Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

Genre: Humor/Romance

Pairing: Pre-established KaiShin [KaitoxShinichi]

Summary: For their third year of university, Kaito and Shinichi move from the dorms into an apartment, but the offer is for four. Shinichi, however, is seeing a certain trend in their interviewees.

Round and Round

"Man, I'm going to miss this place," Kaito declared with a melodramatic sigh as he stood in the middle of their dorm room. Almost everything had already been packed away and the place was looking sadly abandoned, but it would always hold some of his fondest memories. It was where he had first met his detective as himself and it was where they had really started to get to know each other. It was also, he added to himself with a smirk that would have sent task force members running in the other direction, where he'd first gotten his Shin-chan into bed.

Speaking of Shin-chan…

"Just be grateful we managed to find a place so fast," Shinichi informed him, pulling open the closet to check if he'd missed anything. "I hear a lot of people are still looking."

"I suppose that's true." Wandering over, Kaito wrapped his arms around the detective's waist from behind and watched as he took the hat off the hook inside the closet and gave it a few shakes to dislodge any dust that might have gathered. "Wasn't the offer for four tenants though?"

"Yes, but the landlord agreed to let us find the remaining tenants. We'll probably need to conduct some interviews… Though I guess we could see if Hakuba-san's still looking for a room," he added thoughtfully. "It would save some trouble."

"Hell no," Kaito said with a shudder. "I'm not spending the next two years living in Holmes Central."

"Then I guess we can put up a notice that we're doing interviews on the dorm bulletins before we go. We can have walk-ins on Friday. We should have everything settled in by then. Can you let go?" he added as an afterthought as he shut the closet door. "I still have to fold the towels so they'll actually fit into the luggage and you need to pack your computer."

"Yeah, yeah, you know Shin-chan, you'd make a great mom, you've got the tone down pat."

Shinichi blushed and smacked him upside the head with the towel he'd just picked up. "Stop saying stupid things and go pack."

X

The new apartment had two rooms with two single beds each, one bathroom, a small living room complete with one couch, one armchair, and one table, and an even smaller kitchen that was just big enough to accommodate all the necessary kitchen equipment. Shinichi had made sure that they found an apartment with wood floors because it was easier to keep clean. Luckily the landlord had okayed the presence of pets as long as said pets didn't have claws to scratch the floors with so the handful of doves Kaito had brought with him could stay. The best part about the apartment however, in Shinichi's mind anyway, was that it was an easy walk from both the university and the police station.

"We'll need to get some more shelves," Shinichi said, frowning as he stood over the open box containing his books and looked around. There was nowhere to put them, and he refused to stack them up on the floor like they didn't matter! The one shelf that had been provided was anything but big and the textbooks had taken up all the space on it. Giving the books in his hands a disconsolate look, he reluctantly returned them to the box and set about pushing the rather heavy lot, box and all, towards the corner. Kaito wondered if his detective knew he was pouting as he did it. Probably not.

"A TV might be nice too," he suggested as he made his way around to check the windows and doors and how they opened or might be opened from the inside and the outside. The apartment was on the fifth floor and they had a tiny balcony. It could be useful. "Wow that must be a really good bakery down there. That line is enormous!"

Come Friday afternoon Shinichi found himself sitting alone on the couch with a notebook open to a page of questions. Kaito had excused himself that morning saying something about needing supplies. He had yet to come back. So it seemed Shinichi was going to be conducting the interviews by himself. He was still trying to decide if he should be annoyed about this. On the one hand, it would've been nice if Kaito was there too since this was their future housemates they were looking for. But on the other hand, Kaito couldn't scare anyone away if he wasn't there.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

"Coming!" Getting up quickly, he made his way to the door and opened it.

"Hello," the person on the other side of the door greeted him with a broad smile. "I heard you were conducting interviews?"

Shinichi stared at the person still grinning at him from the doorstep for a long moment before he spoke, voice a perfect flat. "Kaito, you already live here. You don't have to interview."

The magician continued to watch him expectantly for a moment longer before he cracked up laughing. "I wanted to drop off some stuff before I go get the rest. So did anyone come by yet?"

Shinichi shook his head as he stepped aside to let Kaito in. "Not yet." He watched as Kaito bounded into their bedroom with the bulging backpack he'd been carrying swinging from one hand. He reemerged with the pack considerably deflated and went to put his shoes back on.

"Aren't you staying?" he asked, disappointed despite himself.

Kaito smiled, leaning in to steal a kiss before opening the door. "I'll be back soon."

He hadn't been kidding. Shinichi had only just finished brewing himself a cup of coffee when the doorbell rang again. Expecting a potential future housemate, he did not expect to find Kaito on the doorstep again.

"You have a key," he pointed out in mild exasperation. "And I know it wouldn't stop you if you forgot it either. Why do you keep ringing the doorbell?"

"Well, I didn't want you to feel like no one was coming," the magician explained. "You know, in case no one's showed up yet."

"…Right." Retreating back to the couch, Shinichi picked up his coffee. "Well, you're right about no one showing up yet." He frowned slightly into the rich, brown depths of his mug. "Do you think this place is hard to find? Maybe we should have put up a sign by the street or something."

Kaito snorted, flopping onto the couch beside him. "Nah, if they're not smart enough to find their way here, I doubt we'd get along well anyway."

"Funnily enough, I've found a good sense of direction doesn't really have anything to do with intelligence. I remember this case where…"

They chatted for a while. Kaito had just disappeared into the kitchen to get himself a drink when the doorbell rang again and Shinichi went to answer it. He opened the door to the sight of a head of spiked, neon green hair that crowned the top of a tall, intimidating young man decked out like a gangster complete with sunglasses, gloves, and army boots. Shinichi resisted the urge to slam the door in the stranger's face.

"Um, hi, can I help you?" he asked instead, hoping the answer was a no. Please let him just be here to ask for directions.

"Yeah. I heard you were rentin'? Less yer outta rooms."

"…Not yet," Shinichi replied, wishing otherwise.

"So we doing this inside or what?"

"Oh, uh, right, please come in."

Shinichi stepped back and led the stranger into the living room. It was still empty.

"Kaito, we have a visitor!" he called. Then he turned and sat down in the armchair because the newcomer had already invited himself onto the couch.

"So…" Shinichi began, picking up his notebook. "You go to the university?"

"Yeah. What, you think I can't or something?"

"No, no, not at all." Okay, maybe a little, but he knew better than to say that out loud. And he supposed he should know better than to judge a person by appearance, but this guy just radiated 'delinquent'. Where was Kaito anyway? He was the one with the silver tongue! He wasn't scared or anything, he was used to dealing with killers after all, but this was so not the kind of person he'd had in mind when he'd thought about sharing an apartment.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence before Shinichi cleared his throat. "So if you're here, you're okay with the monthly rate, right?"

"Wouldn't 'ave come if I wasn't."

"Right… Do you want something to drink?"

The guy shrugged. Taking it as a yes, Shinichi all but popped onto his feet. Making his way into the kitchen, he opened his mouth to ask Kaito what was taking him so long, but the kitchen was deserted. And the window was open.

He looked around the empty room for a moment before a sudden suspicion struck him. Spinning on his heals, he stormed back into the living room and snatched the sunglasses off his "guest's" face. The eyes that blinked at him were brown, but that didn't help.

"Kaito! What are you doing?!"

In response, the room was momentarily obscured by smoke. When it cleared, Kaito was sitting on the armchair, grinning.

Shinichi tossed the sunglasses onto the table and put his hands on his hips, glaring. "What was that for?"

Still laughing, Kaito stood up and pulled Shinichi into his arms despite the fuming detective's attempts to dislodge himself. "Don't be mad, I was just having a little fun."

"Oh yes, very funny."

"Come on, tell me it wasn't at least a little bit amusing."

Shinichi scowled but relented. "Okay, it was kind of funny, but you have to stop with the jokes when the real interviewees show up."

"No problem," Kaito agreed a little too quickly. The detective eyed him warily, but he could see nothing but sincerity in the magician's indigo eyes. Still, when Kaito sat back down Shinichi plopped himself down on the magician's lap, earning himself a suggestive eyebrow wiggle which he ignored.

"Now I'll know if you leave," he announced, picking up his coffee mug. Kaito laughed.

Later, Shinichi would wonder why he hadn't realized Kaito would take that as a challenge.

X

It was a whole hour before the doorbell rang again. Since he was still occupying the magician's lap, Shinichi knew Kaito wasn't outside, but he gave him a pointed look anyway. The magician held up both his hands to show that they were empty.

Satisfied, Shinichi got up and went to answer the door.

It was—Kaito, again. It was a very good disguise, but with nothing hiding his eyes this time Shinichi's sixth sense was telling him that this was indeed Kaito and not a med student who needed a new place to stay as he was claiming. Although, just to be sure, he looked back over his shoulder at the armchair where Kaito had been only moments before. He was gone.

He turned back to the so-called med student, fighting the urge to twitch. "Very funny Kai. If you're that bored you can always read a book."

The 'student' heaved a sigh before there was a puff of smoke and Kaito was back. "You could have played along. It would have been fun. Certainly more fun than sitting around like we have been."

"And totally pointless."

"Ah, but entertainment is an end in itself."

"Wasn't once enough?" he countered, heaving an annoyed sigh.

"Aw, don't be like that. Come on, do you want more coffee?"

Shinichi grumbled but let himself be steered back to the couch. Coffee always made things better. And, well, waiting had been getting kind of dull.

X

When the foreigner with the heavy accent appeared at the door however Shinichi had had enough.

"Why are you doing this?" he demanded in exasperation, tossing his notebook onto the table and crossing his arms as he dropped onto the couch. "I mean, once might be funny, but four—"

He was cut off as he turned to glare at the magician who was still wearing his latest disguise by a pair of lips over his own. The rest of his sentence became a muffled yelp of surprise as he was pushed flat on his back on the couch with his hands pinned down on either side of his head as Kaito's tongue slipped into his mouth. He couldn't help the quiet moan that escaped him or the disappointed whine when Kaito pulled away. It didn't stop him from awarding the magician hovering over him a fierce glare.

"What is wrong with you?" he demanded. He would have folded his arms if Kaito didn't still have possession of his wrists. Instead he settled fur turning the glare up a notch to the one that made most criminals break down and turn themselves in. Unfortunately, this thief had always been immune.

To his surprise, Kaito actually sighed, leaning in so that they were bumping noses. "Really Shin-chan, it's not rocket science. Do you really want someone else—two of them in fact—wandering around in here?" he murmured, moving to nibble his way down Shinichi's neck. "Getting in the way, taking up space… I liked things the way they were, you know?" He released one of Shinichi's hands so that he could reach down and slide a hand under the detective's shirt, making him shiver. "It's not as though we really need another person or two to split the bill with. All we have to do, is tell the landlord we'll pay the full price ourselves. And this way we'll even have a guest room."

Shinichi rolled his eyes, his irritation slipping away as understanding moved in. "I should have guessed…"

"You really should," Kaito agreed, pressing their foreheads together. "I like having you to myself you know."

Shinichi blushed and looked away, squirming a little before he sighed and tugged at the front of Kaito's shirt. "Just get rid of that mask and kiss me already."

Later Shinichi sighed as he curled into the magician's side. "You know, if you didn't want more housemates you could have just said so."

Kaito grinned, burying his nose in Shinichi's hair as he wrapped his arms around him. "But wasn't this more fun?"

X

Shinichi woke up that evening to the sound of his phone ringing. Groaning, he buried his face in Kaito's shoulder and tried to ignore it. The phone stopped, then started again.

"Do you want me to get rid of it?" Kaito asked, one indigo eyes opening to eye the phone on the nightstand with annoyance.

Shinichi sighed. "No, I'll get it." Turning over, he reached out to snag the little device. A look at the glowing screen told him that it was Hakuba calling him. Slightly surprised and wondering if maybe some extra complex case had come up, he brought the phone to his ear. "Is there something wrong Hakuba-san?" Behind him he could hear Kaito make a disgusted sound which he ignored.

"That would depend," the blonde's familiar voice came from the other side of the line. "Did you know that there are three people in nets, four hanging by their feet from various trees and lampposts, and one in a giant mousetrap outside of your apartment?"

Shinichi stared at the phone for a moment before turning to look at Kaito. "Kai, why didn't anyone but you show up for the interviews?"

Kaito shrugged, but his expression was definitely smug. "I didn't want any interruptions."

Shinichi sighed and put the phone back to his ear. "Could you get their names and emails for me? We'll send them our apologies later."

Owari

A.N: Just something fun for the end of the year. Happy New Year everyone!