Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairings: eventually Kaito x Shinichi

WARNINGS: Eventual shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned

Dark Side Chances

By V. Shalyr

File 5

Cooking

"This is all you have?" Conan stared into the refrigerator with horror. "Do you realize how unhealthy it is to eat nothing but instant meals?"

"Hey, I'm a busy man. Working part time, going to college, and being a famous international jewel thief isn't exactly a walk in the park."

Shutting the door, Conan turned and marched towards the front door. "We're going to the supermarket. Now."

At the store, Kaito followed him through the isles with two baskets in his hands and a bemused expression on his face as he listened to the detective lecture him about healthy eating and the selection of good ingredients. They must have made quite a strange sight, a little kid apparently ten years his junior gesticulating and pointing at different vegetables while he explained about freshness and seasons.

"So what exactly are we supposed to make with all this?"

Conan paused, glancing back over all the items he'd piled into the baskets. "Well, do you prefer any dishes in particular?"

"As long as it's not fish. I'm really not that picky."

"You don't like fish?"

"Nope. Never could stand them, horrible, slimy, scaly, bug-eyed…"

"…Okay. We'll get something else. How about chicken?"

"As I said, anything as long as it's not fish."

"Right."

Shaking his head, Conan listed things under his breath as he continued his quest through the supermarket. It was actually kind of nice to be doing this kind of thing again. He hadn't been able to cook for himself when he lived with the Mouris. After all, little kids shouldn't be working at stoves. Things had changed a little over the years, but it just wasn't the same.

Hmmm, the height of the stove could present a problem, but he was sure he could dig up a stool somewhere sturdy enough to stand on.

When Conan was finally satisfied that they had enough, Kaito hauled the twin baskets over to the checkout line.

"You know," he said, glancing down at his companion as they waited, "there is another reason I eat a lot of takeout and frozen food."

Conan glanced up and considered him for a moment, his brow furrowing. "Don't tell me…"

It was so obvious he wondered why it hadn't occurred to him before. Maybe because the thief seemed so damned good at—well, everything.

"You can't cook."

"Mm, yup."

.

Arcade

"How in the world did I let you talk me into this?"

There was no point in keeping his voice down. You couldn't disturb anyone in the huge arcade, not when you had to shout just to be heard by your neighbor over the cacophony.

Kaito just grinned in his seat next to him, twirling the toy gun in his hand. "You've been spending way too much time catching up on school work."

"Hey, I've got years to make up for!"

"I know, I know. But seriously, a person can only absorb so much in one go. It's a psychologically proven fact that people take in information better in little chunks spaced out over time." The magician paused to let loose with a few more shots before swiveling on his chair to wink at him. "Besides, games are no fun to play by myself."

Conan stared at the targets on the screen before them in disbelief then closed his eyes, shook his head, and looked again. But nothing had changed. Kaito had hit the things dead center every time, including the moving ones. "How the hell did you get so good at this?"

The only people he knew who were that good with a gun either participated in Olympic competitions or assassinated people for a living.

Kaito sniffed. "How do you think I could make sure people don't get hurt on my heists if my aim isn't perfect? My personal gun might not shoot bullets, but I don't exactly carry it just for show."

.

Wallet

"Kaito, that man just stole that woman's wallet!"

"I saw."

That was the problem with crowded places really, especially places where many people had to pass through everyday. Though Kaito supposed that the convenience of public transportation balanced out its inherent hazards. People really had to learn to keep a closer eye on their possessions.

"Aren't you going to do something about it?"

"Oi, being a good thief requires good timing. I'm already on it."

Rising casually to his feet from where they were sitting on the train, Kaito picked his way through the cramped carriage, feigning clumsiness and bumping into several people on his way towards the bathroom. He disappeared inside for a reasonable amount of time before reemerging and taking his seat once more.

"You have it?" Conan couldn't help but ask with some curiosity.

"Of course," Kaito muttered back with mock indignation. "Do you doubt me?"

"Ah, of course not."

A voice announced the next stop over the speakers and, as the train slowed to a halt in the station, the woman moved to rise to her feet. Kaito and Conan exchanged looks and both stood along with her, following the flow of people disembarking. As soon as they were on the platform, Kaito pressed the wallet discreetly into his companion's hands and Conan ran to intercept its owner, plastering a bright smile on his face.

"Onee-san, I think you dropped this!"

The woman paused in surprise, her hand flying to the open mouth of her bag. She gasped a little when she realized that her wallet was, indeed, missing and bent to retrieve the proffered object with a grateful smile. "Thank you."

.

Different

Shutting his textbook, Conan rubbed at his tired eyes then glanced up at the living room's other occupant. Kaito was seated on the couch with his elbows propped on his knees and his chin in his hands, watching him. There was an odd expression in his eyes that Conan had seen several times in the past couple days, though he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"Are you all right?" Why are you watching me?

The corner of the magician's mouth quirked upward at the implied question. "I'm just thinking about how different it is not to be living by myself."

"I thought you said you used to live with your mother."

Kaito nodded slowly. "But it's been a year since I moved out. And it's not the same when you don't have to keep secrets."

Well, Conan could certainly second that. He hadn't felt this—this at peace with himself in a long time. He noticed it most keenly when he found himself thinking about his old life and didn't feel that desperate yearning welling up inside him anymore. It didn't hurt anymore to think that maybe, just maybe, Haibara would never find a cure.

"It's a good kind of different," he said finally, partly in question and partly just stating his own thoughts.

Kaito smiled, one of his very rare, genuine smiles that Conan had learned to spot. "Yes, it is."

.

Routine

It was surprisingly easy to settle into life at Kaito's apartment, especially after they'd dug up the necessary accommodations and made some simple adjustments. Several stools of various heights had been added to the kitchen and study, and the bookshelves had been rearranged so Conan could keep his stuff on the lower levels in easy reach. Kaito treated him like the teenager he really was and he was free to go pretty much anywhere he wanted, though the magician did tend to call to check in if he was still absent too long after dark.

The magician himself didn't seem to require all that much sleep. While he divided his mornings and afternoons between work and classes, night almost always found him in his workshop fiddling with new devices and experimenting with chemicals. Whenever Conan couldn't sleep, he'd bring a book with him and curl up to read in a corner of the workshop. A plush chair had been added to the cluttered room for this purpose, and he would eventually fall asleep listening to the magician moving about the room working on whatever project he had designated for the night, and wake the next morning to find himself back in his own bed with his book on the nightstand complete with bookmark.

It had become a kind of routine, a comfortable one if occasionally a little strange. But really, who needed things to be normal anyway?

.

Friends

"I'm sorry, Aoko, but I've already made plans for tonight. Maybe I'll visit you and Hakuba next weekend?"

"Kaito," the young woman on the other end of the phone sighed in exasperation, "what is it with you these days? It's like you're always busy. You never seem to have any time. I mean, when was the last time we saw you? A month ago?"

Kaito laughed. "Oh come on, it hasn't been that long."

Conan glanced over at him from his spot at the living room table, his trained ears picking up on the slight strain in his companion's mirth.

"Yes, it has," Aoko replied firmly and Kaito could just picture her scowl. "Is something wrong?"

"Of course not. I'm just busy. You know moving out and living by myself isn't exactly a walk in the park."

"That's true…"

"I promise I'll come by next weekend, all right?"

"…Fine, as long as you don't forget."

"Have I ever forgotten a promise?"

"No."

"Right, then see you then. Tell Hakuba I said hello."

When his friend finally hung up, Kaito shut his phone with a sigh and walked over to drop onto the couch.

"I didn't know you had plans for tonight," Conan observed pointedly, still watching him. It was sort of amusing seeing him without his glasses. He hardly wore them anymore when they were at home.

"I don't," Kaito replied truthfully.

"Then why? Don't you want to see them? They are your friends, aren't they?"

The magician winced. "Yes, they are—well, mostly anyway. But I just had a heist two nights ago."

Conan considered this for a long minute then nodded slowly. Kaito didn't have to say anymore. Conan could only imagine what the ever suspicious blond detective would be like, and with how much Aoko despised KID, it was no wonder Kaito didn't feel up to hanging out with them. It was surprising that he'd dealt with it for so many years already. Still, it seemed like such a pity for friends to be set apart in such a way. And Conan wondered not for the first time how people who had grown up together could end up walking such different paths. Then again, it was just as mystifying how people who had grown up as differently as Kaito and himself could have ended up so similar, even if it was their respective histories that had made them that way.

Kaito shook himself and stood up, his shoulders set with renewed determination. "Come on, Tantei-kun. Let's go somewhere tonight. How about going somewhere for dinner? I don't care where we go as long as it doesn't serve seafood."

Conan nodded and shut his textbook.

Life could end up setting old friends apart, but as long as you didn't give up, it could bring you new friends too. You just had to keep holding on. Knowing when to hold on and when to let go, probably the most important lessons a person could have in life.

.

Call

"Oi, Kudou! You didn't really leave for America, did you?"

Conan held the phone a little distance from his ear to prevent Hattori's surprised and disbelieving exclamation from hurting his ear. "No, I didn't."

"I just heard from Kazuha that you weren't living with Ran anymore. But I dropped by your place and you weren't there either."

"No." Securing the phone between his head and shoulder, Conan returned to setting up the coffeepot. It was rather late on a Saturday morning and he'd decided to treat himself to his favorite drink. Of course he realized that coffee wasn't all that great for him at his current age and he did try to cut down on his preferred consumption rate, but it was the weekend and he felt entitled to at least one mug. Besides, Kaito might want some. The magician had left early that morning before Conan had woken up and hadn't returned yet. Being out this early on a Saturday usually meant that Kaito was up to something, and the magician tended to want coffee or hot chocolate when he got back—or both, preferably together.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line then Hattori said impatiently, "So? Are you going to tell me what happened? And where are you now? Are your parents back in town or something?"

Hopping down from the stool he'd been standing on to reach the kitchen counter, Conan headed towards the living room in search of the morning newspaper. "Nothing happened, and I'd really rather not."

"Not what?"

"Tell you where I am."

"What? Why not?"

Conan sighed. Deciding to wait on the newspaper, he plopped down on the couch and leaned back, closing his eyes. "It's complicated, Hattori. Things have changed."

"And what is that supposed to mean? I can't believe that you'd give up on searching for Them."

"No," Conan agreed, "and I haven't. But I'm tired of lying to myself. I can't keep on pretending that everything will turn out all right if we can just beat Them. Things have changed. Even if—when—we catch them, life isn't just going to go back to the way it was."

For a few minutes, Hattori was silent, and Conan started to read the newspaper headlines, trying to decide which articles to peruse first.

Finally, the other detective sighed. "I can't really say that I understand what's going through your mind right now, Kudou. But if you need any help, let me know and I'll do what I can. I just hope you know what you're doing."

"For the first time in years, Hattori, I finally feel like I do."

TBC...

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