-FIRSTS-
Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.
Warning: KaiShin relationship.
A/N: Wow, 50 chapters! Never thought I could write so much. This was intended to be a filler chapter because I've been a bit busy so I'm a bit behind in the plot department...It makes reference to the OMAKE at the last chapter, Chapter 14, and Chapter 28. Some spoiler (-ish?) to Movie 10 if you squint.
First Calmness
Kaito glanced over to the passengers seat next to him, a small smile playing on his lips as he watched the soft rise and fall of the chest. He could tell his detective was still asleep even with the blindfold on. After making the necessary arrangements, he kidnapped his detective in his sleep in order to actually have a vacation of some sort. The deal he made with Akako should ensure some peace and quiet, at least he knew nothing too catastrophic would happen. The condition set by the witch was not having his detective see the exterior of the place because, according to her, his detective has eyes that can see through false masks and can penetrate into the truth, which would undo her spells. Hence, the blindfolds. To make sure Shinichi would not struggle, Kaito had tied him to the seats, which was why he had to keep a close eye on his detective to see when he would wake up. He knew Shinichi would panic the moment he's awake.
He just came off the freeway when he noticed his detective stirring in his seat. They were close to the destination, only 30 minutes away, but Kaito could not let his detective see yet. He placed his hand on Shinichi's shoulders to calm him down.
"Don't panic Love." He felt the muscles tensed beneath his touch. "We'll be there soon. If you promise me not to remove the blindfold, I'll untie you."
"Kaito?" There was uncertainty in his voice. Kaito figured it must be because Shinichi had been involved in kidnappings so much that it was difficult to fully trust a voice he could not see.
"Who else?" At the traffic lights, which just turned red, Kaito leaned over to give his detective a peck on the cheeks before reaching back to undo the knot of ribbon holding his detective. "Don't remove the blindfold yet."
Shinichi huffed, but kept his hands away from his face as he rubbed the wrist to resume circulation.
"Where are we going? And I'm assuming this to be early in the morning?"
Indeed it was early, barely even could be considered dawn as the sun has yet to rise. Though this would just add to the atmosphere when Kaito pulls off the blindfold.
"Somewhere we can actually relax. With so many things happening lately, I thought we could use a break. And before you panic, I've already informed Megure-keibu of our whereabouts to stop people worrying. He was the one insisting I shouldn't allow you to your mobile phone or any sort of external communication for the duration of the outing."
Shinichi sighed, resigning himself to his overprotective boyfriend and overly concerned fatherly figure. There was nothing he could do at the moment even though there was a tonne of work that needs to be followed up. He knew it was useless to argue once Kaito had get his mind to certain things, though he shouldn't really complain seeing as he had the exact same thought yesterday night, of wanting to bring Kaito somewhere secluded so they could just relax.
"You still haven't answered my question."
"Well...it's somewhere close. Though I promise it'll be OK this time. Do you trust me?" Kaito said with apprehension. Their destination was not one that would invoke the best memories in his detective but Akako had said there were not many locations she could secure in such a short time.
"...I trust you..." Shinichi did not sound all that confident, though Kaito chalked it up be being blindfolded rather than actual distrust.
As soon as he parked the car, and warning Shinichi not to take off the blindfold until he said so, Kaito guided his detective across the bitumen road towards the large red building. Once inside, Kaito let go of Shinichi's hand to untie the soft fabric. Blue eyes blinked several times to adjust to the warm lights and glittering decor.
"The Red Castle in Tropical Land?" Shinichi immediately recognised the interior design. Hard not to because of the case he had been involved in.
"I know you don't have the best experience in theme parks and such but..." Kaito wasn't too sure how he should explain the less than logical aspect of his plan. "I made certain you can have a great time here."
Shinichi stared into the hopeful violets, it was filled with both anxiety and expectation. Kaito was unconsciously making things appear and disappear, without the puffs of smoke that often accompanies such acts, which shows how uncertain his magician was towards his own reaction. He did not want his magician's efforts to go to waste so he took Kaito's hands in his own.
"Well?" Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "What are you waiting for then? I'm assuming you have the day planned down to the minute."
Kaito looked wide eyed before laughing out loud. "That's Hakuba, the one planning down to the minute. I'm more of an improv type. Though we should first check out the room seeing as we'll be staying the night."
Shinichi wasn't sure whether he should be surprised or should he have expected it. The standard room had somehow been transformed into a honeymoon suite, complete with roses and flower petals, not forgetting the origami towels on top of the silk sheeted bed. It was the Shirahama onsen trip all over again, though without meddling woman this time. Shinichi did not dare to enter the bathroom, he expected it to be decorated with candles and petals as well.
"You like?" Kaito stood at the back of Shinichi, holding him at the waist arms wrapping around like a soft blanket, as they faced the curtained off windows.
"Are you trying to propose?" Shinichi teased, poking at the hand secured around him. "Or were you hoping to get lucky tonight?"
Kaito knew Shinichi was trying to make fun of him, so instead of becoming flustered, he kept his calm and nuzzled on the exposed flesh of the neck. Shinichi had leaned into his touches, breaths leaning slightly towards the shallow end.
"I won't need to hope to get lucky." Kaito felt his detective squirm before settling in a comfortable position. "I know I will."
"Confident much." Shinichi turned his head to look directly into Kaito's eyes. "You don't think I'll say no?"
"Not with the way your body is responding right now." Kaito let his hands roam to where it pleases, stroking soft skin when exposed to them or teased through fabric where it was covered. Out of the corner of his eyes, Kaito saw the pink flush up on the cheeks. "But enough teasing, there's something you should see right now."
Moving away from his detective, to which said detective sighed at the loss of warmth and contact, Kaito strode over to the curtains and pulled the fabric back. It revealed the dawning sky, flushing the scene with a warm orange glow. It made the urban skyline look like a picture to be hung inside the museum.
"A beautiful view isn't it?" Kaito whispered as he took up his previous position behind his detective. "I came across this last time I was here. I wanted to share this view with you, but the chance never came up until now. Especially since I had been reluctant to bring you here, what with all the bad memories you have of Tropical Land."
"Kaito..." Shinichi turned his head to place a kiss onto the cherry lips that normally concealed that silver tongue. "You're so thoughtful." Shinichi admitted before directing his gaze back out the window to burn the image into his mind.
Kaito smiled, letting the silence roll over them as they enjoyed the moment of rare peace.
After sharing their breakfast inside their rented room, courtesy of room service, they met up with their friends at the lobby to go into Tropical Land properly.
"Aoko should be coming with Hakuba and Koizumi, Mouri-chan would be coming along as well since I had to call her to get in contact with Suzuki-jou for a bit of help." Kaito commented as he handed his detective a cup of coffee bought from the stand inside the lobby. In his own hands was his cup of overly sweetened flavour latte that Shinichi often calls 'a diabetic waiting to happen'.
"You needed help? I thought you had all the connections in the world." Shinichi said sarcastically, accepting his own coffee, knowing the reason Kaito had to call the young heiress was to secure the room of his choice.
"It's easier to do this though the normal channels rather than through unconventional ones." Kaito took a sip of coffee from Shinichi's cup instead of his own in his hands. It was retaliation and revenge in its most petty form.
Shinichi playfully scowled before attacking Kaito on tho mouth, as though to retrieve said drink from inside the mouth.
"Ahem." A rather loud cough alerted the pair to their friends' arrival. "You know, all you have to do was leave a message with reception to tell us you two couldn't make it for today." The young heiress teased. Glancing about, Kaito noticed Aoko had a pink tinge of embarrassment on her cheeks as Hakuba tries to look anywhere but at Kaito and his detective. The resident witch watched with too much interest in Kaito's opinion, and somehow was whispering into the young heiress' ear (possibly scheming) and Ran was trying hard to stifle the giggle behind her fist.
"Ran! Didn't hear you guys approaching!" Shinichi immediately jumped back and out of Kaito's hold. "You guys surprised us!"
"Not as much as you two surprising us with the display." Ran teased, poking at Shinichi's side as she did so. Turning towards Kaito, Ran uttered her thanks before stating the theme park would be opening soon.
Shinichi was apprehensive at first, glancing over his shoulders every minute as though to check for stalkers and murderers. Though, Kaito had assured him nothing will be happening for their outing, Shinichi was still nervous.
"There's no need for you to be looking Kudo-san." Akako commented offhandedly as the others played at the carnival stands. They have been walking around the park all morning and afternoon, trying out the many thrill rides. They've arrived in this area of the park to wait for a show and she had been left alone with the detective when the magician had reluctantly volunteered to buy them drinks under the witch's insistence. "I gave Kuroba-kun my word nothing would happen."
Shinichi looked at the girl skeptically as he carefully inched away on the bench. She was giving off creepy vibes that nearly sent Shinichi running for the hills. Something just doesn't feel normal about this companion of his.
Akako laughed elegantly, though slightly disappointed that the detective would rather move away from her.
"You know, you're quite interesting. A being who brings about justice and truth yet so voluntarily hide the truth to protect what he deem as his. A contradictory being indeed." Her intense scarlet gaze fell onto Shinichi's blues. "But if I were you I'd be more cautious seeing as a phantom will ultimately fade to darkness, no amount of truth hiding can alter that fact."
Shinichi was about to ask more when a small flock of doves hovered in sight. Each of the six birds had a ribbon in its beak that was tied to a small paper cup. Shinichi reached out to take the small package, several of the doves decided to use Shinichi as a perch where others decide to fly back to their owner. Shinichi noticed a small note written on the paper cup.
There's a long line so it'll take a bit of time. Hope you don't mind having this icy treat for now.
The hand written note had a small dove doodle in red ink inside a heart. Shinichi couldn't help but blush.
"Looks quite tempting." Akako leaned over, chest close to Shinichi's arms and nearly touching. For a brief moment, the detective wondered if she was trying to seduce him.
Disregarding the her antics, Shinichi lifted the lid to reveal a multi-colour soft serve within the white cup. There was a small spoon inside, tied with a bright red ribbon. Shinichi couldn't help but smile in appreciation at his magician's cute actions.
"Tasty." Akako snapped Shinichi from his admiration. For a moment Shinichi forgot he was not alone. He was once again interrupted when Hakuba approached them on the bench.
"Where are the girls?" Shinichi could not help but ask, fearing something might have happened.
Hakuba looked over to a corner nested between several booths of carnival games. "They've decided to try out that fortune teller."
Akako had a wicked grin. "Maybe I should go join them." She playfully tilted Shinichi's chin and the detective shuddered. Akako snickered before walking away.
"She has no sense of proprietary does she?" Shinichi took the spoon to taste the ice cream, only to find it wasn't the sweet treat he thought. Lifting an eyebrow, he stared again at the spread of colour before letting out an uncharacteristic chuckle and took another spoonful, earning a questioning look from Hakuba.
Hakuba decided not to comment on the strange actions of his friend. Instead he inquired of the whereabouts of the prankster magician.
"Kaito's still waiting in line apparently. He sent over a gelato as an apology...I think."
"Gelato...?" Hakuba looked unconvinced. "I thought he hated the stuff, saying it was mocking ice cream."
"He knows I'm not that partial towards sweets." Shinichi smiled with satisfaction. "Was there something you need from me? Or were you just trying to escape from the girl talk?"
"The latter, though I wouldn't mind discussing with you about the recent capture during the last KID heist." Hakuba took the seat but he cautiously looked side to side as though with an intention to break the law. Shinichi didn't bother hide his amusement at Hakuba's paranoia of fearing Kaito suddenly popping up. Noticing the questioning gaze, Hakuba elaborated. "Kuroba forbade me from mentioning anything to do with crime or cases."
Shinichi had the decency to stop himself from chuckling as he imagined the types of threats and blackmail his magician used to prevent Hakuba from talking about cases. Though, a detective's sense of curiosity and their adherence to searching for truths often means threats and blackmail rarely works.
"Did anything come up during the interrogation?" Shinichi enquired, ignoring Kaito's imaginary nagging voice in his head. He was forced to go to the hospital so he missed the interrogations all together. That and because the whole of Division One had threatened to cuff him into the police vehicle and drive him home if he was seen at the station that night instead of resting because of the scuffle he involved himself in.
"Goldberg refused to cooperate." Shaking his head, Hakuba leaned back to relax. "Though he was complaining for a change of clothing and threatened to sue. Not sure how that would go since it was KID who inflicted the trauma on him. Megure-keibu took him off Nakamori-keibu's hands quite quickly, along with his subordinates, straight after the interrogation. Our international associates would rather not take Goldberg and has left him to the Japanese government for charging him with his crimes."
"Strange. I thought he was internationally wanted." Something smells fishy with the way things went.
"The correspondents mentioned something about their consultant requesting the Japanese to handle Goldberg's case so they're probably doing it as a favour."
And just as Shinichi suspected, it reeked of his father's involvement. He should have known his parents would follow through with their promises. Briefly, he wondered whether Goldberg would survive the imprisonment.
"Shinichi!" Kaito waved enthusiastically in the distance with two cups of drink in hand. Shinichi smile at his overly energetic magician. Hakuba quickly excused himself, not wanting to draw attention, though Kaito was already giving him a warning look, as though he knew they were discussing cases.
"Kaito, stop it." Shinichi playfully hit him on the more with the spoon. "Hakuba was only answering my question. Don't give him a hard time."
"Looks like he hasn't learnt his lesson yet..." Kaito comically narrowed his eyes at it focused on Hakuba's form in the distance.
"Kaito." Shinichi warned.
The magician smiled with mock apology and Shinichi knew the blond detective would be hit with a healthy dose of humiliation sometime he was least expecting it. Sighing and fully knowing there was no way he could prevent it from happening, Shinichi focused on the offered drink. The taste was unique but not exactly bad.
"What is it?" Shinichi opened the lid. It smelled like coffee but lacks the acidic taste or bitterness. It was very smooth and had left a nutty aftertaste in his mouth. It also left a lingering sweetness on his tongue. If Shinichi was to compare the drink, it tasted a little bit like Kaito, smooth and sweet with a hint of mystery.
"You like it?" Kaito took a sip from his own cup, smiling contently. "I hijacked their kitchens to make this."
Shinichi sputtered, nearly choking on the drink. He wanted to scold Kaito but knows it's useless to even try.
"Then I guess I can expect you to take over the kitchens back in our apartment then?" Shinichi had been the one who used the kitchens most often, stating that Kaito had a tendency to blow up the kitchen rather than actually doing something productive like cooking something edible (Kaito's experimentations in the kitchens were often too fiery in nature and not enough actual cooking).
"Who knows." Kaito shrugged, not wanting to content further. He of course knows how to cook but would prefer his detective to do the cooking because food tastes so much better once it passes through those deft hands.
Their day past with the much needed peace and by the time dusk was beginning to settle, the friends pasted ways. Kaito escorted Shinichi back to their rented room, where room service once again set up their meal. They enjoyed the night fireworks show from the comfort of their bedroom window.
Shinichi relaxed on the sofa facing the large window, sighing with contentment as he leaned into Kaito's chest. In front of them was a glorious spread of food.
"So? Was it up to your expectations?" Kaito asked with a hopeful sound in his voice.
"Well, you did keep your promise." Shinichi turned to place a small kiss on Kaito. "So I guess you earned your award."
Kaito laughed out loud, sounding much like the jingling of bells rather than the mocking tone often emitted from the same lips. "Then allow me to claim my prize." Slowly, his lips descended onto Shinichi's with the fireworks in the background. It was a wondrous end to their weekend before they have to face the harshness of reality once more.
-TBC-
