This story was written for Poirot Café's Super Short Contest #8: Silence. Enjoy!

In Which Shinichi Plays Sardines

Worse things could have happened, Shinichi supposed. A bullet to the head, for one. He should be happy he'd found the box, small and inconspicuous as it was. Too small for an adult to fit. Too small for Vodka and Gin to check.

Except someone was already hiding inside.

Shinichi only had time to catch a glimpse of a hunched figure before a hand clamped over his mouth, dragging him in the box and closing the lid on top of them. Scratch his previous assessment. The box could fit an adult—if the person was an excellent contortionist. Shinichi didn't know how his child body managed to fit in there as well. Not that 'fit' was the best choice of word. Shinichi's face was mushed against the lid, and there were a lot of bony points and metal digging into him. He couldn't even tell where his body stopped and the other's began, but it did let him figure out the person was male. Not even Sera had a chest that flat.

Shinichi made a muffled sound against the person's hand, telling him to let go. The detective got a hissed "shh" for his efforts. Footsteps sounded outside a second later. Both of the figures wedged in the box sucked in a small breath, holding it as they waited to see if their hiding place would be discovered.

"No one's here, Aniki," Vodka observed.

"Check again," Gin said. There was the sound of bullets being loaded into a gun. "The Kudo brat can't have got far."

Shinichi tensed. Kudo?

"I still don't know how he got out of those chains," Vodka muttered. "Little bastard is slipperier than I thought."

"More like a cockroach that won't die." The smell of smoke filtered through the cracks in the box. Gin had lit up a cigarette. "Well, it works in our favour. If the Boss is right, that kid has the answers we need."

Vodka grunted.

Shinichi's heart thudded as he struggled to breathe in the tiny hiding space. Just what the hell was going on? He still looked like Conan right now. Kudo should have never entered the equation. And what was that crap about him escaping chains? All Shinichi had done was follow Gin's Porsche into the warehouse, attempted a little sleuthing, and then got shot at when he'd accidentally knocked a crate. No one had even seen him properly.

The sound of footsteps got closer. Light shifted. Someone was standing in front of their hiding place. One second, two seconds, three seconds. Shinichi remained impossibly still, his teeth clenched.

Don't open it, don't open it.

The words were a chant in his mind. He could tell from the heartbeat wildly beating against his back that his companion was just as tense. For a long moment they waited like that, squashed and running out of oxygen. Then the click-clacking of footsteps moved again.

"Keep looking," Gin ordered. "We can't afford to let him go."

Shinichi listened to the two men's voices fade. Neither he nor his hiding partner moved.

Crap, I'm getting light-headed.

Shinichi blinked past his dizziness. He couldn't help but remember that the last time he'd hidden like this he'd ended up passing out inside the locker. That was an experience he'd rather not repeat. Time to get out while he still had a chance.

"Let go," Shinichi said, though it came out more like "umpho".

The person complied and raised the lid of the box, careful to make as little noise as possible. Shinichi awkwardly tried to extricate himself, but it was a bit hard when they were so wedged in together. There was a tsking noise from behind him, and then fingers latched onto his collar and Shinichi got deposited on the ground. He turned just in time to see his companion perform a graceful, unravelling-like twist to stand up out of the box.

His companion who looked a lot like Kudo Shinichi.

Shinichi's eyes widened. "The hell?"

The messy-haired teen frowned at Conan. "I should probably be the one saying that, but whatever. Escape now. Talk later."

His hand latched onto Shinichi's collar again, dragging the boy towards the window tucked away in the far corner of the room. It was too high for anyone to reach—or, at least, that was Shinichi's first impression until the Kudo-look-alike picked him up, ordered him to hold on tight, and then scaled the wall in an impressive display of ninja-like acrobatics. The window turned out to be bolted shut with a padlock, but this didn't deter the teen. He gripped the windowsill with one hand, removed a pin he'd been clenching between his teeth, and then fiddled around with the padlock. Two seconds later the lock came apart and the teen slipped through the window, Shinichi clinging to him like a boy-shaped starfish.

"If you could do that, why did you hide in the box?" Shinichi demanded as they ran side by side.

"Cause Scary One was right behind me and I didn't want to get shot, obviously" the boy retorted. "What the heck were you doing there anyway?"

"Never mind that," Shinichi said impatiently. "What did those guys want with you?"

"The hell should I know? It wasn't even me they wanted. They mistook me for a detective named Kudo Shinichi." The teen's voice soured. "Just my luck to share the same face as someone with a hoard of psychos after him."

Shinichi bit his lip. "Yeah … that would be really awkward."

No need to disclose that he was the real Kudo Shinichi. He'd better change the subject.

"Still, that was really impressive what you did back there," Shinichi said, plastering on an expression of child-like enthusiasm. "You could give even Kaitou Kid a run for his money."

The teen laughed. "You don't say? Perhaps I should pit my skills against him sometime."

Shinichi frowned at the mischief dancing in the older boy's eyes. Somehow, he got the feeling he wasn't the only one hoarding secrets.