Disclaimer: see previous.

Because the bloody plotbunnies insisted on providing the other end of the conversation.

As per usual, anonymous reviews get answered in my profile. (I find it curious that the only anonymous reviews I've gotten in months were from the one time I forgot to include that notice. Does it induce people to sign in or scare them off altogether?)

"He's staying with you as your what? No, nevermind, I got that. Geez, couldn't you have picked a better name? You'd think the Kaitou Kid would be more creative than a Sherlock Holmes nut."

"It wasn't exactly on purpose," the distinctly-stressed-sounding voice of Conan Edogawa crackled from the phone's handset. "And stop calling him that! I just told you, his name's..."

"Right, right, Arthur. Calm down, it's not like it's a big deal." Heiji promptly had to yank the phone away from his ear, wincing at his diminutive colleague's reaction to his casual tone.

"Yes, this is important! You slip up enough with me, if you start doing it with him too then the girls are going to figure it out in half a second!"

Heiji rolled his eyes, ignoring the fact that Kudo couldn't see it. "It's not like I know his real name anyway, and accidentally calling him Kid is hardly going to be suspicious right now. But if Ran didn't even know about him, how am I supposed to explain knowing his name is Arthur? Say I met him before and just forgot to tell everyone?"

"No you don't have to pretend you knew about him, just don't start insisting he can't possibly be genuine, that's all. And get his name right!"

"All right already! Geez, maybe I should go down there again, it sounds like you need some help dealing with him."

"No." There was no arguing with Kudo, shrunken or not, when he got that tone in his voice. "Do not come over here. If They know about us already we're screwed and you wouldn't be able to help. If They don't, then you'd only attract more attention, which none of us need."

Heiji frowned but could see his counterpart's point. If they were being watched, breaking his normal pattern by visiting them more often right after another "child" showed up would be like putting up a neon arrow pointing to their house. It might be a better idea to draw the Black Org's attention away a bit until Kudo got things settled. "Maybe if I look into whether they have any operations up here..." he mused, not realizing he'd said anything aloud until Kudo's emphatic veto sounded from the speaker.

"NO. Do NOT, under any circumstances, go off chasing them on your own! If they realize you know then you'll be in danger, and we're in too much of a mess to help you right now!"

Out of respect for the fact that Kudo was obvously having a trying day, Heiji firmly reigned in his exasperation and the first three responses that sprang to mind. "Well, if I do get shrunk I can just come live with you too since you've got the whole thing set up-"

"Heiji. NO. We are NOT getting a Doyle!"

Heiji blinked at the seeming non sequitur, then remembered the source of the 'twins's' aliases. The Kansai detective grinned. "What about a Sir?"

"That would be Hakuba," came the dry reply, and before Heiji could respond the other detective hung up on him.

Heiji sat for a moment, unable to resist the mental image of the four of them lined up in a row as Sir, Arthur, Conan, and Doyle, and snickered. If he and Hakuba did end up joining the ranks of the vertically challenged and posing as cousins or something, he mused as he got up to put the phone away, culprits would probably take one look at the four of them converging on the crime scene and confess on the spot.

Can't you just imagine that? One in a deerstalker cap, one already peering down at the crime scene from the corner between the walls and ceiling, one with a soccer ball, and one with a bokken taller than he is...