This kinda spawned from the first paragraph which was just this short word drabble-thing that I spontaneously jotted down while on the way to work. I didn't expect this to grow until it was so large but Shinichi refused to cooperate with me and the KID wanted a turn to so it just went on and on and on. This was supposed to be like fifty words, maybe a hundred but now it's several times that size goddamnit. It supposed to continue onto another part but I haven't even started that yet so that's going to take awhile.

If it wasn't clear, this piece is set before the previous chapters in terms of timeline and details a bit on how Kaito and Shinichi started being friends per se. Hope you guys enjoy!

P.S. If this seems a bit angst to you it's cause I'm kinda sad right now due to RL situations.

P.P.S Review? :D

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All it takes is time, time and distance. They wear down all the strongest, the weakest, the bonds that no one thought would break, but break they did until all that left were splinters and shards of broken memories and shattered dreams of whatcouldhavebeens. Time stands still for no one and it pushes and pulls against you, stretching and squeezing your heart in equal measure. They had known each other for close to two decades, from tiny babes to young adults but still...

Now, eleven (twenty), Conan (Shinichi) has finally moved on. Ran had called a few months ago to inform him, teary-eyed, that she wasn't going to wait for him anymore, that she had already gave twenty years of her life to you and I need to let you go.

He had been so close to revealing himself but realised that she was right. He had no right to do this to her when he couldn't even guarantee an antidote yet. And the black organisation was still out there, ready and waiting like a pack of hungry wolves stalking their prey; he had to keep fighting and he couldn't drag her into it, no matter what Vermouth had planned. Their shadow loomed over him, tracing his every step, his every word, every deduction and murder solved; he could never escape until he took them down for good.

He had to let her go for her own good. It was time to say goodbye to this familiarity, this relationship that had never taken off because he stupidly got himself poisoned and shrunk to a seven-year-old child. There was no one to blame but himself.

Conan had numbly let go of the phone and let it drop after the conversation had ended before walking out onto the sidewalk. He had wandered aimlessly for a few hours, thinking about what he had done and questioning, always questioning whether he was right, whether he could even bring about the fall of the Black Organisation if even seasoned FBI officers couldn't.

It was only a few hours later when he found himself on the rooftop of a clock tower, wondering how he got there when a white silhouette caught his eye. A soft thump a two metres to his right announced the landing of the most famous thief in recent history, KID.

"What are you doing so far from home,Tantei-kun?" KID asked, standing up, hand tilting his top hat forward so it shielded half his face and the familiar smirk painted on his lips.

Shinichi (Conan) looked at him with tired eyes but said nothing, legs dangling from the edge of the roof. The silence stretched for a long while before Shinichi replied quietly, "I was thinking, just... wandered around till I got here."

Hands came up to his face and removed the glasses where he thumbed them absently, gaze trained on the sky above. KID stayed silent, observing his detective. It was rare that this detective was in such a somber mood, even he didn't try to lighten things up with his usual tricks.

"Do you ever get tired?"

KID startled. He didn't expect Shinichi to say anything.

"Of what? This life?" He asked.

"Of lying, of having to hide from the people you loved, of life in general."

KID hummed thoughtfully. It was a few minutes before he replied, "Occasionally, but I knew the risks when I got into this life, and I wouldn't trade it for the world."

Shinichi gave a half-smile, eyes still trained on the full moon that shone in the sky. He didn't say anything back. KID didn't continue and they sat in silence all the way until dawn.

This night a few months ago was the start of a very strange relationship between detective and thief.