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Kaito sighed as he walked, looking around in boredom. Summer festivals were more fun when you were with company. He had accepted the invitation to come with Aoko and Hakuba, but he very quickly started to feel like a 3rd wheel on their date. When he came back from throwing away their street food wrappers only to find them staring deeply into each others' eyes, he decided it was time to split. He sent them both a quick text about finding a friend to catch up with, and then had wandered off before they had spotted him.
Maybe he should go home. He'd already gotten himself some food and bought himself one of those souvenir kitsune half-masks. Was it too early to leave?
Right, games. If he played a game or two, then he could say he had the full festive experience™, and then leave. He walked in the direction of the festival games, and looked at his options. Ring toss should be a piece of cake, but the line was quite long. He shuddered when he spotted the goldfish scooping game and gave it a wide berth. Then he spotted the shooting game and did a double take when he spotted the person standing in front of it. His back was to Kaito, but he'd recognize that cowlick anywhere.
He paused and took a moment to carefully observe his favorite detective. His detective was wearing a yukata, and a part of Kaito really wanted him to turn around so he could see how he looked from the front. He also appeared to be alone, and he looked just as bored as Kaito felt.
Kaito debated showing himself. He and Tantei-kun, and then Meitantei post shrinkage, had an unspoken agreement when it came to Meitantei chasing him. He would get caught up in some kind of trouble, KID would swoop in to the rescue, and the detective would let him go. Over time, the reasons he let KID go had become flimsier and flimsier, and they both knew it. Kaito was pretty certain that he was no longer trying to put him behind bars, but was he sure enough to risk his civilian identity?
The temptation to see Kudou Shinichi outside of a heist was too great. But… that didn't mean he could take some precautions~
The kitsune mask, which had previously been worn on the side of his head like a hair accessory, was adjusted so that it was over his eyes like a proper mask. Then he began to approach his target. As soon as he'd begun to move, Kudou turned around, as if he'd sensed him. Those sharp eyes narrowed as they assessed him, and Kaito shivered.
He still wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but he knew without a doubt it would be fun.
"Kudou Shinichi, right?"
Those eyes snapped up to Kaito's, and for a moment, he felt like Kudou could see straight through him. Had he already been caught? A thrill went through him and he stared back, undeterred by Kudou's probing gaze.
"Do I know you?" Kudou asked.
"Just a fan."
He cocked his head. "Are you sure you aren't more? You feel familiar?"
"Perhaps we've met before," he replied with a grin. He was probably pushing it, but he couldn't seem to stop. "Do you think you could figure out from where?"
Kudou's lip twitched at the challenge, and Kaito knew he had him. "What are the terms, exactly?"
Kaito held up 2 fingers. "Only two rules: you tell me where we first met to win, but you only get one guess. So make sure you make it count~"
Kudou frowned. "Only one guess?"
"What's wrong, afraid you can't do it?" Kaito taunted playfully.
He smirked, "Actually, I'm confident I can, and you have already given me a clue. We must know each other fairly well for you to only allow me the one guess. If you were someone I had only met in passing, someone that hadn't made much of an impression, you would give me more tries. But you don't want to make it too easy for me, so you're only allowing me the one guess, forcing me to be absolutely sure before I answer."
"Is that so?" Kaito asked, neither confirming or denying. His tone was carefully neutral even as his heart was racing. He needed to unbalance him somehow, and he knew just how to do it. He closed the distance between them until he could take one of Kudou's hands in his own. He gave a deep showman's bow while placing a kiss on the back of his hand. "Then allow me the great pleasure to accompany you this evening."
Kudou's demeanor immediately shifted to an adorably flustered look, and Kaito mentally gave himself a pat on the back. As much as he would have liked continuing to hold Meitantei's hand, he didn't want to risk the detective kicking him, so he let it go. "I'll play you," Kaito said while nodding at the shooting game behind him.
He turned back to look. "Are you sure? I'm pretty good."
Kaito's grin was sharp when he answered, "I think you'll find me to be a worthy opponent."
Kudou handed over enough money for the two of them, then took one of the offered guns. "Another clue, thanks. It's almost like you want me to win."
Kaito took his own gun, but didn't answer.
0-0-0-0-0
"Alright, I'll admit, you kept up with me pretty well!" Shinichi said as he walked, looking impressed.
"Thanks," Kaito grumbled, "I thought I might do a little better though. The aim on those toy guns were a lot less accurate than I was expecting."
"So your experience is with real guns rather than toys, another clue," Shinichi said with a grin, his eyes dancing. The sight made Kaito's breath catch for a moment.
"And what about you? Play a lot of festival games?" Kaito asked.
"Lately, I do, yeah," Shinichi answered with a chuckle, "some elementary school students seem to have taken a liking to me, and sometimes they drag me off on their adventures."
Kaito smiled to himself; he must have been talking about the Shounen Tantei. He was glad they still seemed to be friends. He couldn't ask more though without revealing he knew about Conan, and he didn't want to hand Shinichi such a big clue, so he let the subject drop.
"So what would you like to do next on our date?"
Shinichi's face pinked, just as he'd predicted. His favorite detective really was too fun to tease. "I don't go on dates with people whose name I don't know."
Kaito grinned and winked, "Then it will be a win-win for me. Either I win our challenge, or I lose but get a date with a beauty."
Shinichi's blush darkened. "Who said I agreed to a date if I win?"
"I'll just have to charm you so that you will," Kaito replied.
"So you've already resigned yourself to losing?" Shinichi teased.
Shit, he'd walked into that one, hadn't he? "Hmm, more that I have the utmost confidence in your ability."
Shinichi blinked at him in surprise before ducking his head. "Well, to answer your previous question, I am getting a little hungry."
"Perfect! What would you like? My treat," Kaito offered. When Shinichi looked like he was going to argue, he continued, "to pay you back after you paid for the game."
Shinichi shrugged, "I'm fine with whatever you want."
"Alright," Kaito replied while scoping out the options. "Maybe a little of a variety."
Shinichi wrinkled his nose. "Don't go overboard, I said I was only a little hungry."
"Then we can share. Ah, beef skewers! Let's start there."
They ended up getting both a beef and a chicken skewer, some noodles, fried sweet potato wedges, and a skewer of sugar-glazed strawberries. Kaito ended up holding the meat sticks in one hand, and the strawberries in the other, while Shinichi held the noodles and the sweet potatoes.
"We shouldn't have gotten everything at once," Shinichi said looking at his occupied hands before glancing around, "Is there a place we can sit down?"
"Doesn't look like it. Here, I'll hold, and we can eat these first. Once my hand is free, I'll take one of those from you." He took a bite of beef, and then held the stick out for Shinichi, "Try it, it's good."
Shinichi leaned over and took a bite, and even though it had been his idea, Kaito still felt his face heat behind the mask. It felt like couple behavior.
Well, the best way to distract and regain the upper hand was to flirt and fluster. "An indirect kiss from my favorite detective? How could I be so lucky!"
Shinichi scowled, "You're insufferable."
Despite his grumblings, he didn't seem to actually mind sharing the rest of the food (or more indirect kisses.)
0-0-0-0-0
"That was great! I love street food," Kaito said with a happy sigh while patting his stomach.
"I can't believe you ate so much. Where do you put it all?" Shinichi teased while playfully poking his side, making Kaito swat at his finger. "What kind of crazy metabolism do you have?"
"I work out," Kaito said vaguely. He could see Shinichi's eyes narrow, no doubt picking apart his answer and seeing how it fit into his list of suspects. "So why were you here alone?"
"I wasn't, originally. My best friend Ran invited me to come with her and her girlfriend. The yukatas were their idea too. But then we got separated. I managed to find them again, I spotted them in a more secluded area, but they, ugh," Shinichi looked a little embarrassed, "they looked like they were having a moment, and I didn't want to intrude. I sent them a text saying I'd run into a case, and not to wait up."
Kaito was about to reply when a group of people going in the opposite direction passed by, one of them bumping into Shinichi. They threw half an apology over their shoulder as Shinichi stumbled. Kaito's arm shot out and wrapped around his waist to steady him. "Whoa, there. You alright?"
Shinichi looked up at him and smiled, "yeah, thanks."
Poker face. "No problem." He tried to push down his disappointment when Shinichi stepped away from him. "It looks like it's beginning to get more crowded."
"Careful not to get separated," Shinichi said.
Kaito nodded, though he was a bit distracted. He could still smell Shinichi's shampoo lingering on his nose. He smelled really nice.
Then he felt Shinichi take his hand. 'Oh my god does he want to hold—' He hadn't even finished the thought before he was tugged in Shinichi's direction.
"Careful, you were about to walk right into that person," Shinichi admonished.
"Ah, sorry!" He apologized on reflex, but another part of him was hyper focused on the fact that Shinichi still hadn't let go of his hand.
"What has you so distracted?" Shinichi asked, leading the way through the crowds.
"Uh, just feeling a little warm, I guess."
Shinichi's face softened with concern. "Are you feeling alright? Do you need some water?" They were back at the games area, and Shinichi looked around, no doubt looking for a stall selling bottled drinks.
"Mom, look!" a child's voice rang out through the crowd, "I'm going to catch a fish!"
Kaito's attention snapped in the direction of the sound. Somehow, he hadn't even noticed that they were walking right next to the goldfish scooping game.
"Ken-chan, that's not the right net," the boys mother called after him.
The boy seemed to excited to hear. He ran to the side of the plastic pool and dunked what appeared to be a bug catching net into the water and began waving it around. The boy's mother caught up to him and pulled the child back. Kaito watched in slow motion as the net was pulled from the water, flinging fish into the air. He watched in horror, frozen in place, as one came flying towards him.
0-0-0-0-0
Kaito came to slowly, unsure what had happened. He remembered the- the finny thing, then it was a blank.
He could tell he was lying on the ground, with his head resting on a soft but firm pillow. The pillow was warm, but cool air was blowing on his face. He forced his eyes open, blinking a few times to clear his vision.
Oh no. No no no. Why was Kudou Shinichi directly above him? It was like… like…
Oh god, he was lying in Shinichi's lap.
"Oh, you're awake! How are you feeling?" Shinichi asked with a sheepish smile. Kaito also noticed, to his bemusement, that he'd acquired a paper fan and was using it to fan Kaito's face.
"Um," Kaito began, swallowing over how suddenly dry his mouth was. 'Poker face, poke face, poker face.' "What?" Then he put it together. He must have passed out.
How supremely uncool.
Shinichi continued to fan him, and Kaito finally noticed he could feel it on his face. He brought a hand up and confirmed what he'd already guessed. His fox mask had been removed. Somehow, that was the least alarming part of the situation.
Shinichi looked even more guilty, "Yeah, I… removed it. Sorry. This was all my fault, really."
"Your fault?"
"I should have ended our game long ago. Of course I knew who you were, KID. Were you even trying to hide it?" he asked with a small chuckle, "But I was curious about you, and I knew the moment our game ended, you'd likely disappear. So it's my fault you wore that mask longer than necessary and got overheated."
Well, he had known his Meitantei would figure it out. Really, playing back some of their conversations, he wasn't exactly being careful. But that still left one thing in question. "Overheated?"
Shinichi's brow crinkled in worry. "You don't remember? You were having trouble focusing, and you said you were feeling warm. You must have already been feeling dizzy. Then all of that commotion happened with the goldfish and everyone was scrambling to get them back in the tank, causing you to fall and bump your head. You were only unconscious for a moment, but it would still be better to have a doctor look at you."
His deduction was completely wrong, but Kaito couldn't fault him. It made a lot more sense than passing out from a fish phobia. Unfortunately for the detective, Kaito wasn't going to be correcting him anytime soon.
But if Shinichi had known all along who he was, he could have ended their game at any time. If he'd been looking for evidence that he was KID to turn him over to the police, he would have asked more probing questions. Instead, they'd just had a nice time together, like nothing more than two friends enjoying the festivities. And Shinichi had revealed he knew who Kaito was, but he hadn't woken up in handcuffs. Now Kaito was no detective, but was smart enough to put the clues together.
Shinichi had just wanted to spend time with him, just like Kaito had wanted too.
Kaito gave a rueful grin and sat up, giving a very real wince when his head pounded. Oh, he really had hit his head. "Well, you still haven't won the game yet, Meitantei," he said while tentatively touching the back of his head.
Shinichi remained kneeling next time him, his hand reaching for him as if to steady him if Kaito wavered. "I didn't?"
Kaito's grin widened. "Nope. Remember the rules? It doesn't matter if you know my identity, rule one was to tell me where we first met. I guess our game isn't over yet," he said with a small shake of his head, "unless you want to forfeit, you'll have to accompany me to the medical tent. And then after… maybe our date could continue?"
Shinichi blinked at him, a small blush on his cheeks. He gave a cheeky grin. "I told you, I don't go on dates with people whose name I don't know."
"Kuroba Kaito," he immediately replied, watching the way Shinichi's eyes lit up in delight. He stood slowly, then offered a hand to the other. "Shall we, my dear detective?"
Shinichi took his hand, and Kaito helped him stand without disheveling his yukata. Once he was upright, he didn't let go of Kaito's hand, but gave it a small squeeze before entangling their fingers. "Yeah."
