A/N: When the idea for this whacked me over the head I thought it would be a smut fic. Then I started writing and Shinichi almost immediately dumped in a boatload of angst. Kid decided his detective needed cuddles, and Shinichi then decided it would be great to tell Kid about all his problems. In summary, there will be no smut, even though this is A/B/O.

On naming the Phantom Thief: In this fic I've used both 'KID' and 'Kid' to refer to our favorite magician. Kid presents a more relaxed and friendly persona in contrast to KID who only lets you see what emotions and thoughts he chooses to display. 'Kaito' is for when he is being completely open with his reactions to things.

WARNINGS: for emotional instability, implied self-hate, and expressed dysphoria

KID slammed open the window; frowning in a mix of annoyance and worry when the only response was a slight twitch from the mound of blankets on the bed. He'd intended to give his detective a piece of his mind for missing his heist when he'd gone to the trouble of holding one in Beika, but the lack of reaction from the usually alert detective was worrying. Was Meitantei sick?

"Meitantei?" he questioned quietly.

The pile of blankets flailed, and his detective emerged abruptly, flinging three different blankets away at once. It was difficult to tell in the flickering light of numerous candles scattered around the room, and their conflicting scents made it impossible to discern any scent of illness possibly coming from the sleuth, but KID thought Meitantei looked feverish, and his momentary grimace of pain only added to KID's concern. It took several seconds of blinking at the thief before his detective spoke, "KID?"

"Are you unwell, Meitantei?"

"I'm fine, KID," was the immediate response. KID watched skeptically as the sleuth drew his knees up to his chest and proceeded to bury himself in blankets again, until the only part of him left uncovered was his face.

He might not be seriously ill, KID thought, but it's obvious something is bothering him. Stepping farther into the room, KID halted abruptly as the sleuth hunched into himself. He'd seen Meitantei react serenely while being threatened by serial killers. Whatever was wrong, it was making his detective defensive and wary, and KID was only growing more worried.

"Meitantei?" Kid let his worry and concern seep into his tone as the question trailed off, hoping that the less specific query might prompt his detective into giving him at least a hint of what was wrong.

A sardonic smile appeared on the sleuth's face. "I suppose I should have expected you'd figure it out eventually," he murmured, continuing disgustedly, "I hate heats."

"I thought you were Beta," The thief stated bluntly as his mind scrambled to reassess the situation, frowning as he recalled Aoko's complaints about having stronger senses during her heats, and adding, "Wouldn't the candle scents make it worse for you Meitantei?"

Revulsion twisted the sleuth's face as he answered fiercely, "I would use more if it wouldn't cause a fire hazard."

Kid, startled by the vehement response, wondered for a moment what could possibly make Meitantei want to add more conflicting scents to the almost overpowering discord, and asked cautiously, "Do your heats cause you to have muted senses?"

His detective laughed hollowly, "I wish."

"Meitantei…" Kid hesitated to ask, "Are you willing to tell me what smell you're trying to drown in scented candles?"

"This," hissed the sleuth as he thrust his arm out of the cocoon of blankets.

It took a moment for Kid to realize his detective was showing him the scent gland on his wrist. He didn't think he'd ever heard of a person disliking their own scent, even though several of his classmates regularly complained about others. Wanting to be sure he understood the sleuth, he asked for confirmation, "You don't like your heat scent?"

He flinched at the snarled response, "Not. MY. Scent."

Baring his throat and raising his hands in surrender, Kid replied, "Right, okay, I was wrong, it's not your scent," careful to keep his tone soothing as Meitantei's glare slowly lessened.

Exhaling sharply through his nose, the sleuth's posture abruptly lost all its aggression, "Not your fault, Kid." He moved to run a hand over his eyes, before halting and grimacing at his wrist as it neared him.

Kid frowned slightly at the reaction. Didn't Meitantei just say it wasn't his scent that was bothering him? Why would he react like that if he wasn't bothered by the scent? And he even held his wrist out when I asked what scent he was trying to cover. "Meitantei," he paused, trying to work out the right wording to prevent offending his detective again before deciding to keep it simple, "I don't understand, Meitantei."

Humming in thought, the sleuth stared at Kid in consideration for a minute before nodding, unfurling one of the blankets from his cocoon and flapping it in the thief's direction. Kid mentally reeled as the wave of scent hit him, overwhelmingly sweet. By the time he refocused, his detective had already recovered himself with the blanket.

"That," Meitantei stated, seeing he had Kid's attention, "What did you smell?"

Kid grimaced, "Sweet," he opened his mouth to continue and paused in confusion, "That…it was…I couldn't smell anything else, just that it was sweet."

"Yes!" the sleuth exclaimed, "That smell. It's wrong. It's not mine."

Kid blinked, "Not your…Meitantei are you saying you don't smell like you?" His detective nodded emphatically. "How," Kid swiftly cut himself off; asking how something like that could be possible would likely convince the sleuth he didn't believe him. Changing his question he asked, "How long has it been…like that?"

"Too long," came the muttered response.

He thought for a moment before trying another question, "Does it change during your heats, or…"

Meitantei shook his head, "Heats make it too strong for the scent blocker to work."

"Scent blocker?" The surprised question slipped out before Kid could stop himself.

His detective nodded. "Agasa-hakase made it. The dampeners most people wear don't last long, and they weren't strong enough. Hakase came up with one that completely blocked the scent, and modified it to last through my soccer training, but it still wore off too quickly during heats."

"I think…" Kid said slowly, "I have an idea."

"Should I start running?" was the dry response.

Kid didn't bother to stop the grin spreading across his face, heartened by the return of his detective's usual snarky self. "Don't you trust me, Meitantei?" he teased.

"I think you know exactly how much I trust you," while his tone implied 'not at all', the sleuth's eyes were glittering with mirth.

"Wonderful!" Kid clapped his hands, ignoring his detective's amused snort. "If you'd give me a space to sit, we can test my idea."

Giving him a curious look, Meitantei shuffled towards the foot of the bed, dragging his collection of blankets closer to himself to give the thief room. Kid waited for the sleuth to finish rearranging things before bouncing over to the bed. Sitting down facing his detective, Kid produced a small package in a puff of smoke. Meitantei rolled his eyes but refrained from commenting on the trick. Kid grinned, pulled a cleaning wipe from the package, and swiftly removed the false scent he wore during heists to cover his own. Seeing his detective's stunned, disbelieving expression, Kid held out his wrist for the sleuth to smell.

Eyes widening comically, Meitantei jerked backwards, flailing and stuttering for a few moments, "Wha—y-you—Kid, I—"

Holding his detective's gaze, Kid replied calmly, "I trust you, Meitantei."

Seeing the sleuth hesitate, Kid tugged his detective out of the scattered blankets to sit at his side and explained, "It should be easier for you to focus on my scent than on the candles." He waited patiently as his detective visibly considered the idea, eyes flicking between the thief and the abandoned swathe of blankets.

"It's worth a try," Meitantei conceded, relaxing slightly in the thief's hold.

Kid lifted his free arm into his detective's line of sight, waiting for the sleuth to nod in agreement before moving it slowly closer until his wrist was positioned a few inches from his detective's nose. Feeling the sleuth relaxing minutely as he cautiously scented the thief, Kid cheered internally, pleased that his plan appeared to be working. Closing his eyes, Kid deliberately dropped his poker face and let himself express his emotions, first through his face, then body language, and finally his scent.

Opening his eyes as he heard his detective's wordless hum of curiosity, Kaito smiled as he saw the sleuth was observing the changes in his expression and body language. Closing his eyes again, Kaito focused on how delighted he was to be able to sit like this with his detective, how pleased he felt that Meitantei had willingly explained his plight, and was even letting him help. He could detect his scent slowly spreading through the room, and grinned with exhilaration; he was essentially giving the sleuth his identity and trusting his detective not to use it against him. Kaito let himself continue to bask in his happiness, knowing his detective would be able to smell it and hoping it would comfort and reassure the sleuth.

Sometime later, his focus was broken by the sound of Meitantei's delighted laughter as he exclaimed, "It's working!" while beaming brightly at Kaito.

Seeing his detective's emotions so transparent, Kaito couldn't resist teasing him, "So you like my scent, Meitantei?"

The sleuth looked flustered for a moment before a smirk spread across his face. Kaito flailed as he was abruptly shoved flat, yelping as his detective flopped ungracefully on top of him. Leaning his weight on the thief's shoulders, the sleuth pushed himself up just enough to smirk at Kaito again, "Actually, I do," his smirk widened as Kaito spluttered, not having expected retaliation, and continued, "so shut up and let me smell you," before pressing his nose lightly against the side of Kaito's neck.

"Yes, Meitantei," Kaito responded teasingly, answering the silent question by tilting his neck to give the sleuth better access and closing his arms around his detective in a gentle embrace. As Meitantei relaxed into his embrace it occurred to Kaito that the sleuth was unlikely to let him go anytime soon, and if he was honest with himself, Kaito was equally unwilling to abandon his detective to his former distress. Therefore he would need to contact Jii-chan and come up with a cover for his disappearance.

The ensuing flood of texts (which mostly consisted of his assistant scolding him for missing their post-heist check-in and Kaito trying to convince the man nothing dangerous had happened) was interrupted by his detective's confused sounding, "Kid?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you…texting?"

"I need my assistant to help cover my absence for the next…how long is your heat?"

"Three days after tonight."

"Four days then."

"You…you're staying?" The question was so disbelievingly hopeful that Kaito halted mid-text to wrap his arms firmly around his detective.

"Meitantei, unless you throw me out yourself, I'm not going anywhere." As his detective relaxed in his arms, Kaito continued silently, If I get my way, you'll never feel abandoned again.

A/N: Look, a post! No, it's not complete. Shouldn't I be writing other things instead of an entirely new story? Yes, yes I should. On a related note, my muses are cats. I was trying to lure them into giving me update ideas and the muse for this sat on my keyboard and refused to move until it received attention. When I gave in and started typing I thought this would be a one-shot. Nearly 2k words later and y'all can see how that turned out. I have spent the last three days typing this, I think this is the single longest chapter I have ever written, and there are at least two more.

Plans for next chapter include exploring Shinichi's issues and what caused them (he has an epic-length backstory, y'all, I think my fingers might fall off typing it) plus more cuddle-therapy from Kid.