-Clichés & Tropes -
Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.
Warning: KaiShin relationship.
A/N: More requests! YAY! Also, it's been slow writing these days...
The following is a request from Ceres2412: "You know when one of the protagonists says 'it can't come worse' Lady Destiny proof them wrong and some important devise broke down."
21 Ceres2412 Request: A series of unfortunate events (and maybe one not so unfortunate)
There is always a silver lining on the darkest of days
Kaito turned around, tossing the blanket aside as he did so. He grumbled when he felt sunlight on his face, all the while wondering why it was so bright when he distinctly remember having pulled shut the curtains. Blearily, he turned to face the light only to find one of his many doves staring straight into his face.
"AH!" He cried, scrambling slightly away in fear. No matter how cute they were, when up close, they do look rather menacing. Especially when he was half asleep.
"Alakazam." He muttered as he palmed his forehead and lean further into his pillow. "You scared me…"
Alakazam only chirped merrily, scooting closer to his face and nudged softly against his cheeks.
"Fine, I'll accept this apology." He patted the small head gently, stroking the soft feathers. Alakazam is one of his younger doves, ones that he considered to be still in-training. Though Alakazam, along with a few others, may not be a magician's (and hence a Phantom Thief's) assistant, they were still quite promising as they are smarter than the average bird.
Off in the distance came another trill.
"Izzy Wizzy…" He slowly sat up to look at the second bird, who cocked her head to the side looking oh-so innocently. Kaito would have let out an 'aw' if he had not notice the time on the clock face, which conveniently read 10:30. He swore loudly, with vocabulary so colourful that would make a certain inspector blush thrice over. He repeatedly looked between the bird and the alarm clock.
"Did you press the alarm button?" He asked after letting out a calming breath (and subsequently counting to an absurdly high number). In his mind, he kept repeating the words 'keep calm' so that he would not blow up at his birds and scare them.
Izzy Wizzy cocked her head to another side before letting out trill as though she was proud of her achievement. Kaito really should not blame her seeing as the first trick he taught was to press buttons on command. And having yelled at his own alarm clock one too many times, the bird must have mistaken it for a command.
Not wanting to waste another moment, he quickly dressed himself and rushed off to his morning ablutions. Before running out the door, he took a minute out of his routine to make sure the aviary had all the necessary water and food for all his doves. To his surprise, he found both the secret hatch leading to the aviary and the chute leading outdoors to have been slammed shut.
"Alakazam, Izzy Wizzy…" He groaned. Both birds dutifully landed on his shoulders before cooing for attention. He had the funny feeling that these two doves were the culprit behind it all. However, he did not have time to reprimand the two birds on his shoulders.
He arrived at the classroom at 11:20, with just 40 minutes left of the morning classes. He was about to knock and interrupt the class when the door mysteriously opened in front of him.
He groaned internally before wondering just how bad the day could go for him.
"Kuroba-kun." His teacher addressed him in a rathered leveled tone of voice. It made both Kaito and the two doves on his shoulders gulp loudly in response.
"Yes sensei?" He tried the formal and overly polite approach, hoping to gain a bit of leeway. Kaito could practically feel the flower he had stashed up inside his sleeves wilted at the teacher's stern voice.
"You're late for your mid-term exams." She stated without any preamble. Kaito let out a small 'eep'. "Under normal circumstances, I would give you a fail but I'm feeling generous."
Though Kaito highly doubts that but he was not about to argue. It was nearly an unspoken rule to never keep Kaito in a detention, or heaven forbid repeat a year, lest the teachers want to suffer an eternal migrain. Still, Kaito kept as still as he can to hear what sort of makeup test he would have to take in order to pass.
"You have 30 minutes to finish off the exams your peers have started since the beginning of the day."
The moment the words left his teacher's mouth, Kaito rushed over to his seat and began turning over the papers. His classmates paid him a split second of attention before returning to their own work. Only Aoko's gaze and Hakuba's scrutiny remained on his back for nearly a full minute but even then Kaito paid it no mind.
When the teacher announced time was up, Kaito felt as though his wrist had suffered damage due to frantic writing. He did manage to write in answers for every single question, even though he had skipped a lot of the in-between steps.
"Kaito." Aoko was the first to approach his desk that he had taken to physically merge with. "Why were you late?"
"Alakazam, Alarm, Izzy Wizzy." Kaito mumbled as he snuggled further into his arms, not wanting to face the crummy day he was having.
"Did Kuroba-kun just spout off a series of magic words?" Hakuba's skeptical voice was as annoying as ever and Kaito was quick to voice out his opinion, which was merely replied with a raise of eyebrow.
"For your information, they are my birds." Kaito clarified, pointing at the two birds now resting on his desk instead of his shoulders. At the mention of their name, they launched themselves into the air and flew in a perfect circle before landing on both of Kaito's shoulders.
"What did the pair of them do?" Aoko approached the pair of seemingly well behaved birds, offering both a belly rub.
"They both decided today is the day for them to practice a few…tricks." Kaito answered hesitantly, earning him another raised eyebrow from the rather annoying detective. His hands itched to prank the well-put-together detective. He inconspicuously reached into a hidden pocket of his sleeve to palm a hair dye bomb but before he could throw it out, it decided to spontaneously combust in his hands.
"What the?!" He lifted his palm to his eye level, seeing a range of colours splattered across his skin. His shirt sleeve also suffered damage. The dye stained the white shirt and even managed to colour the dark uniform sleeve. The excess liquid dripped onto the floor, painting a myriad of bright colours onto the tile.
"You're on afternoon duty today right?" Aoko helpfully supplied before pointing at the chalkboard which had Kaito's name written neatly on the side. Kaito let out another groan and lean back onto his seat.
"I think Tanaka-kun is sick today so Kuroba-kun would have to clean the classroom up by himself." Hakuba commented.
"What?!" This particular exclaim from Kaito startled everyone in the room. As one, they turned to give him their full attention. "Where is Tanaka?"
"Um…" A meek yet brave girl lifted her hand up in the air. Kaito recognised her as Tanaka's latest girlfriend from next door, who also happens to be great friends with Tanaka's ex-ex-ex-ex girlfriend (yes, Kaito keeps track of everyone's social engagement on the side, just in case). "He's...um...sick…?"
"Why do you sound so uncertain? Are you hiding him." Kaito stalked towards the girl who had taken to cowering behind one of her friends, who also hid behind her desk.
"KAITO!" Came the shout before a hard whack on his head from a conveniently placed broom by Aoko's side. "Stop intimidating people!" The birds previously on his shoulders had smartly flown off to avoid the hit and have landed on a shelf at the back of the classroom.
"Ahoko! Can't you see I have to get to the bottom of this? It's a matter of life and death!" Kaito rubbed at the sore spot, feeling a bump was just about to form. "And you're supposed to clean things with that, not hit people."
"Well, Aoko is cleaning out Kaito's mind right now so it counts!" She raised the broom up, ready to land another hit.
"A-O-KO!" Kaito leapt and jumped around the room. Unfortunately, his skills seems to have evaded him today as he continuously bumped into bystanders, slipped on desk surfaces, and at one point, managed to hit his own head on the ceiling. He landed in an ungraceful heap on the floor. The only concession being he knew how to fall and thus managing to avoid serious injury.
"Is Kaito alright today?" Aoko rested her broom to the side before reaching out to help Kaito up. "Kaito is behaving strangely."
"Must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed." Hakuba approached them, likely with the intention of returning to his seat. By Kaito's count, breaktime should be over and the afternoon session should be starting soon.
At that moment, Kaito suddenly burst into action.
"I haven't had lunch yet!" He completely forgotten about his meal. And with that declaration, his stomach began to growl. "And I didn't get a chance for breakfast!"
"You have 9 minutes 43 seconds to run down and buy something…"
No sooner had the words left Hakuba's mouth, Kaito was already by the doorway and outside of the classroom.
As he ran down the stairs, his foot slipped on several of the steps and resulting in him ferverantly trying to steady himself on the railings, only for one of them to creak under his weight and snap from its housing. Kaito only suffered a minor cut on his arm instead of having the metal piercing through his limb.
He let out a small whimper as he safely stood on the bottom-most stair, just meters away from the store run by the bread-lady. Kaito approached the trays at the front of the store, only to find it completely and thoroughly empty. "Why must you do this today Lady Luck?" Normally, there would have been something left but today, it seems like every student forgot their lunch and bought everything.
Kaito sighed, it looks more and more like he would not be able to eat a full meal today. What with him having a heist later on in the evening thus leaving him very little time for things like sitting down to eat.
xxxxx
KID looked up at the bright moon, sighing as the gem once more was not the one he was looking for.
"It just couldn't get any worse can it…" He looked down at himself, seeing that his once-pristine white clothes thoroughly stained and coated in a myriad of sparkles and colours. His hair was safe, though that had more to do with it being covered by his top hat. While he wanted to say the night had been thrilling, it was also harrowing.
With the Meitantei back to his 'original self', he was apparently more like a trickster than KID had originally thought. The detective had managed to re-rig all his tricks in a manner that was nearly imperceptible by the thief himself. Sure, many officers still managed to stumble into them, trapping themselves with silly strings and netting. But KID had stumbled into his fair share.
"So," a suave voice came with the squeak from opening the service door, "how'd you like my gift?" The newly entered figure slowly closed the metal door, slipping a door stopper beneath that had KID raising a questioning eyebrow.
"And to what do I owe this particular gift Meitantei?" KID turned to give the detective his full attention. He could never guess what the detective could be planning. KID was on alert, a hand slipping inconspicuously into his pockets for his trusty card gun,
"You don't remember do you…" It was more of a statement rather than a question. But what had KID's focus was the strange downtrodden tone in the detective's voice.
"What am I to have supposedly have forgotten?" KID relaxed his posture slightly. His eyes were keen to pick up the slump in the detective's shoulders as he said the words. He looked between the standing detective, the doorway (and the door stopper), and his chosen point of exit which happens to be the edge of the roof. He slowly calculated the detective's probable reaction time, all the while wondering why the detective chose to lock themselves here on the roof and whether he would be pulling the exact same stunt as Conan did by flinging himself off the building's edge just to catch KID.
"Doesn't matter." He shook his head, walking slightly closer and taking care to make loud steps. KID was sure that, if the detective had wanted, he could be as silent as the thief himself. And quicker too seeing as the detective was trained with speed in mind whereas KID favoured flexibility for his performances. "So, not what you're looking for eh?"
"No, not really. But it is a lovely piece." KID waved his hand in the air and the large carat gem appeared nestled between his middle and fore-fingers. "If you don't mind, I'd appreciate if you can return this for me." He offered the gleaming jewel to the detective just two steps away. Seeing the single nod, KID threw the gem in the detective's direction.
The detective opened his mouth to say something but before any words could be formed, there was a frantic look in his eyes. "KID! Look out!" The detective was rushing towards KID and reflexively, KID took several steps back. In the distance, the gem fell to the ground with a small 'clink' and rested close to the door stopper.
KID ducked behind the ledge, holding his top hat down at the same time when something attempted to knock it off his head. He quickly took it down to eye level to see a small hole at the center. Carefully, he fingered the hole, tracing around the jagged edge. He cursed softly, but rather colourfully, as he sank lower into the crouch.
"Meitantei…" He called out, only to find the detective having fallen flat, facing up, on the rooftop. Said detective was too exposed for his liking and at the same time, too still. "Meitantei?" He tried to call out again, only to receive no response. Fear crept up his spine as the worst case scenario flashed through his mind. He peeked over the ledge, hoping to spot the sniper in the distance. His action drew chips of concrete flying into his face and he ducked back down. Time was of the essence and he just had to check on the safety of the detective.
"What am I doing?" He frowned, mentally berating himself for the indecisiveness. "Meitantei is in danger." He let out a frustrated sound before finally decided to brave the danger. Slowly, he crawled away from his hiding spot towards the downed detective.
Shots came towards him, though strangely enough they missed him by a large margin. His progress was slow but he finally made it to where the detective laid.
KID sighed in relief when he realised there were no pools of blood on the ground. Carefully, he patted the front of the detective's chest, only for his wrists to be grabbed in response. KID's immediate reaction was to struggle away when the grip only strengthen.
"Don't move idiot." The detective mumbled with his eyes still closed. "Just wait."
KID tries to stay still but he had become very much aware of the closeness between them. He was suddenly struck that the detective could easily open his eyes and see his real face. That brought about an instance of panic and he resumed his struggles.
"Stop struggling!" The detective wrapped his other arm around KID, right around the waist, and pulled him close. "Just stay still!"
"Give me a reason." KID answered in a muffled voice, mostly obscured by the detective's jacket.
"Because, they're coordinating an arrest right now and I'm waiting for the signal."
KID was dumbfounded, and left quite out of the loop all of a sudden. He replied the detective with an ineloquent "What?" He could not quite understand how coordinating an arrest meant he should be within the detective's hold but since it was not really taxing for him (and to a certain extent he was enjoying the warmth radiating from the detective. It was a rather cool night and his suit only provides so much warmth) he stayed put.
"You can't expect me not to notice and you really shouldn't think that I won't do anything about it." There was a huff of breath by KID's ear as the hand the rested on his waist tightened a fraction. "I can't bear to see you becoming crow bait."
KID tries to lift himself up, out of curiosity for wanting to see the expression on the detective's face, but the hand on his back quickly moved up to where his head had been. A hand rested on his hair, stroking it lightly before pushing his face back into the fabric. KID only stiffened at the touch for a fraction of a second before relaxing once more.
"And I'm sure you don't want me to see your face right now. Without your top hat, there's no where to hide your features." The detective stated as-a-matter-of-factly, to which KID had to blush slightly at the detective's perceptiveness. He was sure that the colour of his cheeks was matching that of his pink glittery suit.
Thankfully, his moment of embarrassment was short-lived as a sudden ringing tone disturbed the moment. The hand that had been trapped between the pair wriggled out towards the side and into a pocket.
"I take it everything's been taken cared of?" The detective spoke into the mobile. KID could hear a woman's voice from the other end, though the sound was too jumbled to make out any particular words. After what KID assumes to be a long report of some sort, the detective replied with "Thanks then. I'll be sure to drop by" before cutting off the line and returned the mobile to it previous location. "Alright KID, you can get up now. I'll have my eyes closed just in case." The last sentence was said more for KID's benefit even though KID was sure the detective would not be unsportsmanship and look.
Then suddenly, a thought came to KID. Or rather, it came to Kaito. So far, the detective had done nothing to compromise his civilian identity, even going so far as helping him and ensuring the secrecy was kept. Kaito felt warm all over again, this time bubbling from the core of his heart rather than from an external source. He lifted himself up, just ever so slight to see the serene face of the detective underneath the moonlight. Kaito was taken aback at the relaxed look on the face, even though technically the detective was at his mercy.
Wanting some sort of compensation for his rather crummy day (and night), he decided to take a bit of compensation (or consolation prize as it was). He allowed himself to lower his lips onto the detective's own, tasting the small bit of lingering bitterness no doubt from the cup of coffee he saw the detective gulped down just minutes before the start of his heist.
The startled look on the detective's face was rather endearing, with the wide eyes and dilated pupil coupled with a raising red blush that seems to have extended way pass the neckline. Kaito smirked and cocked his head ever so innocently at the questioning gaze.
"What did you do that for?" The detective asked in an incredulous voice, slightly wavering and uneven.
"Hm...I wonder…" Kaito stood up, stretching his arms up ahead. He could feel the detective's eyes roaming all over his body and in particular taking an interest in the slight raise of his shirt as he pulled upwards. There was an audible gulp from the detective as well and Kaito gave himself a mental pat on the back. "Anyways, I think you just made my day that much better. I had a crummy day today but at least you made up for it."
"That's because it's the start of a new day." The detective said as he brushed off the dirt from his clothes. "But as the start of the day goes, this doesn't seem too bad. Perhaps this is a sign, telling you it's going to be a good day today."
"One can only hope Meitantei." Kaito bent to pick up the top hat, lying forgotten on the side and thankfully not blown away in the midnight wind. Again, the intense eyes returned and this time focusing on his backside.
Once Kaito had replaced his hat, he turned back towards the detective. There was just something in those blue sapphire orbs that made it so hard to leave the rooftop at that moment.
"I guess I'll be seeing you around then." The detective said rather reluctantly as he turned to leave. It was rather unusual, for the detective to leave before him/
"Wait!" Kaito called out, hands outstretched to take hold on the detective's wrist. "Are you going to be free in the afternoon? We can...I mean, I won't mind bumping into you in Shibuya at around noon and we can maybe grab coffee or something…?" He blurted out. The abrupt action is rather unlike him as well, but he figured it would not hurt to try and he took the leap. It seems his gamble paid off when the blue eyes practically sparkled and glowed.
"I think I'll be able to make time." He said teasingly. "Perhaps I might make myself visible at the Hachi-ko statue." The way the detective shyly smiled was extremely endearing and Kaito produced a red rose to tuck behind said detective's ears.
"I'll hold you to your word." Kaito brushed the stray strands of hair aside, allowing his hands to cup the ace for a split second before removing himself and take a running jump away from the roof. There was so much to prepare for and there is no more time to waste.
"And I'll hold you to your's Mr Gentleman Thief."
"Overall, not a bad day then." Kaito spoke to Izzy Wizzy and Alakazam who had suddenly appeared to be flying by his side. "Not even the havoc you've caused in the morning seemed all that bad now."
The pair of birds chirped in response, flying in an elaborate pattern around Kaito as they made their way back home.