White

.

"It's no good; there's no way out of here."

"It's all right. Those guys are headed into a trap. I was able to get a message to Megure-keibu before they caught us, but it means the police won't realize we're missing for a while. It'll probably take them some time to find us, too."

The basement room had no windows, and the air vents were maybe large enough for a cat, but certainly not large enough for a detective or a phantom thief. The door was metal with a lock that, according to Kaito, would need more specialized tools than what he had on him, given that they hadn't been at a heist. They hadn't even been on a case. They'd been walking home from a movie. It was just Shinichi's luck that they'd stumbled upon a human trafficking ring. Now they were locked up with no phones and no way out, and absolutely no way to pass the time. The room was utterly empty.

"So, I guess… all we can do at this point is wait," Kaito sighed, sitting down in the middle of the floor. Shinichi cast a sympathetic glance his way and sat down behind him, leaning his back against Kaito's.

"Sorry. Not an ideal end to a date, I guess," he said.

Kaito was quiet for a long few seconds. "…I don't know," he finally said. "Maybe we can salvage it. Let's play a game."

"A game?" Shinichi repeated. "Like what? There's nothing here."

"There's plenty of games that you don't need extra stuff to play!" Kaito said, shifting onto his hands and knees and turning to peek over Shinichi's shoulder with an impish grin. "How 'bout Truth or Dare~?"

"How does that work?" Shinichi asked, glancing over at him.

"What do you mean?"

"What are the rules?"

"Rules?" Kaito said, incredulous. "There's no rules."

"Then what's the goal–?"

"To have fun, Shinichi. That's the point of most games. Come on, let's play."

"I still don't know how," Shinichi insisted and Kaito rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, how is that even possible. Okay, so, when it's my turn, you ask me 'truth or dare' and I pick one. If I pick truth, you ask me a question and I have to answer. If I pick dare, you tell me to do something and I have to do it. Then I get to ask you. Got it?"

"So it's just two people making fools out of themselves," Shinichi said flatly.

"Of course not!" Kaito replied. "You can play with as many people as you want! Now, go on. Ask me."

Shinichi let out a longsuffering sigh, but he shifted around to face Kaito and Kaito sat again, folding his legs in front of him to mirror Shinichi, their knees touching. "Truth or dare," Shinichi said, resigned.

"I guess I'll pick truth, just to start us off."

"Okay… Um… Why did you try to jump those guys back there all of a sudden? Did something happen that I missed?"

"…Okay, you're doing it wrong."

"What? But–"

"That is not a fun question," Kaito said and Shinichi sat back a little, eyeing him carefully. His face had gone a little pink, but if his serious expression was any indication it wasn't out of embarrassment.

"Okay, then forget the game for a second and just answer me cause you've kind of got me worried now."

Kaito looked away, his scowl deepening, and he leaned back with his hands out on the floor behind him. "They said…" he mumbled. "They called you…" He trailed off again and Shinichi's eyebrows creased together, trying to guess at Kaito's thoughts. Petty insults shouldn't have made him react the way that he had.

"What, Kaito?" he pressed, resting a hand on Kaito's knee.

"They recognized you," he tried again. "Said you were 'high value goods.'"

Shinichi blinked at him. Then he started laughing.

"It's not funny, Shinichi!" Kaito snapped.

"Sorry," Shinichi answered, quieting somewhat. "I guess I just didn't expect you to get so defensive just because a bunch of idiots made a comment like that about me."

"Well excuse me for not liking the idea of somebody treating you like property. These people wanted to sell you. You get that, right?"

He was still visibly upset and Shinichi shifted to his hands and knees and moved to sit beside Kaito, slipping an arm around his waist and pulling him close against his side. "Yeah. I get it. Hey, isn't it your turn to ask now? Why don't you show me how it's done."

Kaito let out a breath, taking a moment to calm himself. Then he smirked over at him. "Okay," he said. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Has there ever been a case you couldn't solve?"

"Well, yeah," Shinichi scoffed. "As a kid I made plenty of wrong deductions."

"Then let's just say since high school."

"Hm…" He was quiet for a while, thinking it over as he leaned against Kaito. "Well…" he finally said. "I still make wrong deductions sometimes along the way, but as far as I know I think every case has been closed in the end. What about you? Got some failed heists I should know about?"

"Oh no," Kaito said, closing his eyes and turning his nose up. "I'm not picking truth again. I want a dare."

"What the hell could I possibly dare you to do?" Shinichi said. "We're trapped in this room–"

"Oh, use your imagination, Tantei-kun. There's all sorts of things!"

"You know I can just look up the police reports on all your past heists anyway, right?" Shinichi muttered. "If you're just trying to avoid–"

"I'm not! That's just boring. You're not very good at this game."

"Sorry!" Shinichi huffed. "Maybe you should give me an example then, if it's so obvious."

"I can't pick my own dare; that's not how it works."

"I thought you said there were no rules!" Shinichi returned immediately. "And anyway, there's nothing I could suggest that you wouldn't just do on a whim anyway." That earned him a smirk and he rolled his eyes. "There's nothing here, Kaito. There's literally nothing to do. Isn't that how we wound up playing this 'game' in the first place?"

"Well…" Kaito drawled, eyeing him with some degree of intent. "There's you~"

Shinichi's head turned away from Kaito so fast the breeze ruffled his hair. All the same, Kaito could see the pink creeping up Shinichi's neck.

"Hm~? Really? Hadn't thought of that, huh?" Kaito said.

"Just what the hell do you expect me to dare you to do?"

"Anything you want," Kaito said, leaning heavily against him to murmur the words directly into Shinichi's ear. "That's the idea, anyway, right?"

Shinichi shifted a little under Kaito's weight, still looking away. "What, so if I said 'I dare you to kiss me' or some-mmph!" He toppled over when Kaito, in an attempt to reach his lips, surged forward, laying him out on his back and leaning over him to steal a quick kiss.

"I'd have to do it~" Kaito agreed, smirking down at him.

"I get it already," Shinichi complained, pushing him back so he could sit up. "I'll be more careful with what I say as long as we're playing."

"My turn!" Kaito declared, showing no indication he'd been listening. "Truth or dare, Shinichi~?"

"…Truth," Shinichi said.

"Again?" Kaito pouted. He sat down heavily and shifted to put his back to Shinichi's again. "Fine. Have you… Have you ever had sex with anyone?" he asked.

Shinichi made a small sound of surprise and glanced back over his shoulder. He could just see one of Kaito's ears poking out from his messy hair, and it was bright red. Letting out a sigh and rolling his eyes, he settled himself against Kaito's back again.

"Honestly. When would that have happened?" he said.

"I don't know," Kaito replied, and there was definitely a hint of a pout under his voice. "In a moment of passion the night you finally 'returned'?"

The noise Shinichi made at that was part scoff and part laugh. "I had other things on my mind. And Ran was mostly still pissed. Try again."

"So… that's a 'no' then?"

"That's a no," Shinichi confirmed. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Kaito said timidly in what Shinichi interpreted as a sort of apology.

"What about you?" Shinichi asked, accepting the obvious offering. "Did any of that flirting you always do ever actually turn into anything?"

He felt Kaito's head move, a slow turn from side to side. "No. I never let anyone get that close."

Shinichi was quiet for a moment. Then his hand moved to find Kaito's, resting on top of it. Kaito breathed out a quiet laugh. "Your turn, Shinichi," he said.

"Truth," Shinichi answered.

Kaito's sigh this time was much louder and much more melodramatic. "Really? Even after that?"

"Truth," Shinichi said again, more firmly.

There was a frustrated sort of groan, and the back of Kaito's head bumped gently against Shinichi's as he slumped against him in defeat. "Look, Shinichi," he said in what was approaching a no-nonsense sort of tone. Somehow, coming from Kaito, it didn't quite make it. "Do you know why people play Truth or Dare?"

"People actually play this game?" Shinichi muttered with a bite of sarcasm. Kaito couldn't help but smirk, shoving back against him a little with his shoulder.

"They play it," he insisted, "To give them an excuse to do things that they want to do, but that they feel wouldn't be received well if they just did them on their own. If I'd just asked you about your sexual experience out of the blue, you would have felt embarrassed and pressured, right? You'd have been reading into it."

"I… guess…?" Shinichi said, responding to Kaito's confidence more than to the question. He wasn't sure at all if he actually agreed, even if Kaito was.

"But as part of the game," Kaito went on. "It's just another question, so it's not a big deal. And if you'd wanted me to… do something… but you thought it'd be a bit much to ask, putting it as a dare is a way to let me know that it's something you'd… allow… but I could still turn it down if I wanted to and it would all just be part of the game. It helps us learn about each other without fear getting in the way. 'Cause you can take a chance and if it's too much you can blame it on the game getting competitive or whatever."

Shinichi let out another sigh. "Kaito, that may be why junior high kids play this game, but we're both adults. Don't you think we can just… talk about what we want?"

Kaito felt him move and glanced back, caught slightly off guard when Shinichi was right there, meeting his eyes somewhat expectantly. Kaito felt his face starting to warm.

"…I was just trying to make it easier on you, that's all," he said, averting his eyes.

"Kaito."

He looked up again.

"What do you want?"

A few silent seconds passed, but then Kaito smiled. "What, you want me to say it?" he asked. "Afraid your deduction might be wrong?" Shinichi opened his mouth to respond but Kaito held up his hand to stop him. "It's all right," he said. "I'm the one who made a mess of this. I don't mind saying it." He reached out and caught Shinichi's hand, rising to his feet and pulling Shinichi up with him. He moved in close, meeting his eyes and holding tight to his hand, and said in a warm, low tone, "Kudou Shinichi… I am extremely interested in having sex with you. I would very much like to know your thoughts on the matter. …So?"

Shinichi didn't manage to keep his heart from speeding in the face of those words, that voice, that earnest face, but he did managed to keep his composure, taking in a slow, deep breath to combat the blush that wanted to appear. "I wish you would have said something when we weren't being held captive by a pack of criminals," he answered, perfectly calm.

Kaito blinked at him, the suave veneer dropping away. "Damn," he muttered. "I really should have just asked you sooner."

"Somehow I doubt you've learned your lesson, you ridiculous thief."

Kaito took a step back and bent forward in a shallow bow, raising Shinichi's hand to his lips and placing a soft kiss on the backs of his fingers. "Well," Kaito murmured against his skin. "As long as we're being honest about things…" He raised just his eyes, looking up at Shinichi through his lashes. "I would absolutely give you a blow job. Right here and now."

"K-Kaito!" Shinichi choked, his face going red with impressive speed as he pulled his hand out of Kaito's grasp and stepped back.

"Hey, you wanted me to be honest and straightforward, right?" Kaito said with a grin, straightening up.

"What have I done…?"

"That doesn't sound like a no~"

"No," Shinichi said quickly. "Kaito, are you insane? Let's be practical here. The police have got to be looking for us. Can we please just… save all this for later?"

Kaito's eyes suddenly lit up. "That's a yes!" he breathed out, beaming, and Shinichi turned away a little, his face alarmingly hot.

"Later," he corrected with firm emphasis.

"Sure, sure," Kaito laughed. "I'll look forward to it~"

Shinichi groaned a little, bidding his dignity a fond farewell. It apparently couldn't hold up to Kaito's completely ridiculous methods of seduction. But, considering how excited he felt, he didn't think he'd care much for long.

Kaito reached out and put a hand on Shinichi's shoulder, gently coaxing him back around to face him again. "Hey," he whispered, moving close with half-lidded eyes and a slow smile. "Dare me to kiss you again."

"You are such a child," Shinichi breathed out against his lips. "…I dare you not to."

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "Well played, Tantei-kun," he said. Then he eased forward and met Shinichi's lips with his own.

"Hey, Kaito," Shinichi murmured, keeping him in place with his arms wrapped around his waist. "You turned down the dare. So tell the truth. Do you actually have a way out of this room?"

Kaito pulled back a little and looked at him with an all too familiar gleam in his eyes. "I'm shocked, Tantei-kun," he said. "Are you implying that I led you to believe we were trapped here just to get you to play a childish game for the sole purpose of covertly learning more about your views on a sexual relationship with me?"

"Seriously…" Shinichi muttered. "You have a way out of here! Unbelievable."

"Of course I have a way out of here," Kaito said patiently as a set of lock picks appeared in his hand. "So, your place or mine~?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes with a smile. "Whichever's closer."

.

Author Note

This here is proof that I can't even follow prompts I make up for myself. (I had set out intending for Kaito to only ever pick dare. He apparently had other plans.) :P

Next installment is called "Green" and it's the longest of the five. Please look forward to it~!