Happy White Day, m'dears! *throws kisses, hugs, and love everywhere while prancing around room*

So for this fic… I'm setting it about four years in the future – meaning Shinichi, Kaito, & everyone are about twenty years old and in their second/third-ish year of university. Hakuba somehow figured out Kaito is Kid during those four years, but didn't turn him in for… reasons. (I honestly don't really know.) Um, I wanted to have Kaito still living at home, so let's just say he commutes to Teitan University. Yeah.

There are probably A LOT of grammar mistakes and typos in here, because I typed it in, like, three hours. Just a warning.

Anyway, just some fluff, because we all need it once in a while. (Probably not quite as often as I give it, though...) Enjoy! – Luna

Paper Hearts

There are some days where everything's flawless, where you have an extra cup of coffee and the weather's just the right mixture of sun and cloud and your hair looks fabulous for absolutely no reason and your bus arrives five minute early. Those are days that live on in your memory forever, like little crystallized bits of perfection.

And then there are days where pretty much everything that can go wrong does, where you wake up twenty minutes late and you can't find your favorite sweater and your shoelace decides it's a really, really good time to break and you forget your extremely important assignment at home on your desk and remember just as you're sitting down in class.

Kaito's day was starting to resemble the latter much, much more than the former.

"You," snarled Aoko, casting a very intimidating shadow as she towered over him, "bastard."

"Erm." Kaito blinked intelligently up at her. "Good morning, Aoko?"

"I cannot," she stressed, eyes flashing lightning and venom and acid and general oh God run at him as she slapped down a printout of some sort on the table, "believe that you kept this from me. I can't. I just can't."

"This is…?" Kaito glanced down at the paper, one eyebrow crawling up his forehead. He blanched, however, once he realized what it was.

The results of a DNA test between him and the Kaitou Kid.

Which, for obvious reasons, was a perfect match.

"Who –" Kaito cut himself off. Of course. Who else would do something like this?

He crumpled the paper in his hand, maneuvering so he could glare at the blond detective who had wisely hidden himself behind the tower of rage known as Nakamori Aoko. "Hakuba, you bastard."

Hakuba coughed. "Aoko-kun asked for me to, and…" He ran a hand through his hair helplessly, looking faintly apologetic in a way that made Kaito desperately wish for a frying pan to knock him out with.

Yes, fine, it was common knowledge that Hakuba had a crush on Aoko that was large enough to beach a blue whale, but he didn't have to reveal Kaito's secret identity to her just to get in her good books.

"Stop dodging the question!" snapped Aoko, and Kaito quickly returned his attention to her. She was positively seething, but Kaito could see that there were tears in her eyes. She was more hurt than angry, he realized with a jolt. "We've known each other for how long, Kaito? We've been best friends for how long?"

"Maybe fifteen years or so," Kaito answered, feeling more and more like a bastard as Aoko swallowed hard, her eyes glittering.

"Exactly, Kaito. Fifteen years that we've been best friends, and you couldn't trust me enough," she whispered. "Were you ever going to tell me? Did you think I couldn't handle it? Is that what you think of me, Kaito?"

"Aoko, it wasn't because –"

Biting her bottom lip, Aoko shook her head just once before turning and storming off – right as tears began to spill over. She pressed a hand over her mouth, but Kaito still heard the choked sob that broke through.

Hakuba's hands tightened at his sides, but he didn't move to follow her. "I'm sorry, Kuroba-kun," he murmured, casting the magician a quick, guilty look.

"She was going to find out sooner or later," Kaito said hollowly, his stomach sinking as his eyes fixed on the printout in front of him. "I… don't blame you. I know what it's like to love her that way."

"So you're –"

"Not like that anymore," Kaito clarified before crumpling up the piece of paper and lobbing it at Hakuba's back. He rose, feeling unsteady as he shouldered his book bag. "I'm taking the rest of today off." He leveled a sharp glance at the blond detective. "Don't come looking for me." With that, he started for the door, his heart beating out a death march against his ribs.

"Hey…" Hakuba frowned as he watched Kaito stalk off. He let his head drop into his hands, rubbing his temples tiredly. This was his entire fault, wasn't it?

Shinichi's eyebrows shot up as he turned the doorknob of the Kuroba residence and the door actually opened. They settled back down over his eyes into a concerned frown as he shook out of his jacket and stepped in. "Excuse me… Kuroba? Are you in here?"

He straightened his collar around his neck as he toed off his shoes. None of the lights were on despite that it was late in the afternoon, and as a result, the entry was dark and shadowy. Shinichi flicked on the lights and pulled off his coat, folding it over his arm. "Kuroba?" he called, hesitant and with anxiety growing into a mangled mess in the pit of his stomach.

A muffled, "Kudou?" came from the living room, and Shinichi relaxed. Good. So Kuroba hadn't been kidnapped, murdered, or taken as a hostage. He could live with that.

"Are you okay? I didn't see you at the lecture, so I thought something might be… wrong…?" Shinichi trailed off as he entered the living room and the sight of Kaito greeted him.

It was less of a greeting and more of a smack in the face, actually. Kaito was curled up on the couch, eyes listless as he stared at the wall opposite him. His clothes were just the slightest bit rumpled, like he hadn't moved much since he'd sat down but had shifted enough to raise wrinkles, and his eyes looked almost fractured with depression.

"Ku… roba?" Shinichi blinked. Okay, weird. He'd never seen Kaito without his customary smile and rose. Something was definitely wrong.

And then Kaito turned those broken eyes on Shinichi, and the feeling of wrongness was intensified by approximately five thousand percent. Shinichi almost took a step back – what the hell could have made Kaito this shattered?

"I guess you didn't hear about it, then. Hakuba didn't tell you?" Kaito sighed.

"Uh, no?"

"Figures." Kaito smiled wryly. "Aoko found out about Kid."

Shinichi's heart made a sudden disappearance. "Oh," he breathed, not daring to move as Kaito turned his gaze back to the wall.

"I know," the magician muttered, scooping his legs up to his chest and dropping his chin onto his knees. "You – you should've seen the way she looked at me. It was… she was so hurt."

Shinichi hesitated in the doorway, feeling incredibly awkward. What was he supposed to do? How could he comfort Kaito? There was no way he could go through with his plans for tonight now of all times, that would be worse than insensitive.

As if reading his thoughts, Kaito stirred. "Hey, why are you here anyway? Was there something you needed to tell me?"

Jerking in surprise, Shinichi yanked on a normal expression. "Oh, it was nothing. I was just… going to ask you if you wanted to go out for dinner. Seriously, though, it's fine – you're not in any shape to be going out," he quickly added when Kaito moved as if to stand up. "You don't – really, it's fine. I can get someone else."

"Someone else?" Kaito sounded tired, all of a sudden. He set his chin on his knees once again, leaning his face away from Shinichi. "I get it. Go on, then. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Um… right." Shinichi loitered there for a second, not sure what to do – leaving would just be wrong, wouldn't it? – when he caught sight of the coffee mug sitting on the table in front of the couch. His eyes skittered to the book bag abandoned by the couch, then the door he knew led to the kitchen – which led to Kaito's room, and then the bathroom – and –

Oh.

Shinichi was smiling before he knew it.

"Okay. I'll go now," he said hurriedly before he nearly ran for the door. There was the sound of the door slamming shut a second later.

Kaito looked at the spot the detective had just vacated and heaved a sigh. So he'd already lost Aoko, and now he was losing Kudou, the guy he'd (sortofkindofmaybe) fallen for as well?

Today couldn't get any worse.

He buried his face in his knees and exhaled hard.

His eyes were closed and he was in the middle of a dream filled with Aoko's haunted eyes when a crash and the sound of stifled swearing forced him awake.

Jolting upright, Kaito looked around the room, nerves singing. (Being a phantom thief did that to you.) Was there someone in the house?

He fought the urge to face palm. Just the thing he needed, a burglar. After a day this hellish.

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Kaito tilted his head, listening for any more sounds. None came – it was eerily still and silent, as if the person was holding his breath.

…Okay. Well, whatever, then.

Kaito lay back down. If the intruder didn't want a confrontation, neither did Kaito. There wasn't anything of particular value out there anyway, other than the TV, maybe – his computer was here in his room, as was his phone and ID and the entrance to the Kid room. As long as the person didn't come into his room, he honestly didn't care anyway. Things could be replaced, after all. Not like priceless fifteen-year friendships.

A little voice at the back of his head told him he would probably regret this, but Kaito just curled up in the blankets and shut his eyes.

Regret could wait till tomorrow.

The overly chipper sound of music flooded Kaito's eyes, and he frowned. What was that?

Rubbing his eyes, Kaito struggled into a sitting position to see his cell phone lying on his nightstand, blaring loud, peppy saxophone music. So did that mean the ringtone had been the music that had woken him up? But when had he changed his ringtone to that? And last time he'd checked, it had been on vibrate. It had also been on his desk, not his nightstand.

He picked it up cautiously, momentarily concerned that it was going to blow up in the face, and flipped it open to find there was a text that had been sent to the phone. He didn't recognize the sender's number.

"What the hell is going on?" Kaito muttered, opening the text irritably –

– to find a picture mail of him sleeping?!

"What is this?!" squawked Kaito, scrolling down frantically to find a message underneath it: I've stolen your sleeping face.

Kaito stared blankly at the screen before going slightly pink.

Wait a second, didn't "x" mean a kiss? Wasn't that – did that imply –

What was going on?

His mind snapped back to the sounds he'd heard last night – someone had been in his house, right? And that person must've moved the phone to his nightstand and sent the photo. But for what purpose?

Mind racing, Kaito staggered out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Whatever. This was just plain weird. He was about to reach for his toothbrush when he caught sight of something red in his peripheral vision.

Slowly, Kaito looked up to find a red heart taped to the mirror. On it, in neat, unidentifiably familiar handwriting, was Did I mention how beautiful you look today? Well, you do. Look beautiful, that is. And before you say that you're not a girl, I know. You're still beautiful.

Oh. Okay then.

Kaito grabbed his toothbrush and brushed his teeth, never taking his eyes off of the heart. There was something seriously familiar about the handwriting. Was the person who broke in someone who knew Kaito?

Was that more or less disturbing?

Wondering what standard procedure was when you found yourself plagued by borderline creepy notes, Kaito replaced his toothbrush and headed for the kitchen. Opening a cabinet, he pulled out his favorite mug and made himself a cup of tea. "Who would send me notes everywhere and do this kind of stuff?" he muttered, almost scalding his tongue as he took a sip and sat down at the kitchen table.

It took him half the cup of tea to glance down into the cup and see the laminated red heart taped to the bottom.

Nearly dropping the cup in surprise, Kaito peered down through the murky depths. He was just barely able to make out the words, I would have left you coffee, but it would've gotten cold anyway. Hope you're feeling better.

Kaito blinked.

This was officially extremely, extremely weird.

There were five minutes to spare when Kaito hurried into the lecture hall. He'd gotten so wrapped up in the little hearts that he'd almost missed his bus.

But who could blame him, really? It wasn't every day that you woke up with notes with some secret admirer of sorts plastered all over. And while Kaito did have his fair share of fangirls, he doubted any of them would have been able to break into his house that easily.

Hakuba was standing at his, Kaito's, and Aoko's normal spot, wearing a strained expression. When he saw Kaito, he jumped to his feet, almost knocking over his chair. "Kuroba –"

"Hey, Hakuba." Kaito slid into the spot beside him, peering curiously over at Aoko's empty seat. "Where's…"

He cut himself off as realization struck, dropping his bag onto the ground beside him with a solid thunk.

How had he forgotten about what happened yesterday? With Aoko? He'd been so depressed, and Aoko had… how had he forgotten about it?

Oh right. The notes. They'd distracted him.

"Um, Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba was regarding him with an agonized set to his face. "I just wanted to apologize again, for –"

"It's fine," Kaito interjected, staring down at his hands. He suddenly felt guilty – no, worse than guilty. More like utterly mortified. He really was a bastard, to have forgotten Aoko so quickly –

"Okay, class, good morning and all that. We'll be finishing the lecture that we started yesterday," called the professor as he walked in, and Kaito's head snapped up. Oh, great. He'd missed the lecture yesterday, so he didn't have any notes. Perfect.

Well, there was nothing he could do now. Kaito dug through his book bag and pulled out his binder, flipping to a new page –

He froze when he turned to a sheet of handwriting that most certainly did not belong to him.

Frowning as the lecturer began to speak, Kaito examined the piece of paper. The handwriting was the same as the one on the two hearts from before, and it appeared to be notes from this class, calculus. There were helpful annotations scribbled in the margins, and it was marked with yesterday's date…?

And, placed innocently at the center of the paper, was a red paper heart.

I know you didn't go to class yesterday, so I copied these over for you. I don't know if they'll be helpful, but maybe you can use them? Good luck.

An elbow nudged Kaito, bringing him out of his stupor. Hakuba was staring at him in confusion.

"Do you need the notes from yesterday? You can copy them later if you want," the blond offered.

"N… No, I don't need them. I've got the notes right here," Kaito replied faintly.

"What?" Hakuba peered down at the paper in Kaito's binder, his eyebrows lifting. "How did you get that? Whose handwriting is that?"

Kaito shook his head tentatively. He tucked the heart into his pocket before numbly turning the page to start taking notes. "The thing is, I actually… don't know."

"It's been paid for."

Blinking, Kaito stared at the girl standing behind the register. "Excuse me?"

She popped her gum, gesturing to the chicken katsu on Kaito's tray and then at his ID, which he was holding out to her. "You're Kuroba Kaito-san, right? Well, this morning Ku – I mean, someone stopped by and paid in advance for whatever you ordered." A blinding smile found its way onto her face. "It's been paid for. So has this." She plunked a takeout cup of tea onto his tray before casting a pointed look at the next person in line. "Next!"

By now, he probably should've been expecting this, Kaito decided as he maneuvered away from the register, but somehow, he hadn't. This was just… it was ridiculous.

And it was beginning to be more cute than creepy, scarily enough.

Glancing throughout the seating area, Kaito debated where to sit. Aoko was still missing, and Hakuba had a lecture right now, so Kaito was alone.

He elected to sit at a window seat by the entrance, and, navigating through the sea of chattering students, managed to reach his chosen spot in seconds. "Now to find the heart," Kaito muttered to himself, examining his tray suspiciously.

It didn't take long before he found the red heart taped to his cup, reading You never eat anything more than two thousand yen, so this wasn't too difficult. I really should treat you to something special one of these days. But anyway, enjoy.

Kaito was suddenly aware of the fact that he was smiling. He desperately wanted to stop – who smiled the day after a gigantic fight with your best friend? – but it was getting rather difficult, to say the least.

He popped the lid on the cup and inhaled the scent of chocolate and coffee – mocha.

Somehow it smelled like someone really, truly cared about him.

The sun was just starting to sink below the horizon, and Kaito was about to head for the train station, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Kaito?"

Kaito froze. That voice – it was –

Whipping around, he was startled to find that Aoko was standing there, looking uncomfortable. Her makeup was slapdash and her eyes were suspiciously puffy as well, as if she'd been crying. Kaito felt a pang of self-loathing somewhere near where he imagined his heart was.

"Oh," he breathed. "Um, Aoko. I didn't think you'd… that you'd want to talk to me."

Aoko bit her lip and flipped a bit of her hair over her shoulder, pulling her jacket tightly around herself. "I didn't. Someone convinced me to."

"What? Who?"

Raising her swollen eyes to meet his, Aoko said softly, "I don't think I can forgive you just yet, Kaito."

Oh.

"I… understand." Kaito's heart plummeted. So this was what it was? Aoko wanted to formally tell him that she hated him –

"But I still love you to death and back."

"I – what?"

The ghost of a smile flickered over Aoko's lips. "You're my best friend, Kaito. I love you so, so much. That's why it was so painful to find that you hid all of this from me for so long. It felt like you didn't trust me. But I can understand why, and I can accept that." The smile solidified. "I don't think I can forgive you just yet, but I… I'll get there. I know I will."

Kaito was running towards her, clasping her tightly to his chest before he knew what he was doing. "Thank you," he whispered into her hair, and he felt her laugh, the sound breathless and a little tearstained underneath his jaw. "I was wrong – really, I'm so sorry – I would've told you, but…"

"I know," Aoko told him gently, pushing him back. "I know you were wrong. But I understand why you did what you did, and it's okay, Kaito. We'll be okay." Her smile was the slightest bit forced around the edges, but overwhelmingly normal.

As he took in her smile, Kaito was horrified to find that he was on the verge of tears. In a last-ditch attempt to regain his masculinity, he plastered on a smirk and took a step back, swiping a hand over his eyes. "Hakuba's going to flip, huh?"

"Hakuba-kun? Why?"

"After all, you said you love me."

Aoko scowled at him, though it was good-natured. "I didn't mean it like that, and you know it."

"Yes, I do, but does Hakuba?" Kaito waggled his eyebrows, and she gave a choked laugh.

He slung an arm around her shoulders as they started for the train station together. The two of them walked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before a thought occurred to Kaito.

"Hey, who was it?"

"Hm?" Aoko blinked at him, startled. "Who was what?"

"The person who convinced you to talk to me. Before, you said you hadn't wanted to talk to me, but someone convinced you to. Who was it?"

"Oh, that." Aoko smirked. "I almost forgot. Here." She rummaged through her pocket, coming back up with a folded heart. "This is for you."

"This is –" Kaito ground to a stop and stared at the paper, eyes widening. "So… this was that person's…?" He snatched the paper away from a now amused Aoko and unfolded it, scanning the lines of careful writing carefully.

I'm glad you two have made up, at least a little. It was killing me to see you that way. I hope today has been marginally better than yesterday.

Well, this was really – wait a second.

"It was killing me to see you that way"?

Didn't that mean that whoever had sent the notes had seen him yesterday, when he'd been in the depths of depression? Who had he seen that day? Some of his classmates – he doubted they knew where he lived. A couple strangers – again, same. Aoko – she wouldn't have set this up for him. Hakuba – while he probably felt extremely bad about this whole thing, he wouldn't have gone this far. Who else had he seen? Kudou had dropped by, sure, but –

Oh.

Oh.

Kaito whirled on Aoko, who was full-on grinning now. "Figured it out, have you?"

"Aoko, you – this was – all of this was Kudou?"

"I don't know about 'all of this,' but yes, Kudou-kun approached me this morning, begging for me to come talk to you and get everything straightened out. You should've seen him – he was frantic. It's really kind of interesting," she added, smile quieting. "He really seems to care about you, Kaito."

"I… He…" Kaito looked at the heart in his hand for a few seconds longer – Kudou had gone through all of this trouble, leaving notes everywhere and buying him lunch and copying his notes and everything, just because he'd seen Kaito being sad – before stuffing it into his pocket. He cast a quick glance at Aoko. "I'm really sorry, Aoko, I have to go –"

"To Kudou-kun, right?" Aoko beamed. "Don't worry about me, Kaito. After all, he's been worrying this much over you."

Shinichi wasn't expecting to open his front door to see Kaito standing on his doorstep, panting and red-cheeked as if he'd run the whole way there.

He blinked. "Kuroba, what a surprise. Is there any reason you came…?"

Wordlessly, Kuroba pulled a red piece of paper from his pocket and held it up for inspection.

"…Oh." Dammit. Shinichi knew Kaito was smart, but he'd been hoping Kaito would somehow not pick up on any of the little hints he'd left. Now Kaito was probably going to sue him for trespassing and stalking and, you know, being generally creepy, and there went his chances with the love of his life –

Shinichi was also not expecting Kaito to step forward, grab Shinichi by the front of his shirt, and kiss him hard.

Well.

Something about Kaito was sweet and almost spicy. It was definitely unique, Shinichi thought as Kaito's tongue slipped into his mouth and oh never mind comprehensible thought was no longer possible.

They broke apart minutes later, when they realized that neither of them were getting oxygen to their brains.

"Why," panted Kaito, cheeks deliciously flushed, "didn't you say anything?"

"Huh?" Words. How did they work again?

"Why didn't you tell me it was you instead of leaving it anonymous?"

"Oh." Shinichi coughed. "I thought it might freak you out to know that it was me. I – I thought you'd prefer it if you thought it was some random girl…?"

"Idiot," Kaito whispered, and he stepped forward, forcing Shinichi to step back. Shinichi was faintly aware of the door slamming shut, but he honestly couldn't care less with Kaito centimeters away from him. "There's no one better than you." He pressed a red paper heart into Shinichi's hand, and the detective barely managed to read the words scrawled on it before he was kissing Kaito yet again.

I love you.

Forgot to mention it in the story, but the reason Shinichi went to Kaito's house the first day was because he was planning on taking Kaito out to dinner and then confessing to him. Hope that clears any confusion.

Anyway, um, yeah. That was... probably riddled with mistakes. But I can't be bothered to go read it through again.

If you enjoyed this fic to any extent, please drop me a review~! Until next time, my darlings~! - Luna