Chapter 3

Fumbling to close his locker as he yawned, Shinichi tripped into his shoes and headed towards the front gates of the school. The day was finally over and he wanted nothing more than to just fall into bed and spend the next several hours in blissful unconsciousness. He had pulled an all-nighter trying to finish up his work following yesterday's incidents and forgotten to bring his beloved thermos of coffee before rushing to class. Deprived of coffee, he wanted nothing more than to skip class but he had promised his parents that he wouldn't let his ...hobby... affect his schoolwork. It didn't stop him from wanting to just walk out when their math teacher decided to review derivatives for the third time this week though. It was times like these that he wished he still attended Teitan High and didn't have to ride a train to get to school so he could get home faster. Lost in his thoughts, Shinichi startled and tensed when an arm wrapped around his neck and someone's body pressed on to his back.

"Shin-chan~," Kaito cried into his ear. "You better not have forgotten your promise to treat me to food!" he exclaimed.

Groaning internally at his bright-eyed classmate, Shinichi ducked out of the other's grip. "Kuroba-san," he greeted cordially, emphasizing the honorifics. "I do not remember giving you permission to call me by my first name, let alone that horrific abomination of a nickname," he deadpanned, walking faster in hopes that the other teen would take the hint and leave him alone. Kaito grinned, unrepentant, "Fine. Kudo-kun it is then. For now at least~. You still promised me food though."

Shinichi rolled his eyes at the casual appellation but ignored it. It was better than his mother's nickname at the very least. "I promised you food but I didn't say it would be today."

Kaito pouted, "But I wanted to hang out with you today! Come on, I just found this great cafe and I think you'll like it!" Without waiting for a response, he grabbed the other by the arm and dragged him toward the opposite direction of the train station. Shinichi reluctantly followed in a bid to keep his arm from dislocating, silently mourning his lost plans for sleep.

Sensing that the other had given up on fighting him, Kaito released his grip and moved to walk by Shinichi's side. He chattered a mile per minute, excited at the prospect of becoming friends(?) with Ekoda's "Ice Prince".

Kaito dragged him to the edge of town to a quiet cafe with a blooming rose garden surrounding it. He had loved it from the second he laid his eyes on it and hoped the other would appreciate the quiet, welcoming atmosphere. Sensing the other's halted movements, Kaito turned to Shinichi, a question on his lips. His question never left his mouth as he stared. The blue-eyed teen was smiling serenely at the fairy tale-like garden. Kaito watched him, mesmerized by the soft upturn of his lips and wide eyes. The image of Kudo-kun in the soft sunlight, surrounded by roses sharply contrasted with the Kudo Shinichi he saw in school: all cold indifference and narrowed eyes. But, a part of his brain distantly noted, no less beautiful. It seemed almost like an undeniable fact that Kudo Shinichi would always be a hundred types of beautiful.

"Uh" Kaito stated coherently, effectively shattering the moment. Shinichi turned to look him, and Kaito quickly turned away, stuttering out, "We- w-we should - we should head inside," before swiftly heading woodenly toward the door. He hoped that the other didn't notice his staring. Oh god, Kaito thought he was not ogling Kudo Shinichi! Even if he did seem, uh, very, very pretty… Nope. Not going there.

Kaito slapped his cheeks quickly, startling Shinichi. Pink-cheeked and grinning cheerfully at the other, Kaito pulled open the door and gave a mockingly gentleman-like bow, "After you, Kudo-kun," he declared grandly.

Snorting at the other's antics, Shinichi moved past the messy-haired teen and into the cafe. Settling into a seat by the large windows looking into the street, Shinichi hesitantly offered Kaito a small smile, hoping that it would reassure the other that he liked his cafe choice and calm the fidgeting teen down.

Kaito, on the other hand, was trying very hard not to spontaneously combust on the spot because oh god, Kudo Shinichi was smiling at him. The Kudo Shinichi. Sure, it was his goal to see the other smile once again and maybe get to know him but, boy, was he not prepared to see that smile again. (That didn't stop him from wanting to see it again - maybe even for the rest of his life; but judging from his heart rate, he probably didn't have long to live. At least he would die happy.) The sound of someone clearing their throat startled him out of his thoughts. Finally, focusing on somewhere away from that beautiful smile, Kaito noticed a cute waitress looking hesitantly at him.

"May I get your order?" she repeated.

Kaito smiled brightly, his poker face taking center stage as he pulled out a pink rose, "My apologies for my inattention, Miss. Can I get a chocolate parfait?"

The girl blushed, shyly taking the rose from his grasp, "S-Sure. Right away," before bowing quickly and walking briskly away.

Turning to his current companion, Kaito noticed that some of the light disappeared from his eyes. It wasn't a big difference and he was sure other people wouldn't have noticed but other people had not spent their entire lives cultivating the perfect poker face. As such, he asked his companion, "Kudo-kun, is there anything wrong?"

Shinichi's eyes darted toward the door for a brief second before looking over at the magician, "Nothing," he answered serenely, "I was just thinking about how unsurprising it is that you're a fan of chocolate."

Kaito frowned internally, having recognized the other's poker face had appeared but decided against pursuing that line of questioning. It would not do to chase the other away before even becoming friends with him. Kaito pouted, "And what does that mean? Do I seem like a chocoholic to you?"

Shinichi shrugged and placed his elbow on his table, resting his face on his hand, "I wasn't going to say that you were but now that you mention it, you do. I mean, I figured that you probably needed some sugar to deal with everything you do at school. Helping out the student council, giving magic shows, and dealing with your fans, and all that. Not to mention, you're a student who's almost at the top of their class at that. You probably don't get much sleep, but you're still cheerful all the time. So you probably consume either chocolate or coffee or both. But you don't strike me as a coffee person so chocolate was my next guess. That and also, you seem really happy when you bring chocolate to school. Not as happy when you receive it during Valentine's but I believe that has more to do with dealing with the feelings behind it than the actual chocolate."

Kaito gaped, stunned by the amount of information about him that the other noticed, especially about him not being happy about the homei chocolate that he had to reject every year.

Shinichi paused, running through what he just said in his head. Shit, he started babbling about his deductions again and probably freaked the other out. A voice that sounded irritatingly like Sonoko's rang out in his head, telling him that this was why he couldn't make friends. His depressing thoughts were cut off, however, by the other.

"You were watching me?" Kaito said incredulously. He thought that the icy teen regarded Kaito as a nuisance, yet the other was paying such close attention to him.

Shinichi blushed, looking away, "Don't be stupid. I'm just observant. That's all. Plus, you are very famous if you don't already realize," he drawled sarcastically, hoping the other didn't notice the slight tremble in his voice, "it would be weirder if I didn't notice you."

Kaito grinned. He was closer to being friends with the blue-eyed teen than he thought, given that the other basically admitted that he noticed him. Once again Kudo-kun managed to see past his poker face and he couldn't help but to me more and more enthralled with the other. "Sure~ whatever you say," he singsonged, causing the other to scowl at him.

"Our food is arriving," Shinichi stated gruffly, making no effort to hide his blatant change of topic, narrowed eyes daring the grinning teen to continue.

Kaito obliged, choosing to drop the current topic (though he would most definitely be thinking about it later) and focused on the waitress, who was indeed bringing their food.

"Here you go!" She cheerfully announced, "A chocolate parfait and a slice of lemon pie. Enjoy!"

Digging into his dessert of chocolate heaven, Kaito made a mental note that the other liked lemon pie. After all, it wouldn't do if Kudo-kun was the only one to know things about him when he knew basically nothing about the other.

They ate in comfortable silence, listening to the soft piano music in the background. Kaito vaguely heard the bell ringing, signaling the entry of another patron, as he focused on not missing his mouth while discreetly watching Shinichi eat his pie. The new patrons settled into a table behind theirs, talking adamantly about some mysterious detective.

"I bet he's handsome. I wish the newspapers would get a clear shot of what he looks like under his hat and without those glasses!"

"Eh! No way," the other replied, "He's probably horribly ugly. That's why he hides his face from the public."

"Or he could just be shy! There's no way someone that smart is not extremely hot. Conan-sama solved a triple homicide yesterday and in less than a day too!"

"You don't have to be good looking to be smart though. That's just your bias talking because you want to date your dream guy."

The other girl stuck her tongue out at her friend, "Well I can still hope can't I! As long as we don't know what he looks like I'm going to say he's handsome!"

Kaito tuned out of the boring conversation, glancing around the cafe before looking at his companion again. He frowned at the stiffness in the other's frame. "Is something wrong?" He questioned.

Shinichi coughed, quickly pushing the half-eaten pie away and grabbing a couple of bills, not really looking to see how much he took out. Placing them on the table, Shinichi thanked the other for inviting him out and said something about having homework, almost tripping as he rushed out the door, ignoring the way the other called his name confusedly. Shit, that was probably not the most subtle thing he ever did, but he panicked. Hopefully, Kuroba-kun wouldn't connect the dots.

I'm so sorry for my long ass breaks...

Thank you to everyone who has read (and continue to do so), favorited, followed, and reviewed. You all are the reason I feel guilty each day I don't right (That's a good thing lol!)

Have a good day!