For Poirot cafe Themed Writing Competition #21: Ice.
Thank the amazing Taliya for betaing for me.
I pretty much had to fight this fic to keep it under the max-wordcount for the challenge. Without the limitation I could probably have written five thousand more.
Rated T for language.
Hope you enjoy.
Kaitou the snowman
…
There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found,
For when they placed it on his head, he began to dance around!
-Frosty the Snowman
…
This was it.
This was how he was going to die.
Not fighting to avenge his father, not with a bang on a heist to protect the ones he loved, not from stupid mistakes that resulted in miscalculated stunts. No, his grave would read:
Here lies Kuroba Kaito
Departed from this world by pissing of a witch
Mind you, it had not been the first time he had angered the resident witch. But after one too many snide-comments and fibs, the world suddenly turned white. One moment he had been standing next to her, the next not.
It could only be considered an out-of-body experience. Kaito was floating in a world filled with nothing but white and quietness. Not even his breath or heartbeat breached the silence. It was disconcerting, to say the least. If he was dead and this was the afterlife, then was he currently in heaven or hell? He might not have been good enough for heaven, but he certainly deserved something better then hell – or at least, that was what he liked to think.
Kaiito sighed (or something similar without actually breathing) and continued to float in the sub-space. He stretched his fingers out experimentally – nothing wrong with his coordination. He looked around and squinted. There was nothing to look at, noting at all. He summersaulted, tried a few swim-strokes. No changes. He gave up. There was no point trying if he could not tell whether or not he was moving anywhere.
"Well," he proclaimed loudly. "This sucks."
There was nothing he detested more than boredom.
Just as the thought entered his mind, the placidity of the limbo fractured. The previous snow-white non-scape began to crack, the fissures vibrating. Coldness threaded through his veins as though someone had poured ice into them. He shivered involuntary. The coldness burned.
Colours flashed behind his eyelids. His ears rang as though the volume on a speaker had been cranked to its highest capability. Ghostly hands patted and stroke his body. He gasped as something groped him. He flailed, doing summersaults to try to get rid of the insistent hands. Panic bubbled in his chest.
Is this hell? he thought frantically. Am I doomed to be molested for all of eternity?
It would be a somewhat fitting punishment. Something tore at his nose. He grabbed it, pain shooting through him. It felt as though someone had given him a nose job without any anaesthesia. He curled in on himself as he howled in pain.
The hands immediately withdrew. Silence reigned once more. Kaito drew in ragged breaths. His body shook slightly, still felling the phantom hands on his body. He minutely relaxed, slowly straightening from his previous coil. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Someone was watching him. Before he could locate where it was emanating from, a voice spoke straight into his ear.
"Did he just scream?"
Kaito's eyes popped open in surprise. What met him was no longer the snow-white landscape. It was still white, but three children stood right in front of him wearing bright colours. They looked to be no older than six or seven. The largest of the children, a boy, wore a bright orange jacket that made him blink at the contrast. A smaller boy wore a dark green jacket, and the last, a girl, wore pink. They looked vaguely familiar.
The girl fidgeted slightly, and glanced at her friends. Confusion adorned their faces. The girl turned back towards him and took a step forward hesitatingly. "Snowman-san?"
Kaito blinked. Snowman-san? Were they talking to him? He tried to turn around, but his view would not change. He frowned. He tried moving his fingers. No luck. He tried his toes. Still no luck. His throat constricted as panic seized him. He could not move!
"Help!" he croaked. He could not move. Was he dying? Was that why he was frozen and cold?
The children jumped backwards in surprise and grabbed each other. Their faces mirrored his terror.
"I can't move. Omagad, I can't move! Someone call the hospital, please. I'm so cold, I can't move. Pleasepleaseplease," his voice quivered with unshed tears. Why were the kids not doing anything? The longer he went unnoticed, the lower his chances of survival became. He did not want to die. Not yet. Not like this.
A puzzled expression spread across the face of the green-jacket boy. His brows twitched slightly and he licked his lips. "Snowman-san. I think the whole point is that you are cold. Cause if you weren't cold, you'd melt."
The serious tone of the voice cut through the panicked haze in his mind. Kaito blinked, for they made no sense to him. What did they mean by 'Snowman-san'? He was most certainly not a snowman. Dammit. "I'm not a snowman," he hissed. "My name is Kaito."
The girl squealed, surprising the teen out of his rant. His eyes focused on her as she clapped her hands in excitement.
"Kaitou the Snowman!" she tittered happily, a large smile stretched across her face. "That Nee-chan did tell us this white hat was magical!"
Kaito mentally face-palmed. What had Akako done to him now? What could he have possible done to deserve this? A thought niggled in the back of his mind. He took a sharp breath, panic once more bubbling in his throat. He gave a small laugh, from the reaction from the children he doubted it sounded anything but sane.
"I'm going to die," he mumbled," if I can't change this. I'm stuck being a snowman, I'm going to melt and die. This is cruel. Just cruel. I don't want to melt." Horror and desperation crept into his voice. How horribly would it be too slowly melt? Whymewhymewhyme?
The two boys looked pale and stricken. The little girl started to cry, small sobs shaking her body. She took a few step towards him and threw her arms around him. He could vaguely feel it.
"I'm sorry Kaitou-san. We didn't know. We wouldn't have built you if we knew. We're so sorry." The boys echoed her words as they too embraced him.
Kaito blinked in surprise. Oh, he realized. The children thought they were at fault. His stomach dropped. He tried shaking his head, but when that did not work, he opted to say with a voice far calmer then he felt. "Shh. It's okay, it's not your fault. You didn't know."
The girl looked up at him through her bangs. She looked shaken and guilty. "We'll take care of you, Snowman-san. We promise. We'll –" she bit her lip, before continuing with a stronger voice. "We'll put you in the freezer so you won't disappear!"
Kaito's heart melted (hopefully only figuratively) at her words. Relief swept through him, releasing him from his melancholy. He should not have been so relieved – the thought of being stuck in a freezer for the remainder of his life was not particularly enticing – but at least he was not going to die by melting just yet.
The sound of snow crunching underneath shoe gave them a three second warning before a bewildered voice cut through the silence.
"Guys, why are you hugging the snowman?"
The children jumped in surprise, letting go of him and turning with flushed faces to the newcomer. Kaito tried stretching his neck, but the person was just out of his line of sight. The voice was familiar though.
"Because he was scared," the little girl piped up. "He doesn't want to melt. So we are going to put him in the freezer when the weather warms up."
The silence that followed positively oozed with disbelief. He could almost imagine the exasperation the new arrival felt. Heck, if he had not been a snowman at this current moment, he would have looked at them strangely too.
"Guys," came the patient voice only grown-ups had when talking to particularly naïve children. "It's the circle of life. By melting, the snowman can go on journeys all around the world. Maybe he'll be a snowman in the Himalayas next time. Do you think he would rather play there, or spent years stuck in a freezer?"
The girl blinked in surprise. The larger of the children turned towards Kaito with an uncertain expression. "Would you rather do that Kaitou snowman-san?"
Kaito wanted to shake his head, to yell that no, he did not want to spend the remainder of his life a snowman anywhere. He definitely knew that he really did not want to melt either. And that adults were stupid and should listen to children once in a while because he really did not want to melt. However, he did not speak a word. Who knew what an adult would do to a speaking snowman?
An exaggerated and mock-impatient sigh reached his ears. "You named your snowman Kaitou? I know he's white and have a white hat but seriously guys, that's a horrible name."
"That's not it!" the boy in the green jacket protested. "He said his name was Kaitou. He can talk." The three children snapped their heads in his direction with hopeful eyes.
Kaito's stomach dropped in discomfort. It was somewhat disconcerting being talked about like he was not there, but he liked this attention even less.
The crunching of snow was the only warning he had before a familiar face walked into view. The sight of that cowlick shocked him so much he blurted out "Tantei-kun?" in disbelief before he could stop himself.
That was when everything fell into chaos.
…
"So you are telling me you pissed off a witch who turned you into a snowman?" The disbelief in Conan's voice was not hidden well. His arms were crossed as the glared at the phantom-thief-turned-snowman in front of him, clearly not believing his explanation.
Kaito tried desperately not to whine. Why, of all people, would Conan's friends be the one snowman he had been embedded into? Life really was not fair. Conan's cheek were flushed from the cold, a large scarf wrapped around his shoulders. His intelligent cerulean eyes barely peeping out from under the yellow hat he was wearing. Kaito would never admit it out loud, but he looked so cute. It was not fair.
"Yes," he said after several seconds of silence, trying to sound mature and patient but realizing it probably came out as a petulant whine. "How did you turn into a kid again?"
Conan tsk-ed slightly at that, looking distinctly unimpressed. "Not by magic," was all the boy would say on the subject.
Kaito wanted to fidget. That penetrating glare made him uncomfortable. He could not turn his back, or even move his head. Whenever he tried to look at something above the detective's head, his concentration was inevitable lured back to those blue orbs.
"Believe what you want. Will you help me?" He sighed in defeat. He was exhausted and dizzy. Not being able to move anything was the worst experience he had ever had. He felt helpless, and Kaitou KID was never helpless, ever. But here he was, fully dependant on a shrunken-detective that hated his guts. If he irritated the guy too much, Conan would likely pull out a hairdryer and melt him. The thought sent shivers of terror down his spine. He gulped loudly.
Conan rubbed his forehead. "Alright, what do you want me to do?"
Kaito brightened marginally at that, hope filling his chest with warmth. "Find Koizumi Akako. She goes to Ekoda high school. She's the witch that turned me."
The child took a small, calculating nod. "It's too late to search today, but I'll find her tomorrow. I promise." With that, he turned around to walk back indoors.
The hope that blossomed inside him a moment earlier wilted as he saw the child walk away. The thought of spending the rest of the night alone scared him. What if a cat or a dog came by to pee on him?
"Wait! You are not just going to leave me like this? All alone?
Conan stopped and turned around to peer at him with a contemplative look. An eyebrow raised slightly. "Kaitou KID is afraid of the dark?"
Kaito tried very hard to scowl."Kaitou KID? Scared? Never! I'm not afraid of anything."
Conan lips curved faintly before he turned and disappeared from view.
The phantom thief's stomach dropped in disappointment. He was alone and defenceless. With a sigh, he began to prepare himself to spend the rest of the evening – and night, in his own company. Maybe he should keep his mind occupied by coming up with traps for a new heist? Something that would humiliate the chibi-detective for daring to leave him all alone –. His thoughts were cut off a moment later as Conan reappeared before him. He was holding a book under his arm.
Kaito's heart palpitated in surprise. Something warm spread through his chest from the sight. He withdrew every bad idea he had thought regarding the detective a moment prior.
Conan took hesitant steps towards him before kneeling down next to him, careful to stay in Kaito's line of sight. He opened the book.
Kaito's eyes absorbed the title and he hummed with a dark chuckle. "Reading Sherlock Holmes to a phantom thief, Tantei-kun?"
A scowl spread across the child's face, and he made to stand up. "If you are going to be like that, I'm going back into the warmth –"
"Wait!" Kaito called out, trying not to sound panicked. "It's okay. I don't mind. I was just teasing."
Conan sent him a calculating look, before sitting down. He cleared his throat slightly before starting to read.
"In the year 1878 I took my degree of doctor of medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as assistant surgeon –"
…
Kaito had only allowed Conan to read for him for less than an hour before he had made him go inside so that he would not get sick. Conan had not been happy about it, but they had made a compromise. The child had attached one of the Detective Badges on him, and had read the book until he finally fell asleep a couple of hours into the night. Kaito had fallen into a restless doze listening to Conan breathe.
He was abruptly woken by a scream. In his sleep-confused daze, it took him several moments to recognize the three children from the day prior. He blinked the haze out of his eyes as he regarded the three. They looked worried and slightly panicked. Had something happened to Conan?
"What's wrong?" If his voice had risen two octaves in his worry he would firmly deny it.
The children calmed down immediately. The girl, Ayumi he had learned yesterday, smiled brightly and embraced him. "We thought you were gone. I'm glad you are not gone Kaitou-san."
Kaito tried smiling back, but to his displeasure, he was still a snowman. So it had not been a bad dream after all. "I'm glad I'm still here too," he hummed back instead. At least he had not melted yet.
The three children beamed at him. The remainder of the morning was spent with the children entertaining him. To his embarrassment and glee they built him a snowwoman and promptly named her Maurice. Kaito had a lot of fun making the children howl with laughter flirting with his snow-girlfriend. Once or twice he sensed the presence of someone else. A few times Ayumi would call out "Ai-chan!" but the girl never approached him.
Around noon, the three went into the house to wake up Conan (who apparently was a late-sleeper, he learned as they complained) but the detective had already left the house earlier in the morning. Kaito was disappointed. He had hoped to see him before he left.
Conan came back late in the afternoon with no news. He had not been able to track down the witch. Kaito had been frustrated. Where had Akako disappeared too? That evening Conan continued reading to him. The day after went pretty much the same way. The children would come play with him in the morning and afternoon while Conan was out investigating, and the detective came back late with no news and read to him as an apology.
It was on the third morning everything changed.
…
Kaito was woken up by the sound of crunching snow. He groaned slightly. It was barely the break of dawn, were the children already up? He was still tired. Maybe if he ignored them they would let him sleep for a little while longer.
"My, my," came a distinctive female voice. "How the mighty have fallen. How's your life as a snowman, Kuroba-kun?"
His eyes snapped open. Akako's unmistakable wine-coloured hair filled his vision. Her eyes sparkled in amusement. Kaito clenched his teeth in anger. Something sour churned in his stomach as he regarded her.
"Where the hell have you been, Akako? We've been searching for you."
Her lips twitched slightly. "I know," she tittered. "But I like having handsome men chase after me." A finger came out to stroke the carrot he had for a nose.
The sensation sent a cold shiver down his spine. "Of course you do," he spoke icily, trying not to sound spiteful. "Could you turn me back? Being a snowman is all nice and dandy and everything, but I haven't eaten anything in three days."
An elegant eyebrow shot up as she regarded him. "Alright."
A breath escaped his lips as the tension drained from his shoulders. She would turn him back, thank you, Kamii-sama. He would miss having Conan read to him in the evenings, but he would be flesh and blood once more. He could not wait to get out of the cold.
"Ah, ah, ah~" She wriggled a finger. "Not so fast. I'll turn you back if you'll admit you love and worship me." A playful smile curled on her lips.
Kaito's stomach dropped. He would have shivered in anger if he could. Why was the witch so- so cruel? She had dozens of men drooling over her, why was she so desperate for his approval? What an annoyance. He parted his lips to swear at her, but something made him freeze. He closed his mouth. Dammit. This was what had gotten him into trouble in the first place. If he just went with it, just this once, he could get his body back. Grovelling now was worth it for the sake of his pride. He refused to spend the rest of his life stuck in a freezer (maybe if it was Tantei-kun's freezer he could live with it).
"Fine, fine. I love you Akako. I worship your very existence," he paused before adding. "Your hair is really beautiful today." He bit his lip to not say 'It reminds me of a toxic toad,' as that would not have gone well.
Akako's smile evaporated immediately. Her eyes widened in shock as she regarded him. She grabbed her under lip between two nails and pulled it a tad in thought.
Kaito's stomach dropped in disbelief. He had swallowed his pride, and she had not held her part of the deal? Anger shot through him. How he loathed Akako with all his being. "That's it? You are not going to turn me back? You promised." He gritted his teeth.
Akako flinched at his word. A look of regret flashed in her face. "I'm sorry Kuroba-kun. But I was sure this would break the curse. This transformation spell is of the kind of the cursed frog. If you confess your love to someone, then the curse will break." She shrugged with one shoulder. "Seems I miscalculated. I thought it was love, not the true-love, soulmate kind of thing." The amusement in her face drained slowly.
"I'm sorry, but it seems like you might be stuck here for a while." She patted his shoulder awkwardly.
Kaito's capacity to think had jumped out of the window with a 'Thank you for everything, I'm going to get married to a whale'. The wheels had rusted and someone had tagged Kaitou KID's emblem across them. His stomach had turned cold.
"That's it?" he whispered, the sound barely audible. He could not make himself speak any louder. Despair filled his mind. This was how he would die. As an unloved snowman of all things. What was the point? If Akako could not reverse it, then who could? No one, that's who. There was no such thing as true love. Granted, he had thought Aoko was the love of his life, but she had started dating Hakuba a few months ago. If she was happy, then he was happy for her.
The vague murmur of Akako's apologies or promises to try find a way to restore him did not breach the hazy cloud in his head. He let his eyelids fall shut as the world once more turned snow-white. Silence filled his ears. He was floating once more in that white non-scape. He could finally move his arms and hands, and he curled into a tight ball. Tears accumulated in his eyes, and he let them go freely. This was it. There was nothing he could do against real magic. He was powerless. He was going to die as a snowman.
It's not fair, dammit. It's not fair.
Kaito did not know how long he floated in the white. A soft voice murmured his name over and over again. He felt sluggish as he opened his eyes slowly. It had gotten dark, he noticed detachedly. How long had he been lost in there? It took him a few seconds to recognize the small form huddled next to him. He was covered in a thin layer of snow. A noise escaped him in surprise.
"Tantei-kun," he chided, indignation shaking him from his haze. "You are going to be sick –"
Bright, cerulean eyes turned to him in wonder. "KID," he breathed as he stood with shaking feet. "You've been catatonic the entire day, we were worried." His glasses flashed slightly, hiding his facial expression.
Kaito blinked. Conan had been worried about him? Oh, the realization shook him. The children must have come some when after Akako's departure and must have gotten quite worried when he did not respond to any of their inquiries. His stomach dropped as guilt blossomed in his chest. How could he have worried the children of all people? He felt horrible.
"I'm sorry, how are they? They weren't too worried were they? I shouldn't – I couldn't –" He stopped before he could ramble on.
Conan turned his head fractionally, his fist clenching. "They'll be fine," he trailed off. He moved his head faintly, and the glint in his glasses disappeared. Kaito could now stare into the heart-broken expression in his eyes.
Kaito's chest clenched and dread spread through his insides. What could have possibly put that expression in the detective's eyes? He wanted to reach out and embrace the boy, maybe make a dove or to appear just to see him smile that condescending-but-impressed smile he always gave him. Anything but this.
"Tantei-kun?"
"I overheard the conversation. From this morning," he clarified with a murmur as Kaito stared, confused.
Oh. He tried to turn away, drop his head, anything. But those cerulean orbs had him caught. He wanted to say something to diffuse the situation. But they both knew what it would entail. Kaito was going to die, slowly, if not by disappearing, then by melting. He did not want to die, but neither did he want to spend the rest of his life inside a freezer. A thought struck him. Had not the children said something about the top hat a few days ago?
"Remove my hat."
The detective froze, eyes widening. His body twitched as shock reverberated through him. An angry growl resonated from his throat. "I know the story well, Kuroba. Don't you dare ask me to do something like that."
Kaito opened his mouth to respond with the same heated tone, but something made him freeze. His mouth would have dropped if he could. He spluttered, "Did you just say my name?"
Anger drained slightly from the boy's face, but the frustration remained. "Of course I did. I'm not stupid. You told the kids your name was 'Kaito', and your 'friend' goes to Ekoda high. With a logical deduction I could surmise that you were from the same area. The only Kaito in the same class as Koizumi Akako is Kuroba Kaito." He trailed off, before blanching. His eyes shifted and a look of guilt flickered across his face.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have – it really was an accident." He plopped his head forward.
Kaito sighed. The shock that the detective knew his real name did not frighten him as much as he had imagined. He felt relieved, in fact. At least someone would know what had happened to him. Conan could tell his mum and Aoko that he had – that he was – dammit.
"It's okay, Tantei-kun. I'm not upset. It's a fitting end to our story. You found your phantom thief, but I will be forever out of your reach. Take that Division Two! The great Kaitou KID will never be captured." The laugher that accompanied those words sounded hollow even to his own ears.
Conan did not crack a smile. His eyes seemed sadder and older then they should have. "Shinichi," he whispered after a long pause.
"Hmh?" Kaito asked tiredly. It was getting late, for both of them. His eyelids slid shut.
"You can call me Shinichi tonight."
His eyes fluttered open again in surprise. A smile tugged at his lips and warmth blossomed inside of him. Shinichi was not teasing him. There was no pity in his eyes. Maybe because he understood how Kaito felt – they were in the exact same predicament. If he died, he would die alone with very few people knowing who he truly was. They were powerless to their fate. And somehow, that felt comforting, knowing he would now die alone.
"Well then, Shinichi," he purred softly, he swore Shinichi's ears reddened. "I'm Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire. All the pretty ones call me Kaito." He tried winking, but to his utter dismay, he could not.
The boy twitched an eyebrow slightly in annoyance. "Barou," muttered, then with a stronger voice he added. "Well then, Kaito. Tried declaring your amorous devotion to Maurice?"
Kaito glanced towards the snowwoman. He cleared his throat. "Would be pointless. I'm certain she's cheating on me with that pompous snowman down the road. He got authentic button adornments, not stones like I do. How can a measly phantom thief compete against that?"
This earned him an amused smirk from Shinichi. "I'm sure we could arrange something to fix that quandary."
Kaito grinned inwardly. His heart fluttered. Shinichi looked so cute. Now, in these final moments of his life. Kaito could admit to himself that he liked Shinichi. The detective was the most brilliant individual he had ever had the pleasure of knowing, along with being smart, fierce and drop-dead gorgeous in his adult form. Whenever he participated, those heists were the most thrilling and exciting. If he could have chosen anywhere to be turned into a snowman it would have definitely been here. That he would not change for the world. The urge to reach out and embrace Shinichi filled his head, making him slightly dizzy from the fervent desire. If he had one last wish in this world, it would have been precisely that.
A small hand reached up to stroke his chin. Kaito gasped. He could feel the slight heat from the detective's fingertips. It tracked across his snow-skin like electricity. He wanted to bathe in that heat forever.
"Ta – Shinichi?"
Shinichi's eyes were half-lidded as he regarded him, the blue orbs almost glowing in the dim light. "Anything," he whispered, mistaking the question for a favour.
Kaito wanted to lick his lips, and hesitated before blurting out. "Could you – could you hug me?"
The small hand stilled against his chin. A small, gentle smile curled on his lips. Kaito felt his breath leave his lungs. The hand fell down and before he could follow the movement, Kaito was embraced by two small arms.
It was the best hug Kaito had ever received. Heat spread through him from where Shinichi touched him. The boy pressed his cheek against his snow-chest, his face flushed from the cold. Kaito would have done anything, everything, to be able to hug him back.
They stood there for a long time. Snow started to fall. Kaito sighed after a while. He did not want the boy to let go of him, but Shinichi would get sick if he stayed out for much longer. He opened his mouth to say something, but the detective spoke before he could start.
"You know what, Kaito?" he murmured, almost as if to himself. "You are absolutely brilliant. You are kind-hearted and flat out amazing. I can't imagine anyone doing what you do as KID. I love your heists and your riddles. Nowadays I anticipate them more eagerly than anything else. Without them I would plummet into the darkness. So don't you dare give up on me. We'll find a way, because I – I –" His voice trailed off. The arms tightened their grip around him.
Kaito could not breathe, his head felt as though in a cloud. Shinichi did not loathe him? The feeling sent electricity through him. He closed his eyes and hummed softly. A warm, content smile would have stretched across his lips were he able to move. Maybe, just maybe, this was all right. This was all he needed.
"I love you too."
Warmth spread through him, his skin starting to tingle. Barely noticeable at first, then suddenly it flared up, scorching him from the inside. He gasped, a sound purely made from pain. He vaguely noticed arms letting him go as Shinichi called out his name. Pain flared through him, his vision flashing white. Water slithered down his body and he vaguely thought. Shit, I'm melting, before it disappeared in another painful flare.
Kaito did not know how long he suffered, but suddenly the pain and the heat disappeared and he was left alone in the cold. Hands were suddenly on him, turning him around. He opened his eyes slowly to glance at the worried looking boy. His fingers twitched. Gasping, he lifted it up to his line of sight. He was flesh and blood again. Looking back at a concerned Shinichi, his breath hitched as he realized he could finally do what he had dreamed to do all evening. He reached out his arms and pulled the detective into an embrace, pressing him against his chest – thanking lady luck that he was clothed somehow and not laying naked in the cold snow. Kaito held Shinichi tightly, crying into his hair. He was human again.
Shinichi squirmed slightly before small arms slithered around him. A relieved sigh escaped the detective's lips. "I told you we'd figure out a way, barou."
A grin stretched across Kaito's face, instead of answering however, he lowered his face to press their lips together.
Shinichi gasped slightly before pressing back.
Kaito hummed happily, murmuring another 'I love you' against his lips.
Shinichi blushed slightly, before withdrawing his head. He gazed at him with a warm expression.
"I love you too, Kuroba Kaito."