First came the Train-

The first time was not at the Black Star heist.

It wasn't even the Clock Tower heist.

Actually, the first time Kuroba Kaito met Kudo Shinichi was, oddly enough, on a train. And no, not the train you are thinking about. Kaito still shudders at that particular memory. He still holds a grudge for what Tantei-kun made him do that night! No, this about quite a different train experience.

Kaito rushed as he heard the doors ring before closure. He made it just as the doors fell shut behind him and caught himself before he tripped onto someone. He let himself lean against the side of the shut door, catching his breath.

At the next stop, the doors open and as Kaito waited, he saw someone else running late like he was earlier. The doors rang and the other teen was a bit less graceful than Kaito in his landing as he passed the doors. Kaito had to grab him by the arm to prevent him from falling into other passengers … hence Shinichi Kudo fell on him instead.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry! I was in a rush! I didn't think I'd make it! Are you alright?" The detective checked out the person he'd almost crushed against the walls of the train.

Kaito shook his head reassuringly.

"I'm fine. To be honest, I almost missed this train too!"

Shinichi sighed in relief as the other teen didn't seem upset or hurt. He gave the other boy a once look over and paused.

Strange.

Shinichi looked more carefully but still didn't see it.

He didn't see … anything.

Usually, he'd see someone's life story simply by looking at them, or at least, he can gleam a lot of information with one glance. But this boy was … blank. The only thing Shinichi could guess was his rough age and that he was a high school student like himself (the uniform gives it away). Other than that, the boy was a mystery.

"Is something wrong?" Kaito asked when he felt the other teen's insistent eyes on him.

To say Kaito was uncomfortable was an understatement. Here he was, on his way to a part of the city to pick up some tools for KID after a day of school, and he gets none other than The Kudo Shinichi, teenage genius detective, fall on him! Talk about luck! Oh, yes, Kaito knows who the detective is. He is quite famous and features regularly on the front page of papers. Great. Another Hakuba bumping in his life! Kaito didn't think it'd be a problem. They just happen to have taken the same train and Shinichi has no way of knowing him (he doesn't even do theft but homicide!). So Kaito grew instantly concerned and wary when he felt the detective's eyes on him and scrutinising. That detective look is the same Hakuba gets when he's trying to prove that Kaito = KID (which the Brit will never be able to prove! Kaito is making sure of that!) But Shinichi Kudo doesn't know either KID or Kaito and seems to not have any interest in pursuing the magician thief (he hasn't made any attempt to do so anyway). So what is Kudo looking at? Did he spot something about KID? But Kaito always made sure to be as neutral as possible! He even practices on Hakuba every day! If the Brit can't find anything compromising on him, how the hell would some random other detective find anything?

Shinichi blushed at the sudden question, realising how rudely he'd been staring at the other boy.

"No! I'm sorry! I was just … It's nothing." He coughed nervously and looked away.

Kaito wanted to ask. Curiosity was gnawing and edging him to ask. But really, why would he seek the attention of a detective on himself if he can avoid it?

So, he did. Avoid it, that is. If very reluctantly. Kaito left things at that and patiently leaned against the wall of the train, his head resting backwards and his cheek cooling against the train window. He decided to rest his eyes until his stop. After all, running across Tokyo with a herd of policemen after him was bound to make him lose on his sleep hours!

He only opened them back, a good moment later, when he felt a body suddenly press against him. Looking up, he met the embarrassed expression of one Kudo Shinichi. His face was much nearer than before … Is that normal? What's he doing leaning over Kaito like that?! Does he have to stand this close?!

"Sorry." Kudo whispered, as if reading Kaito's mind. "The train's getting crowded."

And indeed. Looking over Shinichi's shoulder, Kaito realised that while he'd been dozing off, the train had packed itself up. Hence why Shinichi Kudo got pushed up against him. This almost could look like one of those romantic train scenes in Aoko's shojou mangas. This is so cliché and ridiculous that Kaito could almost laugh. In fact, he did chuckle, causing Shinichi to raise an eyebrow at his quiet hilarity.

"Just pictured one of my friend's shojou manga scenes." The smaller teen explained with a knowing grin and Shinichi had to think over his words before he felt a rush of heat over his face but he chuckled nonetheless.

"Oh god! This sounds awful!" he laughed along and truly it just was ridiculous.

Two strangers meeting on a train and getting into this awkward kind of position and they can't help but be reminded of how this scene is supposed to be romantic!

With a quiet sigh, Kaito smiled at the detective before returning to his rest. He hadn't slept much last night due to the heist and Hakuba's growing improvements at avoiding traps. Some shifting kept him aware of Shinichi's body enclosing his but he dismissed it. It's not like either of them could do anything about it. Besides, he's too tired to care!

A sudden narrow turn from the train caused Kaito to bump his head back and groan. He tried to reach with his hand to rub it but his crossed arms were stuck between him and Kudo with no space to move. Kaito felt another turn and another bump. He wanted to move away from the narrow space against the wall but he knew he could not. At the next bump, it surprised him that he felt his head hit something softer instead of the train's hard window. He opened his eyes and saw a concerned Kudo watching him closely like he was doing earlier. Except, unlike earlier, this time, the detective was trying to assess something here and was leaning awkwardly closer. His arm lifted up right around Kaito … uh? Kaito felt his head fall back again with the train motion and hit Kudo's arm.

"What?" Kaito tried to turn his head but any movement was impossible.

"Sorry. That's all I can do about this. Can't really move much myself." Shinichi quietly explained, making sure he didn't completely crush the other boy with his weight, despite the forceful pressure on his back from other passengers.

He managed to reach an arm around the other teen's head and lean it against the train window, hence preventing the teen from hitting his head against the solid glass each time. Shinichi had only noticed the discomfort of the boy due to his own observation. The teen had remained oddly silent and you'd not even notice he was hurting his head. Had Shinichi not been observing the sleeping teen to try and figure out more about him, he wouldn't have noticed either.

Ok, so Shinichi didn't actually manage to figure anything out but now that he was standing so close to the other boy, he could even stare fully into the slender teen's eyes and count the shades of blue and purple in his eyes, blending beautifully into a midnight indigo. He had long eyelashes too. Dark long eyelashes framing those unusual eyes. But what really caught Shinichi's attention were the beginnings of fatigue showing in the bags under the other teen's eyes. That explains why the boy is trying to sleep at every opportunity and it's also why Shinichi had felt compelled to help him rest by preventing he get a concussion from banging his head against the train.

Shinichi felt himself blush again (why has he been blushing so much?!) but due to his awkward positioning, he couldn't look away or even manage any more space between his face and the other boy's.

"No … Thanks. You didn't need to." The teen smiled thankfully and Shinichi swore the boy's smile was pure sunshine! It glowed! Literally glowed! It was warm and fuzzy and made you feel like nothing could go wrong in the world!

Unconsciously, Shinichi felt himself moving forward, his body seeking the warmth of that person. But then, another sharp turn and both Shinichi and the other boy lost their balance, stumbling against one another, and Shinichi felt himself get pressed up closer yet again. You could almost think they were hugging now, with Shinichi's arm around the other teen and their physical contact.

Neither spoke.

Kaito tried not to think of how much Hakuba would laugh at this situation. The damn bastard would definitely tease him if he heard. But right now, Kaito's main focus for concern was in the taller teen pressed against him in a rather awkward and almost intimate manner. Stupid trains. Stupid people. And Stupid detective who had to bump into him in the first place!

So Kaito did the only thing he could: He closed his eyes again and pretended he was in his bed. Sleep did eventually overtake him for a moment until someone started to shake him awake. For the third time, he woke up to Kudo's bright alert blue eyes. They were very sharp eyes, clearly displaying the detective's intelligence. Shaded of a sky blue with maybe even a wintery touch, it felt like a complete contrast to Kaito's own darker shaded eyes.

"Sorry to wake you but we've got more space now and you'd have fallen if I hadn't kept holding you." Shinichi explained.

While the train had slowly emptied itself, Shinichi realised while he tried to distance himself from the other teen that he couldn't. The sleeping boy was leaning heavily on him and Shinichi didn't want to risk making him fall.

"Uh? Oh! Yeah. Sorry about that. Thanks." Kaito yawned and carried his weight off the detective, leaning back against the train's wall.

They both returned to a reasonable distance from each other and it remained so until Kaito got off the train first, bidding a quick goodbye to the detective teen.

That was it.

That was the first time Kaito met Shinichi. Luckily, it's unlikely Shinichi would even remember him and they never exchanged names. It was just a coincidence that a few weeks later, Shinichi Kudo attended his Clock Tower heist and almost drove him against the wall (metaphorically this time). Well, Kaito didn't know that the mysterious pursuer on the helicopter was Kudo at the time and he dismissed it rather quickly.

Things really kicked off when Conan came into the picture but even so, that wasn't the last time Kaito's path coincided with Shinichi.