Happy Valentine's Day, everyone (though this isn't exactly Valentine's Day themed)! Full A/N at the bottom.
Warnings: un-betaed (thus chock-full of grammar errors), pretty bad writing style if I do say so myself, fairly plotless, some angst. Consider yourself warned.
Enjoy! - Luna
Ten Ways to Say I Love You
I.
The club was dressed in flashing lights and scantily clad girls. Kudou Shinichi, an inarguably attractive amateur detective clad in a button-up and jeans, lifted an eyebrow uneasily at the completely unappealing outside. "Ran, are you sure you want to…?"
The words clambered back into his mouth as his best friend/love interest, Mouri Ran, bounded up to the bouncer, ignoring Shinichi as she began to speak animatedly to the muscly man. Flashing a white smile and beckoning Shinichi to the entrance as the bouncer nodded gruffly and stepped aside, Ran flipped a curled bit of brown silk hair over her bare shoulder and almost skipped into the club.
Repressing a sigh, Shinichi strode up to the door, handed the bouncer a polite smile, and followed Ran into the dark recesses of the club. Once inside, he immediately remembered why he had been opposed to Ran throwing him a party for his twentieth birthday at this high end nightclub. No matter how high end a nightclub was, it was still a place where half-naked girls and faintly perverted men "socialized", scrambled for numbers, and bought one night stands with alcoholic drinks.
Shinichi finally caught sight of the tips of Ran's hair waving at him as she walked through the crowd of way too many bodiesand hurried to grab her around the arm. She was smiling as he pulled her to face him.
"Isn't this place great?" she gushed, and Shinichi could only stare at her like she had told him Mars was made of frozen applesauce.
"No, Ran, it isn't," Shinichi groaned when he was finally able to produce sounds somewhat like words. "Can we please just call Hattori and call this whole thing off?"
Ran scowled at him, a slash mark deep between the groomed eyebrows hovering above her pretty eyes. "Look, Shinichi, it's not just Hattori-kun and Kazuha-chan, it's Eisuke-kun and Sonoko and Kyogoku-san and Sera-chan and Officer Satou and Officer Takagi and Hakuba-san –"
Shinichi put up a hand to stop her, massaging the spot between his eyes with the other. "You can stop, Ran. And anyway, whose idea was it anyway to invite Officer Satou and Takagi? And who's Hakuba?"
"You two met at a Holmes convention in Osaka with Hattori-kun, remember? That half-British guy who's obsessed with time…?" Ran prompted.
"Oh yeah, I remember him," Shinichi agreed with a burst of recognition. "He and Hattori didn't exactly get along, I seem to recall."
With a sudden hard intake of perfume-clogged air, Ran yelled, "Speak of the devil!" startling Shinichi as she jabbed a finger at the entrance. It appeared that their entire group of invitees had arrived together, all clumped together uncomfortably amongst the throbbing music and equally throbbing bodies.
"Over here!" Ran all but screamed, waving manically while Shinichi shielded his face with his hands at her side.
The group slowly migrated across the crowded dance floor, and soon Hattori stood beside Shinichi, somewhat smashed between Kazuha and Officer Takagi. Panting, he grinned, "Hey, Kudou," with a breathless laugh.
"Hello, Hattori," Shinichi ground out in a poison-laced tone, making the other detective raise an eyebrow in confusion.
Elbowing his way to the front of the party (and eliciting multiple grunts of annoyance from his fellow party members), Hakuba looked from Ran to Shinichi. "Hey, I brought a couple of high school friends. Is that all right?"
While Shinichi shrugged noncommittally, Ran smiled graciously. "Of course, Hakuba-san. Uh –" she paused, craning her neck to see around all of them, she hesitantly asked, "Where are they?"
Hakuba looked back and cursed in English. "Damn, they've both disappeared off somewhere. Well, they're both here in the club. Somewhere."
Ran nodded, eyebrows somewhat raised. "Oh, okay." Turning back to address the group, she said, "So, everybody, I'll release you to… enjoy yourselves. Dance –"
"You mean rub up against a lot of people in comprising poses that could make quite a bit of money on the not-so-PG part of the internet?" muttered Shinichi, earning himself glares like branding irons from Ran, Sonoko, Officer Satou, and Kazuha and knowing grins from Makoto, Eisuke, Officer Takagi, Hattori, Hakuba, and Sera.
"Or get drinks," Ran finished, her voice veined with ice. "So go on." The party dispersed, chattering above the boom of the music and trying to avoid getting caught up in the aforementioned positions as they walked onto the dance floor.
Ran shot Shinichi a last look – he shrugged – and sashayed off to hang out with Kazuha and Sonoko at the bar, where Hattori and Kyogoku were buying drinks for them.
Rubbing back his bangs, Shinichi glanced around the club. All of the activities were looking quite unattractive. Guess it's going to be a pretty boring night, he inwardly sighed.
He hung around the corner for a few minutes, shifting his weight from foot to foot. A moment later, Hattori, Kyogoku, Kazuha, and Sonoko all disappeared, probably to the overcrowded dance floor. Deeming it safe, Shinichi took a spot at the bar, flashing the amply endowed female bartender a smile.
"Bourbon on the rocks, please," he ordered, and the bartender sent him a coy smile, turning to prepare it for him.
Shinichi was nursing his drink, the ice clinking against the side of the glass, when a large shape suddenly dropped onto the seat beside him, heaving with heavy breaths. "Oh my…" the person managed to get out, looking oddly windswept.
Raising an eyebrow, Shinichi turned to look at his new neighbor – and was surprised by what he saw. The face was remarkably similar to his, though the structure was definitely a bit different, and the eyes sitting underneath the roof of dark eyebrows had a more violet hue. The stranger had hair a slightly lighter shade that seemed to be tangled into an intentional mess, quite unlike Shinichi's carefully groomed hairstyle. He also seemed to own a slightly smaller body wrapped up in a t-shirt and pants.
Shinichi had never considered himself much of a narcissist or anything other than straight, but holy hell, his lookalike was damn attractive.
Shinichi's doppelganger glanced to his side and instantly fell off his chair. "Holy… you look just like me!"
"Not exactly," Shinichi corrected, clearing his throat. He was seeing quite a lot of differences between himself and the lookalike.
The stranger composed himself, climbing to his feet and sitting back down on the stool. "But we do look pretty similar, you've got admit, right?"
Shinichi shrugged. "I guess." He took a swig of his bourbon, trying to ignore the strange, disconcerting feeling that had suddenly begun gnawing at his stomach.
"Well, anyway, my name's Kuroba Kaito. Nice to meet you," Kaito, his new acquaintance, introduced, presenting Shinichi with a hand.
Unsure of himself for a moment, Shinichi returned the gesture. Kaito's hand was warm and somehow comforting against his own. "I'm Kudou Shinichi." He quickly pulled his hand from the grasp and turned back to his drink, oddly breathless.
Seemingly unaware, Kaito swiveled back to face the bartender as well. "I'll have what he's having," he announced, and the bartender nodded and moved to make it.
"So why're you here, at this hell known as a club, Kuroba-san?" Shinichi asked, getting a silently outraged look from the bartender, who slammed Kaito's bourbon down onto the counter angrily. Shinichi smiled charmingly in an attempt to placate her.
Prodding the glass carelessly, Kaito shrugged, the movement rippling off his shoulders as smoothly as water might. "Some bastard dragged me here. You?" He glanced over. "From your lack of euphemisms, I'm going to guess you're not a fan of clubs, Kudou-san."
Shinichi lifted one shoulder in recognition of the other's correct deduction. The decaying ice blobs in his glass shifted uncomfortably. "A… friend of mine arranged a party for me. It's not like I could say no." He downed the rest of the bourbon, the ice latching onto his lips before falling back to the bottom of the now empty glass in a disappointed heap.
"So why were you panting so hard when you first got here?" Shinichi asked in the quiet moments that followed.
Kaito groaned. "Aoko – er, my friend who came with me tried to get me to dance. There's no way I'd even try to get tangled up in that mess of limbs." He motioned at the dance floor, making Shinichi glance over. He was about to turn back to the bar when he caught sight of Ran dancing. Her hair danced with the rest of her, her arms twisting gracefully above her head. She was quite possibly pretty enough to be painted into a timeless masterpiece.
Following his gaze, Kaito laughed when he saw Ran. "Wow, she's really… Wow." Kaito grinned at Shinichi, who blushed. "Is she your girl?"
"Of course not!" Shinichi snapped defensively, which made Kaito laugh only the harder.
Clapping him on the shoulder, Kaito managed to control his laughs so they ebbed down to a rather large grin. "Well, I wish you all the luck in the world with that girl."
"There's no way she'd like someone like me, Kuroba-san," grumbled Shinichi, averting his gaze from Kaito's laughing eyes and trying to hide his flaming cheeks.
Without removing his hand, Kaito drank down the rest of his drink before hopping off the barstool. He gave Shinichi's shoulder a small squeeze. "C'mon now, Shinichi. Take it from me. I doubt anyone could manage to not fall for you at least a little."
And then he was gone. Shinichi caught a last glimpse of his hand waving before the other was swallowed up in the crowd and the lights.
Shinichi turned back to the bartender, who was eyeing him. "Another bourbon on the rocks, please," he ordered, because it was the only thing he could think to do to avoid thinking of the stranger who had left him with a pounding heart, a lingering compliment, and the question of when he'd changed from being "Kudou-san" to "Shinichi."
II.
Shinichi stood hidden in shadows at the side of the Beika Museum's largest display room, a place with a vaulted ceiling and an overabundance of arches. A vaguely entertained expression flickered over his face, and he had to bite back a smile. If asked, he probably would've denied that he was finding it incredibly amusing how the white-clad thief was evading both Nakamori and Hakuba with little to no difficulty and knocking them out with even less. But the amusement was clearly there, and Shinichi privately admitted it to himself.
Kid now stood by the display case of the Sapphire Dove, looking almost bored as he toppled the glass outside off.
Guess that means I'm up. Finally deeming it necessary, Shinichi stepped out from the shadows, making the thief tense up. He clearly hadn't been expecting anyone other than Hakuba and the task force.
"Good evening," Shinichi greeted calmly, tucking his hands into the pockets of his slate-gray pants. "How are you?"
Kid seemed frozen for a moment, causing Shinichi to slant his head quizzically at his strange expression. But he seemed to recover rapidly. "Ah, you must be Kudou Shinichi, correct?"
"I wasn't expecting you to recognize me, I'll admit," Shinichi remarked, letting out an unsure laugh. He knows who I am…?
"It would be hard for me to not have heard about… you," Kid replied with almost concealed discomfort. Almost. Shinichi still picked up on the notes of disturbed surprise stuck to his words.
"I didn't know I was that well known." Shinichi slowly began moving toward the thief, who raised his card gun at the movement.
Shinichi drew his hands up into the air. "I'm not going to try to capture you. I was just curious about the Kaitou Kid, is all." Kid's hand didn't lower the gun, but his finger crawled away from the trigger.
Seeing an opportunity, Shinichi lashed out and grabbed Kid's wrist, catching it easily and wrenching the gun out of the wrapping of his fingers.
Kid, unexpectedly skittish and unexpectedly fast, brought his left hand up and sprayed Shinichi directly in the face with sleeping gas.
From what Shinichi had analyzed about the thief, this was quite unusual. Kid usually liked to humor his pursuers for a little, and he wasn't one to just knock out the competition without at least a minute of confrontation. Shinichi's brain, working a mile a minute, slowly began to decrease its pace as he crumpled in Kid's arms.
He was aware of Kid gently lying him down, but Shinichi was also almost sure that it was the sleeping gas weaving together the feeling.
And he was positive that the "Good night, Shinichi," spoken with caressing warmth was also just a dream.
III.
"Dammit," Shinichi grumbled underneath his breath. If he didn't find his research paper within ten seconds, he was going to be late for his next lecture. Taking a quick, harried glance at the time displayed on his phone, he moaned aloud. Scratch that, he was going to be late even if he found the paper in ten seconds.
Now almost frantic, Shinichi shoved aside a stack of exams lying on his desk and finally spotted the elusive paper laughing at him from its placement halfway underneath his laptop. Ready to spit fire, Shinichi snatched up the paper, crumpled it into the folder clamped between his arm and rib cage, and sprinted out of the dorm room.
Hearing the lock click behind me, Shinichi noisily stumbled down the staircase, landing on the concrete sidewalk clumsily. Turning a corner, he unsheathed the thin sheaf of papers comprising the research paper and tried to do a little last-minute reviewing as he simultaneously ran.
Abruptly, the paper flew out of his hand as he slammed into a warm body. Caught by surprise, Shinichi flailed for a moment before falling backwards, landing on a bed of his fallen papers. Rubbing his elbow where it had come into contact with the sidewalk, he looked up drowsily, eyes narrowed in irritation.
However, his agitation disintegrated when he recognized the person standing over him.
"Kuroba-san?" Shinichi blurted out. The messy-haired student, who had bent over to gather up Shinichi's papers while profusely apologizing, froze.
"Shinichi?" he asked, his voice rising an octave. With deliberate slowness, Kaito lifted his face to make eye contact with Shinichi. The two stared at each other for a number of silent moments.
A smile suddenly rippled across Kaito's face.
"Hey, I haven't seen you in a long time!" he said in a voice enthused with cheer.
"Y-Yeah, you... and I…" the amateur detective blinked, his words swimming across each other. His old question came to mind, and he began, "Kuroba-san, about calling me –"
"I didn't know you attended Teitan too," Kaito steamrolled, brandishing Shinichi's papers at him. Shinichi accepted them wordlessly, slipping them in between the folds of his reacquired folder.
"So, how are you doing?" Shinichi hesitantly asked to fill the silence that followed, during which Kaito helped Shinichi to his feet. Shinichi ignored the familiar feeling of his lookalike's palm and the way his heart began beating out a wayward rhythm.
"I'm doing great. You?"
"I'm… well," Shinichi responded.
There was a pause before Kaito asked, "Hey, want to get something to drink, maybe, and you know, just… talk?"
Shinichi shrugged halfheartedly, not wanting to brush off Kaito. "Uh, sure."
"In that case," Kaito said, "there's a café over there. Best on campus." He swept a hand at a blocky building standing behind a shield of foliage.
"Never been there," Shinichi admitted as he and Kaito trekked across the dew-clad lawn. By the time the two reached the spotless glass doors, Shinichi sorely regretted not following the sidewalk. Nevertheless, he overlooked the dampness that ate teasingly away at his ankles as he trailed after Kaito into the café.
The girl standing behind the counter raised her head at the sound of customers, and Shinichi couldn't help but let out a small gasp at the resemblance she bore to Ran. Her eyes were a mirage-like shade darker – mirage-like in the way that it was almost unnoticeably so – and her hair had a bit more of a spiky appearance, due to the choppily cropped layers cut near the roots, but overall, she looked quite a lot like Shinichi's childhood friend.
"Aoko!" Kaito grinned, and the girl, apparently named Aoko, scowled.
"Idiot Kaito, I told you to leave me alone!" she snapped (and Shinichi promptly noticed the blatant difference in her voice from Ran's). Her gaze shifted from Kaito to Shinichi, and the carefully shaped eyebrows above the suddenly astonished eyes flew up. "Kaito, who's he? He looks just like you!"
Kaito smirked. "He's Kudou Shinichi-kun, a student here."
"Well obviously," she snapped before gracing Shinichi with a smile all too reminiscent of Ran's. "Nice to meet you, Kudou-kun. I'm Nakamori Aoko." She stretched a hand out over the counter.
Something about Aoko's last name flagged Shinichi down as he shook her hand. As he retracted his hand, trying not to notice the lack of that warmth Kaito's hand gave him, he inquired, "By any chance, Nakamori-san, are you related to Inspector Nakamori of the Kid task force?"
A smile immediately grew on Aoko's face. "Yes, I am. I'm his daughter." Eyes suddenly narrowing, she asked in a carefully guarded tone, "Are you pro-Kid or anti-Kid?"
Blinking, Shinichi stole a few moments to think before saying, "I'm… anti-Kid, at the moment, as I'm sure you are too, Nakamori-san."
Aoko's smile reappeared, and Shinichi felt Kaito stiffen at his side. Slightly puzzled, Shinichi turned to look at him, but he avoided his concerned expression with deftness that made Shinichi raise an eyebrow.
"I'm so glad someone else isn't all dazzled by that idiotic thief's smoke and mirrors," Aoko almost sang, sauntering over to a nearby coffee pot and pouring it into a large mug. She slid it over the counter to Shinichi, almost beaming. "You're the only anti-Kid friend I have, other than Hakuba-kun."
"And Hakuba's a bit more than a friend," Kaito mumbled, eliciting a death glare from Aoko before she turned back to Shinichi.
Hakuba? Could it be that these two were…?
"So why are you anti-Kid?" the girl asked, pulling Shinichi from his half-constructed thought.
Shinichi laughed self-consciously, dropping onto a barstool. "He knocked me out with sleeping gas at my first heist, which was the one last month." Pulling the coffee towards himself, he asked, "How much?"
Aoko smiled. "On the house." After returning his thankful smile, she glanced over at Kaito. With obvious indifference, she asked, "And what would you like, idiot Kaito?"
"Everything, if it's on the house," Kaito responded, seating himself by Shinichi.
"It's only on the house for Shinichi-kun," she retorted.
"Then hot chocolate and a brownie," ordered Kaito, and Aoko sent him a last death glare before flouncing into the room marked "employees only."
Kaito let out a sigh.
"Nakamori-san seems like a very nice girl," Shinichi remarked.
"Don't say that as you drink her free coffee," Kaito growled.
Shinichi allowed a small laugh to be drawn past the barrier of his lips, to which he pressed the mug a moment later. "Anyway, you two seem close."
"We're childhood friends and we were best friends throughout high school," Kaito admitted. "Although it was really awkward when we dated during our senior year."
Shinichi froze without realizing it and without knowing why. "Oh. Is that so."
"Yeah, she confessed to me, and I sort of agreed. So we went out," Kaito continued nonchalantly. "But then after that we sort of just fell apart. It was pretty mutual. She's got Ha – er, somebody else now."
"And who do you have?" The words were hardening in the air before Shinichi could stuff them back into his mouth.
Kaito turned an expressionless face towards him. Shinichi busied himself with drinking his coffee, though the liquid mostly just hit his lips in a sloshing tide of cooling liquid. He felt Kaito's eyes melting a hole in his cheek with its intensity.
After a moment, Kaito spun back to face the counter. "So anyway," he coughed. "Um… what's the folder for?"
"Oh, this?" Sensing Kaito was attempting to steer the conversation away from his question, Shinichi was quite happy to oblige. "It's just some papers for my class on…"
My class on…
"Ah, dammit!" Shinichi shouted, making Aoko rematerialize and making Kaito flinch. He stood up, almost knocking over his stool.
"Shinichi?" Kaito asked, one eyebrow sliding up his forehead.
"I – I'm going to be late for my next lecture. I've got a research paper to turn in," Shinichi informed them, flipping through the papers in the folder. "That's why I was… Sorry, Kuroba-san…"
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have invited you if you had class," Kaito quickly hurried to correct, rising to bow him out.
Shinichi smiled. "It's no big deal. I'm willing to be late if it's for you."
He was still wondering what he had meant by that half an hour later as he got lectured by Ran for his tardiness.
IV.
"You know, Shinichi," Kaito commented as he and Shinichi sat in a booth at Aoko's workplace, drinking hot chocolate and black coffee respectively as rain tap-danced frenziedly outside, "have you asked out Mouri-chan yet?"
Shinichi, who had been about to take a sip of his coffee, slammed the mug to the tabletop, hacking despite having not drunken any coffee yet. "Kuroba-san!" he half-yelled, making Aoko poke her head inquisitively out from the kitchen.
"I already you told you, it's fine to call me Kaito," Kaito reminded him serenely, a teasing smirk playing across his lips.
"I've only known you for two months–" Shinichi started, but Kaito rolled his amethyst eyes, leaning forward on a platform of interlocked fingers.
"I've been calling you Shinichi since ten minutes after we met," Kaito sang.
"That's not the point!" Shinichi snarled hotly, though his infuriated façade only caused the other to grin.
Despite knowing him for only two months, Shinichi reflected as he brought the curved rim of his coffee mug to his lips, Shinichi had to admit that it felt like he and Kaito had been acquainted for much longer. He already knew enough about Kaito to author an encyclopedia on him.
Kaito was an "amateur" magician, although Shinichi remembered how Kaito had said that word, crinkling his nose as it washed over his tongue as if it left a bitter aftertaste. (Shinichi could only agree with him on that – he himself despised having to refer to himself as an "amateur" detective. After all, he was much more capable than some professionals.) His father had also been a magician, but judging from the way Kaito hadn't said any more than that minimal information, Shinichi assumed he had died.
His mother was still alive, though, if the number of times she called during their café meetings was any indication. Kaito usually answered the phone with a fair amount of cheer, which led Shinichi to believe they had a good relationship.
Shinichi had also discovered Kaito's fear of fish ("f-f-f-finny things") the one time he had suggested the two go to the on-campus sushi bar, at which Kaito had gone four successive shades of white. Shinichi still hadn't heard the story of why Kaito was scared out of his wits over fish of all things, but he didn't push it.
Kaito was also a huge Kid fan and was always trying to get Shinichi to "understand" that Kid was a hero. Not only was he a great magician, he was charming and dashing and… Well, Shinichi tuned out the rest of the adjectives. He was still irate over his quick defeat at the last heist, which he still hadn't explained to Kaito. Not that Kaito didn't constantly ask about it.
"So anyway, Shinichi, have you asked out Mouri-chan?"
Clenching his molars, Shinichi set down his coffee mug and stared at Kaito. "If you don't mind my asking, why the hell do you care so much? I mean, that has nothing to do with you, after all."
Kaito blinked, and his expression was temporarily vulnerable and – and almost hurt, something Shinichi frowned at. The magician neverdisplayed any sign of anything other than sanguinity, and Shinichi was bewildered at it.
But the moment passed as Kaito leaned back carelessly, that maddeningly unreadable smile corralled in place. "Because I want my detective to be happy."
V.
Smiling at the world in general, Shinichi gathered up his books and shoved them into his backpack, an aura of happiness generated around his being like a contagious force field. By his side, his former childhood friend and now girlfriend, Mouri Ran, beamed at him, an action he returned readily.
"Ah, Shinichi, there's Kazuha-chan!" Ran suddenly said as they walked out of the lecture hall and onto the concrete path. She threw her chin to the left, and Shinichi glanced over to see Toyama Kazuha standing to the side of sidewalk, looking around and sighing. "I promised her I'd eat lunch with her so we could talk about Hattori-kun."
She winked at him and skipped off after the ponytailed girl, who instantly brightened and waved. Turning her face back over her shoulder, Ran tossed a, "See you later, Shinichi!" at him before she reached Kazuha.
Shinichi watched her set off with the other girl, a soft smile curling his lips without him even realizing it.
"Hey, Detective Shinichi, whatcha doing?" a familiar voice suddenly hammered through his thoughts, pulling Shinichi back to the present. Looking around, Shinichi discarded the smile as he found the voice to be belonging to one Kuroba Kaito.
Kaito looked off into the distance, squinting to make out the last of Ran's red cardigan disappearing. "Or maybe I should call you Detective Lover-Boy, huh?" he grinned, elbowing Shinichi in the side. "Aren't you glad you listened to the great Kuroba Kaito and asked her out?"
Shinichi shrugged, blushing and playing the role of the "God I'm embarrassed but glad that she's mine" boyfriend, although inwardly he felt concern seeping into his stomach. The magician wasn't acting normal – a little too cheerful, a little too happy. It was unsettling, because Shinichi knew something was wrong, but he also knew that Kaito would deny it.
"Anyway, Shinichi, I brought you lunch," Kaito said, smiling a little too widely. He stretched out a slender hand, from which dangled the handles of a paper bag.
"What's this?" Shinichi asked, unhooking the handles from Kaito's fingers. Looking in, he found a Kid-emblazed thermos (at which he sighed jokingly) and a plain bento box. Reaching in, Shinichi opened the bento's lid and found it contained a slightly sloppy arrangement of rice, chicken karage, and curry. An umeboshi sat slightly askew in the bed of rice, staring up at him.
"Wow, thanks," Shinichi thanked, looking up to see the magician watching him intently for his reaction. Quickly clearing his expression, Kaito smiled that too wide smile as he cheeks went pink. Shinichi tilted his head at that.
"It was nothing, really," Kaito insisted, turning away from Shinichi.
"Where's yours?" Shinichi wondered, looking him over for any sign of a second bento. His investigation came up empty.
"I didn't have time for another," admitted Kaito, shrugging. His back was now to Shinichi. "But it's nothing. Really."
Shinichi was at a loss as Kaito strolled off, lifting a hand to wave at him. With a start, Shinichi narrowed his eyes at Kaito's fingers, which, upon close inspection, seemed to be ringed with multiple band aids…
Suddenly making a connection, he looked down at the bento, and then up at Kaito's retreating back. Shinichi straightaway rejected the idea as his eyes dropped back down to the bento box in his hand. "He wouldn't have," he whispered quietly, squishing back the thought.
His next words were even softer.
"Would he…?"
VI.
"This is quite easily the worst day I've experienced in a very long time," groaned Shinichi to himself as he sank down in his seat. Another lecture had just finished, but Shinichi hadn't been paying attention to the professor anyway.
Ran was acting oddly cold, he noted as Ran glared ice at him from across the hall where she sat with that Eisuke kid – was that his name? – and an also fuming Kazuha. Her boyfriend of one month, Hattori Heiji, sat a row from Shinichi, also perplexed.
The tanned Osakan leaned across the seat separating him and Shinichi, absently ignoring the way it bent underneath his upper body weight. "Hey, Kudou, do you know what's up with them?" He jerked his head towards where the two girls and resident klutz were packing up notes amongst other things.
Shinichi gave a lackadaisical raise of his shoulders. "I don't know. I guess you could ask?" he suggested, though even to his ears it sounded like the worst idea possible.
Hattori peered at him before reaching over and pressing his hand to Kudou's forehead, almost jabbing him in the eye as he did so. Shinichi squirmed. "What the hell are you doing?"
"You don't seem to have a fever, so why are you talking like all your brain cells are fried?" Hattori pressed harder, making Shinichi nearly tumble backwards. "Seriously though."
Catching sight of the tiny smile threatening to grow into a grin dashed across Hattori's face, Shinichi yelped and tried (operative word: tried) to push him off. "Hattori, let go, you ba –"
The other detective was now full-out laughing. Growling a borderline feral sound, Shinichi grabbed his arm and jostled him off. With a yelp, Hattori pitched forward, falling gracelessly over the seat, and Shinichi managed to catch him around the shoulders with just enough luck to barely have a hold. Hattori ended up with his face burrowed into Shinichi's neck, groaning, while Shinichi decided whether to drop the idiot or get him to stand back up.
"Um… am I interrupting something?"
Clearing his throat, Shinichi looked up from the moaning Hattori positioned precariously on his shoulder to find Kaito staring at the two with that odd, vulnerably hurt expression he had worn all those months ago. Surprised, Shinichi dropped Hattori, who tumbled over the seat and managed to land in a heap at Shinichi's feet.
"Ah – er – of… of course not," Shinichi replied breathlessly as Hattori let out a particularly loud moan. Glancing down, he muttered a sorry at the western detective's prostrated body.
Kaito's gaze flicked from Hattori to Shinichi and back. "Well… I…"
Hattori peeled himself off the ground and managed to get to his feet, though he yowled quietly as he rubbed at his collarbone. Slinging an arm around Shinichi's shoulders – Shinichi frowned in exasperation – he asked, "Hey, Kudou, who's this?"
"A friend," Shinichi countered, shoving Hattori's arm off his shoulder. For some reason, the increasingly hurt look on Kaito's face was really bugging him. "Go the hell away. Talk to Kazuha or something."
"Why must you hurt me so, Kudou?" Hattori sobbed melodramatically, laughing. Tacking on a short "See you later," he leaned over, grabbed his backpack off the floor, and jogged off towards his ponytailed girlfriend.
Kaito watched him go, still wearing that same expression that Shinichi so very much wanted to eliminate. "Who was that?"
"An old friend of mine," Shinichi explained without explaining anything. "Anyway, what's up? I haven't seen you in a while, huh?"
With a pang, Shinichi realized his casually spoken words were completely true. The last time he had talked to the magician had been nearly two weeks ago, when Shinichi had finally gotten around to returning the Kid thermos and bento box that he had received from the other. Even then, they hadn't shared much of a conversation, as Kaito as simply said, "Keep them," and hurried off. Ever since Kaito had given him the bento, their conversations had slowly petered out. In a disturbingly unnoticed way.
He had been so wrapped up in Ran that he hadn't realized he was neglecting his magician.
Wait, 'my' magician? What the hell am I thinking?
Kaito let out a hollow laugh, eyes focused on his shoes. "It's nothing. Really."
Without thinking, Shinichi remarked gruffly, "You know, I really hate it when you say that. Because it's never just nothing to me."
Eyebrows lifting, Kaito looked up. There was a short pause before Kaito muttered, "Here," and thrust another paper bag at Shinichi.
"What's it with you and paper bags?" Shinichi queried, smiling when he finally managed to pull a slightly curl of the lips from Kaito.
"I just… never mind," Kaito muttered, going red. Shinichi wondered about it but didn't get a chance to comment as the magician turned and began walking away quickly.
"Hey, you're not allowed to just leave me hanging!" Shinichi shouted after him, at which Kaito glanced back, blushed even harder, and began to walk faster.
Staring after him, Shinichi shook his head. "Dammit, he's acting weird," he said lowly to himself. Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a plain paper box. Opening it, he couldn't suppress a gasp.
Elaborately painted and designed chocolates slept inside round indentations. Shinichi couldn't help the smile that bloomed across his face when he noticed how one of them had "Holmes" written on it in carefully constructed script and most of them appeared to be coffee flavored, according to the delicious smell they were emitting and the simple coffee bean garnishes a few of them wore.
They were the most beautiful gift Shinichi had ever received, and that was saying something.
Only later did he realize that it was, in fact, March 14th.
White Day.
VII.
"Shinichi, this isn't working out anymore. I can see that you're no longer interested in only me. We really had something, did we? But it's most likely too late for us now. First it was the White Day thing, and now you forgot my birthday. Shinichi, I really do love you, but it's just not enough anymore, haven't you realized? If I could only have all of you I'd be happy. So happy. But I can tell. I don't have any part of you. You've already fallen for somebody else, haven't you?"
Her words were still shivering around his eardrums as Shinichi knocked one, twice, thrice on the dorm door. One, two, three hard sounds like gunshots in the late evening calm.
Shinichi checked the slip of paper twitching between his trembling fingers. According to the RA, this was his room. He stood, his heart rattling in his chest like a broken toy.
It hurt.
He was vaguely aware of the pain.
Finally – finally – the door yawned open and a wide-eyed Kaito stood there. "Sh-Shinichi?" he asked. They hadn't talked since he had delivered his chocolates to Shinichi. Almost two weeks ago, now.
Shinichi stared back. With a breath that faintly choked him, he said, "Ran broke up with me."
Understanding dawned over Kaito's amethyst – like hers – eyes. "Come on in," he invited, opening the door further.
"Thanks," Shinichi muttered, trudging past him. The magician's living space was surprisingly tidy, although obviously seemed small due to the university's accommodations. Shinichi collapsed on the bed, a mess of skin and cotton and hair and the smell of shampoo.
He looked up to find Kaito staring at him as if contemplating what to do with him. "Thanks for this," Shinichi instantly said, looking apologetic. "I know I shouldn't have come here, but –"
"It's fine," Kaito quickly assured, settling himself in the desk chair. However, he didn't spin to face Shinichi. In a small voice, he questioned, "But why did you choose me? Why didn't you go to that other guy?"
Shinichi blinked at the question. "Other guy? Oh, do you mean Hattori?"
"The tan one with the Kansai-ben," Kaito clarified, his face still invisible to Shinichi, who was growing increasingly confused by the other's behavior. "You two seem pretty… close."
Blowing out a breath, Shinichi stared at Kaito's rigid back. "You know, you're acting really weird, Kuroba-san."
"I said you could call me…" The words dropped off Kaito's lips tiredly. "Anyway. What happened with Mouri-chan?" he asked in a voice jagged with the sharp edges of suppressed emotion.
Kaito's sheets moaned as Shinichi gripped them between tightening fingers. The words drowned his tongue. "I went to her room earlier so we could go out to eat dinner together. She was really excited about it and I didn't know why. But I was happy, since our relationship's been rocky recently. After we ate, she started to get annoyed, so I asked her why." He exhaled hard, a whistle that swept past his clenched teeth. "She told me it was her birthday. I had forgotten.
"After that, she started crying and… and she told me that we weren't… working any more. She said that I was in love with someone else." A sigh biting at his lips, Shinichi lowered his head. "I… I just don't know anymore." He winced, hearing the weak little twitches his voice made, hinting at the confusion and sadness that was currently plaguing him.
When Shinichi looked back up, Kaito was staring at him with eyes like glass. But the next thing he knew, Kaito was close – very close – his eyes level with Shinichi's from a distance of about nothing. Afraid to move, Shinichi sat rock still, his eyes wide as Kaito's stared into them. Those amethyst eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second before suddenly he dove in and lips were pressed against Shinichi's.
Shinichi was shocked. Speechless. Although he couldn't really say anything even if he wanted, due to the fact that Kaito's lips were smothering his own. He was frozen, even as Kaito brushed light kisses across his lips as if inviting him to join in.
What the hell is going on.
When he finally did come to his senses, Shinichi broke the contact, turning his head to the side sharply. He could feel Kaito move away a little, giving him a foot of space, then two, then three.
There was a deafening silence, one that made the air so heavy Shinichi felt he couldn't breathe.
"You know, Shinichi, I…" Kaito started, and Shinichi could hear the embarrassed hurt saturating his voice, but Shinichi merely shrugged as he quickly climbed to his feet.
"You… the… I don't… I can't… you… bye," he muttered, cutting off abruptly and running from the room as fast as he could, feeling something akin to bemusement and complete shock.
Kaito didn't stop him.
VIII.
The magician made no attempt to contact him.
And it was killing Shinichi. From the inside out.
During the very few classes the two had together, Kaito was nowhere to be seen. Worried by his absence, Shinichi had contacted the administration's office only to discover that Kaito had dropped both of their formerly shared classes.
Shinichi tried waiting for him at Kaito's usual eating spot. He spent most days camped out at Aoko's café, though Kaito never came. Aoko comforted him and tried to cheer him up. She had even gone so far as to schedule a meeting between him and Hakuba, but no amount of talking about Sherlock Holmes was going to be a permanent solution.
It was hard, Shinichi decided as he drank his coffee in a booth at the café one afternoon, to miss the magician. He had never known how much he depended on the other's smiles and little whimsicalities and just his entire presence. It was like losing the air he breathed. The worst feeling of – of drowning and suffocation and just pain. It was… it was…
He'd been so blind, damn it all.
Suddenly blinking, Shinichi realized that Aoko was standing beside him, looking unsure of herself. "Ah, Kudou-kun…?"
"Yes, Nakamori-san?" Shinichi replied, tracing the rim of his mug with his index finger.
"I… I just wanted to tell you that…" The girl exhaled. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that Kaito's never fallen this hard for anyone, so he might… you know… need some time." She seemed to hold her breath as she waited for the detective's response.
A mirthless laugh hung in the air before Shinichi could catch it. "This is the first time I've ever fallen this hard for anyone." He took a sip of his coffee before looking back at her. "And I'm not the one doing the running."
IX.
The wind tickling his hair, Shinichi stood on top of the roof of the Ekoda Museum, watching the stars with the full moon as a witness. It was almost calming. Almost. If the hole in his heart could be mended this way, it would be better than calming.
The door behind him slammed open with force, and Shinichi spun to see a white-clad figure emerging from the building below. Even from across the roof, Shinichi could see Kid's eyes widen. "Oh," the thief said in an almost breathless voice. "T-Tantei-kun."
"I see you've got a nickname for me," Shinichi accepted.
Kid moved into a defensive position.
Shinichi lifted his hands. "I'm not here to capture you at all. Please, be my guest. Escape on your hang glider. But first, I've got a quick question I've been wanting to ask you."
Lowering his arms, Kid nodded without elaboration.
Snatching up a breath, Shinichi asked, "If somebody whom you really miss, somebody who you never realized was so… so damn important to you kept avoiding you like hell, what would you do? If – if there's someone who you'd die to be with, but they just keep running away… what would you do to get them back?"
The wind blew. The stars twinkled. The moon hung. And Kid was motionless.
"Tell me this, tantei-kun," Kid finally said, breaking the wordless silence. "If there was a person you've hurt, somebody who meant more than the world to you, would you return to them and take the chance of hurting them again? What if you want to be with that person more than anything but you just can't stand to see them – them wounded or injured or scared because of you? What if you want to be number one in their life, but you're stuck at second place forever and you know you'll never be anything more than 'important'?" His voice broke. "What if that was the case? What if, tantei-kun?"
Without another word, the white phantom thief waved a goodbye – broken – and hurtled off the roof top.
X.
Shinichi stood in front of that familiar door, the one he had visited those weeks ago. Inside he couldn't hear any movement, but he rapped softly on the door anyway.
The door opened just a sliver, and an amethyst eye peered through the gap. Taking his chance, Shinichi wrestled the door open, managing to hop inside before the door slammed shut.
Kaito backpedaled instantly, almost like a scared animal, and Shinichi was so relieved that he had gotten his air back – his Kaito back – that he reached out and pulled the magician into a tight hold. "Kaito," he gasped.
Wrenching out of his grasp, Kaito backed up even further, his cheeks flaming. "Wh-What's happening?" he demanded. "You… I don't…" He shrank back. "Could you not look at me?"
Startled, Shinichi retreated, lowering his gaze. The two stood like that for long moments. One. Two. Three.
And finally Shinichi couldn't take it anymore. He lifted his eyes, glaring at Kaito with ferocity that made the magician wince.
"Why the hell have you been avoiding me?" The words were growled.
"Because I…" Kaito twisted his lips into his mouth. "I hurt you. When I…" he averted his gaze timidly. "…kissed you."
Shinichi stared at him. "Damn it to hell."
"I took advantage of you because you were broken up over Ran. I'm sorry for that. You probably hate me by now."
"You know, maybe you shouldn't assume," Shinichi stamped out.
"If it were me…" Kaito started.
"Well thank God that I'm not you and that I, in fact, do not hate you. At all."
Kaito looked up, shocked, and Shinichi fought the urge to roll his eyes. "You know, maybe you should consider that after you surprise kiss someone who was not expecting to be surprise kissed they might be somewhat, I don't know, surprised and thus might react differently than their real feelings."
"But… I…" stammered Kaito as Shinichi walked forward slowly, almost predatory in the movements.
"Do you remember what I told you on the rooftop?" Shinichi asked, his voice a half whisper, and he could see Kaito's eyes widening in panic. "You're the most important person to me, Kuroba Kaito. Kaitou Kid," he added as an afterthought. "I'd die to be with you. You're what I live for." He paused for a second. "You're mine."
"You're… no," Kaito squeaked. "This is a mistake. You can't… it's not…"
"You know, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. This isn't one of them," Shinichi snapped, now pressing Kaito against the wall. "So if you still don't get it, here's it in black and white: I love you."
He then proceeded to bend down and kiss the living daylights out of Kuroba Kaito.
After probably about five minutes, Shinichi pulled back, admiring the pink blush stuck to Kaito's cheeks and the little smile that refused to disperse from his face.
"What about you?" Shinichi whispered, now suddenly feeling uneasily. "Do you… you know?"
The magician blinked. "That's the easiest question I've heard. I love you too."
The detective smiled, feeling relieved. "Well, you have been telling me that since the day we met, after all."
"I have?" wondered Kaito, thinking back for a moment. A smile suddenly appeared on his face, and he gently pulled Shinichi towards him. Placing his lips by Shinichi's ear, he whispered, "I guess I have, haven't I?"
So there you go. That's my Valentine's Day one shot. *sigh* This thing took me forever and a week to write for God's sake. And it's pretty much shit, yeah.
Cliché, for sure. I mostly wrote this to practice a more flowery writing style, not because I had an honest to goodness good idea. Hm, I think I like my usual better, huh?
And yes, I am procrastinating writing the next chapter of Gem of a Person due to a bit of writer's block. You're going to have to wait a bit until I get myself sorted out.
Oh! Oh! Before I forget, I opened an AMV channel on YouTube! My username is xLunaDarkside, so you can find me that way (www . youtube user / xLunaDarkside). I've already posted my first AMV ( www . youtube watch?v=xVCXnhUUfuE&feature= ) and I'd be super super happy if you'd check it out and maybe comment or something.
Till next we meet, my darlings. - Luna