-FIRSTS-
Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.
Warning: KaiShin relationship.
Warning II: Some (possibly) mature content
A/N: Explanations and expositions? Urg, what was I thinking?
First Recovery
Kaito waited patiently inside the doctor's office as the man finalized the report to release Kaito. Contrary to Kaito's initial speculations, he was kept in hospital for another week where Shinichi had been released three days earlier. His detective diligently visited Kaito every morning and afternoon during visitation hours though Kaito could see it began to take a toll on his detective if the size of the bags around Shinichi's brilliant sapphire blues were to go by. Like right now, Shinichi is sitting outside for Kaito's good news (though the doctor seemed to want Kaito to be kept to the wheelchair for at least a few more days to let the wound heal better).
"Well? What did the doctor say?" Shinichi was quick to appear behind the wheelchair, gently pushing them along and secluded corridor.
"I'm all good to go! No more evil hospitals." Kaito threw his hands up and rained confetti on them.
"You better have them cleaned up." Shinichi muttered under his breath. "And? I'm sure that's not all the doctor has to say."
"Oh, you know, the usual." Kaito cleared his throat and imitated the doctor's voice. "Take it easy, stay off the leg, no strenuous activities, remember to drink lots of milk to strengthen the bones."
"This means you'll have to stop trying to escape out of the wheelchair." Shinichi promptly pushed his magician back into the chair as they entered the room to pack up Kaito's belongings. "Stay put."
"You're no better than me Shinichi, you've just removed the sling." Kaito pouted as he whipped out and deck of cards from thin air.
"I'm not the one who lost ridiculous amounts of blood." Shinichi turned away towards the packing instead of facing a Kaito with serious eyes.
"Yes, but you were the one to donate blood even after an injury and when the doctors were advising against it." Kaito levelled his gaze, focusing on Shinichi's tensing back. He knew he was right and sighed. "You collapsed."
"I did not." Shinichi denied vehemently. "I was just tired so I rested on your bed."
"No, you were an idiot and passed out in exhaustion. You were supposed to be recovering. I might have the excuse of blood loss to be bed bound but you..."
"A couple of bruises barely counts as an injury." Shinichi did not bother to turn away from his packing. Kaito had an look of disbelief and managed to project this. Even without looking, Shinichi could feel the intense dissatisfaction at his answer. "It was just a scuffle. Nothing disastrous. No lasting damages."
"That's what you said last time." Kaito muttered, wheeling himself to where Shinichi was standing. "You were in a sling."
"Dislocated shoulder. Nothing permanent." Shinichi turned only to bump into Kaito who was making any disapproving face. The magician seems to have caught him in the little white lie. "OK, fine, and bullet grazed me."
Kaito reached out to take Shinichi by the hand as though to confirm. Slowly, he dragged his detective down to his height. "You're not hiding any more injuries are you?" He said, looking directly into the deep blue eyes.
"I'm not Kaito. You're over reacting." With all pat on the knees, Shinichi rose to continue his task.
When everything had been packed into the bag (Kaito had to wonder why and how he could accumulate so much stuff during his brief hospitalization) Shinichi once again took the handlebars to proceed to wheel them out.
"This is like an parody of last time..." Shinichi commented as they waited by the elevator. Kaito looked up questioningly. "You know, when you acted like a headless chicken? That time when the hospital called you? Then you went all sappy."
Recognition dawned on Kaito's face. "Oh! How is the kid by the way?"
"From what my mother told me, the siblings seems to be at handful." Shinichi looked wistful. "Though it's expected. The father is permanently stationed here now so it should be easier on Nakajou-san. She's asking whether we'd like to visit sometime."
"I think she wants someone she trusts to babysit her kids." Kaito snickered. "You were so good with the baby, hard to correlate the unflappable and somewhat cool image of you in any crime scene and the softie when faced with children."
Shinichi promptly ignored Kaito though was unable to hide the blush.
"But I would rather only I get to see that warm fuzzy side of you. Don't want everyone to know how adorable you can be." Kaito continued to tease as they walked across the parking lot to Jii's waiting car.
After moving his magician into the back seat, Shinichi helped Jii stow the luggage and wheelchair in the trunk before taking a seat next to Kaito, who immediately made himself comfortable by using Shinichi's lap as an pillow.
"Haven't you slept enough?" Shinichi poked at Kaito's cheeks.
"Not sleeping. Just trying to admire the view from below." Kaito reached out to caress Shinichi. He noticed with great clarity the sunken cheeks from inconsistent eating habits (and just when Kaito had made some headway with that), the dark shadows underneath the eyes, and the slight raggedness in his posture. "You really don't know how to take care of yourself huh?" He had an prominent frown on his face.
"I was worried." Shinichi admitted softly as they sped down the highway. "You lost by lot of blood and you were really pale when I first laid my eyes on you that night. I blame myself for not realizing sooner, that there were three snipers instead of two... You could have been hurt really badly... Or worst. I wouldn't know what to do then."
Jii had the courtesy to keep silent in the driver's seat even though he could easily make out the whispered conversation.
"No one could have known..." Gently Kaito cupped Shinichi's face, swiping his thumb against the high cheekbones. "Speaking of which, there's something I need to do first."
Shinichi gave him a Look that seems to be warning Kaito to not do anything perverted.
"Relax," Kaito gave an carefree smile before sitting back up to lean over to the driver's seat, "Jii, do you think we can drop by the mall or something? I need to get a present for Koizumi. She and her creepy prophecies would be demanding payment despite I never asked for her advice."
Shinichi raised a questioning eyebrow.
"During the cruise," Kaito heated and sigh, "she gave me a... Riddle I guess would be the best description. At that time, I thought it meant the incident on the ship. But at the cafe, she gave another hint, which was supposed to help us even though it didn't do much good."
"You believed her..."
"Like I said, hard to not believe her when she went out of her way to try and curse me and bind me to her." Kaito shrugged nonchalantly. "And she had steered me wrong yet."
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Shinichi had thought Kaito had just wanted to browse at the shops, but seeing him pick up that then paying for it at the counter, he couldn't keep silent.
"You bought her a Pusheen plushie." He stated blandly.
"The fairer sex likes cute and or beautiful things." Kaito handed the package to Shinichi to stow away. "Besides, the prophecy and hint she gave wasn't as useful or correct as it sounded. It's my way of getting back at her, witches like cats so a Pusheen."
"That's petty." Shaking his head, Shinichi took the bag and hung them on the handlebars. "And I thought woman liked fame and fortune better."
"Normal ones, not your deranged psychopaths." Kaito admonished. "They liked to be gifted with soft and cute things. So, it's either that or a KID toy and there's no way I'm going to offer her that." Kaito shuddered at the prospect of what the Scarlet Witch would do with a KID doll. He highly suspects she would be attempting voodoo or something similar. It was that or the image of the witch cuddling up to the little doll at night and that is an image he did not need.
"Is the great Kaitou KID afraid of a self proclaimed witch?" Shinichi teased.
"See if I bail you out when Koizumi sets her eyes on making your life hell." Kaito muttered under his breath. It's not as though he wanted to happen but it really is hard to predict what the witch would do to pursuit her goal in having each and every male on the planet bowing down before her. "It's a cat. It makes it witch-friendly."
"You might be better off buying a black one then. Besides, she wasn't wrong. Just the interpretation."
Shinichi pushed them towards a restaurant for lunch, seeing as the lunch hour rush just finished so they would be able to eat at a more sedate pace rather than having to be ushered out.
"I just can't believe Koizumi mastered the art of a KID riddle." Kaito took up the menu to order for the two of them, not bothering to ask Shinichi for his opinion.
"Well, the...riddle I guess you could call it, set by Koizumi-san isn't exactly KID-like. I mean sure, it's still shrouded in three layers, and how you managed to interpret it in the more obscure meaning is really baffling me, but she was correct in hindsight."
"Shinichi, you're supposed to be on my side. And it's only because I care about you that I came to that particular interpretation. In a sense, I wasn't wrong. Sirens are associated with water, same with Poseidon. I had thought you coming across a crime at sea, similar to what you'd do on land would resolve the riddle. It did not help when you jumped in after the man." Kaito stabbed at the vegetable in a fit of frustration. "And had genuinely thought the Redness was referring to the rhubarb. Who could blame me when there was so much of the stuff around."
"You forget, Koizumi-san had no reason to predict anything about me. Unless it meant seeing my downfall just to get at you, then it's unlikely she would be interested in me." Shinichi reached over to steal food, at which Kaito tries to defend his plate and the conversation about the correctness of the witch was quickly forgotten in favour of stealing food from one another.
"No one steals from me." Kaito declared and started a food snatch with Shinichi. He knew it was silly and who cares about the stares they were receiving (people might have thought him to be mentally impaired going by the pitiful looks they were receiving) but this way, he could ensure Shinichi was actually eating the food rather than pretending.
The food battle was declared a draw as they savoured their after meal drinks.
"Why are you suddenly so pensive?" Shinichi looked away from the window. "Something bothering you?"
"I just can't believe Koizumi compared Hakuba to something so..." Kaito was unable to find the correct phrase to describe the feeling. Instead he let out a sound of displeasure.
"She might have been intentional. She gave you the riddle at the cruise so she had to fit the theme. Sirens and Poseidon are both associated with it."
"Sirens calls to those at sea." Kaito recalled the riddle. "Sirens calling out to the sailor or people riding the waves."
"And normally resulting in their deaths. In a sense, they are messengers of death and accidents." Shinichi amended. "Sirens don't generally cause deaths but they misdirect people to their demise. If the people were lucky, they could escape death or serious injuries."
"In the land is where it's meant to be." Kaito drummed his fingers, he really disliked this phrase as his first impression of the words somehow is all directed at how Shinichi would stumble across crimes of all sorts. "Practically anything could be on the land. However, in the land there's only one thing."
"Death and corpses. But there are other interpretations, such as that of rebirth from ashes and decay." Shinichi tries to smile but comes out forced.
"Redness from those stand tall. I had thought it was relating to the over abundance of the strange vegetable juice on the cruise." Kaito grimaced. Not only had it looked strange, it also didn't taste so good and he had tasted some pretty weird things in the past.
"Blood drawn from sniping at a high rise building. Not even I could have predicted that." Shaking his head as he admitted to his inadequacy.
"You admit to being wrong?" Kaito mocked incredulous. He was well aware of how human Shinichi could be.
"Kaito..."
Kaito grinned and as an apology he lifted one of Shinichi's hand from the table and brought it to his lips, laying a gentle kiss on the back of his hands. Shinichi blushed and tries to hide it by turning away.
"But what I truly don't like is comparing that blond detective with Poseidon. Into Poseidon's arms he'll gladly fall. For one, I did not fall and two, I would not do it gladly !"
Shinichi snickered. "Poseidon presides over the sea, earthquake, and lastly horses, regardless of how obscure that is."
"Humph." Kaito did not let go of Shinichi's hands, he intertwined them together on top of the table.
"Come now, it's late. Jii-san is probably starting to become worried if we continued to sit here." Shinichi waved for the waitress to get their bill only to be stopped by Kaito as he reached for his wallet.
"I consider this a date so I'll be paying."
How Kaito managed to hide his wallet on his person, and subsequently hide away Shinichi's, is a mystery that the detective did not want to solve as it would probably cause more headaches than not.
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"Ah, home sweet home." Kaito commented outside the doorway as Shinichi opened the door. It was fortunate that their apartment had elevators else Kaito was sure Shinichi would be insisting carrying him up and he knew he wasn't a lightweight.
"You're going to be spending the weekend resting if you wanted to attend classes on Monday." Shinichi pushed him into the threshold.
"Kaito!"
"Kuroba-kun."
Two similar female voices echoed.
"Aoko? Mouri-chan? What are you doing here?" He asked in a fit of curiosity.
"Kudo-kun needed help to Kaito-proof the apartment." There was a sadistic grin on Aoko's face. "We helped to get him the necessary stuff."
"Thank you Nakamori-san." He looked over to the two bags on the table. There was also dishes covered with cloth to keep warm, no doubt it was Ran's doing. "Thanks for the food as well."
"You'd have your hands full trying to take care of Kuroba-kun, thought we could help you out a bit."
"You're a lifesaver." Appreciatively, Shinichi hugged Ran.
"Oi, don't talk as though I'm not here." Kaito made a motion to wheel himself towards the bags, extremely curious to what Aoko brought into the apartment. But Shinichi was quick to respond and stepped in front to block his path. "Shinichi? What are you planning?"
"To make sure you won't leave the bed unnecessarily." Shinichi maneuvered them into the sleeping area. Kaito stayed in his seat in a fit of retaliation. It was a stalemate as neither was willing to back down.
"Oh Kaito~" Aoko broke their silence as she advanced forward with Ran by her side. The way the girls were smiling made Kaito reconsider his stance. Finally, he relented and moved himself to the bed.
"Are you planning to tie me to the bed?" Kaito wiggled his eyebrows, voice lewd and suggestive. Shinichi blushed. As much as he wanted to try, now is not a good time to voice out, especially with the audience. Last time was mortifying enough when they were caught doing nothing.
"Kaito!" For good measure, Shinichi gave a playful hit on Kaito's chest. The girls giggled in the background.
"Don't mind us Shinichi." Ran turned around with Aoko in tow. "We can show ourselves out."
When the pair was left alone Shinichi shuffled nervously, as though he was debating whether to act on some plan. Kaito waited patiently for Shinichi to reach whatever conclusion he needed. Finally, when Shinichi emerged from the depths of his mind, he smirked. The creepy kind that promised to have the criminal caught, not unlike KID's patented grin.
"I think I can act on that idea." Shinichi reached over to the bedside drawers on Kaito's side. He rummaged about and produced silk handkerchiefs. "I knew you kept some around here."
Kaito delicately raised an eyebrow. He carefully watched as Shinichi wrapped one of the handkerchief around his wrist. The detective then rummaged in his own drawers. Kaito's other eyebrow joined the previous, hiding behind the fringe. With flourish, Shinichi showed Kaito a pair of handcuffs.
"You're impatient." Kaito playfully said, earning redness at the tips of Shinichi's ears.
Shinichi sputtered, words unable to be formed in embarrassment.
"I'm trying to keep you to bed." Shinichi finally admitted. Once he had the handcuffs secured around Kaito's left wrist with the other end attached to the bed post, he rose from the bed.
"You're leaving me tied up?" Kaito had been hoping for at least some snuggling.
"Rest, I'll come back with dinner later." Not sparing Kaito another glance, Shinichi left the magician to his own device in the bedroom. He had some Kaito-proofing to do.
Kaito looked at the retreating back and considered whether he should pick his way out of the lock. But Shinichi had taken such care to wrap the wrist to prevent from chaffing. Kaito decided to humour his detective.
Sometime during his contemplation and boredom, Kaito must have fell asleep. The next moment he became aware of his surroundings, Shinichi was sitting on the edge of the bed, playing with his hair. His left hand was still handcuffed to the bed post and was beginning to feel tired.
"Would you mind letting me out now?" Kaito rattled the chain for good measure.
"Hm...I kind of like you this obedient, not running off and doing crazy stunts." Shinichi leaned over, half his body resting on Kaito's, to unlock the cuffs. To be honest, he had expected Kaito to have escaped by now.
This was the moment Kaito had been waiting for. As revenge for locking him here, his detective will have to pay. When Shinichi's face was within easy reach, Kaito pounced, crushing their lips together. Shinichi let out a muffled yelp but soon submitted to the dexterous tongue. Kaito heard the soft click of the handcuffs becoming undone and he wrapped his arms around his detective. The taste of his detective was intoxicating, though it might have to do with the fact that it had been some time since he last captured those cherry lips. He missed the way their appendages dance inside the moist cavern, how it weaved and teased each other. When Shinichi pulled away for air, Kaito took the opportunity to flip their positions. At the same time, he took the liberty to lock both Shinichi's wrists to the bed post.
"Kaito!" Shinichi protested, struggling against his restraints.
Kaito softly kissed the corner of his detective's mouth, to which Shinichi moaned, arching his back in response to Kaito's roaming hands.
"Don't try to resist me. After all, I'm injured." Kaito placed his hand on Shinichi's chest as he pushed away the fabric. Despite these acts of indecency, he actually had a purpose behind them; to make sure Shinichi would not resist and to check for other injuries. Although his detective had been quite forthright in telling him the extent of the injuries, Kaito could not trust that he did not downplay them. Only when he could verify them by his eye would he be satisfied.
True to Shinichi's own words, there did not seem to be further injuries, though he did notice a small red line near the neck. A relatively new injury, no doubt as a substitute for a hostage. There was a bit of bruising on the chest, which was strange as injuries like these tend to heal pretty quickly. Shinichi must have picked up on his mood as he tries to upright himself to see what captured Kaito's gaze.
"That was from four days ago, the suspect was trying to escape and kicked me in the chest. He was recaptured afterwards."
"Why do dangerous things always happen to you..." Kaito gently laid his hands on top of the purple blotch of skin. "I should just lock you up here. That way, you'll stay safe." He placed a soft lips to the area as though it would speed up the healing process.
Kaito slowly straightened himself, leaving his detective bound to the bed as he went to freshen himself up. Shinichi was trying to protest, telling him to "stay off the leg" and to "keep the wound covered". Honestly, sometimes Shinichi can worry too much. Kaito was very much healed and he had been taking everything slowly the past week during his hospitalization. His injuries only itched from time to time, though by no means are they fully closed, but they did not pose much of a problem anymore. Shaking his head, Kaito walked over to the bathroom on the side.
"I'll be out in a minute so stay still for a bit?"
Shinichi sighed. He had expected his magician's retaliation. Thankfully, he anticipated this and hid the spare key close at hand. Reaching towards the space between the mattress and the bed post, he used his fingers to search for the metallic key. When he felt something cool to the touch, he latched on to bring it out. Unfortunately, it wasn't the key.
"Well ...at least it's still a tool for me to escape." He tested the grip between his fingers. The lock pick, hidden by Kaito, could still serve him even if it would take him a while to fully disable the lock. When the mechanism clicked open, Shinichi extracted himself from the contraption and flexed his wrist. He wasn't as nimble as his magician so the picking caused his hand to tense up. Just as he was about to start on the lock on the left wrist, there was a scream then he felt someone tackled him backwards towards the mattress, pulling the blankets over him. The warm mass above his chest was quivering just slightly.
"There there. As long as you stay in bed, everything would be fine." Shinichi patted Kaito on the back in a soothing motion.
"That is a cruel and unusual punishment! You're evil Shinichi!" Kaito uncharacteristically let out a whimper. "You could have said something!"
Shinichi could not help but let out a snicker. He placed a hand on top of Kaito's head to ruff up the hair before crawling out of the blanket mound. "Stay, I'll go grab us the food for dinner."
Kaito attempted to glare at his detective. This was taking revenge to a bit extreme. He was sure this was Shinichi's payback for the time Kaito chained him to the bed. Kaito let out a soft growl in displeasure when the blankets were lifted, which earned him another laugh.
"You'll be fine here. I'll take everything down when the weekend is over."
"Meanie!" In a fit of childishness, Kaito threw a smoke-and-dye bomb at Shinichi. He did not bother to see if it hit, rather he quickly hid his view within the blankets once more.
-TBC-
A/N: ...That was just a weird chapter. Not one of my favourite works but I've be kind of stuck...
-OMAKE: Kaito-proofing-
After leaving Kaito in the confines of the bed, Shinichi set about the strenuous task of making sure his magician would not be escaping. He went to look through the contents of the white plastic bag, items all bought from nearby toy shops. Laying the items out on the dining table, he carefully catalogued the items to see what he could work with.
There was a string decoration, multicoloured, with comical marine life dangling off the long string. This he could set up around the large window to prevent Kaito from escaping through. Next were marine-theme stickers, all removable, some gel-like and others the normal paper/plastic type. Shinichi went to strategic locations, placing them around the door area and kitchens. The small throw rug, fleecy quality and quite comfortable in Shinichi's perception, was carelessly thrown onto the sofa-like seating opposite the TV. There were also several marine-type sculptures and figurines that he placed on several flat surfaces, including around the computer and keyboard. The few marine plush toys were placed inside cupboards, wardrobes (especially the places Shinichi knew held KID equipment), and drawers.
When all was done, Shinichi nodded to himself. Satisfied with his work, he decided to see what his magician would be up to. It was strange not to hear a peep from the normally noisy magician but he figured Kaito must be tired after their unscheduled trip to the mall.
Kaito looked extremely angelic as he slept. Not a word Shinichi (or anyone else for that matter) would associate with the mischievous prankster. But there really was no other description. The way the late afternoon light played on the soft, supple, skin was as enchanting as seeing him in the moonlight. Without thinking, Shinichi reached out to brush away a stray strand of hair clinging stubbornly on Kaito's forehead. He could not help but smile when Kaito opened his eyes to address him.
Like Kaito said earlier, home sweet home indeed.
