Mikau: Good evening everyone! And a major thanks to all of my reviewers from last time: mochiusagi, Lady Rosencrantz, The Midnight Dream, Hebiaczek, and EverThePhantom! Today we have Shinichi x Conan. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by BlackCriminal (96hani) on Poirot Café.

…

BlackCriminal (96hani): I'd like some Shinichi x Conan.

"So how are things going with Ran?" Conan asked, swinging his legs (which were still too short to reach the floor when they sat in one of the booths at Poirot) and sipping at his coffee (a special treat that he only got when hanging out with Shinichi).

Shinichi winced at the question. Conan asked every week, every time they hung out. The answer was always some variation on the same theme. "Not so great, actually."

Ever since Shinichi had kind of sort of gotten his body back by making a deal with Akako the witch for a potion that separated Shinichi from Conan, things hadn't been going well with Ran.

In his very long absence, Ran had kind of forgotten what Shinichi was actually like. With him gone and not bothering the crap out of her every day, she'd somehow managed to manufacture this whimsical ideal Shinichi in her head, so when the real Shinichi had come back, he hadn't measured up to her mental picture of him. As a result, Ran was sort of feeling a little disenchanted.

"Oh? That's a shame," Conan pretended to be indifferent as he stole a bite of Shinichi's lemon curd tart.

"I just feel like I can't relate to anyone anymore, and they can't relate to me either," Shinichi continued with a sigh, swirling the straw of his own iced coffee round and round. "Everything I've been through these past two and a half years has changed me. It's become such a big part of who I am, and I can't even talk about it with anyone."

"There's always Kid," Conan suggested helpfully.

Shinichi shrugged. "Kid's a looney. Sera and Hakuba can keep him."

Conan nodded. He set down his coffee mug and stood up on the bench seat of the booth. He put his hands down flat on the table and leaned across it to give Shinichi a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm always there for you, and I know what you're going through," he reminded his other half.

Shinichi blushed, closing his eyes. "This is weird."

"Only if you make it weird." Conan shrugged, taking his seat once more and going back to sneaking nibbles at Shinichi's tart.

Shinichi sighed. "Okay, but you make me feel like a narcissistic pedophile."

"Can't do anything about the first—after all, we've always been in love with ourself—but if it makes you feel any better, I'll be all grown up in a few years."

Shinichi smiled softly at the younger version of himself. He reached across the table and tussled the boy's hair. "At least you'll never get sick of hearing me talk about Sherlock Holmes."

"And we'll never fight over what to watch on TV," Conan seconded. "We'll always want to see the same thing at the movies, and I'm a cheaper date because I don't eat as much and you only have to pay kiddie price for me at some places. Also, you don't have to worry about forgetting my birthday because I'll always forget yours too, so we'll never fight about it! Plus, I'll never karate smash your face in or kick you through a wall."

"I knew I loved me," Shinichi sighed happily.

…

Mikau: And there you have it. Actually, the thing with making the deal with Akako is a fic I did several years ago called The Price of a Future. It's a KaiShin piece…or rather KaiCo since Shinichi and Conan become different people, but yeah. I don't know if it's worth reading. It's old. Anyway! Next chapter the prompt was: a beach, a ring, and a surprise revealing…which I turned into total crack with Kaito burying Heiji in the sand and sculpting a mermaid body for him. Heiji and Kaito squabble over Shinichi, Hakuba wonders why he hangs out with idiots, and then Akako and Sonoko scheme and plot to get Sera into a bikini…before moving on to world domination. I'm not kidding. I have a feeling that that is as far divorced from what the prompter originally had in mind as mayonnaise is from chocolate. But look forward to it!