AN: This is a very silly oneshot that I have zero regrets writing. And beyond that I really have nothing more to add, so enjoy, I guess!

Makeup

Characters: Aoko Nakamori, Kaito Kuroba

Summary: He never quite expected putting some of the skills he'd learned as Kaito Kid to use like this, but there was no way he could let Aoko leave her house looking like that.

"That's... certainly a look you're sporting there, Aoko."

"Is it really that bad?" Glancing at her own reflection in the mirror with a frown, Aoko's brows knitted together as she studied her face. She thought that she hadn't done a bad job of applying makeup to herself, really.

"I've seen worse, but..." Trailing off there a little, Kaito heaved a slight sigh, rubbing the back of his head. When he'd come over to Aoko's house to check on her, he hadn't expected to find her in front of the bathroom mirror, having dug out her mother's old makeup kit from the mementos that her father kept. He expected even less to find her attempting to wear said makeup. "Why the sudden interest in makeup, Aoko? It's not really like you."

With a slight frown, Aoko grabbed one of the washcloths that hung behind her, dampening it and wiping off her face wordlessly before she even so much gave him a response. She got the feeling that Kaito was trying to be tactful in his response- which was rare for him- it must have been worse than she thought, in that case.

"You know, it's the party Aoko's been invited to tonight." Aoko finally told him, glancing back at him with a slightly worried look on her face.

"Ah, that awards ceremony party that Kid is supposed to show up at?" Kaito asked, blinking a little. "That's right, now that you mention it, you said something about your father getting you an invitation to it. But you seemed pretty excited about it at the time- what's wrong now?"

"Aoko guesses she got a little self-conscious." She sheepishly admitted after a moment. Normally, this kind of thing didn't bother her, even if people did like to tease her for being childish. "You know, there's going to be all those famous people and stars there. And all Aoko has to wear is that old party dress that dad bought her awhile back. Aoko got worried that she'd stand out in a really bad way because of it, so she thought that maybe if she tried to spruce herself up with some of her mother's old makeup..."

"I see." Letting a long sigh escape from his lips, Kaito folded his arms in front of his chest, looking over at the girl he'd known since childhood, some makeup still smeared in places on her face where she hadn't managed to clean it all off yet. "That explains it. But Aoko, I don't think you need to go that far. I don't think anyone's going to make fun of you."

You're cute enough as it is already, Kaito couldn't help but think to himself.

"But!" Aoko began, puffing out her cheeks slightly.

"Well, how about this then? Why don't I help you with your makeup?" Kaito asked, a slight grin appearing on his features. He might not agree with Aoko's worries, but he wasn't about to flat out try and invalidate them. If it gave her confidence a bit of a boost, he was more than happy to help her out.

"Hah? Why would you know anything about makeup, Bakaito?" Aoko couldn't help but ask, casting him a skeptical look.

"I know plenty, Ahouko!" Kaito responded, making a light use of her nickname this time. "When I was a kid, I always used to think my mom putting on her makeup was some kind of magic trick, so I used to watch her a lot. I still remember a lot of things from then. Besides, if you don't like it, you can just wash it off, so what's there to lose?"

Well, that was partly a lie. It was true that he'd sometimes watched his mother apply her makeup whenever she had a big event ahead of them- but that's not where he'd learned such skills from. Those had come later, after he'd taken up his father's mantle as Kaito Kid. Mastering makeup skills went hand in hand with mastering disguise skills, as far as he was concerned.

"Well, fine. But don't make Aoko look weird!" There was still some slight hesitation in her eyes- but at the very least, she was willing to give it a try. Kaito did have any number of weird skills- if he knew how to apply makeup, then frankly that wouldn't really surprise her all that much.

"Trust me, I couldn't possibly make you look any weirder than you made yourself look." Kaito teased her, even as he carefully worked to clear away the last traces of the makeup that she had applied herself from her face. "Leave everything to me, Aoko. I'll make sure you're the belle of the ball!"

"It's not a ball, Bakaito."

"It's a figure of speech, Ahouko."

It was only after he'd finished applying her makeup that Kaito had realized that he'd made a horrible mistake. An utterly terrible, horrible mistake, the likes of which he could not excuse.

He'd made Aoko too cute.

It wasn't the way her face lit up as she saw her own face in the mirror that was the problem, nor the way that this made the beating of his heart quicken. Those were all good things, he thought. If Aoko was happy, he was happy. No, the main problem was that he had fulfilled his promise- there was no doubt that Aoko would be the cutest girl at that party- and that was the problem.

Because at said party, Kaito knew, there would be any number of sleazy playboys. He knew, he'd checked the guest list, after all. Even though Aoko didn't know it herself, he was going to attend the very same party- just not as Kuroba Kaito.

The prospect of Aoko being hit on by said sleazy playboys was almost enough to make his blood boil. No, no, no- that was not something that he would allow. Absolutely not. Those kinds of creepy guys had no business going anywhere near Aoko, however cute she was.

It was then that he decided what his next course of action needed to be. It might changing some of his plans around last minute, but what was life without a little bit of improvisation? It only served to make things exciting.

If he'd accidentally made Aoko into the cutest girl at the party, then he would just have to become even cuter than her. It would be a rather simple matter for him, he thought. He'd make damn sure all eyes would be on him- but first, he had to find the right dress.