Under the Milky Way

by Kelun

Everything came together to make the boy in the newspapers into the boy waiting on the rooftop with windy hair and cloudy eyes. Kaito expected Conan Edogawa, but found Shinichi Kudo. / slash/mpreg/

2. fly with me - yung-bae

It was cold.

No. It was fucking freezing.

Kudo Shinichi pulled the furred hood of his jacket over his ears, to keep them from numbing to the point he couldn't hear anything.

It had been a couple weeks since he had last seen KID. No surprise there. Yet somehow, the days seemed so much longer without heists interspersing them, and he found himself side glancing to his phone, as if expecting it to ring with a new Kaito KID update.

It hadn't, though.

Well…

Until today. Shinichi could have cursed his luck. A heist, tonight. Too bad he already was already booked solid.

Instead of gallivanting around the rooftops with his unidentified lover, he was instead staring down at a woman with her head limp, body battered and blood splattering the walls and shattered glass everywhere. The police were called, and so was Shinichi. Her mother was wailing, her boyfriend shocked and speechless, her little sister crying and fluttery. Three suspects. He already knew which was the killer.

That didn't stop him from being pulled into the questioning, and the forensics, and pretty much everyone seemed to be doing their best to keep him here longer then he needed to be.

"The killer is…"

Megure-keibu was restless behind him, the three suspects in the room staring wide-eyed at the youthful detective. Whether in fear or awe, it was hard to say.

"You." The boyfriend drew in a startled shock, immediately launching in his defense.

"W—what?! But I wasn't even here! I—how could I have gotten in? You said it yourself, all the windows and doors were locked! And Megumi-chan's balcony was opened from the inside! How could I have done that?"

"Easy." Shinichi scoffed. His eyes kept darting to where the police lights were already patrolling for Kaito KID. "You went in through Kaho's."

The teenage sister of the murder victim made an audible squeak, hands coming to cover her mouth.

Too simple. His brain was dying from lack of interest. "Kaho opened her balcony for you, am I right? The front door to the apartment complex adjacent to this one is always open, you went up to the roof, crossed over, where you tied the rope to the rail and slowly drew yourself to her door. At this point, Kaho had already given Megumi the tranquilizer. Since there was already so much alcohol in her system it looked like she had accidentally stumbled into the glass."

Honestly, who were they trying to fool?

The boyfriend and the crying sister were handcuffed and lead outside, Shinichi following them into the hallway but turned to the staircase which lead to the roof. Anything to get away from the incessant dry heaves and wails. They were worse than usual. Or maybe, he was worse than usual. Shinichi frowned. Was he? He was always rather mercurial with his moods, so it was difficult to say.

He looked to the sky, where lights flickered off of helicopters in wide swoops, examining building tops.

The wind bit and stung at his cheeks, and he huddled closer into the jacket. There was no use going over to see the result of the Kaito KID heist. He'd missed most of it already. The detective sighed, wishing he hadn't been caught up in some droll case—it couldn't really even be called a case, there wasn't any mystery to it.

The gelid night frosted around him, but he stayed right where he was anyhow, gaze fixated on the bright spotlights flickering through the city, wondering which was focused in on KID, if any were at all. It must have been a fun one, if they had helicopters involved. All the action was muted with distance; the dull wail of sirens chasing down the city streets, the low drone of the helicopters above; the cheers and cries of the crowd.

If he listened hard enough, he thought he could hear Nakamori-keibu's shrill voice echoing in the faint distance. He closed his eyes, imagining the near silent foot falls of the incredible thief himself, those light feet treaded ground swiftly, his delighted smirk of triumph when the police successfully fell into another trap—

A glimmer of noise, caught in the wind, floated over him; his eyes snapped open, as he spun around to where the building's roof connected to the one adjacent to it.

It couldn't be—

He rushed over, cold seeping into his unzipped jacket.

And there he was, the elusive thief, bouncing the prized jewel in his hand, looking awfully uninterested in the item he had pursued the entire night.

He didn't turn to look up as Shinichi crossed the distance between them.

The detective just started at the thief for a long moment; incredulity and surprise and something dangerously close to happiness causing butterflies in his chest.

"Why are you here?" He finally managed to ask.

The thief's attention slid away from the amusing sight of the police search for him in vain, to the delectable treat in front of him. He stopped bouncing the gem; it sailed through the air one last time, before he snapped it up in his hands and held it there, as he turned to face the detective.

"I need an excuse to see you?"

Shinichi blinked, at a loss for words. His tone was light and teasing, but it was impossible to deny the frank honesty of his question. He really did want to know.

Shinichi bit his lip. "No," he blushed as he gave the thief his answer. He wondered if it was the one the thief was looking for.

Kaito's eyes softened at the admission, and he smiled. He did not elaborate, however. Instead he tilted his head. "How long have you been out here?"

The detective looked away. "Not too long." Long enough to watch the dazzling lights fade, long enough to wonder what the thief was up to.

The criminal saw right through the half-hearted lie, and leaned in close to study the detective's set face.

An exasperated look crossed the thief's expression, as he wondered just how stubborn Shinichi could be. He'd clearly been out here for a while—long enough to color the tip of his nose a very fetching red, at any rate. Stubborn and adorable; what a dangerous combination.

"C'mere." He commanded softly, a giddy sensation rising in his chest when the detective did as he asked, and slowly walked over, allowing himself to be enveloped in white arms.

He couldn't really explain the rush of emotions he felt when Kudo Shinichi willingly stepped into his arms. It was the same dark thrill that burned in him when he thought about how easily Shinichi let him kiss him, touch him, take him any way the thief wanted, let him completely and irrevocably claim him as his own.

Just thinking about it was turning him on.

He kissed the other boy abruptly; Shinichi made a startled noise, but then he was kissing back, just as deeply. The detective's deft hands had already found and tore out his belt, and were already working on the zipper with practiced ease, coaxing his prize into arousal with skilled, nimble hands. He even seemed a bit amused at the thief's eagerness, chuckling a bit as felt his cock harden in his hands.

Kaito wanted to say something—anything—to tease him, torment him, a bit surprised that the usually quiet and compliant boy was suddenly making him into the complacent one.

He never acted on the thought, however, as the boy dropped to his knees and a hot mouth was lapping at the head of his cock.

Kaito hissed in pleasure, Shinichi's wide and bright eyes watching him with a sultry, lidded gaze. He felt like he should say something, but he was too stunned to do anything but hold his erotic gaze. Shinichi broke eye contact first, eyes closing as he concentrated on his task at hand, and Kaito watched those lips slide back to expose his wet cock bit by bit and at some point in the interim he lost the ability to think, let alone speak. He felt that skilled tongue delve into the slit and a jolt of hot sensation shot into his blood. Shinichi drew in to graze his teeth slightly and Kaito fisted a handful of silky hair in his hand, mouth open to breath the ragged cold air.

Kaito groaned aloud, tossing his head back. He seriously, seriously couldn't handle this right now. This encounter was going to end very quickly if he wasn't careful.

Meanwhile, Shinichi was thinking something similar.

A part of him wanted to lean over the railing and let Kaito fuck him relentlessly into the night, while another part wanted to see Kaito's face right now, wanted to hear him come undone and know it was all because of Shinichi. His eyes slipped shut as his mouth slid further down Kaito's cock.

As if suddenly understanding his intentions, Kaito moved to pull the detective back to his feet, before he couldn't take it any more and end up coming right then, but Shinichi wasn't having any of it.

"Meitantei-kun…" He breathed, unable to keep his voice steady as the boy's head bobbed up and down, one hand in his hair and the other tugging for him to get up. "If you don't stop, I'm going to—

"Do it." The boy interrupted breathlessly, his bright and ensnaring gaze focusing up at him as he continued the motions with his hand, pert tongue coming out to lick the head. "Come for me."

Damn, if that wasn't inviting.

Come spurted into the boy's waiting mouth, the milky liquid catching on his cheeks and red lips, but those demanding eyes didn't leave his, and if that wasn't erotic he didn't know the meaning of the word. The brunette licked the side of his mouth where some had missed a bit, wiping the rest with the back of his hand. He'd probably come from the sight alone if he could.

Kaito pulled him up quickly to kiss him senseless, tasting his own bitterness on the boy's tongue.

Shinichi returned the kiss with equal fervor, arms latching on to the thief as if he expected him to disappear somehow. When they broke apart the boy didn't release his grip, still clinging to him tightly, so close they were still flush against each other.

"You're not usually so forward." KID murmured breathlessly with a slight hint of surprise, nosing into the soft hair right above the boy's ear.

Shinichi flushed. The thief was right, he mostly left the foreplay up to the kinky criminal. Kaito tucked a hand under his chin, turning his face to look at him. Shinichi felt his stomach turn over. He knew what it was, of course, he just didn't want to say it. But he could feel it welling up in the back of his throat, right there, bothersome and lodged and making its way out—"I missed you." He confessed softly, with no small amount of embarrassment, and immediately regretted it.

"Shinichi—" Kaito blinked in surprise, unprepared for the raw emotion in the brave, soft statement.

But as soon as it had come the moment was lost; Shinichi had pulled away from him, and a cool, collected gaze had replaced that brief look of tenderness. It was a familiar visage, Kaito saw this same expression staring up at him from magazines, newspapers, TV segments—it was the face of Kudo Shinichi, the legendary high school detective.

The boy stepped back, zipping up his jacket, and making for the door. He got about three steps when a smoke bomb erupted in front of him.

He was spun around abruptly, and in the faint darkness he could make out the faintest hint of the mastermind's jaw line, and the deep red of the rose hanging from his lips.

The detective was a little more than surprised when the thief kissed him chaste on the lips, the flower passing to him. Where the hell had he gotten the flower?

"I missed you too." Kaito confessed. "When you didn't show up, I—

He was struggling for the words, wondering what to say, what could possibly calm his mortification, when the boy only smiled and plucked the rose out of his mouth, holding it close while he kissed the taller boy very slowly, not hot and heady like they had been moments ago, not tentative and confused like they had when they had first started this whole thing—just a perfect, affectionate equilibrium.

Kaito held him there, and for this moment, nothing mattered, not the police—who were no doubt nearing stage twenty of his maze, and would find this place somewhere between the next three to five minutes—or the jewels, or the milky blanket of stars above them and the city around them. Nothing mattered but the feathery head of hair nestled to his chest, the way the detective nosed in against his neck, the way he hugged him back just as tightly.

Shinich was suddenly the only thing that mattered; and it occurred to Kaito then that he didn't actually know a damn thing about him.

Their poignant silence was broken when the smaller teenager made a noise of discontent, suddenly pitching almost all of his weight onto Kaito.

The thief steadied him with surprise, when the detective rocked forward to lean his head on the other boy's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asked, immediately concerned.

"I'm fine." The detective insisted hotly.

The thief was hardly convinced, but the police would be interrupting any moment, so he gave the detective another quick kiss.

"Do me a favor." He pressed the latest artifact—this one a small jade elephant—into the detective's hand. "Get some sleep, okay?" And, with another worried look; "And see a doctor."

"I'm fine." Shinichi hissed, but it was without heat.

The thief tipped his hat, which had somehow found its way on top of his head from the floor, and jumped backwards into the spiraling, dizzying drop, leaving a disheveled and disgruntled Shinichi to deal with the flabbergasted police.

-x-

The teenage detective knew he had to see Haibara when, during a particularly challenging case, he spied pickled radishes (the vegetable he hated more than anything else in the entire world) and immediately found his mouth watering. After devouring three, he realized what he was doing with no small amount of horror. What the hell was wrong with him? That, above all else, was cause for concern. Just a month ago he'd rather be shot in the foot than eat a whole serving of these, and yet here he was, going for a third.

Ran was surprised (Mouri was on the case as well, but he was pretty useless) and commented that he used to throw up when his mom packed them in his lunch as a kid. And Ran was right. The smell was normally enough to make him nauseous.

And then he had cheese ice cream, and at this point he knew it was imperative to see a doctor. For god's sake, he was eating cheese ice cream. He might have, like, ebola or something. Maybe these weird cravings were part of the first stages of turning into a zombie. He blinked in horror, unbelievably giving the idea some merit, before he shook his head. He was playing way too many horror games.

He stumbled into Agasa's house, and nervously called for the ex-scientist. The foyer was dark, but he could make out a faint light from down the hall, most likely where the short girl was typing away. Agasa didn't seem to be home.

"Ai-chan?"

A faint rustling, and the short brunette appeared in front of him, staring up blankly at him.

"Shinichi-kun." She responded, before ushering him inside. "I've been expecting you."

"You…" He blinked. "You have?"

Her lab coat trailed after her, and she wore gloves. He supposed she had been researching the APTX drug again, and how to counter effect it. As the creator, he had just sort of assumed the task would be easy for her.

But he soon realized that wasn't the case. The apotoxin was complex and almost unavoidable. It was a miracle the two of them were even spared its fate. Changing them back was another matter entirely, and one still in study. Even though Shinichi had taken the antidote at the first chance of a prototype that gleaned particularly good results—Ai had refused.

She said they weren't done testing, and she'd prefer to wait before using it on herself.

Shinichi preferred to be himself again, and had never regretted it.

Until now.

"What's…" He trailed of with a nervous gulp. "What's going on?"

"Sit down." She insisted, motioning to a chair in the corner, before moving towards piles of paper. "This could take a while."

He silently stood closer to it, but didn't sit down. He was too anxious.

"Ai-chan…" He fidgeted. "Am I dying?" Or turning into a zombie? He thought, hysterical.

"What?" She skewered him with a flat look, stopping her shuffling for a moment. "Are you stupid? Of course not."

He relaxed in relief.

"If something was that wrong with the antidote your cellular structure would have already started decaying and you would be in the final stages of necrosis."

Oh great. So as it turned out, there actually had been a chance he would turn into a zombie.

Good god, why had he agreed to take this thing, again?

"But there is something wrong." She added after a beat. She sighed, shaking her head. "This is why I told you not to take the unfinished antidote, Shinichi-kun. We didn't know what it could do to the human body, the side effects… the long-term effects. We didn't know what—" She struggled for a moment, and it was very odd to see the normally eloquent scientist at a loss for words. "It would change."

"Change?" His voice rose in panic. "What's changed?"

"Originally I had expected that the APTXA 1014 would counter the effects of the poison in your system, reverting you back into your normal form for the rest of your life, while continuing to burn out the poison from your system. While it would cause serious pain in the first moment of digestion, the APTXA 1014 would become painless, and after a year or two, completely untraceable in your system."

"So?" He cocked his head. "What… does this have to do with me?"

"Because, after I ran your tests last month—"

She'd been running them weekly for a while, actually. He hadn't said anything about his suspicions with himself (the fact that he seriously thought he was dying, which Ai almost seemed to find amusing) and had simply let her draw blood and ask him routine questions.

"—I found something a little different."

"Well? What is it?"

"Have you been engaging in sexual activity?" She asked him flatly.

He flushed to his roots. "Um… yeah. Why?"

"With another man?"

The detective was a little mortified to find a seven-year old girl asking him these questions, but answered anyway. "Yes."

She looked nonplussed. "Unprotected?"

"I don't really—" He paused. When he thought about it, they never bothered with condoms. He could have slapped himself. Holy hell he was messing around with a thief he didn't know and hadn't even thought of protection? "Yes." He said with no small amount of horror.

She nodded, as if she knew it all along, and was simply needed verification.

"Congratulations I guess." She drawled. "You're pregnant."

He choked.

His knees buckled.

Ai blinked slowly at him.

"Would you like an ultrasound?"

"What—" He sputtered, suddenly feeling lost and undeniably enraged. "No!"

"Okay." She said slowly, as if confused as to the sudden draining of pallor in his face, and the shaking of his entire body." You may want to sit down. And here, drink some water." She handed him a dixie cup. He took it with trembling hands.

"How did this happen?" He whispered, almost inaudible.

She sat on the chair opposite of him.

"Well, pregnancy occurs as the result of the female gamete, the oocyte, merging with the male gamete, to induce fertilization. Or conception, whichever you prefer. The two combined gametes are now considered a zygote, the fusion usually occurring in—

"Not that!" He hissed. "How did it happen with me?"

She cocked her head slightly. "You obviously had unprotected sex with another man, which involved him entering into—

"Nevermind." The detective—who was now officially feeling entirely too young for this messed up life of his—blushed and steadied his head with his hands. "I don't think I want to know."

She seemed to finally understand what he was getting at, nodding slowly. "Ah. Well, like I said, you took a prototype. The original toxin works at a cellular level, completely destroying the body, down to the DNA. In the .99 percent chance that you instead turn into a small child, the process of turning you back would, in theory, have to completely recreate your DNA."

"…okay?" There was a reason he was a detective, not a super scientist.

"So the prototype recreated your DNA using your current DNA as a basis. Suffice to say, it… malfunctioned."

"Malfunctioned?" He echoed, incredulous. "Or maybe, completely and absolutely fucked up."

Ai shrugged. "DNA construction is a fickle, amazing thing. Honestly, be thankful this is what happened, instead of the you, I don't know, randomly growing three heads."

He turned a little green at that.

"You alternatively could have started full body atrophy, as I stated earlier," she continued, clearly oblivious to his discomfort. "Lost a limb, or an organ or two. Or maybe even your mind itself. There's no guarantee that you would return with your memories and cognitive functions intact, after all."

Shinichi blanched down into his cup. Yeah. That would have been… well, at any rate he wouldn't even be here to be bizarrely pregnant at all if he literally lost his mind in the process.

Ai tapped her chin, suddenly looking interested. "Fascinating… It hadn't occurred to me at the time, but there should have been an even chance of your DNA structuring you as a boy, or as a girl."

Shinichi blinked. He couldn't even begin to fathom himself as a girl.

"It may as well have, considering the circumstances," he pointed out darkly.

Ai continued as if she hadn't heard him; "And yet, the only malfunction to speak of is a few added organs… I wonder if the antidote has a higher rate of success than I had originally believed. To go through that process with only one small glitch is really quite impressive…"

"Small glitch?" Shinichi echoed in incredulity. "Ai, I'm fucking pregnant."

Ai rolled her eyes. "You somehow ended up with an extra reproductive system. A successfully working reproductive system, might I add. So even then that didn't really malfunction."

Shinichi just stared at her in stunned disbelief. Fuck, she had a point though.

"You don't think this is a malfunction?" He asked, still in disbelief.

"I didn't say it wasn't a malfunction—it's just not a debilitating one." Ai retorted.

"Not debilitating? Ai, how would you feel if you woke up with a different set of reproductive body parts?"

"Body parts are different than organs," Ai pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "But at any rate, to answer your question, no I would not be pleased."

Shinichi opened his mouth to answer when Ai cut him off with a raised hand, "However, I also didn't take an untested antidote."

He promptly shut his mouth, successfully cowed.

Ai leapt out of her chair, heading towards the filing cabinets lined up in the corner of the office turned doctor's examination room turned mad scientist lab, without sparing him another look.

There was an overlap of silence that felt as if it lasted a few centuries, as Ai continued to shuffle through her cabinets full of an astonishing amount of paperwork, and Shinichi continued to close his eyes and try to pretend none of this was happening.

He thought hard on what was going to happen in his life. He never thought much on abortion, because he'd never expected it to happen to him. In theory he could see how it could be considered premeditated murder, and of course he was staunchly against that. But he was just as staunchly against violations of independent rights, and the freedom of autonomy over oneself, so he'd sort of left it at that. It was never going to be his decision, even if he had a girlfriend and something like this happened to them… he wasn't about to tell her what to do with her own body.

Except, this was his body. And he'd have to make a decision on it. Theory suddenly sounded so ridiculous. Of course he didn't want this. What the hell? It wasn't even his fault—what were the odds of him magically getting pregnant when it was impossible for his entire gender to do so? It would be perfectly acceptable for him to freak the fuck out and try to get rid of this as soon as possible.

But, could he toss away a life just because it was inconvenient for him? People do it all the time, a dark voice reasoned in his mind. The world was over populated anyway. What kind of horrible life would this kid have with an absentee teenage single-father? One might even consider having a child in his circumstances to be incredibly irresponsible.

On the thought though, his thoughts turned to the other half of it's DNA.

What about the father? Err—other father?

He and Kaito KID had a complicated relationship. Actually, it wasn't even a relationship. It was an illegal booty call. Like literally, illegal.

If he wanted to put it bluntly, Kaito would send out letters to the police to announce the location of his next heist, but in reality he was just doing it to get in Shinichi's pants. Shinichi wasn't stupid, even though KID found it highly amusing to toy with the police, he sent them out because he knew Shinichi would attend. Well that, and the arrogant thief certainly loved all the attention. He wasn't really sure how it started from just evening chats with an amiable companion who understood him better than anyone else to hot sex on whatever surface they could find—but it did.

The fact never seriously bothered Shinichi, content as he was with the status of their relationship for the time being.

It did now.

But how the hell was he supposed to tell the thief?

And what did he expect the thief to do with the knowledge?

For once in the detective's life, he didn't have an answer. And he had no way of getting one, either.

He could just not tell him at all, Shinichi thought, darkly. The thief would never have to know. They could part their separate ways and then never see each other again. Just the thought though made Shinichi curl in on himself, chest tight with an odd feeling that was not quite pain and not quite sorrow.

"So, ultrasound?" Ai asked, finally peering up from her files.

Shinichi blanched. "Pass." He waved off.

Ai made a noncommittal noise. "Well, you should do it eventually, if only for me to get a good look at how the hell your insides got re-arranged. Since you aren't dead yet, and you haven't reported any symptoms of severe pain, I'm going to assume that however this is working out, it's not life threatening."

"Great." Shinichi sighed.

So, physically, this wasn't life threatening. In every other way though, it kind of was.

Ai brightened. "And I'm very curious to see how this fetus is developing. I wonder, is it viable? That would be incredibly fascinating."

Well, at least someone was deriving enjoyment out of this.

-x-

The next week, another heist was planned.

Shinichi was surprised when his quiet evening of homework was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

He laid his pencil down and grabbed for it, turning it on to find an alert.`

A letter. The detective immediately turned on his TV to the news, where the exact same letter was being examined on the screen. They couldn't seem to figure out just when the heist would happen, even though Shinichi thought even an idiot could figure it out in a matter of minutes. It had only taken him a few seconds.

But his had also been slightly different.

There was a one-eyed smiley face with a monocle, signed Kaito KID, and at the end of the riddle, I'll be waiting for you, Meitantei-kun.

A flutter of excitement curled in his stomach.

It immediately met its demise when he thought of what else was currently curling in his stomach.

That night found him studying himself in the mirror, the steam from the shower misting the top and coloring his skin a bit pink. His stomach looked pretty much the same as it always had. The muscles from years of soccer were taut against his finger when he nudged it, and there wasn't any sort of bump like he had assumed would be there.

He promised himself that tomorrow he'd go back to Ai, and ask her more questions about this whole pregnancy thing.

He had kind of just bolted out of the house, walking hastily into the brisk air and hoping he had been dreaming. Instead, he woke up the next day, went to school, tried hard not to think about it and almost convinced himself that the entire events of yesterday were a fucked up dream when he suddenly had the urge to vomit his lunch. At least now he had a word for the symptoms. Morning sickness. Ugh.

The detective studied his side view, pajama bottoms loose on his hips, the red-checkered flannel material itching against his legs.

There wasn't a noticeable change. He poked again.

Nope, it was just muscle. No squishy pregnancy fat.

Maybe Ai had been wrong?

"I'm not wrong." The woman insisted monotonously the next day when he arrived at Agasa's house. The plump old man was whistling from the kitchen, where he had started dinner.

Shinichi frowned petulantly, crossing his arms. "I'm like what, a month or two already?"

"I'd say anywhere from seven to eight weeks."

"I can't see anything!" He lifted up his shirt; Ai whistled approvingly at the sight. He flushed and immediately pulled it back down. "Aren't you supposed to see something? Like a bump?"

Ai shook her head. "First of all, you moron, you're a boy. That's with girls. This is obviously an entirely different case of pregnancy, so if you've been looking stuff online—which I assume you have—" Shinichi flushed at being found out so easily. "You should stop. All you're going to do is confuse yourself. From the forming of the fetus, I'd think that you're going to barely notice the bump at all. Surely not at only, what, six or seven—maybe eight depending on fertilization—weeks along. Maybe around twenty to twenty-four weeks you'll start to see a little bit."

She paused, as if contemplating.

"Do you have any other questions?"

"Can I…" He began softly, eyes downcast, hands wrapped around his stomach. "See an ultrasound?"

Ai's piercing gaze softened a bit. "Lay down on the table."

The machine was seriously creepy looking, and the gel was cold. He winced at the feeling on his sensitive stomach, but Ai didn't seem to pay it any mind. She stood on a stool to get to the height above the detective, rubbing the gel onto some strange thing which he assumed would be rolling around on his stomach, watching the screen.

"Alright, it's not going to hurt any, so you can stop looking so scared."

He smiled a little at that.

"How do you know all about this?" He asked her, genuinely curious.

She blinked at him. "Before I joined…" Ai trailed off, looking thoughtful. "Before I was officially recruited into Black Organization, I had always wanted to be a obstetrician." A soft look made its way onto her face. "I—Akemi always loved children. I went to school for it, and did a year or two of residency before…" She swallowed, looking away. "Anyway I am by no means a professional."

Shinichi tactfully ended the conversation.

He got used to the cold soon enough, and his eyes eventually moved to where Ai's were trained on the screen. The wide looking screen was in the shape of a triangle, and the machine was loud.

"Hmm…." Ai looked thoughtful. "A little small, heartbeat around one-hundred ten beats. That's not too surprising though; I imagine it'll be smaller than normal throughout all stages."

"Wait—heartbeat?" Shinichi blinked in surprise, moving up onto his elbows for a better look. "Can you hear it?"

Haibara skewered him with a flat glare. "Of course not." She pointed to a slightly moving gray and black blob among the entire picture of gray and black. "See that little thing right there? It's kind of moving left and right?"

He nodded slowly.

"That's the heartbeat."

He stared at it in awe, wondering how such a tiny thing could hold such a significant meaning. It hardly looked like it was moving at all, just vague shapes on the ultrasound, a small circle, so tiny and important.

Oh god. "So it's really alive." He noted, with slight horror.

Ai nodded, looking equally as surprised. "Yes, it seems to be a completely viable fetus. Everything appears to be in working order."

Shinichi slapped a hand over his face. Everything was in working order—even though everything was also completely and totally fucked up.

The detective almost immediately felt sick.

"Shinichi-kun?" The scientist began carefully, stopping the probing object to retreat it back where it had came from—lord knew why Agasa had a fucking ultrasound in his house, but then, why did he have all the other crap he had no use for?—when she noticed his stricken face.

"I—

He grabbed one of the tissues sitting on the table nearby Ai's makeshift examination room, rubbing it hastily over his wet stomach.

"I've got to go."

She frowned at this. "Running away isn't going to solve anything."

"I'm not running away." He echoed her words, but even to him they felt limp, useless. "I just… can't think about this right now."

The girl looked as if she wanted him to stay, but she shook her head. "Go, then." She said softly, a look of understanding on her face.

Shinichi had never been one to run away, (and he was totally, totally running away) he faced everything head on, cases, murders, even hunting down Black Organization members. But this problem was a little harder to cope with then being shrunk into a child's body, or solving crimes. This wasn't some trite, insipid little problem he could brush off, there was no missing piece to the Arcanum, nothing to figure out. There was just himself—the most indomitable problem of them all.

-x-

Knowing this didn't make him feel any better.

And what he really wanted right now was to feel Kaito's arms around him, hear the whisper of his voice. He was quite horrified when he realized it wasn't even the sex he wanted—it was what came after. The quiet, precious moments where all he worried about was catching his breath, tucked so close to the thief he could feel the other boy's heart racing beneath his chest.

There was no full moon, but there was a heist.

The night found him shifting uncomfortably on the rooftop, fully aware of the criminal behind him, eying his every move. The police shouted around them, so close yet so distant. Meters away, but no closer to solving the intricate maze KID set for them than they ever were. Nakamori-san was hollering loudly over the communication, and Shinichi could hear it through the receiver from where it hung limp on KID's shoulder.

He turned around, steeling himself against the railing, the cold night wind picking up the chords of his jacket into the night, his hair, Kaito's cape, and possibly all of his courage along with it.

Suddenly, he felt entirely unprepared to meet the infamous thief, and wanted to bolt down the stairs and right out of the thief's life.

But gloved hands came to rest on his, as the thief leaned in to graze his lips against the detective's ear, and heat pooled in his stomach as he started to trace the edge of it with his teeth.

Shinichi didn't know what he wanted.

Scratch that.

Curse his teenage libido, he knew exactly what he wanted.

"Meitantei-kun—

The thief's words were muffled when Shinichi abruptly pulled the hat aside, tugging the other boy closer so that his lips met the others. If the thief was surprised with his forwardness, he didn't show it, only smirking and pressing the smaller boy further against the railing around the rooftop.

Kaito pulled away from those perfect bruised lips; the detective opened his eyes dazedly, the sparkling blue gaze catching his own. Shinichi stared up into the face before him, shrouded in darkness. He could never really make out any of KID's defining features; that stupid monocle was surprisingly effective in that regard.

Shinichi could pass the thief on the street, they could take the same train every morning, hell, they could live on the same street and Shinichi would never know.

This had never bothered him before.

Kaito KID's real identity had hardly ever perked his interest more than once or twice, and after they had begun their relationship, it stopped entirely. He found that, for once in his entire life, he liked the mystery. He liked these sweet nights wrapped in darkness; he liked that he only knew Kaito KID, the notorious and infamous internationally-wanted thief, the brilliant, mastermind behind it all.

But lately, it had started to bother him. Seriously bother him, at that. He really didn't know anything about this other boy—not even his real name.

For god's sake, this was the father of his goddamn child.

(Shinichi really didn't want to think about that)

(it was kind of a turn off)

Said father to be was kneading his hands into the soft, taut flesh of the detective's stomach, enjoying the little keening mewls that the detective let out with vicious pleasure.

"You're so sensitive." Kaito grinned roguishly, lowering himself to where he had pulled Shinichi's shirt up to expose that delightful midriff.

The detective covered his mouth against the moan that left him when the thief licked stripes across his abdomen, blushing furiously and hating himself for being so responsive to every grazing touch. He gripped the railing with his other hand, arching into that hot mouth that bit into his hip, claiming a deep mark on the skin there.

"S—shut up." He hissed in embarrassment, which only furthered the thief's amusement. "And keep going."

The thief knew exactly what he was talking about, and he pulled himself up to ruthlessly plunder Shinichi's mouth, nimble hands undoing the button of his pants and—

"Hah…" Shinichi's voice was uneven and shaky when frosted hands found their prize. He hissed. "Kaito—your hands are fucking cold."

"Sorry." He didn't sound all that apologetic.

Kaito loved those few, scarce moments when Shinichi used his real name. Even if the detective was unaware that he was even doing it. (maybe because he had no idea who Kaito KID really was?) Perhaps it was knowing that he was the reason the usually collected and composed detective was a panting mess, that only he could make the boy gasp and moan in such a flustered fashion. Shinichi was only like this for Kaito KID—no one else got to see him this way. Except for Kuroba Kaito, of course, and there was a part of him that liked the idea of Shinichi not just being Kaito KID's, but Kuroba Kait's as well.

"Tell me what you want, Shinichi." He whispered into the boy's ear, pulling back to watch the blue of the other boy's eyes darken, a smoldering look as they burned into his own.

Shinichi bit his lip. "I—

But the thief didn't give him any time to answer, as he was cut off by an abrupt, jerking hand, and his half formed plots were lost as his eyes fluttered closed in pleasure.

Kaito groaned at the sight of the detective coming undone.

He lost himself in the beautiful lines of the boy's face; thick lashes lowered alluringly against the burning blue eyes that he dreamt about, always; the flushed mouth that was bruised from his own nipping teeth; tousled chocolate hair an artful, absurdly sexual mess.

"I want…" The detective started, breathlessly. Kaito sucked in a breath as one of Shinichi's hands found its way into his own pants. Hands wrapped around his neck and tugged at his collar. Shinichi's face was scrunched in pleasure and embarrassment, because he knew desperately what he wanted but didn't want to have to say it—"I want you inside me."

Kaito wasn't sure how he was still thinking coherently after that arousing plead.

"Now?"

A helpless moan and a nod against his shoulder. "Right now."

He wasn't entirely sure how it happened, but somehow the detective ended up sprawled on the floor, hands tied in his shirt with quick work by the thief and jacket underneath him, not bothered by the cold ground or the somewhat uncomfortable position, because Kaito had crawled on top of him almost immediately thereafter. Most of the thief's outfit was also divested from his person, fallen around them haphazardly. Shinichi a writhing mess beneath him, unable to break free of those wicked little bonds Kaito had brought with him. He had finally untangled his arms from his shirt only to realize they were bound together by something else; inwardly he smirked. So the thief had finally gotten around to those handcuffs.

"Like that?" He asked, scissoring his fingers inside the boy and smirking when the lithe body arched in pleasure.

"Yeah…" Shinichi answered mindlessly, not really able to think when Kaito hit that spot again. He pressed harder, and Shinichi let out a quiet noise of pure pleasure, arching into it. He tried to get those fingers to go even deeper, but he found that the thief had very effectively managed to tie him into immobility. "This is a little kinky, y'know?" His voice was breathless and shaky, but Kaito could see the amused smirk against his lips. "If I didn't know better, I would have thought you had a thing for tying me up."

Kaito shrugged. "You don't seem to be complaining."

"No." Shinichi agreed, breath hitching as Kaito added another finger. "I'm definitely not."

Kaito slowly pried his legs out of his jeans, lowering himself down with a gleeful look in his eye as Shinichi opened his eyes when he stopped his teasing ministrations, talented fingers leaving him empty and aching.

He looked at the thief's wicked grin with apprehension. "KID…what are you—

He didn't finish his sentence because Kaito had crawled down his body to inspect his handiwork with a pleased eye. He pushed the boy's legs up more, exposing that perfect little hole for his prowling eyes.

Shinichi seemed to have caught on by then, yelping "Don't!" But Kaito had already descended.

"Ha—ahh…" The boy was moaning in a miserable mixture of absolute pleasure and mortification, turning his head away in embarrassment, hands fighting the bonds as he attempted to scoot away, but Kaito's rigid grip kept him in place. There was really nothing he enjoyed more than a rim job, really, especially with Shinichi, who loved it but hated to have to admit to it.

"Don't what?" He asked suavely, fully knowing the answer at this point.

There was shifting from above him, and Kaito could tell the detective was trying to melt himself into the pavement at his own embarrassment. Kaito always knew just what to do to make him lose his mind.

"Don't stop." The boy mumbled. "Bastard." He added, grumbling.

The thief took immense pleasure lapping at the perfect hole, dipping past the ring of muscle and relishing in the struggled, gasping mewls the little kitten was making. While all he wanted to do was lick and stab and suck at it until Shinichi was nothing but a sobbing mess, he'd miss his opportunity to what he really wanted to do.

He stopped abruptly and the erotic sounds the detective was making eased into impatient panting, and he spared a wicked look at the detective's flushed and mortified face.

The thief slapped around behind them for his clothing (which had been torn apart at the opportune moment) and eventually reached one of the hidden pockets in his coat where he kept the lube. He flipped the cap open and hissed at the cold gel, eyes never leaving Shinichi's lowered gaze.

The detective's eyes fluttered closed as he felt the hard, stiff head of Kaito's cock hovering just outside him, taking a harsh intake of breath as the thick, rigid shaft impaled him slowly. Kaito hissed at the flawless wet heat, trying not to ram himself into the hilt immediately and give the boy time to adjust.

He pulled the detective's legs onto his shoulders to push in easier, but he found that, instead, he had only made the passage constrict even more, and the boy under him wriggled helplessly when he accidentally brushed the spot that made him moan aloud.

The angle was perfection, and Shinichi was so tight that he wasted no opportunity to plow into the pliant body beneath him, tiny little moans doing nothing but edging him on.

"Kaito—

His name, again, and a spike of arousal nearly sent him diving off the edge.

"I'm…" An abrupt thrust cut off the detective. "Holy shit, I'm going to—"

Shinichi cried aloud; it wasn't one of those breathy little gasps and little noises of pure pleasure that went straight to his cock, but an actual cry that was almost music to his ears. He was always so shy and skittish during sex; it made Kaito want to pry him open and have him screaming and begging. It didn't take much besides a vocal little detective beneath him for Kaito to follow, leaning into the boy's compliant body, the shorter brunette squirming underneath him as he came inside with a groan.

After moments of collapsing on top of the panting boy, Kaito eventually struggled to move on limp arms, making a move to pull himself out of the docile body beneath him when Shinichi stopped him.

"Don't… pull out." He trailed off sleepily. The detective obviously hadn't followed his directions—for the second time now!—and gotten rest. "I want to feel you."

He sighed softly, maybe in exhaustion (the boy really could wear him out) or maybe just fond exasperation and leaned down to press an easy kiss to those soft lips. "Did you miss me?" He asked, cheekily, not actually expecting a real answer.

"Yeah," Shinichi smiled, soft and quiet. "I did miss you."

This was the second time he admitted to it, and this time Kaito didn't let his shock get in the way of the thrill of delightful pleasure that shivered down his spine at the words. He kissed the boy again, slow and sweet, as if to show how much he loved to hear that—

"Kaito?"

The magician nearly jumped at the voice of his best friend.

"Err—" Shit! "Aoko-chan?! What are you doing in my room?"

She tilted her head slightly, messy, wild hair brushing her shoulders. "I'm here to wake you up. You promised you would walk me to school, remember?"

"I did?"

Her stern glance sent him backtracking.

"Of course I did!" He broke into nervous laughter. "Now why don't you leave so I can change?"

There was an amused look on her face. "You looked like you were having a good dream. What were you thinking about?"

He was thinking about how he had his wicked way with a certain beautiful detective a couple days ago.

"Hehe…" He grinned, sliding purposefully so his head was over the edge of his bed, and lower abdomen suspiciously covered in the most blankets. "I was thinking about white and blue stripes."

A pause, as he let the words sink in.

"Oooh! And a ribbon, too!"

Aoko smacked him, stalking out of the room as he grinned like a fool.

He couldn't help it.

Today was a good day.

And it had everything to do with Shinichi Kudo.

Just thinking about how easily the other boy let Kaito claim him was enough for his half-formed morning erection to spring to full life. He wasn't really sure how the hell he managed to snag the most available bachelor in all of Edoka, Beika, Tokyo and possibly all of the world, how the hell that very same boy was underneath him the other night, filled up with his—

Kaito cut the thought of there with a blush, stepping into the shower and immediately switching it to cold.

Still, the fact that Shinichi willingly came to him, willingly spoke it out loud, "I did miss you…" was a little more than surprising. The thought, the little hushed confession, had him grinning silly in the shower as he rubbed his hair, thinking of how adorable the shorter boy was. He could fixate forever on his soft hair, brushed around his eyes, and the little piece that stuck up in the back no matter how many times Kaito smoothed it down; the slight smile he wore, and, even better, the tiny, almost inaudible noises he made only for Kaito.

He toweled off his hair and stepped onto the shaggy rug of his bathroom,

Kaito wanted nothing more than Shinichi right here with him.

The first thought he entertained himself as he brushed his teeth, was of Shinichi bent over his sink, hands grasping for purchase and scattering all the items on the surface clattering to the floor, panting for more, even thought the two of them had hardly woken up moments ago. He wondered what it would be like to wake up with the detective next to him, the peaceful features of his dreaming face the first thing he saw in the morning.

Afterwards he entertained his thoughts on Shinichi's reaction to his true identity. The detective was everything he had imagined, that standoffish demeanor the media portrayed him with, that always came off a bit arrogant. Kaito grinned; he was a total ice princess; he was charming with no charisma, never expending much effort for his fans or the world at large, and yet they continued to worship the ground he walked on. He was calm and collected under pressure, be that spontaneous interviews or a handful of homicides, always completely composed and confident in himself.

And yet, with the elusive thief—the last person on earth Kaito would have expected the detective to fall for—he was more; explicit moments of humor, the quirk of his lips, the look as he turned to Kaito with something endless in his eyes: everything bled together to make the boy in the papers into the boy waiting on the rooftop with windy hair and cloudy eyes.

Could this really be real life right now? Maybe he was making it all up. How could the absurdly attractive, ambivalent, unapproachable boy on TV be the same one he saw just the other night? The Shinichi everyone else knew was polite but distant—indifferent, to everyone. Though he was nice enough, he never spared anyone all that much attention. Except for Kaito. With Kaito, he had pulled down some of those barriers. He could be cool and withdrawn at times, but he was also rather… affectionate. He liked to play with Kaito's hands, liked running his fingers through his hair, liked curling up against him and ignoring the rest of the world. He waited for him, long into the night. He missed him.

And Kaito loved it. He loved everything about it. He loved being the only exception to the otherwise cold and reserved Kudo Shinichi.

But what would that boy say to Kuroba Kaito? He certainly knew what he'd say to Kaito KID.

The thought of Shinichi finding out his true identity… well, there was a part of him that really wanted that, and another, greater part of him that really didn't want that.

Kaito KID was larger than life. He knew that intimately well. He was more than a person; he was a spectacle, he was theater, he was entertainment—he was captivating and alluring and enchanting. He was both a person and a form of art, the two blending seamlessly into a persona that existed as more than him; more than one person, either. After all, his father had been International Criminal 1412 first.

And anyway, Kuroba Kaito was definitely none of the above. Sure, he was good-looking, and he tended to use that to his advantage at every possible instance, but he wouldn't really call himself captivating. He wasn't alluring, or enchanting. He was definitely arrogant at times; he was still witty and clever and forever enjoyed making spectacles, but, he supposed, the crux of the matter was that he didn't have the prestige Kaito KID did.

Would Shinichi care? Would he be disappointed to find out that the person behind the mask could never live up to the grandeur of his persona?

Kaito frowned at his own reflection, running a hand through his hair.

He made his way out of the bathroom eventually, pulling his shirt on as he heard Aoko putter about in his kitchen.

Kaito walked into the main room, Aoko already at the door, looking impatient as if she had been waiting for him for a while.

She looked ready to yell at him, when she stopped, abruptly, to study his face.

The boy had a—a look. Earlier it had been one of stupid happiness, but now it was one of deep, pensive consideration. Either way, Aoko knew they were caused by the same thing.

"I don't know who she is." Aoko began slowly, eyes blinking big at him as she shifted her weight by the door. "But,"

"Eh?"

"Face it Kaito, you're falling." She pointed out. "Fast."

-x-

Next week made thirteen weeks since conception.

Or that's what Ai said, anyhow, after she had dragged him into Agasa's house.

After the latest KID heist, Shinichi spent the remaining part of the weekend sleeping off most of his exhaustion, only moving to eat or get more comfortable. He'd finally decided to take the thief's advice, and pay more attention to his health. Ran had visited him, he thought, or maybe she hadn't. Maybe it had just been a dream. Luckily, his dreams had been pretty uneventful, coarse whispers that he could hardly remember upon awaking. He would prefer them to be vague and difficult to remember.

He didn't like dreaming of KID, was the thing. Even though he tended to quite often. It seemed too close for comfort; some dreams he could blink into the blinding sunlight, turn over, and forget that the thief wasn't actually right next to him. Sometimes he dreamed of the stupidest things; like the thief's hands, or his laughter in the dark.

Sometimes he'd feel something wrestle in his stomach, and he'd touch it curiously, as if still not quite believing something was in there.

He hadn't the courage to ask Ai how it came to be there, judging from her last answer.

Anyway, so he'd pretty much loafed about after heist, which included less stealing of jewels and more stealing of his sanity. This time, though, his back hadn't been rubbed raw from the gravel, as he had been smart enough to lay his jacket down first. Downside; now his jacket smelt like Kaito KID and silvery nights, and now he didn't have the heart to wash it. The thief had held him so gently you'd think he thought Shinichi would break. And the sex… it wasn't so much sex as it was totally embarrassing, totally romantic love making. He didn't know any other way of explaining it; there was no shoving and biting, no quick and dirty fuck against the wall. He liked those encounters, but he liked this one… more. And he damned himself for thinking that. Sex was sex. Whatever this was—it was dangerous.

"What's wrong?" The thief asked, when he saw the detective's profile, tossed in shadow, fixated studiously on something far away.

The boy turned quickly at that, smiling weakly. "Nothing." He replied, leaning up to press his lips against Kaito's.

"I'm not hurting you, am I?" The thief continued, worried.

"No, I'm fine." Shinichi shook his head at that, smile growing into something more genuine.

Shinichi didn't mind a little bit of pain, but this was so far from those encounters it was almost laughable that Kaito was so concerned. He'd been holding him all night long like he was made of glass, caresses so gentle and soft, opening him up slowly, so slowly Shinichi thought he was going to lose his mind. A part of him wanted to complain about the total lack of urgency—it certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd bossed the thief around—but the rest of him was rather smitten with this new side of the criminal.

He liked it like this. It was so slow and intimate it made him blush more than anything else they had ever done (including the time with the blindfolds), had him hiding his face in the other boy's shoulder, as if he could hide from his feelings.

The detective arched his back, drawing in a long intake of breath as the thief surged back into him, so slow it made his toes curl. He felt like he was about to shatter apart. "I'm not made of glass, you know," he panted softly, when Kaito was fully inside him, not appearing to be in any hurry to move.

"I know." The thief agreed with a chuckle, beginning his excruciating slide out of him. They both groaned aloud at the feeling; this pace was going to drive him crazy, but he loved every second of it.

"Then why—" his breath hitched and his eyes slipped shut as the thief pulled out almost entirely, only to thrust into him again all the way to the hilt, "Why are you going so slowly?"

Kaito paused. "You don't like it?"

His eyes snapped open at that. "No, I love it." He replied, thickly, voice small and uneven.

When Kaito pressed their lips together, he could feel the smile against his own. "Good."

It didn't take long for both of them to come, not when everything about this was so torturous it was overwhelming. Shinichi felt blissful and content in the aftermath; he'd put his clothes back on, but hadn't made any move to pull away from the thief. "Not that I didn't like it," he started, as Kaito's fingers carded through his hair. "But why the change of pace?"

The thief seemed to think this over deeply, fingers pausing with the barest hesitation—but the gesture, however insignificant, was telling in and of itself. It was very rare that KID was caught off guard, even for a moment.

"You deserve a fuck or two that's not me bending you over an air conditioning unit," He admitted. Shinichi was startled into a laugh at that—he remembered that event, quite fondly, actually. "You know, with a bed, maybe a blanket."

Shinichi smiled brightly, still laughing lightly. "I liked that air conditioning unit," he said, making the thief break out into laughter of his own. "I like this too."

It was true, but he knew he was avoiding the subject. Avoiding having to answer that, or have a response at all. Maybe he would like a bed sometimes. But a bed meant a room. And a room meant a place removed from the heist. And that seemed almost… too much.

-x-

It had been a week from then, and he could hardly recall the school days he had attended other then a blur of sharp glances and low droning.

"You're sleeping a lot because you overexert yourself." Ai snapped at him when he brought up the subject. "You're caring for two people now. Two people need twice the amount of sleep."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Shinichi complained. "That's impossible."

"It means you need a lot more sleep than whatever you're getting now."

She paused. A rather irritated look crossing her face. "And twice the nutrition. It looks to me like you're barely eating for half a person." The short brunette hopped onto the tall stool—he usually would have found this comical, if she hadn't been reprimanding him—"You're not Conan anymore. You're a growing seventeen—

"Eighteen." He corrected with emphasis.

"Eighteen," She amended. "Year old boy and you need to remember you're also a thirteen week old child who has no way of feeding itself aside from whatever its mother decides to eat. Or should I say, when its mother decides to eat. "

He cringed at that.

Damn.

Guilt trip.

So he hadn't really cared much about his health for the past couple weeks…months. Maybe years. But he had never had to in the past, either. Conan didn't need to eat a lot, and before that, he spent most of his time solving mysterious and grabbing whatever he could, whenever he could. He couldn't help that he had never really sat down and attacked an entire family's worth of food, which, apparently, he was supposed to do now.

Good god, he was taking care of someone else now.

He was going to be a fucking parent.

How the hell was he supposed to do that when he could hardly take care of himself?

Not for the first time since this shitshow started, he contemplated somehow aborting it. But how the hell would he do that? He couldn't just walk into a clinic, line up with a whole bunch of women, and ask for an abortion. He snorted. He could imagine that going down very poorly. And he doubted Ai's brief stint in medical school would prepare her for that kind of procedure.

He realized belatedly that he hadn't really been thinking clearly on any of this. He had convinced himself he didn't have time to think about the fact that sooner or later he'd have to face the truth that he had fucked this up, because he was the one who took the prototype, knowing that there would be dire consequences, but not caring either way, just wanting to be how he was before.

And he'd have to own up.

"Thanks for everything, Haibara-chan." He said suddenly, sounding both defeated and yet determined,

The girl—woman—peered at him puzzlingly. "Where are you going?" She asked him.

He smiled.

"I'm gonna go get some food."

Ran was entirely too pleased when he asked her to go to dinner with him.

She entered the ramen shop looking quite like her usual self, kind and concerned, hair blowing in the light afternoon rain. He had forced himself to eat an entire bowl—luckily, the immediate recoil to throw it up had quelled considerably to allow him to eat without thinking of the near future, and where the nearest bathroom was. Ran was pleasant, and even, dare he say, friendly? He tried to remember the last time the two of them had hung out, not separated by age difference or cases, or his bigoted infatuation with crime and Sherlock Holmes. Or their feelings. Ugh.

"Wow, look at that!" She was pointing to the television screen propped near the bar, where the rest of the patrons—and staff— of the restaurant had all somehow managed to gravitate towards.

He did, almost dropping his entire spoonful of hot broth in his lap.

There was his face.

And the masked appearance of Kaito KID.

"With another Kaito KID heist scheduled for this Saturday, and if our police reports are correct, occurring at the stroke of midnight—we ask ourselves, when will the day Kaito KID will be captured?"

After a screenshot of those embarrassingly moronic little notes Kaito loved to make, including his caricature of himself and a heart, as usual, the camera was panned to the streets, which were crowded with Kaito KID supporters.

"We love Kaito KID!" A girl with curly honey brown hair and a gaggle of friends were standing with Kaito KID badges. "He's by far the most amazing criminal in the world! Isn't it crazy how long he's been able to avoid the authorities?" The brunette went on to say, "He's like a modern day robin hood!"

Shinichi sighed and propped his head on one hand. This whole thing was going straight to KID's head, no doubt.

"KID is amazing!" Another girl was saying, this one sounding alarmingly like…

"Sonoko-chan!" Ran gasped aloud.

Shinichi wanted to bang his head into the plastic table.

"Hi, I'm the executive for the Kaito KID fanclub, Suzuki Sonoko! Listen, do you think Kaito KID is sexy? Because we do! We think its in everyone's best interest to work together," She emphasized the word with air quotation marks—whether legitimately or facetiously, he really couldn't say, "with the police, that way when they catch him, we can see him unmasked! What do you say, people?"

Cheers erupted from the girls behind her, a variety of posters and signs flying into the air and wobbling on a sea of outstretched arms. Sonoko made a victory pose for the camera, fingers in the "peace" sign and one hand on her canted hip. She looked like every second-rate superhero out of a b-rated movie. It was slightly disheartening.

"People really make a fuss about him, don't they?" He muttered aloud.

Ran turned curiously to him. "What's he like, Shinichi-kun?"

"Eh?" Shinichi looked up quickly.

"You know, Kaito KID!" She elaborated. "You've met him before, haven't you? What was he like?" Ran tented her hands and cocked her chin on them, looking quite intrigued.

"He—well…" Shinichi scratched his cheek. "He's really arrogant." He decided upon. "The problem is that the police never catch him, and it ends up going straight to his head." Shinichi sighed. "He'll get caught eventually if that ego of his keeps growing."

Ran hummed thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, the TV had reverted back to the newscast room, where a comely fake blonde was reading the latest reports on the heist scheduled in the next two days.

"While the police have unsuccessfully tried to capture the criminal, we've received information from a reliable source in the task force of a character many are considering to be Kaito KID's, dare I say, rival." She shuffled her papers, turning a couple over. "Recent developments have shown a trend in the location of the Kanto Region for the province with the most Kaito KID resurgences prior to eight years ago. We have on good account that prominent high school detective Kudo Shinichi has been to almost every heist, effectively handling the situation and almost always retrieving the stolen gems and artifacts before the police."

Ran raised her brows, looking with a bit of awe. And not in the good way. She turned to Shinichi with a look that meant she was never going to let him live this down.

Shinichi covered his face with his hands.

"Many would consider the two of them to be rivals." The spokeswoman's male counterpart chuckled jokingly.

"I agree with you there, Takinawa-san." The woman had a terrible, shrill laugh.

"This is Channel Ten news, covering all the hottest news in Tohoku, Kanto, and Chubu." The man said, wrapping up the program. "The only Channel to have complete coverage of every Kaito KID heist! Now, coming up next, the television show which has rocked the entire world with its dramatic—

"Rivals, huh?" Ran teased.

Shinichi only coughed. "That's stupid. I have no emotional connection to that idiot. They only say things like that to get people's attention; it makes for a good headline."

"Really." She mused.

"Really." He echoed, flatly.

Ran only smiled slowly. "Tell me honestly, Shinichi. You go to every Kaito KID heist you can, even when you have a case or homework, or well, anything. Even when the police don't call you in for them! Can you really say you don't find them interesting?"

"They're amusing, I guess." He bit out, forcing himself to drink the rest of his soup.

"Just amusing?" She raised a brow.

"They're—a nice change of scene." He admitted, carefully. "All these murder cases can get tiring, you know."

"And these jewelry heists aren't as tiring?"

Shinichi shrugged, looking away with a slight blush. "They're definitely more entertaining." He allowed.

She looked just this side of triumphant.

"You do. You do like them." She speculated wildly—or perhaps not too wildly. "They fascinate you, I can tell. What's so interesting about them, though? You've never been one to get caught up in all the hype and excitement. Thievery cases hardly interested you before."

He knew everything Ran was saying was only guesswork, and she was saying it aloud to get an accurate reading of his facial expressions. He smothered his blush and formed a completely blank look on his face, using his chopsticks to slurp down his noodles.

"What's so special about—

Ran abruptly caught the gaze of someone behind him, standing a bit and waving with a wide smile.

"—Aoko-chan!"

It took a moment for Shinichi to browse through his infinite memory and put a face to the name.

He turned around with disinterest, but also no small amount of relief. Aoko was infinitely better than Sonoko.

The girl appeared unchanged from how he remembered her, wild short hair and a beaming smile that almost completely matched Ran's.

It was her company that made him blink twice.

By her side was a boy that looked around Shinichi's age, with tousled caramel hair—not as dark as Shinichi's but not light enough to be considered blonde. He looked roguishly charming. He also looked like he had never once used a comb. His shirt had a writing on it Shinichi was sure belonged to some kind of brand, with a plaid flannel thrown over top, and fashionable jeans. His shoes seemed to be testimony to his youth, as they were scuffed considerably as if he had spent the entire morning prior running through alleyways and climbing over walls.

He was pretty attractive, Shinichi surmised. Okay. Really attractive.

But he turned away regardless, not giving him another thought. He was not particularly interested in the other boy.

There was really only one person he was interested in, as much as he didn't want to admit it.

-x-

Kuroba Kaito was having a very different day.

Unlike Shinichi, who had slept off the entire weekend, Kaito had been busy planning his next heist. He didn't get much of anything done, too busy thinking about the detective who plagued his thoughts. Then, on Monday, Aoko had woken him up at the crack of dawn.

"You're falling." She had said, slyly. "Fast."

Blushing, he had immediately asked for an explanation, to which Aoko only waved him off with genuine amusement, skipping in front of him and looking entirely too pleased with herself.

Kaito wanted to strangle her.

He opted to instead: turn her hair pink, flip her skirt up, and tie her to her chair to interrogate her.

"Are you stupid?!" She had cried aloud, wrestling against the seat of her desk, coated in a stick substance to which only Kaito had the antidote for. "It means you're in love! I don't know who she is, Kaito, but you definitely like her!"

Kaito gaped.

Then gaped some more.

Aoko yowled at him and looked like a cat hissing in fury.

Akako slid up to him with her customary silence, so silent in fact, that not even the great Kaito KID had heard her.

"With that boy," She added in a whisper, making him jump and spill the entire can of "antidote" (which was actually soda water) all over Aoko, which in turn made her scream at an ungodly decibel which then triggered the idiotic resident detective Hakuba Saguru to come to her rescue.

In the entire flurry of events, Akako had somehow managed to pull herself into his lap to say, conspiratorially and with great satisfaction, "It's Kudo Shinichi, am I right?"

He flushed, she laughed, and Aoko shrieked in the background, as Hakuba tried to pull her out of the chair and ended up groping one of her breasts.

In the end, Aoko had beat him up quite severely with a mop (what she didn't know, was that "he" was actually a plastic decoy) and extracted a promise to take her to whatever restaurant she wanted. The two ended up deciding upon some sort of noodle place, but didn't have the time or energy to go until Thursday, when Aoko got fed up with Kaito's excuses to drag him by the ear all the way to the station, ignoring his token protests and squawks, and shouting at him about her ruined clothes and his lecherous ways.

(Of which she didn't even know the half of)

And all of it lead to his current predicament.

"Aoko-chan!"

Random girls coming up to them in public and greeting his best friend was a part of daily life. Aoko was ridiculously popular, by anyone's standards, and it wasn't unusual for random people he'd never seen in his life—like that crazy Sonoko chick who was obsessed with his alter ego—to pull her aside and end up dragging the two of them to somewhere to do something that Kaito had absolutely no patience for. It was kind of the reason he hardly hung out with Aoko unless he absolutely didn't have a choice, even more so when they were in public places. Sometimes it was okay, like when they had those tickets on the train with the Ingram royalty (mainly because he wanted to steal the Ingram jewel, and also because no one would know her on some random train like that)

Ran, as he learned when Aoko squealed her name, wasn't all that remarkable. In the good way. In the way that meant she wasn't rabid, deranged, or crazy.

She was… nice looking. He supposed. He had never really been into girls like that, so he supposed his opinion was rather biased.

She kind of reminded him of Aoko in a way, aside from the fact her hair was long and straight, bangs sweeping across her cheery face and cut around her cheeks. She didn't have the wild hair that stuck up every which way and looked almost shaggy like Aoko did, and she was a bit more reserved then the mop-wielding inspector's daughter. She was okay, though, and Kaito supposed he could tolerate the girl if she dragged him and Aoko off somewhere.

He was prepared for an evening of girl's gossiping and boredom.

He was not prepared for Kudo Shinichi staring blankly at him.

Kaito immediately schooled his features into a pleasant, neutral expression, as the two girls chattered happily around him.

Shinichi's eyes met his for a brief moment, before the detective turned away, dismissive.

Kaito's first thought was of absolute panic—what if the detective realized who he was? Would he rat him out to Aoko and everyone there? Would he call off their relationship (or whatever it could be considered), and never want to see him again? Would he be disappointed? Disgusted? He told himself he was being ridiculous. Shinichi had no idea what he looked like—and Kaito was a common name, a dime a dozen around these parts.

Kaito was so not ready for this.

"You should sit with us!" Ran called to Aoko, who laughed.

"Sure! Of course!" She turned to her company. "Kaito, come on!"

Kaito reluctantly followed, as Ran called a waitress to pull two tables together so that the four could sit comfortably. As he warily edged into his seat, two girls immediately launching into conversation, he couldn't help but stare curiously at the detective diagonal to him.

Shinichi looked…

Well rested, was his first thought.

Had the detective actually followed his advice and gotten some sleep?

Kaito had never been on the receiving end of the cold, flat stare the detective was infamous for. It hurt just as much as he thought it was; it wasn't even as if he was rude, or mean. It would be a lot easier if he was truly as arrogant as the papers could make him out to be—but he wasn't. He was cordial; he spared a joke or two, if only for Ran's sake; and while he didn't shut you down immediately nothing about his features suggested that he was interested in talking to you. He was… indifferent. Ambivalent. And that was far worse than any irritation or anger could ever be.

It was hard to just sit here, not even a foot away from him and yet separated by an infinite channel. This Shinichi was unreachable to him. Kaito KID could waltz right up to him and claim his mouth for his own, run his hands through that feathery, soft hair—and he would know just how soft it was, he'd treaded his fingers through it countless times—he could hold him and make a joke and Shinichi would laugh, and smile, bright and brilliant, not this facsimile, nebulous thing he had on now. Kuroba Kaito could never get away with that. He couldn't do any of that. All he could do was just sit here and watch… and try to reconcile the boy in front of him to the boy he had beneath him not even a few days ago.

The boy scratched his neck, his collar shifted, and Kaito felt something smug and triumphant settle in him when he caught sight of a very familiar mark at the hollow of the boy's throat. Fortunately it was gone just as quickly as it had come, as Aoko's attention turned to him.

"So you're really Kudo Shinichi, right?" Aoko turned the conversation to the boy, who blinked out of his stupor. "The famous high school detective?"

"Well I'm not really famous…" He began modestly, ducking his head.

Cute.

Aoko grinned. "Sure you are. We've met before, I think."

"Yeah, at that ice cream parlor, right?" The detective nodded slowly.

What?

Kaito gaped.

Hold on, wasn't this that stupid new girly shop that opened up somewhere that Aoko had been begging to go to for weeks? The same one he had ditched to go to because he had a heist to plan for, and had thought the whole thing would be stupid, girly, and uneventful?

The world worked in strange ways, sometimes. He here was, trying valiantly to unravel more and more of the detective when apparently they had a lot of mutual friends who could have easily introduced them? He almost wanted to palm his face. Of course he would be searching so deeply for a way to get closer to the detective and the easiest one was staring him straight in the face.

"No, no!" Aoko giggled. "Before that, silly! You work on a lot of Kaito KID cases, right?"

At the mention of Kaito KID, Shinichi swallowed and feigned a half-shrug.

"You haven't been watching the news lately, have you Aoko-chan?" Ran cut in with a teasing grin.

"Huh?" Aoko turned to her questioningly. "No, why?"

"God dammit," Shinichi cursed under his breath, much to Ran's distinct, vindictive pleasure.

Shinichi sighed and propped his chin with his hand, suddenly not interested in his food at all at the mention of that stupid broadcast.

"No reason!" Ran giggled. "It was on a couple minutes ago, and they were saying all sorts of things about Kaito KID and Shinichi-kun."

"Things?" Kaito interrupted suddenly with a burst of curiosity in the new turn in the subject. "Like what?"

Ran hid her smile. "Oh, not much. Just that they're rivals and stuff."

"His rival?" Kaito echoed.

Rivals… ?

"The great Sherlock Holmes of this century has a rival?" Aoko echoed, in reverence and bemusement.

"Yeah." Ran winked at said detective. "Kaito KID would be the Irene Adler to your Sherlock Holmes, wouldn't he, Shinichi-kun?"

Both boys blushed at that.

"Ran," Shinichi snapped in embarrassment. "What are you—

But her and Aoko had already dived headfirst into bursts of laughter, unable to control themselves at Shinichi's expense. Kaito, for his part, managed a few weak chuckles at the poor blushing detective, inwardly both glowing and mortified.

"I'm kidding, Shinichi-kun!" She smiled playfully, and Shinichi could read between the lines. Of course she wasn't.

That conniving little—

"I'm Aoko Nakamori," Aoko butted in before Shinichi could say something he would regret. "My father is the chief of the Kaito KID task force, so sometimes I tag along. I'm not very much help, but I've seen you around before."

She paused then, genuinely interested. "You're the only one who's ever been so close to catching him."

Shinichi only smiled slightly at that, a wondrous, vague quirk of his lips.

Geez.

Kaito groaned.

Now wonder he has such a huge fanclub. Hell, it could be bigger then Kaito KID's, even!

"It's nice to meet you again, then, Nakamori-san."

Aoko giggled, even blushing some, much to Kaito's surprise—boys never made Aoko flustered—Ran grinned brightly, and Kaito was wondering what was really going on in the detective's head. As he had figured would be the case, the boy was masking his emotions with that polite, but standoffish demeanor, and hadn't really given any of them a wide view into his thoughts. He was… astoundingly difficult to read. Did he really like Aoko? Or was he simply being polite because it was expected of him? Or was he just trying to speed up the conversation so he could leave? It was hard to say. Realistically, he probably just didn't have all that much of an opinion on her.

"So, what do you think of him?" Aoko asked with veritable interest, propping her head on her hands with a sweet smile on her face.

Shinichi paused deceptively slowly, stirring his thoughts and schooling his features. "What do you mean?"

"Kaito KID!" Aoko explained, a nasty pout forming on her face. "That scoundrel! What do you think of him?"

"I already asked him." Ran rolled her eyes. "He said he was arrogant, and one of these days he was going to get himself caught."

Kaito felt himself deflate a bit. Then he scowled deeply. Look who's talking, Kudo Shinichi.

The only one who could possibly be more arrogant than Shinichi was Kaito, though, so he really couldn't talk.

Shinichi shrugged. "It's true."

"That's good!" Aoko pumped her fist, a light in her eyes. "That means Tou-chan will finally be able to catch him!"

Shinichi hid his chuckle behind his drink. "Unlikely." He muttered, but Kaito was the only one who caught it.

"That's not necessarily true." Shinichi said aloud after a moment, amending his prior statement. "KID is way too smart to be outwitted by the police, even if he's really too big-headed." And, wryly, he added, "Also, all this media attention is probably not helping with that."

Aoko was nodding her head seriously, looking engrossed with the young detective.

"But you catch him all the time!" Aoko pointed out. "With you on the force, I bet it won't take much for Kaito KID to be caught!"

Shinichi looked a little sheepish. "I guess." The way he said it made Kaito feel like he really didn't want KID to be caught.

"What's he like, then? You know, in person." Aoko pressed. "Was he really arrogant? What did he do when you caught him? Did he say anything to you?"

Shinichi looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Kaito watched him with silent sympathy.

Yeah, Kaito KID was really arrogant. He might have reason to be though, because he's really good with his… hands. And I never really try to apprehend him, I just pretend like I am so we can have sex all over the city

"Is he arrogant? In person? Not really." Shinichi confessed, much to Aoko's audible surprise. "And I just… I don't know. I don't think he cares either way."

"He doesn't care?!" Aoko screeched indignantly. "About all those jewels he steals?"

"He usually puts them back," Ran pointed out, but it went unheard.

"Why does he go through all the trouble if he doesn't even want them anyway?" She huffed, crossing her arms. "It makes no sense!"

Shinichi flushed a very telling shade of red. Kaito pretended as if he didn't see it, mainly because he was trying just as hard to fight off his own blush. Oh, they both knew why KID had so many heists these days. It definitely didn't have anything to do with jewels.

"I wouldn't really know," Shinichi replied, weakly.

Aoko left it at that, fortunately, diverting the topic to a new TV show about werewolves. She and Ran then had a very serious and long-winded debate on whether the two main vocalists of their favorite band were totally gay for each other, and paid them both no mind. Shinichi looked infinitely relieved at that.

Ran ordered a plate of sushi and all but force fed a few pieces to Shinichi. Shinichi tried to claw her off every time but it was clear Ran knew exactly how to get past his protests. It made Kaito a little jealous, watching them. Not jealous like that—it was just… they were clearly so close.

Childhood friends, Ran mentioned offhand at some point in the conversation.

They'd known each other for a long time. Really it was only natural they'd know each other so well—that Shinichi would know to eat all the salmon because Ran didn't like it, that Ran knew to put wasabi in his soy sauce but not hers; they'd known each other for years. Despite that he still felt maudlin.

From what he knew of Shinichi through the media, and from what he'd seen himself, Shinichi didn't let people in often. Ran must be a very close friend, to become so familiar with him. He found most of the world tedious and ignorant, and never had any qualms in telling them that. He'd berated the police more than once on a Kaito KID case for being moronic and incompetent, and although Kaito totally agreed with him, he did have to admit it was rather harsh. Shinichi sure had no problem telling you when you were fucking up—and that included during actual fucking.

Kaito shook his head, smiling inwardly.

"Thinking of something, Kaito?" Aoko chided, drawing him out of his thoughts. She smirked slowly. "Or, someone?"

Kaito blushed brilliantly. "What? No, that's not—

Aoko turned to Ran with a sly look. "This boy has been so lovesick this whole damn week—I just had to get him out to get his mind off things."

"Lovesick?" Ran giggled. "That's so sweet!"

"It's not that!" Kaito protested immediately, even though he had no idea what else it could be. He chanced a quick, horrified glance Shinichi's way—fortunately the boy was totally engrossed in the food.

"It totally is," Aoko retorted with a glimmer in her eyes. "You should have seen him this morning! It was so cute!"

"Wow, lucky girl huh?" Ran teased him with a smile.

Oh yeah, he's a real lucky girl. Incidentally he's also sitting right next to you.

"I'm not—it's not—" He sputtered ineffectually. He's normally far more eloquent than this, and a far better liar, but he still hasn't quite come to terms with the reality that he's in love with a boy who doesn't actually know who he is.

"Wow, look at the time Ran." Shinichi interrupted in a bored, drawl, "Didn't you say your father wanted you home earlier tonight?"

Ran gasped, looking at her phone. "Oh no! Shinichi you're right—we should probably get going!"

Kaito breathed a sigh of relief. When he looked up he saw Shinichi flash him a small smile, before the boy got up to follow Ran out the restaurant. Kaito watched him, blinking in surprise. That was deliberate, then?

Kaito shook his head fondly. That was actually almost nice of the boy. That, or he was really just so bored with the whole conversation and wanted to get it over with.

They took to the streets in a flurry of excitement, the four of them walking to the station, where Aoko and Kaito would get on the train to get back to Edoka. Ran insisted they at least walk them to the station—they were going the same way, anyway. Kaito made sure to keep his pace in the halfway point between where Aoko and Ran were chatting away happily, and where Shinichi was plodding along half a step behind, looking lost in thought. Kaito immediately got the suspicion that Shinichi was ill, as the boy suddenly looked so small and fragile in the afternoon light. He wanted nothing more than to pull him closer, but the act itself would only confuse the boy and totally blow his cover.

"Are you alright?" He asked, hoping to sound civil, and not like he was totally invested in Shinichi's well being, or anything.

Shinichi looked vaguely surprised at the inquiry. "Oh, I'm fine," he insisted, with a small smile. "Just a bit under the weather."

Kaito mentally snorted. Now where had he heard that before? Outwardly he simply nodded. It wouldn't do to look overinvested. He would have left it at that, but then the detective's eyes slipped shut briefly, and he held a hand to his head, as if in pain. Knowing Shinichi, it was a lot of pain. The boy refused to acknowledge he could feel anything, so he must feel pretty awful for it to be noticeable.

"Are you sure?" He asked hastily, concern melting his expression of disinterest.

Shinichi looked as if he was going to brush him off, pausing before deciding against it. "I'll be fine." He said after a moment, Ran and Aoko chattering in the background. "It's just a headache."

Kaito frowned worriedly. As KID, Shinichi hardly told him anything personal. He supposed as some roundabout friend of a friend he probably wouldn't get much information either, but at least at this point the detective told him more. He turned back to Ran, who was giggling cheerily about something Aoko had said, wondering if she knew what was the matter with him. She might, but Shinichi struck him as the kind of person who would keep this sort of stuff to himself, not even telling his closest friends.

Shinichi groaned softly from beside him, looking like he was about to be sick, turning Kaito's concerned attention back towards him.

Shinichi cursed his luck.

He hadn't gotten sick after eating in a week or two now, why was it coming back now?

"You should get some more sleep." Kaito advised before he could stop himself. Shinichi looked up abruptly, and he quickly added, "You look like you're about to fall over."

Shinichi looked as if he found his worry amusing. "You're the second person who's told me that. I must really look that bad, huh?"

Hmmm.

Big guess on who the first was.

And anyway, what the hell was Shinichi even saying? Shinichi, looking bad? "I think that's impossible," he said, before he could stop himself. Shinichi just blinked. Kaito floundered, flushing; "I mean, I'm just concerned, is all. You look like you're going to throw up—

'Let's hope not," Shinichi cut in dubiously, looking slightly sarcastic but also like he was being totally serious.

Kaito gaped, before his lips set into a frown, brow furrowed with concern. "Does that happen a lot?"

He shrugged. "I'm just a little bit light-headed," he hedged, in what could possibly be the worst evasive answer ever.

"Shinichi is very prone to colds," Ran cut in with a giggle, and Kaito was belatedly surprised to see the girls had slowed down to walk at their pace. "He used to get them all the time when we were kids. No surprise he has one now too."

Shinichi scowled. "I wonder who usually gave them to me in the first place…"

Ran rolled her eyes. "You know, if you didn't spend all your time not sleeping and solving cases, you probably wouldn't get them that often."

As if to prove her point, Shinichi fought off an unwilling yawn. "If I don't solve them, who will?"

Kaito just smiled fondly; arrogant as always, huh? Still, that was a damn good point. Even Aoko and Ran—both of whom had detective fathers—had nothing to say to that.

In fact, Ran even agreed after a beat. "I guess that's a good point… Shinichi only gets called in if no one else can solve it."

Aoko winked at him. "Because you're the best, right?"

"That's an exaggeration," Shinichi denied calmly, even though it was totally true, and everyone here—including Shinichi—knew it.

"Is it true you're going to Interpol?" Aoko leaned in then, sounding excited. "My father said something about it—you've worked with them already, haven't you?"

"I have, but if they have any intention of giving me an offer, I'm not aware of it." He replied with a perfect interview response, answering the question without actually answering anything.

Aoko's eyes sparkled. "That would be really cool, don't you think?"

"That's true," Ran agreed with a smile. "And that way, you can be closer to your parents, right?"

Kaito blinked. He'd never even thought about Shinichi's parents. It was weird to think he didn't even know something basic as that about the boy he was sleeping with. But, as it was turning out, despite not being the one with a hidden identity there was still a lot he didn't know about Shinichi.

"I suppose so…" Shinichi agreed, and despite his carefully crafted neutral expression Kaito thought he looked rather uncomfortable with the line of questioning.

"Oh! Shinichi-kun do your parents live oversees?" Aoko asked curiously.

He nodded. "They live in America, technically. They tend to move around a lot, though. I believe they're currently in France. I didn't really like all the moving, which is why I decided to stay here."

"Like you have any room to talk," Ran chided with an eye roll. "You just spent the last few years roaming about abroad on the hunt for interesting cases! If that's not the meaning of the phrase 'moving around', I don't know what is!"

Aoko's eyes glittered. "I bet you worked a lot with Interpol then, huh?"

Kaito frowned at the thought. Did he really? He hadn't heard much about what Shinichi did overseas since he had reportedly left Japan. It wouldn't surprise him though; if the news wasn't reporting on it, it was probably still all classified information.

"You normally do if you do any kind of police work internationally," Shinichi pointed out with a wry smile.

"Is that what you want to do?" Kaito asked, a bit too eagerly, realizing he was a little too invested in the answer.

"Yeah, is it?" Aoko added, looking like she desperately wanted him to say yes. That was no surprise though; Aoko had wanted to work at Interpol ever since she was old enough to realize what it meant when her father said he worked as a detective. She was convinced both travel and law enforcement were in her future.

Kaito still had the feeling Shinichi was discomfited by the current topic at hand, but still his features gave nothing away. "I don't really know what I want to do yet," he answered politely.

Everyone gave him a somewhat incredulous look at that.

"You mean, aside from what you already do? Being a detective?"

Shinichi smiled sheepishly. "Well, right. Aside from solving cases There are a lot of different jobs in the profession, you know."

"I guess that's true," Ran conceded with a frown. "And a lot of them are overseas, huh?"

Aoko looked enamored at the thought. Shinichi looked, surprisingly, a lot less enamored. Kaito wondered if maybe he was just a little exhausted from all the traveling he'd just gotten back from; he knew he had felt the same when he started stealing jewels internationally.

"Well, enough about me." Shinichi segued smoothly, as if he had a lot of practice tactfully deflecting and changing conversations (which he probably did). "What about you guys?" He directed towards Kaito and Aoko.

Aoko blushed a bit. "Ah… I'm not really sure. I think I want to be a detective though…"

Shinichi blinked in surprise, before smiling. "Like your father?"

Aoko laughed nervously. "Err—maybe not. I don't know. I think I want to go into law enforcement, somehow."

She immediately turned to him, looking like she wanted him to answer the question, if only so she didn't have to keep stuttering her way through her own answer.

When Shinichi's curious glance turned towards him, he could suddenly see why Aoko had so spontaneously turned into a blushing, stuttering mess. He really had no idea what the hell to say. I plan on being an international criminal and thief for the rest of my life? Oh, did I forget to mention that? Yeah, I'm Kaito KID.

But what else could he say? Before taking up the mantle as Kaito KID, he had always wanted to be a magician just like his father. But he had already taken up his identity as an international thief, and following in his footsteps as a magician as well almost seemed as if he wasn't just trying to honor his father's memory, but become his father himself. He still loved magic, and tricking people (obviously), but he didn't know if he would still want to become a magician.

"I want to go to university." He ended up saying, surprising everyone, but probably himself the most.

He blinked for a moment.

Had he actually just said that?

Aoko was staring at him like he'd grown three heads. "…Seriously?" She said, deadpan.

"Yeah—I really like chemistry," he found himself saying, and as he continued, he realized he was being completely honest. "I like how you can combine things together and make all sorts of things… and I like blowing things up, too." He added with a grin.

Aoko sighed. "Well that, at least, sounds like you."

To his surprise, when he turned to look Shinichi was just smiling slightly. "It sounds like a great idea," he offered, genially.

Kaito found himself smiling back.

They reached the station soon enough. Aoko and Kaito said their goodbyes to Ran and Shinichi, the two girls exchanging numbers and promising to keep in touch. Apparently they were both very obsessed with some kind of flash sale site.

Kaito wished he could do the same with Shinichi, but unfortunately they hadn't bonded over any flash shopping website, and he doubted the detective would give him his number, anyway. He certainly had never given it to Kaito KID, whom he was far better acquainted with than Kuroba Kaito.

Still, it was more than enough to just see the boy and know he was doing well.

He was still sick, clearly, but it looked like he was at least in some state of recovery.

Aoko and Kaito waved as they got on the train. Ran and Shinichi waved back.

"I'm impressed they're not a couple," Ron commented conversationally. "Aoko-chan is so cute!"

"They did seem close," Shinichi agreed absently, although he was still too caught up on the boy to give much thought to his companion.

There was just… something to his smile.

Shinichi wondered what it was.