Kaito crept through the shadows of the Kudou manner, card gun drawn and ready at his waist. He'd slipped in just as the storm was starting, too far away from any of his usual haunts to take shelter and unwilling to expose himself.

There were a pair of snipers earlier. Not just Snake taking potshots at KID. They were well away from the actual heist, positioned along his escape route. The first shot only missed because he'd turned his head to track the storm clouds rolling in.

If not for that, he'd likely be bleeding to death and plummeting to the ground.

He'd lost them in Beika, but wasn't willing to track them to their hideout or accidentally lead them to Ekoda. He knew the Kudou manor would be empty, seeing as its one usual occupant was spending his nights at the Mouri home.

But someone was in the kitchen.

The quiet and familiar sounds of the cabinets being opened and water set out to boil drew some of the tension out of his shoulders, but he peered around the corner of the door cautiously.

Shinichi was huddled up in blankets, shivering and holding a steamy mug of coffee.

"Oh. It's just you," Kaito said, flipping the safety on his gun and tucking it away. He stepped into the kitchen and blinked at the second mug that Shinichi thrust out to him. "What's this?"

"Hot chocolate. You don't drink coffee." Shinichi let it drop into Kaito's hands, only the thief's quick reflexes saving the hot chocolate from an untimely fate. It warmed his hands, and he brought it to his lips with a happy noise. "What are you doing here?"

"Storm rolled in. Flushed some crows out with it," Kaito said, settling on the stool next to Shinichi and finally letting himself relax.

"Did anything happen?" Shinichi asked, mug hitting the table with a clatter. Kaito ignored the sharp eyes boring into the side of his face, pointedly taking another drink. Shinichi's shoulders tensed.

"Nothing happened," Kaito admitted, reaching over and ruffling his hair into a mess. Shinichi batted his hand away. "Just the usual encounter. Your place was closer than mine."

Shinichi didn't say anything.

"Why are you here? And adult-sized?" Kaito asked.

"Ran's staying with Sonoko for a few days, something about womanly bonding that Sonoko made up so they could spend her birthday money," Shinichi said. "Haibara had a new antidote to try. I won't be myself much longer."

"You're still yourself," Kaito scoffed, but it was an old argument at this point. He could have it with himself if he really felt like rehashing it. But it still needed to be said.

"Then I won't be taller than you much longer." Shinichi kicked Kaito's stool, upsetting his balance but he recovered before he could spill hot chocolate all over himself.

"Hey!"

"Shut up." Shinichi grabbed his shoulder and Kaito bit back his groan. "I thought you said nothing happened."

"I was wearing my vest. I'm fine, meitantei. Don't you go need to eat some of your mushroom, dear Alice?" Kaito pushed away from the counter and rinsed out his mug. His chest did hurt, bruised and possibly cracked ribs when he had the chance to check when changing out of uniform. He wasn't going to advertise that fact, however.

"Don't you have any sense of self-preservation?" Shinichi muttered, rolling his eyes as Kaito stuck out his tongue in retaliation. "How about you eat the mushroom and I'll play the mad hatter?"

"If I'm going to be anyone, I'd be the Cheshire cat." Kaito made sure to keep out of Shinichi's reach as the detective rinsed out his own mug and placed it in the sink. "Nine lives, after all."

"You're going to have one less if you don't leave soon." Shinichi pulled the blankets higher on his shoulders and left the kitchen without another glance back. Kaito listened to him leave, traveling up the stairs and into the one room of the house Kaito felt too uncomfortable to enter.

Kudou manor might as well have been a mausoleum for all the living that people did inside it. But the one slightly used room, kept free of dust and neatly organized, that unnerved him more than all the dust covers and sheets in the rest of the house.

The storm wasn't actually dying out, so he wouldn't be leaving. But he could keep out of Shinichi's way as he changed back, shrinking down into his pint-sized rival and sometimes ally.

He knew where he stood with Conan.

Shinichi was something else.

Instead, he made himself at home in the guest room he'd claimed. Well, no one objected, but that was because no one knew he'd laid claim to it. He had a bedroom, either way, which was all that mattered. He kept some clothes here, a spare deck of razor cards, a handful of sleeping gas/smoke pellets, and a cache of thumb drives containing all of the information he had on the crows just in case his primary system and first set of back-ups were inaccessible.

One couldn't be too careful, even master thieves, and he wanted to leave them with someone who could use them, if there was ever an instance where he no longer could.

The thunder drowned out the noises in the house, but not enough to cover Shinichi's transformation back into Conan. Kaito rolled over to his side on the bed, dragging a pillow over head and clenching his eyes shut. The last time he'd interfered with the transformation, Conan had darted him and left him unconscious in the hallway for eight hours.

Kaito could understand not letting someone see you at your weakest, but he'd thought they were friendly enough that Conan knew he'd meant no harm.

If he never heard those screams again, he'd be happy.

He nearly fell asleep like that, the pillow muffling the thunder and rain spattering against the windows. But no one could sneak up on him, not any more. He peeked out under the pillow, a smile tugging at his lips at the small child opening the door and stepping inside.

"Don't say anything or I'll knock you out for the night," Conan said, holding his watch aloft threateningly. Kaito pushed the pillow aside and mimed zipping his lips together, clasping his hands over his heart in promise. "I wasn't going to let you skulk around my house while I was sleeping. This way, I'll know if you try anything stupid."

Kaito's eye twitched and he nearly broke his promised silence, but Conan was climbing up on the bed and building a barrier with one of the blankets he dragged in with him.

"Not a word, KID." Conan deliberately placed the watch between them, fingers covering the trigger. Kaito pouted, widening his eyes and pushing out his lower lip as much as possible. It earned him a tired snicker, but no lowered guard.

Kaito turned on his side, exposing his back to Conan, which he knew would only aggravate the detective. The bed moved as Conan got settled, and Kaito drifted to sleep once Conan's breathing went soft and steady. He woke up fuzzily sometime later, but the sky was still dark and the thunder rolling, so what woke him wasn't immediately obvious.

Then he registered the warmth at his back, soft puffs of air hitting his neck and small arms and knees pressed against his back. The sharp thing digging into his side must have been the dart watch, and the little wall Conan had built between them was obviously wrecked.

He rolled back over, drawing an arm up to smooth Conan's hair down and watch him sleep for a few minutes. His face was strained, evidence of the painful transformation in the lines around his eyes and tension to his body despite his peaceful sleep. Kaito let his arm fall over Conan's stomach, fingers resting on the detective's back.

He drifted back to sleep.