Shinichi hung back as Kaito was rushed by adoring fans, children swamping him and pulling at his pant legs insistently. The magician took it all in stride, kneeling down and fanning open a deck of cards. He flashed both sides, the printed backs with miniature KID doodles in place of traditionally decorative backs and the numbered side. He closed the deck in one hand, covered it with his other, and with a plume of smoke fanned the deck open to reveal grinning pictures of KID, all signed in Kaito's messy scrawl.
The children took their prizes with a cheer, running back to their parents with their treasures. Kaito watched them run off with a smile before he caught sight of Shinichi and flushed bright red.
"Hey. I didn't know you made it," Kaito said, rising to his feet and fidgeting nervously.
"I wasn't going to," Shinichi admitted as he walked over to stand in front of Kaito. "But the kids I'm mentoring couldn't stop raving about KID the Magnificent, so I thought I'd stop by."
"I'm performing at an actual hall next week. Why couldn't you have made that one?" Kaito murmured, wringing his hands together.
Shinichi smothered a grin. In all the time he'd known Kuroba Kaito, he'd never once seen him this bashful or out of sorts. Normally, Kaito was the first one to make a scene.
"But I would have missed seeing you child-friendly," Shinichi said, raking his eyes over Kaito's immaculate dress.
KID the Phantom Magician was a showy peacock, draped in cape, monocle, and top hat, performing death-defying deeds and impossible illusions. Shinichi caught enough of that attitude and behavior just dorming with Kaito through Tokyo U.
KID the Magnificent was a more real version. Instead of cape, monocle, and hat, Kaito wore a simple tuxedo cut suit, a deep indigo purple that glittered black under the stage lights. He'd slicked back his hair, leaving only a few pieces to fall into his face. It made him look younger, more open.
"It's embarrassing," Kaito said, turning on his heel and walking back towards his makeshift stage. "Plenty of magicians don't have to perform children's shows."
"Lots of them don't because they think it's demeaning," Shinichi said, repeating verbatim what Kaito had told him the first time he'd seen him do tricks for the children involved in a hostage case, somewhere he never would have been if Shinichi hadn't been hellbent on saving them.
"Shut up. It's not fair when you use my arguments against me," Kaito said. He brought a hand up to his collar, but Shinichi caught his hand before he could start messing up his outfit.
"Leave it be." He glanced behind them, but the parents were already herding the children out, leaving them alone in the community room.
"Oh? You like the suit, Meitantei?" Kaito asked, lips curling into a smirk, but there was still a pink flush on his face.
"You actually look like a grown up," Shinichi shot back, lips twitching as Kaito grit his teeth against the familiar disparaging remark on his preferred title. Misreading his own student number as "KID" and then actually using it to perform continued to amuse him. And the true story of how KID came to be, not whatever tale of the week Kaito felt like spinning.
"And old enough for grown up things." Kaito grabbed Shinichi's collar and drew him forward into a kiss.
