and stood, casting a wary glance at KID before turning to look out the window, eyeing the sky. Clouds were drifting in rapidly. KID sighed, taking out this afternoon's target: an egg-shaped ruby that fit neatly in his fist. There wasn't really enough moonlight to check it, but he tried anyway, looking through its facets at the piece of sky visible through the window.

Shinichi was staring at him. He vanished the gem and kicked back, rocking the chair onto two legs. "What?"

"Why do you do that?" Shinichi asked.

"That would be telling," Kaito said with a shake of his head. Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"You steal gems only to return them. You check them all for something. You're looking for a particular jewel, but you don't know what it looks like. You just know you'll know it when you see it. But why the elaborate heists? With your skills, you could get the owners of any jewel to just show it to you for the few seconds it takes to check it," Shinichi said, crossing his arms.

"How do you know I don't also do that? Or that I would need to lie to do it?" KID asked, and laughed at Shinichi's surprised look. "Yes, I, Kaito KID, am secretly moving among the elite circles of the world as… Bruce Wayne!" That startled a laugh out of Shinichi, which made KID smile. "Nonsense, tantei-kun," he said. "Surely you know I do it for the pleasure of your company."

Shinichi blushed, stammered, and turned back to the window. KID cocked his head. That was interesting. He got to his feet, letting the chair clatter back to all four legs. "Are you hungry?" he asked, heading for the kitchen as fat raindrops started splatting against the window.

"You're – going to cook?" Shinichi asked. Thunder grumbled ominously.

"Well I can't promise anything fancy. But I know I have some soup, at least. Maybe pasta," KID mused, opening cabinets and rummaging around. "Any preferences? Food allergies?"

"I… uh, no," Shinichi said, still disbelieving. He trailed KID into the kitchen watching as various disparate (nonperishable) ingredients accumulated on the counter, and then somehow accumulated into a meal. Along the way, KID lost his gloves. The hat and monocle. The cape. The tie loosened, the jacket got tossed on the back of a chair, the sleeves of the dress shirt rolled up. By the time the two of them were sitting at the small square table, KID looked downright casual – and Shinichi couldn't stop looking.

"It's not like you've never seen this face before, tantei-kun," KID murmured between bites and Shinichi hurriedly looked at his own plate. KID was right. But… but.

Then the power went out with a high-pitched squeal. Shinichi instantly lost his bearings, but KID struck a match and the room flared back into existence. Next thing Shinichi knew, there was a candle on the table lighting the room with its warm glow, and KID hadn't missed a beat. It was probably around then that Shinichi should have deduced how much trouble he was in.

They ate in near silence, offering only a few comments here and there. After, KID whisked away the plates and produced a deck of cards and proceeded to cheat mercilessly and obviously for several hours. Shinichi might still have won a game or two if he hadn't been more interested in the game of figuring out exactly how KID was cheating.

"That one was up your sleeve. Seriously, I saw it!"

"My sleeves are rolled up, tantei-kun – how would I even retrieve it without you noticing?"

"Because you're Kaito fucking KID, come here, I know that's— oh." Shinichi had stood, reached out, grabbed KID's wrist, drawn his arm across the table, and run his fingers around the inside of KID's sleeve feeling for the card. He didn't find it, but he did suddenly notice that Kaito KID was letting him touch him, hold on to him, that KID hadn't pulled away and was, in fact, watching his face intently.

Shinichi dropped KID's arm, knocked the candle with his elbow, and almost burned the whole cabin down right there. KID scooped the candle up before it could do more than tip, though, and steadied it.

"Clumsy, tantei-kun~. You're lucky I'm here."

Shinichi snorted. "If you weren't here, I wouldn't be either."

"My apologies."

"No, that's… it's fine."

KID looked at Shinichi quizzically. "I'm sure your friends are worried, though. I didn't mean to take you off the grid with me."

Shinichi shook his head. "No. They aren't… I don't exactly check in with them regularly, you know? No one will even notice I'm missing for a few days." Possibly you should not admit such things to criminals, complained the paranoid part of his brain that sounded a lot like Conan. Shut up, Shinichi told it. It's KID.

KID, who was looking at him oddly.

"Uh, what about you? Er–" Shinichi realized too late that he probably sounded like he was fishing for clues.

"It's okay. You can ask," KID said easily. "I won't answer anything I don't want to."

"So… no one's worried about you?" Shinichi asked. KID just shook his head. "But, you do have – someone? I mean, you don't have to tell me who, obviously, just…" Just don't tell me you're pulling ridiculous stunts like this with no backup and going home to an empty house. The idea of Kaito KID being alone in the world when he so clearly thrived on attention did not sit well.

"Well it sounds like you're worried about me. Does that count?"

"I— you— stupid thief," Shinichi muttered, glad that the candlelight probably hid most of his blush. Or maybe it didn't, because KID's chair suddenly scraped back and then he was around the table and standing in front of Shinichi, reaching out to brush one thumb lightly against his cheek. Shinichi looked up, startled, and saw that KID seemed just as surprised to find himself there. KID leaned in a little and Shinichi's eyes widened, but the thief stopped short.

KID exhaled in a breathy little laugh. "I'm not usually given to exercising self-restraint when it comes to things I want," he said. "But this – I don't want to steal this. Tantei— Shinichi. May I?"

Shinichi nodded, once, too surprised to answer, and KID dipped across the distance between them, sealing his mouth to Shinichi's with a little sigh, like something had clicked into place inside him. Shinichi's eyes drifted closed. His head tipped back. KID wove a hand into his hair, cradling the back of his head as he pressed closer, tilting the chair back and deepening the kiss.

Then the chair tipped just a little too far. A leg skidded and the kiss broke apart into startled yelps as both KID and Shinichi tried to steady it. They succeeded and managed to only knock their heads together a little. KID backed away, laughing.

"Just as well," he said. "That was… I should… You should get some sleep, tantei-kun."

Shinichi stared at KID in disbelief. Sleep? Surely he was joking. Shinichi narrowed his eyes as KID turned away, fiddling with the roll of his sleeve. Shinichi could swear he was breathing a little more heavily, though it was hard to be sure with KID's perfect control. Well fine, if he wanted to be like that…

"All right," Shinichi said, getting up and stretching indulgently. Then he stripped his shirt off and tossed it onto the same chair as KID's jacket, right in KID's line of vision. KID whipped around, but Shinichi was already climbing into bed. "Good night," he said, lying down on top of the blanket and stretching one last time. Then he stuck one hand behind his head, let the other rest low on his stomach, and closed his eyes.

KID swallowed several strangled noises. This was not fair. Yes, okay, he'd started it himself. Kissing the detective had been a mistake. It had always been kind of a fantasy, but he'd figured there was no way the real thing could measure up. Forget measuring up, though; it had blown up the damn ruler and created a new one and the whole thing had gone from amusing experiment to colossally bad idea.

The candle was burning low behind him, casting his shadow over Shinichi's quiet form. Not sleeping, though. Posed in sleep and knowing exactly what he was doing, that bastard. The candle guttered and KID's shadow danced wildly, engulfing the detective. Bad. Idea.

"You don't even know my name," KID whispered. Shinichi cracked an eye open.

"You mean it's not Kaito KID? Damn, no wonder I can't figure out who you are," he said drily. KID laughed helplessly and Shinichi opened the other eye, a grin that would have been more at home on KID's face spreading across his features.

"Hey KID," he said, stretching out a hand languidly. "Come here."

KID inched forward. Surely taking his hand was all right. That amount of touching was definitely safe, right? How many times had he grabbed peoples' hands to drag them somewhere? He reached out, but Shinichi reached past his hand and grabbed his tie, pulling him down, and before he knew it their lips were crushed together again.

It was an awkward angle, with KID leaning over Shinichi and Shinichi clutching KID's tie and trying to hold himself up on one elbow, but KID would have stayed like that for hours. Shinichi leaned back all too soon, still keeping his hold on the tie.

"I don't normally steal things. Did I do okay?"

They woke up together hours later to birdsong and sunny skies. Shinichi was wrapped around KID like half an octopus. KID was distinctly rumpled for having slept in his clothes, though the tie had made a hasty exit, as had several of KID's more unpleasant surprises once Shinichi's hands had started wandering. Said surprises were actually just piled on the floor next to the bed since KID had been too… engrossed… to properly vanish them, and Shinichi was now staring at the small mountain of them blearily.

"Huh," he said.

"I know," KID said. "I packed light to this heist."

Shinichi stared at him for an instant before collapsing on his chest in laughter. KID ran his fingers through Shinichi's hair a few times fondly, but his expression was worried. This was not how it was supposed to go at all. He was supposed to be safely hidden and watching Shinichi head home at this point. Even after he'd known kissing Shinichi was inevitable, he'd simply thought he'd share a kiss or two and then vanish romantically into the night. Jii was going to be worried, if he wasn't already on his way here despite KID telling him to stay away.

"Hey, do you need me to make myself scarce for a while or something?" Shinichi asked, sitting up. KID blinked up at him. "You know, so you can make your exit."

KID sat up with a huff. "Tantei-kun," he scolded. "I do not need anyone's help to make an escape – least of all a detective's!" He pecked Shinichi on the nose once, quickly, and then – gone. Everything. The jacket, cape, pile of tricks – Shinichi might have been the only one to ever occupy the cabin. But in his lap was a satellite phone. He smiled and shook his head.

KID watched Shinichi make his way to the access road not far from the cabin. He watched Agasa pull up, and watched them both drive away. Then he headed back to the cabin himself. Shinichi had left the satellite phone on the table for him and he called Jii.

"Bocchama. Are you all right?" Jii sounded worried.

"Not by a long shot, Jii. But don't worry. I can fix it."

Chapter Text

Shinichi had his nose in a book. This wasn’t that unusual an occurrence – it wasn’t even that strange for him to be reading in public, completely oblivious to his surroundings. Usually he put the book down to walk, though. But lately he’d been so busy he’d taken to snatching reading time anywhere, and this latest anthology of Sherlock Holmes works by modern authors was actually pretty good. Anyway, it was just a short story he’d started on the train. The trip had ended up being far too quick even for a short story, though, and he was determined to finish it before actually arriving at the police station.

Which was why, when he ended up bumping into someone full force at the corner of a busy intersection, he was too surprised to even attempt to cushion his fall.

That was okay, though, since he didn’t actually complete the fall. The other person managed to grab him by the front of his jacket and keep him on his feet with one hand without spilling a drop of the coffee he held in the other.

“Sorry!” Shinichi exclaimed.

“My fault,” said the other guy – a young man, about his age.

“No, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Must be a pretty good book,” Shinichi's victim said with a smile. Shinichi shrugged, embarrassed, but the person he’d run into didn’t simply continue on his way. He was looking at Shinichi with a decided air of assessment. Shinichi’s brain shifted and he looked more closely at the person he’d run into.

Shaggy blonde hair sticking out from under a knit cap – dyed, Shinichi would bet. Glasses with heavy black frames in the latest style, though the lenses appeared to be simple glass and not prescription. Dark brown eyes, a jacket that had been expensively distressed, jeans equally so, coffee from some café Shinichi had never heard of, messenger bag weighty in a specifically bookish way…

Shinichi’s brain tallied the data and delivered him a receipt almost instantly: hipster, college student from a nearby campus, probably heading home since the nearest campus was in the opposite direction. Probably not a murderer.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” the guy asked. Shinichi hesitated and the guy put his hands up – well, one hand up. The other raised the coffee. “Hey, not my business. Got it. Just thought, it’s not every day you run into a cute guy on the street and if you weren’t in such a hurry, I’d ask if you wanted to go get a drink.”

“You have a drink,” Shinichi said dumbly, as his brain decided that was the easiest input to process.

“I would heartlessly abandon it if you asked me to,” the guy said with a dazzling smile. Shinichi felt the blush rising but could do nothing to stop it.

“Uh… that’s… I – um, I actually am in a hurry, though, I need to—” he gestured vaguely in the direction of the station.

“Yeah, of course. Hey.” He reached out and grabbed Shinichi’s free hand and, before Shinichi knew what was happening, was writing on his palm with a marker. “My number. I’m Kichirou. Call me sometime when you’re not in a hurry? Or don’t!” Kichirou smiled again, though this time there was a little shyness in it. He gave Shinichi a little wave, then hurried across the street. Shinichi stared down at his palm. Kichirou had needed two hands to grab his hand and then write on it… so what on earth had he done with his coffee?

Kaito slipped down a narrow side street at the soonest opportunity and leaned against the wall of a building to take a steadying breath. He was shaky in a way he never was before, after, or during a heist. But it had been a success!

He thought.

Maybe.

Possibly he should have more clearly defined the parameters for success before accosting Kudo Shinichi on the street. Obviously, leaving the encounter without the detective suspecting his true identity was a goal, but beyond that Kaito actually wasn't sure whether he was hoping Shinichi would take him up on his offer or not.

The thing was, that one night in the cabin last week had been haunting his thoughts. He wasn't driven to distraction or anything, certainly not. He definitely hadn't spent hours coming up with a persona/disguise and stalking Shinichi until an opportunity presented itself.

"Weren't you going to get started on the next target?" Jii had asked mildly as Kaito had assembled his materials at the Blue Parrot a few days ago.

"How do you know that's not what I'm doing?"

Jii cast an expert eye over the dyes and wigs and costume pieces, and then moved that expert eye to Kaito. "Whatever you say, Bocchama."

Kaito had to know, though. Kudo Shinichi was interested, that much was clear, and after the cabin Kaito had to admit to himself that a few stolen moments between KID and the detective simply wouldn't suffice. The question was: was Kudo Shinichi interested in him, or in Kaito KID? If he was only in it for the thrill of being with a criminal, or because it satisfied some weird KID-catching need in him, then Kaito was pretty sure he shouldn't be touching the detective with a ten-foot pole. Kaito might have been tempted to take whatever he could get from the detective, but that would be downright dangerous for KID.

He had to know.

So, "Kichirou" had asked Shinichi out. If Shinichi took him up on it, he'd be able to develop a better idea of what exactly was going through that big brain of Shinichi's. And in fact, if Shinichi took him up on it, wouldn't that indicate exactly how seriously he had taken their little dalliance last week?

Kaito shook his head and pushed off from the wall, finally collected enough to head home. That last thought wasn't entirely fair. With just those few scant hours spent together, and the way he'd vanished afterward, he certainly wouldn't blame Shinichi for thinking KID wasn't taking the idea seriously. He had no claim on him. There was no reason Shinichi couldn't go on a random date with a random guy.

And if Shinichi didn't respond at all, well… that was helpful information, too, and Kaito was certain he'd find a use for it the next time KID's and Shinichi's paths crossed.

“So? What did he do with his coffee?” Sonoko asked that evening when Shinichi met her and Ran for dinner after finishing up at the police station. Shinichi had stopped in a bathroom to try to wash the number off his hand before meeting them (and before even entering the police station, for that matter), but it wasn’t the kind of marker that just washed off. He'd been noticing people notice it all day, but everyone he worked with was too polite to do more than raise an eyebrow at him. Sonoko had no such restraint. So he'd told her and Ran, with much reddening of the face, about his encounter that morning.

“It was in a nearby trashcan,” Shinichi said. “He could easily have tossed it from where we were standing, but how he did it so quickly that I didn’t notice…”

“You checked?” Ran asked, shaking her head. “You really can’t help the whole detective thing, can you."

“Well it’s a little suspicious,” Shinichi muttered. “Who just runs into someone on the street and asks them out?”

“At least you’ve got one thing right – it probably wasn’t an accident he ran into you. But I’m guessing he just wanted an excuse to talk to you," Sonoko said with a grin.

“People actually do that?”

Ran shrugged. “Maybe he’s a Sherlock Holmes fan.”

“Maybe he’s a you fan,” Sonoko suggested. “And I mean in a non-creepy, non-murdery kind of way.”

“Are you going to call him?” Ran asked.

“Even though he might be a crazy stalker or a murderer trying to take out a famous detective?” Shinichi asked.

“You’re not that famous,” Sonoko said. “Call him.”

“I think I’d rather get his number off my hand.”

“Rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover,” Ran said. “But maybe write it down first?”

“I’m not going on a date with this guy.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” Because last week I was curled up in a cabin with a mysterious gentleman thief and no date is going to compare. “I’m just not.”

Late that night, Shinichi reconsidered. With a little scrubbing, the rubbing alcohol had done the trick. But he’d found himself jotting down the number anyway, just in case. It was sitting next to his phone on the nightstand while he lay in bed, wide awake and staring at the ceiling. He wasn’t really holding out for the Kaito KID, was he? That had just been a knee-jerk reaction to an unexpected proposition. He’d be foolish to think KID would be interested in anything… serious? Real?

And you are? His traitor brain asked. You want a serious relationship with Kaito KID? You're delusional. You might as well go join his hordes of screaming fans.

Shinichi huffed, then snatched up the phone.

>> Hey, if you were still interested in getting a drink, I'm free next weekend.

Kaito glanced at the phone when it chimed, then realized it was Kichirou's phone and grabbed it eagerly. He didn't even have a chance to begin formulating a response, though, before another text popped up. And then another, and another, within a second of each other.

>> Oh, this is Kudo.

>> Uh, Kudo Shinichi.

>> The guy with the book. We ran into each other this morning.

>> Literally.

"Tantei-kun, you are such a dork," Kaito murmured gleefully. He vaguely wondered whether he should be concerned about how cute he found that, but ignored the feeling in favor of texting back.

 Oh, I remember you ;) So glad you <<
texted. Coffee? There's a place on     
campus if it's not too far out of your way.    

It wasn't (as Kaito well knew), and they set the date. Kaito put the phone down and stared at the wall for a few moments, willing himself not to overanalyze this. Of course, the other option seemed to be grinning like a loon while breaking down into giggles. Crap. He was more far gone than he'd thought. He needed to treat this like any other operation. He began to plan.

In the end, Kaito's plan amounted to "Don't fuck up." Act like himself, but don't do things like ordering Shinichi's drink for him before he even got there and getting it exactly right. Ask Shinichi questions instead of relying on reconnaissance to learn about him. Normal things.

It was easier said than done.

"What about you?" Shinichi asked, having explained his somewhat unique role with the police to an appropriately interested Kichirou after they'd both gotten their drinks. "You haven't said anything about yourself."

"Oh," Kaito said. "I'm—" And then he froze. He'd walked in here planning on being more-or-less himself, the better to gauge whether this thing with Shinichi was worth the risk to KID. But what was he going to say? He wanted to be a magician? He was studying chemistry and engineering at school? He kept and trained pet doves? Everything was way too obvious! He was completely transparent!! Why hadn't the entire world figured out that Kuroba Kaito was KID by now?!?

"Ah, but you're a detective," he heard himself saying. "Why not tell me what you've deduced?"

Shinichi's gaze went ever so slightly flat and Kaito winced internally. Was he suspicious or just annoyed? Either way, he answered.

"It's easy enough to figure out you're a college student. Local. You don't live far. I'd think you were an athlete, only…" Shinichi eyed him. "No, not quite. Athletic, but not an athlete."

"My, my," Kaito murmured. "Tell me more."

Shinichi arched an eyebrow at him. "Have I mentioned impulsive and vain yet? Are you a theatre major by any chance?"

"Vain?" Kaito protested, a hand to his chest.

"You've dyed your hair, and you're wearing non-prescription glasses as well as contacts that I assume are for color only. Though brown's an unusual choice…" Shinichi trailed off, studying Kaito's eyes. Which was a very non-romantic way of saying that they were looking into each other's eyes. Kaito let himself blush slightly while he cursed internally. He should have known Shinichi would notice the contacts – normally he wasn't doing much eye-gazing when he was disguised at heists, never mind with a detective.

"Uh, sorry," Shinichi said finally. "That was kind of blunt."

Kaito waved the apology away. "No, I like it," he said with a grin. "Very impressive."

"Sure, but you didn't say whether I was right."

Damn him.

"Close enough. Though, I'm in engineering, not theatre," Kaito said. Shinichi looked a little surprised at that and Kaito smirked. "You shouldn't judge so much based on appearances, ta— uh, ahem," he coughed slightly. "Terrible. Terrible habit," he finished not at all smoothly.

Shinichi didn't seem to notice, only shrugged. "Hazards of the profession. So, engineering? What kinds of things do you work on?"

"Eh… nothing too terribly important. Mostly just things for entertainment."

"Like?"

"Well…"

Next thing he knew, Kaito found himself describing a mechanism he hadn't yet perfected. It was basically a pair of very tiny electromagnets with a relatively long range for their size. Strong enough that, if activated, they'd fly across the room to each other – dragging along anything under ten pounds that they happened to be attached to. It was showy, and not as impressive as something simply vanishing and reappearing elsewhere, but it would make for a hell of a distraction. Only…

"The trouble is," Kaito said, completely absorbed in the description and the problem. "Even though they're attracted to each other, they're still magnets. So anything else magnetic also goes flying. Not to mention, it's hell on electronics and so far making it directional has proved… tricky."

Shinichi nodded. "Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem. But – you said you have prototypes? You've actually made button-sized electromagnets that can drag ten pounds? And – hang on, what about the adhesive? You have something strong enough to withstand a sudden tug on a tiny surface area?"

"Oh, that part wasn't a problem, I already – I mean, the college has access to resources that you wouldn't generally find on the public market."

"Huh," said Shinichi in such a way that Kaito would bet money he was going to be researching it later. "So, then, what happens if you do get it working? I mean, what's it for? If you scaled it up, I could see maybe construction applications, or military—"

"No way. Too dangerous," Kaito said, probably a little too vehemently. "If I designed something for the military it'd be to save lives. Defensive, not offensive." Shinichi blinked at him, then smiled – the most genuine expression he'd made all night.

"Yeah," he said. "I can understand that. What, then? Why spend all this time on something that might never work?"

"Because it might! And besides—" he stopped abruptly. His tongue was running off without him again. Why was it so hard to keep his guard up tonight?

"What? Go on," Shinichi prompted.

"It's silly," Kaito said, waving it away.

"I once impersonated a mannequin in a clothing store to hide from a robber."

Kaito blinked at him, then blinked again while Shinichi calmly took a sip of coffee. Then he grinned. "Well, then. I guess I was going to say, I just like seeing that look on peoples' faces. You know. Delight. Isn't something worth making even if all it does is make people happy?" And let you steal a really big jewel, he added silently, just to be honest. He could feel a KID grin tickling at his face at the thought, though, so he hastily took a large gulp of his own drink to cover it. When he glanced up again, Shinichi was looking at him with an odd expression on his face. Like he was re-assessing him. Was that a good thing?

"What's that look for?" Kaito asked. Shinichi blinked, like he'd forgotten where he was.

"Nothing. Sorry. Just – yes. To what you said about making people happy."

They both drank to that, and thankfully the conversation shifted to less perilous topics. The evening passed pleasantly. Maybe more than pleasantly, and certainly too quickly. Kaito offered to walk Shinichi back to his train stop and Shinichi let him, which was great news for Kichirou but perhaps not so good news for KID.

They were at the platform, waiting, Kaito silently fretting about where to go from here now that "Kichirou" had been more successful than expected, when Shinichi took the problem out of his hands.

"Hey," Shinichi said, stepping slightly back from Kaito and putting his hands in his pockets. Kaito's attention sharpened. All of that body language suddenly said distance. Why… "I had a nice time tonight."

Kaito smiled wryly. "But?"

Shinichi breathed a small laugh. "But I don't think we should… see each other."

"Did I do something wrong?" Kaito asked, genuinely curious. From all the signs he'd read, Shinichi had definitely been happy and enjoying himself all evening.

"No, no. It's not you. I'm… there's someone else."

"There's… wait, really?" Kaito wasn't sure whether he was more offended on Kichirou's behalf that Shinichi had gone on a date with him when he was already taken, or on his own behalf that Shinichi was now lying to him because no way in hell did this detective have a significant other that Kaito hadn't noticed.

"Well, we're not actually… it's complicated," Shinichi hedged, rubbing the back of his head and blushing a little. "We're more of a potentiality than an actual thing at the moment, but…" Now he was blushing a lot. "You remind me a lot of him, actually. I was hoping this date would make me forget about him but it ended up being kind of the opposite. It's not fair to you, I know." Shinichi shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry."

Kaito knew that Kichirou was making a perfectly neutral expression in Shinichi's direction at the moment, but he couldn't seem to shake himself out of it. Was… was Kudo Shinichi rejecting Kichirou for Kaito KID? Which was to say, was he rejecting Kaito for… Kaito? He had the sudden suspicion that he had planned himself right into a corner and totally deserved this.

"Hey, no worries," Kaito said finally, letting an easy grin onto his face. "But, um, this other guy. Why'd you want to forget about him?"

Shinichi hesitated and Kaito recognized him having the same how much do I give away thought process he himself had been having all night. Though, of course, his own face hadn't shown it this transparently. Distantly, he heard the train approaching and willed it to slow down at least until Shinichi answered.

"Let's just say I'm not sure he feels the same way about me as I do about him," Shinichi said just as the train pulled in. The doors opened and a few people got off. "Thanks again for a nice night," Shinichi said, stepping on board.

"Hey," Kaito said. "Ask him. Seriously. Some mysteries really are that simple to solve."

Shinichi gave him a skeptical look, but if he was going to argue he didn't get the chance. The doors closed and the train whisked him away.

Kaito stood on the platform a while longer, watching the train go, suddenly full of doubts. Should he have revealed himself just then? If they did pursue… whatever this was… Shinichi would find out eventually. Would he be angry about the deception of this whole evening? And what if Shinichi had actually been talking about someone else? Kaito hadn't been watching him that closely, and he tended to leave him alone when he was with the police. Maybe it was some detective that had caught Shinichi's eye? Come to think of it, he usually didn't keep tabs on Shinichi when he was in Osaka unless he was already out there himself for heist reconnaissance…

Kaito rocked back on his heels a few times, worrying at the problem in his mind. Then he grinned, coming to a decision. Some mysteries were simple. He'd take his own advice. Which meant he had a heist to plan.

Chapter Text

Shinichi was looking forward to sitting down. A cup of coffee and a book would also be good, but as long as sitting was involved, he could do without. Sitting in his favorite armchair in his library – yes, that would be best. Perhaps even lounging, why not dream big.

He unlocked his front door and, once inside, leaned against it until it closed behind him. He let himself rest there for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing between him and his chair now except a flight of stairs. Well, and maybe a shower and a change of clothes. His shirt had been confiscated by forensics since they needed the blood splatter pattern, so now he was wearing a clean but itchy oversized t-shirt with PROPERTY OF TOKYO METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT emblazoned across the chest.

He glanced at his watch. 12:57 AM. The heist he had missed thanks to the entirely unrelated murder he'd stumbled across on his way there was likely over, but there wouldn't be any news yet. He'd shower, then sit and check for preliminary reports.

Twenty minutes later, the police-issue shirt had found a new home on the floor of his closet and he was clean and slouched in an armchair in the library, closing his eyes for just a few seconds and intending to look for news of the heist momentarily. He was just coming to terms with the fact that his eyes might prefer to stay closed when a muffled thud had him sitting up and looking around warily. It sounded almost like a bird had struck the window, but it was nighttime. Perhaps a very large, confused bat? He got up to check, switching the light off on the way so that he could see out the window without glare.

A second later, he was heaving the window open to rescue Kaito KID. The thief was hanging on to the ledge beneath the window by the fingertips of one hand. Shinichi couldn't tell for sure, since his face was shadowed by the hat, but he suspected KID was most of the way toward unconsciousness and was only hanging on by reflex.

Shinichi wrapped his hands around KID's wrist and pulled, scrambling to get a better grip on his cape, an arm under him, stumbling backward and finally dragging him across the sill and into the room, breathing hard. KID had barely stirred during the process and the thief was heavy – or rather, that ridiculous glider-cape and whatever else he had hidden on his person was heavy. Shinichi was fairly certain that if he were to strip him down and check, he would find that KID weighed almost exactly as much as he himself did.

Not that he was thinking about stripping down Kaito KID.

"What the hell, you stupid thief. Did you knock yourself out running into the window?" Shinichi muttered, disbelieving. KID was also breathing hard, which was good in that it meant he was breathing at all, but he also hadn't uttered a sound, which was less good. Shinichi was supporting most of his weight and he was slumped over so severely he was bent almost double. How much of that was injury and how much was shielding his face from view? Shinichi frowned.

"Okay, we're gonna move to the couch," Shinichi said, taking a tentative step in that direction. KID managed to put his weight on one leg – and then cried out in pain and collapsed, leaving Shinichi holding him up. Shinichi swore and lowered KID gently to the floor.

KID's hat slid off once he was prone, and even in the dark Shinichi could tell that he was tense with pain. He clicked on a table lamp, giving the room a warm yellow glow between the dramatic shadows now growing from the furniture. At first he thought one of those shadows had fallen across KID, but then he noticed how red it was.

Shinichi ran for the first aid kit, equally worried by the injury and the thought that KID might come to his senses and vanish before he could get back. But when he returned KID was still there, sprawled on the carpet with his cape spread out under him like a snow angel's wings. Shinichi could see now that the blood was concentrated around KID's left thigh and while the fabric there was very wet, blood didn't seem to be spurting. Shinichi gritted his teeth, pulled out a pair of very sharp scissors, and got to work.

In the process of making sure Kaito KID didn't die on the floor of his library, Shinichi set off two smoke bombs, narrowly evaded one sleeping gas capsule, released three surprised doves, and uncovered a set of lockpicks, a set of handcuff keys, an unremarkable cell phone that was almost certainly a burner phone, and Detective Nakamori's badge.

He had also found three deep gashes in KID's thigh that had miraculously avoided the major artery and any tendons. Whether the blood staining KID's shirt and jacket had gotten there through contact with this wound or whether it was someone else's blood entirely, Shinichi didn't know. He was just happy to find nothing more serious than bruising under those stains.

He applied pressure to the wounds, hoping that the already slowed bleeding would stop entirely so he'd be able to clean and bandage the lacerations. Really, though, they probably needed sutures and he wasn't equipped for that.

The bleeding did stop after a few minutes of pressure, so after cleaning the wound Shinichi called Haibara for advice.

"You know that I'm not a doctor, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, but—"

"And you know that I don't trust KID, right?"

"Yes, but—"

"Is he awake?"

"No, but—"

"Breathing regularly? Pulse even?"

"Yes, but he hasn't—"

"Text me a picture of the cuts."

"Text you—?"

Click.

Shinichi stared at his phone in consternation for a moment before doing as she said. It felt very, very strange to be turning a camera on KID in this state, though. Shinichi had sliced him out of his clothes without much grace, simply cutting down the middle and shoving them aside. They lay around KID in tatters now like a shed chrysalis, though he was still wearing his socks, underwear, and even his monocle. It would have been ridiculous if not for the utter stillness of the body lying amid the wreckage of the suit.

Shinichi took a close-up picture of the cuts and deleted it from his phone after sending it to Haibara. She texted back almost immediately:

Press the edges together and bandage. Should be fine.

It wasn't the most encouraging text in the world, but Shinichi did as he was told. If the cuts weren't deep enough to require stitches, how had KID lost so much blood that he had now passed out? And shouldn't something be done about replacing that blood? Shinichi scrubbed the heel of his hand across his forehead, then glanced at the pile of things he'd come across while getting KID's clothes out of the way. The three doves watched him from the edge of the desk where they'd perched to observe the proceedings, heads cocked.

"I don't suppose you have any ideas?" he asked them. They did not. "Then you won't mind if I see about calling for help." He reached for the burner phone, half expecting the doves to object in some way, but they only seemed interested.

Shinichi flipped the phone open. It wasn't the kind of phone that could be locked with a passcode, so he had no trouble accessing the contacts list. Unfortunately, there was only one number listed there… and it was Shinichi's.

Shinichi frowned, then frowned harder as a few things clicked into place. Someone like KID would have only one reason to have Shinichi's number in a burner phone that he'd brought with him to a heist: he was planning on contacting Shinichi as someone else. Shinichi checked the text messages and his frown turned into an outright scowl.

KID kept his eyes closed while his brain swam toward consciousness. He was trying to remember. There had been the heist… he'd thought this time, for sure, he'd get to talk to Shinichi. Even if he didn't show up, like he hadn't for the two post-Kichirou heists prior to this one, KID planned to track him down and finally have a Talk.

Sure enough, Shinichi hadn't shown up. But someone else had… some Organization lackey with a weaponized grappling hook and some kind of aerosol sedative. After a brief tussle, during which she'd managed to tear out a good chunk of his leg with that hook, he'd managed to drop her right into Nakamori's hands – but she'd hit him with a decent burst of the sedative right before that. He'd made his escape, but… it was hazy after that. He was lying on something soft, there was a bandage around his leg, and he wasn't in uniform. He seemed to be wearing a t-shirt and not much else. Had he made it to a bolt hole and treated himself before passing out? Had he called Jii?

He opened his eyes and found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. He looked slowly to the side, taking in bookshelves, a desk, and one detective, sitting crooked in a high-backed chair that had been pulled around to face the couch, one foot propped up next to himself on the chair's seat so that he could stroke the dove that had perched on his knee.

Kaito swallowed hard. He had come here? How out of it had he been? Had he said anything? Based on the stormy look on Shinichi's face, that seemed likely.

"Do you need a hospital?" Shinichi asked. Kaito blinked. He hadn't realized Shinichi had noticed he was awake.

"What?"

"A hospital," Shinichi repeated, still looking at the dove he was petting. "The blood loss… I was going to call an ambulance if you were out much longer."

"It wasn't blood loss," Kaito said. "Drugged." He was still feeling a little foggy, but he thought Shinichi's expression might have softened just a touch. A soft coo from the back of the couch made him turn his head. "Oh, hey," he said softly, seeing the other two doves he'd brought with him to the heist perched over him. He slowly eased himself into a sitting position, his back against one of the armrests so he could reach out to them. They hopped lightly onto his arm and let him check them over. He was grateful. It gave him something to do other than stare at Shinichi. "Sorry about this, tantei-kun," he said with forced brightness. "I'll get out of your hair now."

"Will you? Or will I 'accidentally' run into you on the street sometime and never know it?" Shinichi tossed Kichirou's phone to Kaito.

Shit, thought Kaito, even as he caught it easily.

"Was it all just research for a heist, KID?" Shinichi asked. "How far were you planning on going with your little game? What would you have done if I hadn't ended it?" Color rose to Shinichi's cheeks as he thought of just what he had said to Kichirou on that train platform.

"No," Kaito said. "No, no, nothing like that! I thought – Well, I was going to tell you the next time I saw you. Why haven't you been coming to the heists?"

"What?" Shinichi said, displeased to find himself on the defensive. "I've been… busy. Things kept coming up."

"You haven't been avoiding me, then?"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you have so high an opinion of yourself," Shinichi scoffed. "For your information, the first heist after you, you know, lied to me to get me to go on a date with you, my parents happened to be in town. I… kind of wanted to keep my dad far away from you."

"And the next one?"

"It was in Osaka. I do have school, you know. And as for tonight – do you know what I did tonight, KID? I sent a man to prison for murdering his fiancée. So yes, while I would rather have been on a rooftop being embarrassed by your big revelation, something came up."

The two doves that had been perched on Kaito startled into the air and came to rest on Shinichi's chair. Kaito wondered if he was imagining the look of reproach in their eyes and sighed heavily.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I really am. That's why I came here tonight, anyway."

"You didn't just happen to be passing by terribly wounded and think 'Gee, you know where's a good place to dump a body? Shinichi's house.'"

Kaito snorted. "No. I had been planning on paying you a visit if you didn't show up to the heist and… I guess auto-pilot just took over. So now I owe you a thank-you as well as an apology."

Shinichi sighed heavily and seemed to deflate, all the anger rushing out of him at once. "Why did you do it, KID?" he asked, only weary now.

"You have to admit our situation is a little… complicated," Kaito began.

"So you thought you'd make it more complicated?"

"I was trying to figure out what you wanted," Kaito said. "After that night in the cabin I was wondering if we could make it work. For real."

To Kaito's astonishment, Shinichi smiled. It was a little sardonic, but it was definitely a smile. "You could have just asked. 'Some mysteries really are that simple to solve', remember?"

"But I would have been asking as KID. I know you want KID. I didn't know if you'd want… me."

"I don't see how that would have helped you figure it out. Kichirou was nice, KID, but he wasn't you."

"He was, though!" Kaito protested.

"Kichirou wouldn't have crashed into my window and then passed out on the floor of my library due to blood loss and sedatives," Shinichi pointed out. "Look, if Kichirou was true for you – as true as KID is – then I was never going to be able to date Kaito KID anyway. I don't want to date half a person. I'd want whoever you are when you blend those two together."

"But you can see why I'd want to make sure? This isn't a low-stakes game for me, Shinichi."

"Yeah. I get it now. You were scared, and KID is a powerful persona."

"I'm sitting right here," KID protested.

"Ah, but didn't we just finish talking about how KID isn't all you are?"

"Are you branching out into psychoanalysis, tantei-kun?" Kaito asked tartly.

Shinichi snorted. "I think you underestimate just how much time I've spent trying to get into your headspace."

"Then you should be grateful for Kichirou. Because yes, he was… true. So now you know me a little better."

Shinichi nodded thoughtfully. "Then, I think we're gonna be okay. Just… don't lie to me, KID."

"You're asking a thief not to lie to you?"

"For the record, I don't count anything that happens during heists. Those are more riddles than lies, anyway," Shinichi said. "Of course, if we're going to make this work, I'll have to promise, too. Obviously I won't try to use our relationship against you when it comes to KID vs. the police. And you won't use KID tactics against me in our relationship – seriously, if you want to know something, just ask."

"I am not promising I won't magically steal into your bedroom in the middle of the night," Kaito said with a smirk.

"That's fine – I said no using them against me," Shinichi said, matching his grin. "As far as I'm concerned, that would work only to my benefit."

"My, my, such confidence," KID purred. Then he paused. "Did we really just negotiate our way into a relationship?"

"Well… I do have one more question," Shinichi said.

"What is it?"

"If you wanted me at a heist so badly, why did you set the second one in Osaka of all places?"

To Shinichi's astonishment, KID blushed. "I kind of, maybe, thought you were dating Hattori," he mumbled.

"Eh? Where on Earth did you get that idea?!"

"What you said to Kichirou on the train platform! It was all vague and nonspecific! And sure, at first I thought you meant me, but then you didn't show up to the next heist and I started second-guessing and I figured if you were dating Hattori and if I had a heist in Osaka you'd definitely come and maybe I could figure it out and…" He trailed off.

"And what, KID?"

"And… steal you back?"

Shinichi couldn't help it. He formed an instant mental image of KID whisking him off under moonlight, stealing him away from the world, and his face turned bright red. "Oh."

"Right, now it's my turn for a question," KID said determinedly. Shinichi just nodded mutely. "Why, tantei-kun, am I wearing a shirt that says Property of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department?"

Shinichi smirked. "Thought it was a good look for you. Remember, I was pretty annoyed with you at the time."

"Uh huh," Kaito said dryly. Then there was a puff of smoke and KID was standing at the window wearing Shinichi's shirt – and his pants. Shinichi was now wearing the police-issue shirt and… well, KID hadn't been wearing any pants to swap with him, though at this point Shinichi couldn't even find it in himself to be embarrassed. KID had one foot on the windowsill already. "Don't miss the next heist, tantei-kun," he said.

"Hey wait," Shinichi protested. "Can I at least get a name to call you?"

KID pressed his hand over his heart in mock shock. "Why, tantei-kun. What kind of a boy do you think I am! I never give out my name until at least the second date." And with that, KID disappeared in a flurry of wingbeats and a cloud of smoke – though Shinichi felt a swift, light pressure against his lips before it cleared. When it did, he found himself holding a scrap of paper with a new phone number scrawled across it, along with a tiny scribbled heart and a name: "Kaito".

Shinichi rolled his eyes, but entered the number in his phone under the name and texted it.

>> You think you're so clever

Almost immediately:

I know I'm so clever. See you soon~ <<

Shinichi couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face – not that he wanted to. Catching a thief was turning out to be just as exciting as chasing one, and he couldn't wait to see what happened next.

The End