Chapter 7: Blind Date (or how not to be outdone)
N/A: Yayy, writers block out the window, I'm pretty positive I know how to write a story now! I like this once a month thing going during school so I'll keep that going after summer. If you didn't already notice I love writing phone conversations, and cars.
Warnings: More trash can violence, murders, cool cars, forgetful OC
Uploaded: 18/06/18
Chapter Rating: T
Words: 4,700
Shinichi felt a very familiar sense of déjà vu as he kicked the passing trash can beside him.
He wasn't specifically prone to kicking trash cans in the past, yet at the moment, kicking anything seemed to help his urge in wanting to strike a certain white-clad, monocle-wearing idiot.
It wouldn't be a long shot to say he got out of there in record time. Doing his best to avoid the many "great job's" and "congrats on you and KID getting together's" while he made his way home. He could thank Takagi for taking pity on him and allowing for his statement later on that night. Although, for what the night seemingly held in store for him, his day probably wouldn't get any worse. After all, what's worse than a blind date set up by your mother?
...An unwilling blind date set up by your mother, fully well knowing that you haven't dated since whatever you and Ran called that in high school.
Right.
He'd left Ran and the others in favour of retaining his sanity, and was now focusing on how he could sneak into his own bedroom through his second story window, because heaven forbid he run into his mom. Hopefully he wouldn't have to deal with the demon child either-
"Your going to have to explain," If deal with me was an expression, then Haibara probably wore it best (and most frighteningly).
She'd caught him right as he unlatched the gate to his backyard, nearly giving him a slight heart attack at the perfect (unfavorable) timing. He tried his best not to flinch at the spiteful as usual tone. Straightening up, Shinichi let go of the latch as he entered in his familiar backyard.
As nonchalantly as possible, trying not to look at the proud smirk on her face, he rolled his eyes. "Ughh, this is really not a subject I'd like to touch on with you right now Haibara."
At an attempt to brush off whatever she was trying to get at, he made his way towards the balcony underneath his room's window. It housed a somewhat climable wall/pillar that he'd decided would be his best option at mother avoidance.
"Oh right, because it's not like I'm the one who developed a perfect antidote to restore your body so you could run around using it like the adolescent teen you are to go after some flamboyant thief."
He turned away from eyeing the balcony to glare at her. "Firstly, your the one who developed the poison if you so recall. Second, I'm in my twenties, I'm not sure that counts as adolescent anymore... Also, why do you make it sound like your a mother trying to tell her twelve-year-old daughter not to throw herself at every available man?"
She smirked. "Well, I'm not sure about the mother part, but you'd definitely make for a realistic twelve-year-old girl."
Shinichi scowled and returned to eyeing his balcony. "Whatever you say Haibara, but in all honesty it wasn't, uh, my intention to speak of him in such a way... I just-" he sighed as he attempted to form the right words. "I just couldn't stand by and watch someone entirely innocent be spoken of otherwise, and I got carried away. That's all it was Haibara."
All it was, I think, Shinichi thought back. He had no clue why he'd felt like hesitating as the words left him, they just didn't seem real, if that made any sense. He felt like a child lying through his teeth, and from Conan he knew that feeling well, but why then did the truth he so sought feel so obscured?
Even as Conan he'd always known when he was lying, what the truth was... Then why did he feel so in the wrong?
What was it about KID that made him so righteous when he talked about him, so thoughtful when he considered his persona, and made him feel like he was lying each time he said it didn't mean a thing?
If anything, Shinichi was more confused then he'd ever been. That said, he surely wouldn't let Haibara of all people know, not if his poker face could help it. He'd learned too much from the black organization case, and that Haibara's endless paranoia was something he never wanted to see again. However, at the moment, even she seemed to have a better understanding of his life than even he did.
Her eyes met his as she searched him through and through. She considered him for a second and unable to retain her gaze he turned to the ground, looking at each blade of grass sticking out beneath his feet.
Yet he could still feel it. The searching eyes on him, watching him.
After what felt like minutes in mere seconds, she scoffed and he turned his head up to see her smirk. "What?"
"Oh, nothing. However, you'll be glad to know I have a much, much better understanding on your current... affairs," she smirked deviously, wiggling her eyebrows for extra effect.
Feeling a little intimidated by the unlatched grin she now bore, Shinichi turned back to his pillar at an attempt to erase the memory from his existence forever. He grimaced (his chances were far too low).
He brushed off the thought, and continued. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a balcony to climb."
She laughed. "I'm not sure even improving your height will help you with such a task, but, since you've always been incapable of competent thoughts when it comes to everything you do, by all means, continue."
He gritted his teeth and turned, hand just grabbing onto a higher side of the pillar. "Do you what me to step on you?"
At that, the she devil smiled and trotted off back towards her secret lab, most likely to find a new test subject for her semi-legal experiments.
Even with that in mind, he could only smile.
It was something of a silent agreement between the two, that even with all the bickering they may partake in, they were close friends that'd been through so much together. They were family.
With the antidote, she'd given Shinichi his life back, but in doing so, he'd given her a new life of her own. One where she didn't need to worry about everything she knew disappearing. It was a life that she could live, with people she cared about. That's why they joked. Because they knew equally what they'd lost and gained, what was going too far and not going far enough.
A silent agreement between victims, friends...
Between survivors.
He smiled as he continued his journey. It took him a couple of extra maneuvers to make his way up, but wiping a glistening brow he sighed in relief. Reaching the top and successfully unlatching his window had him crawling through towards the sanctuary of his bedroom. He could almost cry tears of joy at the thought of finally laying down with a pristine copy of the sign of four, peace and quite, no further murders or mentionings of a stupid thief...
That is, until he heard a loud, "Shin-chan!" and his shattered future dreams hit him like a train.
Unsurprisingly, his 12 foot drop back to the ground hit him even harder.
Bracing an ice pack on both his shoulder and head, Shinichi sighed. His mother was anything but rational in her greetings, but he supposed it was also his fault for underestimating her skills in finding him (if her dads anything to compare to, because she always finds him).
He found place in the library, nestled on a few blankets and pillows with a book in hand as he cared to his injuries (well his mother mostly did, he could care less of a few bruises). She'd ran out screaming after him, not catching the thought at the potential concussion he now bore, but a 12 foot fall couldn't really compare to falling off Touto Tower as a four foot child.
Nevertheless, his falling and decent injuries unfortunately weren't enough to warrant escape from his attendance within his mother's plans, even if she'd been partially responsable. That was another thing about his mom, whenever "love" was involved, there'd be no excuse (even if love meant wasting a couple of hours and dollars on a futile attempt, in Shinichi's eyes).
She sized him up as he sat in his chair, expression thoughtful. "Really Shin-chan, your so much like your dad, always trying to be sneaky for no reason. Of course, there's no way you'd be trying to hide from going on your date tonight would there?" her words sounding all too cheerful - spouting silent red flags in Shinichi's mind.
He treaded carefully with each word. "And why would I do that?" He laughed, a little too ackwardly to be considered normal.
She hummed in agreement, sure to have made her point clear, and he let his breath leave him in a sigh as she hurried away to pick out his outfit ("you can't possibly think of wearing that?").
He turned to the other figure in the room, his dad, who still seemed to be recovering from the woman's tone earlier. Sometimes Shinichi wondered how he'd managed to marry such a woman, but knowing his mom, he probably couldn't leave her if he tried. Not that he'd want to of course, she had spirit, and that much was for sure. He laughed mentally. She was everything he wasn't, perky and confident, while he was much more thought oriented and hesitated when he tried to speak his mind. Looking at his father now though, trying his hardest to blend himself into the chair he was sitting in, it was hard to believe he was of higher intellect than himself.
A lot of things couldn't be considered weird after everything with his body becoming that of six year olds and all that, but his parents still remained at the top of the list.
He smiled.
Looking up at the clock in front of him, he read six, meaning he had an hour before disaster, and really that wasn't an over exaggeration. Anytime he was in public at some sort of important outing there always seemed to be some sort of murder to allow interference. Or in this case, probably rescue, but it was still an interesting account to rely on murder for escape. He supposed that's what his life was used to now.
Aside from those thoughts, he was now buttoning up the bright navy dress shirt his mom had decided on while then proceeding to struggle in tucking the tight fit into his black dress pants. It's almost as if she still believed he was a child by the size clothes she'd been giving him. Scoffing to himself, he then proceeded to clasp the belt together and pull over the black suit jacket.
He was at least glad she'd chosen to give him something normal looking (however tight it may be). He smiled and settled for two unclasped buttons. He personally would've gone for a tie, but his mother specifically said he'd be without one for this particular outing, and that meant no tie.
She was really scary when she wanted to be.
Shinichi set his suit jacket back on the bed, and decided to wait out and relax the few minutes he'd have to spare before needing to part the comfort of his bed. He was just reaching for his novel on the bedside table when his phone next to it, began to ring.
Interesting, should it be, since he wasn't expecting a call. However, when a familiar number popped up, he resisted the urge to chuck his phone at the nearest wall (The KID painted wall if anyone was wondering, and no he had definitely not maybe gotten used to it).
"KID," He groaned out, hitting the call button for a stupid reason his curiosity couldn't dwell out.
"Himself. Now, should I call you tantei-kun or Shin-chan I wonder... I'm leaning more towards shin-chan myself, you know, just to change it up."
Shinichi nearly chocked on the air he was struggling to breath. "If you ever call me that on a heist I will dissembowel you," he managed, with enough poison to put APTX-4869 to shame.
The thief only laughed airily. "You'd have to catch me first to do that~"
He scoffed. "You should make a note that soccer balls aren't limited to my age, stupid KID."
"Ooh, BakaKID, I like it. One step closer to KID-chan, so I'll call it a victory!" He replied, with all the cheer of your average five year old.
Shinichi sat for a second, staring at the KID wall in front of him in exasperation. "How do you actually produce valid thoughts?"
"Well, if it's a question of how, then it normally starts with something as small as 'what do I want to eat for breakfast today?' and then sort of just develops into something like 'what jewel do I want to steal today'... you can guess what happens next~"
Shinichi's mouth was now visibly open. "How are you real?"
KID laughed. "I know, it's hard to believe I'm not a perfect being," he jested. "When compared to you, however... your miles farther than anything I've ever known to be real."
"...Shin-chan, are you still there?"
"Don't call me that."
A certain blushing red face went unnoticed by the elusive phantom just before he hung up.
Grabbing his suit jacket he made his way to the door, only to notice the rose sticking out of his previous hours jacket. He'd decided on being early as oppose to letting his thoughts wander, and went down the stairs to meet with his mom.
More squealing occurred once his mother saw the indigo rose sticking out from his very visible chest pocket.
Ok, so maybe he'd grabbed the rose on the way out, but it's not like indigo was his favourite colour or anything.
Shinichi let out a well held back groan as he approached the newest scene of crime in front of him. When a body literally falls on the car in front of you, you're bound to be held back by either traffic or solving the murder. In Shinichi's case, it was (usually) the latter.
Thankfully it was the business owner across the street, killing his partner over his want to go public about their fraud dealings, and had only taken the sleuth more or less thirty minutes. Even with promising to give his reports later, that still meant he was banking on twenty minutes late for his date if he didn't step on it. His mom had lent him the Aston Martin One-77 (which he still had no clue why she'd brought to Japan), and it made for a fast ride with his driving skills.
A call came through on Bluetooth and Sherlock help him he nearly stalled the car at the lights he'd just yeilded to.
Calmly composing himself, he let the call ring through.
The blue icon with KID's name 'favourite magician' popped up, and he rolled his eyes. "Figures any time I'm not dealing with you I'm dealing with murders," he began, taking a sharp right past the next set of lights. The cars beside him didn't even have time to honk, he smirked.
"On the contrary, when dealing with me your bad luck gets cancel out because I'm awesome, thus reasoning I've been kissed by Lady Luck herself!" He laughed.
Shinichi scoffed, calculating how much gas to pull on his next lane switch so that he'll miss the Toyota's bumper. "Yah right, more likely the fact that your a crime in itself, thief."
KID laughed and Shinichi revved the engine, speeding up ahead the Toyota. "I prefer the term, jewel procurement connoisseur. In fact, I don't remember borrowing ever being considered a crime."
Sharp left, Shinichi's smirk returned. "Oh yah? Like you borrowed Pandora?"
"That was one time!" The thief shouted, almost sounding genuinely flustered as he continued to mutter something about replacing it with a high quality fake, of which Shinichi just laughed at.
"I know, I was there remember. I watched you crack the jewel to pieces like a piece of ice, it's no wonder you couldn't 'give it back'," he laughed lightly.
"Huh, those were some times weren't they," Shinichi could almost feel the thief's sense of nostalgia in his words. He continued driving on the straight stretch of green lights.
"Yah, it almost feels weird when you think of the first time we ever faced off at that clock tower as years ago. I was so arrogant back then."
"Well no wonder you shot at me!" Shinichi laughed and the thief sighed joyously. "I can't believe you remember that actually, you seemed to just have been passing through and stopped for a game of cat and mouse."
He took a final turn, and zeroed in on the restaurant ahead. "Of course I remembered that. I would've gone, you know," he paused at the implication of what he'd just admitted.
"Gone to what?" the thief asked with equal amounts cheer as curiosity.
"The next heist," Shinichi hesitated, and quietly continued. "If I hadn't, you know..."
The thief stopped. "Oh."
"Yah."
There was another short pause of silence as Shinichi pulled into his parking spot, his eyes made their way to the blue hues of light emitting from the cars' console. 'Favourite Magician' desplayed largely in the center. He opened his mouth intending to say goodbye, but the magician coughed, nearing the side of awkward.
"I'm afraid we must continue this conversation for another day, I'm due elsewhere at the moment. But I must say, it has been lovely speaking to you tantei-kun, and do take care in enjoying your evening, for all the glories it may hold."
With that a pop of confetti sprang out from both sun visors and began to rain a mix of primary colours all across the leather interior seats. "You... KID!"
"Toodles!"
"Don't you-" and with that the blue icon disappeared, and he was left sitting in a pile of confetti and sparkles as he turned off the key in the egnition.
Sighing in defeat, he let the confetti pool outside the drivers' seat door as he opened it and stepped out. He wondered for a moment why he hadn't killed the thief sooner.
Oh right, he was a detective.
And he had a date to be late to.
As the other end of the phone cut out, nothing but the small beep could be heard before the room fell to silence.
He sat on his bed, eyes staring fixatively down at the phone in his hands. His mop of brown, messy locks falling straight below his face, and he felt himself stall in the silence, holding his breath, as if it'd disrupt the perfect solitude he'd created.
He sat like that for a full ten seconds until he exhaled into the nothingness, disrupting the still silence with the action.
Noticing exactly what he'd just done, he started to laugh at himself - small breathless chuckles into the open air, nothing short of showing the desperation and longing he refused anyone else to see. Leave it to him to be the only one in history to visibly fluster Kaitou KID during a phone call of all things.
It was stupid - He felt stupid. I mean, after everything he'd done, he couldn't help himself but feel helpless against the events unfolding. Maybe it was the fact that he now held a wig in his hand, wondering just how many scenarios of his would succeed, and how the night he had planned out would really go. Would his detective realize, would he even notice at all? Because no matter how many plans he seemed to create, or how many performances he came up with, nothing ever really caught his attention in the way he wanted.
He grinned to himself a little dull-wittedly. Because that's all he wanted.
He's all he wanted.
And maybe that's why he was now exiting the confining walls of his room, with all the determination of a man on his way to war, in attempt to preform the impossible. To preform a heist that would successfully steal the impossible jewel, who just happened to be the love of his life.
Who was also on his way to a perfect date with what seemed like a perfect girl. Which was probably why his hand rested a little too long on the handle to the door, or his steps felt a little too heavy as he made his way down the stairs, maybe even how slow he was in tying the clasps on his shoes. No, he wasn't jealous... he was furious, determined, and grinning. Because however perfect the girl was, he'd ensure she knew who his detective belonged to.
Seeing that everyone knows phantom thieves don't share.
Kaito smirked as he made his way out the door. He wouldn't be outdone by a blind date, and he'd make sure he was the best in the competition.
Shinichi felt his breath heave in his throat. Figures he'd run into two murders on the same day (it had been longer than a few days), however he was thankful this time around that it lacked a certain unwanted audience, even with the surprise phone call.
He'd arrived late to his date, awkwardly entering through the large glass doors of the overly priced French restaurant (his mom really didn't play), while spotting the table seating a woman up front. He approached the hostess about his reservations and she led him to the exact table, near centre to the large golden lit dining area.
The woman had long, blond hair with her head down looking into her menu. The waitress left him with a wry smile and a menu of his own before disappearing back to survey the floor. A quick glance up and the woman was giving him a shy smile, that clearly showed her slight irritation (what else could she do after waiting half and hour for a murder prone detective date to finally show up, he thought). At this rate, he still wondered how he was considered even datable in the media's eyes, because clearly if both parties don't show up it's not really considered a date.
He gave a small smile of his own before dropping into a short seated bow. "I'm so sorry I'm late, I had a small run in with work on the way here," he extended his hand across the table, and she grasped it. "Hopefully you can accept my apology, my name's Kudo Shinichi."
Her smile warmed all too suddenly. "Akamine Himari, and of course, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Shinichi-kun."
He prayed his flinch wasn't too visible. "...I see you've already begun looking at the menu, any suggestions?"
They continued their talks, ranging from what to eat to what they do (obviously the woman already knew his name), and he was surprised to hear she'd be studying law next year. Smart, pretty, and no doubt to be successful in the feature, they bonded over both playing the violin, Sherlock Holmes, and many other things he'd grown to love over the years...
Yet, with all the talents the woman had, something was still missing.
The biggest factors that drew him near anything at all. That had him wishing to devote countless hours to certain cases or novels. Those being: excitement, mystery, humour...
And with all these factors now listed in his mind, he couldn't help picture him - which was dumb, because he had no reason to picture him in the woman's place, surely not on a da-
No, not going there. He was not about to think about thoughts like those, and instead let his mind wander elsewhere as he absentmindedly tuned into the woman's conversation. If only it was his conversa-
That said, sitting the table with the strange woman he couldn't help his boredom, and he felt himself slowly tune out as he munched on his overpriced dinner (four tier piece of what looked like meat and something...?). Just as his mouth closed around his fork, his view lingered and caught the large glass doors - upon which he'd previously entered - valiantly open to reveal what may've been the most beautiful woman he's ever laid eyes on.
She entered the restaurant with all the grace of a dove, sashaying down towards the front hostess (who also seems to gape at the sight of the woman).
Dark, brown-raven hair flowing past her shoulders to tangle up in curls over her flowing gown, which gradiented from a dark black to something that resembled the night sky. Like her eyes - gorgeous aquamarine, indigo, that continued to sparkle at each step she took. Her angled cheekbones accompanied curved lips that seemed to keep a constant smirk on full display, her brows drawing a little higher bringing in what seemed like playful curiousity, with little makeup to enhance the features.
Not only that but as Shinichi's gaze made its way from her lips back to her eyes, she was looking straight at him.
One or two red flags struck up without warning as Shinichi heart began to pound. He'd been caught staring (shit), and she only smiled deviously at him (which should've been illegal in more than a few countries), starting her way at walking down the floor of the restaurant as if it were a runway.
Straight. Towards. him.
Even as it took him a few attempts to try to pull his gaze away from the woman, he couldn't. Even as he tried to breath in some small amount of oxygen he couldn't because she was still looking at him. Smirk still firmly in place all until she sat down at the table right next to his(!).
She crossed her legs and admittedly broke eye contact to adjust the seating of her dress and get out her phone, which gave Shinichi enough time to stare for another 3 seconds before realizing he was holding his breath, then proceed to choke a little bit on the food in his mouth until he finally managed to swallow and lower his fork from his gaping mouth. Which, once again, was really strange, because he wasn't sure he'd ever been this attracted to someone since his days in high school, going through puberty as a child. No, he was pretty sure he'd never been this attracted, because once she was done texting, she turned to him one more time and flashed him a grin that made every sense in his body shiver and nearly convulse on himself.
A moment of distraction caught him as the phone in his back pocket began to vibrate and he somehow (after fumbling it many times) managed to at least unlock the screen.
There, under the familiar number and stupid inputted nickname, sat a message he very much so regretted receiving.
The woman moved a stray strand of her hair behind her ears as he looked down one more time at the message, and then back to her, and back to the message, following through with this same pattern until the words finally sunk in and Shinichi resisted the urge to bang his head against the table.
See look, I did my hair just for you tantei-kun!
Do I look pretty?
P.S. If you didn't realize, I'm woman sitting at the table beside yours~~
Xoxo
Correction; man. Because the so called "woman" he was looking at was definitely Kaitou KID. And the innocent woman sitting across from him was definitely waving her hands in front of his face. Yet, he definitely couldn't take his eyes off the phantom sitting cross legged at the table beside him, moving her (his) hair across the toned shoulder blades of her (his) back.
Oh, who was he kidding - he looked hot. And not only that, but Shinichi couldn't help but let his gaze drench in the stunning picture before him.
...Which was probably why he now had half a glass of wine soaking his hair and shoulders, and staining the shirt his mom most likely spent a small fortune on.
Yah, he definitely should've seen that coming.
TBC
For clarification, yes Shinichi and Kaito took down both organizations, but in doing so Kaito still had his own plans and the take down allowed for him to destroy pandora without revealing his backstory to Kudo, even if he destroyed it in front of him. I'd imagine him offering a few ominous reasons and explaining what Pandora was, and for Shinichi to just understand the justifications in his goal to destroy the evil gem, but also understand there were some things he wasn't telling him.
Hopefully that helps for anyone wondering. I'm sure I'll have a flashback sometime though (spoilers).
