apple blossoms: side b

in which kaito falls in and does a few things he really wants to do.

It's a day like any other. You get up at 8:45am after a few hours of sleep, still riding the adrenaline high of last night's heist. The fact that the jewel wasn't Pandora is only a tiny blip on your radar. To be honest, you've mostly given up on it. You search for it more out of habit, than any actual desire to find it.

The pleasantly lazy atmosphere is shattered by the shrill ring of your cellphone. You pat the blankets next to you until you find it buried under a pillow.

"Hello?"

"BaKaito, where are you?! Aoko and Hakuba have been waiting for twenty minutes!"

"Crap. I'm on my way."

You end the call to cut off any yelling she might feel inclined to do. After a quick raid of your closet, you grab an apple, and fly out the door. If you keep Aoko waiting for too long, she's going to do more than just yell at you. Luckily, you can't bring mops into restaurants.

…

You walk into the restaurant ten minutes after her call, grinning sheepishly.

Hakuba's eyes go wide as saucers as soon as he spots you. Aoko turns in her seat, looking puzzled, then delighted. Both of their gazes are locked on your neck. You frown at them.

"What is it?"

Aoko stands and walks over to you. She asks plaintively, "Why didn't you say anything? I'm your best friend, aren't I?" You stare at her, wondering: what the hell is she talking about now?

"Of course you are. But, say anything about what?"

"Your soulmate, idiot! Who is it?!"

"My… Wait, my soulmate?!" You're practically screeching, right in the middle of the restaurant, and you honestly can't bring yourself to care. How did you not notice your newly appeared soulmate tattoo when you were getting ready this morning? "Where is it?"

"You didn't know? It's, uh, your neck. Here."

Aoko pulls her phone from her purse and snaps a photo. You take the phone from her eagerly and get your first blurry look at the delicate pink and white flowers winding around your neck.

"Apple blossoms." You grin and hand back her phone. "Good fortune."

Hakuba mutters, "Anyone stuck with you is not destined for good fortune…" You aim a glare in his direction and Aoko kicks him under the table. "What? It's true."

"Yes, but it's not nice to say so."

"Thanks for defending me, Ahoko."

She smiles, the very picture of innocence, and says, "Tell me about him." You know that tone of voice. It's her don't-fuck-with-me-or-you'll-regret-it voice. As much as you'd love to skip out on hanging out with them and go find your soulmate, you know you can't. Not with Aoko on the warpath.

"He's tall, dark, and handsome," you say after a pause, smiling. Aoko rolls her eyes, impatience creeping into her expression. "No, really. Uh. He's got blue eyes, little darker than mine. Sarcastic. Tenacious."

"Hobbies?"

"Soccer, reading, he plays the violin. And the piano, I think. Hakuba will like this, he's a detective."

"Your soulmate is a detective?"

"Yep."

"The world must really hate you."

"I'm not Kid!"

…

It's close to midnight when you finally hear the door swing open. There's two thuds as his shoes hit the floor, then shuffling towards the living room. He stops when he sees you, then sighs and sits down. You glance at him from under the brim of your hat, acknowledge the shadows under his eyes.

Kudo Shinichi looks absolutely exhausted.

"Sleep," you say firmly. "We can talk in the morning."

He doesn't even bother going upstairs. He just flops sideways on the couch and starts snoring. You're kind of disturbed by how cute you think he is when he's sleeping.

…

He wakes up at 9:43am and after a cup of coffee, he still looks exhausted. You hesitate before gesturing to his arm. Honestly, you don't want to discuss any of this. Not right now, at least. Not when he looks like he's on the verge of collapsing.

You settle for introducing yourself and making a promise to meet later that week.

…

Shinichi opens the door on the appointed date, just past ten in the morning, looking tired but not exhausted.

You offer him coffee you picked up from the Poirot and a blue rose. He takes them after a moment of hesitation and opens the door a bit wider. You step inside and toe off your shoes. Shinichi is already heading for the library, hands cupping the coffee like it's something precious and important. The rose gets dropped in a vase, almost as an afterthought.

"You really like your coffee."

"No, I like being awake. Coffee is a necessary evil."

…

"What do you do for fun, anyways?"

"Uh. I don't, really."

"Nothing?"

"I'm busy most of the time."

"Unacceptable. We're going out."

"What, right now?"

"Yep. We're going to go to the park!"

"To do what?"

"Play hide and seek."

"…You can't be serious."

"I'm always serious."

…

After the party, you spend a few minutes talking quietly in the entryway. Shinichi is leaning against the wall, his tie hanging loose around his neck and his cufflinks undone, smiling at you. It's soft and fond and you really want to kiss him.

Very carefully, slowly, deliberately, you pull him closer and closer.

You stop there for a moment, lips inches apart, and gauge his reaction. He smiles again as he leans in to close the distance. Then you're kissing, and you can distantly hear celebratory fireworks going off in your brain. It feels like everything just snapped into place.

…

Aoko barges into your house early one Thursday morning, Hakuba on her heels, to find you twirling across your living room floor to the beat of an old Spanish love song. You wave at them and then put your hand back on Shinichi's shoulder. He's still moving back and forth, eyes partially closed, smiling beautifully, unaware you have company.

You nod them towards the kitchen. Aoko giggles and tugs away an embarrassed-looking Hakuba. You wait until they're safely out of earshot before speaking.

"Shinichi."

"Hm?"

"We have company."

He pulls away from you and looks around, looking puzzled. "No we don't?"

"I sent them into the kitchen. C'mon." You selfishly pull him closer and walk towards the kitchen hip to hip, one hand resting on his waist. Shinichi rolls his eyes but doesn't comment. "It's about time you met them, anyways. I already met Ran."

He stops for a moment, eyes serious, and asks quietly, "Do they know?"

"Hakuba suspects but he has no proof," you reply. You think for a moment, then add firmly, "Aoko is never going to know. She'd kill me. Then get Akako to reanimate my corpse so she could kill me again."

"Drama queen," he says fondly. "Let's go meet these friends of yours."

…

It goes about as well as can be expected. Shinichi is all smiles, confidence, and poise. He answers their questions as politely and truthfully as possible, lying only a few times to cover up your respective secrets when it really couldn't be avoided.

("How did you meet?"

"He was performing in the park. I got picked to help and ended up brushing against him. Neither of us noticed. He was wearing a high neck and I was wearing long sleeves.")

Hakuba looks vaguely suspicious, but at this point you're pretty sure that's just his default setting.

…

"I love you."

He's frozen beside you, forehead resting on your shoulder. You know, without a doubt, that he didn't mean to say that. Quickly, quietly, calmly you pause the movie and turn to him. You pull him into your arms and breathe out the words you've wanted to say for months, "Love you too."

1. kaito and shinichi actually dance pretty often. most ppl are rly surprised when they find out but kaito had to learn to dance to be good at imitating certain rich young women and ofc yukiko forced shinichi to take dance lessons.

2. they have a lot of comfortable silences. kaito often takes advantage of them to kiss shinichi bc he can and he kinda likes to see how many times he can do that before shinichi finally puts down his book and starts talking again. (but sometimes, he just lets the silence stretch between them and enjoys it. when that happens, kaito usually ends up asleep before ten minutes are up. then shinichi puts his book down and pulls kaito down into his lap and pets his hair until he falls asleep too.)

3. the detective boys are not quite sure how they feel about kaito. bc it's hard not to like someone who can make stuff appear out of nowhere but also he's monopolizing shinichi and that's not cool bc they need him to teach them about murders and shit. kaito is ridiculously amused when they come visit. shinichi is mostly exasperated, but he usually is when kaito is concerned.