Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Summary: Yet again, Satou and Takagi are experiencing trouble on the dating front due to the interference of their fellow officers. The least KID could do is ensure one of his fans has an uninterrupted afternoon.

Pairings: Kaito x Shinichi, Takagi x Satou

Warnings: As noted above, this story contains shounan ai

AN: Also, this story takes place in the universe of my other story "Countdown to Forever".

Fan Favors

By V. Shalyr

A single indigo eye peered intently through the crack between door and doorframe. On the other side of the main office beyond which served as the headquarters of the Beika police division, Takagi was standing next to Satou as he tried to work up the courage to ask if she wanted to go to the new amusement park that had opened downtown together the coming weekend. The owner of the indigo eye happened to know this because he'd seen the older detective dithering at the doors of the office that morning and decided to sneak a peak in his bag to see what was up. Of course he'd put the two tickets and everything back exactly as he'd found them—and taken care to wear gloves before he got started. Old habits died hard.

But it wasn't the two detectives he was currently most interested in watching. No, it was the other current occupants of said office who were all watching the pair like hawks out of the corners of their eyes.

"You know, Kaito," Shinichi said dryly from his desk in their private office, "it's not exactly polite to spy on your coworkers."

Kaito waved a hand dismissively, not bothering to turn from the door. "I'm not spying. I just want to know what they're up to."

"You could have just asked me you know. They've been "up to" it since Takagi-keiji and Satou-keiji first began dating."

"I know that part. I'm talking about the details here!"

"…I'm afraid to ask."

"I guess you could say I feel sort of sorry for them."

"Really."

"Hey, no need to sound so skeptical! Besides, she was a KID fan. She even defended my reputation a couple times."

"So what's your point?"

"Well," Kaito drawled, smirking, "the least I can do is to make sure they get to enjoy their date uninterrupted by a bunch of jealous, overprotective police officers."

"You all have way too much time on your hands," Shinichi sighed. Though he had to agree that he too felt sorry for Takagi more often than not. Whenever he and Satou went anywhere, it always felt as though the rest of the male police force was out to get him.

There was a pause in which Shinichi struggled with himself before finally giving in with a slightly embarrassed cough. "So…what are they doing?"

.

Ever since Kaito had become his boyfriend, Shinichi had found himself doing a lot of things he would never in a million years have pictured himself doing. There had been that magic show that Kaito had somehow dragged him into helping with—Shinichi could only keep on escaping from those for so long—then that camping trip inthemiddleofwinter and posing for that stupid painting that had taken far too long. He'd never forget the heist he'd helped plan or that dance competition he'd somehow been coerced into—he still wasn't sure how that had happened. And—oh god, he still didn't want to think about what had happened at the hot springs last summer. Whenever it did manage to creep back onto his mind, he just wanted to dig a hole somewhere and hide in it and never come out again.

So when all was said and done, Shinichi was completely unsurprised to find himself sitting at a table in the amusement park that weekend watching the couple at the next table over the top of the newspapers he was pretending to read.

Of course, he hadn't exactly expected to be sitting here wearing… He didn't even know what he was wearing. He would never be able to understand modern fashion. In any case, seeing as he had no idea what it was and would never have bought it for himself—or anyone else for that matter—it was doing its job perfectly. Of course it was. Kaito wasn't a master of disguise and deception for nothing.

SpeakingoftheDevil, Shinichi thought, catching sight of said magician as he passed the restaurant yet again dressed as one of the park workers. Busy playing the part of an enthusiastic but slightly incompetent balloon artist while he entertained a crowd of children, he nonetheless managed to catch Shinichi's eye and wink. Talking enthusiastically with a little girl who had wandered over to join the growing group of kids, Kaito started to fold one of the long balloons—this one white—into a bird only to lose hold of it at the last moment and have the creature go drifting and bouncing off above the heads of his new following. Shinichi followed the direction of the balloon and, sure enough, spotted them at once. Years of chasing after KID made sorting out the officers in question child's play and he could only shake his head in disbelief. Could they have been any more obvious? And was that another man hiding in the bushes?

At their table, Takagi and Satou had just risen to their feet and, accordingly, their stalkers hastily prepared to intercept before they could head for the rides.

"Hey," Shinichi beckoned one of those giant stuffed animals wandering the park over and pointed out the "undercover" police officers, "you see those guys heading this way? They wanted to get a picture with you for their kids but they're too embarrassed to ask."

As the stuffed animal suits hurried to intercept them, Kaito flashed him a thumbs-up and vanished into the crowd after the departing couple.

.

To be perfectly honest, Kaito was having fun. He hadn't had a chance to fool around with the police in sucha long time. He hadn't quite realized how much he'd missed it. Of course he still played pranks on the people he worked with—his old KID Taskforce members were the best—but it just wasn't the same. Oh well, Shinichi would probably disapprove.

Ducking behind a tree to re-emerge as an extraordinarily nondescript looking man, he hastened to catch up with the detectives who had decided to get in line for the Ferris wheel. There were a lot of couples in this particular line, Kaito noted, though he would personally have chosen a later hour if he'd been the one on the date. The lights of the amusement park and the city beyond its borders must be a spectacular sight in the dark. Hmm, well, there was no reason why he couldn't take advantage of this escapade to spend some quality time with his favorite detective. They werealready both here after all. Now, how to make sure that happened?

Absently, Kaito reached out to filch the wallet from a disguised policeman hurrying the other way and quickened his own pace a fraction to brush past Takagi on his way towards the hotdog stand beside the ride, replacing said wallet in his pocket. Really, people on dates just shouldn't be so careless, or should he say distracted? Behind his Poker Face, he smirked.

Still, as amusing as it was to watch the couple, he had his work cut out for him if he wanted to spend the rest of the day with his own significant other. Let's see, there had been around a dozen officers snooping about the amusement park since that morning. Kaito had kept careful tabs on them so he roughly knew which ones they were. Locating them should be fairly easy.

.

Shinichi started when someone sat down beside him and slipped an arm around his waist. Turning his head, he relaxed when he recognized Kaito. The magician was no longer in disguise.

Carefully refolding the newspapers he had "not" been reading, he raised his eyebrows. "We're not following them anymore?"

Kaito leaned casually against the back of the bench where Shinichi had relocated upon his request, looking for all the world like any other young man taking a break and spending the day out. Well, Shinichi supposed that technically, that waswhat they were doing. Pulling these crazy stunts was, unfortunately, one of Kaito's ways of relaxing. A little weird sometimes but true.

They had a great view of the Ferris wheel as well as several of the other more popular rides from here.

"No need. It's all settled—well, on your end anyway. I can handle the rest without watching them no problem."

Shinichi blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Kaito smirked and held up a small, black object. It took Shinichi a moment to recognize it as one of the communicators used by several of the other officers.

"These are some of the extra communicators from the office. I needed a bit of time to make sure I had the modifications and settings just right," Kaito explained smugly, "but now that I have it, all we have to do is sit back and enjoy. This isan amusement park after all."

Having been around the office for awhile now, he already knew how each of the officers sounded as well as their usual tones and manners of speech.

Shinichi shook his head. "So as far as Shiratori is concerned, nothing is happening on this end."

"Yup."

"And the other officers?"

"Ah, here and there getting in some exercise before the day's out." Running ludicrous errands assigned by Kaito masquerading as Shiratori. At least they would have a great work out to show for today's misguided efforts. Oh yes, Kaito had enjoyed himself today. "I'll just need to intercept them before they leave so I can switch this back—and remove the tracers I put on them."

Shinichi just nodded, not particularly surprised. He could only imagine how confused Shiratori was going to be when his men finally reported back to him for real at the end of the day. Oh well, not that it was any of his business.

"So what do you want to do now?"

He had a feeling he knew the answer, but it never hurt to ask.

Kaito hummed thoughtfully, pretending to think this over. "It's getting late in the afternoon. How about we start with dinner and go on from there? This place doesn't close until ten, and I hear there's going to be fireworks."

"Let me guess, you've already made restaurant reservations."

Kaito gasped dramatically, resting his free hand over his heart and widening his eyes. "Are you suggesting I've planned out the evening already? Without asking you?"

Shinichi was not impressed. Kaito almost never asked. Asking meant that there was a chance you could be refused. And besides, the magician already knew what he liked and didn't like to eat. "So have you?"

"Yes."

.

When the fireworks finally went off overhead showering the night sky with manmade stars, Takagi let out a mental sigh of relief. He could hardly believe that nothing had gone wrong. Nothing had been stolen, no one had been killed, he hadn't lost anything, and no criminals had had to be run down or caught. He hadn't even seen anyone suspicious following them. Something alwayswent wrong. It had practically become a law of nature whenever he and Satou went out together.

Not that it wasn't a nice change. It was just that… Well, it was weird. Or maybe he was simply over thinking it. The luck of the members of the Beika police department hadbeen taking a turn for the better lately. It was perhaps simply best not to question it.

END

AN: Just something short that I was thinking about while re-watching DC episodes. ^_^

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