"Hey, Kid, can you come closer?"
The thief quirked a brow and stared down at the little critic he had come to admire. To him, the request was odd and very suspicious considering all the gadgets the detective seemed to always have on his person. He eyed the boy, regarding him with caution and searching for any questionable items on the small body.
"Why should I?" Kid asked as he crossed his arms.
Conan seemed to hesitate before he pulled off his glasses. For the first time, Kid could see the piercing eyes clearly. Even after what was almost three years, he had never seen the little boy without his glasses on. It was a pleasant surprise for the thief as he silently compared the eyes to the jewel of some necklace he had once stolen.
Kid then turned minute attention to the glasses. Both lens were cracked and he was surprised that the kid hadn't gotten any shards of glass in his eyes. Silently, he wondered why the hell the little boy would come to a heist (by himself, as it seemed to Kid when he scanned the crowd earlier) wearing damaged glasses. He watched as Conan pointed to his own eyes.
"Retinitis Pigmentosa," he said, squinting his eyes just a wee bit. "I can't see very well without my glasses and, as you can see, they're cracked now."
Feeling a little sorry, Kaito crouched. His arms were still crossed though and he stared into the small pools of ocean blue. "Is this close enough?"
"That's better," replied the little detective. There was a small flush to his cheeks and Kid would have teased him if it weren't for the fact that Conan wrapped his arms around the thief's neck.
Kid froze and all his resolve was put towards keeping his poker face intact. Conan pulled away only a second later with a small frown. "Sorry," he said. "I... thank you."
"Come again?" Kid said because that was the most intelligent response he could muster.
Conan harrumphed under his breath and his eyes darted off to the side. He placed the glasses on and dropped his head a little bit. Those dark brown bangs made it harder to see those eyes of his.
"I asked for your help a little over a year ago, remember? I had Interpol involved and everything," he said.
Remembering the rather dramatic and action-packed events with a side of suspense, Kid nodded. It was a rather fun experiencing aside from the near-death experiences (though that may have been what made it fun in the first place). He had been very surprised when Conan had almost begged for his help and then proceeded to introduce him to members of the FBI.
"And you're thanking me now?" Kid asked, smirking. "You must be really bad with this sort of stuff, Tantei-kun. Is it a matter of pride or what?"
A scowl formed on Conan's face before it melted away into something softer. "I'm finally able to go home now," he said. "I wanted to thank you when I was actually able to leave otherwise you'd probably hold it over my shoulders every heist I go to."
"Home?" Kid repeated, feeling vaguely stupid after the word left his lips. Of course, Edogawa Conan did not have a home with the Mouri family. "Right. Mouri-san is just a guardian."
"Hai," Conan said with a curt nod. He pivoted slightly on the heel of those red trainers. For a moment, Kid was tensed-up and ready to dodge should a projectile soccer ball be fired his way but he relaxed when his caution turned to confusion.
For some reason, Kid felt something bubbling in his stomach. He wasn't sick, that's for sure. It was something else, something more...
"Is home far away?"
One end of Conan's lips quirked up towards the moonlit sky. "It's closer than you think," he said in a cryptic voice, turning his back to Kid so he could watch the moon. "I, however, will be too far gone to attend anymore of your heists."
"So, this is a goodbye?" Kid didn't frown but he didn't smile. No, he kept on the poker face like the well-trained magician he was.
Two small hands slipped into the pockets of those pale blue shorts. Conan shrugged his shoulders and peered over them to steal a glance at Kid. "Of sorts, yes. I thought you'd like to know," he said. "After all, you do claim that I'm your favorite critic."
"Of sorts," Kid repeated, pretending his brows didn't rise up. "And don't get too full of yourself, Tantei-kun, because Tantei-san is fairly decent."
"You only say that because he's the one who gets caught in the worst of your traps and you find it hilarious."
"Touché."
The two lapsed into silence.
Kid held up a the huge diamond of the necklace he had just stolen that night. There was no red glow like the legends claimed and he hid a sigh of disappointment. He flicked his wrist and then tossed the treasure to Conan.
Because only his neck had turned, Conan scrambled to catch the precious item. He let out a huff when he barely stopped it from shattering right there on the ground. He managed to snag the necklace by the chain and the diamond hovered only inches from the ground.
"Bārō," Conan hissed. "What if it shattered?"
"It wouldn't be my problem then, would it? You would have failed to catch it."
Conan rolled his eyes but it looks a little odd since the lens were cracked. His cheeks were puffed out just the tiniest bit due to annoyance and he turned. The little detective held the piece of jewelry carefully, giving it a distasteful glare. It was a gaudy thing with such a huge diamond and he didn't understand why anyone would ever want it.
"Give it to the good ol' inspector, will you? I'm afraid even phantom thieves need their sleep," Kid said, giving a rather extra loud yawn. He smirked down at the glaring boy. "And little boys should have been in bed an hour ago."
"Go to hell," Conan muttered, probably not meaning for the thief to hear.
"With Tantei-san on this forsaken planet, I'm already there," Kid singsonged. He watched silently as Conan walked towards the door that had given him entrance to the rooftop of the building. Before the small child could even walk back in, the thief called out to him.
Turning his head to look over his shoulder once more, Conan raised a brow. He didn't say anything though so the thief took that as the invitation to talk (not like he needed one anyway, he mused).
"Where is your home?" Kid asked, very curious and wanting information. "I'll pay you a little visit. I am an international phantom thief, you know. I can afford to hop out of the country to invite you to a heist."
Had his lips not been hidden by his shoulder, Kid would've seen the smirk settling on Conan's lips.
He could definitely feel the smirk though and it made Kid's eye twitch behind his metaphorical mask.
"Need not to know," Conan said in perfect English. Before a reply could be made, Conan entered the building. The door shuddered to a close behind him and the Phantom Thief 1412 was left alone on the rooftop with a crowd of screaming fans all scattered around the building hoping to steal a view of the gentleman thief.
The distant rumbling of stampeding officers made Kid concerned about Conan's safety. Despite being around nine, Conan was still small enough to be run over by an angry crowd of police officers.
Releasing a smoke bomb and flash bomb at once, Kid disappeared into the night with wings of cloth.
Although he wouldn't admit it out loud or anyone's face, Kid would miss the little critic. It was Conan whom Kid would spice up his heists for. It was his job to mystify the critic, not the other way around.
Remember when Conan used Retinitis Pigmentosa as an excuse as to why he never took off his glasses? It happened during an early episode, Kudō Shinichi Revealed or something like that.
I was kind of inspired by Arthur's reverse proposal event in Rune Factory 4. If you've played the game, please don't judge me I married Kiel my first time through bahaha.
So... this may or may not be continued. My plan is to elaborate on the questions you guys should have (i.e. cracked glasses, cure, etc.) so please do ask any questions you may have. Unless you want to know if Kaito knows that Conan is Shinichi because he doesn't in here.
And, yes, this will be KaiShin. Like, really light KaiShin cuz I don't do romance well honey. I'm an emotionally unavailable teenager.
Anywho, I do not own DCMK but all mistakes are mine and yes that hug was OOC but I'm the author of this fic and I wanted it to happen.
Edit: I decided to change some Japanese to English. I found it awkward and after getting a review basically telling me the same thing, I decided to change it. :)
