Dinner had not gone the way he had expected. When Aoko brought his house guest into the front room he couldn't help his initial sneer. Aoko immediately noticed of course had snapped at him before Conan tugged on her shirt and disarmed her by saying, 'It was fine.'

She wouldn't have it, but finally Nakamori butted in with the reminder of their possibly burning dinner.

After that things were both stifling as well as comfortable, not that he knew how that'd happened. He stretched in his computer desk chair, taking a break from what was his excuse and escape from the chibi-tantei in his front room- homework.

"What subject are you working on?"

He jolted, standing straight up from his chair to look at Conan who had popped up on his right without his notice, "How?!"

Conan smirked wrily, "Normally adults don't just leave houseguests alone, let alone a child. Yet, you seemed pretty quick to give me space for some reason."

Kaito did not like that grin on his face. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and smirked back, "Aah.. well, that was pretty rude of me-"

Conan waved a hand and looked back at Kaito's homework, "English?"

The magician looked at his paper and rubbed his head, "-Aah, yeah. I was having a hard time with it though, which is pretty unusual for me…" It was true, he'd been working on his writing assignment for the class since before dinner and after two hours he still wasn't finished. He was stumped.

Conan jumped onto his chair and glanced at him, "Maybe I could help you? Honestly I finished my homework a long time ago and I'm bored. Besides, I've been to America and might be able to figure out where you're stuck?"

At that point the 'kid' was giving him the puppy eyed look, begging for an intellectual pastime. He sighed and nodded, "Sure, why not?"

He shouldn't have, really. Despite himself though, he explained the purpose of his paper and the subject matter. The boy nodded and after a moment looked up to him, "I didn't get the chance to bathe yet today, so why don't you take one first? It might help clear your head and it would give me time to read this over."

Kaito raised an eyebrow feeling even more suspicious than ever, yet, he couldn't refute his idea and doing so would only further his terrible hosting. His mother would have his hide if she knew, and he didn't need his guest to think there might be anything worth hiding. So, despite his better judgement, he nodded and went to start the bath.

Half an hour later and he felt like new. He hadn't even noticed his tension headache until he was neck deep in the tub. He knew of many females who used baths as their ultimate relaxation haven, and he couldn't help but agree with them. A good soak did the body and mind good. When he was finished and ready for bed he entered his room finding the little detective at his computer with his assignment open, typing. He blinked not at all sure of what to do. "Uuh…"

Conan paused in his typing before turning to look back at him blinking, "Kuroba."

Oh god, why did he feel like he was in the principal's office? "Y-yeah?"

"Your conjugation sucks."

He blinked as he balked, "What?!"

At that Conan turned around and went full throttle into explaining what his mistakes had been so far, and why he'd decided to continue writing the high school magician's paper. By the end of it all he felt both violated that his paper had been so thoroughly rewritten, while simultaneously feeling saved that he now fully understood where he'd gone wrong and that all he had to do was adjust the paper to sound more natural for his style.

He smiled, "It's a lot to take in, but thanks lot."

Conan smiled in return nodding, "Sure, I'm going to take my bath now so hopefully when I'm done maybe we could go to the convenience store?"

Kaito blinked, "But we had dinner not that long ago." Admittedly, now that it'd been said he could really go for a snack.

The detective smiled sheepishly, "Aah… no offense to Nakamori-oneesan, but Ran's better."

He snorted with an eyeroll, "I bet."

He shouldn't have allowed his guard to go down, but it was late, he was tired, and he was a little too grateful for the help for his homework that he didn't even think to stop himself. Or think, really, if he were more honest with himself in retrospect. Groceries in hand, they were making small talk on the way back home that it took him about five minutes to realize he'd just let something slip.

"Wait..what?"

Conan looked up at him as he stopped to look down at him, "Wait what?"

Kaito furrowed his brow, "What were we talking about a couple minutes ago?"

The mini-detective put his arms behind his head with a sly look, "You mean about yakiniku?"

He frowned deeper, "No between that and-" he stopped. No. Oooh nonono nono. He had not just agreed with the tantei's assessment of his being KID… right?

"It's not how I'd like to know about it, but knowing who you are will help make my weekend stay easier for the both of us."

Kaito just stared at him incredulously, "You can't be serious."

Conan sighed heavily and with a shift rolled and cracked his shoulders. "For a complete stranger you're way too familiar with me. The second I walked into Nakamori's house I felt it. Your voice and appearance also being so similar to mine also doesn't help. My mom honestly took me way too literally when I called her."

His mom...Yukiko? "And how does this help anything?" Kaito felt his cool and collected KID personality slip over, "This makes no sense whatsoever."

"Knowing your other and more familiar identity actually allows me to relax. You've been freaking me out all night without even trying."

Kaito blinked and felt the fight flow straight out of him, "Excuse me?"

Conan shrugged, "I've been on the edge of a complete breakdown, and in a fit called my mom and accidentally let slip that I'd thought about being kidnapped by KID to get a new perspective and advice."

The magician dropped his bag of snacks, "Meitantei, what sort of shit have you fallen into that you'd come looking for me of all people? What is wrong with you?!" He didn't want to blatantly say the guy had lost his marbles, but he'd lost them in spades.

Conan snickered with a grin, moving to Kaito's other side to pick up his bag and continued walking, "I thought about everyone who knows and for some reason, I always found an excuse as to why they weren't an option. Call me stupid, but I didn't get like this due to being sharp. Conan is definitely a result of my complete idiocy… but you, someone who didn't know me in the slightest figured me out in just a few meetings. I'd like to think we could be friends."

Kaito reached down and took his bag back sighing, this was uncomfortable, "So? What did you want my opinion on?"

He waited for a response but after reaching his front door, he turned to his guest to find the shrunken teen pale with sweat. He jolted, startled, "What-"

"I'm an idiot. I'm going to have to tell you everything, because even though I don't want you to be involved, you already were long ago."

This was almost two chapters, but they were able to flow into one another well enough.

Please let me know how you enjoyed it!